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diff --git a/75682-0.txt b/75682-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee92e1e --- /dev/null +++ b/75682-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3080 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75682 *** + + + + + +Transcriber’s Note: Italics are enclosed in _underscores_. Additional +notes will be found near the end of this ebook. + + + + +WATERLOO + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + + WATERLOO + + BY + THOMAS E. WATSON + + Author of “The Story of France,” + “Napoleon,” and “The Life of Thomas Jefferson.” + + [Illustration] + + New York and Washington + THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY + 1908 + + + + + Copyright, 1908, by + THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY + + + + +WATERLOO + + + + +INTRODUCTORY + + +The warder of the Tower has his bout with the citizen on the green; +Sir Walter Raleigh looks on from above, and the lieutenant’s wife from +below and neither of the three--warder, lieutenant’s wife, nor the +prisoner, Sir Walter--can agree with either of the other two as to +what took place. Inside the Tower three different tales are told. It +is reasonably certain that still another version was given when the +citizen got back to town and began to talk. + +How, then, can any one expect to learn exactly what occurred on +Sunday, June 18th, 1815, in front of the village of Mont-Saint-Jean? +Many witnesses testify, and the conflict of testimony is utterly +irreconcilable. Much of the battle was not seen by Napoleon, and much +of it was hidden from Wellington. Every officer who took part in it and +who afterward wrote about it contributed something to the story, but +what officer could tell it all? + +From the day after the battle down to the present time, men and women +have studied the field itself, have pored over dispatches, have +devoured Memoirs, have eagerly listened to the slightest word which +anybody who was in possession of a fact had to say about Waterloo: yet +a mystery hangs over the entire campaign. + +Did Wellington really believe that he fought D’Erlon’s corps at Quatre +Bras? He says so, positively, in his official report of the action. +Yet we _know_ that D’Erlon’s corps did not come even within striking +distance, at any time during the day. Full of inaccuracies as his +account of the battle is, the Duke would never correct the statement; +nor could he ever be persuaded to give any other. In fact, whenever the +subject was mentioned he grew testy; and curtly referred the questioner +to his official report. + +On the Prussian side, there was a current of intense feeling against +Wellington; but there were such powerful motives for silence that the +truth crept out slowly, and at long intervals. At first, Waterloo +was claimed to be an English victory. Wellington led the way in this +by his slighting reference to “the flank movement of Bülow.” No one +would gather from the Duke’s report that 16,000 of the French troops, +during the afternoon of the 18th, had been fighting desperately, for +several hours to hold the Prussians in check. No one could possibly +learn from this report the fact that the French did not give way on +the English front until the cannon balls of the oncoming Prussians +of Zeiten’s corps were crossing those of the English batteries which +swept the approaches to Mont-Saint-Jean. Reading Wellington’s official +report of the battle, one would believe that the Prussians arrived +after the fight was won--that they had nothing to do but chase the +defeated. Only by degrees did the world learn that Wellington entirely +disregarded the pledge he had given Blücher at the conference in May; +that he wrote Blücher a letter on the morning of June 16th that was +full of deception; left his troops widely scattered when the enemy +was upon him; gave orders which his lieutenants had the nerve and the +wisdom to violate, and was saved from annihilation at the very opening +of the campaign by the incredible mistakes of Napoleon’s officers and +the heroic gallantry of the Prussians. Lord Wolseley complacently +states that Wellington was an English gentleman of the highest type +and, therefore, incapable of falsehood. Yet the Duke’s official report +states that on the 15th he ordered the concentration of his army at +Quatre Bras; _and Lord Wolseley demonstrates that the statement was +untrue_. It was on Nivelles that a partial concentration was ordered, +and had the orders been obeyed the campaign would have been wrecked. + +Only of late years has it been perfectly clear that at half-past one +o’clock in the afternoon of June 18th Napoleon had to divide his army, +and to withhold the corps of Lobau which had been ordered to support +the great charge of D’Erlon and Ney. Suppose this corps of fresh men +had been thrown against the English line when it had already been +well-nigh broken. At the time the premature cavalry charges were being +made, and the English, in squares, were suffering so terribly from the +French skirmishers and artillery, suppose 16,000 men whom Napoleon had +sent to drive the Prussians back from Plancenoit, where they threatened +his rear, had been in hand to clinch the cavalry charges! How could the +English have prevented these fresh troops from pouring through the gap +in their line behind La Haye-Sainte? + +Only of late years has it been generally known that it was the arrival +of Zeiten’s Prussians on his left that released the troops with which +Wellington filled this break in his line. + +It was only when the Prussians of Zeiten’s corps, breaking through +to the right of the French who were attacking the English and to the +left of the French who were withstanding Blücher, came thundering on +their flank that the French army cried “_Treachery! Treachery!_” and +dissolved in universal dismay. + +As to Napoleon, whenever he talked of Waterloo he either confined +himself to despairing ejaculations or involved himself in +contradictions. He blamed himself for not having reconnoitered +Wellington’s position; he admitted that he had not had a good view of +the field; he confessed that he had made a mistake in changing his plan +of assailing the English right; he denied giving the order for the +heavy cavalry to charge, although this order had been carried by his +own aide-decamp, Count Flahaut--the father of one or two of Hortense’s +queerly mixed brood of children; and he severely blamed D’Erlon, Ney +and Grouchy. + +A curious evidence of the difficulty of learning the truth about +Waterloo is to be found in Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables.” Describing +the struggle for Hougoumont, he speaks of the fight in the chapel. +He represents the sacred building as having gone through all the +horrors of war, having been splashed with blood, having been torn +by shot and shell, and having been ravaged by fire. All this seems +probable enough, and yet the English authoress of “Waterloo Days” +visited the battlefield a few hours after the fight and she makes +particular mention of this same chapel; and she declares that it “stood +uninjured”! Listen to this lady--Charlotte Eaton: “No shot or shell +had penetrated its sacred walls; and no sacrilegious hand had dared +to violate its humble altar, which was still adorned with its ancient +ornaments and its customary care.” This is quite different from Hugo’s +“Soldiers massacred each other in the chapel.” + +After Hugo’s famous description of Waterloo appeared, all the world +talked of “the old road of Ohain” which had, the novelist declared, +been the pitfall and the tomb of the French cavalry. Painters caught +up the theme, and the legend lives on imperishable canvas. But now +history discards the story. The road from Ohain to Braine l’Alleud +_does_ become a hollow way, between steep banks, for about 400 yards; +but the French were aware of the fact, and the cavalry did _not_ charge +across the trench. The charges passed over the road where it was on a +level with the plain. It _is_ true, however, that in the bewildering +movements incident to charge and countercharge, a small body of French +cavalry came upon this “hollow way,” walked their horses down the bank, +got upon the road, and were about to ride up the other bank to get +at the English, when the English cavalry charged the road, making it +impossible for the French to mount the bank. They then rode up “the +hollow way,”--hacked at by the English above,--until they reached the +level ground, when they retired into the open field to reform. + +There has been much controversy as to whether the Duke of Wellington +rode over to Blücher’s camp on the night of the 17th. There is now +conclusive evidence that no such visit was made. + +In Archibald Forbes’s “Camps, Quarters and Casual Places,” published +in 1896, we find: “Quite recently there have been found and are +now in the possession of the Rev. Frederick Gurney, the grandson +of the late Sir John Gurney, the notes of a ‘conversation with the +Duke of Wellington and Baron Gurney and Mr. Justice Williams, Judges +on Circuit, at Strathfieldsaye House, on 24th February, 1837.’ The +annotator was Baron Gurney, to the following effect: ‘The conversation +had been commenced by my inquiring of him (the Duke) whether a story +which I had heard was true of his having ridden over to Blücher on the +night before the battle of Waterloo, and returned on the same horse. +He said, “No, that was not so. I did not see Blücher on the day before +Waterloo. I saw him the day before, on the day of Quatre Bras. I saw +him after Waterloo, and he kissed me. He embraced me on horseback. I +had communicated with him the day before Waterloo.” The rest of the +conversation made no further reference to the topic of the ride to +Wavre.’” + +In Houssaye’s “1815” the statement is made that the French troops +did not receive their rations on the night of the 17th until after +midnight, or even later. + +The truth seems to be that some of the troops got nothing at all to +eat. They went into the fight on empty stomachs--stimulated by a drink +of brandy. The enemy, of course, suffered no such disadvantage, for +ample supplies came from Brussels. Again, the English had camp-fires +to keep themselves warm and to dry their clothing; the French had no +fires, and went into action chilled, and in wet clothing. + +To understand the physical disadvantage against which the French had to +struggle, we should remember that they had to charge _up hill over miry +ground_. The English were stationary on the crest, excepting when they +charged, and _then_ they charged _down hill_. Those who have walked +over a ploughed field, or who have galloped a horse up a miry slope, +will know how to appreciate the immense difficulties under which the +French labored. + + + + +WATERLOO + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +In 1815 the Emperor was no longer a lean, sinewy, tireless, eternally +vigilant human tiger--the Napoleon of Rivoli and Marengo. He was no +longer the consummate General-in-Chief of Austerlitz and Wagram. The +mysterious lethargy which had overwhelmed him at the critical hour +of Borodino, when he withheld the order for the Old Guard to charge +and convert the Russian defeat into a decisive disaster, had been the +first visit of the Evil Genius which was to come again. The strange +loss of _the power to decide_ between two totally different lines of +action, which, at the Château Düben had kept him idle two days, lolling +on a sofa, or sitting at his writing-table tracing on the paper big +school-boy letters, was to become a recurrent calamity, puzzling all +who knew him, and paralyzing the action of his lieutenants in the most +critical emergencies. + +At Leipsic the reins had fallen from his hands; only one permanent +bridge over the deep river in his rear had been provided to let him +out of the death trap; and when the strong currents of the rout tore +through the frantic city, the great Napoleon drifted with the furious +tide, whistling vacantly. + +The same unexplainable _eclipse of genius_, which General E. P. +Alexander described as occurring to Stonewall Jackson, in the Malvern +Hill movements of our Civil War, happened to the French Emperor, time +and again, after that first collapse at Borodino. + +In Spain he ordered a madly reckless charge of his Polish Light +Cavalry against the heights of Sommo Sierra, where the Spanish army +was entrenched and where the position easily admitted of successful +flanking, got his best troops wastefully butchered--and could not +afterward remember who gave the order to charge! + +In Dresden, in 1813, he had won a brilliant victory which needed only +to be ruthlessly pushed; and he was pushing it with all his tremendous +driving power when, in the twinkle of an eye, his Evil Genius descended +upon him, took his strength away, held him in invisible but inexorable +bonds;--and when the spell passed, the fruits of the glorious triumph +were all gone, and Despair had thrown its baleful shadow athwart every +possible line of action. + +The mighty Emperor, in years gone by, had overdrawn his account at the +bank of Nature, and his drafts were now coming back on him, protested. +He who had once slept too little, now slept too much. Often in the +earlier campaigns he had abstained from eating; now he over-ate. +The reckless exposures and the intensely sustained labor of sixteen +hours out of the twenty-four were taking their revenge. The corpulent +Napoleon now loved his ease, was soon fatigued, spent hours in the +tepid bath, and slept away the early morning when every advance of the +sunbeam meant lost ground to the eagles of France. + +Talkative, when he had once been reticent; undecided, where he had +been resolute; careless, where he had been indefatigable and cautious; +despondent, where he had been serenely confident, the Emperor who had +sprung with hawk-like determination upon the plotting Bourbons, had +clutched their unsuspecting Duc D’Enghien, dragged him to Paris in the +night, shot him, and buried him in a ditch before day--this Emperor +did not have enough of that terrific energy left to even fling the +traitors, Fouché and Talleyrand, into prison. + +He knew that these two men were at their old tricks again, but he could +not act. Looking at Fouché calmly, Napoleon said, “I ought to have you +shot.” Nothing could prove more conclusively that the Napoleon of old +no longer lived. Had he been the man of Brumaire, or Lodi, or Jena, he +would have shot the traitor first, and talked about it afterward. + +In the sere and yellow leaf of life, but still Titanic in his +proportions, the Emperor, once the charity-boy of Brienne,--he who +fought the whole school when the young aristocrats of France made fun +of his shabby clothes and Corsican birth,--_stood at bay against a +world in arms_. + +Feudalism against him: Caste against him: Hereditary Aristocracy +against him: The Divine Right of Kings against him; and above all, +the ignorance, the prejudice, and _the unwillingness of mankind +to be forced out of old ruts_ were against him. Against him was a +Church hierarchy which panted for ancient powers and immunities and +wealth. Against him were the Privileged Few of every government on +earth--_those who feast on Class legislation and resent interruption_. +Against him were all those who denied the right of a nation to choose +its own ruler, those who hated the dogma that the true foundation +to government is the consent of the governed. To meet so powerful a +combination, the _one_ sure resource was that from which Napoleon +shrank in horror--an appeal to the Jacobins, the Sansculottes, the +fierce men of the masses who hated the priest and the aristocrat. + +“_When one has had misfortunes one no longer has the confidence which +is necessary to success._” + +With this mournful remark, made in private to that noble old +Revolutionary patriot, Carnot, the Emperor made ready to leave Paris to +join his army. + +In gathering up the scattered remnants of his former hosts Napoleon had +worked at a vast disadvantage. Time and money were what he needed most. +He had not enough of either. + +His escape from Elba had found the Congress of Vienna still in +session. The Kings who had pulled him off his throne, in 1814, were +all in Vienna, together. The armies which had outnumbered him and +crushed him, were still in battle array. The traitors who had plotted +his overthrow, the traitors who had deserted him on the field of +battle--the Talleyrands, on the one hand, and the Marmonts on the +other--were all in lusty life, ready to make sure of their guilty heads +by bringing the wounded colossus down. + +In the midst of the splendid festivities in Vienna; in the midst +of the pomps and parades, the jubilations over the fall of the one +Throned Democrat of the world; in the midst of the congratulations, the +gayeties, the feasting and dancing, the illuminations and the joyous +music, there comes the clap of thunder from the clear sky. + +_Napoleon has left Elba!_ + +In Dumas’s story, “Twenty Years After,” do you remember that thrilling +chapter in which the news is brought to the immortal Three that their +deadly foe, Mordaunt, _whom they supposed they had killed_, is alive? +Do you remember how Athos, the loftiest man of the Three, rose _and +took down his sword_, which he had momentarily hung upon the wall, +_gravely buckling it around him_? A desperate man is on his track; his +sword must be at his hand. + +So it was with the European Kings, at Vienna. They had banded +themselves together to break the scepter of the Crowned Democrat whose +Civil Code, with its glorious maxims, all tending to _Justice_ and +to _Equality before the law_, was a deadly menace to the existence +of _Divine Right_ and _Special Privilege_. They had deceived their +own peoples with lies about Napoleon, and with promises of reforms +which they never meant to keep; they had deluged France with a flood +of foreign invasion that swept all before it; they had bought the +Fouchés and Talleyrands; they had seduced the Murats and Bernadottes +and Moreaus and Marmonts; they had captured Napoleon’s wife and child, +and had deafened their ears and hardened their hearts to the appeals of +the husband and father. They had stricken the sword out of his hand, +the crown off his head. They thought that they had made an end of +this “Disturber of the Public Peace”--this enthroned Democrat, whose +levelling watchword of “_All careers open to talent_,” they hated as a +tyrant hates a rebel, as _despotism hates liberty_. And now _Napoleon +was in France again._ No wonder that consternation seized Vienna. + +“_Look to yourself; the lion is loose!_” was the warning cry which a +King of France had sounded in the ears of a false and affrighted King +of England, ages before. If Richard Coeur de Lion’s escape from the +Castle of Dürrenstein turned to water the blood of Philip and John, +the sensation in Europe was as nothing compared to that created by +Napoleon’s escape from Elba. + +_Back to France!_ In those three words burns the purpose of the +European Kings. The Russian army is far advanced on its homeward march, +but it must be halted; the tired feet of the soldiers must not rest +an hour. _Back to France!_ The Austrian legions are at home, ready +to enjoy the well-earned rest. Must the bugles call once more?--once +more the streets and the lanes thrill at the beat of the drums? _Back +to France!_ The Prussian and the British armies have not had time to +start home. They are in cantonments, in the Low Countries, close to the +frontier of France. Old Blücher--“_that drunken hussar who has given me +as much trouble as anybody_,” as Napoleon used to say--is already in +the saddle, with a splendid staff which plans his campaigns for him. + +The Duke of Wellington, the hero of the Congress of Vienna, must now +hasten to Brussels to take command of his army. All the world believes +that Napoleon will force the fighting, and that he will strike the +enemy nearest him, there on the Belgian frontier. + +Thus, in 1815, as the month of June lavishes its splendors on the +earth, the eyes of all Christendom are fastened upon Napoleon +Bonaparte. It is hardly too much to say that the world stands still, +this fateful month, to watch the unequal fight--Napoleon against the +Kings! + +How hard it is to understand the delusion under which some of the best +men of the time labored! With eyes to see, why were they so blind? With +ears to hear, why were they so deaf? + +Grattan!--why did _your_ electric oratory smite with its lightnings +this great enemy of tyranny, when Ireland, _your own home_, was +bleeding under the remorseless cruelty of the very system which +Napoleon had struggled to tear down? La Fayette!--why were _you_ +throwing stumbling blocks in this big man’s way, fettering him with +shackles and cords, when your French Samson needed the uttermost length +of his locks? + +Why was it that every Liberal in Europe could not realize as Carnot +did,--he of the Great Committee which piloted France through the storm +of the Revolution!--that in Napoleon’s fate, _at that time_, was bound +up the best interests of the human race? + +Behind the confederated Kings _lurked the Ancient Régime_. It panted +for life. It wanted to re-establish the blessed order of things in +which the Few, booted and spurred, put into governmental form their +modest claim to the privilege of riding the Many. It wanted to stamp +out the revolutionary principles which had been _lifting the masses_, +and lowering the monstrous pretensions of the classes. + +Had not Metternich declared, “There can be no peace with such +principles”? Had not the restored Bourbons of 1814 proved to an +astonished world that they had learned nothing, and forgotten nothing? +Had they not set about annihilating the glorious work of reform which +had cost France so much--so much in consecrated toil, so much in +well-spent treasure, so much in patriotic sacrifice, so much in heroic +blood? Had they not done their level best, in 1814, to blow the trump +of resurrection for every abuse, every wrong which France had buried +amid the rejoicings of the Progressives all over the world? + +What was the “Revolution of July, 1848,” but the final triumph of +Napoleon Bonaparte? _It was that and nothing more._ Had France been +true to herself in 1815 there would have been no Bourbon Charles the +Tenth; there would have been no Bourbon Louis Philippe; there would +have been no occasion for the long postponement of the supremacy of the +Revolutionary Principles. + +“_With such principles there can be no peace_,” said Metternich, the +favorite minister of the Confederated Kings; and what La Fayette ought +to have known, and Grattan ought to have known, and the Progressives +everywhere ought to have known, was that _the war of the allied Kings +was against those democratic principles_. + +Had Napoleon been willing to be _just a king as they were_, there would +have been for him no Waterloo. + +“_Emperor, Consul, Soldier!_--I owe everything _to the +people_!”--declared Napoleon, throwing down the gauntlet of +duel-to-the-death at the feet of Legitimacy, Divine Right and +Absolutism. + +No wonder the crafty Metternich, who guided the policies of hereditary +kings, snatched up the glove and said, “_With such principles there +can be no peace._” + +In America the masses of the people sympathized with the French +Emperor, and hoped that he would win. At the Hermitage, in Tennessee, +the dauntless warrior who had recently whipped the flower of +Wellington’s army at New Orleans, ardently hoped that Napoleon would +win. + +In Great Britain tens of thousands of the followers of Fox hoped +that the right of the French to select their own rulers would be +vindicated. Throughout Continental Europe a powerful minority yearned +for the system of the Code Napoleon, and secretly prayed for the great +Law-giver’s success. + +Byron’s friend, Hobhouse, wrote June 12, 1815: “Regarding Napoleon +and his warriors as the partisans of the cause of peoples against the +Conspiracy of Kings, I cannot help wishing that the French may meet +with as much success as will not compromise the military character of +my own countrymen. As an Englishman, I will not be a witness of their +triumphs; as a lover of liberty, I would not be a spectator of their +reverses. I leave Paris to-morrow.” + +Wherever men understood the tremendous issues that were about to be +fought out; wherever there was an intelligent comprehension of the +consequences that were inevitably connected with the triumph of the +Allied Kings, there was intense longing for the triumph of the French. + +The French masses eagerly besought the Emperor to give them arms--but +he shrank from the menace of Communism, even as he had done when he +refused to arm the Russian serf against his lord. + + * * * * * + +In the hours of trial, three of Napoleon’s brothers had drawn to +him again. They had been much to blame for his downfall. Joseph had +abandoned Paris in 1814, when there was no urgent necessity for it, and +when Napoleon was flying toward it, on horseback, at headlong speed. +Lucien had been wrong-headed, turbulent, making trouble at Rome and +elsewhere. Jerome’s management in Westphalia had incensed and disgusted +Germany. As to Louis, the fourth brother, that impossible dolt and +ingrate did not show his face, but retired into Switzerland. He was +the younger brother with whom Napoleon had shared his slender pay when +lieutenant, and who had lived with the elder brother and been taught +by him, and in every way treated by him as a father treats a son. + +As to Madame Mère, the heroic old mother, she had refused to come to +Paris to take part in the gorgeous ceremonial of Napoleon’s Coronation; +she stayed away, at Rome, where Lucien Bonaparte, in temporary +disgrace, drew the maternal sympathy to the less fortunate son. No, +she would not go to Napoleon in 1800, when all Europe was at his feet, +and he was the King of Kings. She stayed at Rome with Lucien. But when +the awful reverses came, when the scepters were broken in the hands +of the Bonapartes, when Napoleon was prostrate and outlawed, Madame +Letitia,--Madame Mère,--remembered only that he was her son. Josephine, +frail at first, but at last loyal and loving, could not go to Elba; +she was dead. Maria Louise, the Austrian wife, frail as well as false, +would not go to Elba; she had already turned her lewd eyes toward the +gallant Neipperg. But Madame Mère could go to Elba, and she went. And +when Napoleon left for France, she soon followed. So, she is with him +now, heart and soul. For the day is dark and dreary. The somber clouds +hang low. Thunder rolls in the distance--rolls with sullen menace and +ominous reverberation. And because the whole world is against her son, +Madame Mère turns from the whole world _to him_! Heroic old woman! From +her adamantine character was drawn the strength which laid Europe at +Napoleon’s feet. + +In the “Barrington Sketches” is drawn a vivid picture of the last +public occasion on which appeared together the most remarkable mother +and son that ever lived. It was on the 8th of June, four days before +Napoleon left Paris to join his army. + +The dignitaries of the Empire were assembled in the Chamber of Deputies +to take the oath of allegiance to the Emperor. It was a magnificent +ceremonial. In the streets, on the quays and in the parks were great +throngs of people, and among the military the enthusiasm was unbounded. +No longer crying “_Vive l’Empereur_,” their shouts rolled in thunder +tones, “_Empereur! Empereur!_” The roar of cannon shook the earth, and +the air thrilled with the music of the bands. In the great and splendid +Chamber of Deputies were assembled a brilliant array of the nobility +of France--those who had been born great, those who had achieved +greatness, and those who had had greatness thrust upon them. They had +assembled to swear loyalty to their Emperor, Napoleon--and not one +of those who were present knew better the frailty of such a bond of +allegiance than the Emperor himself. And when Fouché took the oath, +Napoleon turned his head and looked fixedly, calmly at the traitor. Sir +Jonah Barrington says that Fouché faltered and flushed. But I doubt +it. Sir Jonah Barrington says that he watched Napoleon’s countenance, +intently studying its every detail. He says that the Emperor sat +unmoved, his face somewhat shaded by the ostrich plumes of his black +Spanish hat, the size of his bust concealed by “the short cloak of +purple velvet, embroidered with golden bees.” Sir Jonah speaks of the +“high and ungraceful shoulders,” and declares that he was “by no means +a majestic figure.” “I watched his eye. It was that of a hawk.” He then +describes how this brilliant glance swept from one face to another, +throughout the assemblage, without a movement of the Emperor’s head. + +Sir Jonah describes Napoleon’s mother as “a very fine old lady, +apparently about sixty, but looking strong and in good health, well +looking, and possessing a cheerful, _comfortable_ countenance. In +short, I liked her appearance; it was plain and unassuming.” Then Sir +Jonah tells how he settled down to study her expression to learn her +sensations during the splendid ceremonial. And after the most critical +attention to the varying expressions of the “comfortable countenance” +of this fine old lady, Sir Jonah reaches the conclusion that the +emotions which move her as the brilliant function progresses, are just +those _of a mother proud of her son_! + +“I could perceive no lofty sensations of gratified ambition, no +towering pride, no vain and empty arrogance, as she viewed underneath +her the peers and representatives of her son’s dominions.” + +What emotion was it, then, that filled her bosom on that last great day +in Paris? “A tear occasionally moistened her cheek, but it evidently +proceeded from a happy rather than a painful feeling--it was the tear +of parental ecstasy.” + +After Napoleon had been caged at St. Helena, and was being denied +comforts that had become necessary to him, his mother was one of those +who supplied the captive with funds. Some one remonstrated with her, +telling her that she would reduce herself to poverty, and that she +would be destitute in her old age. The heroic old Corsican answered, +“What does it matter? When I shall have nothing more, I will take my +stick and go about _begging alms for Napoleon’s mother_.” + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +It was half-past three on the morning of June 12th when Napoleon +entered his carriage and set out for the Belgian frontier. On the +13th he was at Avesnes, on the 14th at Beaumont. One who was near the +imperial carriage, on its rapid course from Paris, states that the +Emperor was often asleep during the day; and that he declared that he +was utterly worn out by his three months’ toil. Little wonder. A man +who had gone through the tremendous ordeal which Napoleon had passed +since his return from Elba--an ordeal which taxed soul, mind, and +body--was fortunate in being left with any strength at all. His actual +hours of labor had been an average of fifteen per day, to say nothing +of the anxieties, the discouragements, and the humiliations which made +such enormous demands upon his fortitude, his patience, his tact, his +powers of self-control. + +Asked at St. Helena what had been the happiest period of his life, +Napoleon answered, “The progress from Cannes to Paris.” + +But however elated he may have been during that bloodless re-conquest +of an empire, the illusion that all France rejoiced in his return soon +passed away. The indifference of Paris chilled him. The absence of many +a companion-in-arms who had fought under his eagles was depressing. The +knowledge that he would have to accept fettering conditions, and the +services of men who denounced him the year before, mortified him. To +Count Molé he declared that had he known how many concessions he would +have to make, he would never have left Elba. + +These were concessions to those who were called Republicans, and +who were dreaming of popular self-government--for which Napoleon +did not believe that France was prepared. Having become an Emperor, +he was naturally opposed to a republic. Besides, a man of his vast +superiority over other men naturally believes that he can achieve the +best results when given a free hand. With pathetic earnestness he had +appealed to the Legislative to help him save France from her enemies, +reminding them of the decadent Roman senate which had wrangled over +vain abstractions while the battering-rams of the barbarians thundered +against the walls. To no purpose. Until his power had been fully +re-established by victory over the Allies, the Legislative would remain +factious and obstructive; should the Allies triumph, the Legislative +would be ready to renounce him, as in 1814. + +And where were his old comrades? Where were those who had grown famous +under his flag, made great by his lessons, rich and powerful by his +munificence? + +Lannes had fallen, during the awful days of Wagram. Duroc had been +disembowelled by a cannon ball, in one of the bloody struggles of 1813. +Junot had killed himself in a fit of madness. LaSalle had thrown away +his life, on the Danube, in a needless cavalry charge. The gallant +Poniatowski, of the royal house of Poland, had gone to a watery grave +in the Elster, after the Titanic struggle at Leipsic. Bessières, +Commander of the Old Guard, who had led the great cavalry charges at +Eckmuhl and at Wagram, had met a soldier’s death, at the head of his +men, at the battle of Lutzen. Oudinot had shown incapacity during 1814, +and Napoleon would have no more to do with him. Souham had acted the +traitor; and when he came to seek command again, Napoleon said, “What +do you want of me? Can’t you see that I do not know you any more?” +Masséna renewed his allegiance to the Emperor, and sought military +command; but he was too old and feeble for active service, and Napoleon +disappointed his hopes of getting the 9th division. Suchet was put in +command of the Army of the Alps. Jourdan was made Governor of Besancon. +Brune also renewed his allegiance--an act for which the White Terror +was to inflict upon him a horrible penalty. Gouvion Saint-Cyr had +disobeyed Napoleon’s orders in 1814, and had commanded his troops to +resume the white cockade, after the 20th of March, when the Chamber +voted Napoleon’s deposition. The Emperor now exiled him to his castle. +Sérurier and the elder Kellerman had voted for deposition, but Napoleon +punished neither. Marshall Moncey would have been willing to take +command again under the Emperor, but, as he had published a violent +order of the day against Napoleon in 1814, he was not given a military +appointment, but, like Lefebre, he was raised to the Chamber of Peers. +Bernadotte sat firmly on the throne of Sweden, ready to renew the fight +against his countrymen, to insure the reward of his treachery--Norway. +Marmont, in mortal terror of the vengeance which his base betrayal +of Paris deserved, had fled with the Bourbons across the Rhine. +Augereau had offered his services, but he was no longer the Augereau of +Castiglione, and the Emperor could not overlook the personal insult to +which the recreant Marshal had subjected him on the high-road, while +on his way to Elba. Macdonald, who had led the great charge against +the Austrian center at Wagram, had taken service under the Bourbons, +and refused to serve Napoleon again. Mortier was ready for the final +campaign and joined the army, but, falling sick, sold his chargers to +Ney and took no part in the fighting of the Hundred Days. Berthier, +the favorite of his chief, the bosom friend, the constant companion; +Berthier, of whom Napoleon was so fond that he petted him like a spoilt +child and would not dine in his tent until Berthier came to share the +meal--Berthier had put on the King’s uniform, accepted high position +in his household, and fled the country upon the Emperor’s return. At +the castle of Bamberg, in Bavaria, he saw the Russians pouring by on +their march to France. Overcome by the miseries of his situation, the +remorseful traitor threw himself from an upper window and died on the +pavement below. + +_Where was Murat?_ The most brilliant cavalry officer that the world +ever saw had offered his sword to Napoleon, and had been spurned. God! +what a mistake. The Emperor, who had retained Fouché, and given a +command to Bourmont, might well have trusted his own brother-in-law, +who had everything to gain by a victory which would restore the +fortunes of all the Napoleonic connection. But Murat had appeared in +arms against France, and this Napoleon would not forgive. Besides, +he had attacked the Austrians, with whose Emperor there is reason to +believe that Napoleon had come to an understanding before leaving +Elba. Murat’s insane conduct not only brought ruin upon himself, but +destroyed whatever chance Napoleon had to detach Austria from the +Alliance. So it was that Murat was in concealment at Toulon while the +battle raged at Waterloo. + +Greatest of Napoleon’s Marshals was Davout, the victor of Auerstadt--a +greater feat of arms than Napoleon’s own triumph at Jena on the same +day. But he was wasted during the Hundred Days. He begged hard for a +command, but the Emperor chose to have him remain in Paris, Minister of +War, and thus the great soldier who might have given such a different +account of the Prussians, had he instead of Grouchy been sent after +them, sat useless in the office in Paris, while the cannon roared at +Fluerus, at Ligny, at Quatre Bras, at Wavre, at La Belle Alliance. +Soult was a commander of ability, and he was loyal and full of zeal; +but he had long held independent command, had practically no experience +as a staff-officer; and yet he applied for and was given the position +of Chief of Staff. This unfortunate choice proved to be one of the +principal causes of the disaster of the campaign. + +_And where was Ney?_ Where was Napoleon’s “Bravest of the brave”?--the +heroic figure that had held the rearguard all through the horrors of +the Retreat from Moscow; the impatient lieutenant who had almost used +threats of personal violence to his Emperor to compel him to sign the +first abdication; the turn-coat who had gone over to the Bourbons, and +who had promised the King to bring Napoleon to Paris in an iron cage? + +The torrent which was bearing the exile back to his throne proved too +strong for Ney; and when his own troops cried, “_Vive L’Empereur!_” Ney +was swept off his feet. When the big-hearted, impulsive man began to +make explanations and denials, Napoleon stopped him with, “Embrace me, +Ney.” + +Weeks afterward, when the Marshal felt that the Emperor must have +learned about the iron cage threat, he was clumsy enough to mention +the matter to Napoleon, and to claim that he merely made the remark to +deceive the King as to his real design, which was to go over to the +returning Emperor. Napoleon said nothing, but gave Ney one of those +looks which made even Vandamme grow ill at ease. + +Mortified, feeling that he had blundered throughout,--in 1814 and in +1815,--Ney withdrew to his estate. + +Only at the last moment, and then out of pity, did Napoleon send word +to Ney that he might serve. The message was fatal--for it cost Napoleon +his throne, and Ney his life. + +It was not until the 12th of June that Ney set out for the army, and he +was so ill prepared that he made the journey to Avesnes in a coach, and +from there to Beaumont in a peasant’s cart. It was that evening that he +bought from Marshal Mortier the horses he rode into battle. At the head +of his army, Napoleon was cordial to his old lieutenant. “I am glad to +see you, Ney. You will take command of 1st and 2nd Army Corps. Drive +the enemy on the Brussels road, and take possession of Quatre Bras.” + + * * * * * + +What of the composition and temper of the army with which the great +Captain was to make his last campaign? + +The officers did not possess the confidence of the troops, and were +themselves without confidence in the star of Napoleon. Even those +generals who were at heart his friends and were ready to die by him, +had little or no hope of success. How could it be otherwise? Napoleon +could not inspire others with a faith which he did not himself feel; +and we have overwhelming evidence to the effect that he was depressed, +filled with forebodings. + +It was in the troops of the rank and file that confidence lay. These +were in a frenzy of enthusiasm for their Emperor, and of hatred against +his enemies. In their way of judging events, their Captain had never +been defeated. The Russian snows had been the cause of his failure +in 1812, and the treachery of his Marshals had been his ruin in the +Campaign of 1813 and 1814. Nothing but treachery could check him now; +but that there _was_ treason afoot was a universal suspicion among +the men of the rank and file. “Don’t trust the Marshals,” they were +constantly saying; and even at Waterloo a soldier ran from the ranks, +caught the bridle rein of the white Arabian mare that the Emperor rode, +and exclaimed, “Sire, don’t trust Marshal Soult! He betrays you!” +“Be calm. Trust Marshal Soult, and trust me,” was Napoleon’s reply. +Evidently here was an army that would strike with terrific force, but +which might _break all to pieces on the field at the slightest evidence +of bad faith on the part of its commanders_. + +At the very outset, Soult’s unfitness for his position as Chief of +Staff was demonstrated. When orders to concentrate the army were flying +as fast as couriers could bear them, Napoleon came upon the cavalry +of Grouchy, at Laon, before that officer had stirred a step. _He had +received no orders._ Had Napoleon been the vigilant, quickly resolute +Captain of old, his Chief of Staff would have been dismissed at once. +Like the leak in the dyke, _such_ a mistake indicated the danger of a +colossal disaster. In person, Napoleon had to order Grouchy forward; +and practically the same thing had to be done with the corps of +Vandamme. Soult had sent marching orders to that officer _by a single +courier_, whose horse fell with him, breaking his leg; and the poor +fellow lay there all night with the undelivered order. + +Both of these delays were felt throughout the campaign. The cavalry had +to make a forced march of 20 leagues and this tired the horses; and in +the cavalry charges of the following days the mounts of the French were +jaded, while those of the enemy were fresh. Vandamme’s failure to get +his orders caused the combination of the Emperor to fall short of what +it ought to have accomplished, and this in turn caused other losses to +the end of the campaign. + +Even at this late day the armies of Blücher and Wellington were spread +over a front line of 35 leagues. The base of the Prussians was Liege; +that of the English, Brussels and Ghent. The point of contact of the +two armies was the road from Charleroi to Brussels. Napoleon determined +to seize this road, strike the Allies at the point of contact and +drive them apart, so that he could crush each in detail. This done, he +believed that Austria would withdraw from the Alliance, the Belgians +rise in his favor, Italy assert her friendship for him, and all France +unite against the Bourbons. If these very probable changes should +take place, he could either conclude an honorable peace with Russia, +Prussia, and Great Britain, or he could safely defy them. + + * * * * * + +On the 14th of June the Emperor slept among his troops. Next morning he +addressed them in the order of the day: + +“Soldiers, to-day is the anniversary of Marengo and Friedland, which +twice decided the fate of Europe. We were too generous after Austerlitz +and Wagram. And now banded together against us, the sovereigns we left +on their thrones conspire against the independence and the most sacred +rights of France. They have begun by the most iniquitous aggression. +Let us march to meet them; are we not the men we were then? The time +has come for every Frenchman who loves his country to conquer or to +die.” + +The army of 124,000 men to whom those burning words were addressed +had been swiftly concentrated within cannon-shot of the enemy, before +Blücher or Wellington had the faintest idea of what had happened. +While it was possible for the French Emperor to strike at once, with +the crushing weight of the whole army, _three days_ were necessary to +Blücher and Wellington. _How did they get those three days?_ Through +the blunders and disobedience of Napoleon’s own officers. Contributing +immensely to the same result was the refusal of Wellington’s officers +to obey the orders which he sent from Brussels and which, had they been +obeyed, would have left Quatre Bras in the hands of the French, and put +Napoleon in overwhelming numbers _between_ the scattered forces of his +enemies. To have destroyed them would have been child’s play for such a +captain. + +On the 15th of June, Wellington wrote to the Czar of Russia stating his +intention to take the offensive at the end of the month. As to Blücher, +that indomitable but short-sighted soldier was writing to his wife, “We +shall soon enter France. We might remain here a year, for Bonaparte +would never attack us.” + +About the time that the wife of “Marshal Forwards” was reading this +reassuring letter, the Prussian army was flying before the French +Emperor, and old Blücher himself, unhorsed and bruised almost to +unconsciousness, had escaped capture because of the darkness, and was +being borne off the lost field of Ligny. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +On the morning of June 15th, at half-past three, the French army +crossed the Belgian frontier. + +Disobeying orders, D’Erlon did not set his troops in motion until +half-past four. Receiving no orders, Vandamme did not move at all--not +until the approach of Lobau’s corps warned him that some mistake had +been made. Gérard was ordered to start at three; he did not appear at +the rendezvous until seven. + +To increase the ill effect which these delays were making upon the +mind of the suspicious troops, General Bourmont, commander of the head +division of the 4th Corps, went over to the enemy, accompanied by his +staff, some other officers, and an escort of five lancers. + +This act of treachery threw the whole of the 4th Corps into confusion, +and it became necessary for Gérard and General Hulot to harangue the +troops to restore their confidence. Two hours were thus lost. Napoleon +had not wished to give Bourmont a command, but had yielded at the +urgent entreaties of Gérard and Labedoyére. + +To the credit of Blücher, it must be said that he gave the traitor a +contemptuous reception, and spoke to his staff scornfully of the “cur.” + +Between nine and ten o’clock on the morning of the 15th of June the +French reached the Sambre. At Thuin, at Ham, in the woods of Montigny, +at the farm of La Tombe they had struck the Prussian outposts and +driven them, killing, wounding and capturing some 500 of them. Then +there was a fight for the bridge over the Sambre at Marchienne. + +Too much time was lost both here and at the bridge of Charleroi. The +cavalry awaited the infantry, and Vandamme, commander of the infantry, +was four hours late. It was not until the Emperor himself appeared on +the scene that the bridge was stormed. + +At the bridge of Marchienne there was a fight of two hours, and even +after the bridge had been carried it required several hours for so many +troops to pass so narrow a bridge. + +To a civilian it seems strange that no preparation had been made, +beforehand, to throw other bridges over this stream; equally so that +the retreating Prussians left any bridges standing. + +Amid the cheers of the inhabitants Napoleon entered Charleroi, a little +after noon, and dismounted, and sat down by the side of the road. At +this point he commanded a full view of the valley of the Sambre. + +The troops were on the march. As they passed they recognized the +Emperor, and the wildly enthusiastic cheering of the men drowned the +roll of the drums. Soldiers broke ranks to run and hug the neck of +Desirée, the Emperor’s horse. + +And so tired was Napoleon that he fell asleep in the chair, even as he +had slept on the battlefield of Jena. + + * * * * * + +From Brussels the English would come by the Charleroi road; from +Namur the Prussians would come by the Nivelles road. These highways +cross each other at Quatre Bras, hence the supreme importance of that +position. To seize it was Napoleon’s purpose, and he entrusted the task +to Ney, giving him the order verbally and personally: + +“Drive the enemy on the Brussels road and take up your position at +Quatre Bras.” + +Having ordered the left wing of his army to Quatre Bras, the Emperor +meant to post his right wing at Sombreff, while he, himself, with his +reserve, should take position at Fluerus, to be ready to act with the +right wing or the left, as circumstances might dictate. + +About 10,000 Prussians were behind Gilly, protected in front by the +little stream, Le Grand-Rieux. Grouchy, deceived by the length of the +enemy’s line, estimated their strength at 20,000, and hesitated to +advance. “At most they are 10,000,” said the Emperor, and he ordered +Grouchy to ford the stream and take the Prussians in flank; Vandamme’s +division and Pajol’s cavalry would attack in front. + +Then the Emperor left the field to hurry the coming of Vandamme’s +corps. The moment Napoleon was gone, Grouchy and Vandamme began to +waste time, and for two hours they were arranging the details of the +movement. While they were doing so, the Prussians quietly walked off +from the trap. + +Enraged at the conduct of his lieutenants, the Emperor, just returned, +ordered Letort to charge with four squadrons of cavalry. Two +battalions of Prussians were overtaken and cut to pieces; the others +escaped into the woods of Solielmont. + +It was now the close of the day, and Grouchy wished to drive out of +Fluerus the two battalions of Prussians which occupied it. These were +the positive orders of the Emperor, but Marshal Vandamme refused to +advance any farther, saying that his troops were too tired and that, +at any rate, he would take no orders from a commandant of the cavalry. +As Grouchy could not take Fluerus without the support of infantry, the +village remained untaken, and Napoleon’s plan incomplete. + +On the left wing the same failure to obey orders was even more marked. +Instead of advancing upon Quatre Bras, as the Emperor distinctly told +him to do, Ney posted three of his divisions at Gosselies, and tolled +off nothing but the lancers and the chasseurs of the Guard to Quatre +Bras. + +The lancers of the Guard had got in sight of Fresnes about half-past +five in the afternoon. This village was occupied by a Nassau battalion +and a battery of horse artillery. They were under the command of Major +Normann, who had been left without any instructions, but on hearing the +sound of cannon toward Gosselies, he had at once divined the supreme +importance of Quatre Bras, and determined to defend it desperately. +Had Ney continued his advance with any considerable portion of his +infantry, the Nassau battalion would have been crushed. As it was, the +small force of the French which had been sent forward was able to drive +Major Normann out of Fresnes and along the Brussels road. In fact a +squadron of the French cavalry entered Quatre Bras where there were +then no English; but fearing to be cut off, did not attempt to hold the +place. Prince Bernard, of Saxe-Weimar, had also acted without orders; +and with the instinct of a soldier had taken the responsibility of +moving his own troops to occupy this important strategical position. +Under him were four Nassau battalions; therefore there were now 4,500 +men with artillery to defend Quatre Bras against the 1,700 lancers and +chasseurs which Ney had thrown forward. + +The sound of cannon in front caused Marshal Ney to join his vanguard. +Instead of realizing the necessity of ordering up infantry supports and +storming the position of the enemy as he could easily have done, he +made only a few feeble charges against the Nassau infantry, and then +went back to Gosselies for the night. Had he continued to advance with +even one-fourth of the troops which the Emperor had given, he might +have destroyed the entire force of Prince Bernard and of Major Normann +before a single Englishman came within miles of the place. + +Nevertheless, the Emperor had substantially gained his point. Almost +without any real fighting, and in spite of the clumsy working of his +great military machine, he now had 124,000 men encamped near the point +of junction between the allied armies, ready to strike either. On the +night of the 15th, when, at Charleroi, Napoleon examined the reports +sent in by Grouchy and Ney, he reached a conclusion that was wrong, +but which, fastening itself on his mind, could never be shaken, and +contributed vastly to his ruin. He believed, judging from the direction +in which the Prussians had retreated, that they were retreating upon +Liege, their natural base of operations, instead of adhering to the +design of so conducting their retreat as to be at all times in reach of +the English. + +The various delays of the French, and their failure to advance as +far as the Emperor’s orders had directed, made it possible for the +indefatigable Blücher to bring up a large part of his army, and +instead of retreating on his base,--as Napoleon thought he would +do,--Blücher advanced to Sombreffe to give battle. + +Toward morning, in the night of the 15th, the Prussians had evacuated +Fluerus. Grouchy took possession of it, and the Emperor reached it +shortly before noon. Going to the tower of a brick mill, which stood at +the end of Fluerus, Napoleon had the roof breached and a platform made, +upon which he could stand and view the various positions of the enemy. + +The willingness of the Prussian commander to fight was partly the +result of Wellington’s diplomacy. The Englishman had been caught +napping, and to secure time to concentrate his badly scattered forces +he had given Blücher a written promise to support him. It was extremely +necessary to Wellington that Blücher should stand between the English +army and the French, and fight them off, until the English could get +themselves together. Besides, if Blücher retreated upon Liege, the +English army would be left alone before Napoleon. In that event it +would have to fight with inferior forces, or fall back on its base of +operations, leaving Brussels to be occupied by the Emperor. + +In 1876 there was found in the Prussian archives the letter in which +Wellington encouraged his ally to make a stand. This letter was sent +from the heights north of Fresnes, about two miles south of Quatre +Bras, at half-past ten o’clock in the morning of the 16th. In this +much-debated letter the wily Englishman misrepresents the positions of +his own troops, puts them some hours nearer to the scene of action than +they really were, and assures Blücher of their support if he will stand +and fight. Wellington tells Blücher that he will at least be able to +effect such a powerful diversion in his behalf that Napoleon will not +be able to use against the Prussian more than a moiety of his army. + +Lord Wolseley, in his book, “The Decline and Fall of Napoleon,” admits +that Wellington’s statements to Blücher were false, but naively +remarks, “Wellington, an English gentleman of the highest type, was +wholly and absolutely incapable of anything bordering on untruth or +deceit in dealing with his allies.” + +Lord Wolseley’s ingenious explanation is that Wellington must have been +deceived “by his inefficient staff.” + +Yet the undisputed record is that Wellington himself had issued all +the orders to his scattered troops, a few hours before, and he knew +precisely the distance of each division from the field. + +To the “English gentleman of the highest type” it was supremely +necessary that his ally should break the force of the French onset, +delay its advance, and thus give himself time to concentrate his +too-widely scattered troops. To influence Blücher he stated to him what +he _knew_ to be untrue, and made his ally a promise which he _knew_ he +could not keep. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +The Napoleon of the Italian campaign had said: “The Austrians lose +battles because they do not know the value of fifteen minutes.” + +Alas! Neither the Emperor nor his lieutenants now seemed to know the +value of time. + +In former years the French moved forward before dawn. In this final +campaign, upon which all was staked, they started late and they moved +slowly, when the enemy was crowding into every minute the utmost that +human energy could achieve. + +Standing upon the roof of the mill-tower, Napoleon could not perceive +the full strength of Blücher’s position. To the Emperor it seemed that +the enemy was posted opposite to him on a slope leading upward to a low +range of hills with the village of Sombreff in the center. From the +tower he could not see the importance of the small river Ligne, with +the ravine formed by the broken ground and the stream itself. In the +center of the valley was the village of Ligny, in which stood an old +castle, and a church surrounded by a cemetery enclosed by brick walls. +Through this village runs the stream of Ligne. There were several other +villages in the valley between the two opposing ranges of hills. The +Prussian position was in reality strong, with this weakness--the open +slope revealed all the movements made over it, and exposed the troops +to the cannon of the French. + +It was not till long after two o’clock that the French were ready +to attack. Then the battery of the Guard fired the signal guns, and +Vandamme dashed upon the enemy, while the military bands played +“La victoire enchantant.” The Prussians posted in the village, the +cemetery, the church, the orchards, the houses, fought desperately. +Entrenched in the old castle and in the farm buildings, they raked the +advancing French with a terrible fire, which littered the ground with +the dead and wounded. Under the cannonade of the French, houses burst +into flames. The villages became a roaring hell, in which the maddened +soldiers fought from house to house, in the streets, in the square, +with a ferocity which amazed the oldest officers. No quarter was asked +or given. + +Driven over the Ligne, the Prussians lined the left bank, and across +this brook the soldiers shot each other, with guns only a few feet +apart. In the houses wounded men were being burned to death, and their +frightful cries rang out above the roar of battle. The hot day of June +was made hotter by the fierce flames which wrapped the buildings; +clouds hung in the heavens, and the smoke from the guns, dense and +foul, was pierced by tongues of fire from the blazing houses and by the +flashes of the guns as Prussians and Frenchmen shot each other down. + +After four charges in force; after sanguinary hand-to-hand fights for +every hedge and wall and house; after the fiercest struggle for the +brook, the Prussians fell back--the French pouring over the bridges. +That Blücher had failed to blow up the bridges was a disastrous mistake. + +But this was only the right wing of Blücher’s army; the center and the +left wing were unhurt. Blücher came down from his observatory, on the +roof of the mill of Bussy, to order in person a movement on Wagnalée, +from which the Prussians would take the French in flank. While the +Prussians, reanimated by the presence of “Old Marshal Forwards,” sprang +forward with cheers, and began to drive the French back, Napoleon made +ready for his master-stroke. + +Ney at Quatre Bras is in the rear of the Prussians. Let him merely hold +in check whatever force of English is coming from Brussels, and detach +D’Erlon with his 20,000 men to fall upon the Prussian flank and rear. +This done, 60,000 Prussians will be slaughtered or captured. + +Directly to D’Erlon flew the order to march to the rear of the Prussian +right. Colonel de Forbin-Janson, who carried the order to D’Erlon, was +instructed to inform Ney, also. + +This order had been sent at two o’clock. It was now half-past five. +At six the Emperor expected to hear the thunder of D’Erlon’s cannon +in the rear of the Prussian army. As soon as he should hear that he +would send in his reserves,--hurling them at the enemy’s center,--cut +through, block its retreat on Sombreff, and drive it back upon the +guns of Vandamme and D’Erlon. For the 60,000 men of Zeiten and Pirch +there would be no escape. The Emperor was greatly elated. In order +to annihilate Blücher and end the war with a clap of thunder it was +only necessary that Ney obey orders. So thought Napoleon. He said to +Gérard, “It is possible that three hours hence the fate of the war may +be decided.” To Ney himself he had written, “The fate of France is in +your hands.” + +With a soul full of the pride of success, the Emperor made his +dispositions for the final blow. + +But what thunder-cloud is that which suddenly darkens the radiant sky? + +Away off there to the left, Vandamme’s scouts have caught sight of +a column of twenty or thirty thousand troops who march as if their +intention is to turn the French flank. An aide-de-camp sent by Vandamme +dashes across the field to carry this fateful message to the Emperor. +Thus, with hand uplifted to strike Blücher down, he must not deal the +blow--his own flank is exposed. It does not occur to Napoleon that this +column on the left may be D’Erlon’s corps, going in a wrong direction, +by mistake. Vandamme had said they were the enemy; D’Erlon had no +business to be _there_; the column _must_ be Prussian or English. + +Nothing can be done until an aide-de-camp can ride several miles, +reconnoiter, ride back and report. The grand attack is delayed until +this can be done. + +At length the aide-de-camp returns and reports that the suspicious +column is D’Erlon’s corps. + +Filled with chagrin for not having guessed as much, and with rage for +the precious hour of daylight lost, the Emperor gives the word, the +grand attack begins. + +Black clouds have been gathering over the winding stream of Ligne, +along whose banks the fighting has raged for several miles. The +lightning now begins to flash and the thunder to roll, but even the +voice of the storm is lost in the more terrible voice of battle as +Napoleon’s batteries turn every gun on Ligny. + +The Old Guard deploys in columns of attack; cuirassiers make ready to +dash forward; the drums beat the charge, and the splendid array moves +onward amid deafening peals of “_Vive l’Empereur!_” + +Blücher has stripped his center to feed his right: he has no reserves: +and the whole strength of Napoleon’s power smites the Prussian center. +It is swept away. As Soult wrote Davout: “It was like a scene on the +stage.” + +The sun is now about to go down--the storm is over--and Blücher gets +a view of the whole field. His army has been cut in two. Desperately +he calls in the troops on his right; desperately he gallops to his +squadrons on the left to lead them to the charge. Bravely they come +on in the gathering gloom to fling themselves against the French. In +vain--torn by musketry and charged by the cuirassiers, they fall back. +Blücher’s horse is shot down and falls on his rider. + +“Nostitz, now I am lost!” cries the old hero to his adjutant. + +But the French dash by without noticing these two Prussians, and when +the Prussians, in a countercharge, pass over the same ground, Blücher’s +horse is lifted and the old Marshal borne from the field. + +Night puts an end to the conflict and saves the Prussian army +from annihilation. Had the attack been made when Napoleon first +ordered, there would have been no Blücher to rescue Wellington at +Mont-Saint-Jean. + +The carnage of the day had been prodigious. Twelve thousand Prussians +and eighty-five hundred Frenchmen strewed the villages, the ravine, and +the plain. At this cost the great Captain won his last victory. + +As he returned to Fluerus that night Napoleon’s heart must have been +very heavy. The fortune of France had slipped through his fingers. +The enemy should have been destroyed. Had his orders been obeyed, +Blücher’s army would have been swept off the face of the earth. As it +was, Blücher had simply received one of the ordinary drubbings to which +he was so much accustomed that he was not even discouraged. Neither his +staff nor his troops were demoralized. They had given way to an onset +which they could not withstand; but they meant to reform, retreat to +another position, and fight again. + +Most of those who have written of Ligny and of the fatality which +deprived both Ney and the Emperor of D’Erlon,--whose corps would have +accomplished such decisive results had it gone into action at either +Ligny or Quatre Bras,--dwell upon the ignorance and presumption of the +staff-officer, Col. Laurent, who took it upon himself to direct the +march of D’Erlon’s leading column upon Ligny when it was upon its way +to Quatre Bras. + +But it seems to me that had the staff-officer not turned D’Erlon’s +corps away from Quatre Bras and toward Ligny, the Emperor’s own order, +sent by Forbin-Janson, would have brought about precisely the same +result. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +“There is my ugly boy, Arthur,” said Lady Mornington on seeing +Wellington at the Dublin Theater after a long absence. + +Like Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Frederick the Great, Washington, +Byron, Webster, Disraeli, and many other great men, Arthur Wellesley, +Duke of Wellington, owed nothing to his mother! + +The sentimental notion that all great men derive their strength from +their mothers is an idle fancy. + +Born into the ruling caste of Great Britain, Arthur Wellesley was given +the best opportunities, and he improved them to the best advantage. +In Hindustan he won military fame similar to that of Clive, and was +finally sent to Portugal when the British Cabinet decided to make the +Peninsula a base of operations against Napoleon. Displeased with the +Convention of Cintra, which his superior officer concluded with Junot, +after the latter had lost the battle of Vimiera, Wellington quit the +Continent and returned to England, where he served in Parliament. It +required the utmost exertion of his family influence to again secure +employment for him in the army. + +His subsequent career in Spain, where, by a cautious steadiness and +unflinching courage, he won victory after victory over Napoleon’s +lieutenants, left him the military hero of the day when Marmont’s +treachery had put an end to the campaign of 1814. + +He was at the Vienna Congress when Napoleon left Elba, and the Kings +turned to him, saying: “You must once more save Europe.” + + * * * * * + +The Duke of Wellington, associated as he is with the national pride of +the country, is England’s military hero. The greatness of the Duke is +the greatness of old England. He identified himself wholly with the +government of his country, believed that it was the best that human wit +could devise, antagonized innovations, detested reform measures, and +had a hearty contempt for the populace. + +It is doubtful if any human being ever _loved_ Wellington. His wife did +not; his sons did not; his officers did not; his soldiers did not. Yet +he had the unbounded confidence of his army, the warm admiration of +most Englishmen, and the personal esteem of every sovereign of Europe. +Like Washington, he had few intimacies; and like Washington, he was +exacting even in very small matters. + +That he should have won the title of “the Iron Duke” is significant. In +many respects he was a hard man. _He was never known to laugh._ + +“Kiss me, Hardy,” said the dying Nelson to his bosom friend. We cannot +imagine any such tenderness of sentiment in Wellington. + +Nelson came near throwing his fame away for a wanton, as Marc Antony +did: we could never imagine Wellington in love with a woman. He married +with as little excitement as he managed a military maneuver, and he +begat children from a stern sense of duty. + +He heartily favored flogging in the army, and he bitterly opposed penny +postage. + +In his old age he was asked whether he found any advantage in being +“great.” He answered, “Yes, I can afford to do without servants. I +brush my own clothes, and if I was strong enough I would black my own +shoes.” + +He had ridden horseback all his life, but had a notoriously bad seat. +Often in a fox hunt he gave his horse a fall, or was thrown. Like +Napoleon, he always shaved himself. He was a man of few words, never +lost his head, and was as brave as Julius Caesar. + + * * * * * + +It is Thackeray who relates the incident which illustrates how the +English regarded the Duke in his old age. + +Two urchins, one a Londoner and the other not, see a soldierly figure +ride by along the street. + +“‘That’s the Duke,’ says the Londoner. + +“‘The Duke?’ questions the other. + +“‘Of Wellington, booby!’ exclaims the Londoner, scornful of the +ignoramus who did not know that when one spoke of ‘the Duke,’ +Wellington alone _could_ be meant.” + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + “There was a sound of revelry by night, + And Belgium’s capital had gathered then + Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright + The lamps shone o’er fair women and brave men”. + + +The dance is the harmony of motion wedded to the harmony of sound. +Since men have loved music they have loved dancing, and the perfection +of the dance will be a fascination until the love of music is dead in +the souls of men. + +Herodias dances before the King, and off goes the head of John--a +victim to the sensuous poetry of motion. Nor was Herod the only +intoxicated monarch whose imperial will was seduced by music and the +dance. Ancient history is full of it--this witchery of voluptuous music +and voluptuous motion, the sway of the woman of the dance. + +As far back as we can see into the dim ages of the past, the record +is the same. The story of the witchery of melodious sound and the +rhythmical movement which brings the charm of music to the eye as +well as to the ear, is traced in whatever of sculpture, of painting, +of literature has been saved from the ravages of time. Graven on the +stone, carved upon the frieze, cast in the entablature, delicately +wreathed about the vase, we still see how the ancients loved music, and +how the music made the dance. + +Out of the annals of the dead nations come the living names of their +national dances, and it may be that the fire which burned in the heart +of the Spartan when he went through the Pyrrhic dance was the same as +that which kindled the ardor of the Red Man of the American tribes when +he celebrated his war dance. + +There was the dance of the Furies, the dance of the Harvest, the dance +of May-day, the dance of the religious rite, the dance of rejoicing, +the dance of the marriage feast, the dance of the funeral rite. + +In the Greek Chorus the whole city gave itself to the melody of sound +and the harmony of motion, just as the _farandola_ of to-day is, in +Southern France, an unlooped garland of music and dance drawing into +itself the entire community. Only the Roman refused to dance, and the +Roman is the most unlovely national character in history. + +“Wine, woman, and song!” cried the revellers in the dawn of time; +“Wine, woman, and song!” shout the revellers now; and between these +flowery banks of Pleasure runs the steady, everlasting stream of +earnest purpose, consecration to duty, and love of noble standards, +that bears precious freight toward havens yet unknown. + + * * * * * + +As Thackeray says, there never was, since the days of Darius, such a +brilliant train of camp-followers as hung around Wellington’s army in +the Low Countries, in the year 1815. + +French noblesse who had fled their country, English lords and ladies +who had crossed over to the Continent, diplomats connected with +various European courts, travellers who had stopped at Brussels to +await the issues of the campaign--all these crowded the city. With the +officers of the English and Belgian armies, this made a brilliant and +distinguished society, and many social entertainments were being given. + +Owing principally to the fact that hers was connected with the march of +the English army and the crowning victory of Waterloo, the Duchess of +Richmond’s ball has, historically, obliterated every other. Lord Byron +immortalized it in “Childe Harold”; and after him came Thackeray with +his masterly descriptions in “Vanity Fair.” + +Until a comparatively recent date it has not been known for certain +where the ball took place, for it was well known that it was not given +in the house which the Duke of Richmond was temporarily occupying. + +Sir William Fraser has published a most interesting account of how his +industrious search for the famous ball-room was at length rewarded +by the discovery that the place actually used for the dance was the +store-room, or dépot, of a carriage-builder, whose establishment +joined the rear of the Duke of Richmond’s palace. Instead of being a +“high-hall” as Byron imagined, it was a low room, 13 feet high, 54 +feet broad, and 120 feet long. For the two hundred invited guests it +afforded ample accommodations. + +We can assume that this storage-room for vehicles had been transformed +with hangings and decorations until it presented an appearance +sufficiently brilliant, and we can imagine the eagerness with which +“the beauty and the chivalry” had looked forward to this night. We can +imagine the intrigues for tickets. We can imagine fair women leaning on +the arms of the brave men, and the crash of music, as the band strikes +up, and then, + +“On with the dance!” + +Yonder is the Prince of Orange, heir to the illustrious house which +boasts such names as William III and William the Silent. To whom does +the modern world owe more,--for freedom of conscience, of speech, of +person,--than to the heroic Dutchman who stood, almost alone--and +triumphantly!--against the whole power of the Spanish Empire and the +Pope? From whom have we received a finer lesson in patriotism, and in +desperate determination to be free, than from William III when, as the +armies of the Grand Monarch came irresistibly on, sternly ordered, +“_Cut the dykes! We’ll give Holland back to the sea, rather than become +the slaves of France!_” + +Over there is the Duke of Brunswick--whose father, in 1789, had led +into France that ill-fated invasion which struggled with mud and rain +and green grapes until it was in condition to be demoralized by the +slight cannonade of Dumouriez and the cavalry charge of Kellerman--thus +bringing derision upon its commander who had issued the famous +proclamation in which he threatened Paris with destruction. + +There is Pozzo di Borgo, the Corsican, the boyhood acquaintance of +Napoleon. They had taken different sides in petty Corsican politics; +there had been an affray at the polls, Pozzo had been knocked down and +roughly handled by the Bonaparte faction. Here was the origin of one +of the most active, vindictive and persistent hatreds on record; and +there is no doubt whatever that the Corsican gentleman who now glitters +in this brilliant throng, in the Duchess of Richmond’s ball-room, has +done Napoleon a vast deal of harm. It was he, more than any other, +who influenced the Emperor Alexander against Napoleon. It was he, +more than any other, who in 1814 persuaded the Allies to revoke the +order, already given, to retreat upon the Rhine and, instead, to march +straight upon Paris. + +More notable still, is another opponent of Napoleon whom we see in this +famous ball-room. It is Sir Sydney Smith. “_That man caused me to miss +my destiny!_” exclaimed Napoleon. For Sir Sydney was the unconquerable +Englishman who threw himself into Acre and showed the Turks how to +defend it. Against those walls the French dashed themselves in vain. +Baffled, exhausted, his rear threatened, his heart filled with impotent +rage, Napoleon had to abandon his gorgeous visions of Eastern conquest +and drink to the dregs a bitter cup of humiliation. + +Of course the Duke of Wellington is here, and many of the officers +of his army. The French nobles (emigrés) are represented by some of +the proudest names of the _Ancient Régime_. Ladies of high degree are +present--ladies of beauty, wit, and grace, some from Belgium, France, +England, but none of these are so well known as a certain pretty, +doting, neglected wife named Amelia, and a dashing, brilliant, wicked +adventuress, Becky Sharp, whom Thackeray brings to the ball. As long +as there is such a thing as English literature these two, together +with the prodigal George Osborne and honest William Dobbin, will move +amid those revellers and live amid the stirring scenes of the Eve of +Waterloo. + + “A thousand hearts beat happily; and when + Music arose with its voluptuous swell, + Soft eyes looked love to eyes that spake again, + And all went merrily as a marriage bell.” + +There was no boom of cannon to halt the dance. There was no opening +roar of battle that broke in upon the revelry. The Duke of Wellington +sat down comfortably to the table where the midnight supper was served, +and the officers remained at the ball hours later. Then, as they had +been ordered, they withdrew quietly, one by one, and finally the Duke +came to make his own adieus. + +The youngest daughter of the Duchess of Richmond was awakened and +brought down to the ball-room. With her tiny fingers she buckled on the +great soldier’s sword. + +Do we not all of us recall how Major Dobbin seeks out Captain George, +who has been madly gaming and madly drinking? + +“‘Hullo, Dob! Come and drink, old Dob! The Duke’s wine is famous.’ + +“‘Come out, George,’ said Dobbin gravely. ‘Don’t drink.’ + +“Dobbin went up to him and whispered something to him, at which George, +giving a start and a wild hurray, tossed off his glass, clapped it on +the table, and walked away speedily on his friend’s arm.” + +What Dobbin said was this: “The enemy has crossed the Sambre: our left +is already engaged. Come away. We are to march in three hours.” + + “And there was mounting in hot haste; the steed, + The mustering squadron, and the clattering car, + Went pouring forward with impetuous speed, + And swiftly forming in the ranks of war; + And the deep thunder peal on peal afar; + And near, the beat of the alarming drum + Roused up the soldier ere the morning star, + While throng’d the citizens with terror dumb, + Or whispering, with white lips--‘The foe! They come, they come!’” + +Again, Thackeray: “The sun was just rising as the march began--it was a +gallant sight--the band led the column, playing the regimental march; +then came the major in command, riding upon Pyramus, his stout charger; +then marched the grenadiers, their captain at their head; in the center +were the colors, borne by the senior and junior ensigns; then George +came marching at the head of his company. He looked up, and smiled at +Amelia, and passed on; and even the sound of music died away.” And +Amelia and thousands of other wives go back to wait, to weep, to pray. + +How hard it is to believe that after the officers had hurried away +to join their commands, after the Duke of Wellington had left, after +every young man and young woman in the ball-room _knew_ that their late +partners were hastening to the battlefield, _the ball should continue_. + +Instead of being broken up by the booming cannon and the agonizing +leavetakings imagined by Lord Byron, the revel went on till morning, +when it ended in the usual way. + + * * * * * + +Not until six in the morning of June 16th did the Duke of Wellington +leave Brussels, and, had the orders which he issued the evening before +been carried out, he would have found Ney between himself and the +English army, with the Prussians annihilated! Acting upon their own +responsibility, Major Normann and the Prince of Saxe-Weimar had taken +possession of Quatre Bras. The Prince of Orange’s Chief of Staff, +Constant Rebecque, delivered to the officers the written orders of +Wellington, but told them verbally, in effect, not to obey. As a matter +of fact, these officers paid no attention to the written orders, but +acted upon their own judgment. They could see for themselves what ought +to be done, and they did it. They all rushed to Quatre Bras, determined +to hold it at whatever cost. + +At ten o’clock, Wellington arrived, and he congratulated General +Perponcher on being in possession of Quatre Bras, whose vital +importance he now recognized for the first time. + +Not being attacked at Quatre Bras, Wellington rode to the heights of +Brye to see, for himself, what was going on at Ligny. He and Blücher +went up in the mill of Bussy, from whose roof they could plainly see +every movement of the French. + +It was now too late for the Prussians to escape battle. Therefore, +Wellington, in parting from Blücher to return to Quatre Bras, coolly +said, “I will come to your support provided I am not attacked myself.” +To his aide Wellington remarked, “If he fights here he will be damnably +licked.” + +No wonder that Gneisenau, Chief of Staff to Blücher, formed the opinion +that Wellington was a “master-knave.” + +Had the Prussian hero, Blücher, been as craftily selfish as Wellington, +there would have been no Waterloo. + +On his arrival at Quatre Bras, Wellington found that Ney had at last +realized the true meaning of the Emperor’s orders, and he made frantic +efforts to regain what he had lost. Too late. Vainly Jerome Bonaparte +fights with desperate courage to win and hold the Boissou wood: vainly +Kellerman hurls his handful of horsemen upon the ever-increasing +infantry of the enemy; vainly Ney exposes himself to the hottest fire, +rallying broken lines and leading them back to the charge. Too late. +Regiment after regiment of the English army arrives. In hot haste, the +young officers, who, a few hours ago, had been dancing at the Duchess +of Richmond’s ball, throw themselves into the fight, still in the silk +stockings and buckled shoes of the ball-room. + +So impetuous had been the assault of the French that at first the +English and Hanoverians were driven. The Duke of Wellington, narrowly +escaping capture, was borne backward by the rout. In person he rallied +his men and led a cavalry charge which broke on the French line. Not +until the coming up of Picton’s division did the tide decisively turn; +but then the French, heavily outnumbered, were worsted at all points. + +“The fate of France is in your hands,” the Emperor had written, and +Ney had not understood. All the hours of the morning of the 16th he +had not understood. Precious hours had glided by unimproved. Now it is +afternoon, and at last Ney understands. + +And it is too late. Were he the ally of Wellington and Blücher, he +could not serve them better. Were he the mortal enemy of France, he +could not serve her worse. + +Overwhelmed by the sudden consciousness of his terrible mistake, the +heroic Ney was almost demented. “Oh, that all these English balls were +buried in my body!” Impotent rage, vain remorse: _the English were up, +and all of Wellington’s delays and blunders were remedied_. + +Verily, those who say there is no such thing as _Luck_ have never +studied the history of the Hundred Days! + + * * * * * + +The fatality of the day was, of course, the pendulum swing of D’Erlon’s +corps--a pendulum which swung first toward Napoleon, then toward Ney, +reaching neither. Had not the Emperor turned it back when on its way to +join Ney, Wellington would have been crushed. Had not Ney recalled it +when it was in sight of the Emperor, Blücher would have been destroyed. +But Napoleon took it away from Ney, and Ney took it away from Napoleon, +and neither got to use it. + +D’Erlon’s corps of 20,000 men was utterly lost to the French, although +it was on the march all day and burning to be in the fight. Nothing in +military history equals the ill-luck of this day. In the first place, +Soult’s order to D’Erlon was ambiguous. D’Erlon did not understand +it, and the inexperienced staff-officer, Forbin-Janson, was unable to +explain it. This accounts for D’Erlon showing up at the wrong place and +creating consternation among the French which delayed the final blow +and saved Blücher. + +In the second place, Soult sent only one staff-officer, and this one +did not carry out orders. _He did not inform Ney._ + +An experienced staff-officer would have understood the necessity of +notifying Ney of the Emperor’s orders to D’Erlon, for the Emperor had +placed D’Erlon under the immediate command of Ney. As it was, Marshal +Ney was needing D’Erlon as badly as the Emperor needed him, and was +expecting him every minute. Therefore, he continued to send urgent, +peremptory orders that D’Erlon should hasten to join him. + +Even when General Delcambre, sent by D’Erlon after D’Erlon was well on +his way back to Ligny, reported the retrograde movement to Ney, the +insubordinate Marshal flew into a passion and sent General Delcambre +back with an imperative order that D’Erlon should march on Quatre +Bras. In taking upon himself to overrule his Emperor, he did not even +consider the lateness of the hour, which made it impossible for D’Erlon +to join him in time to be of any service. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +While it was not disorganized or demoralized, Blücher’s army was in +great peril. Two of his army corps were concentrated at Wavre, one was +at Gembloux, and the fourth at Wandesett. Had the French been vigilant, +these separated corps might have been overwhelmed in detail. Through +the carelessness of videttes, the lack of enterprise in the leaders +of reconnoitering parties and the unpardonable neglect of General +Exelmans, neither Napoleon nor Grouchy was informed of the movement of +the Prussian corps. + +After Grouchy was given command of 33,000 troops to pursue the +Prussians, the delays in starting, the slowness of the march, the +lack of harmony between Grouchy and his two lieutenants, Vandamme and +Gérard, made the “pursuit” the most futile on record. + +How it was that an army of 70,000 Prussians could get lost to the +French, then found, then lost again, is something that the untutored +civilian labors in vain to understand. + +Yet that is the truth about it. The morning after the battle of Ligny +the French did not know what had become of the Prussian army. They +began to hunt for it. The search was clumsy and far afield. But at +length Thielman’s corps was located at Gembloux. Grouchy’s entire army +might have enveloped and crushed it. Not being attacked, Thielman +sensibly retired, and when the French entered Gembloux they did not +even know what had become of those Prussians. A strange “pursuit,” +truly. + +Although he still had two hours of daylight, Grouchy decided that the +“pursuit” had been pushed far enough for one day, and he postponed +further activities until the morrow. During the night he received +intelligence that the whole Prussian army was marching on Wavre. That +Wavre was on a parallel line to the line of Wellington’s retreat, and +that Blücher’s purpose might be to succor Wellington when necessary +never once entered Grouchy’s head. On the contrary, he believed that +Blücher was making for Brussels and would not tarry at Wavre. Yet he +knew that the Emperor was expecting a battle _just where that of the +next day was fought_. + +Then why not put his 33,000 men nearer to the Emperor than Blücher +would be to Wellington? To do so he had but to cross the little river +Dyle and march along its left bank. Wavre is on the left bank of the +Dyle, and therefore he would have to cross it in any event, going +to Wavre. And by maneuvering on that side of the river he could the +more readily keep in communication with the Emperor and succor him +in case of need. That Napoleon expected Grouchy to do this is shown +by the orders which he gave to General Marbot to throw out cavalry +detachments in that direction. On the morning of the fateful 18th the +well-rested troops of Grouchy might have marched at three. Yet they +were not ordered to move till six, and did not actually get under way +until about eight. When the French of Grouchy left Gembloux for Wavre, +_the Prussians had already been four hours on the desperate march to +Waterloo_. + +Having at length got his army off, the admirable Grouchy rode as far as +Walhain, where he entered the house of a notary to write a dispatch to +the Emperor. Having done this,--it was now about ten o’clock,--Marshal +Grouchy coolly sat down to his breakfast. At this hour the Prussian +advance guard had reached St. Lambert, and Wellington knew it. And here +was Napoleon’s lieutenant, placidly working his way to those historic +strawberries, blissfully ignorant of the fact that his stupendous folly +had wrecked Napoleon’s last campaign. + +Upon this breakfast enter the excited officers who have heard the +opening guns at Waterloo. “A rearguard affair, no doubt,” thinks the +admirable Grouchy. But soon the distant thunder and the cloud of smoke +tell of a battle, a great battle--a battle of which men will talk as +long as there are human tongues to wag, as long as there are human +hearts to feel. + +“The battle is at Mont-Saint-Jean,” says a guide. And that is where +the Emperor thought the fight would be. “We must march to the +cannon,” says Gérard. So says General Valezé. But Grouchy pleads his +orders. “If you will not go, allow me to go with my corps and General +Vallin’s cavalry,” pleads Gérard. “No,” said Grouchy; “it would be an +unpardonable mistake to divide my troops.” And he galloped away to +amuse himself with Thielman, as Blücher had meant that he should do. + +So, all day long, while the Emperor strained his eyes to the right, +looking, looking, oh how longingly! for his own legions, his own +eagles, Grouchy was in a mere rearguard engagement with Thielman. + +When Bülow appeared like a sudden cloud in the horizon, the Emperor +hoped it was Grouchy. When the cannonade at Wavre reached La Belle +Alliance, the Emperor fancied that the sound drew nearer--that Grouchy +was coming, at last. The agony of suspense which drew from Wellington +the famous “Blücher, or night,” could only have been equalled by the +storm which raged within the Emperor’s breast--the storm of impotent +rage, and of regret that he had leaned so heavy upon so frail a reed as +Grouchy. + +The positive order which the Emperor sent to Grouchy, after the +appearance of the Prussians at Chapelle-Saint-Lambert, were delivered +in time for a diversion in Bülow’s rear which would have released +Napoleon’s right. But Grouchy decided that he would obey this order +_after_ he had taken Wavre. As he did not take Wavre until nightfall, +he might just as well have been openly a traitor to his flag. During +the whole of two days he had been repeating “my orders, my orders,” +and his apologists are forever prating about those orders; but what +about this last order, hot and direct, from the field where all was +at stake? How could a victory over Thielman be anything but a trivial +affair in comparison with the tremendous conflict going on over there +at Mont-Saint-Jean? + +Ah, well, he took Wavre, licked his Thielman, extricated his army very +cleverly from a most perilous position made for it by the disaster +of Waterloo, got back into France in admirable shape, and had the +satisfaction of knowing that he had made a record unique in the history +of the world. + +As the man who did not do the thing he was sent to do, Grouchy has +no peer. As a man who, in war, exemplified the adage of “penny wise +and pound foolish,” Grouchy is unapproachable. As a man who,--by an +almost miraculous union of inertness, stupidity, pig-headed obstinacy, +complacent conceit, jealous pride, and inopportune wilfulness,--caused +the last battle of the greatest soldier of all time to become the +synonym for unbounded and irremediable disaster, Grouchy occupies a +lofty, lonely pillar of his own--a sort of military Simeon Stylites. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WATERLOO + + +Why had the Emperor been so late in getting into motion on the +morning of the 16th? Why had he not started at five o’clock, and +caught Zieten’s corps unsupported? Why did he give Blücher time to +concentrate? Why did he not press the attack farther on the evening of +the day when the Prussians were in full retreat? Why did he fail to +give Grouchy the customary order to pursue with all the cavalry? + +Satisfactory answers cannot be made. That Napoleon’s conceptions were +as grand as ever is apparent, but his failure in matters of detail is +equally clear. Perhaps mental and physical weariness after several +hours of sustained exertion and anxiety, furnish the most plausible +explanation of these errors. + +At any rate, when he threw himself on his bed at Fluerus on the night +of the 16th, Napoleon was worn out. Yet he did not know the true state +of the Prussian army, nor what Ney had done at Quatre Bras. Soult sent +no dispatches to Ney, and Ney sent none to Soult. + +The Emperor went to sleep _believing_ but not _knowing_ that Blücher +had been so badly battered that it would take him at least two days +to gather together the remnant of his army. More unfortunately still, +Napoleon believed that the Prussians had taken up a line of retreat +which would carry them beyond supporting distance of the English. + +To the contrary of both these convictions of the Emperor, the bulk of +the Prussian army was preserving its formation, and Gneisenau, acting +for Blücher, who was believed to be dead or a prisoner, had directed +the retreat on Wavre. Thus the Prussians were keeping within supporting +distance of the English, although this was not Gneisenau’s motive in +issuing the order. He chose Wavre for the reason that at Wavre the +separated corps of the army could best reunite. + + * * * * * + +The morning of the 17th of June dawns, and Napoleon has Wellington in +his power. _But neither Wellington nor Napoleon knows it._ The Duke +does not know what has become of the Prussians, and the Emperor does +not know that the English are where he and Ney, acting in concert, can +utterly destroy them. + +It seems incredible that Ney sent no report to Napoleon, and that the +Emperor sent no courier to Ney. But that is just the fact. It was +not until _after_ Wellington had received the report of the Prussian +retreat, had realized his peril, and was backing away from it, that +Napoleon awoke to a sense of the opportunity which fortune had held +for him all that morning, while he lay supinely upon his bed, or idly +talked Parisian politics with his officers. + +When he _did_ realize what might have been, he was ablaze with a fierce +desire to make up for lost time. Too late. Wellington was already at a +safe distance, in full retreat on Brussels, and Ney had not molested +him by firing a single shot. + +Soon the Emperor reached Quatre Bras, but what could he do? True, he +could dash after the English cavalry and chase it as the hunter chases +the hare, but even the rearguard of the enemy made good its escape. + +They say that as the black storm cloud spread over the heavens to the +North the hills behind were still bathed in sunlight, and that as +the English officer, Lord Uxbridge, looked back, he saw a horseman +suddenly emerge from a dip in the road and appear on the hill in +front--and they knew it to be Napoleon, leading the pursuit. + +A battery galloped up, took position, opened fire. And as it did so, +the thunder from the storm-cloud mingled with the thunder of the guns, +and the great rain of June 17th had begun to pour down. + +“Gallop faster, men! For God’s sake, gallop, or you will be taken!” It +was Lord Uxbridge speeding his flying cavalry. + +After them streamed the French. Almost, but not quite, the English were +overtaken. So close came the French that the English heard their curses +and jeers, just as Sir John Moore’s retreating men heard them as they +took to their boats after the death-grapple at Corunna. + +Torrents of rain were pouring down. The roads became bogs. Where +the highways passed between embankments each road was a rushing +stream. Horses mired to their knees. Cannon carriages sank to the +hubs. The infantry was soaked with water and covered with mud. The +labor of getting forward was exhausting to man and beast. But the +French pressed on until they reached the hills opposite the heights +of Mont-Saint-Jean. Upon those heights, and between the French and +Brussels, Wellington had come to a stand. + +A reconnaissance in force caused the English to unmask, and Napoleon +was happy. The English army was before him. That he would crush it on +the morrow, he had not the slightest doubt. He not only believed this, +but had good reason to believe it. Had not the Prussians gone away +to Namur, out of supporting distance? Such was his firm conviction, +based partly on the knowledge of what would be the natural course for +the retreating army to take, and partly on the report of his scouts. +Besides, had he not sent Grouchy, Vandamme, and Gérard to take care of +Blücher? + +Could the great soldier believe that his lieutenants, trained in his +own school by years of service in the field, could manage so stupidly +as to allow the Prussians to take him in flank, while he was giving +battle to the English? + +Regarding the vexed question as to whether the order given to Grouchy +was sufficient, a civilian can but say that it would seem that Grouchy +ought to have known what was expected of him even if he had not been +specially instructed. The very size of the army entrusted to him was +enough to denote its purpose. The fact that Napoleon was going after +Wellington and was sending Grouchy after Blücher said as plainly as +words, “You take care of Blücher, while I take care of Wellington.” +By necessary implication, the mere sending of Grouchy with 33,000 men +after Blücher meant that Grouchy’s mission was to keep the Prussians +off Napoleon while Napoleon was fighting the English. + +This was the common sense of it, and the Emperor had every reason +to believe that no intelligent officer of his army could possibly +understand it otherwise. + +Therefore, when he saw that Wellington meant to give battle, he felt +the stern joy of the warrior who expects a fair fight and a brilliant +victory. + +To Napoleon, a victory there meant even more. It meant the possible +end of arduous warfare, an era of peace for France, the return to +his arms of his son, and the crowning of his wonderful career by the +continuation and completion of that system of internal improvements and +beneficent institutions to which Europe owes so much. Therefore, when +he plowed through the mud, drenched with rain, and went the rounds of +his army posts, peering through the mists toward the English lines, +listening for any sound of an army breaking camp to retreat, he was +happy to be convinced, “They mean to fight.” + +No one could shake his belief that the Prussians had gone off toward +Namur. That they had retired by a parallel line with the English was +incredible. That Blücher would appear on the morrow, _and strike his +flank within two hours after the signal for battle was fired_, was a +thought which could not possibly have been driven into Napoleon’s head. + +In vain did his brother Jerome tell him of what a servant of the inn +had overheard the English officers say, that very afternoon--that +Blücher was to come to their aid the next day. Napoleon scouted the +story. To his dying day, it is doubtful whether he believed that +Wellington’s decision to stay and fight was based upon the practical +certainty that Blücher would come to his aid. To that effect Blücher +had given his promise--and Wellington knew that Blücher was not the man +to make his ally a false promise to induce him to fight. + +Although Napoleon had slept but little on Saturday night (the 17th) +and had been out in the rain and mud for hours making the rounds of +his outposts, a distance of two miles, he seemed fresh and cheerful at +breakfast, and chatted freely with his officers. + +There was a question of fixing the hour of the attack. To give the +ground time to become drier and firmer under sun and wind, hour after +hour was suffered to pass. All this while the more energetic Blücher +was plowing his way toward the field, over ground just as wet. To a +civilian it would seem if the soil was firm enough to march on, it was +firm enough to fight on. If the Prussians could drag their artillery +through the defiles of the Lasne, the French should have been able to +handle theirs in the valleys of Smohaine and Braine-L’Alleud. + +Therefore, it would seem to this writer that on the morning of June +18th, when Napoleon Bonaparte sat idly in his lines waiting for sun +and wind to harden the ground, he had no one but himself to blame +for giving Blücher time to reach the field. During these hours of +waiting it appears singular that no details of the plan of attack +were discussed. It seems strange that no preparations were made to +cannonade the château of Hougoumont and its outbuildings and walls. It +seems strange that no battery was planted to shell the farmhouses of La +Haye-Sainte. It seems equally strange that nails and hammers were not +provided for the spiking of captured cannon. + + * * * * * + +One of the most horribly fascinating of historical manuscripts is the +warrant against his enemies which Robespierre was signing when Bourdon +broke into the room and shot him. There is the incomplete signature +of the erstwhile Dictator, and there are the stains made by the blood +which spurted from his shattered jaw. + +Even more profoundly interesting are a few words written in pencil by +Marshal Ney, upon an order which Soult was about to send to General +D’Erlon: “Count D’Erlon will understand that the action is to commence +on the left, not on the right. Communicate this new arrangement to +General Reilé.” + +Why had the Emperor changed his mind? At St. Helena, he appears not to +have recalled the fact that he changed his plan of battle because Ney +reported that a small stream, which was on the line of advance to the +right, had been swollen by the rains and it was impassable. + +Stonewall Jackson was one of the many military experts who studied the +field of Waterloo, and who said that the attack should have been made +on the right. It was there that Wellington was weakest. Had the French +struck him there, Hougoumont would have been worthless to him and would +not have cost such a frightful loss to the French. But the Emperor, at +the last moment, changed his mind. + + +THE LAST BATTLE + +“_Magnificent! Magnificent!_” exclaimed Napoleon as he overlooked the +legions that were moving over the plateau, going into position. + +Seated on his white mare, his gray dust-coat covering all but the front +of the green uniform, on his head the small cocked hat of the Brienne +school, silver spurs on the riding-boots which reached the knee, and +at his side the sword of Marengo--the great Captain was never more +radiant, never surer of success than now. + +_Vive l’Empereur!_ rolled in thunder tones as the troops marched +before him. The drum-beat was drowned in the mighty shout of the +legions as they went down into the valley of the shadow of death. +It was, on the vastest scale, the old, old cry of the gladiators as +they trooped past the imperial box to take their stations in the +arena--“_Caesar! we, who are about to die, salute you!_” + +As the regiments passed in review, the eagles were dipped to the +Emperor, every saber flashed in the sun, every bayonet waved a hat +or cap, every pennon was wildly shaken, every band struck up the +national air, “_Let us watch over the safety of the Empire_”--and over +everything, drowning the roll of the drums and the call of the bugles, +rose that frantic cry of frenzied devotion, “_Vive l’Empereur!_” + +Napoleon’s eye dilated, his breast expanded with pride--for the +last time, the very last time. Proud he had often been, and in most +instances he had won the right to be so. On the heights of Rossomme +and on the plateau of La Belle Alliance, he was, this Sunday morning, +deservedly proud. He had reconquered an empire without drawing +the sword, had almost done what Pompey had boasted that he could +do--_called forth an army by the stamp of his foot_; had smitten his +enemies and put them to rout, and now while his lieutenant, on the +right, would “cut off the Prussians from Wellington,”--as Grouchy had +written that he would,--he, Napoleon, would crush the English, and so +win back peace with honor. + +A more magnificent army than that which he proudly views has never +been marshalled for battle, for here are heroes whose record reaches +all the way back through Montmirail, Dresden, Wagram, Jena, Borodino, +Austerlitz, Eylau and Friedland, to Marengo. + +And Napoleon is proud, this last time. + + * * * * * + +In the field Napoleon had 74,000 men and 246 guns; Wellington had +67,000 men and 184 guns. But the British position was strong. The +hollow road of Ohain gave them the benefit of its trench for 400 yards. +There were barricades of felled trees on the Brussels and Nivelles +roads. There was a sand-pit which served as an intrenchment, and the +strong buildings and enclosure of Hougoumont, La Haye-Sainte and +Papelotte were formidable defences. + +Yet General Haxo, who was sent by Napoleon to inspect the enemy’s +lines, reported that he could not perceive any fortifications! + +In addition to the hollow road, the natural advantage of the position +of the English was that, from the crest which they were to defend, the +ground fell away so as to form a declivity behind the crest, and along +this hillside the English were partially sheltered from the French fire +and altogether hidden from view. From where he was, Napoleon could not +see more than half of Wellington’s army. Another natural protection to +the English position were the tall, thick hedges, impassable to the +French cavalry. + +All things considered, the attempt of the Emperor to break the center +of an English army, so well posted as this, can be fairly compared to +Lee’s efforts to storm the heights of Gettysburg. And in each case the +attack was made in ignorance of vitally important facts. + +Well might Napoleon afterward reproach himself for not having +reconnoitered the English position. + + * * * * * + +At thirty-five minutes past eleven the first gun was fired. + +Reillé had been ordered to occupy the approaches to Hougoumont, and +had entrusted the movement to Jerome Bonaparte. At the head of the +1st Light Infantry he charged the wood held by Nassau and Hanoverian +carbineers. An hour of furious fighting in the dense thickets--in which +General Bauduin was killed--resulted in clearing the woods of the +enemy; but on getting clear of the thicket the French found themselves +coming upon the strong walls and the large buildings of the château. + +Jerome had no orders to lead infantry against a fortress like this, +but he did it, nevertheless. Wellington had thrown a garrison into +Hougoumont; the walls were loopholed for musketry; and the French were +led to slaughter. It was impossible for infantry to break these thick +walls of solid masonry, yet Jerome, in spite of the advice of his chief +of staff and the orders of his immediate superior, Reillé, persisted +until Hougoumont had cost the lives of 1,600 Frenchmen and had called +away from the main battle nearly 11,000 men. + +Why it was that the walls were not breached with cannon before the +infantry was led against them can only be explained upon the hypothesis +that the Emperor never once thought his brother capable of so mad an +undertaking. + +It was nearly one o’clock when Napoleon formed a battery of eighty guns +and was ready to make a great attack on the English center. Before +giving word to Ney, who was to lead it, the Emperor carefully scanned +the entire battlefield through his glass. + +_What is that black cloud which has come upon the distant horizon, +there on the northeast?_ Every staff officer turns his glasses to the +heights of Chapelle-Saint-Lambert. “Trees,” say some. But Napoleon +knows better. Those are troops. But whose? Are they his? Is it Grouchy? +Suppose it is the advance guard of Blücher! + +A hush, a chill falls upon the staff. A cavalry squad is sent to +reconnoiter; but before it has even cleared itself of the French +lines, a prisoner taken by Marbot’s hussars is brought to the Emperor. +This prisoner was the bearer of a letter from Bülow to Wellington to +announce the arrival of the Prussians! Even now the Emperor does not +realize his danger, does not suspect the truth of the situation, for +he believes that Grouchy is so maneuvering as to protect the French +right and to prevent the Prussians from falling on his flank. Napoleon +sends him the dispatch: “A letter which has just been intercepted tells +us that General Bülow is to attack our right flank. We believe we can +perceive the corps on the heights of Chapelle-Saint-Lambert. Therefore +do not lose a minute to draw nearer to us and to join us and crush +Bülow, whom you will catch in the very act.” + +Immediately the Emperor detached the cavalry divisions of Domon and +Subervie to the right to be ready to hold the Prussians in check, and +the 6th Corps (Lobau) was ordered to move up behind this cavalry. + +_Thus from half-past one in the afternoon Napoleon had two armies with +which to deal._ + +Had he suspected that Blücher had left Thielman’s corps to amuse +Grouchy while the bulk of the Prussian army was hastening to join Bülow +on the right flank of the French, the Emperor would probably not have +gone deeper into this fight. Expecting every moment to hear the roar +of Grouchy’s guns in Bülow’s rear, the Emperor now ordered Ney to the +grand attack on the English line. + +Eighty cannon thundered against Mont-Saint-Jean, and the English +batteries roared in reply. For half an hour the earth quivered with the +shock, and in Brussels, twenty miles away, every living soul hung upon +the roar of the guns. Merchants closed their stores; business of all +sorts suspended; eager crowds hurried to the Namur gate to listen, to +question stragglers from the front; timid travellers, who had come in +the train of Wellington’s army, hastily secured conveyances and fled by +the Ghent road. In the churches, women prayed. + +Is Blücher the only man who could play the game of leaving a part of +his troops to detain the enemy? Cannot Grouchy leave 10,000 men to die, +if necessary, in holding Thielman, while with the remainder he pushes +for the distant battlefield? + +There are those who say he could not have arrived in time had he made +the effort. How can anybody know that? Certainly his cavalry could have +covered the distance, and the infantry in all probability would have +arrived in time to take the exhausted English in the rear, after their +advance to La Belle Alliance, and cut the surprised troops to pieces. + +Thus while the Prussians were chasing Napoleon, Grouchy would have been +chasing Wellington, with the net result that the Prussians, within a +few days, would have been caught between Napoleon’s rallied troops and +the victorious army of Grouchy. But it was not to be so. Grouchy did +precisely what Blücher wanted him to do--spent the golden hours with +Thielman at Wavre. + +After the cannonade of half an hour, Ney and D’Erlon led the grand +attack on the English position. And a worse managed affair it would +be difficult to imagine. Instead of forming columns of attack, +admitting of easy and rapid deployment, the troops were massed in +compact phalanxes, with a front of 166 to 200 files, with a depth +of twenty-four men. The destruction which canister causes on dense +masses like these, exposed in the open field, is something horrible +to contemplate. The error was so glaring that one of the division +commanders, Durutte, flatly refused to allow his men to be formed in +that way. + +Where was the eagle glance of Napoleon that he did not detect the +faulty formation which Ney and D’Erlon were making? Is such a detail +beneath the notice of a commander-in-chief? + +If the Emperor saw the mistake he gave no sign, and the troops of +D’Erlon, ashamed of not having been in the fights of the 16th, rushed +into the valley shouting, “_Vive l’Empereur!_” + +“Into the jaws of death” they marched, for as they crossed the valley +and mounted the slopes beyond, the English batteries cut long lanes +through their deep, dense lines and they fell by the hundreds. + +A part of the attacking force was thrown against the walls and +buildings of La Haye-Sainte, and here, as at Hougoumont, infantry were +slaughtered from behind unbreached walls. But the great charge against +the English position went on heedless of such detail as the attack on +La Haye-Sainte. Through the rye, which was breast-high, and over ground +into which they mired at every step, the columns of D’Erlon pressed +upward, crying “_Vive l’Empereur!_” + +The defenders of the sand pit were driven out and thrown beyond the +hedges. The Netherlanders and Dutch broke, and in their flight behind +the hedges disordered the ranks of an English regiment. The Nassau +troops, which held the Papelotte farm, were dislodged by the French +under Durutte, and the great charge seemed to be on the point of +succeeding. But the faulty formation of the attacking columns ruined +all. When the attempt was made to deploy, so much time was consumed +that the English gunners had only to fire at the dense mass of men +to litter the earth with the wounded and the dead. The carnage was +frightful. + +Picton, the English general, seeing the efforts of the French to +deploy, seized the opportunity, led a brigade against the French +column, delivered a volley, and then ordered a bayonet charge. Pouring +from behind the hedges, the English rushed upon the confused mass of +French, and a terrible fight at close quarters took place. It was here +that Picton was killed. + +While the column of Donzelot was engaged in this desperate struggle, +the column of Marcognet had broken through the hedges and was advancing +to take a battery. But as the French shouted “Victory,” the sound of +the bag-pipes was heard, and the Highlanders opened fire. Owing to +their faulty formation, the French could only reply by a volley from +the front line of a single battalion. Their only hope was to charge +with the bayonet. While desperately engaged with the Scotch troops, +Lord Uxbridge dashed upon them with his cavalry. + +The issue could not be doubtful. The French could not deploy; the +confused mass could not defend itself against infantry or cavalry. They +were raked by cannon shot, and by musketry, and the English cavalry +hacked them to pieces. The slaughter was pitiable and was mainly due to +a formation which gave these brave men no chance to fight. + +In their exultation the English carried their charges too far. The +Scotch Greys, indeed, dashed up the slope upon which the French were +posted, captured the division of batteries of Durutte and attempted +to carry the main battery. Napoleon himself ordered the countercharge +which swept the English cavalry beyond La Haye-Sainte. + +All this while, Jerome Bonaparte was still assaulting Hougoumont. +Defenders and assailants had each been reinforced. The Emperor ordered +a battery of howitzers to shell the buildings. Fire broke out, and +the château and its outbuildings were consumed. The English threw +themselves into the chapel, the barn, the farmer’s house, a sunken +road, and continued to hold the position. + +It was now half-past three o’clock. Wellington and Napoleon were both +becoming uneasy--the former because Blücher’s troops were not yet in +line, the latter because he had begun to doubt that Grouchy would come. +The Emperor ordered Ney to make another attack on La Haye-Sainte. The +English, from behind hedges of the Ohain road, repulsed it. + +While the movement was being made the main French battery of eighty +guns cannonaded the English right center. “Never had the oldest +soldiers heard such a cannonade,” said General Alten. + +The English line moved back a short distance so as to get the +protection of the edge of the plateau. Ney, mistaking this movement, +ordered a cavalry charge. At first he meant to use a brigade only, but +owing to some misunderstanding that cannot be cleared up, this intended +charge of a brigade drew into it practically all the cavalry of the +French army. Napoleon himself did not see what was happening. From his +position near the “Maison Decoster” inn, Napoleon did not have a view +of the ground in which the cavalry divisions were forming for this +premature disastrous attack. + +The English saw it all, and were glad to see it. What better could they +ask? Their lines had not been disordered by artillery or by infantry; +what had they to fear from cavalry? Nothing. They sprang up, formed +squares and waited. The English gunners, whose batteries were in front, +were ordered to reserve their fire till the last moment, and then to +take shelter within the squares. + +As the French advanced, they were exposed to the full fury of the +English batteries. The slope up which the cavalry rode is not steep, +but the tall grain and the deep mud made it extremely difficult. + +Yet this magnificent body of horse, in spite of dreadful losses, drove +the gunners from the batteries and took the guns! + +But they had nothing to spike them with, they could not drag them away, +they did not even break the cannon sponges. + +Therefore when they found that the English infantry was not in +disorder, but in squares upon whose walls of steel no impression could +be made; when they fell into confusion because of their own numbers +crowded in so small a space, when Uxbridge’s five thousand fresh horses +were hurled upon the jaded French, and they fell back before the shock, +the English gunners had but to run back to their guns and renew the +murderous cannonade. + +Yet no sooner had the wonderful soldiers of Milhaud and +Lefebre-Desnoette reached the bottom of the valley than they charged +up the muddy slopes again. Once more they drove in the cannoneers: +once more they carried the heights, and fell upon the English squares. +At this moment some of the English officers believed that the battle +was lost. But Napoleon watched the cavalry charge with uneasiness and +called it “premature.” Soult declared that “Ney is compromising us as +he did at Jena.” + +The Emperor said, “This has taken place an hour too soon, but we must +stand by what is already done.” Then he sent to Kellerman and Guyot an +order to charge. This carried into action the remaining cavalry. It was +now after five o’clock. + +In a space which offered room for the deployment of only one thousand, +eight or nine thousand French cavalry went to fight unbroken infantry! + +A storm of cannon balls broke upon these dense masses, and the +slaughter was terrific, but nothing stopped the French. Again they +swept past the guns, again they assaulted the squares, time and again +and again--while an enfilading fire emptied saddles by the hundred +at every volley. Some of the squares were broken, an English flag was +captured, the German Legion lost its colors, the French horse rode +through the English line, to be destroyed by the batteries in reserve. +Wellington had taken refuge within a square, but he now came out and +ordered a charge of his cavalry. For the third time the French were +driven off the plateau. + +Yet Ney, losing his head completely, led another cavalry charge! Again +ran the gunners away from the batteries, and again the cavalry broke on +the squares. In fact, the wounded and dead were piled so high in front +of the squares that each had a hideous breastwork before it which made +it almost impossible for the French to reach the English. + +Inasmuch as the Emperor had decided to support Ney in his cavalry +charges, it seems strange that neither he nor Ney used the infantry. + +The 6,000 men of the Bachelu and Foy division were close by, watching +the cavalry charges and eager to support them. As Ney was personally +leading the cavalry, it is easy to understand how he came to forget +everything else; but the Emperor’s failure to send in this infantry is +not readily understood. + +Only after the fourth charge of the cavalry had been repulsed, did Ney +call in the infantry. But he was too late; the English batteries tore +this closely packed body of men to shreds, and in a few minutes 1,500 +had fallen and the column was in retreat. + +It was now six o’clock. La Haye-Sainte was at length taken, with great +loss of life on both sides. From this point of vantage Ney assailed +the English lines. The sand pit was again abandoned by the enemy, and +Ney used this and a mound near La Haye-Sainte to pour a destructive +fire upon the center of Wellington’s line. The French infantry charged, +drove the English, captured a flag, and there was now a gap in the very +center of the English line. Wellington was in a critical condition, and +had the Old Guard charged _then_, neither Blücher nor night might have +come in time. + +Ney saw the opportunity and sent to the Emperor for a few infantry to +complete the work. “Troops?” exclaimed Napoleon to the officer who +brought Ney’s message. “Where do you expect me to get them? Do you +expect me to make them?” + +At the same moment, one of Wellington’s lieutenants sent for +reinforcements. “There are none,” he said. Suppose that at this moment +Napoleon could have hurled on the English line the 16,000 men who were +holding back the Prussians! + +Yet the fact is that the Emperor had in hand fourteen battalions +which had not been engaged, and what amazes the civilian is that, +after refusing to take advantage of the impression Ney had made upon +the enemy’s line, Napoleon organized another general advance against +Mont-Saint-Jean an hour later. + + * * * * * + +Ever since two o’clock the Prussians had been operating on the French +right wing. Bülow’s corps was having a bloody struggle with Lobau +and the Young Guard. Time and again the Prussians were thrown back; +time and again they returned to the attack. At the instant when Ney +was demanding more troops, Lobau’s corps was in retreat and the Young +Guard was driven out of Plancenoit. Napoleon’s own position on La Belle +Alliance was threatened. To prevent the Prussians from coming upon his +rear, the Emperor sent in eleven battalions of the Old Guard which, +with fixed bayonets and without firing a shot, drove the Prussians out +of Plancenoit and chased them six hundred yards. + +It was now after seven o’clock. There were still two hours of daylight. +In the distance were heard the guns of Grouchy; the sound seemed to +draw nearer. The Emperor, counting too much on Grouchy always, believed +that at last his tardy lieutenant was engaged with the bulk of the +Prussian army, and that he himself would have to deal with the corps of +Bülow only. + +The Emperor swept the field of battle with his glass. On the right, +Durutte’s division held Papelotte and La Haye and was advancing up the +slope toward the English line. On the left, Jerome had stormed the +burning château of Hougoumont, and the Lancers had crossed the Nivelles +road. In the center, and above La Haye-Sainte, the French were driving +the enemy along the Ohain road. The valley was crowded with the wrecks +of broken French regiments. + +Placing himself at the head of nine battalions of the Old Guard, +Napoleon led it down into the valley, spoke to his men briefly, and +launched them against the enemy. It was too late. A deserter had given +Wellington full notice of the preparations for the attack and he had +thrown reinforcements into the weak portions of his line. The arrival +of Zeiten’s Prussians relieved the flanking squadrons of Vivian and +Vandeleur, and Wellington now had 2,600 fresh horsemen to throw into +the fight. + +At full gallop, the Prussian Commissioner to the Allies, Muffling, rode +to Zeiten, exclaiming, “The battle is lost if you do not go to the +Duke’s rescue.” + +On came the Prussians, striking the French flank from Smohain, and in +spite of all the personal exertions of the Emperor, a panic spread +throughout that part of his army. + +Couriers had been sent all along the line to tell the French that +Grouchy was approaching. Yet the battle on the right where Lobau and +the Young Guard were struggling to keep Bülow back must have been known +to thousands of the troops. Then, when they actually saw the Prussians +taking them in flank, all their fears of treachery were intensified and +they were filled with terror. + +But the Emperor had raised his arm to strike the enemy one final blow +and he could not stay his hand. Even had he tried to recall Ney, +D’Erlon, Reillé, it is doubtful whether the situation would have been +improved. There was so much confusion, so many shattered commands, +that an orderly retreat had become impossible. + +Encouraged by the report that Grouchy had come, the charging columns +shouted “_Vive l’Empereur!_” and passed on. + +Freeing himself from the fifth horse which had been shot under him that +day, the dauntless Ney went forward on foot, sword in hand. Losing +terribly at every step, the French advanced up the slope. They took +some batteries, they almost gained the Crest; but suddenly Maitland’s +Guards, 2,000 strong, sprang up out of the wheat where they had been +lying concealed, and poured a deadly volley into the French. Why was +there no officer with presence of mind enough to cry then, “_Give them +the bayonet_”? That was the one hope of the French. Instead of doing +this, the officers tried to place the men in line so as to exchange +volleys with the enemy. Fatal mistake. Wellington, noting the confusion +and the hesitation, took advantage of it like a good soldier. + +“Up, Guards, and at ’em!” cried the Duke. + +“Forward, boys, now is your time!” cried Colonel Saltoun. + +The French, fighting frantically, were beaten back to the orchard of +Hougoumont. + +Here a fresh battalion (4th Chasseurs) came to the relief of the +retreating French, and the English returned rapidly to their own lines. + +Once more the Old Guard moves up the muddy slope, under the tremendous +cannonade of the English guns. As they cross the Ohain road, an English +brigade opens four lines of fire upon their flank; Maitland’s Guards +and Halkett’s brigade oppose them in front; and a Hanoverian brigade, +coming from the hedges of Hougoumont, fire upon them from the rear. The +finishing blow is Colborn’s charge with fixed bayonets. + +“The guard gives way!” rings over the battlefield--a wail of despair, +of terror. + +“Treachery!” is the cry throughout the field. + +Now is the time to make an end of this panic-stricken army, and +Wellington, spurring to the crest, waves his hat--the signal for an +advance all along the line. + +As night closes in, the English army, 40,000 strong, rush down the +bloody, corpse-strewn slope, trampling the wounded and the dead, +crying, “No Quarter!” + +The drum, the bugle, the bagpipe quicken the march of the English and +the flight of the French. Making no stand at La Haye-Sainte, none at +Hougoumont, none anywhere, the French army, already honeycombed with +suspicion, dissolves in terror. Never had so strong a war-weapon shown +itself so brittle. + +Napoleon was at La Haye-Sainte, forming another column of attack which +he meant to lead in person, when he looked up and saw the Old Guard +falter and stop. + +“They are confused. All is lost!” Hoping to stem the tide of the +English advance and to establish rallying points for his flying troops, +he formed four squares from a column of the Old Guard which had not +been engaged. These he posted above La Haye-Sainte. As the English +horsemen came on, they dashed in vain against these walls of steel and +fire. But nothing so frail as four squares could arrest the advance of +40,000 men. The English cavalry poured through the gaps which separated +the squares and continued their headlong pursuit of the terrified +French. + +When the English infantry came up and raked the squares with musketry; +when the English batteries began to hail grapeshot upon them, the +Emperor gave the order to abandon the position. Attended by a small +escort he galloped to the height of La Belle Alliance. + +The three squares fell back, slowly, steadily, surrounded on all sides +by the enemy. With the regularity of the paradeground these matchless +soldiers of the Old Guard halted to fire, to reform their ranks, and +then move on again. + +“Fugitives from the battlefield looked back from the distance and +marked the progress of the retreat by the regular flash of these guns.” +On that black valley of death and vast misfortune it was the repeated +flashes of lightning irradiating a stormcloud. + +Filled with admiration and sympathy, let us hope, an English officer +cried out, “Surrender!” + +And Cambronne shot out the word which Victor Hugo indecently glorified, +but which with convincing emphasis spurned the very thought of +surrender. The squares, unbroken, reached the summit of La Belle +Alliance, where Cambronne fell, apparently dead, from a ball which +struck him in the face. + +It was here that the Prussians, who had at last broken in on the right, +bore down on the squares. Assailed by overwhelming odds--infantry, +artillery, cavalry--they were destroyed. + +Several hundred yards back there were two battalions of the Old Guard, +formed in squares. Within one of these squares was the Emperor. +Planting a battery of 12-pounders, he made a final effort to check the +pursuit and to rally his troops. The Guard’s call to arms was sounded, +but the fugitives continued to pour by and none rallied. The battery +exhausted its ammunition and the gunners, refusing to fly, were cut +down by the English hussars. + +Upon the squares themselves the enemy could make no impression until +overpowering masses of Prussian and English infantry came up. Then the +Emperor ordered a retreat. In good order these veterans marched off the +field, stopping from time to time to fire a volley upon their pursuers. + +At the farm of Le Caillou the battalion formed in column, and on its +flank slowly rode the Emperor, reeling with fatigue, so that he had +to be supported in the saddle. His bridle reins were loose upon his +horse’s neck. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +As the moon came out that night, her cold face was hateful to the +fleeing French, for it lit the roads for the merciless pursuers. + +The exhausted English had halted at La Belle Alliance. + +The Prussians came thundering on, and the two victors, Wellington and +Blücher, embraced. Each called the other the winner of the day. Justly +so--for each _was_ the winner. To success both had been necessary. + +The Prussians had made a most fatiguing march in the morning, and had +fought with desperation for many hours, but they alone had strength +left for the pursuit. Wellington’s troops fell down among the dying +and the dead, to rest and sleep. But not until they had cheered the +Prussians passing by. “Hip, hip, hurrah!” shout the English, while the +bands play. + +The Prussians go by, singing Luther’s hymn, “Now praise we all our God.” + +And then these devout Christians hot-foot upon the track of other +Christians, hurry on to a moonlight hunt--vast, terrible, murderous. +These Prussians remember the pursuit after Jena; yes, and the pursuit +after Austerlitz; yes, and the long years of French military occupation +of the Fatherland. And now it is their turn. + +“As long as man and horse can go--push the pursuit!” cried Blücher. + +Not a great many Prussians are needed. A few cannon to make a +noise, a few bugles to sound the charge, a few drums to send terror +ahead--these, with about 4,500 troops, will be quite sufficient to +chase Napoleon’s army like a flock of sheep. + +Forty thousand Frenchmen, unwounded, as brave a lot of men as ever +stepped into line, are now so crushed by unexpected disaster, so filled +with the terror of sheer panic, that no human power can check their +stampede. + +Ney has tried it, vainly. Napoleon has tried it, vainly. They abandon +the artillery, they throw away their guns, they cast off their +accouterments, intent only on running for dear life. They cut through +the fields, they fight for passage on the road, they murder one another +in their frantic efforts to get on. + +The Prussians chase them, cut them down, ride over them--the roads, the +fields, the woods are strewn with slaughtered Frenchmen. If any stand +is made and a few of the firmer rally, the first blare of Prussian +trumpets sets them running again. The 4,500 Prussians dwindle, as the +chase lengthens, until scarcely a thousand pursue. But the French have +lost their senses. The mere blare of a Prussian bugle throws them +into agonies of fright. One drummer-boy, galloping on horseback, a +dozen cavalrymen to yell the Prussian “Hourra!” are enough to keep the +stampede going. + +“No quarter!” cry the pursuers. Yet after Ligny Napoleon had gone, +in person, to take care of the Prussian wounded, and had threatened +the Belgian peasants with the terrors of hell if they did not succor +these sufferers. “God bids us love our enemies,” said the Emperor +to these peasants. “Take care of the wounded, or God will make you +burn.” But the English had cried “No quarter!” as they charged down +from Mont-Saint-Jean, and now the Prussians are repeating the cry and +slaughtering, with indiscriminate fury, those who surrender, those who +are wounded and those who are overtaken. + +So mad is the panic of the French that at Gemappe, where the little +river Dyle is only about fifteen feet wide and three feet deep, they +have a frightful crush at the narrow bridge and never once think of +wading across. + +Here, once more Napoleon vainly endeavors to stop the rout. The +Prussians appear, beat the drum, blow the trumpets, fire cannon, +and the thousands of Frenchmen fight madly with each other for the +privilege of running away. They slash each other with their swords, +stab each other with their bayonets, and even shoot each other down. + +To appreciate the state of mind of this fleeing army it is necessary +that one should have a good idea of what happens to the crowd in a +packed theater when the red tongues of the flames are seen in the +hangings and the cry of “_Fire! Fire!_” smites the startled ear. The +horrible scene which invariably follows is the outcome of exactly +the uncontrollable, unreasoning terror which made the flight from +Napoleon’s last battlefield such a disgrace to human nature. + + * * * * * + +The moon which held a light for the pursuit silvered also the slopes +where the great battle had been fought, shone upon the unburied corpses +that still lay at Ligny and Quatre Bras, shone upon 25,000 Frenchmen, +6,000 Prussians, and 10,000 of the English army, who lay on the field +of Waterloo; shone also upon other thousands who lay dead or dying +on the futile battle-ground of Wavre. Within three days and within +the narrow radius of a few miles more than 70,000 men had been shot +down--for what? + +For what? To force upon the French a King and a system which they +detested, and to prevent the spread of democratic principles to other +countries where kings and aristocracies were in power. + +Creasy numbers Waterloo among the Twelve Decisive Battles of the World, +but it does not deserve the rank. It did not give democratic principles +anything more than a temporary set-back. It did not permanently restore +the Bourbons. It did not even keep the Bonaparte heir off the throne. +Much less did it settle the principle that one nation may dictate to +another its form of government. + +In his old age, Wellington was asked to write his Memoirs. “No,” he +answered. “It wouldn’t do. If I were to tell what I know, the people +would tear me to pieces.” + +I think I understand. If the ruling oligarchs of England,--Eldon, +Castlereagh, Pitt, Canning, Liverpool, Bathurst,--had revealed the +inner secrets of the Tory administration, the last one of them would +have been torn to pieces--deservedly. + + * * * * * + +The man-hunt rolls off toward the Sambre, the drum dies away in +the distance, the horror of the retreat goes farther and farther +away,--while the moon looks down upon the English army, asleep on +La Belle Alliance, upon the blood-stained valleys and slopes that +lead to Mont-Saint-Jean, upon the smouldering ruins of Hougoumont, +of La Haye-Sainte, of Papelotte, of Plancenoit. There are dead men +everywhere. Everywhere are dying men, dismounted cannons, broken +swords, abandoned guns and knapsacks, dead horses, and mangled horses +that scream as they struggle with pain and death, wounded men who moan +and groan and curse their fate. + +A mile wide and two miles long, this strip of hell writhes beneath the +unpitying stars; and perhaps the most awful sound that shocks the ear +and the soul is that choked yell of terror and agony of the officer who +is being clubbed to death with a musket by the night prowler who wants +the officer’s watch, decorations and money. + +Enter the ground of the Château of Hougoumont, pass the shattered +buildings and go into the flower garden. Here was once the beauty of +nature and the beauty of art, combined. This morning, when the sun +broke through the mists, these formal walks were bordered by the bloom +of flowers; these balustraded terraces were fragrant with the incense +of the orange and the myrtle. The birds were singing in the garden +overhead, along these quiet covered walks in the old Flemish garden, +vine clad with honey-suckle and jessamine, where many a word of love +had been spoken as lovers wandered here in years long past. + +And now it is one of the frightful spots of the world, reeking with +blood, cumbered with dead and dying men, torn by shells, gutted by +fire. The well is ever so deep and ever so large, but is never so deep +nor so large as to hold all the dead and the dying. To-morrow it will +be filled. The dauntless defenders and the fearless assailants will +embrace in the harmony of a common grave. And for many and many a year +the peasant at his fireside at night will tell, in hushed tones, of the +sounds--the groans, the faint calls for help--which are said to have +been heard coming from the well, nights after its hasty filling in. + + * * * * * + +Few partisans of Napoleon now contend that he was free from serious +fault in this, his last campaign. + +First of all, he should have made his appeal to the people, put himself +once more at their head as the hero of the French Revolution, remained +in France, and nationalized the war. + +Again, he should not have placed two such generals as Vandamme and +Gérard under Grouchy. + +He showed no vigor in following up his victory at Ligny, and made +a capital error in not breaking up the retreating foe with cavalry +charges. + +He lost a great opportunity at Quatre Bras. + +On the night of the 17th he should have sent definite orders to +Grouchy, and should have hearkened to Soult when he was urged by that +thorough soldier to call in at least a portion of Grouchy’s force. + +He took the reports of Haxo and Ney, and based the battle upon their +erroneous reports. The Napoleon of earlier years would have _gone to +see for himself_. + +He did not have a good view of the field and consequently missed +detailed movements of immense importance. + +He treated with too much scorn the opinion of Soult and Reillé (who +had tested the English soldier in Spain), when they warned him that +the English, properly posted and properly handled--as Wellington could +handle them--were invincible. + +He made the attack without maneuvering, in just the bare-breasted, +full-face way that best lent itself to bloody repulse. + +The premature cavalry movement which contributed most to the +final disaster was under full headway,--too far advanced to be +stopped,--before he knew that it was contemplated. + +In holding off the Prussians, the Emperor displayed his genius, +directing every movement himself. On the field of Waterloo, he left too +much to Ney and Jerome. Had he taken Ney out of the fight at the time +that he recalled Jerome, the issue might have been different. + +The last grand charge should not have been made at all. He should have +stopped, as Lee did at Gettysburg, in time to save his army, for by +this time he _knew_ that Grouchy would not come. To stake so much on +one last desperate throw was the act of a man who was no longer what +he had been at Aspern and Essling when he withdrew into the Island of +Lobau. + +When the Emperor was giving the order for the last great charge, +General Haxo would have remonstrated. “But, Sire--” he began. Napoleon +flapped his glove lightly across Haxo’s face and said, “Hold your +tongue, my friend. There is Grouchy who will give us other news.” He +had mistaken Bülow’s cannonade for Grouchy’s. + +One can understand what was passing in his mind when he said to +Gourgaud, a few weeks later, “Ah, if it were to be done over again!” + +On Wellington’s side the management was superb. It was practically +faultless. He made the most of every advantage, and made the most of +the errors of his enemy. + +With this exception: He left 18,000 of his men at Hal, four or five +miles away, protecting a road which he feared the French might take. +But with Napoleon facing him, here at Mont-Saint-Jean, the 18,000 men +were no longer needed at Hal; and no one has ever been able to explain +why Wellington did not call them in during the early morning of the +18th. + + * * * * * + +In other books than this you will read of how the wreck of Napoleon, +the man, and the wreck of Napoleon, the Emperor, found their way to +Paris; how the well-meaning but weak-headed La Fayette, dreaming of +an impossible Republic, worked in reality for the Bourbon restoration +in working against Napoleon; how the Chambers, honeycombed by the +intrigues of Fouché, demanded the second abdication; how the wreck +of Napoleon floated aimlessly down the current of misfortune; how he +signed away his throne; how the masses thronged about his palace, +wildly clamoring for him to put himself at the head of a national +uprising; how he sends his empty coach and six through the mob, +and makes off by the back way in a cab; how he stops at Malmaison, +weeps for his lost Josephine, listens to all kinds of counsel, takes +none, and has no plan; how the soldiers, marching past in straggling +detachments, cheer him with the same old enthusiasm, and how he calmly +remarks, “They had better have stood and fought at Waterloo.” + +Napoleon was no longer the volcanic man of action, of connected ideas, +of sustained exertion, of inflexible purpose. The Waterloo campaign had +been a sputtering of the candle in the socket--a brief eruption of a +Vesuvius that made Europe quiver; and then all was over. + +From Malmaison he is ordered off by Fouché, and he meekly obeys. At +Rochefort he dawdles, doubts, delays, and does nothing. Logically, he +becomes a prisoner to those by whom he has been beaten. + +To St. Helena, and a few years of torture; to hopeless captivity +and the bitter inbrooding that eat the heart out; to the depths +of humiliation and the canker of impotent rage; to weary days of +depression and dreary nights of pain; to a long agony of vain regrets, +of wrath against fate, of soul-racking memories--to these go Napoleon +Bonaparte, the greatest man ever born of woman. + +At last, the reprieve comes. At last there comes the day when the +little man can no longer torture the big one. Sir Hudson Lowe may at +length rest easy--the sweat of the final pain gathers on his captive’s +brow. English sentinels may slacken their vigilance now--the death +rattle is in the prisoner’s throat. + +The storm comes up from out the wrathful sea, and the terrible anger of +the tempest beats upon the tropical rock. The thunder, peal on peal, +volleys over the crags, and the glare of the lightning lights up the +track of devastation. Within the renovated cow-house, and within a room +which will soon be used again as a cow-stall, is stretched the dying +warrior. + +What was it that the storm said to the unconscious soldier? By what +mysterious law, yet to be made plain, does the sub-consciousness move +and speak when deep sleep or the delirium of disease has paralyzed +the normal consciousness of man? We do not know. In poetry, the +sub-conscious produces the weird “Kubla Khan”; in music it notates “The +Devil’s Sonata.” It is the sub-conscious which often gives warning of +evil to come; it is the sub-conscious that sometimes tells us the right +road when all is doubt. + +As the thunder volleyed over Longwood, and the roar of the storm held +on, the dying Captain was strangely affected. Just such thunder had +rolled over his head that Saturday night and Sunday morning, when +he went the rounds of his outposts in the drenching rain--which may +have been the main cause of his loss of Waterloo. He and the faithful +Bertrand had made those night-rounds alone, and Napoleon, as he stopped +to listen to the thunder, muttered, “We agree.” + +It must have been that in his delirium he fancied he was again on the +front line, listening to the storm which preceded his last battle. + +“The Army! The head of the Army!” he muttered. “Desaix! Bessiéres! +Hasten the attack! Press on! The enemy gives way--they are ours!” + +With a convulsive start he sprang up, out of the bed, and got upon his +feet. Montholon seized him, but he bore the Count to the floor. Others +rushed in; he was already exhausted, and they put him back in bed. +Afterward he lay still, and the boat drifted on, quietly on, toward the +bar. + +The storm had passed away, and the Emperor, lying on his back, with one +hand out of the bed, fixed his eyes “as though in deep meditation.” + +Those about the bed thought they heard him say, “France! Josephine!” +Then he spoke no more. + +A light foam gathered on the parted lips. There was peace on his +face--for the pain had done what it came to do. + +As the clear sun dipped beneath the distant rim of the sea, Napoleon +died. + +It was May 5th, 1821. + + * * * * * + +In Hillaire Belloc’s magnificent study of Danton, the author makes +reference to a legend which is said to be current among the peasants of +Russia. + +It is a story of “a certain somber, mounted figure, unreal, only an +outline and a cloud, that passed away to Asia, to the East and North. +They saw him move along their snows through the long, mysterious +twilight of the Northern autumn, in silence, with the head bent and +the reins in the left hand, loose, following some enduring purpose, +reaching toward an ancient solitude and repose. _They say that it +was Napoleon._ After him, there trailed for days the shadows of the +soldiery, vague mists bearing faintly the forms of companies of men. +It was as though the cannon-smoke of Waterloo, borne on the light west +wind of that June day, had received the spirits of twenty years of +combat, and had drifted farther and farther during the fall of the year +over the endless plains. + +“But there was no voice and no order. The terrible tramp of the Guard +and the sound that Heine loved, the dance of the French drums, was +extinguished; there was no echo of their songs, for the army was of +ghosts and was defeated. They passed in the silence which we can never +pierce, and somewhere remote from men they sleep in bivouac round the +most splendid of human swords.” + + + + +A SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER + + +BLÜCHER + +“Captain Blücher has full permission to resign, and to go to the devil, +if he likes.” + +Thus endorsed by Frederick the Great, Captain Blücher’s written request +for leave to retire from the Prussian Army went into effect. + +Yet this headstrong, boisterous, hard-drinking, hard-riding, +hard-fighting, indefatigable Blücher became one of the most thorough +and effective soldiers that ever led an army to battle. He possessed +some of those very qualities which made Washington, Cromwell, and +Frederick so great. He was tireless, he was iron-willed, he was +true-hearted, he was fearless, he was not to be discouraged, and he +never could be whipped so badly that he did not come back to fight +again, harder than ever. + +Something of a national hero, something of a typical German soldier, +something of an ideal patriot, he was something of a ruthless Goth. He +had gone to England after the Campaign of Paris, in 1814, and rode +conspicuously in the great procession through London. As he looked +upon the wealth displayed on every side, he growled, “What a town to +sack.” Yet he was a devoted husband, a most loyal subject; a generous, +faithful, daring ally. + +He had fought against the French a greater number of times than any +other commander. He had been whipped oftener and harder than any other +commander. He had been captured, and had grazed annihilation oftener +than any other commander. + +After Jena, his king owed his escape from being made prisoner to a +bold falsehood--to General Klein--that an armistice had been declared. +At Bautzen he just did get out of the trap Napoleon laid for him, and +he did it because Ney, in making the turning movement, stopped to do +some fighting which gave the Prussian his warning. In 1814 he just did +miss being bagged time and again--but he missed it. And now in 1815 +his pluck, his dash, and his luck were to save him, as by fire, again +and again. He was beloved by his troops. Wherever he sent them, he +was ready to go himself. He shirked nothing, and was whole-hearted in +everything. Like the Russian soldier, Skobeleff, he was sublime on the +field of battle, and led his men in person. With a kindly word, “Come, +comrades, follow me!” he could lead them into the jaws of hell. With a +plea like this, “Comrades, I gave my word to be there; you won’t make +me break it!”--he could inspire them to superhuman efforts, to drag the +heavy guns through the mud, and thus reach his ally in time to save. + +Heading a cavalry charge at Ligny, his horse was shot under him, +and the French passed over him twice--once in advancing, once in +retreating--and the darkness was his friend each time. Dragged by +one of his officers from under his horse, he was borne off the field +bruised, almost unconscious. In two days, he is leading charges again. +Too generous to suspect an ally, he stands and fights at Ligny on +Wellington’s promise of support, and when the support doesn’t come he +still does not suspect his ally of calculating selfishness. His staff +_does_. Hence it was that his staff opposed him when he wished to yield +to Wellington’s plea for help, on the night of the 17th. Long did +Gneisenau resist Blücher, contending that Wellington meant to leave +them in the lurch again. But at length the chief of staff consented +that the promise of relief be sent, and old Blücher was happy. The +promise was sent, and Wellington _knew_ it would be kept! Hence he +fought at Waterloo, with the knowledge that his task consisted in +holding out until the Prussians could arrive. + +The heroic struggle of Blücher to make progress over the terrible +roads, his enormous energy, his magnificent devotion to the common +cause, his unselfish renunciation of credit for the victory which +was due to him more than to Wellington, raise him to the pinnacle of +military glory. No student of this last campaign of Napoleon can fail +to reach the conclusion that while Wellington was delaying at Brussels, +sending out orders not suited to the condition of things at the front, +and taking his supper at Lady Richmond’s ball, it was Blücher who was +where he should have been, and doing what he should have done. But for +the skilful retreat of Thielman, followed by the bold concentration at +Ligny and the stubborn fight there, the French would have gone into +Brussels without firing a shot. + +On the night of the 18th, Blücher followed the pursuit as far as +Genappe, where his strength gave out. He went into the inn to go to +bed, but before undressing, wrote his wife: + + “On the 16th I was compelled to withdraw before superior forces, + but on the 18th, in concert with my friend Wellington, I have + annihilated the army of Napoleon.” + +To a friend he wrote: + + “The finest of battles has been fought, the most brilliant of + victories won. I think that Bonaparte’s history is ended. I cannot + write any more, for I am trembling in every limb. The strain was + too great.” + +Blücher was seventy-three years old. Napoleon and Wellington were +nearly the same age, both being born in 1769, and therefore forty-seven +years old. + +Blücher was notoriously a hard drinker, and had been so all his life. +Both Napoleon and Wellington were extremely sober men; yet Blücher had +shown more energy than the other two together. + + +NEY + +A mournful interest must always attach to Ney. + +As Napoleon said, his “Bravest of the Brave” was no longer the same +man. First of all, in this campaign he was not handled right. The +Emperor should have employed him sooner, or not at all: should have +trusted him further, or not at all. The manner in which he was caught +up at the last moment and cast into the activities of the campaign was +most unwise. + +In spite of the bad behavior of Ney in 1814, the troops were glad to +see him in their midst. Their nickname for him was “Red-head,” and +they called him this to each other as they saw him join the Emperor at +Beaumont. “All will go well now--Red-head is with us!” + +But Ney was not at himself. There is no other phrase that will do,--all +of us know what it means. When the orator whom we _know_ to be a +heaven-born orator fails to move us, we say, “He is not at himself.” +When the brilliant writer is dull; when the expert mechanic is awkward; +when the painter’s brush misses the conception, when the sculptor’s +chisel cannot follow his thoughts, when the master musician makes +discord, we have nothing better to say than “He is not at himself.” + +So it was with Marshal Ney. Advancing upon Quatre Bras, he stopped, +afraid of going too far. When had Ney been timid before? + +Realizing at length what was expected of him, he fought furiously to +take the position which would have been his without a fight had he +simply not stopped in sudden fear the evening before. Then, having +been the Ney of old on the 16th, he became timid again on the morning +of the 17th, and let Wellington draw off without any attempt to +molest the retreat. Why no reports to the Emperor all that day of the +16th? Why none on the night of the 16th? Very near to the treason +for which officers are shot, was this sullen silence. He was not at +himself. Then at Waterloo, the Ney of old comes out again. He is not +only bold, but rash. He is possessed of a devil of fight. He is no +longer a general: he is just a reckless brigadier. Headlong charges, +blind rushes, frantic management which is calamitous mismanagement; +premature sacrifice of cavalry, false formation of columns of attack, +then wild rage and despair, and prayers for death! The soldier never +lived that fought harder and longer than Ney at Waterloo. As darkness +closed down, and the torrents of retreat ran past him, this heroic +and ill-starred soldier, his face black with powder smoke, his uniform +in tatters, the blood oozing from bruises, a broken sword in his hand, +cried out, “Come and see how a Marshal of France dies!” But alas, the +flood of disaster bore him away, and this leonine Frenchman was left to +make a target for French muskets. All of Ney’s horses had been killed +under him, and he owed his life--a bad debt, as it turned out--to a +faithful subaltern. + + * * * * * + +The restored Bourbons were determined to put Ney to death. Instead of +leaving his fate in the hands of his old companions in arms, as his +lawyer wanted him to do, Ney foolishly gave preference to a trial by +the civilians of the Chamber of Peers. This tribunal condemned him, and +he was shot. So says History. + +But Tradition is persistent in claiming that the execution was a fake: +that blank cartridges were fired, that Ney fell unhurt, and that his +body was spirited away, and that he was shipped off to America, and +that he lived in North Carolina, a school-teacher, until he died a +natural death. + +Many a time I have ridiculed this tradition, and marshaled in +convincing array the evidence against it. I must confess, however, that +a statement in the book of Sir William Fraser, called “Wellington’s +Words,” startled me. He expresses a doubt as to the genuineness of the +execution of Marshal Ney, _and Sir William was close to Wellington_. +Indeed, the account which Sir William gives of the alleged execution is +somewhat suggestive of a mock execution. + +It was a beautiful morning, and the Garden of the Luxembourg was filled +with children, attended by their nurses, taking the morning air, amid +the trees and birds and flowers. A closed carriage drove up to the gate +and four men, leaving the carriage, entered the garden. One was Marshal +Ney, the others an officer and two sergeants. The officer placed Ney +against the wall, called the picket guarding the gate, gave the word +“Fire!” and Ney fell on his face. The body was immediately put into the +carriage and driven off. The nurses and the children had not realized +what was happening. Says Sir William Fraser (who had this account from +Quentin Dick, an eye-witness), “I confess to have got a lingering +doubt whether Ney was shot to death.” + +But Sir William himself supplies a bit of evidence which resettles +my own conviction that Ney _was_ shot to death. The second Duke of +Wellington was invited by Queen Victoria to meet at Windsor Castle +the Emperor of the French. In the train of Louis Napoleon, the French +Emperor, was the son of Marshal Ney. The Emperor said, “I must +introduce two great names,” leading the Duke of Wellington to the +Prince of Moscowa. The Duke made a low bow: the Prince did not return +it. He remembered the murder of his father, and knew that the first +Duke of Wellington should have prevented it. In answer to the Emperor’s +whispered remonstrance, Ney’s son firmly declared that he did not +wish to make the acquaintance of Wellington’s son. To my mind this is +conclusive. Had Ney’s life been saved by the first Duke of Wellington, +as Sir William Fraser broadly hints, two things are certain: (1) Ney’s +son would have known it, and (2) Ney’s family would have gratefully +honored Wellington’s memory, instead of detesting it. + +No: the lion-like Ney did not teach school in North Carolina; he died +a dog’s death in the garden of the Luxembourg. A victim to the cold +perfidy of Wellington, a bloody sacrifice to the vindictive ferocity +of Bourbon royalism, the magnificent French soldier was shot to death +by Frenchmen--shot like a dog, and fell on his battle-worn face dead, +dead, while the song of birds was in the trees, and the innocent +laughter of children rang in his ears. Well did he say when they were +reading his death-sentence, in which all of his high-sounding titles +were being enumerated, “Just Michel Ney--soon to be a handful of dust.” + +Full of error, yet full of virtue: pure gold at one crisis, mere +dross at another; superbly great on some occasions, and pitiably weak +on others; true as steel one day, unsubstantial as water the next; +dangerous to the enemy on some fields, fatally dangerous to Napoleon +in the last campaign, the truth remains that this strenuous soldier +had been fighting the battles of France all his life, had never failed +her at any trial, had never joined her enemies, and must have died of +heart-break as well as bullet-wound when he heard a French officer give +the word, and saw French soldiers raise their guns to shoot him down. + +Honor to the son of Ney who refused to take the hand of Wellington’s +son, although a Queen was the hostess, and an Emperor whispered a +remonstrance! + + + + +Transcriber’s Notes + + +Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a +predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they +were not changed. + +Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation +marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left +unbalanced. + +Page 40: “Auerstadt” was printed that way. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75682 *** |