537 
PARIS. 
to titeir chief. They were alfo known to each other, 
bound together by one common feeling and one common 
intereft; confident in their leaders; the Sower of France; 
and compofed of thofe veterans, returned from European 
prifons, who had formerly carried terror over the conti¬ 
nent. Ail were burning to wipe away the ftains which 
the previous campaigns had heaped upon their arms; and 
all were eager to earn frefii laurels, honours, and rewards. 
On their parts, Hie commanders of the allied armies 
were not idle. The charafter of B 1 ocher, for firmnefs 
and decifion, was well known. That of Wellington, 
many a proud day had celebrated over the world. Tne 
pofition of Waterloo had been previoufly pitched upon by 
his comprehenfive mind, as the bed he could choofe to cover 
Bruflels, and to meet the fury of his formidable antagonift. 
The untarniflied fame of Wellington was now fairly and 
conlpicuoully oppofed to the ruler of France, who had 
long been charafterized, and was dill believed by many, 
to be the greatell captain of the age ; who alfo, in the 
prefent conteft, had every thing to hope from fuccefs, 
and abfolute ruin to expeft from defeat. The army of 
Wellington was confident in, and proud of, their chief; 
but they were compofed of five different nations, Scarcely 
known to each other. The Dutch and Belgian troops 
were newly raifed, and in their fird affay in arms. The 
Hanoverians, forming a fourth of the army, were all new 
levies, and young troops. Yet with thefe the duke of 
Wellington refolved to face his Skilful adverfary. Europe 
watched the movements of each with fear and filence; 
Britain with anxiety and hope. The Britiflt genera], and 
the Britidi troops, were thus, even under very disadvan¬ 
tageous circumdances, pitched againlt the elite of France 
and her boaded leader. 
In the mean time, various unpleafant rumours had 
Spread through Bruflels and the Surrounding country, in 
confequence, of the retreat of the a'lied armies. After 
the British army had left Brudels, on the morning of the 
16th, that city looked like a perfect defert. Every coun¬ 
tenance was marked with anxiety or melancholy ; every 
heart was filled with anxious expectation. It was not, 
however, fuppofed that any aftion would take place that 
day. What was then the general condernation, when, 
about three o’clock, a furious cannonading began ! It 
was certainly in the direction theBritifh army had taken ; 
it came from Waterloo ! In vain did every one afk quef- 
tions which none could anfvver—numbers of people in 
carriages and on horfeback, Set od’ towards Waterloo, 
and returned no vvifer than they went, each bringing 
back a diderent dory. A thoufand abfurd reports, totally 
devoid of foundation, were circulated. What was told 
one minute was contradicted the next. According to 
Seme, Blucher had been completely beaten ; according 
to others, he had gained a complete victory. Some would 
have it, that 30,000 French were left dead on the field-of- 
battle ; others, that about the fame number were advan¬ 
cing to furprife Brudels. 
Thislad conjecture wasimproved intoalmod a certainty 
by the Sudden appearance, between five and fix in the 
morning of the 17th, of a troop of Belg-ic cavalry, covered, 
not with,glory but with mud, galloping through the town 
at full fpeed, as if the enemy were at their heels. The 
alarm was Soon given. In lefs than two minutes, the 
great Square of the Place Royale, which had been crowded 
•with men and horfes, carts and baggage-waggons, was 
completely cleared of every thing, and entirely deferted. 
The cry was, “ The French are at the gates of the town !” 
The doors of all the bed-rooms were thrown open ; the 
people flew out with their night-caps on, Scarcely half- 
dreffed, and looking quite diftrafted, running about pale 
and trembling they knew not whither, with packages 
under their arms ; Some carrying huge heterogeneous 
collections of things down to the cellars, and others 
loaded with their property flying up to the garrets. In 
the court-yards of the inns, a Scene of the molt dreadful 
confufion errfued. Description can give but a faint idea 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1263. 
of the Scuffle that took place to get at the horfes and car¬ 
riages ; the Squabbling of mailers and Servants, oftlers, 
chambermaids, coachmen, and gentlemen, all lcolding 
at once, and Swearing in French, Englifh, and Fle¬ 
mish; while every opprobrious epithet and figure of 
Speech, which the three languages contained, was ex- 
haulled. Some made ule of Supplication, and others had 
recourfe to force; vVords were followed by blows. Thofe 
who had horfes, or means of procuring them, Set off with 
molt allonifliing expedition ; and one Engliili carriage after 
another took the road to Antwerp. ’ 
It was impolTible for the people of Bruflels, who were 
wholly ignorant of the event of the battle, and acquainted 
only with the disadvantageous circumdances under which 
it had been fought, not to fear that the enemy might at 
leaf! have Succeeded in breaking through the Britifh, or 
at lead the Pruflian, lines ; or-that Bonaparte, ever fertile 
in expedients, might have contrived to elude their vigi¬ 
lance and to fend a detachment, under cover of night, 
by a circuitous route, to fieze the unguarded city, the pof- 
feflion of which was to him of the highed importance. 
The news of the advance of the French ; the alarming 
reports which had been brought in from all quarters 
during the night ; the flight of the Belgic troops, and, 
above all, the failure of any intelligence from the Bririfh 
army ; tended to corroborate this 1 a It alarm, and it Seemed 
but too certain that the enemy were actually at hand. 
At length, after a considerable interval of terror and fuf- 
penfe, an aid-de-camp of the duke of Wellington arrived, 
who had left the army at four o’clock; and, to the un¬ 
speakable joy of the people, this was found to be a falfe 
alarm. It had been Spread by thofe daftardly Belgians 
who had been Scampering through the town, and who had, 
it is fuppofed, met with Some draggling party of the 
French. A confiderable number of French did indeed 
enter the town Soon after ; but they were French prisoners. 
The defeat which the Pruffians had fudained could not, 
however, be concealed ; and the Belgians were dill filled 
with condernation and difmay. Tire corpfe of the duke 
of Brunfwick had palled through Bruflels during the 
night, and his fate Seemed to make a great impreffion 
upon the minds of the people. Waggons filled with the 
wounded began to arrive, and the melancholy fpeftacle 
of thefe poor Sufferers increafed the general defpondency. 
The Areets were filled with the mod pitiable lights. A 
Belgic Soldier was Seen dying at the door of his own home, 
and Surrounded by his relatives, who were weeping over 
him ; numerous were the Sorrowful groups Handing round 
the dead bodies of thofe who had died of their wounds in 
the way home. Numbers of wounded, who were able to 
walk, were wandering upon every road; their blood- 
flained clothes, and pale haggard countenances, perhaps 
giving the idea of Sufferings much greater than the reality. 
It would be eridlefs to dwell upon every frelh panic. 
An open town, like Bruflels, within a few miles of con¬ 
tending armies, is fubjeft to perpetual alarms; and 
Scarcely an hour palled without Some falfe reports occur¬ 
ring to Spread terror and confufion. Every hour only 
Served to add to the difmay. So great was the alarm 
in Bruflels on the evening of the 17th, that a hundred 
Napoleons were offered in vain for a pair of horfes to go 
to Antwerp, a didance of thirty miles; and numbers let 
off on foot, and embarked in boats upon the canal. Next 
day, the terror and confufion reached its highefl point. 
News arrived of the French having gained a complete vic¬ 
tory; and it was univerfally believed. A dreadful panic 
had Seized the men left in charge of the baggage in the 
rear of the army, and they ran away with a rapidity that 
could not have been furpaffed even by the French them. 
Selves. The road between Waterloo and Bruflels, which 
lies through the fored of Soignies, is completely confined 
on either fide by trees; it was Soon choaked up; thofe 
behind attempted to get pad thofe before ; officers’ fer- 
vants were Aruggling to Secure their makers’ baggage; 
panic-druck people forcing their way over every obltacie, 
6 X with 
