PREFACE. THE rapidity with which the remarkable events of 1815, sueceeded to those which had taken place in the former years, alone induced me to resume my pen and complete a subject which I had previously supposed was concluded. In this undertaking I have followed the same plan as in the former work. I have endeavoured to record not only what the opposite parties did, but also what they said. Of the differences of opinion in the Cabinet of Napoleon, and the private councils of the Allies on the Continent, or in those of our own Cabinet, on these momentous occurrences, I pretend not to know-I attempt not to trace. It is the language and the deeds as promulgated, undertaken and executed in the name of, and by each nation or alliance, which I have chosen as my guide; and in which the public alone were immediately interested.—It is chiefly these which I have attempted to collect together. Of the military affairs, particularly of the memorable battles of Ligny, Quatre Bras, and Waterloo; and, in a more particular manner, concerning the latter, I have endeavoured to collect the details from the various Official Dispatches, and from such private sources of information as I could rely on, in order to form the whole into one connected narrative, each part bearing upon its true point. But though this was a pleasant, yet it was by no means an easy task. The materials, indeed, are abundant; but so scattered and disjointed, that it is scarcely possible to arrange them so as to be entirely free from errors: and I greatly fear, after every care, that these may still be considérable, as far as concerns particular periods and points of the battle. Of that dreadful day, indeed, no language can describe the reality. After all I have done-after all I have seen done on the subject, still the whole is but a faint and imperfect account of that most decisive combat. There every individual carried on a sanguinary conflict. There every regiment fought a battle in itself, equal to many mighty engagements in former wars. Their country can never sufficiently appreciate the labours and the dangers of her brave children, on that dreadful day. The world can never sufficiently admire those exertions which crushed the last collected efforts of evil in Europe, and which banished the Head of Discord to a rock amidst the wild and the vast waves of the ocean in another hemisphere. In referring, as I have done, to the daily journal called The Morning Chronicle, I have done so only because its opinions and principles in general, are well understood to be the opinions and principles of that body of men who wished to pursue a different course than that which has delivered Europe. I knew not how to embody these opinions so well from any other authority. In quoting from the French Journals, I have done so because their opinions and principles are well known to have been the opinions and the principles of the French Goverument. Of the condition and views of France, it is scarcely possible to form a decided opinion. While Napoleon lives, many of his party will still have hopes, and keep aloof from the present Government. These will also be ready to coalesce with any other party in overthrowing the present system, with the hope of rendering their own victorious at last. But if the revolutionary spirit should again resume the ascendancy, it will be put down by an indignant world, and deprived of the means of ever again annoying or alarming Europe. 17 the Bourbon Government, impelled by the spirit of the nation, turn their views to wars of ambition, France will perish in the attempt, and be swept by the fury of indignant millions. This, how\ever, cannot be the wish of the Bourbon Government; as their internal factions and enemies are of sufficient force to employ their power and their strength, without raising up foreign powers against them. These will continue to exert themselves in every way, and in every shape. Jacobinical hatred and Democratic anger, in defiance of truth and experience, will still continue to tell us that it was only to restore that family, that all the wars so lately concluded, have been carried on. But we fought to secure our own independence and safety; we fought to beat down French ambition, whether it assumed the barbarous aspect of a wild anarchy-the corrupted features of an organized want of principle, or the hideous garb of an unrelenting military despotism. And it is this, and this only, which we must in future guard against. Their conduct otherwise, in their internal affairs, can do us no harm; but whenever the Government that may guide France shall again let loose those infernal principles which destroyed social order, and shall organize a military power, which, having nothing to do within, can only be employed in wars of external aggression, all Europe must put it down, because all Europe is interested in doing so. Beaten to the ground and disappointed, the odious remnant of Atheism and Jacobinism will never rest in peace. It will, in every country, resume its usual employment and usual activity. It will calumniate every power it should respect; desperate and deliberate falsehoods, and the most gross, dangerous, and insidious fabrications, concerning all public affairs and publie men, will be circulated over the world in abundance, in order to corrupt, irritate, confuse, and alarm, the human mind. But let the people beware; these are the weapons of 1790, and the poisoned arrows of 1793. Whatever the future conduct of any Sovereign in Europe may be, or however odious and despotic they may turn, it never can exonerate France in her infamous career. Their conduct can never equal hers; nor can it ever lessen the merit of any one, for their conduct at this time in overthrowing her system and clearing the world of her ambition. As Britons, we have reason to be proud: as men, we can never be sufficiently thankful to that Almighty Power, who has crowned the unparalleled exertions of this nation with the greatest triumph and the completest success. Left alone to contend against a world in arms, and under the banners of evil arrayed against us, we yet withstood the shock and triumphed over them all. We did more-we supported justice -we re-animated morality-we administered consolation to the broken-hearted-we comforted and assisted the oppressed -we restored to man his dignity-we encouraged and aided him to regain his lost rights. We placed the cup of retribution in the hands of our mortal foes-of the foes of all order; and in the presence of an assembled and indignant world, made them wring out and drink the bitter dregs of their own iniquity, and which they intended for us. We have preserv ed inviolate every thing that was dear to us. We have raised our national character to a pitch of glory and honour unknown to any other; glory and honour founded upon the basis of justice, and supported by the gratitude of a world delivered from oppression. As far as man can judge, a bright prospect lies before us. We have seen the causes which led other nations into the dreadful abyss from which our exertions have tended to deliver them. Let us therefore, both as individuals and as a nation, shun the footsteps which they followed, that we never experience nor suffer what they have done. The way to do this is the cheapest, the easiest, and the most honourable possible: Let every man reform himself, and his country will never stand in need of it. Let us honour and obey our mild Sovereign and our just laws. Above all, let us remember and reverence our Gon. truth guide our words, and integrity our actions. Thus situated, we shall at all times have an invincible ægis round our heads, which the malice and strength of man will in vain attack; and which the re-appearance of Napoleon, with the splendour of the sun of Austerlitz round his head never can endanger, and will assail in vain. Let |