A WORD ON WATERLOO.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 533, 19 June 1909, Page 10

A WORD ON WATERLOO.

NINETY-FOURTH " ANNIVERSARY.

(Br GYEO.) The olown and the tragedian-shake handfl in', tho following. Every- action >of • every thing)'''living or dead) is the notion -of 1 olio swarm of atoms on another. "■ Soro, for example, is a swarm of chemical-atoms—coll it a' man. v Kcaso'it/n; another.,swam'.,of atoms, a bright-huod tunio, and yon have a soldier. • Scintillant, polling, 13 thiS_ . com't»site' swarin; ! , liut not; On . 1 a,' fioggy "slope, i in ; fumo3 '.of. iutrQ,',ahi Ismoke,.. itt. l approMhcß;;TCithin l lSo;,yardß' of'-Mchaol, Grady—somotimo inmate of Cork/gaol,but) now also sointillant and gaze-compelling— and instantly-dissolves. Dissolves, forsooth, bccauso of meeting a 'swarm which camo out of Hiohaal's gun—they call it lead. 7

Pathos:. A Lottor, Before tha JSattla. -r . And then consider tho mutabilities of things, and likewise the,,. tears of things,' for,on tho vory "nigh t' : l>efore -tlic : . . *Iriahniah'.!'lbdsod off" his • solution, the first scintillant swarm was writ^ • ing this:— / ', „\, . .'•• . ■•"Ma'Chare Victorine,— ;''-.- '■ Storlight;,is ,Bhhiingfor you, .petite, in V I- 'Village to-night, •ana/; to:inor- /■■■' row,will .the.stars which are; shining .bright for you, bo- shining still for me? ''Every boy ', ■ i^i ; ,^6//line,:i«sin^nts—and :the.,. good:, God ; .--Inlows-thai they are only hoys—received 200 ! fdiißodes no good to v any6he."'We'liave"seen ' ithe English; for the • first. time. .'"What, a change ,it is,: after looking into the eyos •of Kaisorlichcs and Cossacks all these years. . They-are, fat' fellows, .ruddy.un .face,-and clean ishavon. When they-'aro-'fighting they do not-roar, and imake wild..beasts ,of themselvea as: tho . -Prussians ' do. wo ■ • could seo them round their, fires;"with..plenty ... of flour aiid tobacco, laughing;'and::.sky-lark- . ing, like sahool-boys. But we havo had nov . thing for four dayß except beets, which wo dug out of tho peasants' gardens and car- ; riea in our helmets, although they say there fa to bo rum to-morrow. .iTo-nignt wo .can-. :, V. s ' iiot -sleep hecauso of. the- raiuY and'-lthe' ;Sol-; diers aro standing in.tons and twelvesi'lcan-" ; ing against-each-other'for warmth. Yob. can see in the darkness the white cloaks of the cuirassiers sitting on their horses bo- . cause there is nowhere-else'.to' sleep. Poor, horses 1 Htiw can thoy chargo to-inorrtwP: > 'Weiyone-saj™'"'that''these'.sufferings,.'can .-, not endure, and that there must be, a gr&t - victory soon,' for the ."Emperor.:' knows what; ' he is ,about when he got l all'these''m'crii'-to- 1gcther so quickly in a corner of tho Mouso j . and ' Sambro. ."Redhead" (Marshal ■" ■ Noy). ' joined'tho army three days . ago. He had no money and no: horsos, having just patched up his quarrel with tho Emporor, ;.but the ' oH soldiers say that everything must go well now that Bedhead is' here. A kiss, ma ' chere, to you,; ■■.. ■ ... ;;>■ . : '', -What alnightmare it. is,; thiseverahaiiging' ■■■■" danco of the.atom>l To-morrow ,the;danco will.be ended, for poor ( Jean Picquart, do-, " scriptivG. writer about starlight, ind mounted grenadier of tho Guards. And then, pre-, sently . ".". only so much chemistry :of sodium, and.nitiogein and phosphorus! And who; know;s : Toy.agings. • of .those 'veryyaioms 'round .the "world?; ;In-' ... deed, tho citizen may inspect his lucifer matches with ',interest, .'this ; \of ■ . : ■':*'■ June, 1909, lor one can never teU'iwhat'-thoy.: might have been.on June.lß, ; ninety-four: : yeara ago. Ooaio to think of it,.the label on .the-box does .say very, distinctly that'they. \ :wcro "Mado in Belgium.", And let it be , added, lcst. fchis'.' should soom a little- iranky and. rococo,. that atoms and tno confliot. of atom 9 ate"the:most. Mings in'jtlk ■> world torus', 'Sfprj.they /.Aip-.'UB,Jpbysically' '-least, has, -therefore, •to iis 1 poo r pojple they ' Son-' . • dition wi interest that .'is. tragic. ppon Eyes: A Letter After.' : : . How :did 'it feel to a '''Tlid ; jtjest answer has been supplied by a 3?rench- : ;inan.in : a letter to ] hisjsis.ter ) ;Ajitoinetto. : Dear "Toiny,"— .- :V I suppose.. Bonaparte is back rn Pans;. • and now you know about it. .1 had only one ..v.;:';.'''c.carrot,^to.eat in:fou'r;.days,^and lost my.bbo,ts. ■,-< ■ : .in the mud when the rain iivhistled'idowri'.bn ?i*s'.aJl night at. Moiit St. Jean'..\They say, that r never to; 1 all.' night,t 'ina"-'"Sobi-' . light.witli."thoso-'..'.vftjsaborAls -Prussians .. teasing us. Conceive it, dear Toiny. , I went .. l : ,' v. -, .up -the hill barefooted •. thirteen 5 times ,with: .;,y. .different; celUmnsT-not. the ■ iitt.leA'; ■ when the intelligent' pfßcoiS of iusterlitz had . . chargo—but groat ones with twenty men in front apd eighty rinks deep, because they - have.', to;.be'-big' to,''give-.the conscripts' confi-1 i;, Vdeiico:■ "'.You /may;.''imazin<)• how" thisfcitn'h'on :*;' through . : s¥ch'.great'' blocks ofi'inwii ■■■• Marcognet's and :Durutte's columns, all ; • plouehooys and conscripts of. the last ban] -'■■■■ \ could iiot deploy;becauso'th^y.did nob;know tho' drill, and : thW'officer3 r th() word the 'Eng* .•'. lish shoot',theyishoulder arms,''so that.'when ;. you see' them do so you .kr.ow it may be tho thing you will over see.in this beautiful i ■ ' , bright .world*: • Always as we.'.went up the hill ;; ,v : the English'remamed.'q'uito silent, with ordered arms, and from., thoir. steadiness appeared to be a long, rod wall. This steadi'../v ness produced^an ; '73ffcet ■ ' young I'soldiers;:shouting; VVivo PEinpereurlfEn ' .ayaht! A la ; •^ a i°B®'tt6!''' ; 'Shakbs' on .V.? ;': -Vales of- the! nluskets j-.'tho'i'cblumn began' '■ tt ;• . : .-.d<>ul>le; the ranks got a little mingled; somo . rnuskeits, went; off. 'and \killed ' tho - man in .. ; . -frontf; >md whatpiHado'".'us" "feel worse" than 'r '. • ! ; ,;.aijypiig ( of , '.N- tto officers—"Oloso- the. ranks! -. Close.: tho ii -;l I*'' f -'^A.ll;thisitirhd^the;Ehglish.:lino''Tfr ' A;,B ;Siliiit;> itH^orr: dored arras,-'- oven; when :'wo.: were'-' ■ only "300 y':v;-'' , v'^pS^.d^taht.' i ; , 'Tte , !Vo6.'(^&Wi :;': v '-' , :our lnmost'thoiights oach felt that the'enemy : _ .was.a'-long.tiir.o in' firing, and that this firo '.' kept,;back' very un'*: ''. when it ..did.'come...... Our-- ardour ; .V. ■! .'--oooled.-:The-moral-.p(WM"&f^lTOdihess,".whioh J;. nothing shakes (even if it bo only , in appoar- . • S n ,w)>'.9wr iyourig bloodpwhich-, stupefies •'it- . •. /V'^f.|!. miAds.-,' •'•'At ' ■.'' "nibni'onli' ofi indescribablo ' tension tliA • Englisli wall shouldered"arms

/ i Humours ThO: Historians on V/atorlao. . r^ r 'Soii;eant.-.' Pi'err<?.. Vauciielki.V, 'lofcfcr'.vis <i \\>ferloo as if Should. lie, a mixture of-tho *' ■ ; ."''' tragic and the comic,"as all humar. affairs . are, a mixture of-moonshine and shadoiv. "Not . . : . the moonshine tliat isflighting: .the ghastly . v valley round'fHougonioiit, -iiifb : whioh, even after 94 years,, ire da'ro not look, nor- • tho ; -'i; : moor.shmo 'that-- falls through a' bani win- ' /.: ;dow whero dying Frenchmen arestUL'j&gliting ' .; - among "the strati -not . ' -^--tlio^lilooiisliino^/'Wh'ich'/lightfj. ;: Prussian Hlissiirst across - i: ; ; TfralgiunPaU Matriighfc,".aha; : tl».?-3otftit'd v 1 ?■ - Wellinjcton cahiofrgeft htfls ■ he-:Wants: a. sll-avc,'. but tho'iiKkln-, Sliiho °f history;'^The;vpicturesque' / 'Way' ; -'in i which man - will jlie-abouf tho most tragio ex- - . r ':: Pfriencos -of ..the race, and call thqso l stones '■'<'■ v-3^ r y) - w truly iUuriiihafced comedy?. Tho . ■m ' , cnOorf ul : way: in --which- ho ' roads ahd bolioves ™at .'; "history'v'is past '/words;;. ■ Consider Bomo of tho statements of history. Water-: - 100 was not. a ..."stupendous .battle.".- . The ;: . Dnk'O of'/Welliiigton's'-:'front would' hardly have stretched from Thorndon to -the 'Basin . .'■'Resorvo; tho front; a,tvMukderi . would have extended from Johnsonvillo to Lovin, Waterloo was not a-battloof "the.iwar-scarrcd Ivot- . erans of Jona.'.Austorlitz, etc." Most -of • theso perished' in .Russia' in 1812;' - Thirty pbr cc-nt. of the Old Guard wero recruits, while tho avorago ago of tl;e' lino regiments would'scarcely"'have - touched, 'twenty-one; 'Waterloo■did!Tlot .'.'decido i tho, 'destinies .of Eurojje." ''Certain' forces' overthrow Napoleon in 181S-14, and the same'forces'would I have overthrown him again even if Wejling.ton and. Bluchor. h»d; : 'both;-: becji ..vbeaten; Waterloo was'not . "ai glittering campaignof master-movements,"-.-'i'hovo was-vory- littlis' strategy in it. Most of what little there ;.i ■ was, was supplied by Wellington, and tho . . ' rest was poured into Blnchor's dense intel-lect.by-Gneiscnaii.kis chiof -of :.sta-ff.- r . The ■.history of Waterloo has yet to■ boV,written', "and the'current/"histories'^raro".alrnos't as ■■■'•,;■ . romarkablo..fbf'rth6 ;farfs ;'thby : 'omit''as for the "facts'' they supply., Not one of them stitos dcfiuitely.itHtti/threei.'ivords:.which won Waterloo-4ino against-column.:And-'not oils : -of 'dolomftSi so .siaall and ~

doadly in 1796, had grown so huge and un.manAgediblo and death-inviting in 1816—or explains'- that it was necessary to assomblo Buoh great-mMsesriiiTbrder that: those conscripts of an exhausted nation might havo tho confidence which timid souls acquire by going forwardanjong.a vast body of their follows. As far was concerned, Waterloo Was* nothing -more than the petty bill 'Of - tho 'insistent''-milkman, which drives a 'plungirig-millibhaffe into the bankruptcy tourt'nt-the 'firiish.i-But it has one point whioh iseparatds it" from ull other battles— -it is, .remarkahlcr; forvtho 'groat quantity of the'.quantity, of death and tragic ''separation ..of, : jifyms—in. proportion to. the [ very .'limited area/of, tho .battlefield. . ;Tears: John' Bull and others.

' * Oif tho wliolo, Waterloo is a perfectly aamCT^ f comfflent" on';the inborn stupidity of - and painfully to--wards lvis goal through a jungle of sufferings. In 1774,Mesnil Durand invented tho Prticii--9Vstcm?of-.attock-:in double company oolumns, "and then starved in a workhouse, becauso hi 3 system, depending as it did on intelligent officer?,. capable of giving, certain wonki "Sf"6oinffiahd"at certain distances from tho one-ny, was no good to any army which did not. possess. such officers. The Revolu'tiont®rPSßlit ifltQ;tlfs-ranks numbors of just such intelligent and educated men, who found in soldiering tho only outlet for their ability. With this "system Napoleon eucc«j3-_ fully assaulted Europe, and thought to, pot iiis foot on the .world. But even ho had still to learn v that long Wars sap efficiency, and it fall first. As tho'columns.'griiw poorer in quality, they had viS'ter-in quantity, and they to battalion coloolumns, .and.,, as ' "early iisyWagram (sii years.before. Waterloo),_ to division; -ooljimns. ■ It was. about this time . thitrthti'English voro ooming on tho scene lino;.'.. And "howmark how really Stupid the Englishman can be. Tho line u essentially the formation for defence, ana.j the .column'•for^attack.' -Against tho French, | the Englishman's .battles were always defensive. and 'the'liner'iVae just tho thing.. But tlio^Englishman/never stopped to analyse this, and in 1854, when called on, not to defend, but to assault (at the Alma), __ ho. just formed up in line in the- old familiar way. The result was-that, the, red-jackets " reached the crest- of'-the'Russian in indeficnbahlo: disorder.;- By all the rules > of war, " the" Russian,'should now hare -received their*enemy in lino, in which case liah attack would;-,have been shot to pieces.' 'But it. seoms that/ho- nation can over claim a complete monopoly of .the world s stupid-. ityv'^iho--Euisians,'':who l -.shohld have been formed'mi lino,: were formed in column! .