Note 316 — BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

Buonaparte has been severely censured for daring to attack Wellington and BlucherK simultaneously. Had different results attended the battles of Quatre Bras and Ligny, probably military criticism on Napoleon’s bold plans would have been more favourable. Ney seems certainly to have pointed out a safer course, and his idea of first overwhelming the British, and afterwards taking the Prussians in detail, might have been more successful had it been adopted. But even admitting, in part, that Napoleon’s “arrangements” were erroneous, they still were worthy of the vigorous and martial spirit that planned them. His great mistake may be traced to a mind that refused to be controlled by cold calculation. He aimed at more than he could accomplish. With limited means he acted upon a great and comprehensive scheme; and, disdaining to recognise his weakness, he pursued an object demanding ampler resources than he possessed. This was sufficiently proved by the result; for he was unable to gather the fruits of his triumph over the Prussians, whom he permitted to retreat without the slightest interruption. His army contented itself with remaining upon the ground it won so hardly, without even an attempt to harass the slowly retiring columns of the enemy.

There have been conflicting statements as to whether Buonaparte did, or did not know, that Bulow was in force in the rear of his right. Ney says, that Labedoyère brought him a message from the emperor, that Grouchy, at seven o’clock, had attacked the extreme left of the Anglo-Prussian army, while Girard states, that at nine in the morning Napoleon knew that a Prussian column, which had escaped the marshal (Grouchy), was advancing in his rear. Gneisenau affirms, that the fourth Prussian corps (Bulow’s) moved from Dien-le-Mont by Wavre on Saint Lambert at daybreak. Certainly Buonaparte might have been acquainted with its advance during the day; but whether he was or was not, its arrival at Waterloo in the evening decided that day and his destiny.