overlooked a gate of the city, and saw the whole army go out. Regiment
after regiment passed through and melted away in the mist of the
morning."--_Abridged Narrative._
(12) "Le Grand Laboureur."
(13) The Duke's corpse did not arrive at Antwerp till Saturday
afternoon. See Mrs Eaton's _Waterloo Days_, p. 59.
(14) "I went to Antwerp, and found the hotel there so crowded, that I
could only obtain one small room for my maid and myself, and it was at
the top of the house. I remained entirely within, and desired my maid
not to tell me what she might hear in the hotel respecting the army.
On the 18th, however, I could not avoid the conviction that the battle
was going on; the anxious faces in the street, the frequent messengers
I saw passing by, were sufficient proof that important intelligence
was expected, and as I sat at the open window I heard the firing of
artillery, like the distant roaring of the sea, as I had so often
heard it at Dunglass. How the contrast of my former tranquil life
there was pressed upon me at that moment!"--_Abridged Narrative._
Southey, the poet, says that the firing of the 16th was heard at
Antwerp, but not that of the 18th. It is an extraordinary but
indisputable fact that the firing at Waterloo was heard in England.
The _Kentish Gazette_ of Tuesday, 20th June 1815 (published therefore
before any one in England, not even Nathan Rothschild himself, was
aware that there had been a battle fought at Waterloo), contained the
following piece of news from Ramsgate: "A heavy and incessant firing
was heard from this coast on Sunday evening in the direction of
Dunkirk." Dunkirk lies in nearly a straight line between Waterloo and
the coast of Kent. What makes the matter still more extraordinary is
the fact that Colville's Division, which, on the 18th, was posted in
front of Hal, about ten miles to the west of the battlefield, never
heard a sound of the firing, and did not know till midnight that any
battle had taken place.
(15) Wellington's headquarters on the night of the 16th June were at
Genappe, two or three miles to the rear of the battlefield of Quatre
Bras. He slept at the Roi d'Espagne. Bluecher occupied the same inn on
the night of the 18th.
(16) The battle began about 11.35, though Wellington in his despatch
states that it began about 10. Napoleon's bulletin fixes noon as the
time. Marshal Ney said that it began at 1 o'clock. It is clear they
did not all look at their watches.
(17) De Lancey is supposed to have been struck about the time when the
French batteries opened a fierce cannonade on the English centre,
preparatory to the first of their tremendous cavalry attacks. This
would make the hour nearer 4 o'clock than 3.
He fell not far from the Wellington Tree, and close to the famous
_chemin creux_ of Victor Hugo, in the immediate rear of which
Ompteda's brigade of the King's German Legion was posted. The
appearance of the spot is now entirely altered. The tree was cut down
in 1818, and all the soil of the elevated ground on the south side of
the _chemin creux_ was carted away to make the Belgian Lion Mound
about 1825. A steam tramway now runs by the place.
For a sketch of the celebrated tree, with Napoleon's guide, De Coster,
in the foreground, see Captain Arthur Gore's _Explanatory Notes on the
Battle of Waterloo_, 1817; and for another view of the ragged old tree
as it appeared the day before it was cut down, see _Illustrated London
News_, 27th November 1852.
The map which faces page 110 is adapted from the plan of the
battlefield of Waterloo, drawn in 1816, by W.B. Craan, Surveying
Engineer of Brabant.
The troops are shown in the positions occupied by them at 11 o'clock,
A.M., just before the opening of the battle.
On the map will be seen the position of the Wellington Tree, also the
farm and village of Mont St Jean, to which village it is supposed Sir
William De Lancey was carried, after he had received the fatal blow.
The village of Waterloo is outside the map, some two miles to the
north.
[Illustration: Map of Part of the Battlefield of Waterloo]
"The Duke had no fixed station throughout the day, and did not remain
at this tree for more than three or four minutes at any one time. He
frequently rode to it to observe the advance of the columns of attack.
A deep dip in the main road prevented his going beyond it without a
detour to the rear. It was here also that, the Duke having galloped up
with the staff and using his glass to observe the enemy's movements,
poor Colonel De Lancey by his side was struck by a heavy shot which
slanted off without breaking either his skin or even his coat, but all
the ribs of the left side were separated from the back."--Siborne's
_Waterloo Correspondence_, vol. i., p. 51.
Sir Walter Scott has the following interesting passage in the Seventh
of his _Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk_. After a reference to the
British army taking up its position on the field of Waterloo the night
before the battle, he thus continues: "The Duke had caused a plan of
this and other military positions in the neighbourhood of Brussels, to
be made some time before by Colonel Carmichael Smyth, the chief
engineer. He now called for that sketch, and with the assistance of
the regretted Sir William De Lancey and Colonel Smyth, made his
dispositions for the momentous events of next day. The plan itself, a
_relique_ so precious, was rendered yet more so by being found in the
breast of Sir William De Lancey's coat when he fell, and stained with
the blood of that gallant officer. It is now in the careful
preservation of Colonel Carmichael Smyth, by whom it was originally
sketched."
For an account of Colonel Sir James Carmichael Smyth, Commanding Royal
Engineer on the Staff of the Duke of Wellington, see _Dictionary of
National Biography_, vol. liii., p. 185.
Major John Oldfield, Brigade-Major, R.E., gives the following
particulars about this map, which is reproduced opposite page 565 of
vol. i. of C.D. Yonge's _Life of Field-Marshal the Duke of
Wellington_.
"Shortly after my chief--Colonel Smyth--had joined headquarters (this
was on the 16th), he sent in to me, at Brussels, for the plan of the
position of Waterloo, which had been previously reconnoitred. The
several sketches of the officers had been put together, and one fair
copy made for the Prince of Orange. A second had been commenced in the
drawing-room for the Duke, but was not in a state to send; I therefore
forwarded the original sketches of the officers.
"_Morning of the 17th._--Upon my joining Colonel Smyth, he desired me
to receive from Lieutenant Waters the plan of the position, which,
according to his desire, I had sent to him from Brussels the preceding
day, and of which I was told to take the greatest care. It had been
lost in one of the charges of the French cavalry, and recovered.
Lieutenant Waters, who had it in his cloak before his saddle (or in
his sabretasche attached to his saddle, I forget which), was unhorsed
in the _melee_ and ridden over. Upon recovering himself, he found the
cavalry had passed him, and his horse was nowhere to be seen. He felt
alarmed for the loss of his plan. To look for his horse, he imagined,
was in vain, and his only care was to avoid being taken prisoner,
which he hoped to do by keeping well towards our right. The enemy
being repulsed in his charge was returning by the left to the ground
by which he had advanced. After proceeding about fifty yards, he was
delighted to find his horse quietly destroying the vegetables in a
garden near the farmhouse at Quatre Bras. He thus fortunately
recovered his plan, and with it rejoined the Colonel. The retreat of
the Prussians upon Wavre rendered it necessary for the Duke to make a
corresponding movement, and upon the receipt of a communication from
Bluecher, he called Colonel Smyth and asked him for his plan of the
position of Waterloo, which I immediately handed to him. The Duke then
gave directions to Sir William De Lancey to put the army in position
at Waterloo, forming them across the Nivelles and Charleroi
chaussees."--Porter's _History of the Corps of Royal Engineers_, vol.
i., p. 380. See also Ropes' _Waterloo_, p. 296.
(18) "He was able to speak in a short time after the fall, and when
the Duke of Wellington took his hand and asked how he felt, he begged
to be taken from the crowd that he might die in peace, and gave a
message to me."--_Abridged Narrative._
(19) Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel Delancey Barclay, 1st Foot Guards.
See _Army List_ for 1815, pp. 30 and 145, also _Waterloo Roll Call_,
p. 30.
(20) Probably a barn at the farm of Mont St Jean, about 700 yards
north of the Wellington Tree.
(21) Doubtless the village of Mont St Jean, the village of Waterloo
being two miles further north.
When Miss Waldie (afterwards Mrs Eaton--see _Dictionary of National
Biography_, vol. lix., p. 26) went to Waterloo on the 15th July, she
noticed the name of Sir William De Lancey written in chalk on the
door of a cottage, where he had slept the night before the battle.
(_Waterloo Days_, p. 125.) The sketch on the opposite page is
reproduced from _Sketches in Flanders and Holland_, by Robert Hills,
1816, and shows the village of Mont St Jean, as it appeared a month
after the battle. The figures in the foreground represent villagers
returning from the battlefield with cuirasses, brass eagles, bullets,
etc., which they had picked up.
[Illustration: THE VILLAGE OF MONT ST JEAN, 1815.]
(22) See _Waterloo Roll Call_, p. 35, and _Army List_ for 1815, p. 31.
(23) The Duke began the Waterloo despatch very early on the 19th at
Waterloo, but he finished it at Brussels, that same morning.
(24) _I.e._, not only Waterloo, but Ligny, Quatre Bras, and the
fighting that took place on the 15th and 17th June.
(25) Mr William Hay of Duns Castle. He had been in the 16th Light
Dragoons in the Peninsular War (see _Army List_ for 1811, p. 89), and
had come over from England a few days before to see his old friends,
and introduce his young brother, Cornet Alexander Hay, to his old
regiment.
(26) Mr Hay was on the battlefield during the early part of the fight.
Early next morning he revisited the field, to try to find some trace
of his brother. The body was never found. He had been killed late at
night on the French position, while the 16th Light Dragoons were in
pursuit of the enemy. (Tomkinson's _Diary of a Cavalry Officer_,
1809-1815, p. 314; also _Reminiscences_, 1808-1815, _under
Wellington_, by Captain William Hay, C.B.) There is a memorial tablet
to him in the church at Waterloo, with the following inscription:
"Sacred to the memory of Alexander Hay, Esq., of Nunraw,
Cornet in the 16th Light Dragoons, aged 18 years, who fell
gloriously in the Memorable Battle of Waterloo, June 18,
1815.
"_O dolor atque decus magnum ...
Haec te prima dies bello dedit, haec eadem aufert._
"This tablet was placed here by his Brothers and Sisters."
(27) No doubt Lieutenant-General John Mackenzie who was in command at
Antwerp. He succeeded Sir Colin Halkett in that post. See _Army List_
for 1815, p. 8.
(28) Another indication that it was in the village of Mont St Jean and
not Waterloo.
(29) "One of the most painful visits I ever paid was to a little
wretched cottage at the end of the village which was pointed out to me
as the place where De Lancey was lying mortally wounded. How wholly
shocked I was on entering, to find Lady De Lancey seated on the only
broken chair the hovel contained, by the side of her dying husband. I
made myself known. She grasped me by the hand, and pointed to poor De
Lancey covered with his coat, and with just a spark of life
left."--_Reminiscences, etc._, by Captain William Hay, C.B., p. 202.
(30) Creevey states that as he was on his way from Brussels to
Waterloo on Tuesday the 20th June, the Duke overtook him and said he
was going to see Sir Frederick Ponsonby and De Lancey. The Duke was in
plain clothes and riding in a curricle with Colonel Felton
Hervey.--_The Creevey Papers_, p. 238.
(31) Probably the Duke had in his mind the charge of Lord Edward
Somerset's Household Brigade against the French Cuirassiers, which
took place about 2 o'clock. Alava, in his report to the Spanish
Government, calls it "the most sanguinary cavalry fight perhaps ever
witnessed."
(32) This was the general opinion at the time. Four days after the
battle an officer in the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Foot Guards wrote as
follows: "I constantly saw the noble Duke of Wellington riding
backwards and forwards like the Genius of the storm, who, borne upon
its wings, directed its thunder where to break. He was everywhere to
be found, encouraging, directing, animating. He was in a blue short
cloak, and a plain cocked hat, his telescope in his hand; there was
nothing that escaped him, nothing that he did not take advantage of,
and his lynx eyes seemed to penetrate the smoke and forestall the
movements of the foe" (p. 42, _Battle of Waterloo_, 11th edition,
1852, L. Booth). A highly interesting remark from the Duke's lips just
before the attack made by the Imperial Guard has been preserved in a
letter written at Nivelles on the 20th June, by Colonel Sir A.S.
Frazer. "'Twice have I saved this day by perseverance,' said his Grace
before the last great struggle, and said so most justly." This seems
to coincide with the observation which the Duke made to Creevey at
Brussels the morning after the battle. "By God! I don't think it would
have been done, if I had not been there."
(33) Another proof that it was Mont St Jean and not Waterloo.
(34) Probably James Powell, an apothecary in the Medical Department.
Date of rank, 9th September 1813. See _Army List_ for 1815, p. 93. In
the Army List of 1817, and in subsequent Army Lists he is shown with a
[symbol: Blackletter W] before his name, as being in possession of the
Waterloo Medal. His last appearance in the Army List is in 1841, in
which issue he is shown on page 340 as a surgeon on half-pay.
(35) John Robert Hume was a Deputy-Inspector of the Medical
Department. See _Army List_ for 1815, p. 90. He also held the
appointment of surgeon to the Duke of Wellington. He was in attendance
on the memorable occasion when a duel took place in Battersea Fields
between the Duke of Wellington and Earl Winchilsea, 21st March 1829.
He died in 1857. See _Dictionary of National Biography_, vol. xxviii.,
p. 229.
The following is Dr Hume's account of his visit to the Duke the
morning after the battle. "I came back from the field of Waterloo with
Sir Alexander Gordon, whose leg I was obliged to amputate on the field
late in the evening. He died rather unexpectedly in my arms about
half-past three in the morning of the 19th. I was hesitating about
disturbing the Duke, when Sir Charles Broke-Vere came. He wished to
take his orders about the movement of the troops. I went upstairs and
tapped gently at the door, when he told me to come in. He had as usual
taken off his clothes, but had not washed himself. As I entered, he
sat up in bed, his face covered with the dust and sweat of the
previous day, and extended his hand to me, which I took and held in
mine, whilst I told him of Gordon's death, and of such of the
casualties as had come to my knowledge. He was much affected. I felt
the tears dropping fast upon my hand, and looking towards him, saw
them chasing one another in furrows over his dusty cheeks. He brushed
them suddenly away with his left hand, and said to me in a voice
tremulous with emotion, 'Well, thank God, I don't know what it is to
lose a battle; but certainly nothing can be more painful than to gain
one with the loss of so many of one's friends.'"--(Extract from a
Lecture by Montague Gore, 1852.)
(36) Stephen Woolriche was a Deputy-Inspector of the Medical
Department. See _Army List_ for 1815, p. 90. His name appears for the
last time in the Army List of 1855-56. By that time he had gained a
C.B., and held the rank of Inspector-General of the Medical Department
on half-pay.
(37) General Francis Dundas (_Army List_ for 1815, p. 3) was Colonel
of the 71st Highland Light Infantry. He had served in the American
War, and afterwards at the Cape. At the time of the alarm of a French
invasion, of England in 1804-5, he commanded a portion of the English
forces assembled on the south coast under Sir David Dundas, the
Commander-in-Chief, who married an aunt of Sir William De Lancey. Sir
David Dundas was at this time Governor of Chelsea Hospital, where he
died at the age of eighty-five, on the 18th February 1820.--(See
_Dictionary of National Biography_, vol. xvi., p. 185.)
(38) Sir Hew Dalrymple Hamilton, fourth baronet, was born on the 3rd
January 1774, and married, on the 19th May 1800, Jane, eldest daughter
of the first Lord Duncan of Camperdown.
(39) There were at that time three Protestant cemeteries at Brussels.
This was the St Josse Ten Noode Cemetery, on the south side of the
Chaussee de Louvain. Many were here buried who had died of wounds
received at Waterloo, including Major Archibald John Maclean, 73rd
Highlanders; Major William J. Lloyd, R.A.; Captain William Stothert,
Adjutant, 3rd Foot Guards; Lieut. Michael Cromie, R.A.; Lieut. Charles
Spearman, R.A.; Lieut. John Clyde, 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers. See
_Times_ of 9th February 1889.
(40) In 1889, Sir William De Lancey's remains were exhumed from the
old, disused cemetery of St Josse Ten Noode, and, along with those of
a number of other British officers who fell in the Waterloo campaign,
were removed to the beautiful cemetery of Evere, three miles to the
north-east of Brussels. On the 26th August 1890, H.R.H. the Duke of
Cambridge unveiled the celebrated Waterloo memorial which contains
their bones.
The following was the inscription on the gravestone which Lady De
Lancey erected:--
"THIS STONE IS PLACED TO MARK WHERE THE BODY OF
COL. SIR W. HOWE DE LANCEY,
QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL,
IS INTERRED.
"HE WAS WOUNDED AT THE BATTLE OF
BELLE ALLIANCE (WATERLOO)
ON THE 18TH JUNE 1815."
[Illustration: THE WATERLOO MEMORIAL IN EVERE CEMETERY.]
(41) _Tuesday, 4th April_ 1815.--This date is confirmed by the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, 1815, which states: "April 4, Col. Sir W. De
Lancey, K.C.B., to Magdalene, daughter of Sir James Hall, Bart."
On the other hand, the _Abridged Narrative_ states as follows:--"I was
married in March 1815. At that time Sir William De Lancey held an
appointment on the Staff in Scotland. Peace appeared established, and
I had no apprehension of the trials that awaited me. While we were
spending the first week of our marriage at Dunglass, the accounts of
the return of Bonaparte from Elba arrived, and Sir William was
summoned to London, and soon after ordered to join the army at
Brussels as Adjutant-Quartermaster-General." Napoleon landed in France
on the 1st March, and in the London _Evening Mail_ of the issue
headed:--
"From Wednesday, March 8, to Friday, March 10, 1815," the following
appears as a postscript:--
"LONDON,
"_Friday Afternoon, March_ 10.
"Letters have been received at Dover of the most interesting
import; they announce the flight of Buonaparte from the
island of Elba, and his arrival at Frejus, the place at
which he landed on his return from Egypt. We have seen the
King of France's proclamation against him, dated the 6th
instant, declaring him and his adherents traitors and rebels:
of these he is said to have had at first only 1300, but to
have directed his march immediately on Lyons. It was
considered that he would make a dash at Paris. Now, however,
the villain's fate is at issue."
This news probably reached Edinburgh by coach a week later, and may
have been known at Dunglass on the following day, the 18th March.
It seems doubtful, therefore, whether Lady De Lancey did not make a
mistake of a month in dating her marriage exactly three months before
the 4th of July. She may possibly have been married in March.
The "Hundred Days" cover the period between Napoleon's first
proclamation at Lyons on the 13th March and his abdication on the 22nd
June.
It will therefore be seen that the married life of the De Lanceys, if
it extended from the 4th March to the 26th June 1815, covered this
period, with just thirteen days to spare.
APPENDIX A
Letters to Captain Basil Hall, R.N., from Sir Walter Scott and Charles
Dickens.[34]
[Footnote 34: From the autograph collection in the possession of Lady
Parsons.]
* * * * *
"MY DEAR CAPTAIN HALL,
"I received with great pleasure your kind proposal to visit Tweedside.
It arrived later than it should have done. I lose no time in saying
that you and Mrs Hall cannot come but as welcome guests any day next
week, which may best suit you. If you have time to drop a line we will
make our dinner hour suit your arrival, but you cannot come amiss to
us.
"I am infinitely obliged to you for Captain Maitland's plain, manly,
and interesting narrative. It is very interesting, and clears
Bonaparte of much egotism imputed to him. I am making a copy which,
however, I will make no use of except as extracts, and am very much
indebted to Captain Maitland for the privilege.
"Constable proposed a thing to me which was of so much delicacy that I
scarce know how [_sic_] about it, and thought of leaving it till you
and I met.
"It relates to that most interesting and affecting journal kept by my
regretted and amiable friend, Mrs Hervey,[35] during poor De Lancey's
illness. He thought with great truth that it would add very great
interest as an addition to the letters which I wrote from Paris soon
after Waterloo, and certainly I would consider it as one of the most
valuable and important documents which could be published as
illustrative of the woes of war. But whether this could be done
without injury to the feelings of survivors is a question not for me
to decide, and indeed I feel unaffected pain in even submitting it to
your friendly ear who I know will put no harsh construction upon my
motive which can be no other than such as would do honour to the
amiable and lamented authoress. I never read anything which affected
my own feelings more strongly or which I am sure would have a deeper
interest on those of the public. Still the work is of a domestic
nature, and its publication, however honourable to all concerned,
might perhaps give pain when God knows I should be sorry any proposal
of mine should awaken the distresses which time may have in some
degree abated. You are the only person who can judge of this with any
certainty or at least who can easily gain the means of ascertaining
it, and as Constable seemed to think there was a possibility that
after the lapse of so much time it might be regarded as matter of
history and as a record of the amiable character of your accomplished
sister, and seemed to suppose there was some probability of such a
favour being granted, you will consider me as putting the question on
his suggestion. It could be printed as the Journal of a lady during
the last illness of a General Officer of distinction during her
attendance upon his last illness, or something to that purpose.
Perhaps it may be my own high admiration of the contents of this
heartrending diary which makes me suppose a possibility that after
such a lapse of years, the publication may possibly (as that which
cannot but do the highest honour to the memory of the amiable
authoress) may not be judged altogether inadmissible. You may and
will, of course, act in this matter with your natural feeling of
consideration, and ascertain whether that which cannot but do honour
to the memory of those who are gone can be made public with the sacred
regard due to the feelings of survivors.
[Footnote 35: Lady De Lancey married again in 1819 Captain Henry
Hervey, Madras Infantry, and died in 1822. _Gentleman's Magazine_,
vol. lxxxix, Part I., p. 368, and vol. cii., Part II., p. 179.]
"Lady Scott begs to add the pleasure she must have in seeing Mrs Hall
and you at Abbotsford, and in speedy expectation of that honour I am
always,
"Dear Sir,
"Most truly yours,
"WALTER SCOTT.
"ABBOTSFORD, 13_th_ _October_ 1825."
* * * * *
"DEVONSHIRE TERRACE,
"_Tuesday evening_, 16_th_ _March_ 1841.
"MY DEAR HALL,
"For I see it must be 'juniores priores,' and that I must demolish the
ice at a blow.