CHARLOTTE SOPHIE, COUNTESS BENTINCK HER LIFE AND TIMES, 1715-1800

Volume II

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Charlotte Sophie Countess Bentinc^

Her Life and Times, 1715- 1 800. :: :: By her descendant :: ::

Xrs. Jlubrey Le {Blond

With 72 lllustratiotis including Photogravure Frontispieces

Volume II

LONDON HUTCHINSON & CO.

'PATERNOSTER ROW :: r. 1912

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXVIII

Death of Marie Antoinette — Island of Noirmoutier — Enthusi- asm of the French — Corruption at Copenhagen — Paris must be starved — Behaviour of Denmark — England's mistakes — England criticized — Excesses of English troops — Alarmed by rumour of capture . . . pages 1-22

CHAPTER XXIX French emigrants — Calonne — English steamer seized . 2 3~3°

CHAPTER XXX

Signor Ruffo — Baron Blome — Disputes with Rhoon — A French bluff — Protection from English troops — Doorwerth threat- ened— Refuge offered in England — Frederick's opinion of Lansy — Les Illumines — Corruption of Europe . 3I_52

CHAPTER XXXI

Ruffo at Vienna — Doorwerth — Emigrants at Hamburg — Vio- lence of English troops — Drunkenness in England . 5 3 — 63

CHAPTER XXXII

Rousseau's letter — Princess of Zerbst — Rousseau's Em He — Vol- taire on Rousseau . . . . 64-72

CHAPTER XXXIII

Blunders of the Allies — Arnhem threatened — Doorwerth safe — Gouverneur Morris — Lord Spencer — Rhoon warned by Pichegru — Rhoon in prison — Monetary losses — Calonne — Famous emigrants — The Greffier Fagel — Behaviour of Eng- land— Quiberon — Baron Kniphausen — An introduction 73-i°3 11.— a 2

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vi COUNTESS BENTINCK

CHAPTER XXXIV

A gallant boat affair — A Dutch patriot — Advantage of a mort- gage— Mr. Hartsinck . . . pages 104-112

CHAPTER XXXV An Assembly — Hair of Marie Antoinette . . 113-117

CHAPTER XXXVI

Baron de Diemar — Dr. Reimarus — A mysterious friend — Treachery of Prussia — Family news — Guillaume in prison — Illness of a postillion — Lord Elgin — Lord Malmcsbury — Breach of faith — Count Pfaff — Guillaume's dog . 1 18-141

CHAPTER XXXVII

Cape St. Vincent — Duke of Portland — British Navy criticized — Freedom of the Press — Party government criticized — A lottery ticket — Duchess de la Tremo'ille — France and Napoleon — Old porcelain — Troubles of the Hartsincks — English spleen — Sending of the china — Indignation with Austria — King of Prussia — The Archduke Charles — Prince of Orange . . . 142-173

CHAPTER XXXVIII

The Hartsinck affair — Escapes of Rhoon — Rumoured attack on England — Napoleon — Bernadotte at Vienna — Dresden china— Intrigues with Prussia — Grandmotherly reproaches — Childhood of Countess Tierheim — Eau Chassc Lunettes — A favourite — Napoleon in Egypt — The French in Ireland — Incompetent doctors — Admiral Whitshed's parents — Nel- son honoured — Prince of Orange — The cold of 1799 — Duke de la Tremo'ille — " Hawkings " an Admiral — Ac- tivity of England — Anxiety for Admiral Whitshed — Value of glory — Frobisher and Mackenzie — Countess Tierheim in trouble — Admiral Whitshed near Lisbon — Letter to Admiral Whitshed — Grouvelle — Negligence of Admiralty — Abbe Delilie — Tame bullfinches — Will never cease writ- ing— Advice to a wife — Her last prophecy . . 174-241

CONTENTS vii

CHAPTER XXXIX

The Duke de la Tremo'i'lle in hiding — The fugitive in London

— Vindication of the Duke . . Pag£& 242-247

CHAPTER XL

Baron Blome's letters — Rhoon's liberation — David — Baron Blome's portrait — Her eighty- fifth birthday — Death of Otteline — Doorwerth — Charlotte Sophie's death . 248-263

APPENDICES

Admiral Sir James Hawkins-Whitshed . . .265

Lord Rodney's letters to Whitshed Keene, Father of the House

of Commons, Admiral Whitshed's uncle . . . 270

Private account of the Glorious 1st of June, written by Vice-

Admiral William Bentinck for his family . . .284

Letter from Vice-Admiral William Bentinck to the (3rd) Duke

of Portland. . . ... 289

LIVRE D'ADRESSES

de son Excellence Madame la Comtesse Douairiere de Ben- tinck, nee Comtesse d'Aldenburg, Dame de Varel, Knip- hausen et Doorwerth . . . 291

Index . . . . . . 315

NOTE

ON THE FRONTISPIECE TO VOLUME II

" I have painted almost the whole family, and the girls would let

their mother sit to nobody else. ... It is a Lady W *: you

have heard me speak of her before. She is a person of great sense and spirit, and combines very opposite qualities from a sort of natural strength of character. She has shown the greatest feeling and firmness united : no one can have more tenderness in her domestic connections, and yet she has borne the loss of some of them with exemplaiy fortitude. . . . She has no affectation ; and therefore yields to un- avoidable circumstances as they arise. . . . She has very delightful, genteel, easy manners." There is a good deal more in the same strain, and that there was a strong tie of friendship between the petite chatte and the painter is proved by the inscriptions in various books which he presented to her, amongst others his own copy of Reynolds' Varieties on Art, which I possess, and by the fact that he gave her a fine portrait of himself painted by himself. This is now in the possession of Countess Henry Aldenburg Bentinck, of 53, Green Street, Park Lane.

(Northcote's Conversations, by Stephen Gwynn, p. 314.) 1 Lady Hawkins-Whitshcd, the petite chatte.

Vlll

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Lady Hawkins-Whitshed and her eldest son James (Photo- gravure) . . . . Frontispiece From a picture by James Northcote, belonging to the Duke of Portland.

Facing page

The Hawk of Kniphausen . . . . x

Vice-Admiral William Bentinck . . . . 21

From a portrait by Romney, belonging to Mr. H. Aldenburg Bentinck.

Letter from Calonne to Countess Bentinck (Indio Archives) . 28 Countess Bentinck's little diaries . . . . 30

Belonging to Mr. H. Aldenburg Bentinck.

Letter from Count Mercy d'Argenteuil to Countess Bentinck

(Indio Archives) . . ... 36

William, 3rd Duke of Portland . . . . 52

From a picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds, belonging to the Duke of Portland.

Captain John Albert Bentinck, r.n., and his eldest son in the

Cabin of a Man-of-War . . . . 64

From a picture by Mason Chamberlin, belonging to Mr. H. Aldenburg Bentinck.

Count Charles Bentinck, Countess Bentinck's grandson . . 86

From a picture belonging to Count Bentinck.

Letter from Prince Frederick of Orange to Countess Bentinck

(Indio Archives) . . . . . 100

Medallion containing hair of Marie Antoinette . . .116

Belonging to Count Bentinck.

Silver-gilt Service, given by Countess Bentinck to Lady

Hawkins-Whitshed . . . . . 116

Belonging to Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond.

Lady Milnes . . . . . . 120

From a miniature by Cosway, belonging to Count Godard Bentinck.

Cabinet in which Countess Bentinck kept her letters . .144.

Belonging to Mr. H. Aldenburg Bentinck.

Family group painted on a fan . . . . 160

Belonging to Count Bentinck.

ix

COUNTESS BENTINCK

Facing page . 168

Anton Giinther, last Count of Oldenburg

From a painting belonging to Mr. H. Aldenburg Bentinck.

Letter to Countess Bentinck from Otteline, Countess Rhoon-

Bentinck (Indio Archives) . . 176

Count Rhoon-Bentinck . . .

From an engraving by Sansom, after a picture by Temminck.

Count Jean Charles Bentinck, Countess Bentinck's grandson The Princess of Aldenburg, mother of Countess Bentinck

From a picture belonging to Count Bentinck.

Lady Milnes . . .

From a picture painted at Naples in 1793, belonging to the Duke of Portland.

Charlotte Sophie, Countess Bentinck .

From an engraving by Huch(i8o3) after a picture by Peter Van Dyk, at(r) (This picture may have been destroyed in a fire at Varel.)

Admiral Sir James Hawki-ns-Whitshed

From a painting by David belonging to the Duke of Portland.

Copy by Countess Bentinck of a letter received by her from a member of the Directory, and Coloredo's reply

The Hall, Middachten, beneath which is the fire-proof archives room of Count Bentinck

Count Bentinck, father of the reigning Count

From a picture belonging to Count Bentinck.

Count Bentinck . . .

Letter from Lady Jemima Bentinck to Countess Bentinck (Indio Archives) . . .

Letter from Countess Bentinck to Vice- Admiral William Bentinck concerning her will

Church of Varel, where Countess Bentinck was buried .

From a photograph taken by Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond in 1911.

The beautiful Varel Woods

178

196 209

220 232 236

242

250

254

256

258

260 262

262

All illustrations of letters, relics, coins and places are from photographs by Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond, as are those after Mr. H. Aldenburg Bentinck's four Romney pictures.

PEDIGREES

The Aldenburg family

Descent from William the Silent

Facing page . 264

• 3H

The Kniphausen Hawk (see p. 261, Vol. II) in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire

It bears a Latin inscription, of which the following is a translation : — George William, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Lord of Kniphausen and of Nienortia and of the territory of Vredewoldia, dedicated this Eagle bespangled with jewels in perpetual memory, and ordained that the famous goblet which glitters with ruby wings should remain for ever as an heirloom of the ancient race of Ortia (which now bears the name of Nienortia) in the hands of the noble lords of the citadel of Nienortia and the land of Vrede- woldia to whom this vessel was dedicated in the year 1697.

In memoriam The Standard-bearer of Great Jupiter,1

Shining with gold and precious jewels, I To Ortia's children by Kniphausen's count2

Was given in eternal memory.

1 An eagle. 2 Comes.

THE HAWK OF KNIPHAUSEN

Though referred to in the inscription as an eagle, this cup has always been known as " The Hawk of Kniphausen," and in The Illustrated London News of July 26th, 1 85 1, it is stated that it was made " to commemorate the reconciliation of two noble Dutch families which had been long at variance."

The family of Kniphausen is descended from a Friesland chief, and was raised to the rank of Count in 1694 an^ to tnat of Duke quite recently. The present head of the family is Flirst Edzard von Kniphausen-Lutzburg.

The Aldenburg family acquired the little state of Kniphausen in 1623 from Philipp Wilhelm, who, however, kept the name. (See Kniphausen Aldenburg Bentinck, by G. W. Zimmerli, Heine, Wilhelmshaven, 1 905.)

The Hawk was not originally thus an Aldenburg possession, but I think that, as it undoubtedly changed hands, it was probably bought by Charlotte Sophie as an interesting relic on account of its name. If that were so, she could of course give it freely away, as Bechstein in The Dunkelgraf states that she did. The Kniphausen family was related to her, and she refers to members of it in her letters.

xn

CHARLOTTE SOPHIE COUNTESS BENTINCK

Her Life and "Cimes 1715-1800

CHAPTER XXVIII

The 2C}tb October, 1793.

I AM more dead than alive, ma chere petite chatte, on account of the death of the Queen, and the frightful circumstances accompanying it. I re- turned to town on Thursday and on Friday I received this thunderbolt, as well as the news of the defeat of the left wing of the Prince of Coburg, and the raising of the Siege of Mauberge. All these are the sad results of the failure at Dunkirk.

I am prostrate through it. I spend my nights in the hands of the executioners. The thought of the daughter of Marie Therese on an infamous tumbril, beside an executioner, her hands tied at her back — no ! this picture is too terrible, I dare not con- template it.

I cannot write, I cannot think of anything else. But across my sorrow comes now and then the

2 COUNTESS BENTINCK

thought of my dear children, of the " Arrogant," of my poor Sophie.

It is a consolation to have sent you this one word, it is impossible for you to expect anything intelligible from me at this moment. I hold my pen with difficulty.

Your poor aunt is very ill and will not, I fear, live much longer.

Embrace those of my dear children who are with you. Poor Tierheim is overcome by the catastrophe of the Queen, and very unhappy about you. Her friend is just now with Wormser's army and the Duke of Brunswick. Adieu, chere et aimable -petite femme. God keep your husband. Do not forget your old grandmother who loves you tenderly.

The 8 th November, 1793.

Oh, ma chere enfant, so you are at Chatham, amidst the sad preparations for that which threatens you ! However, I feel that it is a consolation for you to know all the inns and outs of that wretched "Arro- gant" which, perhaps, judging from the tone of the King's last manifesto which the papers have given us, may remain in port, the ardent desire he expresses for peace will possibly be felt and imitated in France. As a citizen of the world and an enemy of those monsters I could not be glad were this so, but as a tender mother I should rejoice. Always hope, mon aimable petite chatte. This gives happy moments stolen from pain. The death of the Queen has overwhelmed me. 1 can hardly move, but heaven has sent us a

DEATH OF MARIE ANTOINETTE 3

prince of the Empire, for whom, for my sins, I must give a large dinner party.

I embrace you all under the nose of the "Arro- gant."

The 12th November, 1793.

I have great need of your help to-day, mon aimable petite chatte. It is necessary to let that poor proud Duchess de la Tremoille know various things of importance to her, by means of your very kind uncle. Here is what 1 want you to convey to her. I copy it from letters from two persons, equally trustworthy, and on whose accuracy one can count.

"All the attempts that have been made to permit the Duchesses of La Valliere and of Chatillon to remain together have been useless. The latter is at the Caserne, rue de Sevres, with her three com- panions in misfortune, who are a Countess de Beausset, an English girl, and the sister of a small barrister. They are preparing the Abbaye-au-Bois that they may be transferred there, which makes one fear that they are to be detained without mercy till peace is made, if no other misfortune happens between this and then."

Another piece of news quite as certain to be true and much more consoling is that, at last, we have details concerning the army of La Vendee, about which opinions so greatly differ. A family has just arrived here from there. They are known to be truthful and have seen things themselves and taken part in them as advisers and actors in the affairs of the district, and they absolutely endorse what we

4 COUNTESS BENTINCK

were told. They were saved by a miracle from the hands of the Royalists and here is what we have heard.

This army, formerly known as the army of La Vendee, is spread over a very wide portion of the country. It numbers altogether 120,000 men, better disciplined than the National troops. They are well paid, well fed, well behaved, and their discipline is firm and severe. They are divided into three different corps, and the most perfect harmony reigns between their chiefs. These commanders are two or three captains, brave men but not really their leaders. It is a Prince de la Tremoille and a Count d'Autichamp who work everything and who are supported through channels no one knows of and by means of which they obtain resources that they use with a dexterity and resource which inspire con- fidence.

Each corp numbers 40,000 men, and each ad- vances or retires according to the course of events, with activity and precision. They are in possession over a large stretch of country of the lands and estates of families who are absent or who have emi- grated, and are looking after them with all the care their owners could desire. The fields are perfectly cultivated, the buildings kept in good order, the profits put aside and reserved with the most scrupulous honesty for the owners, if it is impossible to find out where they are and remit the amounts. History cannot perhaps furnish a similar example of such an arrangement nor of a nobler enterprise in a time of

ISLAND OF NOIRMOUTIER 5

trouble, confusion and almost complete upheaval. The taking of the island of Noirmoutier has been an event of the greatest importance, and those who told me of it were there at the time, the wife of the commandant having found a refuge with them. Her husband (being an honest man) had to fight in spite of himself for the regicides, but being obliged to submit to the greater strength and number of the royalists he saved himself by flight and disappeared, certain if taken to be put to death either by the regicides, or by the royalists whom he had been obliged to treat as enemies.

Thanks to the position of this island 1 it is hoped that many advantages will result from its possession, as at last it gives a port within direct communication of England. It was after this fortunate capture that my informants found means to leave the place and rejoin their friends and relations here, from whom, owing to their rich establishment in France, they had been separated for eighteen years. These people are so well known, so much esteemed and so worthy of confidence that one could not gain information from a more trustworthy source, and as many of their friends remain on the island they hope to know all that goes on in a place so important to the good cause.

This is what I want you, mon aimable petite chatte, to bring to the ear of the Duchess de la Tremoille by means of your kind and good relation, adding that

1 In the Atlantic ocean, forming a portion of the Department of La Vendee, and possessing a good harbour.

6 COUNTESS BENTINCK

Baron de Blome left his estate in Holstein on November 7th for Copenhagen, deeply concerned about the situa- tion of those in Paris on whose account he is so keenly interested, and especially the Duchess de la Tremoille whose terrible anxiety for her family he so well understands.

Your royal declaration which was intended to con- vert and pacify the French seems to me (saving the respect I owe your politicians) a very poor sort of booby-trap, which I doubt the French people, however credulous they may be, are likely to be caught in. But perhaps this declaration is less intended to make the regicides love peace, than to persuade the English themselves to tolerate war. The whole thing is just like the fable of him who took refuge from rain by hiding in the water. I assure you, ma chere Sophie, that since the catastrophe of the Queen and the siege of Dunkirk I have renounced all hope of a good and speedy ending to the state of things, unless God works a miracle in our favour. I see so little harmony, so little continuity, so little sincere desire to work together towards a common end. There is so much jealousy, egoism, mercantile interests, smallnesses in plan and action, in fact such complete chaos, pitted against a united people, who stop short at nothing but move on with a determination nothing can alter ! I cannot believe that half a dozen vacillating powers, who neither love each other, nor understand each other, who are defiant and envious of each other, who lack many of the means for carrying on the contest and are embarrassed by many domestic diffi-

ENTHUSIASM OF THE FRENCH 7

culties, will end by resisting the torrent of enthusiasm

which seems to me about to swallow them up. Adieu

Germany, Adieu England, Adieu Europe ! That is

what overwhelms me.

Adieu.

The lyth Nov ember y 1793.

Aimable petite chatte^ so it is to America that they are sending our dear ones ! I am petrified by the news. . . . The opinion of all wise people who understand this affair is that the quickest and the only certain method to end this dreadful war is to starve the French, that is to say, Paris. It is the provisions that enter through Hamburg, under the Danish flag, that destroy what the allies accomplish at the cost of so much blood and treasure. This is what it is to the interest of all to stop.

If your government knows this fact it should not lose an instant in notifying very seriously those of Vienna and Berlin, but especially Vienna, which is absolutely ill informed, abused, bewildered, by what passes in the north, and which so long as it believes in the news they send it from there will remain completely blinded to what is for the good of the cause. They must send people there — or one at least — who knows the -position and above all who cannot be corrupted^ for the legion of Jacobins whom we have here ruin and lead all astray. If they do not send at once, all is lost, for we have immense stores of grain accumulated here which have been passed in under the Danish flag, and so long as those madmen have bread they will hold on. If Hawkings can let slip a word of this

8 COUNTESS BENTINCK

to the Minister, and if something comes of it he will have done a better deed than if he had won a battle. I have said my say and my conscience is clear.

The yd December, 1793.

Do you know, ma chere -petite chatte, that we are so troubled about Toulon and La Vendee that every one prays that Lord Jervis' fleet and Mr. Grey's troops may go to one of these places instead of to the islands. They say that one should not run two hares at the same time, that the great thing is to beat the horde in Europe and that the isles would then submit of themselves. They also say that 12,000 men are far too many, and their transport to America far too costly and difficult, and that most certainly it is only announced to deceive the French. It must be as God wills. At least they would remain in Europe within touch of you.

We are very anxious about the Prussians. Every- thing is in danger in view of the enormous numbers of those monsters. What a frightful nation, ma chere Sophie, forswearing all religion ! One does not know whether to pity them as destitute of all good sense and fit only for a madhouse, or to abhor them as the vilest dregs of humanity.

I now have the two little medals of the King and Queen of France that your sister Milnes has pro- mised to send to the Chevalier Banks for me. Please tell me the safest way to send them, for it is easier just now to despatch things to China than to England.

I embrace my dear children.

CORRUPTION AT COPENHAGEN 9

The iyth December, 1793.

I am suffering greatly from my head to-day and the post puzzles us all very much. When 1 have written two lines I have to shut my eyes for a few minutes in order to be able to see. This accursed Denmark undoes all that the allies accomplish. Imagine their despicable behaviour. They have taken 18,000 guns from the Royal Arsenal and sold them to that miserable Grouvelle, the Minister of France to the Danish Court, whom they disavow openly and favour secretly. He has as much money as he needs to corrupt Copenhagen, where it blows hot or cold just as he wishes. And you allow it ! This Court brought to reason and unable to continue lending its flag to smugglers, the town of Stade properly controlled by Hanover, the neutrality of Denmark absolutely insisted on by the allies and by you, working in harmony with them, would advance matters far better and bring the war to an end much quicker than three or four great victories. Give me news of your brother and husband and keep some friendship for a poor old mother who loves you with all her heart.

January yd, 1794.

Nearly every one, even the wisest, you will notice, ma chere fille, allows himself to be caught by wish- ing for the thing itself and never for the proper means of obtaining it. That is the great weakness of the masculine intellect. Perhaps it is partly for that reason that they have not in reality that superiority

io COUNTESS BENTINCK

which they claim over us women, in judgment and strength of mind. Look at the behaviour of all the powers since the French revolution. If I wished to write the bitterest satire that has ever been penned I would limit myself to writing the history of Europe from the time when the throne of the Bourbons, beginning to be shaken, should have made clear to every government without exception the greatness of their danger. Yet see what they did, how they slept on, amused themselves, and to what terrific strength they allowed that infernal and dangerous power to attain before they at last decided to fight it, having themselves allowed it by that time to grow almost invincible !

But it is not on account of this error, enormous though it was, that I desire to reproach them. What is done is done, and not even God Himself could make it as if it had never been ! But now, as all see, as all admit, now that the conflagration is abso- lutely all round us, why is it that they are so blind to the only remedies left, that they go to work on no fixed plan, without any general idea of the ob- stacles likely to be met with which, with reflexion and firmness, they could overcome ? One sees, first of all, that the French have the advantage in numbers, and that the loss of iooo men to them is less than of ioo to us. One sees that, having been allowed time to train the populace, they have made real soldiers of them (who were but individuals of the lowest class, disciplined and taught to use arms). One sees that they possess a very large number of

PARIS MUST BE STARVED n

fortresses, of which, if we can take one or two in a year, we are but too happy. One sees that by means of robbery, violence and concession they have appropriated more treasure, and consequently more resources, than all the allied forces could bring to- gether. Finally, one knows that in dealing with people who are destitute of all principle, and put themselves above all laws, it is almost impossible to come to fair terms, when one is oneself (thank God) restrained by a certain morality and sense of duty.

What then is left to the allied powers to enable them to overcome these monsters i If they are wild beasts let loose so that they may devour every one, well, it is by famine that one subdues even tigers ! Let us try famine then, but at once and promptly.

To starve the whole of a kingdom like France would be impossible. But that is not the question. It is Paris that must be starved, and this can be done. It is even easy (if little private interests, and mercantile matters that should not have a moment's considera- tion now that the whole of Christianity is in extremis do not interfere) from the moment that simple common sense is allowed a voice in council.

Where does Paris obtain corn ? From the provinces that surround her and from the ports of Dunkirk, Havre and Cherburg.

Your fortunate capture of Toulon closes to a great extent the entrance of supplies from the south, our armies guard the east, the Algerians, the Spaniards, the Portuguese and your captures hold securely the west, where if the Americans or those proud Genoese

12 COUNTESS BENTINCK

managed to bring supplies it would not help Paris at all. It is thus by stopping everything that could enter from the north for the regicides, that in less than three weeks you would have absolutely stifled the monster without one drop of blood being shed, instead of continually cutting off these hydra heads which grow again while your losses do not repair themselves. Who is giving these dangerous materials for rendering useless all your efforts ? It is Denmark, Sweden, Hamburg and Lilbeck, but especially Den- mark. It is only at Copenhagen that Paris can be subdued. The merest common sense should forbid this insolent neutrality, which is destructive to all Europe, and whose sole object is to enrich seven or eight wealthy speculative merchants. You and the other great powers should not flatter so disgustingly that little Court (become assertive by reason of the feebleness of those who should show some pride). What do you actually want of her ? She tells you she absolutely must have peace in order to exist. The answer is quite simple. " Renounce an ignoble trade, and collusion with the enemies of the human race, or else come and fight us. England, Spain and Holland declare to you that they will seize every one of your ships without a single exception. If you don't like it, come and attack us ! " and instantly take everything Danish you can lay your hands upon and confiscate it. You will see that they will bend to you at once, and if they hold good, in two months (if you do not vacillate any longer, as you always do, until they have started again and furnished them with

BEHAVIOUR OF DENMARK 13

fresh resources) you will see, 1 repeat, in a few weeks, that terrible sewer of abominations, that Paris worse than hell itself, will have of itself delivered you of those monsters you are fighting, the Robespierres, the Dantons, etc. etc. You will see with amazement the whole of France at your feet and at those of your allies, praying you to give them a government which is acceptable to you as well as to them. Is it possible, ma chere Sophie, that respect for the King of Denmark (who is only a shadow) and for a Minister who plays a role a la Necker would make you give up the fruit of so much toil, and money and precious blood ? Why not repeat to Mr. Pitt these truths, so palpable that an old woman like myself, and a child of 13, cannot fail to observe them ?

Does one make such huge efforts as yours, under- take such proud and noble enterprises, in order only to lose them instead of making your power felt against a king such as he, who because he laughed at the great Catherine and her fleet believes he can laugh at the whole world ? If I lived in London, old Sibyl though I am, I would accomplish the impossible itself to bring all this reasoning before Mr. Pitt through some one who could deliver it with eloquence and was better able than I to carry out a task of such importance. Can one more insult public opinion and the rights of others than sit calmly by when the Danes take 18,000 guns from the Royal Arsenal and sell them to a private subject of the King named Selby, while telling him that Count Bernstorff con- fessed admitting that he had promised not to re-sell

i4 COUNTESS BENTINCK

them to any nation then at war ? Nevertheless these arms are sent in a double and false direction with the knowledge and under the passports of Denmark, apparently to America but really to France. An English vessel took them. The Danish captain deceived it by means of a false certificate from his government declaring them to be intended for America. They set this smuggler at liberty and he sailed straight for Havre, laughing at you in his sleeve, and our commercial papers have gravely announced his safe arrival there ! Selby is not punished, the Ministers who were witnesses of it hold their tongues. And that is called Neutrality, the carrying of arms to one of the combatants ! Oh, ma chere fille, one loses all patience when one sees the inconsequent and cowardly behaviour of those whom one would most wish to respect !

Let us speak of other things, for all this makes my blood boil. And it is for a cause so badly defended, and with such negligence that your husband and Guil- laume, all that is dearest to us on earth, must expose themselves !

What have you done about Ruffo ? He must miss you dreadfully in London.

I have just heard a report of a successful attack by Lord Moira at Grandville. God grant it may be true, but 1 doubt it Is it the case that Lord Bar- rington is going to relieve Lord Howe ? What does it all mean, his constantly sailing in and out of Torbay and then running after the French, who simply laugh at him, instead of remaining and sup-

ENGLAND'S MISTAKES 15

porting the attack of Lord Moira ? He is sworn at in every direction, and they say that all these absurd manoeuvres are just to please the opposition. Is this true ? I embrace you all. Tell me where, alas, they are sending your poor husband. Adieu, mon enfant.

The 6th January, 1793.

Good God, my dear friends, what have you done ? What calamities ! What catastrophes ! What explana- tion have you given and shall you give to Europe, to your age, to posterity, to justify your measures and defend yourself against the reproaches that all your allies and the whole world will make you ?

So costly a war, and one commenced so tardily (which should have been made two or three years earlier if you wished to emerge from it with success, advantage and glory), this war which you could avoid no longer, since it was they who declared it, were you obliged to ruin it all so pitilessly your- self? How, in the world's annals, will you wash away the stains of so many mistakes ? This is what they openly say of you and I repeat but the mere echoes, and nearly every nation speaks the same language.

1. Why did you force the Prince of Coburg to alter the best and safest plan of campaign this summer, when he had a great advantage, to satisfy your selfish caprice concerning the Siege of Dunkirk ? For that was the first false step, the beginning of all the others.

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2. If having given way to you and undertaken

that wretched Siege which spoilt everything, at least, having obtained your wish in spite of sea and storm, your fleet should have been there and your incompetence should not have caused the failure of that luckless enterprise and brought disaster on the arms which till then had been triumphant, snatching from them the fruits of so many victories !

3. Toulon ceded to you and your possession of it

threatened, would it not have been wiser had you at once sent Sir John Jervis with 12,000 men there, instead of running two hares at once, in Europe and in America, and taking neither ?

4. Wishing to hold so important a place, why did

you send the hottest head in England, that O'Hara, who, though brave, is neither sensible nor prudent nor well informed, and does not understand the A B C of an officer's duties, which is that the commander of a town is re- sponsible for that town, and should never leave it except dead or by capitulation, instead of which he, like an imbecile, let himself be taken and played the adventurer instead of the governor, thus losing everything. And that Lord Howe (who is only skilful in wars approved of by the opposition), what lunacy has caused your great fleet to be entrusted to him ? You let him, all the summer, laugh at you under your very nose, with his eternal sailings in and out

ENGLAND CRITICIZED 17

(so much so that they call him Lord Torbay), and then, instead of supporting Lord Moira he runs after the French, misses his object, and catches nothing more than a rat ! 5. Finally, how will you justify yourself to pos- terity, which judges justly, for never having stopped the war by declaring, you, and Spain and Holland and Portugal (and not Russia and us Germans, whom they only laugh at), to Denmark that she must cease her commerce of corn and arms with France, or you will con- fiscate every vessel of hers without exception. Answer me, chere -petite chattey or rather le cbaton, if he can, for every one is calling Eng- land to account before the tribunal of the rights of men. I have had to write this as I promised several friends that I would get a reply from some sensible, well-informed person in a position to say something definite and well considered on the reasons for the censure awarded to England.

I confess I should find it difficult to think of any excuse for all the ill-considered tactics they accuse you of. But one must listen to all sides before one judges. I am grieved for Mr. Pitt, and I do not see what he can say to Parliament when he meets it. You know, ma chere -petite chatte, that I am an ad- mirer of this Minister, whom I believe to be very useful, very necessary to his country, were it only that he might stand in the way of such a mauvais sujet as Mr. Fox. The latter is, in my eyes the

i8 COUNTESS BENTINCK

Marat of England, and if a Charlotte Corday had appeared amongst your English women Mr. Fox would have been the victim of her attack. I embrace you tenderly.

The j 6th January^ 1794.

I imagine you, ma chere petite ckatte, in the hap- piest and most delightful position, for the newspapers tell us that the great fleet has returned to your shores without loss or damage. I share your joy.

We are very much troubled about Holland. The frost that begins to make itself felt alarms me greatly. It renders the inundations useless and even harmful. The French are unceasing in their efforts to over- come the few feeble barriers still opposed to them. I tremble on the arrival of each mail lest I shall hear that they are in Guelders and that Doorwerth is in their power. Our whole position is frightful ! Every one is discouraged. At Vienna they are stupefied and in despair ! They tell me that " Mr. Eden preferred to be Minister Plenipotentiary with us than Ambassador to Spain. He is closely allied with Mr. Tuguth ; we shall see if between them they will find means to save us."

On the other hand, the King of Prussia seems suddenly to recollect that he has a part to play, and duties and even a throne to defend, before he thinks of problematical conquests.

You cannot imagine the transports of joy which followed the departure of the Duke of York for

EXCESSES OF ENGLISH TROOPS 19

England. They nearly sung the Te Deum, as after a victory ! He is most unpopular on account of the fearful excesses of his troops.1 As 1 am con- vinced (by an experience of sixty years) that dis- cipline is incompatible with the principles of your government and your national character, I am also con- vinced that no matter what general you give them, the vice of your land forces will always make them as much the scourge of your friends as of your enemies, and that had the Duke of York been Alexander or Caesar himself he could not have controlled them. This and revolution, ma chere Sophie, in spite of the despair it has caused us, has thrown light on many facts and disabused our minds of many errors. Providence has especially opened our eyes to the pet opinion of nearly every one (which with you is a passion). This is the idolatry of liberty ! Could one have believed it, ma chere -petite chatte, and can one doubt any longer, that this same liberty so lauded, so passionately desired, is the most dan- gerous, the most onerous condition of life for human society ? You wise English ! You have made a sort of divinity of it for so long, contemplate now with an open mind this brilliant and seductive object (with which you have infatuated us and which will be our undoing), which has already deceived and over-

1 Writing to the registrar Fagel, in London, Van der Spiegel remarks, ** The prince is enraged at what he had witnessed, which surpassed the bounds of imagination ; that the English were accustomed to answer to the complaints of the inhabitants, that they would be sure to be plundered by the Carmagnoles, and it was better they should forestall them."

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thrown the French, and which will doubtless destroy Europe. See how deceptive are appearances !

No ! ma chere Sophie, the Finger of God shows us how our proud errors have led us astray, and how true are the lines of Voltaire where he says :

" Tes destins sont d'un homme, et tes vceux sont cCun Dieu ! "

All