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 506 WATERLOO o'clock Ney was ordered to break through the allied centre, and push their right back to- ward Brussels. Ney accordingly moved against La Haie Sainte, and after a fierce assault car- ried it; but his progress was checked by the English division of Picton and Ponsonby's brigade of heavy cavalry, and the French were forced back into the ravine, where Milhaud's cuirassiers came to their assistance and com- pelled the English to retire. Picton and Pon- sonby were killed. Ney reformed his troops and again advanced to the attack, preceded by Milhaud's cavalry and a brigade of the light cavalry of the guard. After a gallant defence the German troops who held La Haie Sainte were overpowered by the French infantry, and at half past 3 the farm again fell into the hands of the assailants. The stubborn resistance of the English guards at Hougoumont induced the French to direct a battery of howitzers against the building; but this, though set on fire by shells, was held to the last. But Wel- lington, seeing the attack on this point was relaxing in vigor, strengthened his centre with troops from his right and rear. After the cap- ture of La llaio Sainte there was a pause in the French operations against the allied cen- tre, as Napoleon waa watching the movements of Billow's corps, which was beginning to de- bouch on the French right ; and at 4 o'clock Wellington directed two bodies of troops upon the enemy at Hougoumont and La Uaie Sainte. The attack upon the latter position was re- pelled by Ney, who sent for reinforcements to make a decisive onslaught upon the allied centre. Napoleon, unable to spare infantry and obliged to go to the right in person to look after the Prussians, gave him the cuiras- siers of Milhaud, not for the proposed attack, but to hold his position. An error of Le- febvre-Desnouettes, who commanded the light cavalry of the guard, caused him to follow Milhaud, and Ney, finding these two powerful bodies of horse under his command, hurled them in succession upon the squares of the enemy. Napoleon, learning what Ney was doing, exclaimed : u It is too soon by an hour ;" but to sustain the movement thus begun, he ordered part of Kellermann's cuirassiers to Ney's assistance. Behind these were standing 2,000 heavy cavalry of the guard, and some of their officers going forward to witness Ney's charges, the men understood them to give the signal to advance, and were soon mingled in the melee. Napoleon sent Bertrand to hold them back, but Ney had already launched them against the allied line, which had begun to waver, and, could Ney have had the infantry he desired, would have been utterly defeated. A French division under Durutte had mean- while carried La Haye and Papelotte on the allied left, and Lobau had driven Bulow's forces out of the village of Planchenois on the French right. But rumors of the approach of Blucher's army inspired renewed courage in the allies, and dampened the ardor of the French ; and soon after 7 o'clock Napoleon, despairing of the cooperation of Grouchy, col- lected four battalions of the middle guard and six of the old guard for a final effort against the allied centre. The middle guard, led by Ney, advanced upon the enemy, but had scarce- ly commenced the attack when Ziethen's Prus- sian corps appeared on the French right. La Haye and Papelotte were speedily retaken, and the six battalions of the old guard separated from the middle guard, and formed in squares across the field to cover the retreat of Du- rutte's fugitives. The middle guard, assailed in front and Hank by the allies, held their ground under a fire which rapidly thinned their ranks. Ney, covered with dust and blood, with his clothes torn and his head bare, but still un- wounded, though five horses had been shot under him, headed them on foot sword in hand. But the growing confusion in the French right demoralized the veterans, and they retreated. The other six battalions held their ground against overwhelming numbers. The disper- sion of the French right by the cavalry lirigndes of Vandeleur and Vivian isolated them from the rest of the army, but still they stood firm. Finally, when five squares were broken and the rest began to show signs of exhaustion and depletion, the emperor gave the order for their withdrawal, and the cry, "The guard is re- pulsed," converted retreat into flight. At this moment Wellington advanced his whole line f infantry, and, the Prussians moving simul- taneously, the rout of the French became complete. Napoleon, with one regiment of the guard thrown into square, endeavored t form a rallying point for the fugitives. Fail- ing in this, he expressed his determination to die within the square, but was hurried away by Soult, the guard covering his escape. The heroic band was soon surrounded and called upon to surrender. u The guard dies, it does not surrender," is the reply popularly attrib- uted to Gen. Cambronne; and with the cry of Vite Vempereur, the remnant of the guard charged upon the enemy and perished almost to a man. At half-past 9 P. M. Bliicher and Wellington met at Maison du Koi in the rear of the late French centre, and BlQcher con- tinned the pursuit of the enemy. The total loss of the allies, including the Prussians, was about 23,000, and that of the French upward of 30,000, besides 227 pieces of cannon. Of the repeated orders sent to Grouchy at 10 the previous evening, at 8 A. M., and again imme- diately before the battle, none reached him till 4 P. M. Long before that hour Gerard and Vandamme besought him to break off his pur- suit of the Prussians, and march to Waterloo, but he refused. Instead of obeying the em- peror's explicit orders when they finally reach- ed him, he made a useless attack upon a corps which BlQcher had left at Wavre; and thus the last great battle of Napoleon was lost. WATERLOO, a W. central county of Ontario, Canada, drained by the Grand river ; area, 630