The _émeute_ which took place on the Christmas eve rendered him equally attentive and timid. I shall revert to the proofs of this. When the royal family, with whom he lived, came to town, such precautions were taken that people must believe that the king was afraid of his subjects; but Count Struensee, with his fellow-conspirators, intended to make himself Protector, even if he did not at once take the king's life. The gates of Copenhagen were ordered always to stand open, so that if necessary it might be a refuge for those outside the city. When his royal Majesty came to the capital, he drove through the streets as if flying before an enemy, so that no one might approach the king, and impart to him his well-meant thoughts. When Count Struensee's conscience (for that is always found in a man) convinced him that his actions, judging from the value which the inhabitants of the land, high and low, attached to them, would be but badly rewarded, he resolved to venture on extremities. I must most submissively and conscientiously assert, that I do not know what his motto was; but judging from his conduct, it must be believed that it agreed with the character which is given of the Greek robbers, in the words:-- "Fidens animi atque in utrumque paratus, Seu versare dolos seu certæ occumbere morti." After the return to Copenhagen, after the body-guard had been dismissed, and the guard of the palace confided to other troops, the latter received rations in addition to their pay, and contrary to all custom, which reminds me of the answer given to the thief in the fable:--"Ita subita me jubet benignitas vigilare, facias ne meâ culpâ lucrum." When the report spread in the city that the count was meditating dangerous designs, because the inhabitants were annoyed at being ruled by a _doctor medicinæ_, and as, too, the doctor was afraid of being dissected by the populace, though not _secundum artem_, and for the benefit of his colleagues, he chose another town commandant, who could terrify the whole city with his voice and gestures, and the cannon were also to be loaded for the same purpose. It may be supposed what was intended to take place at the palace. I do not believe there was any intention to lay hands on the person of his royal Majesty and take his life. But suppose an insurrection had broken out, not against the king--for everybody knows that he is innocent--but against this impudent count, this foolhardy person, it is only a necessary consequence that he and his partisans must have audaciously attacked the king in order to save themselves, and in such an event Count Struensee knew himself to be secure, as may be seen from his answer to Count Brandt.