The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1915-06-25
1915 WATERLOO 1915.

army by the AuStrlanS unGer Daul
at the battle of Kolin, June is, 1861
Doubtless fifty-eight years later Napo
leon, that remarkable human genius
could have fully appreciated the
sentiment which moved Frederick
10 make this observation.
Waterloo was the last great pitch
ed battle that decided a campaign
that finally and forever settled an is
she. 1t will never again be possible
I'm one pitched battle 10 &C lieye the
Tar reaching results that were OBJ
tanned at Waterloo. And yet in this
momentous engagement, which decid
ed the fate of nations, and wrote a
new map of Europe, the English
lost fewer soldiers han were killed
In the skirmish at NeuYo Chappelle
this spring.
Waterloo, fought on that memoir
able Sabbath, one hundred years ago
today, was so decisive in its results,
the rout of the vanquished was so
complete and overwhelming that its
name will forever stand as the syn
onym for crushing defeat. And yet
Waterloo was largely battle OF
chance. Had Napoleon been as ac-
tive, as alert and as keen an observer
as he was at Marengo or Jena or
Wagram the allies would have been
routed as completely as were the
French.
Why Napoleon placed practically
the entire command in the hands of
the impetuous, brave, but careless
Ney, why he left Dayouts at Paris and
entrusted to Grouchy the task Of
beating Butcher, why the great Cap
tain's orders were ambiguous and
uncertain, these are questions that
can never be answered. Upon these
issues depended the result Of the
battle. had Napoleon slept less, eat
en- less, ridden more, given that per-
sonal attention to every detail of bat
tie that was his custom IN the ear
lier days OF his campaigns, unques-
tionably the result would have been
different Had he not staBed all,
everything, crown, country, life itself
upon that one final, magnificent but
futile charge Of the Old Guard, the
conqueror at Marengo md Lodi and
Friedland might have finally defeated
the allied powers.
The tickle god Fate, o often and so
long the loyal ally of the magnificent |
soldier, deserted him in this supreme |
trial. Had Ney pushed forward on
the fifteenth with that impetuosity |
which had formerly characterized |
him, had he shown some If the reck-
less daring that at Waterloo helped
to destroy his army, he might have
prevented the junction Of Butcher
and Wellington. Had Grouchy an
swered the Numbering guns at Mount
San Jeane the issue would laYe been
different. y
Speculation, however, IS idle. 1t
was decreed otherwise. We believe
with Victor Hugo that it was NOT the
failure of, Napoleons 1laas, the bull
dog tenacity and bravery Of the Eng
fish, the timely arrival CT Blucher
hut the edict of Almighty God which
decided the issue. IN the blood soak
ed plains of Waterloo and ended a
twenty years war that had drenched
all Europe in blood, had made count
les women and children mourn and
saddled posterity with burdens Of
debt yet unpaid. -
Napoleon, for the peace OF the
world, for the preservation OF civil
ization, for the good Of humanity,
must be crushed. The long war OF
the constant appeal to arms
for personal glory and agraLdise-
ment, must end. 1t was not that the
Old Guard did not fight With the,l
heroic courage that had immortalizedI
1t on hundred glorious battle fields; 4
1t was not that the English were
superior in courage Or determine
ton; it was not that Wellington was
q mightier captain than him whom
he vanquished; these were not the
issues that decided that momentous
conflict. Almighty God had weighed
divinity had decreed his
political exile.
Napoleon, whose wonderful career
ended at this battle, is by long odds
the most fascinating, altogether the
most remarkable character in profane
history. A great captain, the world
never saw a greater 4 genius in the
realms of craftsmanship, fnancier
without a peer, builder, a develop
er, an administrator, a law giver with
few rivals Nanoleon achieved more in