The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1895-07-17


mics The 18th of June found him on the Bel
gian frontier with l24,GG0 men, On the next
day he defeated Butcher at Llgny. Inc attacR
Of Ncy on the English at Quatre Bras was I'M
successful The inlpetuous marshal, VINO was
now the Emperor's right arm, fell bacR Oh the
village of Waterloo The place was about nine
miles from Brussels. 1t was skirted by the
( forest Of So,gnes There the allied command
ers had agreed to form Il junction. Napoleon
ordered Marshal Grouchy with his division OF
| g! 600 TO follow up Bucher on his retreat from
Ligny to Waterloo The plain purpose was
. that il Butcher should join Wellington, then
/ Grouchy should unite his division with that
of Ney The failure Of Grouchy TO do this-to
I hang upon Butchers rcar-wns fatal cir
! cumst.ncc Of the final catastrophe.
| On the night of June 18th the British and
| French armiss cncampcd onlya short distance
! apart A modern fcld-pIcce could easily thro"
a shell trom La Belle Alliance over La haze
/ Sainte to Mont st. Jean and far beyond INTO
| the forest. During the afternoon OF inc i''h
and the greater part of the night there was n
heavy rainfaIl-anotllcr fact in the catastro'
phe On the following morning the E'hpeioi,
| viewing the situation from his heauql'ai'e "a,
at the farm of La Belle Alliance, was unmiai
ing to precipitatc the battle ulitii 'i1' "''''i'
might GeplUy over a dry held.
HUGO has made the place and the scene I'M
mortal in the greatest battle-pIcce since no.
n,er, The field of Waterloo is an unduiatlne
nloin Str;tcgically, it has the shape OF an I'M
,nnrse harrow. The clovis is On the height
called Mont st. Jean. Behind that Is the VII
LACE of Waterloo The right leg OF the harrow
terminates at the hamlet of La Belle Alliance.
The left leg is the road from Brussels 10 NJ
yellcs The cross-bar intersects the right leg
at La Hale Saintc The right leg is the high
way from Brussels to Charcroi. The intersec-
ton Of the bar with the left leg Is near the
old stone chateau Of Hovgomont. The ba11le
was fought on the line OF the cross bar and IN
the triangle between it and the clovis.
The conflict began just before noon. The
armies engaged were of equal strength mum
bcring about sO090mcn on each side. Napoleon
was superior IN artillery; but Wellington 3 SOL
diers had seen longer service i'll the field Iney
were his veterans from the Peilinsular War,
perhaps the stubborncst fighters in Europe.
Napoleon 3 first plan was to double BACK tne
allied left on the center This involved tle
capture of La Hale Sainto, and as Strategic
coroilary the taking OF hnllSolphe' NY n.s
ter place was first attacked. The field ana
wood were carried; but the chateau was nelo
in the midst of horrid carnage by the BRUSH
Early in the afternoon PruSslin dlVlslon
unIcr Bulow, about 100 strong, came on the
field and Napoleon had to withdraw dlVl-
sion from his center to repel the oncnIning Ger
mans For two or three hours, III the area
between La HHie Sainto and Hongomont, the
fortnno Jaci, and forth. La Hale Sainte was
taken and held by Ney., On the whole me
British lines receded. Wellington's attempt to
retake La Hale Sainte ended in rcpulso. Ney
on the counter charge called Oh Napoleon for
reinforcements, and the latter at that moment,
changing his plan of battle. deterlnlncd to
make the principal charge on the BRUSH cen
ter. The support which he sent to Ncy was vas
not as heavy :s it should have been, hut the
Marshal concluded that the crisis was ut
hand, and Napoleon sought to support hin
with Milhauds cuirassicrs and division OF
the Middle Guard. Under this counter-chargt
the British lines reelcd and staggered, bu
still chung desperately to their position They
gave little, and then hung fast and could pc
field Duruttc carried the allied position Of Pa
pclottc. and I.obau routed Bulow from Plan
chenois. At half past four everything seemed
to portcnd disaster to tho allies and victory
just at this juncturo, however, an uproa,1
was witnessed far to the right The wood:
seemed to open. and the banners Of Butcher
his rear or flank! Napoleon saw ut a glance
that it was then or never. His sun of Austor
itz hung low in the west The Bri tish center
buldcd with his genius must pass away like
phantom He called out four battalions OF The
Middle and six of the Old Guard. IN the las
fifteen years that Guard had been thrown I
hundred times on the enemies of Franco, ant
never yet repulsed. 1t deemed Itself lnVlncl
9 bic.
p At seven o'clock, just as the June sun wa
i, sinking to tho horizon, the bugleS sounded
. and tho finest body of horsemen in Europ
! started to its doom on the squares OF yelling
. ton. Tho grim horsemen rode to their fat
T. like heroes. The charge rolled on like an ava
!, lanche. It plunged into the sunlsen road o
O'Hain. 1t seemed to roll over. It rose from
It the low grounds and broke on the British
!. squares. They reeled under the shock; thel
= reformed and stood fast. Around and arount
e those immovable lines the soldiers of the Elm
'S pirc beat and beat in vain. 1t was the war o
Is races at its climax. IT was the final death gri
d of the Gaul and the Teuton. The Old Guar'
V was heard above the roar Of battle The crisi
(, Of the Modern Era broke in blood and smoke
= and the past was suddenly victorious. Th
!, Guard was broken into flying squadronS Rui
Ney, glorious in his despair, sought to sta
" the tide. For an hour longer he was specta
It Gle to gods and men,: Five horses had bee
"a killed under him. He was ON foot. He wa
Nc hatless. He clutched the hlt of broken sword
, He was covered with dust and blood. But hi
N grim face was set against the victorious enc
J: my in the hopeless and heroic struggle to IA
d ly his shattered columns
e" Meanwhile the Prussians rushed in from tn
h. right. Wc:ungton's guards rose and charged
y Havoc came down with the darkness. A sill
=! gle regiment of the Old Guard was formed b
N Napoleon into a last square around which t
le midst and declared his purpose to die wit
n. them Marshal Soult forced him out of tn
is melee, and the famous square, commanded
a! into the teeth Of the English--periShed wit
nj the wild Cry of Vive rEmpereurl
Of On that spot French patriotism has plante
N tinction, not of the Old Guard only, but Of IL
n Empire and Of Napoleon the Great. There tt
%, traveller from strange lands pauses, at tn
c distance of eighty years from the horrib
in within the memory of living men human nj
I'd turo could have been raised by the passion
ct battle to such sublilne heroism as that di
~ played in these wheatfelds and orchards whel
y. ~ the Old Guard of France sank into Oblivion
n but rose to immortal fame.
Mt The rest may be briefly summarized. N
I'd polcon once more in Paris is obliged to add
IN tive. On the Srd of July we sec him at Roch
II. fort, on the western coast. He would IA
IL. reach the United States: but the English flee
er patrol the Atlantic. His mind is confuse
H. amid the wrecks Of his destiny. He chang
he his purpose, and throws himself on the gene
osity of England. He claims to be prison
~ ~. by international law to great captains take
~ in battle. Vain expectation! He is convey
lse .rious debates in the British Commons. F
to what shall We do with Hmm
ed Tint indeed. o Great Britain, Is q question
d The worst, the most ungenerous thing is don
~, He shall be banished to st. Helena. The thin
'te is accomplished. On the 10Th of October, Isl
ie spects the most remarkable man who has a
nd pcared in the world since the era of Chris
rs was debarkod on his dcsolate island, tn
petite Isle" with which he had concud
N. his school exercise at Autun, thirty six yea
:. agoi
lis Napoleon was not only exiled; he was il
la pris0ned. st. Helena was his prison. He W
mt guarded. His master watched him with crr
,us surveillance for nearly six years Under tbs
his slcepless eyes he dictated his Memoirs"
no Bertrand, conyersed with his friends, or soug
no an hour in solitude on the rocks near Lon
re- wood, locking out to the sea. His health
ia- length gave way. Though his constitute
rd, was superb, there was an organic male
,pe Which came, as II from his fathers grave,
led destroy him AN ulcer of the stomach-syn