The Reserve moved on to Bellicourt and Belle Englise.
Upon returning in the night to his Head Quarters at Vermand, the Duke of Wellington found a note from Prince Blücher, forwarding to him the letter from the French Commissioners before referred to, and to which his Grace immediately replied as follows:—
"Head Quarters, 26th June 1815.—10 P.M.
"As Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington has only at this moment returned to his Quarters, he has only now received from Marshal Prince Blücher the letter of their Excellencies, and which their Excellencies had sent to the Prussian Outposts.
"When the Field Marshal last heard from the Head Quarters of the Allied Sovereigns, the 21st instant, their Majesties were at Heidelberg, and they must still be in that direction. It must be obvious to their Excellencies that the Field Marshal can neither prevent nor aid their Excellencies in reaching their Majesties; but if he has it in his power, or if their Excellencies think proper to pass through the countries in which the troops are under his command, the Field Marshal begs they will let him know in what manner he can facilitate their journey.
"The Field Marshal was not aware that any Officer commanding an Advanced Post had agreed verbally, or in any other manner, to a Suspension of Hostilities.
"Since the 15th instant, when Napoleon Buonaparte, at the head of the French Armies, invaded the dominions of the King of the Netherlands, and attacked the Prussian Army; the Field Marshal has considered his Sovereign, and those Powers whose Armies he commands, in a state of war with the Government of France; and he does not consider the Abdication of Napoleon Buonaparte of his usurped authority, under all the circumstances which have preceded and attended that measure, as the attainment of the object held out in the Declarations and Treaties of the Allies, which should induce them to lay down their arms.
"The Field Marshal cannot consent therefore to any Suspension of Hostilities, however desirous he is of preventing the further effusion of blood.
"As the only object on which their Excellencies desired to converse with the Field Marshal was the proposed Suspension of Hostilities: they will, probably, after the perusal of his sentiments and intentions, as above declared, consider any interview with him an useless waste of time; but, if their Excellencies should still do him the honour to desire to have an interview with him, the Field Marshal will be ready to meet them at the time and place they shall appoint.
"The Field Marshal begs their Excellencies will receive the assurance of his high consideration.
"Wellington."
From the moment that Prince Blücher had become aware of the retirement of the French troops from Laon upon Soissons, he was most anxious to secure the passage across the Oise at Compiegne, Verberie, Pont St Maxence, and Creil.
In the middle of the night of the 25th, he therefore sent an Order for the Advanced Guard of the First Prussian Corps d'Armée to proceed on the following day, from Fargnières, by forced march, as far as the first named place. In the afternoon of the 26th, it reached Noyon, where it halted for a rest, having marched five leagues; and having nearly an equal distance before it to Compiegne. The twelve pounder Battery and the four ten pounder Howitzers which had been attached to this Advanced Guard (the Third Brigade under Major General Jagow) were, by Zieten's Order, left under the protection of a Battalion, to be employed with the First Brigade, which was directed to make an attempt upon the Fortress of La Fère. The Advanced Guard after having sent on a Squadron of the 1st Silesian Hussars, under Major Hertel, to Compiegne, with Orders to push forward a Detachment thence upon the road to Soissons, resumed its march in the evening.
It was still in movement about midnight, when Major General Jagow received a communication from the front that Major Hertel had, with his Squadron, entered Compiegne at eight o'clock in the evening; and had learned from the Mayor that a French Corps was on the march from Soissons to that town, in which it had already bespoken ten thousand rations. Jagow immediately communicated this important circumstance to Zieten, and ordered his troops, after another short but indispensable halt, to continue their toilsome march.
On the morning of this day, the First Brigade of Zieten's Corps d'Armée completed the investment of La Fère. The troops that had been previously detached to this point by General Jagow were moved off to follow this Officer's Brigade on the road to Compiegne. Notwithstanding the vigorous bombardment which the Prussians maintained against the Fortress until noon, and by which several buildings were set on fire, they failed to induce the garrison to surrender.
As it was not intended, however, to attempt any more serious attack: the Brigade, after leaving the Fusilier Battalion of the 12th Regiment and a Squadron of the Brandenburg Uhlans to watch the Fortress, followed the Corps d'Armée, which had marched to Noyon; but it did not even reach Chauny, scarcely seven miles from La Fère.