INTRODUCTION. ON the sixteenth of June, the Allied Army, under the command of Field Marshal his Grace the Duke of WELLINGTON, gloriously maintained the important position of Quatre-Bras, after a most sanguinary and well disputed contest. This advantage, fully equivalent to a victory, contributed in no small degree to the unparalleled successes of the eighteenth of June. From the obstinate defence of this important point of communication, the different corps composing the army had time to arrive successively from their distant cantonments, at the respective places of concentration, whilst the troops, which had been engaged at QuatreBras, by a retrograde movement reinforced them; a manœuvre which the Field Marshal thought prudent, in consequence of the defeat of the Prussian army at Ligny. Nothing could exceed the coolness and intrepidity of the troops engaged at Quatre-Bras, where a small body of men, assembled in haste, and exposed for a considerable time, without either artillery or cavalry, displayed the most surprising bravery, in resisting the im D petuous attacks of a superior army, perfectly organized, and supported by every species of force, in which the Allies were deficient. It was there that the firmness and abilities of a great General were required to extricate himself from so perilous and critical a situation. It was there, surrounded by many experienced Generals, that that young Hero, the Hereditary Prince, shone so conspicuously; adding to the inherent valour of the House of Orange, the talents of a Veteran-talents matured in the war of the Peninsula, under that great Captain, the immortal Wellington. The illustrious and valiant Duke of Brunswick terminated his glorious career, with many brave men, in this obstinate combat. The reverses sustained by the Prussian Army on the sixteenth of June, on the heights of Ligny, determined Marshal Blucher to concentrate his troops at Wavre, where he would be reinforced by the fourth corps, under the command of Lieutenant-General Count Bulow, which had not been previously engaged. This retrograde movement obliged the Duke of Wellington, notwithstanding his success at Quatre-Bras, (and without being compelled by the enemy,) to make, as before observed, a corresponding manoeuvre, and retire on Waterloo, where the ground offered a position, which this modern Fabius (5) considered well adapted for the defence of Brussels, upon this side. That part of the army which had been engaged at Quatre-Bras, having bivouacked the night of the sixteenth, in advance of the field of battle, his Grace made the necessary dispositions to support it, and renew the conflict on the morning of the seventeenth; but seeing no inclination on the part of the enemy to attack him, he ordered the army to retire at mid-day by Genappe (6) with the intention of co-operating with Marshal Blucher, which change of position he effected in the most admirable order, notwithstanding his rear guard was closely pressed and much harassed by the French cavalry, whose various charges were bravely and vigorously repulsed by the British dragoons and life guards. (7) About four o'clock in the afternoon of the seventeenth of June, the Army arrived on the plains, in front of Waterloo, a village, partially entoured in the Forest of Soignie, where the Duke of Wellington. established his head-quarters. The French Army, commanded by Napoleon in person, followed this movement, but the unusual severity of the weather prevented him from making any serious attack. The rain fell in torrents, accompanied by thunder and lightning, which continued incessantly during the night: notwithstanding, some light artillery advanced on La Belle Alliance, and commenced a cannonade, which was but of short duration; when the French Army bivouacked, a part in advance of Genappe, the remainder on the heights between Plancenois and the farm of Mon-Plaisir. The head-quarters of Napoleon were established at the farm of Cailliou, in the hamlet of the Maison du Roi. |