by Victor Hugo
CHAPTER XI
BÜLOW TO THE RESCUE.
Everybody knows Napoleon's awful mistake; Grouchy expected, Blüchercoming up, death instead of life. Destiny has such turnings as this:men anticipate the throne of the world, and perceive St. Helena. If thelittle shepherd who served as guide to Bülow, Blücher's lieutenant,had advised him to debouche from the forest above Frischemont, insteadof below Plancenoit, the form of the 19th century would have beendifferent, for Napoleon would have won the battle of Waterloo. By anyother road than that below Plancenoit the Prussian army would havecome upon a ravine impassable by artillery, and Bülow would not havearrived. Now one hour's delay--the Prussian general Muffling declaresit--and Blücher would not have found Wellington erect,--"the battlewas lost." It was high time, as we see, for Bülow to arrive, and asit was he had been greatly delayed. He had bivouacked at Dion-le-Montand started at daybreak but the roads were impracticable, and hisdivisions stuck in the mud. The ruts came up to the axle-tree of theguns; moreover, he was compelled to cross the Dyle by the narrow bridgeof Wavre: the street leading to the bridge had been burned by theFrench, and artillery train and limbers, which could not pass betweentwo rows of blazing houses, were compelled to wait till the fire wasextinguished. By mid-day Bülow's vanguard had scarce reached ChapelleSaint Lambert.
Had the action begun two hours sooner, it would have been over atfour o'clock, and Blücher would have fallen upon the battle gained byNapoleon. At mid-day, the Emperor had been the first to notice throughhis telescope, on the extreme horizon, something which fixed hisattention, and he said, "I see over there a cloud which appears to meto be troops." Then he asked the Duke of Dalmatia, "Soult, what do yousee in the direction of Chapelle Saint Lambert?" The Marshal, afterlooking through his telescope, replied, "Four or five thousand men,Sire." It was evidently Grouchy; still they remained motionless in themist. All the staff examined the cloud pointed out by the Emperor, andsome said, "They are columns halting;" but the majority were of opinionthat they were trees. The truth is that the cloud did not move, and theEmperor detached Doncoul's division of light cavalry to reconnoitre inthe direction of this dark point.
Bülow, in fact, had not stirred, for his vanguard was very weak andcould effect nothing. He was obliged to wait for the main body of thearmy, and had orders to concentrate his troops before forming line; butat five o'clock, Blücher, seeing Wellington's danger, ordered Bülow toattack, and employed the remarkable phrase, "We must let the Englisharmy breathe." A short time after, Losthin's, Hiller's, Hacke's, andRyssel's brigades deployed in front of Lobau's corps, the cavalry ofPrince William of Prussia debouched from the Bois de Paris, Plancenoitwas in flames, and the Prussian cannon-balls began pouring even uponthe ranks of the guard held in reserve behind Napoleon.
