“My opinion is, that we ought to take measures to unite the whole Prussian army with this allied Anglo-Dutch army in front of Brussels; and that, with this view, the troops under your Excellency’s command should, without loss of time, march along the Maese, and take up cantonments between Charleroi, Namur and Huy.
“By this disposition, we shall be sure to save this country, so interesting to the allied powers: we shall cover the concentration of their forces on the Rhine; and we shall escape the evils which would inevitably result from a sudden retreat in our actual circumstances. At the same time, your Excellency would be just as able as you are in your present position, to march your troops to any point required by the service of the king; and we should have for our numerous cavalry a field of battle as favourable as any in the rear of Brussels.
“I beg your Excellency to take these reasons into consideration, and to let me know your determination; in order that I may decide what measures I ought to take in case I should be attacked, if your Excellency should judge more fit to remain where you are.
“I ought to apprize your Excellency, that the king of the Netherlands has given orders for providing your troops with all they may want upon their advance into this country.
“Wellington.”
Our readers will remark in this letter the Duke’s prompt decision on the importance of an immediate junction of a large Prussian force with the British allied army, and of protecting Brussels at all hazards. We shall see how much stress Napoleon laid upon keeping the British and the Prussians apart, and upon making a dash at Brussels. These two great commanders then took the same view: but the Duke’s vigilance and energy baffled all Napoleon’s exertions against the English allied army and the city of Brussels: the Prussians would have suffered less at Ligny, if the Duke’s earnest entreaty for the earliest possible junction of the allies had been duly appreciated. Wellington also correctly anticipated, from the first moment, that Charleroi and its vicinity would probably be the point selected by Napoleon for his irruption into the Netherlands.
It seems from a letter dated 15th of April 1815, of the Duke to Gneisenau, that he had ascertained that two corps of the enemy, composed of 45,000 infantry and 7,200 cavalry, were in his front between the Sambre and the sea: he immediately set off to reconnoitre the whole frontier: this occupied him four days.
By reference to the “SECRET MEMORANDUM” in the Appendix, [No. 1], it may be seen how prompt, energetic and comprehensive were the measures resolved upon by the duke of Wellington. As early as the 30th of April, he wrote to lord Uxbridge, “All the dispositions are so made that the whole army can be collected in one short movement, with the Prussians on our left.”
One of Wellington’s difficulties in preparing for the contest, was the motley character of some of the foreign troops placed, or offered to be placed, under his command. Some Saxon troops in particular drew from him very severe, but characteristic strictures and contempt, as appears from the subjoined documents:
To the Earl of Clancarty, G. C. B.