He also brought word that Ney had received no news of the result of the battle of Ligny.[452] Thereupon Soult wrote a despatch[453] to Ney informing him that the Prussians had been “put to rout,” and that Pajol was pursuing them on the roads to Namur and Liége. Ney was then told that the Emperor was going to Brye; that it did not seem possible for the English to do anything against him, Ney, but that if they should undertake anything, the Emperor would march directly upon them. Then the Emperor comments on the fact that Ney did not act on the preceding day with his entire force.[454] Lastly, Ney is ordered to take up position at Quatre Bras; but if that should not be possible, then he was at once to state the facts in detail, and the Emperor would immediately march on Quatre Bras himself, while Ney should assail the enemy in front. If, on the contrary, there should be only a rear-guard there, Ney was to attack it and take up position there. Ney was also directed to inform the Emperor of the exact situation of his divisions, and of all that was going on in his front.
That no move of importance was then under contemplation at headquarters appears from this sentence:—
“To-day will be needed to terminate this operation, to supply ammunition, bring in stragglers, and call in detachments. Give your orders accordingly; and see to it that all the wounded are cared for and transported to the rear; we hear complaints that the ambulances have not done their duty.”
This despatch was probably written about 8 A.M.[455] It is clear from reading it that Napoleon presumed, as a matter of course, that Wellington had long before heard of the defeat of Blücher, and had fallen back towards Brussels, leaving only a rear-guard at Quatre Bras. Had he known the truth,—which was, as we shall soon see, that the Duke did not move a man till 10 A.M.,—he would no doubt have attacked him at once. It is true that Napoleon’s conjecture as to Wellington’s movements was a very natural one. It is true, also, that he had a perfect right to expect to receive from the commander of his left wing an accurate and full account of the situation there; Ney ought, it is not necessary to say, to have prepared a report of the battle of Quatre Bras on the evening of the 16th, and sent it off to headquarters at once. Furthermore, he ought to have informed the Emperor on the morning of the 17th that the English were still at Quatre Bras in force. Napoleon’s inactivity does not in the least excuse him. But Ney’s neglect to make proper reports of the situation at Quatre Bras does not in any way justify Napoleon’s delay in marching upon the English. The propriety of this step was not dependent on the accounts to be received from Marshal Ney. To unite the reserves to the left wing and move upon Wellington at the earliest possible moment was the thing to do, whatever might be the reports from Ney.
Marshal Soult seems to have been of no assistance to the Emperor on this morning. If he had been a competent and efficient chief-of-staff he would assuredly have had all needed information ready for the Emperor when the latter made his appearance in the morning. As it was, knowing nothing of what had happened at Quatre Bras till nearly eight o’clock, waiting till it should suit Ney to furnish him with the information requested in the 8 A.M. despatch, assuming that Wellington must have heard of the defeat of Blücher and fallen back in consequence, the Emperor amused himself with going over the field of battle, and talking politics to the generals.[456] He did not exert himself in the least to stimulate the energy and activity of his subordinates; in fact, he yielded to that lassitude which is so apt to succeed unusual exertion. He deliberately postponed the execution of the next step in his campaign, notwithstanding that the incomplete result of his encounter with the Prussians rendered it all the more imperative that no time should be lost and no opportunity neglected.
During the forenoon, however, the troops intended to join Ney were ordered to Marbais on the turnpike,—Lobau[457] at ten o’clock,—the Guard and Milhaud’s cuirassiers at eleven. At noon, it having been reported that the English were still at Quatre Bras, another order[458] was sent to Ney, directing him to attack the enemy there, and informing him that the Emperor was leading the troops now at Marbais to support his operations. Thus the execution of the plan of campaign marked out in the letters to Ney and Grouchy was at last resumed; the reserves under Napoleon marched to join the left wing under Ney; the right wing under Grouchy was assigned to take care of the defeated Prussians. Girard’s division of the 2d Corps, which had suffered severely in the battle,—Girard himself having been mortally hurt,—was left on the field to take care of the wounded.
Napoleon had undoubtedly assumed that the Prussian army, if beaten, would retire on its base of operations, towards Namur and Liége. This assumption was strengthened by the circumstances of the battle of Ligny. He had not failed to note the strong force retained by Marshal Blücher to protect his communications with Namur as well as the road to Gembloux, by which the IVth Corps was expected to arrive. He was perfectly justified in inferring that if Blücher had established a new or secondary base at Wavre, for instance, or Louvain, or if he had had any idea whatever of renouncing his line of communications, so as to be able to coöperate with the English in subsequent operations, he would without doubt have placed his left wing in a wholly different position, where he could have made some use of it in the battle.[459] The fact that Thielemann’s Corps was placed where it could not be of any assistance to those of Zieten and Pirch I., seemed to indicate that reliance was placed upon the English for any help these corps might need, and corroborated the presumption that Blücher and Gneisenau were willing to take the risk of the defeat of a part of the Prussian army by accepting battle where support could only be furnished by their allies, and had no intention whatever of renouncing their base of operations, via Namur and Liége. Added to these considerations was the general presumption against such a dangerous and inconvenient course as a change of base must always be.[460]
It must also be remembered that the Prussians held the villages of Brye and Sombreffe till after midnight, so that there was no obstacle whatever to the troops of the two beaten corps retiring after the battle by the Quatre-Bras-Namur turnpike towards Namur. It may well be questioned whether there was any need for these troops to cross the pike at all; or whether any of them would have crossed it, had Blücher given orders for the whole army to retire on Namur.[461]
Hence it was assumed at the headquarters of the French army that it was in the direction of Namur that the Prussians had retreated.[462] Soult, early in the morning, sent out Pajol on the Namur road with a division of his own corps, supported by a brigade from Exelmans’ Corps, to ascertain the facts; and before 8 A.M. Pajol reported the capture of a battery and prisoners at Le Mazy on that road.[463] It was on this information that Soult informed Ney that Pajol was pursuing the Prussians on the road to Namur.