Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-01-24
BALLANDBATTLE OF WATERLOO

| III ylnS lately IndI out lew OI tnOSt
who had personal recollections of Well
ington could now be living, we may have
been thought, though erroneously,t to have
reckoned without the Dowager Lady de
Ros. That would have been unpardon.
able, considering the decisive part this
venerable lady has lately borne in the con,
troversy on the question of the wherea-
bouts of the famous Waterloo ballroom
at Brussels. In her personal RecOllec-
tions of the Great Duke of Wellington,
contributed to the New Years number OF
Auyray's Magazine, Lady de Ros shows
that a survivor of the group of the Stan
hopes, the Crokers, and others, not forget
ting that prince of anecdotists, Rogers, is
still with US, and that a memory which
extends to the beginning of this century
remains to all appearance as fresh as it
was fifty years ago. Lady de Ros was a
daughter of the Duke Richmond, who
was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1907,
and she first met Sir Arthur Wellesley
when he had the command of brigade
in the Sussex District, after his return
from India. At Dublin the acquaintance
was renewed, Sir Arthur being then Chief
Secretary. The daughters of the Lord
Lieutenant used to ride with the Secre-
tary every day from the Viceregal Lodge
to the Dublin Gate, when he was going
to his office. In 1914 the family went to
live at Brussels, and there, subsequently,
the Duchess Of Richmond gave the Wa
terloo ball. Lady de Ros seems to set all
controversy on the subject at rest by sta
ting, in the most positive terms, that the
ball was given in house occupiee by the
family, in the Rue de la Blanchisserie.
The house no longer exists, for when
Lady de Ros visited Brussels in 1868 she
found no vestige of it. The statement
that the original ballroom is still used
as business warehouse is, therefore, no
more than legend. The Duke of Well
ington always called the Richmond man
sion the "wash-house "a circumstance
which seems tolerably conclusive as to
its situation in the Rue de la Blanchis-
serie. Lady de Ros publishes with the
article a plan of the house, showing the
ball-room-in which, by the way, she and
her sisters used to play battledore on wet
days-and the study, in which the Duke
one day looked at map and marked
Waterloo as the probable field of battle.
This, and the full list of the guests in
vited to the ball, will give the article an
enduring interest for students of the Cos
sip of history.
The rumor of Napoleon's intended in
vasion of Belgium arrived while Yelling
ton was still at the Congress of Vienna.
The English officers were most anxious to
have him at Brussels, lest the command
should pass to the Prince of Orange
They and Europe were saved a calamity
that might have changed the face of the
world by his timely arrival. The Prince
of Orange did not see matters in the same
light, and he was quite angry with Lady
de Ros because she shared the common
feeling. "Well, sir," she said, with equal
sense and high spirit, "yoat have not been
tried, and the Duke has" The troops
had to wait a long time at Brussels be-
fore the decisive action, and they grew
tired of doing nothing. Early in June
some of them wished to obtain leave for
a distant party of pleasure, and they en-
ployed Lady de Ros as their intermedi-
ary with the Duke. No." he said, "bet-
ter let that drop" Still there was no
move, but only rumors of moves; and
when, three days before the battle, it was
whispered that the time had come at last,
few people thought there was very much
in it. The date of the Duchess of Rich
mond's ball of course affords the very
best proof of that. "When the Duke ar
rived, rather late at the ball, 1 was dane
ing, but at once went up to him to ask
about the rumors. He said, very grave
ly, Yes, they are true; we are off to-mor
row." Some of the officers hurried away;
others, as we know, actually had not time
to change their clothes, but fought in
evening costume. The young lady went
away with her eldest brother, to help him
pack up. She was much scandalized on
her return to the ballroom to find "some
energetic young ladies still dancing"
When the Duke of Brunswick took
leave of her in the ante-room, he made
her pretty speech as to the Brunswick
ers being sure to distinguish themselves,
after the honor she had done them by her
presence at their late review. She was
"quite provoked" with poor Lord Hay,
a dashing, merry youth, full of military
ardor. for his delight at the idea of going
into action, and of all the honors he was
to gain. He and the Duke of Brunswick |
were among the first killed. Son the
28th we walked about nearly all morn
ing, being unable to sit quiet, and not |
knowing what was happening. Wound
ed officers who were brought into Brus-
sells sent US messages about my brother
being safe" There is a whole picture |
in those few words. There was "fear-
full alarm" during the day, when the
Hussars, Hanoverian reg
iment, came full gallop through the town
with the news that all was lost. They |
good fellows, that all of them had
lost their heads omore-becausea few
shots had whistled about their ears
While this was going on, a worthy French
family in the Belgian capital were pre-
pairing great supper for Napoleon, feel
ing sure that he would be there at night |
to eat it. "In the evening of the 18th
the brilliant victory was known in Brus-
SelS, anu nOSI IIldHhlul We WoIo IndG oui
belongings had been merci-
fully protected, and that war was at an
end" After war, peace, and we were
soon reading letters from the Duke to
his dearest Georgy" about miniature
he had given to her, about the sash she
had worked for him, about the proper
treatment of her tresses after fever
'' 1 don't agree with your barber about
your hair. All his frizzing will not pre-
clude the necessity of your being shay
ed"
We prefer to stop here, and to take a
kindly leave of the venerable writer
We will do no more than express our re-
gret that, in printing one or two of the
Dukes letters, she should have given up
10 marty even q single nage of an article