Political and Military History of the Campaign of Waterloo

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1864 edition. Excerpt: ... the 16th and 17th. The main body of the Prussian army (three corps, together 90,000 men) thus found itself in position between Bry and Tongrines, at ten o'clock on the morning of the 16th. Wellington, who believed Napoleon still at Paris, was not aware of his army's approach, until the news of the passage of the Sambre received at 5 P. M., on the 15th at Brussels, while at a dinner; but the duke had forewarned his troops to hold themselves in readiness for the first signal, and he sent ofiicers in all directions to put them in motion. His left under the Prince of Orange, was in cantonments between Mons and Nivelles, and with its head-quarters at Braine le Comte; his right under General Hill, extended towards Ath. It was then only by a prodigy of activity that this extended line could be concentrated on his left by the evening of the 16th or the morning of the 17th, and it was evident that a connection with the Prussians could be effected by the road from Nivelles to Quatre-Bras. After having dispatched these orders, Wellington repaired to Quatre-Bras, where on the morning of the 16th he found a portion of Perpoucher's Belgian division just from Nivelles, and the brigade of the Prince of Saxe-Weimar. While awaiting the columns from Brussels and Braine, the duke galloped over to Bry, where, about noon, he held an interview with Blucher; finding the Prussian army disposed to give battle, he promised to collect thirty or thirty-five thousand men during the night, to support his right, and with this object returned to QuatreBras, where he arrived after two o'clock. To conquer an enemy that made such wise disposiHons, it would have required the ancient impetuosity of the conqueror of Italy, Ulm, Jena, and Ratisbonne; but bis warmest admirers...