Part 6 (1/2)
NOTES TO LADY DE LANCEY'S NARRATIVE
Most of the following notes have been compiled by Mr T.W. Brogden, of the Middle Temple, to whom I take this opportunity of expressing my indebtedness for his a.s.sistance in the preparation of this volume, and for his kindness in seeing the book through the press, during my absence in Canada.
EDITOR.
(1) ”On Thursday the 15th June we had spent a particularly happy morning. My dear husband gave me many interesting anecdotes of his former life, and I traced in every one some trait of his amiable and generous mind; never had I felt so perfectly content, so grateful for the blessing of his love.”--_Abridged Narrative._
(2) General Alava, who was Minister Plenipotentiary from Spain to the King of the Netherlands.
Sir William and Lady De Lancey were amongst the guests invited to the d.u.c.h.ess of Richmond's famous ball that night. See _Reminiscences of Lady de Ros_, p. 127.
(3) ”He turned back at the door, and looked at me with a smile of happiness and peace. It was the last!”--_Abridged Narrative._
(4) The Duke's house was at the corner of the Rue de la Montagne du Parc and the Rue Royale, and was next to the Hotel de France. The Count de Lannoy's house was at the south-east corner of the Impa.s.se du Parc.
(5) By 9 P.M. the _first orders_ had been despatched.
Colonel Basil Jackson has the following recollections of his experiences on the evening of the 15th June: ”I was sauntering about the park towards seven o'clock on the evening of the 15th June, when a soldier of the Guards, attached to the Quartermaster-General's office, summoned me to attend Sir William De Lancey. He had received orders to concentrate the army towards the frontier, which until then had remained quiet in cantonments. I was employed, along with others, for about two hours in writing out 'routes' for the several divisions, foreign as well as British, which were despatched by orderly Hussars of the 3rd Regiment of the German Legion, steady fellows, who could be depended on for so important a service. To each was explained the rate at which he was to proceed, and the time when he was to arrive at his destination; he was directed also to bring back the cover of the letter which he carried, having the time of its arrival noted upon it by the officer to whom it was addressed.
”This business over, which occupied us till after nine, De Lancey put a packet into my hand directed to Colonel Cathcart--the present Earl--a thorough soldier, and highly esteemed by the Duke, who then filled, as he had previously done in Spain, the arduous post of a.s.sistant Quartermaster-General to the whole of the cavalry.
”'I believe you can find your way in the dark by the cross roads to Ninove,' said Sir William, 'let this be delivered as soon as possible.'
”Proud of my commission, I was speedily in the saddle and threading my way, which I did without difficulty. My good nag rapidly cleared the fifteen miles, but ere reaching the above place, then the headquarters of the cavalry, I fell in with one or two orderly Dragoons speeding to out-quarters. I could also perceive lights flickering about in the villages adjacent to my route: indications which satisfied me that the German Hussar previously despatched from Brussels had accomplished his mission.
”Here let me stop for a moment to commend the practice in our service of having plenty of well-mounted staff officers ready to convey orders of moment at the utmost speed. On the portentous night in question, several, chiefly belonging to the Royal Staff Corps, a body attached to the Quartermaster-General's department, were employed in conveying duplicates of the instructions previously forwarded by Hussars, in order to guard against the possibility of mistake. The omission of such a precautionary measure at the Prussian headquarters, on the same evening, was attended with disastrous consequences, for Blucher's order for Bulow's corps to unite with the rest of his army, being entrusted to a corporal, probably wanting in intelligence, he did not deliver it in time, whereby that corps, 30,000 strong, failed to reach Ligny and share in the battle.”[33]
[Footnote 33: ”Recollections of Waterloo,” by a Staff Officer, in _United Service Journal_ for 1847, Part III., p. 3.]
(6) ”I entreated to remain in the room with him, promising not to speak. He wrote for several hours without any interruption but the entrance and departure of the various messengers who were to take the orders. Every now and then I gave him a cup of green tea, which was the only refreshment he would take, and he rewarded me by a silent look. My feelings during these hours I cannot attempt to describe, but I preserved perfect outward tranquillity.”--_Abridged Narrative._
(7) By 12 midnight, the _after orders_ had been despatched. With regard to the orders of the 15th and 16th June, including the ”Disposition of the British Army at 7 o'clock A.M., 16th June,”
attributed to Sir William De Lancey, see Gurwood, vol. xii., pp.
472-474; _Supplementary Despatches_, vol. x., p. 496; Ropes'
_Waterloo_, pp. 77-89; and Colonel Maurice in _U.S. Magazine_, 1890, pp. 144 and 257-263.
(8) Doubtless, General m.u.f.fling, Prussian attache at the headquarters of the Duke of Wellington. He accompanied the Duke to the ball, and next morning rode with him to Quatre Bras.
(9) _I.e._, without changing their ball dress. Some of the officers were killed at Quatre Bras in their shoes and silk stockings. ”There was a ball at Brussels, at the d.u.c.h.ess of Richmond's, that night (which I only mention because it was so much talked of), at which numbers of the officers were present, who quitted the ball to join their divisions, which had commenced their march before they arrived at their quarters, and some of them were killed the next day in the same dress they had worn at the ball.” (Extract from a letter written by Colonel Felton Hervey shortly after the battle, and published in the _XIXth Century_ for March 1903, page 431.) See also Colonel Maurice in _U.S. Magazine_, 1890, p. 144.
(10) ”As the dawn broke, the soldiers were seen a.s.sembling from all parts of the town, in marching order, with their knapsacks on their backs, loaded with three days' provisions. Unconcerned in the midst of the din of war, many a soldier laid himself down on a truss of straw and soundly slept, with his hands still grasping his firelock; others were sitting contentedly on the pavement, waiting the arrival of their comrades. Numbers were taking leave of their wives and children, perhaps for the last time, and many a veteran's rough cheek was wet with the tears of sorrow. One poor fellow, immediately under our windows, turned back again and again to bid his wife farewell, and take his baby once more in his arms; and I saw him hastily brush away a tear with the sleeve of his coat, as he gave her back the child for the last time, wrung her hand, and ran off to join his company, which was drawn up on the other side of the Place Royale. Many of the soldiers' wives marched out with their husbands to the field, and I saw one young English lady mounted on horseback slowly riding out of town along with an officer, who, no doubt, was her husband. Soon afterwards the 42nd and 92nd Highland regiments marched through the Place Royale and the Parc, with their bagpipes playing before them, while the bright beams of the rising sun shone full on their polished muskets and on the dark waving plumes of their tartan bonnets. Alas!
we little thought that even before the fall of night these brave men whom we now gazed at with so much interest and admiration would be laid low.” (Mrs Eaton's _Waterloo Days_, p. 21.)
(11) ”I stood with my husband at a window of the house, which overlooked a gate of the city, and saw the whole army go out. Regiment after regiment pa.s.sed through and melted away in the mist of the morning.”--_Abridged Narrative._
(12) ”Le Grand Laboureur.”
(13) The Duke's corpse did not arrive at Antwerp till Sat.u.r.day afternoon. See Mrs Eaton's _Waterloo Days_, p. 59.
(14) ”I went to Antwerp, and found the hotel there so crowded, that I could only obtain one small room for my maid and myself, and it was at the top of the house. I remained entirely within, and desired my maid not to tell me what she might hear in the hotel respecting the army.