THE QUEEN'S TRIAL.
THE QUEEN'S LETTERS--AN EXTORTED CONFESSION--THE HIGH COURT
OF INQUIRY--THE INDICTMENT--STATEMENT OF WITNESSES--REVOLTING
DETAILS--AMATEUR DETECTIVES--THE MAIDS-IN-WAITING--FRAULEIN VON
EYBEN--SENTIMENTS--PRESENTS--THE VERDICT DEMANDED.
When the new power was established in Copenhagen, a species of suite
was appointed to wait on the unhappy Caroline Matilda, less in the
quality of attendants than of spies and gaolers. The persons selected
were Fräuleins von Sperling and Von Schmettau, Count Holstein zu
Ledreborg, and Gentleman of the Bedchamber Von Raben, all persons
who were disagreeable to her. Juliana Maria, who was nothing if not
bigoted, at once set to work to provide spiritual assistance for
her prisoner, and one Chemnitz, garrison preacher at Elsinore, with
incredible ferocity insulted, in the name of Heaven, a princess who
was already so unhappy. He chose as his text the following verses from
Isaiah, chapter xiv.:--
"And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the
house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants
and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they
were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
"And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee
rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage
wherein thou wast made to serve.
"That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and
say, How hath the oppressors ceased! the golden city ceased!"
Another preacher, Hansen, who was appointed to the same duty on
alternate days with Chemnitz, derived, from chapter lxiii. of the same
prophet, the subject of an even more cruel insult:--
"Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him
that treadeth in the winefat?
"I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none
with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my
fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain all my raiment.
"For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed
is come."
Neither of these clerical ruffians was either punished or even
reprimanded for his shameless audacity.
At first, the royal prisoner was confined on the ground floor of
the castle, the windows being lined with iron bars; she was strictly
guarded, none but her watchers being allowed to have access to her. In
February, she received another heavy blow on hearing of the death of
her beloved mother, and, in her agony, wrote the two following letters,
which she contrived by some means to send out of the castle:--
_To Sir_ ROBERT KEITH, _Envoy of Great Britain_.
From the first day of my iniquitous arrest and severe captivity, I
foresaw that the rage of my enemies would insist on the loss of my
liberty and life. I am perfectly resigned to my fate either way; but
the thought of my reputation being tarnished and my dear children
abandoned to the mercy of a people unjustly prejudiced against the
legitimacy of their birth, overwhelms me with the most pungent grief.
Has the king, my brother, then abandoned me? Great God! will no one,
then, avenge my innocence and my memory? I doubt whether my merciless
Arguses will suffer this letter to reach you; in case you receive it,
contrive to do me all the good offices in your power. I shall never
forget the zeal which you have testified in the cause of innocence;
and if ever Heaven should restore me to the rank and pre-eminence
from which I have been so unjustly degraded, you shall have more
convincing proofs of my gratitude. Oh! were I in England, my dear
country, where the meanest criminal has the privilege of being tried
by his peers! Am I forgot by the whole universe? I am greatly fallen
away, and my health is much impaired since I have been immured within
these walls. There is not a single person about me whom I do not
suspect; and I despair of ever recovering my liberty. For the love of
God, endeavour to visit me. The time approaches when my trial will
take place; but I am apprehensive my sentence is already determined.
I pray God that He will take you under his holy protection.[66]
MATILDA.
The queen wrote about the same time another letter to the king, which,
of course, never reached its destination, though a copy of it was
fortunately preserved:--
SIRE,
If justice and humanity still dwell in your royal breast, I have an
undoubted right, as your most injured wife, to claim your Majesty's
protection from this vale of misery. Your honour is impeached as
well as my virtue; if the sense of both cannot inspire you with
tender feelings for my inexpressible woes and the indignities
offered to supreme authority by the most flagitious combination
of all the engines the blackest calumnies could play to blast my
innocence and reputation, I appeal to your Majesty's own conviction
of my spotless and inviolable fidelity. I do not entreat mercy,
but I demand justice. Were your heart callous to my inexpressible
sufferings, sure what you owe to yourself and the dear pledges of
conjugal affection should call for the utmost exertion of your power
to maintain your prerogative, which has been so daringly encroached
upon, and to avenge the outrages I have been forced to submit to,
by an unparalleled confederacy of traitors determined to snatch the
sceptre from your hands, and to sacrifice your guiltless consort and
your progeny to their wicked ambition. I wish for a fair trial, and
that I may face and confound my accusers. To the Supreme Judge, who
knows all hearts and all motives, I submit the justice of my cause.
MATILDA.
On March 8, 1772, the commission appointed by the new authorities,
acting in the name of a king without a will, arrived at the fortress of
Kronborg for the purpose of examining the queen. It consisted of two
members of the lately-established privy council, Count Thott and Schack
Rathlau, and two members of the committee of investigation, Actuary of
the Supreme Court Baron Juel-Wind, and Stampe, Attorney-General of the
Danish Chancery; that is to say, of opponents of the fallen minister,
and zealous participators in the conspiracy.
This composition of the commission justifies the supposition that it
was solely intended to extort from the unhappy queen a confirmation
of the confession made by Struensee on February 21, of improper
intercourse with her, and thus afford an excuse to the English court
for the way in which she had been treated.
According to Reverdil, Colonel Keith had contrived to warn Caroline
Matilda beforehand of the impending arrival of the commission, and
to advise her conduct. She would receive these pretended judges with
kindness and dignity, like subjects who had come to pay their court to
their sovereign. If they afterwards attempted to interrogate her, she
would act wisely in merely saying that she had no answer to give them,
and that she recognised no superior, or judge, but her husband.
Thus forewarned, the queen, whose heroic soul had not been bowed down
by a succession of agonising days spent in the most miserable solitude
and the most torturing suspense, received the commissioners with a
calm dignity, in which her strength of mind was fully displayed. The
complicated and crafty questions asked her had no power to confuse her
senses; her answers were noble, short, and, accurate; she declared that
she had nothing to reproach herself with, and caused the commissioners
the utmost embarrassment by her steady and unexpected behaviour. When
the crafty Schack lost all hope of overcoming the queen's mind, he
fancied that her heart would not have the strength to withstand a
similar attack. In order, therefore, to obtain the confession which
was required for the predetermined condemnation of the queen, he
employed a villanous device which will brand his name for ever. He
was no longer the noble-minded man who, once on a time, preferred to
sacrifice rank, prestige, and fortune, sooner than remain in a council
whose traditional authority had been degraded; he was now a crawling
courtier, who allowed himself to be used for anything, so long as
favour, power, or money was promised him; who had lost all his strength
of mind, and no longer possessed any marked character, but could only
flatter the powerful, defy the weak, and deceive the good hearted. A
long and painful illness had weakened his intellect; the vexations of
a hampered fortune had rendered him selfish, and deprived him of all
respect from those of noble mind; and, on this occasion, he put the
final touch to his character.[67]
Schack Rathlau hastened to inform the queen that their next proceeding
would be to lay before her Majesty Struensee's confessions, and to
request her confirmation of them; after which he read to her the
original document signed by the unfortunate man.
Blushing with anger at the accusation it contained, the queen
indignantly denied everything, and declared the impossibility of
Struensee having made such statements, as they were utterly false!
Schack Rathlau presented the damning paper, so that the queen might
herself read it, and be convinced of Struensee's autograph. She
rejected it with scorn, but took a searching glance at the signature,
and to her horror recognised the well-known hand. Schack, noticing
the betrayed queen's embarrassment, thought the moment favourable to
complete her temptation. With a reverential bow he advanced a step
nearer, and said, as if disgusted by the false charge:
"Si l'aveu de M. Struensee n'est point vrai, Madame, alors il n'y a pas
de mort assez cruelle pour ce monstre qui a osé vous compromettre à ce
point."
Caroline Matilda, who had been kept in utter ignorance of all that
was taking place in Copenhagen, and probably had formed no idea of
the deadly peril impending over her ex-cabinet secretary, fell back
into her chair on hearing Schack Rathlau's fearful menace: honour
and feeling contended powerfully in her breast, while the inquisitor
eagerly tried to read the effect of these words of terror on the
queen's countenance. At length, she regained some slight composure, and
looking Schack firmly in the face, asked:
"Mais si j'avouais les mots de Struensee, pourrais-je sauver sa vie par
là?"
Schack Rathlau--it is hard to say whether he believed in the
probability of such a rescue, or merely in his legal arrogance
triumphed at the palpable result of his menace--answered, with brazen
brow:
"Surement, Madame, cela pourrait adoucir son sort de toute manière."
Saying this, he spread out the prepared document, containing the
confirmation of Struensee's confession for the queen to sign.
"Eh bien, je signerai," the unfortunate lady said, as she seized the
pen eagerly offered by Schack Rathlau, and appended her signature. She
had hardly done so, however, when the consciousness of her want of
caution and precipitation so affected her, that she sank back on the
sofa in a fainting state.[68] The commissioners, however, hastened back
to Copenhagen in great delight with the decisive document.
After ninety-two years posterity gazes with compassion on the
historical picture of the royal martyr who, in the first bloom of
youth, fettered through political motives to a husband, from whom
all eyes were averted with feelings of anger and disgust, certainly
committed no other crime than that of taking pleasure in the society
of the only man who seemed her sincere friend, a man who had a heart
for her connubial sufferings, who ever tried to alleviate them, and to
whom alone she dared impart her wrongs. The confirmation of this truth
must be left to the poor betrayed martyr herself. Still, for a proper
comprehension of the cabal against her, one fact, speaking decidedly
for the queen's innocence, may be quoted, in which a plausible
explanation of Struensee's otherwise inexplicable conduct can be found:
"On avait dit à Struensee qu'il se sauverait en compromettant la
reine, dont la conduite ne pouvait être l'objet d'une condamnation
juridique, ou même d'un procès criminal, et on avoit ajouté à ce motif
le menace de la torture."[69]
The twofold treachery explained by this passage hardly requires
comment. To overthrow Struensee was not sufficient, as the queen might
have regained her authority over her husband. Hence, Caroline Matilda
must be destroyed, and though the _Lex Regia_ expressly prohibited the
judges from trying matters of high treason, the new authorities did not
care for that.
Immediately after the return of the commissioners from their successful
expedition, a General Commission, consisting of no less than
thirty-four members, was appointed as a Supreme Court to pass sentence
in the cause of the king against the queen. The court was composed
of--the Bishop of Seeland and four other clerical councillors: the four
ministers, Counts von Thott and Osten, Baron von Schack Rathlau and
Admiral Römeling: the members of the commission, to whom the trial of
the other prisoners had up to the present been entrusted: the other
members of the Supreme Court not belonging to the commission: two
officers of the army and two of the navy: several councillors of state
and one of the civic authorities.
The court opened its session on March 16, in the audience hall of
the Exchequer. A royal order appointed Bang, lawyer in the Court of
Exchequer, to undertake the king's cause, and Uldall, of the Supreme
Court, that of the queen. Both the judges and the lawyers were released
from their oath of allegiance during the trial.
In his indictment of March 24, Bang demanded that her Majesty Queen
Caroline Matilda, by virtue of par. v. of the xvi. cap. of section 3 of
the code of Christian V. should be condemned as guilty of having broken
her marriage vows with his Majesty King Christian VII., and that the
latter might be at liberty to form another alliance.[70]
BANG'S INDICTMENT OF QUEEN CAROLINE MATILDA.
After a short introduction, the accuser proceeds in the following
terms:--
The command of my king alone could induce me to write against her
Majesty the Queen, and it is with a feeling of the deepest submission,
with horror and grief, that I here investigate the conduct of Queen
Caroline Matilda, and the proof that she has broken her marriage vow.
I am emboldened to indict her Majesty, because the king's marriage bed
must be kept pure and unsullied before that of all others. This the
king can demand as a husband, and he must assert it for the honour of
his house and the welfare of his nation.
As husband, he has the right of the compact on his side; as the first
of his house, he is bound to guard the antiquity, supremacy, respect,
honour, and purity of the Danish royal family. Who is there that
is ignorant of the virtues of this exalted royal family! But, if a
foreign race were grafted on the royal stem, and the descendants of
lackeys were to bear the name and supremacy of the king, would not its
antiquity cease, its supremacy disappear, its respect be lost, its
honour be insulted, and its purity sullied?[71]
For the sake of his nation the king must demand this. The inhabitants
of Denmark and Norway have sworn fidelity, obedience, and allegiance
to the descendants of Frederick III., and all our progeny will do
so after us. But would we or our posterity so submissively subject
ourselves to descendants of Queen Caroline Matilda, who are not at the
same time scions of Christian VII.? What a source of troubles! Hence,
his Majesty, as husband in his house, as first of his sex, and as king
in his land, has appointed this commission. His personal right, the
honour of his house, and the security of the nation, simultaneously
demand that the justice and strictest loyalty, which alone animate this
commission, should, in accordance with the laws of God, of nature, and
of this country, dissolve the marriage tie which bound her Majesty
Caroline Matilda to our Christian VII.
I will not speak in this affair, but allow her Majesty herself to
speak: I will let the person speak, who, by her Majesty's confession
has uttered the truth; I will let facts, and lastly witnesses, speak.
On March 9 last, her Majesty at Kronborg Castle, replied to the three
questions submitted to her by the plenipotentiaries appointed by her
lord the king. To question 2, her Majesty acknowledged that she had
broken the marriage vow which she made to his Majesty; and to question
3, her Majesty acknowledged that she had thus forfeited her marriage
rights.
Count Struensee, on February 21 last, replied, after long reflection
and with great agitation, to question 239 laid before him by the
commission, whether the intimacy between Queen Caroline Matilda and
himself had gone as far as it can go between two persons of different
sexes--
"As all the circumstances are so incriminating that even if the
greatest intimacy had not existed, still appearances would prove it, he
confessed that it was difficult to resist opportunity and the natural
weakness of women, but he begged the commission, in consideration of
his mental emotion, to spare him more detailed reminiscences."
Count Struensee repeated this confession on February 25 with more ample
details, and then signed it with his own hand.
Count Struensee's full confession was laid before her Majesty on March
9, and its truth acknowledged by her.
These confessions, so ample and concordant, made in the presence of
the royal commissioners, might in themselves be regarded as sufficient
proof in accordance with the article of the law that "it is not
sufficient that the accused person herself should confess her guilt,
because it is often found that many persons make false statements, in
order that the one may get away from the other, and injure him or her,
with whom he or she confesses to have sinned."
The quoted presumption, that the one might wish to get rid of the
other, cannot be applied to her Majesty, and the same is the case with
the second part of the article, "in order to injure the person with
whom the sin has been committed;" therefore, the entire supposition of
the law, that the accused might bear false witness against him, or her,
self, is not applicable. As, moreover, all the circumstances which were
in this case stated in Count Struensee's confession, and acknowledged
by the queen, have been proved by clear evidence and numerous other
data, which are always the precedents, companions, and results of such
an illicit intercourse, it is my most humble duty to lay all these
things before the commission.
Thus, the answers of Count Struensee to questions 3, 4, and 5, relating
to the time and way in which he entered the queen's apartments, the
ensuing warnings and short abstinence are proved by the evidence of
witnesses. The wives of Councillors Blechinberg and Schiötte, who were
at that time maids of honour to her Majesty, and bed-chamber woman,
Anna Petersen, declare that in the winter of 1769 and the beginning of
1770 they formed suspicions from Struensee's repeated and long visits
to the queen, and maid Petersen more especially noticed that the door
of the dark passage, which leads from the queen's bed-chamber to the
hermitage (Mezzanine floor), was opened on some nights and merely left
ajar; and the deceased lackey Hansen also remarked how he had heard
this door opened at night. After talking together, and consulting
Councillor Blechinberg and the deceased Hansen, they sought to acquire
a certainty in the matter, more especially as they knew that no one but
the queen could open this door, as none else except a bed-chamber woman
had a key to it. With this object they put wax in the keyhole, and bits
of paper between the hinges, and at the same time placed wax in the
wards of the key, which lay on the queen's toilette table. They then
found on each occasion next morning that the wax had fallen both out
of the keyhole and the wards, and the paper slipped out of the hinges
on to the floor, and thus acquired a certainty that the door had been
opened during the night. The waiting maid also strewed powder on the
boards of the dark passage in the evening, and on the next morning all
the witnesses saw marks of large feet in the powder up to the door of
the queen's bedroom, and thence to the bed. In the morning, when such
footsteps were found in front of the bed, maid Petersen and maid Bruhn,
now Councilloress Blechinberg, came in to make the queen's bed, and
called in maid Horn, now Councilloress Schiötte.[72]
Grieved for her Majesty's beloved name and reputation, and terrified
by the awful consequences of this daring deed, in which they feared
they might be innocently entangled, they resolved, after due reflection
and with masculine resolution, to lay their sorrows and most devoted
submission at her Majesty's feet.[73] Hence the two maids, Bruhn and
Horn, one day with quaking hearts and tear-laden eyes approached her
Majesty, who ever then as now had a heart full of kindness, and asked
them, with emotion, what was the matter with them, and if she, the
queen, had done anything to grieve them? This gracious reception still
more aroused in these faithful servants all the feelings of reverence
and devotion, with which they were filled at that time. Maid Horn,
who was so affected that she was unable to speak, left the execution
of their mutual design to maid Bruhn, upon which the queen leaped from
her seat, threw her arms round maid Bruhn's neck, and said, "Tell me,
dear Bruhn, what is the matter with you?" This command of her Majesty
loosened maid Bruhn's tongue. "There is a report," she said, "that
Struensee spends the night with your Majesty. We feel so grieved at it,
because it is stated that the two queens dowager and the council are
aware of it, and purpose interfering." The maids then hinted that they
were acquainted with the story of the door leading to the Mezzanine,
and wished that the whole rumour might be unfounded. The queen asked
them whether they believed it; requested to speak with Struensee at
once, who, as she said, would soon find a remedy; and, in conclusion,
asked, "Do you think that the rumour will die out, if I do not let him
come so often? I cannot entirely abandon him, as that would arouse too
much attention."
Her Majesty's confessions dispense me from making any reflections on
this head.
After the queen had consulted with Struensee on the same day, she said
to her waiting-women, "Do you know that any one who speaks in such a
way about her queen can be punished by the loss of her tongue?"
After this incident, the intercourse between the queen and Struensee
ceased for about a fortnight; but then became worse than before. Still
from this time the witnesses noticed no nocturnal passage through the
corridor to the Mezzanine, while the familiar and gracious intercourse
of the queen with these her maids ceased from this day; so that she
only addressed them in the tone of a mistress.
That which her Majesty wished to deny to her maids she confessed,
however, to her lady-in-waiting, Von Eyben; for when the latter found
the queen one day weeping and in grief, she asked what was the matter
with her Majesty; and the queen told her of the conversation with the
maids, but confessed that the affair was unfortunately true, and said
that Struensee had advised her to bribe her women, which she refused
to do; nor would her Majesty follow the advice of her women, and
"displace" Struensee.
Among the things which are inseparable from such actions is rumour,
which follows them as their shadow. And who is unacquainted with these
rumours?
As regards the queen's intercourse with Count Struensee, Professor
Berger, now under arrest, declares, that it had appeared to him most
suspicious, and Struensee's lodgings highly improper. Struensee had
always behaved to her with impropriety, and ventured on excessive
familiarity. This improper conduct began first in the city in 1770, was
continued in the same year on the Holstein tour, and afterwards on the
return of the royal family to Denmark.
Count Brandt declares that in the summer of 1770, while the royal party
were in Holstein, the queen was alone one morning early with Count
Struensee, and that the latter drove out with her alone in a carriole.
The intercourse between them proved in every way that they loved each
other; they sought one another, were delighted to meet; in a word, love
was revealed in that manner which can be perceived but not described.
If at times they quarrelled, Struensee said that the queen was jealous
of him, and accused him of not being so amiable as usual, and hence
Struensee was always obliged to dance with the oldest ladies at balls.
Brandt also declares that Struensee made him a "confidence" of this
amourette, and said that he could make love to the queen best at the
masquerade.
Fräulein von Eyben, and the sixth, fourth, and twenty-ninth witnesses
about Struensee's suspicious intimacy with the queen, assert: "While
the court was residing in Holstein in 1770, the queen drove out alone
with Struensee, remained away a couple of hours, and did not return
till seven o'clock." Furthermore, the two first witnesses declare that
once, when they were about to enter the queen's cabinet, they found
Struensee seated by her side on the sofa, and that the queen ran toward
them and sent them away. Afterwards, the queen told them that the king
was so frightened when they, the witnesses, came to the door, that he
tried to run out of the room, and that was the reason why she hurried
toward them.
Furthermore, they state: In Schleswig, there was a flight of stairs in
Gottorp Castle, leading from the queen's retiring-room to Struensee's
apartments, which her Majesty frequently made use of. The queen went
once, at Frederiksberg, at a late hour of the night, into Struensee's
room, which was next to the apartment of the prince royal, where
Madame Petersen and Madame Schönberg were.[74] At Frederiksberg, too,
Struensee one evening, after he was undressed, put on an over-coat, and
in that state went up to the queen's cabinet.--(_Cfr._ the statements
of witnesses, 18, 19, 20.)
Witnesses 2 and 17 have also given very incriminating evidence about
Struensee's visits to the queen at a late hour of the night. Thus,
during the whole of the summer of 1770, Struensee continually, and
generally at unusual hours, visited the queen in his surtout and dirty
boots, and frequently sat down on her bed: he drank tea and coffee with
her every forenoon; often remained with her till one in the morning
on evenings when there was no ball or masquerade, and on the latter
evenings even later. He frequently went up the secret stairs to her
bedroom unannounced, and on such occasions ordered the waiting-women,
contrary to the rule, to retire from the rooms next to the queen's
chamber.--(_Cfr._ statements of witnesses 2, 5, 6, 12, 13, and 18.)[75]
Struensee acknowledges these facts, though with a certain apology,
that he was obliged to hand medicines to the queen, and that he did not
remain with her till a late hour of the night. Against this we have the
later confession of February 25.
Her Majesty's conversations with her bed-chamber people seem to prove
that her heart felt more warmly for another man than for the king her
lord. Thus her Majesty, for instance, asked her maids whether they
entertained love or sentiments for any man? for if they had such,
they ought to follow their object to the gallows or the wheel, or, if
it must be, even to Hell. On the maids objecting, but suppose such a
person were to prove unfaithful, her Majesty replied: In such a case
she would lose her senses, or take her own life. She next praised the
good fortune of the maids, who could marry as they pleased, and added,
that if ever she became a widow, she would marry a private person whom
she loved, even if she were obliged to leave the country and the throne
in consequence. On this occasion she showed the witnesses a garnet
cross, which she always wore on her bosom, and remarked that there were
sentiments connected with it, for she had it from a very dear friend;
and when the witness said it must be the king, she answered jeeringly,
"Of course, the king."
I do not know in which class to reckon the following fact, whether as
forgetfulness of self, or as a fruit of the intercourse with Struensee.
Her Majesty often displayed herself perfectly undressed to her chamber
women, walking in broad daylight in a room which had windows on both
sides, and at a time when the guard mounting was taking place, and
then asked the maids whether they had ever seen Eve or Christ? I quote
this fact here, because it appears as if this trait originated in the
above-mentioned sentiments.--(_Cfr._ statements of witnesses 2, 4, 5,
and 6.)
To these strange sentiments, which were probably poisoned by Count
Struensee, is attributable the fact, that her Majesty remarked to
witness 6, that she was well aware what people said about her, but did
not care for it; and further, that there was no harm in a wife being
unfaithful to her husband, if he became old, or she had been compelled
to marry him. The queen also stated to witness 10, that although she
knew what people said of her she would not alter her conduct. About
this time, in order to facilitate this improper intercourse, Struensee
asked for a _passe partout_ to the palace, which did not belong to his
office, as he has confessed.
With the same object the queen's sleeping cabinets at Christiansborg,
Frederiksborg, and Hirschholm, were at this time so arranged that
people could go from her rooms to Struensee's unnoticed. This was
especially the case in the autumn of 1771 at Christiansborg, when
the queen's bedroom was removed to the chapel corridor, which could
be reached by a private flight of stairs from the Mezzanine. It also
deserves mention, that after this bedroom and two other rooms had been
prepared, in 1770, for her Majesty's use, by her own orders, a privy
passage and stairs, which had always been closed, were opened, and
lamps were burning in the passage from three P.M. till eight in the
morning, though during the whole period the valets were not allowed to
look after the lamps. It was in one of these cabinets over the chapel
corridor that her Majesty drank tea and coffee with Struensee in the
morning.--(_Cfr._ the survey of the commissioners.)
The peculiar presents which her Majesty made to Struensee, and received
from him in return, are of importance when connected with what the
queen has acknowledged. Her Majesty received from Struensee a pair of
red-striped garters, which she always insisted on wearing, whether
she required them or not, (!) assuring her maids that they were
"sentiments' garters." The count confesses that the queen received
these garters from him. He alleges that he purchased them in Hamburg,
and the queen, seeing them once, kept them, because they were perfumed;
but he was paid for them.
Her Majesty also always carried about her person a green case, in which
was Struensee's portrait in Indian ink, and allowed no one to see it.
When she was delivered at Hirschholm, during the last summer, she asked
for this portrait, and gazed at it. On her departure for Kronborg,
on January 17, her Majesty took it with her, and when she arrived
at the castle she fastened it on her naked body, from which Madame
Schönberg dissuaded her. She now keeps it at night under her pillow,
for fear lest any one might take it from her.--(_Cfr._ statements of
witnesses 5, 6, 10, 12, 13; Maid Arnsberg's answers to question 29, and
Struensee's to question 227.)
Among the presents accepted by the queen there was probably a gold
cross set with garnets, which her Majesty wore for a long time,
and concealed in her bosom, took it out frequently and kissed it,
remarking, that it was a present from a dear friend, and that
sentiments were attached to it, although Struensee denies ever having
seen this cross.[76]
Among Struensee's effects the following valuables were found, which,
as he says, the queen gave him:--I. A case containing a concealed
miniature of the queen. II. A pin with a large brilliant. III. A ring
with an antique. IV. A large brilliant ring. V. A sapphire. And VI.
Another large sapphire. Of the last Struensee says that it belongs to
the king, but witness 6 declares that it belonged to the queen, who
consequently gave it to Struensee. VII. A blue enamelled golden heart,
which, as Struensee confesses, the queen gave him once when she was
talking about friendship. Of this valuable, witnesses 2 and 4 state
that the queen wore it on a watch, which she brought with her from
England. Various other data confirm the correctness of the confessions
made.
On one occasion the queen had a blue mark on her bosom, which she
carefully concealed from the king. At the same time she asked her
waiting-women how they supposed the mark was produced? Maid Horn
answered, that it looked as if it had come from sucking. The queen
laughed, and held her tongue. Modesty and the queen's confession save
me from saying anything further on this point.
In the same way the queen once felt a pain in her side, under the
breast. Struensee came daily to rub the spot, and the queen would not
allow her maids or any one else to be present. When the lady of the
bed-chamber spoke with the queen about this, her Majesty became angry,
and afterwards said to the maids, that the lady of the bed-chamber
treated her like a child, who must not be allowed to be alone with the
doctor.--(See the evidence of witness 2.)
It appears to denote an exaggerated intimacy, that Struensee, in the
summer of 1771, was present at Hirschholm when the queen was delivered,
although it was not his duty, and afterwards dined alone with her, and
drank tea on her bed.--(_Cfr._ evidence of witnesses 6, 7, 10, 12 and
15.)
During the last summer, when the sailors marched to Hirschholm, or
at the time when the ox was given--for the witnesses cannot state
positively on which of these occasions it was--the queen intended to
ride away with Struensee, and ordered her riding-habit to be brought
into her room for the night. After she had undressed, and gone to bed
in great confusion without a nightcap, she rose again and collected her
jewels in a coffer, while orders were sent to the stables to hold her
saddle-horse in readiness. (See statements of witnesses 12, 13, and 20,
and of Count Brandt.)
Before the queen commenced her journey on January 17 to Kronborg, the
first thing she said, when maid Arnsberg announced to her that Count
Rantzau was there with several officers, was: "Where is the count?"
After this, her most Gracious Majesty ran in her night-dress down the
privy stairs to Struensee's rooms, in order to seek the count. As,
however, she only found his valet, who was under arrest, she said to
the guards that they must fetch the count for her on peril of their
heads.
At Kronborg, where her Majesty is now residing, (!) she one night
asked maid Arnsberg where the count was; and when the latter answered,
"In the citadel," the queen said: "Is he in chains, or does he have
anything to eat? does he know that I am at Kronborg?" Hence, then, her
Majesty's memory is still burdened with a tender memory of the count.
Such are the confessions and proofs on which this question, unique in
its way, is founded. In my indictment I have contented myself with
merely writing down and quoting the words of her Majesty, Count
Struensee, and the witnesses, in order not to venture reflections
of my own, and thus insult the illustrious person against whom my
instructions compel me to plead.
I venture to hope that I have written in accordance with the commands
given me, without encroaching on the reverence and deep respect which I
owe to her Majesty.
And as the witnesses, to whose statements on oath I have appealed,
were not examined in her Majesty's exalted presence, owing to the
most submissive respect entertained for her Majesty's exalted rank
and birth, although by the law this should be done, I expect that
her Majesty's advocate, Herr Uldall, will make a declaration to the
commission that he has no objections to raise to the credibility
of the witnesses; and, as both her Majesty's own acknowledgment,
and Count Struensee's confession, have been in every way confirmed
by the evidence of the witnesses, there is no reason for believing
the confession to be untrue. I, therefore, in the name of his royal
Majesty, demand a verdict:--
"That by virtue of the fifth paragraph of the sixteenth section of the
third book of the Code, her Majesty Caroline Matilda, shall be declared
guilty of having broken her marriage vow, and that it be dissolved, so
as not to prevent his royal Majesty, the king, from contracting a new
alliance."
O. L. BANG.
_Copenhagen, March 24, 1772._
Every effort was made to procure evidence against the queen, and yet
the result was the wretched _pot-pourri_ which Advocate Bang brought
forward. Among others whom it was attempted to suborn was Sarti the
composer, who had been music-master to Caroline Matilda. So far,
however, from having any such evidence to give as it was sought to
extort from him, Sarti declared that the queen's conduct, of which he
had numerous opportunities of judging, was marked by the most perfect
propriety and decorum, and he utterly repudiated the idea of her guilt.
But the judges had not been appointed to execute justice, but to
crush the vanquished, and hence it is not surprising to find that no
objection was raised to the utter perversion of the law which Bang
displayed throughout his atrocious indictment--an indictment, be it
remembered, made in writing, and not publicly announced, because
hundreds of respectable citizens would have voluntarily come forward to
assert their confidence in the queen's innocence.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 66: This letter was first published in the English papers
early in April, 1772.]
[Footnote 67: "Authentische Aufklärungen," pp. 223, 224.]
[Footnote 68: According to another version of the story, given by
Falckenskjold and the "Authentische Aufklärungen," the queen fainted
after writing the first syllable, CAROL----. Schack Rathlau seized the
queen's hand, forced the fallen pen into it, and guiding it, added
the missing syllables INE MATILDA. This statement, however, is highly
improbable, and nowhere confirmed by the queen.]
[Footnote 69: Falckenskjold's "Memoirs," p. 232.]
[Footnote 70: The indictment and defence of the queen have never before
been published--with the exception of a few fragments in Höst's "Grev
Struensee og hans Ministerium." They are given here in full, save some
passages which decency forbids being rendered public. Höst, who wrote
his history in the reign of Frederick VI., was compelled to omit the
passages which might compromise the memory of the queen. But historic
truth urges me to publish everything that may serve to clear up this
matter and enable a correct opinion to be formed.]
[Footnote 71: No objection can be raised against this assertion
generally. But the Danish code forbade the courts from hearing charges
against the domestic honour of royal persons, and decreed that the king
must be sole judge in such affairs. The constitution of the commission
was therefore illegal from the outset.]
[Footnote 72: The queen's women respected nothing, and even made their
mistress's bed and linen the object of their examination.]
[Footnote 73: It should be mentioned that the original indictment
is written in such a barbarous and illogical style that it is very
difficult to make it endurable by the reader, without injuring the
legal meaning.]
[Footnote 74: It was a scoundrel deed to bring forward this charge, as
everybody knew that this took place at the time when the prince royal
was attacked by the small-pox, and the anxious mother watched every
night at his bedside.]
[Footnote 75: At the period specified, Struensee was physician in
ordinary to both their Majesties. As it is well known that at the time
Caroline Matilda was suffering from an odious disease communicated to
her by the king, it is not surprising that her physician should remain
with her till a late hour.]
[Footnote 76: An amulet given to the queen in England before her
marriage.]