SECOND PART OF THE WAR IN THE SUDAN, 1884-85—SUAKIN CAMPAIGN.
Reasons for the expedition to Suakin—Departure of the
Coldstream—Orders to Lieut.-General Sir G. Graham—Position of
the enemy—Advance against Hashin—Engagement at Tofrek—Attack on
a convoy, escorted by the Coldstream and Royal Marines—Advance
to Tamai—Construction of the railway—Attack on T'Hakul—Abrupt
end of the campaign—The Coldstream proceed to Alexandria, and
thence to Cyprus—Evacuation of the Sudan; how the Mahdi took
advantage of it; how the Dongolese were treated—Position taken
up south of Wady Halfa—Defeat of the Arabs at Ginnis—Return of
the Guards Camel regiment—Return of the Coldstream from
Cyprus—Honourable distinctions added to the Colours—Officers of
the Regiment in December, 1885 393
APPENDIX I.
1. DESPATCH OF M.-GEN. SIR JOHN BYNG TO H.R.H. THE DUKE OF
YORK, ON THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO, NIVELLES, JUNE 19, 1815 413
2. GENERAL ORDERS, NIVELLES, JUNE 20, 1815 414
3. PROCLAMATION OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE,
MALPLAQUET, JUNE 22, 1815 415
APPENDIX II.
1. GENERAL ORDER, PARIS, OCTOBER 28, 1815 416
2. ORDERS FOR BILLETING THE BRITISH TROOPS IN FRANCE, OCTOBER
29, 1815 416
3. ALARM POSTS OF BRITISH DIVISIONS IN FRANCE, OCTOBER 30, 1815 418
APPENDIX III.
ORDERS FOR A BRITISH CONTINGENT TO OCCUPY FRENCH FORTRESSES,
NOVEMBER 9, 1815 418
APPENDIX IV.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BRITISH CONTINGENT IN FRANCE, APRIL 10, 1816 421
APPENDIX V.
SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE BAND OF THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS 424
APPENDIX VI.
1. FAREWELL ORDER TO THE ALLIED ARMY OF OCCUPATION IN FRANCE,
NOVEMBER 10, 1818 426
2. FAREWELL ORDER TO THE BRITISH CONTINGENT, CAMBRAI, NOVEMBER
10, 1818 427
3. GENERAL ORDER, PARIS, DECEMBER 1, 1818 427
APPENDIX VII.
COLDSTREAM GUARDS HOSPITAL 428
APPENDIX VIII.
THE NULLI SECUNDUS CLUB; AND LIST OF MEMBERS FROM ITS FORMATION,
1783, TO 1896 429
APPENDIX IX.
GENERAL ORDER, CONSTANTINOPLE, APRIL 30, 1854 436
APPENDIX X.
DEATH OF FIELD-MARSHAL LORD RAGLAN, G.C.B. 437
APPENDIX XI.
AGES AND PREVIOUS OCCUPATIONS OF THE NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
AND MEN OF THE 1ST BATTALION COLDSTREAM GUARDS, AND DRAFTS
SENT TO THE EAST, ENGAGED IN THE WAR WITH RUSSIA 439
APPENDIX XII.
1. RETURN OF THE NUMBERS KILLED IN THE CRIMEA 440
2. RETURN OF THE NUMBERS WOUNDED IN THE CRIMEA, DEAD,
INVALIDED, ETC. 440
3. DEATHS IN THE 1ST BATTALION COLDSTREAM GUARDS BY MONTHS
DURING THE WAR WITH RUSSIA 441
APPENDIX XIII.
THE VICTORIA CROSS 442
APPENDIX XIV.
1. THE BRITISH FORCES EMPLOYED IN THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN, 1882 444
2. EXTRACTS FROM GENERAL ORDERS ISSUED AFTER THE BATTLE OF TEL
EL-KEBIR 446
3. EXTRACT OF REPORT ON ARMY SIGNALLING IN EGYPT, 1882 447
APPENDIX XV.
STATIONS OCCUPIED BY THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS, 1833-1885[1] 448
APPENDIX XVI.
1. COLDSTREAM ROLL[2] 458
2. COMMANDING OFFICERS OF THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS, FROM 1650 TO
1896 478
3. REGIMENTAL STAFF OFFICERS[2] 482
4. WARRANT OFFICERS 485
-----
Footnote 1:
Continued from Appendix 273 of Mackinnon’s _Origin and Services of the
Coldstream Guards_.
Footnote 2:
Continued from Appendix 285 of Mackinnon’s _Origin, etc._
-----
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
FIELD-MARSHAL H.R.H. ADOLPHUS FREDERICK DUKE OF
CAMBRIDGE, K.G. _Frontispiece_
PIKEMAN, 1669; DRUM MAJOR, 1670; GRENADIER COMPANY,
1670 _To face_ 18
SERGEANT, 1658; DRUMMER, 1658 ” 36
MUSQUETEER, 1650 ” 66
MUSKETEER, 1669 ” 86
OFFICER _temp._ JAMES II. ” 102
MUSKETS AND RIFLES FROM 1830 TO 1890 ” 126
PRIVATE, 1742 ” 230
COLOURS, 1669, 1684, 1685 ” 248
COLOURS OF THE COLONEL, LIEUT-COLONEL, AND MAJORS,
1750, AND THE QUEEN’S COLOUR, 1893 ” 266
DRUMMER, 1745 ” 286
SERGEANT, 1775; OFFICER, 1795 ” 300
OFFICER, 1839; OFFICER, 1849 ” 318
OFFICER, 1849; PRIVATE’S UNDRESS CAP, 1850 ” 342
SERGEANT DRUMMER, 1895 ” 392
MAPS.
PAGE
1. SKETCH MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF
FRANCE FROM 1815 TO 1810 _To face_ 54
2. BLACK SEA AND SURROUNDING COUNTRY ” 149
3. COUNTRY BETWEEN EUPATORIA AND SEVASTOPOL ” 165
4. BATTLE OF THE ALMA ” 174
5. SKETCH MAP OF COUNTRY NEAR SEVASTOPOL ” 182
6. SEVASTOPOL ” 194
7. BATTLE OF INKERMAN ” 216
8. THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF TEL EL-KEBIR FROM THE SUEZ
CANAL TO ZAGAZIG AND THE COUNTRY ROUND SUAKIN ” 360
9. SKETCH MAPS TO ILLUSTRATE EGYPTIAN AND SUDAN
EXPEDITIONS, 1882-1885 ” 379
CORRIGENDA.
Page 86, line 31, _for_ “May 25th” _read_ “May 27th.”
” 90, ” 13, _for_ “May 15, 1829” _read_ “May 16, 1829.”
” 118, ” 12, _for_ “November 13th” _read_ “November 9th.”
INTRODUCTION.
The central figure in Europe, during the first fifteen years of this
century, was the Emperor Napoleon, the great military leader, who,
having restored order in France—violently disturbed by the terror,
anarchy, and confusion of the Revolution that broke out in
1789,—succeeded in ruling that country, and in imposing his arbitrary
will upon its people. A master of the science of war, and gifted with
the genius that makes a man supreme in the field of battle, he organized
the military qualities of his subjects, who, under his guidance, invaded
their neighbours, destroyed their institutions, and overran Europe from
one end to the other. One opponent only remained unsubdued, and that was
England; and so strong was her resistance to this modern Attila, that
she succeeded not only in breaking his power, but in adding also to her
own importance and influence in the world.
Napoleon, though a General of the first order,—whose campaigns will
always commend themselves to the student of the art of war,—was less
remarkable for his knowledge of that other science which makes a man a
statesman. He lived by the sword, and he perished by the sword. He
destroyed the prosperity of the people he subdued, but he could not
cement a friendship with them. His object was war and only war, and he
reaped its reward—military fame; but he did not use the absolute power
he wielded, for the advantage of France, nor was he able to establish
his name among the greatest and most enlightened rulers of mankind.
After a period of victory, he exhausted the resources of his country,
and then there was formed against him a coalition of European Princes,
who gradually closed their forces around him with ever tightening grasp,
and pursued him to the heart of his Empire. At last, he was defeated and
undone, and acknowledged his impotence to carry on any longer the mighty
struggle in which he had been engaged (1814). Europe then restored the
Bourbons as Kings of France, and determined that Napoleon should be
expelled therefrom, and interned in the island of Elba,—an Emperor of a
very narrow dominion, and a Monarch only in name. But scarcely had he
been there a year, when he broke loose. Landing in France, he made the
King (Louis XVIII.) fly from Paris; and, amid the acclamations of the
people, he once more re-established himself upon the throne (March,
1815).
The Allied Sovereigns now combined to drive this disturber of the peace
from France, and took immediate steps to invade that country again. In
June, two of the Powers had their forces in Belgium,—the British and
their immediate allies (the Dutch, Hanoverians, etc.), under the Duke of
Wellington; and the Prussians, under Marshal Blücher. The rest were
still east of the Rhine. Perceiving that his antagonists were not yet
able to move forward together against him, the French Emperor resolved
to strike the first blow, by advancing northwards and by attacking
Wellington and Blücher. Accordingly, he left Paris on the 12th of June,
and on the 16th he fought the battles of Ligny, where he defeated the
Prussians and drove them off the field, and of Quatre-Bras, from which
place the British, though they held their ground, eventually fell back
slowly towards Waterloo. Giving orders to Marshal Grouchy, who was
placed at the head of a considerable force, to pursue Blücher, and to
prevent him from forming a junction with Wellington, Napoleon advanced,
and attacked the British at Waterloo (June 18th). Here the most decisive
battle of the present age took place. Stubbornly did the British troops
maintain their position; while Blücher, rallying his forces, and leaving
behind only a small corps to contain Grouchy, marched with the remainder
to the field of Waterloo. The French were now enveloped, and completely
and irretrievably defeated.
There was a Guards Division at the battle of Waterloo, commanded by
Lieutenant-General Sir George Cooke, formed of two Brigades. The 1st
Guards Brigade (Major-General P. Maitland) was composed of the 2nd and
3rd First (now Grenadier) Guards; and the 2nd Guards Brigade
(Major-General Sir John Byng) of the 2nd Coldstream and the 2nd Third
(now Scots) Guards. Sir George Cooke being severely wounded during the
course of the day, the command of the Guards Division devolved upon Sir
John Byng.
THE HISTORY
OF
THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS.
1815-1885.
CHAPTER I.
THE CAPITULATION OF PARIS.
Flight of Napoleon from the field of Waterloo—Reaction in
Paris—Napoleon’s abdication—Surrender to Captain
Maitland—Provisional Government set up in France—Advance of the
Allies from Waterloo—Operations of Marshal Grouchy—Allies hope to
cut the enemy off from Paris—Blücher’s energy to secure that
object—Unsuccessful efforts of the Provisional Government to obtain
a suspension of hostilities—The Allies before Paris—The Prussians
move round to the south of the city—Cooperation of
Wellington—Capitulation of the capital, July 3rd—Advance of
Austrians and Russians—“Waterloo men”—The “Wellington pension”—Rank
of Lieutenant granted to Ensigns of the Brigade of Guards—The
soldier’s small account-book introduced into the British army.
The battle of Waterloo broke the power of Napoleon for ever. So
confident of victory had that great soldier been, that he did not even
make any preparations for retreat, and hence, when he was defeated, a
terrible rout ensued. The wreck of the French army, blocking the only
road which was available, hurried from the scene of disaster in a
confused mass of fugitives. The Prussians, who were comparatively fresh,
took up the pursuit, and relentlessly they pressed it home, driving the
enemy back, increasing his panic, and completing his misfortunes.
Through the whole night of the 18th-19th of June, a fierce and active
pursuit was maintained; while the British troops, exhausted by the
labours and anxieties of the day, bivouacked as they stood, on the
bloody but glorious field of victory.
Napoleon, stupefied by the unexpected result of the battle, forced his
way through the surging mass of his now disorganized troops to
Quatre-Bras, and as he went along, he had ever increasing evidence of
the catastrophe that had overwhelmed him. He sent a message to Grouchy,
announced his defeat, but gave the Marshal no orders. He then rode to
Charleroi, and, almost unattended, pushed on to Philippeville, where he
made his first effort to repair his broken fortunes. He ordered Marshal
Soult to rally the _débris_ of his forces at Laon; he despatched a
letter to General Rapp, who was in command on the German frontier, and
to General Lamarque, engaged in La Vendée, with orders to march to
Paris; and he was sanguine enough to declare that he could reorganize a
sufficient force to cover the capital, and to give time for the
concentration of a much larger army, wherewith to renew the war and to
save France from the invasion that threatened her.[3] But he was far
from being reassured. He could scarcely deny even to himself that the
end of his career had at last come in earnest, and that the stupendous
ascendency which he exercised over his countrymen had disappeared now
and for ever. Once before had he been obliged to acknowledge himself
vanquished, and the glamour of invincibility no longer surrounded his
person. He had engaged in a desperate undertaking. The whole of Europe
was arming against him, and was determined to put him down. His first
bold venture to try and beat the Allies in detail had signally failed.
The armies of Great Britain and of Prussia had hopelessly crushed the
flower of his forces. He had henceforward to reckon with Austria and
Russia, and with a formidable coalition flushed with victory. His
countrymen never forgave a military leader who had suffered a disaster
in the field. He knew that his prestige was weakened, that the influence
which his name inspired was shaken, that his resources were at an end,
and that his enemies were gathering about him from every quarter.
-----
Footnote 3:
George Hooper, _Waterloo: the Downfall of the First Napoleon_ , pp.
239, 263 (London, 1862).
-----
Tormented by these gloomy thoughts, he pursued his journey, and reached
Philippeville; and there he snatched a few hours repose. But the fear of
the Prussians haunted his followers, and he was hurried on, still in a
state of indecision.[4] The momentous question had now to be faced, and
immediately decided. What was Napoleon to do? Should he remain in the
field in command of his troops, rally the shattered remnants of the
grand army, and cover Paris, or should he fly to the capital, assert his
authority there, and trust to the magic of his name to retain his
supremacy over France? His own desire was to stay among his men, and to
abide the result at the head of an army, devoted to his person and to
his interests. Had he done so, his fate would have been less humiliating
than it eventually proved to be. But his failing health, and the shock
he had experienced, paralysed the active energies of the man, and,
dreading a revolution in the seat of government, he agreed, against his
better judgment, to start at once for Paris. He reached his destination
early on the 21st, exhausted and shaken both in body and mind.
-----
Footnote 4:
Alphonse de Lamartine, _The History of the Restoration of the Monarchy
in France_ , ii. 443 (London, 1852).
-----
Paris was struck dumb by this event. On the 18th, the guns of the
Invalides thundered a salute in honour of the battle of Ligny, and on
the two following days the details of the French victory over the
Prussians were published in glowing colours; but towards the evening of
the 20th, the news of trouble began to leak out, and on the morrow the
Emperor arrived at the Elysée palace attended only by a few of his
personal Staff. “Dans le premier moment on refusa à croire; ce fut
ensuite une anxiété cruelle; puis une morne stupeur.”[5] And now at
length the fatal news was fully realized, and spread like wildfire
through the excited people, and all knew for certain that the army of
Napoleon had been annihilated, that his military genius had played him
false, and that the catastrophe was at once complete and irretrievable.
-----
Footnote 5:
Hooper, p. 265.
-----
Then the weakness of the Emperor’s power began to show itself, and the
instability of the foundation upon which he had constructed his Imperial
system became apparent. France, who drained her resources freely to
serve her passion for glory, now spurned the defeated hero who had made
her glorious. His rule, though it pandered to her vanity, did not rest
upon the true affections of the people; and his want of success at the
critical moment was an unpardonable offence, to be atoned only by
abdication. Enemies created everywhere by his arbitrary will, by his
reckless policy, and by the jealousy his brilliant genius inspired, now
saw their opportunity to revenge themselves, and they arose to crush
him. Alone in Paris, without an army, he was almost a prisoner in the
hands of his foes, where he could not hope to recover from the disaster
which had overwhelmed him, or employ his talents for the military
protection of the country. The Chambers took the control of public
affairs; and Napoleon, prostrated by recent events, and unable to
resolve upon any definite course of action, acquiesced sullenly in
allowing the reins of government to be snatched from his hands. He was
forced to await the decision of a special Council of State that was
summoned to settle the future of the Emperor and the policy to be
pursued by the nation. Lafayette, who was named member of the Council,
and was its leading spirit, insisted that the defence of the country
should not be the only question discussed, but that negotiations for the
restoration of peace should be also proceeded with; and he succeeded in
carrying a resolution, to the effect that, as the Allies had signified
their determination not to treat with Napoleon, the two Chambers should
themselves nominate negotiators, who were, under their authority alone,
to come to terms with the conquerors.[6] It was a revolution; and it was
nearly complete on the morning of the 22nd. In the divided councils of
the Emperor, Lafayette gained a great advantage, and giving voice to the
one thought that filled all minds in that moment of anguish, he resolved
that Napoleon’s deposition should forthwith, and at all hazards, be
carried into immediate execution.
-----
Footnote 6:
Hooper, 275; Lamartine, ii. 480.
-----
A struggle—a one-sided struggle—took place between the Emperor and the
Chambers. The former could only rely upon his previous military prestige
and upon the halo of influence that still might be supposed to surround
his name; but he did nothing to rouse himself out of the lethargy that
oppressed his moral faculties. The latter, representing the reactionary
and Republican parties, were tired of Napoleon and of his greatness.
They regarded him as the sole obstacle to peace, and as a fallen leader
who must be swept away in the interests of the country. So fickle were
the French to the man they received as their ruler in defiance of Europe
four months before, and who had been their unquestioned master for
nearly fifteen years, and so intent were they to be rid of him, that
they only granted him—and that with difficulty—but one short hour to
make up his mind to vacate his throne; in default, he was to be
discrowned by force. Napoleon was indignant, but he did not resist. “I
have not returned from Elba,” he said, “to deluge Paris with blood;”[7]
and, fearing to provoke a civil war, he accepted the inevitable, and
abdicated in favour of his son within thirty-six hours of his arrival in
the capital.
-----
Footnote 7:
Lamartine, ii. 478.
-----
And yet his overweening pride was still thirsting for power, and this
act of renunciation was neither tendered nor accepted in good faith.
Napoleon II., as he was called, was a child, and was in Austria, and the
Emperor still clung to the delusive hope that he might be re-installed
in the power he had lost, though he could only wield it in the name of
his son. On the other hand, the Chambers, fearing to drive their
antagonist to extremes, and dreading above all things a revival of his
wonted energy, agreed to an equivocal recognition of Napoleon II. In
this way they also satisfied the cravings of the army for Imperialism;
but the assent was a mere fictitious one, which was intended to have no
meaning and which had no result. The Empire was indeed doomed, its
founder dishonoured, and his dynasty destroyed. It was a wretched end to
a glorious career, not even redeemed by that fortitude and personal
dignity which mark the fall of the truly great. This final downfall is
without parallel in history, and the weakness of human nature and the
vanity of man’s personal ambition stand out prominently, as the main
features of the drama. The last scene was approaching, and may be
described in a few words.
The moment Napoleon abdicated, he ceased to be a factor in the great
events that followed. He was even an obstacle in the way of those who
had usurped his place, and was treated with a contumely he had little
deserved at the hands of flatterers, who, having basked in his smiles,
had now constituted themselves the arbiters of his lot. Driven almost
with indignity to the suburban retreat of La Malmaison, where his
personality could not affect the Parisians, he still dreamt of power,
but did nothing to grasp it. At last he was obliged to fly to the coast
before the Allies, who were approaching the capital. Despairing of
making good his escape, and feeling keenly the humiliation of his
position, should capture await him in the land where for so long he had
been the idol, he yielded himself a prisoner to Captain Maitland, who
commanded H.M.S. _Bellerophon_—stationed near Rochfort to intercept the
Imperial fugitive,—as to the representative of “the most powerful, the
most constant, and the most generous” of his enemies (July 15th). This
is the last of Napoleon, and henceforward he lived and died a captive in
the island of St. Helena, hated by his gaolers, forgotten by his
country, and forsaken by his kindred.
“But where is he, the modern, mightier far,
Who, born no king, made monarchs draw his car;
The new Sesostris, whose unharness’d kings,
Freed from the bit, believe themselves with wings,
And spurn the dust o’er which they crawl’d of late,
Chain’d to the chariot of the chieftain’s state?
Yes! where is he, the champion and the child
Of all that’s great or little, wise or wild?
Whose game was empires, and whose stake was thrones?
Whose table earth—whose dice were human bones?
Behold the grand result in yon lone isle,
And as thy nature urges, weep or smile.”[8]
-----
Footnote 8:
Byron, _Age of Bronze_, iii.
-----
The overthrow of her great military hero brought no satisfaction or
relief to France. She needed a chief to direct, and a policy to shape
her actions; but at the most critical moment, when the Allies were
thundering at her gates, she deliberately deprived herself of the one,
and had not thought of the other. Napoleon was rejected; but who was to
take his place, and who was to safeguard her interests? The noisy
demagogues had effectively stirred up a revolution, and had deposed the
only soldier who could have stood between her and the victorious enemy.
Their momentary success was complete; but they left nothing except chaos
behind them, and their work was folly because it was destructive. It is
true, they did conceive some hope that they could rear up a Republic or
a Constitutional Monarchy upon the ruins of the Imperial system, and
none for a moment believed that the unconditional restoration of the
Royal Family was imminent. The “obstacle to peace” was removed; but the
peace that France desired was denied her, and she was not to be allowed
to have a voice in shaping her own destinies. The Allies were masters of
the situation; and they were as intent upon taking ample securities
against the people who had for so long scourged Europe, as against the
man who had led them on to plunder Christendom. The man was gone, but
the people remained; and in their eagerness to repudiate him, they
forgot that they too had some account to render to the conquerors.[9]
-----
Footnote 9:
Hooper, _Waterloo_ , pp. 280, 285.
-----
A Provisional Government was set up in Paris on the evening of the 22nd
of June, composed of five persons, among whom was Fouché, Duc d'Otranto,
late Minister of Police under Napoleon, and one of his bitterest
enemies. He had the address to be named President, and in the anarchy
produced by the panic which the crisis created, he alone preserved his
faculties unimpaired. Seizing the supreme control of the State during
the moment of interregnum, he became dictator, and the sole and
irresponsible advocate of his country’s cause. A Republican by
conviction, a regicide, and holding to the extravagant tenets which were
enunciated in 1789, he was far more keenly alive to his own immediate
interests than to his avowed principles; and perceiving clearly that his
credit and reward could best be secured by obliging France to
accept—even against her will—a Bourbon _régime_, he devoted his great
talents and his incomparable powers of intrigue to bring about the
unconditional restoration of King Louis. His treachery was deeply
resented by the nation, but what could they do? Napoleon had been
abandoned, and there was no one to replace him,—none to form a patriotic
administration, none to give effect to the national aspirations of the
people, none to cope with the difficulties that had arisen, none to
secure those terms which a proud and vigorous race had a right to
expect, even when overwhelmed by adversity. In the universal prostration
which succeeded the battle of Waterloo, Fouché, “one of the most hateful
among the hateful tribunes of the Terror,”[10] reigned in France, an
autocrat, hated by all, feared by all, and obeyed by all.[11]
-----
Footnote 10:
B: M. Guizot, _History of France, 1789-1848_ , edited by Madame de
Witt, _née_ Guizot, viii. 231 (London, 1881).
Footnote 11:
Hooper, p. 286, etc.
-----
While these events were taking place in Paris, the victorious Allies
were advancing towards that city, there to reap the fruits of their
success, to restore the peace of Europe, and to impose their will upon
the now distracted country that lay at their mercy. After the battle
there was a meeting between the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blücher,
at which operations for the immediate future were decided. The former
engaged to advance the following day, and returned for the night to his
head-quarters at Waterloo; the latter agreed to pursue the enemy without
delay, and to endeavour to cut off Grouchy. He then went to Genappe,
and, on the 20th, his advanced troops were in French territory. Early on
the 19th, the army commanded by Wellington left their bivouacs, the 2nd
Battalion Coldstream Guards starting from the farm of Hougomont, which
they had held—in conjunction with the 2nd Battalion of the Third Guards,
and with the light companies of the First Guards (2nd and 3rd
Battalions)—with such credit to themselves. They reached Nivelles that
evening, where Major-General Sir John Byng wrote his despatch on the
battle, and on the stubborn contest that centred round Hougomont.[12]
-----
Footnote 12:
Appendix No. I. 1.
-----
On the 20th, the Guards Division reached Binche, and on that day the
Duke of Wellington issued a General Order, which not only conveyed his
thanks to the army under his command, for their conduct in the decisive
action on the 18th, but which also warned the troops of the absolute
necessity of treating the inhabitants of France as a friendly
people.[13] This admonition of the rules which prevail in war time among
civilized nations, was not indeed needed by the seasoned troops of
British origin, who had been trained in the humane usages invariably
adopted by England, to respect the liberties and the property of the
people over whose lands war has to be waged. It was rather addressed to
the Anglo-allies (Dutch, Belgians, and Germans), to enforce the maxim
that hostilities are not conducted against the population, and that ill
treatment of peasants only exasperates the enemy, and does nothing to
secure his final subjugation. It is to be remarked that this policy was
not followed by the Prussians, with the result that the latter never
gained the good will of the French, while the British, on the contrary,
were looked upon by that proud and sensitive people with respect, and
almost without distrust.
-----
Footnote 13:
Appendix I. 2.
-----
On the morning of the 22nd of June, Wellington was at Malplaquet, the
scene of one of Marlborough’s greatest triumphs over the same enemy.
Before leaving, he issued a proclamation in French to the people whose
territories were then entered by the
British troops, to the effect that the invaders had come to deliver them
from the iron yoke that oppressed them; and that the population would be
well treated by the army, provided they did not join the cause of the
“Usurper” (Napoleon), who had been “pronounced to be the enemy of the
human race, with whom neither peace nor truce could be made.”[14]
Neither in this effort to conciliate the population did Prince Blücher
follow the example of his colleague; on the contrary he displayed
resentment against the natives of a country whose military genius had,
in the past, humbled in the dust the pride of his own nation. It was
perhaps natural that he should assume this attitude when the provocation
which the Prussians received is taken into account, but it was not
calculated to reassure the French in their despair, nor to reconcile
them to the restoration of the Royal Family.
-----
Footnote 14:
Appendix I. 3.
-----
In order to give a general view of the whole military situation, it will
now be necessary to refer briefly to the incidents of the war that took
place close to Waterloo, on the day of the battle, where Marshal Grouchy
was struggling with Blücher’s rear-guard. On the 18th he was at Wavre,
with 32,000 men, of whom 5000 were cavalry; and there he was held in
check during the whole day by Thieleman’s Prussian Corps, only 15,000
strong. It was not until evening that he turned the right of the
Prussians, when at length he opened a road for his troops, whereon to
advance to the main body of the French army, known to be somewhere near
Waterloo. As it was then too late to continue the action, Grouchy hoped
next day to complete the victory he had achieved, ere he pushed forward
to join his chief. On the morning of the 19th he received no tidings
from the Emperor, and he believed that all was well; but Thieleman,
though he was not informed of the full details of the disaster to which
the French had been subjected, heard that a great battle had been
fought, and that they were defeated; so he, too, determined to attack
Grouchy in the morning. A battle consequently took place on the 19th, in
which the Prussians, though they contested the ground inch by inch, were
forced to fall back towards Louvain by the superiority of the masses
they engaged. At the very moment of victory, Grouchy received the
message which Napoleon had sent him from Quatre-Bras, announcing the
total destruction of the French army, and thus revealing to him the full
extent of the danger in which he was placed. Perceiving at once the
necessity that his corps should be saved from the general wreck, he
determined to retreat through Namur upon Givet, and began to move
without delay. General Pirch I., having been detached from the main
Prussian army on the evening of the 18th to intercept him, joined
Thieleman, who also advanced as soon as he perceived that he was no
longer being pursued by the corps which had defeated him. Both Prussian
Generals endeavoured to arrest the enemy, but they failed to do so; and
Grouchy, who marched with great rapidity and resolution, ably seconded
by the valour of his subordinate Generals, reached Givet on the 21st,
and entered French territory in safety. He was then ordered to join
Marshal Soult, who was attempting to rally the broken fragments of the
main army at Laon. This occurred on the fatal 22nd, the same day that
Napoleon, coerced by the political leaders in Paris, closed his public
career, and signed his abdication of the French throne in favour of his
son.
Grouchy’s corps was the only one that, having taken part in the campaign
in Belgium, remained intact. The main French army had been
panic-stricken at Waterloo, and a large mass of those who survived the
battle fled straight to Paris, or deserted their standards, and were
nowhere to be found; many flung away their arms, and dispersed to their
homes. The disruption of the great army was complete, and the defeat
signal and decided beyond all former precedent. The co-operation of the
greater bulk of Napoleon's forces in subsequent military events was
impossible, and little resistance was to be apprehended from these men.
But there was a remnant of true soldiers still available, who, seeking
their Colours, concentrated some 20,000 strong near Philippeville. On
the 22nd they were at Laon, and about that time the French could dispose
of some 50,000 men for the defence of the northern frontier. The
situation was a desperate one, and would have been fatal even to
Napoleon himself in the full vigour of his military genius; but the
position was all the more impossible, since the Saxons, the Austrians,
and the Russians were by this time upon the eastern frontier of France,
and were ready to advance in a concentrated and concentric march upon
the capital.
On the 22nd of June, Wellington reached Le Cateau Cambresis. He
had three divisions at Bavay, and four echeloned along the road to
Le Cateau—the Guards Division being at Gommignie. Besides this,
other troops were employed against Le Quesnoi and Valenciennes,
which were occupied by men of the Garde Nationale. Blücher was at
Catillon-sur-Sambre with his troops in the vicinity, including
Thieleman, who had returned from the pursuit of Grouchy, but
excluding Pirch I., who was ordered to remain in rear for the
purpose of reducing the fortresses which defended the French
frontier. The Prussians were also at that time blockading
Landrecies and Maubeuge—also garrisoned by local levies, from whom
little resistance was to be expected. The Anglo-Prussian Allies
halted on the 23rd, for the purpose of collecting their
stragglers, and of bringing up ammunition; and thereby a
much-needed rest was afforded to men who, for more than eight
days, had been constantly and actively occupied in the arduous
labours of the war. During the halt the two Generals, Wellington
and Blücher, met to decide how a united advance could best be made
upon Paris. As a result of this conference, it was agreed that the
Allies should not pursue the enemy directly, but, covered by the
Oise, push along the right bank of that river, upon Compiègne and
Creil, so as to turn his left, and if possible, cut him off from
Paris,—the movement to be masked by the Prussian cavalry, whose
presence, it was hoped, would induce the French to retard their
retreat.[15] Wellington, moreover, anxious that the moral effect
of the battle of Waterloo should be fully reaped, and that
Napoleon should have no time to recover from the disaster,
hastened the arrival of King Louis into French territory, offering
to secure Cambrai as his residence until Paris should be captured.
Hearing, also, that that fortress was imperfectly guarded, he sent
Sir Charles Colville forward with a detachment to seize it (June
23rd). The attack was successful, in so far that the town was
taken with little loss; but the citadel held out until the 25th,
when the Governor capitulated to the King. His Majesty by this
time reached the British head-quarters, and he temporarily
established his Court in Cambrai.
-----
Footnote 15:
Capt. Siborne, _History of the War in France and Belgium_ in 1815, ii.
370 (2nd edit., London, 1844). See Map No. 1, p. 54.
-----
On the 24th the combined armies continued their advance. The British
pushed on two brigades towards Cambrai, but otherwise only altered their
position slightly, as they were waiting for their pontoon train. The
Prussians, however, moved forward, taking Guise and St. Ouentin. During
the day, intelligence was received of Napoleon’s abdication, but the
news was at first discredited. Later, it became confirmed; but both
Commanders determined that terms of peace could only be signed at Paris,
and they rejected all overtures made to them by the Provisional
Government to arrest their march upon the capital. On the 25th of June,
the British head-quarters were at Joncourt, the Coldstream Guards being
at Le Cateau.
Blücher, on the other hand, hearing that the French had not been
deceived by the cavalry demonstration made in the direction of Laon, now
came to the conclusion that they were hastening towards Paris; he
therefore determined to secure the passages over the Oise, and he pushed
on to these points with the utmost rapidity. A squadron entered
Compiègne in the evening of the 26th, and early the following day a
Prussian brigade supported it, just in time to prevent this place from
falling into the hands of the enemy; for Grouchy, who had superseded
Soult, ordered D'Erlon to occupy the bridge with the remnants of his
Corps, about 4000 strong. D'Erlon, finding the Prussians in position,
cannonaded it, and very soon afterwards retired, unpursued by the
Prussians, who were too much exhausted to advance; so that it was
mid-day before the advantage gained could be pressed home. These
operations were connected with the movements of other Prussian columns,
one of which also succeeded in capturing the bridge of Creil just before
the French arrived there. Brushing the enemy away, the invaders
continued to march to Senlis, where D'Erlon was met and driven off the
straight line of his retreat. The bridge of St. Maxence was found
partially destroyed, and the river had to be crossed in boats, but that
of Verberie was taken. By the evening of the 27th, Blücher’s advanced
troops were on the left of Grouchy, intercepting the road to Paris, and
with every hope of being able to prevent him from reaching the capital
before the Prussians.[16] At dawn of the 28th, a small force under Pirch
II. came into collision with the enemy near Villers-Cotterets, and,
being greatly outnumbered at that point, they were in some danger of
being overpowered. The French, however, were in no condition to fight;
they had lost heart, and many were deserting their Colours. Being
disorganized by their reverses, and by the fear that Blücher’s energy
inspired, they now allowed Pirch to get away unhurt. The latter had
succeeded by his manœuvre to delay them, so that during the day they
were repeatedly attacked with considerable loss, and most of them were
forced to turn to their left to cross the river Marne, and so reach
Paris by a circuitous route. By the evening of the 28th, the Prussians
had not only captured sixteen guns and four thousand prisoners, forced
the French from their true line of retreat, and increased the terror and
confusion which prevailed among them, but they also succeeded in
following some few detachments of the enemy, who had been enabled to fly
straight to Paris. In this manner their advanced posts were within five
miles of the capital, near Le Bourget and Stains, where they carried
panic and dismay into the heart of the city.[17] Blücher established his
head-quarters at Senlis.
-----
Footnote 16:
Siborne, ii. p. 403.
Footnote 17:
Siborne, ii. 415.
-----
During this vigorous pursuit, the Anglo-allies were also advancing
southwards. On the 26th, Sir John Byng assaulted the fortress of Peronne
with the 1st Guards Brigade, who carried the outworks by storm with
little loss, soon after which the town capitulated. The British
head-quarters were at Vermand and the army in the vicinity, advanced
cavalry patrols having penetrated as far as Roye. The Coldstream Guards
halted at Coulaincourt. Next day the army crossed the river Somme at
Willecourt; the Duke was at Nesle, and Roye was occupied. On the 28th,
the British right was near St. Just, and Montdidier was occupied; the
left was in rear of La Tulle, where the roads meet that run from
Compiègne and Roye; the reserve reached the latter place, and the Guards
Division was at Conchy, where the rest of the First Army-Corps was
posted.
The rapid approach of the invaders upon Paris made it plain to the
Provisional Government that they had no power to arrest the progress of
the Allies for a single moment; and although the north side of the city
was secured by a line of fortified works, sufficiently strong to resist
a _coup de main_, yet the wreck of Napoleon’s army had not reached the
capital, and time was imperatively required to bring them there and to
organize some defence. An armistice was once more sought on the 27th,
and again on the 28th, in the despairing hope that the Government might
be allowed some breathing-time in which to consider their position, and
make some show of resistance, in order to save France the humiliation
which was clearly in store for her. But the allied Commanders were
inexorable, and, refusing all such negotiations, they pursued their
operations with the same activity as in the past. Wellington indeed
frankly told the Commissioners who approached him on behalf of the
Provisional Government, that he—
“must see some steps taken to re-establish a government in France
which should afford the Allies some chance of peace” before he could
sanction a suspension of hostilities; that he personally “conceived
the best security for Europe was the restoration of the King, and that
the establishment of any other government than the King’s in France
must inevitably lead to new and endless wars;” and he concluded by
these words: “That, in my opinion, Europe had no hope of peace if any
person excepting the King were called to the throne of France; that
any person so called must be considered an usurper, whatever his rank
and quality; that he must act as an usurper, and must endeavour to
turn the attention of the country from the defects of his title
towards war and foreign conquests; that the Powers of Europe must, in
such a case, guard themselves against this evil; and that I could only
assure them” (the Commissioners) “that, unless otherwise ordered by my
Government, I would exert any influence I might possess over the
Allied Sovereigns to induce them to insist upon securities for the
preservation of peace, besides the treaty itself, if such an
arrangement as they had stated were adopted”—viz., any arrangement
whereby a prince, other than the King, were called to the throne of
France.[18]
-----
Footnote 18:
Siborne, ii. 427, etc.
-----
On the 29th, Blücher pressed on towards Paris, and reconnoitred the
defences thrown round the northern side of the city. The remnants of the
great army which had been shattered at Waterloo also entered the capital
on that day, and the French mustered some 80,000 to 90,000 men
there—troops from the provincial depôts and from the country having been
called for the defence of the seat of government, and as many discharged
veterans as could be collected having been assembled in a special corps
some 17,000 strong. Besides this, there was plenty of artillery
available, and about 30,000 of the Garde Nationale; but on the latter no
great reliance could be placed. Marshal Davoût, Prince d'Eckmühl, was
appointed Commander-in-chief. The British forces were still in rear, and
occupied positions between Gournay and St. Maxence, the Guards Division
being near St. Martin Longeau. At dawn, on the 30th of June, the
advanced French post at Aubervilliers was attacked by the 4th Prussian
Corps under Bülow, and the enemy was driven back, and pursued as far as
the canal in rear of that village; but it became evident that to
dislodge him from that line, a more serious effort would be necessary.
The Duke of Wellington having proceeded to Blücher’s head-quarters
during the night of the 29th-30th, a conference was held as to the
future operations to be pursued. It was then agreed to move the
Prussians to their right, to take advantage of the capture of the bridge
of St. Germains which had already been effected, and to extend the
investment of the capital round the west and south of the city,
threatening to cut it off from those provinces that furnished it with
supplies. The British army at the same time was to move into the posts
which their allies had taken up north of the city, and to mask the
defences which the enemy had erected there. During the night of the
29th-30th and the following day, these operations were carried out, the
4th Prussian Corps covering the movement until the British arrived. In
the evening, the latter were about Louvres, twelve miles away from
Paris; the Guards Division being at La Chapelle. The two Prussian Corps,
under Thieleman and Ziethen, were close to St. Germain; while two
regiments of Hussars, under Lieut.-Colonel von Sohr, having been thrown
forward, bivouacked at Marley, on the road to Versailles. During the
day, Bülow’s Corps had been engaged, as we have seen. On the 1st of July
he began to move off, and in the afternoon he was relieved by the
advanced British forces, who took his place; the Guards Division were at
Le Bourget and the forest of Bondy, five miles from the capital.
On this day the enemy gained an advantage over the Prussians—the only
one of the campaign, except the delusive victory at Ligny,—for the
cavalry brigade under von Sohr, ordered to reconnoitre round the
southern suburbs, proceeding too far away from its supports, was
attacked, and, though the men defended themselves bravely, they were cut
to pieces. This transient success, however, produced no effect upon the
main result, and was but a passing incident in the drama now soon to
close. Next day, the 2nd, Blücher continued his march round Paris; and
his troops, under Ziethen, came into collision with the enemy near
Sèvres, who was driven back to Issy, and, later in the evening, into the
town. Thieleman pushed forward advanced troops to Chatillon; and the
reserve, under Bülow, was near Versailles. The British remained in the
positions on the north front of the capital, sending detachments across
the Seine, which occupied the villages of Asnières, Courbevoie, and
Suresnes, to keep up communications with the Prussians. On the 3rd,
Vandamme made an attempt to drive Ziethen’s troops out of Issy, and a
battle took place, which, lasting about four hours, ended disastrously
for the French, who were repulsed, and forced to take refuge within the
barriers of the city. This effort was the end of the operations, and no
more fighting took place, for the Provisional Government, holding that
the defence of Paris was not practicable against the victorious Allies,
now agreed to treat for a capitulation.
A great change had by this time come over public feeling in Paris, and
this was mainly the work of Fouché. France, left without a chief in the
moment of her abasement, fell into the hands of Napoleon’s ex-Minister
of Police. Once installed in power, he issued a proclamation to the
people he was deliberately deluding (June 24th). It held out extravagant
hopes that, under his guidance, France would at last be contented with
an honourable peace. It was a dishonest proclamation, for it made
impossible promises; and yet, in the national degradation which marked
the crisis, the people had perforce to obey the man, who, while in
secret correspondence with the Allies for the restoration of the King,
told them—
“After twenty-five years of political tempests, the moment has arrived
when everything wise and sublime that has been conceived respecting
social institutions may be perfected in yours. Let reason and genius
speak, and from whatever side their voices may proceed, they shall be
heard.... Who is the man, that, born on the soil of France, whatever
may be his party or political opinions, will not range himself under
the national standard, to defend the independence of his country!
Armies may be in part destroyed, but the experience of all ages and of
all nations proves that a brave people, combating for justice and
liberty, cannot be vanquished. The Emperor, in abdicating, has offered
himself a sacrifice. The members of the Government devote themselves
to the due execution of the authority with which they have been
invested by your representatives.”[19]
-----
Footnote 19:
Siborne, ii. 378.
-----
Nor was it long before Fouché gained sufficient influence over Davoût to
make it clear to him that the Empire had come to an end, and that the
only solution possible out of the _impasse_ in which France had become
involved, was submission to the will of the conquerors and the
restoration of the Bourbons. Once gained over, the Marshal did not
hesitate to obey, and efforts to ensure the defence of the capital were
undertaken with deliberate half-hearted vigour.[20] The Parisians were
rapidly becoming indifferent to their fate; they cared not who was to
rule them, provided they were allowed to live in peace. The era of glory
had afforded them some satisfaction, but it had its drawbacks, and late
events had brought these to a crisis; therefore they were glad to
welcome the strongest, and to have done with conquests. The Chambers,
also, had exhausted all their energies in destroying the man whose
military genius might have served the country at this terrible juncture.
They succeeded admirably in their design; and now they devoted
themselves to academical studies, and busied themselves in discussing a
new constitution, quite oblivious of the fact that their labours must be
fruitless. All sections of the nation were easily dealt with by Fouché;
and even the army, devoted to their late incomparable leader, soon
submitted to his will.
-----
Footnote 20:
Hooper, _Waterloo_ , p. 286.
-----
Besides the efforts already made to obtain a suspension of hostilities
from the allied Commanders, Marshal Davoût approached them on the 30th
of June, but again unsuccessfully. On the same day, he also joined in a
protest addressed to the Chambers against the return of the Bourbons—a
protest intended, perhaps, rather to satisfy the susceptibilities of the
army than for any other purpose. The Chambers, in their reply, alluded
to their proposed constitution; and stated that, while they were
prepared to accept whatever dynasty the Allies might insist on fixing
upon the throne, they were convinced that the accession of the new
Monarch could only become an accomplished fact, when he had agreed to
the conditions they meant to impose upon his prerogative. They “will
never,” they said, “acknowledge as legitimate Chief of the State him
who, on ascending the throne, shall refuse to acknowledge the rights of
the nation, and to consecrate them by a solemn compact.”[21]
-----
Footnote 21:
Siborne, ii. 450.
-----
But neither the Chambers nor the army were to determine the fate of the
country; for Fouché, alone among Frenchmen, was possessed of power, and
he only had any voice in shaping its policy in this crisis. Wellington,
anxious above all things that Paris should submit without further
bloodshed, consented, on the 2nd of July, to a suspension of
hostilities, on the basis of the evacuation of the capital by the army.
But he was not altogether master of the situation, for Marshal Blücher,
to whom he was so greatly indebted for his victory over the enemy, had
different ideas, and wished to humble the French in a manner that would
have been impolitic as well as hostile to the best interests of a stable
peace. It required, therefore, all the Duke’s tact to make him
understand, that the best way to end the war, was to accept a
capitulation, and to give up all ideas of incurring the responsibility
of taking so large a city as Paris by force of arms. Blücher,
fortunately, had some respect for the good sense of his colleague, and
agreed to these views, and, on the 3rd, he consented to treat. Thereupon
hostilities ceased abruptly, while Vandamme was being driven back, in
the manner that has been already described, near Issy.[22]
-----
Footnote 22:
Hooper, 296.
-----
Commissioners met on the 3rd, at the Palace of Saint-Cloud, and speedily
agreed to a Military Convention, which stipulated the following
conditions:—
(1) The army to evacuate Paris within three days, and to take up a
position in rear of the Loire, the movement to be complete within eight
days; (2) St. Denis, St. Ouen, Clichy, and Neuilly to be given up to the
Allies on the 4th, Montmartre on the 5th, and, on the 6th, all barriers,
giving access into the city, to be placed in the power of the Allies;
(3) Order to be maintained in Paris by the Garde Nationale, and by the
municipal _Gens d’armerie_; (4) The actual authorities to be respected
“so long as they shall exist;” (5) Private and public property, except
that which relates to war, to be respected, and all individuals to enjoy
their rights and liberties, “without being disturbed or called to
account, either as to the situations which they hold, or may have held,
or as to their conduct or political opinions;” (6) The capital to be
furnished with supplies.[23]
-----
Footnote 23:
Siborne, ii. 470, where the text of the Convention is given in full.
-----
These stipulations, ratified by the British and Prussian Commanders,
were carried out by the French with scrupulous fidelity. In spite of the
violence of the troops, whose enthusiasm for the Imperial system had
scarcely abated, the army, 70,000 men and 200 guns, marched towards the
Loire on the 4th, under Marshal Davoût.[24] The Chambers continued their
sittings, still intent upon their proposed constitution. On the 7th, the
Allies determined to enter Paris, heralding the re-instatement of Louis
XVIII., the Bourbon king.
-----
Footnote 24:
Davoût told Marshal Macdonald that the effective of the army going
beyond the Loire amounted to 150,000 men, 30,000 horses, and 750 guns
(_Souvenirs du Maréchal Macdonald_, p. 393).
-----
[Illustration:
GRENADIER COMPANY 1670. DRUM MAJOR 1670. PIKEMAN 1669.
N. R. Wilkinson del. A. D. Innes &C^o London Mintern Bros
Chromo.
]
During this time the Germans, Austrians, and Russians were advancing to
the capital, and, although the war was practically concluded by the
Military Convention just signed, yet it languished for a few months
longer in some of the provinces. The North-German Corps (26,000 men),
formed of contingents brought together by the petty Princes, was
occupied in the beginning of July, in reducing some of the French
fortresses on the north-east frontier. The Austrian army, under Prince
Schwartzenburg, including Saxons and South Germans, and amounting to
more than 250,000 men, had its advanced troops between the Seine and the
Marne, near La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, on the 10th of July. The Russians,
under Marshal Barclay de Tolly (nearly 170,000 men), were at Paris and
in its vicinity by the middle of July. A combined Austro-Sardinian army
(60,000) was in the south-east of France, and completed, during that
month, the subjugation of the districts in that quarter.[25]
-----
Footnote 25:
Siborne, ii. 481, etc.
-----
Besides the various expressions of thanks to the gallant army that
destroyed the power of Napoleon at Waterloo, to which allusion has
already been made, letters were published in General Orders, July 2nd,
from the Commander-in-Chief, H.R.H. the Duke of York, and from the
Secretary of State for the Colonies and for War, Earl Bathurst,
conveying the admiration felt at the conduct of the troops.[26] On the
5th, the resolutions of thanks passed by the House of Lords and by the
House of Commons were published in General Orders;[27] and, on the 17th,
those of the Common Council of the City of London (dated July 7th) were
communicated to the troops in the same manner.
-----
Footnote 26:
_The Despatches of Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington during his
Various Campaigns, etc._ , compiled by Colonel Gurwood, viii. 186
(London, 1847).
Footnote 27:
_Ibid._ , viii. 198.
-----
Towards the end of July it was determined, in recognition of the
“conspicuous valour” displayed by the army “in the late glorious
victory,” to grant: (1) increase to the pensions allowed to Officers for
wounds, according as they might be promoted in the service; (2) to all
Subalterns in the Infantry of the Line and in the Cavalry, and to all
Ensigns of the Guards, at Waterloo, two years' service, so as to qualify
them for extra pay after five, instead of seven, years' service; (3) to
every Non-commissioned officer, private, etc., present at the battle,
the distinction of being called a “Waterloo man,” and to every “Waterloo
man” two years' service in reckoning his service for increase of pay or
for pension, when discharged,—but this indulgence was not otherwise to
affect the conditions of his original enlistment. These arrangements
were notified on the 5th of August.[28]
-----
Footnote 28:
_Supplementary Despatches, etc., of Field-Marshal Arthur Duke of
Wellington_ , compiled by his son, xi. 98 (London, 1864).
-----
The Reverend John Norcross, Framlingham Rectory, Suffolk, having
promised to settle an annuity of ten pounds—to be called the “Wellington
Pension”—upon one of his “brave countrymen who fought in the late
tremendous but glorious conflict,” to be selected by the Duke, the
latter chose Lance-Sergeant Graham, Coldstream Guards, for that honour.
The record shows that Sergeant Graham “assisted Lieut.-Colonel Macdonell
in closing the gate” (at Hougomont) “which had been left open for the
communication, and which the enemy was in the act of forcing; he shot
the leading man. His brother, a corporal in the same company, was lying
wounded in a barn on fire; Sergeant Graham removed him a short distance
secure from the fire, and returned again to his duty. Three years and
two months in the Regiment.” Another man, also recommended to the Duke,
was Private John Lister, Third Guards, whose conduct was noted for
particular bravery during the whole day.[29]
-----
Footnote 29:
_Ibid._ , xi. 35, 121. _Wellington Despatches_ (Gurwood), viii. 249.
-----
On the 29th of July, H.R.H. the Prince Regent granted to all Ensigns of
the three Regiments of Foot Guards then serving, and afterwards to be
appointed, the rank of Lieutenant, as a mark of Royal approbation of the
distinguished gallantry of the Brigade of Guards in the important battle
which had just taken place. Thereby was completed the system of the
“double rank” which had existed in the Household Infantry for many
years. Captains of the First and Coldstream Guards had been given the
rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1687, and four years later, in 1691,
Captains of the Scots Guards received the same privilege; while all
Lieutenants of the three Regiments of Foot Guards were upon that
occasion given commissions of Captains in the army.[30]
-----
Footnote 30:
Colonel MacKinnon, _Origin and Services of the Coldstream Guards_ , i.
190, 211, and ii. 368 (London, 1833). The Prince Regent also conferred
upon the First Guards the title of Grenadier Guards, “in commemoration
of their having defeated the Grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard
upon this memorable occasion” (_ibid._, ii. 368).
-----
During the halt which was made at Le Cateau on the 23rd of June, a
return was ordered, giving the number of killed, wounded, and missing,
casualties of the fighting that took place between the 16th and 18th
inclusive.[31]
-----
Footnote 31:
A return, dated Adjutant-General’s Office, April 13, 1816, was
transmitted to the Duke of Wellington from the Horse-Guards on July
16th of that year, showing the number of sergeants, trumpeters,
drummers, farriers, and rank and file of the British army, who were
killed, wounded, or missing in the actions fought in Flanders on the
15th, 16th, and 18th of June, 1815. The following concerns the
Division of Guards:—
┌────────────────────────────┬─────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │ │ Wounded. │
├────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┬───────────┬───────────┬─────────────┤
│ │ │ Died of │ Suffered │ │ Transferred │
│ │ Killed│ Wounds. │Amputation.│Discharged.│ to Vet. or │
│ │ │ │ │ │Garr. Battns.│
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
├────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────────┼───────────┼─────────────┤
│Grenadier Guards, 2nd Battn.│ 61 │ 29 │ 6 │ 44 │ —— │
│ ” ” 3rd ” │ 71 │ 30 │ 14 │ 48 │ —— │
│Coldstream ” 2nd ” │ 47 │ 26 │ 6 │ — │ —— │
│Third ” ” ” │ 39 │ 47 │ 12 │ 21 │ —— │
├────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────────┼───────────┼─────────────┤
│Total Guards Division │ 218 │ 132 │ 38 │ 113 │ —— │
├────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────────┼───────────┼─────────────┤
│Total British Army │ 1715 │ 856 │ 236 │ 506 │ 167 │
├────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────────┼───────────┼─────────────┤
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
├────────────────────────────┼─────────┴─────────┴───────────┴───────────┴─────────────┤
│ │ Wounded (cont’d). │
├────────────────────────────┼─────────┬─────────┬───────────┬───────────┬─────────────┤
│ │Rejoined │ Remain │ │ Rejoined │ Not since │
│ │Regiment.│ in │ Total. │ Regiment.│ heard of; │
│ │ │Hospital.│ │ │ supposed │
│ │ │ │ │ │ dead. │
├────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────────┼───────────┼─────────────┤
│Grenadier Guards, 2nd Battn.│ 197 │ 26 │ 302 │ 10 │ 38 │
│ ” ” 3rd ” │ 361 │ 33 │ 486 │ 3 │ 32 │
│Coldstream ” 2nd ” │ 208 │ 1 │ 241 │ 4 │ —— │
│Third ” ” ” │ 96 │ 19 │ 195 │ 17 │ 2 │
├────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────────┼───────────┼─────────────┤
│Total Guards Division │ 862 │ 79 │ 1224 │ 34 │ 72 │
├────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────────┼───────────┼─────────────┤
│Total British Army │ 5068 │ 854 │ 7687 │ 482 │ 353 │
└────────────────────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴───────────┴───────────┴─────────────┘
_Supplementary Despatches, etc._ , xiv. 632, 633.
-----
Some changes took place in the army during the six months that followed
the battle of Waterloo.
The Prince of Orange, having to return to Holland, on the 22nd of June,
Major-General Sir John Byng assumed temporarily the command of the First
Army-Corps until the 12th of July, when he reverted to his position of
Commander of the Division of Guards until the 23rd; he was then replaced
by Major-General Sir Kenneth Howard (late Coldstream Guards), and he
re-assumed the command of the 2nd Guards Brigade, the 1st being still
under Major-General Maitland. Owing to the absence of the Prince of
Orange, the command of the First Army-Corps devolved upon Sir Kenneth
Howard on the 22nd of August, when Sir J. Byng again reverted to the
Guards Division, and remained at their head till further orders;
thereupon Colonel Hepburn (Third Guards) became Brigadier of the 2nd
Guards Brigade. On the 2nd of October, Sir J. Byng having obtained leave
of absence to proceed to England, Major-General Maitland took command of
the Division until his return.
On the 20th of June, Captain Walton, Coldstream Guards, was temporarily
appointed Brigade-Major of the 2nd Guards Brigade, vice Stothert, Third
Guards, who was severely wounded, and who subsequently died. On the 6th
of November, Captain Prince was appointed Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion
Coldstream Guards vice Major C. Bentinck, who, upon the death of Captain
Lascelles, was posted to the 1st Battalion as Senior Adjutant.[32]
-----
Footnote 32:
The Junior Adjutant was invariably posted to the 2nd Battalion at that
time, and on becoming Senior Adjutant he was transferred to the 1st
Battalion. This custom prevailed until about 1840. Major C. Bentinck,
while Junior Adjutant, served at the battle of Waterloo as Deputy
Assistant-Adjutant-General, his place in the Battalion having been
taken by Captain Walton.
-----
The following Officers, belonging to the 1st Battalion, were ordered, on
the 22nd of June, to hold themselves in readiness for foreign service,
viz. Colonel Sir. H. Bouverie, Captains Shirley and Girardot, and
Ensigns Clifton and Salwey; next day Captain Sandilands received a
similar order. With the exception of Sir H. Bouverie and Ensign Clifton,
these Officers were posted to the 2nd Battalion on the 27th till further
orders, and at the head of a detachment of two hundred men, they reached
Paris on the 19th of July. Previous to this date, on the 1st, a
redistribution of Subaltern Officers of the Battalion in France had been
made, by which: Captain Anstruther was posted to the Grenadier company,
Captain Sowerby and Ensign Short to the 1st, Ensign Hon. J. Forbes to
the 2nd, Captain Cowell and Ensign Hon. W. Forbes to the 3rd, Ensign
Gordon to the 4th, Ensign Douglas to the 5th, Captain Lord Hotham to the
6th, Ensign Buckley to the 7th, Ensign Hervey to the 8th, Captain Bowles
and Ensigns Gooch and Buller to the Light-infantry companies.
It was about this time that the present soldier’s small account-book was
introduced into the British army. By a letter from Lord Palmerston, the
Secretary-at-War, to the Duke of Wellington, dated War Office, August
31, 1815, “in order to remedy the inconvenience and delay experienced in
the adjustment of the claims of the soldiers,” it was determined that “a
book should be kept by every Non-commissioned officer, trumpeter,
drummer, fifer, and private man of His Majesty’s regular forces,
calculated to show the actual state of his accounts.”[33] This book was
introduced by Horse Guards letter on the 6th of October following, and
regulations were made to ensure that the accounts should be correctly
made up to the 24th of each month, and to oblige the men to keep their
small books in their own possession, and in good order.
-----
Footnote 33:
_Supplementary Despatches, etc._ , xi. 151.
-----
The Coldstream Guards contained the following Officers, in November,
1815:—
_Colonel._—Field-Marshal H.R.H. Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, K.G.
_Lieut.-Colonel._—Colonel Hon. H. Brand, C.B.
_Majors._—_First Major_—Colonel Sir R. D. Jackson, K.C.B.
_Second_ ” —Colonel A. Woodford, C.B.
_Captains._—Colonel Sir H. Bouverie, K.C.B.; Lieut.-Colonels James
Macdonell, C.B.; J. Hamilton; and L. Adams (_Mounted_).
Lieut.-Colonels H. Loftus; W. H. Raikes; F. Sutton; F. Milman; T. Gore; T.
Barrow; D. MacKinnon; Hon. J. Walpole; H. Dawkins; Colonels Hon. A.
Abercromby, C.B.; Sir C. Campbell, K.C.B.; Lieut.-Colonel Hon. E.
Acheson, C.B.; Colonel Sir R. Arbuthnot, K.C.B.; Lieut.-Colonels Sir
W. Gomm, K.C.B.; Hon. H. Pakenham, C.B.; and H. Wyndham.
_Lieutenants._—Lieut.-Colonel T. Steele; Major G. Bowles; Captains T.
Sowerby; P. Sandilands; Lieut.-Colonel J. Fremantle, C.B.; Captains J.
Prince (Adjutant); J. V. Harvey; W. Walton (Brigade-Major in France);
A. Wedderburn; C. White; T. Bligh; C. Shawe; Major C. Bentinck
(Adjutant); Captains J. Talbot; W. Baynes; W. Stothert; J. S. Cowell;
W. Grimstead; Lord Hotham; W. Anstruther; Hon. J. Rous; C. Shirley; J.
Drummond; Hon. R. Moore; C. Girardot; T. Chaplin; E. Clifton; H.
Salwey; G. G. Morgan.
_Ensigns._—Lieutenants T. Duncombe; Hon. J. Forbes; T. Powys; H. Gooch; A.
Cuyler; M. Beaufoy; W. Kortright; H. Armytage; Hon. W. Rous; H.
Bentinck; F. Shawe; H. St. J. Mildmay; F. Buller; H. Griffiths; J.
Buller; J. Montagu; J. Hervey; H. Vane; F. Douglas; R. Bowen; F.
FitzClarence; A. Gordon; Hon. W. Forbes; C. Short; H. Serjeantson; R.
Beamish; Lord Wallscourt; Jasper Hall; J. Jenkinson; W. Cornwall; H.
Murray; and E. Duke.
_Quartermasters._—T. Dwelly; and B. Selway.
_Surgeon-Major._—J. Simpson. _Battalion Surgeons._—J. Rose; and W.
Whymper. _Assistant Surgeons._—T. Maynard; G. Smith; S. Worrell; and
W. Hunter.
_Solicitor._—J. Wilkinson, Esq.
CHAPTER II.
MILITARY OCCUPATION OF FRANCE
Termination of the war—Difficulties of the situation—The Allies occupy
Paris—Dissolution of the Provisional Government—Entry of Louis
XVIII. into the capital—New French Government formed—Blücher and the
_Pont de Jena_—Arrival of the Allied Sovereigns—Reviews in
France—Paris in the hands of the Allies—Treatment of the French by
the Prussians; by the British—The wreck of the French Imperial
forces disbanded—Life in Paris—The Louvre stripped of its treasures
of art—Prosecution of Imperialist leaders—Labedoyère, Ney,
Lavalette—Peace of Paris, November 20th.
The long period of the wars of the French Revolution, which devastated
the continent of Europe for more than twenty years, had now definitely
come to an end, and another era was about to dawn upon the civilized
world. France, who had provoked the struggle and prolonged the strife to
satisfy the craving of a restless ambition, was at last crushed; and the
military chief, whose genius had called into activity the warlike
character of her inhabitants, was captured. The common enemy was no
longer to be feared; but the balance of power in Europe had been rudely
shaken, and new ideas had taken deep root in France into the political
and social life of the people. A government had to be established in
Paris, of a nature calculated to repress disorder, to calm the natural
turbulence of the nation, and to give the Allies pledges for future good
behaviour. In short, the French were to be invited to re-enter into the
European comity of nations, and to conform to the re-settlement which
was rendered necessary after the general disturbance that had taken
place. But, in effecting this, the interests of the enemy could not be
taken into account. Once before, France had been subdued, and, in 1814,
the Allies had expelled Napoleon, and sought to restore a general peace
without unduly oppressing the people who had been the aggressors. The
attempt failed, for the Emperor returned to Paris, and thereby he
re-kindled the torch of war, and revived the baneful policy which
threatened his neighbours with destruction. France had participated in
Napoleon’s act, and had received him once more as her ruler; and, being
defeated, she had little to expect from the forbearance of the victors.
She was thus treated as a conquered country, and was subjected to some
of the indignities which her soldiery had, in their turn, inflicted for
so long a time upon her present masters.
And yet the task of a French reconstruction was by no means an easy one.
The vitality of the nation, homogeneous and patriotic, at once forbade
the Allies from any attempt to dismember it, even if their mutual
jealousies had allowed them to adopt such a proposal. The only feasible
plan was to give the people a ruler who could and would control the
explosive forces which existed among them, and put an end to the dangers
that menaced Europe by reason of the warlike and unscrupulous character
they had displayed in the past. But the Allies, in carrying out this
policy, forgot that it was of the first consequence to the future
wellbeing of the Monarchy, to place Louis in an independent position,
and, instead of restoring him to his kingdom by force of hostile
bayonets only, to attain to the same end, by fostering the movement
towards Royalism, which France began to develop after the battle of
Waterloo. The downfall of Napoleon and the rejection of his dynasty had
left three solutions, and only three, for the future government of the
country. A Republic might have been formed; a popular King might be set
up in the person of an Orleanist prince, who would accept the tricolor
flag; and, lastly, the legitimate rule of Louis could be established.
The first two solutions were contrary to the spirit of the age, they
gave no security for future tranquillity, and the Allies set their faces
firmly against either of them. There remained the third, which was the
avowed object of the conquerors, and it was obvious that it could best
be reached by causing the people to recall their King of their own
accord. This had been the proposition of Marshal Davoût and of others;
and, while their views were possibly more in advance than could have
been agreed to without modification, yet, had the matter been left in
English hands, there is little doubt that the King’s restoration would
have been effected, with the least shock possible to French
susceptibilities, and the new order based on a firmer foundation than
was given to it. But the British Government had others to consult, and
the Allies, smarting under the injuries to which they had been subjected
for more than twenty years, were not inclined to be too conciliatory.
Nor was this the only difficulty; for the French themselves, hopelessly
divided into two hostile camps, were unable to come to any satisfactory
agreement. On the one hand, there were the followers of the King,
reactionary in feeling, who remembered with bitterness the cruelties
they had experienced during revolutionary times, and who, now that they
were supported by victorious armies, demanded the revival pure and
simple of the _ancien régime_. On the other hand, there was Imperial and
Revolutionary France—the nation itself,—who, having irrevocably adopted
new canons of social and political existence, endeavoured to make terms
with the party in power for the protection of the people. There was
little sympathy between the two; but the latter had no leader, and had
placed themselves unreservedly in the unworthy hands of Fouché, who,
having gauged the situation, deserted those he was bound to support, and
sought his own personal aggrandisement by joining the party that
attached itself to the King.
The keen anxiety of Louis XVIII. to save France from the humiliations
that were to be imposed upon her was undoubted; so also was his earnest
desire to reign in accordance with the liberal spirit which the times
required. He hoped to reconcile all sections of the population, and to
prove himself their deliverer, not only from internal disorder, but also
from foreign oppression. But though his good will and generosity were
unquestioned, his prejudices remained, and were not to be eradicated
even by misfortune, and his followers and intimate counsellors were not
endowed with a similar noble spirit of forgetfulness for past
ill-treatment. France, therefore, by the will of the Allies and with the
full consent of the Royalist faction, was again to be unconditionally
placed in the King’s hands, his prerogative was to be unfettered, and
his power was to be absolute. Nor were his first proclamations, issued
to his subjects and dated the 25th and 28th of June, calculated to give
much satisfaction to a people who dreaded his rule. The King’s party, in
short, had not the wisdom to perceive that a stable Restoration must be
accompanied by a complete amnesty in favour of those, at least, who had
no further power to resist—and resistance to the old French Monarchy had
entirely ceased in the country. Hence, although Louis repudiated all
intentions of restoring feudal rights, or of dispossessing those who had
illegally acquired lands during the Revolution, yet he did not hesitate
to threaten with punishment the men by whose assistance he imagined
Napoleon had been able to install himself once again as Emperor.[34]
-----
Footnote 34:
The vengeance against Napoleon’s adherents was thus announced in the
Royal proclamation of the 28th of June, which was countersigned by
Prince Talleyrand, at one time a revolutionist, and afterwards Foreign
Minister of the Emperor: “I wish to exclude from my presence none but
those whose celebrity is a matter of grief to France and of horror to
Europe. In the plot which they hatched, I perceive many of my subjects
misled and some guilty. I promise—I who never promised in vain (all
Europe knows)—to pardon to misled Frenchmen, all that has passed since
the day when I quitted Lille, amidst so many tears, up to the day when
I re-entered Cambrai, amidst so many acclamations. But the blood of my
people has flowed, in consequence of a treason of which the annals of
the world present no example. That treason has summoned foreigners
into the heart of France. Every day reveals to me a fresh disaster. I
owe it then to the dignity of my Crown, to the interest of my people,
to the repose of Europe, to except from pardon the instigators and
authors of this horrible plot. They shall be designated to the
vengeance of the laws by the two Chambers, which I propose forthwith
to assemble” (_Annual Register_ , 1815; _State Papers_ , p. 393).
-----
“Up to the moment of the capitulation of Paris,” says a contemporary
writer, “the Chambers continued their deliberations, and on the day
when the humiliation of the country seemed complete, the national
representatives issued a declaration of the rights of Frenchmen,
resembling in its spirit and in its principal features the Bill of
Rights claimed by the Parliament of England from William III., and it
is surely a tribute of no ordinary value offered to the Constitution
of England, that, at the very time when her army was at the gates of
the French capital, our national institutions were the objects of the
perpetual eulogy, and the subjects of the imitation, of the statesmen
of the hostile nation. The constancy of the Chambers was put to a
severe trial. The King had arrived at Compiègne, and nearly a million
of foreign troops were hastening from every quarter to re-instate him
on the throne, and yet not one member in either House thought proper
to propose his restoration.... The national representatives also
addressed the people with a firmness of tone, and in a spirit of
independence, that will entitle them to the admiration of future
ages:—'A Monarch,' say they, in language similar to that held by the
Convention Parliament of England, 'cannot offer any guarantee, if he
does not swear to observe the Constitution framed by the national
representation, and accepted by the people; it hence follows, that any
government which shall have no other title than the acclamation and
the will of a party, or which shall be imposed by force, and every
government which shall not guarantee the rights and liberties of a
people claiming the privileges of freemen, will have only an ephemeral
existence, and will neither secure the tranquillity of France nor of
Europe.'”[35]
-----
Footnote 35:
Edward Baines, _History of the Wars of the French Revolution, from the
Breaking-out of the War in 1792, to the Restoration of a General Peace
in 1815_ , ii. 488 (London, 1818).
-----
How little the arrangements made in 1815 secured the permanent
tranquillity of France, is shown by the history of that country during
the last eighty years; but to these events it is not our intention to
revert, for our object is only to give as faithful a picture as possible
of what did occur at this crisis, to describe the part which was taken
in these events by the Regiment whose annals we are engaged in
recording, and to explain the condition of affairs which presented
itself to both Officers and men during this moment of victory and of
anxiety.
The barriers of Paris were placed in the hands of the Allies in the
afternoon of the 6th—in accordance with the terms of the Military
Convention—amid persistent cries from the populace of: “No Bourbons!”
“The Representative Government for ever!” intermingled with some in
favour of the fallen Emperor. On the 7th, the Prussians under Blücher
marched into the town in force, and took possession of the Luxembourg
and of other places. The Duke of Wellington, with the tact which
distinguished his conduct during this moment of triumph, contented
himself with taking part in this demonstration by despatching one
brigade only into the city, “with orders to camp in the Champs Elysées,
and near to the Place Louis Quinze, where the Duke of Wellington will
have his head-quarters to-day.”[36] The main body of the British army
were encamped in the Bois de Boulogne, to which place the Guards
Division were also brought, without any display.
-----
Footnote 36:
_Supplementary Despatches, etc._ , xi. 2.
-----
As soon as Paris was occupied by foreign troops, the Provisional
Government dissolved itself, on the plea that the country had been
deceived by the conquerors! The message of dissolution communicated to
the Chambers, written by Fouché himself, asserted that up to the 6th it
had been believed that “the Allied Sovereigns were not unanimous upon
the choice of a prince who was to reign in France;” that it was only
then declared that “all the Sovereigns had engaged to place Louis XVIII.
upon the throne.” The message went on to say that, as foreign troops had
just occupied the Tuileries, where the Government was sitting, “we can
only breathe wishes for our country; and, our deliberations being no
longer free, we think it our duty to separate.” Upon receiving this
news, the Chamber of Peers immediately followed the example given, and
also dissolved. The Deputies, however, determined to show a bolder
front; and proclaiming that they were at their posts by the will of the
people, and that bayonets only could disperse them, they continued their
deliberations upon the proposed Constitution, which they determined to
offer to the King for his acceptance, as if there was still a government
in the country, and as if nothing had happened to disturb their
equanimity. But the following day (July 8th), the farce came to an end,
and they were excluded from their place of meeting by the bayonet; the
gates were locked, a body of the Garde Nationale warned them off and
made them retire, and thus they too were obliged to dissolve.[37]
-----
Footnote 37:
Baines, _Wars of the French Revolution_ , ii. 490.
-----
Paris was now ready to receive Louis, and his public entry took place on
the 8th. The tricolor flag was everywhere replaced by the white standard
of the Bourbons, and the people, who had vociferously welcomed Napoleon
on his return from Elba, not four months before, now came in immense
crowds to greet the King, and acclaimed his restoration with
enthusiastic joy. The scene was gay, and the sight that presented itself
to the inhabitants such as they loved to behold; but, beneath the
surface of these outward appearances, the minds of those who had any
power of reflection were filled with depression and sadness. “Even the
Royalists were downcast: their patriotic feelings were deeply wounded by
the defeat of France; they augured ill of the restoration of the King in
the rear of the English bayonets.”[38]
-----
Footnote 38:
Archibald Alison, _History of Europe from the Commencement of the
French Revolution in 1789 to the Restoration of the Bourbons in
1815_ , x. 964 (2nd edit., 1844). “No one who has not witnessed it, or
who has not been convinced of it by the accounts of others, could form
an idea of the rapidity with which the public cry can be changed in
France. At nine in the morning of the day on which the King last
returned to Paris, a man was torn to pieces in the Place Vendôme for
wearing the white cockade; at one, a Marshal of France (Moncey or
Mortier), riding into Paris with the white cockade, was pursued by the
populace, and with difficulty saved himself; and, at three, the King
entered the capital, accompanied by shouts of acclamation far greater
than those which greeted him the year before. All those who in an
adverse sense were clamorous in the morning, had changed or
disappeared” (Mr. Arbuthnot to Lord Liverpool, October 30, 1815:
_Supplementary Despatches, etc._ , xi. 220).
-----
Next day, the new Government was formed, and announced to the public, at
the head of which was Prince Talleyrand, who also became Minister for
Foreign Affairs. It included, besides, men belonging to different
parties, for Louis was anxious to get the confidence of all; and lastly,
it contained the name of Fouché, who, having succeeded in shaping the
anarchy, which followed the fatal 18th of June, to the benefit of the
Royal cause, received, much against the King’s inclination, the
portfolio of Minister of Police!
“Louis XVIII. was thus once more seated upon the throne of his
fathers, but he reigned only in the Tuileries. To the foreign troops
by which he was surrounded he was solely indebted for his elevation.
The national will had not been consulted; and the same potent agency
which placed him on the throne could alone maintain him in his present
position. Indebted to the enemies of his country for his elevation,
surrounded by a discordant ministry, compelled to impose heavy burdens
upon his people as the price of his restoration, and forced to
subscribe to conditions humiliating to the glory of France, the
opening of his second reign was inauspicious in the extreme; but it
was not utterly hopeless. Whatever might have been the errors of his
former government, or however unpromising his present circumstances,
he enjoyed personally the respect of the French nation. The people
were wearied with revolutions. Their military passion, which, before
the return of Napoleon, constituted the great danger of the French
Monarchy, was subdued; and the nation wished for peace and a moderate
share of freedom, both of which the King possessed the power and the
inclination to confer.”[39]
-----
Footnote 39:
Baines, _Wars of the French Revolution_ , ii. 491.
-----
The difficulties of the situation were not lightened by the
extraordinary conduct of Marshal Blücher at this juncture. That brave
Commander could never forget the sufferings which the Imperial armies
had caused in Prussia, nor the indignities imposed upon his country by
the intolerance and the arrogance of Napoleon, when at the zenith of his
power, in Berlin. He regarded the French nation as responsible for the
outrages which had been inflicted, and, now that he was able to have his
revenge, he determined to take it. He refused to hold any communications
with the King, or with the new authorities who had been re-introduced
into office by the co-operation of his own Government; and he desired
Baron Müffling, appointed Military Governor of Paris, to levy a
contribution of 100,000,000 francs on the town, as well as clothing
sufficient for 110,000 men.[40] But not content, he went still further,
and insisted that one of the bridges over the Seine, known as the bridge
of Jena, should be destroyed, because it bore the name of the battle
which had been so disastrous to Prussia. Wellington, informed of this
mad project, endeavoured to intervene; but so blinded was his impetuous
and hot-headed colleague, that he declined to listen to any
remonstrance, and began forthwith to undermine the arches. The Duke
thereupon placed a guard of British soldiers on the threatened bridge,
with orders to drive away by force any one who should attempt to damage
it; and he intimated his determination to prevent this senseless
destruction by arms if necessary.[41] Blücher now at last was brought to
reason, and gave way; and thus an act of vandalism was prevented which
was not only a distinct infraction of the Convention of July 3rd,
stipulating that all property was to be respected, but would also have
cast a deep and lasting stain on the honour and good name of the Allies.
-----
Footnote 40:
_Supplementary Despatches, etc._ , xi. 3.
Footnote 41:
It appears that a Battalion of the Grenadier Guards were employed upon
this duty (_The Reminiscences and Recollections of Captain Gronow_ ,
i. 129, and ii. 39; London, 1892).
-----
Shortly after this (July 11th), the Emperors of Austria and Russia and
the King of Prussia arrived in Paris, when Guards of Honour were found
by the Brigade of Guards.[42]
-----
Footnote 42:
His Majesty, Alexander I. of Russia, expressly requested that he
should be escorted and guarded by British troops (_Supplementary
Despatches, etc._ , xi. 25).
-----
About the same time, Lord Castlereagh and the other statesmen of the
allied Powers reached the capital, to negotiate the terms of peace to
which France was to be obliged to subscribe. The conclusions agreed to,
and the incidents which took place during the occupation of Paris, will
be noticed presently, but, meanwhile, we must make a short allusion to
certain military displays made by the Allies during this period. On the
24th of July a celebrated review of the Anglo-allied army, which had
just been reinforced by several regiments who had come to France from
America—where peace had been concluded—took place near Paris, before the
Emperor of Russia and the other Allied Sovereigns. There were as many as
60,000 British soldiers present, the whole of the troops being under the
command of the Duke of Wellington.[43] The demonstration was more of a
pageant than anything else, and as correct a representation as possible
was given of the battle of Salamanca. It is perhaps worth remarking
that, in the General Orders issued, dated July 22nd, these words occur,
“The Field Marshal begs that Officers may be dressed uniformly, and, if
possible, according to the King’s orders;”[44] while the following was
also published in Battalion Orders of the 2nd Battalion Coldstream
Guards: “Officers are to appear in plain grey overalls, jackets hooked
and buttoned regimentally, sashes to be tied on the left side.” On the
10th of September, a great review, which seems to have created a
considerable impression at the time, also took place of all the Russian
troops that were in France, near Chalons, where 160,000 men (including
28,000 cavalry) and 540 guns were brought together.[45]
-----
Footnote 43:
So critical was the situation in France considered to be, that the
British Government sent large reinforcements to Wellington during the
summer of 1815, with the intention of making him stronger at Paris
than he had been at Waterloo. After that battle more than 20,000
English troops were sent to the Continent (Lord Liverpool to Lord
Castlereagh, Aug. 11, 1815; see _Correspondence, etc., of Viscount
Castlereagh_ , third series, ii. 477: London, 1853).]
Footnote 44:
_Supplementary Despatches, etc._, xi. 51.
Footnote 45:
Alison, _History of Europe, from 1789 to 1815_ , x. 973. Captain
Gronow mentions a curious incident that occurred at one of the reviews
held by the Russian Emperor of his own troops. The British Foot Guards
found a Guard for Alexander I., at which a dinner was provided,
similar to that at St. James’s. On one occasion the Captain of the
Emperor’s Guard was informed that there were four Russian General
Officers in his custody. The latter were asked to dinner, and as their
health was drunk, they were invited to reveal the nature of their
offence, which called for such a punishment to men of their military
rank. In reply, they said that the Emperor had not been satisfied with
the manner in which they had marched past that day; whereupon one of
the British Officers present, filling his glass, drank “Confusion to
all tyrants—Vive Napoleon!” “The poor Russians appeared thunderstruck,
and observed that if they drank the toast proposed, it would cost them
their heads.” It seems, this story came to the ears of Alexander, and
the Duke had to explain it, for he sent for the Officers of the Guard,
and begged them to repress their jokes for the future (Gronow,
_Reminiscences, etc._ , ii. 19).
-----
These displays, having as much for object an easy demonstration to the
inhabitants that they were completely in the power of Europe, as an
exhibition made for the purpose of satisfying the national vanity of the
different armies concerned, were perhaps not necessary to prove to the
French that their new Government rested only upon alien arms for
support. Everywhere, except south of the Loire,—where the last remnants
of Napoleon’s army had collected under Marshal Davoût,—was the country
in the military occupation of foreigners; and in Paris especially, there
were no regular troops to be seen, other than those of Great Britain, of
Prussia, and of their allies. They guarded the King and the Royal
palaces; they stood at the barriers of the town, and they performed all
the military duties of the capital. They were to be seen at all the
public buildings, at the various and numerous hôtels where the Allied
Sovereigns and their Counsellors and principal Officers lodged, and even
at the places of entertainment where the people flocked during the balmy
weather of a French summer. Nor were these duties of a ceremonial
character; for guard-houses were placed in nearly all the principal
thoroughfares, the bridges were held by troops, there were chains of
sentries everywhere, patrols were constantly on the move and on the
alert, and guns were kept loaded and ready for any serious emergency.
Paris was placed under the command of Baron Müffling; his orders, dated
July 23rd, for the preservation of order, were thus conceived:—
“The Garde Nationale will perform police duties, and the garrison,
composed of the Allied troops, occupying the great centres of the
town, will remain in reserve. In case the latter have to act, for the
Garde Nationale may refuse to quell disturbances, guns will be fired,
when the regular forces will assemble at their alarm posts. The
British brigade will form up in the Avenue de Neuilly, one battalion
in Place Beauveau, and another at the junction of the Boulevard de la
Madeleine and Rue St. Honoré. The Austrian brigade will have two
battalions and a battery in Place Vendôme, a battalion guarding the
Emperor, and a fourth battalion in Rue du Montblanc, near the
Boulevards des Capucins and des Italiens; the cavalry to be in the
Boulevard de la Madeleine. The brigade of Prussian Guards will occupy
the Esplanade des Invalides with two battalions; they will have a
third battalion at the Quay d'Orsay, a fourth on the Pont Royal, a
fifth on the Pont Neuf, a sixth in the Luxembourg, and a seventh,
together with the cavalry and the artillery, in the Champs de Mars.
The Prussian Grenadier brigade will occupy the Place de la Bastille,
the Pont du Jardin des Plantes, and the Place du Panthéon, with a
battalion each; and the Quai de la Tournelle and l'Ile du Palais with
two battalions each; the cavalry and artillery to be posted in the
Place Walhubert. Guards in the town and at the barriers to remain at
their posts. The Governor’s head-quarters are in Place Vendôme; the
Commandants of the north and south of the city, in Place Louis XV. and
on Pont Neuf, respectively. Patrols to keep up communication between
the different stations.”[46]
-----
Footnote 46:
_Supplementary Despatches, etc._ , xi. 53.]
-----
An English traveller who, having visited France in 1814, returned in
1815, thus describes some of his experiences:—
“The state of things had entirely altered, and plain indications were
given on the road to Paris, and at its entrance, that the visitor in
1815 would find it placed in circumstances very different from those
which it held in the preceding year. The time for the real humiliation
and severe punishment of the nation had now arrived; there was no
longer a disposition to save it from drinking out the bitter contents
of the cup of defeat; in short, Paris, as representing France, was now
in the condition of one that is beaten and bound, previously to being
mulcted in a heavy forfeiture.... I found Paris in a state of very
discomposed feeling and opinion. Every Frenchman seemed acutely alive
to the calamity that had fallen upon France, and all diversities of
political sentiment met in one point of union, namely that of
indignation against those who acted as the conquerors of the country.
A Royalist would say, 'Ah, it is very impolitic in the Allies to think
of taking any territory or money from France, for good Frenchmen,
united under the Bourbons, will become more formidable than the nation
ever was under Bonaparte, and woe to Europe, in the course of a year
or two, for what she now inflicts on us.' A military man would gurgle
a _sacré_ out of his throat, and anticipate the day of revenge, under
some new leader, when France would show that she had not been beaten,
although she had been betrayed.... Going round, late in the evening,
by one of the more unfrequented walks, running through the woods of
Saint-Cloud, I came suddenly upon a strong column of British infantry,
posted in silence and order among the trees, on the hill immediately
above the amusements, that jingled upon the ear from below. The
regiment was in complete order for action, the Officers were all at
their posts; and as I passed them by in the deep shadow, I heard not a
word or even a breath, though I was close to five or six hundred men.
The Allied Sovereigns were seldom seen except at reviews, for they did
not now, as at a former time, go about to public places to scrape
acquaintance with the Parisians and keep them in good spirits. The
aspect of the alliance, as it was now settled on the inhabitants of
Paris, was clouded and severe; and a very considerable degree of
reserve was maintained by the representatives of the various Powers.
Even the Court of the Tuileries was not frequently visited by them;
there were few or no courtly entertainments and ceremonies. However
friendly the Allied Sovereigns might feel towards Louis personally,
their determination to make France know that the consequences of war
are sometimes serious, occasioned a sense of restraint, and an
appearance of coolness, as between them and the Royal Family of the
Bourbons.”[47]
-----
Footnote 47:
John Scott, _Paris revisited in 1815_ , pp. 264, etc. (2nd edit.:
London, 1816).
-----
The military occupation of France, painful as it was to the inordinate
pride of the people—especially after their armies had run riot in every
capital of the Continent,—was rendered still more unbearable by the
excesses which the Prussians indulged in. Following the example set by
their gallant, but irrational, Commander, both Officers and men
exercised their authority in a harsh and often in a brutal manner.
Forgetful of what they owed to Louis XVIII., whose restoration absolved
the French from past offences, and mindful only of the grievous tyranny
which they had experienced, they made the unfortunate inhabitants feel
the full measure of their revenge, by their arrogance and exactions.
“Blücher’s troops were billeted in every house; he obliged the
inhabitants to feed and clothe them; and he issued an order (which I
well recollect seeing), commanding the authorities to supply each
soldier with a bedstead containing a bolster, a woollen mattress, two
new blankets, and a pair of linen sheets. The rations per day, for
each man, were two pounds of butcher’s meat, a bottle of wine, a
quarter of a pound of butter, ditto rice, a glass of brandy, and some
tobacco[48].... Blücher’s Generals occupied all the best hôtels in the
Faubourg St. Germain; General Thieleman that of Marshal Ney, where he
forcibly took possession of the plate, carriages, and horses. Other
Prussian Generals acted in a similar manner. The Russian and Austrian
armies with the two Emperors entered Paris soon after our arrival. The
Emperors imitated Blücher in some respects; they refused to quarter
their soldiers in the large and wholesome barracks which were in
readiness to receive them; they preferred billeting them with the
peaceable merchants and tradespeople, whom they plundered and bullied
in the most outrageous manner.”[49]
-----
Footnote 48:
It is said that the Prussians cost the French not less than three
francs per day for each man (_Paris revisited in 1815_ , p. 361).
Footnote 49:
Gronow, _Reminiscences_ , i. 206.
-----
It is pleasant to record that the Duke of Wellington adopted an entirely
different system in his relations with the inhabitants; everything was
paid for regularly, property was respected, and the people were
unmolested. In short, the British army set an example of humanity,
generosity, and forbearance, which not only did honour to their country
and to their noble profession, but which also (notwithstanding national
antipathies), gained them the respect and almost the affection of the
French themselves.[50]
-----
Footnote 50:
“The Prussians, who were in bivouac near us” (in the Bois de Boulogne,
early in July), “amused themselves by doing as much damage as they
could, without any aim or object; they cut down the finest trees and
set the wood on fire at several points. There were about 3000 of the
Guards there, encamped in the wood, and I should think about 10,000
Prussians. Our camp was not remarkable for its courtesy towards them;
in fact, our intercourse was confined to the most ordinary demands of
duty, as allies, in an enemy’s country” (Gronow, _Reminiscences_ , i.
81).
-----
In this connection, a quaint conversation between the English traveller
(already quoted) and some Highlanders he came across in Peronne, may be
noticed here. The latter, bivouacked, not billeted,—they said they
seldom troubled the inhabitants for billets,—had only one thing to
regret, viz. that they did not get the liberty “that ither sogers
get—the Prussians and them,” for “there’s nae use in our being
mealy-mou’d, if the ithers are to tak' what they like, the d—d Prussians
ken better what they’re about,” and although, “ilka body praises us, but
very few gie us ony thing.” In reply to the question, whether the Duke
of Wellington took severe measures to enforce his principles regarding
the lives and property of the inhabitants at the seat of war, they said:
“Na, sir, no here, for the men ken him gailies now; but in Spain we
aften had ugly jobs. He hung fifteen men in ae day there, after he had
been ordering about it God knows how long. And d—n me if he didna ance
gar the Provost-Marshal flog mare than a dizen of the wimen; for the
wimen thought themselves safe, and so they were war’ than the men. They
got sax and therty lashes a piece on the bare doup, and it was lang
afore it was forgotten on ’em. Ane o’ ’em was Meg Donaldson, the best
woman in our regiment, for whatever she might tak’ she didna keep it a’
to hersel’.”[51]
-----
Footnote 51:
_Paris revisited in 1815_ , p. 253.
-----
The demeanour of the British troops was friendly to the French, and few
brawls took place between them; this contrasted with what occurred to
the Prussians, who had frequent and fierce encounters with the populace.
The English soldiers were usually to be seen on the Boulevard du Temple,
which at that time was an open space (but has since then been built
over), and there they used to amuse themselves by watching jugglers,
mountebanks, rope-dancers and other shows. A certain number of men of
the armies of occupation were admitted free into the theatres; and we
are told that a party of Guardsmen, headed by a sergeant, saw a piece
admirably put on the stage, entitled _Les Anglaises pour rire_, in which
Englishwomen were grotesquely caricatured. Not understanding the
language, nor the acting, and being indignant at the insults they
supposed were levelled against their countrywomen, the honest fellows
stormed the stage, and drove off, not only the actors, but the police
who attempted to arrest them. “It must be remembered that the only
revenge which the Parisians were able to take upon their conquerors, was
to ridicule them; and the English generally took it in good humour, and
laughed at the extravagant drollery of the burlesque.” Notwithstanding
these minor disputes, good feeling existed; and although numerous
Prussians were assassinated in Paris and in the country, there was only
one soldier of British nationality found dead in the streets of the
capital, and, in his case, there were no signs of violence upon him.[52]
-----
Footnote 52:
Gronow, _Reminiscences_ , i. 92.
-----
[Illustration:
SERGEANT. 1658. DRUMMER. 1658.
N.R. Wilkinson del. A.D. Innes & C^o London. Mintern
Bros. lith.
]
That Wellington should be appealed to, to lighten the burden placed on
the miserable people who groaned under the invader’s despotism, is
natural enough; and there are petitions recorded on the part of the
inhabitants of Le Cateau and Roye, asking that British troops might
continue to garrison those towns, so that they might be placed under
their protection.[53] But it was not always that he could do anything
for them. We find, for instance, M. de Breteuil, who, according to
himself, was “one of the most faithful subjects of Louis XVIII.” and who
had “given the King proofs of devotion,” complaining bitterly that not
only was his house and property, situated at three leagues distant from
St. Quentin, pillaged, but that the town itself was mulcted in a sum of
1,200,000 francs, of which he had to pay 20,000 (£800), because he had a
single house there, “which brings in nothing, and is, on the contrary,
full of soldiers.” To this complaint, Wellington could only reply, “I
have no troops in St. Quentin, and never had any in that town. I think
you ought to address yourself to Marshal Prince Blücher.”[54]
-----
Footnote 53:
_Supplementary Despatches, etc._ , xi. 85, 101.
Footnote 54:
_Ibid._ , xi. 19.
-----
Nor was the King unmindful of what he owed to the British army for their
discipline; for, having invited the principal Officers to the Tuileries,
and having formed them in a circle about him, he told them, in broken
English, in the presence of the Emperor of Austria, “I congratulate you,
gentlemen, upon the result of your valour and conduct; but I am most
grateful to you for your generosity and humanity towards my poor
misguided people; the father and the family will for ever hold it
remembrance.”[55]
-----
Footnote 55:
Letter of Lieut.-Colonel Sir W. Gomm, who was present upon that
occasion, to his Aunt, July 16, 1815, _Letters and Journals of
Field-Marshal Sir W. Gomm, G.C.B._ , p. 376 (London, 1881). See also
Alison’s _History of Europe_ , 1789-1815, x. 968. The Duc de Richelieu
(Foreign Minister) wrote on this subject to the Duke of Wellington,
January 19, 1816, “Sa Majesté m’a spécialement recommandé de saisir
cette occasion pour faire connaître à Votre Excellence combien elle a
été satisfaite de la conduite des troupes Anglaises dans la capitale,
et du soin qui a été mis par les chefs à alléger les charges
indispensablement attachées à la présence de ces troupes. Sa Majesté
sait à cet égard tout ce qu’elle vous doit, My Lord; et elle a voulu
que je vous donasse de nouveau l’assurance qu’elle ne perdrait jamais
le souvenir des témoignages de déférence et d’affection qu’elle a
reçus de vous” (_Supplementary Despatches, etc._, xi. 282).
-----
In order to give employment to the men under his command, and to help
the French peasants, at a time when labour was very scarce, the Duke of
Wellington allowed British soldiers to reap the harvest. The owners of
the harvest were to make their own bargains with the men direct, but
application for labourers were to be made by the mayors of districts,
and not by private individuals. Commanding Officers also were to know
exactly where each soldier was employed; and the men were to return to
their regiments every night, if possible, or at all events twice a
week.[56]
-----
Footnote 56:
_Supplementary Despatches, etc._ , xi. 73.
-----
Towards the end of October, the Division of Guards, hitherto in the Bois
de Boulogne, marched into Paris, and occupied on the 30th, the Casernes
Rue Verte, Montblanc, and Rue Temple, the Palais Louis XV., and the
Abbatoire de Roule. The 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards were thus lodged
in barracks in the capital; and the general alarm post for the Division
was the Palais Louis XV.[57] At the same time, a general change of
quarters took place among the whole of the British troops, and camps
were abandoned for houses. Wellington issued on the 28th of October,
strict orders for the protection of the inhabitants, to apply whenever
men were to be billeted, or when they were marching through the
country.[58]
-----
Footnote 57:
_Orders for the Piquet_ : “In the event of any disturbance in the
neighbourhood, the Piquet will fall in in front of the barrack gate,
and detach a sergeant’s party to the right and left, if necessary, to
observe what is going on. The Lieutenant on this duty will send an
immediate Report to the Officer Commanding the Battalion. The
Lieutenant inspecting the messes, at one o’clock, and the Ensign will
inspect the barrack rooms at half-past twelve, and will take care to
enforce the barrack regulations. The same to be mentioned in the
report of the senior Officer at dismounting. The Battalion will
assemble in the barrack yard, in case of any riots of a serious
nature, and will wait the orders of a Field-Officer, who will cause it
to move to the Place Louis XV., if it appears expedient. Officers on
detached duties will, in case of serious disturbance, likewise move to
the Place Louis XV.” (_Battalion Order_ , Paris, Nov. 3, 1815). The
public duties in Paris, found by the two Guards Brigades and by the
King’s German Legion on the 5th of November, amounted to 1 Captain, 12
Subalterns, 38 sergeants, 55 corporals, 13 drummers, and 587 privates.
Footnote 58:
Appendix No. II.
-----
We left the wreck of Napoleon’s beaten army south of the Loire, where
they were under the command of Marshal Davoût. There was nothing more
for them now to hope, and their Commander soon persuaded them to conform
to the circumstances of the hour, and, throwing aside their Eagles, to
hoist the white flag of the Bourbons, and to adopt the white cockade.
This they did, and shortly after, by Royal decree, dated the 23rd of
July, they were disbanded. At the same time, a new army was forthwith to
be formed, to consist of eighty Legions of infantry (103 officers and
1,687 men each), one to be raised in every Department, and to bear its
name; forty-seven regiments of cavalry, and twelve regiments of
artillery,—or a military force of some 200,000 regular troops. Disbanded
Imperialists were allowed to engage after proper examination.[59] The
command was entrusted to Marshal Macdonald, who had remained firm in his
allegiance to the King, during the whole of the Hundred Days of the
second French Empire; and he replaced Davoût, who resigned.
-----
Footnote 59:
Baines, _Wars of the French Revolution_ , ii. 519.
-----
Immediately hostilities came to an end by the Convention of the 3rd, a
large number of English people went over to Paris, on business or
pleasure, and settled in that gay capital, almost as if it had been
their own. Coaches were soon brought over, and horse-racing introduced,
contrasting very much in the disfavour of the native _sport_, which the
King endeavoured to encourage, but which was then quite in its infancy.
In short, the English made themselves thoroughly at home.
“Going along the _Rue du Faubourg St. Denis_, we saw many of the
British privates sauntering with a lazy air of enjoyment, looking at
the print stalls where they were caricatured, cheapening grapes with
the fruit girls, or treating themselves to a glass of lemonade. Our
Officers, too, swarmed about, mounted—some well, some very badly; for
those who could not procure a decent animal, put up with almost any
creature that had four legs. Contrasting remarkably with the heavy
cabriolets and clumsy dirty coaches—the awkward calèches and grotesque
voitures—English equipages, complete, light, and genteel, glanced
rapidly by, spattering, as foreigners, mortification from their wheels
on the vehicles of the country. To estimate this exhibition properly,
it is necessary to fancy its counterpart displayed by Frenchmen in
London; to imagine a Frenchman of fashion, vested with magnificent
amplitude of box-coat and commanding longitude of whip, spanking his
four blood greys down Bond Street and St. James’s Street, or drawing
up smartly, in a knowing style of driving, to talk over the topics of
the morning with the Officer of the French Guards, on duty at the
Palace of the King of England!”[60]
-----
Footnote 60:
_Paris revisited in 1815_ , p. 265.
-----
All eyes were turned to Paris at that time. Many Sovereigns were living
there—the Monarchs of Austria, Russia, Prussia, Holland, Bavaria,
Wurtemburg, and France, and several independent Princes of Germany. They
were accompanied by some of the most distinguished statesmen and
diplomatists of the age; and military leaders were also present who
enjoyed a European reputation for their achievements in the field.
Events of transcendent importance were taking place in this capital; and
the fate of a great and gallant nation, outlawed for a quarter of a
century, and now reduced to submission, was being decided. Curiosity
urged many to go to France, from all parts of Europe, at this historic
juncture; the pleasures of society moved others, and duty took a still
larger number there. “All the world’s in Paris,”[61] was indeed true,
and crowds flocked to that city; while the discordant elements to be
found there, and the strange medley of Frenchmen, Englishmen, and
foreigners of almost every nationality, brought together and kept
together, at such a time and at such a place, presented at once a scene
that was both unique and remarkable.
-----
Footnote 61:
Popular song of the day.
-----
Paris was gay and dissolute, and the Palais Royal might be called the
centre of dissipation.
“Mingled together, and moving about the area of this oblong square
block of buildings, might be seen, about seven o’clock p.m., a crowd
of English, Russian, Prussian, Austrian, and other Officers of the
Allied armies, together with countless foreigners from all parts of
the world. Here, too, might have been seen the present King of
Prussia” (the late Emperor William I. of Germany), “with his father
and brother, the Dukes of Nassau, Baden, and a host of Continental
Princes, who entered familiarly into the amusements of ordinary
mortals, dining _incog._ at the most renowned restaurants, and
flirting with painted female frailty.”[62]
-----
Footnote 62:
Gronow, _Reminiscences_ , i. 90.
-----
The Palais Royal contained the principal, but by no means the only,
gambling hell in Paris, and these constituted the “very fountains of
immorality.” “There were tables for all classes; the workman might play
with twenty sous, or the gentleman with ten thousand francs. The law did
not prevent any class from indulging in a vice that assisted to fill the
coffers of the municipality of Paris.”[63]
-----
Footnote 63:
_Ibid._ , i. 87.
-----