Part 12 (1/2)
The news of the peace, at this period, certainly sounded as strangely in our ears as it did in those of the French marshal, for it was a change that we never had contemplated. We had been born in war, reared in war, and war was our trade; and what soldiers had to do in peace, was a problem yet to be solved among us.
After remaining a few days at Toulouse, we were sent into quarters, in the town of Castel-Sarazin, along with our old companions in arms, the fifty-second, to wait the necessary arrangements for our final removal from France.
Castel-Sarazin is a respectable little town, on the right bank of the Garonne; and its inhabitants received us so kindly, that every officer found in his quarter a family home. We there, too, found both the time and the opportunity of exercising one of the agreeable professions to which we had long been strangers, that of making love to the pretty little girls with which the place abounded; when, after a three months' residence among them, the fatal order arrived for our march to Bordeaux, for embarkation, the buckets full of salt tears that were shed by men who had almost forgotten the way to weep was quite ridiculous. I have never yet, however, clearly made out whether people are most in love when they are laughing or when they are crying. Our greatest love writers certainly give the preference to the latter.
_Scott_ thinks that ”love is loveliest when it's bathed in tears;” and _Moore_ tells his mistress to ”give smiles to those who love her less, but to keep her tears for him;” but what pleasure he can take in seeing her in affliction, I cannot make out; nor, for the soul of me, can I see why a face full of smiles should not be every bit as valuable as one of tears, seeing that it is so much more pleasant to look at.
I have rather wandered, in search of an apology for my own countenance not having gone into mourning on that melancholy occasion; for, to tell the truth, (and if I had a visage sensible to such an impression, I should blush while I tell it,) I was as much in love as any body, up nearly to the last moment, when I fell out of it, as it were, by a miracle; but, probably, a history of love's last look may be considered as my justification. The day before our departure, in returning from a ride, I overtook my love and her sister, strolling by the river's side, and, instantly dismounting, I joined in their walk.
My horse was following, at the length of his bridle-reins, and, while I was engaged in conversation with the sister, the other dropped behind, and, when I looked round, I found her mounted _astride_ on my horse! and with such a pair of legs, too! It was rather too good; and ”Richard was himself again.”
Although released, under the foregoing circ.u.mstances, from individual attachment, that of a general nature continued strong as ever; and, without an exception on either side, I do believe, that we parted with mutual regret, and with the most unbounded love and good feeling towards each other. We exchanged substantial proofs of it while together; we continued to do so after we had parted; nor were we forgotten when we were _no more_! It having appeared, in some of the newspapers, a year afterwards, that every one of our officers had been killed at Waterloo, that the regiment had been brought out of the action by a volunteer, and the report having come to the knowledge of our Castel-Sarazin friends, they drew up a letter, which they sent to our commanding officer, signed by every person of respectability in the place, lamenting our fate, expressing a hope that the report might have been exaggerated, and entreating to be informed as to the particular fate of each individual officer, whom they mentioned by name. They were kind good-hearted souls, and may G.o.d bless them!
CHAP. XIX.
Commencement of the War of 1815. Embark for Rotterdam. s.h.i.+p's Stock. s.h.i.+p struck. A Pilot, a Smuggler, and a Lawyer. A Boat without Stock. Join the Regiment at Brussels.
I have endeavoured, in this book of mine, to measure out the peace and war in due proportions, according to the spirit of the times it speaks of; and, as there appears to me to be as much peace in the last chapter as occurred in Europe between 1814 and 1815, I shall, with the reader's permission, lodge my regiment, at once, on Dover-heights, and myself in Scotland, taking a shot at the last of the woodc.o.c.ks, which happened to be our relative positions, when Bonaparte's escape from Elba once more summoned the army to the field.
The first intimation I had of it was by a letter, informing me of the embarkation of the battalion for the Netherlands, and desiring me to join them there, without delay; and, finding that a brig was to sail, the following day, from Leith to Rotterdam, I took a pa.s.sage on board of her. She was an odd one to look at, but the captain a.s.sured me that she was a good one to go; and, besides, that he had provided every thing that was elegant for our entertainment. The latter piece of information I did not think of questioning until too late to profit by it, for I had the mortification to discover, the first day, that his whole stock consisted in a quarter of lamb, in addition to the s.h.i.+p's own, with a few cabbages, and five gallons of whiskey.
After having been ten days at sea, I was awoke, one morning before daylight, with the s.h.i.+p's grinding over a sand-bank, on the coast of Holland; fortunately, it did not blow hard, and a pilot soon after came alongside, who, after exacting a reward suitable to the occasion, at length, consented to come on board, and extricated us from our perilous situation, carrying the vessel into the entrance of one of the small branches of the river leading up to Rotterdam, where we came to anchor. The captain was very desirous of appealing to a magistrate for a reduction in the exorbitant demand of the pilot; and I accompanied him on sh.o.r.e for that purpose. An Englishman made up to us at the landing-place, and said that his name was C----, that he had made his fortune by smuggling, and, though he was not permitted to spend it in his native country, that he had the greatest pleasure in being of service to his countrymen. As this was exactly the sort of person we were in search of, the Captain explained his grievance; and the other said that he would conduct him to a gentleman who would soon put that to rights. We, accordingly, walked to the adjoining village, in one of the houses of which he introduced us, formally, to a tall Dutchman, with a pipe in his mouth and a pen behind his ear, who, after hearing the story, proceeded to commit it, in large characters, to a quire of foolscap.
The cautious nature of the Scotchman did not altogether like the appearance of the man of business, and demanding, through the interpreter, whether there would be any thing to pay for his proceedings? he was told that it would cost five guineas. ”Five devils,” said Saunders; ”What is it for?” ”For a protest,” said the other. ”D--n the protest,” said the captain; ”I came here to save five guineas, and not to pay five more.” I could stand the scene no longer, and rushed out of the house, under the pretence of seeing the village; and on my return to the s.h.i.+p, half an hour afterwards, I found the captain fast asleep. I know not whether he swallowed the remainder of the five gallons of whiskey, in addition to his five-guinea grievance, but I could not shake him out of it, although the mate and I tried, alternately, for upwards of two hours; and indeed I never heard whether he ever got out of it,--for when I found that they had to go outside to find another pa.s.sage up to Rotterdam, I did not think it prudent to trust myself any longer in the hands of such artists, and, taking leave of the sleeper, with a last ineffectual shake, I hired a boat to take me through the pa.s.sage in which we then were.
We started with a stiff fair wind, and the boatman a.s.sured me that we should reach Rotterdam in less than five hours (forty miles); but it soon lulled to a dead calm, which left us to the tedious operation of tiding it up; and, to mend the matter, we had not a fraction of money between us, nor any thing to eat or drink. I bore starvation all that day and night, with the most christian-like fort.i.tude; but, the next morning, I could stand it no longer, and sending the boatman on sh.o.r.e, to a neighbouring house, I instructed him either to beg or steal something, whichever he should find the most prolific; but he was a clumsy hand at both, and came on board again with only a very small quant.i.ty of coffee. It, however, afforded some relief, and in the afternoon we reached the town of Dort, and, on lodging my baggage in p.a.w.n with a French inn-keeper, he advanced me the means of going on to Rotterdam, where I got cash for the bill which I had on a merchant there. Once more furnished with the ”sinews of war,” with my feet on _terra firma_, I lost no time in setting forward to Antwerp, and from thence to Brussels, when I had the happiness of rejoining my battalion, which was then quartered in the city.
Brussels was, at this time, a scene of extraordinary preparation, from the succession of troops who were hourly arriving, and in their formation into brigades and divisions. We had the good fortune to be attached to the brigade of our old and favourite commander, Sir James Kempt, and in the fifth division, under Sir Thomas Picton. It was the only division quartered in Brussels, the others being all towards the French frontier, except the Duke of Brunswick's corps, which lay on the Antwerp road.
CHAP. XX.
Relative Situation of the Troops. March from Brussels. The Prince and the Beggar. Battle of Quatre-Bras.
As our division was composed of crack regiments, under crack commanders, and headed by fire-eating generals, we had little to do the first fortnight after my arrival, beyond indulging in all the amus.e.m.e.nts of our delightful quarter; but, as the middle of June approached, we began to get a little more on the _qui vive_, for we were aware that Napoleon was about to make a dash at some particular point; and, as he was not the sort of general to give his opponent an idea of the when and the where, the greater part of our army was necessarily disposed along the frontier, to meet him at his own place. They were of course too much extended to offer effectual resistance in their advanced position; but as our division and the Duke of Brunswick's corps were held in reserve, at Brussels, in readiness to be thrust at whatever point might be attacked, they were a sufficient additional force to check the enemy for the time required to concentrate the army.
On the 14th of June it was generally known, among the military circles in Brussels, that Buonaparte was in motion, at the head of his troops; and though his movement was understood to point at the Prussians, yet he was not sufficiently advanced to afford a correct clue to his intentions.
We were, the whole of the 15th, on the most anxious look out for news from the front; but no report had been received prior to the hour of dinner. I went, about seven in the evening, to take a stroll in the park, and meeting one of the Duke's staff, he asked me, _en pa.s.sant_, whether my pack-saddles were all ready? I told him that they were nearly so, and added, ”I suppose they wo'n't be wanted, at all events, before to-morrow?” to which he replied, in the act of leaving me, ”If you have any preparation to make, I would recommend you not to delay so long.” I took the hint, and returning to quarters, remained in momentary expectation of an order to move. The bugles sounded to arms about two hours after.
To the credit of our battalion, be it recorded, that, although the greater part were in bed when the a.s.sembly sounded, and billetted over the most distant parts of that extensive city, every man was on his alarm-post before eleven o'clock, in a complete state of marching order: whereas, it was nearly two o'clock in the morning before we were joined by the others.
As a grand ball was to take place the same night, at the d.u.c.h.ess of Richmond's, the order for the a.s.sembling of the troops was accompanied by permission for any officer who chose to remain for the ball, provided that he joined his regiment early in the morning. Several of ours took advantage of it.
Brussels was, at that time, thronged with British temporary residents; who, no doubt, in the course of the two last days, must have heard, through their military acquaintance, of the immediate prospect of hostilities. But, accustomed, on their own ground, to hear of those things as a piece of news in which they were not personally concerned; and never dreaming of danger, in streets crowded with the gay uniforms of their countrymen; it was not until their defenders were summoned to the field, that they were fully sensible of their changed circ.u.mstances; and the suddenness of the danger multiplying its horrors, many of them were now seen running about in the wildest state of distraction.
Waiting for the arrival of the other regiments, we endeavoured to s.n.a.t.c.h an hour's repose on the pavement; but we were every instant disturbed, by ladies as well as gentlemen; some stumbling over us in the dark--some shaking us out of our sleep, to be told the news--and not a few, conceiving their immediate safety depending upon our standing in place of lying. All those who applied for the benefit of my advice, I recommended to go home to bed, to keep themselves perfectly cool, and, to rest a.s.sured that, if their departure from the city became necessary, (which I very much doubted,) they would have at least one whole day to prepare for it, as we were leaving some beef and potatoes behind us, for which, I was sure, we would fight, rather than abandon!