CHAPTER XIII.

THE SEVENTEENTH OF JUNE: NAPOLEON.

Napoleon had, thus far, as we have seen, in the main, accomplished his programme. Things had turned out, so far as the enemy were concerned, very much as he had originally expected. He had found Blücher determined to fight; he had found Wellington wholly unprepared to assist his ally. He had encountered the Prussians, therefore, alone; and he had beaten them. He had, in the main, as we have said, done what he expected to do. It now only remained to complete the original plan marked out in the letters to Ney and Grouchy of the morning before; and, leaving the latter with the 3d and 4th Corps and plenty of cavalry to ascertain the direction in which the Prussians had retreated, to march himself at the head of the 6th Corps and the Guard to join Ney, and move promptly against the English. (See Map 8.)

There was no reason in the world for delay. As has been pointed out above, Napoleon had not been obliged to employ all his troops in obtaining the victory of Ligny. The troops which he intended to take with him were fresh, or substantially so. The 6th Corps had not fired a shot; the Guard, though it had lost perhaps a thousand men, had certainly done no very hard fighting, and it had been brilliantly successful. The cavalry, also, had suffered but little. Ney, too, had plenty of fresh troops. The 1st Corps, d’Erlon’s, had not been engaged; nor had the light cavalry division of Lefebvre-Desnouettes; only one of the four brigades of Kellermann’s heavy cavalry had been in action at Quatre Bras. Thus a formidable army, almost entirely composed of fresh troops, could be led at once against the Duke of Wellington’s heterogeneous forces. The weather, in the morning of the 17th, was fine; the Prussians, wherever they had gone, were, at any rate, for the time being, out of the way; there was no reason, we repeat, why advantage should not have been promptly taken of the fortunate situation in which the victory of Ligny had temporarily placed the French,—why there should have been any hesitation whatever in dealing with the Anglo-Dutch army, separated, as it now was, from its ally.

But we may go farther than this. Fortunate as the situation of the French was on the morning after the battle of Ligny, there were grave reasons for deeming this advantage to be very brief in its duration. Napoleon had, indeed, won a victory over Blücher. But the tardiness of d’Erlon and the disobedience of Ney had prevented Napoleon from getting from his left wing the assistance on which he had counted; and he himself had not seen fit to modify his operations so as to conform to this different state of facts. He had not attacked the Prussians while they were taking position on the heights of Ligny, because at that early hour the forward movement of the main army could not have been covered by the advance of the whole of the left wing. He had not been able to win the crushing victory over the Prussians when concentrated which he would undoubtedly have won if Ney had obeyed his orders intelligently and boldly, and had been able, as he then would have been able, to send a large force down the Namur road to take the Prussians in rear. Lastly, Napoleon had not achieved the success on which he had a right to count without the aid of Ney, for, on the unexpected appearance of the 1st Corps, he had delayed the final stroke until it was too dark to take full advantage of it. Napoleon had not in the battle of Ligny, as he very well knew, destroyed the Prussian army. He understood perfectly the difference between the victory he had actually won and the victory which he would have won had he received from Ney the assistance of d’Erlon’s Corps, or even of 10,000 men.[448] Hence it is remarkable that he should not have exerted himself to use his incomplete success to the best advantage, and this required, of course, the utmost energy and activity on his part.

There was also, had he only known it, a magnificent opportunity before him on this morning of the 17th. For, owing to the carelessness of the Prussian staff, Wellington had not been promptly informed of the result of the battle of Ligny, and he was still at Quatre Bras, only six miles from Brye, where he could be assailed in front and flank. He had not yet succeeded in collecting his entire army. It was perfectly practicable to attack him in this condition before the Prussians could possibly reorganize their beaten forces, and come to his assistance. For such an attack Napoleon had ample means, and of the best quality, as we have just seen. Ney’s movements could easily be coördinated with his own; Ney could attack the English in front, while the Emperor brought up the 6th Corps and the Guard over the Namur-Quatre-Bras turnpike directly upon their flank. The march from Brye could be begun at sunrise,—at 4 A.M.; Quatre Bras could be reached before 7 o’clock. Had Napoleon, then, acted with energy in accordance with his own plan, he would have stood a very good chance of crushing this portion of Wellington’s army,—so far from its ally, so open to attack.[449] But, apart from this, this was not one of those cases where time is required to come to a decision; nothing was risked by marching against the English at once. And, as it happened, fortune had put in Napoleon’s way the opportunity of striking a decisive blow.

Napoleon allowed this opportunity to escape him. Up to this moment we have seen him as active, as sagacious, as energetic as ever. But it would certainly seem that on this morning of the 17th he was not up to the mark. He probably was greatly fatigued, and we need not wonder at it. From half-past three on the morning of the 12th, when he left Paris, to eleven o’clock at night of the 16th, when, having fought and won the battle of Ligny, he sought rest at Fleurus, he had been subjected to a tremendous strain. Neither Wellington nor Blücher had had anything like it. He had been on the move and at work, night and day. He had had to decide at the moment the most important questions, he had had to take the gravest responsibilities. There was a natural reaction. The Emperor yielded to the sense of fatigue. He put off the execution of the next part of his plan. He moreover neglected to ascertain the facts of the situation, and hence was unaware, until too late, of the great opportunity then presented to him. General Jomini considerately remarks:—[450] “Undoubtedly the Emperor had powerful motives for resigning himself to such inactivity; but these motives have never reached us.”

Napoleon wasted most of the morning. He expected, he says, to hear from Ney what the result of his operations had been; but that officer, furious with the Emperor for having, as he supposed, withdrawn the 1st Corps without notice from his command,[451] vouchsafed no report to headquarters. Finally, about 8 A.M., General Flahaut, the Emperor’s aide, who had carried the letter to Ney the previous morning and had remained with him during the day, returned to Napoleon and brought him the first information of the battle of Quatre Bras.

He also brought word that Ney had received no news of the result of the battle of Ligny.[452] Thereupon Soult wrote a despatch[453] to Ney informing him that the Prussians had been “put to rout,” and that Pajol was pursuing them on the roads to Namur and Liége. Ney was then told that the Emperor was going to Brye; that it did not seem possible for the English to do anything against him, Ney, but that if they should undertake anything, the Emperor would march directly upon them. Then the Emperor comments on the fact that Ney did not act on the preceding day with his entire force.[454] Lastly, Ney is ordered to take up position at Quatre Bras; but if that should not be possible, then he was at once to state the facts in detail, and the Emperor would immediately march on Quatre Bras himself, while Ney should assail the enemy in front. If, on the contrary, there should be only a rear-guard there, Ney was to attack it and take up position there. Ney was also directed to inform the Emperor of the exact situation of his divisions, and of all that was going on in his front.

That no move of importance was then under contemplation at headquarters appears from this sentence:—

“To-day will be needed to terminate this operation, to supply ammunition, bring in stragglers, and call in detachments. Give your orders accordingly; and see to it that all the wounded are cared for and transported to the rear; we hear complaints that the ambulances have not done their duty.”

This despatch was probably written about 8 A.M.[455] It is clear from reading it that Napoleon presumed, as a matter of course, that Wellington had long before heard of the defeat of Blücher, and had fallen back towards Brussels, leaving only a rear-guard at Quatre Bras. Had he known the truth,—which was, as we shall soon see, that the Duke did not move a man till 10 A.M.,—he would no doubt have attacked him at once. It is true that Napoleon’s conjecture as to Wellington’s movements was a very natural one. It is true, also, that he had a perfect right to expect to receive from the commander of his left wing an accurate and full account of the situation there; Ney ought, it is not necessary to say, to have prepared a report of the battle of Quatre Bras on the evening of the 16th, and sent it off to headquarters at once. Furthermore, he ought to have informed the Emperor on the morning of the 17th that the English were still at Quatre Bras in force. Napoleon’s inactivity does not in the least excuse him. But Ney’s neglect to make proper reports of the situation at Quatre Bras does not in any way justify Napoleon’s delay in marching upon the English. The propriety of this step was not dependent on the accounts to be received from Marshal Ney. To unite the reserves to the left wing and move upon Wellington at the earliest possible moment was the thing to do, whatever might be the reports from Ney.

Marshal Soult seems to have been of no assistance to the Emperor on this morning. If he had been a competent and efficient chief-of-staff he would assuredly have had all needed information ready for the Emperor when the latter made his appearance in the morning. As it was, knowing nothing of what had happened at Quatre Bras till nearly eight o’clock, waiting till it should suit Ney to furnish him with the information requested in the 8 A.M. despatch, assuming that Wellington must have heard of the defeat of Blücher and fallen back in consequence, the Emperor amused himself with going over the field of battle, and talking politics to the generals.[456] He did not exert himself in the least to stimulate the energy and activity of his subordinates; in fact, he yielded to that lassitude which is so apt to succeed unusual exertion. He deliberately postponed the execution of the next step in his campaign, notwithstanding that the incomplete result of his encounter with the Prussians rendered it all the more imperative that no time should be lost and no opportunity neglected.

During the forenoon, however, the troops intended to join Ney were ordered to Marbais on the turnpike,—Lobau[457] at ten o’clock,—the Guard and Milhaud’s cuirassiers at eleven. At noon, it having been reported that the English were still at Quatre Bras, another order[458] was sent to Ney, directing him to attack the enemy there, and informing him that the Emperor was leading the troops now at Marbais to support his operations. Thus the execution of the plan of campaign marked out in the letters to Ney and Grouchy was at last resumed; the reserves under Napoleon marched to join the left wing under Ney; the right wing under Grouchy was assigned to take care of the defeated Prussians. Girard’s division of the 2d Corps, which had suffered severely in the battle,—Girard himself having been mortally hurt,—was left on the field to take care of the wounded.

Napoleon had undoubtedly assumed that the Prussian army, if beaten, would retire on its base of operations, towards Namur and Liége. This assumption was strengthened by the circumstances of the battle of Ligny. He had not failed to note the strong force retained by Marshal Blücher to protect his communications with Namur as well as the road to Gembloux, by which the IVth Corps was expected to arrive. He was perfectly justified in inferring that if Blücher had established a new or secondary base at Wavre, for instance, or Louvain, or if he had had any idea whatever of renouncing his line of communications, so as to be able to coöperate with the English in subsequent operations, he would without doubt have placed his left wing in a wholly different position, where he could have made some use of it in the battle.[459] The fact that Thielemann’s Corps was placed where it could not be of any assistance to those of Zieten and Pirch I., seemed to indicate that reliance was placed upon the English for any help these corps might need, and corroborated the presumption that Blücher and Gneisenau were willing to take the risk of the defeat of a part of the Prussian army by accepting battle where support could only be furnished by their allies, and had no intention whatever of renouncing their base of operations, _via_ Namur and Liége. Added to these considerations was the general presumption against such a dangerous and inconvenient course as a change of base must always be.[460]

It must also be remembered that the Prussians held the villages of Brye and Sombreffe till after midnight, so that there was no obstacle whatever to the troops of the two beaten corps retiring after the battle by the Quatre-Bras-Namur turnpike towards Namur. It may well be questioned whether there was any need for these troops to cross the pike at all; or whether any of them would have crossed it, had Blücher given orders for the whole army to retire on Namur.[461]

Hence it was assumed at the headquarters of the French army that it was in the direction of Namur that the Prussians had retreated.[462] Soult, early in the morning, sent out Pajol on the Namur road with a division of his own corps, supported by a brigade from Exelmans’ Corps, to ascertain the facts; and before 8 A.M. Pajol reported the capture of a battery and prisoners at Le Mazy on that road.[463] It was on this information that Soult informed Ney that Pajol was pursuing the Prussians on the road to Namur.

It is nevertheless very strange that no reconnoissance should have been ordered in the direction of Tilly and Wavre.[464] This may perhaps be partly due to the fact that the cavalry divisions belonging to the 3d and 4th Corps, upon which such duties would most naturally fall, were exhausted by their efforts of the day before, that the 6th Corps, which bivouacked nearest to Brye, had no cavalry division attached to it, and that the rest of the cavalry was on the right of the position. These facts may perhaps serve to account in a way for what cannot but be considered as an inexcusable neglect. There was plenty of cavalry with the army. Exelmans could have been sent out towards Wavre, as easily as Pajol towards Namur. Both routes were equally open to the enemy. It was certainly by no means impossible that Blücher should, in spite of his defeat, endeavor to keep up his communication with Wellington, especially considering that half his army,—the IIId and IVth Corps,—was untouched, as Napoleon very well knew. The neglect, therefore, to explore the country to the north of the turnpike cannot be excused. The blame for this neglect must fall primarily upon Napoleon, for he ought to have ordered Soult to attend to this matter in the early morning. This he certainly failed to do. Soult ought, to be sure, to have had the reconnoissance made, on his own motion; and in neglecting this, he shows that he was not a good chief-of-staff. But the Emperor seems to have been satisfied with what Soult had done; hence, the blame of not ascertaining that the two beaten Prussian Corps had retreated in the direction of Wavre, falls finally on his shoulders. Nor can Napoleon’s fault in this matter be explained or excused on the ground of his fatigue; it costs no exertion to order a cavalry officer to make an exploration in a certain direction; the reason the order was not given was because the Emperor was so sure that such an exploration would result in nothing,—because in fact he was so confident that the Prussians had retired to the eastward, towards their base of operations. There was, it is true, as we have pointed out above, strong reason to believe this to be the fact; but there was also a possibility that it might not be the fact; and if it should turn out not to be the fact, the plan of Napoleon would have to be essentially modified, for a retreat of the two beaten corps in the direction of Wavre, where they could easily be united with the two unbroken corps, could hardly have any other object than a junction with the English army, retiring, as that army was sure to do, from Quatre Bras towards Brussels.

Before Napoleon left the field of battle for Marbais, shortly before twelve o’clock, he called Grouchy to him and gave him instructions by word of mouth. Up to this time no further information had been received since Pajol had reported the capture of guns and prisoners on the Namur road. The Emperor at first simply told him to take the 3d and 4th Corps and the cavalry of Pajol and Exelmans and to pursue the enemy.

“I replied to him,” says Marshal Grouchy, whose account[465] we are now giving, “that the Prussians had commenced their retreat at ten o’clock the evening before; that much time must elapse before my troops, who were scattered over the plain, were cleaning their guns and making their soup, and were not expecting to be called upon to march that day, could be put in movement; that the enemy had seventeen or eighteen hours the start of the troops sent in pursuit; that although the reports of the cavalry gave no definite information as to the direction of the retreat of the mass of the Prussian army, it was apparently on Namur that they were retiring; and that thus, in following them, I should find myself isolated, separated from him, and out of the range of his movements. These observations,” Marshal Grouchy goes on to say, “were not well received; the Emperor repeated his orders, adding that it was for me to discover the route taken by Marshal Blücher; that he himself was going to fight the English, ‘if they will stand on this side of the Forest of Soignes’[466] that it was for me to complete the defeat of the Prussians in attacking them as soon as I should have caught up with them, and that I must communicate with him by the paved road,”[467]—the Namur-Quatre-Bras turnpike.

These objections raised by Marshal Grouchy were clearly not well taken. His two corps had done the principal part of the fighting the day before; they were unquestionably in need of repose the forenoon after the battle. The fresh troops in the army were required for the operations which were to be immediately undertaken against the English. Hence the delay in beginning the pursuit of the Prussians, of which Grouchy complained, was unavoidable, unless the whole plan of campaign was to be changed. It would have been very desirable, no doubt, had it been possible, to follow up the defeated Prussians with the greatest promptness and vigor. But under the circumstances this was not practicable, unless, as we have said, Napoleon should change his plan, and should march against Blücher with the bulk of his army, consisting almost entirely of fresh troops, and should leave Grouchy with the corps of Vandamme and Gérard to watch the English. This the Emperor was not proposing to do. Moreover, if the Prussians were really retiring on their base, as both Napoleon and Grouchy at this time supposed was the case, delay in following them up could not be a very material matter.[468]

Then, as for the objection that, if he followed the Prussians towards Namur, he would “find himself isolated, separated from the Emperor, and out of the range of his movements,” this was to a certain extent unavoidable. The fact that such an objection should be raised shows how unfit Grouchy was for an independent command. The slightest reflection should have convinced him that the task assigned to him could not well be assigned to any one else; and that it was a task which some one must perform. It was, therefore, his manifest duty to undertake it with cheerful alacrity, and not in the fault-finding spirit which he does not even attempt to conceal.

These were the only orders which Marshal Grouchy ever admitted having received on the 17th; he denied, over and over again, in his pamphlets written about the battle, ever having received any written order, whether from Napoleon or Soult, until the next day.[469] In consequence of these formal and explicit denials, which were very generally credited, the statements made by Napoleon in his St. Helena narratives, which, though anything but exact, nevertheless conveyed the truth substantially, were generally disbelieved. For nearly thirty years after the battle of Waterloo a wholly false notion was prevalent as to the task assigned by Napoleon to Marshal Grouchy. Neither Siborne, who wrote in 1844, nor Van Loben Sels, who wrote in 1849, was aware of the existence of the written order which we are now about to give. The mischievous influence which this deliberate concealment of his orders by Marshal Grouchy has exerted upon the general opinion of Napoleon’s conduct of this campaign can hardly be exaggerated.

Shortly after giving these verbal orders to Grouchy, which were plainly based on the theory that Blücher had fallen back on Namur, Napoleon received[470] a report from Berton, who commanded the brigade which was sent out in support of Pajol, to the effect that he had been led by the statements of the inhabitants to proceed to Gembloux, where he had seen, at 9 A.M., a Prussian corps of some 20,000 men.[471] This certainly looked as if the Prussians were not retiring on Namur. The first thing to be done, therefore, was to find out where they were going, and what they were proposing to do. At Gembloux, so it now appeared, one would be sure to get on the track of the Prussians, and obtain news of their movements and designs. Accordingly the Emperor, in the temporary absence of Marshal Soult, dictated to General Bertrand the following order[472] to Grouchy:—

“Proceed to Gembloux with the cavalry corps of General Pajol, the light cavalry of the 4th Corps, the cavalry corps of General Exelmans, the division of General Teste, of which you will take particular care, it being detached from its own corps,[473] and the 3d and 4th corps of infantry.

“You will explore in the directions of Namur and of Maestricht,[474] and you will pursue the enemy. Explore his march, and instruct me respecting his manœuvres, _so that I may be able to penetrate what he is intending to do_.[475]

“I am carrying my headquarters to Quatre Bras, where the English still were this morning. Our communication will then be direct by the paved road of Namur. If the enemy has evacuated Namur, write to the general commanding the second military division at Charlemont to cause Namur to be occupied by some battalions of the national guard and some batteries which he will organize at Charlemont. He will give the command to a brigadier-general.

“_It is important to penetrate what the enemy is intending to do; whether they are separating themselves from the English, or whether they are intending still to unite, to cover Brussels or[476] Liége, in trying the fate of another battle._[477] In all cases, keep constantly your two corps of infantry united in a league of ground, and occupy every evening a good military position, having several avenues of retreat. Post intermediate detachments of cavalry, so as to communicate with headquarters.

Dictated by the Emperor, in the absence of the major-general, to the Grand-marshal Bertrand.”[478]

Ligny, 17 June, 1815.

Not only is the tone of this letter altogether different from that of the verbal orders previously given, but the duty assigned to Grouchy is a wholly different one.

There is in the letter no trace of that certainty as to the position of affairs so plainly exhibited in the verbal orders. The news that a Prussian corps has been seen at Gembloux has evidently made a strong impression on the Emperor. It may very possibly indicate that Blücher is not falling back to Namur. The statement is twice made in the letter that the Emperor is in doubt as to the intentions of the Prussians, and the chief task now imposed upon Grouchy is to ascertain those intentions. _The precise danger to be anticipated is stated explicitly._ Grouchy is warned in so many words that the Prussians may be intending to unite with the English to try the fate of another battle for the defence of Brussels,—which was exactly what they were intending to do, and what they succeeded in doing. Whether they are or are not intending to do this, is the principal thing for Grouchy to find out. As the Emperor had previously informed Grouchy of his determination to fight the English “if they will stand on this side of the Forest of Soignes,”—which meant of course that he looked upon a battle with them the next day as very possible,—this question of the Prussians uniting with the English in fighting this battle was of vital importance to him.[479] _What Grouchy was to do if he found the Prussians directing their movements so as to compass this end, it was left to him to determine for himself._ It might be that he could hinder the accomplishment of their design most effectually by attacking them; it might be that his best course would be to rejoin the main army as soon as he could, or to manœuvre so as to act in conjunction with it. It was impossible for Napoleon to tell beforehand how things would turn out. Full discretion was therefore left to Grouchy to take whatever course might seem best to him.

Marshal Grouchy was making his arrangements to get his command under way when he received this letter. He experienced great delay in beginning his march to Gembloux. Vandamme did not get started till two o’clock. Gérard left Ligny an hour later. It came on to rain hard about two o’clock, and the roads soon became very bad. Grouchy did not succeed in getting farther with his two infantry corps that night than Gembloux, which is rather less than eight miles from St. Amand.[480] The cavalry of Exelmans was, however, stationed at Sauvenières, to gather information. Grouchy had with him a force of 33,319 men of all arms, of whom 4,446 were the cavalry belonging to the two corps of Pajol and Exelmans.[481] Napoleon took with himself Domon’s light cavalry division of the 3d Corps, but Grouchy retained that of Maurin, belonging to the 4th Corps,—say, 1,500 men. That is, he had 6,000 cavalry in all.

At ten o’clock that evening Grouchy wrote to the Emperor from Gembloux a letter[482] which seemed to indicate that he comprehended, at least to a certain extent, the nature of his task. He says that it appeared to him that the Prussians had passed through Sauvenières, where his (Grouchy’s) cavalry now have arrived, and that, at Sauvenières, they had divided into two columns, one taking the road to Wavre, by Sart-à-Walhain, and the other that to Perwez, a town on the way to Maestricht. Grouchy then goes on to say:—

“One may perhaps infer that a part is going to join Wellington, and that the centre, which is the army of Blücher, is retiring on Liége; another column with artillery has effected its retreat on Namur. Exelmans has been ordered to send this evening six squadrons to Sart-à-Walhain and three to Perwez.

“According to their reports, _if the mass of the Prussians is retiring on Wavre, I shall follow them in that direction, in order that they may not be able to gain Brussels, and to separate them from Wellington_.[483]

“If, on the contrary, my information proves that the principal Prussian force has marched on Perwez, I shall direct myself on that city in pursuit of the enemy.”

That Marshal Grouchy understood something of the nature of the task before him is apparent from this despatch. But when he says that his object in following the mass of the Prussians in the direction of Wavre is to prevent their gaining Brussels, he is plainly beside the mark. No movement of his from Gembloux to Wavre or in the direction of Wavre could possibly hinder a force at Wavre from marching on Brussels. When he declares that his object in proceeding in the direction of Wavre would be to separate the Prussians from Wellington, he must be understood to mean the direction of Wavre, as contradistinguished from the direction of Perwez,—that is, in other words, if the Prussians go north instead of east he will also go north instead of east. And as he had abundance of cavalry, there was certainly no reason, now that he had cause, as he says he had, to suspect that a part of the Prussians had gone to Wavre, with the intention of uniting with Wellington, why he should not have reconnoitred to his left the next morning and ascertained the facts.

Leaving Marshal Grouchy at Gembloux with the right wing, we now return to Napoleon, who, when we left him, was about to lead the reserves, consisting of the 6th Corps and the Guard, and some cavalry, to Quatre Bras. Orders, repeated orders, had been sent, as we have seen, to Marshal Ney, to get him to move upon Quatre Bras. But Ney had not moved a man.[484] Charras thinks he must have informed the Emperor, in obedience to the 8 A.M. order, that the English were still in force in his front. But there is no evidence whatever of this. Charras himself,[485] after censuring the Emperor for his delays on this morning, does not assign as the cause of the second and more peremptory despatch to Ney, dated at noon, any reply of Ney’s to the 8 A.M. despatch, but the return of a reconnoitring party sent out by Napoleon himself, which reported the English at Quatre Bras. If anything further were needed to show that Ney vouchsafed no reply to the 8 A.M. despatch, it is found in the fact that this noon order refers to no such reply. In fact it was not until Ney saw the column under the Emperor in person advancing on the Namur road that he put his cavalry in motion, and it was the Emperor’s own staff officers[486] that ordered d’Erlon forward in pursuit of the English. This was about 1 P.M.

Wellington had collected at Quatre Bras about 45,000 men. The rest of his army was at Nivelles and Braine-le-Comte. Since 10 A.M. he had been quietly withdrawing his forces, and Ney had not offered an interruption.[487] Probably he did not know what Wellington was doing. Yet Ney must have had at his disposal about 40,000 men, 25,000 of whom had not fired a shot or drawn a sword. There is no saying what loss the English might not have been obliged to suffer, if he had vigorously pressed them. His conduct on this day is even more culpable than on the day before. There was not only not any of that intelligent coöperation which, as has been remarked, Napoleon always counted upon in his lieutenants,—there was positive disobedience of orders.

At Quatre Bras, the Emperor, who had ridden from Ligny in his carriage, mounted his horse,[488] and led the pursuit in person. He now saw, and no doubt with mortification, what an opportunity he had missed. He was also, and with reason, indignant[489] with Ney for not having obeyed his orders, ascertained that Wellington was withdrawing his forces, sent him word at once, and energetically pressed the enemy. His fatigue seems to have wholly disappeared, and he showed, this afternoon of the 17th as he had on the afternoon of the 15th,[490] how he could infuse his own activity and energy into his troops. We have two pictures of Napoleon on this afternoon, by eye witnesses. The Count d’Erlon, in his autobiography,[491] says:—

“The Emperor found me in advance of this position (Quatre Bras), and said to me in a tone of profound chagrin these words, which have been always graven on my memory:—

“‘They have ruined France; come, my dear general, put yourself at the head of this cavalry, and vigorously push the English rearguard.’

“The Emperor never quitted the head of column of the advance-guard, and was even engaged in a charge of cavalry in debouching from Genappe.”

Says the author of “Napoléon à Waterloo,”—an officer of artillery of the Guard, who was near the Emperor throughout the campaign:—[492]

“One must needs have been a witness of the rapid march of this army on the day of the 17th,—a march which resembled a steeplechase rather than the pursuit of an enemy in retreat,—to get an idea of the activity which Napoleon knew how to impress upon his troops when placed under his immediate command. Six pieces of the horse-artillery of the Guard, supported by the headquarters squadrons, marched in the first line, and vomited forth grape upon the masses of the enemy’s cavalry, as often as, profiting by some accident of ground, they endeavored to halt, to take position, and retard our pursuit. The Emperor, mounted on a small and very active Arab horse, galloped at the head of the column;[493] he was constantly near the pieces, exciting the gunners by his presence and by his words, and more than once in the midst of the shells and bullets which the enemy’s artillery showered upon us.”

There was a smart skirmish at Genappe. The 7th English regiment of hussars was injudiciously ordered to charge the French lancers, and was beaten back. Then the pursuing French, in mounting the hill behind the town of Genappe, were ridden down by the 1st Life Guards.

During the whole afternoon the rain fell in torrents, and there was a severe storm of thunder and lightning. Very possibly the bad weather may have favored the retiring army. The retreat of the English was continued to the position to the south of the hamlet of Mont St. Jean, where the battle of the next day was fought.

FOOTNOTES:

[448] See his despatch to Ney, of the 17th, cited above; p. 191.

[449] Siborne, vol. 1, p. 255.

[450] Jomini, p. 148.

[451] See Ney’s letter to the Duke of Otranto; Jones, 386.

[452] See Charras’ very apposite remarks on this: vol. 1, p. 234.

[453] Doc. Inéd., XVII, pp. 45, 47; App. C, xxvii.; _post_, pp. 384, 385.

[454] See _ante_, p. 191.

[455] Charras, vol. 1, p. 235, n.

[456] La Tour d’Auvergne, p. 214. See also, pp. 208 and 233.

[457] One division of the 6th Corps, that of Teste, was detached, and added to Grouchy’s command.

[458] Doc. Inéd., XVI, p. 44; App. C, xxviii; _post_, pp. 385, 386.

[459] Maurice, p. 350; July, 1890: citing Clausewitz, ch. 33, p. 76. Gneisenau, vol. 4, p. 386.

[460] Maurice, pp. 350, 354: July, 1890.

[461] But see Maurice, pp. 350, 351: July, 1890. He thinks that the troops of the two beaten corps must at first have retreated northward,—that is, across the turnpike, in the direction of Wavre.

[462] This mistake could not have been made, as Ollech points out (p. 172) if the battle had been decided before nightfall.

[463] As a matter of fact, these troops were not a part of a column in retreat for Namur; but, of course, this could not be known at once. See Siborne, vol. 1, pp. 286, 287. Clausewitz, ch. 37, p. 92.

[464] Jomini states (p. 150, n.) that General Monthion reconnoitred in the direction of Tilly and Mont St. Guibert in pursuance of orders given him by the Emperor on the morning of the 17th. Siborne, vol. 1, p. 317, states that Domon’s cavalry division of the 3d Corps, which had been temporarily attached to the main column, reconnoitred the country between the Brussels road and the Dyle. This must have been, however, in the afternoon of the 17th.

[465] Grouchy, Obs., p. 12 _et seq._

[466] Fragments Hist., Lettre à MM. Méry et Barthélemy; pp. 4, 5. Grouchy Mem., vol. 4, p. 44.

[467] Grouchy, Obs. p. 13.

[468] Ollech, p. 171. _Cf._ Clausewitz, ch. 51.

[469] This subject will be treated of in Appendix B; _post_, p. 355.

[470] Charras, vol. 1, p. 240.

[471] Berton, pp. 47, 48. Berton supposed it to be the corps of Bülow, but it was really that of Thielemann. Ollech, p. 157.

[472] Pascallet, p. 79. Charras, vol. 1, p. 241. Appendix B; _post_, p. 358.

[473] This division belonged to the 6th Corps.

[474] Namur lay nearly south-east and Maestricht nearly north-east from Sombreffe.

[475] The italics are ours.

[476] The original is “_et_,” but this is plainly an error, very possibly caused by the fact that the letter was dictated.

[477] The italics are ours.

[478] There are other readings varying in unimportant points from the above.

[479] Whether it was wise under these circumstances for Napoleon to detach such a large force as that which he intrusted to Grouchy, is a question which will be discussed in the notes to Chapter XV.

[480] Charras, vol. 1, p. 242.

[481] Ib., vol. 1, p. 238.

[482] Gérard: Dernières Obs., p. 15; Charras, vol. 1, p. 244; Siborne, vol. 1, p. 297. Of the mutilations in the text affecting the significance of this letter, contained in the Grouchy Memoirs, notice will be taken in Appendix B, _post_, p. 359, where a full copy of it will be given.

[483] The italics are ours.

[484] Charras, vol. 1, p. 249.

[485] Ib., pp. 236, 237.

[486] Charras, vol. 1, p. 250.

[487] _Cf._ Napoléon à Waterloo, p. 181.

[488] Charras, vol. 1, p. 250.

[489] Gourgaud, pp. 77, 78; Corresp., vol. 31, p. 214.

[490] _Ante_, p. 47.

[491] Le Maréchal Drouet, p. 96.

[492] Napoléon à Waterloo, pp. 185, 186.

[493] _Cf._ Gourgaud, pp. 78, 79. _Cf._ Mercer’s Diary, vol. 1, p. 269.

_NOTES TO CHAPTER XIII._

1. In regard to Napoleon’s action with reference to the defeated Prussians, it is necessary to distinguish between instituting a prompt and vigorous pursuit of them, and taking immediate measures for ascertaining in which direction they had retreated. The first was under the circumstances impossible, that is, without an entire change of plan, but the second was not only possible, but of prime necessity.

Charras,[494] however, complains bitterly of Napoleon for not following up the Prussians. “Not to pursue the vanquished, sword in hand, to leave him time to collect himself, to reform his forces, to gather in his reinforcements, was so strange a thing for troops accustomed to the tactics of Napoleon.”

But Clausewitz[495] with better judgment says:—

“If we seem here to find so great a difference from the earlier methods of procedure adopted by the French, we must get a true picture of the changed conditions. The extraordinary energy in pursuit to which the brilliant results of Bonaparte’s former campaigns were due, was simply pushing very superior forces after an enemy who had been completely vanquished. Now, however, Napoleon had to turn with his main force, and above all with his freshest troops, against a new enemy, over whom victory had yet to be gained. The pursuit [of the Prussians] had to be carried out by the 3d and 4th Corps, the very two who had been engaged in the bloodiest fight till ten in the evening, and now necessarily needed time to get into order again, to recover themselves, and to provide themselves with ammunition.”

Napoleon, therefore, while censurable for not having ascertained as early as possible the direction of the retreat of the Prussians, and for not having moved promptly with his main body against the English, can not be blamed for having allowed Grouchy’s troops to remain on the field till noon, to recover from their fatigues.

2. It hardly needs to be said that if Napoleon had known that the Ist and IId Prussian Corps were retiring on Wavre, he would not have ordered Grouchy on Gembloux. Exactly what he would have done, it is needless to conjecture, but in all probability he would have kept the whole army together, or within easy reach, so as to have concentrated an overwhelming force against Wellington the next morning, if not on that afternoon.

3. To illustrate the effect which the concealment of the Bertrand order by Marshal Grouchy has produced on the mind of an able critic, take the following passages from Clausewitz,[496] who wrote his narrative before the order came to light:—

“Bonaparte, it is claimed, ordered Grouchy to keep between Blücher and the road from Namur (Charleroi) to Brussels, for the second battle would have to be fought on this road, and only thus was there a possibility of Grouchy’s coöperating in it. But of such an order nothing can be found except in the untrustworthy account[497] of Bonaparte and of the men who have copied him. The account which Grouchy gives of the movements of the 17th bears too much the character of the simple truth[498] not to gain credence; and, according to this, Bonaparte’s instruction was directed in very general terms towards pursuing Blücher, and was drawn up in very uncertain expressions.”

[499]“As we read Marshal Grouchy’s account of the events which took place with Bonaparte on the morning of the 17th, we see:—

(1) That this Marshal in all probability actually received no other direction for his action on the 17th besides a very general instruction to pursue the Prussians:

(2) That Bonaparte had no idea of the retreat of the Prussians towards the Dyle, and considered the opinion that they had gone towards Namur not unreasonable, and therefore did not give the Marshal the direction of Wavre.”

Clausewitz concludes by surmising that Napoleon was “affected by a sort of lethargy and carelessness.” Had Clausewitz known the truth, namely, that Grouchy was sent off with a letter of instructions, telling him in so many words that the Prussians might be intending to unite with the English to fight a battle for the defence of Brussels on the turnpike on which Napoleon was now marching with the intention of encountering the English, we should have had a very different criticism from this, we may be sure.

4. But it is a curious thing, that, even with those historians who wrote after the Bertrand letter came to light, the influence of Grouchy’s misrepresentations has induced a sort of ignoring of the letter, and an acquiescence in the erroneous judgment of Napoleon’s conduct formed when the existence of the letter was unknown, and when the verbal instructions, as given by Grouchy, were all the orders which it was believed that Napoleon ever gave to Grouchy. Thus Chesney,[500] after giving the substance of the document, says:—

“Such was the whole tenor of this important letter, which serves to show two things only: that Napoleon was uncertain of the line of Blücher’s retreat, and that he judged Gembloux a good point to move Grouchy on in any case.”

The injunction to Grouchy, though given by Chesney almost textually, to ascertain whether or not the Prussians were intending to unite with the English and fight a battle for the defence of Brussels,—the very thing which they actually were intending to do,—has evidently made no impression whatever on his mind.

The same determination,—for we know not what other word indicates more correctly the temper of mind which must possess a historian of this campaign who shuts his eyes to the contents of the Bertrand letter,—the same determination, we say, not to recognize the fact that the Bertrand letter shows beyond a question that Napoleon was alive to the danger that the Prussians might be intending to do exactly what they were intending to do, that is, unite with the English and fight another battle,—this time on the Brussels road,—is shown also by the latest English critic, Colonel Maurice. He says:—[501]

“He (Napoleon) gave orders to Grouchy, with a force of 33,000 men and 96 guns, to pursue the Prussians, complete their defeat, and communicate with him by the Namur road.[502] Written orders were subsequently given to Grouchy _directing him to move on Gembloux_.”[503]

Here, the warning contained in the written order, the injunction to ascertain whether the Prussians were intending to join Wellington, is absolutely and quietly ignored. One would suppose that all that the Bertrand letter contained was an order to move on Gembloux. Colonel Maurice proceeds:—

“He (Grouchy) promised, that if, from the reports he received, he gathered that the Prussians had for the most part retired on Wavre, he would follow them there, in order to prevent them gaining Brussels, and in order to separate them from Wellington. _This is the first indication we receive, on any authentic evidence, that any one in the French army supposed that the duty of separating the Prussians from Wellington would become the task of Grouchy’s force. Up till then, all the French supposed that there was no prospect of Blücher’s attempting to unite with Wellington._”[503]

Yet in the body of the Bertrand letter, of which Colonel Maurice quotes the first line, are these words:—

“It is important to penetrate what the enemy is intending to do; _whether they are separating themselves from the English, or whether they are intending still to unite, to cover Brussels, or Liége, in trying the fate of another battle_.”

We confess our inability to explain or account for criticism of this nature, unless by the hypothesis that to a mind preoccupied with a certain view, firmly held, it is often possible that the plainest evidence should be, so to speak, invisible. It is as plain as anything can be that Grouchy’s letter, from which Maurice makes his quotation, _is a reply to that part of the Bertrand letter_ which we have given above; but Maurice, his mind full of the verbal orders only, wholly overlooks this.

But Colonel Maurice and Colonel Chesney are not alone in their views.

General Hamley,[504] in his account of the campaign, says of Grouchy: “His orders were to follow them [the Prussians], complete their rout, and never lose sight of them.” Hamley does not seem even to have heard of the Bertrand order. Hence his elaborate criticism on Grouchy’s conduct,[505]—leaving out, as it does, the two most important _data_, viz.:—Napoleon’s explicit warning to Grouchy of the possibility of the Prussians uniting with the English to fight a battle for the defence of Brussels, and his equally explicit statement to Grouchy (as reported by the latter), that he was going that very afternoon to attack the English “if they will stand on this side of the Forest of Soignes,”—is entirely beside the mark, and cannot be considered as possessing any practical value whatever. He has addressed himself to a case which never really existed.[506]

Hooper, also, omits entirely the information which the Emperor gave of his own intention, and of his conjecture that the English might fight “on this side of the forest of Soignes,”—where they actually did fight,—and dismisses the explicit injunction for Grouchy to ascertain the facts in these words:—[507]

“Yet some doubts of the correctness of his views had entered the mind of the Emperor before he quitted Ligny, and he remarked (_sic_) to Grouchy that it was important to learn whether the Prussians were separating themselves from the English, etc.”

These instances suffice to show how seriously the concealment of the Bertrand letter by Marshal Grouchy has affected the historians of the campaign. The prominence assigned to the verbal orders to Grouchy, so common in most of the narratives, is not only utterly useless,—but most misleading.

5. But was the Bertrand letter sufficiently explicit?

Charras,[508] who, unlike the English historians cited above, fully admits that the letter shows that Napoleon saw “the possibility of the union of the allied armies to cover Brussels,” observes that this involved the necessity of reconnoitring in the directions of Mont St. Guibert and Wavre. “Nevertheless,” he goes on to say,

“Napoleon did not make this the subject of a special recommendation to Grouchy; * * * and the latter, given over to his own inspirations, did not repair the inconceivable fault of the commander-in-chief. He had an order to proceed to Gembloux; he did not trouble his head about anything else.”

If Napoleon had entertained as low an opinion of Marshal Grouchy’s capacity as Charras evidently did, it certainly would have been a terrible mistake to have omitted to tell him to explore the region between Gembloux and Wavre. But questions of this kind hardly bear discussing; every one has his own opinions on such matters, based on his own estimate of other men’s ability, his own experience, his own notions of what is fitting. The suggestion of danger to the main army, if it should find the Prussians as well as the English opposed to it on the Brussels turnpike, would have amply sufficed for many generals. It was not, however, sufficient, as we shall soon see, for Marshal Grouchy.

6. We cannot agree with those who contend that it was an error to direct Grouchy on Gembloux in the first instance.[509] Up to the moment when the order was dictated to Bertrand no other considerable force of the enemy had been discovered; at Gembloux, Berton had found a whole corps. Here, therefore, one could not help getting at the direction of the Prussian retreat. And, owing to the lack of an early morning reconnoissance in all directions, this was, at noon, obviously the most promising direction for the pursuing force to take.

7. We owe to Colonel Maurice some valuable suggestions which serve to explain Napoleon’s neglect to take adequate measures to ascertain the direction of the Prussian retreat. He points out in the first place[510] the folly of such writers as Quinet, who would have Napoleon sleep in the midst of his Guard,—who expect the commander of an army to do the work of a sentry on the outer picket-line. It may be remarked in this connection, by the way, that as the French were not able to push up to the Namur turnpike on the evening of the 16th, their advanced posts could not possibly have heard anything more than the withdrawal of the enemy towards the pike, down which they might have marched without let or hindrance towards Namur. Colonel Maurice in the next place quotes an able criticism[511] by an officer whom he does not name, to the effect that Napoleon’s vast experience enabled him in his later years to dispense with much of that personal attention to the facts which in his earlier campaigns it had been absolutely necessary for him to give.

Colonel Maurice also calls attention to the circumstances which we have detailed above, which very naturally induced Napoleon to adopt the opinion that the Prussians had fallen back towards the Rhine.[512]

8. In conclusion, we may admit, fully, with Colonel Maurice, to whom we owe a great deal for setting this matter of the probabilities of the case in its true light, that Napoleon’s estimate of the probabilities was a correct one. He was quite warranted under all the circumstances in believing that the Prussians had retired towards their base. Nevertheless, this belief does not justify him for having neglected to ascertain the facts by a prompt exploration of the whole region through which the Prussians could have retreated.

The lesson which this neglect teaches, is a plain one. It is, that where there is any chance at all of the occurrence of an event, which, if it does happen, will be fatal, it is folly to trust to the probabilities of the case; every precaution should be taken; nothing that can avert a fatal calamity should be neglected, no matter how small may appear to be the chance of its happening. In this case, we find Napoleon, at one o’clock in the afternoon of the day after the battle of Ligny, entirely ignorant of the whereabouts and intentions of the Prussians, and, in fact, alarmed lest they should be intending to unite with the English, whom he is expecting to fight the next day; obliged to go off himself to join his left wing, and to leave the all-important task of preventing the union of his adversaries to a newly-made Marshal, in whose abilities he cannot place very great confidence. And all this, because he did not have the facts as to the Prussian retreat ascertained at day-break.

FOOTNOTES:

[494] Charras, vol. 1, p. 233.

[495] Clausewitz, ch. 37, p. 95.

[496] Clausewitz, ch. 37, p. 93.

[497] The Memoirs are exceedingly unsatisfactory in regard to this part of the campaign. Napoleon evidently had no exact recollection of the order which he dictated to Bertrand. He was only sure that he gave Grouchy an intimation that he might need him. See App. A; _post_, p. 351.

[498] Very possibly Grouchy did tell “the simple truth” in his account of the interview between himself and the Emperor. The trouble with Grouchy was, that he did not tell “the whole truth.” He denied having received any written order.

[499] Clausewitz, ch. 48, p. 130.

[500] Chesney, p. 152.

[501] Maurice, pp. 73, 74: April, 1890.

[502] These are the verbal orders.

[503] The italics are our own.

[504] Hamley, Op. of War, p. 190. He also cites the verbal orders.

[505] Ib., pp. 196-198.

[506] Hamley contends that the injunction to Grouchy—which, by the way, is contained in both the written and the verbal orders,—to communicate with Napoleon by the Namur-Quatre Bras turnpike, is not consistent with a movement towards Wavre. But why should not this arrangement have been prescribed for the sake of greater safety? If the Prussians were moving towards Wavre and the Dyle, their cavalry might be expected to make all communication across the country very hazardous for couriers or staff-officers. And, as a matter of fact, it was by the Brussels turnpike to Quatre Bras, thence by the Namur turnpike to Sombreffe, and thence _via_ Gembloux to Grouchy’s position in front of Wavre, that Napoleon sent Grouchy the two orders on the day of the battle. Napoléon à Waterloo, pp. 277, 278.

[507] Hooper, p. 153.

[508] Charras, vol. 1, pp. 241, 242.

[509] Assuming, that is, that it was wise in Napoleon to detach Grouchy with his two corps from the main army after he had reason to apprehend that the Prussians might be intending to unite with the English. See the Notes to Chapter XV; _post_, pp. 273 _et seq._

[510] Maurice, p. 348: July, 1890.

[511] Ib., p. 353.

[512] Ib., pp. 350-355.