Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK

561

where the slaughter was so terrific that the French army was once again annihilated. Finding all was lost, the French Emperor proceeded in all haste to Paris.

On the 27th of February, 1814, Wellington gave battle to Soult at Orthez, and success again rested with the British commander. The allied troops now occupied Bordeaux (where the citizens proclaimed King Louis XVIII.) and invested Bayonne, while Soult retreated to Toulouse. Here, on Easter Sunday was fought a most determined and bloody engagement, which ended disastrously for the French Marshal, who was compelled to retreat towards Carcassone.

After the battle of Leipsic, the allies advanced towards the French frontier, and on the 31st of March, under the command of the Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia, they occupied the capital of France. Napoleon retired to Fontainebleau, and on the 11th of April announced his abdication. A treaty of peace and alliance was entered into between Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia. The boundaries of France were limited to her frontier of 1792; Malta remained in possession of England, while the Cape of Good Hope, and Ceylon, were added permanently to her colonial empire. Hanover was elevated into a king

COSSACKS.

dom, and Belgium and Holland were united. Napoleon was sent to the small island of Elba, in the Mediterranean, where, in possession of a small court, ample revennes, and almost undisturbed communications with his former adherents, he was enabled to plan his wonderful escape, which took place in the ensuing year. In June, the allied armies evacuated Paris, it being believed that the sway of Louis XVIII. was secured in France. The Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia visited England, where they were magnificently received by the Prince Regent. The Marquis Wellington was raised to the dignity of a Duke, and a sum of £500,000 was voted to him.

Now that proper attention could be paid to American affairs, and that it was seen our transatlantic enemies were not to be despised, more vigour was shown in combating them on equal terins. The ships destined to meet their heavily armed frigates, were better equipped and manned, and in the last few months of this sad war, the English commanders were able to render a much better account of their adversaries. On June 1st, 1813, Captain Broke, of the Shannon, engaged the Chesapeake outside of Boston harbour, and in fifteen minutes, after a most

obstinate engagement, the Yankee lowered her colours. Three attempts made by the United States upon Canada were defeated, and considerable bodies of Peninsular veterans being shipped off to America, the war was carried on with a proper amount of vigour. On August 15th, 1814, Washington, the capital of the United States, was occupied and destroyed by the British troops; but attacks on Baltimore and New Orleans were repulsed. Both parties being tired of war, a treaty of peace was signed at Ghent in December, 1814.

In 1815, a Congress of the European Powers was assembled at Vienna, to arrange the affairs of the world. This was no easy task, and by the end of February matters wore such a threatening aspect, that it was feared war would ensue. But while the Powers were wrangling over antagonistic principles, it was suddenly announced that Napoleon, regardless of his solemn promises, and of the generous treatment he had received at the hands of his conquerors, had left his island empire, and had landed (March 1), at Cannes. With rapid strides he proceeded towards the capital. The army deserted the King in all quarters, and welcomed their old commander with an enthusiasm almost boundless. One after another, Napoleon's marshals, who had given in their adherence to the Bourbons, deserted their posts, and flew to meet the Emperor. Louis XVIII. fled from Paris, and Napoleon once more occupied the throne in the Tuilleries.

This unlooked-for event caused every other consideration to be set aside for the time; the Duke of Wellington was named Commander-inChief of the Allied Armies, and a determination was arrived at to crush Napoleon once and for ever, as "an enemy of the human race." Events hurried on with marvellous rapidity; the allied armies were to rendezvous in Belgium; and by the second week in June, a large Prussian army under Prince Blücher, a Dutch-Belgian contingent, and a British force, which was constantly augmenting, were fast concentrating in and about Brussels.

Napoleon had used the most extraordinary efforts to raise and equip an army, and never, perhaps, in his career, was a more magnificent force led by him to fight for his ambitious and wicked purposes. His great object was to cut the British and Prussians into two sections, each of which he hoped to defeat in detail. On the 16th of June, Marshal Ney attacked the right of the British line at Quatre Bras, but after a hard fought battle, the victory was on the side of the allies. On the the same day, Napoleon attacked the Prussians at Ligny, and after a determined and sanguinary struggle, forced them to draw off in the direction of Wavre. The 17th of June was devoted to a retrograde movement of the allies to a position nearer Brussels, the centre of which was within a mile and a half of Waterloo, where the Duke of Wellington established his head-quarters. The British position extended along the ridge of a range of heights extending from the Nivelles road on the right, to Papelotte on the left, having the chateau of Hougoumont and the farm of La Haye Sainte in front, strongly fortified. The French army occupied a range of heights opposite to the British position, rest

ing on Planchenoit. A deep valley lay between the two armies. As the immediate object of the Battle of Waterloo was the possession of the great road to Brussels, which intersected both armies, and passed through Waterloo, it is plain to see that the British were the defending, and the French the attacking army.

As nearly as can be discovered this great battle commenced at noon on the 18th of June, 1815. The most determined bravery animated both armies. It was the only time that Napoleon and Wellington had come into personal contact, and the result was looked forward to with the most intense anxiety. Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte were the great points of attack. Čolumn after column assailed these temporary fortifications. The former resisted every effort of the French to take it, but the latter at length became untenable. Then Napoleon hurled his splendid cavalry against the allied position, but the British battalions, threw themselves into squares, and poured volleys of bullets into the masses of their adversaries, who rode round and round the glittering walls of steel, seeking in vain for a weak point. It was a part of the plan agreed upon that Blücher should support the British

[graphic][merged small]

army, by coming up on the extreme left of the position, and so attack the flank of the French army; and the advent of the Prussians was anxiously awaited by the Duke of Wellington. After the Battle of Ligny, Blücher had withdrawn his troops in good order and marched towards the new field of battle by way of Wavre. Here, where only one bridge crossed the river, a fire had broken out in the narrow street, and until the flames could be subdued it was impossible for the tumbrils of ammunition to advance. Many valuable hours were lost in this way, and although the advanced guard of the Prussians occupied the wood of Paris early in the afternoon, it was not until seven o'clock that Blücher could bring his men up in sufficient numbers to render any efficient assistance to the jaded but unconquered soldiers of Wellington.

A little before this hour, Napoleon, finding that his cavalry were

useless against the British squares, determined upon making a grand attack with his whole army. The Imperial Guard advanced in a serried mass against the centre of the allied position, and preceded by a terrific fire of artillery he gave the word to advance. The Duke, seeing the

PRUSSIAN SOLDIERS.

preparations for this movement, and knowing it to be the critical moment, strengthened his centre with the brigade of Guards, and gave the order for his men to lie down over the crest of the hill. With loud and discordant yells did the enemy advance; but not a shot was fired at them, not a British soldier was to be seen, until the Imperial Guard came within thirty yards of the allied ridge; then the Duke of Wellington gave the word, and as if by magic every British soldier rose from the ground. The line was formed four deep, the front rank kneeling, and as the French column made its appearance such a volley was poured into their advancing masses as had never yet been known. It was impossible to resist this master-stroke; the French were hurled back with terrible slaughter. Not waiting to give them time to rally, the Duke ordered a grand advance of his entire army, and the battle was won. Napoleon witnessed the defeat of his great movement, and turning to his staff made use of those memorable words, "All is lost-save himself who can!" (Tout est perdu! Sauve qui peut !) The utter rout of the French army was beyond the most sanguine hopes of their adversaries; not a battalion, not a company could be brought together; they threw their arms and equipments away and covered the country for many leagues in their efforts to escape. The Emperor was the first to carry the news of his defeat to the capital, which he entered on the 22nd, without a single attendant. Wellington and Blücher met after ten o'clock at the village of Genappe, and there it was agreed that the pursuit should be taken up by the Prussians, while the British troops bivouacked on the ground which had in the morning been occupied by the proudest host ever sent out by France to fight her battles under the greatest of her generals.

The allies followed up their victory without an hour's delay, and on the 4th of July they again entered Paris. Napoleon had previously abdicated in favour of his son, but this arrangement was disallowed, and on the 8th of the month, Louis XVIII. once more took possession of the French throne. Napoleon endeavoured to escape to America, but finding all the ports blockaded by English cruizers, he surrendered himself a prisoner to Captain Maitland, of the Bellerophon, and was conveyed to Plymouth Harbour. It was decided to send him to the Island of St. Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean, and, considering

his enormous crimes, and the immensity of human life sacrificed to feed his selfish and towering ambition, we must, in spite of the sickly sentimentality which of late years has prevailed as to his exile, feel that he was most leniently dealt with.

A treaty of peace was signed at Paris on November 21st, and the Congress of Vienna resumed its sittings.

The close of the war left every country in Europe in a state of extraordinary exhaustion. In England the budget for the year 1815 amounted to ninety millions of pounds sterling; the National Debt had increased from two hundred and twenty-eight to eight hundred millions; while trade and commerce were frightfully depressed, by the actual inability of foreign nations to purchase our manufactures.

In Spain, King Ferdinand was disgusting his subjects by a system of despotism, which his long misfortunes should have prevented him from entering upon. His re-establishment of the Inquisition is a blot upon his memory which none can palliate.

In 1816 the Princess Charlotte was happily married to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, an union that promised domestic felicity for the illustrious couple, and strength and happiness for the nation.

Lord Exmouth conducted a fleet to Algiers, and his demands for the release of the Christian slaves being disregarded, he opened fire; and after destroying the fortifications and the piratical ships, the Dey came to terms.

EXILE OF ST. HELENA.

(A sketch from life.)

Now that the excitement of the war was over, men looked about for some theme of discussion; PARLIAMENTARY REFORM was the subject chosen, and for many years the bitterest feelings were excited, and most violent scenes were enacted. The leaders of the movement at this time were Sir Francis Burdett, Major Cartwright, and Henry Hunt, who were continually summoning monster meetings in different parts of the kingdom, frequently leading to riots which were not suppressed without loss of life.

In 1817, as the Regent was proceeding to open Parliament, his carriage was surrounded by an infuriated mob, who broke the windows, and would have been guilty of other violent acts had not the Life Guards come to the rescue. In Derby disturbances occurred, which were not quelled until the ringleaders were captured and made to suffer the penalties of high treason. Prosecutions were directed against the more violent pamphleteers of the time, and one William Hone was indicted for libel and blasphemy. He was tried before Lord Ellenborough, and acquitted, whereupon the Lord Chief Justice resigned his office. On the 6th of November the nation was plunged into the deepest sorrow by the death of the young Princess Charlotte, who had previously given birth to a still-born child.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »