BLUCHER'S FAREWELL TO THE BRAVE BELGIANS.

Marshal Prince Blücher to the brave Belgians.

"My army being on the point of entering the French territory, we cannot leave you, brave Belgians! without bidding you farewell, and without expressing our lively gratitude for the hospitality which you have shown to our soldiers. We have had an opportunity of appreciating your virtues. You are a brave, a loyal, and a noble people. At the moment when danger seemed to threaten you, we were called to give you aid: we hastened to obey the call, and it was much against our will that we found ourselves compelled, by circumstances, to wait so long for the commencement of the contest, which we should have been glad to see begin sooner. The presence of our troops has been burdensome to your country; but we have paid with our blood the debt of gratitude which we owed you, and a paternal government will find means to indemnify such among you as have suffered the most by the quartering of our troops.

"Adieu, brave Belgians! The remembrance of the hospitable reception you have afforded us, as well as the recollection of your virtues, will be eternally engraven on our hearts. May the God of peace protect your fine country! May He remove from it, for a long period, the troubles of war! May you be as happy as you deserve to be! Farewell! "BLUCHER."

66

Head-quarters, Marbes-le-Château, June 21st, 1815."

FROM THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON TO THE MAYOR OF BRUSSELS. "Paris, August 13th, 1815.

"MR. MAYOR,

"I take this opportunity to write to you in order to thank you, to request you to make known my gratitude to the inhabitants of Brussels and the environs, for the care and kindness they have shown to the wounded officers and soldiers of the army under my command. The services which we have had in our power to

*The acts of humanity of the inhabitants of Brussels, if particularised, would occupy many pages. But it ought not to be left unknown the signal service of the Mayor on this occasion;-he literally and figuratively gave wine and beer when water was required. An inhabitant of the name of Troyaux made his whole establishment a complete hospital, finding, without any previous consideration for remuneration, every possible comfort and subsistence for the unfortunate needing his kindnesses. A female, who had realised a little independence by selling lace, lodged and relieved the distresses of a great many. The fair sex indiscriminately, in high or low circumstances, were animated with the most solicitous attention. The regard of these brave people towards the English was brotherly and affectionate; and many of the inhabitants went to find our countrymen in the field, and brought them to their homes; and crowds met them on the road with refreshments of every kind.

render the city of Brussels, in saving it from the hands of a cruel enemy, by the efforts that have been made, and by the bravery of the troops, almost under its very walls, gave us reason to hope that the inhabitants would relieve, as far as lay in their power, those who had been the victims. But I did not expect the tender care, the kindness, which the inhabitants have displayed towards us, and I beg you to believe, and to let them know, that their conduct has made upon us all an impression which will never be effaced from our memory.

"I well know of what value, on such occasions, is the example of the magistrates, and I beg you, Mr. Mayor, to believe that I duly appreciate that which you have given.

"I have the honour to be, Mr. Mayor,

(Signed)

"Your most obedient and humble servant,
"WELLINGTON, Prince of Waterloo."

To the Prefect of the Department of the Seine.

"Paris, July 10, 1815.

"Sir,-Your agreeable letter of the 9th, which I have had the honour to receive this morning, has been read in the original, as you desired, to Highness Prince Blücher, of Wahlstadt.

"After the reiterated orders which I have received for the raising of the contributions imposed by this Prince on the city of Paris, it is not long in my power to avoid those coercive measures which are rendered necessary, by the tergiversations employed to elude my propositions. At the receipt of this letter, you and several of the inhabitants of Paris are placed as hostages under a military guard, and if we do not receive, this very day, a part of the contribution in question, you, as well as the other hostages, will be conveyed to the fortress of Graudenz, in West Prussia. This measure has been dictated to me by the Commander-in-Chief. You and your fellow-citizens cannot tax it with injustice, when I remind you of the overtures which I have, several times, made you respecting the demands of Prince Blücher. You know that

in 1806, 1807, and 1808, Prussia, under the administration of M. Daru, not only lost its prosperity, but was ruined by the enormous mass of requisitions and exactions to which it was subjected: you know what was done in 1809, 1810, and 1811, to exhaust the kingdom; nor can I dissemble that in 1812, though then in alliance with France, several of our provinces suffered treatment, of which the most cruel enemy would hardly have been guilty. It was in 1813 that we shook off the yoke of tyranny; the victorious arms of the Allies delivered France from a dynasty under which that fine country had groaned for so many years.

"The inconceivable efforts which Prussia made to support the great contest, after six years of oppression, signalised by all kinds of extortion and arbitrary treatment, put it out of our power to make a suitable provision for the equipment, the pay, and other wants of the armies again called forth to combat Buonaparte and his adherents. France, now delivered, cannot refuse its gratitude to the conquerors of the common enemy, when one reflects on the persevering courage and patience, in the midst of numberless privations, which they have shown during the most extraordinary efforts; but this gratitude must not consist, as in 1814, in empty words, but in deeds. You pretend that the contribution of 100 millions of francs exceeds the ability of your city. Ask Count Daru what Berlin (a city of one quarter of the size of yours) was obliged to furnish? and you will be convinced it greatly exceeds the demands of Prince Blücher from the capital of France. If we treated your provinces as you did ours, from 1806 to 1812, the contribution to be imposed, according to that standard, might exceed your ability. But, far from using reprisals, we have hitherto demanded only the reimbursement of the expenses of the war; for the budgets of our finances have no head for the exorbitant impositions levied in foreign countries, such as were found in the budgets of France previous to the year 1814. Last year the conquest of Paris ended the war. In this campaign the same conquest has been the object of our labours; to attain it we have been forced to make promises to the troops,-not such promises as the French leader made to his army before the defeats on the Katzbach, near Calne and Dennewitz, which hindered him from performing them,-but such as generous conquerors make to modest soldiers, whose welfare they value, and whose courage they know how to appreciate.*

"It is by the contribution that these promises must be fulfilled; and I cannot conceive, Sir, how it happened, that in those three days that we have been negociating on this subject you have not got together a sum on account sufficient to show your good will to the Prince, who must not be deceived in his hope of fulfilling his promise to his soldiers, who are used to depend on his

* The Editor begs to add the reported account of the several exactions made by the French during the last twenty years, viz. :-In Flanders, Brabant, and Holland, in 1794 and 1795, 14 millions sterling; in Italy, at different times, 17 millions; in Brabant, Flanders, and Holland, since taking possession of them, 48 millions; in the Austrian states, 13 millions; in Prussia, 25 millions (150 millions of dollars); in Hamburg, Saxony, Westphalia, and Hanover, 23 millions; in Spain and Portugal, before and after the war, 35 millions: together, 175 millions sterling. Besides this are to be reckoned the expenses caused by the presence and support of the French troops, the English subsidies, taxes, and loans on account of the war (700 millions): the whole will amount to 958 millions. Add to this the above 175 millions, and the whole makes the enormous sum of 1133 millions sterling, the 45th part of which was only recovered from France.

I am

word. You, and those who have neglected, or rather prevented, the payment of a sum in part, are the persons to whom Paris must impute the disagreeable consequences of this neglect. sorry, Sir, that, having a particular esteem for you, I am obliged to make this declaration. I must add, that the measures taken on this occasion are no violation of the Convention of Paris, since they fall only on those who show disobedience or coolness in the execution of our orders. Accept the assurance, &c.

(Signed)

RIBBENTHROP."

This letter was written in German, which the Prefect not understanding, begged the bearer to translate for him, which he readily did. The Prefect suffered himself to be arrested, but stopped his journey to Graudenz by making a payment.

THE PRINCE REGENT'S MESSAGE FOR ADDITIONAL PROVISION
FOR THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

"The Prince Regent, acting in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, having taken into his consideration the most important and glorious victory obtained by Field-marshal the Duke Wellington over the French army, under the immediate command of Buonaparte, on the 18th of this month, is desirous of manifesting the sense entertained by his Royal Highness and the country of this signal and splendid achievement, which has added fresh renown to the British arms, and which cannot fail to be productive of the most essential advantages to Europe.

"The Prince Regent, therefore, recommends to his Majesty's faithful Commons to enable his Royal Highness to grant such additional provision to Field-marshal the Duke of Wellington as shall afford a further proof of the opinion entertained by Parliament of the Duke of Wellington's transcendent services, and of the gratitude and munificence of the British nation.

"GEORGE, P. R."

Thanks of both houses of Parliament were given to the Duke of Wellington, officers, and men; and also to his Royal Highness the Duke of York, Captain-general and Commander-in-chief of his Majesty's forces, for his effective and unremitted exertions in the discharge of the duties of his high and important situation, during the period of upwards of twenty years, in the course of which time the British army had attained a state of discipline and skill before unknown to it; and which exertions, under Providence, have been in a great degree the means of acquiring for this country the high military glory which it enjoys among the nations of Europe.-June 23d.

EXTRACT FROM THE SPEECH OF THE PRINCE REGENT TO PARLIAMENT, UPON CLOSING THE SESSIONS, JULY 12, 1815. •

"Under such circumstances, you will have seen with just pride and satisfaction the splendid success with which it has pleased Divine Providence to bless his Majesty's arms, and those of his Allies.

"Whilst the glorious and ever-memorable victory obtained at Waterloo by Field-marshals the Duke of Wellington and Prince Blücher has added fresh lustre to the characters of those great commanders, and has exalted the military reputation of this country beyond all former example, it has, at the same time, produced the most decisive effects on the operations of the war, by delivering from invasion the dominions of the King of the Netherlands, and by placing, in the short space of fifteen days, the city of Paris, and a large part of the kingdom of France, in the military occupation of the Allied armies."

THE ADDRESS OF THE CITY of London.

"July 5th.

"To his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Regent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland;

"The dutiful and loyal Address of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council assembled.

"May it please your Royal Highness,

"We, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council assembled, beg leave to approach your Royal Highness with the sincerest affection to your Royal Person, and with the warmest congratulations upon the glorious victory obtained by the Allied army, on the 18th of June, under the command of Field-marshal the Duke of Wellington.

"At a period when the tumults of war had subsided, and Peace had begun to shed invaluable blessings over long-contending and hostile nations, it was with indignation and horror we beheld the return of that person who had been the dreadful scourge of Europe from an obscurity in which the stipulations of a solemn treaty had bound him to continue.

"We observe with grief, that on his re-appearance the lawful Sovereign of France was compelled by a rebellious and faithless soldiery to leave his capital, and to take refuge in the Netherlands.