The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-09-14
And Monument to Their MEMORY
Was Unveiled at Brussels
Recently.
The Occasion Not Exactly One OF
Semi-Mourning or Serious
Contemplation.
An Extension Of the Triple Alliance and
Its Effect ON the European
Peace Problem.

BRUSSELS, Aug. Give had great doinps
this week in lie petite Paris, as its admirers
fondly call the capital Of the smallest of
European Kingdoms. It ought really to
have been week of semi-mourninQ and
solemn faces, for the transplanting of
the dead and the unwilling Of al
monument to dead soldiers in not exactly
an celebrating amusement. But instead
of mourning the occasion was utilized for a
general jamboree and a fraternal hobnob-
bling of English and Belgian military big
wigs, who patted each other on the back
and blew their respective countries trum-
pets. All this ''thusness'' was on account
of the unwilling of memorial to the Off
ers and men who fell ut Waterloo-Eng
lish officers and men, for in spite of all that
was said this week by fervid orators it is
we'll known historical fact that lies braves
Belges' took jolly good care that no stray
shots should come their way.
Brussels is to me one of the most delight
full cities on the continent. Not too big,
with all the advantages. and without many
of the disadvantages of a metropolis you
can spend in Brussels as pleasant week as
anywhere else know of. It is full of his
torical interest and no matter whether you
be Russian, Prussian or Yankee the field of
Waterloo has almost the same fascination
for you as Thermopylae would have for a
Greek. Perhaps there never was battle
fought that was more what one might call
cosmopolitan, not only with regard to the
people who composed the allied armies, but
also in its results, and few battlefelds have
retained so much of the flavor of battle
about it as the field of Waterloo" has.
With regard to the field of battle itself,
the physical nature of the ground has been
considerably changed. This is owing to
the fact that large quantities of earth were
required to make the huge mound which
rises in the center of the field, and which is
surrounded by the Belgian ion-tail out
and mouth open in the attitude of roaring,
The roar the said lion gave at Waterloo was
more in the nature of the roar the menag-
erie lion gives when his keeper whips
him. But if the ground has
changed, the various famous landmarks on
the field have altered little, if at all. |
Hougoumont, La Haye Saint and the other |
keys of the English position on that fate |
full day, are there still, their weather. beat
en- walls loop-holed and pitted with bullet
marks. The charred beam over the big
door leading to the farm yard at Hougou-
mont is still there, and you can yet see the
place where the gallant Highlanders re-
pulsed charge after charge. There is the
place, still unchanged, where Shaw the Life
guardsman stood laying about him with
with his fail or one Of his ancestors in the
days of Greasy and Agincourt with his quar-
ter staff. There. too, is the very spot where
Wellington with his eagle eye saw that the
Old Guard was beaten and where he never
said up, Guards, and at 'em.' Almost
lirpofIv f, xuh no oh |
eral stood, the greatest soldier Of modern
times sat on his old war-horse and saw his
guard that died but never surrendered
moved down like grass, and repulsed again
and again by the solid squares Of the Eng
were very devils to fight" What
must his Thoughts have been as he
played his last card and saw it trumped
BY the dukes ace in the shape of the roar of
the Prusslan artillery coming up from be-
One can imagine great deal, but it is diff
ticult to imagine the feelings of a man who
had staked and lost as much as Napoleon |
did at Waterloo. Down the stretch on
which stood the other day the Scots Greys |
came laundering, their colonel, Hamilton
of Dalzell, both his arms shot through, |
holding his reins in his teeth and the men |
| behind him shouting the war cry of '.Scot- |
land forever!'' What deeds of derring do |
were there not performed by the men to
WHOSE IueIuOIy Tue monument We nave JUST |
unveiled has been raised.
Perhaps the most interesting thing on the |
field of Waterloo is the museum, where
relics of the battle are stored. There are
numbers of cuirasses with the bullet mark
over the heart and skulls pioughed up by
the old Caspars' of the neighboring farms.
who recounted to their gaping grandsons
stories of the famous victory Twisted
swords and uniforms stained with the life
blood of the owners there are in plenty, and
numberless silent witnesses of that never
to-be forgotten eighteenth of June.
| Near the museum is the churchyard and
that also is interesting. It is crowded with
headstones and marble crosses in memory
of both officers and men, and what strikes
one most is the youth Of most of those that
lie there. Wellington's army, as is we'll
known, was composed principally of raw
recruits, and judging from the records on
the tombstOnes, the officers must have been
as young as the men. Eighteen to twenty
two must have been the average age. have
met lots of our countrymen in Brussels and
they all seem to like the place. A few hours
from Brussels is Antwerp and there one
may pass few days with profit, and in nv
humble opinion both the Cathedral and the
pictures inside it are as fine as any you will
, see anywhere. In the Cathedral you have
/ Ruben's Descent from the Cross" which
in itself is worth a long days journey even
1t you do not, as rule, care rap for pic
lures.
, THE ALLIANCE EXTENDED.
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