The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-05 00:00:00

Ort Oralx

tion, or made it twine itself around sow.,
other object. Pledges given, however. were
to be redeemed; and honour, it is said.
instead of love, led to a union, which that
deity accordingly, whose rights were invaded,
never cordially blessed.

The honours and rewards which the Crown
could bestow were followed by public demonstra-
tions of gratitude. The two Houses of Parlia-
ment solemnly voted him their thanks, for, as
the Lord Chancellor expressed it, his eminent
and important services performed to his Sove.:
reign and his country. The Commons sent a
deputation to congratulate him on his return,
and to convey to him the thanks of the House.
His Grace expressed a desire to return his ac-
knowledgments in person, and the Ist of July
was fixed for the ceremony. The Speaker was
in his official robes, and the House was crowded
with Members, many of them in uniforms and
many of them in Court-dresses, as they
been to Carlton House with an Address to the
Regent. Lord Castlereagh announced the
Duke, who was immediately admitted, and the
whole House rose on his entrance. A chair
was placed on the left-hand side of the bar, to-
wards the centre of the House, in which the
Duke sat down for a few minutes. Then,
rising, he returned his thanks to the Commons
in a very neat and concise speech, saying,
amongst other things—" I was anxious to at-
tend the House, in order to return my thanks
in person for the honour they have done me;
and after they have filled up the measure of their
favours, by conferring upon me at the recom.
mendation of the Prince Regent, the noblest
gift that any subject has ever received." Loud
cheers followed the Duke's speech, and the
Speaker, then Mr. Abbott, made to him an ad-
mirable address. He spoke of the " grandeur
of the Duke's military success, and of the ge.
nerous and lofty spirit which had inspired his
troops with unbounded confidence, and taught
them to know that the day of battle was always
a day of victory." Loud and repeated were tlie
cheers which echoed the well expressed and
noble sentiments of the Speaker. All possible
honours were paid to the Duke as he retired.
In moving that the Duke's address and tho
Speaker's answer berecorded in the votes of the
House, Lord Castlereagh spoke of that as "a
proud and a grateful day, which would ever shed
lustre on the annals of the House of Commons."
The city of London also gave him a mag•
nificent entertainment, and presented him its
freedom in a gold box together with a splendid
sword. On all occasions of appearing in
public, his reception was enthusiastic, and he
was the object of a round of splendid festivities.
He did not, however, remain at home long
to enjoy them. He had returned to England
on June 20th, after an absence of five years;
he left it again on August Bth. Preferring
an active though a civil office to inactivity,
he had accepted the situation of Ambassador
Extraordinary to the Court of France, and
on the 24th of August delivered his creden.

tials to Louis XVIII. On January 24, 1815,
he left Paris for Vienna, and was attending
the Congress there as the Plenipotentiary
of Great Britain, when Bonaparte landed in
France, and again took possessirm of the
Government. He found the nation, so
wretched had been the policy of the untaught
Bourbons, willing to receive him, and he soon
called all its vast resources into action in order
to defend his Throne against assailing Europe.
The Duke of Wellington hastened from
Vienna to take command of the Allied forces
in the Netherlands, and arrived at Brussels
early in April. In two months from that time,
on the 18th of June, was fought the me-
morable battle of Waterloo, which crowned a
long life of victories (seventy) with the greatest
and most important victory that Wellington, or
perhaps any General, ever achieved. It was
worthy to be the last, for no greater victory
could he ever gain, and over no more celo-
brated warrior than Napoleon could be ever
hope to triumph. In the course of his career
Wellington had successively encountered and
defeated a great number of Bonnparte's Mat.
ahals—Victor, Junot, Marmont, Massena, Ney,
Soult—but he had never before met the
Emperor himself in battle. That glorious
victory terminated the military career of
both these eminent men • but Napoleon it
despoiled of an empire; Wellington it compelled
to seek other and peaceful glories, for there was
no longer an antagonist alive worthy of his
sword. He had conquered the greatest military
chief of the day, and stood thenceforward with.
out an equal in the world.
The great importance of this battle, con.
strained as we have been to pass over very
slightly all the previous great battles which the
Duke won, induces us to give a brief sketch of
the forces and position of the contending parties.
The Duke of Wellington's forces consisted of
about 33,000 English troops, but only a part o f
them were the veteran soldiers who served with
him in the Peninsula. A large part of the flower
of those troops had been despatched on an ex-
pedition against the United States, and Wel.
lington's army was composed of second battal-
lions and recruits. He had under him upwards
of fifteen thousand Hanoverians, besides the ce-
lebrated German Legion, eight thousand strong,
which had so much distinguished itself in the
Peninsula. The gallant Duke of Brunswick
"commanded under him five thousand of his own
subjects ; and the Prince of Orange was at the
head of a division eighteen thousand strong, con-
sisting of Belgians, Dutch, and Nassauese. On
all these mixed and apparently heterogeneous
masses the most perfect reliance was placed,
except on the Belgians, who had belonged to
the French empire, and whose fidelity was con.
sidered doubtful. They deserted their Dutch
Sovereign ; they were mistrusted by their own
commander ; and Bonaparte calculated on their
assisting him. On the whole, the forces, under
the immediate command of Wellington, amounted
to about eighty thousand men.
His army was organised into two large corps
of five divisions each—one commanded by the
Prince of Orange, the other by Lord Hill. At
the head of the cavalry was Lord Uxbridge,
now the Marquis of Anglesey ; General Picton
commanded the reserve. His head quartet s
were at Brussels, his right leaning as it were
on the ocean, and communicating with England ;
while his left was in communication with the
right of the Prussian army, which extended its
left towards the Rhine, and so acted on a line
of operations which communicated with Berlin.
The Prussians, who thus formed the left of the
line of the Allies, mustered 100,000 soldiers,
and were commanded by Marshal Blucher, with
Generals Ziethen, Bulow, and Thielman, each
of whom commanded one of the corps into which
the army was divided. In this enumeration
nothing strikes us so much as the comparative
small number of English engaged in a battle of
which we are wont to claim all the honour.
Next to that, our attelition is arrested by the
different nations of' which the army was com.

posed, while that of France wasone homogenentis
mass all put in motion by one mighty genius—
a striking difference which enhanced the merit
of the victor. We ought not however to forrct
that, on the side of the French, there were some
desertions, and many doubts of fidelity. It is,
indeed, difficult to believe that the fail, re of

Bonipartc's last charge—the panic amt,rg hi a
old Guards—was not the offspring of treacl,ery.
The French army, concentrated it, three large
divisions on the frontier, towards the midd'e of
June, was estimated at 130,000 men. .It lad s
field artillery of 350 pieces. Marshal Soult was
Major-General or Commander-in-Chief undct-
Bonaparte. Ney commanded the centre; J, romp
Bonaparte the left; Marshal Grouchy the t ight.
On June the 14th, Bonaparte addressee

order of the day to his soldiers, reminding then!
that that was the anniversary of Marengo and
Friedland, and on the 15th at break of day 11:8
whole army was in motion.
His object was to advance on Brussels—the
object of the Allies to prevent him. His plan
so far had been clearly anticipated, 'and the
means of defence had been organized' on that
supposition.' Still he appears to have taunt tho
English somewhat by surprise,•and his'advanco
was announced 'while all the officf.rs were assem-
bled at a ball given at,Brussels by the: Duchess
of Richmond. • Although
.the Generals stole
away quietly to put .tle troops in motion, so
that the ladies might ,not be rudely.sh.ocked,
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Brussels were filled with 'all the clan-lour of a
marching army; and the'halls; then 'thronged
with lively dancers, were in a few hours aler-
wardi filled with the wounded atAl the dying.
In the first instance Bonaparte directed his
attack against the Prussians: and on the 15th
beat them out of Charleroi, which he occupied
that night as his head7tparters. , At .the same
time, Ney was pressing on towards Brussels
till stopped by the English at Quartre Bras.
There a long and a severe contest ensued. Na-
poleon in person on the following day assailed
Blucher at Ligny,. and after a contest, which
lasted the whole day,' succeeded in defeati,,g
him, with the loss of upwards of 20,000 men, a d
some field artillery,--he compelling Blucher to
retreat, who admitted that he lost the day, but
fought so well that he saved his hot-limy.
On the side of the English the issue of tae
contest on the 15th was somewhat
dif-
ferent, It was principally with Ney, and chiefly