DEPARTURE OF THE QUEEN.
THE BRITISH FLEET--SPIRITED CONDUCT OF KEITH--THE ORDER OF
RELEASE--THE PRINCESS LOUISA AUGUSTA--THE DEPARTURE--THE LANDING AT
STADE--THE STAY AT GOHRDE--ARRIVAL IN CELLE--THE QUEEN'S COURT--A
HAPPY FAMILY--KEITH'S MISSION--LITERARY PIRATES--REVERDIL TO THE
RESCUE.
We have seen that the sentence of the court, decreeing a dissolution of
the marriage, was announced to Caroline Matilda. From this moment she was
no longer regarded as queen, and all her ties with Denmark were broken
off with her marriage. After her condemnation, the ambassadors of the
foreign powers were convoked at the Christiansborg Palace. They proceeded
thither in mourning, and heard from the grand-master that, as the king no
longer had a consort, there was no longer a queen. The name of Caroline
Matilda was from this moment effaced from the public prayers. She became
a stranger to the country over which she had reigned.[34]
As was the case with the other prisoners, whose position was considerably
mitigated so soon as they had made satisfactory confessions in their
examination before the Commission of Inquiry, the queen, after the
separation, was granted better apartments in the first-floor of the
fortress, and was allowed to take the air on the ramparts. That Colonel
Keith was permitted to visit the queen was looked on as a further
concession, and that the envoy frequently took advantage of this
permission, may surely be regarded as a further and important proof how
greatly he was convinced of her innocence.
When her Majesty was informed of the circumstances connected with the
tragical death of the two prisoners, she said to Fräulein Mösting, her
maid of honour,
"Unhappy men! they have paid dearly for their attachment to the king, and
their zeal for my service."
No thought of self, it will be noticed: Caroline Matilda entirely forgot
the humiliation to which she had been exposed by Struensee's dastardly
confession, and only evinced sincere compassion for his undeserved and
barbarous fate. But she was ever thus: from the first moment to the last,
she sacrificed herself for others. Of this, the following anecdote will
serve as an affecting proof:--
The queen, having so fatally experienced the vicissitudes of human
grandeur, was not so deeply affected by her own disasters as to overlook
the sufferings and misery of some state prisoners, doomed to perpetual
exile in the Castle of Kronborg. Her Majesty's liberal beneficence was
never more conspicuous than in this period of affliction and distress.
She sent daily from her table two dishes to these forsaken objects of
compassion, and out of a scanty allowance, she sent, weekly, a small sum
to be distributed among them. The governor having requested her Majesty
to withdraw her bounty from an officer who had been closely confined for
some years past in a remote turret, debarred from all human intercourse,
on suspicion of a treasonable correspondence with the agent of a northern
power, who had enlisted, with the assistance of the prisoner, several
Danish subjects for his master's service, the queen merely replied with
the following line of Voltaire:--
"Il suffit qu'il soit homme et qu'il soit malheureux."[35]
On one occasion, Caroline Matilda, conversing on the early commencement
of her misfortunes, observed that, since she was born to suffer, she
found some consolation in being marked out so soon by the hand of
adversity. "I may possibly live," said her Majesty, "to see Denmark
disabused with respect to my conduct: whereas my poor mother, one of the
best women that ever existed, died while the load of obloquy lay heavy
upon her, and went to the grave without the pleasure of a vindicated
character."[36]
Early in March, the charges against Caroline Matilda had been forwarded
to London, and were there submitted to the opinions of the first lawyers,
who, though consulted separately, all declared that the evidence brought
forward was so far from being legal conviction, that it scarce amounted
to a bare presumption of guilt: and they affirmed that they did not give
credit to any of the facts as lawyers, but even found themselves obliged
to disbelieve them as men. Upon this the court of St. James insisted
that no sentence should be passed on her Danish Majesty, as the evidence
against her was only presumptive, and very inconclusive.
A strong fleet was now fitted out, and universally supposed to be
destined for the Baltic; still the most prudent thought, or at least
hoped, that the fleet was only intended to intimidate the Danes, but
would not sail, as the king of Prussia would certainly march an army
immediately to Hanover, and then a new war would be kindled in the north.
On the 22nd, counter orders, for suspending the preparations, were sent
to Portsmouth. Horace Walpole, the omniscient, shall tell us what was the
generally accepted version of the affair:--
"The king, as Lord Hertford told me, had certainly ordered the fleet to
sail; and a near relation of Lord North told me that the latter had not
been acquainted with that intention. Lord Mansfield, therefore, who had
now got the king's ear, or Lord Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty,
must have been consulted. The latter, though I should think he would
not approve it, was capable of flattering the king's wishes: Lord
Mansfield assuredly would. The destination was changed on the arrival of
a courier from Denmark, who brought word that the queen was repudiated,
and, I suppose, a promise that her life should be spared: for, though
the Danes had thirty ships and the best seamen, next to ours, and though
we were sending but ten against them, the governing party were alarmed,
probably from not being sure their nation was with them. The queen had
confessed her intrigue with Struensee, and signed that confession. When
the counsellor, who was to defend her, went to receive her orders, she
laughed, and told him the story was true."
In this we have a favourable specimen of Walpole's talent as an
embroiderer of history. It is very evident that he had heard the facts
floating about society; but his additions to them were evidently pure
inventions. He shall give us one bit more of gossip, which may or may not
have been true, although there appears to be evidence in its favour in
the strange conduct of George III. toward his sister:--
"They gave her (Caroline Matilda) the title of Countess of Aalborg, and
condemned her to be shut up in the castle of that name. The King of
England had certainly known her story two years before. A clerk in the
secretary's office having opened a letter that came with the account,
told me that he had seen it before the secretaries gave it to the king.
It was now believed that this intelligence had occasioned the Princess
of Wales to make her extraordinary journey to Germany, where she saw
her daughter, though to no purpose. Princess Amelia told Lord Hertford,
on the 26th, that when the King of Denmark was in England, observing
how coldly he spoke of his wife, she asked him why he did not like her.
He answered, 'Mais elle est si blonde!' The princess added, that Queen
Matilda had a very high spirit, and that she believed the Danes would
consent to let her go to Hanover. 'But she will not be let go thither,'
added the princess, meaning that the queen's brother, Prince Charles of
Mecklenburg, commanded there, 'or to Zell, but she will not go thither
(another of the queen's brothers was there); perhaps she _may_ go to
Lüneburg."[37]
It is very probable, too, that the temper of the British nation, which
had undergone a complete revulsion on the announcement of the fleet
sailing, had something to do with its suspension. At any rate, we read in
the _General Evening Post_ for April 30, the following painful account:--
"Nothing, surely, is a greater impeachment of our laws, and more, of
our lawgivers and magistrates, than the unrestrained licentiousness
daily exhibited by the common people in this metropolis. Yesterday, in
some parts of the city, men were crying about printed papers containing
the most scandalous, ruinous, and impudent reflections on the Queen of
Denmark. The worst prostitute that ever Covent Garden produced could not
have had more gross abuse bestowed on her."
But Sir R. M. Keith had been working hard in the meanwhile, and on the
receipt of his letters of recall and news of the menaces of England in
equipping a fleet, the regency gave in at once, promised to repay the
queen's dowry, allow her five thousand a-year, and let her go to Hanover,
beyond Jordan, anywhere, so long as they could only be rid of her. In
reply to the despatch in which Sir R. M. Keith announced his success, he
received the following official letter:--
LORD SUFFOLK TO SIR R. M. KEITH.
_St. James's, May_ 1, 1772.
SIR,
Your despatches by King the messenger have been already acknowledged;
those by Pearson were received on Wednesday afternoon, and I now answer
both together.
His Majesty's entire approbation of your conduct continues to the last
moment of your success, and his satisfaction has in no part of it been
more complete than in the manner in which you have stated, urged,
and obtained the liberty of his sister. The care you have taken to
distinguish between a claim of right and the subjects of negotiation,
and to prevent the mixture of stipulations with a demand, is perfectly
agreeable to your instructions.
The national object of procuring the liberty of a daughter of England
confined in Denmark, after her connection with Denmark was dissolved, is
now obtained. For this alone an armament was prepared, and therefore,
as soon as the acquiescence of the court of Copenhagen was known, the
preparations were suspended, that the mercantile and marine interests
of this kingdom might be affected no longer than was necessary by the
expectation of a war.
Instead of a hostile armament, two frigates and a sloop of war are now
ordered to Elsinore. One of these is already in the Downs--the others
will repair thither immediately; and, so soon as the wind permits, they
will proceed to their destination. I enclose to you an account of them,
which you may transmit to Monsieur Ostein (Von der Osten) ministerially,
referring at the same time to the assurance of these pacific proceedings.
The compliance of the Danish court with his Majesty's demand is still
a compliance. Their continuing, unasked, the title of queen, and other
concessions, and the attainment of the national object accompanying
each other, his Majesty would think it improper to interrupt the
national intercourse from any personal or domestic consideration. You
will therefore inform Mr. Ostein that his Majesty intends to leave a
minister at the court of Copenhagen, the explanation you may give of this
suspension of former directions, and his determination, being left to
your own discretion.[38]
It was with feelings of pride that the British envoy passed through the
vaulted entrance of "Hamlet's Castle," to carry to an afflicted and
injured princess the welcome proofs of fraternal affection and liberty
restored. The feeling was reciprocal, for when Keith brought the order
for Caroline Matilda's enlargement, which he had obtained by his spirited
conduct, she was so surprised by the unexpected intelligence, that she
burst into a flood of tears, embraced him in a transport of joy, and
called him her deliverer.[39]
The queen from this time forth was more constantly than ever on the
ramparts watching for the arrival of the British flotilla. The squadron,
consisting of the _Southampton_, Captain McBride, the _Seaford_, Captain
Davis, and the _Cruizer_, Captain Cummings, left England on May 22, and
anchored off Elsinore on the 27th. In the meanwhile Caroline Matilda
wrote her brother a most affecting letter, asserting her innocence of
all the criminal accusations against her in the strongest manner, and
declaring that the strictness of her future life should fully refute
the slander of her enemies. She at the same time expressed a wish to be
allowed to return to England, but left her fate in his Majesty's hands.
A consultation had been held at Buckingham House on the subject, but it
was found too expensive, and it was finally settled that Caroline Matilda
was to take up her residence at Celle, in Hanover, George III. allowing
her £8,000 a year for the support of her dignity.
Very touching, too, is it to read that the queen at this time wore
nothing but deep mourning; and one of her ladies asking her why she
affected such a semblance of sorrow, she replied--
"It is a debt I owe to my murdered reputation."
Sir Robert Murray Keith supplies an interesting anecdote of the queen in
a letter to his sister:--
"Here I am, thank my stars, upon the utmost verge of Denmark. My ships
are not yet arrived, but a few days may conclude the whole affair; and
the weather is mild and agreeable. I return to Copenhagen this evening,
but only for a day or two, to wind up my affairs, and give my parting
advice to the little secretary, in whose success as _chargé d'affaires_
I take a particular interest. I am just returned from her Majesty, who
is, Heaven be praised, in perfect health, notwithstanding the danger she
has run of catching the measles from the young princess, whom she never
quitted during her illness. A more tender mother than this queen has
never been born in the world."
Caroline Matilda was at dinner when the imperial salute of the English
frigate and the castle guns informed her Majesty of Captain McBride's
arrival. This gallant officer met Sir R. Keith on shore, who, after a
mutual exchange of compliments, introduced the captain to her Majesty,
by whom he was most graciously received as a man destined to convey her
safe to her brother's electoral dominions; far from the reach of the
personal shafts of her enemies, and that land which had been the dismal
scene of her unparalleled misfortunes and humiliations. When the captain
had notified his commission, and said that he should await her Majesty's
time and pleasure, she exclaimed in the anguish of her heart, "Ah! my
dear children," and immediately retired. It was not for an insensible
monarch on a throne, on which she seemed to have been seated merely to
be the butt of envy, malice, and perfidy, that her Majesty grieved:
the excruciating idea of being parted from her dear children, and the
uncertainty of their fate, summoned up all the feelings of a tender
mother. She begged to see her son before he was torn for ever from her
bosom: but all her Majesty's entreaties were unsuccessful. Juliana
Maria envied her the comfort of the most wretched--that of a parent
sympathising in mutual grief and fondness with children snatched from her
embrace by unnatural authority.
A deputation of noblemen having been appointed by the queen dowager to
observe the queen after her enlargement till her departure, under the
fallacious show of respect for the royal personage so lately injured and
degraded--when they were admitted to Caroline Matilda's presence, and
wished her in her Majesty's name a happy voyage, she answered--
"The time will come when the king will know that he has been deceived and
betrayed; calumny may impose for a time on weak and credulous minds, but
truth always prevails in the end. All my care and anxiety are now for the
royal infants, my children."[40]
On May 30, a lady belonging to the court went to Kronborg in one of the
king's coaches to remove the young Princess Louisa Augusta, and conduct
her royal highness to Christiansborg Palace. Hence the last moments which
the feeling queen spent in Denmark were the most painful of all: she was
obliged to part from her only consolation, her only blessing, her beloved
daughter: she was forced to leave her dear child among her enemies. For
a long time she bedewed the infant with hot tears--for a long time she
pressed it to her heart. She strove to tear herself away; but the looks,
the smiles, the endearing movements of the infant, were so many fetters
to hold the affectionate mother back. At last she called up all her
resolution, took her once more in her arms, with the impetuous ardour of
distracted love imprinted on the lips of the child the farewell kiss,
and, delivering it to the lady-in-waiting, shrieked, "Away, away, I now
possess nothing here!"[41]
As the governor had behaved to the queen so as to merit her Majesty's
confidence and esteem, she entrusted him with a letter for the king,
which he promised faithfully to deliver into his Majesty's own hands. It
must have been very moving, as the king was observed to shed tears on
reading it.[42]
At six in the evening of May 30, Caroline Matilda proceeded in a royal
Danish boat on board the English frigate. Her suite consisted of Colonel
Keith, who would accompany her to Göhrde, and of Count Holstein zu
Ledreborg, his wife, Lady-in-waiting von Mösting, and Page of the Chamber
von Raben, who were ordered to convey her Majesty as far as Stade, and
then return by land. When the anchor was apeak, the fortress, and the
Danish guardship in the Sound, gave a salute of twenty-seven guns.
The queen remained on deck, her eyes immovably directed toward the
fortress of Kronborg, which contained her child, who had so long been her
only source of comfort, until darkness intercepted the view. The vessel
having made but little way during the night, at daybreak she observed
with fond satisfaction that the fortress was still visible, and could not
be persuaded to enter the cabin so long as she could obtain the faintest
glimpse of the battlements.
Among Sir R. M. Keith's papers was found the following copy of verses,
whose title speaks for itself. Unfortunately, there is no positive proof
that they were written by the queen herself, beyond the care that Sir
Robert took of them:--
WRITTEN AT SEA BY THE QUEEN OF DENMARK,
ON HER PASSAGE TO STADE, 1772.
At length, from sceptred care and deadly state,
From galling censure and ill-omened hate,
From the vain grandeur where I lately shone,
From Cronsberg's prison and from Denmark's throne,
I go!
Here, fatal greatness! thy delusion ends!
A humbler lot thy closing scene attends.
Denmark, farewell! a long, a last adieu!
Thy lessening prospect now recedes from view;
No lingering look an ill-starred crown deplores,
Well pleased, I quit thy sanguinary shores!
Thy shores, where victims doomed to state and me,
Fell helpless Brandt and murdered Struensee!
Thy shores where--ah! in adverse hour I came,
To me the grave of happiness and fame!
Alas! how different then my vessel lay;
What crowds of flatterers hastened to obey!
What numbers flew to hail the rising sun,
How few now bend to that whose course is run!
By fate deprived of fortune's fleeting train,
Now, "all the oblig'd desert and all the vain."
But conscious worth, that censure can control,
Shall 'gainst the charges arm my steady soul--
Shall teach the guiltless mind alike to bear
The smiles of pleasure or the frowns of care.
Denmark, farewell; for thee no sighs depart,
But love maternal rends my bleeding heart.
Oh! Cronsberg's tower, where my poor infant lies,
Why, why, so soon recede you from my eyes?
Yet, stay--ah! me, nor hope nor prayer prevails--
For ever exiled hence, Matilda sails.
Keith! formed to smooth the path affection treads,
And dry the tears that friendless sorrow sheds,
Oh! generous Keith, protect their helpless state,
And save my infants from impending fate!
Far, far from deadly pomp each thought remove,
And, as to me, their guardian angel prove!
Yes, Julia, _now_ superior force prevails,
And all my boasted resolution fails!
Before taking leave of Kronborg, I may be permitted to insert an anecdote
related by my grandfather in his "Travels in the North." When he visited
Kronborg, in 1774, a poor fettered slave came up and addressed him in
French. Mr. Wraxall then commenced a conversation with him, and asked him
if he were here when Queen Matilda was in confinement.
"Ah! Monsieur," the prisoner replied, "I saw her every day. I had the
honour to turn the spit for her Majesty's dinner. She even promised to
endeavour to obtain me my liberty. I assure you," he added warmly, "that
she was the most amiable princess in the world."
Whether the man said this because he believed it would please an
Englishman, or whether it was the genuine effusion of respectful
gratitude, my grandfather was unable to say, but could not resist the
compliment to an English and injured queen.
By a royal resolution of March 18, 1773, all the documents connected
with the dissolution of the marriage of Queen Caroline Matilda were
made into four separate packets, and one of them, which contained
the orders, protocols, and examinations, was deposited in the secret
archives: the second, containing the perfect acts with the votes of all
the commissioners, and a copy of the examination of the witnesses, was
entrusted for safe keeping to the governor of Glückstadt: the third,
consisting of a copy of the original articles and the examinations, was
kept at the Norwegian fortress of Bergenhuus, in an iron chest, in a room
the keys of which were held by the commandant and the viceroy: and the
fourth packet, which only contained a copy of the articles, but not of
the depositions, was placed in the archives of the Danish Chancery. This
division of the documents also serves as a proof, how every possible care
was taken that the queen's posterity should not hereafter find the whole
of the documents at any one place.
The queen did not reach Stade till June 5, where she was received with
all the respect due to crowned heads. The Hanoverian Privy Councillor
von Bodenhausen, and the Land Marshal Chamberlain von Bülow, pulled on
board the flag-ship to welcome the queen. At the landing-place, where the
ladies and gentlemen selected to attend on her Majesty were awaiting her,
the Danish escort took leave. The queen gave Count Holstein a diamond
solitaire as a souvenir, and entrusted him with a gold snuff-box for the
wife of General von Hauch, commandant of Kronborg.
The new suite of the queen was composed of a grand lady, two
ladies-in-waiting, one chief chamberlain, a chamberlain, one page of
the bed-chamber, two pages and a number of servants. After remaining
for two days at Stade, she travelled with her suite, _viâ_ Harburg,
to the Château of Göhrde, thirty miles from Stade, where she intended
to remain till the palace at Celle was restored for her reception. At
Göhrde, Sir R. Keith took leave of her, and she received a visit from her
eldest sister, the Hereditary Princess of Brunswick Wolfenbüttel and her
husband.[43] These near relations, however, also belonged to the princely
family from which Juliana Maria was descended, and in consequence, were
rather suspicious friends for Caroline Matilda.
On October 20, the queen made her entrance into Celle, and took up her
abode in the royal château. This old residence of the former Dukes of
Lüneburg was at this time a fortified castle surrounded by moats and
walls. Although the apartments were spacious and habitable, and well
furnished, the exterior of the castle resembled a prison rather than
a palace. But the queen soon gained the hearts of all the inhabitants
by her amiability and resignation, and thus converted the unfriendly
asylum into an abode of peace and consolation. She frequently attended at
church, was fond of conversing on religious topics, and gave rich gifts
to the poor, both with her own hands and through the clergy of the town.
Treating all gracefully who approached her presence, she more especially
gave children an opportunity of telling their parents, with delight, that
they had been spoken to by the queen. If, at night, she fancied she had
not been so friendly as usual to any one during the day, she reproached
herself for it. Judging all persons indulgently, she could not endure
that absent persons should be harshly condemned in her presence, and, in
truth, she ruled her court, not alone by her rank, but even more through
the lovingness of her noble heart. But, whenever she was obliged to act
the queen, she did so, on the other hand, with a dignified demeanour and
with majesty.
Although Caroline Matilda excelled in all the exercises befitting her
sex, birth, and station, and danced the first minuet in the Danish court,
she never again indulged in this polite amusement, of which she had been
extremely fond, after the masked ball the conclusion of which had been
so fatal and disgraceful to her Majesty. As one of her pretended crimes
had been the delight she took in riding, and the uncommon address and
spirit with which she managed her horse, she also renounced this innocent
recreation, for fear of giving the least occasion to the blame and malice
of the censorious and the ignorant. Her Majesty had an exquisite taste
for music, and devoted much of her time to the harpsichord, accompanied
by the melodious voice of a lady of her court.
There was in the queen's dress a noble simplicity which exhibited more
taste than magnificence. As her mind had been cultivated by reading
the most eminent writers of modern times, she read regularly for two
hours before dinner with Fräulein Schülenburg, whatever her Majesty
thought most conducive to her instruction or entertainment, in poetry
and history, the ladies communicating their observations to each other
with equal freedom and ingenuity. The queen improved the knowledge she
had acquired of the German language, and had a selection of the best
authors of that learned nation. As her manners were the most polished,
graceful, and endearing, her court became the resort of persons of
both sexes, celebrated for their love of the fine arts. The contracted
state of her finances could not restrain the princely magnificence and
liberal disposition which made her purse ever open to indigent merit and
distressed virtue. Naturally cheerful and happy in the consciousness of
her innocence, adored and revered by the circle of a court free from
cabals and intrigues, even the dark cloud of adversity could not alter
the sweetness and serenity of her temper. She was surrounded by faithful
servants, who attended her, not from sordid motives of ambition, but from
attachment and unfeigned regard.
Peace, content, and harmony dwelt under her Majesty's auspices, and
her household was like a well-regulated family, superintended by a
mistress who made her happiness consist in doing good to all those who
implored her Majesty's compassion and benevolence. Banished with every
circumstance of indignity from the throne of Denmark, her noble soul
retained no sentiment of revenge or resentment against the wicked authors
of her fall, or against the Danish people. Ambition, a passion from which
she was singularly exempt, never disturbed her peace of mind; and she
looked back to the diadem which had been torn from her brow with wondrous
calmness and magnanimity.
It was not the crown Caroline Matilda regretted, for her children alone
occupied all her care and solicitude; the feelings of the queen were
absorbed in those of the mother; and if she ever manifested by tears her
inward grief and perplexity, maternal fondness caused all these fears and
agitations.[44]
In October of this year Sir R. Keith was requested by Lord Suffolk to
visit Caroline Matilda, and send in a minute account of her position and
feelings. How well the ambassador performed his task will be seen from
his letter.
SIR R. M. KEITH TO LORD SUFFOLK.
_Zell_, _November_ 2, 1772.
MY LORD,--
I arrived here on the 31st October, late in the evening, and the next day
had the honour of delivering the king's letter to her Danish Majesty,
whom I found in perfect health, and without any remains of pain from her
late accident. In two very long audiences, which her Majesty was pleased
to grant me, I endeavoured to execute, with the utmost punctuality,
his Majesty's command, and shall now lay before your lordship all the
lights those audiences afforded me, relative to the queen's wishes and
intentions. I cannot enter upon that subject without previously assuring
your lordship that the queen received those repeated proofs of his
Majesty's fraternal affection and friendship, which my orders contained,
with the warmest expressions of gratitude and sensibility; and that
nothing could be more frank or explicit than her answers to a great
number of questions, which she permitted me to ask upon any subject that
arose.
In regard to Denmark, the queen declares that, in the present situation
of the court, she has not a wish for any correspondence or connection
there, beyond what immediately concerns the welfare and education of her
children. That she has never written a single letter to Denmark since she
left it, or received one thence. That the only person belonging to that
kingdom from whom she hears lives in Holstein, and is not connected with
the court.
The queen having expressed great anxiety with respect to the false
impressions which may be instilled into the minds of her children,
particularly regarding herself, I thought it my duty to say that such
impressions, however cruelly intended, could not, at the tender age
of her Majesty's children, nor for some years to come, take so deep a
root as not to be entirely effaced by more candid instructions, and the
dictates of filial duty, when reason and reflection shall break in upon
their minds. The queen seemed willing to lay hold of that hope, yet could
not help bursting into tears, when she mentioned the danger of losing the
affections of her children.
Her Majesty appears very desirous to communicate directly to her royal
brother all her views and wishes in the most confidential manner, hoping
to obtain in return his Majesty's advice and directions, which she
intends implicitly to follow. She said that, in matters of so private and
domestic a nature, it would give her much greater pleasure to learn his
Majesty's intentions upon every point from his own pen, than through the
channel of any of his electoral servants.
It gave me great satisfaction to find her Majesty in very good spirits,
and so much pleased with the palace at Zell, the apartments of which are
very spacious, and handsomely furnished. She wishes to have an apartment
fitted up in the palace for her sister, the Princess of Brunswick, as she
thinks that the etiquette of this country does not permit that princess,
in her visits to Zell, to be lodged out of the palace, without great
impropriety. Her Majesty said that she intended to write herself to the
king on this head.
The queen told me that the very enterprising and dangerous part which
Queen Juliana has acted in Denmark, has created greater astonishment in
Brunswick (where the abilities and character of that princess are known)
than, perhaps, in any other city of Europe.
Her Majesty talked to me of several late incidents at the court of
Denmark, but without appearing to take much concern in them. She
mentioned, with a smile, some of the paltry things which had been sent
as a part of her baggage from Denmark, adding, that this new instance
of their meanness had not surprised her. But the Princess of Brunswick,
who happened to be present when the baggage was opened, expressed her
indignation at the treatment in such strong terms, that she (the queen)
could not help taking notice of it in her letters to the king.
She let me understand that a small collection of English books would be
very agreeable to her, leaving the choice of them entirely to his Majesty.
Her Majesty more than once expressed how much she considered herself
obliged to the king's ministers, for the zeal they had shown in the whole
of the late unhappy transactions relating to Denmark and to herself.
She is particularly sensible to the great share your lordship had in
all those affairs, and has commanded me to convey to your lordship her
acknowledgments for that constant attention to her honour and interests,
which she is persuaded the king will look upon as an additional mark of
your lordship's dutiful attachment to his royal person and family.
It only remains that I should beg your forgiveness for the great length
to which I have swelled this letter. The only excuse I can offer arises
from my ardent desire to excuse the king's orders with the utmost
possible precision.
I am, &c., &c.,
R. M. KEITH.[45]
* * * * *
At home, Caroline Matilda appeared to have dropped out of memory with
her landing at Stade. Her name is never found in the journals of the
time. Grub-street alone took possession of her memory. In those days
many literary scoundrels earned a precarious livelihood by deliberately
forging pamphlets on topics of interest at the moment, and thought
nothing of trying to enhance their veracity by assuming names and titles
to which they had not the slightest claim. One of these hungry gentry
received a severe discomfiture, and must have felt ashamed, if he could
feel shame, from honest Reverdil, in the July number of the _Monthly
Review_. Reverdil's letter, written in English, is tremendously to the
point. The lie, with a circumstance, bore the title of--"The real Views
and Political System of the late Revolution of Copenhagen. By Christian
Adolphus Rothes, formerly Councillor of Conference, Secretary of the
Cabinet to his Majesty Christiern (_sic_) VII., and Great Assessor of the
Supreme Council at Altona."
To which Reverdil quietly makes answer:--
1. As I am pretty well acquainted with the Danish service, I can assure
you that there is not in Denmark, Norway, or any of the Danish dominions,
such a man as Mr. Christian Adolphus Rothes, in any employment whatever.
2. The dignity of Councillor of Conference being merely titular, there is
no _formerly_ Councillor.
3. The present king, Christian VII., has had three secretaries of the
cabinet: the first is now in London (himself); the second, who followed
his master on his voyage, is in the Court of Chancery at Copenhagen; the
third was beheaded on April 28.
4. There is no supreme council at Altona; that town, being no capital,
hath but a corporation, and no other council. In that corporation there
is no assessor, great or little.
To this crushing reply Reverdil adds that every circumstance in the book
is absolutely false, and grounded on facts and a state of things that
never existed. For instance, the conduct of the queen dowager in the
king's council is very circumstantially described; but she never sat in
the king's council.[46]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 34: De Flaux: "Du Danemarc."]
[Footnote 35: "Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen," p. 94.]
[Footnote 36: _General Evening Post_, May 14.]
[Footnote 37: "Walpole's Journal of the Reign of George III.," vol. i.
pp. 89-91.]
[Footnote 38: Sir R. M. Keith's "Memoirs," vol. i. p. 287.]
[Footnote 39: Coxe's "Travels," vol. v. p. 113.]
[Footnote 40: "Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen," p. 98.]
[Footnote 41: "Authentische Aufklärungen," p. 252.]
[Footnote 42: The following interesting account, which I have found
in a pamphlet published under the title of "Sittliche Frage," was not
sufficiently authenticated to be embodied in my text. Still I do not
think it should be passed over, as it affords an idea of the sentiments
of the queen's party.
Keith laid before the king the letter of separation for his signature,
which the king was about to sign without reading. "No, no, your Majesty,"
the envoy said, "read it first. It concerns you. It is the separation
between yourself and your consort, which the court of England solicits
for the reasons given." The king cried in confusion, "What! I am to lose
my wife? State it even in writing? No, I cannot. I love and long for
her again. Where are Struensee and Brandt? I long for them too." "Your
Majesty," Keith replied, "they have been quartered, your Majesty signed
their sentences yourself, and as it is also wished to condemn the queen
to death, my court demands her back." The king became inconsolable. He
asked for the queen and his two counts, and dismissed the envoy.
That England imposed weighty points on the Danish court, and demanded
all possible satisfaction for the trick played the queen regnant, is
evident from the following facts:--The queen is still called Queen of
Denmark, even by the Danish court; her children by the king are brought
up royally, and called the crown prince of the Danish kingdom and the
king's daughter. When she set out from Kronborg for Celle, all royal
honours were granted (which could not have been the case had the fabulous
intercourse been true), and a pension of 30,000 rix-dollars is to be paid
her annually.
The king now lives very sadly, and his days pass away in melancholy. He
still exclaims, "My wife, my wife! she has been torn from me. I ask for
her again. My ministers, my Struensee and Brandt, where are they? They
have been condemned to death. They have passed over into eternity, and I
am left desolate."]
[Footnote 43: They write from Hanover that the Hereditary Princess of
Brunswick has been at Goerde, accompanied, contrary to expectation, by
her husband, which is looked upon as a convincing proof that a perfect
harmony subsists between these two illustrious personages. They stayed
four days with Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark, who was overjoyed to
see her sister. It is since reported that the queen may possibly soon
make a tour to Brunswick.--_Annual Register_ for 1772.]
[Footnote 44: I am indebted for this account to the "Memoirs of an
Unfortunate Queen," and it the more confirms my opinion that the book was
written by some one immediately about her Majesty's person.]
[Footnote 45: "Memoirs of Sir R. M. Keith," vol. i., p. 304.]
[Footnote 46: I have, perhaps, dwelt more fully on this subject than
it deserves; but I have also suffered from this iniquitous system. My
agent in Germany wrote me some months ago that he had made an invaluable
_trouvaille_--no less than an apology for Caroline Matilda, written by
herself. Of course, I at once secured it; but was rather disappointed to
find that it was translated from the English. On reading, I found many
discrepancies, but did not give up all hope of being able to make use of
the pamphlet. I had the British Museum searched for the original, but in
vain; and I began to think that the alleged translation was only intended
to add value to a document which might have been drawn up by a German
from expressions which had fallen from the queen. Imagine my disgust
when, as the reward of all my trouble, I found in the list of pamphlets
in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1772, the following:--
"The Queen of Denmark's own Account of the late Revolution in Denmark:
Written while her Majesty was a Prisoner in the Castle of Cronenburgh,
and now first published from the Original Manuscript sent to a noble
Earl." 8vo., 1s. 6d. Wheble.
The publisher and the title were quite sufficient to convince me that the
pamphlet issued from the great _officina_ of Grub Street.]