In the beginning of August 1787 the Duke of York returned to England (see an account of the consequent rejoicings in vol. LVII. 734). On the 27th of Nov. following he was introduced to the House of Lords; but the first instance of his joining in the Debates, was on the 15th of December 1788, when the Settlement of the Regency was under discussion. On this occasion (as, we have good reason to hope, on the more recent and memorable one,) he acted as the organ of his elder Brother, who, having engaged his affections in early youth, (for in their childhood they were remarkably attached,) had the happiness of preserving that friendship unbroken to the last. This speech, which was heard with the greatest attention, and excited a vast degree of interest at the time, may be seen in vol. Lix. p. 47, as in the same volume, p. 722, will be found the few sentences be delivered Jan. 31 following, on representing the Prince of Wales's and his own desire to have their names omitted in the Commission for holding Parliaments, - an example immediately followed by the Dukes of Cumberland and Gloucester.

In May of the same year, 1789, the name of his Royal Highness was brought prominently before the public, on his having engaged in a duel with Lieut.-col. Lennox, nephew of the then Duke of Richmond, afterward in 1806 the successor to that title, and the father of his present Grace. This dispute originated in an observation of his Royal Highness, "that Lt.-col. Lennox had heard words spoken to him at the club at Daubigny's, to which no gentleman ought to have submitted." This observation being reported to the Lt. col., he took the opportunity, while his Royal Highness was on the Parade, to address him, "desiring to know, what were the words which he had submitted to hear, and by whom they were spoken?" To this his Royal Highness gave no other answer than by ordering the Lt.-col. to his post. The parade being over, his Royal Highness went into the orderly room, and sending for the Lt.-col., intimated to him, in the presence of all the officers, that he desired to receive no protection from his rank as a Prince, and his station as Commanding Officer, but that, when not on duty, he wore a brown coat, and was ready as a private gentleman to give the Lt.-col. satisfaction. After this declaration, Lt.-col. Lennox wrote a circular to every member of the club at Daubigny's, requesting to know whether any such words had been used to him, and appointing a

day for an answer from each; their silence to be considered as a declaration that no such words could be recollected. On the expiration of the term limited for an answer to the circular letter, the Lt.-col, sent a written message to his Royal Highness, to this purport: "That, not being able to recollect any occasion on which words had been spoken to him, at Daubigny's, to which a gentleman ought not to submit, he had taken the step which appeared to him most likely to gain information of the words to which his Royal Highness had alluded, and of the persons who had used them; that none of the members of the Club had given him information of any such insult being in their knowledge,. and therefore he expected, in justice to his character, that his Royal Highness should contradict the report, as publicly as he had asserted it." This letter was delivered to his Royal Highness by the Earl of Winchelsea, when the answer returned not proving satisfactory, a message was sent to his Royal Highness, desiring a meeting: time and place were settled that evening. The meeting accordingly took place; and the seconds published the following statement: "In consequence of a dispute, of which much has been said in the pub-. lic papers, his Royal Highness the Duke of York, attended by Lord Rawdon, and Lt.-col. Lennox, accompanied by the Earl of Winchelsea, met at Wimbledon Common. The ground was measured at twelve paces, and both parties were to fire at a signal agreed upon. The signal. being given, Lt.-col. Lennox fired, and the ball grazed his Royal Highness's curl. The Duke of York did not fire. Lord Rawdon then interfered, and said,

That be thought enough had been done.' Lt.-col. Lennox observed That. his Royal Highness had not fired.' Lord. Rawdon said It was not the Duke's intention to fire: his Royal Highness had come out upon Lt.-col. Lennox's desire to give him satisfaction, and had no animosity against him.' Lt.-col. Lennox pressed that the Duke of York should fire, which was declined, upon a repetition of the reason. Lord Winchelsea then went up to the Duke of York, and expressed his hope 'That bis RoyalHighness could have no objection to say, that he considered Lt.-col. Lennox as a man of honour and courage.' His Royal Highness replied, 'That he should say nothing; he had come out to give Lt.col. Lennox satisfaction, and did not mean to fire at him; if Lt.-col. Lennox was not satisfied, he might fire again." Lt.-col. Lennox said he could not pos

sibly fire again at the Duke, as his Royal Highness did not mean to fire at him.On this, both parties left the ground. The seconds think it proper to add, that both parties behaved with the most perfect coolness and intrepidity. (Signed)

"RAWDON. WINCHELSEA,

"Tuesday evening, May 26, 1789."

A meeting of the officers of the Coldstream Regiment took place on the 29th of May, on the requisition of Lt.-col. Lennox, to deliberate on a question which be bad submitted, Whether he had behaved in the late dispute as became a gentleman and an officer?' and after a considerable discussion, adjourned to the 30th, came to the following resolation: It is the opinion of the Officers of the Coldstream Regiment, that subsequent to the 15th of May, the day of the meeting at the Orderly-room, Lt.col. Lennox has behaved with courage; but, from the peculiar difficulty of his situation, not with judgment."

It has been considered strange that Lt.-col. Lennox's second in this duel was one of the Lords of the Bedchamber to the King, and his mother, Lady Winchelsea, was employed in rearing the Duke of York. The Duke of Richmond died in 1819, but it is remarkable that the other three personages engaged in this affair have all died within six months, the Earl of Winchelsea the 2d of last August (see our Sept. Mag. p. 270), Lord Rawdon (the Marquess of Hastings) Nov. 28, and the Duke of York Jan. 5.

Amid the political agitations of the year 1791, the marriage of his Royal Highness to the Princess Royal of Prussia served to cement more closely the relations which the Courts of St. James's and Berlin had found it their interests to contract, with the view of counterpoising the inordinate ambition and mighty projects of the restless Empress of Russia. The treaty touching this alliance was signed at Berlin on the 26th of January, and its leading articles are recorded in vol. LXI. p. 172.

On the 28th of September the King of Great Britain declared in Council his consent to the contract; and it was on the following day that the Duke of York was married, at Berlin, to FredericaCharlotta-Ulrica-Catharine, only child of King Frederick-William, by his first consort Elizabeth - Ulrica - Christiana, Princess of Brunswick - Wolfenbuttel; and half-sister of the present King of Prussia. Their Royal Highnesses left Berlin Oct. 27, and having spent some weeks in Germany, were, on their arrival in England, re-married at the

Queen's House Nov. 23. The ceremonials of both marriages are preserved in vol. LXI. p. 1057. By the Duchess his Royal Highness had no issue. Her domestic and charitable virtues are well known, and a short memoir of her,, written on her death in 1820, is printed in vol. xc. ii. 181.

On the occasion of his marriage, the Duke had voted him by Parliament the sum of 18,000l. per unnum, and the King settled on him 70007. from his Irish revenue, which, in addition to the 12,000l. per ann. he before enjoyed, constituted a yearly income of 35,000l. The sum of 8,000l. per ann. was at the same time voted to the Duchess, in case she should survive. There was, however, some opposition to these grants. Several Members deemed the revenue proposed by the Minister too large, as the Duke received a very considerable one from the Bishopric of Osnaburg, stated by some at no less than 35,000l. a year. But this appearing an object unfit for parliamentary discussion, the votes proposed by the Ministry passed in his favour.

In 1793 the Duke was called into active military service. A British army was ordered for Flanders, to form part of the grand army under the Prince of Saxe Cobourg. The Duke was appointed to the command of that army, aided by Sir Ralph Abercrombie, Sir Wm. Erskine, and other officers of distinction. It is generally allowed that the plan of the campaign was bad, and the failure cannot therefore be placed to the conduct of his Royal Highness. The royal assent for the embarkation of the brigade of Foot-guards was obtained February 2, and it landed at Helvoetsluys March 4. Strong reinforcements were soon after ordered, with Hanoverian and Hessian contingents. The first military operations in which his Royal Highness assisted, occurred in the neighbourhood of Tournay, and near St. Amand and Vicogne, in the month of May, in the course of which he was promoted to the rank of General. In the subsequent battle of Famars, on the 23d May, he commanded a principal column of the allied army, and bore a distinguished share in the success of that brilliant day; the result of which was the investment and siege of Valenciennes. The direction of this operation was entrusted to his Royal Highness, to whom the city was surrendered, after a considerable part of it had been reduced to ashes, on the 26th of July.

Having joined the main army, the Duke of York co-operated, on the 7th and 8th August, in the movements

against the enemy's positions at the Camp de Cesar, Bois de Bourlon, &c. upon the line of the Scheldt, from all which they were dispossessed, or retired, although without material loss, owing to the indecision and slowness of the allied army, against which his Royal Highness had in vain remonstrated in frequent communications to Prince Hohenlohe, their Quarter-master-general, who had objected to an earlier and more decided movement of the army on the 8th, by which the enemy's retreat would have been intercepted.

The Prince of Cobourg, after these operations, laid siege to Quesnoy, and subsequently invested Maubeuge, while the Duke of York continued his march in the direction of Orchies, Tourcoing, and Menin, with the British, Hanoverian, and Hessian troops, to which was added a body of Austrians, under the orders of Lieut.-General Alvintzy. The object of this separation was the siege of Dunkirk, which had been determined upon by the British Cabinet, and which was viewed with regret, not only by the Austrian Generals, but also by his Royal Highness, who had remonstrated against it, as far as he could; at the same time, when he found his representations unavailing, he proceeded with the utmost zeal to the execution of a measure, from which may reasonably be dated the subsequent reverse of fortune on the French frontier.

After a succession of severe and sanguinary actions, fought by the besieging and covering armies with success, though without any positive effect, the principal of which occurred on the 24th of August (when the gallant General d'Alton fell), and on the 6th and 8th of September, the Duke of York found himself under the necessity of raising the siege. His Royal Highness had contended with perseverance against numerous and increasing difficulties, arising from the rapid accumulation of the enemy's means of resistance, the delay on the part of the British Government in forwarding the necessary ordnance and stores, and the neglect in providing any means of naval co-operation, even such as might secure his Royal Highness's positions from molestation by the enemy's small craft on the coast. The retreat was effected in good order, and without any other loss than that of the heavy iron ordnance, which, being on ship carriages, could not be removed; and the army re-assembled at Furnes and Dixmude.

His Royal Highness's corps, after this, was stationed for some time on the

frontier of West Flanders (the headquarters being at Dixmude and Thoraut), occasionally co-operating with General Beaulieu in repelling the enemy's attacks upon Menin and other points. Towards the middle of October his Royal Highness moved with 6,000 men, chiefly British, to the support of the Prince of Cobourg, then before Maubeuge. He made a rapid march to Englefontaine, where he arrived on the 16th, the day on which was fought the battle of Wattignies in consequence of which, although both parties, considering the advantage to be with the enemy, had retired from the field, and although the Austrian army was superior in numbers and quality of troops, the Prince of Cobourg thought fit to abandon the operation in which he was engaged.

The Duke of York returned to Tournay, in which place, and the neighbourhood, he continued until the close of the campaign. After some trifling affairs the army went into winter quarters, the Duke of York's head-quarters being at Ghent, whence, attended by Gen. Mack, he proceeded to England, to concert with the British Government the plan and measures for the ensuing campaign.

His Royal Highness returned, in the month of February 1794, from England to Courtrai, to which place the British head-quarters had been removed, upon a forward concentration of the cantonments. The army had been considerably reinforced by drafts from the British regiments, and by additional corps of Hanoverians, Hessians, and Darmstadt troops, taken into British pay. The troops under his command moyed successively to Tournay, St. Amand, and the Plains of Cateau, where the greater part of the allied army was united, under the command of the Emperor, on the 16th of April. On the following day a general and successful attack was made upon the enemy's positions at Vaux, Premont, Marets, Catillon, &c.; and Landrecies was immediately invested. His Royal Highness commanded the right wing of the covering army during the siege. A detachment of cavalry from his corps gained a considerable advantage, on the 24th of April, near Villers en Cauchia, towards Cambrai; and on the 26th his Royal Highness completely defeated, near Troixville, with great slaughter, and the loss of 35 pieces of cannon, a corps of 30,000 men, which, under the orders of Gen. Chapuy, attacked his position. General Chapuy was taken prisoner, with a considerable number of officers and men. On the 30th Landrecies surrendered; and his

Royal Highness's dispatch, announcing this event, may be seen in vol. LXIV. p. 469.

On the 10th of May the French, to the number of 30,000, under Pichegru, made

furious attack on the Duke, near Tournay. They were repulsed. But in & subsequent engagement at the same place, they defeated the Allies on the 14th. On the 18th the Duke of York's division was attacked, and obliged every where to give way, and the Duke himself was on the point of falling into the enemy's hands. It was with prodigious efforts that Generals Fox and Abercrombie found means to restore sufficient order among the troops to save them from total destruction and effect a retreat.

To prove, however, that no blame was considered to attach to the Duke of York, or the gallant troops under his orders on that occasion, it is only necessary to quote the following extract of a letter from the Prince of Coburgh, addressed to his Royal Highness soon after che event :

"Sa Majesté m'enjoint de donner a V.A. R. les assurances les plus positives que non seulement elle est parfaitement satisfaite de la maniere, pleine de zêle, d'intelligence, et de valeur, dont V. A. R., ses braves généraux, et ses braves troupes ont executé tous les mouvemens qui on eu lieu successivement dans les journées du 17 et du 18, mais qu'elle lui donne par cette lettre le témoignage certain et bien décidément irrécusable que V. A. R. 'a fait aucune manœuvre, qui n'ait été une suite essentielle de la disposition générale, ou qu'elle n'ait engagé V. A. R. à faire par les messages successifs, que dans le courant de l'affaire elle a recu de ce Monarque."

Recent measures had confirmed the suspicion for some time entertained by the Duke of York, that the Austrian Cabinet had determined on the abandonment of the Netherlands, and certainly of West Flanders,-for the maintenance of which the British Cabinet, on the other hand, was most solicitous. His Royal Highness had in vain remonstrated against the establishment of a system of warfare so injurious to Great Britain; and had equally in vain urged, upon every occasion, the adoption of more vigorous attempts towards checking the enemy, by a concentration of means and efforts. This jarring of interests between the two countries in creased the irritation and jealousy which had resulted from the failure of the 11th May, upon which occasion the British troops accused the Austrians (not without reason) of baving sacrificed them. The GENT. MAG. January, 1827.

Yours

Duke of York was well aware of these feelings, and had himself ample reason to be hurt and mortified by the inattention shewn to his advice, and the turn which affairs had taken; but his endeawere invariably directed to the preservation of harmony'; and while the Austrian Generals resisted his urgent representations, they acknowledged the spirit of conciliation which influenced his Royal Highness's language, and the zeal with which he was ever ready to cooperate in any measure tending to the support of the general cause.

The rest of this disastrous campaign was a succession of disappointments, in which the brave and persevering spirit of the British Commander vainly strug gled against the insincerity of allies, and the coldness of his own government, after retreating without dishonour from post to post. The Allies were at length no longer able to oppose the enemy. A reinforcement of 10,000 British troops, under Earl Moira, having arrived at Ostend, and marched with all speed to the relief of the Duke, on the 8th of July effected a junction. On the 14th September Pichegru attacked the several posts which the Duke had taken along the river Dommel, and compelled him to retreat across the Meuse. The French crossed the Meuse in October, and on the 19th attacked the Duke's army. The Duke, after suffering severely, withdrew his troops across the Waal. On the 27th of October the French again compelled the Duke to move further off, for security. A series of disasters succeeded, which terminated in the retreat of the British and their German auxiliaries through Westphalia. On the 14th April 1795, the different British brigades embarked in the Weser for England. And thus terminated the warfare, under the Duke of York, in the years 1793, 1794, and 1795.

In February, 1795, his Majesty was graciously pleased to nominate the Duke of York to the situation of Commanderin-chief, an office not less important than at that time it had become arduous, from the deplorable effects of the inefficiency and abuse which prevailed in every branch and department of the military service. His Royal Highness undertook the duties of this situation with a firm determination to correct the errors and abuses which had crept into the administration of the army; and the zeal and indefatigable attention with which he persevered in this arduous task were equalled only by the judgment which directed his labours. But of this more hereafter.

In 1799, the Duke again appeared in