These considerations, however, should be deferred until I have given all the details connected with this extraordinary trial. In doing so, I shall, fortunately, be enabled to produce documents which have not hitherto been laid before the English public. Whether I shall be able to prove the perfect innocence of Caroline Matilda by their aid, it does not become me to say; that I must leave to the verdict of my readers. But one thing I can with certainty affirm: the treatment of the unfortunate Queen of Denmark was equally fiendish, cruel, and, in every respect, revolting, whether she were guilty or not. Not the slightest evidence could be brought against her: all the statements of the witnesses, which extend to matters rarely produced in a court of law (except, perhaps, in the case of Caroline of Brunswick), will prove themselves to be supposititious, or simple calumnies. It is for this reason that I attach such value to the evidence which has so recently been obtained from the secret archives of Denmark, and which enables me to lay the whole affair, for the first time in full, before the impartial judgment of the English reader. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 56: Walpole's "Journal of the Reign of George III."] [Footnote 57: "Annual Register, 1772."] [Footnote 58: Walpole's "Journal of the Reign of George III.," to which we are indebted for another anecdote. About a week after the account came, Count Maltzahn, the Prussian envoy, asked Mr. Dayrolles, with a sneer, "Qu'est devenu votre Reine de Danemarc?" Dayrolles replied, with spirit, "Apparement qu'elle est à Spandau avec votre Princesse de Prusse,"--who had been divorced for adultery.] [Footnote 59: It is amusing to notice the transparent cloak employed by public writers even when bespattering their political foes the most fiercely. Thus Junius invariably addresses Lord N--, alludes to his M--y, and tells the premier, not that he shall be accursed, but a--d. It reminds me of the rule that only allows boxing matches in France with the gloves on, though the latter may be made of the thinnest silk.] [Footnote 60: I have allowed this revolting passage to stand, as it exemplifies the language which a subject dared to use about the reigning family in those days. It is not surprising that a nation, which could tolerate language of this nature in the public press, should be ready to credit the Queen of Denmark's guilt.] CHAPTER VIII. STRUENSEE IN PRISON. STRUENSEE'S CONFESSION--A HOPELESS DEFENCE--BRANDT'S FIRMNESS--DR. MUNTER--MATERIALISM--DEATH OF BERNSTORFF--A PIOUS LETTER--A ROMAN MOTHER--THE CONVERT--D'ALEMBERT--STRUENSEE'S APOLOGY--THE OTHER PRISONERS.