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    _JZ ¦ — THE STA1 0! FREEDOM. [NovEMbER2o...

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    Mted to him the contents of despatches w...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    _Jz ¦ — The Sta1 0! Freedom. [November2o...

    _ JZ ¦ — THE STA 1 0 ! FREEDOM . [ NovEMbER 2 o .

    Mted To Him The Contents Of Despatches W...

    Mted to him the contents of despatches which announced the invasion of Belgium by Napoleon . « I an instant the news circulated through the ball-room : the music ceased , the dancers disperses and the ladies felt and trembled for those that were de ar to them ; the princes and diplomatists fell into groups to exchange hastily their first impressions ; the officers retiredalld Wellington disappeared to send instantl y to all the divis ions the necessary instructions and orders to march '' Wellington galloping to the advanced posts of his ' army was enable d , by help ot his telescope , from the summit of the pla teau in the neighbourhood of Quatre-Bras to distinguish the m asses of the French . He immediately said to his officers "We mast stand or fall here to the last man ! This is the knot of the war and the key of the position . "

    At Quatre-Bras the Duke of Brunswick fell " struck with that soldier ' s death of which he had expressed a , presentiment , while chatting the evening before with the Duke of Wellington . " The details of the struggle at Quatre-Bras we must pass over to hasten to the crowning at carnage Waterloo

    THE SIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE . " The Emperor left , his bivouac on foot in the middle of the ni ? ht , accompanied only by the marshal of his palace , Bertraud , an officer who had replaced Durocin Lis confidence and in his heart . He passed through his line of guards . T h e forest of So i gnics in h is front a p p eare d on e en ti re confla g rat i on am ids t t he trees , from the multitude of bivouac tires of the English troops . There was no longer any djubt as to the presence of Wellington ' s whole-army on the morrow The whole space between the skirts of the forest and the hamlets of Braisne ^ la-Ieud , Belle Alliance , and La Haie Sainte , was occu pied by tires and bivouacs . The most profound silence reigned over the two armies and between them . The Emperor advanced as far as the shelter of a thieic shrubbery which served as an inclosure and a natural palisade to the castle of Hongoumont , a fortified advance

    post of the English army . It was then half-past two o ' clock in the morning . "While listening to the slightest noise , he heard the step of an enemy ' s column inarching in the dark . He thought for a moment that Wellington was profiting by the night to raise bis camp , and that this column was his rear guard , ascending from the plain towards the forest , to escape before day the pursuit of the French . The rain , which fell in torrents , drowned the noise of these footsteps in the dark . The Emperor could not comprehend the nature of the noise he had heard , nor of the subsequent silence . Some officers whom he had sent further forward to reconoitre , returned to tell him that nothing was stirring in the English army . At four o'clock his scouts brought him a peasant who had served as a guide to a brigade of Wellington ' s army , marching to his post on the extreme left . Two Belgian deserters who had just quitted their regiment , repeated that nothing in the enemy ' s ax * my indicated any intention to retreat .

    Day at length began to break , and the clouds were partly dispersed by the morning breeze that blew over the forest . " A few faint sunbeams played upon the brushwood and the waving corn—the last sun that was to he seen by so many thousands of men , sacrificed before the close of the day , not in the cause of humanity , but for the unbounded ambition of one man . " Napoleon and his generals were full of exultation at the" certainty of their victory and the annihilation of the English . The Emperor passed along the lines of his 80 , 000 devoted soldiers , everywhere hailed by cries of " Vive VEmpereur !"

    Lamartine numbers the English , exclusive of the allies , at 37 , 000 men ; but according to Siborne the effective strength of the Angloallied array that fought at Waterloo was 67 , 655 ; oi * these , onl y 23 , 991 we'e British . Throughout this work , Lamartine speaks in the highest terms of the obstinate valour aud unyielding devotion of the British troops . By a strange fatality , Napoleon allowed hour after hour to pass away withoutcommencmg the attack- Shortly before eleven o ' clock ,

    the tirailleurs of both armies commenced a scattered fire . At eleven o ' clock the battle commenced in earnest . Four hundred pieces of cannon ranged in line on both sides of the basin of Waterloo commenced vomiting death and destruction . " The thundering noise of these batteries ' rent and scattered the clouds which had hung until then upon the heights , and the summer sun shone then for a moment in the pure sky ; but the immense smoke of the cannonade rose up the hills and covered the valley , like a heavy mist torn b y a h undred t h ousand flashes of lightning .

    THE FIGKT FOR HOUGOUJIONT . " In spite of tbe murderous fire of the English troops , who defended from tree to tree the wood which surrounded the castle , Jerome Bopaparle , Guilleminot , and lleille carried this enclosure , which was strewn with dead bodies . But ou reaching the walls , the dykes , and the hedges , Avliieh served as so many defences to the castle , the French columns falling fast , recoiled , hesitated , advanced , aDd again recoiled under the grape shot of forty pieces of artillery , and the muskelry of the battalions ensconced within the courtyards , is the gardens , and behind the walls . Eeille reinforced bis columns in proportion to the desperate resistance they experienced . Wellington galloping up , surrounded by his staff ,

    to the extremity of the terrace which commands Hougoumont , encouraged by his presence and his gestures the intrepidity of his troops . He dispatched Genenl Byn « - with a last brigade of the Guards , to mix in the action . A long terrible and ° furious combat took place , with varying success , under the walls and in the orchards of Hougoumont . Seven times the French troops penetrated through the breach to the courtyard of the castle , and as often were they driven back with the bavonet , by the grenadiers of the Guards . At length the howitzers more destructive ' even than men , set fire to the great barn , the out-houses , stacks of corn and the timber » vork . The strong walls of the old castle resisted the fire , but the bounding of the flames , and the dense volumes of smoke which enve-Jfo could to return

    loped it made its further occupation intolerable . one hope from it alive The wounded officers and soldiers deposited in the barns perished there from suffocation , and nothing but the chapel escaped the fury of the raging element . This appearing to them a signal of divine protection , the troops retrained fre < = h courage , and swore to hold out until death . Bather side was van-% E £ ^ ~ «^^ toto which devoured all . The Eug-Xsh , unshaken upon the rising ground which commands the e »« h > , rettred on y out of the reach of the flames , and were merely separated from the enemy by the conuu-ratioti ! 2 , 500 men of both « mi » fcnnd their death and their tomb under " the burning fragments of the building . ' '

    • £ -X- * " W " The conflagration at Hougoumont had not slackened the action on that point where Srflb and his divisions , after having attacked , had to maintain S o ^ tion wd defend themselves in turn . The Scotch regents , d ,-lodged " on the castle , and now strengthened by two fresh br . gades , under cover of uL En « " sh batteries , threatened to charge the battalions and turn their centre . Fou- hundred piecesof cannon approaching each other at each uncharge , ploughed l 2 Z v shot and shells the earth , the trees , the crops , and the combatants . Itv h ileck , everv eminence in the ascent of both posiuons , attacked by turns , 11 ' t ' f .-mnonaded the next , became a scene of fresh carnage , occuped one «^^ ° ^ mm ^ bodies 0 f cavalry and infantry weutu uil Mm he 0 bme

    nor { deaUi Qf gmny men league ; but neither tne nn , wu * •¦ ' wum nf flip English Accordine to several authorities , sra thousand men of both armies mrtSmfhe attack and defence of Hougoumont alone . Napoleon Stm to «¦**! contest with connfaratin maitorence . tt » . , . la LI = „ directed to an attack on Mount St . Jean , Wel-EErf ^ S & TSt he Zy heart of the struggle . He designated SE S ££ lead this enterprise ; and flata ** gaH on the horizon . Was it a cloud ? a forest ? or an aim } . Was it

    Mted To Him The Contents Of Despatches W...

    armv y m f' ^ tI f rei « foref «*; or n , it the Prussian piudent to despatch General Subervive to more closel y observe this questionable appearance . Ere long it to ascertained that the army , toi army it was in the distance , was the advanced guard of 80 , 000 ir mssians . Still , Napoleon counting upon the arrival of Grouchy , counted also upon victory , which to his officers he mathematically demonstrated to be certam and assured . " But , " observes Lamartine , "he did not suluciently reflect on the resolution with which Wellington had inspired his troops , to conquer or to die on the slopes whereon he had hsed them . In the meantime Key commenced his attack on Wellington ' s centre , descending from the slopes of La Belle Allianceto storm the

    , eminence oi Mount St . Jean . At the first shock Ney appeared irresistible . General Picton fell dead into the arms of his soldiers . The Belgians retreated in disorder ; and the first English line gave way . bhouts of victory arose on the side of the French . At this- moment the gun-carriages of the French artillery of reserve under Key ' s command , ordered to sustain the charge , sunk up to the axle-trees in mud . A terrible charge , e xecuted by two re giments of English dragoons , carried this artillery , sabring the gunners , cutting the traces , and overturning the guns . In their turn the dragoons were charged by the French cuirassiers , and numbers were cut to pieces .

    SANGUINARY STRUGGLE—BONAPARTE IMAGINES HIMSELF YICTOJl . Meanwhile Ney was advancing slowly , but constantly , with his columns of attack . On reaching the palisaded entrenchments , he c h arge d the Hanov e r i ans who occupied them with Milhaud ' s cuirassiers , and his light cavalry , who routed the Hanoverians , and killed General Ompleda , who commanded them . Major-Gener al Ponson hy , who had been sent to replace the Hanoverians with three regiments of dragoons , also fall beneath the deadly thrusts of a party of lancers . Ney succeeded in reaching , under a canopy of tire , of shell and round shot , the topmost slope which led to the terrace of Mount-Saint-Jean . Here , as at the foot

    of the walls of a fortress , French and English , officers , soldiers , men and horses , some endeavouring to scramble up , others dashing them down again , all striking , were mingled together , under a continuous shower of balls from 200 pieces of English artillery ; firing into each others breasts , sabring , bayoneting , tearing each other , making of ihe dead bodies of men and horses , s ome a ram p art an d others bloody steps , to defend , or to escalade the glorious summit . Ney , who saw amidst the smoke the first French uniforms at the brink of the plateau , rushed forward to seize his victory , sending word at the same time to the Emperor , that one last effort of the reserve would give him the battle , and that the English , in confusion , w ere alrea dy sending off their field equipage to Brussels .

    " I have them , then , these English ! " crie d the Em p eror , w i t h tr i um p hant visage , voice , and gesture , in the midst of his staff ; his bosom at length relieved from a terrible load of anxiety . He remounted his horse , and galloped to the generals of the guard , whom he ordered to form their columns and fly to the support of Nev . * " * * * # # * The slackened fire of the English artillery seemed , by these long intermissions , to indicate batteries silenced in succession by the sabres of Key's cuirassiers . Nearly a ll the Em p eror s staff being sent off in different directions , bearers of the final orders to the reserves and the guard , Itossomme presented the aspect of a bivouac full of leisure and security , after the fatigues of a victory , in which the general has nothing further to do than to order the pursuit , and complete the glorious result .

    WELLINGTON AT SIX 0 CLOCK IN THE EVENING . "In the midst of the battle—Wellington , straitened and almost forced from his final position , between the skirt of the forest and the slopes of Mount-Saint-Jean , the summit of which was nearly attained by Ney , and subsequently carried by tbe terrible guard of Napoleon—his regiments dreadfully cut up , and thousands of their dead left behind them upon the slopes of La Haie Sainte , of Hou g oumon t , and of Waterloo—eleven of his generals dead around him , and amongst them his friend and right-hand general , Picton—eight of his seventeen aides-de-camp killed or wounded—Blucher vanquished and wandering at a distance from him in the plains of Namur—and Buloiv , whom he had been expecting all the day , invisible to the officers whom he sent every hour to observe t h e horizon on the side of Warre !

    "But the fortune of Wellington , entirel y at f au l t i n everyth i n g th a t surroun d e d him , was all centred in himself , and in the unshaken resolution of dying or conquering with which he hud inspired his army . " "We have not space to follow Lauiartine ' s explanations of the movements of Grouchy and Blucher . He appears to satisfactorily clea * the former from the charge of treachery to Napoleon . At length the long dark columns of the IVassians , surmounted by the banner of the black eagle , became only too visible to the Emperor and his staff ; but Grouchy came not . The messengers sent to him had wandered and lost their way . He had not received the Emperor ' s orders . The

    geer a l a ttac k on the E n glish was countermanded and attention turned to the Prussians . Ney had to do his best with the left , the centre , and the reserve already engaged . In spite of the efforts of Count Lobau the Prussians continued to gain ground . Ney made another desperate effort though unsuppor t ed b y the reinforcements he had looked for . At this moment the sound of the Prussian cannon was heard by the English . " Forward my lads ! " exclaimed Wellington , waving his sword to his troops ; " we have stood long enough to be attacked , it is now our turn ! " Another horrible struggle ensued but fruitless for either side .

    Observing Ney repulsed by Wellington ' s horse-soldiers , Napoleon ordered Kellermann , Milhaud , and Guyot to unite all their divisions oi cuirassiers , to the lancers , the dragoons , the chasseurs , and mounted grenadiers of the guard to support Ney : TERRIBLE CHARGE OP THE FRENCH CAVALRY—HEROIC ENDURANCE OP THE ENGLISH "SQUARES "—HORRIBLE CARNAGE . "Thisimmense mass of hovse , the most warlike and redoubtable of all Europe , the final thunderbolt of all the great French battles , to the number of 10 , 000 horses , charged at a gallop the English cavalry , which were deployed to receive them . But Wellington did not wait for the shock ; on the approach of the French squadrons , dashing on amidst cries of " Vive I'Empereur ! " the English

    regiments were thrown back in two masses to the right and left , unmasking sixty pieces of cannon in battery , which pourred a terrible shower of grape shot upon the devoted guards . The whole of the front ranks instantly strewed the ground with the dead or mutilated bodies of men and horses ; but the remainder rushed forward , silenced a second time the English artillery , and charged the squares of Wellington—living citadels posted by him at intervals to support and cover each other . ° They withstood the rolling fire of these squares , penetrated to the last reserves of the English army : charged them , but could make no impression , retired and re-formed after the charge , t o ren e w t h e i r on se t up o n ot he r squares ; forcing them occasionally with the bleeding chests of their horses , but more fre-After the

    quently rolling upon the ground under their bayonets . every charge English squares spread themselves out like a fan , to extend the surface of their fire ! and re-formed squares again to meet with greater solidity another shock . One brigade alone resisted in this manner no less than eleven charges , con t ract i n g its square at every successive charge . Some regiments were reduced to twothirds of their original number , but remained immovable notwithstanding , resolved to die to the last man rather than y ield the i r p osi t ion and g iv e u p t he victory . One Scotch division of 4 , 000 men was reduced to 400 , and asked for a reinforcement . They may die , " replied Wellington , " but they must keep their ground . Nothing but night or Blucher can now give us reinforcements ! " The division obeved and stood its ground .

    « Never were the French so desperately bent on victory , and never were the English so unshaken by defeat : they felt that thej were now contending for the l ast time for the prey of the world . Modern ages have never witnessed so terrible a struggle of two nations , hand to band , upon so narrow a spot of ground . All was Wood , dead bodies of men and horses , cannons , gun-carriages , and bro k en arms V The field of battle was drenched with blood and kneaded like one vast mass of red clay . W ellin g ton had onl y three aides-de-camp at his side out of seventeen , the remainder having been killed or wounded . The fight continued to rage , and , says Lamartine , " Nothing could shake those English brigades , which incessantly renewed the manoeuvre

    Mted To Him The Contents Of Despatches W...

    of deploying to extend their fire on the retiring of the French squadrons , and reforming square on their approach in a fresh charge . " t Napoleon still nattered himself with hope of victory , and affected to pity while he admired the English . " What brave troops ! " he exclaimed to Marshal Soult , " the English fight well , it must be confessed , we have taught them the way . (?) They are worthy of us ; but they must very soon' retire . " But it was the French who began to show symptoms of defeat . Ney , striking everywhere and penetrating nowhere , had been partially driven back . Napoleon saw that the supreme moment of decision was at hand . He ordered the footgrenadiers of his guard to attack the English .

    SLAUGHTER OP THE FRENCH GRENADIERS . " These 6 , 000 grenadiers advanced with shouldered arms amidst cries of " Vive I'Empereur ! " Wellington contemplated fhem with a degree of alarm springing from the prestige of this corps , immortalised upon so many battle-fields . He felt that he must act against soldiers like these not as with men , bnt as with an element . He awaited them , therefore , with a battery of forty pieces of cannon , with lighted matches . As they ascended and approached , the battery fired a volley point blank into the invading mass , which as the smoke arose was seen to waver for a moment , then to close up as solid as before , and to advance as silent and as compact as ever ; still with shouldered arms , without firing , and without hastening or slackening their pace . On a second discharge the same

    oscillation took place , the same closing up , and the same silence ; only that the i mmense b atta li on was o b serv ed to press upon i ts centr e , like s ome e normous reptile concentrating its folds when its head had been touched by the steel . On the third discharge the English gazing down from the ridge on which they were stationed , saw the column reduced to an immovable block of men , decimated by these three discharges of grape shot ; two of the battalions were struck down upon the slopes , with their still loaded muskets beside them ; the other two hesitated , reflected , and at length recoiled before this rock of living flame , to go and seek another means of access to these impregnable heights . But Wellington covering his whole army with 200 pi eces o f cannon , awaited them everywhere behind the same rampart of bronze .

    Napoleon turned pale , and doubted at length of victory . He mount e d h is w h ite char g er , and himself directed several battalions hitherto un-engaged to ma £ e another effort with Ney . On they went , shouting " Vive I'Empereur ! " Two hundred pieces of cannon on the one side , and 300 on the other , covered them with a canopy of balls . " It rained death around Wellington . His surviving companions of the battle , Vincent , Alava , and Hill , thought all was lost ; but he alone continued to hope . " Have you any orders to give ? " asked the chief of his staff , with an anxious voice , which seemed to hint at the prudence of retreat . " None , " replied the general . " But you may be killed , " said the other , " and your Grace may wish to communicate your thoughts to the next in command . " « My thoughts ! " replied the Duke ; "Ihave no other than to stand my ground here to the last man i "

    At t h is junc t ure , General Friant assured the Emperor that everything was triumphant , and that the advance of the old guard was only necessary to finish all . The Old Guard , calm , grave , collected , ferocious in visage , silent as discipline , marched . Napoleon encouraged them with a smile and a gesture , to which they replied by brandishing their arms , and shouting " Vive I'Empereur ! " " They were , however , astonished that in the very extremity and crisis of the battle , Napoleon remained so far from the scene of action , sheltered from that death which so many thousand men were braving for him . They expected to see him quit his shelter at a gallop , and th row h imself into the midst of them as on former occasions . DEFEAT AND DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD GUARD ,

    " The old guard , shattered in vain by the English artillery , clambered to the crest of the ridge of Mont-Saint Jean . All gave way before them . Tim Prince of Orange , while rallying his troops , was struck by a bullet in the shoulder . The English squares received him in their flank , and opened , as in the morning , to give passage toavolley of grape-sho * from the artillery within . The old guard rolled back in its turn at the unexpected discharge , and whole companies , shattered by it , detached themselves from the rest , and fled in confusion past the spot where the Emperor was sheltered . Some cries of despair and of

    treason were uttered by the discomfited group . Napoleon , no longer able to withstand this dreadful spectacle , urged his charger forward three times to go himself and support , or lead on again his old guard ; while Bertrand and'Drouot , his friends , as often seized his bridle , and pushed him back into shelter from the balls . 'What are you going to do , Sire ? ' said these brave officers to him . ' Recollect that the salvation , of France and of the army is in you alone . Iii you perish here all must perish with you . " The Emperor yielded , and passively resumed his post , whence he could neither see nor be seen till the termination of the struggle .

    " Uncheered by the presence of their Emperor , and seeing the day decline , perceiving no other reward for their victory over the English than fresh armies to pass through or to conquer behind them during the night , they anxiously expected every instant to be called by Napoleon , while they felt tho ardour of the English redoubled by the certainty of being soon reinforced by the Prussians . The reserve of the English Life Guards , until then held hack as a last resource by Wellington , charged with all the energy and vigour of an army which has recruited its powers under the united influence of hope and repose . Wellington himself mounted his eighth horse , charged sword in hand , like a simple soldier

    in the midst of his most gallant troops . Eleven out of twenty-one of his generals i who commanded in the morning under him were dead , aud lying under their military cloaks by the roadside of Brussels . The French troops now looked at ; and questioned each other in dismay , exclaiming as they turned towards the side s where they had left the Emperor . " What is he waiting for ? What does thee man want ? Is his genius totally eclipsed ? Has he entirely lost his head ?"' When an army , has reached a point like this , nothing but the person , the voices and the heroism of its chief can restore its confidence . Murmuring under fire is ; s ; the certain presage of defeat . Napoleon did not appear .

    THE LAST CHARGE OF THE ENGLISH—END OF THE BATTLE . Wellington reappeared at the head of the 42 nd light infantry and 95 th Riffejr „ „ and charging the chasseurs of the Imperial Guard in flank , he broke and pur- ' - sued them , putting them to the sword as they fled . This irresistible charge ( if jf two fresh legiments upon a broken and dispersed body of troops was the signalBoftf general disorder throughout the French line . The English army gave three cheers s advanced in five columns , with its artillery upon Key's army , which was flyin"V in fragments down the heights to its former position . At the same time there English cavalry being pushed forward in a mass upon the Frenc h l ine , scarcelrlr yet re-formed , broke through it , and dashed forward to overwhelm , under thehe

    weight of then- impetus , the French cavalry , still intact , stationed on the left ofoff the English line to watch the Prussians . Blucher was then advancing tumultui-u *" ously , and driving back , from position to position , the army of D'Erlon to Wateivrloo , and threatening even to cut off the retreat of JVey and the Imperial Guavd / d .. The troops were immediately seized with the instinct of defeat , and a cry ol oil " Sauve qui pent , " raised by some panic , stricken wretches , made the soldiersrss believe they were betrayed . They fled immediately in all directions , and rusheded ! forward in confused masses to regain the encampment of the mornin " . The'hee voices of their officers , the reproaches of their generals , the sight even of theiieut Emperor , b efore whom they p a s se d i n th e ir fl igh t , could not restrain them . TlreTres heights of Mont-Saivit-Jean were covered with their scattered remains

    " Napoleon saw that army which a few hours before was his only hope , nowowt returning in broken fragments , and exclaimed , " All is lost ! " For a niomententl he contemplated the disastrous scene , turne d pale , stammered , and shed somemtt tears , the first he had ever shed upon the field of battle . At length he spurredredi his horse and galloped forward to try and rally his troops . The current , deaf to too his voice , swept him off with it , whilst Wellington ' s cannon drowned his words .-dss The balls from Mont-Sains-Jean , the English cavalry , and Blucher's artilleryiry ; which was already playing upon the road , drove forward these waves of humanism beings like an uncontrollable torrent ; night fell and shielded Kapoleon from tlutlui eyes and reproaches of his soldiers . "

    The Prussians now came up in force , completed the rout of thethec French , and took in hand the merciless work of pursuing and destroyinj in ^ t h e fl ying enemy . " The English gave three cheers for their victory > ry 7 15 , 000 dead , 10 , 000 prisoners and 100 pieces of cannon , were alread $ dy > the spoils of Wellington at Waterloo . Blucher hastened to completdetci the rest . "

• Citation
  • Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 20, 1852, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_20111852/page/13/