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	APPENDIX	781
I.	Declaration, on the 13th of March 1815, of the Allied Powers, upon the return of Napoleon Buonaparte to France	[5]
II.	Treaty of Alliance of the 24th of March 1815, concluded between Austria, Russia, Prussia, and Great Britain	[5]
III.	Proclamation of the King of Prussia to his Army	[5]
IV.	Address of the Emperor Alexander to a numerous body of Russian troops which he reviewed on the 5th of April 1815	[5]
V.	The Convocation of the Champ de Mai	[5]
VI.	Effective strength and composition of the Anglo-Allied Army, under the command of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington	783
VII.	Orders for the defence of the towns of Antwerp, Ostend, Nieuport, Ypres, Tournai, Ath, Mons, and Ghent	[5]
VIII.	Effective strength and composition of the Prussian Army, under the command of Field Marshal Prince Blücher von Wahlstadt	790
IX.	Effective strength and composition of the French Army, under the command of Napoleon Buonaparte	794
X.	Strength of the French Army, according to information received at the Prussian Head Quarters, shortly before the commencement of hostilities	[5]
XI.	Ordre du Jour: le 13 Juin 1815	[5]
XII.	Orders given by Lieutenant General von Zieten, Commanding the First Prussian Corps d'Armée, on the 2nd May 1815, to be acted upon by his Brigadiers, in case of the Enemy's attack	[5]
XIII.	Ordre du Mouvement: 14 Juin 1815	[5]
XIV.	Memorandum for the Deputy Quartermaster General of the Anglo-Allied Army, on the 15th June	[5]
XV.	Movement of the Anglo-Allied Army: 15th of June	[5]
XVI.	Despatch from Napoleon to Marshal Ney: 16th of June	[5]
XVII.	Order of Movement for Marshal Ney: 16th of June	[5]
XVIII.	Order of Movement for Count Reille: 16th of June	[5]
XIX.	Despatch from Count Reille to Marshal Ney: 16th of June	[5]
XX.	Orders from Napoleon to Marshal Ney: 16th of June	[5]
XXI.	Orders from Napoleon to Marshal Ney: 16th of June	[5]
XXII.	Orders from Napoleon to Marshal Ney: 16th of June	[5]
XXIII.	Return of killed, wounded, and missing, of the British troops, at the Battle of Quatre Bras	[5]
XXIV.	Return of killed, wounded, and missing, of the Brunswick troops, at the Battle of Quatre Bras	[5]
XXV.	Effective strength of the French Army at the Battle of Ligny	[5]
XXVI.	Effective strength of the Prussian Army at the Battle of Ligny	[5]
XXVII.	Orders from Napoleon to Marshal Ney: 17th of June	[5]
XXVIII.	Orders from Napoleon to Marshal Ney: 17th of June	[5]
XXIX.	Return of killed, wounded, and missing, of the British troops, and King's German Legion, on the retreat from Quatre Bras to Waterloo	[5]
XXX.	Effective strength of the Anglo-Allied Army at the Battle of Waterloo	[5]
XXXI.	Effective strength of the French Army at the Battle of Waterloo	[5]
XXXII.	List of Officers of the King's German Legion, who were present at the Defence of La Haye Sainte	798
XXXIII.	Effective strength of the Prussian troops on the Field of Waterloo	[5]
XXXIV.	Lines descriptive of the part taken in the Battle of Waterloo by the Sixth Brigade of British Cavalry, upon the repulse of the last attack by the French; with the death of Major the Hon. Frederick Howard	[5]
XXXV.	List of British Officers who were present at the Defence of Hougomont	799
XXXVI.	Return of killed, wounded, and missing, of the British troops, at the Battle of Waterloo	[5]
XXXVII.	Return of killed, wounded, and missing, of the King's German Legion, at the Battle of Waterloo	[5]
XXXVIII.	Return of killed, wounded, and missing, of the Hanoverian troops, on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of June 1815	[5]
XXXIX.	Return of killed, wounded, and missing, of the Brunswick troops, at the Battle of Waterloo	[5]
XL.	Return of killed, wounded, and missing, of the troops of the Nassau Contingent (1st Regiment), at the Battle of Waterloo	[5]
XLI.	List of Officers of the British Army who were present in the Actions on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of June 1815, including those posted near Hal on the 18th; and distinguishing such as were killed, wounded, or missing	800
XLII.	List of the Officers of the King's German Legion, killed, wounded, or missing, in the Actions of the 16th, 17th, and 18th of June 1815	820
XLIII.	List of the Officers of the Hanoverian troops, killed, wounded, and missing, in the Actions of the 16th, 17th, and 18th of June 1815	822
XLIV.	List of the Officers of the Brunswick troops killed in the Actions of the 16th and 18th of June 1815	823
XLV.	Return of killed, wounded, and missing, of the Dutch-Belgian troops, on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of June 1815	[5]
XLVI.	Return of killed, wounded, and missing, of the Prussian troops, at the Battle of Waterloo	[5]
XLVII.	List of the Officers of the Prussian Army, killed, wounded, and missing, at the Battle of Waterloo	824
XLVIII.	Letter from the Duke of Wellington to Earl Bathurst, being his despatch after the Battle of Waterloo	827
XLIX.	Proclamation of Louis XVIII. to the French people	[5]

FOOTNOTES:

[5] Omitted in this Fourth Edition.—E.A.

MAPS AND PLANS.

Belgium and Part of France The Field of Quatre Bras at 3 o'clock P.M., June 16 The Field of Quatre Bras at 9 o'clock P.M., June 16 The Field of Ligny at a quarter past 2 o'clock P.M., June 16 The Field of Ligny at half past 8 o'clock P.M., June 16 The Field of Waterloo at a quarter past 11 o'clock P.M., June 18 [Plan of La Haye Sainte] [Plan of Hougomont] [The Field of Waterloo at a quarter to 2 o'clock P.M., June 18] The Field of Waterloo at a quarter to 8 o'clock P.M., June 18 The Field of Waterloo at five minutes past 8 o'clock P.M., June 18 The Field of Wavre at 4 o'clock P.M., June 18 The Field of Wavre at 4 o'clock A.M., June 19 Part of France, Section I. Part of France, Section II.

[The Three Plans within brackets have been specially prepared for this Fourth Edition.—E.A.]

PORTRAITS.

The Duke of Wellington Engraved from a Medallion by E.W. Wyon The reverse From a Medal by J. Henning, Esq. Prince Blücher von Wahlstadt From a Medal struck in honour of the Prince by the citizens of Berlin The reverse From a Medallion by W. Foster, Esq. Napoleon Buonaparte The Prince of Orange The Duke of Brunswick Sir Thomas Picton Count Sir Charles Alten Lord Hill Marshal Soult, Duke of Dalmatia The Marquess of Anglesey Marshal Ney, Prince of the Moskwa

HISTORY

OF THE

WAR IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM IN 1815.

CHAPTER I.

THE history of Europe records but few events so universally and so intimately involving the policy and interests of her component States, as the escape of Napoleon Buonaparte from the island of Elba, on the 26th of February 1815—his landing in France, and his again ascending, unopposed, that throne from which Louis XVIII. had fled with precipitation, upon learning the triumphal approach towards the capital of his successful and formidable rival. With the rapidity of lightning the intelligence spread itself over the whole Continent, and with all the suddenness and violence of an electric shock did it burst amidst the delegates from the different States, who were then asembled in Congress at Vienna. This important Assembly, so unexpectedly interrupted, had been called together to deliberate upon measures of international security and prosperity; and to solve those intricate questions of policy necessarily arising out of the various combinations, which, in the course of a general War, carried on with unmitigated violence, and but little intermission, for nearly a quarter of a century, had so fatally unhinged and dismembered the previously existing social order and polity of Europe. With one accord, a fresh appeal to the sword was decided upon; the military resources of every nation were again called into requisition. From State to State the cry "To arms!" was responded to with cheerfulness and alacrity, and immense Armies were put in motion towards the French frontier: all animated with the sole object and fixed determination of annihilating, for ever, the common foe whom they had already conquered; but whom, as it would then appear, they had but ineffectually humbled.

The openly declared project of the Allied Sovereigns to employ all their means, and combine all their efforts, towards the accomplishment of the complete overthrow of the resuscitated power of Napoleon, with whom they had determined, thenceforth, to enter into neither truce nor treaty, was singularly favoured by the circumstance of their Armies being still retained upon a war establishment. The forces of the several Powers were continued on that scale, in consequence of the difficulties experienced in the Congress in dealing with and settling many perplexing questions of international policy, and moderating the warmth of the discussions that took place upon them. It was considered expedient to keep up powerful reserves, available both for home service, and for any contingencies that might arise out of combinations and revolts among those minor States, whose aversion to the new political arrangements was more than suspected. Thus it had been found necessary to detach bodies of troops from the main bulk of the forces, in consequence of the state of the Poles placed under the protection of Russia, and of the Saxons inhabiting that portion of their country which had been ceded to Prussia; as also, in consequence of the powerful diversion, as regarded Austria, caused by the sudden irruption of Murat, King of Naples, into the north of Italy. Notwithstanding these necessary deductions, however, it was found practicable to assemble, by the end of May, an efficient force of not less than 500,000 men, upon different points contiguous to the French frontier, with all the supplies necessary for the prosecution of a vigorous Campaign.

The most important portion of this extensive line of frontier was undoubtedly that which fronted the Netherlands; for although it had been planned by the Allies that no advance was to be made by the troops in Belgium until the remainder of their forces had reached a line of connecting points along the French frontier, when all their Armies were to march, in combined movement, upon the capital: still it was reasonably to be expected that Napoleon would not wait for the completion of this plan, but rather that he would endeavour, by a decisive effort, if not to frustrate its accomplishment, at least to diminish its efficacy. It required no great exercise of military sagacity or political foresight to predict, that after having adopted a maturely considered disposition of force on the most important points along his general line of defence, and placed his frontier Fortresses upon a respectable footing, Napoleon would open the tremendous game, upon which his crown, his political existence, and the fate of France, were now fairly staked, by a bold, sudden, and resolute advance into Belgium—straining every nerve to vanquish, in detail, the Allied forces in that densely populated country; of which a vast portion was already prepared to declare in his favour. His authority once established in Brussels, through the means of some great and signal triumph, the accession to his moral influence over the entire mass of the French nation would be immense; and then, flying to the succour of his nearest Corps menaced from the banks of the Rhine by the approach of hostile forces (upon which his possession of Belgium would operate as a powerful check by the facilities thus afforded for a combined attack in front and flank), a series of brilliant successes, supported by fresh levies from the interior, might enable him even to dictate terms to the Allies, who had indignantly rejected all his overtures.

Hence the importance of narrowly watching the Belgian frontier, and of making due preparations for meeting any attack in that quarter, was too obvious not to form a principal feature in the general plan of the Allies. Its defence was assigned to an Army under the Duke of Wellington, comprising contingent forces from Great Britain, from Hanover, the Netherlands, Brunswick, and Nassau; and to a Prussian Army, under Field Marshal Prince Blücher von Wahlstadt.

At the moment of the landing of Napoleon on the French shore, the only force in the Netherlands consisted, in addition to the native troops, of a weak Anglo-Hanoverian Corps, under the command of His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange; but the zeal, energy, and activity displayed by the Government of Great Britain, in engrafting upon this nucleus a powerful Army, amounting at the commencement of hostilities, to about 100,000 combatants, notwithstanding the impediments and delays occasioned by the absence of a considerable portion of its troops in America, were truly surprising. At the same time, the extraordinary supply of subsidies furnished by the British Parliament, without which not one of the Armies of the Allied Sovereigns could have commenced operations, and by means of which England thus become the great lever whereby the whole of Europe was set in motion towards the attainment of the one common object, was admirably illustrative of the bold, decided, and straightforward policy of the most determined, the most indefatigable, and the most consistent, enemy of Napoleon.

Within the same period, the Prussian forces, originally limited to a corps of 30,000 men, under General Count Kleist von Nollendorf, occupying the Prussian territories bounded by the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Moselle, were augmented to an effective Army of 116,000 combatants, with all the rapidity and energy which a keen sense of the wrongs and miseries their country had endured under the ruthless sway of their inveterate foe, and a salutary dread of a repetition of such infliction, could not fail to inspire.

Great Britain and Prussia thus occupied the post of honour, and formed the vanguard of the mighty masses which Europe was pouring forth to seal the doom of the Napoleon dynasty.

A Russian Army, under Field Marshal Count Barclay de Tolly, amounting to 167,000 men, was rapidly traversing the whole of Germany, in three main Columns: of which the Right, commanded by General Dochterow, advanced by Kalisch, Torgau, Leipzig, Erfurt, Hanau, Frankfort, and Hochheim, towards Mayence; the Centre, commanded by General Baron Sacken, advanced by Breslau, Dresden, Zwickau, Baireuth, Nuremberg, Aschaffenburg, Dieburg, and Gross Gerau, towards Oppenheim; while the Left Column, commanded by General Count Langeron, took its direction along the line of Prague, Aube, Adelsheim, Neckar, and Heidelberg, towards Mannheim. The heads of the Columns reached the Middle Rhine, when hostilities were on the point of breaking out upon the Belgian frontier. The intimation to these troops of another Campaign in France, and of a probable reoccupation of Paris, had imparted new life and vigour to the spirit of inveterate hatred and insatiable revenge which they had so thoroughly imbibed against the French; and which had so invariably marked their career since the memorable burning of MOSCOW.

An Austrian army of about 50,000 men, commanded by Field Marshal Prince Schwartzenburg, and the Army of Reserve under the Archduke Ferdinand, amounting to 40,000 men, were gradually occupying the most important points along the right bank of the Rhine, between Basle and Mannheim. In addition to this force, about 120,000 men were then assembling on the plains of Lombardy, upon the termination of the decisive Campaign against Murat; which secured the deposition of the latter, and the restoration of King Ferdinand to the throne of Naples. Vigorous and energetic measures such as these on the part of Austria, clearly indicated that her Government, discarding alike the circumstance of a family alliance with Napoleon, and the views which had once induced it to enter into a league with him and with the Southern German States, as a security against its formidable northern neighbours, still adhered with inflexible resolution to its subsequently adopted policy of entering into, and fostering, a general European compact, having for its object the complete annihilation of the despotic sway of the ambitious Soldier Sovereign of the French.

The assembling also, on the Upper Rhine, of a Bavarian Army, commanded by Prince Wrède, of the Contingents of Baden and Würtemberg, under the hereditary Prince of Würtemberg, and of the troops of Hesse, amounting altogether to about 80,000 men, offered a sufficient guarantee for the line of policy espoused by the Confederated States of the Rhine.

Formidable as was the attitude assumed by the Allies towards France, and imposing as was their array of Armies assembling upon her frontier; they nevertheless found their great antagonist prepared, on learning that they had determined on an irrevocable appeal to the sword, to throw away the scabbard. He assumed a bold and resolute posture of defence—armed at all points, and prepared at all hazards, either to ward off the blows of his adversaries, or to become himself the assailant. The indefatigable exertions of Napoleon in restoring the Empire to its former strength and grandeur were really astonishing; and never, perhaps, in the whole course of the extraordinary career of that extraordinary man, did the powerful energies of his comprehensive mind shine forth with greater brilliancy and effect, than in his truly wonderful and incredibly rapid development of the national resources of France on this momentous occasion.

The truth of this assertion will be best confirmed by briefly enumerating some of the most important objects accomplished within the limited interval of three months—from his landing at Cannes, to his taking the Field against the Allies. Among them were—the complete overthrow of all obstacles in the way of his reascending the throne; the reconciliation, to a very considerable extent, of the several factions whose discordant views and interests had distracted the whole nation; the suppression of the insurrectionary movements in La Vendée, and the establishment of his authority over every part of the Empire; the projection of various public measures, laws, and ordinances; the remodelling of the civil and military administrations; the restoration of the Army to its previous organisation under the Imperial Regime; the placing of the numerous Fortresses of the kingdom in an efficient state; the erection of fortified works around Paris, Lyons, and other important points; the reorganisation of the National Guard d'élite, to the extent of 112,000 men, divided into 200 Battalions, and destined principally for garrisoning the Fortresses; the adoption of the most active operations in all the arsenals, and the employment of vast numbers of additional workmen in the manufacture of arms and ammunition. Before all these we ought to place the raising, clothing, arming, drilling, and organising of 410,000 men (including the National Guard d'élite), which, in addition to the 149,000 men of which the Royal Army consisted on the 1st of March, formed, on the 1st of June, an effective force of 559,000 men, available for the national defence.

Of this number, the effective force of the troops of the Line amounted to 217,000 men, and the Regimental Depôts to 146,000 men: the remainder, consisting of 200 Battalions of the National Guard d'élite, of 20 Regiments of Marines, of 10 Battalions of Marine Artillery, of Coast Guards, Veterans, and Organised Pensioners, and amounting to 196,000 men, constituted the Armée extraordinaire, to be employed in the defence of the Fortresses and of the coast.

Napoleon having calculated that an effective force of 800,000 men would be requisite to enable him to oppose the Allies with full confidence of success, had given orders for the formation, at the Regimental Depôts, of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Battalions of every Regiment of Infantry, and of the 4th and 5th Squadrons of every Regiment of Cavalry; also for the additional formation of 30 Battalions of Artillery Train, of 20 Regiments of the Young Guard, of 10 Battalions of Waggon Train, and of 20 Regiments of Marines. These and other measures he anticipated would furnish the force desired, but not until the 1st of October. The movements of the Allies, however, and his projected plan of active operations, precluded the possibility of his waiting for their full accomplishment. To augment the means of local defence, instructions were also issued for the reorganisation of the National Guard throughout the Empire, by which it was divided into 3130 Battalions, and was to form, when complete, no less a force than 2,250,000 men!

Out of the disposable force of the troops of the Line, and partly also out of the National Guard d'élite, were formed seven Corps d'Armée, four Corps of Reserve Cavalry, four Corps of Observation, and an Army of the West or of La Vendée.

The Army of the North, generally designated the Grand Army, was to be considered as acting under the immediate orders of the Emperor. It consisted of five Corps d'Armée (the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Sixth), all the Reserve Cavalry, and the Imperial Guard. Its total force amounted to nearly 120,000 men; and its distribution, in the early part of June, was as follows:—

The First Corps d'Armée commanded by Count d'Erlon, had its Head Quarters at Lille; the Second, under the orders of Count Reille, was cantoned in the environs of Valenciennes; the Third, under Count Vandamme, was assembled in the environs of Mézières; the Fourth, under Count Gérard, in the environs of the Metz; and the Sixth Corps, commanded by Count Lobau, was stationed at Laon. The four Corps of Reserve Cavalry under the chief command of Marshal Grouchy, were in cantonments between the Aisne and the Sambre. The Imperial Guard was in Paris.

The Fifth Corps d'Armée, commanded by Count Rapp, formed the basis of an Army of the Rhine, and consisted of about 36,000 men. Its Head Quarters were at Strasburg, and it occupied the principal points along that part of the frontier between Landau and Hagenau; communicating with the Fourth Corps d'Armée on its left, as also with the First Corps of Observation on its right.

The Seventh Corps d'Armée, commanded by the Duke of Albufera, formed the basis of the Army of the Alps. It did not at that time amount to more than 15,000 men; but arrangements were made for its augmentation, by the end of June, to 40,000 men. It held the passes along the Italian frontier—was strongly posted at Grenoble, and at Chambery—communicating on its left with the First Corps of Observation; and covering the approach to Lyons, where very extensive works were carried on with the utmost vigour and activity.

The First Corps of Observation, called the Army of the Jura, commanded by Lieutenant General Lecourbe, guarded the passes along the Swiss frontier; had its Head Quarters at Altkirch, and occupied the line between Huningen and Belfort—communicating on its right with the Army of the Alps, and on its left with the Army of the Rhine. It did not, at that time, consist of a larger force than 4,500 men; which, however, was to be augmented to 18,000 on the arrival of additional Battalions from the National Guard d'élite then in course of active organisation.

The Second Corps of Observation, called the Army of the Var, commanded by Marshal Brune, had its Head Quarters at Marseilles; occupied Toulon and Antibes, and watched the frontier of the Maritime Alps. Its force, which then amounted to 5,300 men, was to be joined by sixteen Battalions of the National Guard d'élite; and, in this way, increased to 17,000 men.

The Third Corps of Observation, called the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, commanded by Lieutenant General Count Decaen, had its Head Quarters at Perpignan. It did not then consist of more than 3,000 men; but was to be augmented by thirty-two Battalions of the National Guard d'élite to 23,000 men.

The Fourth Corps of Observation, called the Army of the Western Pyrenees, or of the Gironde, was commanded by Lieutenant General Clausel; had its Head Quarters in Bordeaux; consisted of the same force as that of the Third Corps; and was to be augmented in a similar manner.

The Army of La Vendée, commanded by General Lamarque, was occupied in restoring tranquillity to that part of the Empire. It consisted of about 17,000 men, including Detachments supplied temporarily from the Third and Fourth Corps of Observation.

Arrangements had also been made for reinforcing, at the end of June, the two Armies of the Rhine and the Alps, with 50,000 men from the troops of the Line organised in the Regimental Depôts, and with 100,000 men from the National Guard d'élite; and with a view to afford a Second Line and Support to the Grand Army, commanded by Napoleon in person, the latter was to be augmented by 100,000 men of the National Guard, and by 60,000 men of regular troops taken from the Depôts, where the additional Battalions and Squadrons of Regiments were in course of daily organisation.

The general aspect of France at that moment was singularly warlike. It was that of a whole nation buckling on its armour; over the entire country armed bodies were to be seen in motion towards their several points of destination: every where the new levies for the Line, and the newly enrolled National Guards were in an unremitting course of drill and organisation: the greatest activity was maintained, day and night, in all the arsenals, and in all the manufactories of clothing and articles of equipment: crowds of workmen were constantly employed in the repair of the numerous Fortresses, and in the erection of entrenched works. Every where appeared a continued transport of artillery, waggons, arms, ammunition, and all the material of war; whilst upon every road forming an approach to any of the main points of assembly in the vicinity of the frontiers, might be seen those well-formed veteran bands, Napoleon's followers through many a bloody field, moving forth with all the order, and with all the elasticity of spirit, inspired by the full confidence of a renewed career of victory—rejoicing in the display of those Standards which so proudly recalled the most glorious Fields that France had ever won, and testifying by their acclamations, their enthusiastic devotion to the cause of the Emperor, which was ever cherished by them as identified with that of their country.

The sentiments which so generally animated the troops of the Line, must not, however, be understood as having been equally imbibed by the remaining portion of the Army, or indeed by the major part of the nation. There was one predominant cause, which, though its influence acted as an additional stimulus to the Army, was, to a very considerable extent, the sole incentive to exertion with the civil portion of the community. It was the general prevalence of that unconquerable aversion and undisguised contempt entertained by the French for the mass of their foreign invaders, whose former humiliation and subjection, the result of an almost uninterrupted course of victory and triumph to which the history of France presented no parallel, had served to flatter and to gratify the national vanity. It was this feeling, combined with a dread of that retributive justice which would inevitably follow in the train of a successful invasion, that operated so powerfully upon the mass of the nation, with whom the cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" merged into that of "Vive la France!"

To the above cause may also be traced the temporary reconciliation of the different factions which it was one of the main objects of Napoleon's celebrated Champ de Mai to establish. This Convocation of the Popular Representatives, which had in a measure been forced upon the Emperor by the political vantage ground the people had gained during even the short constitutional reign of Louis XVIII., and of which they had begun to feel the benefit, did not in any degree fulfil the expectations of its projector. The stern Republicans were dissatisfied with the retention of a Chamber of Peers, which, in the late reign, they had regarded as an English importation; and the Royalists were no less disgusted with the materials out of which such a Chamber had been constructed; while both parties felt it to be a mere semblance of a constitutional body, destined to be composed of the willing slaves of the despot, his ready instruments for counteracting and paralysing the effects of any violent ebullition of the popular will.

When it is considered that an overwhelming majority of the members of the new Chamber of Deputies were men of avowed Republican principles, and that in their very first sittings, they evinced by the tone of their debates, and by the tenor of their measures, a determination to uphold the authority vested in them by the people, and to make even the military power of the Emperor subservient to their views of Popular Government; when, also, it is considered that the two predominant Parties in the State, the Republicans and the Royalists, relied upon, and awaited but, the issue of events, for the ultimate success and realisation of their respective principles: it need not excite surprise that Napoleon, on quitting the capital to take the Field, should have appeared to feel that he left behind him a power even more dangerous to the stability of his authority, and more destructive of his ambitious projects, than that which he was going personally to confront. He naturally calculated largely upon the enthusiasm of his troops and their devotion to his cause: but he must have entertained serious doubts as to whether this spirit was shared by the great majority of the nation; and must have foreseen that it would only be by means of a successful result of the approaching contest, that he could possibly avert the dangers to which his sovereignty was exposed, as much by the machinations of political opponents at home, as by the combinations of hostile forces abroad. He was now made painfully sensible of the vast change which the result of all his former Wars, the restoration of the legitimate Monarch, and the newly chartered Liberty of the Subject, had gradually wrought in the political feelings and sentiments of the Nation.

In short, he found that he had to contend with a mighty, and an uncontrollable, power—the great moral power of Public Opinion—compared with which, the Military Power, centred in a single Individual, however brilliant the latter in genius and in conception, however fertile in expedients, and however daring and successful in enterprise and in execution, can acquire no permanent stability, when not based upon, and emanating from, the broad and comprehensive moral energies of the Nation; and even a succession of dazzling triumphs, when gained through the instrumentality of an arbitrary drain upon the national resources, and in opposition to the real interests and welfare of the State, tends but to hasten the downfall of the Military Dictator: whose career may be aptly likened to a Grecian column erected upon a loose foundation, displaying around its lofty capital an exuberance of meretricious ornament, which, by its disproportionate weight, destroys the equilibrium of the ill-supported shaft, and involves the entire structure in one confused and irretrievable ruin. Its fall may startle the world with its shock; the fragments may strew the earth in a wreck as gigantic as were its proportions when it drew the gaze of admiring or trembling nations: but they are but the more striking proofs of the destruction that has overtaken it;—it is a ruin still.

CHAPTER II.

BELGIUM, the frequent battle-ground of Europe, whose every stream and every town is associated with the memory of bygone deeds of arms, was destined, in 1815, to witness another and a mighty struggle—a struggle in which were arrayed, on the one side, the two foremost of the confederated Armies advancing towards the French frontiers; and, on the other, the renowned Grande Armée of Imperial France, resuscitated at the magic call of its original founder—the great Napoleon himself. During the months of April and May, troops of all arms continued to enter upon, and spread themselves over, the Belgian soil.

Here might be seen the British soldier, flushed with recent triumphs in the Peninsula over the same foe with whom he was now prepared once more to renew the combat; and here the Prussian, eager for the deadly strife, and impatiently rushing onward to encounter that enemy whose ravages and excesses in his Fatherland still rankled in his memory. The Englishman was not fired by the desire of retribution; for it had pleased Divine Providence to spare Great Britain from the scourge of domestic war, and to preserve her soil unstained by the footprint of a foreign enemy. The Prussian soldier looked forward with a sullen pleasure to the prospect of revenge: vengeance seemed to him a sacred duty, imposed upon him by all the ties of kindred, and by all those patriotic feelings, which, in the hour of Prussia's need, had roused her entire people from the abject state to which they had been so fatally subdued; which, when the whole country lay prostrate at the conqueror's feet, so wonderfully, so powerfully, and so successfully prompted her sons to throw off the yoke. History will mark this deliverance as the brilliant point in Prussia's brightest era, affording as it does, a clear and beautiful parallel to that in which an equally forcible appeal to the energies of the nation was made with similar success by that illustrious Statesman and General, Frederick the Great, when opposed single-handed to the immense Armies and powerful resources of surrounding States. France was about to expiate by her own sufferings the wrongs she had wrought upon his country and his kind, and the Prussian panted for an opportunity of satiating his revenge.

The Briton, if he had no such spur as that which urged the Prussian soldier forward, did not want a sufficiently exciting stimulus; he cherished, in an eminent degree, that high feeling and proud bearing which a due sense of the obligations imposed on him by his country, and of her anxious expectations of his prowess, could not fail to inspire; determined resolutely and cheerfully to discharge the former, and, if possible, to more than realise the latter.

Wellington

These feelings and dispositions of the soldiery in the two most advanced of the Allied Armies were concentrated with remarkable intensity in the characters of their respective Chiefs.

With peculiar propriety may it be said of the illustrious Wellington, that he personified, as he ever has done, the pure ideal of the British soldier—the true character of his own followers. Resolute, yet cool, cautious and calculating in his proceedings; possessing a natural courage unshaken even under the most appalling dangers and difficulties; placing great yet not vain reliance upon physical and moral strength, as opposed to the force of numbers;—it was not surprising that he should have inspired with unbounded confidence, soldiers who could not but see in his character and conduct the reflection and stamp of their own qualities, the worth of which he so well knew, and which he had so often proved during the arduous struggle that had been brought to so brilliant and so glorious a conclusion. But besides these traits in his character, which so completely identified him with a British Army, there were others which peculiarly distinguished him as one of the greatest Captains that his own or any other nation ever produced, and which might well inspire confidence as to the result of the approaching contest, even opposed as he was to the hero of a hundred fights, with whom he was now, for the first time, to measure swords. The eagle glance with which he detected the object of every hostile movement and the promptitude with which he decided upon, and carried into effect, the measures necessary to counteract the Enemy's efforts; the lightning-like rapidity with which he conducted his attacks, founded as they frequently were upon the instantaneously discovered errors of his opponents; the noble and unexampled presence of mind with which he surveyed the battlefield, and with which he gave his orders and instructions; unaffected by merely temporary success, unembarrassed by sudden difficulties, and undismayed by unexpected danger; the many proofs which his operations in the Peninsula had afforded of his accurate knowledge, just conception, and skilful discrimination, of the true principles of the Science of Strategy—all tended to point him out as the individual best fitted by his abilities, his experience, and his character, to head the military array assembled to decide the all-important question whether the Star of Napoleon was to regain the ascendant, or to set in darkness; whether his iron despotism was again to erect its mighty head, or to be now struck down and crushed—finally and effectually crushed.

The character of the Commander of the Prussian Army in this memorable Campaign, the veteran Marshal Prince Blücher von Wahlstadt, was, in like manner, peculiarly adapted for concentrating within itself all those feelings and emotions already adverted to as animating this portion of the enemies of France—possessing, to a degree bordering on rashness, a high spirited daring in enterprise; distinguished, on critical occasions in the field, when the unrestrained feelings and nature of the ci-devant bold Hussar started forth in aid of the veteran Commander, by a personal display of chivalrous and impetuous bravery; ever vigilant for an opportunity of harassing his Enemy; and fixedly relentless in the pursuit, so long as he retained the mastery; qualities, which, in his own country, had acquired for him the sobriquet of Marschall Vorwärts—he was eminently fitted to be both the representative and the leader of the Prussians.

Here, too, in close alliance and amity with the British soldier, were seen the German Legionary, the Hanoverian, and the Brunswicker, who had so nobly shared with him, under the same Chief, all the toils and all the glories of the War in the Peninsula; and who were now prepared to defend the threatened liberties of their respective countries, the very existence of which, as independent States, hung upon the issue of the impending struggle.

Although the British were but little acquainted with their other Allies, the Dutch, the Belgians, and the Nassau troops in the service of the King of the Netherlands, still the fact that it was upon their own soil the brunt of the coming contest was to fall, and in all probability to decide the question whether it should become a portion of Imperial France, or continue an independent State, coupled with the knowledge which the British troops possessed of the character of the Prince at their head, who had gained his laurels under their own eyes, and who had thus ingratiated himself in their favour, encouraged great hopes of their hearty exertions in the common cause.

It was naturally to be expected that Napoleon, from the moment he reascended the throne of his former glory, would devote the utmost energies of his all-directing mind to the full development of whatever military means France, notwithstanding her recent reverses, yet retained; but the rapidity and the order with which so regular and so well organised a force as that which was now concentrating on the French side of the Sambre, had been collected and put in motion, were truly wonderful. The speedy and almost sudden reappearance of the old Army in all its grandeur, with its Corps and Divisions headed by men, who, by a series of daring and successful exploits, had proved their just titles to command, and endeared themselves to the old campaigners, was such that it seemed as if the French had realised the fable of the dragon's teeth, which it might be said they had sown as they crossed their frontiers in the previous year, when retreating upon the capital before the victorious Allies. Never did any Army contain within itself so much of that necessary essence in the composition of a military force—unbounded enthusiasm, combined with the purest devotion to its leader. The oft-told tale of the veteran of so many a hard-fought field, indulging in the hope of aiding by his exertions, at any sacrifice, in again carrying the Eagles to the scenes of their former triumphs, excited the ardour of many a youthful aspirant to share with him the glory of wiping out the stain which had dimmed the lustre of his country's fame, and darkened a most eventful page in her annals.

Such being the nature of the elements ready to rush into collision, it was easy to foresee that the shock which that collision would produce, would be both violent and terrible; but no one could have anticipated that within the short space of four days from the commencement of hostilities, the die would be irrevocably cast, annihilating for ever the imperial sway of Napoleon, and securing to Europe one of the longest periods of peace recorded in her history.

Belgium

CHAPTER III.

BY the middle of June, the Anglo-Allied Army which had been gradually assembling in Belgium, under the command of the Duke of Wellington, amounted to about 106,000 men, and was composed in the following manner:—

Infantry.
British	23,543
King's German Legion	3,301
Hanoverian	22,788
Brunswick	5,376
Nassau (1st Regiment)	2,880
Dutch and Belgian	24,174
	———
	82,062
Cavalry.
British	5,913
King's German Legion	2,560
Hanoverian	1,682
Brunswick	922
Dutch and Belgian	3,405
	———
	14,482
Artillery.
British	5,030 102 guns.
King's German Legion	526 18 "
Hanoverian	465 12 "
Brunswick	510 16 "
Dutch and Belgian	1,635 56 "
	—————
	8,166 204 guns.
Engineers, Sappers and Miners, Waggon-Train, and Staff Corps.
British	1,240
Total.
Infantry	82,062
Cavalry	14,482
Artillery	8,166
Engineers, Waggon-Train, &c.	1,240
	————
	105,950 men and 204 guns.

The Infantry was divided into two Corps and a Reserve.

The First Corps, commanded by General His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, was composed

of the First Division, under Major General Cooke;

of the Third Division, under Lieutenant General Sir Charles Alten;

of the Second Dutch-Belgian Division, under Lieutenant General de Perponcher;

and of the Third Dutch-Belgian Division, under Lieutenant General Baron Chassé.

The Left of this Corps rested upon Genappe, Quatre Bras, and Frasne, on the high road leading from Brussels to Charleroi on the Sambre, and communicated with the Right of the First Corps d'Armée of the Prussian Army, the Head Quarters of which Corps were at Charleroi. De Perponcher's Dutch-Belgian Division formed the extreme Left, having its Head Quarters at Nivelles, on the high road from Brussels to Binche. On its right was Chassé's Dutch-Belgian Division, more in advance, in the direction of Mons and Binche, and quartered principally in Roeulx, and in the villages between the latter place and Binche. The next Division on the right was Alten's, having its Head Quarters at Soignies, on the high road from Brussels to Mons, and occupying villages between this town, Roeulx, Braine le Comte, and Enghien. The Right Division, Cooke's, had its Head Quarters at Enghien.

The Second Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Hill, consisted

of the Second Division, under Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton;

of the Fourth Division, under Lieutenant General the Hon. Sir Charles Colville;

of the First Dutch-Belgian Division, under Lieutenant General Stedmann;

and of a Brigade raised for service in the Dutch Colonies, called the Indian Brigade, under Lieutenant General Baron Anthing.

The Second Division, which formed the Left of this Corps, communicated with Alten's Right; its Head Quarters were at Ath, on the Dender, and upon the high road leading from Brussels to Tournai, and one Brigade (the Third), occupied Lens, situated about midway between Ath and Mons.

The Fourth Division was the next on the right, having its Head Quarters at Audenarde on the Scheldt, and occupying also Renaix. One Brigade of this Division (the Sixth Hanoverian) garrisoned the fortress of Nieuport on the coast. The First Dutch-Belgian Division was cantoned in villages bordering upon the high road connecting Grammont with Ghent; and the so-called Indian Brigade occupied villages between this line and Alost.

The Reserve consisted

of the Fifth Division, under Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton;

of the Sixth Division, under Lieutenant General the Hon. Sir Lowry Cole;

of the Brunswick Division, under the Duke of Brunswick;

of the Hanoverian Corps, under Lieutenant General von der Decken;

and of the Contingent of the Duke of Nassau, which comprised the 1st Regiment of Nassau Infantry, containing three Battalions, and forming a Brigade under the command of General von Kruse.

The Fifth and Sixth Divisions, and the Brunswick Division, were quartered principally in and around Brussels, excepting the Seventh Brigade, which together with von der Decken's Corps, the 13th Veteran Battalion, the 1st Foreign Battalion, and the 2nd Garrison Battalion, garrisoned Antwerp, Ostend, Nieuport, Ypres, Tournai, and Mons; and von Kruse's Nassau Brigade was cantoned between Brussels and Louvain.

Of the fortresses already mentioned, those which had not been destroyed by the French when they gained possession of the country in 1794, namely, Antwerp, Ostend, and Nieuport, were strengthened, and each rendered capable of holding out a siege. By taking every possible advantage offered by the remains of the old fortifications, and by the continued employment of 20,000 labourers, through requisitions on the country, in addition to the military working parties, and by the accession of artillery and stores from England and Holland, the towns of Ypres, Tournai, Mons, Ath, and the Citadel of Ghent, were placed in a state of defence, and a Redoubt was constructed at Audenarde to protect the Sluice Gates, which afforded the means of inundating that part of the country.

The Cavalry of the Anglo-Allied Army, commanded by Lieutenant General the Earl of Uxbridge, consisted of seven Brigades, comprising the British and the King's German Legion; of a Hanoverian Brigade; of five Squadrons of Brunswick Cavalry; and of three Brigades of Dutch-Belgian Cavalry.

The British and King's German Legion Cavalry, with the Hanoverian Brigade, were stationed at Grammont and Ninove, and in villages bordering upon the Dender. The Brunswick Cavalry was dispersed in the vicinity of Brussels. The First Brigade of Dutch-Belgian Cavalry was cantoned in the neighbourhood of Roeulx; the Second Brigade, in villages between Roeulx and Mons; and the Third Brigade, partly on the south side of Mons, in the direction of Maubeuge and Beaumont, and partly between Binche and Mons.

The wide dissemination of the Duke of Wellington's forces which the advanced line of cantonments presented—a line forming a considerable portion of a circle, of which Brussels was the centre, and the Tournai, Mons, and Charleroi roads were the marked radii—tended greatly to facilitate the means of subsisting the troops, and to render that subsistence less burthensome to the country; while, at the same time, it offered to the Duke, in conjunction with the interior points of concentration, and with the efficient Reserve stationed around the capital, full security for his being prepared to meet any emergency that might arise. The main points of interior concentration were (commencing from the right) Audenarde, Grammont, Ath, Enghien, Soignies, Nivelles, and Quatre Bras. From whatever point, therefore, offensive operations might be directed against that portion of the Belgian frontier occupied by the Army under Wellington—whether from Lille, by Courtrai, or by Tournai, between the Lys and the Scheldt; from Condé, Valenciennes, or Maubeuge, by Mons, between the Sambre and the Scheldt; or from Maubeuge, Beaumont, or Philippeville, by Charleroi, between the Sambre and the Meuse—the Duke, by advancing to the threatened point with his Reserve, and placing the remainder of his troops in movement, had it in his power to concentrate at least two-thirds of his intended disposable force for the Field, upon the line of the Enemy's operations, within twenty-two hours after the receipt of intelligence of the actual direction and apparent object of those operations.

The Prussian Army, under the command of Prince Blücher von Wahlstadt, amounted to nearly 117,000 men, and was thus composed:—

Infantry	99,715
Cavalry	11,879
Artillery, Waggon-Train, and Engineers	5,303
	———
	116,897 men & 312 guns.