The cabinet minister regarded all this with equanimity, and remained calm even when Falckenskjold and Brandt urged him to take precautionary steps for his personal safety. To Falckenskjold he replied that the latter had grown accustomed in Russia to see conspiracies everywhere, and it was assuredly more glorious to reform a state than to win a battle. To Brandt he said bluntly that his warnings were tiresome, and that he would not allow himself to be disturbed in his undertakings. In short, Struensee was so busied with his plans, that he heeded neither warnings nor threats. Although he was well aware that he had attracted the hatred of the queen dowager and her son, by destroying all their influence over the king and court, he did not deign to concern himself about their cabals. The old queen was not supposed to trouble herself about affairs of state, and was not credited with any bold spirit. As for the hereditary prince, he was only eighteen years of age, and equally poorly endowed in mind and body. He had just received a terrible insult, as he considered it, from Falckenskjold, who did not order his regimental band to cease playing as Prince Frederick rode past, and who was said to have answered the adjutant who proposed to him to stop the performance--"No, not even if _le bon Dieu_ were to come along!" The queen dowager, too, had felt very much annoyed because the king and court had merely sent two pages to congratulate her on her last birthday on September 4. It is true that Struensee, by Falckenskjold's advice, made an effort to effect a _rapprochement_ between the two families, by inviting the king's two relatives to Hirschholm twice a week. But he soon grew tired of this ceremonial politeness, and told Falckenskjold that he was sick of the visits of the king's stepmother and half-brother. In October, Struensee was informed that the hereditary prince was at the head of a party, which meditated the seizure of their Majesties; but, although it appears incredible, the menaced minister paid as little heed to this news as to the warnings of his friends: he merely answered: "The purity of my views is my protection."[17] About this time, several respected officials of high standing were dismissed. The aged Privy Councillor Gram and Amtmann Dau lost their posts, and the master of the hunt, Chamberlain von Levetzau, became the successor of both. Two assessors of the Supreme Court were also dismissed, but with large pensions. At court, Privy Councillor von Staffeldt, the chief equerry, lost his post, and only received as compensation a small farm near Copenhagen, that produced 500 dollars a year. The management of the royal stables was entrusted to Struensee's friend, Baron von Bülow. Lastly, although Rear-Admiral Kaas was acquitted by the committee that investigated his conduct as commander of the squadron sent against Algiers, and the unsuccessful attack on the piratical city, he received no compensation for the loss of his post. FOOTNOTES: