d.

The 17th was occupied by a retrograde movement of the allied
army, directed by the duke of Wellington, for the purpose of
taking its stand on the position he had previously fixed on for
the pitched battle, the decisive nature of which his determined
foresight had anticipated. Several affairs between the French
and English cavalry took place during this movement; and it is
pretty well established that the enemy, flushed with the victory
over Blucher of the preceding day, were deceived by this short
retreat of Wellington, and formed a very mistaken notion of its
real object, or of the desperate reception destined for the morrow's
attack.

The battle of Waterloo has been over and over described and
profoundly felt, until its records may be said to exist in the
very hearts and memories of the nations. The fiery valor of the
assault, and the unshakable firmness of the resistance, are perhaps
without parallel in the annals of war. The immense stake depending
on the result, the grandeur of Napoleon's isolated efforts against
the flower of the European forces, and the awful responsibility
resting on the head of their great leader, give to this conflict
a romantic sublimity, unshared by all the manoeuvring of science
in a hundred commonplace combats of other wars. It forms an epoch
in the history of battles. It is to the full as memorable, as an
individual event, as it is for the consequences which followed
it. It was fought by no rules, and gained by no tactics. It was a
fair stand-up fight on level ground, where downright manly courage
was alone to decide the issue. This derogates in nothing from the
splendid talents and deep knowledge of the rival commanders.
Their reputation for all the intricate qualities of generalship
rests on the broad base of previous victories. This day was to
be won by strength of nerve and steadiness of heart; and a moral
grandeur is thrown over its result by the reflection that human
skill had little to do where so much was left to Providence.

We abstain from entering on details of the battle. It is enough
to state that throughout the day the troops of the Netherlands
sustained the character for courage which so many centuries had
established. Various opinions have gone forth as to the conduct of
the Belgian troops on this memorable occasion. Isolated instances
were possibly found, among a mass of several thousands, of that
nervous weakness which neither the noblest incitements nor the
fi