of the Prussians, quitted their houses to shew them the paths that would favour their escape. The number of French that remained prisoners, also shared their consolation and assistance. The Prince of Orange likewise became the protector of several of these unfortunate men, who had invoked his support. It is not less true, that when persecution, exile, and death compelled so many Frenchmen to flee from their native country, the Belgians, always benevolent, opened their doors to these unhappy fugitives, and preserved some of them from the fury of enemies more implacable than foreigners. Respecting Marshal Grouchy, it appears that conformably to the first orders given him, he confined himself to observing the Prussians. On the 18th at nine in the morning he quitted his cantonments to march to Wavres. When he reached Walhain he heard the cannonading at Mont St. Jean. Its continually increasing briskness, left no doubt that it was an extremely serious affair. General Excelmans proposed to march towards the guns by the right bank of the Dyle. “Do you not feel," said he to the marshal, "that the firing makes the ground tremble under our feet? Let us march straight towards where they are fighting." But the marshal continued his slow movements, and at twc o'clock arrived before Wavres. At seven o'clock he received, according to his own account, the order from the major-general to march to St. Lambert and attack Bulow, which step ought to have been suggested to him before that time by the tremendous cannonading at Waterloo, and by the order given in the first dispatch received in the morning, to draw near to the grand army. On the 22d the whole of Grouchy's corps was assembled at Rocroi; on the 24th it formed a junction with the wreck of the army of Waterloo, and on the 25th it marched from Rheims to the capital. Of the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon observed to Dr. -- O'Meara at St. Helena-" If you had lost the battle of Waterloo, what a state would England have been in? The flower of your youth would have been destroyed; for not a man, not even Lord Wellington, would have escaped." I observed here, that Lord Wellington had determined never to leave the field. Napoleon replied, "He could not retreat: he would have been destroyed with his army, if, instead of the Prussians, Grouchy had come up."-I asked him, if he had not believed for some time, that the Prussians who had shewn themselves were not a part of Grouchy's corps? He replied, "Certainly; and I can now scarcely comprehend why it was a Prussian division, and not that of Grouchy."-I then took the liberty of asking whether, if neither Grouchy nor the Prussians had arrived, it would not have been a drawn battle? Napoleon answered, "The English army would have been destroyed: they were defeated at midday; but accident, or more likely destiny, decided that Lord Wellington should gain it. I could scarcely believe that he would have given me battle; because, if he had retreated to Antwerp, as he ought to have done, I must have been overwhelmed by the armies of three or four hundred thousand men that were coming against me. It was the greatest folly to disunite the English and Prussian armies. They ought to have been united: and I cannot conceive the reason of their separation. It was folly in Wellington to give me battle in a place where, if defeated, all must have been lost, for he could not retreat. There was a wood in the rear, and but one road to gain it. He would have been destroyed. Moreover, he allowed himself to be surprised by me. This was a great fault. He ought to have been encamped from the beginning of June, as he must have known that I intended to attack him. He might have lost every thing; but he has been fortunate; his destiny has prevailed-and every thing he did will meet with applause." Another time, speaking of the results of this battle, Napoleon said, "The opening of the campaign was well managed, and proved most successful. I should have surprised the enemy in detail, but that a deserter from among our generals gave him timely notice of my plans. -I gained the brilliant victory of Ligny; but my lieutenant (Ney) robbed me of its fruits. Finally, I triumphed even at Waterloo, and was immediately hurled into the abyss. On my right, the extraordinary manœuvres of Grouchy, instead of securing victory, completed my ruin, Yet I must confess, that all the strokes of fate distressed me more than they surprised me. I felt the presentiment of an unfortunate result."-That such was really Napoleon's state of feeling about this period, is evident from the following anecdote. When on the banks of the Sambre, the Emperor early one morning approached a bivouack fire, accompanied only by his aidede-camp on duty. Some potatoes were boiling on the fire, and the Emperor asked for one, and began to eat it. Then, with a meditative, and somewhat melancholy expression, he uttered the following broken sentences: "Man may live in any place, and in any way-The moment perhaps is not far remote-Themistocles !"-The aide-de-camp, who related this to M. Las Cases, observed, that had the Emperor been successful, these words would have passed away without leaving any impression on him; but that after his fall, and particularly after reading Napoleon's celebrated letter to the Prince Regent, he had been struck with the recollection of the bivouack of the Sambre; and Napoleon's manner, tone, and expression so haunted his mind, that he could never banish the circumstance from his memory. |