The life of Napoleon Buonaparte, emperor of the French. By Sir Walter Scott.

724 LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE,
Wellington regarded it as affording a position trevented their making a lateral march to relieve
whicll, if his first and second line had been un- Blucher at that critical period. Othier'wise, the
happily forced, he llight lhave nevertheless made paits of the ldoody dranma, as afterwardls acted,
good against the whole French army.''he hamllet would have been reversed, and the British army
of Mont St-Jean, in fiont, alfords an excellent key would have moved to support the iarussiins at
to tihe position of' an army compelled to occupy the Ligny, as the Prussians came to thle aid of tihe Iriforest. Tile wood itself' is everywhere passable tish atVWaterloo.
fbor men and horses, the trees being tall, and with- Napoleon ibad the merit of disconcertinm thli. pa1ln
out either lowv boughs or underwood; anld, singular for the time; but lie did not, and coilid not, disas the discrepancy between tile opinions of dis- cover that the allied generals retained, aft er the
tinguished so.dit-rs may seem, we have inever met loss of the battle of Ligny, thle same purpose
an English otlicer who did not look on the fi- which they had adopted on tile commnencemllnt of
rest of Soignies as affording an admirable position the campaign. He imagineid, as did all around him,
for naking a final stand. In support of their opi- that Blucher must retreat on Naimur, or in sl:ch a
nion, they refer to the defence of the Bois de Bos- direction as would eftctually accomillish a seluarasueS, near Quatre-Bras, against the reiterated at- tion betwixt him and the English, as it vwas natural
tacks of Marshal Ney. This impeachment of the to think a defeated army should approach towards
Dtlke of Wellington may therefore be set aside, its own resources, instead of attempting tlurther ofas inconsistent with the principles of. British war- fensive operations. At all events, Nialpoleon was
filre. All that can be added is, that thlere are in this respect so imuch mistaken, as to believe
cases in which national habits and manners may that if Blutcher did retire on the saime line with tmhe
render a position advantageous to soldiers of one English, the means which the Prussian retained for
country, which is perilous or destructive to those of co-operating with his allies were so limited, and
another. (perhaps he might think) the spirit of the general so
The next subject of invidious criticism is of a subdued, that lMarshal Grouchy, with 32(,000 mlen,
nature so singular, that, did it not originate with a would be sufficient to keep the whole Priussian
great man, in peculiar circumstances of adversity, obrce in check.'The marshal was accordingly, as
it might be all-nost termed ludicrous. Napoleon we have seen, dispatched much too late, withoint
exi;resses hiniseif as dissatisfietd, because lie was any other instructions than to follow and engage the
deflated in the co1mmDon and vulgar proceeding of attention of the Prussians. Misled by the demlondosnright fightimlg, anid by sno special manemivrers stration of Blucher, he at first toolk the road to
or peculiar display of military art on the part of Namur, and thus, without any fault on his part,
the victor. But if it can atlord any consolation to lost time,,which was inconceivably precious.
those who cherish his farme, it is easy to show, that Bonaparte's subsequent accounts of' this action
Napoleon fell a victim to a scheme of tactics early blame Marshal Grouchy for not discovering Binconceived, and persevered in under circumstances cher's real direction, which he had no means oh
which, in the case of ordinary men, would have ascertaining, and for not obeying orders which ivere
occasioned its being abandoned; resuimed after never given to him, and which could not be given,er
events which seemied so adverse, that nothing save because Napoleon was as ignorant as the marshal,
dauntless courage and pnlinmited confidence could that Blucher had forniel tie determinatiin at all
have enabled the chiefs to proceed in their pur- events to unite himself with Vellilrgton. This pirpose; anid carried into execution, without Napo-?ose of acting in co-operation, firnled and pelseleon's being able to penetrate the. purpose of the vered in, was to the French Enlmperor the riddle of
allied generals, until it was impossible to prevent the Sphinx, and he was destroyed because he could
thIe annihiila;tion of his arnmy;-tthat lie till, in not disoover it. Indeed he ridiculed even thle itlea
short, by a grand plan of strat6gie, worthy of being of such an evenit. One of his ollicers, according to
compared to that of ally of his own adiimirable Baron Muftling, having hinted at tile miiere possibility
campaigns. of a junction between the Prussian ariiiv and that of
To pro;ve what we have said,it is only necessary Wellington, he smiled contemptuously at lie tlloighlt.
to remark, that the natural bases and points of "The Prussian army," lie salid, "is deleatedl-it
retreat cjf the Prussian and English armies were cannot rally for three days-I have 75,000 nmen, thle
different; the. formuer being directed oim Mae- English oily 50,000. Thme town of Brussels awaits
stricht, tile other on Antwerp, where each ex- use with open arnis. The English opposilion waits
pected their reimiforcemneants. Regardless of this, but for my success to raise their heads.'lThen adieu
and with full confidence in each other, the Prince subsidlies, and farewell coalition!" In like manner,
Marshal Blucher, and the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon frankly acknowledged, whlile on board tle
agreed to act in conjulnction against the French Northumberland, that he had no icea that t(le Duke
army. The nmrion of their forces, for which both off WVellington meant to fight, and thereftore omnitted
were prepared, was destined to have taken place to reconnoitre the ground with sufficient accuracy.
at Ligny, where the duke designed to have s up- It is well known, that when he observed thelll still
ported the Prussians, and where Blucher hazarded in their position on the morning of thile 8lth, he exan action in expectation of his ally's assistance. claimed, "I have them, then, these Emghlish!"
The active movements of Napoleon, and the im- It was half past eleven, just about thie time that
possibility of the English force being sufficiently the battle of Waterloo commenced, that Grouchy,
concentrated at Quatre-Bras to afford the means of as already hinted, overtook the rear of the Prosoverpowering Ney and the force in their front, sians. A strong force, appearing to be the whole