RELUCTANCE OF BUONAPARTE TO QUIT MALMAISON.

"Soldiers! Some efforts more, and the coalition will be dissolved. Napoleon will recognise you by the blows which you are about to strike. Save the honour, the independence of the French! Be the same men which I have known you for these last twenty years, and you will be invincible.

(Signed)

"NAPOLEON."

181

and the urgent entreaties of others, to provide for his own safety before it might be too late.

Some of his old ministers had provided a swift-sailing vessel, in which he might now have fled from Rochfort, and sought refuge on the shores of America. But, as a contemporary writer has justly remarked, "It was, fortunate for Europe that his indecision, and the longing lingering look which he still cast on the crown preThe members of the provisional government were vented him from escaping while the opportunity was, by no means satisfied with this proclamation. It con- afforded him. Under the protection of the American tained no formal acknowledgment of having abdicated government, he might have maintained a secure corresthe crown. On the contrary, it merely spoke of a re- pondence with those who yet adhered to his cause, and tirement, which existing circumstances rendered neces- would have been regarded as a constant object of terror sary, but which might be only temporary, or might and alarm; the coalesced sovereigns must still have, depend on the continuance of the circumstances which maintained a military attitude; and, availing himselt first occasioned it. The appeal to the affection of the of the first disturbances which occurred in France or French army also seemed calculated to keep alive that any other country, he would have appeared in some devoted attachment to Buonaparte, which had been the unlooked-for moment, and renewed the scenes of de-. source of all the miseries of France and Europe. When vastation and blood from which Europe could be delihe spoke of having been calumniated, and of the fide-vered only by the absolute destruction of his political lity of his soldiers to him being imputed to them as a crime, his intention could hardly be misunderstood. So far, however, as it contained an actual acknowledgment of his retirement, it answered some useful purpose, and the provisional government caused it to be promulgated.

It was now expected that Napoleon would have withdrawn from France, and sought an asylum in some distant land; as it was not probable that the coalesced sovereigns would treat with any government which might be established in France, while his residence in the country would be the source of many delusive and dangerous projects, suspicions, and apprehensions,

existence."

In the mean time, crowds of fugitives from Waterloo poured into Paris; and, as their numbers increased, their disposition became more obvious. Their rage at Napoleon's abdication was unbounded. They openly expressed their determination to force him, even against his will, to appear once more at their head. Many tumults occurred, and human blood flowed, almost every night, in the streets of Paris.

These events were clearly traced to have originated with some of the inhabitants of Malmaison. Buona-, parte himself was not suspected; but the rash zeal of some of his officers was accused: and it might be urged as their apology, that, if they did not act under the orders of their former master, they knew that he would not have been displeased had their efforts to re

Had Buonaparte been actuated by patriotic views in his recent abdication, he would have immediately with drawn himself from the kingdom with whose happiness his presence was inconsistent. But, though he had re-instate him been crowned with success. signed the throne, and seemed to have relinquished all Some of the members of the government, therefore, idea of resuming it either by force or stratagem, he waited upon Buonaparte, and urged, in strong terms,, had not abandoned every hope of ultimately regaining the necessity of his departure for Rochfort. Much alit. He also imagined that, though he should no more tercation, ensued. Buonaparte accused them of viowield the imperial sceptre, his military talents and the lating their promise to respect his person and interests. attachment of his soldiers would induce the govern- "Could this," he asked, " be reconciled with their ment to appoint him generalissimo; little recollect present wish to hurry him from the kingdom like a ing how unwilling they who knew his character must transported felon? Was this the gratitude which they be to intrust him with so formidable a power. He ac- vowed, to banish him for ever from his family and tually applied to the provisional committee, request-friends, and drive him to seek a precarious asylum in a ing that he might be permitted again to combat at the head of his troops, no longer as emperor, but merely as a general.

This accounts for the reluctance with which he quitted Malmaison, notwithstanding the hints of some of his counsellors that he was yet too near the metropolis,

foreign and distant land?"

These arguments were urged by the Corsican with more than his accustomed violence; and the deputation, in return, treated him with very little respect. At length the conference broke up without any amicable result, and the commissioners retired, declaring, that

which they were debouching, taking all their artillery, and forcing them to repass the Dyle, which a corps had crossed at Limale to take the Prussians in flank. The excellent dispositions and heroic bravery of the Prussian general, however, did not long avail in restraining an enemy equal in courage, and decidedly superior in numerical force.

The adjacent village of Bielge was forced by the French; new corps crossed the river at that point, and the conflict was maintained for several hours in the centre of Wavre, till the whole town was on fire, and nearly consumed. At length the Prussians slowly evacuated it, and the French, carrying the heights beyond it, pushed on to Rozierne, four miles on the road to Brussels, which they expected soon to enter, as triumphant conquerors, not doubting that Napoleon had completely defeated the British army.

ter ensued, and some pieces of artillery were lost. | the principal part of their artillery and materiel, but General Vandamme was wounded, and Grouchy's army those of Soult were destitute of cannon, and almost had nearly suffered the same catastrophe with the main without arms of any description. body under the command of Napoleon.

On his arrival at Namur, Grouchy committed the defence of that place to Vandamme, while he continued his retreat with the main body, the ammunition, and the wounded, through an extensive defile which leads to Dinant. Here the narrowness of the road, for many miles, would only permit the march of single columns. The passage of the long train of carriages principally laden with wounded was slow and tedious, and, if the progress of the enemy could not be restrained a few hours, the whole must fall into their power.

The French were pressed so closely by their pursuers, that they had scarcely time to close the gates of Namur, before the Prussians attempted to enter with them. The French hastily lined the ramparts, and commenced a destructive fire on their assailants: and the contest continued until the arrival of the main body of the Prussians under General Thielman, who had now been joined by considerable reinforcements which were detached from the pursuit of the grand French army.

About six o'clock in the evening, the Prussians attempted an escalade; and, though completely repulsed in the first assault, they again mounted the ladders with determined valour, and carried the place. A most sanguinary conflict now commenced in the town, and every inch of ground was disputed, until the streets were piled with dead bodies. The French were at length completely driven from the place, and obliged to retire with precipitation towards Dinant. In the defile between Namur and Dinant the contest was renewed with increasing fury. The narrowness of the defile delayed the retreat of the French, and enabled the Prussians to press upon them with accumulated masses; and, though the real scene of action was limited in extent, the engagement was more bloody, where the contending parties came in contact.

The heroic Blucher, as might have been expected, determined to afford the French no respite. On the day after the battle he crossed the Sambre, and penetrated into France by Beaumont, where he published the following energetic proclamation to his army:

"Brave Officers and Soldiers of the Army of the Lower Rhine!-You have done great things. Brave companions in arms! You have fought two battles in three days. The first was unfortunate, and yet your courage was not broken.

"You have had to struggle with privations, but you have supported them with fortitude. Immoveable in adverse fortune, after the loss of a sanguinary battle, you marched with firmness to fight another, relying on the God of battles, and full of confidence in your commanders, as well as of perseverance in your efforts against presumptuous and perjured enemies, intoxicated with their victory.

"With these sentiments you advanced to support the brave English, who were maintaining the most arduous' contest with unparalleled firmness. But the hour which was to decide this important struggle has struck, and has shewn who was to conquer and to reign in Europe, whether an adventurer, or governments who are the friends of order. The fate of the day was still undecided, when you appeared issuing from the forest which concealed you from the enemy, to attack his rear with that coolness, firmness, and confidence, which characterise experienced soldiers, resolved to avenge the reverses they had experienced two days before. There, with the rapidity of lightning, you penetrated his already wavering columns. Nothing could stop you in the career of victory. The enemy, in his despair, turned his artillery upon you; but you poured death into his ranks, and rushing upon him with irresistible fury, you threw his battalions into confusion, scattered them Beyond Dinant, the fury of the pursuit began to in all directions, and put them to a complete rout. abate, and Grouchy and Vandamme arrived at Rocroi "The enemy found himself obliged to abandon to with about twenty-five thousand men ; having lost four-you several hundreds of cannon; and his army is disteen thousand in the affair of the 18th, and the disas- solved. A few days will suffice to annihilate these pertrous retreat by which it was succeeded.

jured legions, who were attempting to consummate the conti-slavery and the spoliation of the universe.

The grand French army, in the mean time, nued its disgraceful flight; and even at Mesieres, where Soult attempted to rally the fugitives, not more than four thousand men could be collected. Under the walls of Laon, the efforts to recall them to their standards were more successful, and, when Soult and Grouchy at last formed a junction, their united forces amounted to forty thousand men: Grouchy's troops had retained

"All great commanders have regarded it as impossible immediately to renew the combat with a beaten army: you have proved that this opinion is ill-founded; you have proved, that resolute warriors may be vanquished, but that their valour cannot be shaken.

From Beaumont the Prussians proceeded to Avesnes, where an obstinate resistance was made; but the place was finally carried by escalade, and forty-five pieces of cannon were taken. The town suffered considerably; for the Prussians were resolved to avenge the horrible devastation which the French troops had committed in their country in former campaigns. And Blucher himself was anxious to make the people sensible of the calamities which the inordinate ambition of their chief

had inflicted on every surrounding nation;-calamities from which the impolitic generosity of the sovereigns had saved them in the campaign of the former year, but which it was now necessary to retaliate upon them, in order to crush the turbulent spirit which recent events had shewn still existed, not only in the French army, but through the mass of the French population. By giving them an actual experience of the horrors of war, he adopted the only measure which was calculated to humble their national vanity, and to extinguish their military propensities. When Paris was first entered by the allies, the French had boasted that they had never been beaten, and that treason alone had rescued the confederates from complete destruction; it was necessary, therefore, now to convince them that they were a conquered nation, and to give them proofs of that fact which would not soon be obliterated.

For these reasons, Blucher despatched the following letter with the escort of the garrison of Avesnes:

character of the French, however, and their egregious self-conceit, required the severest chastisement, to reduce them to a temperature consistent with the safety and tranquillity of Europe; and, in addition to this, it should be recollected, that the excesses committed by the Prussians, in their progress through France, bore no comparison to the wanton and horrible devastation which seemed to form the favourite and studied en

ployment of the French troops, during their occupation of Prussia. It is also a well-authenticated fact, that many of the atrocities which were laid to the charge of the Prussians were actually committed by the French, who, dispersed in their flight from Waterloo, became the objects of terror to those whom they should have defended; and pillaged, and even massacred the defenceless inhabitants without mercy.

From Avesnes, Prince Blucher marched towards La Fere and Laon, at which places the wreck of the French army was collecting, and which were on the direct road to Paris. Detaching a corps on his right, he took possession of St. Quentin, which had been evacuated by the enemy.

Lord Wellington remained at Waterloo on the 19th, to provide for the accommodation of the wounded, and to re-organize his troops for further operations; and on the 20th he marched thirty miles, to Binche, where he issued the following order of the day :

"June 20, 1815.

"As the army is about to enter the French territory, the troops of the nations which are at present under the command of Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington are desired to recollect that their respective sovereigns are the allies of his majesty the King of France, and that France, on that account, ought to be treated as a friendly country. It is therefore required that nothing should be taken, either by the officers or sol"To Major-General Dobschutz, Military Governor, &c. diers, for which payment is not made. The commissa"Sir, I inform you by this letter that the fortress of ries of the army will provide for the wants of the troops Avesnes fell into our power this morning, and that the in the usual manner, and neither officers nor soldiers garrison are prisoners of war. They will be conveyed will be suffered to extort contributions. The commisto Juliers. It were to be wished that some troops saries will be authorized, either by the marshal, or by could be detached to relieve the escort on the road. the generals who command the troops of the respective As for the prisoners, the officers are to be conducted to nations, in cases where their provisions are not supWesep, and strictly guarded in the citadel. The sol-plied by an English commissary, to make the proper diers are destined for Cologne, that they may be em-requisitions, for which regular receipts will be given; ployed in working in the fortifications, All are to be and it must be strictly understood, that they will themtreated with the necessary severity.

"BLUCHER."

This letter has been censured, by some writers, as too severe; and the conduct of the Prussians, on their advance into the French territories, has been severely Censured, as barbarous and inhuman. The perverted

selves be held responsible for whatever they obtain in
the way of requisition from the inhabitants of France,
in the same manner in which they would be esteemed
accountable for purchases made for their own govern-
ment in the several dominions to which they belong.
(Signed) "J. WATERS, A.A.G."

These regulations were so strictly observed by Lord | should conduct themselves in a manner that will enable Wellington's troops, that, while the population of the me to protect them against those by whom they would north of France was exposed to the almost unrestrained be injured. It is therefore necessary that they should licentiousness of the Prussians, and to the worse atro- comply with the requisitions that will be made by percities of their own disbanded and ferocious soldiers, sons properly authorised, for which a receipt will be the progress of the English army was not disgraced by given, which they will quietly retain, and avoid all one scene of unnecessary devastation or cruelty. But, communication or correspondence with the usurper and on the contrary, France was indeed treated "as a his adherents. All those persons who shall absent friendly country." themselves from their dwellings, after the entrance of this army into France, and all those who shall be found attached to the service of the usurper, and so absent, shall be considered to be his partisans, and their pro

(Signed)

From Malplaquet his lordship proceeded to CateauCambresis, a distance of twenty-five miles, whence he despatched a corps, under the command of Genera. Colville, to take Cambray. The town was at first sum moned in the name of Louis XVIII, but this being re

The British soldiers were necessarily quartered on the inhabitants of the different towns through which they passed, but they rendered themselves as little burdensome as possible to their hosts. They punc-perty shall be devoted to the subsistence of the forces. tually paid for every thing which they required; and "WELLINGTON." many instances are recorded of their sedulous care to lighten the horrors of war, and to treat as friends those who resisted not their progress. The harvest was advancing to maturity. Their road often lay through fields of corn, where the path was narrow, and over which a friendly army could scarcely march without doing much involuntary injury; but the passage of thejected, a few cannon-shot were fired on each side, withBritish troops was scarcely to be distinguished even here. Where the path would not admit of their marching in solid columns, they uniformly halted, and broke into files of three or two abreast; or even proceeding singly, left behind them no other traces than the grateful admiration of the astonished peasantry, who had been taught to consider the English as their most inveterate foes.

out doing much mischief. Night put an end to the firing, when another conference took place between the general and the besieged; but this also terminated ineffectually; and the British commander, knowing that the circumstances of the allies would not admit of a regular siege, determined to attempt the reduction of the place at once by escalade.

The walls were in most places fifty-five feet in height; but this presented no discouragement to the British troops, who, taking advantage of some places where the ramparts were rather lower, attacked the town at four different points, at each of which they were crowned with complete success. The town was very soon in their possession, and the garrison retired into the citadel, with the loss of a hundred and thirty prisoners.

On the 21st, the Duke of Wellington marched seventeen miles to Malplaquet, the scene of the celebrated victory gained by Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough over the French, under Marshals Villars and Boufflers, on the 11th of September, 1709. He there crossed the French frontier, and immediately published a proclamation, which, referring to the order of the day, as containing an explanation of the prin- It must be acknowledged, that, on this occasion, the ciples by which his conduct would be guided, more garrison did not make the resistance which was exexplicitly stated that Louis was the ally of the sove-pected, and, in some of the points of attack, the inhareigns, and that they had pledged themselves to restore him to his throne.

"Head-Quarters, Malplaquet, June 21. "1 acquaint all Frenchmen that I enter their country, at the head of a victorious army, not as an enemy, the usurper excepted, who is the enemy of human nature, and with whom neither peace nor truce can be maintained. I pass your boundaries to relieve you from the iron yoke by which you are oppressed. In consequence of this determination, I have given the following orders to my army, and I demand to be informed of any one who shall presume to disobey them. Frenchmen! know that I have a right to require that they

bitants, who were not observed by the garrison, actually handed ladders to the British over the walls, and assisted them to ascend the battlements.

Some depredations followed the entrance of the British into Cambray, but no more than were unavoidable, considering that the place was carried by storm. These, however, soon ceased, and the troops did not disgrace the character which they had acquired for humanity, as well as for valour.

The town being in the possession of the allies, and the citadel not appearing disposed to give much annoyance, a messenger was despatched to Louis to hasten his progress, and to give him the honour of summoning and taking the place.