French was now complete. All was in confusion. The baggage, the camp-followers, and the wounded, who had been sent into the rear, imagined that the fate of the day was decided, and crowded the road to Charleroi.

The division of cuirassiers of general Roussel then presented itself, and held the British advanced troops in check. The infantry had time to rally. It formed itself into squares, and retired as far as Frasné, where it again halted. The British promptly pursued, and attempted by numerous determined charges to carry the heights, but the French fought with desperation, and maintained their position. The engagement continued with various success until the close of the day, when the first corps of the French army, of which Napoleon had made no use, returned to Frasné, and the British cavalry arrived from Niouve. It was too late for either party to avail themselves of these reinforcements, and they bivouacked on the positions which they respectively occupied.

This battle was attended with no result, but it was most honourable to the British arms. During the greater part of the day the duke of Wellington contended against infinitely superior numbers. His artillery had not arrived, and at no time had he more than a few squadrons to oppose to the crowd of cuirassiers and lancers who galloped round the British squares, and availed themselves of the slightest disorder to break in upon and overwhelm the infantry. The divisions were likewise separately engaged, and they advanced to the combat fatigued by a long and hasty march, and without having tasted refreshment since the preceding day.

The loss on both sides was enormous, and nearly equal. The allies acknowledged a loss of nearly four thousand men in killed, wounded, and prisoners, and the French a loss of four thousand two hundred. The number of prisoners was inconsiderable on either side.

The only immediate and decisive advantage resulting from this engagement was the delay which it occasioned to Napoleon's plan of marching on Brussels. It did not fail, however, to inspire the troops engaged with confidence and ardour. The British army bi

vouacked on the ground which had been occupied by the French during the battle, with the strongest hopes that the conflict would be renewed in the morning with decisive success. This, however, depended on the news they should receive from Fleurus, in which direction a furious cannonade had been heard during the whole day, announc ing a general action between the emperor and marshal Blucher. Even the duke of Wellington only tardily received the intelligence of the battle of Ligny, though his own manoeuvres depended on its result. The Prussian officer to whom the dispatches had been confided was made prisoner by the French light troops, and when the news arrived it bore so unpropitious an aspect as to cloud the animating hopes which the success at Quatre Bras had induced the troops to entertain.

The only expectation which Napoleon could reasonably indulge of ultimate success, depended on his engaging and defeating the Prussian and English forces separately. When he passed the Sambre, a corps of observation might have been left to keep one in check, while he directed against the other his concentrated force. But by nearly dividing his army, and ordering Ney to attack the British while he pursued the Prussians, he exposed himself to far superior forces, and nothing but the devotion and gallantry of his troops could have procured him the success which attended his operations on the 16th. He certainly conceived that he left to Ney a more easy duty than his own, and that the marshal would find no difficulty in pushing his way to Brussels, or near it, before the British army could be assembled to oppose him. To himself he reserved the task of contending with Blucher, and by his overthrow cutting off all communication between the British and the Prussian armies: compelling each to seek for safety in isolated and unconnected movements. When it was too late, he seems to have been aware of his error, and on the 16th, when the engagement he had commenced with the Prussians was doubtful, he sent in great haste for the first corps, which constituted more than half of Ney's army, and was posted in reserve, while he committed the mistake of conceal

ing from that general the use which he had made of the reinforcement to which Ney was looking for support. Had a courier been dispatched, commanding him merely to observe the British, and to act entirely on the defensive, while Napoleon directed all his powerful masses on Blucher, who was yet unsupported by Bulow, the danger to which Ney was exposed might have been prevented, the Prussian general must have been overwhelmed and nearly annihilated, and the left flank of the British being exposed, he might have thrown himself on their rear with ter rible effect.

The Prussian veteran was strongly posted to receive the enemy. His army occupied a line where three villages, built upon broken and unequal ground, served as separate redoubts, defended by infantry, and well furnished with artillery. The village of St. Amand was occupied by his right wing, his centre was posted at Ligny, and his left at Sombref. All these hamlets are strongly built, and contain several houses with large court-yards and orchards, each of which is capable of being converted into a station of defence. The ground behind these villages forms a semicircle of some elevation, in front of which was a deep ravine, edged by straggling thickets of trees. The villages were in front of the ravine, and masses of infantry were stationed behind each, destined to reinforce the defenders, as occasion required.

In this strong position Blucher had assembled three corps of his army, amounting to 80,000 men, But the fourth corps, commanded by Bulow, having been stationed in distant cantonments, between Liege and Hannut, had not yet arrived at the point of concentration. The force of the assailants is stated, in the Prussian dispatches, at 130,000 men. But as Ney had at least 30,000 soldiers under him at Quatre Bras, it may be concluded that the troops under Buonaparte's immediate command, at the battle of Ligny, even including a strong reserve, which consisted of the first entire division, could not exceed 100,000 men, The forces, therefore, actually engaged on both sides were nearly equal. They were equal, also, in courage and in mutual animosity. Exasperated by the most inveterate sentiments of national

hostility, the ordinary rules of war were renounced on both sides. The Prussians declared their purpose to give and receive no quarter. Two of the French divisions hoisted the black flag, as an intimation of the same intention, and afterwards gave a more sanguinary proof of their mortal hatred, by mutilating and cutting off the ears of the prisoners who fell into their hands at the crossing of the Sambre. With such feelings towards each other the two armies joined in battle.

The division of general Le Fol attacked the village of St. Amand, and, after an obstinate resistance, carried it at the point of the bayonet. bayonet. General Giraud then proceeded to the attack of Ligny, and here a murderous scene commenced, which had never been equalled in any of the former contests between the Prussians and the French. The troops of Napoleon succeeded in establishing themselves in part of the village, and while all their efforts could not drive the Prussians from the remaining part, the most desperate attacks of the latter were unavailing to dislodge their opponents. Every house was fortified. Every hedge became a military position. The combatants were in contact with cach other. They had scarcely room to manoeuvre, and as the ranks were thinned on either side, the void was filled with fresh troops.

This scene continued during four or five hours. The village could never be said to be taken by the French, nor could the Prussians boast that for an instant they had driven the enemy from it. The soldiers on both sides fought with an animosity which disgraced the present civilized age of the world. It appeared as if they were animated by the deadliest personal hatred. For a long time, quarter was neither given nor taken, and during the whole of the afternoon nearly two hundred pieces of cannon were playing on the village, and scattering destruction amid the troops, who in close columns filled every avenue to the place. At length the ground for which they contested was piled with dead, which formed a kind of breastwork and defence for the combatants.

While the battle raged hottest round this village, the whole line was engaged with va

rious success. At one time victory inclined to the Prussians. Blucher led on a battalion of infantry in person, and dispossessed the French of the village of St. Amand. Following up his advantages, he seized on a height whence the Prussians had been driven in an early part of the day, and having once more established his batteries there, played with most destructive effect on the squares of the French. It was at this moment that Buonaparte dispatched that order for the advance of the first corps, which paralysed the efforts of Ney, and had nearly exposed his troops to destruction. Napoleon saw the importance of regaining this position, and column after column was dispatched against it. The Prussians were again compelled to retire, and the French possessed themselves of the church-yard of St. Amand, whence they could not afterwards be dislodged.

The fortune of the day was now evidently in favour of Napoleon. All the reserves of Blucher were in action, while the imperial guard of the French, and an immense body of cavalry, had not yet been engaged. It was nearly dusk. Favoured by this circumstance, a strong division of French infantry had made a circuit round the village, and, while a column of chasseurs made a desperate charge in front, took the main body of the Prussians in the rear. At the same time the cavalry of the French repulsed that of the Prussians on the heights before the village. These manœuvres were decisive. The Prussians evacuated Ligny in good order, and forming themselves into squares, presented an unbroken front to the fierce pursuit of the French. Had the first corps of the French army been retained, and now directed on the battalions of the Prussians, fatigued, disheartened, and retiring, the victory would have been complete.

The Prussians slowly retreated, and often turned upon their foes, and repulsed their repeated and impetuous charges. On the heights near the mill of Bussy they halted, and attempted to repair the fortune of the day. Napoleon directed upon them his formidable guards, who had not yet been in action. They advanced with bayonets fixed, and carried all before them.

In one of the charges of cavalry which

now took place, Blucher was exposed to most imminent danger He had led on one of the regiments in person. The charge had failed, and the enemy was vigorously pursuing. The marshal's horse was struck by a musket ball and dropped. Blucher was stunned by the violence of the fall. Ere he recovered the French cavalry advanced.The last Prussian horseman had passed by, and an adjutant alone remained with him, determined to share his fate. The French cuirassiers charged by him at full speed, but perceived him not in the ardour of their pursuit, and fortunately he was uninjured by their horses. Before the recollection of the marshal had returned the French were repulsed, and again dashed by him without seeing him. He was now extricated from his horse, and with difficulty mounted another; when, disregarding the acute pain of his bruises, he again placed himself at the head of his troops and directed their manœuvres.

The whole of the Prussian army was now in full retreat, and at ten o'clock the firing had completely ceased. The French did not deem it prudent to continue the pursuit, but bivouacked on the ground which they had hardly and bravely won.

The Prussians lost more than twenty thousand men in this sanguinary engagement.Forty pieces of cannon were taken, and several colours. The French bulletins confess a loss of three thousand men, but the actual number was at least four times as great.

The most exaggerated statements of the affair were transmitted to Paris. Marshal Soult, in a dispatch to Davoust, says, "The emperor has succeeded in separating the line of the allies. Wellington and Blucher saved themselves with difficulty. The effect was theatrical. In an instant the firing ceased, and the enemy was routed in all directions."

Another dispatch, speaking of the two battles, says, "The noble lord must have been confounded. Whole bands of prisoners are taken. are taken. They do not know what is become of their commanders. The route is complete on this side, and I hope we shall .not hear again of the Prussians for some time, even if they should ever be able to rally.