Lord Robert Manners and Captain Taylor had rallied a party of the 10th Hussars, with a view to support the 18th, should these be charged in their turn; which however did not occur.
The two last mentioned Regiments had, by this time, been thrown so much into disorder by their charges, that it became necessary to check their further advance, in order to gain time for collecting and reforming their ranks. Although this measure was supported by the coming up of the 1st Hussars of the Legion to take post in front of the Brigade, and was also rendered secure by the advance, on the right, of Vandeleur's Brigade (which had come up on Vivian's right, and between him and the inclosures of Hougomont, in Column of Squadrons, at the moment he was preparing to charge the Square of the Imperial Guard with the party of the 10th Hussars under Major Howard); still the rallying and reforming of those two Regiments was attended with considerable difficulty, inasmuch as they had become completely intermingled with the fugitives.
It is now necessary to recur to Adam's Brigade, which we left advancing, and driving before it, near the Charleroi road, the three Squares of the Guard that had retired as it approached to charge them. It will be recollected that, upon the Brigade first advancing from the Allied position, Lieutenant Colonel Halkett followed it in immediate rear of its Right Flank, with the Osnabrück Battalion of Hanoverian Landwehr. When Adam reached the three Squares above mentioned, Halkett, having the shortest space of ground to move over, soon came up in Line with the Brigade, still pursuing the Column formed by the two Battalions of Chasseurs of the Old Guard. The Osnabrückers having then become much annoyed by a fire that opened upon them obliquely from a French Battery within a very short distance of their right, their 1st Company broke into subdivisions and, supported by the Sharpshooters of the Battalion, made a dash at the Artillery, and captured six guns. During the greater part of the advance, they had been in almost close contact with the Column formed by the two Battalions of Chasseurs of the Old Guard; and Halkett frequently called out to them to surrender.
Having for some short time fixed his eye upon an individual whom he took to be the General Officer in command of the Guard, from his being in full uniform, and from the animation he displayed in his endeavours to induce his men to stand their ground; and observing that the Column, after receiving the fire of the Osnabrückers, left the General with two Officers in its rear, he ordered the Sharpshooters to dash on, whilst he, at the same time darted forward at full gallop to attack the General. When he had come up with him, and was about to cut him down; the latter called out that he would surrender.
Cambronne, for he it was, then preceded Halkett as he returned to the Hanoverian Battalion; but had not gone many paces before Halkett's horse was wounded, and fell to the ground. In a few seconds, however, Halkett succeeded in getting him on his legs again, when he found that his prisoner was escaping in the direction of the French Column: he instantly overtook him, seized him by the aiguilette, brought him to the Battalion, and gave him in charge to a Serjeant of the Osnabrückers who was to deliver him to the Duke.
Adam's Brigade had by this time crossed to the opposite side of the Charleroi road, and, bringing forward its left shoulders, was continuing its advance, in pursuit of the defeated Squares, in a direction parallel with that road; whilst Halkett, by continuing on the inner flank, and following the Battalions of the Chasseurs of the Old Guard, had got somewhat in advance, or rather, in right front of that Brigade; and had, shortly before, reached the immediate vicinity of that part of the Field on which Vivian was in the act of preparing to charge the Square of the Grenadiers of the Old Guard with the Squadron of the 10th Hussars under Major Howard. The Osnabrückers will here be recognised as the Regiment of Allied Infantry already alluded to in the description given of that Charge.
Adam, after his repulse of the three Squares of the Imperial Guard, perceiving that he was so much in front of the main Line of the Anglo-Allied Army, and not being aware of Vivian's advance, had become apprehensive of an attack upon his Right Flank; and he therefore desired his Brigade Major, Major Blair, to proceed in the prolongation of his Right Flank, and observe whether there was any threatening appearance of the Enemy's Cavalry in that quarter. The latter, pursuing his errand, met the Duke of Wellington moving at a quick pace, followed by a single individual, to whom Major Blair addressed himself, but who immediately checked him by remarking, "Monsieur, je ne parle pas un seul mot d'Anglais!" Major Blair then explained to him, in French, the Order he had received, to which he replied, "Le Duc lui même a été voir; il n'y a rien à craindre;" whereupon the former returned to Adam, with this satisfactory information.
Here, then, was the great Chieftain himself, still in the Battle's front, vigilantly watching, and eagerly seizing advantage of, the course of events; braving every peril, and acting solely upon his own personal observation; his Staff, and even Orderlies, almost all killed or wounded; the very few that remained untouched, carrying messages; his only attendant, a foreigner (Major Count de Sales, a Sardinian Officer), attached to his suite!
It is impossible not to recognise in the extraordinary degree of security with which this great man so fearlessly exposed himself throughout the entire day, the protecting interposition of an all wise and merciful Providence. At this moment, too, he was not only upon the track of his great antagonist; but, in all probability, within the shortest distance that ever separated these wonderful men from each other: the one, alone, and in front of his advancing Line, borne forward on the wings of victory, and upheld by the knowledge of his might and the fulness of his glory; the other, seeking shelter amidst his devoted, yet broken and dispirited, cohorts; abandoning himself to despair, and flying from the fatal Field on which the sceptre he had usurped was signally and irrecoverably struck from his iron grasp.