22
NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. xn. JULY 10,
sun. The inhabitants were very kind,
placing themselves about the Porte de
Namur with wine, linen, &c., &c. When
the hospitals were full they took them into
their houses. On Sunday morning the Duke
of Richmond, who, I must say, has been a
little too confident, considering his large
family, finding that Wellington was so near,
and the rest of the English residents here
gone or going, gave orders that we should be
ready to start at a quarter of an hour's
notice, and rode himself to the Duke of
Wellington to ask his opinion. In conse-
quence the carriages were packed, and horses
quite ready to be put to. About two the
cannonading began ; you may conceive our
situation. The engagement, by the issue of
which we were to stand or fall, had com-
menced, and, tho' we have infinite confidence
in Wellington and the British, yet the
Prussians, Dutch, Belgians, &c., could not
be so certainly depended upon, and human
events are uncertain at best. On the other
side there was Bonaparte with 120,000 of
his best soldiers, those of Austerlitz, Jena,
&c. His greatest object in his desperate
situation was to beat the British and to get
possession of this country. If he received a
check here he was sensible that it must end
in his ruin. What efforts then would he not
make to gain his point ? All this was
approaching to a decision within ten miles of
us. The doubt and anxiety visible on
every countenance as we walked upon the
ramparts, listening to each coup de canons,
was extreme ; and at home the poor Duchess,
harassed by the thought of the Duke being
absent, of her ten children with her, and her
three sons in the action, was a pitiable object.
At 4 the Duke came home and reported that
all looked favourable, but we must still be
ready to start. About 7, just as we were
sitting down to dinner, came a messenger to
say that Wellington had gained his battle,
and that the French were retiring. Wounded
officers came in at intervals, but knowing
nothing. About 10 arrived 8,000 prisoners,
with two eagles and stands of colours, and
soon afterwards a note from an A.D.C. of
the Duke of Wellington to say that the
victory had been complete. Here again I
refer you to the despatches, wishing rather
to give you such particulars as do not fall
under the notice or within the limits of a
despatch. The Duke got back to his
quarters to dinner at 11^ and after taking
some rest rode into Brussels at 8 o'clock this
morning with the remnants of the staff.
The Duchess had gone up to his house to
make inquiry about her nephew, Sir A.
Gordon (since dead), who had been wounded,
and was at the door when the Duke arrived,
being the first to wish him joy. He told her
they had had hard work, and appeared as
cool as if nothing had happened. Lord G.
Lennox came down here, and you may
suppose with what interest we devoured all
he had to say. The French fought with
incredible fury, and the Duke considered
the battle in suspense four times. Lord G.
said lost, but I allow a little for the warm
imagination of a young officer. A messenger,
Col. Percy, goes to England to-day, but
cannot take a list of the killed and wounded
as it cannot yet be made out. Think how
singularly fortunate the Duke himself was
in escaping untouched. Col. Gordon had
his thigh carried off by a cannon ball when
standing close to him. Lord Uxbridge lost
a leg, and Col. Canning, an A.D.C. , was
killed when near. Three others had their
horses shot close by. The Prince of Orange
has been wounded in the shoulder, but I
believe not severely. Among the killed are
Sir Thomas Picton, Cols. Wyndham, Ho-
ward, Mills, Dashwood, Delauncey, Majors
Hodge, .Griffith, Beane. Lord F. Somerset*
has lost an arm. General Barnes severely
wounded. The bells are ringing for joy, and
the citizens shouting. What a contrast to
six hours' plunder by the French which Xap
had promised ! Bulow with 38,000 Prus-
sians are after him. I should like to see the
field of battle, but know not whether to ask
to go or not.f ....
V.
[To his father.]
Brussels, July 14th.
. . . .My last letter was written the morning after the battle, when I knew simply that it had been fought and that the victory had declared in favour of the Allies. A number of particulars have come in since, which may be interesting to you to hear, especially as you may depend upon their authenticity.
- Lord Fitzroy J. H. Somerset was the fifth son
of the fifth Duke of Beaufort, and acted as A.D.C. and Military Secretary to the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo. Later, lie was better known as Field- Marshal Lord Raglan, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in the Crimea, where he died on 28 June, 1855.
f Mr. Madan did visit the battle-field three or four days after the fight, though no description of it occurs in any letter of his that is still extant. However, on that occasion he picked up a plume of feathers which once adorned the head-dress of a Prussian Hussar, and this is still in the possession of the family.
