Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-09-06

right was village called Planchenoit.
June is, the day of Waterloo. opened
with a heavy RAIN and 1t was not until
Q O'clock that each side could see the
others position. The Enelish formed in
two lines. the cavalry behind the center
and right of the first line. Learning of
suspected Belgian treason. Wellington
had scattered the Belgian allies among
his various divisions.
The French formation was practically
the same the English.
About noon the Hougoumont garrison
received fierce attack from the left
French wing under jerome Bonaparte.
The French occupied the wood around 1t.
but could not take the house from the
British
The French left and the British right
engaged in an artillery duel while Ney
attacked the allies center and left. This
was to carry the allied position at La
Haye Sainte and at Mont Saint Jean, cut
ting the enemy off from Brussels.
Supported by artillery. Ney had 1900
Infantry in four columns. One attacked
the left, the remainder the left center.
The Dutch and Belgians in front fled
before them. but two brigades under
Picton. about one-fourth the size of the
attacking force, waited until the French
then charged. driving them back cut to
pieces and in disorder. Fcton fell, but
his men went on. and. supported by cav
airy, fell upon the enemy. capturing 1000
infantry, cutting down artillerymen and
killing the horses. thus rendering the
guns useless. Indeed, they went so far
that force had to sent to their relief
At the same time the French cavalry.
which had come to Neys aid. were met
and completely beaten by the English
horsemen along the Charleroi wood
To Offset this the French put up q
strong artillery fire across the valley,
which was kept up half the afternoon,
while new attacks were made on Hon.
goumont and La Haye Sainte. and large
bodies of cavalry assailed the gunners on
Wellington's right. The latter by sheer
bravery gained the heights and took the
cannon. only to be routed by the British
infantry squares through which the
horsemen could not penetrate and which
shot them down, or chased them from
their position. practically putting that
arm of the French service out Of COM
mission for the day.
Napoleon's infantry Jared better, cap
turing La Haye Sainte. But his right wing
now began to retire before the forces OF
Butcher and Bulow, and Lobau, who was
sent to it's assistance. had his right wing
turned by the Germans
The struggle now centered on the
possession of Plauchenoit behind the
French right. This was defended with
the same heToism which the British
displayed at Hougoumont. The British
right center was now desperately re-
sisting the repeated blows of great
part of the French army. and only the
stubbornness for which they were
noted enabled them to stand the terri
BILE punishment inflicted. A body OF
Belgian cavalry ran away from the
field in terror without making a charge,
the angry English shooting them down
as they fed. 1t is evident that Belgian
courage has gone up considerably since
Waterloo.
But while his troops had gained some
temporary success, Napoleon's losses
had been terrific, and Grouchy, whom
he had early sent to engage the Prus-
sian advance from Wavre. had not
come to support him, as he had been
ordered to. He must have felt that the
Hundred Days had been a mistake and
that it would have been wiser to have
remained in Elba. He determined,
Ney at the head of the Old Guard, he
sent them down against the British
center between Hougoumont and La
Haye Sainte, while the left was assail-
ed by another force. Desperate as was
the hope. it nearly was realized. The
attack on the left center was succeed
ing when Wellington came up, and,
with the Guards under Maitland, en-
gagged the French in a hand. to hand
struggle, which drove the attacking
party in confusion down the slope.
The French Old Guard now attacked
the British almost on the same spot.
but, met in its center by artillery fire
and attacked on its left by a solid force
of infantry, it was pressed back and
finally gave up the struggle. fleeing
down hill and leaving its dead and
wounded everywhere in its flight.
The English now assumed the offen-
sive and attacked the remaining
French force, the remnants of the Old
Guard, and a body of troops Napoleon
With their Prussian allies supporting
them a general advance was made
against the French squares. who. after
a gallant stand. were cut up and
thrown into confusion.
The time had come to retreat and
Napoleon reluctantly gave the order
1t was accomplished first with a SEM
blance of discipline, but soon. as the
victorious allies pressed on them. the
French abandoned their arms and fed
in a rout towards the border.
The battle was over. and the power OF
Napoleon. which had fiared up in Feb
ruary, fiickered and expired forever.
Broken by his defeat, Napoleon entered
Paris three days afterward. and il he
still retained any hope of making another
stand it must have vanished when he dis
covered that Paris had executed another
vote face and had turned sourly against
him as a commander who had lost his
power to win victories. He knew. too.
that the allies were again on the way to
Paris and 1t was too late. A last humflia-
ton was an official warning to leave
Paris.
For short time he entertained the
idea of escaping to the United States.
but no ship could have delivered him
here.
July IS he was received on board a
British man-of-war, and after the powers
had agreed to leave him in British Gus
tody he sailed October II for st. Helena.
where he remained until his death in
1921 So, born on an island. banished to
an island. conquered by the army Of an
island with the assistance of its allies),
he died upon an island
Napoleon had some Of the qualities OF
a great ruler He caused to be collected
and formulated the Code Napoleon. that
body of laws which has served France
SO we'll but he was so continually at war
during his reign that he had no time to
to the world what civil ad-
ability he had. and II is as
a military commander that he Is chiefly
considered.