On May 19, Struensee effected a reduction in the army, which produced a most disagreeable impression on the whole nation, and must be regarded as one of the principal causes of his rapid overthrow. This was the abolition of the two squadrons of Royal Horse Guards, composed of picked handsome men. The Guards greatly annoyed the favourite, for several of the officers were men of high birth, and had the right of appearing at court when they pleased. This suppression might be a useful economy, and the task was already far advanced. Count de St. Germain, when he became minister in 1762, found four squadrons of _gardes du corps_, and two regiments of Foot Guards. He reduced them to two squadrons and a battalion, forming a single corps under the same commandant, and wearing the same uniform. The nation believed that this was the minimum, and that the king could not be guarded by less than seven hundred and twenty men. Struensee, however, abolished the two squadrons by a stroke of the pen. Those officers who could not be at once attached to other cavalry regiments were placed on half-pay; but the non-commissioned officers and privates received nothing, as they had the option of entering the Foot Guards. The latter mounted guard at the palace three days after the order for disbanding the _gardes du corps_ was made known. Struensee's enemies regarded this step as an attack on the king's majesty and prestige, and expressed their opinion loudly, especially when this occurrence offered an opportunity for exposing one of the weaknesses of Struensee's character. When the Guards were returning to barracks from the parade, where the king's order had been read to them, for the purpose of giving over their horses, Struensee met them. Frightened by this most unexpected rencontre, and believing that the Horse Guards had mutinied, he retired in great haste, tore a leaf out of his pocket-book, and wrote a few hurried lines in pencil to Count Ahlefeldt, in which he sent in his resignation as cabinet secretary to the king. It can be easily imagined what a sensation this event created when the report of it spread through the city. Struensee himself, however, ought to have learned through his discovery of his personal character, that he was deficient in the most important quality of a state reformer--an undaunted heart.