, 1873-03-16
THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

o1 AA0fs WILLIAM
II OF CHICAGO
Notwithstanding his blunders on tte 18th ,,s
l1th, Napoleon on the morning Of the 18th vas
fully confident Of success. Bele7ing that he
would hare only tho English to contend with
ho felt euro Of victory, and, on seeing them
posted before the forest Of So:enes. hn e.
claimed, 'At last / hare them! There are nina
chances to one in my 5aror." Marshal Sorlt
warned him not to be too confident, and Gen.
Foy observed, 1.-THE English infantry are tha
very doyil in tho fsht;" but tho Emperor
treated their remonst1ances With contora2t.
You think, because he beat you, that Yelling
ton is great General" His whole air
and bearing was that OF one who scented =
coming triumph, and he indicated neither By word
nor look that he feared such disaster as might
follow the arrival OF fresh army on his hank-
In his own narrahves Of the battle there is no.
allusion to any possible aid from Grouchy, LOT
any hint that he thought the Prussiaas
near. From midday on the 18th to 4 H. m. on
the 18th the rain had been pouring down in tor
rents, the ground was terribly beaten up, and
the troops on both sides had suffered much in
their marches and in the biyouacs. Was this
the reason that led Napoleon to suspend his at-
tack till II o'clock in the forenoon? Did the
,niry state Of The soil make it impossible for his
cavalry or artillery to manguyre till after the
sun had shone for somo hours, OF WAS he tryine
to strike terror into part Of th5 motley army op-
posed to him By an imposing array OF his forces?
Did he secretly cherish Il hope that the Belgian
regiments would quit Wellington in body, and
range themselves under his own eagles Be all
this as it may, he again loat hours, when eyely
minute was precious to him, ard played into
i FT~3 L.
the attack two or three hou1s sooner. he nigh.
have thrown his whole army upon Wellington,
and thus, perhaps, hare crushed Kim before
Bu1ow arrived. General Jo1nini, IN acu!o
French critic, denies the validity OF tho En-
peror's excuse touching tho state Of the ground;
and Brialmont, the able Belgian critic, holds the
sama opinion; ground is not made much bet
ter" he say5 "by few hours of dry westher."
Besides this, Napoleon himself tells us IN his
1fenloires that tbs artillery officers who had c1-
aznined the ground announced at o'clock that
tho guns could be mannuyred, though with
some difficulty and We know that Wellington,
BY the same hour, had made all his dispositions
for the battle.
Tho position in Ehich "the Iron Duke"
awaited the attack Of his anniversary, and which he
had surveyed year before for this purpose, wca
one of great natural strength, and its selection
was proof Of his military sagacity. Let any ono
traverse the field 2s We did, not long since, and,
after careful survey, no will find it hard to re-
gnrd the battle, as delivered By Napoleon as
better than butcherv. Merk Braine, village
and . ravine, secured Weliington's right, *hi1a
his LETT Was less strongly protected By :wo small
hamlets. called La Hare and Papil1ote. Tho
key to his poaition was an old Flemish farm
house Of brick, called Hougoumont, which, With
it's outbuildings and large garden inclosed By =
very high and strong brick wall -also it's orchard
and copse Of beech trees Of about two acres, suz-
rounding it, and pond serving as g. moat, was :
small fortress. This stronghold, which fronted
the British right, was strengthened By 1oopko1ing
the walls for n2usketry dre and By the eEectiono3
scafo1ding to enable the troops within the garden
to fire from the top Of the wall Nearly in front
Of the British centro, at less distance down the
slope, was another smaller farmhouse, called
L. Haye Sainte, which, like Hougoumont, was
filed With English troops, and not httls
strengthened the English position During the
whole OF this fierce contest there Was no atEato"
ey,-no attempts at turning aanks,-bnt all WIS
straightforward fighting, from the first gun to
the last.
Napo1eon's first mistake, VIC have seen was in
delaying his attack till nearly noon 4 far
greater b1under was his neglect to occupy with
small infantry force the Wood OF Paris,
through which the Pr1ssians had to
paas on their way from Wavre to attack
his right wing. By this neglect, bulo"
was enabled to form therein and dooouch
upon his right, to defend which Napoleon "aa
compelled to detach during tho battle not less
than 1880 OF his choicest men. and % guns
which he had intended to employ aga1nst Well
iugton. OF this We shall speak again IN q mora
appropriate place. His next mistake was IN
throwing awoy 60 many troops On the almost
impregnable fortrese-for such the Engliah had
made it-of Hougoumont. Napoleon begun the
battle BY hurling Jorome's division against that
post. Had "the Iron Duke " himself chosen
tho point st which he ahould be assalled' ha
would unquestionably have selected that. IL
WAS the very strongest British bul"ark" Column
after column OF the French swept down ths
ridges, and assailed it with hery va1oF; out II
IVES like butting their heads against = wall.
It has been well said that "au defensive
positions would be successful II tho adVer'
ear7 YOu]d nttRck them on the points where there