In taking a calm retrospect of the dispositions made by Napoleon on the night of the 15th of June, we become strongly impressed with a conviction, that to the laxity of those dispositions, to the absence which they indicated of that energetic perseverance and restless activity which characterised the most critical of his operations in former Wars, may, in a very great degree, be attributed the failure of the Campaign on the part of the French. The great advantages derived by Napoleon from the result of his operations during the 15th, have been already set forth; but of what avail were those advantages to him, if he neglected the requisite measures for effectually retaining them within his grasp; or if, having secured them, he hesitated in following them up with the promptitude and energy which their complete development demanded of him? His position, if judged by that of his most advanced forces, was all that could be desired; but, by fatally neglecting to concentrate the remainder of his troops in the immediate support of that advance, the important advantages which such a position held forth were completely neutralized. Doubtless the troops required rest; but, if one portion required it more than another, it was that which now lay most in advance: they had performed the longest march, and had withstood, in addition, the whole brunt of the action; so there was no reason whatever why the remainder of the French Army should not have been so far advanced as to afford direct support to the important position taken up by the leading Divisions: that which had been so successfully effected by the heads of the Columns, might have been attained with infinitely greater ease and security by the masses which followed. And even supposing that serious impediments stood in the way of the full accomplishment of this concentration, such as the usual delays occasioned by the lengthening out of the Columns of March, to what did they amount in comparison with so many brilliant instances of what had been overcome by the noble and heroic efforts of a French Army headed by Napoleon? Had it even required some sacrifice, which at the most could only have consisted in the temporary diminution of strength, by the loss of stragglers on the march, what was this when placed in the balance with the fulfilment of the grand design of Napoleon's invasion of Belgium—preventing the junction of the Allied Armies, and overthrowing them in detail?
The commencement of this design, in which the essential requisite was rapidity of movement, had been eminently successful: a vantage ground had been gained which offered the most encouraging prospect of success: of Blücher's four Corps, only one, Zieten's, had assembled in the chosen position of Ligny, on the night of the 15th; Pirch's, which had arrived from Namur, was in bivouac between Onoz and Mazy, about six miles from Ligny; Thielemann's Corps, which had quitted its cantonments around Ciney at half past seven o'clock in the morning, passed the night at Namur, about fifteen miles from Ligny; Bülow's Corps, supposed by Blücher to be then at Hannut, was still at Liege, about sixty miles distant from Ligny. Between this position of Ligny and that occupied by the leading Divisions of Napoleon's main Army, namely the villages of Lambusart, Wagnée, and the Wood of Fleurus, there was an interval of not more than from two to three miles! Hence every thing was favourable to the French Emperor's plan, which only required to be carried on with the same vigour and activity that had marked its commencement; the fate of Napoleon, of France, and of Europe, hung upon its issue; not an hour, not a moment should have been suffered to pass unheeded; and had the French Right been concentrated during the night in this position, as also the Left under Ney, between Gosselies and Frasne, and had an impetuous attack, with overwhelming force, been made not later than five o'clock on the following morning, upon both Zieten's and Pirch's Corps, not at that time united, it is very possible that these troops would have been beaten in detail, that Thielemann's Corps, advancing from Namur, would either have shared the same fate, or have moved off in the direction of Hannut or Liege to effect a junction with Bülow, whilst Ney would either have been enabled to secure the important point of Quatre Bras before the arrival of any considerable portion of the Anglo-Allied troops, or would have held his own force advantageously disposed for a junction with that of Napoleon, on the latter moving to the left, by the Namur road, for the purpose of bringing the great mass of his Army against Wellington.
Instead of this, what happened? Of the French Right, its main force remained the whole night at Charleroi and Châtelet, on the Sambre, whilst between the Advance of Ney's forces at Frasne and his Rear at Marchienne au Pont, there was an interval of about twelve miles. Napoleon did not advance towards Fleurus until between eleven and twelve o'clock on the 16th, by which time Zieten's, Pirch's, and Thielemann's Corps were all concentrated and in position, and he did not commence the Battle of Ligny until nearly three o'clock in the afternoon; while Ney, on his side, in consequence of his operations having been rendered subordinate to those of the Emperor, delayed to advance with any degree of vigour until between two and three o'clock, about which time Wellington's Reserve reached Quatre Bras, from Brussels, and joined the forces then engaged in front of that point!
FOOTNOTES:
[8] The Prussian Regiments of Infantry generally consisted of three Battalions, of which the Third was the Fusilier Battalion.
WITH the early dawn of the 16th of June, the whole of the Duke of Wellington's forces were in movement towards Nivelles and Quatre Bras. Previously to starting from Brussels for the latter point, his Grace despatched an Order for the movement of the Cavalry and of Clinton's British Division upon Braine le Comte, as also of the troops under Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, consisting of Stedmann's Dutch-Belgian Division, and of Anthing's Dutch-Belgian (Indian) Brigade, from Sotteghem to Enghien, after leaving 500 men, as before directed, in Audenarde.
Picton's Division quitted Brussels by the Charleroi road about two o'clock in the morning; and the Duke of Brunswick's Corps somewhat later. Kruse's Nassau Brigade received Orders to follow along the same road, but having been dispersed in extended cantonments between Brussels and Louvain, it required some considerable time to collect together, and did not therefore reach Quatre Bras sufficiently early to take part in the action.