Count Brandt declares that after his Majesty had threatened to beat him with a stick, Count Struensee said to him, at six o'clock on the same evening, "I have reproved the king, and he answered me, 'Brandt is a coward; he has no courage, and I will fight with him.'" Struensee then said further to Brandt, "What will you do? You must go to the king one evening and say, 'You insist upon fighting with me: here I am; if you want anything, come on;'" and he added, that this had repeatedly occurred with Count Holck. When Brandt returned from the king, the queen had begun her game of cards, and, when it was ended, Struensee stood by the stove, where Brandt told him what had occurred; to which Struensee answered, "That is right: now you will have peace; but not a soul must know it." Count Struensee not only confesses that he had spoken about it previously with Count Brandt, but also that he was informed by him of what had happened, as will be seen from Struensee's answer to quest. 402-412. That the count himself also forgot the respect he owed the king, is further proved by his addressing him harshly, as is seen by the evidence of the witness Detlev Christopher Aabyn: "If he will not bathe, he shall be beaten;" and the other statements of the same witness. In the same way, then, as Count Brandt, as I have shown, has rendered himself guilty of the crime of high treason by his audacious deed and harsh treatment of the king--for which Count Struensee even promises him a reward, as we read in his reply to Count Brandt's warnings concerning the harshness with which he is obliged to treat the king: "la reconnaissance que la reine vous aura, si vous reussissiez, et les marques incontestables que vous en avez dejà reçu, vous en recompenseront"--Count Struensee, as adviser, seducer, and accomplice, has been guilty of the same crime, and must be punished for it by the same penalty. _Thirdly._ "Count Struensee harshly treated the king's son, his Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederick, so that it seems as if it had been his sole intention to remove the crown prince from the world, or, at least, to bring him up so that he would be incapable of reigning."