The queen wrote about the same time another letter to the king, which, of course, never reached its destination, though a copy of it was fortunately preserved:—

Sire,

If justice and humanity still dwell in your royal breast, I have an undoubted right, as your most injured wife, to claim your Majesty's protection from this vale of misery. Your honour is impeached as well as my virtue; if the sense of both cannot inspire you with tender feelings for my inexpressible woes and the indignities offered to supreme authority by the most flagitious combination of all the engines the blackest calumnies could play to blast my innocence and reputation, I appeal to your Majesty's own conviction of my spotless and inviolable fidelity. I do not entreat mercy, but I demand justice. Were your heart callous to my inexpressible sufferings, sure what you owe to yourself and the dear pledges of conjugal affection should call for the utmost exertion of your power to maintain your prerogative, which has been so daringly encroached upon, and to avenge the outrages I have been forced to submit to, by an unparalleled confederacy of traitors determined to snatch the sceptre from your hands, and to sacrifice your guiltless consort and your progeny to their wicked ambition. I wish for a fair trial, and that I may face and confound my accusers. To the Supreme Judge, who knows all hearts and all motives, I submit the justice of my cause.

Matilda.

On March 8, 1772, the commission appointed by the new authorities, acting in the name of a king without a will, arrived at the fortress of Kronborg for the purpose of examining the queen. It consisted of two members of the lately-established privy council, Count Thott and Schack Rathlau, and two members of the committee of investigation, Actuary of the Supreme Court Baron Juel-Wind, and Stampe, Attorney-General of the Danish Chancery; that is to say, of opponents of the fallen minister, and zealous participators in the conspiracy.

This composition of the commission justifies the supposition that it was solely intended to extort from the unhappy queen a confirmation of the confession made by Struensee on February 21, of improper intercourse with her, and thus afford an excuse to the English court for the way in which she had been treated.

According to Reverdil, Colonel Keith had contrived to warn Caroline Matilda beforehand of the impending arrival of the commission, and to advise her conduct. She would receive these pretended judges with kindness and dignity, like subjects who had come to pay their court to their sovereign. If they afterwards attempted to interrogate her, she would act wisely in merely saying that she had no answer to give them, and that she recognised no superior, or judge, but her husband.

Thus forewarned, the queen, whose heroic soul had not been bowed down by a succession of agonising days spent in the most miserable solitude and the most torturing suspense, received the commissioners with a calm dignity, in which her strength of mind was fully displayed. The complicated and crafty questions asked her had no power to confuse her senses; her answers were noble, short, and, accurate; she declared that she had nothing to reproach herself with, and caused the commissioners the utmost embarrassment by her steady and unexpected behaviour. When the crafty Schack lost all hope of overcoming the queen's mind, he fancied that her heart would not have the strength to withstand a similar attack. In order, therefore, to obtain the confession which was required for the predetermined condemnation of the queen, he employed a villanous device which will brand his name for ever. He was no longer the noble-minded man who, once on a time, preferred to sacrifice rank, prestige, and fortune, sooner than remain in a council whose traditional authority had been degraded; he was now a crawling courtier, who allowed himself to be used for anything, so long as favour, power, or money was promised him; who had lost all his strength of mind, and no longer possessed any marked character, but could only flatter the powerful, defy the weak, and deceive the good hearted. A long and painful illness had weakened his intellect; the vexations of a hampered fortune had rendered him selfish, and deprived him of all respect from those of noble mind; and, on this occasion, he put the final touch to his character.[67]

Schack Rathlau hastened to inform the queen that their next proceeding would be to lay before her Majesty Struensee's confessions, and to request her confirmation of them; after which he read to her the original document signed by the unfortunate man.

Blushing with anger at the accusation it contained, the queen indignantly denied everything, and declared the impossibility of Struensee having made such statements, as they were utterly false!

Schack Rathlau presented the damning paper, so that the queen might herself read it, and be convinced of Struensee's autograph. She rejected it with scorn, but took a searching glance at the signature, and to her horror recognised the well-known hand. Schack, noticing the betrayed queen's embarrassment, thought the moment favourable to complete her temptation. With a reverential bow he advanced a step nearer, and said, as if disgusted by the false charge: