CHAPTER XIII.[94]

CHAPTER XIII.[94]THE RESTORATION PLOT.1774-1775.[94]This chapter is based upon Sir N. Wraxallâ€™sPosthumous Memoirs, vol. i., where a more detailed narrative will be found.Altona, then a town in Danish territory, was only half a mile from the free city of Hamburg, and at the time of Wraxallâ€™s visit was thronged with partisans of the deposed Queen. Many of them had been exiled from Copenhagen after the palace revolution of 1772; several belonged to the Danish nobility, and chief among these was Baron BÃ¼low, who had formerly held the post of Master of the Horse to Queen Matilda. Owing to the unpopularity of the Queen-Dowagerâ€™s rule at Copenhagen, their numbers were increasing daily, and already a plan was under consideration to effect another palace revolution, abolish Juliana Maria and her adherents, and restore Matilda. But so far the plan existed on paper only; no steps had been taken to carry it into effect.Things had not gone well with the Danish Government at Copenhagen since Matilda had sailed from Kronborg more than two years before. The Queen-Dowager quickly found that it was one thing toseize power and another to maintain it; her spell of popularity was brief, and before long she became the most hated woman in Denmark, not always very justly, for according to her lights she seems honestly to have tried to do her duty. Before long the conspirators who, under her, had effected the palace revolution fell out among themselves, and the Government was split into two factions, with Rantzau and KÃ¶ller-Banner on one side, Eickstedt and Guldberg on the other, and Osten trimming between the two. It was not long before the Guldberg faction triumphed. Rantzau was compelled to resign all his offices, and dismissed with a pension to his estates in Holstein, but, as he showed a desire to return to Copenhagen, he was eventually exiled.[95]Osten was banished to Jutland, where he was living in retirement.[96]KÃ¶ller-Banner was in disgrace, and dismissed from his posts on a suspicion of treasonable correspondence with the French and Swedish envoys. The Queen-Dowager tried to recall him, for he was a favourite with her, and succeeded for a time; but he was eventually overthrown.[97]Thus retribution had fallen on some of Matildaâ€™s chief enemies, and though others, like Eickstedt and Beringskjold, remained, their authority was shaken, and the whole power had insensibly passed into the hands ofGuldberg, who acquired the unbounded confidence of the Queen-Dowager. Guldberg was very clever, and a far more cautious man than Struensee, though he did not possess either his genius or his aspirations. The first step of the new Government had been to establish the oldrÃ©gime, and to abolish all the reforms brought in by Struensee,[98]and place the power once more in the hands of the privileged classes. But the people, having once tasted the sweets of liberty, did not take kindly to the re-imposition of their former yoke, and the Government grew daily more unpopular. Much though they had disliked Struensee, they had approved of many of his reforms: it was not so much what he did, as the way he did it, to which they objected.[95]Rantzau went to the south of France. He died in 1789, in his seventy-second year.[96]A few years later Osten was recalled, and appointed President of the Supreme Court in Copenhagen, but he fell again with Juliana Mariaâ€™s Government, and died in 1797 at the age of eighty years.[97]KÃ¶ller-Banner died at Altona in 1811.[98]The only one that remains of Struenseeâ€™s institutions to this day is the foundling hospital, which was so bitterly attacked at the time of its foundation.The King, who was theoretically the source of all power, was tightly held in the grasp of the Queen-Dowager, whom he had now come to hate quite as much as he used to hate Struensee and Brandt. But he was powerless to free himself from this thraldom, though at times he showed flashes of insubordination. For instance, in one of his comparatively lucid intervals he signed a state paper as follows: â€œChristian VII. by the grace of God King of Denmark, etc., in company with Juliana Maria by the grace of the devil.â€ He often lamented the loss of Matilda, whom he said he had been forced to divorce against his will, and wishedher back again. He had probably discovered that this annoyed the Queen-Dowager more than anything else, and so he spoke of his wife in the most affectionate terms. Of his divorce he said it was the only one on record effected when neither of the parties wished it. In the popular mind, too, a strong reaction had set in in favour of the exiled Queen. She had always been kind and affable to the people, and she was credited with whatever was beneficial to them in Struenseeâ€™s legislation. The picture of her torn from her children and forced to live in exile powerfully appealed to the public imagination, and now that Struensee was out of the way her popularity returned with threefold force. Her sufferings and sorrows were attributed to the vindictiveness of the Queen-Dowager; all Matildaâ€™s shortcomings were forgiven on the score of her youth and inexperience; it was declared that she was the innocent victim of a cruel plot, and she gradually became vested in the eyes of the people with the attributes of a saint and a martyr. The Queen-Dowager was aware of this and sought to win over the malcontents. â€œThe suspected partisans and friends of the unfortunate [Queen] have many of them been caressed this winter,â€ writes Woodford, â€œand some have received places.â€[99]But her efforts did not meet with great success. Those of the Danish nobility who favoured Matildaâ€™s cause were aware of the popular feeling, and did their utmost to encourage it, for they counted on theyoung Queenâ€™s personality as their most powerful weapon to overthrow the Guldberg ministry and the domination of Juliana Maria.[99]Woodfordâ€™s despatch, Copenhagen, July 18, 1773.Such, then, was the state of affairs in Denmark when Wraxall arrived at Hamburg after his visit to Matilda at Celle. The opera, the theatre and all public amusements were at Hamburg; it consequently offered great attractions to the Danish families at Altona, and many of them were constantly to be found in the places of amusement at Hamburg, and in the houses of its wealthy citizens. Wraxall dined with Hanbury, the English consul, on September 28, and among the company present were several Danes, including Baroness BÃ¼low, Baron and Baroness Schimmelmann and M. le Texier, who had been treasurer to Christian VII. during his tour in England. He also saw at the opera the next night the beautiful Countess Holstein, who had taken refuge in Altona. He says: â€œI examined her through my glass. She is doubtless pretty, though not in my opinion so divinely fair as fame says. Her history at Hirschholm is well known. There was no gallantry, I thought, marked in her features, though it is said she certainly has that quality in her constitution. I thought of the unhappy Brandt as I looked at her.â€ Wraxall was well received by several of the first families at Hamburg, and one night, when he was supping at the house of a brother-in-law of Le Texier, where several of the Danish nobility were present, he spoke of his recent visit to Celle,and expressed himself strongly in favour of Queen Matilda, and spoke of his eagerness to avenge her wrongs. He was a young man of mercurial temperament, and had probably supped too freely, but his words made an impression on the Danes who were present.A few days later Le Texier called upon Wraxall, and with an air of secrecy asked him if he really meant what he said the other evening, and whether he would be willing to serve the Queen of Denmark, because, in that case, he could put him in the way of doing so. Wraxall was momentarily overcome with astonishment at being taken at his word, but he soon recovered himself, and declared with all the enthusiasm of youth that he was willing to risk his life, if need be, for the sake of the young Queen. Le Texier within the next few days introduced him to the eldest son of Baron Schimmelmann, and then to Baron BÃ¼low. These two were the leaders of a project to restore the Queen. So far they had not been able to communicate with Matilda, for though Celle was only eighty miles distant from Hamburg and Altona, they were surrounded by spies from the court of Copenhagen, who reported every movement they made. At Celle, too, there were spies, who would assuredly have reported the arrival of any Dane there. Wraxall, therefore, a young Englishman travelling apparently for his pleasure, was the very agent they wanted to open up communications with the Queen. Baron BÃ¼low having sworn Wraxall to secrecy, unfolded at some length the planwhich had been formed, and bade him acquaint the Queen with it verbally, since they were afraid to put anything on paper. He gave Wraxall his seal as his credentials to prove to the Queen that he came from BÃ¼low. Wraxall was instructed to go to Celle and tell the Queen that a numerous and powerful party were anxious to restore her to the throne, and were willing to incur the dangers of such an enterprise if she on her part would agree to the following conditions:â€”First: She must assure them of her willingness to return to Denmark and take up the reins of government, which the King was incapacitated from holding in his own hands.Secondly: She must co-operate with, and assist, her adherents in every way in her power.Thirdly: She must endeavour to induce her brother, the King of England, to extend his powerful protection and assistance to the enterprise.This last condition was adjudged the most important, for according to Woodford, who followed Keith at Copenhagen, the idea which discouraged the partisans and well-wishers of the unfortunate Queen was that: â€œHis Majesty is too offended ever to permit his royal sister to return again to this country.â€[100][100]Woodfordâ€™s despatch to Suffolk, Copenhagen, October 17, 1772.Thus authorised and instructed, Wraxall set out from Hamburg on the evening of October 8, and by travelling all night reached Celle the evening of the following day. He learned to his regret that thePrincess of Brunswick was still at the castle, for BÃ¼low and his friends had warned him that she was not to be trusted in this matter, as she was the niece by marriage of Juliana Maria; also they feared that Matilda might confide in her sister too freely. Wraxall, therefore, determined to say that he had come back from Hamburg to Celle as the bearer of a letter from Mr. Matthews, the British minister there, to the Queen. The letter, it need scarcely be said, was not from Matthews, but from Wraxall, in which he informed the Queen, without mentioning names, of the proposed plan for her restoration. On the first page of the letter he wrote a warning, in which he entreated the Queen to consider what followed as secret, and to be especially careful not to arouse the suspicions of the Princess of Brunswick. The following morning Wraxall waited upon the Queenâ€™s chamberlain, Baron Seckendorf, and told him he had a letter for her Majesty from the English minister at Hamburg, relative to a company of travelling comedians whom he understood the Queen wished to act at Celle, and he would like to deliver it into her own hands. Seckendorf shortly returned with a message from the Queen, saying that she would be pleased to see Mr. Wraxall at dinner at two oâ€™clock the same day. At that hour he presented himself at the castle, and awaited the Queen with her household in the long gallery. Presently the Queen and the Princess of Brunswick came together out of the Queenâ€™s apartments, and the Queen, advancing towards Wraxall, said: â€œIam glad to see you here again. I understand that you have a letter for me from Mr. Matthews.â€ Wraxall presented it, and the Queen withdrew to the window to break the seals. The Princess of Brunswick also welcomed Wraxall cordially, and he tried to keep her in conversation while the Queen was glancing over her letter. He noticed the Queen start when she read the first lines, and she hastily put the paper into her pocket, her face showing considerable agitation, but as dinner was announced at that moment her confusion did not attract attention. What followed had better be told in Wraxallâ€™s own words:â€”â€œAt table Caroline Matilda recovered herself, and conversed with her usual freedom and gaiety. The Queen and Princess were seated in two state chairs, separated nearly five feet from each other. When the dessert was brought the Queen, unable any longer to restrain her curiosity and impatience, took the letter from her pocket, and, placing it in her lap, perused it from the beginning to the end; from time to time she raised her eyes, and took part in the conversation. The distance at which she was from the Princess of Brunswick rendered it impossible for the letter to be overlooked.â€ After taking coffee the Queen and the Princess withdrew, and Wraxall returned to the little inn where he lodged.A few hours later Wraxall received a visit from Seckendorf, who told him that the Queen had informed him of the whole business, and had senthim as her confidential agent. She was fully alive to the necessity of caution, and she therefore feared she would not be able to receive Wraxall in private audience while her sister was there, as the Princess scarcely quitted her for a moment, but if he would send his credentials through Seckendorf she would communicate with him further. Wraxall then gave to Seckendorf BÃ¼lowâ€™s signet-ring, and acquainted him with the names of those from whom he came. The following day Seckendorf came back with the Queenâ€™s answer, which he delivered verbally. It was to the following effect: That the Queen, as she was living under the protection of her brother, the King of England, could not commit herself to any plan without first obtaining his consent and approbation. That, if she consulted only her own happiness and peace of mind, she would never return to Copenhagen, but her duties as a mother and a queen compelled her to overlook the wrongs she had suffered, and resume her station in Denmark if a proper opportunity offered. That, as far as she herself was concerned, she agreed to the propositions made by the Danish nobility if it could be proved to her that they were sufficiently numerous and powerful to carry out their plans with any hope of success; on this point she desired they would give her more information. She would then write as strongly as possible to the King of England, and ask him to lend his assistance towards her restoration. She returned BÃ¼lowâ€™s seal, which she had enclosed in an envelope addressed in her ownhandwriting to Baron BÃ¼low, and sealed with one of her own seals; she had also written her initials â€œC. M.â€ on the envelope, but beyond this she wrote nothing.Armed with this Wraxall left Celle the following day, and returned to Hamburg where he reported his progress to Baron BÃ¼low (who met him at a retired spot on the ramparts) and gave him back his seal. BÃ¼low immediately recognised the Queenâ€™s handwriting on the envelope, which was Wraxallâ€™s credential, and, when he had learned all that had passed, he said he would communicate with his associates, and inform Wraxall again.Wraxall remained at Hamburg a week, and then received instructions to return to Celle. His message to Queen Matilda, as before, was only verbal, though he was authorised to put it on paper when he reached Celle. It was to the following effect: The Danish nobility thanked the Queen for her gracious reply to their communication, and were quite satisfied with it. With regard to her request for further information, Baron BÃ¼low, in addition to himself and Baron Schimmelmann the younger, was empowered to answer for the Viceroy of Norway, who would secure that kingdom and its capital, Christiania, for the Queen; for Baron Schimmelmann the elder, who, though he refused to take any active part in the enterprise, or to risk by any overt act his safety and vast fortune, was sincerely attached to the cause; for the Governor of GlÃ¼ckstadt, one of the most important fortresses in Holstein,who was disposed to aid the Queen; for certain officers in Rendsburg, the key of Schleswig, which would open its gates (as the party had secret adherents in the garrison, who would declare themselves on the Queenâ€™s side) when the moment arrived; and for numerous friends who, he declared, were powerful in the army, the navy, the guards, in the metropolis, and even about the person of the King himself. For the rest, the Queenâ€™s friends entreated her to be content with the assurances of the Baron BÃ¼low, their spokesman, and not ask for a list of all the names, which would be dangerous. They also urged her to write to the King of England as soon as possible, and ask him not only whether he would approve of the plan to restore his sister, but if he would grant some pecuniary assistance towards it. During the forthcoming winter they would prepare everything to carry out their plans, and strike the blow in the spring, as soon as the two Belts should be free of ice.Fortified with this message, Wraxall again went to Celle, entering the town this timeincognito, and lodging under an assumed name in a little inn in the suburbs. He communicated immediately with Seckendorf, who came to him the following morning, informed him the Princess of Brunswick was no longer at Celle, and took his letters and messages to deliver to the Queen. A few hours later Seckendorf came back, and told Wraxall to go immediately to the French garden outside the town, where the Queen would meet him. Wraxall repaired thitherwithout delay, and a few minutes later the Queen drove up in a coach. She sent away her carriage and all her attendants except one lady, who discreetly retired to a pavilion. The Queen gave Wraxall an hourâ€™s interview. During the greater part of the time they paced up and down between the avenue of limes in a secluded part of the garden. The Queen spoke quite unreservedly. She said that she was satisfied with the names mentioned, and, for the rest, she would trust the good faith of Baron BÃ¼low. That she would write to the King of England with great earnestness, and ask him to send a minister to Copenhagen, friendly to her restoration, and also to help the cause with money; for herself, she regretted that she could not contribute, owing to her limited income, which only sufficed for her needs, and she had no jewels, as everything had been robbed from her when she left Denmark. That she was quite willing for her part to visit her friends in disguise, but she was convinced that the King her brother would never permit her to do so. â€œStill,â€ she added, â€œcould I come, or did I come disguised, nobody would know me, as I am much altered since I was in Denmark.â€ This was true, as the Queen since her residence at Celle had become very stout. She determined that Wraxall should go to London to endeavour to obtain an audience of the King, and the Queen gave him very minute instructions as to how he was to behave. â€œYou must,â€ she said, â€œgo very quietly to work with my brother. If you manage with address, he will favour theattempt, but it will be tacitly, not openly.â€ When the conversation was ended the Queen took Wraxall to the summer-house, where her lady was waiting, and a dessert of fruit was laid; here he took his leave. The Queen mentioned during the audience that no less than three emissaries from Copenhagen had reached her since she came to Celle, but as they were all either suspicious or worthless she refused to have anything to say to them.Acting on the Queenâ€™s commands and the instructions of BÃ¼low, Wraxall started the following day for England,viaOsnabrÃ¼ck; he arrived in London on November 15. The Queen had told him to go first either to Lord Suffolk or to the Baron von Lichtenstein, grand marshal of the court of Hanover, then in London, who was highly esteemed by the King, and who had shown her much kindness: she had written to them both. Wraxall first called on Lord Suffolk in Downing Street, but that nobleman either would not, or could not, see him, urging in excuse that he was ill with the gout. So Wraxall repaired to Lichtensteinâ€™s lodgings in Pall Mall, where he was more fortunate. He gave Lichtenstein the Queenâ€™s letter, and the Hanoverian promised that he would try to find an opportunity to put the matter before the King; but he advised Wraxall not to call again on Lord Suffolk until he had seen the King. He then asked Wraxall several questions, which the latter answered to the best of his ability, and gave him the fullest account possible of the project, and of everybody connected with it.Three days later Lichtenstein saw Wraxall again, and told him that he had talked to the King at â€œQueenâ€™s Houseâ€ on the subject, and that the King had given him positive injunctions that Wraxall was not to see Lord Suffolk, but to consider Lichtenstein the sole medium through which all communications were to pass to the King. The King was at present considering the Queenâ€™s letter, and until he had considered it he did not think fit to grant Wraxall an audience; but he commanded him to put on paper a full and complete account of the project, including the names of every one connected with it directly or indirectly. Wraxall thereupon drew up another long document, which was duly transmitted to the King through Lichtenstein, and on December 5 he received the Kingâ€™s answer through the same medium. George III. was very cautious: he gave a general approval of the plan to effect the Queenâ€™s restoration, but he refused to lend any direct assistance; he therefore declined to advance any money at present, and finally he would not be induced by any entreaties of the Queen, or by any supplications of the Danish nobility, to affix his signature to any paper promising aid, or expressing general approbation. This unsatisfactory reply Wraxall transmitted to BÃ¼low by cipher at Hamburg, and he also wrote to the Queen through Baron Seckendorf. From Seckendorf he received an answer on January 3, 1775, expressing the Queenâ€™s satisfaction with the Kingâ€™s approval, though regretting the qualifications which accompanied it. OnJanuary 20 he received an answer from BÃ¼low, in which he adjured Wraxall to return to Hamburg as soon as possible, with the Kingâ€™s approbation authenticated in whatever way might be practicable. He added that his friends were busily preparing everything to strike the decisive blow, and they were sanguine of success. These letters Wraxall at once communicated to Lichtenstein, who submitted them to the King. On February 2 Wraxall received through Lichtenstein a letter from the King to his sister, and a paper containing four articles, which the Baron drew up in Wraxallâ€™s presence, and affixed his seal and signature to themâ€”so empowered by the King. These articles ran as follows:â€”â€œFirst: His Britannic Majesty gives his consent and approval to the plan concerted by the adherents of his sister, the Queen of Denmark, for restoring her to the throne.â€œSecondly: His Majesty insists that in the execution of it no blood be spilled, nor any measures of severity exercised towards the personal administration in Denmark, except such as are indispensable to maintain the counter-revolution.â€œThirdly: His Britannic Majesty guarantees the repayment of all the money advanced or expended in a necessary prosecution of the Queen of Denmarkâ€™s revolution.â€œFourthly: His Britannic Majesty will authorise and empower his resident at the court of Copenhagen to declare in the most public manner, as soon as therevolution in favour of the Queen is accomplished, that the King of Great Britain approves of it, and will maintain it against all opposition.â€LOUISE AUGUSTA, PRINCESS OF DENMARK AND DUCHESS OF AUGUSTENBURG, DAUGHTER OF QUEEN MATILDA.LOUISE AUGUSTA, PRINCESS OF DENMARK AND DUCHESS OF AUGUSTENBURG, DAUGHTER OF QUEEN MATILDA.Lichtenstein told Wraxall that it was the Kingâ€™s pleasure that he should first go to Celle to deliver the letter to the Queen, and show her the articles signed by Lichtenstein; then, after he had seen the Queen, he was to proceed to her Danish adherents at Hamburg. Accordingly, Wraxall left London on February 3, 1775, and after a long and troublesome journey arrived at Celle a fortnight later, on February 17.[101]He entered the town as before under an assumed name, and went to an obscure inn. The next morning he received a visit from Seckendorf, who received him with pleasure, and told him that the Queen was most impatient to see him, and would give him an audience that afternoon. â€œWhen you hear the palace clock strike four,â€ Seckendorf said, â€œset out from the inn on foot for the castle. Mantel, the Queenâ€™s valet, will wait to receive you, and conduct you to her.â€ Accordingly, Wraxall gave Seckendorf his despatches, and went to the castle at the hour named. Mantel was waiting for him, and admitted him through a side door, probably in the western wing. He was led through a great number of rooms to a small apartment, and there left alone; at the end of it were stairs leading to the Queenâ€™schamber.[102]A minute later the Queen came into the room, and welcomed Wraxall most graciously. Their interview is best told in his own words:â€”â€œWe conversed till about ten minutes past six entirely alone, and in the most unreservedly undisguised manner. Her Majesty made me the recital of her reignâ€”of the revolutionâ€”of her own conduct on that fatal night when she lost her crown. I listened in silence and astonishment. What a recapitulation did she not make me! Her words are for ever engraven on my heart; I could repeat her story almost verbatim. I know what scarce any other man on earth can know. I must own her unreserve, her goodness, her minute detail of circumstances the most concealed in their nature, my situation quite alone with her, superadded to some consciousness still more affecting, made me more than once forget I was talking to a queen. She was dressed in a brown silk polonaise, trimmed with green silk, her hair powdered, a locket on her bosom. Her under-lip is too large, but her teeth are fine, and that family violence in speaking becomes her; her nose is finely shaped, and her eyes are eloquent; she is thinner in the face than she was last October. She showed me his Majestyâ€™s letters to her, and permitted me to carry an extract from one away with me. She was obliged to leave me soon after six, which otherwise she seemed inno way inclined to do. Her talents are very good, and in mimicry she excels; her specimen of Prince Frederick of Denmark was excellent.â€[101]In his private journal Wraxall gives a long account of the hardships of this journey, but, as they concern himself rather than the Queen of Denmark, I omit them here.[102]I have seen this roomâ€”a small, dark apartment. It was the garde-robe (or dressing-room), and is on the way from the Queenâ€™s bedroom and the chapel.After another interview with Seckendorf Wraxall was conducted out of the castle as secretly as he came. The next day he went to Hamburg, where, after an inclement journey, he arrived on February 21. At Hamburg he remained three weeks, and saw a good deal of Baron BÃ¼low, to whom he communicated the result of his visit to England and many messages from Queen Matilda. The articles drawn up and signed by Lichtenstein on behalf of George III., which Wraxall had first submitted to Matilda, he now handed to BÃ¼low, who received them with mingled feelings. The first two articles he wholly approved, but he regretted that George III. would not advance any pecuniary assistance and still more he lamented the fourth article, which promised that the English envoy at Copenhagen would only support and avow the revolutionafterit had been effected, instead of avowing it while it was actually in progress.BÃ¼low forwarded the articles to his confederates in Copenhagen, and also had many consultations with his friends at Altona. It was not until March 14 that he received an answer from Copenhagen, which was much as BÃ¼low had anticipated: all the conspirators objected to the fourth article, and all agreed that it would be well to get the King of England to reconsider his decision on that point. What they asked was that the British envoyshould come forward at the time they were effecting the counter-revolution, and publicly avow it on behalf of the King, his master. BÃ¼low therefore resolved that a letter to the King of England should be drawn up to this effect, and Wraxall should convey it to London.On March 20 BÃ¼low gave Wraxall the letter to the King. His instructions were that he should take this document first to Celle, submit it to the Queen, and ask her to enclose it in a letter written by herself to the King of England, in which she would urge their plea by every means in her power. Wraxall was also to acquaint the Queen with the plan of the revolution, which was now settled, and was as follows: On the day fixed certain of the conspirators would repair to the palace, obtain access to the King (Christian VII.), and induce, or compel, him to affix his name to documents already drawn up. These documents would include an order to the Queen-Dowager to retire to her own apartment until the Kingâ€™s further pleasure were known, and to Prince Frederick to remove to one of the country palacesâ€”probably that of Frederiksborg. At the same time, by virtue of a similar order, the ministers would be dismissed, or arrested, and a messenger sent off to Celle to invite the Queen to return to Denmark to resume her proper rank and authority. That their measures would be so well concerted and so rapidly executed as to produce the counter-revolution in a space of a few hours. That they trusted, therefore, Queen Matildaon her part would repair with all possible expedition to Copenhagen. A proper escort, becoming her dignity, would be formed to accompany her from Altona through the Danish territories, and her adherents calculated that she might, with despatch, reach Copenhagen in four days from the time of her quitting Celle, if no extraordinary impediment arose in her crossing the two Belts. Her presence in the capital of Denmark would animate the courage of her friends, cover her enemies with consternation, and complete the counter-revolution.Wraxall arrived at Celle on March 22 with the same secrecy as on former occasions. As the Princess of Brunswick was at the castle he was unable to see the Queen for two days, and then he was taken to the Queen secretly on the night of Friday, March 24, and had an audience with her after the Princess of Brunswick had retired to rest. It was a dark and stormy night when Wraxall set out from his lodgings, and he waited for some little time at the entrance of the drawbridge over the moat, sheltering himself as well as he could from the wind and rain. At last Mantel came, and led him in silence over the drawbridge, under the portico, and into the courtyard of the castle, and thence by a side door up a private staircase and along a corridor into the Queenâ€™s library or boudoir. â€œTwo candles were burning,â€ says Wraxall, â€œand the book-cases were thrown open, as it was uncertain at what hour the Queen would come to me.â€ He waited some time alone, and then Mantel broughthim a note from Seckendorf, saying that the Queen was in the Princess of Brunswickâ€™s apartments, and would come directly she had retired. As this was his last interview, it had better be told in his own words:â€”â€œI had scarcely perused the note when I heard the Queenâ€™s footstep on the staircase; a moment afterwards she entered the room. She was charmingly dressed, though without diamonds; she had on a crimson satin sacque and her hair dressed. I drew a chair, and entreated her to allow me to stand and receive her commands while she was seated, but she declined it, and we both stood the whole time. Our interview lasted about two hours. It was a quarter past eleven when I asked her Majesty if I should retire, and she signified her pleasure that I should. She approved of the letter drawn up by the Danish nobility to the King of Great Britain, as well as the request contained in it, which she confessed to be natural and just, though she doubted his Britannic Majestyâ€™s consent to it. â€˜I will, however,â€™ she added, â€˜write to my brother the letter requested before I go to bed to-night, enforcing as far as I am able the petition of the nobility. You shall receive it from Baron Seckendorf to-morrow morning, and at the same time that of the Danish nobility shall be returned to you.â€™â€œHer Majesty ordered me to assure Baron von BÃ¼low by letter that she was satisfied with all I communicated to her on his part, and that sheshould be ready on the shortest notice to mount on horseback in menâ€™s clothes, in order more expeditiously to reach Copenhagen, there to encounter every difficulty with her friends.â€The Queen thanked Wraxall very warmly for his zeal in her service, and said she would commend him to the King her brother, who, she doubted not, would recompense him properly. She told him to write to her freely from England, and then bade him adieu. â€œWhen the Queen was about to withdraw,â€ says Wraxall, â€œshe opened the door, but held it a few minutes in her hand as if she had something to say; she then retired.â€ He was conducted from the castle as secretly as he had entered it, and the next morning left Celle on his way to England.Wraxall arrived in London on April 5, and at once went to Lichtensteinâ€™s lodgings, but to his dismay found that the Baron had gone to Hanover ten days previously. He had, however, left him a letter, directing him to wait upon Herr von Hinuber, the HanoverianChargÃ© dâ€™Affaires. Accordingly Wraxall went to Hinuber, who told him he had â€œthe Kingâ€™s directions to take from Mr. Wraxall any letters he might have, and send them immediately to the King at theâ€˜Queenâ€™s Houseâ€™â€. Wraxall therefore gave him two packets addressed to the King, one from Queen Matilda, and the other from her Danish adherents. He also added a letter from himself, in which he again prayed the King to give him a private audience.To these letters George III. returned no reply, and Wraxall, after waiting a fortnight in London, wrote to Baron BÃ¼low telling him how matters stood, and asking for instructions; he also wrote to the Queen at Celle. Then followed another interval of silence. It was not until May 10 that Wraxall received a letter from BÃ¼low, in which he informed him that the state of affairs at Copenhagen was extremely critical, and he could not give him further directions until the return of Baron Schimmelmann the younger, who had gone to Copenhagen. In the meantime he besought him not to leave London, either for Celle or Hamburg, unless he received instructions from George III.But no word came from the King, and, while Wraxall was waiting, the London journals announced the death of the Queen of Denmark, which had taken place on May 11 at Celle.This was the first intimation Wraxall received of the melancholy event, and he was quite overcome, for it meant not only the loss of the Queen, for whom he felt a chivalrous devotion, but the death-blow to all his hopes of reward and promotion. On May 25 Wraxall received a letter from Seckendorf, in which he lamented the loss of a kind and gracious mistress at a moment when they had hoped her troubles were nearing an end. The letter also informed him of an important fact, namely, that George III. had written to Queen Matilda an answer to the letter in which she urged the request of the Danish nobility that the English envoy atCopenhagen should avow the revolution while it was in progress. Whether the King refused her prayer, or granted it, will never be known, for the letter arrived at Celle when Matilda was either dying or dead, and it was returned to the King unopened. The probability is that he refused, and preferred to send his refusal to her direct rather than through the agency of Wraxall. The fact that he declined to see Wraxall, or recognise him in any way, goes to show that he regarded the plot with very dubious approval. Of the existence of the plot there is no doubt, but Wraxallâ€™s version of it, and especially of the part he played, needs some corroborative evidence. This is afforded by a confidential letter which George III. wrote some years later to Lord North, in answer to Wraxallâ€™s repeated demands that some reward should be given him for the services he had rendered to the Kingâ€™s sister. The letter (dated February 9, 1781) ran as follows:â€”â€œYou may settle with Mr. Wraxall, member for Hinton, in any just demands he may have. Undoubtedly he was sent over by the discontented nobility of Denmark previous to the death of the late Queen, my sister, with a plan for getting her back to Copenhagen, which was introduced to me with a letter from her. Her death and my delicate situation, having consented to her retiring to my German dominions, prevented me from entering eagerly into this proposal.â€[103][103]Stanhopeâ€™sHistory of England, 3rd edition, 1853, vol. vii., Appendix xxxii. Further corroborative evidence has been furnished by the publication of some letters of BÃ¼low, in which he mentions that he employed Wraxall as his agent in the plot to restore the Queen.Wraxall considered himself very shabbily treated by George III., who turned a deaf ear to his demands for years. It was not until 1781, when Wraxall had won a seat in the House of Commons, and with it a useful vote to the Government, that the Prime Minister, Lord North, gave him, on behalf of the King, a thousand guineas for his services to the Queen of Denmark, together with the promise of a seat at the Board of Green Cloth. Wraxallâ€™s support was purchased for a time, but two years later, when he gave a vote against the Government, he forfeited all chance of further favours from the King, and the promised appointment vanished for ever. But a thousand guineas was surely a sufficient reward for a young and unknown man, admittedly in quest of adventure, who did little but carry a few letters between Hamburg, Celle and London, and it was rather for Baron BÃ¼low and the Queenâ€™s adherents, whose agent he was, to reward him than for George III.Shortly after the Queenâ€™s death Wraxall states that he received a letter from BÃ¼low, who said that the revolution was on the point of fruition when the ill news from Celle came to scatter consternation among Matildaâ€™s adherents. It would seem, therefore, that BÃ¼low and his friends would have proceeded with their plan whether George III. had granted their request or not. It is idle to speculatewhether they would have succeeded in their undertaking. All things were possible in Denmark at that time to those who could seize the person of the King. But it must be remembered that Christian VII. was closely guarded. Moreover, there is no evidence to show that the conspirators had the army on their side, and, without the help of the army, though they might have effected a revolution, they would have been unable to maintain it.

THE RESTORATION PLOT.

1774-1775.

[94]This chapter is based upon Sir N. Wraxallâ€™sPosthumous Memoirs, vol. i., where a more detailed narrative will be found.

Altona, then a town in Danish territory, was only half a mile from the free city of Hamburg, and at the time of Wraxallâ€™s visit was thronged with partisans of the deposed Queen. Many of them had been exiled from Copenhagen after the palace revolution of 1772; several belonged to the Danish nobility, and chief among these was Baron BÃ¼low, who had formerly held the post of Master of the Horse to Queen Matilda. Owing to the unpopularity of the Queen-Dowagerâ€™s rule at Copenhagen, their numbers were increasing daily, and already a plan was under consideration to effect another palace revolution, abolish Juliana Maria and her adherents, and restore Matilda. But so far the plan existed on paper only; no steps had been taken to carry it into effect.

Things had not gone well with the Danish Government at Copenhagen since Matilda had sailed from Kronborg more than two years before. The Queen-Dowager quickly found that it was one thing toseize power and another to maintain it; her spell of popularity was brief, and before long she became the most hated woman in Denmark, not always very justly, for according to her lights she seems honestly to have tried to do her duty. Before long the conspirators who, under her, had effected the palace revolution fell out among themselves, and the Government was split into two factions, with Rantzau and KÃ¶ller-Banner on one side, Eickstedt and Guldberg on the other, and Osten trimming between the two. It was not long before the Guldberg faction triumphed. Rantzau was compelled to resign all his offices, and dismissed with a pension to his estates in Holstein, but, as he showed a desire to return to Copenhagen, he was eventually exiled.[95]Osten was banished to Jutland, where he was living in retirement.[96]KÃ¶ller-Banner was in disgrace, and dismissed from his posts on a suspicion of treasonable correspondence with the French and Swedish envoys. The Queen-Dowager tried to recall him, for he was a favourite with her, and succeeded for a time; but he was eventually overthrown.[97]Thus retribution had fallen on some of Matildaâ€™s chief enemies, and though others, like Eickstedt and Beringskjold, remained, their authority was shaken, and the whole power had insensibly passed into the hands ofGuldberg, who acquired the unbounded confidence of the Queen-Dowager. Guldberg was very clever, and a far more cautious man than Struensee, though he did not possess either his genius or his aspirations. The first step of the new Government had been to establish the oldrÃ©gime, and to abolish all the reforms brought in by Struensee,[98]and place the power once more in the hands of the privileged classes. But the people, having once tasted the sweets of liberty, did not take kindly to the re-imposition of their former yoke, and the Government grew daily more unpopular. Much though they had disliked Struensee, they had approved of many of his reforms: it was not so much what he did, as the way he did it, to which they objected.

[95]Rantzau went to the south of France. He died in 1789, in his seventy-second year.

[96]A few years later Osten was recalled, and appointed President of the Supreme Court in Copenhagen, but he fell again with Juliana Mariaâ€™s Government, and died in 1797 at the age of eighty years.

[97]KÃ¶ller-Banner died at Altona in 1811.

[98]The only one that remains of Struenseeâ€™s institutions to this day is the foundling hospital, which was so bitterly attacked at the time of its foundation.

The King, who was theoretically the source of all power, was tightly held in the grasp of the Queen-Dowager, whom he had now come to hate quite as much as he used to hate Struensee and Brandt. But he was powerless to free himself from this thraldom, though at times he showed flashes of insubordination. For instance, in one of his comparatively lucid intervals he signed a state paper as follows: â€œChristian VII. by the grace of God King of Denmark, etc., in company with Juliana Maria by the grace of the devil.â€ He often lamented the loss of Matilda, whom he said he had been forced to divorce against his will, and wishedher back again. He had probably discovered that this annoyed the Queen-Dowager more than anything else, and so he spoke of his wife in the most affectionate terms. Of his divorce he said it was the only one on record effected when neither of the parties wished it. In the popular mind, too, a strong reaction had set in in favour of the exiled Queen. She had always been kind and affable to the people, and she was credited with whatever was beneficial to them in Struenseeâ€™s legislation. The picture of her torn from her children and forced to live in exile powerfully appealed to the public imagination, and now that Struensee was out of the way her popularity returned with threefold force. Her sufferings and sorrows were attributed to the vindictiveness of the Queen-Dowager; all Matildaâ€™s shortcomings were forgiven on the score of her youth and inexperience; it was declared that she was the innocent victim of a cruel plot, and she gradually became vested in the eyes of the people with the attributes of a saint and a martyr. The Queen-Dowager was aware of this and sought to win over the malcontents. â€œThe suspected partisans and friends of the unfortunate [Queen] have many of them been caressed this winter,â€ writes Woodford, â€œand some have received places.â€[99]But her efforts did not meet with great success. Those of the Danish nobility who favoured Matildaâ€™s cause were aware of the popular feeling, and did their utmost to encourage it, for they counted on theyoung Queenâ€™s personality as their most powerful weapon to overthrow the Guldberg ministry and the domination of Juliana Maria.

[99]Woodfordâ€™s despatch, Copenhagen, July 18, 1773.

Such, then, was the state of affairs in Denmark when Wraxall arrived at Hamburg after his visit to Matilda at Celle. The opera, the theatre and all public amusements were at Hamburg; it consequently offered great attractions to the Danish families at Altona, and many of them were constantly to be found in the places of amusement at Hamburg, and in the houses of its wealthy citizens. Wraxall dined with Hanbury, the English consul, on September 28, and among the company present were several Danes, including Baroness BÃ¼low, Baron and Baroness Schimmelmann and M. le Texier, who had been treasurer to Christian VII. during his tour in England. He also saw at the opera the next night the beautiful Countess Holstein, who had taken refuge in Altona. He says: â€œI examined her through my glass. She is doubtless pretty, though not in my opinion so divinely fair as fame says. Her history at Hirschholm is well known. There was no gallantry, I thought, marked in her features, though it is said she certainly has that quality in her constitution. I thought of the unhappy Brandt as I looked at her.â€ Wraxall was well received by several of the first families at Hamburg, and one night, when he was supping at the house of a brother-in-law of Le Texier, where several of the Danish nobility were present, he spoke of his recent visit to Celle,and expressed himself strongly in favour of Queen Matilda, and spoke of his eagerness to avenge her wrongs. He was a young man of mercurial temperament, and had probably supped too freely, but his words made an impression on the Danes who were present.

A few days later Le Texier called upon Wraxall, and with an air of secrecy asked him if he really meant what he said the other evening, and whether he would be willing to serve the Queen of Denmark, because, in that case, he could put him in the way of doing so. Wraxall was momentarily overcome with astonishment at being taken at his word, but he soon recovered himself, and declared with all the enthusiasm of youth that he was willing to risk his life, if need be, for the sake of the young Queen. Le Texier within the next few days introduced him to the eldest son of Baron Schimmelmann, and then to Baron BÃ¼low. These two were the leaders of a project to restore the Queen. So far they had not been able to communicate with Matilda, for though Celle was only eighty miles distant from Hamburg and Altona, they were surrounded by spies from the court of Copenhagen, who reported every movement they made. At Celle, too, there were spies, who would assuredly have reported the arrival of any Dane there. Wraxall, therefore, a young Englishman travelling apparently for his pleasure, was the very agent they wanted to open up communications with the Queen. Baron BÃ¼low having sworn Wraxall to secrecy, unfolded at some length the planwhich had been formed, and bade him acquaint the Queen with it verbally, since they were afraid to put anything on paper. He gave Wraxall his seal as his credentials to prove to the Queen that he came from BÃ¼low. Wraxall was instructed to go to Celle and tell the Queen that a numerous and powerful party were anxious to restore her to the throne, and were willing to incur the dangers of such an enterprise if she on her part would agree to the following conditions:â€”

First: She must assure them of her willingness to return to Denmark and take up the reins of government, which the King was incapacitated from holding in his own hands.Secondly: She must co-operate with, and assist, her adherents in every way in her power.Thirdly: She must endeavour to induce her brother, the King of England, to extend his powerful protection and assistance to the enterprise.

First: She must assure them of her willingness to return to Denmark and take up the reins of government, which the King was incapacitated from holding in his own hands.

Secondly: She must co-operate with, and assist, her adherents in every way in her power.

Thirdly: She must endeavour to induce her brother, the King of England, to extend his powerful protection and assistance to the enterprise.

This last condition was adjudged the most important, for according to Woodford, who followed Keith at Copenhagen, the idea which discouraged the partisans and well-wishers of the unfortunate Queen was that: â€œHis Majesty is too offended ever to permit his royal sister to return again to this country.â€[100]

[100]Woodfordâ€™s despatch to Suffolk, Copenhagen, October 17, 1772.

Thus authorised and instructed, Wraxall set out from Hamburg on the evening of October 8, and by travelling all night reached Celle the evening of the following day. He learned to his regret that thePrincess of Brunswick was still at the castle, for BÃ¼low and his friends had warned him that she was not to be trusted in this matter, as she was the niece by marriage of Juliana Maria; also they feared that Matilda might confide in her sister too freely. Wraxall, therefore, determined to say that he had come back from Hamburg to Celle as the bearer of a letter from Mr. Matthews, the British minister there, to the Queen. The letter, it need scarcely be said, was not from Matthews, but from Wraxall, in which he informed the Queen, without mentioning names, of the proposed plan for her restoration. On the first page of the letter he wrote a warning, in which he entreated the Queen to consider what followed as secret, and to be especially careful not to arouse the suspicions of the Princess of Brunswick. The following morning Wraxall waited upon the Queenâ€™s chamberlain, Baron Seckendorf, and told him he had a letter for her Majesty from the English minister at Hamburg, relative to a company of travelling comedians whom he understood the Queen wished to act at Celle, and he would like to deliver it into her own hands. Seckendorf shortly returned with a message from the Queen, saying that she would be pleased to see Mr. Wraxall at dinner at two oâ€™clock the same day. At that hour he presented himself at the castle, and awaited the Queen with her household in the long gallery. Presently the Queen and the Princess of Brunswick came together out of the Queenâ€™s apartments, and the Queen, advancing towards Wraxall, said: â€œIam glad to see you here again. I understand that you have a letter for me from Mr. Matthews.â€ Wraxall presented it, and the Queen withdrew to the window to break the seals. The Princess of Brunswick also welcomed Wraxall cordially, and he tried to keep her in conversation while the Queen was glancing over her letter. He noticed the Queen start when she read the first lines, and she hastily put the paper into her pocket, her face showing considerable agitation, but as dinner was announced at that moment her confusion did not attract attention. What followed had better be told in Wraxallâ€™s own words:â€”

â€œAt table Caroline Matilda recovered herself, and conversed with her usual freedom and gaiety. The Queen and Princess were seated in two state chairs, separated nearly five feet from each other. When the dessert was brought the Queen, unable any longer to restrain her curiosity and impatience, took the letter from her pocket, and, placing it in her lap, perused it from the beginning to the end; from time to time she raised her eyes, and took part in the conversation. The distance at which she was from the Princess of Brunswick rendered it impossible for the letter to be overlooked.â€ After taking coffee the Queen and the Princess withdrew, and Wraxall returned to the little inn where he lodged.

A few hours later Wraxall received a visit from Seckendorf, who told him that the Queen had informed him of the whole business, and had senthim as her confidential agent. She was fully alive to the necessity of caution, and she therefore feared she would not be able to receive Wraxall in private audience while her sister was there, as the Princess scarcely quitted her for a moment, but if he would send his credentials through Seckendorf she would communicate with him further. Wraxall then gave to Seckendorf BÃ¼lowâ€™s signet-ring, and acquainted him with the names of those from whom he came. The following day Seckendorf came back with the Queenâ€™s answer, which he delivered verbally. It was to the following effect: That the Queen, as she was living under the protection of her brother, the King of England, could not commit herself to any plan without first obtaining his consent and approbation. That, if she consulted only her own happiness and peace of mind, she would never return to Copenhagen, but her duties as a mother and a queen compelled her to overlook the wrongs she had suffered, and resume her station in Denmark if a proper opportunity offered. That, as far as she herself was concerned, she agreed to the propositions made by the Danish nobility if it could be proved to her that they were sufficiently numerous and powerful to carry out their plans with any hope of success; on this point she desired they would give her more information. She would then write as strongly as possible to the King of England, and ask him to lend his assistance towards her restoration. She returned BÃ¼lowâ€™s seal, which she had enclosed in an envelope addressed in her ownhandwriting to Baron BÃ¼low, and sealed with one of her own seals; she had also written her initials â€œC. M.â€ on the envelope, but beyond this she wrote nothing.

Armed with this Wraxall left Celle the following day, and returned to Hamburg where he reported his progress to Baron BÃ¼low (who met him at a retired spot on the ramparts) and gave him back his seal. BÃ¼low immediately recognised the Queenâ€™s handwriting on the envelope, which was Wraxallâ€™s credential, and, when he had learned all that had passed, he said he would communicate with his associates, and inform Wraxall again.

Wraxall remained at Hamburg a week, and then received instructions to return to Celle. His message to Queen Matilda, as before, was only verbal, though he was authorised to put it on paper when he reached Celle. It was to the following effect: The Danish nobility thanked the Queen for her gracious reply to their communication, and were quite satisfied with it. With regard to her request for further information, Baron BÃ¼low, in addition to himself and Baron Schimmelmann the younger, was empowered to answer for the Viceroy of Norway, who would secure that kingdom and its capital, Christiania, for the Queen; for Baron Schimmelmann the elder, who, though he refused to take any active part in the enterprise, or to risk by any overt act his safety and vast fortune, was sincerely attached to the cause; for the Governor of GlÃ¼ckstadt, one of the most important fortresses in Holstein,who was disposed to aid the Queen; for certain officers in Rendsburg, the key of Schleswig, which would open its gates (as the party had secret adherents in the garrison, who would declare themselves on the Queenâ€™s side) when the moment arrived; and for numerous friends who, he declared, were powerful in the army, the navy, the guards, in the metropolis, and even about the person of the King himself. For the rest, the Queenâ€™s friends entreated her to be content with the assurances of the Baron BÃ¼low, their spokesman, and not ask for a list of all the names, which would be dangerous. They also urged her to write to the King of England as soon as possible, and ask him not only whether he would approve of the plan to restore his sister, but if he would grant some pecuniary assistance towards it. During the forthcoming winter they would prepare everything to carry out their plans, and strike the blow in the spring, as soon as the two Belts should be free of ice.

Fortified with this message, Wraxall again went to Celle, entering the town this timeincognito, and lodging under an assumed name in a little inn in the suburbs. He communicated immediately with Seckendorf, who came to him the following morning, informed him the Princess of Brunswick was no longer at Celle, and took his letters and messages to deliver to the Queen. A few hours later Seckendorf came back, and told Wraxall to go immediately to the French garden outside the town, where the Queen would meet him. Wraxall repaired thitherwithout delay, and a few minutes later the Queen drove up in a coach. She sent away her carriage and all her attendants except one lady, who discreetly retired to a pavilion. The Queen gave Wraxall an hourâ€™s interview. During the greater part of the time they paced up and down between the avenue of limes in a secluded part of the garden. The Queen spoke quite unreservedly. She said that she was satisfied with the names mentioned, and, for the rest, she would trust the good faith of Baron BÃ¼low. That she would write to the King of England with great earnestness, and ask him to send a minister to Copenhagen, friendly to her restoration, and also to help the cause with money; for herself, she regretted that she could not contribute, owing to her limited income, which only sufficed for her needs, and she had no jewels, as everything had been robbed from her when she left Denmark. That she was quite willing for her part to visit her friends in disguise, but she was convinced that the King her brother would never permit her to do so. â€œStill,â€ she added, â€œcould I come, or did I come disguised, nobody would know me, as I am much altered since I was in Denmark.â€ This was true, as the Queen since her residence at Celle had become very stout. She determined that Wraxall should go to London to endeavour to obtain an audience of the King, and the Queen gave him very minute instructions as to how he was to behave. â€œYou must,â€ she said, â€œgo very quietly to work with my brother. If you manage with address, he will favour theattempt, but it will be tacitly, not openly.â€ When the conversation was ended the Queen took Wraxall to the summer-house, where her lady was waiting, and a dessert of fruit was laid; here he took his leave. The Queen mentioned during the audience that no less than three emissaries from Copenhagen had reached her since she came to Celle, but as they were all either suspicious or worthless she refused to have anything to say to them.

Acting on the Queenâ€™s commands and the instructions of BÃ¼low, Wraxall started the following day for England,viaOsnabrÃ¼ck; he arrived in London on November 15. The Queen had told him to go first either to Lord Suffolk or to the Baron von Lichtenstein, grand marshal of the court of Hanover, then in London, who was highly esteemed by the King, and who had shown her much kindness: she had written to them both. Wraxall first called on Lord Suffolk in Downing Street, but that nobleman either would not, or could not, see him, urging in excuse that he was ill with the gout. So Wraxall repaired to Lichtensteinâ€™s lodgings in Pall Mall, where he was more fortunate. He gave Lichtenstein the Queenâ€™s letter, and the Hanoverian promised that he would try to find an opportunity to put the matter before the King; but he advised Wraxall not to call again on Lord Suffolk until he had seen the King. He then asked Wraxall several questions, which the latter answered to the best of his ability, and gave him the fullest account possible of the project, and of everybody connected with it.

Three days later Lichtenstein saw Wraxall again, and told him that he had talked to the King at â€œQueenâ€™s Houseâ€ on the subject, and that the King had given him positive injunctions that Wraxall was not to see Lord Suffolk, but to consider Lichtenstein the sole medium through which all communications were to pass to the King. The King was at present considering the Queenâ€™s letter, and until he had considered it he did not think fit to grant Wraxall an audience; but he commanded him to put on paper a full and complete account of the project, including the names of every one connected with it directly or indirectly. Wraxall thereupon drew up another long document, which was duly transmitted to the King through Lichtenstein, and on December 5 he received the Kingâ€™s answer through the same medium. George III. was very cautious: he gave a general approval of the plan to effect the Queenâ€™s restoration, but he refused to lend any direct assistance; he therefore declined to advance any money at present, and finally he would not be induced by any entreaties of the Queen, or by any supplications of the Danish nobility, to affix his signature to any paper promising aid, or expressing general approbation. This unsatisfactory reply Wraxall transmitted to BÃ¼low by cipher at Hamburg, and he also wrote to the Queen through Baron Seckendorf. From Seckendorf he received an answer on January 3, 1775, expressing the Queenâ€™s satisfaction with the Kingâ€™s approval, though regretting the qualifications which accompanied it. OnJanuary 20 he received an answer from BÃ¼low, in which he adjured Wraxall to return to Hamburg as soon as possible, with the Kingâ€™s approbation authenticated in whatever way might be practicable. He added that his friends were busily preparing everything to strike the decisive blow, and they were sanguine of success. These letters Wraxall at once communicated to Lichtenstein, who submitted them to the King. On February 2 Wraxall received through Lichtenstein a letter from the King to his sister, and a paper containing four articles, which the Baron drew up in Wraxallâ€™s presence, and affixed his seal and signature to themâ€”so empowered by the King. These articles ran as follows:â€”

â€œFirst: His Britannic Majesty gives his consent and approval to the plan concerted by the adherents of his sister, the Queen of Denmark, for restoring her to the throne.â€œSecondly: His Majesty insists that in the execution of it no blood be spilled, nor any measures of severity exercised towards the personal administration in Denmark, except such as are indispensable to maintain the counter-revolution.â€œThirdly: His Britannic Majesty guarantees the repayment of all the money advanced or expended in a necessary prosecution of the Queen of Denmarkâ€™s revolution.â€œFourthly: His Britannic Majesty will authorise and empower his resident at the court of Copenhagen to declare in the most public manner, as soon as therevolution in favour of the Queen is accomplished, that the King of Great Britain approves of it, and will maintain it against all opposition.â€

â€œFirst: His Britannic Majesty gives his consent and approval to the plan concerted by the adherents of his sister, the Queen of Denmark, for restoring her to the throne.

â€œSecondly: His Majesty insists that in the execution of it no blood be spilled, nor any measures of severity exercised towards the personal administration in Denmark, except such as are indispensable to maintain the counter-revolution.

â€œThirdly: His Britannic Majesty guarantees the repayment of all the money advanced or expended in a necessary prosecution of the Queen of Denmarkâ€™s revolution.

â€œFourthly: His Britannic Majesty will authorise and empower his resident at the court of Copenhagen to declare in the most public manner, as soon as therevolution in favour of the Queen is accomplished, that the King of Great Britain approves of it, and will maintain it against all opposition.â€

LOUISE AUGUSTA, PRINCESS OF DENMARK AND DUCHESS OF AUGUSTENBURG, DAUGHTER OF QUEEN MATILDA.LOUISE AUGUSTA, PRINCESS OF DENMARK AND DUCHESS OF AUGUSTENBURG, DAUGHTER OF QUEEN MATILDA.

LOUISE AUGUSTA, PRINCESS OF DENMARK AND DUCHESS OF AUGUSTENBURG, DAUGHTER OF QUEEN MATILDA.

Lichtenstein told Wraxall that it was the Kingâ€™s pleasure that he should first go to Celle to deliver the letter to the Queen, and show her the articles signed by Lichtenstein; then, after he had seen the Queen, he was to proceed to her Danish adherents at Hamburg. Accordingly, Wraxall left London on February 3, 1775, and after a long and troublesome journey arrived at Celle a fortnight later, on February 17.[101]He entered the town as before under an assumed name, and went to an obscure inn. The next morning he received a visit from Seckendorf, who received him with pleasure, and told him that the Queen was most impatient to see him, and would give him an audience that afternoon. â€œWhen you hear the palace clock strike four,â€ Seckendorf said, â€œset out from the inn on foot for the castle. Mantel, the Queenâ€™s valet, will wait to receive you, and conduct you to her.â€ Accordingly, Wraxall gave Seckendorf his despatches, and went to the castle at the hour named. Mantel was waiting for him, and admitted him through a side door, probably in the western wing. He was led through a great number of rooms to a small apartment, and there left alone; at the end of it were stairs leading to the Queenâ€™schamber.[102]A minute later the Queen came into the room, and welcomed Wraxall most graciously. Their interview is best told in his own words:â€”

â€œWe conversed till about ten minutes past six entirely alone, and in the most unreservedly undisguised manner. Her Majesty made me the recital of her reignâ€”of the revolutionâ€”of her own conduct on that fatal night when she lost her crown. I listened in silence and astonishment. What a recapitulation did she not make me! Her words are for ever engraven on my heart; I could repeat her story almost verbatim. I know what scarce any other man on earth can know. I must own her unreserve, her goodness, her minute detail of circumstances the most concealed in their nature, my situation quite alone with her, superadded to some consciousness still more affecting, made me more than once forget I was talking to a queen. She was dressed in a brown silk polonaise, trimmed with green silk, her hair powdered, a locket on her bosom. Her under-lip is too large, but her teeth are fine, and that family violence in speaking becomes her; her nose is finely shaped, and her eyes are eloquent; she is thinner in the face than she was last October. She showed me his Majestyâ€™s letters to her, and permitted me to carry an extract from one away with me. She was obliged to leave me soon after six, which otherwise she seemed inno way inclined to do. Her talents are very good, and in mimicry she excels; her specimen of Prince Frederick of Denmark was excellent.â€

[101]In his private journal Wraxall gives a long account of the hardships of this journey, but, as they concern himself rather than the Queen of Denmark, I omit them here.

[102]I have seen this roomâ€”a small, dark apartment. It was the garde-robe (or dressing-room), and is on the way from the Queenâ€™s bedroom and the chapel.

After another interview with Seckendorf Wraxall was conducted out of the castle as secretly as he came. The next day he went to Hamburg, where, after an inclement journey, he arrived on February 21. At Hamburg he remained three weeks, and saw a good deal of Baron BÃ¼low, to whom he communicated the result of his visit to England and many messages from Queen Matilda. The articles drawn up and signed by Lichtenstein on behalf of George III., which Wraxall had first submitted to Matilda, he now handed to BÃ¼low, who received them with mingled feelings. The first two articles he wholly approved, but he regretted that George III. would not advance any pecuniary assistance and still more he lamented the fourth article, which promised that the English envoy at Copenhagen would only support and avow the revolutionafterit had been effected, instead of avowing it while it was actually in progress.

BÃ¼low forwarded the articles to his confederates in Copenhagen, and also had many consultations with his friends at Altona. It was not until March 14 that he received an answer from Copenhagen, which was much as BÃ¼low had anticipated: all the conspirators objected to the fourth article, and all agreed that it would be well to get the King of England to reconsider his decision on that point. What they asked was that the British envoyshould come forward at the time they were effecting the counter-revolution, and publicly avow it on behalf of the King, his master. BÃ¼low therefore resolved that a letter to the King of England should be drawn up to this effect, and Wraxall should convey it to London.

On March 20 BÃ¼low gave Wraxall the letter to the King. His instructions were that he should take this document first to Celle, submit it to the Queen, and ask her to enclose it in a letter written by herself to the King of England, in which she would urge their plea by every means in her power. Wraxall was also to acquaint the Queen with the plan of the revolution, which was now settled, and was as follows: On the day fixed certain of the conspirators would repair to the palace, obtain access to the King (Christian VII.), and induce, or compel, him to affix his name to documents already drawn up. These documents would include an order to the Queen-Dowager to retire to her own apartment until the Kingâ€™s further pleasure were known, and to Prince Frederick to remove to one of the country palacesâ€”probably that of Frederiksborg. At the same time, by virtue of a similar order, the ministers would be dismissed, or arrested, and a messenger sent off to Celle to invite the Queen to return to Denmark to resume her proper rank and authority. That their measures would be so well concerted and so rapidly executed as to produce the counter-revolution in a space of a few hours. That they trusted, therefore, Queen Matildaon her part would repair with all possible expedition to Copenhagen. A proper escort, becoming her dignity, would be formed to accompany her from Altona through the Danish territories, and her adherents calculated that she might, with despatch, reach Copenhagen in four days from the time of her quitting Celle, if no extraordinary impediment arose in her crossing the two Belts. Her presence in the capital of Denmark would animate the courage of her friends, cover her enemies with consternation, and complete the counter-revolution.

Wraxall arrived at Celle on March 22 with the same secrecy as on former occasions. As the Princess of Brunswick was at the castle he was unable to see the Queen for two days, and then he was taken to the Queen secretly on the night of Friday, March 24, and had an audience with her after the Princess of Brunswick had retired to rest. It was a dark and stormy night when Wraxall set out from his lodgings, and he waited for some little time at the entrance of the drawbridge over the moat, sheltering himself as well as he could from the wind and rain. At last Mantel came, and led him in silence over the drawbridge, under the portico, and into the courtyard of the castle, and thence by a side door up a private staircase and along a corridor into the Queenâ€™s library or boudoir. â€œTwo candles were burning,â€ says Wraxall, â€œand the book-cases were thrown open, as it was uncertain at what hour the Queen would come to me.â€ He waited some time alone, and then Mantel broughthim a note from Seckendorf, saying that the Queen was in the Princess of Brunswickâ€™s apartments, and would come directly she had retired. As this was his last interview, it had better be told in his own words:â€”

â€œI had scarcely perused the note when I heard the Queenâ€™s footstep on the staircase; a moment afterwards she entered the room. She was charmingly dressed, though without diamonds; she had on a crimson satin sacque and her hair dressed. I drew a chair, and entreated her to allow me to stand and receive her commands while she was seated, but she declined it, and we both stood the whole time. Our interview lasted about two hours. It was a quarter past eleven when I asked her Majesty if I should retire, and she signified her pleasure that I should. She approved of the letter drawn up by the Danish nobility to the King of Great Britain, as well as the request contained in it, which she confessed to be natural and just, though she doubted his Britannic Majestyâ€™s consent to it. â€˜I will, however,â€™ she added, â€˜write to my brother the letter requested before I go to bed to-night, enforcing as far as I am able the petition of the nobility. You shall receive it from Baron Seckendorf to-morrow morning, and at the same time that of the Danish nobility shall be returned to you.â€™â€œHer Majesty ordered me to assure Baron von BÃ¼low by letter that she was satisfied with all I communicated to her on his part, and that sheshould be ready on the shortest notice to mount on horseback in menâ€™s clothes, in order more expeditiously to reach Copenhagen, there to encounter every difficulty with her friends.â€

â€œHer Majesty ordered me to assure Baron von BÃ¼low by letter that she was satisfied with all I communicated to her on his part, and that sheshould be ready on the shortest notice to mount on horseback in menâ€™s clothes, in order more expeditiously to reach Copenhagen, there to encounter every difficulty with her friends.â€

The Queen thanked Wraxall very warmly for his zeal in her service, and said she would commend him to the King her brother, who, she doubted not, would recompense him properly. She told him to write to her freely from England, and then bade him adieu. â€œWhen the Queen was about to withdraw,â€ says Wraxall, â€œshe opened the door, but held it a few minutes in her hand as if she had something to say; she then retired.â€ He was conducted from the castle as secretly as he had entered it, and the next morning left Celle on his way to England.

Wraxall arrived in London on April 5, and at once went to Lichtensteinâ€™s lodgings, but to his dismay found that the Baron had gone to Hanover ten days previously. He had, however, left him a letter, directing him to wait upon Herr von Hinuber, the HanoverianChargÃ© dâ€™Affaires. Accordingly Wraxall went to Hinuber, who told him he had â€œthe Kingâ€™s directions to take from Mr. Wraxall any letters he might have, and send them immediately to the King at theâ€˜Queenâ€™s Houseâ€™â€. Wraxall therefore gave him two packets addressed to the King, one from Queen Matilda, and the other from her Danish adherents. He also added a letter from himself, in which he again prayed the King to give him a private audience.

To these letters George III. returned no reply, and Wraxall, after waiting a fortnight in London, wrote to Baron BÃ¼low telling him how matters stood, and asking for instructions; he also wrote to the Queen at Celle. Then followed another interval of silence. It was not until May 10 that Wraxall received a letter from BÃ¼low, in which he informed him that the state of affairs at Copenhagen was extremely critical, and he could not give him further directions until the return of Baron Schimmelmann the younger, who had gone to Copenhagen. In the meantime he besought him not to leave London, either for Celle or Hamburg, unless he received instructions from George III.

But no word came from the King, and, while Wraxall was waiting, the London journals announced the death of the Queen of Denmark, which had taken place on May 11 at Celle.

This was the first intimation Wraxall received of the melancholy event, and he was quite overcome, for it meant not only the loss of the Queen, for whom he felt a chivalrous devotion, but the death-blow to all his hopes of reward and promotion. On May 25 Wraxall received a letter from Seckendorf, in which he lamented the loss of a kind and gracious mistress at a moment when they had hoped her troubles were nearing an end. The letter also informed him of an important fact, namely, that George III. had written to Queen Matilda an answer to the letter in which she urged the request of the Danish nobility that the English envoy atCopenhagen should avow the revolution while it was in progress. Whether the King refused her prayer, or granted it, will never be known, for the letter arrived at Celle when Matilda was either dying or dead, and it was returned to the King unopened. The probability is that he refused, and preferred to send his refusal to her direct rather than through the agency of Wraxall. The fact that he declined to see Wraxall, or recognise him in any way, goes to show that he regarded the plot with very dubious approval. Of the existence of the plot there is no doubt, but Wraxallâ€™s version of it, and especially of the part he played, needs some corroborative evidence. This is afforded by a confidential letter which George III. wrote some years later to Lord North, in answer to Wraxallâ€™s repeated demands that some reward should be given him for the services he had rendered to the Kingâ€™s sister. The letter (dated February 9, 1781) ran as follows:â€”

â€œYou may settle with Mr. Wraxall, member for Hinton, in any just demands he may have. Undoubtedly he was sent over by the discontented nobility of Denmark previous to the death of the late Queen, my sister, with a plan for getting her back to Copenhagen, which was introduced to me with a letter from her. Her death and my delicate situation, having consented to her retiring to my German dominions, prevented me from entering eagerly into this proposal.â€[103]

[103]Stanhopeâ€™sHistory of England, 3rd edition, 1853, vol. vii., Appendix xxxii. Further corroborative evidence has been furnished by the publication of some letters of BÃ¼low, in which he mentions that he employed Wraxall as his agent in the plot to restore the Queen.

Wraxall considered himself very shabbily treated by George III., who turned a deaf ear to his demands for years. It was not until 1781, when Wraxall had won a seat in the House of Commons, and with it a useful vote to the Government, that the Prime Minister, Lord North, gave him, on behalf of the King, a thousand guineas for his services to the Queen of Denmark, together with the promise of a seat at the Board of Green Cloth. Wraxallâ€™s support was purchased for a time, but two years later, when he gave a vote against the Government, he forfeited all chance of further favours from the King, and the promised appointment vanished for ever. But a thousand guineas was surely a sufficient reward for a young and unknown man, admittedly in quest of adventure, who did little but carry a few letters between Hamburg, Celle and London, and it was rather for Baron BÃ¼low and the Queenâ€™s adherents, whose agent he was, to reward him than for George III.

Shortly after the Queenâ€™s death Wraxall states that he received a letter from BÃ¼low, who said that the revolution was on the point of fruition when the ill news from Celle came to scatter consternation among Matildaâ€™s adherents. It would seem, therefore, that BÃ¼low and his friends would have proceeded with their plan whether George III. had granted their request or not. It is idle to speculatewhether they would have succeeded in their undertaking. All things were possible in Denmark at that time to those who could seize the person of the King. But it must be remembered that Christian VII. was closely guarded. Moreover, there is no evidence to show that the conspirators had the army on their side, and, without the help of the army, though they might have effected a revolution, they would have been unable to maintain it.

CHAPTER XIV.THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN.1775.We last saw the Queen with her hand on the door, as she bade farewell to Wraxall and wished him God-speed on his journey. â€œShe never perhaps looked more engaging,â€ he wrote later, â€œthan on that night, in that attitude and in that dress. Her countenance, animated with the prospect of her approaching emancipation from Zellâ€”which was in fact only a refuge and an exileâ€”and anticipating her restoration to the throne of Denmark, was lighted up with smiles, and she appeared to be in the highest health. Yet, if futurity could have been unveiled to us, we should have seen behind the door, which she held in her hands, the â€˜fell anatomy,â€™[104]as â€˜Constanceâ€™ calls him, already raising his dart to strike her. Within seven weeks of that day she yielded her last breath.â€[105][104]Then with a passion would I shake the worldAnd rouse from sleep that fell anatomy.King John, Act III., Scene iv.[105]Wraxallâ€™sPosthumous Memoirs, vol. i.Queen Matildaâ€™s end was tragically suddenâ€”so sudden as to call forth the wildest rumours of foulplay. A report was current in Celle that the Queen was poisoned at the instigation of her deadly enemy, Juliana Maria, acting through the agency of a negro, named Mephisto, who was cook at the castle. It was said that he first gave a poisoned cup of chocolate to a young page in the Queenâ€™s household, and seeing that it worked with fatal effect, he poisoned the Queen in the same way. The death of the Queen at the moment when their plans were nearing fruition doubtless seemed suspicious to her Danish adherents who spread this report, which was firmly believed by the common people in Copenhagen and Celle. But the evidence of her physicians,[106]who sent a detailed account of the Queenâ€™s last illness and death to George III., leaves no doubt that she died from natural causes.[106]Leyser, a physician of Celle, and Zimmermann, a physician of Hanover.Like all the children of Frederick Prince of Wales (except Augusta of Brunswick and possibly George III.), Matilda was not of a strong constitution. The climate of Denmark never agreed with her, and the awful experiences she had gone through at Copenhagen shattered her health. She was naturally of a plethoric habit of body, and though in Denmark she had kept this tendency in check by continual exercise, such as riding, walking and dancingâ€”harmless amusements which her enemies urged as offences against herâ€”in her five monthsâ€™ imprisonment at Kronborg she could take no exercise at all, and afterwards at Celle she voluntarily gave up ridingand dancing lest she should call forth unkindly comment. The result was she became exceedingly stoutâ€”in so young a woman much too stout for health. She had always lived an active life, and the forced inaction to which she was condemned at Celle was very bad for her, and the dulness and monotony weighed on her spirits. Moreover, during the last few months, she had been leading a life of suppressed excitement; the thought of her possible restoration continually agitated her, and one day she would be greatly elated, and another day correspondingly depressed. All this told upon her strength, and rendered her the more susceptible to illness, should any come her way.In the spring of 1775 (in fact, while Wraxall was there) an epidemic called indifferently â€œmilitary feverâ€ or â€œthe purplesâ€ had spread to a great extent in Celle, and there were many deaths. Queen Matilda was accustomed to walk freely about the town, and she therefore may have exposed herself to infection; but she does not seem to have taken any harm from the epidemic until after the death of her page. This boy, who died on May 5, was a great favourite with the Queen; she felt his death very much, and insisted on going to see him when he was lying dead in one of the rooms of the castle. Her ladies tried to dissuade her, but she would go, and either then, or at some other time, she caught the infection. On coming back from the pageâ€™s room she learned that the little girl, Sophie von Benningsen, whom she had adopted, was also down with thefever. The Queen, very much depressed, went for a walk in the French garden, and when she came back she was so tired that she could scarcely mount the steps of the castle. She dined as usual with her court, but ate scarcely anything, and after dinner felt too unwell to play cards and withdrew to her chamber.The next morning, after a bad night, she complained of a sore throat and chill. Her physician, Dr. Leyser, was called in, and compelled her to remain in bed. Towards evening her condition showed a slight improvement, but the next day symptoms so alarming appeared that Leyser sent for Dr. Zimmermann, a celebrated physician at Hanover. The Queen seemed to have a presentiment of death, for she said to Leyser: â€œYou have twice helped me through a dangerous illness since October, but this time I shall die.â€ The doctors affected a cheerfulness which they were far from feeling, for the Queenâ€™s condition grew worse every hour, and the fever became very violent. Prayers were offered for her in the churches; she was deeply touched when her women told her that the whole of Celle was praying for her, and even the Jewish community had offered up supplications on her behalf.The dying Queen was eager to avail herself of the consolations of religion; Pastor Lehzen, her chaplain, prayed by her bedside, and read, at her request, her favourite hymns and some verses from the Bible. She went towards death without fear,indeed she seemed to welcome it. Her sufferings were agonising, but through them all she manifested a marvellous patience and fortitude. The Queen kept her senses to the last, and almost with her dying breath expressed her forgiveness of her enemies. Her last thought was of others; she inquired after the little girl, Sophie, and when the doctor told her that the child was out of danger, she whispered: â€œThen I die soothed,â€ and fell quietly asleep. In this sleep she died. The good pastor, who was praying by the Queenâ€™s bedside when her spirit fled, thus described the end: â€œI never witnessed so easy a passing; death seemed to lose all its terrors. The words of Holy Writ: â€˜O Death, where is thy sting?â€™ were literally true in her case. She fell asleep like a tired wayfarer.â€Queen Matilda died on the evening of May 11, 1775, at ten minutes past eleven, at the age of twenty-three years and nine months.This â€œQueen of Tearsâ€ was married at fifteen; she died at twenty-three. What unhappiness, what tragedy, what pathos were crowded in those brief eight years! If she erred, she suffered greatlyâ€”imprisonment, exile, the loss of her children, her crown, her honourâ€”surely it was enough! To those who are inclined to judge her harshly, the thought of her youth and her sorrows will surely stay their judgment. We would fain leave them to plead for her, without entering again on the oft-debated question of how far she erred in her great love for the manwho showed himself altogether unworthy of the sacrifices she made for him. But her indiscreet champions have unwittingly done her memory more harm than good by claiming for her, throughout her troubled life at the Danish court, what she never claimedâ€”absolute innocence in thought, word and deed. They rest their contention on evidence which we would gladly accept if we could. But alas! it does not bear the test of critical investigation.Nearly a hundred years after Matildaâ€™s death (in 1864) one of her many apologists, Sir Lascelles Wraxall, grandson of the Nathaniel Wraxall who had acted as agent in the plot for her restoration, published a letter which he said had been given him by her daughter the Duchess of Augustenburg, who had been allowed to take a copy of it by the King of Hanover from the original document preserved in the Hanoverian archives.[107]This letter purported to be written by the Queen when she was on her deathbed to her brother George III., and proclaimed her innocence. The Duchess of Augustenburg was the Princess Louise Augusta of Denmark, the infant daughter taken from Matildaâ€™s arms at Kronborg, the Princess whose birth occasioned so much scandalous rumour. She, therefore (though formally recognised as the daughter of Christian VII.), was interested in the question of her motherâ€™s innocence, and, coming from such hands, the genuineness of the letter at first sight would seemto be, as Wraxall says, â€œincontestableâ€. The letter ran as follows:â€”[107]Wraxall was apparently unaware that this letter had already appeared in printâ€”in theTimesof January 27, 1852.â€œSire,â€œIn the most solemn hour of my life I turn to you, my royal brother, to express my heartâ€™s thanks for all the kindness you have shown me during my whole life, and especially in my misfortune.â€œI die willingly, for nothing holds me backâ€”neither my youth, nor the pleasures which might await me, near or remote. How could life possess any charms for me, who am separated from all those I loveâ€”my husband, my children and my relatives? I, who am myself a queen and of royal blood, have lived the most wretched life, and stand before the world an example that neither crown nor sceptre affords any protection against misfortune!â€œBut I die innocentâ€”I write this with a trembling hand and feeling death imminentâ€”I am innocent. Oh, that it might please the Almighty to convince the world after my death that I did not deserve any of the frightful accusations by which the calumnies of my enemies stained my character, wounded my heart, traduced my honour and trampled on my dignity.â€œSire, believe your dying sister, a queen and even more, a Christian, who would gaze with terror on the other world if her last confession were a falsehood. I die willingly, for the unhappy bless the tomb. But more than all else, and even than death,it pains me that not one of all those I loved in life is standing by my dying bed to grant me a last consolation by a pressure of the hand, or a glance of compassion, to close my eyes in death.â€œStill, I am not alone. God, the sole witness of my innocence, is looking down on my bed of agony; my guardian angel is hovering over me, and will soon guide me to the spot where I shall be able to pray for my friends, and also for my persecutors.â€œFarewell, then, my royal brother! May Heaven bless youâ€”my husbandâ€”my childrenâ€”Englandâ€”Denmarkâ€”and the whole world. Permit my corpse to rest in the vault of my parents, and now the last, unspeakably sad farewell from your unfortunateâ€œCaroline Matilda.â€THE CHURCH AT CELLE, WHERE QUEEN MATILDA IS BURIED.THE CHURCH AT CELLE, WHERE QUEEN MATILDA IS BURIED.From a Photograph.If this document were genuine, it would go far to prove the innocence of the Queen, for it must be remembered that the evidence against her, even at its worst, was presumptive only, and it is unlikely, from all we know of the genuine piety of her later years that she would have faced death with a lie on her lips. But after patient inquiry nothing can be found to prove its genuineness. The most convincing proof, of course, would be the existence of the original letter in the Queenâ€™s well-known handwriting; but no such letter exists in the Hanoverian archives; nor does it exist among the Guelph domestic papers, which the King of Hanover tookwith him into exile after the war of 1866. While there was still a king in Hanover the late Mr. Heneage Jesse[108]applied to the Hanoverian officials for information concerning this letter, and received the following reply from Baron von Malortie, minister and chamberlain to the King: â€œIn the royal Hanoverian archives there is not the letter alluded to of the late Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark. Solely the royal museum contains aprintedcopy of a letter pretending to be written by the said late Queen on her deathbed to her royal brother, George III. of Great Britain, and it is presumed that the Duchess of Augustenburg was permitted by the late King, Ernest Augustusâ€™ Majesty, to take a copy of this printed copy, now in the family museum.â€ He then went on to say that all the officials of the Hanoverian archives were strongly of the opinion that the Queen â€œnever did write, nor could write, on her deathbed such a letter, and that the pretended letter of her Majesty is nothing but the work of one of her friends in England, written after her death and then translated. The history of her Majestyâ€™s last illness and of her death is here well known, and excludes almost the possibility of her writing and forwarding such a letter to her royal brother.â€[109][108]Author of theMemoirs of the Life and Reign of King George III.[109]Jesseâ€™sMemoirs and Life of George III., 1867, vol. ii.There still remains the theory put forward by someâ€”that the Queen, in writing this letter, protested her innocence only in general terms, and shemay have been referring to the charges made against her of plotting with Struensee to poison or depose her husband, of which she certainly was innocent. But this theory is untenable from another plea put forward by the Queenâ€™s defenders, and which perhaps deserves more respectful consideration than the letter. Some years after the Queenâ€™s death Falckenskjold published hisMemoirs, and in them we find the following statement:â€”â€œIn 1780 I had an opportunity at Hanover of forming the acquaintance of M. Roques, pastor of the French Protestant Church at Celle. One day I spoke to him about Queen Caroline Matilda.â€œâ€˜I was summoned almost daily by that Princess,â€™ he said to me, â€˜either to read or converse with her, and most frequently to obtain information relative to the poor of my parish. I visited her more constantly during the last days of her life, and I was with her a little before she drew her last breath. Although very weak, she retained her presence of mind. After I had recited the prayers for the dying, she said to me in a voice that seemed to become more animated: â€œMonsieur Roques, I am about to appear before God. I protest that I am innocent of the crimes imputed against me, and that I was never faithless to my husband.â€™â€â€œM. Roques added that the Queen had never before spoken to him, even indirectly, of the accusations brought against her.â€œI wrote down on the same day (March 7, 1780)what M. Roques said to me, as coming from a man distinguished by his integrity of character.â€[110][110]MÃ©moires de M. Falckenskjold, Officier GÃ©nÃ©ral dans le service de S. M. Danoise.If Falckenskjold is to be believed, this, it must be admitted, is remarkable evidence; but in hisMemoirshe can be more than once convicted of misstatements, and, at best, this one rests on second-hand information obtained five years after the Queenâ€™s death. It was Pastor Lehzen, and not Pastor Roques, who attended the Queen in her illness, and he published afterwards an edifying account of her last moments, which contained no statement of this nature.[111]As Lehzen was the Queenâ€™s chaplain throughout her residence at Celle, and rector of the principal church there, it seems more likely that she would have confided in him than in the minister of the French Protestant chapel, whom she only saw from time to time in connection with little deeds of beneficence to the poor among his congregation.[111]Lehzenâ€™sDie Letzten Stunden der KÃ¶nigin von Danemark.It is not necessary to invest Matilda with the halo of a saint to feel sympathy for her sorrows and pity for her fate. She loved greatly and suffered greatly for her love. Let it rest there.â€œOur good Queen is no more,â€ announced Pastor Lehzen, as he came from her deathbed to the long gallery, where the whole of the late Queenâ€™s household, some fifty in number, were assembled.There was not one of them who did not hear the words without a sense of personal loss, for there was not one, even the meanest, to whom the Queen had not endeared herself by some kind word or deed. The castle was filled with weeping and lamentation. The ill news was quickly communicated to the town, and every house became a house of mourning, for during her residence at Celle Matilda had endeared herself alike to the highest and the lowest, and was spoken of by all as their â€œlieben und guten KÃ¶niginâ€ (their beloved and good Queen).Owing to the danger of infection the Queenâ€™s funeral took place within fifty hours of her death. It was found impossible to delay her obsequies until the Kingâ€™s instructions could be received from England, and therefore at midnight on May 13 the Queen was interred in the burial vault of the Dukes of Celle in the old church.The grand marshal of the court of Hanover, Baron von Lichtenstein, took charge of the funeral arrangements. The Queenâ€™s coffin was carried on a hearse, drawn by six horses, from the castle to the church under an escort of soldiers, and the route was guarded by soldiers bearing torches, and lined with rows of weeping people, all clad in black. The Queenâ€™s household, headed by Baron Seckendorf, her chamberlain, and the Baroness Dowager dâ€™Ompteda, her chief lady-in-waiting, followed on foot. The church was crowded with the chief people of Celle, including Prince Ernest of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Madame de Plessen. The simple service was conducted by Pastor Lehzen, and the coffin was lowered to the ducal vaults.[112][112]Though the funeral was quite private, the expenses were very heavy, amounting to some Â£3,000. They were defrayed, by order of George III., by the privy purse.The Sunday after the Queenâ€™s death mourning services were held in the churches of Celle. At the town church, where she was buried, Pastor Lehzen concluded his sermon with the following words:â€”â€œShe endeavoured to win the love of every one, even of the humblest, and the many tears shed for her prove that she succeeded in her endeavour. Those who were nearest her person testify how she strove in a higher strength to exercise the most difficult of Christian virtues [forgiveness of her enemies], and that not from a lofty, worldly pride, but from reasons set forth for us by the Pattern of all virtues. The last steps of her life were taken with submissive surrender to the will of God, with trust and hope. O God! we thank Thee for Thy grace, and for its blessed working; we honour, we extol, we praise the same, and offer to Thee our most hearty thanks for all the goodness wrought in this immortalised soul. May she now enjoy the rest, the reward, the bliss of the perfected just! May a blessing rest on her royal children, such as this loving mother sought for them so often from Thee, O God, with many tears! Lighten the sorrow which the news of this unexpected and grievous event will cause to the hearts of our gracious King and Queen[George III. and Charlotte], and for the blessing of the world, and of this country in particular, bring their Majesties to their full term of happy years, and permit them to see their royal house flourish and prosper. Look upon those who are nearest to the deceased Princess, and mourn a Queen who was always full of graciousness and gentleness. Console them in Thy mercy and loving providence, and teach them that Thy counsel is very wonderful, and wise and tender. And thou, Celle, overcome by the death which leaves thee forlorn, look up through thy tears to God! Honour Him with childlike trust, and pray Him to compensate your loss by manifestations of His mercy in other ways, and by granting a long and happy life to our gracious King.â€It was thought that the ducal vault of Celle would prove only a temporary resting-place for the Queen, and, in accordance with her expressed wish, her remains would be removed to England to rest in Westminster Abbey beside those of her father and mother. But George III. did not see his way to grant this last request, and all that is mortal of Matilda remains at Celle to this day. On one side of her George William, the last Duke of Celle, and his consort, ElÃ©onore dâ€™Olbreuse, sleep their last sleep; on the other is the plain leaden coffin of their unfortunate daughter, Sophie Dorothea, whose troubled life in many ways closely resembled that of her great-granddaughter Matilda.I visited this vault a few years ago. Queen Matildaâ€™s coffin is easily found, as it is the onlywooden (mahogany) one there. It is of extraordinary breadthâ€”almost as broad as longâ€”and at the head is the following inscription in Latin:Here are deposited the mortal remains of Caroline Matilda, Princess of Great Britain and Brunswick-LÃ¼neburg, Queen of Denmark and Norway. Born July 22, 1751, died May 11, 1775.A few faded wreaths were lying near the coffin; many of these were deposited many years after her death by pilgrims to her last resting-place; but I was assured that some of them had been there since the funeral. The vault is now closed.When the news of Queen Matildaâ€™s death reached England general mourning for three weeks was commanded for the Kingâ€™s sister, and court mourning for six weeks. Among the few English friends who knew her profound sorrow was felt at the early death of this unfortunate daughter of England. On May 24 a deputation of the House of Lords and a deputation of the House of Commons waited on the King at St. Jamesâ€™s, and presented addresses of condolence on the Queen of Denmarkâ€™s death. To each George III. replied: â€œThe King returns his thanks to the House for the concern they have expressed for the great loss which has happened to his family by the death of his sister, the Queen of Denmark.â€ The few thousand pounds the Queen left behind her, and her personal effects, George III. committed to the charge of the regency of Hanover, with orders to guard the property for her children until they came of age, and Baron Seckendorf wasentrusted with the administration of the Queenâ€™s estate.The news of the Queenâ€™s death travelled to Copenhagen as quickly as to London, and completed the revulsion of feeling in her favour. She was henceforth regarded by the people as a saint and martyr, who had been sacrificed to the intrigues of the Queen-Dowager, and the unpopularity of Juliana Maria and her Government was greatly increased. The Queen-Dowager could not conceal her satisfaction at Matildaâ€™s death. The English envoy relates how the Danish court received the news. Writing on May 20 he says:â€”â€œAn estafette from Madame Schimmelmann brought the melancholy news from Hamburg to Count Bernstorff very early yesterday morning, and I had the grief to receive the confirmation of it soon after by the post.... Orders were given yesterday, as I am positively assured, to put the Prince and Princess Royal into the deepest mourning worn here for a mother, and I am likewise further assured that Count Bernstorff was the adviser of that measure. But as consistency is not to be expected here, he could not prevent the Royal Familyâ€™s appearing at the play on Wednesday and yesterday evenings, and what was worse, their assisting on Thursday night at a ball in dominoes at the theatre, where they made the King of Denmark dance, though they had ordered young Schack to acquaint him on Wednesday with the circumstance he was in, with which he was most [deeply] affected.And yesterday at Court (where I was not) his countenance and manner were such as startled the Foreign Ministers who approached him. The Prince Royal did not see company. And to-day they all went to dine out of town, the King assisting at the launching of two frigates, which resolution was taken suddenly at twelve oâ€™clock. They say they will wait till I, or M. Reiche, notify the Queen of Denmarkâ€™s death, in his Majestyâ€™s name.â€[113][113]De Lavalâ€™s despatch, Copenhagen, May 20, 1775.In accordance with this resolution no notice was taken of the event by the Danish court, nor was any mourning donned, until George III. sent a letter to the King notifying the death of Queen Matilda. This notification was formally delivered by the English envoy at the Christiansborg Palace the day when a court ball was appointed. The Queen-Dowager so far forgot her discretion, or was so blind to decency, that she did not order the ball to be postponed, and the court danced merrily the evening of the day that the Queenâ€™s death was notified at Copenhagen. But the next morning the Danish court went into mourningâ€”not as for the Queen of Denmark (for the Queen was considered politically to have died three years before), but as for a foreign princess who was connected with the Danish royal houseâ€”as a princess of Great Britain Caroline Matilda was first cousin to Christian VII. This court mourning lasted for four weeksâ€”the usual timeâ€”and the only concession seems to have been thatthe late Queenâ€™s children, the Crown Prince Frederick and his sister, Princess Louise Augusta, remained in mourning for a longer period.It is said that George III., to whom the news of the court ball was communicated, deeply resented the affront offered by the Danish court not only to his dead sister but to him. No trace of this appears in the official despatches. On the contrary, we find, soon after this wanton insult to the Queenâ€™s memory, a despatch from England, saying that â€œthe King hoped the Queenâ€™s death would make no difference to the good relations existing between the two courtsâ€.[114]George III. was not a man to allow personal considerations to stand in the way of what he considered to be public good, and he had recently obtained a pledge from the Danish Government to the effect that they would not offer any help, direct or indirect, to the American colonists, recently goaded into revolt. A sisterâ€™s memory was nothing to the King in comparison with the prosecution of an unrighteous war which he believed to be righteous.[114]Lord Suffolkâ€™s despatch to De Laval, St. Jamesâ€™s, June 9, 1775.THE MEMORIAL ERECTED TO QUEEN MATILDA IN THE FRENCH GARDEN OF CELLE.THE MEMORIAL ERECTED TO QUEEN MATILDA IN THE FRENCH GARDEN OF CELLE.It was only in little Celle, among the people who had known and loved her the last years of her brief life, that the memory of Matilda was treasured and held sacred. Soon after the funeral a public meeting was held at Celle and attended by the principal burgesses of the town and the leading noblemen of the principality of LÃ¼neburg, and after resolutions hadbeen passed lamenting her death, it was resolved to petition George III. for permission to erect a monument to her memory. In this petition it was stated: â€œOur only object is to raise a lasting proof of the general affection and respect with which we regarded the great and noble qualities of her Majesty Queen Matilda, and, by a permanent memorial of the grief for her death felt by all true subjects of your Majesty, to give an opportunity to our remotest descendants to cherish with silent respect the memory of the best and most amiable of queens.â€ The petition was graciously received by George III., and he willingly granted his permission.A monument of grey marble was sculptured by Professor Oeser of Leipzig, and erected in the French garden of Celleâ€”the garden of which she had been so fondâ€”and stands to this day. A medallion of the Queen, as she appeared in the last year of her life, is carved upon an urn, which is upborne by allegorical figures of truth, maternal love, charity and mercyâ€”the virtues by which the Queen was pre-eminently known; and an inscription runs round the pedestal setting forth her name and titles and the dates of her birth and death. This handsome monument stands out in bold relief against a background of sycamores, and looks across the trim gardens to an avenue of ancient limesâ€”the very trees, maybe, under which Queen Matilda paced with Wraxall a few months before her death.I saw it first on a June evening five years ago. At the base of the monument blue forget-me-notswere planted, and red and white roses clambered up the low railing around itâ€”a touching testimony to the fact that the Queen is not yet forgotten in Celle, and the memory of her good deeds is still living in the hearts of the people.

THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN.

1775.

We last saw the Queen with her hand on the door, as she bade farewell to Wraxall and wished him God-speed on his journey. â€œShe never perhaps looked more engaging,â€ he wrote later, â€œthan on that night, in that attitude and in that dress. Her countenance, animated with the prospect of her approaching emancipation from Zellâ€”which was in fact only a refuge and an exileâ€”and anticipating her restoration to the throne of Denmark, was lighted up with smiles, and she appeared to be in the highest health. Yet, if futurity could have been unveiled to us, we should have seen behind the door, which she held in her hands, the â€˜fell anatomy,â€™[104]as â€˜Constanceâ€™ calls him, already raising his dart to strike her. Within seven weeks of that day she yielded her last breath.â€[105]

[104]Then with a passion would I shake the worldAnd rouse from sleep that fell anatomy.King John, Act III., Scene iv.

[104]

Then with a passion would I shake the worldAnd rouse from sleep that fell anatomy.King John, Act III., Scene iv.

Then with a passion would I shake the world

And rouse from sleep that fell anatomy.

King John, Act III., Scene iv.

[105]Wraxallâ€™sPosthumous Memoirs, vol. i.

Queen Matildaâ€™s end was tragically suddenâ€”so sudden as to call forth the wildest rumours of foulplay. A report was current in Celle that the Queen was poisoned at the instigation of her deadly enemy, Juliana Maria, acting through the agency of a negro, named Mephisto, who was cook at the castle. It was said that he first gave a poisoned cup of chocolate to a young page in the Queenâ€™s household, and seeing that it worked with fatal effect, he poisoned the Queen in the same way. The death of the Queen at the moment when their plans were nearing fruition doubtless seemed suspicious to her Danish adherents who spread this report, which was firmly believed by the common people in Copenhagen and Celle. But the evidence of her physicians,[106]who sent a detailed account of the Queenâ€™s last illness and death to George III., leaves no doubt that she died from natural causes.

[106]Leyser, a physician of Celle, and Zimmermann, a physician of Hanover.

Like all the children of Frederick Prince of Wales (except Augusta of Brunswick and possibly George III.), Matilda was not of a strong constitution. The climate of Denmark never agreed with her, and the awful experiences she had gone through at Copenhagen shattered her health. She was naturally of a plethoric habit of body, and though in Denmark she had kept this tendency in check by continual exercise, such as riding, walking and dancingâ€”harmless amusements which her enemies urged as offences against herâ€”in her five monthsâ€™ imprisonment at Kronborg she could take no exercise at all, and afterwards at Celle she voluntarily gave up ridingand dancing lest she should call forth unkindly comment. The result was she became exceedingly stoutâ€”in so young a woman much too stout for health. She had always lived an active life, and the forced inaction to which she was condemned at Celle was very bad for her, and the dulness and monotony weighed on her spirits. Moreover, during the last few months, she had been leading a life of suppressed excitement; the thought of her possible restoration continually agitated her, and one day she would be greatly elated, and another day correspondingly depressed. All this told upon her strength, and rendered her the more susceptible to illness, should any come her way.

In the spring of 1775 (in fact, while Wraxall was there) an epidemic called indifferently â€œmilitary feverâ€ or â€œthe purplesâ€ had spread to a great extent in Celle, and there were many deaths. Queen Matilda was accustomed to walk freely about the town, and she therefore may have exposed herself to infection; but she does not seem to have taken any harm from the epidemic until after the death of her page. This boy, who died on May 5, was a great favourite with the Queen; she felt his death very much, and insisted on going to see him when he was lying dead in one of the rooms of the castle. Her ladies tried to dissuade her, but she would go, and either then, or at some other time, she caught the infection. On coming back from the pageâ€™s room she learned that the little girl, Sophie von Benningsen, whom she had adopted, was also down with thefever. The Queen, very much depressed, went for a walk in the French garden, and when she came back she was so tired that she could scarcely mount the steps of the castle. She dined as usual with her court, but ate scarcely anything, and after dinner felt too unwell to play cards and withdrew to her chamber.

The next morning, after a bad night, she complained of a sore throat and chill. Her physician, Dr. Leyser, was called in, and compelled her to remain in bed. Towards evening her condition showed a slight improvement, but the next day symptoms so alarming appeared that Leyser sent for Dr. Zimmermann, a celebrated physician at Hanover. The Queen seemed to have a presentiment of death, for she said to Leyser: â€œYou have twice helped me through a dangerous illness since October, but this time I shall die.â€ The doctors affected a cheerfulness which they were far from feeling, for the Queenâ€™s condition grew worse every hour, and the fever became very violent. Prayers were offered for her in the churches; she was deeply touched when her women told her that the whole of Celle was praying for her, and even the Jewish community had offered up supplications on her behalf.

The dying Queen was eager to avail herself of the consolations of religion; Pastor Lehzen, her chaplain, prayed by her bedside, and read, at her request, her favourite hymns and some verses from the Bible. She went towards death without fear,indeed she seemed to welcome it. Her sufferings were agonising, but through them all she manifested a marvellous patience and fortitude. The Queen kept her senses to the last, and almost with her dying breath expressed her forgiveness of her enemies. Her last thought was of others; she inquired after the little girl, Sophie, and when the doctor told her that the child was out of danger, she whispered: â€œThen I die soothed,â€ and fell quietly asleep. In this sleep she died. The good pastor, who was praying by the Queenâ€™s bedside when her spirit fled, thus described the end: â€œI never witnessed so easy a passing; death seemed to lose all its terrors. The words of Holy Writ: â€˜O Death, where is thy sting?â€™ were literally true in her case. She fell asleep like a tired wayfarer.â€

Queen Matilda died on the evening of May 11, 1775, at ten minutes past eleven, at the age of twenty-three years and nine months.

This â€œQueen of Tearsâ€ was married at fifteen; she died at twenty-three. What unhappiness, what tragedy, what pathos were crowded in those brief eight years! If she erred, she suffered greatlyâ€”imprisonment, exile, the loss of her children, her crown, her honourâ€”surely it was enough! To those who are inclined to judge her harshly, the thought of her youth and her sorrows will surely stay their judgment. We would fain leave them to plead for her, without entering again on the oft-debated question of how far she erred in her great love for the manwho showed himself altogether unworthy of the sacrifices she made for him. But her indiscreet champions have unwittingly done her memory more harm than good by claiming for her, throughout her troubled life at the Danish court, what she never claimedâ€”absolute innocence in thought, word and deed. They rest their contention on evidence which we would gladly accept if we could. But alas! it does not bear the test of critical investigation.

Nearly a hundred years after Matildaâ€™s death (in 1864) one of her many apologists, Sir Lascelles Wraxall, grandson of the Nathaniel Wraxall who had acted as agent in the plot for her restoration, published a letter which he said had been given him by her daughter the Duchess of Augustenburg, who had been allowed to take a copy of it by the King of Hanover from the original document preserved in the Hanoverian archives.[107]This letter purported to be written by the Queen when she was on her deathbed to her brother George III., and proclaimed her innocence. The Duchess of Augustenburg was the Princess Louise Augusta of Denmark, the infant daughter taken from Matildaâ€™s arms at Kronborg, the Princess whose birth occasioned so much scandalous rumour. She, therefore (though formally recognised as the daughter of Christian VII.), was interested in the question of her motherâ€™s innocence, and, coming from such hands, the genuineness of the letter at first sight would seemto be, as Wraxall says, â€œincontestableâ€. The letter ran as follows:â€”

[107]Wraxall was apparently unaware that this letter had already appeared in printâ€”in theTimesof January 27, 1852.

â€œSire,â€œIn the most solemn hour of my life I turn to you, my royal brother, to express my heartâ€™s thanks for all the kindness you have shown me during my whole life, and especially in my misfortune.â€œI die willingly, for nothing holds me backâ€”neither my youth, nor the pleasures which might await me, near or remote. How could life possess any charms for me, who am separated from all those I loveâ€”my husband, my children and my relatives? I, who am myself a queen and of royal blood, have lived the most wretched life, and stand before the world an example that neither crown nor sceptre affords any protection against misfortune!â€œBut I die innocentâ€”I write this with a trembling hand and feeling death imminentâ€”I am innocent. Oh, that it might please the Almighty to convince the world after my death that I did not deserve any of the frightful accusations by which the calumnies of my enemies stained my character, wounded my heart, traduced my honour and trampled on my dignity.â€œSire, believe your dying sister, a queen and even more, a Christian, who would gaze with terror on the other world if her last confession were a falsehood. I die willingly, for the unhappy bless the tomb. But more than all else, and even than death,it pains me that not one of all those I loved in life is standing by my dying bed to grant me a last consolation by a pressure of the hand, or a glance of compassion, to close my eyes in death.â€œStill, I am not alone. God, the sole witness of my innocence, is looking down on my bed of agony; my guardian angel is hovering over me, and will soon guide me to the spot where I shall be able to pray for my friends, and also for my persecutors.â€œFarewell, then, my royal brother! May Heaven bless youâ€”my husbandâ€”my childrenâ€”Englandâ€”Denmarkâ€”and the whole world. Permit my corpse to rest in the vault of my parents, and now the last, unspeakably sad farewell from your unfortunateâ€œCaroline Matilda.â€

â€œSire,

â€œIn the most solemn hour of my life I turn to you, my royal brother, to express my heartâ€™s thanks for all the kindness you have shown me during my whole life, and especially in my misfortune.

â€œI die willingly, for nothing holds me backâ€”neither my youth, nor the pleasures which might await me, near or remote. How could life possess any charms for me, who am separated from all those I loveâ€”my husband, my children and my relatives? I, who am myself a queen and of royal blood, have lived the most wretched life, and stand before the world an example that neither crown nor sceptre affords any protection against misfortune!

â€œBut I die innocentâ€”I write this with a trembling hand and feeling death imminentâ€”I am innocent. Oh, that it might please the Almighty to convince the world after my death that I did not deserve any of the frightful accusations by which the calumnies of my enemies stained my character, wounded my heart, traduced my honour and trampled on my dignity.

â€œSire, believe your dying sister, a queen and even more, a Christian, who would gaze with terror on the other world if her last confession were a falsehood. I die willingly, for the unhappy bless the tomb. But more than all else, and even than death,it pains me that not one of all those I loved in life is standing by my dying bed to grant me a last consolation by a pressure of the hand, or a glance of compassion, to close my eyes in death.

â€œStill, I am not alone. God, the sole witness of my innocence, is looking down on my bed of agony; my guardian angel is hovering over me, and will soon guide me to the spot where I shall be able to pray for my friends, and also for my persecutors.

â€œFarewell, then, my royal brother! May Heaven bless youâ€”my husbandâ€”my childrenâ€”Englandâ€”Denmarkâ€”and the whole world. Permit my corpse to rest in the vault of my parents, and now the last, unspeakably sad farewell from your unfortunate

â€œCaroline Matilda.â€

THE CHURCH AT CELLE, WHERE QUEEN MATILDA IS BURIED.THE CHURCH AT CELLE, WHERE QUEEN MATILDA IS BURIED.From a Photograph.

THE CHURCH AT CELLE, WHERE QUEEN MATILDA IS BURIED.From a Photograph.

If this document were genuine, it would go far to prove the innocence of the Queen, for it must be remembered that the evidence against her, even at its worst, was presumptive only, and it is unlikely, from all we know of the genuine piety of her later years that she would have faced death with a lie on her lips. But after patient inquiry nothing can be found to prove its genuineness. The most convincing proof, of course, would be the existence of the original letter in the Queenâ€™s well-known handwriting; but no such letter exists in the Hanoverian archives; nor does it exist among the Guelph domestic papers, which the King of Hanover tookwith him into exile after the war of 1866. While there was still a king in Hanover the late Mr. Heneage Jesse[108]applied to the Hanoverian officials for information concerning this letter, and received the following reply from Baron von Malortie, minister and chamberlain to the King: â€œIn the royal Hanoverian archives there is not the letter alluded to of the late Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark. Solely the royal museum contains aprintedcopy of a letter pretending to be written by the said late Queen on her deathbed to her royal brother, George III. of Great Britain, and it is presumed that the Duchess of Augustenburg was permitted by the late King, Ernest Augustusâ€™ Majesty, to take a copy of this printed copy, now in the family museum.â€ He then went on to say that all the officials of the Hanoverian archives were strongly of the opinion that the Queen â€œnever did write, nor could write, on her deathbed such a letter, and that the pretended letter of her Majesty is nothing but the work of one of her friends in England, written after her death and then translated. The history of her Majestyâ€™s last illness and of her death is here well known, and excludes almost the possibility of her writing and forwarding such a letter to her royal brother.â€[109]

[108]Author of theMemoirs of the Life and Reign of King George III.

[109]Jesseâ€™sMemoirs and Life of George III., 1867, vol. ii.

There still remains the theory put forward by someâ€”that the Queen, in writing this letter, protested her innocence only in general terms, and shemay have been referring to the charges made against her of plotting with Struensee to poison or depose her husband, of which she certainly was innocent. But this theory is untenable from another plea put forward by the Queenâ€™s defenders, and which perhaps deserves more respectful consideration than the letter. Some years after the Queenâ€™s death Falckenskjold published hisMemoirs, and in them we find the following statement:â€”

â€œIn 1780 I had an opportunity at Hanover of forming the acquaintance of M. Roques, pastor of the French Protestant Church at Celle. One day I spoke to him about Queen Caroline Matilda.â€œâ€˜I was summoned almost daily by that Princess,â€™ he said to me, â€˜either to read or converse with her, and most frequently to obtain information relative to the poor of my parish. I visited her more constantly during the last days of her life, and I was with her a little before she drew her last breath. Although very weak, she retained her presence of mind. After I had recited the prayers for the dying, she said to me in a voice that seemed to become more animated: â€œMonsieur Roques, I am about to appear before God. I protest that I am innocent of the crimes imputed against me, and that I was never faithless to my husband.â€™â€â€œM. Roques added that the Queen had never before spoken to him, even indirectly, of the accusations brought against her.â€œI wrote down on the same day (March 7, 1780)what M. Roques said to me, as coming from a man distinguished by his integrity of character.â€[110]

â€œIn 1780 I had an opportunity at Hanover of forming the acquaintance of M. Roques, pastor of the French Protestant Church at Celle. One day I spoke to him about Queen Caroline Matilda.

â€œâ€˜I was summoned almost daily by that Princess,â€™ he said to me, â€˜either to read or converse with her, and most frequently to obtain information relative to the poor of my parish. I visited her more constantly during the last days of her life, and I was with her a little before she drew her last breath. Although very weak, she retained her presence of mind. After I had recited the prayers for the dying, she said to me in a voice that seemed to become more animated: â€œMonsieur Roques, I am about to appear before God. I protest that I am innocent of the crimes imputed against me, and that I was never faithless to my husband.â€™â€

â€œM. Roques added that the Queen had never before spoken to him, even indirectly, of the accusations brought against her.

â€œI wrote down on the same day (March 7, 1780)what M. Roques said to me, as coming from a man distinguished by his integrity of character.â€[110]

If Falckenskjold is to be believed, this, it must be admitted, is remarkable evidence; but in hisMemoirshe can be more than once convicted of misstatements, and, at best, this one rests on second-hand information obtained five years after the Queenâ€™s death. It was Pastor Lehzen, and not Pastor Roques, who attended the Queen in her illness, and he published afterwards an edifying account of her last moments, which contained no statement of this nature.[111]As Lehzen was the Queenâ€™s chaplain throughout her residence at Celle, and rector of the principal church there, it seems more likely that she would have confided in him than in the minister of the French Protestant chapel, whom she only saw from time to time in connection with little deeds of beneficence to the poor among his congregation.

[111]Lehzenâ€™sDie Letzten Stunden der KÃ¶nigin von Danemark.

It is not necessary to invest Matilda with the halo of a saint to feel sympathy for her sorrows and pity for her fate. She loved greatly and suffered greatly for her love. Let it rest there.

â€œOur good Queen is no more,â€ announced Pastor Lehzen, as he came from her deathbed to the long gallery, where the whole of the late Queenâ€™s household, some fifty in number, were assembled.There was not one of them who did not hear the words without a sense of personal loss, for there was not one, even the meanest, to whom the Queen had not endeared herself by some kind word or deed. The castle was filled with weeping and lamentation. The ill news was quickly communicated to the town, and every house became a house of mourning, for during her residence at Celle Matilda had endeared herself alike to the highest and the lowest, and was spoken of by all as their â€œlieben und guten KÃ¶niginâ€ (their beloved and good Queen).

Owing to the danger of infection the Queenâ€™s funeral took place within fifty hours of her death. It was found impossible to delay her obsequies until the Kingâ€™s instructions could be received from England, and therefore at midnight on May 13 the Queen was interred in the burial vault of the Dukes of Celle in the old church.

The grand marshal of the court of Hanover, Baron von Lichtenstein, took charge of the funeral arrangements. The Queenâ€™s coffin was carried on a hearse, drawn by six horses, from the castle to the church under an escort of soldiers, and the route was guarded by soldiers bearing torches, and lined with rows of weeping people, all clad in black. The Queenâ€™s household, headed by Baron Seckendorf, her chamberlain, and the Baroness Dowager dâ€™Ompteda, her chief lady-in-waiting, followed on foot. The church was crowded with the chief people of Celle, including Prince Ernest of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Madame de Plessen. The simple service was conducted by Pastor Lehzen, and the coffin was lowered to the ducal vaults.[112]

[112]Though the funeral was quite private, the expenses were very heavy, amounting to some Â£3,000. They were defrayed, by order of George III., by the privy purse.

The Sunday after the Queenâ€™s death mourning services were held in the churches of Celle. At the town church, where she was buried, Pastor Lehzen concluded his sermon with the following words:â€”

â€œShe endeavoured to win the love of every one, even of the humblest, and the many tears shed for her prove that she succeeded in her endeavour. Those who were nearest her person testify how she strove in a higher strength to exercise the most difficult of Christian virtues [forgiveness of her enemies], and that not from a lofty, worldly pride, but from reasons set forth for us by the Pattern of all virtues. The last steps of her life were taken with submissive surrender to the will of God, with trust and hope. O God! we thank Thee for Thy grace, and for its blessed working; we honour, we extol, we praise the same, and offer to Thee our most hearty thanks for all the goodness wrought in this immortalised soul. May she now enjoy the rest, the reward, the bliss of the perfected just! May a blessing rest on her royal children, such as this loving mother sought for them so often from Thee, O God, with many tears! Lighten the sorrow which the news of this unexpected and grievous event will cause to the hearts of our gracious King and Queen[George III. and Charlotte], and for the blessing of the world, and of this country in particular, bring their Majesties to their full term of happy years, and permit them to see their royal house flourish and prosper. Look upon those who are nearest to the deceased Princess, and mourn a Queen who was always full of graciousness and gentleness. Console them in Thy mercy and loving providence, and teach them that Thy counsel is very wonderful, and wise and tender. And thou, Celle, overcome by the death which leaves thee forlorn, look up through thy tears to God! Honour Him with childlike trust, and pray Him to compensate your loss by manifestations of His mercy in other ways, and by granting a long and happy life to our gracious King.â€

It was thought that the ducal vault of Celle would prove only a temporary resting-place for the Queen, and, in accordance with her expressed wish, her remains would be removed to England to rest in Westminster Abbey beside those of her father and mother. But George III. did not see his way to grant this last request, and all that is mortal of Matilda remains at Celle to this day. On one side of her George William, the last Duke of Celle, and his consort, ElÃ©onore dâ€™Olbreuse, sleep their last sleep; on the other is the plain leaden coffin of their unfortunate daughter, Sophie Dorothea, whose troubled life in many ways closely resembled that of her great-granddaughter Matilda.

I visited this vault a few years ago. Queen Matildaâ€™s coffin is easily found, as it is the onlywooden (mahogany) one there. It is of extraordinary breadthâ€”almost as broad as longâ€”and at the head is the following inscription in Latin:Here are deposited the mortal remains of Caroline Matilda, Princess of Great Britain and Brunswick-LÃ¼neburg, Queen of Denmark and Norway. Born July 22, 1751, died May 11, 1775.A few faded wreaths were lying near the coffin; many of these were deposited many years after her death by pilgrims to her last resting-place; but I was assured that some of them had been there since the funeral. The vault is now closed.

When the news of Queen Matildaâ€™s death reached England general mourning for three weeks was commanded for the Kingâ€™s sister, and court mourning for six weeks. Among the few English friends who knew her profound sorrow was felt at the early death of this unfortunate daughter of England. On May 24 a deputation of the House of Lords and a deputation of the House of Commons waited on the King at St. Jamesâ€™s, and presented addresses of condolence on the Queen of Denmarkâ€™s death. To each George III. replied: â€œThe King returns his thanks to the House for the concern they have expressed for the great loss which has happened to his family by the death of his sister, the Queen of Denmark.â€ The few thousand pounds the Queen left behind her, and her personal effects, George III. committed to the charge of the regency of Hanover, with orders to guard the property for her children until they came of age, and Baron Seckendorf wasentrusted with the administration of the Queenâ€™s estate.

The news of the Queenâ€™s death travelled to Copenhagen as quickly as to London, and completed the revulsion of feeling in her favour. She was henceforth regarded by the people as a saint and martyr, who had been sacrificed to the intrigues of the Queen-Dowager, and the unpopularity of Juliana Maria and her Government was greatly increased. The Queen-Dowager could not conceal her satisfaction at Matildaâ€™s death. The English envoy relates how the Danish court received the news. Writing on May 20 he says:â€”

â€œAn estafette from Madame Schimmelmann brought the melancholy news from Hamburg to Count Bernstorff very early yesterday morning, and I had the grief to receive the confirmation of it soon after by the post.... Orders were given yesterday, as I am positively assured, to put the Prince and Princess Royal into the deepest mourning worn here for a mother, and I am likewise further assured that Count Bernstorff was the adviser of that measure. But as consistency is not to be expected here, he could not prevent the Royal Familyâ€™s appearing at the play on Wednesday and yesterday evenings, and what was worse, their assisting on Thursday night at a ball in dominoes at the theatre, where they made the King of Denmark dance, though they had ordered young Schack to acquaint him on Wednesday with the circumstance he was in, with which he was most [deeply] affected.And yesterday at Court (where I was not) his countenance and manner were such as startled the Foreign Ministers who approached him. The Prince Royal did not see company. And to-day they all went to dine out of town, the King assisting at the launching of two frigates, which resolution was taken suddenly at twelve oâ€™clock. They say they will wait till I, or M. Reiche, notify the Queen of Denmarkâ€™s death, in his Majestyâ€™s name.â€[113]

[113]De Lavalâ€™s despatch, Copenhagen, May 20, 1775.

In accordance with this resolution no notice was taken of the event by the Danish court, nor was any mourning donned, until George III. sent a letter to the King notifying the death of Queen Matilda. This notification was formally delivered by the English envoy at the Christiansborg Palace the day when a court ball was appointed. The Queen-Dowager so far forgot her discretion, or was so blind to decency, that she did not order the ball to be postponed, and the court danced merrily the evening of the day that the Queenâ€™s death was notified at Copenhagen. But the next morning the Danish court went into mourningâ€”not as for the Queen of Denmark (for the Queen was considered politically to have died three years before), but as for a foreign princess who was connected with the Danish royal houseâ€”as a princess of Great Britain Caroline Matilda was first cousin to Christian VII. This court mourning lasted for four weeksâ€”the usual timeâ€”and the only concession seems to have been thatthe late Queenâ€™s children, the Crown Prince Frederick and his sister, Princess Louise Augusta, remained in mourning for a longer period.

It is said that George III., to whom the news of the court ball was communicated, deeply resented the affront offered by the Danish court not only to his dead sister but to him. No trace of this appears in the official despatches. On the contrary, we find, soon after this wanton insult to the Queenâ€™s memory, a despatch from England, saying that â€œthe King hoped the Queenâ€™s death would make no difference to the good relations existing between the two courtsâ€.[114]George III. was not a man to allow personal considerations to stand in the way of what he considered to be public good, and he had recently obtained a pledge from the Danish Government to the effect that they would not offer any help, direct or indirect, to the American colonists, recently goaded into revolt. A sisterâ€™s memory was nothing to the King in comparison with the prosecution of an unrighteous war which he believed to be righteous.

[114]Lord Suffolkâ€™s despatch to De Laval, St. Jamesâ€™s, June 9, 1775.

THE MEMORIAL ERECTED TO QUEEN MATILDA IN THE FRENCH GARDEN OF CELLE.THE MEMORIAL ERECTED TO QUEEN MATILDA IN THE FRENCH GARDEN OF CELLE.

THE MEMORIAL ERECTED TO QUEEN MATILDA IN THE FRENCH GARDEN OF CELLE.

It was only in little Celle, among the people who had known and loved her the last years of her brief life, that the memory of Matilda was treasured and held sacred. Soon after the funeral a public meeting was held at Celle and attended by the principal burgesses of the town and the leading noblemen of the principality of LÃ¼neburg, and after resolutions hadbeen passed lamenting her death, it was resolved to petition George III. for permission to erect a monument to her memory. In this petition it was stated: â€œOur only object is to raise a lasting proof of the general affection and respect with which we regarded the great and noble qualities of her Majesty Queen Matilda, and, by a permanent memorial of the grief for her death felt by all true subjects of your Majesty, to give an opportunity to our remotest descendants to cherish with silent respect the memory of the best and most amiable of queens.â€ The petition was graciously received by George III., and he willingly granted his permission.

A monument of grey marble was sculptured by Professor Oeser of Leipzig, and erected in the French garden of Celleâ€”the garden of which she had been so fondâ€”and stands to this day. A medallion of the Queen, as she appeared in the last year of her life, is carved upon an urn, which is upborne by allegorical figures of truth, maternal love, charity and mercyâ€”the virtues by which the Queen was pre-eminently known; and an inscription runs round the pedestal setting forth her name and titles and the dates of her birth and death. This handsome monument stands out in bold relief against a background of sycamores, and looks across the trim gardens to an avenue of ancient limesâ€”the very trees, maybe, under which Queen Matilda paced with Wraxall a few months before her death.

I saw it first on a June evening five years ago. At the base of the monument blue forget-me-notswere planted, and red and white roses clambered up the low railing around itâ€”a touching testimony to the fact that the Queen is not yet forgotten in Celle, and the memory of her good deeds is still living in the hearts of the people.

Back to Index Next