The Second American War was unjustifiable in its commencement—was unpopular with the majority of the Northern States—and failed to effect either of the two great objects desired by the Americans—the annexation of Canada, or the coercion of embarrassed England into their own terms. Sixty years have passed away; and the first of these dreams is as visionary as it ever was. The loyalty of Canada is undimmed; and her power for self-defence is marvellously increased. She remains a Naboth’s vineyard in the eyes of American Ahabs: but their power for gratifying their lust is diminishing yearly with the development of Canadian resources, and the political manhood of the Canadian people. What is to be said of the second of the two objects which inspired the men who declared the war of 1812? For nearly three years—while they were fighting obscure and petty battles in the north and west, in which the combatants were numbered by hundreds only—the country, which they had attacked so wantonly while bearing her Titanic burden of war, was writing on the pages of history tales of conquest in Europe, which shall never die. Not until her hands were free again did England suffer the disaster at New Orleans: as if the fates grudged her unfilial sons their wish to strike with disaster the parent country, while in the agony of another struggle. And ere they obtained this one solace from New Orleans, the hand of the invader had reached the American capital.
But what better description of the uselessness of this war can be given than the words used by a modern historian in describing the Peace agreed to between the two countries? Russell’s ‘History of Modern Europe.’ “No notice whatever,” he writes, “was taken of the circumstances which occasioned the war.”
CHAPTER XXIII.
Waterloo.
The year, with which this narrative must for the present be brought to an end, was an eventful one. The same year which witnessed the great battle of Waterloo was the hundredth of the Regiment’s existence. How marvellous was the development of England’s Artillery between 1716 and 1815, cannot be better seen than in contrasting the two struggling companies of the former year with the magnificent force of Artillery collected in Belgium in 1815, of which its commander, To D. A. G. dated Brussels, 16 May, 1815. Sir George Wood, wrote: “I do believe there never was in the world such a proportion of Artillery so well equipped. The result must be felt by Europe.”
The growing importance of the arm is apparent from the following statistics. The proportion of guns per 1000 men in the British armies at Marlborough’s three famous battles was as follows: Blenheim, 1·2; Ramilies, 2; and Malplaquet, 1·1. In the Peninsula, the proportion was somewhat higher: at Corunna, 3; Talavera, 1·2; Albuera, 1·2; Salamanca, 2; Vittoria, 1·3; Nivelle, 1·3; Orthes, 1·3; and Toulouse, 1·2. But during the whole of the Peninsular War, the Duke of Wellington complained that he was inadequately supplied with Artillery; and as soon as war was inevitable in 1815, he urged upon the Government at home to send him a large proportion of that arm. The result was that in the British army at the battle of Waterloo the proportion of guns per 1000 men was no less than 3·7.
The circumstances, which led to this great battle, must first be briefly stated. It will be in the reader’s recollection that in February 1815, Napoleon quitted Elba; and on the 20th March entered the Tuileries. As he had foreseen, the army rallied round him; but to his mortification he found coldness and even mistrust on the part of the Chambers, and a decided apathy on the part of the civil population. He beheld also the whole of continental Europe resolving to arm against him,—to stamp out the man, who had so audaciously violated the solemn Convention of Paris; while England—to compensate for the weakness of her military contingent—furnished money to the other Powers, and a General whose name was in itself a host. No uncertain sound came from the European council, which sat at Vienna; and Napoleon saw before him a stern and growing resolution for war to the bitter end. He was not sorry. If he could win battles, he knew that he would have found a cure for all coldness at home:—the army, which had again placed him on the throne, would, if victorious, consolidate his power, and make him independent of all who distrusted him. He commenced, therefore, to reorganize and equip a force which should sweep all before it. He hastened his preparations, in the hope of encountering his enemies in detail, before they should have effected that concentration of their armies along the entire eastern frontier of France, which he knew they contemplated. It will be seen, hereafter, that on more than one occasion during this last of Napoleon’s campaigns, he was guilty of unaccountable lack of energy; but no one can fail to admire the spirit and ability with which in the short spring of that fatal year he organized the army, which was to ensure his complete success, or witness his utter ruin.
To realise his difficulties, one must bear in mind the state Hooper. of the country which he governed. “France had exhausted her vigour in the unrestrained indulgence of her passion for military glory. Her blood was impoverished,—her muscles relaxed, her nerves unstrung, her moral force debilitated by twenty-three years of almost uninterrupted warfare. The laurels gathered in a hundred battles were poor compensation for a paralyzed industry and a crippled commerce,—for desolate corn-fields and half-cultured vineyards. She was ’la belle France’ no longer;—she had used her prime in the debauch of war!” And yet from this country, Napoleon, before the middle of June, had raised the effective force of the regular army to no less than 276,000 men; besides having 200,000 other and inferior troops.
He determined to carry the war first into Belgium. For concentrating an army with this view, the line of fortresses on the French frontier to the north-east offered special advantages. And, on crossing it in force, he hoped to defeat the Prussians and English separately,—to make by this means the war and the Government unpopular in England,—and to detach from the Allies some whom he believed to be but half-hearted in their opposition to him. Another and important reason for selecting Belgium as the theatre of his operations, was the undoubted presence in that country of many who on his first success would flock to his standard.
On the night of the 14th June, Napoleon had collected on the French side of the frontier an army ready to march on the following morning, consisting of 128,000 men, and 344 guns. Of this number, 22,000 were cavalry; and the whole force was divided into five corps d’armée, besides the Imperial Guard, and four corps of reserve cavalry. On that night he slept at Avesnes, which he made his head-quarters, and from which he issued a characteristic address to his troops. Leaving him there,—with the great mass of his Hooper. army “gathered, so to speak, to a head at Beaumont,” and pointing directly upon Charleroi,—the reader is invited to turn to the English army, and examine its constitution and disposition.
A force of Artillery had been in Holland for some time with Sir T. Graham,—under the command of Sir G. A. Wood; and this formed the nucleus of the contingent of that arm in the Duke of Wellington’s army in Belgium. Many names familiar to the reader re-appear in the lists of those who fought at Waterloo. Colonel—now Sir Alexander—Dickson was still in America; but arrived in time for the battle. Others, who had received honours for their Peninsular services, were also there: Sir Augustus Frazer, Sir John May, Sir Hew Ross, and Sir Robert Gardiner. Norman Ramsay, transferred to another troop in order to be present, had also joined; and was already, as Sir Augustus Frazer Frazer’s Letters, p. 532. wrote, “adored by his men:—kind, generous, and manly, he is more than the friend of his soldiers.” Other names will appear, as the narrative proceeds; suffice it at present to say that it is doubtful if ever in one field, or even in one generation, the Regiment has had so many able men gathered together.