YORK. 



145 



dcrick was destined for the military profession, and, 

 in 1780, having been appointed a brevet-colonel in 

 the British service, he set off for the continent, 

 and, after visiting Hanover, proceeded to Ber- 

 lin, to study the tactics of his profession in 

 the school of the great Frederic. During his 

 absence, he was appointed colonel of the Cold- 

 stream guards, with the rank of lieutenant-ge- 

 neral, and, in 1784, was created duke of York 

 and Albany in Great Britain, and earl of Ulster in 

 Ireland. In 1787, he took his seat in the house of 

 peers, and in the debates on the regency, at the 

 close of the following year, made his first speech in 

 parliament. In 1789, a duel took place between 

 the duke and colonel Lennox, afterwards duke of 

 Richmond, who had required from his royal high- 

 ness an explanation or retractation of an observation 

 made by the latter. The duke not complying with 

 the requisition, but expressing his willingness to 

 waive the privileges of his rank, a meeting took 

 place on Wimbledon common. The word being 

 given to fire, colonel Lennox obeyed, and his ball 

 grazed the hair of the duke, who fired his pistol in 

 the air ; and the affair terminated without any per- 

 sonal injury to the combatants. In 1791, the duke 

 of York married the eldest daughter of Frederic 

 William, king of Prussia. This union was the 

 result of political arrangements; and, after a few 

 years, a separation took place, arising from circum- 

 stances which did not imply any impropriety of 

 conduct on the part of the duchess, whose death 

 occurred in 1820. On his marriage, the duke of 

 York received an augmentation of his income, 

 which raised it to 35,000 a year, exclusive of the 

 revenue of the bishopric of Osnabriick. In 1793, 

 his royal highness was sent to Flanders at the head 

 of a British army, to oppose the French. Valen- 

 ciennes surrendered to the troops under his com- 

 mand, July 26; and, on the 22d of August, he sat 

 down before Dunkirk, but was speedily obliged, by 

 the French, to retire. In the campaign of 1794, 

 Pichegru having taken the command of the French 

 army, that of the duke, with his German allies, 

 after experiencing various reverses, retreated into 

 Westphalia; and in April, 1795, the remnant of 

 the British army returned back to England. In 

 February of the same year, the duke of York was 

 appointed commander-in-chief. In 1799, he was 

 again employed against the French in Holland; but 

 the expedition terminated with a truce, one condi- 

 tion of which was the liberation of 8000 French 

 and Dutch prisoners of war in England. This ex- 

 pedition terminated the services of the duke of 

 York in the field, in the course of which he proved 

 himself wholly unequal to his station. In 1809, 

 colonel Wardle, in the house of commons, charged 

 the duke with having suffered a female favourite, 

 named Mary Anne Clarke, to influence him in the 

 disposal of commissions in the army. The evidence 

 brought forward showed that promotion had been 

 extended to persons recommended by this woman, 

 who made a traffic of such transactions ; but as 

 nothing occurred to implicate the duke of York 

 directly in the corrupt transactions between Mrs 

 Clarke and the persons to whom she sold her ser- 

 vices, he was acquitted by a majority of eighty-two, 

 who voted against the proposed general inquiry 

 into his official conduct as commander-in-chief. His 

 royal highness, however, thought proper to resign 

 his post, in which, about two years after, he was 

 reinstated by the prince-regent, with little or no 

 objection on the part of the public. This circum- 



VI 1. 



stance produced in the duke a redoubled attention 

 to his duties. From that time he exercised the 

 most rigid impartiality in the distribution of pro- 

 motion, arid the humblest petition was sure of at- 

 tention; the rights and comforts of the soldier 

 were studiously attended to ; and, without relaxing 

 necessary discipline, some of its more odious and 

 dispensable rigours were discountenanced. Upon 

 the whole, both in a moral and a social, as well as 

 in a military sense, the British army owes much to 

 the exertions of this prince, whose rank and influ- 

 ence enabled him to effect improvements which 

 equally good intentions, without such advantages, 

 might have failed to secure. Among the future 

 circumstances of his public life was his appointment 

 to the post of keeper for the person of his father, 

 in 1818, to which post was annexed a salary of 

 10,000 per annum. The last speech of the duke 

 of York, in parliament, was against Catholic eman- 

 cipation, and amounted to this, that he would never 

 consent to that measure, should he be called on to 

 reign. Not long after this event, he was attacked 

 with a dropsy in the chest, which after long and 

 protracted suffering, ultimately proved fatal on the 

 5th of January, 1827. 



YORK (HENRY STUART), CARDINAL OF. See 

 Stuart, Henry. 



YORK ; count von Wartenburg, Prussian field- 

 marshal, one of the most distinguished German 

 generals in the wars against Napoleon. (See fius- 

 sian-German War.} He fought in America on the 

 side of the British during the war of the revolution, 

 and here became acquainted with the operations of 

 light troops, which he afterwards introduced, with 

 improvements, into the Prussian army. He was 

 made a colonel in 1806, and distinguished himself 

 by skilful manosuvres during the disastrous state of 

 the Prussian army after the battle of Jena. In 

 1808, when the Prussian army was reorganized, he 

 was made major-general and inspector of all the 

 light troops. In 1812, he was one of the officers 

 of the Prussian auxiliary corps of 20,000 men, un- 

 der general Grawert, which, with the Polish, Ba- 

 varian and Westphalian troops, formed the tenth 

 corps under the command of Macdonald, and was 

 destined to cover the left wing of the French army, 

 and to operate against Riga. When general Gra- 

 wert laid down the command, on account of his ill 

 health, general York became commander of the 

 Prussian corps. When Napoleon ordered the re- 

 treat of the tenth corps to the Memel, York com- 

 manded the third column, which left Mitau, Dec. 

 20, followed by the Russians, under general Wit- 

 genstein and Paulucci, who entered Memel, while 

 their van extended along the Memel. Thus the 

 situation of general York was critical; but it was 

 less for this reason than on account of the political 

 situation of Europe, that he concluded the well- 

 known convention of Dec. 30, 1812, according to 

 which the Prussian corps separated from the French 



army, and assumed a neutral position See Seyd- 



litz's Journal of the Prussian Forces in the Cam- 

 paign of 1812 (Berlin, 1823, in German). The 

 king of Prussia was obliged to express disapproba- 

 tion of this step ; but the attitude which was soon 

 assumed by the whole kingdom showed that it was 

 in reality agreeable to the government. The step 

 was bold, and entirely on the general's responsibi- 

 lity, and became a measure of great consequence. 

 After his corps, which was much diminished in 

 number, had been re-enforced in Prussia, general 

 York led it to the Elbe, and obtained a victory at 

 K 



