Mr. Wraxall passed nearly the whole of the next day with Baron von Seckendorf, who returned him the articles from the queen, enclosed in a cover addressed by herself to Baron von Bülow, and sealedwith her own cypher. She also transmitted to him assurances calculated to confirm the zeal of her adherents. Mr. Wraxall proceeded toward Hamburg on the same night, though the country between it and Celle was almost everywhere under water. Crossing the Elbe, he arrived at Hamburg on the evening of February 21, 1775, after a hazardous and fatiguing journey.
On the following day he wrote to Baron von Bülow, by means of Monsieur le Texier, informing him of his return. The baron came to Mr. Wraxall on February 23, about noon, and expressed great joy at his safe arrival. The agent then delivered the papers containing the articles to the baron, who perused them many times with the deepest attention. Of the two first articles he expressed the highest approbation. He regretted that the King of England would not advance any pecuniary assistance toward accomplishing his sister's restoration. But he lamented much more that the fourth article only stipulated or promised, on the part of his Britannic Majesty, to avow the revolutionafter it should be effected, instead of making that avowalduring the time that it should be actually executing.
"We must, however," the baron exclaimed, "transmit the articles to our associates at Copenhagen, and receive their reply. That alone can enable us to form our determination respecting the line to be pursued."
The baron then asked Mr. Wraxall if he should bewilling to undertake the commission of carrying the articles to Copenhagen, which he assured him he would do at an hour's warning. After thanking the agent for so unequivocal a proof of his attachment to the cause, and admonishing him to be on his guard, as they were surrounded by spies, the baron left, promising to return on the next day.
When they met on the 24th, the baron informed Mr. Wraxall that, having maturely reflected on the proposition he had made the latter of going to Copenhagen, and having consulted two of his friends upon it, they were unanimously of opinion not to hazard such an experiment. Mr. Wraxall being known in that capital, his return to it must, in the present state of affairs, excite inquiry, and might expose the enterprise itself to discovery or suspicion. They had, therefore, already selected for that commission a gentleman attached to the cause, who would set out immediately. He would return with all possible despatch, but, as the passage of the two Belts was always uncertain in winter, it might probably require two, or even three, weeks to receive an answer. During this time the baron requested Mr. Wraxall, in the name of the party, to remain quietly in Hamburg.
On March 14, Baron von Bülow came to Mr. Wraxall and informed him that the expected answer from Copenhagen had arrived. "It is," he said, "exactly such as I predicted and anticipated. Our friends had hoped that his Britannic Majesty would have authorised his Resident to have come forwardat the time that they were effectingthe counter-revolution; and that, as representing the king his sovereign, he would, in that critical and decisive moment, have been empowered openly to avow and justify it. This is the only request they make. They know that they are powerful enough toaccomplishthe queen's recall, but to maintain it may be their difficulty."
After a little further conversation, the baron added:
"At the instant when the queen dowager and her son, Prince Frederick, are put under confinement in their own apartments, when the principal ministers are arrested, and the King of Denmark's order obtained for Queen Matilda's immediate return to Copenhagen, all eyes will be turned upon the conduct of the British Resident. If he shuts the gates of his hôtel, and remains a silent or a passive spectator of so great a change, men will naturally conceive that his court and his master are unacquainted with, if not adverse to, the enterprise itself. It is even possible that, encouraged by such inaction on the part of the English representative, the adherents of the queen dowager may attempt, while the counter-revolution is yet scarcely completed, to overturn it, or to excite the populace of Copenhagen to insurrection. We may be the victims of the King of England's reserve.
"But if, on the contrary, while Queen Matilda's friends are achieving the counter-revolution, the English Resident goes to the palace, avows his master's approbation of it, and adds, that every attempt to overturnit, or to impede his sister's recall, will excite the resentment of his Britannic Majesty, who will support it, if necessary, by force: all ranks of men will remain in profound submission. The party is, therefore, determined to draw up a letter to the above effect, addressed to the King of England in their joint names, and to limit their requests to this single point. That granted, they are ready, without delay, to proceed to action."
Before they parted, it was settled that Baron von Bülow should draw up the letter in question, and that as soon as matters were arranged Mr. Wraxall should return once more to Celle, and thence to England.
As George III. had made choice of Baron von Lichtenstein as the medium through which all immediate communications to him on the subject of the queen his sister should pass, it was highly important to apprise the baron of this intention. Mr. Wraxall accordingly wrote to him on the same day by the post, expressing in very few words that, on account of some circumstances which had arisen, he would probably see Mr. Wraxall again in London early in the ensuing month. The writer added, that if, unfortunately, the baron should have quitted England before his return, he relied on his leaving accurate directions in writing how to proceed in the affair. Mr. Wraxall also wrote to Baron von Seckendorf, apprising him that he might be expected again in Celle in a few days.
On March 20, Baron von Bülow delivered Mr.Wraxall the letter for the King of Great Britain. It was not signed by him or by any of the party, on account of the danger incurred by such a signature. But it expressed in very strong terms the united entreaties of the queen's adherents on the single point already stated. This letter Mr. Wraxall was empowered to deliver to the queen on his arrival at Celle, to request her to peruse it, and afterwards to enclose it in a letter from herself to her brother, supporting every argument contained in it by her entreaties. Mr. Wraxall was, as on the two previous occasions, to draw up a letter to the queen, and his further instructions for her were to the following effect:—
"To assure her Majesty, on the part of the Danish nobility engaged in her cause, that they were unremittingly occupied in concerting measures for her restoration. That they were so numerous and powerful a body, possessed of such means, and inspired by motives so strong, as to render their success almost infallible. That the consent of the King of Great Britain to the only request preferred by them would, indeed, accelerate, as his refusal might retard, the accomplishment of the projected enterprise, but that nothing could prevent its ultimate execution. That even a discovery of the design would not frustrate it; and that, if the executioner should strike off ten heads or twenty, a number sufficient would still survive to seat her on the throne. That the plan, when ripe, would be carried into execution in the following manner:—
"On the day fixed, certain of them would repair to the palace, obtain access to the king, and either induce or compel him to affix his name to an instrument ready drawn up for the purpose. The instrument would simply contain an order to the queen dowager to retire to her own apartment till his further pleasure was known; and to Prince Frederick, to remove to one of the palaces, probably that of Frederiksborg, about twenty miles from Copenhagen. That at the same time, by virtue of a similar order, the ministers would be dismissed or arrested; and a messenger sent off to invite the queen to return, without an instant's delay, 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 the space of one or two hours.
"That they trusted, therefore, she, on her part, would repair with all possible expedition to Copenhagen. That a proper escort, becoming her dignity, should be formed, to accompany her from Altona through the Danish territories, and that they calculated she might, with despatch, reach Copenhagen in four days from the time of her quitting Celle, if no extraordinary impediment arose in her passing the two Belts. That her presence in the capital of Denmark would animate the courage of her adherents, cover her enemies with consternation, and complete the counter-revolution. Lastly, that though they could not yet name the precise time when they hoped toproceed to action, which must in a certain degree depend on the answer of his Britannic Majesty to their present request, yet, that for many and urgent reasons, they neither could nor would long defer the blow."
Having received the above-mentioned letter from Baron von Bülow, and general directions for his conduct, Mr. Wraxall again set out from Hamburg on March 21, 1775, and reached Celle on the following night, at ten o'clock. He gave the same name to the sentinel at the gates, and drove to the same obscure inn, as on former occasions. Next morning he went to Baron von Seckendorf to inform him of his arrival. The baron entreated him to remain concealed as much as possible, and not to stir out by day, as the Princess of Brunswick was then on a visit to the queen. But, he added, that her Majesty was determined to see Mr. Wraxall, at all events, previous to his departure, as she had various matters to impart to him of a confidential nature.
On Mr. Wraxall's return to the inn, Mantel, the queen's valet, came to him. Mr. Wraxall gave him, in consequence of the order he brought, the letter of the Danish nobility to George III., and also a letter from himself, addressed to the queen, containing the heads of the instructions with which he was charged. It was afterwards fixed, between Baron von Seckendorf and Mr. Wraxall, that, on Saturday morning, March 25, as soon as the hereditary princess had returnedto Brunswick, Mr. Wraxall should be brought to the castle, where the queen would be ready to receive him. But, after mature deliberation, the baron thought that it would be safer for him to repair to the castle during the night before the princess left Celle. The circumstance of her then being at Celle was favourable, because no one would be tempted to suppose that the queen could venture on so hazardous an experiment when her sister was under the same roof. It was therefore agreed, that precisely at eight o'clock on the evening of the 24th, Mr. Wraxall should wrap himself in his great-coat, and proceed to the entrance of the drawbridge over the great moat of the castle, where Mantel should punctually meet him, and conduct him to the queen. The circumstances of this last interview are so interesting, that I shall allow Mr. Wraxall to speak in the first person.
I set off about a quarter of an hour before eight for the inn. The darkness of the night was accompanied by a tempest of wind and rain. When I got to the spot, no valet appeared, and directly afterwards the guard was relieved. I was therefore compelled to hide myself as well as I could while the whole guard passed close to me. The rain was so heavy, and the darkness such, that fortunately I was not discovered. I waited in this unpleasant predicament a full quarter of an hour, anxious and impatient tothe greatest degree. At length Mantel came. He said not a word to me, but, wrapping his cloak all over me, and covering me with his umbrella, he led me in silence over the drawbridge, under the arch, into the square court of the castle.
We went up a private staircase, and he conducted me along the great gallery or corridor into the queen's library. Two candles were burning, and the book-cases were thrown open, as it was uncertain at what hour the queen could come to me. Mantel left me, but returned in less than a quarter of an hour with a note from Baron von Seckendorf, to the following effect:—
"Un mot pour vous, mon très cher, tout va bien. On espère même que la princesse se retirera à neuf heures; alors sa Majesté pourra vous parler jusqu'a onze heures, à son aise. Vouz pouvez lui dire tout ce que vous avez sur le cœur. Le mauvais temps, m'annonce l'impossibilité de me trouver demain matin au rendezvous: ainsi, ayez la grace, étant d'ailleurs destiné d'être mouillé, de passer à huit heures chez moi. Ordonnez les chevaux à neuf, et partez sous la garde de Dieu. Bon soir. Je retourne le chiffre dont j'ai pris copie. Rapportez-moi demain tout ce que vous avez de papiers ou d'ailleurs. Vous verrez la reine précisement à neuf heures."
I had scarcely perused the note when I heard the queen's footstep on the staircase. A moment afterwards she entered the room. She was charminglydressed, though without diamonds; she had on a crimson satin sack, 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 Majesty's consent to it.
"I will, however," she added, "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."
Her Majesty ordered me to assure Baron von Bülow by letter that "she was satisfied with all I had communicated to her on his part, and that she should be ready on the shortest notice to mount on horseback in men's clothes, in order more expeditiously to reach Copenhagen: there to encounter every difficulty with her friends."
Her Majesty was gracious enough to express to me the strongest assurances of her protection. She was pleased to say:
"I lament that I have no means left me of proving to you at this time my satisfaction. You have run every hazard in order to serve me. I will, whatever may be the event of the present attempt, recommend you to the king, my brother. He can, and will, I have no doubt, recompense you properly. Meanwhile, write to me freely and unreservedly from England on every point, and rely on my recollection of your services."
When the queen was about to withdraw, she opened the door, but held it a few minutes in her hand, as if she had something to say: she then retired. I little thought her death was so near, and that I should never see her again. In a short time afterwards, Mantel came to me, and wrapping me up in his cloak as before, conducted me by a private staircase out of one of the postern gates of the castle. It was quite dark, and he therefore showed me the way through the suburbs to the inn. When I got there, it was midnight.
On the following morning, Mr. Wraxall waited on Baron von Seckendorf. The latter delivered to him the two letters, one from the Danish nobility, and one from the queen to George III. They were under separate covers, but both were sealed and addressed by herself. Mr. Wraxall received orders from her Majesty, concerning what he had written on March 14from Hamburg, namely, to deliver the letters on his arrival in London to Baron von Lichtenstein, if he was still there, and in case of his having quitted England, he would follow the instructions which might be left by him respecting the mode of conveying the despatches to the king.
Baron von Seckendorf, at the same time, communicated to Mr. Wraxall, by the queen's command, a message with which she had charged him. It contained the most gracious assurances of her favour and protection, "as due," she was pleased to say, "to his zeal, exertions, and disinterestedness."
Mr. Wraxall left Celle immediately afterwards, and took the road to Osnabrück and Holland. From Rotterdam he wrote to Baron von Bülow, as well as to Mr. le Texier, informing them of all that had happened at Celle, and of his being on his way to England. On April 1, he embarked at Helvoetsluys, and reached London on the morning of the 5th.
On the next day, Mr. Wraxall called at Baron von Lichtenstein's lodgings, but, to his great mortification, learned that the baron had left England ten days previously. He left behind him, however, the following letter for the Queen of Denmark's agent:—
J'ai reçu, monsieur, la lettre que vous m'avez fait l'honneur de m'écrire en date du 14 de Mars. Je suis très faché que mes occupations, et mon emploi à Hannovre, ne me permettent pas de m'arréter icijusqu'au temps de votre retour, pour avoir la satisfaction d'apprendre le succès de votre voyage, n'en ayant pas eu, comme vous vous imaginez, des nouvelles par la personne en question. En attendant, j'ai donné l'avis de votre arrivée prochaine. Vous trouverez çi joint l'adresse de la personne à laquelleonveut que vous remettiez vos lettres, dont vous pourriez être chargé. Je dois vous dire de n'être pas surpris, se vous ne recevez point de réponse.Onl'adressera à moi. Des raisons que vous savez, c'est à dire qu'on ne donnera rien d'écrit de sa main touchant cette affaire, ne permettent pas d'agir autrement. Sionne change pas de sentiment, et sionne vous fait pas dire par celui auquel vous donnerez vos lettres, d'attendre ici, je ne vois pas d'autre expédient que de retourner dans une quinzaine de jours et de venir me trouver à Hannovre, où je compte d'être infailliblement vers la fin du mois d'Avril. J'ai l'honneur d'être avec la considération la plus distinguée,Monsieur,Votre très humble etTrès obéissant serviteur,N. L.A Londres, ce 24 Mars, 1775.
J'ai reçu, monsieur, la lettre que vous m'avez fait l'honneur de m'écrire en date du 14 de Mars. Je suis très faché que mes occupations, et mon emploi à Hannovre, ne me permettent pas de m'arréter icijusqu'au temps de votre retour, pour avoir la satisfaction d'apprendre le succès de votre voyage, n'en ayant pas eu, comme vous vous imaginez, des nouvelles par la personne en question. En attendant, j'ai donné l'avis de votre arrivée prochaine. Vous trouverez çi joint l'adresse de la personne à laquelleonveut que vous remettiez vos lettres, dont vous pourriez être chargé. Je dois vous dire de n'être pas surpris, se vous ne recevez point de réponse.Onl'adressera à moi. Des raisons que vous savez, c'est à dire qu'on ne donnera rien d'écrit de sa main touchant cette affaire, ne permettent pas d'agir autrement. Sionne change pas de sentiment, et sionne vous fait pas dire par celui auquel vous donnerez vos lettres, d'attendre ici, je ne vois pas d'autre expédient que de retourner dans une quinzaine de jours et de venir me trouver à Hannovre, où je compte d'être infailliblement vers la fin du mois d'Avril. J'ai l'honneur d'être avec la considération la plus distinguée,Monsieur,Votre très humble etTrès obéissant serviteur,N. L.
A Londres, ce 24 Mars, 1775.
Adresse de la personne à laquelle Mr. Wr. remettra ses lettres,
MONSIEUR DEHINÜUBER,Jermain Street, St. James's.
In obedience to this order, Mr. Wraxall waited upon Mr. Hinüber on the next morning. The latter received him with great politeness, and informed him that he had the king's directions to take from Mr. Wraxall, and forward immediately in a sealed-up box to the queen's house, whatever letters Mr. Wraxall might give him. Mr. Wraxall, in consequence, delivered to Monsieur de Hinüber two packets: one from the Queen of Denmark, and another from the Danish nobility. To these he added a letter addressed by himself to his Majesty. In the last, he thought it his duty to request the king, in the name of all the adherents of his sister, to admit him to an audience, as the only person who could, from his perfect knowledge of the plan and the persons, satisfy any inquiries, or explain any secret matters relative to the enterprise itself.
Mr. Wraxall also wrote to the queen, Baron von Seckendorf, and Baron von Bülow, acquainting them with his arrival and his Majesty's orders. During a fortnight, he waited in expectation that the king might possibly signify to him his commands. But having received no communication, Mr. Wraxall wrote, on April 21, to Baron von Bülow and Monsieur le Texier, informing them how matters stood. He particularly requested to be told in what manner he should act: whether they wished him to remain in London, or return by Hanover and Celle to Hamburg. By the same post, he addressed a letter to her Majestyat Celle, stating fully to her the facts which he had communicated to the Danish nobility.
It was not till May 10 that Mr. Wraxall received an answer from the Danish nobility. The letter was written by Le Texier in his own name and that of Von Bülow. It was to the effect that the baron's absence from Altona had occasioned the delay of some days in replying to Mr. Wraxall's last despatch; but that, the baron being then returned, they had maturely considered it together. They greatly regretted the king's not having admitted their agent to an audience, as well as his silence on the important point requested. The state of affairs at Copenhagen was extremely critical; but till the return of young Baron von Schimmelmann, whom they expected impatiently and daily, they were in a degree unacquainted with the person, condition, or intentions of their associates. The instant they were enabled to give Mr. Wraxall any information on the subject, he should hear again. In the meanwhile, they besought him, in the joint names of all the party, to remain quiet where he was, and not to set out from London, either for Celle or Hamburg, unless by his Majesty's positive directions.
In pursuance of this letter, Mr. Wraxall waited for further information, and held himself in readiness, if it should be thought necessary, to return to Germany, or to renew his application to George III. through Mr. de Hinüber, if the Danish nobility should instruct himto do so; but Providence had decreed that their efforts should be rendered vain. While the measures concerted to restore the queen to the throne of Denmark appeared to be near their accomplishment, she was no more. The melancholy intelligence did not reach London till May 19, and it need hardly be said that the news of so unexpected and lamentable an event produced a terrible effect on her zealous agent.
On May 25, Mr. Wraxall received a letter from Baron von Seckendorf, which I shall transcribe here, as it contains a singular and material fact, that George III. had given, through Baron von Lichtenstein, an answer to the request made him by the Danish nobility; but that, as the king's letter arrived at Hanover when Caroline Matilda was either dying or dead, the packet was returned to him unopened:—
MON TRES CHER AMI,La mort également douleureuse et rapide de mon incomparable maîtresse, renverse tout d'un coup l'édifice de notre prospérité. Que nous sommes malheureux, et que sa perte est grande pour nos amis. Lepy (Baron von Bülow) a été incessamment informé par moi de cette triste catastrophe. Le paquet dont se trouvait chargé le courier, a été renvoyé, sans être décacheté au Sieur Abel (the King of England) par Alis (Lichtenstein) et j'ignore entièrement ce qu'auroit été la résolution qu'il comptait donner aux amis de Montpelier (Copenhagen).Alis m'a promis de faire en sorte que toutes les dépenses faites par eux et par vous, seroient remboursées par Abel, le plutôt que possible. Et sitôt que j'aurai des nouvelles sûres à cet égard, vous en serez instruit. En attendant, je vous prie de dire ceci à Lepy. Il est juste que personne ne perde son argent.Que deviendrons nous à cette heure, mon très cher ami? Resterez vous à Londres, oui ferez vous le voyage que vos parents avaient projetté? Puis-je me flatter de vous revoir jamais? Grand Dieu! quelle désolation en si peu de momens! Je ne pourrai jamais me remettre de ce coup. Vôtre dernière lettre parvint encore à la chère défuncte.Adieu, mon très cher ami! Je ne cesserai de ma vie de vous aimer et de conserver la mémoire de votre attachement sincère pour la precieuse Agujari (Queen of Denmark).Tout à vous,Ce 16ᵐᵉ May, 1775.BROCARD.[54]
MON TRES CHER AMI,
La mort également douleureuse et rapide de mon incomparable maîtresse, renverse tout d'un coup l'édifice de notre prospérité. Que nous sommes malheureux, et que sa perte est grande pour nos amis. Lepy (Baron von Bülow) a été incessamment informé par moi de cette triste catastrophe. Le paquet dont se trouvait chargé le courier, a été renvoyé, sans être décacheté au Sieur Abel (the King of England) par Alis (Lichtenstein) et j'ignore entièrement ce qu'auroit été la résolution qu'il comptait donner aux amis de Montpelier (Copenhagen).
Alis m'a promis de faire en sorte que toutes les dépenses faites par eux et par vous, seroient remboursées par Abel, le plutôt que possible. Et sitôt que j'aurai des nouvelles sûres à cet égard, vous en serez instruit. En attendant, je vous prie de dire ceci à Lepy. Il est juste que personne ne perde son argent.
Que deviendrons nous à cette heure, mon très cher ami? Resterez vous à Londres, oui ferez vous le voyage que vos parents avaient projetté? Puis-je me flatter de vous revoir jamais? Grand Dieu! quelle désolation en si peu de momens! Je ne pourrai jamais me remettre de ce coup. Vôtre dernière lettre parvint encore à la chère défuncte.
Adieu, mon très cher ami! Je ne cesserai de ma vie de vous aimer et de conserver la mémoire de votre attachement sincère pour la precieuse Agujari (Queen of Denmark).
Tout à vous,Ce 16ᵐᵉ May, 1775.BROCARD.[54]
From Baron von Bülow, Mr. Wraxall received a letter, in June, announcing to him the same event; it was dated May 22nd, and I shall extract the first part of it here, as it proves another very important circumstance, that the enterprise would have been carried out whether George III. had given the required promise or not:—
.
MONSIEUR,La nouvelle la plus malheureuse du monde m'avait mis dans un tel état d'anéantissement, qu'il n'a été jusqu' ici pas possible de vous dire un mot.Occupé avec Grenier (Schimmelmann) à deliberer sur les moyens les plus prompts pour exécuter le plan, et rempli de nouvelles espérances non équivoques fixant, pour ainsi dire, malgré le silence opiniâtre d'Abel, lejour, lemomenttant désiré, je reçois une lettre de Brocard. Je l'ouvre avec précipitation, dans l'idée d'y trouver les choses les plus agréables: mais, au contraire, la première ligne annonce l'arrêt du Destin le plus cruel. Je ne dirai rien de ce que je sentis dans un moment aussi inattendu, puisque je suis sûr que vous vous en faites une idée exacte, par la situation dans laquelle vous vous serez trouvé vous même, en apprenant notre malheur.C'en est donc fait de notre bonheur! il s'est enfui pour toujours. Nous n'avons pas dû être heureux. Nous n'avons pas dû le rendre les autres. Il ne nous reste aucun espoir. Nous rentrons dans le néant dont nous voulions sortir! Mais que ce Fantome de bonheur envolé ne nous emporte pas votre amitié et attachement. Comptez jusqu'à la fin des mes forces, sur le mien. Mes amis vous assurent la même chose. Nous vous devons trop pour devenir ingrat. Tout ce qui dépendra de nous, pour vous le temoigner, ne sera jamais négligé. Parlez et disposez de ce qu'il y a en notre pouvoir.
MONSIEUR,
La nouvelle la plus malheureuse du monde m'avait mis dans un tel état d'anéantissement, qu'il n'a été jusqu' ici pas possible de vous dire un mot.
Occupé avec Grenier (Schimmelmann) à deliberer sur les moyens les plus prompts pour exécuter le plan, et rempli de nouvelles espérances non équivoques fixant, pour ainsi dire, malgré le silence opiniâtre d'Abel, lejour, lemomenttant désiré, je reçois une lettre de Brocard. Je l'ouvre avec précipitation, dans l'idée d'y trouver les choses les plus agréables: mais, au contraire, la première ligne annonce l'arrêt du Destin le plus cruel. Je ne dirai rien de ce que je sentis dans un moment aussi inattendu, puisque je suis sûr que vous vous en faites une idée exacte, par la situation dans laquelle vous vous serez trouvé vous même, en apprenant notre malheur.
C'en est donc fait de notre bonheur! il s'est enfui pour toujours. Nous n'avons pas dû être heureux. Nous n'avons pas dû le rendre les autres. Il ne nous reste aucun espoir. Nous rentrons dans le néant dont nous voulions sortir! Mais que ce Fantome de bonheur envolé ne nous emporte pas votre amitié et attachement. Comptez jusqu'à la fin des mes forces, sur le mien. Mes amis vous assurent la même chose. Nous vous devons trop pour devenir ingrat. Tout ce qui dépendra de nous, pour vous le temoigner, ne sera jamais négligé. Parlez et disposez de ce qu'il y a en notre pouvoir.
Thus terminated, seemingly at the point of fruition, an enterprise in which some of the first nobility of Denmark, Norway, and Holstein, were engaged, and to which George III. had given his consent.[55]
THE TYPHUS FEVER—DEATH OF THE PAGE—THE QUEEN'S VISIT—SYMPTOMS OF ILLNESS—DR. ZIMMERMANN—PASTOR LEHZEN—CAROLINE MATILDA'S GOODNESS OF HEART—HER DEATH—THE FUNERAL—GENERAL GRIEF—THE MONUMENTS—LETTER TO GEORGE III.—PROOFS OF CAROLINE MATILDA'S INNOCENCE—THE QUEEN'S CHARACTER.
THE TYPHUS FEVER—DEATH OF THE PAGE—THE QUEEN'S VISIT—SYMPTOMS OF ILLNESS—DR. ZIMMERMANN—PASTOR LEHZEN—CAROLINE MATILDA'S GOODNESS OF HEART—HER DEATH—THE FUNERAL—GENERAL GRIEF—THE MONUMENTS—LETTER TO GEORGE III.—PROOFS OF CAROLINE MATILDA'S INNOCENCE—THE QUEEN'S CHARACTER.
We have seen that in the early part of 1775 the queen of Denmark appeared the picture of blooming health. Herentourage, and all who were of the same age with her, consequently felt the most confident expectations that they would long enjoy her pleasant and gracious society. But the news from Altona, the hope of a justification in the sight of the world, and of a reunion with her children, and at the same time apprehensions as to the decisive result of Mr. Wraxall's mission to her obstinate brother, kept her in a constant state of excitement, while she was obliged to place a restraint on the feelings that disturbed her mind, in order not toarouse any suspicion among her suite, or with her ever-watching sister. Therefore, it was not surprising that her constitution, thus rendered susceptible to external dangers, met a catastrophe half way, which destroyed all the hopes of her friends about the apparently blooming princess enjoying a long life.
A dangerous scarlet fever had spread over the neighbourhood after the severe and tempestuous winter, and one of the queen's young pages was attacked by it, and died in a few days. When he was dead, and laid in his coffin for interment, her Majesty expressed a great desire to see him. The ladies opposed this wish, and requested her not to do it. She still persisted in her resolution, and went down to the apartment in which he lay. Mantel, the queen's valet, had purposely locked the door and taken the key, and when Caroline Matilda asked him for it, he answered her that it could not be found. After several vain endeavours, therefore, she went up-stairs again. Mantel carried in the tea to her Majesty. In a few minutes the queen suddenly got up, and before any of her ladies could stop or prevent her, she ran down to the chamber where the corpse lay. Unfortunately, the door was then open. She stepped in, and stayed about a minute—not more—looking at it. She expressed no particular horror or emotion, more than was natural on looking at such an object.[56]
This took place on May 2nd, 1775. On the next morning the queen complained to her bed-chamber woman that the image of the dead page had appeared to her all through the night, and filled her with terror.[57]Still she slightly recovered herself, although a little girl of four years of age, Sophie von Benningsen, whom she had adopted when left an orphan, and as some consolation for the loss of her own daughter, had also been attacked by the disease, and filled her with fresh alarm. She went as usual to the Jardin François, but felt unwell, and evidently had the seeds of infection within her, for, on the third day after the visit to the chamber of death, she was unable to ascend the stairs leading to her apartments without the help of her lady-in-waiting.
"I must force myself to seem less tired than I really am," she said to her companion, "so that my good Omptéda (the grand maîtresse), who did not like my driving out, may not scold me."
She complained of sore-throat and chill, but sat down to dinner with her court, though she was unable to eat anything. When the card-tables were placed in the evening, the queen felt too indisposed to play. The ladies proposed her having a sofa, and looking on at them; but Mantel then presumed to speak, and advised her Majesty going immediately to bed. Thequeen consented, and ordered her women to undress her. The illness, however, made such alarming progress, that the grande maîtresse on the next morning called in Dr. von Leyser, the physician in ordinary.
"You have twice," the queen said to the physician, "extricated me from a dangerous indisposition since the month of October; but this exceeds your skill: I know I am not within the help of medicine."
Leyser affected cheerfulness; but at once requested that Dr. Zimmermann, a very celebrated physician at Hanover, might be called in.
In the meanwhile the queen's condition grew worse every moment, and she requested to see Magister Lehzen, the pastor of the city church. The latter at once arrived, and, in the ante-chamber, was informed by Dr. Zimmermann of the great danger that menaced the queen's life. When he was shown into the bed-room, the queen said to him, in a weak voice:
"You did not imagine me so ill as you find me."
Lehzen assured Caroline Matilda how greatly he lamented it, and tried to console the exalted sufferer with the consoling words of faith, read her spiritual hymns, more especially Gellert's beautiful canticle, "Ne'er will I seek to injure him;" and concluded with a prayer on the text of St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians:—
"Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think."
The worthy clergyman returned in the afternoon,and again in the evening, and found the queen, in spite of her indescribably violent illness, rather more calm; and when he returned to the castle on the next morning, he found that Superintendent General Jacob had already been with the patient, and the two physicians were still with her. On the faces of the physicians he fancied he could read a certain calmness, and, in fact, the patient was better, as she herself said. It was the usual lucid interval which takes place before departure from life, the harbinger of imminent death, dressed in the garb of mercy for the friends of the departing.
The queen employed these last moments in the exercise of a good deed. She requested the clergyman to write a few words for her to her brother, which would show that she had not forgotten her attendants, but recommended them to the King of England. She tried to dictate the words to him, but her tongue was already refusing to obey her, and she left it to the pastor to write what he thought proper. When he had finished, she took the paper in her hand, but returned it to him again immediately, that he might read it to her and seal it before her eyes. The letter was then handed by the queen to Director von Marenholz, whom she had ever deeply respected, for transmission to the king.
Toward evening the condition of the queen had evidently grown so serious, that her dissolution might be apprehended at any moment. She was told that thewhole city was alarmed about her, and that even the Jewish community had offered up prayers for her.
"How this sympathy alleviates my sufferings!" the queen answered, in a weak voice; and the clergyman offered up a prayer in words which her eyes confirmed as her own.
Then she inquired after the condition of Sophie von Benningsen; and when the physician gave her the assurance that the child was out of all danger, she breathed the words, "Then I die soothed," and fell asleep not to wake again.
Pastor Lehzen, who was present at the queen's death, describes it in the following words:—
"My office has often enabled me to witness the last hours of my fellow-mortals, but I never remember so easy a dissolution, in which death loses all its terrors. The expression of the Scriptures was literally true in this case: she fell asleep like a tired wayfarer."
Caroline Matilda died on May 11, 1775, at 10 minutes past 11P.M., at the age of twenty-three years, nine months, and twenty days.
As was very natural in those days, the queen's sudden death aroused suspicions of poison. Mr. Wraxall, however, who asked Mantel about the circumstances, gives us the following account, which may be regarded as authentic:—
I desired to know if there was the shadow of reason to suspect poison or any unnatural means."Sir," said he, "God only knows, but I think not. The inhabitants of Zell are all as firmly persuaded of her having been poisoned, as if they had seen her swallow it. They accuse an Italian of it, though the man had not been near the queen's person for near or quite a year before. He had been in the service of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and being recommended as an Intendant, was brought here from Vienna. He was a profligate, unprincipled man. He brought with him a very pretty young woman whom he called his daughter, but was in reality his mistress. While he stayed here, he contracted a number of debts, and being unable to discharge them, went off with his mistress to Brunswick and Berlin. He has not been heard of since. The prejudiced people accuse him of having been gained by the Danish court, and of having administered a slow poison to the queen before his departure, but I am really not inclined to believe this suspicion."
I desired to know if there was the shadow of reason to suspect poison or any unnatural means.
"Sir," said he, "God only knows, but I think not. The inhabitants of Zell are all as firmly persuaded of her having been poisoned, as if they had seen her swallow it. They accuse an Italian of it, though the man had not been near the queen's person for near or quite a year before. He had been in the service of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and being recommended as an Intendant, was brought here from Vienna. He was a profligate, unprincipled man. He brought with him a very pretty young woman whom he called his daughter, but was in reality his mistress. While he stayed here, he contracted a number of debts, and being unable to discharge them, went off with his mistress to Brunswick and Berlin. He has not been heard of since. The prejudiced people accuse him of having been gained by the Danish court, and of having administered a slow poison to the queen before his departure, but I am really not inclined to believe this suspicion."
To this statement Mr. Wraxall adds: "Among the many princes and crowned heads whom the ignorant and misjudging multitude have supposed to be dispatched by poison, none seems to have less foundation for such an apprehension than the Queen of Denmark. She was exactly a subject for an inflammatory ormalignant distemper. She had already had repeated attacks of the same nature, though not so violent as the last. It was in the beginning of May, and the weather remarkably hot. The queen was accustomed to use great exercise, and probably overheated herself. She was young, large, and of a plethoric habit of body. When all these circumstances are considered, who can wonder at the nature of her disorder and death? Nothing so likely or natural."
Owing to the mortification that at once set in, it was found absolutely necessary to deposit the body in the vault of the Dukes of Celle until the King of England had arranged the funeral ceremonies. This was done at midnight, on May 13, with great order and decorum by Grand Maréchal von Lichtenstein. At the sermons in the church, the whole congregation, from the highest to the lowest, burst into tears. The queen's affability and gentleness had gained her the hearts of even the lowest people, who offered up heart-felt prayers for theirlieben und guten Königinn. Her Majesty's remains, accompanied by sixteen captains, were carried in a hearse, drawn by six horses, and attended by a double guard of soldiers, to the royal vault. The burial expenses, amounting to £3,000, though the funeral was quite private, were defrayed, by order, out of George III.'s privy purse.[58]
A general mourning was appointed in England, and on May 24 a committee of the Lords, with staves, and also a committee of the House of Commons, who were of the privy council, waited on his Majesty at St. James's, with their address of condolence on the Queen of Denmark's death. To which George III. replied: that "he returned his thanks to that 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." The king also recommended the succession of the late queen, for the advantage of her children, to the care of the Regency of Hanover, and Baron von Seckendorf was consequently entrusted with its administration.
The British court sent a formal notification of the death of Queen Caroline Matilda to Copenhagen. It arrived on a day when a court ball was appointed, and the vengeance of old Juliana Maria went so far, that, careless of decency, she did not even order the ball to be put off. The usual ceremonial, however, had to be observed—for instance, the ordinary court mourning of four weeks—as for foreign reigning princes and princesses, and the children of the deceased were placed in deep mourning. It is nevertheless certain that this foolhardy behaviour on the part of the Danish usurpers proved most offensive at the court of St. James's, and heightened the aversion George III. felt for the Danes.
The unfortunate queen, however, was all the more regretted in the land of her exile, and in the widest circles. The two Chambers of the principality of Lüneburg, immediately after the death of this consoler of all the poor and suffering in Celle, applied to her brother with a request that they might be allowed to erect a monument to the deceased queen, in that Jardin François of which she had been so fond, so that there might be at this spot a memorial of the universal devotion with which the great and noble qualities of the late Queen of Denmark were revered among them, and to give remotest posterity an opportunity of honouring, with silent emotion, the memory and reputation of the best and most amiable of queens.
George III. expressed his thanks for this offer, and we can easily understand how welcome to him was this public proof of the veneration and love which were felt for his sister, who had been so cruelly hurled from her throne.
After receiving the king's assent, the Chambers of Lüneburg had the monument erected by Professor Oeser, of Leipzig, and to the present day it is an ornament of the Jardin François, which travellers gaze on with sympathy and regret.
The governor of Celle, a prince of Mecklenburg Strelitz, also had a monument erected in memory of Caroline Matilda in his English garden, and it is well known that the Danish poets Baggesen and Oehlenschlägerhave erected permanent memorials to her in their works.
Some years ago, the following letter was discovered in the secret archives of Hanover.[59]It was probably written by Caroline Matilda in the first days of her illness, when she had a presentiment of her death. When she was first attacked, she had said to her faithful valet—"Mantel, I am very ill, and fully believe I shall die."
SIRE,In the most solemn hour of my life, I turn to you, my royal brother, to express my heart's thanks for all the kindness you have shown me during my whole life, and especially in my misfortune.I die willingly, for nothing holds me back—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 love—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!But I die innocent—I write this with a tremblinghand, and feeling death imminent—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!Sire! 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 whom 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, and to close my eyes in death.Still, I am not alone: God, the sole witness of my innocence, is looking down on my bed of agony, which causes me such sufferings. 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.Farewell, then, my royal brother! May Heaven bless you, my husband—my children—England—Denmark—and the whole world! Permit my corpse to rest in the grave of my ancestors, and now the last, unspeakably long farewell from your unfortunateCAROLINEMATILDA.
SIRE,
In the most solemn hour of my life, I turn to you, my royal brother, to express my heart's thanks for all the kindness you have shown me during my whole life, and especially in my misfortune.
I die willingly, for nothing holds me back—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 love—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!
But I die innocent—I write this with a tremblinghand, and feeling death imminent—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!
Sire! 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 whom 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, and to close my eyes in death.
Still, I am not alone: God, the sole witness of my innocence, is looking down on my bed of agony, which causes me such sufferings. 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.
Farewell, then, my royal brother! May Heaven bless you, my husband—my children—England—Denmark—and the whole world! Permit my corpse to rest in the grave of my ancestors, and now the last, unspeakably long farewell from your unfortunate
CAROLINEMATILDA.
We have further and valuable testimony to theunstained memory of Queen Caroline Matilda in the following extract from Falckenskjold's "Memoirs:"—
In 1780, I had an opportunity at Hanover of forming the acquaintance of M. Roques, pastor of the French Protestant Church in Celle. One day, I spoke to him about Queen Caroline Matilda:—"I was summoned almost daily by that princess," he said to me, "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 near 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 which seemed to become more animated:"M. Roques, I am about to appear beforeGOD:I protest that I am innocent of the crimes imputed against me, and that I was never faithless to my husband."M. Roques added, that the queen had never spoken to him, even indirectly, of the accusations brought against her.I 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.
In 1780, I had an opportunity at Hanover of forming the acquaintance of M. Roques, pastor of the French Protestant Church in Celle. One day, I spoke to him about Queen Caroline Matilda:—
"I was summoned almost daily by that princess," he said to me, "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 near 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 which seemed to become more animated:
"M. Roques, I am about to appear beforeGOD:I protest that I am innocent of the crimes imputed against me, and that I was never faithless to my husband."
"M. Roques, I am about to appear beforeGOD:I protest that I am innocent of the crimes imputed against me, and that I was never faithless to my husband."
M. Roques added, that the queen had never spoken to him, even indirectly, of the accusations brought against her.
I 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.
Such is everything that can be learned of the death of Caroline Matilda. Sacrificed in the first bloom of youth, and decked with the fillets of misery, she was sent, an inexperienced victim, to become the bride of a man who was a compound of insanity and brutality. In less than seven years she experienced all the honours, but also all the wretchedness, which a royal throne can offer. Then she died in the flower of life in exile, the victim of the most scandalous conspiracy.
Several descriptions of Caroline Matilda were written at the period of her death in England—among others, one in the "Annual Register," by my grandfather. From among them I have selected the one I consider the best, which first appeared in the "Universal Magazine" for May, 1775:—
The virtues of this unfortunate princess were many of them concealed with as much art as if they had been her reproach. She had a ready and quick apprehension, a lively and strong imagination, with a large compass of thought. She excelled in an uncommon turn for conversation, assisted by a natural vivacity, and very peculiar talents for mirth and humour. She loved a repartee, was happy in making one herself, and bearing it from others. And as this talent was rendered not only inoffensive, but amiable by the greatest good-nature and cheerfulness of disposition, she was the life of the company, and thedelight of all that had the honour to approach her. And though it generally requires much care and resolution to govern any extraordinary degree of life and spirit, she had no pains of that sort to overcome, having been blessed with a natural serenity and calmness of mind that was inexpressible, and is hardly ever accompanied with such uncommon share of vivacity; but in her it had so much the ascendant, that it was invariably the same, and constantly remained with her through the whole course of her misfortunes, so that she had reason to express her thankfulness to God, as she often did, that he had given her a temper which enabled her to support herself under the load of injuries she sustained.
Her gentleness of nature showed itself in every instance, both in public and private, and inclined her to study all the ways of making herself agreeable, and of suiting her discourse to the persons with whom she conversed. But though her general manner of receiving company in public was very obliging and gracious, she knew how to distinguish persons of real merit, and had an effectual way of making those for whom she had any particular regard fully sensible of the distinction she made. The same softness of behaviour, and the same command of herself that appeared in the drawing-room, went along with her into her private apartments, and delighted every one that was about her, down to her meanest attendant.
Her generosity was extended in the most impartial manner to persons of different sects and parties;but her principal regards were paid to such as were in the greatest distress, to those who were under the disability of receiving a maintenance from the public, as well as to the widows and children of clergymen and officers whose families, by their deaths, were reduced at once from a state of plenty to a want of the common necessaries of life.
In these acts of benevolence she avoided all appearance of show and ostentation so much, that many persons who subsisted by her bounty were really ignorant of their benefactor. She conversed in private with persons of all the different turns of genius in the whole compass of arts and sciences; and with a few whom she honoured with a more particular regard, she entered into all the freedoms of private and familiar life, and showed that she could let herself down from her dignity as if she had never possessed it, and could resume it again as if she had never parted with it.
It was this affability, however, that enabled her enemies to ruin her. Perfectly innocent, and even virtuous in her conduct, her levity and good humour threw her off her guard, and made her less circumspect than her situation required. She conformed with difficulty to the strict ceremonial which was observed at the court of Copenhagen; a vanity, inseparable from the youthful part of the female sex, made her pleased to see the influence of her beauty on all around her, and she indulged herself in an easy familiaritywith persons who were more remarkable for their knowledge and abilities than the greatness of their rank. Wicked instruments were planted by her unrelenting enemy the queen dowager, who put a malignant interpretation on all the harmless liberties taken by this amiable princess; and, paying no regard either to truth or humanity in the calumnies which they suggested, insinuated the most cruel suspicions into the king's ear, and took the most criminal methods to destroy her character with the public.
To these infernal machinations the amiable Matilda fell a sacrifice, in the bloom of youth and beauty, and the zenith of power. After her retirement to Zell she was often heard to wish for death, which the innocence of her life, as well as the misfortunes to which she had been exposed, rendered a most welcome guest; and her last moments passed in imploring forgiveness for her enemies, and recommending her children, for whose safety she was exceedingly apprehensive, to the protection of the Almighty.
THE REACTION—THE KING'S WILL—KOLLER-BANNER—RANTZAU'S DISMISSAL—PRINCE CHARLES OF HESSE—COURT INTRIGUES—EICKSTEDT'S CAREER—BERINGSKJOLD'S CAREER AND DEATH—VON DER OSTEN—THE GULDBERG MINISTRY—THE PRINCE REGENT—THE COUP D'ETAT—UNCLE AND NEPHEW—FATE OF GULDBERG—DEATH OF JULIANA MARIA.
THE REACTION—THE KING'S WILL—KOLLER-BANNER—RANTZAU'S DISMISSAL—PRINCE CHARLES OF HESSE—COURT INTRIGUES—EICKSTEDT'S CAREER—BERINGSKJOLD'S CAREER AND DEATH—VON DER OSTEN—THE GULDBERG MINISTRY—THE PRINCE REGENT—THE COUP D'ETAT—UNCLE AND NEPHEW—FATE OF GULDBERG—DEATH OF JULIANA MARIA.
With Struensee fell all his reforms, and "the good old times" returned in full force.
The detested cabinet minister had scarce been thrown into prison ere the new holders of power hastened to overthrow all the creations of the fallen man. As if anxious to give the country and all the persons watching their movements a proof of their care for the general welfare, they began by establishing justice on its old basis, and restored the Commission of Inquiry, who were allowed by the criminal code to extort confessions from prisoners with the lash. This care for the due administration of justicewas soon followed to the satisfaction of the pietists and the orthodox clergy by the reintroduction of public penance for sexual sins, so that the plebs very soon enjoyed once more the edifying spectacle of hot-blooded sinners, male and female, being insulted by bigoted priests in temples devoted to the adoration of the Almighty. Still, they did not dare to abolish the court and city court established by Struensee, because the recognition of this benefit was universal. In the same way, a decided error on Struensee's part, and which, it might be assumed, the reaction would at once reform—the lottery, that plague-spot of the poorer classes—was allowed to exist, of course, because it caused a deal of money to flow into the treasury "of the dearly-beloved king who so dearly loved his nation," and cash was pressingly needed to satisfy the claims of the friends of the new government.
The spirit of the usurping party and its adherents was even more plainly shown by the restoration of serfdom, so that the holders of estates could treat their vassals as they pleased. The general dissatisfaction aroused by this measure among the poor servile peasants is depicted by Suhm, who once took the field so zealously against Struensee's "godless rule," in an anecdote from Jütland.
"Professor John Egede," so Suhm tells us, "saw a man in ragged clothes working in a field with some half-naked children to help him, a few years afterStruensee's fall. 'Will not the extra tax be soon removed?' he asked the passing professor. The latter replied that he did not know. 'Oh! yes, I can quite believe that,' the peasant retorted, 'for you don't think about things of that sort in Copenhagen. That was a worthy man who gave us the regulations by which thecorvéeswere settled. But that was the very reason, I fancy, why they cut his head off. The new regulation is only made to torment us poor peasants till we cannot stand it any longer.'"
It is notorious that serfdom was not abolished until the regency of the Crown Prince Frederick. Under his long reign, which lasted from 1784 to 1839, nearly all Struensee's reforms, to which a more enlightened age did ample justice, and which had obtained general recognition through the ideas diffused by the French Revolution, were recalled to life. The task was completed, greatly to his credit, by Christian VIII., the grandson of Juliana Maria.
All that remains for us now to do, is to show by what means the new faction sought to secure its position, and how at last Nemesis revenged herself on the principal conspirators.
The usurpers did not consider themselves fully secured by having declared the king's sole signature invalid, but they wished to make themselves safe in the event of the weak king dying before the prince royal attained his majority. For this object, they persuaded the king, after the queen's matter had beenamicably arranged with the English court, to sign a will, a copy of which was handed to the colleges and courts, with orders that the document was only to be opened after the king's death, in case it took place during the crown prince's minority. As the presumed event did not occur, however, the contents of the privy regulation have remained a secret. It was generally supposed that the king's testament contained an order that Queen Caroline Matilda should be excluded from the guardianship of her son, and that the Hereditary Prince Frederick should be appointed regent. Other suppositions hinted at still more important regulations as to the successor, but it can hardly be believed that the king, however imbecile he might be, would have signed such a document.
A desire to prevent a possible surprise was certainly the motive for the decree that for the future foreign envoys would only be admitted to an audience with the king in the presence of the council of state; and yet such a custom had been regarded as high treason on the part of Struensee.
The union among the conspirators, however, only lasted a short time after the revolution had been carried out, and this was specially evident among the military members. Generals Rantzau-Ascheberg and Eickstedt stood at the head of two opposite parties.
Rantzau-Ascheberg, Köller-Banner, and Von der Osten, formed a triumvirate dangerous to their opponents. As chief aide-de-camp, Köller-Banner received apartments in Frederiksberg Palace, where the court resided in the summer of 1772. Hence Rantzau also procured rooms in the palace; but, as the number of doors and windows annoyed him, he hired lodgings in the village adjoining the palace, and Von der Osten removed to the same spot, so that the three friends were close neighbours. Rantzau also supported in the Generalty College all the propositions that emanated from Köller, while he said simultaneously to Eickstedt, who hated Köller:
"Do not suppose that I have any serious understanding with Banner. Certainly not. I only pretend to be his partisan, in order that the Pomeranian may burn his fingers in the candle."
Von der Osten displayed equal dissimulation in the council of state, where he supported and praised everything proposed by Schack Rathlau, while in secret calumniating him to the best of his ability.
The other conspirators, consequently, began to entertain doubts about their three ambitious and intriguing colleagues, and apprehended that they might even meditate evil designs against the queen dowager and her son. Suddenly it was announced that Rantzau-Ascheberg, at his own request, had been relieved of all his offices, and retired on a pension of 8,000 dollars; and it was generally believed that Russia and Prussia had insisted on his removal. There may be some truth in this, as the Empress Catharine had just ratified the Holstein exchange, and naturally expectedsomething in return. In the highest circles, however, all were glad at being freed from this dangerous man. Suhm, however, tells us, that the decisive cause of Rantzau's dismissal was, that he said about a letter written by the hereditary prince to Guldberg, "Yes, it can be recognised by the style! But was not Struensee's head cut off for the same thing?" Immediately after his retirement from active service, Rantzau quitted Copenhagen, and went to his Holstein estates; but, on October 16, the restless traitor proceeded to Kragsberg, near Odense, in Fühnen, but whether with reactionary purposes remained an enigma. In Copenhagen the return of the dangerous man occasioned such alarm among his former confederates, that, on November 6, Major von Harboe suddenly handed him a royal order to quit the island immediately. Under the major's escort he returned to Ascheberg, and directly after went,viâHamburg, to Frankfort, where he cashed a draft of 24,000 florins in the assumed name of Juel. He left Frankfort again as quietly as he had arrived there, and proceeded to the south of France, where he took up his temporary abode at Orange, probably in obedience to royal commands. Afterwards he removed to Avignon, where he spent the rest of his days, and died there, in 1789, in his seventy-second year, without having once revisited his country.
So soon as some order had been introduced in the course of business, Köller-Banner, as representative ofthe infantry, produced in the War College projects for the tactical remodelling of the battalions, which, however, Eickstedt considered too expensive, and sought to prevent. Köller-Banner's plans were on the point of failing, when, in the eleventh hour, the government altered their mind, and temporarily assented to his plans. Eickstedt felt so insulted by this, that he forwarded a letter to the hereditary prince, in which he requested his discharge, and added, that he desired no pension. Guldberg naturally undertook to answer this request of one of the principal conspirators, and did it in his unctuous way, by recalling to the petitioner's mind the Glorious 17th of January, and reminding him of the necessity of all the sharers in it hanging together. Eickstedt replied to this in his usual coarse way, that he was sick and tired of constantly listening to the old chatter of January 17. The object of that day had been to secure the king's person, maintain the honour of the royal house, and promote the welfare of the country. But, if that object could not be attained, it would have been better had the events of January 17 never taken place. Such dangerous expressions from a powerful member of the conspiracy induced the hereditary prince himself to undertake satisfying the dissatisfied man; and he declared to the petitioner in writing that the aid of so active and far-sighted a man could not be dispensed with in the projected reforms, and hence his resignation could not be accepted.
Although Eickstedt had not succeeded in overthrowing Köller-Banner, another man completely effected it.
Directly after the revolution, Queen Juliana Maria invited to Copenhagen Prince Charles of Hesse and his wife, but the death of one of their children prevented the princely couple from reaching the capital until October, at the time when the menacing measures of Gustavus III., for the conquest of Norway, had aroused great terror among the incapable members of the government, and caused the nomination of Prince Charles as generalissimo in Norway. Immediately on his arrival the latter was received by the queen; and, after a conversation about the dangers with which Norway was menaced, was requested to examine Köller-Banner's propositions; but, at the same time, was also warned by the crafty queen against this dangerous man and Von der Osten. By the prince's advice, a committee was appointed, under the presidency of the hereditary prince, to investigate Köller-Banner's reforms: the other members being Prince Charles, and Generals von Hauch and von Hobe, while the ministers also took part in the discussions. This committee rejected nearly all Banner's propositions, at which the latter was so offended, that he not only forgot all the respect due to the king's brother-in-law, but publicly declared that Frederick II. of Prussia would erect a statue to him for reforms and ideas like his. When the authorities also learned that Köller-Banner, wrappedin his cloak, paid nocturnal visits to the French and Swedish envoys, his dismissal from his former posts, and his appointment as governor of the fortress of Rendsburg, ensued, while the Prince of Brunswick-Bevern was gazetted as commandant of the capital. Still the hero of January 17 retained his full pay of 4,400 dollars, in order not to offend him too greatly.[60]
Although the general might now be reckoned among the exiles, he had not fallen into utter disgrace, for Juliana Maria afterwards took him under her protection, and tried to keep him, for the purpose of intimidating the violent ministerial opposition. For in July, 1774, he unexpectedly received an invitation from her to come at once to Fredensborg, where the court was residing at the time; but when the ministers heard of this, they were penetrated with fear, and induced the War College to intimate to the general that he was to remain at his post in Rendsburg, and send an apology to the queen. Although Banner found himself compelled to obey on this occasion, on receiving soon after another request from the queen to come across, he informed her that he would accede to her wishes, and appeared at Fredensborg in the beginning of August. As, however, he was a thorn in the eye of the ministers, he soon began quarrelling with them, the result of which was, that he was commanded by the Generalty, who would not listen to his plans and complaints, to return to his post. This induced him tosend in his resignation; but it was not accepted. Hence he imagined himself indispensable, and took a step by which he hoped to overthrow his opponents in the War College. He sent into the privy council a rambling plan for a thorough reconstruction of the army; but as Eickstedt had anticipated him, and handed in a similar project, Banner's was sent back to him unheeded. Infuriated at this, he again forwarded his resignation, and dated his request on the eventful day, January 17th, 1775; but this artful trick did not avail him.
On January 23rd, a royal cabinet letter was sent to the Generalty, to the effect that the king, in consideration of the proofs of fidelity, zeal, and devotedness, which Lieut.-General von Köller-Banner had furnished, felt himself induced to assent to his petition of January 17th in all points. He would, however, retain his former pay of 4,400 dollars, of which, 2,600 had been granted him for his meritorious services on January 17th, 1772. Furthermore, he would still remain in the king's service, and be always ready to act as a Danish general whenever the king thought proper, and as befitted a lieutenant-general; at the same time, he was permitted to visit other armies, and take part in foreign campaigns.
Köller-Banner, after this, left the country and went to Vienna and the Austrian army, but returned at the beginning of 1777 to Copenhagen, where he was againmost graciously received by the old queen. Soon afterwards, however, he was mixed up in a scandalous affair with the magistracy about a child an actress had given birth to. The excitement caused by this was so general, that he received his full discharge from the military service. But the protection which the hero of January 17th still enjoyed was so great, that his 4,400 dollars were left him as a life pension.
When Köller went to take leave of his powerful patroness, Queen Juliana Maria, he requested, as a last proof of her favour, that she should inform him who it really was who had calumniated him so greatly to her and the hereditary prince, and promised, at the same time, to make no use of the information. The queen then acknowledged to him that it was Admiral von Kaas.
"Is it possible!" Köller-Banner exclaimed, in the utmost surprise. "That is the greatest insult that could be offered me! The unworthy wretch—a man who has dishonoured the Danish flag—a man whose wickedness is only comparable with his stupidity—has been able to overthrow a faithful and zealous servant of the royal house by his calumnies! I never could have believed that my hostile destiny would prepare such a humiliation for me."
Köller-Banner returned to his native land of Pomerania, but could not stand it long there, and selected as his last residence the very city where Struensee'smemory was honoured. In this city, Altona, the conspirator died in 1811, utterly forgotten, and avoided and detested by everybody.
The Pomeranian knight of the Dannebrog, Hans Henry von Eickstedt, held his ground the longest. In 1773, this utterly ignorant soldier was entrusted with the supervision of the education of the crown prince by a royal letter, which was at the same time a grand panegyric of the nominee. The king, we read in it, had appointed him chief governor of his beloved son, because he could trust to the general's faithful devotedness, Danish heart, and judicious care. But this selection was so bad a one, that the excellent son of Caroline Matilda frequently complained loudly in his maturer years that he had been purposely kept from learning anything. It was the design of the queen and Guldberg to keep the crown prince a minor as long as possible, and the best means for this unscrupulous object were certainly to allow the heir to the throne to grow up in ignorance, to imbue him with an immoderate preference for everything Danish, and to divert his inclinations to unimportant state-matters, such as playing at soldiers. Although the two leaders of the conspiracy succeeded in this treacherous design, the country yet had the consolation and satisfaction that King Frederick VI. inherited the clear natural intellect of his unfortunate mother, and thus made up for his deficiency of knowledge, even though his neglected education entailed other consequences.
In November, 1783, Eickstedt was given the order of the Elephant; and when, in 1784, the education of the crown prince was said to be finished, he was appointed his first chamberlain; but on the very next day after the crown prince attained the government as regent, Eickstedt received from his royal pupil his dismissal as member of the privy council and commandant of the Horse Guards, with a pension of 5,000 dollars, which was some time after raised to 7,000. This terrible fall so greatly insulted the arrogant chamberlain, that he at once left the court and retired to his estate of Boltinggaard, in the island of Fühnen, where he died in the year 1801, in seclusion, and forgotten by the world.
Beringskjold could not endure the loss of his chamberlain's dignity and his banishment to the island of Möen, which I have already described, for it was asking this ambitious man to resign half his life. Hence he left the island secretly a little while after, and went to Sweden. What he undertook there remains a mystery; but it is known that he ordered his wife during his absence to send in a petition for his pardon, and compensation for the losses he had sustained by being deprived of his domain of Nygaard. As no resolution to this effect was issued, he, in the following year, requested, through the same intercessor, pardon and permission to return to his native land. This request had a better result, for he was not only allowed to return to Möen, but the chamberlain's key was alsorestored him. He received a letter from the king himself, in which his disobedience was graciously forgiven, and he was requested to remain quietly in Möen, or, if he preferred it, somewhere in Jütland, Fühnen, or the duchies, and there enjoy his guaranteed pension of 2,000 dollars. At the same time, however, he was prohibited from travelling again to Sweden, or carrying on a secret correspondence with that country, or leaving Denmark at all; and for his own good he was recommended not to show himself at Copenhagen, or any place where the court was residing. This indulgence toward the accomplices of 1772 was further shown in the fact that, in 1780, Beringskjold's son, who was a page of the bed-chamber, was appointed a conferenz-rath, and the other, who was a captain, a chamberlain. But all this but little satisfied the restless father. He next asked leave to reside at least in the same island where the court was; and when this was granted him, he bought, in a mysterious way, three considerable estates, situate in the southern part of Seeland: Rönnebeksholm, Sparresholm, and Sortebrödre, and selected the first as his residence. When the court was staying at Fredensborg in the summer, he went repeatedly to Elsinore, which was only ten miles from the palace, and thence sent letter after letter, first to one, then to the other of the persons belonging to the king's immediateentourage, in order to obtain further favours; but all these efforts proved unsuccessful.
When Beringskjold saw himself thus passed over, he formed a plan for overthrowing the government, and laid his treacherous scheme before a near relative of the royal family; but one of his own sons, the chamberlain, betrayed his father's designs.