prietor, after having repaired it, has let it to another person for 125 francs. De Coster lives at present in a hamlet, called Joli Bois, situate upon the causeway between Waterloo and Mont St. Jean. This narrative was given at Waterloo, in the cabaret called Jean de Nivelles.* Extracts from the Journal of a Gentleman, 1815. July 16.-Dined at the farm of La Belle Alliance, the owner of which and his family tarried eight days and nights in the wood. Visited the well, wherein we saw the bodies of eight men of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon; they had jumped down with their arms. Went to the Observatory; it is thirty-six feet high: I nailed on the pinnacle the royal arms of Great Britain. John Baptiste Decoster was guide to Napoleon, in consequence of his knowing the country, and remained with him from Sunday at eight o'clock till Monday at five. First went to Pont Marcenelle, a league beyond Charleroi; both were on horseback; gave him a Napoleon at parting. An aide-de-camp, three gendarmes, and 154 of the staff, all on horseback, followed. The French formed a battery by making holes in the garden-wall. Here is another well, in which were found 73 men; the trees in the orchard were peppered very much: the ditch around this orchard was used as a battery, and hundreds killed. Saw 84 other pieces of cannon taken from the enemy; they took home only 12 guns: counted 40 graves containing English officers, in one acre of ground, resembling dung-heaps. The proprietor of La Belle Alliance is Antoine Herbert. July 19.-Went to the hospitals, and saw at the doors prodigious crowds of females, waiting to administer succour to the wounded: officers and privates were found lying indiscriminately together, but very clean; females of rank attending them with surprising zeal. Saw soldiers slightly wounded in the field, using the French cuirasses as frying-pans, to dress their victuals. In one place, saw thirty-six, out of seventy-three, who had lost either a leg or an arm, besides flesh wounds. July 20.-Visited another hospital, containing 420 wounded, half English and half French, all well taken care of, and very clean. They had all port wine and strong soups; but many were in a dying state, others the sight quite gone. Returning, wit *The etymology of this sign is, from the authority of an intelligent Frenchman, as follows:-" Jean de Nivelles" and "a simpleton" are synonymous; and hence, putting them on a level with even the dog of a fool, is frequently applied to a stupid and inattentive waiter.-Extracted from Hill's interesting Tour in Flanders and Holland, shortly after the Battle of Waterloo, with Sketches, 1 vol. 4to. p. 80. nessed a shocking sight, i. e. the dead drawn along by fish-hooks: they were going to be buried in the fields by the peasants. July 21.-Visited the field of battle, and saw scattered about prodigious quantities of broken swords, spears, saddles, bridles, caps, all cut in pieces. Picked up two crosses of the Legion of Honour and an iron cross of Prussia. Saw vast numbers of cuirasses taken out of the water, into which they were thrown by the peasants for concealment, and afterwards sold for two francs each. Met waggons full of wounded, crying out from extreme suffering. The water everywhere quite red. There were 20,000 wounded at one time in Brussels. All the wells at Waterloo spoiled, by throwing men into them. Churches still full of wounded. No inhabitants around Waterloo. We took a large quantity of camphor with us, as a preventive against infection. Were much annoyed by the incalculable swarms of carrion flies, preying on the carcasses of the horses which still lie unburied. Owing to the dry weather, the ground cracks or opens, and as the bodies of the men buried are not above a foot below the surface, they may still be seen in many places. The Prussians obliged the peasants to bury the dead at the point of the bayonet; many were put to death for refusing. Since, horses and men have been burnt together. July 25.-Dined at Quatre Bras. The orchard of this house has four acres, and hundreds of fruit-trees; each of the latter had from 80 to 100 shot in them. Coming from Waterloo, passed 40 waggons of wounded crying out; the men had been in cottages, and not able to be moved before: many died instantaneously; others were in a putrid state- a kind of living death! The road from Brussels to Genappe, 16 miles, covered with horse-shoes, parts of cloaks, broken muskets, drum-heads, broken banners. Bought of a peasant the silver crown taken off the pouch of Capt. Latour of the Imperial Guard. The Foot Guards, I learnt, stood the charge well; and at the time of the Imperial charge the ensigns were killed, when the grenadiers received the colours, and affixed them on the top of their arms, and after an huzza charged, and drove the enemy back. The French Order of Louis was found in the pocket of General Beaumont, who commanded Buonaparte's advanced guard; he had eleven spears run through him. The French had by far the best ground. The Cuirassiers charged our cavalry down the hill, and cut up the light cavalry; but when they got to the bottom of the hill, the Life Guards and Blues almost annihilated them: not 50 were left, and they threw off their armour, and galloped away. July 26.-Again dined at Quatre Bras. The landlord said, that only 157 Belgic troops were left alive out of a corps of 1800. Quatre Bras is a mile from Genappe. At Place Ney, where we next day took refreshment, saw 300 holes in the house and roof; one ball passed through the two walls of the house. The water at this place was still quite red, and in puddles, and smelt abominably offensive. We went next to Le Caillou. In this house Buonaparte supped, and afterwards set it on fire; it is a large mansion, which, together with the farm, barns, &c., were all consumed: it is a mile from La Belle Alliance. At Place Ney we were shown a cellar, wherein lay five of the Imperial Guard. The 79th dispatched them. Whilst we staid they were buried in the garden: the well contained 20 Frenchmen, and they had spoiled the water. The extent of the plain at Waterloo is three miles and a half broad; length, six miles. The decisive issue of the Battle of Waterloo, like those of Poictiers, Cressy, and Agincourt, gained by the English over the same people, has delivered Europe from the disastrous revolution: it was the English alone who saw the monster, and dared first to hold out its hand to arrest him. Electrified Europe already holds out its due reward of praise and glory to the King and Prince, who with the wisdom of their cabinets have thus weathered the storm, and who have thus made the sacred principles of justice and virtue to triumph. It is very satisfactory to find that nothing could surpass the high ideas entertained on the Continent of the steadiness, valour, energy, and discipline of the British army. It was remarked, that scarcely any other troops possessed that firmness and discipline, joined to what we call bottom, or a happy union of strength of body and resolution or firmness of mind, sufficient to have resisted, for so many hours, the violent, desperate, and reiterated attacks of the French at the battle of Waterloo; where the force of an immense artillery, of numerous bodies of cavalry, variously armed, and many of them protected by defensive armour, and from 50 to 60,000 infantry, the élite of the French army, were all combined for the destruction of an enemy numerically much inferior. It was observed, however, that the discipline of the French had been too loose, whilst that of the Germans remained too mechanical; but that the British army was distinguished by a happy medium, which, when joined to that military skill and coolness by which the Hero of Waterloo is so eminently distinguished, and the great confidence, from tried experience, which the soldiers had in their officers, almost insured The maritime power of England has more than once proved its salutary effect on Europe; and it may not be generally known that an English writer, near four ages ago (Hakluyt, Vol. I. 1433, new edition, London), states, that if his countrymen remain the guardian of the seas, the world must be at peace with them, and seek their friendship: the prophetic opinion has most gloriously manifested itself in the present age; and we will seize with pleasure the opportunity of connecting the triumphs of Trafalgar with those of Waterloo. a victory. Southey, in his " Pilgrimage to Waterloo," beautifully expresses himself, in alluding to this great triumph of England, saying: Rightly for this shall all good men rejoice, They most who most abhor all deeds of blood; Exalt to Heaven their hymns of gratitude; If they in heart all tyranny abhor, This was the fall of Freedom's direst foe; If they detest the impious lust of war, Here hath that passion had its overthrow : As the best prospects of mankind are dear, Their joy should be complete, their prayers of praise sincere." The following Memorials are taken from the Parliamentary "Mr. Speaker acquainted the House, upon the opening of the Session (Feb. 1, 1816), that he had received from Field-marshal the Duke of Wellington the following letters, in return to the Thanks of this House, signified by Mr. Speaker, in obedience to their commands of the 23d day of June last: "Sir, 'Paris, July 9th, 1815. "I have had the honour of receiving your Letter of the 23d of June, with which you have enclosed the unanimous Resolutions of the House of Commons of the same day, by which the House have expressed their approbation of the conduct of the General Officers, Officers, and Troops, composing the Army under my command, and of myself, and of Field-marshal Prince Blücher, and of the Prussian Army, in the battle of the 18th of June. "I beg that you will assure the House, that I entertain a high and just sense of the honour which they have conferred on me, and that I beg them to accept my best thanks for this fresh mark of the favour with which they receive my services, and those of the Troops under my command. 66 6 According to the orders of the House, I communicated to Field-marshal Prince Blücher the Resolution of the House regarding his conduct, and that of the Prussian Army; and I have the honour to enclose the copy of his letter to me upon occasion, which will best explain his Highness's sentiments. this "I cannot conclude without requesting you, Sir, to accept my thanks for the handsome terms in which you have conveyed me the sense of the House. "I have the honour to be, with the highest respect, Your most obedient and faithful humble Servant, "The Right Honourable Charles Abbot, Speaker of the House of Commons, &c. &c. &c.'" (Traduction.) "WELLINGTON.' "Les deux Chambres du Parlement Britannique ayant donné leur remercîmens à moi, et à l'armée sous mes ordres, pour notre assistance à la Bataille de La Belle Alliance, c'est un honneur dont nous sommes profondément pénétrés: nous nous sentons extrêmement recompensés pour nos efforts par l'approbation d'une nation vaillant et éclairée et nous espérons avec confiance que la victoire commune de ces deux nations contribuera bien puissamment à consolider encore de plus, d'une manière nullement troublée à l'avenir les liens entre elles. "Nous n'ignorons pas, Mylord, que la relation de votre Altesse, sur notre conduite du 18, a été la cause que les deux Chambres du Parlement ont pris la résolution si honorable pour moi et pour l'armée sous. mes ordres, et c'est moi qui vous prie d'agréer nos remercîmens pour cela. "Ce sont avec les sentimens du respect le plus fondé et d'une fidèle fraternité d'armes, que j'ai l'honneur d'être, "De votre Altesse le très-humble Ami et Servieur, "House of Commons, April 29, 1816. "Major-general Lord Edward Somerset, K.C.B., being come to the House, Mr. Speaker acquainted him that the House had, upon the 23d day of June, in the last Session of Parliament, resolved, That the Thanks of this House be given to him for his indefatigable zeal and exertions upon the 18th of June, when the French army, commanded commanded by Buonaparte, received a signal and |