The formation of the French Lines was scarcely completed when the magnificent and animating spectacle which they presented was heightened in an extraordinary degree by the passing of the Emperor along them, attended by a numerous and brilliant Staff. The troops hailed him with loud and fervent acclamations. There was depicted on their brows a deep rooted confidence in his ability, with such an Army, to chain victory to the car in which he had already advanced in triumph to within a few miles of the capital of Belgium. They exulted in the idea that they were now fairly ranged in battle array, under the Chief of their choice, and the idol of their devotion, against the Army of that nation which of all others had proved the most inveterate and the most enduring in its hostility to France; a nation which had not only by its wealth cemented and held together the great European league which had once precipitated that idol from the throne, but had also flung into the scale her own native strength and valour, by which the Fleets of the Empire had been destroyed, its Armies driven out of the Peninsula, and the sceptres of Spain and Portugal wrested from its grasp. They appeared as if excited by the assurance, that the hour had arrived in which the disasters of the Nile and Trafalgar, of Salamanca and Vittoria, were to be cast into the dark shade of oblivion, by the dazzling splendour of the triumph about to be achieved.
Soult
Never throughout the whole of his career had Napoleon received from his soldiers more unequivocal demonstrations of attachment to his person, of unlimited confidence in his power, of complete devotion to his cause, and of absolute submission to his will, than were manifested in this short and fatal Campaign by which that career was terminated. With an Army thus animated by one sentiment, and presenting in appearance and material all that his practised eye could desire, it may readily be conceived that he fully participated in the general confidence of a signal victory.
Wellington's dispositions remained as previously described. Shortly before the action commenced, he rode down to Hougomont, and, proceeding by the Lane which crosses the Wood in the direction of La Belle Alliance, remained a few minutes at the point where the Lane reaches the eastern boundary of the Wood. Having made his observations upon that portion of the Enemy's Line which came under his view, he ordered the Light Companies of the British Guards that were in the Wood to be relieved by the Nassau Battalion and the Hanoverian Light Infantry. The former were then withdrawn to the Great Orchard, where the Light Companies of the First Brigade remained, while those of the Second Brigade moved on, along the rear of the inclosures, to the Lane which passes between the right of the Buildings and the Kitchen Garden, and leads into the Wood on that side.
The Duke next rode up to the high ground on the Nivelles road, unaccompanied by his Staff, to reconnoitre the Enemy's Left. He then rode along to the Left of his own Line as far as La Haye. When the action began, he was in front of the Left of the First Brigade of Guards.
Napoleon, having completed the inspection of his troops, proceeded to take up his own station upon the Height in rear of La Belle Alliance, which afforded him a commanding view of the whole Field. The Infantry Brigades speedily formed Lines of Battalion Columns respectively. The state of the ground was reported practicable for the movements of Artillery. All was in perfect readiness.