Napoleon
He had selected for the line of his main operations the direct road to Brussels, by Charleroi, that being the road, as before remarked, on which Wellington's Left, and Blücher's Right respectively rested, and which he designed to maintain by first overcoming the Prussian Army, which was the most advanced on that line, and then attacking the Anglo-Allied troops before they could be collected in sufficient strength to prevent his further progress; his grand object being to impede the junction of the two Armies; to vanquish them in detail; to establish himself in Brussels; to arouse the dense population in Belgium, of which a vast proportion secretly adhered to his cause; to reannex the country to the French Empire; to excite the desertion of the Belgian soldiery from the service of Holland; to prevent a check by these means to the operations of the invading Armies crossing the Rhine; perhaps also to enter into negotiations; and, at all events, to gain, what was to him of vital importance, time for the advance and co-operation of further reinforcements from France.
The necessary Orders were now despatched for the concentration of the Grand Army; and in order to mask its movements as much as possible, the whole line of the Belgian frontier was studded with numerous Detachments of the National Guards furnished by the garrisons of the fortresses, more especially along that part of the frontier which passes in advance of Valenciennes, Condé, Lille, and even as far as Dunkirk; all the debouchés of which line were strongly occupied, the Outposts tripled, and there was every apparent indication that either the principal attack, or at least a formidable diversion, was in course of preparation in that quarter.
These measures had the effect of strengthening the anticipations which Wellington had previously formed of offensive movements from the side of Lille and Valenciennes, and consequently of placing him still more upon his guard against any hasty and incautious junction of his forces with those of Blücher, until fully satisfied as to the true direction and object of Napoleon's main operations.
On the 12th of June, Lieutenant Colonel Wissell, whose Regiment, the 1st Hussars of the King's German Legion, formed an extensive line of Outposts in front of Tournai, reported to Major General Sir Hussey Vivian, to whose Brigade the Regiment belonged, that he had ascertained, from information on which he could rely, that the French Army had assembled on the frontier, and was prepared to attack. Vivian desired him to report upon the subject to Lord Hill, to whose Corps his Regiment was attached while employed on this particular service.
The next morning, Vivian repaired in person to the Outposts, and found that a French Cavalry Picquet which had previously been posted opposite to Tournai, had a short time before marched to join the main Army, and had been relieved by Douaniers. These, upon being spoken to by Vivian, did not hesitate to say that their Army was concentrating, and that if the Allies did not advance, their troops would attack. On returning to his Quarters, Vivian communicated what he had seen and heard both to Lord Hill and the Earl of Uxbridge, by whom the circumstances were made known to the Duke of Wellington. His Grace, however, for reasons before stated, did not think the proper moment had arrived for making any alteration in the disposition of his forces.