[53] The admirers of cryptography will find a specimen of the baron's letters in the Appendix. To the same dreary limbo I have also consigned my grandfather's letters to his father relating to this affair, solely through a fear that I might be charged with giving him undue prominence in a work purporting to be the life of Caroline Matilda.
[54] Seckendorf.
[55] Baron von Bülow and his friends nobly kept their word, and constantly urged George III., through Lichtenstein, to reward my grandfather for his great exertions on behalf of Caroline Matilda. It was not, however, till 1781, or when Mr. Wraxall had a seat in the House of Commons, and a useful vote, that Lord North brought up the subject. My grandfather then received 1,000 guineas for his services, and the promise of a seat at the Board of Green Cloth. The promise was not kept; for what reason he shall tell us himself:—
"In November, 1783, on the meeting of Parliament, the memorable East India Bill was introduced by Mr. Fox. Upon the first division that took place on the bill, I quitted Lord North, notwithstanding the motives I had to adhere to him; rather choosing to abandon my expectations, however near their accomplishment, than give my support to a measure which I considered to be pregnant with mischief to the country and constitution. I joined Mr. Pitt in opposition, and was one of the one hundred and twenty members who formed the minority on that evening against a majority of two hundred and twenty-nine in favour of the bill."
[56] Mantel's own words to Mr. Wraxall in 1777. He added, however, "I neither believe the body could communicate any infection, nor that she stayed long enough, had there been any, to receive it. Whether it might have made any deep or injurious impression on her mind, I cannot say; but I cannot in any degree attribute her consequent illness and death to this accident."
[57] Lehzen's "Die Letzten Stunden der Königinn von Danemark."
[58] It is a strange coincidence that the body of Caroline Matilda should be deposited close to that of her unhappy ancestress, Sophia Dorothea, whose fate was in so many respects like her own. Both have been bespattered for many years by calumny, but Dr. Doran took up the cause of Sophia Dorothea, and amply proved her innocence. My only hope is that I may have been equally successful in the cause of Caroline Matilda.
[59] The authenticity of this letter is incontestable. It has reached me through the Duchess of Augustenburg, who was allowed to take a copy by the late King of Hanover.
[60] "Mémoires de mon Temps."
[61] "Mémoires de mon Temps."