The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-08 00:00:00

WATERLOO.

The. following account of Waterloo, before and
after the Battle, by an eye-witness, is from the
first Number of the United Service Journal:—

Sunday morning was ushered in by one of the
most dreadful tempests I ever remember. The
crashing of thunder was followed by the roar of
cannon, which was now distinctly heard from
the ramparts, and it is not possible to describe
the fearful effects of this • apparent mockery of
Heaven. I never before felt so forcibly the
feebleness of man. The rain was tremendous--
the sky looked like that in Poussin's picture of
the Deluge, and a heavy black cloud spread, like
the wings of a monstrous vulture, over Brussels.
The wounded continued to arrive the whole of
Saturday night and Sunday morning, in a con-
dition which defies description. They appeared
to have been dragged for miles through oceans
of mud ; their clothes were torn, their caps and
feathers cut to pieces, and their shoes and boots
trodden off. The accounts they brought were
vague and disheartening—in fact, we could only
ascertain that the Duke of Wellington had late
on Saturday taken up his position at Waterloo,
and that there he meant to wait the attack of the
French. That this attack had commenced we
needed not to be informed, a the roar of the
cannon became every instant more distinct, till
we even fancied that it shook the town. The
wounded represented the field of battle as a per-
fect quagmire, and their appearance testified the
truth of their assertions. About two o'clock a
fresh alarm was excited by the horses, which had
been put in requisition to draw the baggage
waggons, being' suddenly galloped through the
town. We fancied this a proof of defeat, but
the fact was simply thus—the peasants, from
whom the horses had been taken, finding the
drivers of the waggons absent from their posts,
seized the opportunity to cut the traces, and gallop
off with their cattle.

As this explanation, however, was not given
till the following day, we thought that all was
over ; the few British adherents who had re-
mained were in despair, and tri-coloured cockades
were suspended from every house. Even I, for
tl►e first time, lost all courage, and my only con-
solation was the joy of Annette. 44 England
cannot be much injured by the loss of a single
battle," thought I ; 44 and as for me, it is of little
consequence whether I am a prisoner on parole,
or a mere wanderer at pleasure. I may easily
resign myself to my fate ; but this poor girl would
break her heart if she lost her lover, for he is
every thing to her." In this manner I reasoned,
but in spite of all my affected philosophy, I could
not divest myself of all natural feeling ; and when
about six o'clock we heard that the French had
given way, and that the Prussians had eluded
Grouchy, and were rapidly advancing to the
field, I quite forgot poor Annette, and thanked
God with all my heart. At eight o'clock there
was no longer any doubt of our success, for a
battalion of troops marched into the town, and
brought intelligence that the Duke of Welling-
ton had gained a complete victory, and that the
French were flying, closely pursued by the
Prussians.

Sunday night was employed in enthusiastic
rejoicing. The tri-coloured cockades had all
disappeared, and the British colours were hoisted
from every window. The great bell of St.
Gudule tolled, to announce the event to the
surrounding neighbourhood ; and some of the
English, who had only hidden themselves, ven-
tured to re-appear. The only alloy to the uni-
versal 'rapture 'which prevailed, was the number
of the wounded; the houses were insufficient to
ofitain,balfi wad the churches, and ,public build-
litg4 4vdre,littoetiVot,vri witistrinitifor:their,rerep
-tion. The body of the Vutelpfeßruttsmiek,i
who, fell 'a t itati iitt4e-Bras, was brought in on Sa-
turdayitaintiorakirk:tfi the -!q u art ere had fIeCU-
-1, alcirrza, higruinre .-tribUtAT to 33,i M,

On Monday morning, June l 9th, 1. hastened
to the field of battle ; I was compelled to. go
through the Forest de Soignes, for the road wa!,
sco completely chocked up as to be impassable- ;
and I had not proceeded far before I stinnhlt.d
over the dead body of a Frenchman, which was
lying on its face amongst the grass. The con;
was so frightfully disfigured, and so Smeared with
mud and gore, that I felt boil-or-struck; but
when, on advancing a little farther, I saw.hun-
dred3, and in less than an hour, thousands of
slain, I fond my pity for individuals mere° iii
the
;so true it
general rnags,h
rindtatt habithetnore I saw the less
felt ever 7
thing.
The dead required no help
.but thousand.
of wounded, who could not Help
were in want of every thine ; their features-,
swolleti by the sun and rain,-looked livid and
bloated. One poor fellow had a ghastly wound
across his lower lip,- which gaped wide, and
showed his teeth and gums, as though a second
and unnatural mouth had operied below the firr.
Another, quite blind from a ga4t across
eyeg, sat upright, gasping for breath, an,d
inuring, "De l'eau'. de l'eau The onxietv
for water was indeed most distressing. 'lie
German " Yager ! Yager !" and the French
"De l'eau Ide l'eau still seem sOundine. in

my ears. lam convinced that hundreds must
have perished froth thirst albne, and they had nq
hope of asSistance; for even humane per tins
afraid of approaching the scene of blood, ie
they should be taken in requisition to bury
(lead ; almost every person who came near beiner,
pressed into that most disgusting and paintui
service.

This general burying was truly horrible; lar.'f!
square holes were dug about six feet deep, acid
thirty or forty fine young fellows stripped tc.
their skins were thrown into each, pell-nied, and
then covered over in so slovenly a manner, that
sometimes a hand or foot peeped through tho
earth. One of these holes was preparing as
passed, and the followers of the army were
stripping the bodies before throwing them into
it, whilst some Russian Jews were assisting in the
spoliation of the dead, by chiseling out their
teeth !---4m operation which they performed with
the most brutal indifference. The clinking
hammers of these wretches jarred horribly upon
my ears, and mingled strangely with the occa-
sional report of pistols, which seemed echoing
each other at stated intervals, from different cor-
ners of the field. I could not divine the mean-

ing of these shots, till I was informed that they
proceeded from the Belgians, who were killing
the wounded horses. Hundreds of these tine
creatures were, indeed, galloping over the plain,
kicking and plunging, apparently mad with pain,
whilst the poor wounded wretches who saw them
coming, and could not get out of the way,
shrieked in agony, and tried to shrink back to
escape from them, but in vain.
Soon after 1 saw an immense horse (one of
the Scotch Greys) dash towards a Colonel of
the Imperial Guards, who had his legs skat:.
tered ; the horse was frightfully wounded,
,and
part of a broken lance still rankled in one of its -
wounds. It rushed snorting and plunging past;
the Frenchman, and I shall never forget his
piercing cry as it approached. I flew instantly
to the spot, but ere I reached it the man was
dead ; for though I do not think the horse had
touched him, the terror he felt had been too
much for his exhausted frame.
Sickened with the immense heaps of slain,
which spread in' all directions as far as the eye
could reach, I was preparing to return, when as
I was striding over the dead and dying, and me-
ditating on the horrors of war, my attention'tvas
attracted by a young Frenchman, who was lying
on his back, apparently at the last gasp. There
was something in his countenance which lute
rested me, and I fancied, though I knew not
when, or where, that I had seen him. before.
Some open letters were lying around, and one
was yet grasped in his hand as though he had
been reading it to the last moment. My eye
fell upon the words " Mon cher fill," in a female
hand, and I felt interested in the fate of so affec-
tionate a son.

When I left home in the morning, I had put
a flask of brandy and some biscuit into my
pocket, in the hope that I might be useful to the
wounded ; but when I gazed on the coinaless
multitude which strewed the field, I felt dis-
couraged from attempting to relieve them,
Chance had now directed my attention to one
individual, and I was resolved to try to save his
life. His thigh was broken, and he was badly
wounded on the left wrist, but the vital parts
were untouched, and his exhaustion seemed to
arise principally from loss of blood.
I poured a few drops of brandy into his
mouth, and crumbling my biscuit contrived to
make him swallow a small particle. The effects
of the dose were soon visible ; his eyes halt'
opened, and a faint tinge of colour spread over
his cheek. I administered a little more, and it
revived him so much that he tried to sit upright ;
I raised him, and contriving to place him in
such a manner as to support him against the dead
body of a horse, I put the flask and biscuit by
his side, and departed in order to procure as:ist-
ance to remove him.
I recollected that a short time before, I had
seen a smoke issuing from a deep ditch, and.
that my olfactory nerves had been saluted by a
savoury smell as I passed. Guided by these in-
dications, I retraced my steps. to the spot, and
found some Scotch soldiers sheltered by a hedge,
very agreeably e:nployed in cooking a quantity
of beefsteaks over a wood fire, in a Frencli,
cuirass ! I was exceedingly diverted at this novel
kind of frying-pan, which served also as a dish ;
and after begging permission to dip a biscuit in
the gravy for the benefit of my patient, I told
my tale, and was gratified by the eagerness which
they manifested to assist inc ; one ran to catch
a horse with a soft Hussar saddle (there were
hundreds galloping over the field,) and the rest
went with me to the youth, whom we found
surprisingly recovered, though he was still unable
to speak. The horse was brought, and as we
raised the young Frenchman to put him upon it,
his vest opened, and his " livret" fell out. This
is a little book which every Frenchman is obliged
to carry, and which contains an account of his
name, age, pay, accoutrements, and services. I
picked it up, and offered it to my patient—but
the young man murmured the name of " An-
nette," and fainted.

The wife of the celebrated French General
Massena died at Paris en Sunday. The Constitution ue 1
of: the:,Atla -instant, , ajpaptincefp,.the. T e
P. Filletess ,o,c *ski 4 qielt clo,s,,,lAol•ning, an,apol,Tecik.-iti-,
titcic Jri'tlie; 63.1' ye r h A 1 Ofeßerit
t(PA;eiikai Ithiiiiri.l43 3NJ i:;11te-,Irrinee;stad?;rile
o.4dAtettalitele:N 1 w/ov
J:l:l,t(Mr

PORZION INTELLICIESCE.

FRENCH PAPERS,
;Prom the ifessager c'es Charnbres of Jan. 3.;

, -
PARIS, JAN. 3.—Letters from Vienna of the 27th
of December bring nothing new from the theatre of
war. However, the latest news received from Bul-
garia, which are of the end of November, are the
subject of the conversations and conjectures of all
the circles in the city and Court, the confirmation
having been received by the Russian legation, but
nothing transpires. M. de Tatischef, Ambassador
from St. Petersburgh, has appeared at Court only
to announce officially the death of the Empress
-Mother. It is not yet known when Count Five',
niont will set out for Russia. M. Bois le Comte,
the French agent, left Constantinople on the 28th
of November, but he was subjected to tern days'
etearantine at the frontiers. We have already men-
tioned his passing througli Vienna; but our curious
politicians could not get at him ; they could only
learn that he crossed at Semlio M. Jauvert, whose
mission from the French Government to the Porte
is said to be of great importance.
A letter from Odessa seems unfortunately to put
beyond doubt the loss of the Russian ship the Maria,
which had on board 200 sick and wounded, and the
12 cannon intended for Warsaw, and other military
trophies taken at Varna. It was one of the largest
and finest transports of the Russian navy. Being
driven by a storm into the Gulf of Bourgas, it foun-
dered on a very dark night close to another Russian
sh,p that was at anchor there, to which alt the
officers of the Maria made the usual signals of dis-
tress as soon as they perceived that they were near
it; hut while the latter were taking measures to
afford assistance, the Maria went to the bottom.
FRCNCH FUNDS.—Five per Cents., 10Sf. 15e.; Three
per Cents., 74f. 50c. Bank Stock, I,Boof. ; NAples
Stock, 751. 25e. ; Royal Spanish Loan, 731 f. ; Spanish
Rente Perpetuelle, 45y. ; flayt;:rn Loan, 460 f. Ex-
chany, on London, one month, 25f. 20e. ; thrve mouths,
2bE 100.

lIICH •A'ATEIs, AT tONDON TO—MORROW.
NTernirg ...43 minute. after 11 Evenir.g.... t zninlttec afar/ 5.