The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-02-04 00:00:00

NOTICE

By Mts. Johnstone. Part I
London : Chapman and Hall.

This is the first number of a se
of a very clever writer. The "

ies of tales from the pen
Experiences of Richard

Taylor, Esq
various stori

who is made the vehicle of conveying the
s to the reader, is ably sketched ; and if the
stories themselves keep up the healthy moral tone and
liveliness which characterise the present number, the work
must become popular, and have extensive circulation.
" Young Mrs. Roberts' Three Christmas Dinners" ought
oung wives and husbands as well. The
valuable one. The story of " Mary

to be re

lesson taught is

eautiful one, full of nature, and dis-
playing a deep insight into the mysteries of the human
haat t. We wish the spirited publishers of this series

'9
Hair" is a

every success

SELECTIONS

THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.
(From Capt. Siborne's Despatches.)
__ _ _

On the 12th of June a Prussian officer, whose regiment
formed an extensive line of outposts in front of Tournai,
reported to Major-General Sir Hussey Vivian, by whom
it was communicated to the Duke, that the French army
had assembled on the frontier, and was prepared to attack.
" His Grace, however, (says our author,) did not think
the proper moment bad arrived for making any alteration
in the disposition of his forces." It is true that Fouche
in his memoirs says, he knew for certain that Napoleon
intended to give battle to the Anglo-allied army en the
17th, "after walking over the Prussians;" and that he
had reason to trust to the success of that plan, as Wel-
lington had been deceived by false reports, and believed
that the opening of the campaign might be delayed till the
beginning of July ; and Fouche adds that the cause of
Wellington's delay was this :—that Wellington and Blu-
cher were relying almost entirely on the secret informa-
tion he was to give them ; that he was to have furnished
the Duke on the day of Napoleon's departure with a plan
of the campaign and the moment of the attack ; that he
accordingly despatched Madame D— with the plan de-
scribed in cyphers, but at the same time sent orders for
such obstacles at the frontier which she was to pass that
she could not arrive at the head-quarters of the Duke
until after the event. What credit can be given to such a
statement from such a man ? But, admitting it to be cor-
rect, and that the Duke was willing, as no doubt he would

be, to avail himself of information supplied from any
quarter whatsoever, we cannot think that in a matter so
vitally important he would have trusted to such an arch
intriguer as Fouche, and suffer himself, by relying upon
such an individual, to be surprised. In an admirable and
most spirited sketch of the operations of Picton's division
in the campaign of Waterloo, which was published in the
United Service Journal of June,lBll, this notion of sur-
prise, as well as of the officers fighting in their ball-room
dresses (except a few who lingered too long in making
their adieux to the ladies), is satisfactorily confuted; but
let us look a little to the facts, and observe the conse-
quences of the surprise, if still it be insisted on.

- General Von Zieten, who commanded the first Prus-
sian corps d'armee, was the furthest in advance npoa the
frontier, and was stationed at Charleroi. During the night
of the 13th the light reflected by the fires of the French
bivouacs was visible to his outposts, and hence it was
known that the French army were concentrating. That
information was immediately transunited to Wellington
and Blucher, but nothing was yet positively ascertained
as to the real point of concentration. On the morning of
the 15th the French army commenced its march in three
columns upon Marchienne, Charleroi, and Chatelet, and
towards four o'clock in the morning the engagement
began along the Prussian outposts, which were speedily
driven in. Zieten gave orders to ictice, and the Prussian
army, with the exception of Bulow's corps, finally took
up their position at Ligny on the night of the 14th. To-
wards noon of the same day the cannonade which had
been heard in the morning became more distinctly audi-
ble to the forces of the Anglo-allied army nearest to the
frontier, consisting of Dutch-Belgian troops in the vici-
nity of Quatre Bras, and those troops began to concen-
trate at the latter point. Between three and four o'clock
of the same day the Duke received intelligence of the ad-
vance of the French, and gave orders for the whole of his
troops to hold themselves in immediate readiness; but,
says Captain Siborne, " his Grace was determined to
make no movement until the real line of attack should
become manifest ; and hence it was, that if the attack had
been made even at a later period his dispositions would
have remained precisely the same." At seven in evening
Ney joined the army, and to him Napoleon gave the com-
mand of the corps cr armies of D'Erlon and Reille, telling
bim to " Go and drive back the enemy from Quatre Bras."
But if the British commander is blamed. for not earlier
concentrating his forces at Quatre Bras, how much more
culpable was the delay in concentration on the part of
the attacking enemy ! Ney's forces were detached,
and, in consequence, a very large body of them, consisting
of Count D'Erlon's corps, not having come up at the
commencement of the battle, and having in their road re-
ceive] orders to retrace their steps and join Napoleon at
Ligny, was lost both to Ney, when it was most required,
and to Nat
turned a

Leon himself at a time when he could hare
'llse into an absolute and overpowering de-

At two o'clock in the afte

noon of

casting that D'Erlon's corps was not far hi:;.rear, our readers some account of the process and results of
commenced the attack. His force consisted of 15,750 " Anastatic Printing." It has been the fate of all bene-
infantry, 1,865 cavalry, and 38 guns. Opposed to him at ficialinnovations—and the more especially if they recom-
the time was•the Prince of Orange, with only 6,832 in- mend, themselves by their cheapness—that they have had
(entry, and 16 guns • but within half or three-quarters of to combat an array of prejudice, and the determined
an hour Picton's division, a Dutch-Belgian brigade of opposition of " vested interest ;"—this method of pro-
cavalry, and the Duke of Brunswick, with his corps of clueing, books and prints will not be txenipted from the
Death's-head Hussars, reached the field; so that the common lot; but such is the extreme simplicity and un-
Duke, surprised as he is said to have been, had- then exampled rapidity of the process in multiplying engravings,
concentrated at Quatre Bras 18,090* infantry, 2,004 ca- drawines, and books, that it must inevitably he, erelong,
vairy, and 28 guns—a force superior (except as to the established in general estimation. We have heard, years
number of guns) to that of Ney. • ago, of similar propositions, but since they have never
Both forces were afterwards increased, and late in the been matured into a solution of all difficulties, as in the
day the relative numbers were—Wellington's, 29,639 in. present case, let the honour and profit be to those by
fantrj, 2,004 ravel, y, and 68 guns ; Ney's, 15,759 infan- whose labour and ingenuity re.production is rendered not
try, 5,165 cavalry. and 50 guns; ; but it must be observed, only practicable, but triumphantly simple beyond all the
that in the outset the Dutch-Belgian cavalry proved itself happiest ideas of stereotype. The drawing and prints
incompetent to engage with the French, and that in the which accompany this notice, with the letterpress, form
latter part of the action the field was completely aban- together an example of this method of printing. The let-
doned by the 2d Dutch-Belgian infantry division; amount- terprees was first set in type, by the ordinary printer of the
ing to no less than 7,533 men. The battle continued Art.,ljnion, leaving space for the drawn or engraved illus.
until after sunset—on either side the troops fought with traliOns, which have been set into their respective places
determined bravery, and the carnage was fearful; but at on a proof of the letterpress, the whole was cast on to a
length victory declared in favour of the Anglo-allied zinc plate, and so printed off; and it may be here observed,
forces. We have not sufficient room to enter into the that there is no limit to the thousands of copies that may
details of the engagement, but they are given with great be dawn, nor the slightest diminution of excellence in
precision by Captain Siborne, and, with the assistance of successive impressions, since new plates ad infinilum may
the anailyptographic engravings which accompany his be preparedfrom the copies now yielded. The Nurse"
work, the reader have no difficulty in following them. and " The Revelry" are woodcuts taken from pages of
Simultaneously with the attack at Quatre Bas, and " The Book of British Ballads ;" and the remainder are
commencing at aoout the same hour of the day, a despe- drawings.by gentlemen whose names are undersigned, and
rate battle was fought between the French and Prussians which brive been transferred immediately to the plate.
at Ligny in the rear of Pleuras. That position, though The invention is equally successful in application to the
defective in a tactical point of view, as a great part of the earliest printing—we have seen several transfers from
ground was exposed to the enemy, and the supports re- books century old. The principal merit claimed by the
quired to maintain the villages in front of the position proprietors of this patent are, in the first place, their
would be subjected to the full play of the batteries on the method of repeating in low relief (something like a litho-
opposite heights, had been previously fixed upon as the graphic printing surface) the tracery of an engraved wood-
most eligible in the event of the enemy's advancing by block or copper plate from a cut or engraving from such
Charleroi. Connected with Quatre Bras, only six or block or plate, in such manner as immediately to yield
seven miles distant, by a paved road, great facility was impressions which are not in any way to be distinguished
offered for co-operation and mutual support upon which- from those drawn from the original engraved surface.
ever point the great mass of the French army might he This is effected by means of acids diluted to various ds-
. directed, and if either position should be forced, then grees of strength, which act upon those parts cf the plates
Mont St. Jean (Waterloo) and Wavre, upon parallel remained unprotected by the ink, and so leave the printing
lines of retreat towards Brussels and Louvain, would surface very *lightly in relief. Another chief merit of
likewise offer the means of co-operation on the south the invention is the successful provision against the
side of the Forest of Soignies, and concentric lines of re- spreading. of the ink under any degree of pressure;
treat upon Brussels would bring the two armies in corn- whereby the finest lines and sharpest edges are repeated
tined position in the immediate front of the capital. with singular precision. Another extraordinary result of
By an unfortunate mischance Bulow'a corps never the invention is the restoration of the ancient or injured
reached the field ; but the superiority in numbers was, engravings or etchings—that is, if an engraving have been
nevertheless, with the Prussians, their force consisting injured—not, be it understood, as regards the paper, but
of 83,407 men, that of the French of 71,203; . but the faded through carelessness,:or defaced by accident—such
latter had 242 guns, whilst the Prussians had only. 224. engraving can be perfectly restored by having every line
Between the Prussians and the French there existed the and touch refreshed with new ink, so as to give the work
moat bitter animosity, and the battle was fought with a With all its details as if fresh from the wood or copper.