Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 2.djvu/106

 274 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS Crown Prince of Sweden gave him the Order of the Sword, England at the same time conferred upon him the dukedom he so long enjoyed, and raised five of his lieutenants to peerages. Once more the " loud shrill clarion " of war aroused Europe to arms. Ten short months after his abdication, Napoleon, escaped from Elba, was again in Paris, resolved to incur all risks in order to gain the greatest prize in Europe the crown he had so lately relinquished. The magic influence of his name spread through France, which became one vast camp ; and in an incredibly short space of time Napoleon found himself ready to take the field with an army of one hun- dred and fifty thousand men, of whom twenty thousand were highly disciplined cavalry. The whole army was perfectly equipped, while three hundred pieces of cannon formed an overpowering artillery. To oppose this well-appointed force, the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Bliicher had collected an army of one hun- dred and eighty thousand men. But although the allied armies thus exceeded Napoleon's in numbers, his consisted of veteran troops of one nation, while theirs were composed, for the most part, of raw levies. That under the duke was " the weakest and the worst ;" at no time did it reach eighty thousand men, and on one-half of these only could reliance be placed in the day of battle. " I am going to have a brush with Wellington," said Napoleon, on the even- ing of June II, 1815 ; and next morning before daybreak he set out to join his army on the frontiers, taking every precaution to conceal from Wellington that he was coming. Napoleon's object was to separate Blucher from Wellington, then to deal with each singly, and thus to crush them forever. Then France, rejoicing to see glory once more resting on her eagles, would again hail him as her emperor. While at dinner, Wellington received the first news of the advance of Napo- leon. Thinking that this was merely a feint to draw the allies toward Ligny, while a serious attempt was made upon Brussels, Wellington, who had already prepared himself for any emergency, determined to wait till Napoleon's object was more fully displayed ; while, therefore, he gave orders that the troops should be in readiness to march at a moment's notice, he, with his officers, joined in the festivities of a ball given that evening by the Duchess of Richmond. Blucher's second courier arrived before twelve o'clock, and the despatches were delivered to the duke in the ball-room. While he was reading them, he seemed completely absorbed by their contents ; and after he had finished, for some minutes he remained in the same attitude of deep reflection, totally ab- stracted from every surrounding object, while his countenance was expressive of fixed and intense thought. He was heard to mutter to himself, " Marshal Blucher thinks" " It is Marshal Blucher's opinion ;" and after remaining thus abstracted a few minutes, and having apparently formed his decision, he gave his usual clear and concise orders to one of his staff officers, who instantly left the room, and was again as gay and animated as ever ; he stayed to supper, and then went home. The trumpet's loud call awoke every sleeper in the city of Brussels a little