Star.
London, England, 1818-10-24 00:00:00

under Blucher is stated at 120,000 men, of whom
18,000 were cavalry, arid 300 glum. The Anglo-
' Dutch army is ma4e to amount to 10'2,500 men, and
1258 guns. The head-quarters of Blucher were at
Namur, 16 leagues from Brussels, the head-quarters
of the Duke of Wellington.
I It. was calculated, says General Gourgaud, that at break of day
, of the 15th the first shots would be fired on the Prussian ad-
vowed posts. The Prussian head-quarters would in that case
i be i firmed at ten o'clock of the movement of the French army,
whi st that of the English would only.be informed towards the
close ut the day.
The Prussian army, Informed eight or ten hours before the
English army, would be the first assembled. The hope was even
conceived of being able to attack it before its four corps should
, join, or of obliging it to take a position in the rear, in the direc-
tion of Liege and of the Rhine, which was its line of operations,
and thus separating it from the English army, give occasion to
' other combinations.

In these calcuhtions the character of the Generals in Chief
were taken into consideration. The hussar habits of Nlarthal

Bin:act, his activity, and his decided character, formed a strong
contrast with the circumspect character, the slow and methodi-
cal manner of proceeding of the Duke of Wellington.
It was easy to foresee that the Prussian army would be the
first assembled, as also that it would shew most decision and
promptitude in flying to the assistance of its ally. If Blucher
had only had two battalions assembled, be would have em-
ployed them in supporting the English army ; and on the other
hand, unless Wellington had all his army together, he would not
attack the French to relieve Blneher.
All these reasons made it desirable to
ing the Prussian army.
We are told, that •
In the night between the lath and 16th, the respective posi-
tion. the three armies were as follow:—The French head-
quarters were at Charleroi, the Prussian at Namur, and the
English at Brussels. •

with attack.

The left of the French army, under the command of Mardis'.
Ney, had its head-quarters at Gosselines, its advanced guard at
Prunes; the corps of General &lite between Gonelies and
Frasnes, having a division (Girard) at Vigines, in the direction
of ileums; the corps of General d'Erlong between Nlarchiennes
and Julmet.

'l'he centre, formed of the corps of Vandatnnte, and the re-
serves of cavalry 'of Grouchy, bordering the woods opposite
Fkurus.

The right, formed of the corps of General Girard, having
passed the Sombre, was in front of le Cletelet.
The Imperial Guard, in echelon, between Ileums and Chaff-
leroi. The Sixth Corps in front of that town. The Corps of
Cuirassiers of Kellerman with the great park of artillery, on the
left bank of the Sambre, behind Charleroi.

The Prussian Army bad its first Corps collected at Mums;
the three otter corps in movement, to assemble at their points
of concentration, in order to move afterwards on Sombref and

The English Army had just received orders to assemble. Du-
ring the wiasle of the movement.; of the 15th, the Dukeof Wel-
lington had remained tranquil at Brussels. About seven or
eight o'clock in the evening he had received a courier from Blu-
cher, who announced to him that hostilities were commenced ;
that a strong French reconnoissance had sabred several of his
advanced posts. But the English General, waiting till the move-
ment was more pronounced, had given no order of march.
It was net till midnight that a second courier from Blucher

communicated to him ai the Ball the news of the French hav-
ing taken Chatlerol, that the Duke ordered the Generale to be
beat, and dispatched to the cantonments orders for the instant
assemblage of tl.•e troops. The corps of the Duke of Bruns-
wick and the division of General Picton, which were at Brus-
sel+, were first ready, and at break of day they began their
nwsch to Charleroi.

Marshal Ney, with 46,780 men, and 116 guns, on
the 15th was ordered to drive every thing before him
on .the road from Gosselies to Brussels, and to take
position at Quatre Bras. This most important ope-
ration was not executed in time by Ney. In a Note,
we are informed that " the recollection of his con-
duct in 1814, and latterly in March, 1815, affected
his mind to such a degree as to be perceptible in all
his actions."

On the morning of the 16th, Napoleon gave orders
to General Kellerman to advance with hts corps of
Cuirassiers from Charleroi to Quatre Bras, to rein-
force the left under Ney. He sent orders to the latter
to move forward with the whole of his left so rein-
forced, and to take a good position beyond that of
Quatre Bras, as he had not taken it the night before,
and in case the Prussian army, as was supposed,
should receive battle near Fleurus or Gembloux, to'
make a detachment by the road from Quatre Bras to
Namur, on the right flank of the Prussians The Aid-
de-camp Fleurus was dispatched to the Marshal to
urge and follow this whole movement. Napoleon
marched on Fleurus with the whole centre, with the
exception of the sixth corps, left at Charleroi.
General Gourgaud calculates the Prussian force at
Ligny at 90,000, and the French at 58,250. The
position of the Prussians, though strong in itself, was
yet inexplicable, as a force from Quatre Bras could
easily move on its rear.
Napoleon, says General Gourgaud, had sent orders after
orders to Marshal Nvy, to attack with the greatest impetuosity
every thing before him. At mid-day he testified to hint his
' displeasure at his not having yet taken arms, and being iu his
bivouacs: he reiterated the order to attack furiousi7 the position
of Quatre Bras, where, according to the accounts he had receiv-
ed from Brussels, he would only find some Belgic fortes, the
English army not being assembled, and being still uninformed
at eleven o'clock on the evening of the 15th of all that passed.—
His Majesty prescribed to him again, that as soon as he should
have taken position before Quatre Bras, he should follow the
orders he had already received, of dispatching a detachment by
the road of Namur, to fall on the rear of the Prussian army, of
which he was made acquainted with the position. This move-
ment must have caused the total ruin of the army of the enemy.
'the Emperor was so persuaded of this, that he concluded his
instructions to Colonel Forbin Janson, whom he sent to Ney,
with these words—" Tell bias that the fate of France is in his
hands."

It was the disobedience of Ney, we are informed,
that alone prevented the total destruction of the
Prussian army at Ligny. At the moment a decisive
attack was about to be made, a force was recognised
moving apparently in the direction of Fleurus.-
" The Emperor halted his guard, and ordered diffe-
rent dispositions to receive this column. This move-
ment appeared inexplicable." It was not till half-past
six, that it was ascertained to be the First Corps,
commanded by Gen. Erlong (part of Ney's army).
When the error was discovered, it required half an boar to
recal the reserves, acd till sever o'clock, Napoleon could not
march on Ligni. The attack took place as projected, but this
unfortunate mistake had retarded it two hours. I.igni was
carried, the enemy every where but, having his centre driven
apd his right ter•.:cd beyond St. Amand by the Divlsion of
Girard, precipitately abandoned the field of battle, and retreated
in several directions. The &Aces; of the right did not permit
us to obtain all the results which might have been hoped for
from this victory Thus the Prussian army
of 90,000 moo (lhilow had not joined it) was beat in four hours
by 60,009 .French._

The French loss is stated at between 7 and 8000
men, and that of the Prussians at 25,000.

Marshal Ney, who ought to have occupied Quatre
Bras on the evening of the 15th, or at least by break
of day on the 16th, had made no movement at two
o'clock in the afternoon of the 16th. It is not known
by what fatality he did not advance with all the
troops under his orders, and left behind the whole of
'the light cavalry of the Guard, and the whole of the
First Corps (d'Erlong). The important position otc
Que.-a Bras was occupied a great part of the 16t1:-