The king's council, filled by a fresh generation of ambitious young men, insisted that the king effect his own will under guidance from them and disregard the suggestions of his older advisers. Decisionmaking became dominated by a German court physician, Johann Freidrich Struensee, who had accompanied the king on a tour of England and had gained much of the credit for the good behaviour of the unpredictable monarch. Struensee combined personal arrogance with a sympathy for many of the ideas then fashionable elsewhere in Europe; he spoke no Danish (German was the court language) and had no concern for Danish traditions. Through him a number of sweeping reforms were executed: the Privy Council was abolished, the Treasury became the supreme administrative organ, the death penalty was abolished, the moral code lost many of its legal sanctions, and the press was freed from censorship. There was opposition from several quarters. Merchants complained about the freeing of trade, and the burghers of Copenhagen were unhappy about their city losing its autonomy. In addition, there were wellfounded rumours about the relationship between Struensee and the queen. Since nothing was known outside the court of the king's mental state, it was assumed that the monarch was being held prisoner. Struensee was forced to reintroduce censorship of the press as their editorials began to mount attacks on him The Royal Guards mutinied when the' disbandment was ordered, and simultaneously' coup was being plotted by Frederik V's secon wife, Juliane Marie of Brunswick, and her son, Frederik. After a masked ball at the palace in 1772, Struensee was arrested and tried, and soon afterwards beheaded. The dazed king was paraded before his cheering subjects. The court came under the control in ascending order of influence of Frederik, Juliana and a minister, Ove HeeghGuldberg. All those who had been appointed to office by Struensee were dismissed, and while HeeghGuldberg eventually incurred the wrath of officials by operating in much the same arrogant fashion as Struensee had, he recognised and exploited the antiGerman feelings that had been growing for some time. Danish became the language of command in the army and later the court language, and in 1776 it was declared that no foreigner should be given a position in royal office. In the wider sphere, the country prospered through dealings in the Far East, and Copenhagen confirmed its place as the new centre of Baltic trade. The outbreak of the American War of Independence provided neutral Denmark with fresh commercial opportunities. In 1780 Denmark joined the League of Armed Neutrality with Russia, Prussia and Sweden, which had the effect of maintaining trading links across the Atlantic until the end of the war. Faced with the subsequent conflict between Britain and revolutionary France, Denmark joined the second armed neutrality league with Russia and Sweden, until a British naval venture into the Baltic during 1801 obliged withdrawal.