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A FEW days afterwards he
was on his way, hastening to join the army in Belgium. His orders were to
travel with speed, as hostilities were expected daily. All Europe was
alarmed, great events were expected, and mail and telegraph arrivals were
watched with the most feverish anxiety.
On landing at Ostend,
Stuart heard that Buonaparte had joined the French army, and had issued a
proclamation calling to mind their former victories, and telling them that
fresh dangers were to be dared and battles won; but he felt assured their
familiarity with hardship and death, their steadiness, discipline, and
inherent bravery, would make them, in every encounter, most signally
victorious.
'Time will prove all this,'
thought Ronald, as, seated on an inverted keg, he was deciphering this
proclamation in a French paper, while travelling on the canal of Ostend in
a flat-bottomed boat for Bruges.
The broad and waveless
surface of the long yellow canal was gleaming under the meridian sun like
polished metal; and, when standing erect on the roof or upper deck of the
barge, he could see it for miles winding away through the country, which
on every side was verdant and flat, like a vast bowling-green. The
monotony of the scenery struck Stuart the more forcibly, because, as a
Highlander, he could not help drawing comparisons between it and the
tremendous hills, the solemn valleys, and the majestic rivers of his
native Scotland. At times, a few bulbous-shaped boors, in steeple-crowned
hats, or fur caps, and enormous breeches, appeared on the canal bank,
singly or in groups, smoking their long pipes, and staring hard with their
great lack-lustre eyes on the passing boat, the slow motion of which they
would watch for miles, standing on the same spot, immovable as a
milestone. Very plump and very red-cheeked country girls, wearing short
petticoats, and making an unusual display of legs, which were more
substantial than elegant, appeared tripping along the banks, bearing jars
of milk or butter on their heads, where they were poised with miraculous
exactness. Sometimes a party of these rustic fair ones passed in a
gaudily-painted cart or waggon, all laughing and talking merrily,—their
noisy vivacity forming a strange contrast with the sulky demeanour of the
silent and phlegmatic boor, who sat smoking and driving on the tram of the
car, keeping his seat there with the same lurching motion that a bag of
oats would have done. There is little disposition in Dutch or German blood
to be gallant or cavalierlike.
Afar in the distance, where
the landscape stretched away as level as the sea, were seen great squares
of light green or bright yellow, showing where lay the fields of golden
corn and other grain, waving, ripe and tall, everywhere ready for the
sickle. In some places appeared a cluster of pretty little cottages, their
walls white as alabaster, and roofed with bright yellow thatch, embosomed
among a grove of light willow-trees, from the midst of which arose the
tall and slender church spire, surmounted by a clumsy vane, around which
flew scores of cawing rooks, fluttering and contesting for footing on the
gilded weathercock. Sometimes the canal barge passed through the very
midst of a farm and close to the mansion, with its deep, thatched roof,
having walls of glaring white or yellow, and gaudy red or blue streaks six
inches broad painted round each door and window,—the brass knocker on the
green door, the burnished windows, the gilt vanes, and painted walls all
gleaming in the light of the sun. Contrasting with the rural dwelling, the
parterres before it, the stackyard behind, the ducks, the geese, the pigs,
and the children in the yard, or among the reeds by the canal bank,
appeared, perhaps, close by a vessel of two hundred tons or so, laid up in
ordinary, or high and dry in the farmyard, with hens roosting beside her
keel. In some places these craft lay in small docks having a flood-gate,
with their top-masts struck, their rigging and spars all dismantled, and
stowed away below or on deck. Most of the Dutch and Belgian farmers are
also shipowners ; and by means of those great and beautiful canals, which
like veins intersect the whole country, they bring their craft to their
farmyards, perhaps fifty or eighty miles inland, and there keep them
during the winter. They can thus the more readily load or provision them
with. their own farm produce, before they are again sent to sea.
As Ronald was totally
ignorant of Dutch, and knew very little of French, he could neither
converse with the boatmen nor the dull Flemish boors who happened to be
passengers ; and he passed his time monotonously enough, yawning over a
few London newspapers, or watching every schuytje sculled along by its
'twenty-breeched' boatmen.
In the evening he arrived
at the busy and opulent, but smoky town of Bruges: and hence, passing the
night at an hotel, and rising next morning with the lark, he proceeded to
Ghent, that city of bustle and bridges. On landing at one of the quays, he
was surprised to observe a French soldier on sentry, walking briskly about
before his box. When passing, monsieur came slightly to 'his front,' and
presented arms. In traversing the streets, he met many French officers in
undress, all of whom politely touched their caps on passing. They all wore
their swords and belts, and were to be seen promenading everywhere, singly
or in parties, in the streets, on the bridges, on the quays, or flirting
with the girls who kept the booths and fancy warehouses in the great
square.
At the portal of a large
and handsome mansion, a British soldier of the line, and a Frenchman in
the uniform of the garde-du-corps, were on duty together as sentinels. It
was the residence of Louis XVIII., who, on the landing of Buonaparte, had
accepted the asylum offered him by the King of the Netherlands, and now
resided in Ghent, spending his time like some plodding citizen, when he
should have been in the field aiding his allies, and heading the few
soldiers of France who still remained true to him. A British guard was
mounted at his residence, in addition to the garde-du-corps, and the
officers dined every day at the royal table.
Of the French army, about
seven hundred officers and a thousand soldiers remained stanch to Louis,
when the whole of their comrades joined Napoleon en masse. The privates
were all quartered at Alost, but the officers he kept near his own person.
Warlike preparations were
manifest everywhere around Ghent. Nearly eight thousand men were employed
in repairing the ancient fortifications and raising new, digging ditches,
mounting cannon, erecting bulwarks, forts, and gates; for rumours of the
coming strife, and of the invasion of Flanders by Buonaparte and his
furious frenchmen, were compelling the drowsy people to lay aside their
phlegm, and show some courage, energy, and activity.
In the evening Ronald was
roused by the ringing of the church-bells, as for an alarm. A commotion
and noise arose in the city, as if the people of Ghent had suddenly cast
off their apathy, and set all their tongues to work. Above the increasing
din, he heard the officers and soldiers of the garde-du-corps crying Vive
le Roi! Vive Louis! in that true turncoat style for which the French had
become so notorious. Conceiving it to be some unlooked-for attack, he
clasped on his belt, and repaired to a neighbouring table d'hote, where a
French officer informed him that the uproar was caused by the arrival of a
courier, bearing intelligence that the entire French army was in motion,
and headed by the Emperor,—while he spoke, a flush crossed his cheek,
betraying the enthusiasm he could not conceal,—led by their Emperor, had
crossed the Sambre, and were marching on Charleroi.
Anxious to join his
regiment before hostilities began, and being heartily tired of the slow
and chilly mode of travelling by canal barges, Stuart purchased a horse at
Ghent, as no Belgian would lend one for hire. It was a poor-looking hack,
and he paid for it thrice its real value. Leaving his baggage to be sent
after him, he set off on the spur for Brussels, among whose plodding
citizens the advance of the French had stricken. a terror beyond
description. But two alternatives were before them in the case of
Wellington's defeat,—flight, or to remain and encounter sack and slaughter
; for well they knew that Napoleon would fearfully avenge the abandonment
of his standard.
Ronald departed from Ghent
at daybreak, and halted for breakfast at Alost. He repaired to an hotel,
where his uniform procured him every attention, but there was
consternation pre-eminently visible in every Belgian face. Here he was
informed that the first corps of the Prussian army, posted at Charleroi,
under the command of General Zeithen, had been attacked, and, after a
sharp contest, compelled to retreat towards Fleurs. Notwithstanding their
fears, the people boasted much of the Belgian troops, and declared that,
when the strife was fairly begun, they would do wonders.
'Ah, why should we fear?'
they repeated continually. 'Lord Wellington has the Belgians with him.'
Having been misdirected and
sent far out of his way by one of the terrified natives, it was dark
before the young soldier arrived at Brussels, where confusion, fear, and
uproar reigned supreme. He was permitted to pass the fortifications and
barriers only, after a great deal of troublesome altercation with the
Belgic and German sentries and guards, who scrupled to admit an armed man
without the parole. After entering, he found his poor horse in a state of
the utmost exhaustion. He had ridden nearly forty miles that day, and
stood greatly in need of refreshment himself; but he was determined to
travel on without halting, and to join the regiment at all risk and
expense. He went straight to an hotel, and hired another horse, leaving
twice its value, together with the Bucephalus he had purchased at Ghent,
which was to be restored to him on his return—when that should take place.
The French army were still
pressing impetuously forward. Marshal Ney, in command of the left, had
proceeded along the road for Brussels, and attacking the Prince of Saxe
Weimar, drove him back from Frasnes to the famous position named Les
Quatre Bras; while Napoleon, with his own immediate command, the right and
centre, followed the retreating Prussians towards Brie and Sombref.
At half-past three on that
morning (the 16th June), the British had marched out of Brussels towards
the enemy. Fear was impressed on every heart and visible on every face
after their departure.
The bells were tolling
mournfully, and many persons were lamenting in the streets as if the day
of universal doom was at hand. The churches were lighted for night-service
when Stuart entered the city. From the tall Gothic windows of the church
of St. Gudule, vivid flakes of variously tinted light streamed on the
groups of anxious and gossiping citizens, who were assembled in knots and
crowds in the great Sablon Square, or on the magnificent flight of steps
ascending to the doorway, through which streams of radiance, and strains
of choral music, came gushing into the streets below. The bells in the two
great towers were booming away in concert with others, and flinging their
deep hollow tones to the midnight wind. Business of every kind was
suspended ; the shops were shut ; and the paunchy magistrates were all in
the Hotel de Ville, assembled in solemn conclave, consulting, not about
the best means of defence, but the best mode—to use a homely phrase—'of
cutting their stick, and without beat of drum. |
