prolongation of its left flank, at a distance from it of not more than one hundred yards. Until then not a bayonet appeared; the head of the commanding officer only, watching and calculating his opportunity, was visible above the summit. At this critical juncture it received the order to advance; and in a few paces, clearing the ascent, was under a furious fire from the long flank of the columns, and its left companies so closely engaged, that they had enough to do to hold their ground, until the regiment coming rapidly "right shoulders forward" in line, to an angle of about 70° with the original position, its whole fire was brought to bear, full and close, upon the heavy masses before it. The 71st soon after supported the movement; and advancing obliquely to its left, protected the exposed right flank of the 52d, and opened a partial fire on the enemy. The headmost grenadiers gradually gave ground to their right and rear, still facing their assailants, and firing as the left of the 52nd closed up to the spot, many of the latter falling among the killed and wounded of the Imperial Guard. A thick white smoke enveloped the contending parties. The 52nd answered with a loud cheer* the continuing shouts of "Vive l'Empereur," and pressed forward to charge still louder shouts, and a more rapid roll of musquetry marked the highest effort of the energy of the Imperial Guard, and then, at once it broket, and rushed in mingled confusion, not directly to its rear, but impelled by the flank charge, obliquely, towards the hollow road in front of La Haye Sainte, carrying with it in similar disorder all the troops on its right. Five or six individuals lingered for a moment on the ground; one of these no doubt was Ney+; unfortunate in not having met on this spot a fate more worthy of his character as a soldier, than that which the wall of the Luxembourg a few weeks afterward afforded him.

The 52nd continued pressing forward; when, from the thick smoke that still hung on the fugitives, a body of horsemen, of which some evi. dently were cuirassiers, broke furiously upon its front. It had all the appearance of an effort of the French cavalry to cover the retreat, and the whole fire was for a moment concentrated upon it, until some of the headmost horsemen, falling almost on the bayonets, were perceived to belong to the 23d light dragoons, and 1st light dragoons, of the German Legion. A murmur ran down the line "they are English;" the firing ceased altogether, and the cuirassiers, by another effort, might perhaps in such a moment of hesitation have completed their charge by penetrating the regiment-only one however attempted it, who, dashing through the two right companies, was killed in the rear of them by the sergeant-major.

Dornberg's exhausted brigade had probably charged the columns which, on the defeat of the Guard, gave way near La Haye Sainte;

"Presently a cheer, which we knew to be British, commenced far to the right, and made every one prick up his ears; it was Lord Wellington's long-wished for orders to advance."-Kincaid's Adventures in the Rifle brigade.

"The attacks made by the right wing of the English army decide the business, and the enemy's guards are routed."-Baron Muffling.

"General Friant had been struck with a ball by my side, and I myself had my horse killed, and fell under it. The brave men who will return from this most terrible battle will, I hope, do me the justice to say, that they saw me on foot with sword in hand during the whole of the evening, and that I only quitted the scene of carnage among the last, and at the moment when retreat could no longer be prevented."—Letter from Marshal Ney to the Duke of Otranto,

and having been, when in a state of consequent dispersion, charged in return by the strong reserve of cavalry which the French had in rear of that farm, a part was forced in a lateral direction, through the Imperial Guard upon the unexpected line of the 52d *.

The front of the 52d was scarcely cleared of the cavalry, when three field pieces, which probably had been attached to the rear of the columns of the Imperial Guard, opened a fire of grape † at a distance of not more than 400 yards, in the prolongation of its right flank. The right section wheeled up and drove them off, the rest of the regiment continuing unchecked its close pursuit of the broken masses of the Guard, until it had swept from right to left the whole front of attack, and its left flank was on the hollow in the chaussée to Genappe, in advance of the garden of La Haye Sainte, 800 yards from the ground at which the charge commenced. In its progress, it was not at any time crossed by the fire or charge of any portion of the allied army, with the exception already described.

Thus at about eight o'clock ended the grand crisis of Waterloo. From this period the success of the allies was established beyond a doubt, and their subsequent movements were only directed to complete the victory.

The smoke had cleared away; some of the fugitives were making an attempt to reform on the other side of the hollow road; but in its evident hopelessness a much more important object was presented, about 400 yards obliquely to the right of the 52d, in three battalions of the Old Guard, which having formed the rear of the columns of attack, had retired in tolerable order, and now stood in squares, supported by a small body of cuirassierst, on the first rise of their position, not far in the front of La Belle Alliance, on the Hougomont side of the chaussée. The remainder of the French army (excepting those who a mile obliquely to the left were still obstinately defending Planchenois against the Prussians) was seen rushing in total disorganization towards the Genappe road; having broken as soon as the Imperial Guard gave way on Mont St. Jean.

The 52d, bringing up its left shoulders, regained its complete parallelism to the general front of the position, and closing with the 71st, (which during the whole of this time had continued its protecting movement on the right,) the two regiments advanced in line, still four deep, upon the squares of the Old Guard §. At this time, no other closed bodies of infantry had advanced from behind the British posi

*It would appear that Sir C. Grant's brigade also charged about this time, to the right of La Haye Sainte; but no part of it was seen by the 52d.

"Some of the enemies' batteries cover, with grape shot, the retreat of the four battalions of the Guard."-Baron Muffling.

Several accounts mention four squares of the Old Guard as remaining formed at this period, but as only three were opposed to the subsequent attack of Adam's brigade, it seems probable that the body of cuirassiers was hastily regarded as a fourth.

"The enemy made one last attempt at a stand on the rising ground to our right of La Belle Alliance; but a charge from General Adam's brigade again threw them into a state of confusion, which was now inextricable, and their ruin was complete.”— Kincaid.

|| Some skirmishers of the 95th were in the garden of La Haye Sainte, and others were pressing on to join the right of the 71st.

tion; and Vivian's brigade, the only cavalry in sight, was but just appearing on the summit. Sir John Colborne, observing this distance of support, the strength and attitude of the enemy, and the heavy state of the ground in the valley, (into which, trampled and retrampled as it had been by twenty thousand horsemen, the sturdy rear-rank men sunk at times knee deep,) called out to the 52d to step short and take breath; but the Duke, who, having galloped up a few moments before, was then in the centre of the regiment, said, " Go on, Colborne, go on; give them no time to rally ;" and, after a hasty correction of the line upon the covering sergeants, all again pressed forward.

The squares of the Old Guard made no attempt to deploy; but, after opening a heavy fire from their front and flanks, as soon as the opposing line drew too near, with great steadiness ceased firing, faced to the rear, and commenced their retreat by word of command, the two right squares directly to the rear on the right side of the chaussée, pursued by the 71st and skirmishers of the 95th. The left square, accompanied at first by the cuirassiers, passing obliquely to the left, crossed the chaussée (which was crowded with fugitives) below La Belle Alliance, and then hastened towards Rosomine, along the left side of the road, followed closely by the 52d regiment, the two British regiments still in lines four deep. On crossing the chaussée, the cuirassiers fronted as if to charge; but their opponents pressed towards them, presenting their bayonets, unwilling to lose time either by firing or forming square, and the cuirassiers declined the contest.

A hundred yards to the allied left of La Belle Alliance, a hollow road runs nearly at right angles towards the chaussée, up which a column of artillery and infantry from the French right wing was hastily retreating. The square crossed the head of this body, but the high bank concealed the approach of the 52d until the distance became too small to admit of any but a hand-to-hand contest. The column seemed not sufficiently aware of its desperate circumstances to surrender without hesitation, and for a moment the scene was singularly wild. The infantry, before they threw down their arms, made an effort either at defence or escape; the artillery dashed at the opposite bank, but some of the horses of each gun were in an instant brought down. A subaltern of the battery threw his sword on the ground, in token of surrender; but the commander, standing in the centre of his guns, waved his above his head in defiance. A soldier sprang from the British ranks, parried his thrust, closed with him, threw him on the ground, and keeping him down with his foot, reversed his musket in both hands to bayonet him; when that repugnance to the shedding of blood, which so often rises in the hearts of British soldiers, even under circumstances of personal danger and prudential necessity, burst forth in a groan of disgust from his surrounding comrades; it came, however, in this case too late, the fatal thrust was sped, and the Legion of Honour lost another member. One gun was sharply wheeled round, and discharged into the square of the Imperial Guard by General Adam's aide-de-camp; some hundreds of prisoners were left to those who should come after; and the 52d pressed on to its first object with so much earnestness, that at a short distance from the farm of Rosomme, the French grenadiers, finding their inability to outmarch their pursuers on equal terms, suddenly halted by word of command, threw off their U. S. JOURN. No. 56, JULY, 1833.

X

knapsacks, and thus lightened, quickly disappeared in the closing twilight.

On the other side of the road, events were more varied and extensive. Vivian's brigade of Hussars came up rapidly in echelon of regiments to the assistance of the 71st. The cuirassiers, worn out as they were, and discouraged as they had reason to be, with much devotedness fronted in the line of La Belle Alliance, to protect the squares of the Old Guard, but a squadron of the 10th dashing at them, followed immediately by one of the 18th, they were dispersed in hopeless confusion. The compact battalions of the Old Guard were not so soon routed a part of the 10th having rallied after the charge on the cuirassiers, found itself under the fire of one of the squares; the men fell very fast, and there was no alternative but instantly to retreat or to charge.

The near approach of the 71st to another face of the same square, decided Sir Hussey Vivian to order the latter. The charge was very gallantly attempted; Major Howard, who conducted it, fell upon the bayonets; some of the grenadiers were cut down by men of the 10th, but even under such circumstances,-charged home by cavalry on two faces, (for the 18th immediately followed to the assistance of their comrades,) and under a heavy fire of infantry on the other,-the veterans knew too well their strength, and in what their safety consisted, to shrink from the contest: they closed well together, beat off the cavalry with a very destructive fire, and, in spite of the approaching infantry, made good their retreat.

The loss sustained from the compact square of the Old Guard was, however, avenged by repeated and effectual charges of Vivian's brigade, now strengthened by the remains of Vandeleur's, upon broken masses of fugitives of all arms, on the ground between Rosomme and Mon Plaisir, and for three miles farther, to the neighbourhood of Genappe.

The village of Planchenois, eight hundred yards to the left of Rosomme, had been the main object of the attack of the Prussians, from about half-past four o'clock, P.M., when their two leading brigades first got into action. This post, however, which then became the French extreme right, was effectually maintained by the eight battalions of the Young Guard and a part of the 6th Corps, until the mass of the French army, driven before the British advance, passed along the high road in its rear, when they also retired, and soon after broke into confusion. The 52d, 71st, and the head of the Prussian columns met just beyond the farm of Rosomme; and at the same moment the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blucher riding up together from La Belle Alliance, the Prussians were ordered to continue the pursuit; and the British advance of infantry, strengthened by the three battalions of the 95th, halted on the spot for the night.

The main body of the allied army had advanced in lines from the position of Mont St. Jean, about the time that the squares of the Old Guard turned before the attack of Adam's brigade. The greater part of the cavalry pushed forward in support of its advanced brigades to the

"The enemy was dislodged from Planchenois; cannon and prisoners were taken, and the remainder got into the same confusion with the mass which, near La Maison du Roi, was just rolling along the high road"-Baron Muffling;

neighbourhood of Genappe. The infantry halted in the line of La Belle Alliance. The remains of the several divisions then spread over the ground to search out their bivouacs among the wounded and the dead, and night closed upon the FIELD OF WATERLOO.

That the French regarded the advance of the Imperial Guard as the crisis in which all their previous disadvantages might be retrieved, is evident from this attack being attempted, and that with their whole remaining reserve.

That the British had reason to think it was the crisis in which all their previous advantages might be lost, will appear, if it be considered that at that period all their reserves were not only in the first line, but had been already more or less engaged, and that they had not at the utmost more than 35,000 effective men on the field, of which by far the greater proportion were either good troops, exhausted from having borne the brunt of the action, or indifferent auxiliaries, not to be depended on to face the fury of a French onset. Ten thousand fresh and fine troops, concentrated against the centre of such a line, and closely seconded on the same point by 12,000 more, had, at least, a reasonable prospect of remaining masters of the field.

It may be thought that, even had the French succeeded in forcing the British centre, the Prussians would still have been sufficient to turn the tide of victory against them. But if it be further considered that Planchenois was the only point hotly attacked in force by the Prussians; and that that point was not carried until the mass of the French army was driven along the high road behind it in confusion by the British advance, at the close of day and one hour after the Imperial Guard had given way on Mont St. Jean, it may fairly be doubted whether, without the defeat of the Guard, Planchenois would have been carried at all; or at any rate whether the Prussians could have brought up sufficient force on that evening to have obtained a decided victory. Throughout the whole of this short campaign they showed themselves indeed as gallant soldiers and generous allies; ready to sacrifice everything to assist their friends and to overwhelm the common enemy; and on the 18th they contributed very highly to the success of the day by occupying the Young Guard and the 6th Corps ; but they did not decide the victory; neither probably could they have done so on that day, had the British failed. What the morrow would have produced, with Grouchy at hand, the Belgians panic-struck, and the British, Dutch, and Germans exhausted and almost annihilated, is a wide question.

Whatever errors or omissions † there may be in the preceding nar

* Be this as it may, the charge of the Imperial Guard was the crisis of the fortune of the British army.

It is more difficult to determine with accuracy the events of the crisis and close of an action, than those of any other portion. In the early stages, corps and forma tions are distinct and regular, and the minds and bodies of those present fresh and acute for observation; but towards the close of a protracted contest, divisions, brigades, and regiments become frequently inverted and intermingled, formations are often irregular, and individuals, exhausted by fatigue and anxiety, are each intent only on his own small surrounding circle. Should