The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-08-16

ana the ultle bTencnman WHO Was put five and one-half feet in height really expected Ito do for" the tall Duke of Wellington with his tall British Guards. Sir Garnet Wolsey, in his re- cent work upon Napoleon, states that he began to decline in every way after his Russian campaign, and 1t Is actual ly a fact that the emperor's sun did begin to sink from 1872 till 1t became totally obscured at Waterloo in 1915, And this was due to the fact that he did not follow up his successes. He defeated the Russians, but lost his magnificent army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, He defeated the Prussians, but he did not follow up the victory. A mightier one than Napole- on was the arbiter and director of the armies
 Let us walk from the base of the great mound across to Hougomount; it takes but twenty minutes and it is a delightful stroll, and one which we will long remember. I was here some years since and the historic land- marks had become rather dim and misty; this second visit has brightened up the whole historic landscape. We make turn to the left and go along a narrow road which was there long be- | fore the battle was fought, It drops slightly below the hill gradual slope of forty feet; in this depression the British Guardsmen were stationed, with their muskets primed and ready for the fray. They were the flower of the British troops and the Iron Duke placed them in this spot where we are now walking for the express purpose of opposing the Old Guard, who came from out of the French center, and l just as the latter appeared charging down the slope then rang out the fa- nous words from the lips of the Iron Duke which have rendered his name immortal, up Guards and at them! and then it was that the determination which was born of England's cricket fields and football grounds went far to win the day. On this very ground which we are now quietly walking the best and bravest troops of France l and England met face to face, the for mer charging down the hill and the latter toiling up hill; great was the crash as they met; thousands of brave men went down to death. The strug gle lasted long Generals Pictou and Ponsonby and many officers were slain at the head of their decimated col umns, till at last the meteor flag of England was firmly planted on the field which had been held by the F'renchmen. The latter were scattered to the winds, and Napoleon, seeing the battle was lost, cried out, Trout est perdu! Sauve qui pent" While the | struggle was going on here, just be- yond at Hougamount the battle waged
 fiercely. The English had taken pos session of that pretty chateau and
 grounds, and had fortified it strongly.
 The French seeing the enemy in such a
 strong positions flung themselves
 twelve thousand strong bravely
 against the great wall beyond the or chard. That brick wall stands there
 to-day pierced with the same loop holes which Wellington had.cut and he superintended the cutting himself. Four soldiers could at one time fire through these same holes. All was si- lent when thegFrench first crept up; l when they perceived the bright red coats of the British soldiers shining
 through the holes they, let fly a volley
 of bullets, to which the English re-
 sponded, and then they fought charg-
 ing and retreating, and beneath the
 apple trees and pear trees no less than
 three thousand poor fellows met ter
 rible fate. The pretty chateau was
 burnt to the ground and tine brave F'renchmen actually got into the court yard over the dead bodies of friend
 and foe, and there was a hand to hand
 struggle which was waged with mad fury. There stands the house, and the
 out buildings show many scars; the
 old hawthorne hedge is there still full
 of bullets, and some old wind-swept
 battered trees still survive to tell their
 part of the sad battle tale.
 The bullet holes are still to be seen
 in the doors and the ancient well which
 was choked with dying soldiers, is
 still preserved as a relic of that dread
 ful fight.
 All is quiet now save the pipe of the
 robin and the merry notes of the peas
 ant children at play in the orchard But oh such struggle, and what a
 victory and what a defeat was wrought at Waterloo Had Napoleon won the day as he had most confident ly expected to do, Europe would have
 been his, and England and India, like
 Alexander of old, he would have sighed , for more worlds to conquer. That naughty little butcher" as he has . been called, who caused the death o1 more than six hundred thousand hu- , man beings, would have been the ar.
 bitter of the worlds destiny, and every citizen of every country at this distant day should rejoice that the victory al Waterloo was won by British soldiers
 Nelson and Wellington are names tc conjure with here in England. What grand achievements they won for theil country. Their names are not only graven in brass and marble, but they are written on every Englishman':
 heart, nor can they ever be forgotten Throngs of English people from every , quarter of the globe daily crowd West minister Abbey and St. Paul's cathedra ; to behold the glorious trophies created l by grateful nation to the memory O. } the sailor and the soldier who were in deed the saviours of their country anc 7 her happy, peaceful firesides.
 To this very day Hougmont seems tC 5 re-echo the war shouts of McDount $ land Wyndham Hervey and Graham