Life and Times of Her Majesty Caroline Matilda, Vol. 2 (of 3): Queen of Denmark and Norway, and Sister of H. M. George III. of EnglandWraxall, Lascelles, Sir
History
Life and Times of Her Majesty Caroline Matilda, Vol. 2 (of 3): Queen of Denmark and Norway, and Sister of H. M. George III. of England
Wraxall, Lascelles, Sir
Caroline Mathilde, Queen, consort of Christian VII, King of Denmark, 1751-1775; Denmark -- History -- Christian VII, 1766-1808
Well, sir, what I foretold you has happened, and you feel already
the effects of your bad conduct. You have been faithless to your
king, and you are now treated by others in the same manner. They
use you as the monkey did the cat. You are deceived, and since they
find they can do with you whatever they please, they laugh at you
now, and it will not last long before they send you with contempt
about your business, and lest you should tell tales, they may very
likely imprison you for life, or send you by some means or the other
into another world. This will be the due reward of your treachery,
cowardice, and mean actions. I prognosticated all these things to you
in my last letter of July 8: since that time my friendship for you,
of which I have given you undeniable proof, has grown very cool. You
do not deserve that it should continue, since you have been unable to
follow good advice, and to do what your honour and your duty require
of you. You have, on the contrary, chosen to persevere in your wicked
course of life. If you at that time had followed my advice, you would
have set the king at liberty, by saving him, and your praise would
have been immortal. You would then have satisfied the duties of a
good subject, a faithful servant, and an honest man: you would have
gained the applause not only of your countrymen, but even of all
Europe: they would all have united to procure you rewards according
to your merit, and proportionate to the services done to the king and
to your country. And certainly nobody would have been more deserving
of rewards. But now you are detested through the whole kingdom, and
are everywhere laughed at. Much was expected from your loyalty, your
love for the king, and from a sense of your own duty; but people were
mistaken. You are now punished. You are infamous among the whole
nation, and your name is mentioned with horror. At court you are
laughed at and entertained with vain hopes; an imaginary greatness
is shown you. You are treated with the empty title of Count, which
will remain a monument of your want of faith, your weakness, your
meanness, and your reproachful conduct. In the meantime, Struensee
insults the king and the whole of the royal family, not because they
have offended him, but only to show his unlimited power. He arrogates
all honours to himself; he makes himself master of the kingdom, the
concerns of the government, and of the king, whom he dishonours
before the whole world; he disposes of the revenues of the kingdom
in a despotic manner, and against all order. This wretch dares to
place himself on a level with his master by drawing up an order, by
which the signature of his name acquires the same authority that, by
the constitution of the kingdom, only belongs to the signature of
the king. Your meanness and unwarrantable conduct have assisted to
raise him so high; you could have prevented this, and, therefore,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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