No Proclamation of a similar nature was issued by Prince Blücher, nor were any direct Orders given by the latter to remind his troops that France was "to be treated as a friendly country," or to forbid them taking anything "for which payment be not made."
Hence, in the advance to Paris, a marked contrast was observed between the conduct of the Prussian, and that of the Anglo-Allied, Army: the troops of the former committing great excesses and imposing severe exactions along their whole line of march; whilst the British and German troops under the Duke of Wellington acquired from the outset the good will and kindly disposition of the inhabitants of the country through which they passed. The Anglo-Allied troops inspired the people with confidence: the Prussians awed them into subjection.
Much of the cause of all this may be traced to the different views entertained by the two great Commanders. Blücher's extreme hatred of the French would not allow him to modify, still less to abandon, the opinion which he had imbibed from the first moment he heard of the escape of Napoleon from Elba; that they ought not only to be thoroughly humbled, but also severely punished. Neither he nor his soldiers could ever forget the monstrous cruelties and grinding extortions which their own country had been compelled to endure when overrun by the French: and now that they were once more brought into the land of their bitterest Enemies, and another period of retribution had arrived; but one sentiment pervaded the whole Prussian Army—that those who had not scrupled to inflict the scourge of War throughout the whole Continent, should, in their turn, be made duly sensible of its evils. A contrary train of ideas, or a different course of proceeding, on the part of the Prussians was scarcely to be expected. Hence the value of the excellent and orderly conduct of the British troops operating as a salutary counterpoise to the domineering and revengeful spirit which actuated the Prussians.
Blücher felt equally with Wellington that the advance upon Paris before the approach of the Allied Armies, which were then only crossing the Rhine, was a departure from strictly military principles; and that this could only be justified by the extraordinary moral effect which would be produced by the signal defeat of Napoleon. But his views were limited to the military part of the plan, which was to make a dash at the capital; and, if possible, to intercept Grouchy whilst endeavouring to rejoin the routed force under Soult. Wellington's admirable policy embraced a wider field. He invariably kept in view the great object for which the War had been undertaken. The information which he contrived to obtain relative to the effect which Napoleon's disaster produced upon the minds of the leading men of the great political Parties by which France was then agitated, and upon the Members of the two Chambers of Parliament generally, combined with the knowledge he had already acquired of the disposition of the inhabitants of the Department of the North, which, in fact, had not evinced that enthusiasm attendant upon the return of Napoleon from Elba that was manifested throughout the greater part of the nation, convinced him that by adopting measures calculated to impress upon the French people that the Allies were friendly towards them, though inveterately hostile to Napoleon, and by seizing every advantage afforded by the presence and the influence of their legitimate Monarch, he was, by such means, insuring the security of the operations upon Paris more effectually than could have been accomplished by additional military force applied under different circumstances.
The aid which such a line of conduct, on the part of the Duke, gave to the cause of Louis XVIII. was immense. The people of the Northern Departments, who, in general, were wearied by the continuance of wars undertaken for the sole purpose of aggrandizing and upholding the power of Napoleon; and who now longed to enjoy the blessings of peace, saw in the friendly disposition of the Allies, and the support which these yielded to the King's authority, a pledge of their determination to crush the War Party, and at the same time, to cement their alliance with the legitimate Sovereign. The White Flag was soon seen to wave from countless steeples. The tide of Royalty, favoured in no small degree by the versatile nature of the French character, was already setting in fast: and as it rolled steadily on towards the capital, the Duke's customary foresight and good tact gave it an impulse which not only bore him along with it in easy triumph; but, when it subsequently reached the goal, swept away every vestige of the Government usurped by Napoleon and his adherents.
ON the 22nd of June, the Second and Fourth British Divisions, as also the Cavalry, of the Anglo-Allied Army marched to Le Cateau and its vicinity. The First and Third British Divisions, the Divisions of Dutch-Belgian Infantry attached to the First Corps, the Nassau troops, and the Dutch-Belgian Cavalry were encamped near Gommignies. The Fifth and Sixth British Divisions, the Brunswick Corps, and the Reserve Artillery, were encamped about Bavay. The Advanced Guard (Vivian's Brigade) was at St Benin. Troops of the Corps under Prince Frederick of the Netherlands blockaded Valenciennes and Le Quesnoy.
The Duke of Wellington's Head Quarters were at Le Cateau.