Count Johann Hartwig Ernst Von Bernstorff - Prelude

Prelude

Ever since the conclusion of the Great Northern War, Danish statesmen had been occupied in harvesting its fruits, namely, the Gottorp portions of Schleswig definitely annexed to Denmark in 1721 by the Treaty of Nystad, and endeavouring to bring about a definitive general understanding with the House of Gottorp as to their remaining possessions in Holstein. With the head of the Swedish branch of the Gottorps, the crown prince Adolphus Frederick, things had been arranged by the exchange of 1750; but an attempt to make a similar arrangement with the chief of the elder Gottorp line, the Czarevitch Peter Feoclorovich, had failed.

In intimate connection with the Gottorp affair stood the question of the political equilibrium of the north. Ever since Russia had become the dominant Baltic power, as well as the state to which the Gottorpers looked primarily for help, the necessity for a better understanding between the two Scandinavian kingdoms had clearly been recognized by the best statesmen of both, especially in Denmark from Christian VI's time; but unfortunately this sound and sensible policy was seriously impeded by the survival of the old national hatred on both sides of The Sound, still further complicated by the Gottorps' hatred of Denmark. Moreover, it was a diplomatic axiom in Denmark, founded on experience, that an absolute monarchy in Sweden was incomparably more dangerous to her neighbour than a limited monarchy, and after the collapse of Swedish absolutism with Charles XII, the upholding of the comparatively feeble, and ultimately anarchical parliamentary government of Sweden became a question of principle with Danish statesmen throughout the 18th century.