G CHAPTER IX. THE MORNING OF THE 18TH OF JUNE. § 1. Movements of Grouchy. ROUCHY passed the night at Gembloux, perplexed and agitated in mind. He has been described as "anxious and undecided," and when a general has lost his way he can hardly escape the pains and penalties of anxiety and indecision. All he knew was that a body of Prussians had passed through Gembloux on the 17th, and that they appeared to have divided into two columns, one moving upon Wavre, the other on Perwez, and that Blucher had not passed through Gembloux. In this extremity of doubt he still clung to the idea suggested by the capture of cannon on the Namur road, confirmed by the instructions of Napoleon, that the mass of the Prussians had gone off towards Maestricht. Yet the unwelcome doubt returned, and he feared that Blucher might be at Wavre. He therefore took a medium course, and ordered the mass of his force to move off in succession on the 18th to Sart-lezWalhain, but not to march until six o'clock. Pajol and Teste, who had halted far in the rear at Mazy, were to move at five upon Grand Leez, a village on the right flank of the road to Sart-lez-Walhain. They were to halt there until they received a new direction in accordance with that of the main body: further evidence of Grouchy's perplexity. The sun was high when Grouchy rode off to Sart-lezWalhain. His whole force followed him in one long column, struggling painfully along the miry roads and wet fields, through defiles which brought them to frequent halts. Nor did they start at the prescribed hour; for the leader of the procession, Excelmans, did not march until seven o'clock. When this officer arrived at Sart-lezWalhain, Grouchy, it is said, was told that the whole of the Prussian army had arrived at Wavre on the 17th. Excelmans was at once directed to move upon Corbaix, and as the infantry appeared, the head of the column was turned to the north-west, in the wake of the horsemen. Yet the troops had marched so slowly that the head of Gérard's column did not reach Sart-lez-Walhain until half-past eleven. Grouchy himself, still fearful of committing an error, and utterly ignorant of the true state of the case, remained in the house of the village notary, Hollaert, pondering on probabilities. He had sent a despatch to Napoleon, informing him that he was then, about half-past eleven, moving upon Wavre by Corbaix. At the moment when Colonel Delafresnaye galloped off with this despatch, Gérard came up, and almost at the same time Colonel Simon Lorière walked in from the garden and reported that a cannonade was audible towards the west. Grouchy, Gérard, and several officers walked into the garden and listened in silence. Some of them placed their ears to the ground and thus detected plainly the muffled boom of distant guns. While they were listening, the dull reverberations increased suddenly in volume and intensity, and none of the excited group could doubt any longer that artillery was violently engaged in the direction of Mont St. Jean. Thereupon ensued spontaneously a keen discussion. Gérard urged Grouchy to cross the Dyle at once, push on towards the scene of action, passing by Moustier and Ottignies, and reconnoitring in the direction of St. Lambert. General Balthus, of the artillery, reminding Gérard of the state of the roads, inquired how the artillery could be got across the country: that morning they had been four hours marching six miles! To which Valazé answered that his engineers would clear the way. Grouchy, however, was unmoved by Gérard's reasoning and Valaze's vehemence, and he determined to pursue his march upon Wavre.1 Riding forward to the head of the column, where the cavalry had come in contact with the Prussian rear-guard, Grouchy was overtaken by a messenger bringing a despatch from Napoleon, written by the chief of the staff at ten o'clock that morning in the farm of Caillou. As nearly three hours must have been occupied in the transit, the time must have been about one o'clock. Soult informed Grouchy that the French patrols on the Dyle had learned that one Prussian column had retired on Wavre by Gentinnes. Grouchy, therefore, was to push this column before him, keeping, at the same time, a good look-out on his right. But Grouchy knew by this time there was no need for this precaution, for he had learned that the whole Prussian army had assembled at Wavre. Here, then, was his difficulty. The Emperor stated that he was 1 On this subject there has been a great deal of hot controversy. It is difficult now to establish even the facts of the interview, for the controversy of course has been carried on with a full knowledge of all that occurred on the 18th, and one vainly tries to disentangle the statements made in the notary's garden from the statements which suggested them. selves afterwards. Those who desire to see what has been said on both sides must seek it in the pamphlets published by Grouchy, Gérard, and others. For our present purpose it is enough to know what Gérard proposed and what Grouchy did. about to attack the English in front of the forest of Soignies-a fact which fully accounted for the cannonade -and therefore Grouchy was directed to fulfil a double task-to drive off the Prussians, and manoeuvre by his left so as to approach Napoleon, taking care, at the same time, to maintain a secure and close communication between the two armies. Grouchy, therefore, pressed forward with his whole force, keeping studiously on the right bank of the Dyle; but with his utmost efforts he could not bring his troops into line opposite Wavre until four o'clock. At that hour the Prussian main body was far away; yet enough remained to dispute with Grouchy the passage of the Dyle, and to fight with him the Combat of Wavre. § 2. Blucher's Flank March. Blucher had profited by the mistakes, delays, and mischances of Grouchy. He had employed the precious hours of the morning in putting in execution the plan devised between himself and Wellington. He designed to carry his whole army as soon as possible to the battle-field selected by the English general. As the roads along which his soldiers would have to travel were mere tracks through the fields, none paved, and all saturated with rain, he sent his heavy baggage to Louvain. Then he directed his four corps d'armée to move off in succession in two columns. Bulow was to start at daybreak and gain Chapelle St. Lambert. Ziethen, by another route, was to make for Ohain, passing through Fromont and Genval. Later still Pirch I. was to follow Bulow to St. Lambert, and, finally, if the French, of whom there were no signs, did not come up, Thielemann, leaving a rear-guard at Wavre, was to march upon Couture, on the Lasne. Napo leon, in a candid moment, confessed that this flank march was a stroke of genius. Blucher and Gneisenau had taken pains to ensure its success by scouring the whole country between the Dyle and the Lasne; and by extending patrols to the very verge of the right flank of the French, towards Planchenoit, they had discovered that there were no forces in that direction to dispute the defiles of the Lasne. It will be remembered that on the evening of the 17th the Prussian army bivouacked on both banks of the Dyle. Ziethen was on the left bank about Bierge, with Thielemann on his left at Les Bavettes. On the other bank were Pirch I., at Aisemont, close to Wavre, and Bulow at Dion le Mont, some three miles distant. Before any movement could be made upon St. Lambert by the untouched corps of Bulow, that corps would have to march on Wavre and pass the Dyle. One does not see why Blucher kept Bulow on the right bank of the Dyle when he contemplated throwing his whole force upon the right flank of Napoleon. He had, fairly abandoned the road from Namur to Louvain, and his direct communications with Germany. The success of the scheme for the destruction of Napoleon depended on the rapidity of his march through a deep and rugged country; Bulow's troops, not having been engaged as yet, were clearly the proper corps to be sent forward. Wherefore, then, keep them at Dion le Mont until the morning of the 18th, when they might have cleared the defile of Wavre at leisure on the evening of the 17th ? When Bulow moved, between three and four o'clock, much time was lost in getting through the town. A fire broke out in the main street, and not only hindered the passage of the corps, but imperilled the whole place, for it was full of ammunition waggons. Happily the fire was quenched, and the soldiers of Bulow started for St. Lam |