to offer, and to lavish on them, consolation and
assistance. The Prince of Orange himself, as formidable
in the heat of battle, as magnanimous after victory,
became the protector of a number of brave fellows, who,
having learned how to esteem him on the field of battle,
had nobly invoked his support.

In fine, completely to acquit the debt of gratitude, at
that period so painful to remember, when persecution,
exile, death, compelled so many Frenchmen to flee their
native land, the inhabitants of Belgium, always
tender-hearted, always benevolent, opened their
hospitable doors to our unfortunate proscribed
countrymen, and more than one brave man, already
preserved by them from the vengeance of foreigners, was
a second time saved by their generous hands from the
fury of enemies still more implacable.]

[Footnote 54: I say fifty thousand men, for more than
ten thousand of the guard took no share in the action.]

At the moment, when Bulow's corps penetrated our right, I was at
head-quarters at the farm of Caillou.

One of the grand marshal's aides-de-camp came from him, to inform the
Duke of Bassano, that the Prussians were proceeding in that direction.
The duke, having received orders from the Emperor to remain there,
would not quit the place, and we resigned ourselves to wait the event.
In fact, the enemy's dragoons soon made themselves masters of the
little wood, that covered the farm, and attacked our people sword in
hand. Our guard repulsed them with their muskets; but, returning in
greater number, they assailed us anew, and compelled us, in spite of
the stoicism of M. de Bassano, to yield up the place to them very
speedily. The imperial carriages, furnished with able horses, carried
us rapidly from the enemy's pursuit. The duke was not so fortunate:
his carriage, having poor horses, received several shots; and he was
at length forced to escape on foot, and take refuge in mine.

The cessation of the firing, and the precipitate retreat of the wreck
of the army, too powerfully confirmed to us the fatal issue of the
battle. We inquired on all sides after the Emperor, but no one could
satisfy our painful anxiety. Some assured us, that he had been taken
prisoner; others, that he