The Emperor had left for Paris.
HISTORICAL ROMANCES OF FRANCE
WATERLOO
A SEQUEL TO THE CONSCRIPT OF 1813
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF
ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN
ILLUSTRATED
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
NEW YORK :::::::::::::::::::::: 1911
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Emperor had left for Paris . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece
People were heard shouting, "There it is! there it is!"
A mounted hussar was looking out into the night
The Emperor, his hands behind his back and his head bent forward
He had had the courage to pull up the bucket
Combat of Hougoumont Farm
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Often as the campaign of Waterloo has been described by historians andfrequently as it has been celebrated in fiction it has rarely beennarrated from the stand-point of a private soldier participating in itand telling only what he saw. That this limitation, however, does notexclude events of the greatest importance and incidents of the mostintensely dramatic interest is abundantly proved by the narrative ofthe Conscript who makes another campaign in this volume and describesit with his customary painstaking fulness and fidelity. But whatrenders "Waterloo" still more interesting is the picture it presents ofthe state of affairs after the first Bourbon restoration, and itsdescription of how gradually but surely the way was prepared by thestupidity of the new régime for that return to power of Napoleonwhich seems so dramatically sudden and unexpected to a superficial viewof the events of the time. In this respect "Waterloo" deserves to rankvery high as a chapter of familiar history, or at least of historicalcommentary.
WATERLOO:
A SEQUEL TO
THE CONSCRIPT OF 1813
I
The joy of the people on the return of Louis XVIII., in 1814, wasunbounded. It was in the spring, and the hedges, gardens, and orchardswere in full bloom. The people had for years suffered so much misery,and had so many times feared being carried off by the conscription