towards St. Lambert; choosing a good intermediate position, where he might with ten thousand men, check thirty thousand if it became necessary; to attack the Prussians briskly, as soon as he should hear the first cannon shots of the troops, which Marshal Grouchy had detached in their rear. These orders were instantly executed. It was of the highest importance that the movement of Count de Lobau should be made without delay.

Marshal Grouchy should have detached six or seven thousand men from Wavres on St. Lambert, these would find themselves compromised, since Bulow's corps was thirty thousand strong, just as the latter corps would have been compromised and destroyed, if, at the moment of his being attacked in the rear by seven thousand men, he was attacked in front by a man of Count de Lobau's character. Seventeen or eighteen thousand French, thus disposed and commanded, were far superior to thirty thousand Prussians: but these events caused some change in the first plan of the Emperor; he found himself enfeebled on the field of battle by ten thousand men, whom he was obliged to send against General Bulow. He no longer had more than fifty-nine thousand men against ninety thousand; while the enemy's army, against which he was engaged, had just been augmented by thirty thousand men, already ranged in the field of battle; thus placing one hundred and twenty thousand men against sixty-nine thousand; or two to one, "We had ninety chances for us this morning," said he, to the Duke of Dalmatia," the arrival of Bulow makes us lose thirty; but we have still sixty against forty: and if Grouchy repairs the horrible fault which he committed yesterday, by amusing himself at Gembloux, and sends on his detach ment with rapidity, the victory will be thereby only the more decisive, for the corps of Bulow must in that case be entirely lost."

It was noon, the skirmishers were engaged on all the line, but there was no real action, except on the left in the wood, and at the castle of Hougoumont. The troops of General Bulow were still stationary beyond the extreme right; they appeared to form and wait till their artillery passed the defile. The Emperor sent an order to Marshal Ney to commence the fire of his batteries; take possession of the farm of La Haye Sainte, and to post a division of infantry

there, to occupy the village; also to possess himself of La Haye, and to drive the enemy from it, in order to intercept all communication between the AngloBelgian army and Bulow's corps. Eighty guns soon made an immense havoc over all the left of the English line, one of its divisions was entirely destroyed by round and case shot. Whilst this attack was unmasked, the Emperor attentively observed the movements of the enemy's general; he made none on his right; but the Emperor perceived, that he prepared a grand charge of cavalry on the left, and he galloped to the spot. The charge had taken place; it had repulsed a column of infantry which advanced on the low ground, taken two eagles, and disorganized seven pieces of cannon: a brigade of Milhaud's cuirassiers from the second line were ordered to charge the enemy's cavalry. It did so with cries of "Long live the Emperor!" The English cavalry was broken, and the greater part of it remained on the field; the guns were also retaken, and the infantry protected. Many charges of infantry and cavalry followed; the detail of them belongs more to the history of each regiment, than to the general history of the battle, in which such recitals, if multiplied, would create confusion; it is enough to say, that after three hours fighting, the farm of La Haye Sainte, in spite of the resistance of the Scotch regiments, was occupied by the French infantry; while the end, which the French General had in view was obtained. The sixth and fifth English division were destroyed, General Picton remained dead on the field.

During this combat, the Emperor rode through the line of infantry of the first corps, the line of cavalry of Milhaud's cuirassiers, and that of the guard in a third line, in the middle of the discharges of the enemy's artillery and musketry: the brave General Devaux, commanding the artillery of the guard, was killed at his side by a cannon shot; a most serious loss, and above all at this moment, because he knew the positions occupied by the reserves of the artillery of the guard, consisting of ninety-six guns, better than any other officer in the army. The General of brigade, Lallemand, succeeded him, and was also wounded shortly after.

Disorder had by this time prevailed in the English army; the baggage, waggon train, and wounded, seeing the French approach the causeway of Brussels, and the principal opening of the

forest,

forest, hastened to effect their retreat in the greatest confusion: all the English, Belgians, and Germans, who had been sabred by the cavalry, precipitated themselves on Brussels. It was now four o'clock. The victory would have been then decided, had not General Bulow's corps effected its powerful diversion. At two o'clock in the after noon, General Daumont had given notice, that Bulow formed in three columns; and that the French riflemen skirmished, retiring before the enemy, which appeared to him as being very numerous; he estimated it to be more than forty thousand strong; adding, moreover, that his best mounted scouts had traversed several leagues in different directions, but had brought no news of Marshal Grouchy; that his assistance was, therefore, not to be depended on. About this time, the Emperor received a most disagreeable piece of news from Gembloux. Marshal Grouchy instead of setting out from that place at the first dawn of day, as he announced in his dispatch of two o'clock in the morning, had not quitted his camp, there at ten o'clock.

The cannonade between general Bulow and Count de Lobau soon commenced. The Prussian army marched in echelon, the centre in front. Its line of battle was perpendicular to the right flank of the French army, and parallel to the causeway from La Haye Sainte to Planchenoit. The echelon of the centre unmasked a battery of thirty guns; the artillery opposed to it an equal number. After a cannonade of an hour, Count de Lobau perceiving, that the first echelon was not supported, marched to the spot, pierced through, and repulsed it; but the two other lines which appeared to have been retarded by the bad roads, rallied the 1st echelon, and, without endeavouring to break through the French line, sought to outflank it by a wheel to the left, in line. Count de Lobau, apprehensive lest he should be turned, executed his retreat upon the army, by the alternate movement. The fire of the Prussian batteries doubled; sixty pieces of cannon were counted; the balls fell on the causeway, in front, and the rear of La Belle Alliance, where the Emperor was standing with his guard; it was the army's line of operation. At this most important moment, the enemy had арproached so near, that his case-shot ploughed up the causeway; the Em

peror then ordered General Duhesme, who commanded the young guard, to march on the right of the sixth corps, with his two brigades of infantry, and twenty-four pieces of cannon. A quarter of an hour afterwards, that formidable battery commenced its fire; the French artillery soon acquired the superiority, as it was better served, and more advantageously placed. As soon as the young guard was engaged, the movement of the Prussians appeared to be checked; undulations were observed in their lines; but they continued still to prolong it towards their left, outflanking the French right, as far as Planchenoit ; Lieutenant General Morand then moved, with four battalions of the old guard, and sixteen pieces of cannon, to the right of the young guard; two regiments of the old guard took post in front of Planchenoit; the Prussian line being outflanked, General Bulow was repulsed; his left made a movement backward, converged, and, by degrees, all his line fell back. The Count de Lobau, General Duhesme, and General Morand, marched forward; they soon occupied the positions which the artillery of General Bulow had left. Not only had that General exhausted his attack, unmasked all his reserves; but, having at first advanced, he was now in retreat. The Prussian bullets no longer reached the causeway of Charleroi, nor did they even come near the positions previously occupied by Count de Lobau; it was now seven o'clock.

Two hours had elapsed since the Count d'Erlon had taken possession of La Haye, outflanked all the English left, and the right of General Bulow. The light cavalry of the first corps, pursuing the enemy's infantry on the flat of La Haye, had been brought back by a body of cavalry superior in number. Count Milhaud now ascended the height with his cuirassiers, giving warning to General Lefebvre Desnouettes, who immedi. ately commenced a hot fire to sustain him. This happened at five o'clock; and the moment at which the attack made by General Bulow was most menacing. Far from being kept in check, he constantly shewed new troops, who continued to extend his line on the right. The English cavalry was repulsed by the intrepid cuirassiers and the chasseurs of the guard. They abandoned all the field of battle between La Haye Sainte and Mont St. Jean, which the whole of their left had occupied; and

were

were deprived of all means of retreating on their right. On seeing these brilliant charges, cries of victory were heard all over the field, upon which, the Emperor said, "it is too soon by an hour; but we must support what is done." He then sent an order to the cuirassiers of Kellerman, which were still in position on the left, to move briskly, to support the cavalry on the low grounds. At this moment, General Bulow threatened the flank and rear of the army; it was important not to make any retrograde movement, and to maintain the position, although premature, which the cavalry had taken. This rapid movement of three thousand cuirassiers who defiled under the cannonade of the Prussians, shouting," live the Emperor!" made a happy diversion at this critical moment. The cavalry marched as in pursuit of the English army; but the army of General Bulow still made some progress on the flank and rear. The soldiers and officers sought to divine in the look of the Chief, whether they were conquerors or in danger; while he breathed nothing but confidence. It was the fiftieth regular battle in which Napoleon had commanded within twenty years. In the meantime the division of heavy cavalry of the guard, under the orders of General Guyot, which was in the second line, behind Kellerman's cuirassiers, followed at a brisk trot, to the low ground. On perceiving this movement, the Emperor sent Count Bertrand to recall it; for it was his reserve: when that General arrived, it was already engaged, so that a retrograde movement would have been dangerous. Thus, did the Emperor find himself deprived of his reserve of cavalry ever since five o'clock; that reserve, which, properly employed, had so often given him the victory: while these twelve thousand select horse performed prodigies of valour; overthrowing all the more numerous cavalry of the enemy, which wished to oppose them, broke through many squares of infantry, disorganized their ranks, took possession of sixty pieces of cannon, and seized six stands of colours in the midst of the squares; these trophies were presented to the Emperor at La Belle Alliance, by three chasseurs of the guard, and three cuirassiers. The enemy believed the battle lost a second time; and he must have now seen with affright how many difficulties which the field of battle he had chosen, was about to throw in the

way of his retreat. Ponsonby's brigade, charged by the red lancers of the guard, commanded by General Colbert, was broken through, and its General was killed by several lance wounds. The Prince of Orange was severely wounded, and on the point of being taken; but the brave cavalry not being supported by a strong mass of infantry, which was still retained by General Bulow's attack, was obliged to confine itself to preserving the field of battle which it had conquered. At length, about seven o'clock, when Bulow's attack was repulsed, and the cavalry still maintained itself on the flat, whence the enemy had been driven, the victory was gained; sixty-nine thousand French had beaten one hundred and twenty thousand men. Joy was on every countenance, and hope in every heart.

Marshal Blucher had passed the night of the 17th at Wavres, with the fourth corps of his army, forming seventy-five thousand men. Informed that the Duke of Wellington had decided to receive battle in front of the forest of Soignes, if he could reckon on his co-operation, the Prussian General detached his fourth corps in the morning; it passed the Dyle at Limate, and formed at St. Lambert. This corps was entire; it was the one which had not been engaged at Ligny. The light cavalry of Blucher, which scoured the country two leagues round his camp at Wavres, had, as yet, no news of Marshal Grouchy; at seven o'clock in the morning it saw some piquets of flankers only. Blucher therefore concluded, that all the army was united before Mont St. Jean; he put the second corps, commanded by General Pirch in motion, and which was reduced to eighteen thousand men. marched himself with the first corps, General Zietten's, reduced to thirteen thousand men, and left General Thielman with the third corps in position at Wavres.

He

His two columns, thirty-one thousand strong, opened the communication between General Bulow and the English. The former, who was in full retreat, halted; Wellington, who had been in a state of the utmost despair, and seen nothing before him but the prospect of certain defeat, now saw his safety. The brigade of English cavalry which was at Ohain rejoined him, as well as a part of the fourth division of flankers of the right.

The French army, sixty-nine thousand strong,

strong, which at seven o'clock in the evening, was victorious over an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men, occupied half the field of battle of the Anglo-Belgians, and had repulsed Bulow's corps; saw the victory snatched from it by the arrival of Marshal Blucher with thirty thousand six hundred fresh troops, a re-inforcement which increased the allied army in line, to nearly one hundred and fifty thousand men; that is to say, in a proportion of two and a half against one.

As soon as Bulow's attack had been repulsed, the Emperor gave orders to General Drouot, acting Assistant-Major General of the Guard, to rally all his men, before the farm of La Belle Alliance, where he was with eight battalions ranged in two lines, the remaining eight having marched to support the young guard and defend Planchenoit. In the mean time, the cavalry, which continued to occupy the position on the low ground, whence it commanded all the field of battle, having perceived the movement of General Bulow, but confiding in the reserves of the guard, which it saw ready to keep that General in check, entertained no alarm, and even loudly cheered when it saw him repulsed, waiting the arrival of the infantry of the guard to decide the victory; but it felt the greatest astonishment on perceiving the numerous columns of Marshal Blucher arrive. Some regiments made a retrogade movement; the Emperor perceived this. It was of the highest importance to restore firmness to the cavalry; and seeing that it would take him a quarter of an hour more to rally all his guard, he put himself at the head of four battalions, and advanced on the left, in front of La Haye Sainte, sending aide-de-camps along the whole line, to announce the arrival of Marshal Grouchy, and to say, that, with a little firmness, victory would soon be decided in our favour. General Reille reunited all his corps, on the left, in front of the castle of Hougoumont, and prepared his attack; it was important that all the guard should engage at once, but the eight other battalions were still behind. Influenced by events, seeing the cavalry disconcerted, and that a reserve of infantry was necessary to support it, he ordered General Friant to march with these four battalions of the middle guard, to meet the enemy's attack; the cavalry recovered itself, and marched forward with its accustomed intrepidity. The

four battalions of the guard repulsed all whom they met--charges of cavalry carried terror into the English ranks. Ten minutes after, the other battalions of the guard arrived; the Emperor ranged them by brigades, two battalions in line and two in column, on the right and left, the second brigade in echelon, which united the advantage of the two orders. The sun was set; General Friant, wounded, passed by at this moment; he said, that all went on well, that the enemy appeared to form a rearguard to support his retreat, but that he would be entirely broken as soon as the rest of the guard attacked him. For this, a quarter of an hour was necessary. It was at this very moment that Marshal Blucher arrived at La Haye, and overthrew the French corps by which it was defended, namely, the fourth division of the first corps; it fled in disorder, after opposing a slight resistance. Although it was attacked by a quadruple force, if it had shown the least resolution, thrown itself into the houses, or pierced their ranks, Marshal Blucher would not, as it was night, have had time to force the village. It was there that the cry, sauve qui peut, is said to have been first heard. The opening made, and line broken by the want of vigour of the troops at La Haye, the enemy's cavalry inundated the field of battle. General Bulow marched forward-the Count de Lobau shewed great firmness. The crowd soon became so great, that it was necessary to order the guard, which had formed for an advance, to change its front. This movement was executed with order; the guard faced about, the left towards La Haye Sainte, and the right towards La Belle Alliance, showing its front to the Prussians, and the attack of La Haye; immediately after, each battalion formed a square, The four squadrons on duty charged the Prussians. At that moment the brigade of English cavalry which arrived from Ohain, marched forward. These two thousand horse penetrated between General Reille and the guard. The disorder now became dreadful throughout the field of battle: the Emperor had only to put himself under the protection of one of the squares of the guard. If General Guyot's division of cavalry of reserve, which followed Kellerman's cuirassiers to engage the enemy, without an order, had not done so, it would have repulsed this charge, prevented the English cavalry from penetrating on

the

the field of battle, and the foot-guards would then have been able to check the efforts of the enemy. General Bulow marched by his left, always outflanking the field of battle. The night greatly augmented the disorder, and operated as a bar to every thing. Had it been day-light, so that the troops could have seen the Emperor, they would have rallied; whereas nothing could be done in the obscurity of the night. The guard retreated, the fire of the enemy was already but four hundred toises in the rear of the army, and the causeways cut off. The Emperor, with his staff, remained a long time on a small elevation with the regiments of the guard. Four pieces of cannon which were planted there, kept up a brisk fire on the plain, the last discharge wounded Lord Uxbridge, general of the English cavalry. By this time there was no longer a moment to lose; the Emperor could not retreat, except through the fields: cavalry, artillery, infantry, all were confusedly mingled together. The staff gained the little town of Genappe, hoping that it might be able to rally a rear-guard there, but the disorder was horrible; all its efforts were made in vain. It was now eleven o'clock; there being no possibility of organising a plan of defence, the Emperor placed his hopes in Girard's division, the third of the second corps, which he had left on the field of Ligny, and to which he had sent an order to march on Quatre Bras, to support the

retreat.

Never did the French army fight better than it did on this occasion; it performed prodigies of valour; and the superiority of the troops, infantry, cavalry, and artillery over the enemy was such, that had not Blucher arrived with his second corps of Prussians, the victory over the Anglo-Belgian army would have been complete, though aided by Bulow's thirty thousand Prussians; that is to say, it would have been gained by sixty-nine thousand men opposed to nearly double their number; for the enemy's troops in the field, before Blucher's arrival, amounted to one hundred and twenty thousand men.

The loss of the Anglo-Belgian army, and that of Bulow's corps, was much greater during the battle, than on our side; and the losses which the French sustained in the retreat, though very considerable, as six thousand of them were made prisoners, did not, when added to it, amount to those sustained

by the allies during the four days which had elapsed, since the commencement of hostilities. The allies, by their own accounts, lost sixty thousand men; viz. eleven thousand three hundred English; three thousand five hundred Hanoverians; eight thousand Belgians, troops of Nassau, Brunswick, &c.; those of the Anglo-Belgian army amounted to twenty-two thousand eight hundred : to which add thirty-eight thousand Prussians:- -this makes a general total of sixty thousand eight hundred men. The losses of the French, including those sustained during the route, and till their arrival at the gates of Paris, was forty-one thousand men.

The imperial guard supported its former reputation; but it found itself engaged under the most unfavourable circumstances; being out-flanked on the right, while the left was inundated with enemies, and those who fled from the field when it began to enter into line. Had this body been able to fight with its flanks supported, it would have repulsed the united efforts of the two allied armies. During more than four hours, twelve thousand French cavalry were masters of a part of the enemy's field of battle; fought all their infantry, and eighteen thousand of their cavalry, who were repulsed in every charge. Lieutenant General Duhesme, an old soldier of the greatest bravery, and covered with wounds, was made prisoner, when endeavouring to rally a rear guard. The Count de Lobau was taken under similar circumstances. General Cambronne of the guard, remained on the field severely wounded. Out of twentyfour English generals, twelve were killed or badly wounded: and the Dutch lost three generals. General Duhesme, although a prisoner, was assassinated on the 19th by a Brunswick hussar: this crime remained unpunished. He was an intrepid soldier, an excellent general -firm and unshaken in good as well as in bad fortune.

THE MS. FROM ST. HELENA. Reasons dictated in Answer to the Question, whether the Publication, entitled "The Manuscript from St. Helena,” printed at London in 1817, is the Work of Napoleon or not ?

I. I obtained a Lieutenancy at the commencement of the Revolution. (p. 4.) I. Napoleon entered in quality of second-lieutenant into the regiment of La Fere, in October 1735, and joined that regiment at Valence, in Dauphiny.