5. In regard to the movements of d’Erlon’s Corps on the 16th, it has been shown that its leading division was two hours and a half behind the rear divisions of the 2d Corps on the road to Quatre Bras; and that if d’Erlon’s Corps had closely followed the rear division of the 2d Corps, it could not have been turned aside by the staff-officer’s blunder.[787]
6. Attention has been called to Napoleon’s plan of battle at Ligny, and to the criticisms which it has met with.[788]
7. The view of those writers who regard it as great negligence on the part of Napoleon that on the morning of the 17th he did not take adequate measures to ascertain the direction of the Prussian retreat, is fully adopted.[789]
8. It is also maintained that Napoleon should on that morning at daybreak have marched with the 6th Corps and the Guard to attack the English at Quatre Bras in conjunction with Ney’s forces,—a point on which most writers strongly insist.[790]
9. The connection between the injunction contained in the Bertrand order and the new idea as to the projects of Marshal Blücher, which Berton’s discovery of a Prussian corps at Gembloux had started in Napoleon’s mind, is brought out;[791] and Napoleon is censured for having on the afternoon of the 17th detached so large a force from his army when he had reason to apprehend that a movement by Blücher with the intention of coöperating with Wellington had been in operation since the previous evening.[792]
10. The warning contained in the Bertrand order is given its due prominence; and the fact that Marshal Grouchy was acting under that order, and therefore had entire liberty to take any steps which his own judgment might approve to frustrate the attempt of the Prussians to act in conjunction with the English, is strongly insisted on.[793]
11. It is shown that Grouchy was at Walhain, and not at Sart-à-Walhain when he heard the sound of the cannon of Waterloo and rejected the counsel of Gérard.[794]
12. That Napoleon expected Grouchy to arrive on the left bank of the Dyle by crossing it at the bridge of Moustier is shown by Marbot’s testimony; and attention is called to the inference which this fact warrants, that Napoleon was not cognizant of the language used in the 10 A.M. order to Marshal Grouchy, which seemed to imply that Grouchy was expected to reach Wavre first.[795]
13. It is pointed out that from about four o’clock in the afternoon of the 18th of June to about half-past six, Napoleon’s attention was absorbed by the attack of Bülow’s Corps upon the right and rear of the French army; and that, for the mistakes committed during this period in the assaults on the English army, Ney is mainly responsible.[796] It is furthermore shown that by reason of this distraction of the Emperor’s attention from the operations in his front, valuable opportunities for success against Wellington’s army were lost.[797]
14. Marshal Ney is censured for having done so little in the way of preparation for the successful charge of the Imperial Guard.[798]