William Siborne

“ In front of the Line, on the rise occupied by Maitland's Brigade of Guards, stood prominently in view, the great and noble Duke himself, his hat raised high in air, as the signal for the commencement of the General Advance; leaders in front of their Divisions and Brigades, appearing, by their animated gestures, to take their tone from their great Chieftain; unfurled Colours raised aloft, proudly displaying their shattered remnants; drums, bugles, trumpets, sending forth their warlike sounds to commingle with the enthusiastic and tumultuous cheering of the troops ”

“ The French troops, perceiving their whole Front Line in motion, felt conscious that the final struggle was at hand, and assured that the varied fortunes of the day were to be wound up by some splendid triumph. The Guard proudly took the lead in this grand attack—that sacred cohort, whose glory had ever shone conspicuously when a great crisis summoned forth those energies by which its valour and its prowess had acquired for it imperishable renown. The greatest enthusiasm reigned amidst the devoted defenders of the Imperial diadem ”

“ Thus fell the gallant soldier, who, as the Leader of the Third or "Fighting Division" in the Peninsular War, had already acquired an imperishable renown in the history of the British Army. As his life was spent in fighting the battles of his country, his death was an end suited to his stirring career. His brave spirit passed away amidst the roar and din of the bloody conflict, and his eyes closed on his last of Fields in the very moment of the advance of his troops to victory. ”

“ Whilst you are admiring the beautiful order and perfect steadiness of their advance, your eyes are suddenly attracted by the glittering splendour of a Line of horsemen in burnished coats of mail, rising above the brow, and now crowning the summit of the ridge. They are the far famed Cuirassiers of France, led on by a Kellermann; gallant spirits that have hitherto overcome the finest troops that could be brought against them, and have grown grey in glory. ”

“ The Wood, as also the fences on either flank, soon swarmed with Tirailleurs; and the brisk rattle of musketry that followed, intermingled with shouts of "En avant!", seemed to betoken a determination on the part of the French that the capture of La Haye Sainte should not be their only triumph achieved in front of the Anglo-Allied Army. Everywhere the assault was bravely met by the gallant defenders of the Post. The Flank Companies of the Guards, within the walls and buildings, held at defiance every attempt of their assailants to dislodge them from their cover. ”

“ This advice on the part of Fouché was an artful piece of dissimulation. No man in France possessed so intimate a knowledge of the secret workings of the public mind; he knew precisely the dispositions and views of the different factions, as also the character and temperament of their Leaders. He knew also that the great Parties in the Chambers, with the exception of the Imperialists, who were in the minority but whom he secretly flattered with the prospect of a Napoleon II., were fully prepared to depose the Emperor, in favour of full Constitutional Freedom and Liberal Institutions. ”

“ The Front of the Column was becoming momentarily more disordered and broken up; men were turning round and disappearing by the Flanks, whilst others in the rear began firing over the heads of those before them.
The confusion into which the French Guards had now been thrown became manifest. The Duke ordered Maitland to charge; whilst, at the same instant, the gallant Lord Saltoun, equally alive to the real situation of the Column, called out, "Now's the time, my boys!" The Brigade sprang forward, with a loud cheer, to the charge. ”

“ After having devoured twelve millions of Poles, twelve millions of Italians, one million of Saxons, and six millions of Belgians, it now wishes to devour the States of the second rank in Germany.
"Madmen! one moment of prosperity has bewildered them. The oppression and the humiliation of the French people are beyond their power. If they enter France they will there find their grave.
"Soldiers! we have forced marches to make, battles to fight, dangers to encounter; but, with firmness, victory will be ours. The rights, the honour, and the happiness of the country will be recovered! ”

“ The speedy and almost sudden reappearance of the old Army in all its grandeur, with its Corps and Divisions headed by men, who, by a series of daring and successful exploits, had proved their just titles to command, and endeared themselves to the old campaigners, was such that it seemed as if the French had realised the fable of the dragon's teeth, which it might be said they had sown as they crossed their frontiers in the previous year, when retreating upon the capital before the victorious Allies. ”

“ In the mean time the Brunswick Hussars were ordered forward to cover the retreat of the Infantry, and repel the advance of the French Cavalry, which was now seen in rapid motion along the Charleroi road, as if incited and emboldened by the loud shouts of triumph sent forth by their Light Troops in front. ”

“ From this spot the Duke was attentively watching, through his telescope, the dispositions and movements of the French, whom he could discover as soon as they reached the Quatre Bras side of Little Marbais; when all at once at a distance of about two miles, masses were seen forming on the side of the Namur road, conspicuously glittering in the sun's rays; by which the Duke was at first induced to believe that they were Infantry, whose bayonets were so brilliantly reflected; but it was soon discovered that they were Cuirassiers. ”

“ Just at this decisive moment, the faint rays of the setting sun shone forth, and as they struggled to penetrate the almost universal haze created by the hitherto unremitting volumes of smoke which a close dense atmosphere appeared incapable of altogether dissipating, they cast upon the varied and multitudinous objects on the Field, a lurid light, imparting to them a colouring so strikingly impressive, as can never be effaced from the memories of those who witnessed that magnificent Battle scene. ”

“ From the momentary contemplation of these trophies, your eyes instinctively revert to the course of the victors, whom you now perceive in the middle distance of the view—a broken Line of daring horsemen, rushing up the opposite Heights. Their intoxicating triumph admits of no restraint. They heed not the trumpet's call to halt and rally; but plunging wildly amidst the formidable Line of Batteries ranged along the French position, they commence sabring the Gunners, stabbing the horses, and seem to clear the ground of every living being. ”

“ There is not, perhaps, an instance in modern history, in which the threatening tide of battle, has, through the lightning-like promptitude of decision, and the energetic application of yet remaining resources, been so suddenly and powerfully controlled, and so majestically and irresistibly hurled back, overwhelming all and everything that, in the previous plenitude of its force it had borne aloft with buoyant hopes, and carried along exultingly in its course, as it was by the immortal Wellington in this his last, his crowning, victory. ”

“ At the moment of the landing of Napoleon on the French shore, the only force in the Netherlands consisted, in addition to the native troops, of a weak Anglo-Hanoverian Corps, under the command of His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange; but the zeal, energy, and activity displayed by the Government of Great Britain, in engrafting upon this nucleus a powerful Army, amounting at the commencement of hostilities, to about 100,000 combatants, notwithstanding the impediments and delays occasioned by the absence of a considerable portion of its troops in America, were truly surprising. ”

“ The French Columns advanced against this Post with the most undaunted resolution and the most conspicuous gallantry. The well aimed bullets of the German rifles, though they told quickly and fearfully amidst their masses, arrested not their progress for a moment. They rushed close up to the walls; and, seizing the rifles as they protruded through the loop holes, endeavoured to wrest them from the hands of the defenders. They also made a most furious assault against the gates and doors, in defence of which many lives were sacrificed. ”

“ The scene of havoc and devastation which met their view as they looked around them, the constant ravages which they had been destined passively to endure for so many hours, their ranks repeatedly torn open and their Files scattered asunder, as shot and shell plunged in amongst them,—all conduced to excite in the breasts of men of such impenetrable mould a feeling of exultation and relief, as they observed the approach of the Enemy's Infantry, and panted for the long wished for moment when they might grapple with their deadly foe at close quarters, in a hand to hand encounter. ”

“ IT would be difficult to discover, in the whole history of the Wars of modern times, an instance in which so fine, so splendid, an Army as that of Napoleon, one composed almost exclusively of veterans, all men of one nation, entirely devoted to their Chief, and most enthusiastic in his cause, became so suddenly panic stricken, so completely disorganised, and so thoroughly scattered, as was the French Army when it lost the Battle of Waterloo. A defeated Army usually covers its retreat by a Rear Guard, but here there was nothing of the kind: and hence that Army cannot be said to have retreated ”

“ This is the moment to rally round the National Colours—the Tricoloured Standard of 1789—the Standard of Liberty, Equality, and Public Order. It is you alone who can now protect the country from foreign attacks and internal dissensions. It is you alone who can secure the independence and the honour of France. ”

“ The sun had gone down, shrouded in heavy clouds, and rain having set in, the battlefield would speedily be enveloped in darkness; hence the Prussians felt that it required but a little more perseverance in their exertions to enable them to counterbalance their deficiency of numbers upon any point of their Line by a stern and resolute resistance, sufficient to secure for the entire of their Army the means of effecting a retreat, unattended by those disastrous consequences which a signal defeat in the light of day might have entailed upon them. ”

“ In the preliminary pause which occurred in the fire from the French Batteries, from the first moment of the advance until the Columns had sufficiently descended from the Heights to be below the range of their guns, the thunder of Bülow's Artillery upon the French extreme Right, and of the guns brought to bear against it, was so distinctly audible that Napoleon, apprehending its evil effects upon the troops on whose bravery, discipline, and devotion, his fate now hung, despatched Aides de Camp along the Line to spread the false intelligence of the arrival of Grouchy ”

“ The passive endurance, not unaccompanied by murmurs, with which the Allied troops had, during so many hours, withstood the incessant attacks of Cavalry, Infantry, and Artillery, to which so vast, so awful, a proportion of their comrades had fallen a sacrifice, now gave place to feelings of intense exultation, of intoxicating triumph. ”

“ Kielmansegge's Brigade continued its march along the Namur road, and received Orders to strengthen the extreme Left, as also to support, and, where necessary, to relieve the exhausted British Battalions, which had so bravely withstood the fiercest onsets of a most daring and well organised Cavalry, and had so unflinchingly endured the incessant cannonade maintained against them by the well served Batteries on the French Heights. ”

“ The British and German Cavalry Brigades, with the exception of Vivian's and Vandeleur's on the Left, [Pg 507] were reduced to less than the ordinary strength of Regiments—Somerset's and Ponsonby's Brigades united did not comprise two Squadrons. Many, it is true, had quitted the ranks to assist the wounded, and to convey prisoners to the rear; but if amongst these were to be found the weak and faint hearted, the brave spirits that remained nobly represented the valour and devotion which, under the guidance of a master hand, were destined to be crowned with lasting triumph. ”

“ To Marshal Grouchy he confided the pursuit of the Prussians, and for this purpose he placed at his disposal as great an extent of force as his limited means would admit: a force, certainly not sufficient to enable that Marshal to confront the whole Prussian Army, should the latter, after having rallied and concentrated its strength, make a stand against him, but quite so to enable him to watch its movements, and to manœuvre so as to maintain his communication with the main Army, and, if pressed by superior numbers, to effect a junction with Napoleon. ”

“ But physical efforts, however powerfully developed and sustained, have their limit: exhausted nature yields at length; and their fiery steeds, subdued, not by force but by exhaustion, retire with lagging faltering pace. You look in vain for a Support—there is none—but your eye is suddenly caught by the fluttering lance flags of a Column of the Enemy's Cavalry, approaching from the left, and you become nervously alive to the danger that awaits the valiant band of heroes, who are only now made sensible of the necessity of retiring to collect and [Pg 431] rally their scattered numbers. ”

“ A thorough conviction that further resistance must have been marked by the sacrifice of the entire remnant of his courageous band at once suggested to the mind of a Commander like Baring, gifted with the requisite discernment and forethought of a true soldier, the reservation of such gallant spirits for some other part of the great contest; in which they might yet face their enemies, if not on equal terms, at least in a manner that would render their bravery and devotion not altogether unavailable in the general struggle for victory. ”

“ When Britain again puts forth her strength in battle, may her Sovereign's Guards inherit the same heroic spirit which animated those of George, Prince Regent, and inspire them with the desire to maintain in all their pristine purity and freshness the laurels transmitted to them from the Field of Waterloo ”

“ If one country more than any other required a lasting Peace to enable her to recover from the effects of the immense sacrifices she had made, in life and treasure—sacrifices which proved, beyond doubt, the Salvation of Europe—that country was Great Britain. ”

“ The French followed them, loudly cheering, but as soon as the Hussars cleared the Bridge, and the Enemy's Dragoons reached it, some of the dismounted men that had been formed along the top of the opposite bank, in rear of a hedge, overlooking the Bridge and a hollow way, through which the road led from it up the ascent, opened a fire upon the foremost of the French Lancers that had come up to the other end of the Bridge, while the remainder of the 10th, and the whole of the 18th Hussars, were drawn up along the rising ground or bank. ”