The Final Years
In April 1660, he obtained permission from Frederick III to come to Copenhagen and was finally instructed by him to negotiate with the Swedes. The Treaty of Copenhagen, which saved the honour of Denmark and brought her repose, was very largely Sehested's work. He was one of the willing abettors of Frederick III in the revolution of 1660, when he re-entered the Danish service as lord treasurer and councilor of state. Both at home and on his frequent foreign missions, he displayed all his old ability. He was challenged by new rivals like Kristoffer Gabel and his influence seems to have been somewhat fading during his last years but he remained in office until his death.
As a diplomat, he in some ways anticipated the views of Peter, count Griffenfeldt, supporting the policy of friendship with Sweden and a French alliance. He died suddenly in Paris, where he was conducting important negotiations. His political testament is perhaps the best testimony to his liberal and statesmanlike views.
Read more about this topic: Hannibal Sehested (governor)
Famous quotes containing the words final and/or years:
“After a month or so I get used to the book’s final stage, to its having been weaned from my brain. I now regard it with a kind of amused tenderness as a man regards not his son, but the young wife of his son.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Come Vitus, are we men, or are we children? Of what use are all these melodramatic gestures? You say your soul was killed, and that you have been dead all these years. And what of me? Did we not both die here in Marmaros fifteen years ago? Are we any the less victims of the war than those whose bodies were torn asunder? Are we not both the living dead?”
—Peter Ruric, and Edgar G. Ulmer. Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff)