His frequent unannounced running in to the queen: his lengthened stay: his riding and driving out with her: the giving and receiving of presents—all this confirms the truth of the evidence, and shows that he has not spoken falsely.
For this reason, he has in this matter committed the crime of high treason in the highest degree. He has openly acted against the fidelity which he owed the king his master, and the reverence he should have displayed toward their Majesties. He has deprived the king of the confidence, love, and personal security (i.e. the certainty of alone possessing the queen's person) which his Majesty had a right to expect after so sacred a promise, entered into in the sight of God; he has tried to affix a stain on the royal family, in order thus to attain dignities and power.
What honest man in the country, however mean he may be, would not feel most highly insulted by such a thing! But how awful is the thought of such an insult offered to the highest persons! a crime which the legislator has not even supposed, and which it would be improper to mention. But if a verbal insult of the king is bad, how much greater is the crime of disgracing the king and queen by an action! I do not, therefore, require to dwell longer on this head; for the facts and the confession of the deed cannot be denied, and ere I end, Count Struensee can peruse his crime and its well-merited punishment in 6—4—1 of the law. I therefore refer him to this passage of the law.
Secondly.
"Count Struensee was not only informed that his royal Majesty was ill-treated by Count Brandt, and even assaulted, but he also advised it; hence he neither prevented it, nor took measures to prevent it, and he himself also treated his royal Majesty in a contemptuous way."
From my deduction, the evidence and the indictment of Count Brandt, the court will learn how the affair happened: how his Majesty was attacked by the aforesaid Count Brandt in his cabinet, abused, and treated in an unexampled manner. As far as I am aware, there is no instance of such a thing in history—there is, unfortunately, of royal murders; but none of such treatment. That Count Struensee was not only aware of this fact, but urged Count Brandt to commit it, and approved of the crime, is proved by the following:—
Count Brandt declares that after his Majesty had threatened to beat him with a stick, Count Struensee said to him, at six o'clock on the same evening, "I have reproved the king, and he answered me, 'Brandt is a coward; he has no courage, and I will fight with him.'" Struensee then said further to Brandt, "What will you do? You must go to the king one evening and say, 'You insist upon fighting with me: here I am; if you want anything, come on;'" and he added, that this had repeatedly occurred with Count Holck. When Brandt returned from the king, the queen had begun her game of cards, and, when it was ended, Struensee stood by the stove, where Brandt told him what had occurred; to which Struensee answered, "That is right: now you will have peace; but not a soul must know it." Count Struensee not only confesses that he had spoken about it previously with Count Brandt, but also that he was informed by him of what had happened, as will be seen from Struensee's answer to quest. 402-412.
That the count himself also forgot the respect he owed the king, is further proved by his addressing him harshly, as is seen by the evidence of the witness Detlev Christopher Aabyn: "If he will not bathe, he shall be beaten;" and the other statements of the same witness.
In the same way, then, as Count Brandt, as I have shown, has rendered himself guilty of the crime of high treason by his audacious deed and harsh treatment of the king—for which Count Struensee even promises him a reward, as we read in his reply to Count Brandt's warnings concerning the harshness with which he is obliged to treat the king: "la reconnaissance que la reine vous aura, si vous reussissiez, et les marques incontestables que vous en avez dejà reçu, vous en recompenseront"—Count Struensee, as adviser, seducer, and accomplice, has been guilty of the same crime, and must be punished for it by the same penalty.