(7) That I never regarded this occurrence as anything but a joke, the result of youth and eccentricity, is seen from the fact that when the commission began sitting, I was not aware of my offence. In this way I believe I have answered all doubts. I am quite ready to die, and to endure all the punishments that are imposed upon me. It is God's chastening hand, which I have deserved: but I consider it my duty to speak this once. His Majesty was angry with me: hence, I was imprisoned; hence, I was put in fetters. I can offer no objection to this: I kiss the hand that smites me, but the hand which smites me can also let loose and forgive, in the same way as Henri IV. frequently forgave much greater offences. Even should you consider that this is too great mercy, and if you wish that I should humiliate myself, personally, before his Majesty, I should not regard such a thing at all as a disgrace. Oh! my judges, if you would only see what my situation with the king was! and would you could feel as greatly, but forget quite as quickly, what my present position is! Your eyes would assuredly shed tears, and your hearts would be moved by the sincerest compassion! I commend my cause to the hands of God, and beg you for what I have no occasion to beg, namely, to follow your own convictions: with that I shall be perfectly satisfied. In the letter to his Majesty, I have begged to be allowed to pass my days in peace, and by that I mean a bailiwick in a remote province. I do not know whether such a post is vacant, of which I might entertain hopes, but I know that Bailiff Arnholdt, of Bramstedt[4] (in Holstein) has long wished himself away from there, and that this post is one of the worst. Further my wishes do not extend, and what right could I have to ask! BRANDT. _Frederikshaven, April_ 14, 1772. The drama of the great trial rapidly approached the catastrophe after the charges against Struensee and Brandt were delivered to the commissioners on April 21. Struensee's defence followed on the 22nd; the Fiscal General's reply and Brandt's defence on the 23rd; and so early as the 25th the sentences were promulgated. In Brandt's trial a reply was not even considered necessary, for the accuser had announced this to be superfluous in his sentence, _ab uno discimus omnia_. But the orders from the highest quarters were for the greatest possible speed, and the length of the sentence proves that it had been drawn up beforehand. That two human lives were at stake, was only so far taken into consideration as it was necessary to prove two judicial murders justifiable by every resource of sophistry; but how little the venal judges succeeded in doing so, will be seen from a perusal of the memorable documents which are here published for the first time without any abbreviation. FOOTNOTES: