But the judges had not been appointed to execute justice, but to crush the vanquished, and hence it is not surprising to find that no objection was raised to the utter perversion of the law which Bang displayed throughout his atrocious indictment--an indictment, be it remembered, made in writing, and not publicly announced, because hundreds of respectable citizens would have voluntarily come forward to assert their confidence in the queen's innocence. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 66: This letter was first published in the English papers early in April, 1772.] [Footnote 67: "Authentische Aufklärungen," pp. 223, 224.] [Footnote 68: According to another version of the story, given by Falckenskjold and the "Authentische Aufklärungen," the queen fainted after writing the first syllable, CAROL----. Schack Rathlau seized the queen's hand, forced the fallen pen into it, and guiding it, added the missing syllables INE MATILDA. This statement, however, is highly improbable, and nowhere confirmed by the queen.] [Footnote 69: Falckenskjold's "Memoirs," p. 232.] [Footnote 70: The indictment and defence of the queen have never before been published--with the exception of a few fragments in Höst's "Grev Struensee og hans Ministerium." They are given here in full, save some passages which decency forbids being rendered public. Höst, who wrote his history in the reign of Frederick VI., was compelled to omit the passages which might compromise the memory of the queen. But historic truth urges me to publish everything that may serve to clear up this matter and enable a correct opinion to be formed.] [Footnote 71: No objection can be raised against this assertion generally. But the Danish code forbade the courts from hearing charges against the domestic honour of royal persons, and decreed that the king must be sole judge in such affairs. The constitution of the commission was therefore illegal from the outset.] [Footnote 72: The queen's women respected nothing, and even made their mistress's bed and linen the object of their examination.] [Footnote 73: It should be mentioned that the original indictment is written in such a barbarous and illogical style that it is very difficult to make it endurable by the reader, without injuring the legal meaning.] [Footnote 74: It was a scoundrel deed to bring forward this charge, as everybody knew that this took place at the time when the prince royal was attacked by the small-pox, and the anxious mother watched every night at his bedside.] [Footnote 75: At the period specified, Struensee was physician in ordinary to both their Majesties. As it is well known that at the time Caroline Matilda was suffering from an odious disease communicated to her by the king, it is not surprising that her physician should remain with her till a late hour.] [Footnote 76: An amulet given to the queen in England before her marriage.] CHAPTER X. THE QUEEN'S DEFENCE.