THE FIFTEEN 
 
 DECISIVE BATTLES 
 
 OF THE WORLD 
 
 FROM MARATHON TO WATERLOO
 
 OXFORD EDITION 
 
 THE FIFTEEN 
 
 DECISIVE BATTLES 
 
 OF THE WORLD 
 
 FROM MARATHON TO WATERLOO 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR EDWARD CREASY 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY H. W. C. DAVIS 
 
 ilNV^I TIC' 
 
 
 WITH TWELVE MAPS AND PLANS 
 
 HUMPHREY MILFORD 
 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW 
 
 NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE BOMBAY 
 
 1915
 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy, the author of this work, 
 
 belongs to the great Victorian period of our literature. 
 
 He was born in 1812, the year of the birth of Dickens and 
 
 of Browning. He was a little younger than Tennyson and 
 
 John Stuart Mill and Charles Darwin, a little older than 
 
 Ruskin and Buckle and George Eliot. The Fifteen Decisive 
 
 Battles of the World appeared in 1851, when Carlyle and 
 
 V, Ruskin, Tennyson and Browning, Mill and Grote, were at 
 
 "V the height of their productive power. The intellectual 
 
 (^ ferment which characterized the middle years of the 
 
 nineteenth century seems to have stimulated Creasy's 
 
 literary development. After 1851 he produced several 
 
 competent works of history ; but by common consent the 
 
 Fifteen Decisive Battles is his masterpiece. 
 
 Yet between Creasy and his more eminent contemporaries 
 
 (I there was not much in common. He had been trained in 
 
 '^a different school of thought, and he was concerned with a 
 
 ^different subject-matter. At Eton and at Cambridge he 
 
 '^ steeped himself in the literature of the ancient world ; 
 
 i4»and this curriculum left him equally indifferent to the 
 
 physical sciences and to the new German philosophies 
 
 which were the favourite studies of the mid- Victorian 
 
 period. From the classics he turned, as a young man, 
 
 QT^to the study of law and history. In the law he became 
 
 ^sufficiently at home to justify his later appointment as 
 
 ^ Chief Justice of Ceylon (1860). But from 1840 to 1860 
 
 his main interest and his professional occupation was 
 
 historical teaching. During those twenty years he held 
 
 0^ 8000 J .4
 
 vi INTRODUCTION 
 
 the office of Professor of Ancient and Modern History in 
 the University of London. He never made himself a 
 professional historian in the modern sense. He considered 
 it his business to expound the conclusions of the new 
 criticism. He was an admirer of Niebuhr, but he left 
 research to others. His bent was literary and not 
 scientific, and like most literary historians he was inclined 
 to take his facts from other writers ; to accept the con- 
 ventional verdicts upon historic personages, and the 
 conventional estimates of the significance of great events. 
 He stood aloof from the most eminent historical writers 
 of his own time, who, whether they had been trained in 
 natural science or not, were sufficiently imbued with scien- 
 tific scepticism to make short work of orthodox traditions. 
 Carlyle, not content with pressing the Hero-theory to ex- 
 tremes, took a pleasure in setting up as Heroes a Mahomet, 
 a Rousseau, a Cromwell, a Frederick the Great. Grote 
 undertook to defend the Athenian demagogues against the 
 abuse which had been heaped upon them by almost all the 
 earlier historians of Greece. Buckle wrote hii History of 
 Civilization to explain that the events which mattered were 
 those which previous investigators had omitted to record. 
 
 Creasy was not an original thinker. His conservative 
 attitude towards history, his belief that the causes which 
 lie upon the surface are the ca.uses which actually shape 
 the destinies of nations, were derived from Gibbon and 
 from Arnold and from Thirl wall, the three English 
 historians whom he took as his masters in the science. 
 But he was a robust thinker who never felt ashamed 
 of being out of fashion ; and the very title of his Fifteen 
 Decisive Battles was a challenge to the self-styled scientific 
 school who refused to see in history any trace of accident, 
 or to admit that any good could come of war. He acknow- 
 ledged that war was in itself an evil, and that the qualities
 
 INTRODUCTION vii 
 
 of a great soldier may be found in the basest of mankind. 
 To dwell on battles merely because they were battles would 
 be to show 'a strange weakness or depravity of mind'. 
 But he maintained that there are certain battles which 
 deserve to be studied because of their far-reaching effects 
 on human destinies. He tells us himself that this book was 
 suggested by a saying of Hallam to the effect that there 
 are some battles ' of which a contrary event would have 
 essentially varied the drama of the world in all its subse- 
 quent scenes '. Buckle held that every great upheaval of 
 society, such as, for instance, the French Revolution, was in 
 essence a conflict between reason and unreason, and that the 
 victory of reason was always a foregone conclusion. Creasy, 
 on the other hand, argues that the Revolution would have 
 been nipped in the bud if the armies of the Revolutionary 
 government had been beaten at Valmy. He carries the 
 revolt against the scientific method to the point of suggest- 
 ing that the individual leader may be the decisive factor in 
 such crucial struggles. At Valmy, he insists, a French 
 defeat was averted only by the personal skill of Dumouriez 
 and the personal bravery of Kellermann. Most historians 
 are agreed that the Pultowa campaign of Charles XII of 
 Sweden was a mad enterprise in its conception no less than 
 in its execution. Creasy represents the future of Russia 
 and of Sweden as hanging in suspense until the moment 
 when the Swedish attack reeled back in confusion from the 
 Russian lines. If those lines had once been broken, he 
 tells us, Charles XII might have established his capital at 
 Moscow, and Europe would not have been terrified, in 1852, 
 by the prospect of a Russian ascendancy. 
 
 These are obvious exaggerations. But every one will 
 admit that some wars, of which the issue was by no means 
 a foregone conclusion, have materially changed the political 
 situation and have placed the victorious powers in a position
 
 viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 of superiority which they have maintained, Avithout further 
 military effort, for a long period of time. The battles of 
 Salamis and Plataea — which, with all deference to Creasy, 
 we must consider more momentous than that of Marathon — 
 finally saved Greece from the Persian peril. The battle of 
 Actium established for more than two hundred years the 
 supremacy of Rome over the lands of the Eastern Mediter- 
 ranean. The battle of Sedan (which Creasy lived to Bee, 
 though he did not write about it) not only brought the 
 German Empire into being, but made that Empire for 
 some forty years the dominant power in Continental 
 Europe. It may well be true that the French armies had 
 not the slightest prospect of success in 1870 ; "but it seems 
 clear that, with better leading, they might have averted an 
 overwhelming defeat. 
 
 We may go further ; we may admit the truth of the 
 doctrine, which Creasy reiterates in one after another of 
 his narratives, that the consequence of a victory is far from 
 being measured by the material losses of the defeated party. 
 The death-roll of the greatest battles in the past is insignifi- 
 cant when we compare it Avith the ravages of a Black Death 
 or an Irish Famine, to say nothing of those still more 
 devastating dearths and epidemics with which the East is 
 visited from time to time. The Athenians estimated the 
 numbers of the Persians killed in the fight of Marathon at 
 6,400 ; and this figure is more likely to be above than below 
 the mark, since the losses of the Athenians are given as 192. 
 Yet Creasy does not exaggerate the effects of Marathon 
 when he states that, so far as the Greeks were concerned, 
 it * broke for ever the spell of Persian invincibility '. The 
 battle of Blenheim, to take a more modern instance, was 
 the turning-point in the career of Louis XIV. ' Blenheim 
 had dissipated for ever his once proud visions of almost 
 universal conquest.' Yet the losses of his army in killed,
 
 INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 prisoners, wounded, and fugitives were not more than 
 40,000 men. The most careful estimates of Napoleon's 
 losses at Waterloo give about 30,000 killed and wounded. 
 The battle of Borodino is considered the most sanguinary 
 of those fought in the Napoleonic wars ; but at Borodino the 
 total losses of the two opposing armies, French and Russian, 
 were not more than 72,000. It is noteworthy that the 
 carnage of Borodino led to no definite result. There can 
 be no greater mistake than that of measuring the impor- 
 tance of military operations by the numbers engaged or 
 the numbers which are put out of action. 
 
 A victory is important when it gives the victor a strong 
 and well-founded confidence in his superiority ; when it 
 removes all doubts as to his power of endurance, and as to 
 the merits of his military methods. Borodino was not 
 a victory of this kind. It left Napoleon despondent, 
 although his losses were less than half of those which he 
 had inflicted on the Russians. Borodino proved that the 
 Grand Army was not equal to the task of conquering 
 Russia. Napoleon said himself that, if he had pushed 
 his victory home, he would have been left without the 
 troops for winning further victories. Borodino is a striking 
 contrast to such engagements as Marathon and Hastings, 
 in which the opposing forces were insignificant, but the 
 circumstances such that the battle was, in each case, a 
 trial of strength between two different schools of military 
 organization. 
 
 At the same time it must be remembered that the moral 
 effects of a victory may be, and often are, of short duration. 
 Few nations have suffered more humiliating and more 
 conclusive defeats than were experienced by the Prussians 
 at Jena and by the French in the campaign of 1870, But 
 within eight years of Jena the Prussian army was 
 remodelled ; in 1813, at Mockern and at Laon, the disgrace
 
 X INTRODUCTION 
 
 of Jena was brilliantly retrieved. As for the French, we 
 ourselves are witnesses that the armies of the Third 
 Republic have profited at every point by the lessons which 
 were learned in the death-agony of the Second Empire. 
 Defeat may be a stimulus to new exertions ; victory may 
 breed an unwarranted and calamitous self-confidence. 
 The Athenians were defeated at Sjnracuse because earlier 
 successes had caused them to over-estimate their powers 
 and to despise their enemies. The completeness of the 
 Prussian rout at Jena was due to an unreasoning faith 
 in the military and social system which had carried Prussia 
 through the wars of the eighteenth century. Such 
 arrogance is even more dangerous than cowardice ; for 
 the coward, while he invites attack, at least does not go 
 out of his way to provoke it. 
 
 We may now turn from Creasy' s general view of war, as 
 a determining factor in history, to consider his list of 
 decisive battles. It will be noticed that he does not claim 
 to have selested the fifteen which were most decisive ; and 
 our first feeling, when we run through the list, is that he 
 has made a haphazard selection to suit the course of his 
 own reading, or to give himself the subjects which were 
 best suited to his literary method. Why, we may ask, 
 does he describe Marathon rather than Salamis, considering 
 that the success of the Greeks in keeping the Persians out 
 of Europe depended ultimately upon the Greek command 
 of the sea which was first established at Salamis ? Or why 
 should he describe the defeat of Varus rather than the 
 victory of Augustus at Actium, considering that the 
 consolidation of the Mediterranean lands under a single 
 Roman Emperor was a more important fact in Roman 
 history than the loss of an uncertain hold upon the forests 
 and marshes of primaeval Germany ? Why, again, should the 
 battle of Tour.s be described and the Crusades be omitted ?
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 Is it not a paradox to treat the battle of Orleans or the 
 battle of Pultowa as a turning-point in universal history ? 
 Would he have selected the battle of Orleans if he had not 
 been attracted by the tragical romance of Joan of Arc ? 
 Would it have occurred to him to exalt the importance of 
 Pultowa if he had not written his book a few years before 
 the Crimean War, when nearly every Liberal in Europe 
 regarded Russia as the enemy of progress and the would-be 
 despot of Western Europe ? 
 
 Criticisms of this kind could easily be multiplied, and 
 they would be just if Creasy had intended that his 
 unambitious volume should be systematic or scientific. 
 He had no such intention. He undoubtedly desired to 
 illustrate his general views on the subject of historical 
 progress, and he selected his battles with an eye to that 
 end. They were battles in which rival civilizations had 
 contended for the right to exist and to develop, or in 
 which nationalities had vindicated their independence. 
 He saw two well-marked stages in the development of the 
 Western world, the only part of the world which he judged 
 worthy of an historian's close examination. The first stage 
 was the growth of a Greco-Roman civilization which had 
 been defended against Persia by the Athenians and the 
 Spartans, against Carthage by the Romans ; and which had 
 been forced upon the Near East by the genius of Alexander 
 and Augustus. The builders of this civilization had failed 
 to camplete and secure their work, because they had never 
 subdued the German tribes of Central and North-Eastern 
 Europe. The Germans destroyed the political fabric of the 
 Roman Empire, but they constituted themselves the pro- 
 tectors of so much of Roman civilization as survived the 
 barbarian inroads. Charles Martel, by his victory of Tours 
 over the Arabs, rendered to Europe the same kind of service 
 as the victors of Marathon and Arbela and the Metaurus. In
 
 xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 the course of the Middle Ages the boundaries of civilized 
 Europe were enlarged and the old homogeneity of European 
 civilization was broken down by the growth of new nationali- 
 ties. There had been attempts to check and reverse this 
 process of differentiation. Philip II of Spain, Louis XIV, 
 Napoleon Buonaparte, had in turn aspired to make them- 
 selves autocrats over the whole of Western Europe. But 
 these plans had been contrary to the interests of civiliza- 
 tion, and the wars of England against Philip, of the Grand 
 Alliance against Louis XIV, of the European coalitions 
 against Napoleon, had been waged on behalf of human 
 liberty. With this synopsis of Western history in our 
 minds we can easily appreciate the reasons which guided 
 Creasy in his choice of battles, though we may sometimes 
 think that he has erred in his selection. He was not 
 a critical historian in the sense in which a Ranke or an 
 Acton is critical. He was very much inclined to accept 
 historical events at their traditional valuation ; to look at 
 the significance of Marathon, for example, through the eyes 
 of Herodotus, and to accept as literal truth the judgement 
 of Frankish chroniclers on the victory of Charles Martel 
 at Tours. But it is a safe rule of criticism that, while 
 contemporaries are undoubtedly our best witnesses for facts, 
 they are very unreliable commentators upon the importance 
 of those facts. No historical event of any consequence can 
 be seen in its true perspective until many generations have 
 elapsed. 
 
 On the other hand, Creasy is a master of perspicuous 
 narrative ; and he excels in the art of bringing home to his 
 readers the salient facts of a political or military situation. 
 In these respects he reminds us of his contemporary Grote ; 
 and though Grote was incomparably the more learned of 
 the two. Creasy has the advantage in the width of his 
 historical interests, and in being free from any desire to
 
 INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 prove a thesis. There can be no doubt that he is more 
 discriminating than Grote in his verdict upon Alexander, 
 or that he saw more clearly the connecting links between 
 the ancient and the modern world. Creasy's outlook upon 
 modern history may be somewhat insular ; for in writing 
 of modern Europe he seldom wanders far from English 
 history. But the latter half of his book is a valuable 
 commentary on the truth that those who only study 
 England will know very little about England's historic 
 mission.
 
 DEDICATED 
 
 ROBERT GORDON LATHAM, M.D., F.R.S. 
 
 Late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge ; Fellow of the Royal College of 
 
 Physicians, London; Member of the Ethnological Society, New York; 
 
 Late Professor of the English Language and Literatuie, in 
 
 University College, London 
 
 HIS FRIEND THE AUTHOR
 
 PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION 
 
 This book was designed and written, and the early- 
 editions of it were published, while we were blessed with 
 a Peace which existed for nearly forty years, and which 
 most of lis fondly hoped to behold unbroken for many 
 more years to come. But when, early in the present year, 
 I received notice that a Seventh Edition would soon be 
 required, I addressed myself to the duty of preparing it 
 amid totally different circumstances. This country was 
 engaged in eventful warfare, the term of which no sane 
 calculator could then define ; and the results of which to 
 ourselves, to our gigantic adversary, to our gallant allies, 
 and to the whole civilized world, mvist be all-pervading and 
 all-enduring. My first impulse was to cancel many passages, 
 which allude to the pacific character of the period in which 
 they were composed, and to make the general scope of the 
 Avork more applicable to the altered state of the World's 
 history. But, on reflection, I thought it best not to incur 
 the risk of marring that, which has hitherto found favour 
 with the public in its original form. I have only made 
 a few verbal corrections ; and the book still speaks as 
 from the year 1851, in which it first appeared — that 
 marvellous year of pacific glory — the first jubilee of nations 
 — a year of which the present generation will never see 
 the like again. I may perhaps be forgiven for also confessing 
 that I feel some degree of satisfaction in retaining unaltered 
 the passages in which, five years ago, I ventured incidentally 
 to draw attention to the probable emergencies of perils and 
 contests, which then were speculations, but have now 
 become facts. This is especially the case with regard to 
 the chapter on the Battle of Pultowa. 
 
 At the present moment, hopes, apparently well-grounded, 
 are cherished by us all, that the sound of man destroyed 
 by man has again been permanently silenced ; and that the 
 healing benefits of a lasting Peace are to be restored to the
 
 xviii PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION 
 
 World. May the good work prosper ! For, if the coming 
 Treaty be such as we are led to expect, we shall enjoy wise 
 security under a Peace won Avith honour, and founded on 
 justice. The war will perhaps have closed without being 
 signalized by a Decisive Battle of the World ; though it is 
 impossible, before man}^ years have passed away, rightly 
 to estimate the importance of any conflict. But even if 
 this be so, most truly did one of our leading statesmen 
 declare,^ that for us to prolong a contest for the mere 
 excitement and renown of winning such a battle, would 
 be to make ourselves ' the Gladiators of History '. We 
 had a duty to do, and we have done it. To sacrifice or 
 to risk a single life beyond what the execution of duty 
 requires, is as criminal in a nation as in an individual. 
 
 Yet, even if military lustre is alone regarded, the 
 campaigns of the last two years will shine brightly hereafter. 
 The actors in them will be judged more fairly after a little 
 time, than they have hitherto been amid the somewhat 
 overweening expectations, and party-jealousies of their 
 contemporaries. Less surprise and indignation will then 
 be felt at the fact, that the usual ' cankers of a calm world 
 and a long peace ' showed themselves in the administration 
 of our war department in 1854 and 1855. But the heroic 
 courage and endurance with which Englishmen encountered, 
 not only a brave and out-numbering enemy, but famine, 
 pestilence, and privation of the direst kind, week after 
 week, and month after month, in the Aceldama of their 
 leaguer before Sebastopol, will be the proud theme of 
 many a lay, and many an historic page. Long too will live 
 the renown of the English chiefs in the Arab Tabia, of 
 Nasmyth and Butler, of the marvellous defence and 
 deliverance of Silistria under their guiding. As equal to 
 these in glory, though less favoured by fortune, will be 
 cited the names of Williams and Teesdale, who triumphed 
 over every human foe at Kars. Seldom will it be possible 
 to find a nobler proof of the steady courage of British 
 infantry, than in the Tyrtaean valour of the 93rd at Balakla va, 
 when they calmly stepped forward, and in their two-deep 
 line drove back, with heavy loss to the foe, and with none 
 
 * Mr. Disraeli, in the Debate on the Address at the opening of the 
 present Session.
 
 PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION xix 
 
 to themselves, the exulting Russian cavalrj^ that had ridden 
 down the Turks near the redoubts : 
 
 Ot fxtu yap ToXixaxTt, irap' d\^rj\ot<ji nivovTi's, 
 
 Et's t' avTocxfKirjv Kai Trpofxdxuvs livai, 
 natipJrepot 6u,)aKov(7t, aaovcTt Se \auv oniaao}' 
 
 TpiaadvTOJv 6' avSpuif Trda' arruKwX^ dptTq.^ 
 
 For chivalrous devotion and daring, ' the Death -ride ' of 
 the Light Brigade in the same battle will not easily be 
 paralleled ; and for stubborn valour, for true old English 
 resolution to ' fight it out to the last ', amid every disadvan- 
 tage, and against almost overAvhelming odds, men will for 
 ages point to Inkerman, ' the British soldier's battle '. 
 There is, and long must be, deep sorrow in many an 
 English home, for the fallen in those fatal fields of fame. 
 Each household must bitterly well remember the gallant 
 ones, whom it sent forth and received again no more ; and 
 long and sadly will the images be cherished of ' the beautiful 
 and brave ', whom a hostile soil has covered for ever. 
 
 Ovj p.iv yap Tis enffi\j/ev 
 Oldif . . . 
 
 OJ 5' avTOV nfpi reixos 
 ®ri/cas 'IKiddos 70? 
 Evfiopcpoi Karixovaiv k- 
 X^pci 5' txovras iKpviptv.^ 
 
 But even those, who mourn the most deeply over the 
 sacrifices to the war, must rejoice at the proud proofs, 
 which it has given to the world, that the English heart is 
 still as staunch and true, and the English arm as strong, 
 as in the days of old. So far as Ave may have suffered from 
 any faults of system, the remedy is in our own hands. But 
 sterling manly courage among all classes of our army is 
 a national quality, which, if deficient, no administrative 
 ingenuity could supply. While it is present, no other 
 requisite for victory need long be wanting ; 
 
 The rank is but the gumea's stamp, 
 The man's the gold for a' that : 
 
 We have the best ore in abundance. If the coinage is 
 faulty, we must change the Mint. 
 
 * Tyrtaei Frag. ii. 11. ^ Aeschylus, Agani. 433-4, 452-5. 
 
 b2
 
 XX PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION 
 
 The general results of the war (if it terminate on the 
 anticipated conditions) are most cheering. Russian 
 ambition will have been effectually curbed, not only in 
 the Black Sea, but in the Baltic ; and the admirable 
 treaty with the Scandinavian kingdoms, by which the 
 wisdom of our statesmen has barred Russia from planting 
 herself on the ever-open harbours of the north-western 
 coast of Norway, and from erecting there Sweaborgs and 
 Bomarsunds over-against England, would of itself amply 
 repay all the cost and peril of the contest. But, above all, 
 the great blessing, which the resistance of England and 
 France to Muscovite aggression has created, has been the 
 cordial union of these two great nations in the same interest ; 
 and the strong friendship, which a community in purpose, 
 in peril, and in glory, has cemented, not only between their 
 Courts and Cabinets, but between their armies, their navies, 
 and their peoples. Each nation has now military reminis- 
 cences, which bring the other before it as a comrade, not as 
 a foe. England and France have in former times too well 
 proved how much evil each may inflict on the other ; each 
 now knows by experience that, with the other for its ally, 
 it is secure against the enmity of the world. May the lesson 
 never be forgotten ! Whether the recent task of the two 
 great European nations of the West is now accomplished, or 
 whether their Hags are to wave together over new campaigns 
 bayond the Baltic and the Euxine, may their friendship 
 continue inichanged and unchangeable, so long as the 
 memory of their joint achievements, so long as the names 
 of the Alma and Sebastopol shall endure ! 
 
 E. S. CREASY. 
 
 2 Mitre Court Chambers, Temple. 
 31arch 4, 1856.
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 It is an honourable characteristic of the Spirit of this 
 Age, that ]3rojects of violence and warfare are regarded 
 among civilized states with gradually increasing aversion. 
 The Universal Peace Society certainly does not,, and 
 probably never will, enroll the majority of statesmen 
 among its members. But even those who look upon the 
 Appeal of Battle as occasionally unavoidable in inter- 
 national controversies, concur in thinking it a deplorable 
 necessity, only to be resorted to when all peaceful modes 
 of arrangement have been vainly tried ; and when the law 
 of self-defence justifies a State, like an individual, in using 
 force to protect itself from imminent and serious injury. 
 For a writer, therefore, of the present day to choose battles 
 for his favourite topic, merely because they were battles ; 
 merely because so many myriads of troops were arrayed in 
 them, and so many hundreds or thousands of human beings 
 stabbed, hewed, or shot each other to death during them, 
 would argue strange weakness or depravity of mind. Yet 
 it cannot be denied that a fearful and wonderful interest 
 is attached to these scenes of carnage. There is undeniable 
 greatness in the disciplined courage, and in the love of 
 honour, which make the combatants confront agony and 
 destruction. And the powers of the human intellect are 
 rarely more strongly displayed than they are in the 
 Commander, who regulates, arrays, and wields at his will 
 these masses of armed disputants ; who, cool yet daring, 
 in the midst of peril, reflects on all, and provides for all, 
 ever ready with fresh resources and designs, as the vicissi- 
 tudes of the storm of slaughter require. But these qualities, 
 however high they may appear, are to be found in the basest 
 as well as in the noblest of mankind. Catiline was as brave 
 a soldier as Leonidas, and a much better officer. Alva 
 surpassed the Prince of Orange in the field ; and Suwarrow
 
 xxii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 was the military superior of Kosciusko, To adopt the 
 emphatic words of Byron : 
 
 'Tis the Cause makes all, 
 Degrades or hallows courage in its fall. 
 
 There are som3 battles, also, which claim our attention, 
 independently of the moral worth of the combatants, on 
 account of their enduring importance, and by reason of 
 the practical influence on our OAvn social and political 
 condition, which we can trace up to the results of those 
 engagements. They have for us an abiding and actual 
 interest, both while we investigate the chain of causes 
 and effects, by which they have helped to make us what 
 we are ; and also while we speculate on what we probably 
 should have been, if any one of those battles had come to 
 a different termination. Hallam has admirably expressed 
 this in his remarks on the victory gained by Charles Martel, 
 between Tours and Poictiers, over the invading Saracens. 
 
 He says of it, that ' it may justly be reckoned among 
 those few battles of which a contrarj'' event would have 
 essentially varied the drama of the world in all its subsequent 
 scenes : with Marathon, Arbela, the Metaurus, Chalons, and 
 Leipsic '. It was the perusal of this note of Hallam's that 
 first led me to the consideration of my present subject. 
 I certainly differ from that great historian as to the 
 comparative importance of some of the battles which he 
 thus enumerates, and also of some which he omits. It is 
 probable, indeed, that no two historical inquirers would 
 entirely agree in their lists of the Decisive Battles of the 
 World. Different mmds will naturally vary m the impres- 
 sions which particular events make on them ; and in the 
 degree of interest with which they watch the career, and 
 reflect on the importance of different historical personages. 
 But our concurrence in our catalogues is of little moment, 
 provided we learn to look on these great historical events 
 in the spirit which Hallam's observations indicate. Those 
 remarks should teach us to watch how the interests of 
 many states are often involved in the collisions between 
 a few ; and how the effect of those collisions is not limited 
 to a single age, but may give an impulse which will sAvay 
 the fortunes of successive generations of mankind. Most
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xxiii 
 
 valuable also is the mental discipline which is thus acquired, 
 and by which we are trained not only to observe what has 
 been, and what is, but also to ponder on what might have 
 been.i 
 
 We thus learn not to judge of the wisdom of measures 
 too exclusively by the results. We learn to apply the 
 juster standard of seeing what the circumstances and the 
 probabilities were that surrounded a statesman or a general 
 at the time when he decided on his plan : we value him 
 not by his fortune, but by his ITpoatpeo-ts, to adopt the 
 expressive Greek word, for which our language gives no 
 equivalent. 
 
 The reasons why each of the following Fifteen Battles 
 has been selected will, I trust, appear when it is described. 
 But it may be well to premise a few remarks on the negative 
 tests which have led me to reject others, which at first sight 
 may appear equal in magnitude and importance to the 
 chosen Fifteen. 
 
 I need hardly remark that it is not the number of killed 
 and wounded in a battle that determines its general 
 historical importance. It is not because only a few 
 hundreds fell in the battle by which Joan of Arc captured 
 the Tourelles and raised the siege of Orleans, that the 
 effect of that crisis is to be judged : nor would a full belief 
 in the largest number which Eastern historians state to 
 have been slaughtered in any of the numerous conflicts 
 between Asiatic rulers, make me regard the engagement 
 in which they fell, as one of paramount importance to 
 mankmd. But, besides battles of this kind, there are 
 many of great consequence, and attended with circumstances 
 which powerfully excite our feelings, and rivet our attention, 
 and yet which appear to me of mere secondary rank, 
 inasmuch as either their effects were limited in area, or 
 they themselves merely confirmed some great tendency or 
 bias which an earlier battle had originated. For example, 
 the encounters between the Greeks and Persians, which 
 followed Marathon, seem to me not to have been phenomena 
 of primary impulse. Greek superiority had been already 
 asserted, Asiatic ambition had already been checked, 
 
 ^ See Bolingbroke, ' On the Study and Use of History,' vol. ii. p. 497 
 of his collected works.
 
 xxiv PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 before Salamis and Plataea confirmed the superiority of 
 European free states over Oriental despotism. So, Aegos- 
 Potamos, which finally crushed the maritime . power of 
 Athens, seems to me inferior in interest to the defeat 
 before S\Tacuse, where Athens received her first fatal 
 check, and after which she only struggled to retard her 
 downfall. I think similarly of Zama with respect to 
 Carthage, as compared with the Metaurus ; and, on the 
 same principle, the subsequent great battles of the Revolu- 
 tionary war appear to me inferior in their importance to 
 Valmy, which first determined the military character and 
 career of the French Revolution. 
 
 I am aware that a little activity of imagination, and 
 a slight exercise of metaphysical ingenuity, may amuse us, 
 by showing how the chain of circumstances is so linked 
 together, that the smallest skirmish, or the slightest 
 occurrence of any kind, that ever occurred, may be said 
 to have been essential, in its actual termination, to the 
 whole order of subsequent events. But when I speak of 
 Causes and Effects, I speak of the obvious and important 
 agency of one fact upon another, and not of remote and 
 fancifully infinitesimal influences. I am aware that, on 
 the other hand, the reproach of Fatalism is justly incurred 
 by those who, like the Avriters of a certain school in 
 a neighbouring country, recognize in history nothmg more 
 than a series of necessary phenomena, which follow me vitably 
 one upon the other. But when, in this work, I speak of 
 probabilities, I speak of human probabilities only. When 
 I speak of Cause and Effect, I speak of those general laws 
 only, by which we perceive the sequence of human affairs 
 to be usually regulated ; and in which we recognize 
 emphatically the wisdom and power of the Supreme 
 Lawgiver, the design of The Designer. 
 
 MiTKE Court Chambers, Temple. 
 June 26, 1851.
 
 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION 
 
 I HAVE endeavoured to make this edition more worthy 
 than its predecessors of the public favour that has been 
 accorded to this work. Plans of the Battles and localities 
 have been inserted in it, where I could either obtain or 
 invent such as seemed likely to be trustworthy and useful. 
 I regret that I have not been able to give them in every 
 instance. These plans have no pretensions to minute 
 accuracy in detail, but they may help the reader in compre- 
 hending the chief features of the scenes. 
 
 Mitre Court Chambers, Temple. 
 May 22, 1852. 
 
 PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION 
 
 The account of the Battle of Waterloo will be found to 
 be much more copious in this edition than it was before. 
 I have added a General Index to the whole work, which 
 students of history may find useful. 
 
 MiTEE Court Chambers, Temple. 
 February 4, 1853.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Battle of Marathon ....... 1 
 
 Explanatory Remarks on some of the circumstances of the 
 
 Battle of Marathon ....... 35 
 
 Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Marathon, b. c. 490, 
 
 and the Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, B. c. 413 . 37 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Defeat op the Athenians at Syracuse, b. c. 413 . . 40 
 
 Synopsis of Events between the Defeat of the Athenians at 
 
 Syracuse and the Battle of Arbela ..... 60 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 The Battle of Arbela, e.g. 331 ...... 63 
 
 Sjmopsis of Events between the Battle of Arbela and the 
 
 Battle of the Metaurus ....... 88 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Battle of the Metaurus, b. c. 207 .... 93 
 Synopsis of Events between the Battle of the Metaurus, b. c. 207, 
 and Arminius's Victory over the Roman Legions under 
 Varus, a. D. 9 124 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Victory of Arminius over the Roman Legions under Varus, 
 
 A. D. 9 131 
 
 Arminius .......••• 146 
 
 Sjmopsis of Events between Arminius's Victory over Varus and 
 
 the Battle of Chalons . . . . . • . 156 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Battle of Chalons, a. d. 451 ..... 158 
 Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Chalons, a. d. 451, and 
 
 the Battle of Tours, a. d. 732 1 74
 
 CONTENTS xxvii 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Battle of Tours, a. d. 732 176 
 
 S3mopsis of Events between the Battle of Tours, a. d. 732, and 
 
 the Battle of Hastings, a. d. 1066 187 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The Battle of Hastings, a. d. 1066 ..... 189 
 Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Hastings, a. t>. 1066, 
 
 and Joan of Arc's Victory at Orleans, a. d. 1429 . . 226 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Joan of Arc's Victory over the English at Orleans, a. d. 1429 230 
 Synopsis of Events between Joan of Arc's Victory at Orleans, 
 
 A. D. 1429, and the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, a. d. 1588 250 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, a. d. 1588 . , . 252 
 Synopsis of Events between the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 
 
 a. d. 1588, and the Battle of Blenheim, a. d. 1704 . . 284 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Battle of Blenheim, a. d. 1704 ..... 287 
 Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Blenheim, a. d. 1704, 
 
 and the Battle of Pultowa, A. D. 1709 . . . .312 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 The Battle of Pultowa, a. d. 1709 .... 313 
 Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Pultov/a, A. D. 1709, 
 
 and the Defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga, A. D. 1777 . . 328 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Victory of the Americans over Burgoyne at Saratoga, 
 
 A. D. 1777 331 
 
 Synopsis of Events between the Defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga, 
 
 A. D. 1777, and the Battle of Valmy, 1792 . . .302 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 The Battle of Valmy, a. d. 1792 363 
 
 Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Valmy, a. d. 1792, and 
 
 the Battle of Waterloo, a. D. 1815 379 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 The Battle of Waterloo, a. d. 1815 ..... 382
 
 LIST OF PLANS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Plan of the Battle of Marathon ..... 25 
 
 Plan of the City of Syeactjsb . . , . .41 
 
 Plan of the Battle of Arbela . . . . . .81 
 
 Map of Italy . . . . . . . . .113 
 
 Plan of the Battle of Hastings ..... 205 
 
 Orleans .......... 233 
 
 Plan of the Battle of Blenheim ..... 307 
 
 Map of the Eastern States of America . . . .341 
 
 Plan of the Battle of Saratoga ■ . . . . . 351 
 
 Map of the Belgian Frontier ...... 391 
 
 Waterloo at the Beginning of the Action . . . 409 
 Waterloo at the Time of the last French Attack . . 433
 
 FIFTEEN DECISIVE BATTLES OF 
 THE WOULD 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 Qnibns actus uterque 
 Europae atque Asiae fatis concurrent orbis. 
 
 Two thousand three hundred and forty years ago, 
 a council of Athenian officers was summoned on the slope 
 of one of the mountains that look over the plain of Mara- 
 thon, on the eastern coast of Attica. The immediate 
 subject of their meeting was to consider whether they 
 should give battle to an enemy that lay encamped on the 
 shore beneath them ; but on the result of their delibera- 
 tions depended, not merely the fate of two armies, but the 
 whole future progress of human civilization. 
 
 There were eleven members of that council of war. Ten 
 were the generals, who were then annually elected at 
 Athens, one for each of the local tribes into which the 
 Athenians were divided. Each general led the men of his 
 own tribe, and each was invested with equal military 
 authority. One also of the Archons was associated with 
 them in the joint command of the collective force. This 
 magistrate was termed the Polemarch or War-Ruler : he 
 had the privilege of leading the right wing of the army in 
 battle, and of taking part in all councils of war. A noble 
 Athenian, named Callimachus, was the War-Ruler of this 
 year ; and, as such, stood listening to the earnest discussion 
 of the ten generals. They had, indeed, deep matter for 
 anxiety, though little aware how momentous to mankind 
 were the votes they were about to give, or how the genera- 
 tions to come would read with interest the record of their 
 debate. They saw before them the invading forces of a
 
 2 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 mighty empire, which had in the last fifty years shattered 
 and enslaved nearly all the kingdoms and principalities of 
 the then known world. They knew that all the resources 
 of their own country were comprised in the little army 
 entrusted to their gviidance. They saw before them a chosen 
 host of the Great King, sent to wreak his special wrath on 
 that country, and on the other insolent little Greek com- 
 munity, which had dared to aid his rebels and burn the 
 capital of one of his provinces. That victorious host had 
 already fulfilled half its mission of vengeance. Eretria, the 
 confederate of Athens in the bold march against Sardis 
 nine years before, had fallen in the last few days ; and the 
 Athenian generals could discern from the heights the island 
 of Aegilia, in Avhich the Persians had deposited their Ere- 
 trian prisoners, whom they had reserved to be led away 
 captives into Upper Asia, there to hear their doom from 
 the lips of King Darius himself. Moreover, the men of 
 Athens knew that in the camp before them was their own 
 banished tyrant, Hippias, who was seeking to be reinstated 
 by foreign scimitars in despotic sway over any remnant 
 of his countrymen that might survive the sack of their 
 town, and might be left behind as too worthless for leading 
 away into Median bondage. 
 
 The numerical disparity between the force which the 
 Athenian commanders had under them, and that which 
 they were called on to encounter, was fearfully apparent 
 to some of the council. The historians who wrote nearest 
 to the time of the battle do not pretend to give any detailed 
 statements of the numbers engaged, but there are sufficient 
 data for our making a general estimate. Every free Greek 
 was trained to military duty : and, from the incessant 
 border wars between the different states, few Greeks 
 reached the age of manhood without having seen some 
 service. But the muster-roll of free Athenian citizens of 
 an age lit for military duty never exceeded thirty thousand, 
 and at this epoch probably did not amount to two-thirds 
 of that number. Moreover, the poorer portion of these were 
 unprovided with the equipments, and untrained to the 
 operations of the regular infantry. Some detachments of 
 the best-armed troops would be required to garrison the 
 city itself, and man the various fortified posts in the
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 3 
 
 territory; so that it is impossible to reckon the fully 
 equipped force that marched from Athens to Marathon, 
 when the news of the Persian landing arrived, at higher 
 than ten thousand men.^ 
 
 With one exception, the other Greeks held back from 
 aiding them. Sparta had promised assistance ; but the 
 Persians had landed on the sixth day of the moon, and 
 a religious scruple delayed the march of Spartan troops 
 till the moon should have reached its full. From one 
 quarter only, and that a most unexpected one, did Athens 
 receive aid at the moment of her great peril. 
 
 For some years before this time, the little state of 
 Plataea in Boeotia, being hard pressed by her powerful 
 neighbour, Thebes, had asked the protection of Athens, 
 and had owed to an Athenian army the rescue of her 
 independence. Now when it was noised over Greece that 
 the Mede had come from the uttermost parts of the 
 earth to destroy Athens, the brave Plataeans, unsolicited, 
 marched with their whole force to assist in the defence, 
 and to share the fortunes of their benefactors. The general 
 levy of the Plataeans only amounted to a thousand men : 
 and this little column, marching from their city along the 
 southern ridge of Mount Cithaeron, and thence across the 
 Attic territory, joined the Athenian forces above Marathon 
 almost immediately before the battle. The reinforcement 
 was numerically small ; but the gallant spirit of the men 
 who composed it must have made it of tenfold value to the 
 Athenians : and its presence must have gone far to dispel 
 the cheerless feeling of being deserted and friendless, which 
 the delay of the Spartan succours was calculated to create 
 among the Athenian ranks. 
 
 This generous daring of their weak but true-hearted ally 
 was never forgotten at Athens. The Plataeans were made 
 the fellow countrymen of the Athenians, except the right 
 
 * The historians who lived long after the time of the battle, such as 
 Justin, Plutarch, and others, give ten thousand as the number of the 
 Athenian army. Not much reliance could be placed on their authority, 
 if unsupported by other evidence ; but a calculation made from the 
 number of the Athenian free population remarkably confirms it. For 
 the data of this, see Boeck's Public Economy of Athens, vol. i. p. 45. 
 Some ^XiToiKoi probably served as Hoplites at Marathon, but the number 
 of resident aliens at Athens cannot have been large at this period. 
 
 B 2
 
 4 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 of exercising certain political functions ; and from that 
 time forth, in the solemn sacrifices at Athens, the public 
 prayers were offered up for a joint blessing from Heaven 
 upon the Athenians, and the Plataeans also.^ 
 
 After the junction of the column from Plataea, the 
 Athenian commanders must have had under them about 
 eleven thousand fully-armed and disciplined infantry, and 
 probably a larger number of irregular light-armed troops ; 
 as, besides the poorer citizens who went to the field armed 
 with javelins, cutlasses, and targets, each regular heavy- 
 armed soldier was attended in the camp by one or more 
 slaves, who were armed like the inferior freemen. ^ Cavalry 
 or archers the Athenians (on this occasion) had none : and 
 the use in the field of military engines was not at that 
 period introduced into ancient warfare. 
 
 Contrasted with their own scant}'' forces, the Greek 
 commanders saw stretched before them, along the shores 
 of the winding bay, the tents and shipping of the varied 
 nations that marched to do the bidding of the King of the 
 Eastern Avorld. The difficulty of finding transj^orts and of 
 securing provisions would form the only limit to the numbers 
 of a Persian army. Nor is there any reason to suppose the 
 estimate of Justin exaggerated, who rates at a hundred 
 thousand the force which on this occasion had sailed, under 
 the satraps Datis and Artaphernes, from the Cilician shores, 
 against the devoted coasts of Euboea and Attica. And 
 after largely deducting from this total, so as to allow for 
 mere mariners and camp followers, there must still have 
 remained fearful odds against the national levies of the 
 
 * Mr. Grote observes (vol. iv. p. 464) that ' this volunteer march of 
 the whole Plataean force to Marathon is one of the most affecting 
 incidents of all Grecian histoiy '. In trath, the whole career of Plataea, 
 and the friendship, strong even unto death, between her and Athens, 
 form one of the most affecting episodes in the history of antiquity. 
 In the Peloponnesian War the Plataeans again were true to the Athenians 
 against all risks and all calculation of self-interest ; and the destruction 
 of Plataea was the consequence. There are few nobler passages in the 
 classics than the speech in which the Plataean prisoners of war, after 
 the memorable siege of their citj% justify before their Spartan executioners 
 their loyal adherence to Athens. See Thucydides, lib. iii. sees. 53-60. 
 
 * At the battle of Plataea, eleven years after Marathon, each of the 
 eight thousand Athenian regular infantrj' who served there was attended 
 by a light-armed slave. Herod, lib. viii. c. 28, 29.
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 5 
 
 Athenians. Nor could Greek generals then feel that confi- 
 dence in the superior quality of their troops, Avhich ever 
 since the battle of Marathon has animated Europeans in 
 conflicts with Asiatics ; as, for instance, in the after 
 struggles between Greece and Persia, or when the Roman 
 legions encountered the myriads of Mithridates and 
 Tigranes, or as is the case in the Indian campaigns of our 
 own regiments. On the contrary, up to the day of Marathon 
 the Medes and Persians were reputed invincible. They had 
 more than once met Greek troops in Asia Minor, in Cyprus, 
 in Egypt, and had invariably beaten them. Nothing can 
 be stronger than the expressions used by the early Greek 
 writers respecting the terror which the name of the Medes 
 inspired, and the prostration of men's spirits before the 
 apparently resistless career of the Persian arms.^ It is, 
 therefore, little to be wondered at, that five of the ten 
 Athenian generals shrank from the prospect of fighting 
 a pitched battle against an enemy so superior in numbers 
 and so formidable in military renown. Their own position 
 on the heights was strong, and offered great advantages to 
 a small defending force against assailing masses. They 
 deemed it mere foolhardincss to descend into the plain to 
 be trampled down by the Asiatic horse, overwhelmed with 
 the archery, or cut to pieces by the invincible veterans of 
 Cambyses and Cyrus. Moreover, Sparta, the great war- 
 state of Greece, had been applied to, and had promised 
 succour to Athens, though the religious observance which 
 the Dorians paid to certain times and seasons had for the 
 present delayed their march. Was it not wise, at any rate, 
 to wait till the Spartans came up, and to have the help of 
 the best troops in Greece, before they exposed themselves 
 to the shock of the dreaded Medes ? 
 
 Specious as these reasons might appear, the other five 
 generals were for speedier and bolder operations. And, 
 fortunately for Athens and for the world, one of them was 
 a man, not only of the highest military genius, but also of 
 
 *• ^Adrjvaioi rrpwTOi o.viaxoi'TO loOriTo. re Mtj^iktiv opwvTfs, iiai touj avdpas 
 ravTTjv (c6rifj.ivovi. Tfois 5^ -qv roicn "EWrjai Kai to ovvoixa To Mrjlojv (] ul3oi 
 oLKodaai. — Herodotus, lib. vi. c. 112. 
 
 At 5e 'yvwfj.ai StSovXaif.Ki'ai aTiavTcnv dvOpdjr.ojv rjOav. ovtoj rroXXa Kai fueyaXa 
 ical ixdx'pa, -^ivT) KaTaStSovhcufxivr] ^v 77 UepaMv dpxi]. — Plato, Menexenus.
 
 6 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 that energetic character which impresses its own type and 
 ideas upon spirits feebler in conception. 
 
 Miltiades was the head of one of the noblest houses at 
 Athens : he ranked the Aeacidae among his ancestry, and 
 the blood of Achilles flowed in the veins of the hero of 
 Marathon. One of his immediate ancestors had acquired 
 the dominion of the Thracian Chersonese, and thus the 
 family became at the same time Athenian citizens and 
 Thracian princes. This occurred at the time when Pisis- 
 tratus was tyrant of Athens. Two of the relatives of 
 Miltiades — an uncle of the same name, and a brother 
 named Stesagoras — had ruled the Chersonese before Mil- 
 tiades became its prince. He had been brought up at 
 Athens in the house of his father Cimon,^ who was renowned 
 throughout Greece for his victories in the Olympic chariot- 
 races, and who must have been possessed of great wealth. 
 The sons of Pisistratus, who succeeded their father in the 
 tyranny. at Athens, caused Cimon to be assassinated, ^ but 
 they treated the young Miltiades with favour and kindness ; 
 and when his brother Stesagoras died in the Chersonese, 
 they sent him out there as lord of the principality. This 
 was about twenty-eight years before the battle of Marathon, 
 and it is with his arrival in the Chersonese that our first 
 knowledge of the career and character of Miltiades com- 
 mences. We find, in the first act recorded of him, proof of 
 the same resolute and unscrupulous spirit that marked his 
 mature age. His brother's authority in the principality had 
 been shaken b}^ Mar and revolt : Miltiades determined to 
 rule more securely. On his arrival he kept close within his 
 house, as if he was mourning for his brother. The principal 
 men of the Chersonese, hearing of this, assembled from all 
 the toMTis and districts, and went together to the house of 
 Miltiades on a visit of condolence. As soon as he had thus 
 got them in his power, he made them all prisoners. He 
 then asserted and maintained his o^m absolute authority 
 in the peninsula, taking into his pay a body of five hundred 
 regular troops, and strengthening his interest by marrying 
 the daughter of the king of the neighbouring Tln-acians. 
 
 When the Persian power was extended to the Hellespont 
 
 1 Herodotus, lib. vi. c. 103. • Ibid.
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 7 
 
 and its neighbourhood, Miltiades, as prince of the Cher- 
 sonese, submitted to King Darius ; and he was one of the 
 numerous tributary rulers who led their contingents of men 
 to serve in the Persian army in the expedition against 
 Scythia. Miltiades and the vassal Greeks of Asia Minor 
 were left by the Persian king in charge of the bridge across 
 the Danube, when the invading army crossed that river, 
 and plunged into the wilds of the country that now is Russia, 
 in vain pursuit of the ancestors of the modern Cossacks. 
 On learning the reverses that Darius met with in the 
 Scythian wilderness, Miltiades proposed to his companions 
 that they should break the bridge down, and leave the 
 Persian king and his army to perish by famine and the 
 Scythian arrows. The rulers of the Asiatic Greek cities 
 whom Miltiades addressed shrank from this bold and 
 ruthless stroke against the Persian power, and Darius 
 returned in safety. But it was known what advice Miltiades 
 had given ; and the vengeance of Darius was thenceforth 
 specially directed against the man who had counselled such 
 a deadly blow against his empire and his person. The 
 occupation of the Persian arms in other quarters left 
 Miltiades for some years after this in possession of the 
 Chersonese ; but it was precarious and interrupted. He, 
 however, availed himself of the opportunity which his 
 position gave him of conciliating the goodwill of his fellow 
 countrymen at Athens, by conquering and placing under 
 Athenian authority the islands of Lemnos and Imbros, to 
 which Athens had ancient claims, but which she had never 
 previously been able to bring into complete subjection. 
 At length, in 494 B.C., the complete suppression of the 
 Ionian revolt by the Persians left their armies and fleets 
 at liberty to act against the enemies of the Great King to 
 the west of the Hellespont. A strong squadron of Phoe- 
 nician galleys was sent against the Chersonese. Miltiades 
 knew that resistance was hopeless ; and while the Phoe- 
 nicians were at Tenedos, he loaded five galleys with all 
 the treasure that he could collect, and sailed away for 
 Athens. The Phoenicians fell in with him, and chased him 
 hard along the north of the Aegean. One of his galleys, on 
 board of which was his eldest son, Metiochus, was actually 
 captured ; but Miltiades, with the other four, succeeded
 
 8 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 in reaching the friendly coast of Imbros in safely. Thence 
 he afterwards proceeded to Athens, and resumed his station 
 as a free citizen of the Athenian commonwealth. 
 
 The Athenians at this time had recently expelled Hipjiias, 
 the son of Pisistratus, the last of their tyrants. They 
 were in the full glow of their newly recovered liberty and 
 equality ; and the constitutional changes of Cleisthenes 
 had inflamed their republican zeal to the utmost. Miltiades 
 had enemies at Athens ; and these, availing themselves of 
 the state of popular feeling, brought him to trial for his life 
 for having been tyrant of the Chersonese. The charge did 
 not necessarily import any acts of cruelty or wrong to 
 individuals : it was founded on no specific law ; but it was 
 based on the horror with which the Greeks of that age 
 regarded every man who made himself compulsory master 
 of his fellow men, and exercised irresponsible dominion 
 over them. The fact of Miltiades having so ruled in the 
 Chersonese was undeniable ; but the question which the 
 Athenians, assembled in judgement, must have tried, was 
 whether Miltiades, by becoming tyrant of the Chersonese, 
 deserved punishment as an Athenian citizen. The eminent 
 service that he had done the state in conquering Lemnos 
 and Imbros for it, pleaded strongly in his favour. The 
 people refused to convict him. He stood high in public 
 opinion ; and when the coming invasion of the Persians 
 was known, the people wisely elected him one of their 
 generals for the year. 
 
 Two other men of signal eminence in history, though 
 their renown was achieved at a later period than that of 
 Miltiades, were also among the ten Athenian generals at 
 Marathon. One was Themistocles, the future founder of 
 the Athenian navy and the destined victor of Salamis ; 
 the other was Aristides, Avho afterwards led the Athenian 
 troops at Plataea, and Avhose integrity and just popularity 
 acquired for his country, when the Persians had finally 
 been repulsed, the advantageous pre-eminence of being 
 acknowledged by half of the Greeks as their impartial leader 
 and protector. It is not recorded Avhat part either Themis- 
 tocles or Aristides took in the debate of the council of war 
 at Marathon. But from the character of Themistocles, his 
 boldness, and his intuitive genius for extemporizing the
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 9 
 
 best measures in every emergency ^ (a quality which the 
 greatest of historians ascribes to him beyond all his contem- 
 poraries), we may well believe that the vote of Themistocles 
 was for prompt and decisive action. On the vote of Aris- 
 tides it may be more difficult to speculate. His predilection 
 for the Spartans may have made him wish to wait till they 
 came up ; but, though circumspect, he was neither timid 
 as a soldier nor as a politician ; and the bold advice of 
 Miltiades may probably have found in Aristides a willing, 
 most assuredly it found in him a candid hearer. 
 
 Miltiades felt no hesitation as to the course which tho 
 Athenian army ought to pursue : and earnestly did he press 
 his opinion on his brother -generals. Practically acquainted 
 with the organization of the Persian armies, Miltiades was 
 convinced of the superiority of the Greek troops, if properly 
 handled : he saw with the military eye of a great general 
 the advantage which the position of the forces gave him for 
 a sudden attack, and as a profound politician, he felt the 
 perils of remaining inactive, and of giving treachery time to 
 ruin the Athenian cause. 
 
 One officer in the council of war had not yet voted. 
 This was Callimachus, the War-Ruler. The votes of the 
 generals were five and five, so that the voice of Callimachus 
 would be decisive. 
 
 On that vote, in all human probability, the destiny of all 
 the nations of the world depended. Miltiades turned to 
 him, and in simple soldierly eloquence, the substance of 
 which we may read faithfully reported in Herodotus, who 
 had conversed with the veterans of Marathon, the great 
 Athenian thus adjured his countryman to vote for giving 
 battle : 
 
 ' It now rests with you, Callimachus, either to enslave 
 Athens, or, by assuring her freedom, to win yourself an 
 immortality of fame, such as not even Harmodius and 
 Aristogeiton have acquired. For never, since the Athe- 
 nians were a people, were they in such danger as they are 
 in at this moment. If they bow the knee to these Medes, 
 
 * See the character of Themistocles in the 138th section of the first 
 book of Thucydidcs, especially the last sentence. Kai to ^v/xirav elntii^ 
 (pvaius ixiv 5vvdfj,(i, /xeAcT;;. 5« IdpaxurijTt icpariaTos 5^ oSros auro(rx«5idt,''6ii/ rH 
 SiOPra eytueTO,
 
 10 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 they are to be given up to Hippias, and you know Avhab 
 they then will have to suffer. But if Athens comes victori- 
 ous out of this contest, she has it in her to become the first 
 city of Greece. Your vote is to decide whether we are to 
 join battle or not. If we do not bring on a battle presently, 
 some factious intrigue will disunite the Athenians, and the 
 city will be betrayed to the Medes. But if we fight, before 
 there is anything rotten in the state of Athens, I believe 
 that, provided the Gods will give fair play and no favour, 
 we are able to get the best of it in the engagement.' ^ 
 
 The vote of the brave War-Buler was gained ; the 
 council determined to give battle ; and such was the 
 ascendancy and militar}^ eminence of Miltiades, that his 
 brother-generals, one and all, gave up their days of command 
 to him, and cheerfullj^ acted under his orders. Fearful, 
 however, of creating any jealousy, and of so failing to 
 obtain the co-operation of all parts of his small army, 
 Miltiades waited till the day when the chief command 
 would have come round to him in regular rotation, before 
 he led the troops against the enemy. 
 
 The inaction of the Asiatic commanders, during this 
 interval, appears strange at first sight ; but Hippias was 
 with them, and they and he were aware of their chance of 
 a bloodless conquest through the machinations of his par- 
 tisans among the Athenians. The nature of the ground 
 also explains, in many points, the tactics of the opposite 
 generals before the battle, as well as the operations of the 
 troops during the engagement. 
 
 The plain of Marathon, which is about twenty-two miles 
 distant from Athens, lies along the bay of the same name 
 
 * Herodotus, lib. vi. sec. 109. The 116th section is to my mind clear 
 proof that Heredotus had personally conversed with Epizelus, one of 
 the veterans of Marathon. The substance of the speech of Miltiades would 
 naturally become known by the report of some of his colleagues. The 
 speeches which ancient historians place in the mouth of kings and generals 
 are generally inventions of their own ; but part of the speech of Miltiades 
 bears internal evidence of authenticity. Such is the case with tha 
 remarkable expression fjv Si avfxjidXwfjuv -npiv n koI aadpov 'AOrjvaiwv nfre^- 
 (Tfpotai eyyfveaOat, 6t!l)v to. taa vfnovTwv, oloi re (iixfv TTfpiyfViaOat rr) 
 ffvfxPoXfj. This daring and almost irreverent assertion would never have 
 been coined by Herodotus, but it is precisely consonant with what we 
 know of the character of Miltiades ; and it is an expression which, if used 
 by him, would be sure to be remembered and repeated by his hearers.
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 11 
 
 on the north-eastern coast of Attica. The plain is nearly 
 in the form of a crescent, and about six miles in length. 
 It is about two miles broad in the centre, where the space 
 between the mountains and the sea is greatest, but it 
 narrows towards either extremity, the mountains coming 
 close down to the water at the horns of the bay. There is 
 a valley trending inwards from the middle of the plain, and 
 a ravine comes down to it to the southward. Elsewhere 
 it is closely girt round on the land side by rugged limestone 
 mountains, which are thickly studded with pines, olive- 
 trees, and cedars, and overgrown with the myrtle, arbutus, 
 and the other low odoriferous shrubs that everywhere 
 perfume the Attic air. The level of the ground is now 
 varied by the mound raised over those who fell in the 
 battle, but it was an unbroken plain when the Persians 
 encamped on it. There are marshes at each end, which are 
 dry in spring and summer, and then offer no obstruction to 
 the horsemen, but are commonly flooded with rain and so 
 rendered impracticable for cavalry in the autumn, the time 
 of year at which the action took place. ^ 
 
 The Greeks, lying encamped on the mountains, could 
 watch every movement of the Persians on the plain below, 
 while they were enabled completely to mask their own. 
 Miltiades also had, from his jDosition, the power of giving 
 battle whenever he pleased, or of delaying it at his discre- 
 tion, unless Datis were to attempt the perilous operation of 
 storming the heights. 
 
 If we turn to the map of the old world, to test the com- 
 parative territorial resources of the two states whose armies 
 were now about to come into conflict, the immense pre- 
 ponderance of the material poAver of the Persian king over 
 that of the Athenian republic is m-^re striking than any 
 similar contrast which histroy can supply. It has been 
 truly remarked that, in estimating mere areas, Attica, 
 containing on its whole surface only seven hundred square 
 miles, shrinks into insignificance if compared with many 
 a baronial fief of the Middle Ages, or many a colonial 
 allotment of modern times. Its antagonist, the Persian 
 empire, comprised the whole of modern Asiatic and much 
 of modern European Turkey, the modern kingdom of Persia, 
 1 See Plan at p. 25.
 
 12 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 and the countries of modern Georgia, Armenia, Balkh, the 
 Punjaub, Afghanistan, Beloochistan, Egypt, and Tripoli. 
 
 Nor could a European, in the beginning of the fifth cen- 
 tury before our era, look upon this huge accumulation of 
 power beneath the sceptre of a single Asiatic ruler, with 
 the indifference with which we now observe on the map the 
 extensive dominions of modern Oriental sovereigns. For, 
 as has been already remarked, before Marathon was fought, 
 the j)restige of success and of sujoposed superiority of race 
 was on the side of the Asiatic against the European. Asia 
 was the original seat of human societies ; and long before 
 any trace can be found of the inhabitants of the rest of the 
 world having emerged from the rudest barbarism, we can 
 perceive that mighty and brilliant empires flourished in the 
 Asiatic continent. They appear before us through the twi- 
 light of primaeval history, dim and indistinct, but massive 
 and majestic, like mountains in the early dawn. 
 
 Instead, however, of the infinite variety and restless 
 change which have characterized the institutions and 
 fortunes of European states ever since the commencement 
 of the civilization of our continent, a monotonous uniformity 
 pervades the histories of nearly all Oriental empires, from 
 the most ancient down to the most recent times. They are 
 characterized by the rapidity of their early conquests ; by 
 the immense extent of the dominions comprised in them ; 
 by the establishment of a satrap or pacha system of govern- 
 ing the provinces ; by an invariable and speedy degeneracy 
 in the princes of the royal house, the effeminate nurslings 
 of the seraglio succeeding to the warrior-sovereigns reared 
 in the camp ; and by the internal anarchy and insurrec- 
 tions, which indicate and accelerate the decline and fall of 
 these unwieldy and ill-organized fabrics of power. It is 
 also a striking fact that the governments of all the great 
 Asiatic empires have in all ages been absolute despotisms. 
 And Heeren is right in connecting this with another great 
 fact, which is important from its influence both on the 
 political and the social life of Asiatics. 'Among all the 
 considerable nations of Inner Asia, the paternal government 
 of every household Avas corrupted by pol3"gamy : where that 
 custoin exists, a good political constitution is impossible. 
 Fathers being converted into domestic despots, are ready
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 13 
 
 to pay the same abject obedience to their sovereign which 
 they exact from their family and dependents in their 
 domestic economy.' We should bear in mind, also, the 
 inseparable connexion between the state religion and all 
 legislation, which has always prevailed in the East, and the 
 constant existence of a powerful sacerdotal body, exercising 
 some check, though precarious and irregular, over the 
 throne itself, grasping at all civil administration, claiming 
 the supreme control of education, stereotyj^ing the lines in 
 which literature and science must move, and limiting the 
 extent to which it shall be lawful for the human mind to 
 prosecute its inquiries. 
 
 With these general characteristics rightly felt and under- 
 stood, it becomes a comparatively easy task to investi- 
 gate and appreciate the origin, progress, and principles of 
 Oriental empires in general, as well as of the Persian mon- 
 archy in particular. And we are thus better enabled to 
 appreciate the rej^ulse which Greece gave to the arms of the 
 East, and to judge of the probable consequences to human 
 civilization, if the Persians had succeeded in bringing 
 Europe under their yoke, as they had already subjugated 
 the fairest portions of the rest of the then knoAvn world. 
 
 The Greeks, from their geographical position, formed 
 the natural vanguard of European liberty against Persian 
 ambition ; and they pre-eminently displayed the salient 
 points of distinctive national character, which have ren- 
 dered European civilization so far superior to Asiatic. 
 The nations that dwelt in ancient times around and near 
 the northern shores of the Mediterranean Sea were the first 
 in our continent to receive from the East the rudiments of 
 art and literature, and the germs of social and political 
 organization. Of these nations, the Greeks, through their 
 vicinity to Asia Minor, Phoenicia, and Egypt, were among 
 the very foremost in acquiring the principles and habits of 
 civilized life ; and they also at once imparted a new and 
 wholly original stamp on all which they received. Thus, 
 in their religion they received from foreign settlers the 
 names of all their deities and many of their rites, but they 
 discarded the loathsome monstrosities of the Nile, the 
 Orontes, and the Ganges ; — ^they nationalized their creed ; 
 and their own poets created their beautiful mythology.
 
 14 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 No sacerdotal caste ever existed in Greece. So, in their 
 governments they lived long under hereditary kings, but 
 never endured the permanent establishment of absolute 
 monarchy. Their early kings were constitutional rulers, 
 governing with defined prerogatives.^ And long before the 
 Persian invasion the kingly form of government had given 
 way in almost all the Greek states to republican institutions, 
 presenting infinite varieties of the balancing or the alternate 
 predominance of the oligarchical and democratical princi- 
 ples. In literature and science the Greek intellect followed 
 no beaten track, and acknowledged no limitary rules. The 
 Greeks thought their subjects boldly out ; and the novelty 
 of a speculation invested it in their minds wdth interest and 
 not with criminality. Versatile, restless, enterprising, and 
 self-confident, the Greeks presented the most striking con- 
 trast to the habitual quietude and submissiveness of the 
 Orientals. And, of all the Greeks, the Athenians exhibited 
 these national characteristics in the strongest degree. This 
 spirit of activity and darmg, joined to a generous sympathy 
 for the fate of their fellow Greeks in Asia, had led them to 
 join in the last Ionian war ; and now, mingling with their 
 abhorrence of the usurping family of their own citizens, which 
 for a period had forcibly seized on and exercised despotic 
 power at Athens, it nerved them to defy the wTath of King 
 Darius, and to refuse to receive back at his bidding the tyrant 
 whom they had some years before driven from their land. 
 The enterprise and genius of an Englishman have lately 
 confirmed by fresh evidence, and invested Avith fresh interest, 
 the might of the Persian monarch who sent his troops to 
 combat at Marathon. Inscriptions in a character termed 
 the Arrow-headed, or Cuneiform, had long been knoA\Ti to 
 exist on the marble monuments at Persepolis, near the site 
 of the ancient Susa, and on the faces of rocks in other places 
 formerly ruled over by the early Persian kings. But for 
 thousands of years they had been mere unintelligible 
 enigmas to the curious but baffled beholder ; and thej^ were 
 often referred to as instances of the folly of human pride, 
 which could indeed write its own praises in the solid rock, 
 but only for the rock to outlive the language as well as the 
 memory of the vainglorious inscribers. The elder Niebuhr, 
 
 ^ 'Ewi prjTols jf paai TTarpiKal fiaaiXdai. — Thxjcyd. lib. i. sec. 13.
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 15 
 
 Grotefend, and Lassen had made some guesses at the mean- 
 ing of the Cuneiform letters ; but Major Rawlinson, of the 
 East India Company's service, after years of labour, has at 
 last accomplished the glorious achievement of fully reveal- 
 ing the alphabet and the grammar of this long unknown 
 tongue. He has, in particular, fully deciphered and ex- 
 pounded the inscriptions on the sacred rock of Behistun, 
 on the western frontiers of Media. These records of the 
 Achaemenidae have at length found their interpreter ; and 
 Darius himself speaks to us from the consecrated mountain, 
 and tells us the names of the nations that obeyed him, the 
 revolts that he suppressed, his victories, his piety, and hia 
 glory. ^ 
 
 Kings who thus seek the admiration of posterity are 
 little likely to dim the record of their successes by the 
 mention of their occasional defeats ; and it throws no 
 suspicion on the narrative of the Greek historians, that 
 we find these inscriptions silent respecting the overthrow 
 of Datis and Artaphernes, as well as respecting the reverses 
 which Darius sustained in person during his Scythian 
 campaigns. But these indisputable monuments of Persian 
 fame confirm, and even increase, the opinion with which 
 Herodotus inspires us, of the vast power which Cyrus 
 founded and Cambyses increased ; which Darius augmented 
 by Indian and Arabian conquests, and seemed likely, when 
 he directed his arms against Europe, to make the predomi- 
 nant monarchy of the world. 
 
 With the exception of the Chinese empire, in which, 
 throughout all ages down to the last few years, one-third 
 of the human race has dwelt almost imconnectcd with 
 the other portions, all the great kingdoms, which we know 
 to have existed in ancient Asia, were, in Darius's time, 
 blended with the Persian. The northern Indians, the 
 Assyrians, the Sjrrians, the Babylonians, the Chaldees, the 
 Phoenicians, the nations of Palestine, the Armenians, the 
 Bactrians, the Lydians, the Phrygians, the Parthians, and 
 the Medes — all obeyed the sceptre of the Great King : the 
 Medes standing next to the native Persians in honour, and 
 the empire being frequently spoken of as that of the Medes, 
 or as that of the Medes and Persians. Egypt and Cyrene 
 
 ^ See the tenth volume of the Journal oj the Royal Asiatic Society.
 
 IG BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 were Persian provinces ; the Greek colonists in Asia Minor 
 and the islands of the Aegean were Darius's subjects ; and 
 their gallant but unsuccessful attempts to throw off the 
 Persian yoke had only served to rivet it more strongly, and 
 to increase the general belief that the Greeks could not stand 
 before the Persians in a field of battle. Darius 's Scythian 
 war, though unsuccessful in its immediate object, had 
 brought about the subjugation of Thrace and the sub- 
 mission of Macedonia, From the Indus to the Peneus, 
 all was his. 
 
 We may imagine the ■\^Tath with which the lord of so 
 many nations must have heard, nine years before the battle 
 of Marathon, that a strange nation towards the setting sun, 
 called the Athenians, had dared to help his rebels in Ionia 
 against him, and that they had plundered and burnt the 
 capital of one of his provinces. Before the burning of 
 Sardis, Darius seems never to have heard of the existence 
 of Athens ; but his satraps in Asia Minor had for some time 
 seen Athenian refugees at their provincial courts imploring 
 assistance against their fellow countrjanen. When Hij)pias 
 M'as driven away from Athens, and the tyrannic dynasty of 
 the Pisistratidae finallj^ overthrown in 510 B.C., the banished 
 tyrant and his adherents, after vainly seeking to be restored 
 by Spartan intervention, had betaken themselves to Sardis, 
 the capital citj^ of the satrapy of Artaphernes. There 
 Hippias (in the expressive words of Herodotus)^ began 
 every kind of agitation, slandering the Athenians before 
 Artaphernes, and doing all he could to induce the satrap 
 to place Athens in subjection to him, as the tributary vassal 
 of I^ng Darius. When the Athenians heard of his prac- 
 tices, they sent envoys to Sardis to remonstrate with the 
 Persians against taking up the quarrel of the Athenian 
 refugees. But Artaphernes gave them in reply a menacing 
 command to receive Hippias back again if they looked for 
 safety. The Athenians were resolved not to purchase safety 
 at such a price ; and after rejecting the satrap's terms, they 
 considered that they and the Persians were declared 
 enemies. At this very crisis the Ionian Greeks implored 
 the assistance of their Euroj)ean brethren to enable them 
 to recover their independence from Persia. Athens, and 
 1 Herod, lib. v. c. 96.
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 17 
 
 the city of Eretria in Euboea, alone consented. Twenty 
 Athenian galleys, and five Eretrian, crossed the Aegean Sea ; 
 and by a bold and sudden march upon Sardis the Athenians 
 and their allies succeeded in capturing the capital city of 
 the haughty satrap, who had recently menaced them with 
 servitude or destruction. The Persian forces were soon 
 rallied, and the Greeks were compelled to retire. They 
 were pursued, and defeated on their return to the coast, 
 and Athens took no further part in the Ionian war. But 
 the insult that she had put upon the Persian power was 
 speedily made known throughout that empire, and was 
 never to be forgiven or forgotten. In the emphatic sim- 
 plicity of the narrative of Herodotus, the wrath of the 
 Great King is thus described : ' Noav when it was told 
 to King Darius that Sardis had been taken and burnt by the 
 Athenians and lonians, he took small heed of the lonians, 
 well knoAving who they were, and that their revolt would 
 soon be put down : but he asked who, and what manner 
 of men, the Athenians were. And when he had been told, 
 he called for his bow ; and having taken it, and placed an 
 arrow on the string, he let the arrow fly towards heaven ; 
 and as he shot it into the air, he said, " Supreme God ! 
 grant me that I may avenge myself on the Athenians ". 
 And when he had said this, he appointed one of his servants 
 to say to him every day as he sat at meat, " Sire, remember 
 the Athenians ".' 
 
 Some years were occupied in the complete reduction of 
 Ionia. But when this was effected, Darius ordered his 
 victorious forces to proceed to punish Athens and Eretria, 
 and to conquer European Greece. The first armament 
 sent for this purpose was shattered by shipwreck, and 
 nearly destroyed ofE Mount Athos. But the purpose of 
 King Darius was not easily shaken. A larger army was 
 ordered to be collected in Cilicia ; and requisitions were 
 sent to all the maritime cities of the Persian empire for ships 
 of war, and for transports of sufficient size for carrying 
 cavalry as well as infantry across the Aegean. While these 
 preparations were being made, Darius sent heralds round 
 to the Grecian cities demanding their submission to Persia, 
 It was proclaimed in the market-place of each little Hellenic 
 state (some with territories not larger than the Isle of 
 
 CREASY C
 
 18 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 Wight), that King Darius, the lord of all men, from the 
 rising to the setting sun,^ required earth and water to be 
 delivered to his heralds, as a symbolical acknowledgement 
 that he was head and master of the country. Terror- 
 stricken at the power of Persia, and at the severe punish- 
 ment that had recently been inflicted on the refractory 
 lonians, many of the continental Greeks and nearly all 
 the islanders submitted, and gave the required tokens of 
 vassalage. At Sparta and Athens an indignant refusal 
 was returned : a refusal which was disgraced by outrage 
 and violence against the persons of the Asiatic heralds. 
 
 Fresh fuel was thus added to the anger of Darius against 
 Athens, and the Persian preparations went on with renewed 
 vigour. In the summer of 490 B.C., the army destined for 
 the invasion was assembled in the Aleian plain of Cilicia, 
 near the sea. A fleet of six hundred galleys and numerous 
 transports was collected on the coast for the embarkation 
 of troops, horse as well as foot. A Median general named 
 Datis, and Artaphernes, the son of the satrap of Sardis, and 
 who was also nephew of Darius, were placed in titular joint 
 command of the expedition. That the real supreme 
 authority was given to Datis alone is probable, from the 
 way in which the Greek writers speak of him. We know 
 no details of the previous career of this officer ; but there 
 is every reason to believe that his abilities and bravery had 
 been proved by experience, or his Median birth would have 
 prevented his being placed in high command by Darius. 
 He appears to have been the first Mede who was thus 
 trusted by the Persian kings after the overthrow of the 
 conspiracy of the Median Magi against the Persians imme- 
 diately before Darius obtained the throne. Datis received 
 instructions to complete the subjugation of Greece, and 
 especial orders were given him with regard to Eretria and 
 Athens. He was to take these two cities ; and he was to 
 
 * Acschincs in Ctes. p. 522, ed. Reiske. Mitford, vol. i. p. 485. 
 Aeschines is speaking of Xerxes, but Mitford is probably right in con- 
 sidering it as the style of the Persian kings in their proclamations. In 
 one of the inscriptions at Persepolis, Darius terms himself ' Darius the 
 great king, king of kings, the king of the many peopled countries, the 
 supporter also of this great world '. In another, he styles himself ' the 
 king of all inhabited countries '. (See Asiatic Journal, vol. x. pp. 287 
 and 292, and Major Rawlinson's Comments.)
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 19 
 
 lead the inhabitants away captive, and bring them as slaves 
 into the p^-esence of the Great King. 
 
 Datis embarked his forces in the fleet that awaited them ; 
 and coasting along the shores of Asia Minor till he was off 
 Samos, he thence sailed due westward through the Aegean 
 Sea for Greece, taking the islands in his way. The Naxians 
 had, ten years before, successfully stood a siege against a 
 Persian armament, but they now were too terrified to offer 
 any resistance, and fled to the mountain-tops, while the 
 enemy burnt their town and laid waste their lands. Thence 
 Datis, compelling the Greek islanders to join him with their 
 ships and men, sailed onward to the coast of Euboea. The 
 little town of Carystus essayed resistance, but was quickly 
 overpowered. He next attacked Eretria. The Athenians 
 sent four thousand men to its aid. But treachery was at 
 work among the Eretrians ; and the Athenian force re- 
 ceived timely warning from one of the leading men of the 
 city to retire to aid in saving their own country, instead of 
 remaining to share in the inevitable destruction of Eretria. 
 Left to themselves, the Eretrians repulsed the assaults of 
 the Persians against their walls for six days ; on the seventh 
 day they were betrayed by two of their chiefs, and the 
 Persians occupied the city. The temples were burnt in 
 revenge for the burning of Sardis, and the inhabitants were 
 bound and placed as prisoners in the neighbouring islet of 
 Aegylia, to wait there till Datis should bring the Athenians 
 to join them in captivity, when both populations were to be 
 led into Upper Asia, there to learn their doom from the lips 
 of King Darius himself. 
 
 Flushed with success, and with half his mission thus 
 accomplished, Datis reimbarked his troops, and crossing the 
 little channel that separates Euboea from the mainland, he 
 encamped his troops on the Attic coast at Marathon, draw- 
 ing up his galleys on the shelving beach, as was the custom 
 with the navies of antiquity. The conquered islands 
 behind him served as places of deposit for his provisions 
 and military stores. His position at Marathon seemed to 
 him in every respect advantageous ; and the level nature 
 of the ground on which he camped was favourable for the 
 employment of his cavalry, if the Athenians should venture 
 to engage him. Hippias, who accompanied him, and acted 
 
 C2
 
 20 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 as the guide of the invaders, had pointed out Marathon as 
 the best place for a landing, for this very reason. Probably 
 Hippias was also influenced by the recollection that, forty- 
 seven years previously, he with his father Pisistratus had 
 crossed with an army from Eretria to Marathon, and had 
 won an easy victory over their Athenian enemies on that 
 very plain, which had restored them to tyrannic power. 
 The omen seemed cheering. The place was the same ; but 
 Hippias soon learned to his cost how great a change had 
 come over the spirit of the Athenians. 
 
 But though ' the fierce democracy ' of Athens was zealous 
 and true against foreign invader and domestic tyrant, 
 a faction existed in Athens, as at Eretria, of men willing to 
 purchase a party-triumph over their fellow citizens at the 
 price of their country's ruin. Communications were opened 
 between these men and the Persian camp, which would have 
 led to a catastrophe like that of Eretria, if Miltiades had not 
 resolved, and had not persuaded his colleagues to resolve, 
 on fighting at all hazards. 
 
 When Miltiades arraj^ed his men for action, he staked on 
 the arbitrement of one battle not only the fate of Athens, 
 but that of all Greece ; for if Athens had fallen, no other 
 Greek state, except Lacedaemon, would have had the 
 courage to resist ; and the Lacedaemonians, though they 
 would probably have died in their ranks to the last man, 
 never could have successfully resisted the victorious 
 Persians, and the numerous Greek troops, which would 
 have soon marched under the Persian satraps, had they 
 prevailed over Athens. 
 
 Nor was there any power to the westward of Greece that 
 could have offered an effectual ojDposition to Persia, had 
 she once conquered Greece, and made that country a basis 
 for future military operations. Rome was at this time in 
 her season of utmost weakness. Her dynasty of powerful 
 Etruscan kings had been driven out, and her infant com- 
 monwealth was reeling under the attacks of the Etrviscans 
 and Volscians from without, and the fierce dissensions 
 between the patricians and plebeians within. Etruria, 
 with her Lucumos and serfs, was no match for Persia. 
 Samnium had not groA^ni into the might which she after- 
 wards put forth, nor could the Greek colonies in South Italy
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 21 
 
 and Sicily hope to survive Avhen their parent states had 
 perished. Carthage had escaped the Persian yolve in the 
 time of Cambyses, through the reluctance of the Phoenician 
 mariners to serve against their kinsmen. But such for- 
 bearance could not long have been relied on, and the future 
 rival of Rome would have become as submissive a ministtr 
 of the Persian power as were the Phoenician cities them- 
 selves. If we turn to Spain, or if we pass the great moun- 
 tain cham, A\'hich, prolonged through the Pyrenees, the 
 Cevennes, the Alps, and the Balkans, divides Northern from 
 Southern Europe, we shall find nothing at that period but 
 mere savage Finns, Celts, Slaves, and Teutons. Had Persia 
 beaten Athens at Marathon, she could have found no ob- 
 stacle to prevent Darius, the chosen servant of Ormuzd, from 
 advancing his sway over all the known Western races of man- 
 kind. The infant energies of Europe would have been trodden 
 out beneath universal conquest ; andthehistory of the world, 
 like the history of Asia, would have become a mere record of 
 the rise and fall of despotic dynasties, of the incursions of 
 barbarous hordes, and of the mental and political prostration 
 of millions beneath the diadem, the tiara, and the sword. 
 
 Great as the preponderance of the Persian over the 
 Athenian power at that crisis seems to have been, it would 
 be unjust to impute wild rashness to the policy of Miltiades, 
 and those who voted with him in the Athenian council of 
 war, or to look on the after-current of events as the mere 
 result of successful indiscretion. As before has been 
 remarked, Miltiades, whilst prince of the Chersonese, had 
 seen service in the Persian armies ; and he knew by personal 
 observation how many elements of weakness lurked beneath 
 their imposing aspect of strength. He knew that the bulk 
 of their troops no longer consisted of the hardy shepherds 
 and mountaineers from Persia Proper and Kurdistan, who 
 won Cyrus's battles ; but that unwilling contingents from 
 conquered nations now largely filled up the Persian muster- 
 rolls, fighting more from compulsion than from any zeal 
 in the cause of their masters. He had also the sagacity 
 and the spirit to appreciate the superiority of the Greek 
 armour and organization over the Asiatic, notwithstanding 
 former reverses. Above all, he felt and worthily trusted 
 the enthusiasm of the men under his command.
 
 22 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 The Athenians, whom he lea, had proved by their new- 
 born valour in recent wars against the neighbouring states, 
 that ' Liberty and Equality of civic rights are brave spirit- 
 stirring things : and they who, while under the yoke of 
 a despot, had been no better men of war than any of their 
 neighbours, as soon as they were free, became the foremost 
 men of all ; for each felt that in fighting for a free common- 
 wealth, he fought for himself, and, whatever he took in 
 hand, he was zealous to do the work thoroughly '. So the 
 nearly contemporaneous historian describes the change of 
 spirit that was seen in the Athenians after their tyrants 
 were expelled ; ^ and Miltiades knew that in leading them 
 against the invading army, where they had Hippias, the foe 
 they most hated, before them, he was bringing into battle 
 no ordinary men, and could calculate on no ordinary 
 heroism. As for traitors, he was sure, that whatever 
 treachery might lurk among some of the higher-born and 
 wealthier Athenians, the rank and file whom he commanded 
 were ready to do their utmost in his and their own cause. 
 With regard to future attacks from Asia, he might reason- 
 ably hope that one victory would inspirit all Greece to 
 combine against the common foe ; and that the latent seeds 
 of revolt and disunion in the Persian empire would soon 
 burst forth and paralyse its energies, so as to leave Greek 
 independence secure. 
 
 With these hopes and risks, Miltiades, on the afternoon 
 of a September day, 490 B.C., gave the word for the Athe- 
 nian army to prepare for battle. There were many local 
 associations connected with those mountain heights, which 
 
 ^ 'A9rjVutoi iiiv vvv rjv^rjvro' Sr]\oT 5e ov Kar' (v fiovvov dWd vavraxfl tj 
 iarjyop'irj d)j tort y^prj^ia airovSaiuv, fi Kal ^ hdrjvaioi rvpavvevu^itvoi. fi\v 
 ov^apLUf rwv <Ti/)eas TttpioiKtuvTwv ffoav to. irokt^ia d/xdvovs, dnaWdxdcru 
 bi rvpdvvaiv fxaKpai -npHiToi i'^ivoiro' Zq\oi Sjv Tavra on KaTe\l>fj.tvoi fxtv 
 idiXoKaKiov, uis Sianorrj (pya^u/xivot, e\(v9epaj$(VTajy Se avrus (Kaaros (wvtw 
 TrpofOv^eeTo Karepyo^faOai. — Herod, lib. v. c. 78. 
 
 Mr. Grote's comment on this is one of the most eloquent and philo- 
 sophical passages in his admirable fourth volume. 
 
 The expression laTjyoph] \pfjpia anovZaLuv is like some lines in old 
 Barbour's poem of The Bruce : 
 
 Ah, Freedome is a noble thing : 
 Fredome makes man to haiff lyking. 
 Fredome all solace to men gives. 
 He lives at ease, that freely lives.
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 23 
 
 were calculated powerfully to excite the spirits of the men, 
 and of which the commanders well knew how to avail them- 
 selves in their exhortations to their troops before the 
 encounter. Marathon itself was a region sacred to Her- 
 cules. Close to them was the fountain of Macaria, who had 
 in days of yore devoted herself to death for the liberty of 
 her people. The very plain on which they were to fight 
 was the scene of the exploits of their national hero, Theseus ; 
 and there, too, as old legends told, the Athenians and the 
 Heraclidae had routed the invader Eurystheus. These 
 traditions were not mere cloudy myths, or idle fictions, but 
 matters of implicit earnest faith to the men of that day : 
 and many a fervent prayer arose from the Athenian ranks 
 to the heroic spirits who while on earth had striven and 
 suffered on that very spot, and who were believed to be 
 now heavenly powers, looking down with interest on their 
 still beloved country, and capable of interposing with 
 superhuman aid in its behalf. 
 
 According to old national custom, the warriors of each 
 tribe were arrayed together ; neighbour thus fighting by 
 the side of neighbour, friend by friend, and the spirit of 
 , emulation and the consciousness of responsibility excited 
 to the very utmost. The War-Ruler, Callimachus, had the 
 leading of the right wing ; the Plataeans formed the extreme 
 left ; and Themistocles and Aristides commanded the 
 centre. The line consisted of the heavy-armed spearmen 
 only. For the Greeks (until the time of Iphicrates) took 
 little or no account of light-armed soldiers in a pitched 
 battle, using them only in skirmishes or for the pursuit of 
 a defeated enemy. The panoply of the regular infantry 
 consisted of a long spear, of a shield, helmet, breast-plate, 
 greaves, and short sword. Thus equipped, they usually 
 advanced slowly and steadily into action in a uniform 
 phalanx of about eight spears deep. But the military 
 genius of Miltiades led him to deviate on this occasion from 
 the commonplace tactics of his countrymen. It was 
 essential for him to extend his line so as to cover all the 
 practicable ground, and to secure himself from being out- 
 flanked and charged in the rear by the Persian horse. This 
 extension involved the weakening of his line. Instead of 
 a uniform reduction of its strength, he determined on
 
 2-1 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 detaching princij)ally from his centre, which, from the 
 nature of the ground, would have the best opportunities for 
 rallying if broken, and on strengthening his wings, so as to 
 ensure advantage at those points ; and he trusted to his 
 own skill, and to his soldiers' discipline, for the improve- 
 ment of that advantage into decisive victory.^ 
 
 In this order, and availing himself probably of the 
 inequalities of the ground, so as to conceal his preparations 
 from the enemy till the last possible moment, Miltiades 
 drew up the eleven thousand infantry, whose spears were 
 to decide this crisis in the struggle between the European 
 and the Asiatic worlds. The sacrifices, by which the 
 favour of Heaven was sought, and its will consulted, were 
 announced to show propitious omens. The trumpet 
 sounded for action, and, chanting the hjaiin of battle, the 
 little armj^ bore down upon the host of the foe. Then, too, 
 along the mountain slopes of Marathon must have resounded 
 the mutual exhortation which Aeschylus, who fought in 
 both battles, tells us was afterwards heard over the waves 
 of Salamis, — ' On, sons of the Greeks ! Strike for the 
 freedom of your country — strike for the freedom of your 
 children and of your wives— for the shrines of your fathers' 
 gods, and for the sepulchres of your sires. All — all are noAV 
 staked upon the strife.' 
 
 'il TTatSes 'EWtjvuv, ire, 
 e\fv0f povTf iTaTpi8\ eKevBepovre 8i 
 TratSas, yvyat/cas, Gedic re jiaTpwctiv tSr], 
 6r]icas t« irpoyovwV vvv vwip -navToiv a'^/wv} 
 
 Instead of advancing at the usual slow pace of the 
 l^halanx, Miltiades brought his men on at a run. They 
 were all trained in the exercises of the palaestra, so that 
 there was no fear of their ending the charge in breathless 
 exhaustion : and it was of the deepest imj)ortance for him 
 
 ^ It is remarkable that there is no other instance of a Greek general 
 deviating from the ordinary mode of bringing a phalanx of spearmen 
 into action, until the battles of Leuctra and Mantineia, more than 
 a century after Marathon, when Epaminondas introduced the tactics 
 (which Alexander the Great in ancient times, and Frederick the Great 
 in modern times made so famous) of concentrating an overpowering 
 force on some decisive point of the enemy's line, while he k<>pt back, 
 or, in militarj' phrase, refused the weaker part of his own. 
 
 * Persae, 402.
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 25 
 
 to traverse as rapidly as possible the space of about a mile 
 of level ground, that lay between the mountain foot and 
 the Persian outposts, and so to get his troops into close 
 action, before the Asiatic cavalry could mount, form, and 
 manoeuvre against him, or their archers keej) him long 
 under bow-shot, and before the enemy's generals could 
 fairly deploy their masses. 
 
 fLAN OW Tilfi BATTLE OB MAKATHON 
 
 ' When the Persians ', says Herodotus, ' saw the Athenians 
 running down on them, without horse or bowmen, and 
 scanty in numbers, they thought them a set of madmen 
 rushing upon certain destruction.' They began, however, 
 to prepare to receive them, and the Eastern chiefs arrayed, 
 as quickly as time and jjlace allowed, the varied races who 
 served in their motley ranks. Mountaineers from Hyrcania 
 and Afghanistan, wild horsemen from the steppes of 
 Khorassan, the black archers of Ethiopia, swordsmen from 
 the banks of the Indus, the Oxus, the Euphrates, and the 
 Nile, made ready against the enemies of the Great King.
 
 26 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 But no national cause inspired them, except the division of 
 native Persians ; and in the large host there was no 
 uniformity of language, creed, race, or military system. 
 Still, among them there were many gallant men, under 
 a veteran general ; they were familiarized with victory ; 
 and in contemptuous confidence, their infantry, which 
 alone had time to form, awaited the Athenian charge. On 
 came the Greeks, with one unwavering line of levelled 
 spears, against which the light targets, the short lances 
 and scimitars of the Orientals offered weak defence. The 
 front rank of the Asiatics must have gone down to a man 
 at the first shock. Still they recoiled not, but strove by 
 individual gallantry, and by the weight of numbers, to 
 make up for the disadvantages of weapons and tactics, and 
 to bear back the shallow line of the Europeans. In the 
 centre, where the native Persians and the Sacae fought, 
 they succeeded in breaking through the weaker part of the 
 Athenian phalanx ; and the tribes led by Aristides and 
 Themifetocles were, after a brave resistance, driven back 
 over the plain, and chased by the Persians up the valley 
 towards the imier country. There the nature of the ground 
 gave the opportunity of rallying and renewing the struggle : 
 and meanwhile, the Greek wings, where Miltiades had 
 concentrated his chief strength, had routed the Asiatics 
 opposed to them ; and the Athenian and Plataean officers, 
 instead of pursuing the fugitives, kept their troops well in 
 hand, and wheeling round they formed the two wings 
 together. Miltiades instantly led them against the Persian 
 centre, which had hitherto been triumphant, but which now 
 fell back, and prepared to encounter these new and unex- 
 pected assailants. Aristides and Themistocles renewed the 
 fight with their reorganized troojis, and the full force of the 
 Greeks was brought into close action with the Persian and 
 Sacian divisions of the enemy. Datis's veterans strove 
 hard to keep their ground, and evening ^ was approaching 
 before the stern encounter was decided. 
 
 But the Persians, with their slight wicker shields, 
 destitute of body-armour, and never taught by training to 
 keej^ the even front and act with the regular movement of 
 
 ^ 'AAA' tl/^tws drruadfUoOa ^Iv Oeoii irpos kanipav. 
 
 Aristoph. Vcspae, 1085.
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 27 
 
 the Greek infantry, fought at grievous disadvantage with 
 their shorter and feebler weapons against the compact 
 array of well-armed Athenian and Plataean spearmen, all 
 perfectly drilled to perform each necessary evolution in 
 concert, and to preserve a uniform and unwavering line 
 in battle. In personal courage and in bodily activity, the 
 Persians were not inferior to their adversaries. Their spirits 
 were not yet cowed by the recollection of former defeats ; 
 and they lavished their lives freely, rather than forfeit the 
 fame which they had won by so many victories. While 
 their rear ranks poured an incessant shower of arrows ^ over 
 the heads of their comrades, the foremost Persians kept 
 rushing forward, sometimes singly, sometimes in desperate 
 groups of twelve or ten upon the projecting spears of the 
 Greeks, striving to force a lane into the phalanx, and to 
 bring their scimitars and daggers into play.^ But the 
 Greeks felt their superiority, and though the fatigue of 
 the long-continued action told heavily on their inferior 
 numbers, the sight of the carnage that they dealt amongst 
 their assailants nerved them to fight still more fiercely on. 
 At last the previously unvanquished lords of Asia turned 
 their backs and fled, and the Greeks followed, striking them 
 down, to the water's edge,^ where the invaders were now 
 hastily launching their galleys, and seeking to embark and 
 fly. Flushed with success, the Athenians dashed at the 
 
 * 'E/xaxofiead' aiiTOiai, 6up.<jv v^ivrji' imiwKOTi'i, 
 
 eras avtip nap' a.y5p\ In opyfjs rr]v Xfkvurjv iaOtuV 
 vno 5c rwy To^fvp.dTOji'' ovk ^u idiif ruv oi/pavuv. 
 
 Aristoph. Vespae, 1082. 
 * See the description, in the 62n(i section of the ninth book of Herodo- 
 tus, of the gallantry shown by the Persian infantry against the Lacedae- 
 monians at Plataea. We have no similar detail of the fight at Marathon, 
 but we know that it was long and obstinately contested (see the 113th 
 section of the sixth book of Herodotus, and the lines from the Vespae 
 already quoted), and the spirit of the Persians must have been even 
 higher at Marathon than at Plataea. In both battles it was only the true 
 Persians and the Sacae who showed this valour ; the other Asiatics 
 fled like sheep. 
 
 * The fljang Mede, his shaftless broken bow ; 
 The fiery Greek, his red pursuing spear ; 
 Mountains above. Earth's, Ocean's plain below. 
 Death in the front, Destruction in the rear I 
 Such was the scene. — Byeon's Childe Harold.
 
 28 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 fleet, * Bring fire, bring fire,' was their cry ; and they 
 began to lay hold of the ships. But here the Asiatics 
 resisted desperately, and the principal loss sustained by 
 the Greeks was in the assault on the fleet. Here fell the 
 brave War-Ruler Callimachus, the general Stesilaus, and 
 other Athenians of note. Conspicuous among them was 
 Cynaegeirus, the brother of the tragic poet Aeschylus. 
 He had grasped the ornamental work on the stern of one of 
 the galleys, and had his hand struck off by an axe.^ Seven 
 
 ^ Mr. Grote well remarks that this battle of the ships must have 
 emphatically recalled to Aeschylus [and others of the Athenian comba- 
 tants] the fifteenth book of the Iliad : 
 
 AStis Se Spi/xcfa fMx-q napa vrjvalv Irv^Oiy 
 (pa'njs ic' aKijrJTas Kai uTfipias dWrjXoiaiv 
 dyieoO^ kv noKefxa' ws laaviutvas fi^a\ovTO. 
 
 "EKTup 5i npvfJLVTjs vtus T^xparo novTOnvpoiO^ 
 Ka\^s ujiivakov, fj npiuTeaiKaov ivciKev 
 is Tpoir,v, oLib' avTiS anTj-yaye iraTp'tSa "yaia:'. 
 Tovnip brj nepl vrjus 'Axc'iJ' T6 TpMiS re 
 Sjovv dXkrjKovs auTocrx_i5ui'' ouS' dpa roi'/e 
 Tv^wy tit /cay dpupls /Xiuov, ovSe t' ukuv jojv, 
 d\\' 01 y' eyyiOei' laraf^evoi, 'iva Ov^ov e^oiTCJ, 
 u^iai Sfj TTeXiiceafft kuI d^iiT](ji fiaxovTO 
 Kal ^'ufxdLV fj.iyd\oiai /cat tyx^'^^" dficptyvotaiv. 
 TToAXd 56 (pdayava icakd, fteXdvStTa, icainiiivia, 
 dWa iJLiv iK \iip(jijv xa^fiSis niaov, dWa 5 utt wfxxv 
 dvSpuju fiapvajJLivojv' pie 5' a'ifxaTi yaia /xeXaiva, 
 "Ekto-P 6^ npv/xyrjOev ind Xd^iV, ovxl pLfdiCt, 
 dtpXaoTOV /xird ;(f/)(Tt(/ ex"^'') Tpcuaii/ 5e KikevfV 
 
 OiaiTe rrvp, djia 5' avrul aoAAfcs opivr' avTJjf 
 Vvv 'qp^iv TiduTOOv Z<.vs d^iov rjpiap tdoJKtv, 
 vfjas kkiiv, al Stvpo Oiwv dinrjTi fxoKovaoL, 
 'qpuv TtTjfxaTa voXXd Oiaav, naKoTi^Ti yepuvTOJl'. 
 Then again there grew 
 A bitter conflict at the fleet : you would have said none drc^V 
 A weary breath, nor ever would, they laid so freshly on. 
 
 Great Hector still directs 
 His power against the first near ship. 'Twas that fair bark that brought 
 Protesilaus to those wars ; and now, herself to naught, 
 With many Greek and Trojan lives all spoil'd about her spoil ; 
 One slew another desperately, and close the deadly toil 
 Was pitch'd on both parts : not a shaft, not far-off striking dart 
 Was us'd through all : one fight fell out, of one despiteful heart ; 
 Sharp axes, twybills, two-hand swords, and spears with two heads borne. 
 Were then the weapons ; fair short swords, with sanguine hilts still worn. 
 Had use in like sort ; of which last, ye might have numbers vlew'd 
 Drop with dissolv'd arms from their hands, as many down-right hew'd
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 29 
 
 galleys were captured ; but the Persians succeeded in 
 saving the rest. They pushed off from the fatal shore : but 
 even here the skill of Datis did not desert him, and he sailed 
 round to the western coast of Attica, in hopes to find the 
 city unprotected, and to gain possession of it from some 
 of the partisans of Hippias. Miltiades, however, saw and 
 counteracted his manoeuvre. Leaving Aristides, and the 
 troops of his tribe, to guard the spoil and the slain,i the 
 Athenian commander led his conquering army by a rapid 
 night-march back across the country to Athens. And 
 when the Persian fleet had doubled the Cape of Sunium and 
 sailed up to the Athenian harbour in the morning, Datis 
 saw arrayed on the heights above the city the troops, before 
 whom his men had fled on the preceding evening. All hope 
 of further conquest in Europe for the time was abandoned, 
 and the baffled armada returned to the Asiatic coasts. 
 
 After the battle had been fought, but while the dead 
 liodies were yet on the ground, the promised reinforcements 
 from Sparta arrived. Two thousand Lacedaemonian spear- 
 men, starting immediately after the full moon, had marched 
 the hundred and fifty miles between Athens and Sparta in 
 the wonderfully short time of three days. Though too late 
 to share in the glory of the action, they requested to be 
 allowed to march to the battle-field to behold the Medes. 
 They proceeded thither, gazed on the dead bodies of the 
 invaders ; and then, praising the Athenians and what they 
 had done, they returned to Lacedaemon. 
 
 The number of the Persian dead was six thousand four 
 hundred ; of the Athenians, a hundred and ninety-two. 
 
 From off their shoulders as they fought, their bawdries cut in twain : 
 And thus the black blood flow'd on earth, from soldiers hurt and slain. 
 
 When Hector once had seiz'd the ship, he elapt his fair broad hand 
 Fast on the stem, and held it there, and there gave his command : 
 
 Bring fire, and all together shout ; now Jove hath drawn the veil 
 From such a day, as makes amends for all his storms of hail : 
 By whose blest light we take those ships, that in despite of heaven 
 Took sea, and brought us worlds of woe.- — Chapman^ s Translation. 
 
 ^ ' The painter of the nobler schools might find perhaps few subjects 
 worthier of his art, than Aristides watching at night amidst the torches 
 of his men over the plains of Marathon, in sight of the blue Aegaean no 
 longer crowded with the Barbarian masts, and near the white columns 
 of the Temple of Hercules beside which the Athenians had pitched 
 their camp.' — Lytton Bulwer.
 
 30 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 The number of Plataeans who fell is not mentioned, but as 
 they fought in the part of the army which was not broken, 
 it cannot have been large. 
 
 The apparent disproportion between the losses of the 
 two armies is not surprising, when we remember the 
 armour of the Greek spearmen, and the impossibility of 
 heavy slaughter being inflicted by sword or lance on troops 
 so armed, as long as they kept firm in their ranks. ^ 
 
 The Athenian slain were buried on the field of battle. 
 This was contrary to the usual custom, according to which 
 the bones of all who fell fighting for their country in each 
 year were deposited in a public sepulchre in the suburb of 
 Athens called the Cerameicus. But it was felt that a dis- 
 tinction ought to be made in the funeral honours paid to 
 the men of Marathon, even as their merit had been dis- 
 tinguished over that of all other Athenians. A lofty mound 
 was raised on the plain of Marathon, beneath which the 
 remains of the men of Athens who fell in the battle were 
 deposited. Ten columns were erected on the spot, one for 
 each of the Athenian tribes ; and on the monumental 
 column of each tribe were graven the names of those of its 
 members whose glory it was to have fallen in the great 
 battle of liberation. The antiquarian Pausanias read those 
 names there six hundred years after the time when they 
 were first graven. ^ The columns have long perished, but 
 the mound still marks the spot where the noblest heroes 
 of antiquity, the MapaOuyvofiaxoi, repose. 
 
 A separate tumulus was raised over the bodies of the 
 slain Plataeans, and another over the light-armed slaves 
 who had taken part and had fallen in the battle.' There 
 was also a distinct sepulchral monument to the general to 
 
 ^ Mitford well refers to Crecy, Poicticrs, and Agincourt, as instances 
 of similar disparity of loss between the eonquerors and the conquered. 
 
 ' Pausanias states, with implicit belief, that the battle-field was 
 haunted at night by supernatural beings, and that the noise of comba- 
 tants and the snorting of horses were heard to resound on it. The 
 superstition has survived the change of creeds, and the shepherds of 
 the neighbourhood still believe that spectral warriors contend on the 
 plain at midnight, and they say that they have heard the shouts of 
 the combatants and the neighing of the steeds. — See Grote and Thirlwall. 
 
 ' It is probable that the Greek light-armed irregulars were active in 
 the attack on the Persian ships, and it was in this attack that the Greeks 
 suffered their principal loss.
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 31 
 
 whose genius the victory was mainly due. Miltiades did 
 not live long after his achievement at Marathon, but he 
 lived long enough to experience a lamentable reverse of 
 his popularity and good fortune. As soon as the Persians 
 had quitted the western coasts of the Aegean, he proposed 
 to an assembly of the Athenian people that they should fit 
 out seventy galleys, with a proportionate force of soldiers 
 and military stores, and place them at his disposal ; not 
 telling them whither he meant to proceed, but promising 
 them that if they would equip the force he asked for, and 
 give him discretionary powers, he would lead it to a land 
 where there was gold in abundance to be won with ease. 
 The Greeks of that time believed in the existence of Eastern 
 realms teeming with gold, as firmly as the Europeans of 
 the sixteenth century believed in Eldorado of the West. 
 The Athenians probably thought that the recent victor of 
 Marathon, and former officer of Darius, was about to guide 
 them on a secret expedition against some wealthy and 
 unprotected cities of treasure in the Persian dominions. 
 The armament was voted and eqiiipped, and sailed eastward 
 from Attica, no one but Miltiades knowing its destination, 
 until the Greek isle of Paros was reached, when his true 
 object appeared. In former years, while connected with 
 the Persians as prince of the Chersonese, Miltiades had 
 been involved in a quarrel with one of the leading men 
 among the Parians, who had injured his credit and caused 
 some slights to be put upon him at the court of the Persian 
 satrap, Hydarnes. The feud had ever since rankled in the 
 heart of the Athenian chief, and he now attacked Paros 
 for the sake of avenging himself on his ancient enemy. 
 His pretext, as general of the Athenians, was, that the 
 Parians had aided the armament of Datis with a war- 
 galley. The Parians pretended to treat about terms of 
 surrender, but used the time which they thus gained in 
 repairing the defective parts of the fortifications of their 
 city ; and they then set the Athenians at defiance. So far, 
 says Herodotus, the accounts of all the Greeks agree. But 
 the Parians, in after years, told also a wild legend, how 
 a captive priestess of a Parian temple of the Deities of the 
 Earth promised Miltiades to give him the means of cap- 
 turing Paros : how, at her bidding, the Athenian general
 
 32 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 went alone at night and forced his way into a holy shrine, 
 near the city gate, but with what purpose it was not 
 known : how a supernatural awe came over him, and in 
 his flight he fell and fractured his leg : how an oracle after- 
 wards forbade the Parians to punish the sacrilegious and 
 traitorous priestess, ' because it was fated that Miltiades 
 should come to an ill end, and she was only the instrument 
 to lead him to evil'. Such was the tale that Herodotus 
 heard at Paros. Certain it was that Miltiades either 
 dislocated or broke his leg during an unsuccessful siege of 
 that city, and returned home in evil plight with his baffled 
 and defeated forces. 
 
 The indignation of the Athenians was proportionate to 
 the hope and excitement which his promises had raised. 
 Xanthippus, the head of one of the first families in Athens, 
 indicted him before the supreme popular tribunal for the 
 capital offence of having deceived the people. His guilt was 
 undeniable, and the Athenians passed their verdict accord- 
 ingly. But the recollections of Lemnos and Marathon, and 
 the sight of the fallen general, who lay stretched on a couch 
 before them, pleaded successfully in mitigation of punish- 
 ment, and the sentence was commuted from death to a fine 
 of fifty talents. This was paid by his son, the afterwards 
 illustrious Cimon, Miltiades dying, soon after the trial, of 
 the injury which he had received at Paros.^ 
 
 ^ The commonplace calumnies against the Athenians respecting 
 ]\Iiltiades have been well answered by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton in his 
 Rise and Fall of Athens, and Bishop Thirlwall in the second volume of 
 his History of Greece ; but they have received their most complete refu- 
 tation from Mr. Grote in the fourth volume of his History, p. 490 et seq., 
 and notes. I quite concur with him that, ' looking to the practice of 
 the Athenian dicastery in criminal cases, fifty talents was the minor 
 penalty actually proposed by the defenders of IMiltiades themselves 
 as a substitute for the punishment of death. In those penal cases at 
 Athens, where the punishment was not fixed beforehand by the terms 
 of the law, if the person accused was found guilty, it was customary 
 to submit to the jurors subsequently and separately, the question as 
 to the amount of punishment. First, the accuser named the penalty 
 which he thought suitable ; next, the accused person was called upon 
 to name an amount of penalty for himself, and the jurors were constrained 
 to take their choice between these two ; no third gradation of penalty 
 being admissible for consideration. Of course, under such circumstances, 
 it was the interest of the accused party to name, even in his own case, 
 tome real and serious penalty, something which the jurors might be
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 33 
 
 The melancholy end of Miltiades, after his elevation to 
 such a height of power and glory, must often have been 
 recalled to the mind of the ancient Greeks, by the sight of 
 one, in particular, of the memorials of the great battle 
 which he won. This was the remarkable statue (minutely 
 described by Pausanias) which the Athenians, in the time 
 of Pericles, caused to be hewn out of a huge block of marble, 
 which, it was believed, had been provided by Datis to form 
 a trophy of the anticii^ated victory of the Persians. Phidias 
 fashioned out of this a colossal image of the goddess 
 Nemesis, the deity whose peculiar function was to visit 
 the exuberant prosperity both of nations and individuals 
 Avith suddeii and awful reverses. This statue was placed 
 in a temple of the goddess at Rhamnus, about eight miles 
 from Marathon. Athens herself contained numerous 
 memorials of her primary great victory. Panenus, the 
 cousin of Phidias, represented it in fresco on the walls of 
 the painted porch ; and, centuries afterwards, the figures 
 of Miltiades and Callimachus at the head of the Athenians, 
 were conspicuous in the fresco. The tutelary deities were 
 exhibited taking part in the fray. In the background were 
 seen the Phoenician galleys ; and nearer to the spectator, 
 the Athenians and the Plataeans (distinguished by their 
 leathern helmets) were chasing routed Asiatics into the 
 marshes and the sea. The battle was sculptured also on 
 the Temple of Victory in the Acropolis ; and even now 
 there may be traced on the frieze the figures of the Persian 
 
 likely to deem not wholly inadequate to his crime just proved ; for if 
 he proposed some penalty only trifling, he drove them to prefer the 
 heavier sentence recommended by his opponent.' The stories of Mil- 
 tiades having been cast into prison and died there, and of his having 
 been saved from death only by the interposition of the Prytanis of the 
 day are, I think, rightly rejected by Mr. Grote as the fictions of after- 
 ages. The silence of Herodotus respecting them is decisive. It is true 
 that Plato, in the Gorgias, says that the Athenians passed a vote to 
 throw Miltiades into the Barathrum, and speaks of the interposition 
 of the Prytanis in his favour ; but it is to be remembered that Plato, 
 with all his transcendant genius, was (as Niebuhr has termed him) 
 a veiy indifferent patriot, who loved to blacken the character of his 
 country's democratic institutions ; and if the fact was that the Prytanis, 
 at the trial of Miltiades, opposed the vote of capital punishment, and 
 spoke in favour of the milder sentence, Plato, in a passage (written to 
 show the misfortunes that befell Athenian statesmen), would readily 
 exaggerate this fact ji)to the story that appears in his text. 
 
 CREASY J)
 
 34 BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 combatants with their lunar shields, their bows and quivers, 
 their curved scimitars, their loose trousers, and Phrygian 
 tiaras.^ 
 
 These and other memorials of Marathon were the produce 
 of the meridian age of Athenian intellectual splendour — 
 of the age of Phidias and Pericles. For it was not merely 
 by the generation of men whom the battle liberated from 
 Hippias and the Medes, that the transcendant importance 
 of their victory was gratefully recognized. Through the 
 whole epoch of her prosperity, through the long Olympiads 
 of her decay, through centuries after her fall, Athens 
 looked back on the day of Marathon as the brightest of her 
 national existence. 
 
 By a natural blending of patriotic pride with grateful 
 piety, the very spirits of the Athenians who fell at Marathon 
 were deified by their countrymen. The inhabitants of the 
 districts of Marathon paid religious rites to them ; and 
 orators solemnly invoked them in their most impassioned 
 adjurations before the assembled men of Athens. ' Nothing 
 was omitted that could keep alive the remembrance of 
 a deed which had first taught the Athenian people to know 
 its own strength, by measuring it with the power which 
 had subdued the greater part of the known world. The 
 consciousness thus awakened fixed its character, its station, 
 and its destiny ; it was the spring of its later great actions 
 and ambitious enterprises.' ^ 
 
 It was not indeed by one defeat, however signal, that 
 the pride of Persia could be broken, and her dreams of 
 universal empire be dispelled. Ten years afterwards she 
 renewed her attempts upon Europe on a grander scale of 
 enterprise, and was repulsed by Greece with greater and 
 reiterated loss. Larger forces and heavier slaughter than 
 had been seen at Marathon signalized the conflicts of 
 Greeks and Persians at Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, and 
 the Eurymedon. But mighty and momentous as these 
 battles were, they rank not with Marathon in importance. 
 They originated no new impulse. They turned back no 
 current of fate. They were merely confirmatory of the 
 already existing bias which Marathon had created. The 
 
 * Wordsworth's Greece, p. 115. ' Thirlwall.
 
 BATTLE OF MARATHON 35 
 
 day of Marathon is the critical epoch in the history of the 
 two nations. It broke for ever the spell of Persian invinci- 
 bility, which had paralysed men's minds. It generated 
 among the Greeks the spirit which beat back Xerxes, and 
 afterwards led on Xenophon, Agesilaus, and Alexander, in 
 terrible retaliation, through their Asiatic campaigns. It 
 secured for mankind the intellectual treasures of Athens, 
 the growth of free institutions, the liberal enlightenment 
 of the Western world, and the gradual ascendancy for 
 many ages of the great principles of European civilization. 
 
 Explanatory Remarks on some of the Circum- 
 stances OF THE Battle of Marathon 
 
 Nothing is said by Herodotus of the Persian cavalry 
 taking any part in the battle, although he mentions that 
 Hippias recommended the Persians to land at Marathon, 
 because the plain was favourable for cavalry evolutions. 
 In the life of Miltiades, which is usually cited as the 
 production of Cornelius Nepos, but which I believe to be 
 of no authority whatever, it is said that Miltiades pro- 
 tected his flanks from the enemy's horse by an abattis 
 of felled trees. While he was on the high ground he 
 would not have reqvxired this defence ; and it is not likely 
 that the Persians would have allowed him to erect it on 
 the plain. 
 
 Bishop Thirlwall calls our attention to a passage in 
 Suidas, where the proverb Xwpi5 iVTrets is said to have 
 originated from some Ionian Greeks, who were serving 
 compulsorily in the army of Datis, contriving to inform 
 Miltiades that the Persian cavalry had gone away, where- 
 upon Miltiades immediately joined battle and gained the 
 victory. There may probably be a gleam of truth in this 
 legend. If Datis's cavalry was numerous, as the abundant 
 pastures of Euboea were close at hand, the Persian general, 
 when he thought, from the inaction of his enemy, that 
 they did not mean to come down from the heights and give 
 battle, might naturally send the larger part of his horse 
 back across the channel to the neighbourhood of Eretria, 
 where he had already left a detachment, and where his 
 military stores must have been deposited. The knowledge 
 
 D2
 
 3G BATTLE OF MARATHON 
 
 of such a movement would of course confirm Miltiades in 
 his resohition to bring on a speedy engagement. 
 
 But, in truth, whatever amount of cavalry we suppose 
 Datis to have had with him on the day of Marathon, their 
 inaction in the battle is intelligible, if we believe the attack 
 of the Athenian spearmen to have been as sudden as it was 
 rapid. The Persian horse-soldier, on an alarm being given, 
 had to take the shackles off his horse, to strap the saddle 
 on, and bridle him, besides equipping himself (see Xenoph. 
 Anab. lib. iii. c. 4) : and when each individual horseman 
 was ready, the line had to be formed ; and the time that 
 it takes to form the Oriental cavalry in line for a charge 
 has, in all ages, been observed by Europeans. 
 
 The wet state of the marshes at each end of the plain, in 
 the time of year Avhen the battle Mas fought, has been 
 adverted to by Mr. Wordsworth, and this would hinder 
 the Persian general from arranging and employing his 
 horsemen on his extreme wings, while it also enabled the 
 Greeks, as they came forward, to occupy the a\ hole breadth 
 of the practicable ground with an unbroken line of levelled 
 spears, against which, if any Persian horse advanced, they 
 would be driven back in confusion upon their own foot. 
 
 Even numerous and fully arraj^ed bodies of cavalry have 
 been repeatedly broken, both in ancient and modern 
 warfare, by resolute charges of infantry. For instance, 
 it was by an attack of some picked cohorts that Caesar 
 routed the Pompeian cavahy, Avhich had previously 
 defeated his own at Pharsalia. 
 
 I have represented the battle of Marathon as beginning 
 in the afternoon, and ending towards evening. If it had 
 lasted all day, Herodotus would have probably mentioned 
 that fact. That it ended towards evening is, I think, proved 
 by the line from the Vespae, which I have already quoted, 
 and to which my attention aa^s called bj^ Sir EdAvard Buhver 
 Lytton's account of the battle. I think that the succeeding 
 lines in Aristophanes, also already quoted, justify the 
 description Avhich I ha\^e given of the rear ranks of the 
 Persians keeping up a flight of arrows OA^er the heads of 
 their comrades against the Greeks.
 
 SYNOPSIS OF INTERVENING EVENTS 37 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE BATTLE OF 
 MARATHON, B.C. 490, AND THE DEFEAT OF 
 THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE, B.C. 413 
 
 B.C. 490 to 487. All Asia is filled with the preparations 
 made by King Darius for a new expedition against Greece. 
 Themistocles persuades the Athenians to leave off dividing 
 the proceeds of their silver mines among themselves, and 
 to employ the money in strengthening their navy. 
 
 487. Egypt revolts from the Persians, and delays the 
 expedition against Greece. 
 
 485. Darius dies, and Xerxes his son becomes King of 
 Persia in his stead. 
 
 484. The Persians recover Egypt. 
 
 480. Xerxes invades Greece. Indecisive actions between 
 the Persian and Greek fleets at Artemisium. Destruction 
 of the three hundred Spartans at Thermopylae, The 
 Athenians abandon Attica and go on shipboard. Great 
 naval victory of the Greeks at Salamis. Xerxes returns 
 to Asia, leaving a chosen army under Mardonius, to carry 
 on the war against the Greeks. 
 
 478. Mardonius and his army destroyed by the Greeks 
 at Plataea. The Greeks land in Asia Minor, and defeat 
 a Persian force at Mycale. In this and the following years 
 the Persians lose all their conquests in Europe, and many 
 on the coast of Asia. 
 
 477. Many of the Greek maritime states take Athens as 
 their leader, instead of Sparta. 
 
 466. Victories of Cimon over the Persians at the Eury- 
 medon. 
 
 464. Revolt of the Helots against Sparta. Third 
 Messenian war. 
 
 460. Egypt again revolts against Persia. The Athenians 
 send a powerful armament to aid the Egyptians, which, 
 after gaining some successes, is destroyed, and Egypt 
 submits. This war lasted six years. 
 
 457. Wars in Greece between the Athenian and several 
 Peloponnesian states. Immense exertions of Athens at 
 this time. ' There is an original inscription still preserved 
 in the Louvre, which attests the energies of Athens at this 
 crisis, when x4thens, like England in modern wars, at once 
 
 ^ 'WOOI/l
 
 38 SYNOPSIS OF INTERVENING EVENTS 
 
 sought conquests abroad, and repelled enemies at home. 
 At the period we now advert to (457 B.C.), an Athenian 
 armament of two hundred galleys was engaged in a bold 
 though unsuccessful expedition against Egypt, The 
 Athenian crews had landed, had won a battle ; they had 
 then re-embarked and sailed up the Nile, and were busily 
 besieging the Persian garrison in Memphis. As the com- 
 plement of a trireme galley was at least two hundred men, 
 we cannot estimate the forces then employed by Athens 
 against Egypt at less than forty thousand men. At the 
 same time she kept squadrons on the coasts of Phoenicia 
 and Cyprus, and yet maintained a home fleet that enabled 
 her to defeat her Peloponnesian enemies at Cecryphalae 
 and Aegina, capturing in the last engagement seventy 
 galleys. This last fact may give us some idea of the 
 strength of the Athenian home fleet that gained the 
 victory ; and by adopting the same ratio of multipl3ing 
 whatever number of galleys we suppose to have been 
 employed, by two hundred, so as to gain the aggregate 
 number of the crews, we may form some estimate of the 
 forces which this little Greek state then kept on foot. 
 Between sixty and seventy thousand men must have 
 served in her fleets during that year. Her tenacity of 
 purpose was equal to her boldness of enterprise. Sooner 
 than yield or withdraw from any of their expeditions the 
 Athenians at this very time, when Corinth sent an armj^ 
 to attack their garrison at Megara, did not recall a single 
 crew or a single soldier from Aegina or from abroad ; but 
 the lads and old men, who had been left to guard the city, 
 fought and won a battle against these new assailants. 
 The inscription which we have referred to, is graven on 
 a votive tablet to the memor^'^ of the dead, erected in that 
 year by the Erecthean tribe, one of the ten into which 
 the Athenians were divided. It shows, as Thirlwall has 
 remarked, "that the Athenians were conscious of the 
 greatness of their own effort ; " and in it this little civic 
 community of the ancient world still "records to us with 
 emphatic simplicity, that its slain fell in Cyprus, in Egypt, 
 in Phoenicia, at Haliae, in Aegina, and in Megara, iii the 
 same year ".' ^ 
 
 ' Paeans of the Athenian navy.
 
 SYNOPSIS OF INTERVENING EVENTS 39 
 
 445. A thirty years' truce concluded between Athens 
 and Lacedaemon. 
 
 440. The Samians endeavour to throw off the supremacy 
 of Athens. Samos completely reduced to subjection. 
 Pericles is now sole director of the Athenian councils. 
 
 431. Commencement of the great Peloponnesian war, 
 in which Sparta, at the head of nearly all the Pelopon- 
 nesian states, and aided by the Boeotians and some of the 
 other Greeks beyond the Isthmus, endeavours to reduce 
 the power of Athens, and to restore independence to the 
 Greek maritime states who were the subject allies of Athens. 
 At the commencement of the war the Peloponnesian armies 
 repeatedly invade and ravage Attica, but Athens herself is 
 impregnable, and her fleets secure her the dominion of 
 the sea. 
 
 430. Athens visited by a pestilence, which sweeps off 
 large numbers of her population. 
 
 425. The Athenians gain great advantages over the 
 Spartans at Sphacteria, and by occupying Cythera ; but 
 they suffer a severe defeat in Boeotia, and the Spartan 
 general, Brasidas, leads an expedition to the Thracian 
 coasts, and conquers many of the most valuable Athenian 
 possessions in those regions, 
 
 421. Nominal truce for thirty years between Athens and 
 Sparta, but hostilities continue on the Thracian coast and 
 in other quarters. 
 
 415. The Athenians send an expedition to conquer 
 Sicily.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE, 
 
 B.C. 413 
 
 ' The Romans knew not, and could not know, how deeply the greatness 
 of their own posterity, and the fate of the whole Western world, were 
 involved in the destruction of the fleet of Athens, in the harbour of 
 Syracuse. Had that great expedition proved victorious, the energies 
 of Greece during the next eventful century would have found their 
 field in the West no less than in the East ; Greece, and not Rome, 
 might have conquered Carthage ; Greek instead of Latin might have 
 been at this day the principal element of the language of Spain, of France, 
 and of Italy ; and the laws of Athens, rather than of Rome, might bo 
 the foundation of the law of the civilized world.' — Arnold. 
 
 ' The great expedition to Sicily, one of the most decisive events in 
 the history of the world.' — Niebuhr. 
 
 Few cities have undergone more memorable sieges during 
 ancient and mediaeval times than has the city of Syracuse. 
 Athenian, Carthaginian, Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Sara- 
 cen, and Norman have in turns beleaguered her walls ; 
 and the resistance which she successfully opposed to 
 some of her early assailants was of the deepest importance, 
 not only to the fortunes of the generations then in being, 
 but to all the subsequent current of human ev^ents. To 
 adopt the eloquent expressions of Arnold respecting the 
 check which she gave to the Carthaginian arms, ' Syracuse 
 was a breakwater, which God's providence raised up to 
 protect the yet immature strength of Rome ' . And her 
 triumphant repulse of the great Athenian expedition against 
 her was of even more widespread and enduring imiDortance. 
 It forms a decisive epoch in the strife for universal empire, 
 in which all the great states of antiquity successively 
 engaged and failed. 
 
 The present city of Syracuse is a place of little or no 
 military strength, as the fire of artillery from the neigh- 
 bouring heights AAOuld almost completely command it. 
 But in ancient warfare its jaosition, and the care bestowed
 
 DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE 
 
 41 
 
 on its walls, rendered it formidably strong against the 
 means of offence which then were employed by besieging 
 armies. 
 
 The ancient city, in the time of the Peloponnesian war, 
 was chiefly built on the knob of land which projects into 
 the sea on the eastern coast of Sicily, between two bays ; 
 one of which, to the north, was called the Bay of Thapsus, 
 while the southern one formed the great harbour of tho 
 
 PLAN OF THE CITY OF SYKACUSB 
 
 city of Syracuse itself. A small island, or peninsula (for 
 such it soon was rendered), lies at the south-eastern 
 extremity of this knob of land, stretching almost entirely 
 across the mouth of the great harbour, and rendering it 
 nearly land -locked. This island comprised the original 
 settlement of the first Greek colonists from Corinth, who 
 founded Syracuse two thousand five hundred years ago ; 
 and the modern city has shrvmk again into these primary 
 limits. But, in the fifth century before our era, the growing 
 wealth and population of the Syracusans had led them to
 
 42 DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS 
 
 occupy and include within their city walls portion after 
 portion of the mainland lying next to the -little isle ; so that 
 at the time of the Athenian expedition the seaward part 
 of the land between the two bays already spoken of was 
 built over, and fortified from bay to bay, constituting the 
 larger part of Syracuse. 
 
 The landward wall, therefore, of the city traversed this 
 knob of land, which continues to slope upwards from the 
 sea, and which to the west of the old fortifications (that is, 
 towards the interior of Sicily) rises rapidly for a mile or two, 
 but diminishes in width, and finally terminates in a long 
 narrow ridge, between which and Mount Hybla a succession 
 of chasms and uneven low ground extend. On each flank 
 of this ridge the descent is steep and precipitous from its 
 summits to the strips of level land that lie immediately 
 below it, both to the south-west and north-west. 
 
 The usual mode of assailing fortified towns in the time 
 of the Peloponnesian war was to build a double wall round 
 them, sufficiently strong to check any sally of the garrison 
 from within, or any attack of a relieving force from without. 
 The interval Avithin the two walls of the circumvallation 
 was roofed over, and formed barracks, in which the besiegers 
 posted themselves, and awaited the effects of want or 
 treachery among the besieged in producing a surrender. 
 And, in every Greek city of those days, as in every Italian 
 republic of the Middle Ages, the rage of domestic sedition 
 between aristocrats and democrats ran high. Rancorous 
 refugees swarmed in the camp of every invading enemy ; 
 and every blockaded city was sure to contain within its 
 walls a body of intriguing malcontents, who were eager to 
 purchase a party-triumph at the expense of a national 
 disaster. Famine and faction were the allies on whom 
 besiegers relied. The generals of that time trusted to the 
 operation of these sure confederates as soon as they could 
 establish a complete blockade. They rarely ventured on 
 the attempt to storm any fortified post. For the military 
 engines of antiquity were feeble in breaching masonry, 
 before the improvements which the first Dionysius effected 
 in the mechanics of destruction ; and the lives of spearmen 
 the boldest and most highly trained would, of course, have 
 been idly spent in charges against unshattered walls.
 
 AT SYRACUSE 43 
 
 A city built close to the sea, like Syracuse, was impreg- 
 nable, save by the combined operations of a superior hostile 
 fleet, and a superior hostile army. And Syracuse, from her 
 size, her population, and her military and naval resources, 
 not unnaturally thought herself secure from finding in another 
 Greek city & foe capable of sending a sufficient armament 
 to menace her with capture and subjection. But in the 
 spring of 414 B.C., the Athenian navy was mistress of her 
 harbour and the adjacent seas ; an Athenian army had 
 defeated her troops, and cooped them within the town ; 
 and from bay to bay a blockading wall was being rapidly 
 carried across the strips of level ground and the high ridge 
 outside the city (then termed Epipolae), which, if completed, 
 would have cut the Syracusans off from all succour from 
 the interior of Sicily, and have left them at the mercy of 
 the Athenian generals. The besiegers' works were, indeed, 
 unfinished ; but every day the unfortified interval in their 
 lines grew narrower, and with it diminished all apparent 
 hope of safety for the beleaguered town. 
 
 Athens was now staking the flower of her forces, and 
 the accumulated fruits of seventy years of glory, on one 
 bold throw for the dominion of the Western world. As 
 Napoleon from Mount Coeur de Lion pointed to St. Jean 
 d'Acre, and told his staff that the capture of that town 
 would decide his destiny, and would change the face of the 
 world ; so the Athenian officers, from the heights of 
 Epipolae, must have looked on Syracuse, and felt that 
 with its fall all the known powers of the earth would fall 
 beneath them. They must have felt, also, that Athens, if 
 repulsed there, must pause for ever in her career of conquest, 
 and sink from an imperial republic into a ruined and 
 subservient community. 
 
 At Marathon, the first in date of the Great Battles of 
 the World, we beheld Athens struggling for self-preservation 
 against the invading armies of the East. At Syracuse she 
 appears as the ambitious and oppressive invader of others. 
 In her, as in other republics of old and of modern times, 
 the same energy that had inspired the most heroic efforts 
 in defence of the national independence, soon learned to 
 employ itself in daring and unscrupulous schemes of self- 
 aggrandizement at the expense of neighbouring nations.
 
 44 DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS 
 
 In the interval between the Persian and the Peloponnesian 
 wars, she had rapidly grown into a conquering and dominant 
 state, the chief of a thousand tributary cities, and the 
 mistress of the largest and best-manned navy that the 
 Mediterranean had yet beheld. The occupations of her 
 territory by Xerxes and Mardonius, in the second Persian 
 war, had forced her whole population to become mariners ; 
 and the glorious results of that struggle confirmed them in 
 their zeal for their country's service at sea. The voluntary 
 suffrage of the Greek cities of the coasts and islands of the 
 Aegean first placed Athens at the head of the confederation 
 formed for the further prosecution of the war against Persia. 
 But this titular ascendancy was soon converted by her into 
 practical and arbitrary dominion. She protected them from 
 piracy and from the Persian power, which soon fell into 
 decrepitude and decay ; but she exacted in return implicit 
 obedience to herself. She claimed and enforced a prero- 
 gative of taxing them at her discretion ; and proudly 
 refused to be accountable for her mode of expending their 
 supplies. Remonstrance against her assessments was 
 treated as factious disloyalty ; and refusal to pay was 
 promptly punished as revolt. Permitting and encouraging 
 her subject allies to furnish all their contingents in money, 
 instead of part consisting of ships and men, the sovereign 
 republic gained the double object of training her own 
 citizens by constant and well-paid service in her fleets, 
 and of seeing her confederates lose their skill and discipline 
 by inaction, and become more and more passive and power- 
 less under her j^oke. Their towns were generally dismantled ; 
 while the imperial city herself was fortified with the greatest 
 care and sumptuousness : the accumulated revenues from 
 her tributaries serving to strengthen and adorn to the 
 utmost her havens, her docks, her arsenals, her theatres, 
 and her shrines ; and to array her in that plenitude of 
 architectural magnificence, the ruins of which still attest the 
 intellectual grandeur of the age and people, which produced 
 a Pericles to plan and a Phidias to execute. 
 
 All republics that acquire supremacj- over other nations 
 rule them selfishly and oppressively. There is no exception 
 to this in either ancient or modern times. Carthage, Rome. 
 
 * 'Ael KaOearJuroi rovricraaj liro rov Ewarxrepov naTetpyeaCai. — Thuc. L 76.
 
 AT SYRACUSE 45 
 
 Venice, Genoa, Florence, Pisa, Holland, and Republican 
 France, ail tyrannized over every province and subject 
 state where they gained authority. But none of them 
 openly avowed their system of doing so upon principle, 
 with the candour which the Athenian republicans displayed, 
 when any remonstrance was made against the severe 
 exactions which they imposed upon their vassal allies. 
 They avowed that their empire was a tyranny, and frankly 
 stated that they solely trusted to force and terror to uphold 
 it. They appealed to what they called ' the eternal law of 
 nature, that the weak should be coerced by the strong'. 
 Sometimes they stated, and not without some truth, that 
 the unjust hatred of Si)arta against themselves forced 
 them to be unjust to others in self-defence. To be safe 
 they must be powerful ; and to be powerful, they must 
 plunder and coerce their neighbours. They never dreamed 
 of communicating any franchise, or share in office to their 
 dependants ; but jealously monopolized every post of 
 command, and all political and judicial power; exposing 
 themselves to every risk with unflinching gallantry ; 
 enduring cheerfully the laborious training and severe 
 discipline which their sea-service required ; venturing 
 readily on every ambitious scheme ; and never suffering 
 difficulty or disaster to shake their tenacity of purpose. 
 Their hope was to acquire inibounded empire for their 
 country, and the means of maintaining each of the thirty 
 thousand citizens who made up the sovereign republic, in 
 exclusive devotion to military occupations, and to those 
 brilliant sciences and arts, in which Athens already had 
 reached the meridian of intellectual splendour. 
 
 Her great political dramatist speaks of the Athenian 
 empire as comprehending a thousand states. The language 
 of the stage must not be taken too literally ; but the number 
 of the dependencies of Athens, at the time when the 
 Peloponnesian confederacy attacked her, was undoubtedly 
 very great. With a few trifling exceptions, all the islands 
 of the Aegean, and all the Greek cities which in that age 
 fringed the coasts of Asia Minor, the Hellespont, and 
 Thrace, paid tribute to Athens, and implicitly obeyed her 
 orders. The Aegean sea was an Attic lake. Westward 
 of Greece, her influence, though strong, was not equally
 
 46 DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS 
 
 predominant. She had colonies and allies among tho 
 wealthy and populous Greek settlements in Sicily and South 
 Italy, but she had no organized system of confederates in 
 those regions ; and her galleys brought her no tribute from 
 the western seas. The extension of her empire over Sicily 
 was the favourite project of her ambitious orators and 
 generals. While her great statesman, Pericles, lived, his 
 commanding genius. kept his countrymen under control, 
 and forbade them to risk the fortunes of Athens in distant 
 enterprises, while they had unsubdued and powerful 
 enemies at their own doors. He taught Athens this maxim ; 
 but he also taught her to know and to use her own strength, 
 and when Pericles had departed, the bold spirit, which ho 
 had fostered, overleaped the salutary limits which he had 
 prescribed. When her bitter enemies, the Corinthians, 
 succeeded, in 431 b. c, in inducing Sparta to attack her, 
 and a confederacy was formed of five-sixths of the con- 
 tinental Greeks, all animated by anxious jealousy and 
 bitter hatred of Athens ; when armies far superior in 
 numbers and equipment to those which had marched 
 against the Persians, were poured into the Athenian 
 territory, and laid it waste to the city walls ; the general 
 opinion was, that Athens would, in two or three years at 
 the farthest, be reduced to submit to the requisitions of her 
 invaders. But her strong fortifications, by which she was 
 girt and linked to her principal haven, gave her, in those 
 ages, almost all the advantages of an insular position. 
 Pericles had made her trust to her empire of the seas. 
 Every Athenian in those days was a practised seaman. 
 A state, indeed, whose members, of an age fit for service, 
 at no time exceeded thirty thousand, and whose territorial 
 extent did not equal half Sussex, could only have acquired 
 such a naval dominion as Athens once held, by devoting, 
 and zealously training, all its sons to service in its fleets. 
 In order to man the numerous galleys which she sent out, 
 she necessarily emploj^ed also large numbers of hired 
 mariners and slaves at the oar ; but the staple of her crews 
 was Athenian, and all posts of command were held by 
 native citizens. It was by reminding them of this, of their 
 long practice in seamanship, and the certain superiority 
 which their discipline gave them over the enemy's marine.
 
 AT SYRACUSE 47 
 
 that their great minister mainly encouraged them to 
 resist the combined power of Lacedaemon and her alHes. 
 He taught them that Athens might thus reap the fruit of 
 her zealous devotion to maritime affairs ever since the 
 invasion of the Medes ; ' she had not, indeed, perfected 
 herself ; but the reward of her superior training was the rule 
 of the sea — a mighty dominion, for it gave her the rule of 
 much fair land beyond its waves, safe from the idle ravages 
 with which the Lacedaemonians might harass Attica, but 
 never could subdue Athens'.^ 
 
 Athens accepted the war with which her enemies threat- 
 ened her, rather than descend from her pride of place. 
 And though the awful visitation of the Plague came upon 
 her, and swept away more of her citizens than the Dorian 
 spear laid low, she held her own gallantly against her foes. 
 If the Peloponnesian armies in irresistible strength wasted 
 every spring her corn lands, her vineyards, and her olive 
 groves with fire and sword, she retaliated on their coasts 
 with her fleets ; which, if resisted, were only resisted to 
 display the pre-eminent skill and bravery of her seamen. 
 Some of her subject allies revolted, but the revolts were in 
 general sternly and promptly quelled. The genius of ono 
 enemy had, indeed, inflicted blows on her power in Thrace, 
 ^^ hich she was unable to remedy ; but he fell in battle in 
 the tenth year of the war ; and with the loss of Brasidas 
 the Lacedaemonians seemed to have lost all energy and 
 judgement. Both sides at length grew weary of the war ; 
 and in 421 B. c. a truce of fifty years was concluded, which, 
 though ill kept, and though many of the confederates of 
 Sparta refused to recognize it, and hostilities still continued 
 in many parts of Greece, protected the Athenian territory 
 from the ravages of enemies, and enabled Athens to 
 accumulate large sums out of the proceeds of her annual 
 revenues. So also, as a few years passed by, the havoc 
 which the pestilence and the sword had made in her 
 population was repaired ; and in 415 B.C. Athens was full 
 of bold and restless spirits, who longed for some field of 
 distant enterprise, wherein they might signalize themselves, 
 and aggrandize the state ; and who looked on the alarm of 
 Spartan hostility as a mere old woman's tale. When 
 » Thuc. lib. i. sec. 144.
 
 48 DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS 
 
 Sparta had w astcd their territory she had done her \\ or.st ; 
 and the fact of its always being in her power to do so, 
 seemed a strong reason for seeking to increase the trans- 
 marine dominion of Athens. 
 
 The West was now the quartertowards which the thoughts 
 of every aspiring Athenian were directed. From the very 
 beginning of the war Athens had kept up an interest in 
 Sicily ; and her squadrons had, from time to time, appeared 
 on its coast and taken part in the dissensions in which the 
 Sicilian Greeks were universally engaged one against each 
 other. There were plausible grounds for a direct quarrel, 
 and an open attack by the Athenians upon Syracuse. 
 
 With the capture of Syracuse all Sicily, it was hoped, 
 would be secured. Carthage and Italy were next to be 
 assailed. With large levies of Iberian mercenaries she 
 then meant to overwhelm her Peloponnesian enemies. 
 The Persian monarchy lay in hopeless imbecility, inviting 
 Greek invasion ; nor did the known world contain the 
 power that seemed capable of checking the growing might 
 of Athens, if Syracuse once could be hers. 
 
 The national historian of Rome has left us, as an episode 
 of his great work, a disquisition on the probable effects 
 that Avould have followed, if Alexander the Great had 
 invaded Italy. Posterity has generally regarded that 
 disquisition as proving Livy's patriotism more strongly 
 than his impartiality or acuteness. Yet, right or Avrong, 
 the speculations of the Roman Amter Avere directed to the 
 consideration of a very remote possibility. To v/hatever 
 age Alexander's life might have been prolonged, the East 
 would have furnished full occupation for his martial ambi- 
 tion, as Avell as for those schemes of commercial grandeur 
 and imperial amalgamation of nations, in which the truly 
 great qualities of his mind loved to display themselves. 
 With his death the dismemberment of his empire among 
 his generals was certain, even as the dismemberment of 
 Napoleon's empire, among his marshals, would certainly 
 have ensued, if he had been cut off in the zenith of his 
 power. Rome, also, was far weaker when the Athenians 
 were in Sicily than she was a century afterwards in Alex- 
 ander's time. There can be little doubt but that Rome 
 would have been blotted out from the independent powers
 
 AT SYRACUSE 49 
 
 of the West, had she been attacked at the end of the fifth 
 century b. c. by an Athenian army, largely aided by 
 Spanish mercenaries, and flushed with triumphs over Sicily 
 and Africa ; instead of the collision between her and Greece 
 having been deferred until the latter had sunk into decrepi- 
 tude, and the Roman Mars had grown into full vigour. 
 
 The armament which the Athenians equip})ed against 
 Syracuse was in every way worthy of the state which 
 formed such projects of universal empu'e ; and it has been 
 truly termed ' the noblest that ever yet had been sent forth 
 by a free and civilized commonwealth '.^ The fleet con- 
 sisted of one hundred and thirty-four war-galleys, with 
 a multitude of store ships. A powerful force of the best 
 heavy-armed infantry that Athens and her allies could 
 furnish was sent on board together with a smaller number 
 of slingers and bowmen. The quality of the forces was even 
 more remarkable than the number. The zeal of individuals 
 vied with that of the republic in giving every galley the best 
 possible crew, and every troop the most perfect accoutre- 
 ments. And with private as well as public wealth eagerly 
 lavished on all that could give splendour as well as efiiciency 
 to the expedition, the fated fleet began its voyage for the 
 Sicilian shores in the summer of 415 B.C. 
 
 The Syracusans themselves, at the time of the Pelopon- 
 nesian war, were a bold and turbulent democracy, tyranniz- 
 ing over the weaker Greek cities in Sicily, and trying to 
 gain in that island the same arbitrary supremacy which 
 Athens maintained along the eastern coast of the Medi- 
 terranean. In numbers and in spirit they were fully equal 
 to the Athenians, but far inferior to them in military and 
 naval discipline. When the probability of an Athenian 
 invasion was first publicly discussed at Syracuse, and 
 efforts were made by some of the wiser citizens to improve 
 the state of the national defences, and prepare for the 
 impending danger, the rumours of coming war and the 
 proposals for preparation were received by the mass of the 
 Syracusans Avith scornful incredulity. The speech of one 
 of their popular orators is preserved to us in Thucydides,^ 
 
 * Arnold's History of Rome. 
 
 ^ Lib. vi. sec. 36 et seq. Arnold's edition. I have almost literally 
 transcribed some of the marginal epitomes of the original speech. 
 
 CREASY E
 
 50 DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS 
 
 and man}' of its topics might, by a slight alteration of 
 names and details, serve admirably for the party among 
 ourselves at present which opposes the augmentation of 
 our forces, and derides the idea of our being in any peril 
 from the sudden attack of a French expedition. The 
 Syracusan orator told his countrymen to dismiss with scorn 
 the visionary terrors which a set of designing men among 
 themselves strove to excite, in order to get power and 
 influence thrown into their own hands. He told them that 
 Athens knew her own interest too well to think of wantonly 
 provoking their hostility : ' Even if the enemies were to 
 come,' said he, ' so distant from their resoiirces, and opposed 
 to such a jiower as ours, their destruction ivould be easy and 
 inevitable. Their ships ivill have enough to do to get to our 
 island at all, and to carry such stores of all sorts as will be 
 needed. They cannot therefore carry, besides, an army large 
 enough to cope with such a population as ours. They will 
 have no fortified place from which to commence their operations, 
 but must rest them on no better base than a set of wretched tents, 
 and such means as the necessities of the moment will allow 
 them. But in truth I do not believe that they would even be 
 able to effect a disembarkation. Let us, therefore, set at 
 naught these reports as altogether of home manufacture ; and 
 be sure that if any enemy does come, the state ivill know hoiv 
 to defend itself in a manner worthy of the mitional honour.' 
 Such assertions pleased the S\Tacusan assembly ; and 
 their counterparts find favour now among some portion of 
 the English public. But the invaders of Syracuse came ; 
 made good their landing in Sicily ; and, if they had promptly 
 attacked the city itself, instead of wasting nearly a year 
 in desultory operations in other parts of the island, the 
 Syracusans must have paid the penalty of their self-suffi- 
 cient carelessness in submission to the Athenian yoke. 
 But, of the three generals who led the Athenian expedition, 
 two only were men of ability, and one was most weak and 
 incompetent. Fortunately for Syracuse, Alcibiades, the 
 most skilful of the three, was soon deposed from his com- 
 mand by a factious and fanatic vote of his fellow country- 
 men, and the other competent one, Lamachus, fell early 
 in a skirmish : while, more fortunately still for her, the 
 feeble and vacillating Nicias remained unrecalled and
 
 AT SYRACUSE 51 
 
 unhurt, to assume the undivided leadership of the Athenian 
 army and fleet, and to mar, by alternate over-caution and 
 over-carelessness, every chance of success which the early 
 part of the operations offered. Still, even under him, the 
 Athenians nearly Avon the town. They defeated the raw 
 levies of the Syracusans, cooped them within the walls, and, 
 as before mentioned, almost effected a continuous fortifi- 
 cation from bay to bay over Epipolae, the completion of 
 which would certainly have been followed by a capitulation. 
 
 Alcibiades, the most complete example of genius without 
 principle that history produces, the Bolingbroke of anti- 
 quity, but with high military talents superadded to diplo- 
 matic and oratorical powers, on being summoned home 
 from his command in Sicily to take his trial before the 
 Athenian tribunal, had escaped to Sparta ; and he exerted 
 himself there with all the selfish rancour of a renegade to 
 renew the war with Athens, and to send instant assistance 
 to Syracuse. 
 
 When we read his words in the pages of Thucydides 
 (who was himself an exile from Athens at this period, and 
 may probal)ly have been at Sparta, and heard Alcibiades 
 speak), we are at loss whether most to admire or abhor his 
 subtle and traitorous counsels. After an artful exordium, 
 in which he tried to disarm the suspicions which he felt 
 must be entertained of him, and to point out to the Spartans 
 how completely his interests and theirs were identified, 
 through hatred of the Athenian democracy, he thus pro- 
 ceeded : 
 
 ' Hear me, at any rate, on the matters which require your 
 grave attention, and which I, from the personal knowledge 
 that I have of them, can and ought to bring before you. 
 We Athenians sailed to Sicily with the design of subduing, 
 first the Greek cities there, and next those in Italy. Then 
 we intended to make an attempt on the dominions of 
 Carthage, and on Carthage itself.^ If all these projects 
 succeeded (nor did we limit ourselves to them in these 
 quarters), we intended to increase our fleet with the inex- 
 haustible supplies of ship timber which Italy affords, to put 
 
 ^ Arnold, in his notes on this passage, well reminds the reader that 
 Agathoclcs, with a Greek force far inferior to that of the Athenians at 
 this period, did, a century afterwards, very nearly conquer Carthage. 
 
 E2
 
 52 DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS 
 
 in requisition the whole military force of the conquered 
 Greek states, and also to hire large armies of the barbarians ; 
 of the Iberians/ and others in those regions, who are allowed 
 to make the best possible soldiers. Then, Avhen we had 
 done all this, we intended to assail Peloponnesus with our 
 collected force. Our fleets would blockade you by sea, and 
 desolate }'our coasts ; our armies would be landed at different 
 points and assail your cities. Some of these we expected to 
 storm," and others we meant to take by surrounding them 
 with fortified lines. We thought that it would thus be an 
 easy matter thoroughly to ^\•ar you down : and then we 
 should become the masters of the whole Greek race. As 
 for expense, we reckoned that each conquered state would 
 give us supplies of money and provisions sufficient to pay 
 for its own conquest, and furnish the means for the conquest 
 of its neighbours. 
 
 ' Such are the designs of the present Athenian expedition 
 to Sicily, and you have heard them from the lips of the man 
 who, of all men living, is most accurately acquainted with 
 them. The other Athenian generals, who remain with the 
 expedition, will endeavour to carry out these plans. And 
 be sure that without your speedy interference they will 
 all be accomplished. The Sicilian Greeks are deficient in 
 military training ; but still if they could be at once brought 
 to combine in an organized resistance to Athens, they 
 might even now be saved. But as for the Syracusans 
 resisting Athens by themselves, they have already with 
 the whole strength of their population fought a battle and 
 been beaten ; they cannot face the Athenians at sea ; and 
 it is quite impossible for them to hold out against the force 
 of their invaders. And if this city falls into the hands of 
 
 * It will be remembered that Spanish infantry were the staple of 
 the Carthaginian armies. Doubtless Alcibiades and other leading 
 Athenians had made themselves acquainted with the Carthaginian 
 system of carrying on war and meant to adopt it. With the marvellous 
 powers which Alcibiades possessed of ingratiating himself with men of 
 every class and every nation, and his high military genius, he would 
 have been as formidable a chief of an army of condottieri as Hannibal 
 afterwards was. 
 
 ^ Alcibiades here alluded to Sparta itself, which was unfortified. 
 His Spartan hearers must have glanced round them at these words, 
 with mixed alarm and indignation.
 
 AT SYRACUSE 53 
 
 the Athenians, all Sicily is theirs, and presently Italy also : 
 and the danger which I warned j^ou of from that quarter 
 will soon fall upon yourselves. You must, therefore, in 
 Sicily fight for the safety of Peloponnesus. Send some 
 galleys thither instantly. Put men on board who can work 
 their own way over, and who, as soon as they land, can do 
 duty as regular troops. But above all, let one of your- 
 selves, let a man of Sparta, go over to take the chief com- 
 mand, to bring into order and effective discipline the forces 
 that are in Syracuse, and urge those who at present hang 
 back to come forward and aid the Syracusans. The 
 presence of a Spartan general at this crisis will do more to 
 save the city than a whole army.' ^ The renegade then 
 proceeded to urge on them the necessity of encouraging 
 their friends in Sicily, by showing that they themselves 
 were earnest in hostility to Athens. He exhorted them not 
 only to march their armies into Attica again, but to take up 
 a permanent fortified position in the country : and he gave 
 them in detail information of all that the Athenians most 
 dreaded, and how his country might receive the most 
 distressing and enduring injury at their hands. 
 
 The Spartans resolved to act on his advice, and appointed 
 Gyli])pus to the Sicilian command. Gylippus was a man 
 who, to the national bravery and military skill of a Spartan, 
 united political sagacity that was worthy of his great fellow 
 countryman Brasidas ; but his merits were debased by 
 mean and sordid vice ; and his is one of the cases in which 
 history has been austerely just, and where little or no fame 
 has been accorded to the successful but venal soldier. But 
 for the purpose for which he was required in Sicily, an abler 
 man could, not have been found in Lacedaemon. His 
 country gave him neither men nor money, but she gave him 
 her authority ; and the influence of her name and of his own 
 talents was speedily seen in the zeal with which the Corin- 
 thians and other Peloponnesian Greeks began to equip 
 a squadron to act under him for the rescue of Sicily. As 
 soon as iouv galleys were ready, he hurried over with them 
 to the southern coast of Italy ; and there, though he 
 received such evil tidings of the state of Syracuse that he 
 abandoned all hope of saving that city, he determined to 
 » Thuc. lib. vi. sec. 90, 91.
 
 54 DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS 
 
 remain on the coast, and do what he could in preserving the 
 Italian cities from the Athenians. 
 
 So nearl}^, indeed., had Nicias completed his beleaguering 
 lines, and so utterly desperate had the state of Syracuse 
 seemingly become, that an assembly of the Syracusans 
 was actually convened, and they were discussing the terms 
 on which they should offer to capitulate, when a galley was 
 seen dashing into the great harbour, and making her way 
 towards the town with all the speed that her rowers could 
 supply. From her shunning the part of the harbour where 
 the Athenian fleet lay, and making straight for the Syra- 
 cusan side, it was clear that she \\ as a friend ; the enemy's 
 cruisers, careless through confidence of success, made no 
 attempt to cut her off ; she touched the beach, and a 
 Corinthian captain springing on shore from her, was eagerly 
 conducted to the assembly of the Syracusan people, just in 
 time to prevent the fatal vote being put for a surrender. 
 
 Providentially for Syracuse, Gongj'lus, the commander 
 of the gallej', had been prevented by an Athenian squadron 
 from following G3'lippus to South Italy, and he had been 
 obliged to push direct for Syracuse from Greece. 
 
 The sight of actual succour, and the promise of more, 
 revived the drooping spirits of the S^'racusans.. They felt 
 that they were not left desolate to perish ; and the tidings 
 that a Spartan was coming to command them, confirmed 
 their resolution to continue their resistance. Gylippus was 
 already near the city. He had learned at Locri that the 
 first report which had reached him of the state of S3Tacuse 
 was exaggerated ; and that there was an unfinished space 
 in the besiegers' lines through which it was barely possible 
 to introduce reinforcements into the town. Crossing the 
 straits of Messina, which the culpable negligence of Nicias 
 had left unguarded, G^^lippus landed on the northern coast 
 of Sicily, and there began to collect from the Greek cities 
 an army, of Avhich the regular troops that he brought from 
 Peloponnesus formed the nucleus. Such was the influence 
 of the name of SiDarta,^ and such were his owii abilities and 
 activity, that he succeeded in raising a force of about two 
 
 ' The efJect of the presence of a Spartan officer on the troops of the 
 other Greeks seems to have been like the effect of the presence of an 
 English officer upon native Indian troops.
 
 AT SYRACUSE 65 
 
 thousand fully armed infantry, with a larger number of 
 irregular troops. Nicias, as if infatuated, made no attempt 
 to counteract his operations ; nor, when Gylippus marched 
 his little army towards Syracuse, did the Athenian com- 
 mander endeavour to check him. The Syracusans marched 
 out to meet him : and while the Athenians were solely 
 intent on completing their fortifications on the southern side 
 towards the harbour, Gylippus turned their ])osition by 
 occupying the high ground in the extreme rear of J]pipolae. 
 He then marched through the unfortified interval of 
 Nicias's lines into the besieged town ; and joining his troops 
 with the Syracusan forces, after some engagements with 
 varying success, gained the mastery over Nicias, drove the 
 Athenians from Epipolae, and hemmed them into a dis- 
 advantageous position in the low grounds near the great 
 harbour. 
 
 The attention of all Greece was now fixed on Syracuse ; 
 and every enemy of Athens felt the importance of the 
 opportunity now offered of checking her ambition, and, 
 perhaps, of striking a deadly blow at her power. Large 
 reinforcements from Corinth, Thebes, and other cities, now 
 reached the Syracusans ; while the baffled and dispirited 
 Athenian general earnestly besought his countrymen to 
 recall him, and represented the further prosecution of the 
 siege as hopeless. 
 
 But Athens had made it a maxim never to let difiiculty 
 or disaster drive her back from any enterprise once under- 
 taken, so long as she possessed the means of making any 
 effort, however desperate, for its accomplishment. With 
 indomitable pertinacity she now decreed, instead of recalling 
 her first armament from before Syracuse, to send out 
 a second, though her enemies near home had now renewed 
 open warfare against her, and by occupying a permanent 
 fortification in her territory had severely distressed her 
 population, and were pressing her with almost all the hard- 
 ships of an actual siege. She still was mistress of the sea, 
 and she sent forth another fleet of seventy galleys, and 
 another army, which seemed to drain the very last reserves 
 of her military population, to try if Syracuse could not yet 
 be won, and the honour of the Athenian arms be preserved 
 from the stigma of a retreat. Hers was, indeed, a spirit
 
 56 DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS 
 
 that might be broken, but nev^er would Ixiid. At the head 
 of this second expedition she wisely placed lier l>est general, 
 Demosthenes, one of the most distinguished officers whom 
 the long Peloponnesian war had produced, and who, if he 
 had originally held the Sicilian command, would soon have 
 brought Sj'racuse to submission. 
 
 The fame of Demosthenes the general has been dimmed 
 by the superior lustre of his great countryman, Demosthenes 
 the orator. When the name of Demosthenes is mentioned, 
 it is the latter alone that is thought of. The soldier has 
 found no biographer. Yet out of the long list of the great 
 men of the Athenian republic there are few that deserve to 
 stand higher than this brave, though finally unsuccessful, 
 leader of her fleets and armies in the first half of the Pelopon- 
 nesian war. In his first campaign in Aetolia he had shown 
 some of the rashness of youth, and had received a lesson of 
 caution, by which he profited throughout the rest of his 
 career, but without losing any of his natural energy in 
 enterprise or in execution. He had performed the eminent 
 service of rescuing Naupactus from a jiowerful hostile arma- 
 ment in the seventh year of the war ; he had then, at the 
 request of the Acarnanian republics, taken on himself the 
 office of commander-in-chief of all their forces, and at their 
 head he had gained some important advantages over the 
 enemies of Athens in western Greece. His most celebrated 
 exploits had been the occupation of Pjdos on the Messenian 
 coast, the successful defence of that place against the fleet 
 and armies of Lacedaemon, and the subsequent capture of 
 the Spartan forces on the isle of Sphacteria ; which was the 
 severest blow dealt to Sparta throughout the war, and 
 which had mainly caused her to humble herself to make 
 the truce w'ith Athens. Demosthenes was as honourably 
 unknow^n in the war of party politics at Athens as he was 
 eminent in the war against the foreign enemy. We read 
 of no intrigues of his on either the aristocratic or democratic 
 side. He was neither in the interest of Nicias nor of Cleon. 
 His private character was free from any of the stains which 
 polluted that of Alcibiades. On all these points the silence 
 of the comic dramatist is decisive evidence in his favour. 
 He had also the moral courage, not always combined with 
 physical, of seeking to do his duty to his country, irrespec-
 
 AT SYRACUSE 57 
 
 tively of any odium that he himself might incur, and 
 unhampered by any petty jealousy of those who were 
 associated with him in command. There are few men 
 named in ancient history of whom posterity would gladly 
 know more, or whom we sympathize with more deeply in 
 the calamities that befell them, than Demosthenes, the son 
 of Alcisthenes, who in the spring of the year 413 B.C. left 
 Piraeus at the head of the second Athenian expedition 
 against Sicily. 
 
 His arrival Avas critically timed ; for Gylippus had 
 encouraged the Syracusans to attack the Athenians under 
 Nicias by sea as well as by land, and by an able stratagem 
 of Ariston, one of the admirals of the Corinthian auxiliary 
 squadron, the Syracusans and their confederates had in- 
 flicted on the fleet of Nicias the first defeat that the 
 Athenian navy had ever sustained from a numerically 
 inferior foe. Gj^lippus was preparing to follow up his 
 advantage by fresh attacks on the Athenians on both 
 elements, when the arrival of Demosthenes completely 
 changed the aspect of afl'uirs, and restored the superiority 
 to the invaders. With seventy-three war-galleys in the 
 highest state of efficiency, and brilliantly equipped, with 
 a force of five thousand picked men of the regular infantry 
 of Athens and her allies, and a still larger number of bow- 
 men, javelin-men, and slingers on board, Demosthenes 
 rowed round the great harbour with loud cheers and martial 
 music, as if in defiance of the Syracusans and their confed- 
 erates. His arrival had indeed changed their newly born 
 hopes into the deepest consternation. The resources of 
 Athens seemed inexhaustible, and resistance to her hope- 
 less. They had been told that she was reduced to the last 
 extremities, and that her territory was occupied by an 
 enemy ; and yet, here they saw her, as if in prodigality of 
 power, sending forth, to make foreign conquests, a second 
 armament, not inferior to that with which Nicias had first 
 landed on the Sicilian shores. 
 
 With the intuitive decision of a great commander, 
 Demosthenes at once saw that the possession of Epipolae 
 was the key to the possession of Syracuse, and he resolved to 
 make a prompt and vigorous attempt to recover that posi- 
 tion while his force was unimpaired, and the consternation
 
 58 DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS 
 
 which its arrival had produced among the besieged re- 
 mained unabated. The Syracusans and their allies had 
 run out an outwork along Epipolae from the city walls, 
 intersecting the fortified lines of circumvallation which 
 Nicias had commenced, but from which he had been driven 
 by Gylippus.^ Could Demosthenes succeed in storming 
 this outwork, and in re-establishing the Athenian troops on 
 the high ground, he might fairly hope to be able to resume 
 the circumvallation of the city, and become the conqueror 
 of Syracuse ; for, when once the besiegers' lines were com- 
 pleted, the number of the troops with which Gylippus had 
 garrisoned the place would only tend to exhaust the stores 
 of provisions, and accelerate its downfall. 
 
 An easily repelled attack was first made on the outw ork 
 in the day-time, probably more with the view^ of blinding 
 the besieged to the nature of the main operations, than with 
 any expectation of succeeding in an open assault, with 
 every disadvantage of the ground to contend against. But, 
 when the darkness had set in, Demosthenes formed his men 
 in columns, each soldier taking with him five days' pro- 
 visions, and the engineers and workmen of the camp follow^- 
 ing the troops with their tools, and all portable implements 
 of fortification, so as at once to secure any advantage of 
 ground that the army might gain. Thus equipped and 
 prepared, he led his men along by the foot of the southern 
 flank of Epipolae, in a direction towards the interior of the 
 Island, till he came immediately below the narrow ridge 
 that forms the extremity of the high ground looking west- 
 ward. He then wheeled his vanguard to the right, sent 
 them rapidly up the paths that wind along the face of the 
 cliff, and succeeded in completely surprising the Syracusan 
 outposts, and in placing his troops fairly on the extreme 
 summit of the all-important Epipolae. Thence the Athe- 
 nians marched eagerly down the slope towards the town, 
 routing some Syracusan detachments that were quartered 
 in their way, and vigorously assailing the unprotected part 
 of the outwork. All at first favoured them. The outw^ork 
 was abandoned by its garrison, and the Athenian engineers 
 began to dismantle it. In vain Gylippus brought up fresh 
 troops to check the assault : the Athenians broke and 
 » See Plan at p. 41.
 
 AT SYRACUSE 59 
 
 drove them back, and continued to press hotly forward, in 
 the full confidence of victory. But, amid the general con- 
 sternation of the Syracusans and their confederates, one 
 body of infantry stood firm. This was a brigade of their 
 Boeotian allies, which was posted low down the slope of 
 Epipolae, outside the city walls. Coolly and steadily the 
 Boeotian infantry formed their line, and, undismayed by 
 the current of flight around them, advanced against the 
 advancing Athenians. This was the crisis of the battle. 
 But the Athenian van was disorganized by its own previo\is 
 successes ; and, yielding to the unexpected charge thus 
 made on it by troops in perfect order, and of the most 
 obstinate courage, it was driven back in confusion upon the 
 other divisions of the army, that still continued to press 
 forward. When once the tide was thus turned, the Syra- 
 cusans passed rapidly from the extreme of panic to the 
 extreme of vengeful daring, and with all their forces they 
 now fiercely assailed the embarrassed and receding Athe- 
 nians. In vain did the officers of the latter strive to re- 
 form their line. Amid the din and the shouting of the 
 fight, and the confusion inseparable upon a night engage- 
 ment, especially one where many thousand combatants 
 were pent and whirled together in a narrow and uneven 
 area, the necessary manoeuvres were impracticable ; and 
 though many companies still fought on desperately, 
 wherever the moonlight showed them the semblance of a 
 foe,^ they fought without concert or subordination ; and 
 not unfrequently, amid the deadly chaos, Athenian troops 
 assailed each other. Keeping their ranks close, the Syra- 
 cusans and their allies pressed on against the disorganized 
 masses of the besiegers ; and at length drove them, with 
 heavy slaughter, over the cliffs, which, scarce an hour 
 before, they had scaled full of hope, and apparently certain 
 of success. 
 This defeat was decisive of the event of the siege. The 
 
 ^ 'Hv fxiv yap ae\T]vr] Xafinpa, iwpwv 5« o'inojs uWrjKovi ws (v aeXrjvri e'lKus 
 rfji/ fj.(v 6\piv ToC awparos Trpoopav, ttjv hi yvuj<iiv tov oiKe'iov amaTeiaOai. — 
 Thug. lib. vii. 44. Compare Tacitus's description of the night engage- 
 ment in the civil war between Vespasian and Vitellius. ' Neutro inclina- 
 verat fortuna, donee adulta nocte, luna surgens ostenderet acies, falleret- 
 que.'' — Hist. lib. iii. sec. 23.
 
 60 SYNOPSIS OF INTERVENING EVENTS 
 
 Athenians afterwards struggled only to protect themselves 
 from the vengeance which the Syracusans sought to wreak 
 in the complete destruction of their invaders. Never, 
 however, was vengeance more complete and terrible. 
 A series of sea-fights followed, in which the Athenian galleys 
 were utterly destroyed or ca])tured. The mariners and 
 soldiers who escaped death in disastrous engagements, and 
 in a vain attempt to force a retreat into the interior of the 
 island, became prisoners of war. Nicias and Demosthenes 
 were put to death in cold blood ; and their men either 
 perishetl miserably in the Syracusan dungeons, or were 
 sold into slavery to the very persons whom, in their pride 
 of power, they had crossed the seas to enslave. 
 
 All danger from Athens to the indei:)endent nations of 
 the West was now for ever at an end. She, indeed, con- 
 tinued to struggle against her combined enemies and 
 revolted allies with unparalleled gallantry ; and many 
 more years of varying warfare passed away before she 
 surrendered to their arms. But no success in subsequent 
 conquests could ever have restored her to the pre-eminence 
 in enterprise, resources, and maritime skill, which she had 
 acquired before her fatal reverses in Sicily. Nor among 
 the rival Greek republics, whom her own rashness aided to 
 crush her, was there any capable of reorganizing her empire, 
 or resuming her schemes of conquest. The dommion of 
 Western Europe was left for Rome and Carthage to dispute 
 two centuries later, in conflicts still more terrible, and with 
 even higher displays of military daring and genius, than 
 Athens had witnessed either in her rise, her meridian, or 
 her fall. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF THE EVENTS BETWEEN THE DE- 
 FEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SY^RACUSE AND 
 THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 412 B. c. Many of the subject allies of Athens revolt from 
 her, on her disasters before Syracuse being known ; the 
 seat of war is transferred to the Hellespont and eastern 
 side of the Aegean. 
 
 410. The Carthaginians attempt to make conquests m 
 Sicily.
 
 SYNOPSIS OF INTERVENING EVENTS 61 
 
 407. Cyrus the Younger is sent by the king of Persia 
 to take the government of all the maritime parts of Asia 
 Minor, and with orders to help the Lacedaemonian fleet 
 against the Athenian. 
 
 408. Agrigentum taken by the Carthaginians. 
 
 405. The last Athenian fleet destroyed by Lysander at 
 Aegospotamos. Athens closely besieged. Rise of the 
 power of Dionysius at Sj^racuse. 
 
 404. Athens surrenders. End of the Peloponnesian war. 
 The ascendancy of Sparta complete throughout Greece. 
 
 403. Thrasybulus, aided by the Thebans and with the 
 connivance of one of the Spartan kings, liberates Athens 
 from the Thirty Tyrants, and restores the democrac}^ 
 
 401. Cyrus the Younger commences his expedition into 
 Upper Asia to dethrone his l^rother Artaxerxes Mnemon. 
 He takes with him an auxiliary force of ten thousand 
 Greeks. He is killed in battle at Cunaxa ; and the ten 
 thousand, led by Xenophon, effect their retreat in spite of 
 the Persian armies and the natural obstacles of their march. 
 
 399. In this, and the Ave following years, the Lacedae- 
 monians under Agcsilaus and other commanders carry on 
 war against the Persian satraps in Asia Minor. 
 
 396. Syracuse is besieged by the Carthaginians, and 
 successfully defended by Dionysius. 
 
 394. Rome makes her first great stride in the career of 
 conquest by the capture of Veii. 
 
 393. The Athenian admiral, Conon, in conjunction with 
 the Persian satrap Pharnabazus, defeats the Lacedaemonian 
 fleet off Cnidus, and restores the fortifications of Athens. 
 Several of the former allies of Sparta in Greece carry on 
 hostilities against her. 
 
 388. The nations of northern Europe now first appear 
 in authentic history. The Gauls overrun great part of 
 Italy and burn Rome. Rome recovers from the blow, but 
 her old enemies, the Aequians and Volscians, are left 
 completely crushed by the Gallic invaders. 
 
 387. The peace of Antalcidas is concluded among the 
 Greeks by the mediation, and under the sanction, of the 
 Persian king. 
 
 378 to 36L Fresh wars in Greece. Epaminondas raises 
 Thebes to be the leading state of Greece, and the supremacy
 
 62 SYNOPSIS OF INTERVENING EVENTS 
 
 of Sparta is destroyed at the battle of Leuctra. Epa- 
 minondas is killed in gaining the victory of Mantinea, 
 and the power of Thebes falls with him. The Athenians 
 attempt a balancing system between Sparta and Thebes. 
 
 359. Philip becomes king of Macedon. 
 
 357. The Social War breaks out in Greece, and lasts 
 three years. Its result checks the attempt of Athens to 
 regain her old maritime empire. 
 
 356. Alexander the Great is born. 
 
 343. Rome begins her wars with the Samnites : they 
 extend over a period of fifty years. The result of this 
 obstinate contest is to secure for her the dominion of Italy. 
 
 340. Fresh attempts of the Carthaginians upon Syracuse. 
 Timoleon defeats them with great slaughter. 
 
 338. Philip defeats the confederate armies of Athens and 
 Thebes at Chaeronea, and the Macedonian supremacy over 
 Greece is firmly established. 
 
 336. Philip is assassinated, and Alexander the Great 
 becomes king of Macedon. He gains several victories over 
 the northern barbarians who had attacked Macedonia, and 
 destroys Thebes, which, in conjunction with Athens, had 
 taken up arms against the IMaccdonians. 
 
 334. Alexander passes the Hellespont.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE BATTLE OF ARBELA, B.C. 331 
 
 ' Alexander deserves the glory which ho has enjoyed for so many 
 icnturies and among all nations ; but what if he had been beaten at 
 \.ibela, having the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the deserts in his rear, 
 vithout any strong places of refuge, nine hundred leagues from Mace- 
 Ionia ! ' — Napoleon. 
 
 ' Asia beheld with astonishment and awe the uninterrupted progress 
 )f a hero, the sweep of whose conquests was as wide and rapid as that 
 )f her own barbaric kings, or the Scythian or Chaldaean hordes ; but, 
 ar unlike the transient whirlwinds of Asiatic warfare, the advance of 
 he Macedonian leader was no less deliberate than rapid ; at every step 
 he Greek power took root, and the language and the civilization of 
 ]!reece were planted from the shores of the Aegean to the banks of 
 he Indus, from the Caspian and the great Hyrcanian plain to the 
 ;ataracts of the Nile ; to exist actually for nearly a thousand years, 
 md in their effects to endure for ever.' — Arnold. 
 
 A LONG and not uninstructive list might be made out 
 A illustrious men whose characters have been vindicated 
 iluring recent times from aspersions which for centuries had 
 been thrown on them. The spirit of modern inquiry, and 
 the tendency of modern scholarship, both of which are 
 Dften said to be solely negative and destructive, have, in 
 truth, restored to splendour, and almost created anew, far 
 more than they have assailed with censure, or dismissed 
 From consideration as unreal. The truth of many a bril- 
 liant narrative of brilliant exploits has of late years been 
 triumphantly demonstrated ; and the shallowness of the 
 ■;ceptical scoffs with which little minds have carped at the 
 f^reat minds of antiquity, has been in many instances 
 decisively exposed. The laws, the politics, and the lines 
 of action adopted or recommended by eminent men and 
 powerful nations have been examined with keener investi- 
 gation, and considered with more comprehensive judgement, 
 than formerly were brought to bear on these subjects. The 
 result has been at least as often favourable as unfavourable 
 to the persons and the states so scrutinized ; and many an
 
 64 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 oft-repeated slander against both measures and men has 
 thus been silenced, we may hope for ever. 
 
 The veracity of Herodotus, the pure patriotism of 
 Pericles, of Demosthenes, and of the Gracchi, the wisdom 
 of Cleisthenes and of Licinius as constitutional reformers, 
 may be mentioned as facts which recent ^vl•iters have 
 cleared from unjust suspicion and censure. And it might 
 be easily shown that the defensive tendency M'hich dis- 
 tinguishes the present and recent best historians of Ger- 
 many, France, and England, has been equally manifested 
 in the spirit in which they have treated the heroes of thought 
 and the heroes of action, who lived during what we term 
 the Middle Ages, and whom it Avas so long the fashion to 
 sneer at or neglect. 
 
 The name of the victor of Arbela has led to these reflec- 
 tions ; for, although the rapidity and extent of Alexander's 
 conquests have through all ages challenged admiration 
 and amazement, the grandeur of genius which he displayed 
 in his schemes of commerce, civilization, and of compre- 
 hensive union and unity amongst nations, has, until latety, 
 been comparatively unhonoured. This long-continued 
 depreciation was of early date. The ancient rhetoricians — 
 a class of babblers, a school for lies and scandal, as Niebuhr 
 justly termed them — chose, among the stock themes for 
 their commonplaces, the character and exploits of Alex- 
 ander. They had their followers in every age ; and until 
 a very recent period, all who wished to ' point a moral or 
 adorn a tale ', about unreasoning ambition, extravagant 
 pride, and the formidable frenzies of free will w hen leagued 
 with free power, have never failed to blazon forth the so- 
 called madman of Macedonia as one of the most glaring 
 examples. Without doubt, many of these writers adopted 
 Avith implicit credence traditional ideas, and supposed, 
 with uninquiring philanthropy, that in blackening Alex- 
 ander they Avere doing humanity good ser\ice. But also, 
 without doubt, many of his assailants, like those of other 
 great men, have been mainly instigated by ' that strongest 
 of all antipathies, the antipathy of a second-rate mind to 
 a first-rate one V aiid by the envy Avhich talent too often 
 bears to genius 
 
 » De Stael.
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 65 
 
 Arrian, who wrote his history of Alexander when 
 Hadrian was emperor of the Roman world, and when the 
 spirit of declamation and dogmatism was at its full height, 
 but who was himself, unlike the dreaming pedants of the 
 schools, a statesman and a soldier of practical and proved 
 ability, well rebuked the malevolent aspersions which he 
 heard continually thrown upon the memory of the great 
 conqueror of the East. He truly says, ' Let the man who 
 speaks evil of Alexander not merely bring forward those 
 passages of Alexander's life which were really evil, but let 
 him collect and review all the actions of Alexander, and then 
 let him thoroughly consider first who and what manner 
 of man he himself is, and what has been his own career ; 
 and then let him consider who and what manner of man 
 Alexander was, and to what an eminence of human grandeur 
 he arrived. Let him consider that Alexander was a king, 
 and the undisputed lord of the two continents ; and that 
 his name is renowned throughout the whole earth. Let 
 the evil-speaker against Alexander bear all this in mind, 
 and then let him reflect on his own insignificance, the 
 pettiness of his own circumstances and affairs, and the 
 blunders that he makes about these, paltry and trifling as 
 they are. Let him then ask himself whether he is a fit 
 person to censure and revile such a man as Alexander. 
 I believe that there was in his time no nation of men, no 
 city, nay, no single individual, with whom Alexander's 
 name had not become a familiar word. I therefore hold 
 that such a man, who was like no ordinary mortal, was not 
 born into the world without some special providence.' ^ 
 
 And one of the most distinguished soldiers and writers 
 of our own nation. Sir Walter Raleigh, though he failed to 
 estimate justly the full merits of Alexander, has expressed 
 his sense of the grandeur of the part played in the world by 
 ' The Great Emathian Conqueror ' in language that well 
 deserves quotation : 
 
 ' So much hath the spirit of some one man excelled as 
 it hath undertaken and effected the alteration of the 
 greatest states and commonweals, the erection of monar- 
 chies, the conquest of kingdoms and empires, guided hand- 
 fuls of men against multitudes of equal bodily strength, 
 * Arrian, lib. vii. ad finem. 
 
 CEEASY JJ"
 
 66 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 contrived victories beyond all hope and discourse of 
 reason, converted the fearful passions of his own followers 
 into magnanimity, and the valour of his enemies into 
 cowardice ; such spirits have been stirred up in sundry 
 ages of the world, and in divers parts thereof, to erect and 
 cast down again, to establish and to destroy, and to bring 
 all things, persons, and states, to the same certain ends, 
 which the infinite spirit of the Universal, piercing, moving, 
 and governing all things, hath ordained. Certainly, the 
 things that this king did were marvellous, and would 
 hardly have been undertaken by any one else : and though 
 his father had determined to have invaded the Lesser Asia, 
 it is like that he would have contented himself with some 
 part thereof, and not have discovered the river of Indus, 
 as this man did.' ^ 
 
 A higher authority than either Arrian or Raleigh may 
 now be referred to by those Avho wish to know the real 
 merit of Alexander as a general, and how far the common- 
 place assertions are true, that his successes were the mere 
 results of fortunate rashness and unreasoning pugnacity. 
 Napoleon selected Alexander as one of the seven greatest 
 generals whose noble deeds history has handed doAvn to us, 
 and from the studj^ of whose campaigns the principles of 
 war are to be learned. The critique of the greatest con- 
 queror of modern times on the military career of the great 
 conqueror of the old world is no less graphic than true. 
 
 'Alexander crossed the Dardanelles, 334 B.C., with an 
 army of about forty thousand men, of which one-eighth 
 was cavalr}' ; he forced the passage of the Granicus in 
 opposition to an army under Memnon, the Greek, who 
 commanded for Darius on the coast of Asia, and he spent 
 the whole of the year 333 in establishing his power in Asia 
 Minor. He was seconded by the Greek colonists, who dwelt 
 on the borders of the Black Sea, and on the Mediterranean, 
 and in SmjTna, Ephesus, Tarsus, ]\Iiletus, &c. The kings 
 of Persia left their proA^inces and towns to be governed 
 according to their own particular laAvs. Their empire 
 was a union of confederated states, and did not form 
 one nation ; this facilitated its conquest. As Alexander 
 
 ^ The Hustorie of the World, by Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight, p. 628.
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 67 
 
 only wished for the throne of the monarch, he easily 
 effected the change, by respecting the customs, manners, 
 and laws of the people, who experienced no change in 
 their condition, 
 
 ' In the year 332, he met with Darius at the head of 
 sixty thousand men, who had taken up a position near 
 Tarsus, on the banks of the Issus, in the province of Cilicia. 
 He defeated him, entered Syria, took Damascus, which 
 contained all the riches of the Great King, and laid siege 
 to Tyre. This superb metropolis of the commerce of the 
 world detained him nine months. He took Gaza after 
 a siege of two months ; crossed the Desert in seven days ; 
 entered Pelusium and Memphis, and founded Alexandria. 
 In less than two years, after two battles and four or five 
 sieges, the coasts of the Black Sea from Phasis to By- 
 zantium, those of the Mediterranean as far as Alexandria, 
 all Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt, had submitted to his 
 arms. 
 
 ' In 331, he repassed the Desert, encamped in Tyre, 
 recrossed Syria, entered Damascus, passed the Euphrates 
 and Tigris, and defeated Darius on the field of Arbela, 
 when he was at the head of a still stronger army than that 
 which he commanded on the Issus, and Babylon opened 
 her gates to him. In 330, he overran Susa, and took that 
 city, Persepolis, and Pasargada, which contained the tomb 
 of Cyrus. In 329, he directed his course northward, entered 
 Ecbatana, and extended his conquests to the coasts of the 
 Caspian, punished Bessus, the cowardly assassin of Darius, 
 penetrated into Sc3^thia, and subdued the Scythians. In 
 328, he forced the passage of the Oxus, received sixteen 
 thousand recruits from Macedonia, and reduced the neigh- 
 bouring people to subjection. In 327, he crossed the 
 Indus, vanquished Porus in a pitched battle, took him 
 prisoner, and treated him as a king. He contemplated 
 passing the Ganges, but his army refused. He sailed down 
 the Indus, in the year 326, with eight hundred vessels ; 
 having arrived at the ocean, he sent Nearchus with a fleet 
 to run along the coasts of the Indian Ocean and the Persian 
 Gulf, as far as the mouth of the Euphrates. In 325, he took 
 sixty days in crossing from Gedrosia, entered Keramania, 
 returned to Pasargada, Persepolis, and Susa, and married 
 
 F2
 
 08 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 Statira, the daughter of Darius. In 324, he marched once 
 more to the north, passed Ecbatana, and termuiated his 
 career at Babylon.' ^ 
 
 The enduring importance of Alexander's conquests is to 
 be estimated not by the duration of his own life and 
 empire, or even by the duration of the kingdoms which 
 his generals after his death formed out of the fragments 
 of that mighty dominion. In every region of the world 
 that he traversed, Alexander planted Greek settlements, 
 and founded cities, in the populations of which the Greek 
 element at once asserted its predominance. Among his 
 successors, the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies imitated their 
 great captain in blending schemes of civilization, of com- 
 mercial intercourse, and of literary and scientific research 
 with all their enterprises of military aggrandizement, and 
 with all their systems of civil administration. 8uch was 
 the ascendancy of the Greek genius, so wonderfully com- 
 prehensive and assimilating was the cultivation Avhich it 
 introduced, that, within thirty j^ears after Alexander 
 crossed the Hellespont, the language, the literature, and 
 the arts of Hellas, enforced and promoted by the arms of 
 semi-Hellenic Macedon, predominated in every country 
 from the shores of that sea to the Indian waters. Even 
 sullen EgjqDt acknowledged the intellectual supremacy of 
 Greece ; and the language of Pericles and Plato became 
 the language of the statesmen and the sages who dwelt in 
 the mysterious land of the Pyramids and the Sphinx. It 
 is not to be supposed that this \dctory of the Greek tongue 
 was so complete as to exterminate the Coptic, the Syrian, 
 the Armenian, the Persian, or the other native languages 
 of the numerous nations and tribes between the Aegean, 
 the laxertes, the Indus, and the Nile ; they survived as 
 provincial dialects. Each probably was in use as the 
 vulgar tongue of its oaati district. But every person A^dth 
 the slightest pretence to education spoke Greek. Greek 
 was universally the State language, and the exclusive 
 language of all literature and science. It formed also for 
 the merchant, the trader, and the traveller, as well as for 
 the courtier, the government of&cial, and the soldier, the 
 organ of intercommunication among the ni\Tiads of man- 
 ^ See Count Montholon's Memoirs of Napoleon.
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 69 
 
 kind inhabiting these large portions of the Old World.^ 
 Throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, the Hellenic 
 character that was thus imparted, remained in full vigour 
 down to the time of the Mahometan conquests. The 
 infinite value of this to humanity in the highest and holiest 
 point of view, has often been pointed out ; and the A\ork- 
 ings of the finger of Providence have been gratefully 
 recognized by those who have observed how the early 
 growth and progress of Christianity were aided by that 
 diffusion of the Greek language and civilization throughout 
 Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, which had been caused by 
 the Macedonian conquest of the East. 
 
 In Upper Asia, beyond the Euphrates, the direct and 
 material influence of Greek ascendancy was more short- 
 lived. Yet, during the existence of the Hellenic kingdoms 
 in these regions, especially of the Greek kingdom of Bactria, 
 the modern Bokhara, very important effects were produced 
 on the intellectual tendencies and tastes of the inhabitants 
 of those countries and of the adjacent ones, bj^ the animating 
 contact of the Grecian spirit. Much of Hindoo science and 
 philosophy, much of the literature of the later Persian 
 kingdom of the Arsacidae, either originated from, or was 
 largely modified by, Grecian influences. So, also, the 
 learning and science of the Arabians were in a far less 
 degree the result of original invention and genius than the 
 reproduction, in an altered form, of the Greek philosophy 
 and the Greek lore, acquired by the Saracenic conquerors 
 together with their acquisition of the provinces which 
 Alexander had subjugated nearly a thousand years before 
 the armed disciples of Mahomet commenced their career 
 in the East. It is well known that Western Europe in the 
 Middle Ages drew its philosophy, its arts, and its science 
 principally from Arabian teachers. And thus we see how 
 the intellectual influence of ancient Greece, poured on the 
 Eastern world by Alexander's victories, and then brought 
 back to bear on Mediaeval Europe by the spread of the 
 Saracenic powers, has exerted its action on the elements 
 of modern civilization by this powerful, though indirect 
 channel, as well as by the more obvious effects of the 
 remnants of classic civilization which survived in Italy, 
 ^ See Arnold, Hist. Rome, ii. p. 403.
 
 70 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 Gaul, Britain, and Spain, after the irruption of the Germanic 
 nations. 1 
 
 These considerations invest the Macedonian triumphs 
 in the East with never-dying interest, such as the most 
 showy and sanguinary successes of mere ' low ambition 
 and the pride of kings ', however they may dazzle for 
 a moment, can never retain with posterity. Whether the 
 old Persian empire, which Cyrus founded, could have 
 survived much longer than it did, even if Darius had been 
 victorious at Arbela, may safely be disputed. That ancient 
 dominion, like the Turkish at the present time, laboured 
 under every cause of deca}^ and dissolution. The satraps, 
 like the modern pachas, continually rebelled against the 
 central power, and Egypt in particular, was almost always 
 in a state of insurrection against its nominal sovereign. 
 There was no longer any effective central control, or any 
 internal prmciple of unity fused through the huge mass of 
 the empire, and binding it together. Persia was evidently 
 about to fall ; but, had it not been for Alexander's invasion 
 of Asia, she would most probably have fallen beneath some 
 other oriental power, as Media and Babylon had formerly 
 fallen before herself, and as, in after times, the Parthian 
 supremacy gave way to the revived ascendancy of Persia 
 in the East, under the sceptres of the Arsacidae. A revo- 
 lution that merely substituted one Eastern power for 
 another would have been utterly barren and unprofitable 
 to mankind. 
 
 Alexander's victory at Arbela not only overthrew an 
 oriental dynastj^, but established European rulers in its 
 stead. It broke the monotony of the Eastern world by the 
 impression of Western energy and superior civilization ; 
 even as England's present mission is to break up the 
 mental and moral stagnation of India and Cathay, by 
 pouring uj)on and through them the impulsive current of 
 Anglo-Saxon commerce and conquest. 
 
 Arbela, the city which has furnished its name to the 
 decisive battle that gave Asia to Alexander, lies more than 
 twenty miles from the actual scene of conflict. The little 
 village then named Gaugamela is close to the spot where 
 the armies met, but has ceded the honour of naming the 
 * See Humboldt's Cosmos.
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 71 
 
 battle to its more euphonious neighbour. Gaugamela is 
 situate in one of the wide plains that lie between the Tigris 
 and the mountains of Kurdistan. A few undulating 
 hillocks diversify the surface of this sandy track ; but the 
 ground is generally level, and admirably qualified for the 
 evolutions of cavalry, and also calculated to give the larger 
 of two armies the full advantage of numerical superiority. 
 The Persian king (who, before he came to the throne, had 
 proved his personal valour as a soldier, and his skill as 
 a general) had wisely selected .this region for the third 
 and decisive encounter between his forces and the invaders. 
 The previous defeats of his troops, however severe they 
 had been, were not looked on as irreparable. The Granicus 
 had been fought by his generals rashly and without mutual 
 concert. And, though Darius himself had commanded and 
 been beaten at Issus, that defeat might be attributed to 
 the disadvantageous nature of the ground ; where, cooped 
 up between the mountains, the river, and the sea, the 
 numbers of the Persians confused and clogged alike the 
 general's skill and the soldiers' prowess, so that their very 
 strength became their weakness. Here, on the broad 
 plains of Kurdistan, there was scope for Asia's largest host 
 to array its lines, to wheel, to skirmish, to condense or 
 expand its squadrons, to manoeuvre, and to charge a4; 
 will. Should Alexander and his scanty band dare to 
 plunge into that living sea of war, their destruction seemed 
 inevitable. 
 
 Darius felt, however, the critical nature to himself as 
 well as to his adversary of the coming encounter. He could 
 not hope to retrieve the consequences of a third overthrow. 
 The great cities of Mesopotamia and Upper Asia, the 
 central provinces of the Persian empire, were certain to be 
 at the mercy of the victor. Darius knew also the Asiatic 
 character well enough to be aware how it yields to the 
 prestige of success, and the apparent career of destiny. 
 He felt that the diadem was now either to be firmly replaced 
 on his own brow, or to be irrevocably transferred to the 
 head of his European conqueror. He, therefore, during 
 the long interval left him after the battle of Issus, while 
 Alexander was subjugating Syria and Egypt, assiduously 
 busied himself in selecting the best troops which his vast
 
 72 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 empire supplied, and in training his varied forces to act 
 together with some uniformity of discipUne and system. 
 
 The hardy mountaineers of Afghanistan, Bokhara, 
 Khiva, and Thibet were then, as at present, far different 
 from the generality of Asiatics in Avarlike spirit and endur- 
 ance. From these districts Darius collected large bodies 
 of admirable infantry ; and the countries of the modern 
 Kurds and Turkomans supplied, as they do now, squadrons 
 of horsemen, strong, skilful, bold, and trained to a life of 
 constant activity and warfare. It is not uninteresting to 
 notice that the ancestors of our own late enemies, the 
 Sikhs, served as allies of Darius against the Macedonians. 
 They are spoken of in Arrian as Indians who dwelt near 
 Bactria. They were attached to the troops of that satrapy, 
 and their cavalry was one of the most formidable forces in 
 the whole Persian army. 
 
 Besides these picked troops, contingents also came in 
 from the numerous other provinces that yet obeyed the 
 Great King. Altogether, the horse are said to have been 
 forty thousand, the scythe-bearing chariots two hundred, 
 and the armed elephants fifteen in number. The amount 
 of the infantry is uncertain ; but the knowledge which both 
 ancient and modern times supply of the usual character 
 of oriental armies, and of their populations of camp- 
 followers, may warrant us in believing that many myriads 
 were prepared to fight, or to encumber those who fought 
 for the last Darius. 
 
 The position of the Persian king near Mesopotamia Avas 
 chosen Avith great military skill. It AA'as certain that 
 Alexander on his return from Egypt must march nortliAvard 
 along the Syrian coast, before he attacked the central 
 provinces of the Persian empire. A direct eastAA-ard march 
 from the loAAer part of Palestine across the great Syrian 
 Desert Avas then, as noAV, utterly impracticable. Marching 
 eastAA-ard from Syria, Alexander Avould, on crossing the 
 Euphrates, arrive at the A^ast Mesopotamian plains. The 
 Avealthy capitals of the emjoire, Babylon, Susa, and Perse- 
 polis, AA^ould then lie to his south ; and if he marched doAAn 
 through Mesopotamia to attack them, Darius might reason-" 
 ably hope to folloAv the Macedonians Avith his immense 
 force of cavalry, and Avithout even risking a pitched battle,
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 73 
 
 to harass and finally overwhelm them. We may remember 
 that three centuries afterwards a Roman army under 
 Crassus was thus actually destroyed by the oriental archers 
 and horsemen in these very plains ; ^ and that the ancestors 
 of the Parthians who thus vanquished the Roman legions, 
 served by thousands under King Darius. If, on the con- 
 trary, Alexander should defer his march against Babylon, 
 and first seek an encounter with the Persian army, the 
 country on each side of the Tigris in this latitude was 
 highly advantageous for such an army as Darius commanded ; 
 and he had close in his rear the mountainous districts of 
 northern Media, where he himself had in early life been 
 satrap, where he had acquired reputation as a soldier and 
 a general, and where he justly expected to find loyalty to 
 his person, and a safe refuge in case of defeat.^ 
 
 His great antagonist came on across the Euphrates 
 against him, at the head of an army which Arrian, copying 
 from the journals of Macedonian officers, states to have 
 consisted of forty thousand foot, and seven thousand horse. 
 In studying the campaigns of Alexander, we possess the 
 peculiar advantage of deriving our information from two 
 of Alexander's generals of division, who bore an important 
 part in all his enterprises. Aristobulus, and Ptolemy (who 
 afterwards became king of Egypt) kept regular journals of 
 the military events which they witnessed ; and these journals 
 were in the possession of Arrian, when he drew up his 
 history of Alexander's expedition. The high character of 
 Arrian for integrity makes us confident that he used them 
 fairly, and his comments on the occasional discrepancies 
 between the two Macedonian narratives prove that he 
 used them sensibly. He frequently quotes the very words 
 of his authorities : and his history thus acquires a charm 
 such as very few ancient or modern military narratives 
 
 1 See Mitford. 
 
 - Mitford's remarks on the strategy of Darius in his last campaign arc 
 very just. After having been unduly admired as an historian, Mitford 
 is now unduly neglected. His partiality and his deficiency in scholarship 
 have been exposed sufficiently to make him no longer a dangerous guide 
 as to Greek politics ; while the clearness and brilliancy of his narrative, 
 and the strong common sense of his remarks (where his party prejudices 
 do not interfere) must always make his volumes valuable as well as 
 entertaining.
 
 74 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 possess. The anecdotes and expressions which he records, 
 we fairly beHeve to be genuine, and not to be the coinage of 
 a rhetorician, hke those in Curtius. In fact, in reading 
 Arrian, we read General Aristobulus and General Ptolemy 
 on the campaigns of the Macedonians ; and it is like 
 reading General Jomini or General Foy on the campaigns 
 of the French. 
 
 The estimate which we find in Arrian of the strength 
 of Alexander's army seems reasonable, when we take 
 into account both the losses which he had sustained, and 
 the reinforcements which he had received since he left 
 Europe. Indeed, to Englishmen, who know with what 
 mere handfuls of men our own generals have, at Plassy, at 
 Assaye, at Meeanee, and other Indian battles, routed large 
 hosts of Asiatics, the disparity of numbers that we read of 
 in the victories won by the Macedonians over the Persians, 
 presents nothing incredible. The army which Alexander 
 now led was wholly composed of veteran troops in the 
 highest possible state of equipment and discipline, enthu- 
 siastically devoted to their leader, and full of confidence in 
 his military genius and his victorious destiny. 
 
 The celebrated Macedonian phalanx formed the main 
 strength of his infantry. This force had been raised and 
 organized by his father Philip, who on his accession to the 
 Macedonian throne needed a numerous and quickly formed 
 army, and who by lengthening the spear of the ordinary 
 Greek phalanx, and increasing the depth of the files, 
 brought the tactic of armed masses to the greatest efficiency 
 of which it was capable with such materials as he possessed.^ 
 He formed his men sixteen deep, and placed in their grasp 
 the sarissa, as the Macedonian pike was called, which was 
 four-and-twenty feet in length, and when couched for 
 action, reached eighteen feet in front of the soldier : so 
 that, as a space of about two feet was allowed between the 
 ranks, the spears of the five files behind him projected in 
 advance of each front-rank man. The phalangite soldier 
 was fully equipped in the defensive armour of the regular 
 Greek infantry. And thus the phalanx presented a ponder- 
 ous and bristling mass, which, as long as its order was kept 
 compact, was sure to bear down all opposition. The defects 
 * See Nicbuhr's Hist. 0/ Rome, vol. iii. p. 466.
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 75 
 
 of such an organization are obvious, and Avere proved in 
 after years, when the Macedonians were opposed to the 
 Roman legions. But it is clear that, vnider Alexander, the 
 phalanx was not the cumbrous unwieldy body which it 
 was at Cynoscephalae and Pydna. His men were veterans ; 
 and he could obtain from them an accuracy of movement 
 and steadiness of evolution, svich as probably the recruits 
 of his father would only have floundered in attempting, 
 and such as certainly were impracticable in the phalanx 
 when handled by his successors : especially as under them 
 it ceased to be a standing force, and became only a militia.^ 
 Under Alexander the phalanx consisted of an aggregate of 
 eighteen thousand men, who were divided into six brigades 
 of three thousand each. These were again subdivided into 
 regiments and companies ; and the men were carefully 
 trained to wheel, to face about, to take more ground, or to 
 close up, as the emergencies of the battle required. Alex- 
 ander also arrayed, in the intervals of the regiments of 
 his phalangites, troops armed in a different manner which 
 could prevent their line from being pierced, and their 
 companies taken in flank, when the nature of the ground 
 prevented a close formation ; and which could be withdrawn, 
 when a favourable opportunity arrived for closing up the 
 phalanx or any of its brigades for a charge, or when it was 
 necessary to prepare to receive cavalry. 
 
 Besides the phalanx, Alexander had a considerable force 
 of infantry who were called shield-bearers : they were not 
 so heavily armed as the phalangites, or as was the case 
 with the Greek regular infantry in general ; but they were 
 equipped for close fight, as well as for skirmishing, and were 
 far superior to the ordinary irregular troops of Greek 
 warfare. They were about six thousand strong. Besides 
 these, he had several bodies of Greek regular infantry : 
 and he had archers, slingers, and javelin-men, who fought 
 also with broadsword and target. These were principally 
 supplied to him by the highlanders of Illyria and Thracia, 
 The main strength of his cavalry consisted in two chosen 
 corps of cuirassiers, one Macedonian, and one Thessalian, 
 each of which was about fifteen hvnidred strong. They 
 were provided Avith long lances and heavy swords, and 
 * See Niebahr.
 
 76 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 horse as well as man was fully equipped with defensive 
 armour. Other regiments of regular cavalry were less 
 heavily armed, and there were several bodies of light 
 horsemen, whom Alexander's conquests in Egypt and Syria 
 had enabled him to mount superbly. 
 
 A little before the end of August, Alexander crossed the 
 Euphrates at Thapsacus, a small corps of Persian cavalry 
 under Mazaeus retiring before him. Alexander was too 
 prudent to march down through the Mesopotamian deserts, 
 and continued to advance eastward with the intention of 
 passing the Tigris, and then, if he was unable to find 
 Darius and bring him to action, of marching southward on 
 the left side of that river along the skirts of a mountainous 
 district, where his men would suffer less from heat and 
 thirst, and where provisions would be more abundant. 
 
 Darius, finding that his adversary was not to be enticed 
 into the march through Mesopotamia against his capital, 
 determined to remain on the battle-ground, which he had 
 chosen on the left of the Tigris ; where, if his enemy met 
 a defeat or a check, the destruction of the invaders would 
 be certain with two such rivers as the Euphrates and the 
 Tigris in their rear. The Persian king availed himself to 
 the utmost of every advantage in his power. He caused 
 a large space of ground to be carefully levelled for the 
 operation of his scythe-armed chariots ; and he deposited 
 his military stores in the strong town of Arbela, about 
 twenty miles in his rear. The rhetoricians of after ages 
 have loved to describe Darius Codomannus as a second 
 Xerxes in ostentation and imbecility ; but a fair examination 
 of his generalship in this his last campaign shows that he 
 was worthy of bearing the same name as his great pre- 
 decessor, the royal son of Hystaspes. 
 
 On learning that Darius was with a large army on the 
 left of the Tigris, Alexander hurried forward and crossed 
 that river without opposition. He was at first unable to 
 procure any certain intelligence of the precise position of 
 the enemy, and after giving his army a short interval of 
 rest, he marched for four days down the left bank of the 
 river. A moralist may pause upon the fact that Alexander 
 must in this march have passed within a few miles of the 
 remains of Nineveh, the great city of the primaeval con-
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 77 
 
 querors of the human race. Neither the Macedonian king 
 nor any of his followers knew what those vast mounds had 
 once been. They had already become nameless masses of 
 grass-grown ruins ; and it is only within the last few years 
 that the intellectual energy of one of our own countrymen 
 has rescued Nineveh from its long centuries of oblivion.^ 
 
 On the fourth day of Alexander's southward march, his 
 advanced guard reported that a body of the enemy's cavalry 
 was in sight. He instantly formed his army in order for 
 battle, and directing them to advance steadily, he rode 
 forward at the head of some squadrons of cavalry, and 
 charged the Persian horse whom he found before him. 
 This was a mere reconnoitring party, and they broke and 
 fled immediately ; but the Macedonians made some 
 prisoners, and from them Alexander found that Darius 
 was posted only a few miles off, and learned the strength 
 of the army that he had with him. On receiving this news, 
 Alexander halted, and gave his men repose for four days, 
 so that they should go into action fresh and vigorous. 
 He also fortified his camp, and deposited in it all his military 
 stores, and all his sick and disabled soldiers ; intending to 
 advance upon the enemy with the serviceable part of his 
 army perfectly unencumbered. After this halt, he moved 
 forward, while it Avas yet dark, with the intention of reaching 
 the enemy, and attacking them at break of day. About 
 half-way between the camps there were some undulations 
 of the ground, which concealed the two armies from each 
 other's view. But, on Alexander arriving at their summit, 
 he saw by the early light the Persian host arrayed before 
 him ; and he probably also observed traces of some 
 engineering operation having been carried on along part 
 of the ground in front of them. Not knowing that these 
 marks had been caused by the Persians having levelled the 
 ground for the free use of their war-chariots, Alexander 
 suspected that hidden pitfalls had been prepared with 
 a view of disordering the approach of his cavalry. He 
 summoned a council of war forthwith. Some of the officers 
 were for attacking instantly at all hazards, but the more 
 prudent opinion of Parmenio prevailed, and it was deter- 
 
 ^ See Layard's Nineveh, and also Vaux's Nineveh and Persepolis, p. IG.
 
 78 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 mined not .to advance farther till the battle-ground had 
 been carefully surveyed. 
 
 Alexander halted his army on the heights ; and taking 
 with him some light-armed infantry and some cavalry, he 
 passed part of the day in reconnoitring the enemy, and 
 observing the nature of the ground which he had to fight on. 
 Darius wisely refrained from moving from his position to 
 attack the Macedonians on the eminences which they 
 occupied, and the two armies remained until night without 
 molesting each other. On Alexander's return to his head- 
 quarters, he summoned his generals and superior officers 
 together, and telling them that he well knew that their zeal 
 wanted no exhortation, he besought them to do their 
 utmost in encouraging and instructing those whom each 
 commanded, to do their best in the next day's battle. 
 They were to remind them that they were now not going 
 to fight for a province, as they had hitherto fought, but 
 they were about to decide by their swords the dominion 
 of all Asia. Each officer ought to impress this upon his 
 subalterns, and they should urge it on their men. Their 
 natural courage required no long words to excite its ardour : 
 but they should be reminded of the paramount importance 
 of steadiness in action. The silence in the ranks must be 
 unbroken as long as silence was proper ; but when the 
 time came for the charge, the shout and the cheer must 
 be full of terror for the foe. The officers w^ere to be alert in 
 receiving and communicating orders ; and every one was 
 to act as if he felt that the whole result of the battle 
 depended on his own single good conduct. 
 
 Having thus briefly instructed his generals, Alexander 
 ordered that the army should sup, and take their rest for 
 the night. 
 
 Darkness had closed over the tents of the Macedonians, 
 when Alexander's veteran general, Parmenio, came to him, 
 and proposed that they should make a night attack on the 
 Persians. The King is said to have answered that he 
 scorned to filch a victory, and that Alexander must conquer 
 openly and fairly. Arrian justly remarks that Alexander's 
 resolution was as wise as it was spirited. Besides the 
 confusion and uncertainty which are inseparable from night 
 engagements, the value of Alexander's victory would have
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 79 
 
 been impaired if gained under circumstances which might 
 supply the enemy with any excuse for his defeat, and 
 encourage him to renew the contest. It was necessary for 
 Alexander not only to beat Darius, but to gain such a victory 
 as should leave his rival without apology for defeat, and 
 without hope of recovery. 
 
 The Persians, in fact, expected, and were prepared to 
 meet a night attack. Such was the apprehension that 
 Darius entertained of it, that he formed his troops at 
 evening in order of battle, and kept them under arms all 
 night. The effect of this was, that the morning found 
 them jaded and dispirited, while it brought their adversaries 
 all fresh and vigorous against them. 
 
 The written order of battle, which Darius himself caused 
 to be drawn up, fell into the hands of the Macedonians after 
 the engagement, and Aristobulus copied it into his journal. 
 We thus possess, through Arrian, unusvially authentic 
 information as to the composition and arrangement of 
 the Persian army. On the extreme left were the Bactrian, 
 Daan, and Arachosian cavalry. Next to these Darius placed 
 the troops from Persia proper, both horse and foot. Then 
 came the Susians, and next to these the Cadusians. These 
 forces made up the left wing. Darius's own station was 
 in the centre. This was composed of the Indians, the 
 Carians, the Mardian archers, and the division of Persians 
 who were distinguished by the golden apples that formed 
 knobs of their spears. Here also were stationed the body- 
 guard of the Persian nobility. Besides these, there Avere 
 in the centre, formed in deep order, the Uxian and Baby- 
 lonian troops, and the soldiers from the Red Sea. The 
 brigade of Greek mercenaries, whom Darius had in his 
 service, and who were alone considered fit to stand in the 
 charge of the Macedonian phalanx, was drawn up on either 
 side of the royal chariot. The right wing was composed 
 of the Coelos3rrians, and Mesopotamians, the Medes, the 
 Parthians, the Sacians, the Tapurians, Hyrcanians, Alba- 
 nians, and Sacesinae. In advance of the line on the left 
 wing were placed the Scythian cavalry, with a thousand 
 of the Bactrian horse, and a hundred scythe-armed chariots. 
 The elephants and fifty scythe-armed chariots were ranged 
 in front of the centre ; and fifty more chariots, with the
 
 80 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 Armenian and Cappadocian cavalry, were drawn up in 
 advance of the right wing. 
 
 Thus arrayed, the great host of King Darius passed the 
 night, that to many thousands of them was the last of 
 their existence. The morning of the first of October, two 
 thousand one hundred and eighty -two years ago,^ dawned 
 slowly to their wearied watching, and they could hear the 
 note of the Macedonian trumpet sounding to arms, and 
 could see King Alexander's forces descend from their tents 
 on the heights, and form in order of battle on the plain. 
 
 There was deep need of skill, as well as of valour, on 
 Alexander's side ; and few battle-fields have witnessed 
 more consummate generalship than was now displayed by 
 the Macedonian king. There were no natural barriers by 
 which he could protect his flanks ; and not only was he 
 certain to be overlapped on either wing by the vast lines 
 of the Persian a.rmy, but there was imminent risk of their 
 circling round him and charging him in the rear, while he 
 advanced against their centre. He formed, therefore, 
 a second or reserve line, which was to wheel round, if 
 required, or to detach troops to either flank, as the enemy's 
 movements might necessitate : and thus, with their whole 
 army ready at any moment to be thrown into one vast 
 hollow square, the Macedonians advanced in two Unes 
 against the enemy, Alexander himself leading on the right 
 wing, and the renowned phalanx forming the centre, while 
 Parmenio commanded on the left. 
 
 Such was the general nature of the disposition which 
 Alexander made of his army. But we have in Arrian the 
 details of the position of each brigade and regiment ; and 
 as we know that these details were taken from the journals 
 of Macedonian generals, it is interesting to examine them, 
 and to read the names and stations of King Alexander's 
 generals and colonels in this the greatest of his battles. 
 
 The eight troops of the royal horse-guards formed the 
 right of Alexander's line. Their captains were Cleitus 
 (whose regiment was on the extreme right, the post of 
 peculiar danger), Glaucias, Ariston, Sopolis, Heracleides, 
 
 ^ See Clinton's Fasti Helhnici. The battle was fought eleven days 
 after an eclipse of the moon, which gives the means of fixing the precise 
 date. [Written in 1851.]
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 81 
 
 Demetrias, Meleager, and Hegelochus. Philotas was 
 general of the whole division. Then came the shield- 
 bearing infantry : Nicanor was their general. Then came 
 the phalanx in six brigades. Coenus's brigade was on the 
 right, and nearest to the shield-bearers ; next to this stood 
 the brigade of Perdiccas, then Meleager's, then Polysper- 
 chon's ; and then the brigade of Amynias, but which was 
 now commanded by Simmias, as Amynias had been sent 
 to Macedonia to levy recruits. Then came the infantry of 
 the left wing, under the command of Craterus. Next to 
 
 (yiM£/f>r\: 
 
 I RIGHT m A/6 
 UNO£R 
 MAZyfUS 
 
 CAVALRy 
 
 SCYTH/AN 
 
 AVO 
 BACTR/AN 
 HORSE 
 
 \lCfT tVMC 
 
 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 Craterus's infantry were placed the cavalry regiments of 
 the allies, with Eriguius for their general. The Thessalian 
 cavalry, commanded by Philippus, were next, and held 
 the extreme left of the whole army. The whole left wing 
 was entrusted to the command of Parmenio, who had 
 round his person the Pharsalian troop of cavalry, which 
 was the strongest and best amid all the Thessalian horse 
 regiments. 
 
 The centre of the second line was occupied by a body 
 of phalangite infantry, formed of companies which were 
 drafted for this purpose from each of the brigades of their 
 phalanx. The officers in command of this corps were 
 
 CREASY Q
 
 82 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 ordered to be ready to face about, if the enemy should 
 succeed in gaining the rear of the army. On the right of 
 this reserve of infantry, in the second line, and behind the 
 royal horseguards, Alexander placed half the Agrian light- 
 armed infantry under Attains, and with them Brison's 
 body of Macedonian archers, and Oleander's regiment of 
 foot. He also placed in this part of his army Menidas's 
 squadron of cavalry, and Aretes's and Ariston's light horse. 
 Menidas was ordered to watch if the enemy's cavalry tried 
 to turn the flank, and, if they did so, to charge them before 
 they wheeled completely round, and so take them in flank 
 themselves. A similar force Avas arranged on the left of the 
 second line for the same purpose. The Thracian infantry 
 of Sitalces Avas placed there, and Coeranus's regiment of 
 the cavalry of the Greek allies, and Agathon's troops of the 
 Odrysian irregular horse. The extreme left of the second 
 line in this quarter was held by Andromachus's cavalry. 
 A division of Thracian infantry Avas left in guard of the 
 camp. In advance of the right wing and centre was 
 scattered, a number of light-armed troops, of javelin-men 
 and boAV-men, with the intention of Avarding off the charge 
 of the armed chariots. ^ 
 
 Conspicuous by the brilliancy of his armour, and by 
 the chosen band of officers avIio Avere round his person, 
 Alexander took his OAvn station, as his custom Avas, in the 
 right Aving, at the head of his cavalry : and Avhen all the 
 arrangements for the battle Avere complete, and his generals 
 Avere fully instructed how to act in each probable emergency, 
 he began to lead his men toAvards the enemy. 
 
 It was ever his custom to expose his life freely in battle, 
 and to emulate the personal proAvess of his great ancestor, 
 Achilles. Perhaps in the bold enterprise of conquering 
 Persia, it Avas politic for Alexander to raise his army's 
 daring to the utmost by the example of his oAvn heroic 
 valour : and, in his subsequent campaigns, the love of the 
 excitement, of 'the rapture of the strife', may have made 
 him, like Murat, continue from choice a custom Avhich he 
 
 ' Klebcr's arrangement of his troops at the battle of HeliopoHs, 
 where, with ten thousand Europeans, he had to encounter eighty 
 thousand Asiatics in an open plain, is worth comparing with Alexander's 
 tactics at Arbcla. Sec Thiers's Ilisioirc du Consvlat, &c., vol. 11. livrc v.
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 83 
 
 commenced from duty. But he never suffered the ardour 
 of the soldier to make him lose the coolness of the general ; 
 and at Arbela, in particular, he showed that he could act up 
 to his favourite Homeric maxim of being 
 
 'An<l>6rfpov PaaiKfvs t' d-yaOoi Kpanpos t alxjxrjTri'S. 
 
 Great reliance had been placed by the Persian king on 
 the effects of the scythe-bearing chariots. It was designed 
 to launch these against the Macedonian phalanx, and to 
 follow them up by a heavy charge of cavalry, which it was 
 hoped would find the ranks of the spearmen disordered by 
 the rush of the chariots, and easily destroy this most 
 formidable part of Alexander's force. In front, therefore, 
 of the Persian centre, where Darius took his station, and 
 which it was supposed the phalanx would attack, the 
 ground had been carefully levelled and smoothed, so as to 
 allow the chariots to charge over it with their full sweep 
 and speed. As the Macedonian army approached the 
 Persian, Alexander found that the front of his whole line 
 barely equalled the front of the Persian centre, so that he 
 was outflanked on his right by the entire left wing of the 
 enemy, and by their entire right wing on his left. His 
 tactics were to assail some one point of the hostile army, 
 and gain a decisive advantage ; while he refused, as far as 
 possible, the encounter along the rest of the line. He 
 therefore inclined his order of march to the right, so as to 
 enable his right wing and centre to come into collision with 
 the enemy on as favourable terms as possible though the 
 manoeuvre might in some respect compromise his left. 
 
 The effect of this oblique movement was to bring the 
 phalanx and his own wing nearly beyond the limits of 
 the ground which the Persians had prepared for the opera- 
 tions of the chariots ; and Darius, fearing to lose the benefit 
 of this arm against the most important parts of the Mace- 
 donian force, ordered the Scythian and Bactrian cavalry, 
 who were drawn up in advance on his extreme left, to 
 charge round upon Alexander's right wing, and check its 
 further lateral progress. Against these assailants Alex- 
 ander sent, froin his second line, Menidas's cavalry. As 
 these proved too few to make head against the enemy, he 
 ordered Ariston also from the second line with his light 
 
 Q 2
 
 84 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 horse, and Oleander with his foot, in support of Menidas. 
 The Bactrians and Scythians now began to give way, but 
 Darius reinforced them by the mass of Bactrian cavalry 
 from his main hne, and an obstinate cavahy fight now took 
 place. The Bactrians and Scythians were numerous, and 
 were better armed than the horsemen under Menidas and 
 Ariston ; and the loss at first was heaviest on the Mace- 
 donian side. But still the European cavalry stood the 
 charge of the Asiatics, and at last, by their superior disci- 
 pline, and by acting in squadrons that supported each other, 
 instead of fighting in a confused mass like the barbarians,^ 
 the Macedonians broke their adversaries, and drove them ofE 
 the field. 
 
 Darius now directed the scythe-armed chariots to be 
 driven against Alexander's horseguards and the phalanx ; 
 and these formidable vehicles were accordingly sent rattling 
 across the plain, against the Macedonian line. When we 
 remember the alarm which the war-chariots of the Britons 
 created among Caesar's legions, we shall not be prone to 
 deride this arm of ancient warfare as alwaj^s useless. The 
 object of the chariots was to create unsteadiness in the ranks 
 against which they were driven, and squadrons of cavalry 
 followed close upon them, to profit by such disorder. But 
 the Asiatic chariots were rendered ineffective at Arbela by 
 the light-armed troops whom Alexander had specially 
 appointed for the service, and who, wounding the horses and 
 
 * 'AAXa Koi w9 rds re Trpoa^oXas avrwv iht\nvro ol Ma«eSo7'65 Kal ^'la icar 
 t\a'! -Tpnmr'nTTOvres e^uiOovi' iic ttjs ra^eois. — ArRIAN, lib. iii. C. 13. 
 
 The best explanation of this may be found in Napoleon's account of 
 the cavalry fights between the French and the MamelukCs. — ' Two 
 Mamelukes were able to make head against three Frenchmen, because 
 they were better armed, better mounted, and better trained ; they 
 had two pair of pistols, a blunderbuss, a carbine, a helmet with a vizor, 
 and a coat of mail ; they had several horses, and several attendants on 
 foot. One hundred cuirassiers, however, were not afraid of one hundred 
 Mamelukes ; three hundred could beat an equal number, and one 
 thousand could easily put to the rout fifteen hundred, so great is the 
 influence of tactics, order, and evolutions ! Leclerc and Lasalle presented 
 their men to the Mamelukes in several lines. When the Arabs were on 
 the point of overwhelming the first, the second came to its assistance 
 on the right and left ; the Mamelukes then halted and wheeled, in 
 order to turn the wings of this new line ; this moment was always 
 seized upon to charge them, and they were uniformly broken.' — • 
 Montholon's History of CajdivHy of Napoleon, vol. iv. p. 70.
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 85 
 
 drivers with their missile weapons, and running alongside 
 so as to cut the traces or seize the reins, marred the intended 
 charge ; and the few chariots that reached the phalanx 
 passed harmlessly through the intervals which the spearmen 
 opened for them, and were easily captured in the rear. 
 
 A mass of the Asiatic cavalry was now, for the second 
 time, collected against Alexander's extreme right, and 
 moved round it, with the view of gaining the flank of his 
 army. At the critical moment, Aretes, with his horsemen 
 from Alexander's second line, dashed on the Persian 
 squadrons when their own flanks were exposed by this 
 evolution. While Alexander thus met and baffled all the 
 flanking attacks of the enemy with troops brought up from 
 his second line, he kept his own horseguards and the rest 
 of the front line of his wing fresh, and ready to take advan- 
 tage of the first opportunity for striking a decisive blow. 
 This soon came. A large body of horse, who were posted 
 on the Persian left wing nearest to the centre, quitted their 
 station, and rode off to help their comrades in the cavalry 
 fight that still was going on at the extreme right of Alex- 
 ander's wing against the detachments from his second line. 
 This made a huge gap in the Persian array, and into this 
 space Alexander instantly dashed with his guard ; and then 
 pressing towards his left, he soon began to make havoc in 
 the left flank of the Persian centre. The shield-bearmg 
 infantry now charged also among the reeling masses of the 
 Asiatics ; and five of the brigades of the phalanx, with the 
 irresistible might of their sarissas, bore down the Greek 
 mercenaries of Darius, and dug their way through the 
 Persian centre. In the early part of the battle, Darius had 
 showed skill and energy ; and he now for some time en- 
 couraged his men, by voice and example, to keep firm. But 
 the lances of Alexander's cavalry, and the pikes of the 
 phalanx now gleamed nearer and nearer to him. His 
 charioteer was struck down by a javelin at his side ; and 
 at last Darius's nerve failed him ; and, descending from 
 his chariot, he mounted on a fleet horse and galloj)ed from 
 the plain, regardless of the state of the battle in other parts 
 of the field, where matters were going on much more 
 favourably for his cause, and where his presence might have 
 done much towards gaining a victory.
 
 86 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 Alexander's operations with his right and centre had 
 exposed his left to an immensely preponderating force of 
 the enemy. Parmenio kept out of action as long as pos- 
 sible ; but Mazaeus, who commanded the Persian right 
 wing, advanced against him, completely outflanked him, 
 and pressed him severely with reiterated charges by 
 superior numbers. Seeing the distress of Parmenio's wing, 
 Simmias, who commanded the sixth brigade of the jDhalanx, 
 which was next to the left wing, did not advance with the 
 other brigades in the great charge upon the Persian centre, 
 but kept back to cover Parmenio's troops on their right 
 flank ; as otherwise they would have been completely 
 surrounded and cut off from the rest of the Macedonian 
 army. By so doing, Simmias had unavoidably opened 
 a gap in the Macedonian left centre ; and a large column 
 of Indian and Persian horse, from the Persian right centre, 
 had galloped forward through this interval, and right 
 through the troops of the Macedonian second line. Instead 
 of then wheelmg round upon Parmenio, or upon the rear of 
 Alexander's conquering wing, the Indian and Persian 
 cavalry rode straight on to the Macedonian camp, over- 
 powered the Thracians who were left in charge of it, and 
 began to plunder. This was stopped by the phalangite 
 troops of the second line, who, after the enemy's horsemen 
 had rushed by them, faced about, countermarched upon the 
 camp, killed many of the Indians and Persians in the act of 
 plundering, and forced the rest to ride off again. Just at 
 this crisis Alexander had been recalled from his pursuit of 
 Darius, by tidings of the distress of Parmenio, and of his 
 inability to bear up any longer against the hot attacks of 
 Mazaeus. Taking his horseguards with him, Alexander 
 rode towards the part of the field where his left wing was 
 fighting ; but on his way thither he encountered the Persian 
 and Indian cavalry, on their return from his camp. 
 
 These men now saw that their only chance of safety was 
 to cut their way through ; and in one huge column they 
 charged desperately upon the Macedonians. There was 
 here a close hand-to-hand fight, which lasted some time, 
 and sixty of the royal horseguards fell, and three generals, 
 who fought close to Alexander's side, were wounded. At 
 length the Macedonian discipline and valour again prevailed,
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 87 
 
 and a large number of the Persian and Indian horsemen 
 were cut down, some few only succeeded in breaking 
 through and riding away. Relieved of these obstinate 
 enemies, Alexander again formed his horseguards, and led 
 them towards Parmenio ; but by this time that general 
 also was victorious. Probably the news of Darius's flight 
 had reached Mazaeus, and had damped the ardour of the 
 Persian right wing ; while the tidings of their comrades' 
 success must have proportionally encouraged the Mace- 
 donian forces under Parmenio. His Thessalian cavalry 
 particularly distinguished themselves by their gallantry 
 and persevering good conduct : and by the time that 
 Alexander had ridden up to Parmenio, the whole Persian 
 army was in full flight from the field. 
 
 It was of the deepest importance to Alexander to secure 
 the person of Darius, and he now urged on the pursuit. 
 The river Lycus was between the field of battle and the city 
 of Arbela, whither the fugitives directed their course, and 
 the passage of this river was even more destructive to the 
 Persians than the swords and spears of the Macedonians 
 had been in the engagement.^ The narrow bridge was soon 
 choked up by the flying thousands who rushed towards it, 
 and vast numbers of the Persians threw themselves, or were 
 hurried by others, into the rapid stream, and perished in its 
 waters. Darius had crossed it, and had ridden on through 
 Arbela without halting. Alexander reached that city on 
 the next day, and made himself master of all Darius's 
 treasure and stores ; but the Persian king, unfortunately 
 for himself, had fled too fast for his conqueror : he had only 
 escaped to perish by the treachery of his Bactrian satrap, 
 Bessus. 
 
 A few days after the battle, Alexander entered Babylon, 
 ' the oldest seat of earthly empire ' then in existence, as its 
 acknowledged lord and master. There were yet some 
 campaigns of his brief and bright career to be accomplished. 
 Central Asia was yet to witness the march of his phalanx. 
 He was yet to effect that conquest of Afghanistan in which 
 England since has failed. His generalship, as well as his 
 
 ^ I purposely omit any statement of the loss in the battle. There is 
 a palpable error of the transcribers in the numbers which we find in 
 our present manuscripts of Arrian ; and Gurtius is of no authority.
 
 88 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS 
 
 valour, were yet to be signalized on the banks of the 
 Hydaspes, and the field of Chillianwallah ; and he was yet 
 to precede the Queen of England in annexing the Punjaub 
 to the dominions of a European sovereign. But the crisis 
 of his career was reached ; the great object of his mission 
 was accomplished ; and the ancient Persian empire, which 
 once menaced all the nations of the earth with subjection, 
 was irreparably crushed, when Alexander had won his 
 crowning victory at Arbela. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE BATTLE OF 
 ARBELA AND THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 B.C. 330. The Lacedaemonians endeavour to create 
 a rismg in Greece agamst the Macedonian power ; they 
 are defeated by Antipater, Alexander's viceroy ; and their 
 king, Agis, falls m the battle. 
 
 330 to 327. Alexander's campaigns in Upper Asia. 
 ' Having conquered Darius, Alexander pursued his way, 
 encountermg difficulties which would have appalled almost 
 any other general, through Bactriana, and takmg Bactra, 
 or Zariaspa (now Balkh), the chief city of that province, 
 where he spent the winter. Crossing the Oxus, he advanced 
 in the following spring to Marakanda (Samarcand) to 
 replace the loss of horses which he had sustained in crossing 
 the Caucasus, to obtain supplies from the rich valley of Sogd 
 (the Mahometan Paradise of Mader-al-Nahr), and to enforce 
 the submission of Transoxiana. The northern limit of his 
 march is probably represented by the modern Uskand, 
 or Aderkand, a village on the laxartes, near the end of the 
 Ferganah district. In Margiana he founded another 
 Alexandria. Returning from the north, he led on his arm)'' 
 in the hope of conquering India, till at length, marching in 
 a line apparently nearly parallel with the Kabul river, he 
 arrived at the celebrated rock Aornos, the position of which 
 must have been on the right bank of the Indus, at some 
 distance from Attock ; and it may perhaps be represented 
 by the modern Akora.' (Vatjx.) 
 
 327, 326. Alexander marches through Afghanistan to 
 the Punjaub. He defeats Porus. His troops refuse to 
 march towards the Ganges, and he commences the descent
 
 AFTER ARBELA 89 
 
 of the Indus. On his march he attacks and subdues several 
 Indian tribes, among others the MalH ; in the storming of 
 whose capital (Mooltan) he is severely wounded. He 
 directs his admiral, Nearchus, to sail round from the Indus 
 to the Persian Gulf ; and leads the army back across Scinde 
 and Beloochistan. 
 
 324. Alexander returns to Babylon. ' In the tenth year 
 after he had crossed the Hellespont, Alexander, having won 
 his vast dominion, entered Babylon ; and resting from his 
 career in that oldest seat of earthly empire, he steadily 
 surveyed the mass of various nations which owned his 
 sovereignty, and revolved in his mind the great work of 
 breathing into this huge but inert body the living spirit of 
 Greek civilization. In the bloom of youthfvd manhood, 
 at the age of thirty-two, he paused from the fiery speed of 
 his earlier course ; and for the first time gave the nations 
 an oi^portunity of offering their homage before his throne. 
 They came from all the extremities of the earth to pro- 
 pitiate his anger, to celebrate his greatness, or to solicit 
 his protection. . . . History may allow us to think that 
 Alexander and a Roman ambassador did meet at Babylon, 
 that the greatest man of the ancient world saw and spoke 
 with a citizen of that great nation, which was destined to 
 succeed him in his apj)ointed work, and to found a wider 
 and still more enduring empire. They met, too, in Babylon, 
 almost beneath the shadow of the temple of Bel, perhaps 
 the earliest monument ever raised by human pride and 
 power, in a city, stricken, as it were, by the word of God's 
 heaviest judgement, as the symbol of greatness apart from 
 and opposed to goodness.' (Arnold.) 
 
 323. Alexander dies at Babylon. On his death being 
 known at Greece, the Athenians, and others of the southern 
 states, take up arms to shake off the domination of Macedon. 
 They are at first successful ; but the return of some of 
 Alexander's veterans from Asia enables Antipater to prevail 
 over them. 
 
 317 to 289. Agathocles is tyrant of Syracuse, and 
 carries on repeated wars with the Carthaginians ; in the 
 course of which (311) he invades Africa, and reduces the 
 Carthaginians to great distress. 
 
 30(3, After a long series of wars with each other, and
 
 90 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS 
 
 after all the heirs of Alexander had been murdered, his 
 principal surviving generals assume the title of king, each 
 over the provinces which he has occupied. The four chief 
 among them were Antigonus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and 
 Seleucus. Antipater was now dead, but his son Cassander 
 succeeded to his power in Macedonia and Greece. 
 
 301. Seleucus and Lysimachus defeat Antigonus at Ipsus. 
 Antigonus is killed in the battle. 
 
 280. Seleucus, the last of Alexander's captains, is assas- 
 sinated. Of all Alexander's successors, Seleucus had 
 formed the most pov/erful empire. He had acquired all the 
 provinces between Phrygia and the Indus. He extended 
 his dominion in India beyond the limits reached by Alex- 
 ander. Seleucus had some sparks of his great master's 
 genius in promoting civilization and commerce, as well as in 
 gaining victories. Under his successors, the Seleucidae, 
 this vast empire rapidly diminished ; Bactria became 
 independent, and a separate dynasty of Greek kings ruled 
 there in the year 125, when it was overthrown by the 
 Scythian tribes. Parthia threw off its allegiance to the 
 Seleucidae in 250 b. c, and the powerful Parthian kingdom, 
 which afterwards proved so formidable a foe to Rome, 
 absorbed nearly all the provinces Avest of the Euj)hrates 
 that had obeyed the first Seleucus. Before the battle of 
 Ipsus, Mithridates, a Persian prince of the blood-royal of 
 the Achaemenidae, had escaped to Pontus, and founded 
 there the kingdom of that name. 
 
 Besides the kingdom of Seleucus, which, when limited 
 to Syria, Palestine, and parts of Asia Minor, long survived, 
 the most important kingdom formed by a general of 
 Alexander, was that of the Ptolemies in Egypt. The 
 throne of Macedonia was long and obstinately contended 
 for by Cassander, Polysperchon, Lysimachus, Pyrrhus, 
 Antigonus, and others ; but at last was secured by the 
 dynasty of Antigonus Gonatas. The old republics of 
 southern Greece suffered severely during these tumults, and 
 the only Greek states that showed any strength and spirit 
 were the cities of the Achaean league, the Aetolians, and 
 the islanders of Rhodes. 
 
 290. Rome had now thoroughly subdued the Samnites 
 and the Etruscans, and had gained numerous victories over
 
 AFTER ARBELA 91 
 
 the Cisalpine Gauls. Wishing to confirm her dominion in 
 Lower Italy, she became entangled in a war with P3Trhus, 
 fourth king of Epirus, who was called over by the Tarentines 
 to aid them. Pyrrhus was at first victorious, but in the 
 year 275 was defeated by the Roman legions in a pitched 
 battle. He returned to Greece, remarking of Sicily, Otav 
 aTToXeLTTOiJiiv Kap;(7^Sovt'ois /cat 'PuifxaLOLS iraXaicrTpav. Rome be- 
 comes mistress of all Italy from the Rubicon to the Straits 
 of Messina. 
 
 264. The first Punic war begins. Its primary cause was 
 the desire of both the Romans and the Carthaginians to 
 possess themselves of Sicily. The Romans form a fleet, 
 and successfully compete with the marine of Carthage.^ 
 During the latter half of the war, the military genius of 
 Hamilcar Barca sustains the Carthaginian cause in Sicily. 
 At the end of twenty-four years, the Carthaginians sue for 
 peace, though their aggregate loss in ships and men had 
 been less than that sustained by the Romans since the 
 beginning of the war. Sicily becomes a Roman province. 
 ■ 240 to 218. The Carthaginian mercenaries who had been 
 brought back from Sicily to Africa mutiny against Carthage, 
 and nearly succeed in destroying her. After a sanguinary 
 and desperate struggle, Hamilcar Barca crushes them. 
 During this season of weakness to Carthage, Rome takes 
 from her the island of Sardinia. Hamilcar Barca forms the 
 projects of obtaining compensation by conquests in Spain, 
 and thus enabling Carthage to renew the struggle with 
 Rome. He takes Hannibal (then a child) to Spain with 
 him. He and, after his death, his brother, win great part 
 of southern Spain to the Carthaginian interest. Hannibal 
 obtains the command of the Carthaginian armies in Spain, 
 221 B. c, being then twenty-six years old. He attacks 
 Saguntum, a city on the Ebro in alliance with Rome, which 
 is the immediate pretext for the second Punic war. 
 
 During this interval Rome had to sustain a storm from 
 
 ^ There is at this present moment [written in June, 1851] in the Great 
 Exhibition at Hyde Park a model of a piratical galley of Labuan, part 
 of the mast of which can be let down on an enemy, and form a bridge 
 for boarders. It is worth while to compare this with the account in Poly- 
 bius of the boarding bridges Avhich the Roman admiral, Duihus, affixed 
 to the masts of his galleys and by means of which he won his great 
 victory over the Carthaginian fleet.
 
 92 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS AFTER AFvBELA 
 
 the north. The Cisalpine Gauls, in 226, formed an alliance 
 with one of the fiercest tribes of their brethren north of the 
 Alps, and began a furious war against the Romans, which 
 lasted six j^ears. The Romans gave them several severe 
 defeats, and took from them part of their territories near 
 the Po. It was on this occasion that the Roman colonies 
 of Cremona and Placentia were founded, the latter of which 
 did such essential service to Rome in the second Punic war, 
 by the resistance which it made to the army of Hasdrubal. 
 A muster-roll was made in this war of the effective military 
 force of the Romans themselves, and of those Italian states 
 that were subject to them. The return showed a force 
 of seven hundred thousand foot, and seventy thousand 
 horse. Polybius, who mentions this muster, remarks icft' 
 ol'S Avvif3a<; iXdrrovi £;^wi' SKT/xvpiioi; eTre/SaXcv ets rrfv iTaXiav. 
 
 218. Hamiibal crosses the Alps and invades Italy.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS, e.g. 207 
 
 Quid debeas, Roma, Neronibus, 
 Testis Metaurum flumen, et Hasdrubal 
 Devictus, et pulcher fugatis 
 Ille dies Latio tcnebris, 
 
 Qui primus alma risit adorea ; 
 Dims per urbes Afcr ut Italas, 
 Ceu flamma per taedas, vel Euras 
 
 Per Siculas equitavit undas.- — Horatitjs, iv. Od. 4. 
 
 * The consul Nero, who made the unequalled march, which deceived 
 Hannibal, and defeated Hasdnibal, thereby accomplishing an achieve- 
 ment almost unrivalled in military annals. The first intelligence of 
 his return, to Hannibal, was the sight of Hasdnibal's head thrown into 
 his camp. When Hannibal saw this, he exclaimed with a sigh, that 
 " Rome would now be the mistress of the world ". To this victory of 
 Nero's it might be owing that his imperial namesake reigned at all. 
 But the infamy of the one has eclipsed the glory of the other. When 
 the name of Nero is heard, who thinks of the consul ? But such are 
 human things.'- — •Byron. 
 
 About midway between Rimini and Ancona a little river 
 falls into the Adriatic, after traversing one of those districts 
 of Italy, in which a vain attempt has lately been made to 
 revive, after long centuries of servitude and shame, the 
 spirit of Italian nationality, and the energy of free institu- 
 tions. That stream is still called the Metauro ; and wakens 
 by its name recollections of the resolute daring of ancient 
 Rome, and of the slaughter that stained its current two 
 thousand and sixty-three years ago, when the combined 
 consular armies of Livius and Nero encouptered and 
 crushed near its banks the varied host which Hannibal's 
 brother was leading from the Pyrenees, the Rhone, the Alps, 
 and the Po, to aid the great Carthaginian in his stern 
 struggle to annihilate the growing might of the Roman 
 Republic, and make the Punic power supreme over all the 
 nations of the world.
 
 94 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 The Roman historian, who termed that struggle the 
 most memorable of all wars that ever were carried on,^ 
 wrote in no spirit of exaggeration. For it is not in ancient, 
 but in modern history, that parallels for its incidents and 
 its heroes are to be found. The similitude between the 
 contest which Rome maintained against Hannibal, and 
 that which England was for many years engaged in against 
 Napoleon, has not passed unobserved by recent historians. 
 ' Twice ', says Arnold, ^ ' has there been witnessed the 
 struggle of the highest individual genius against the 
 resources and institutions of a great nation ; and in both 
 cases the nation has been victorious. For seventeen years 
 Hannibal strove against Rome ; for sixteen years Napoleon 
 Bonaparte strove against England ; the efforts of the first 
 ended in Zama, those of the second in Waterloo.' One 
 point, however, of the similitude between the two wars has 
 scarcely been adequately dwelt on. That is, the remark- 
 able parallel between the Roman general w^ho finally 
 defeated the, great Carthaginian, and the English general 
 who gave the last deadly overthrow to the French emperor. 
 Scipio and Wellington both held for many years commands 
 of high importance, but distant from the main theatres of 
 warfare. The same country was the scene of the principal 
 military career of each. It was in Spain that Scipio, like 
 Wellington, successively encountered and overthrew nearly 
 all the subordinate generals of the enemy, before being 
 opposed to the chief champion and conqueror himself. 
 Both Scipio and Wellington restored their countrymen's 
 confidence in arms, when shaken by a series of reverses. 
 And each of them closed a long and perilous war by a com- 
 plete and overwhelming defeat of the chosen leader and the 
 chosen veterans of the foe. 
 
 Nor is the joarallel between them limited to their military 
 characters and exploits. Scipio, like Wellington, became 
 an important leader of the aristocratic party among his 
 countrymen, and was exposed to the unmeasured invectives 
 of the violent section of his political antagonists. When, 
 early in the last reign, an infuriated mob assaulted the Duke 
 of Wellington in the streets of the English capital on the 
 anniversary of Waterloo, England was even more disgraced 
 ' Livy, lib. xxi. sec. 1, * Vol. iii. p. 62. See also Alison, passim.
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 95 
 
 by that outrage than Rome was by the factious accusations 
 which demagogues brought against Scipio, but which he 
 proudly repelled on the day of trial, by reminding the 
 assembled people that it was the anniversary of the battle 
 of Zama. Happily a wiser and a better spirit has now for 
 years pervaded all classes of our community ; and we shall 
 be spared the ignominy of having worked out to the end 
 the parallel of national ingratitude. Scipio died a volun- 
 tary exile from the malevolent turbulence of Rome. Eng- 
 lishmen of all ranks and politics have now long united in 
 affectionate admiration of our modern Scipio : and even 
 those who have most widely differed from the Duke on 
 legislative or administrative questions, forget what they 
 deem the political errors of that time-honoured head, 
 while they gratefully call to mind the laurels that have 
 wreathed it. 
 
 Scipio at Zama trampled in the dust the power of 
 Carthage ; but that power had been already irreparably 
 shattered in another field, where neither Scipio nor Hannibal 
 commanded. When the Metaurus witnessed the defeat 
 and death of Hasdrubal, it witnessed the ruin of the scheme 
 by which alone Carthage could hope to organize decisive 
 success — the scheme of enveloping Rome at once from the 
 north and the south of Italy by chosen armies, led by two 
 sons of Hamilcar.^ That battle was the determining crisis 
 of the contest, not merely between Rome and Carthage, 
 but between the two great families of the world, which 
 then made Italy the arena of their oft-renewed contest for 
 pre-eminence. 
 
 The French historian, Michelet, whose Histoire Eomaine 
 would have been invaluable if the general industry and 
 accuracy of the wTiter had in any degree equalled his 
 originality and brilliancy, eloquently remarks, ' It is not 
 without reason that so universal and vivid a remembrance 
 of the Punic wars has dwelt in the memories of men. They 
 formed no mere struggle to determine the lot of two cities 
 or two empires ; but it was a strife, on the event of which 
 depended the fate of two races of mankind, whether the 
 dominion of the world should belong to the Indo-Germanic 
 or to the Semitic family of nations. Bear in mind, that 
 1 See Arnold, vol. iii. 387.
 
 9G BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 the first of these comprises, besides the Indians and the 
 Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Germans. In 
 the other are ranked the Jews and the Arabs, the Phoeni- 
 cians and the Carthaginians. On the one side is the genius 
 of heroism, of art, and legislation : on the other is the 
 spirit of industry, of commerce, of navigation. The two 
 oj^posite races have everywhere come into contact, every- 
 where into hostility. In the jorimitive history of Persia and 
 Chaldea, the heroes are perpetually engaged in combat 
 with their industrious and perfidious neighbours. The 
 struggle is renewed between the Phoenicians and the Greeks 
 on every coast of the Mediterranean. The Greek supplants 
 the Phoenician in all his factories, all his colonies in the 
 east : soon will the Roman come, and do likewise in the 
 west. Alexander did far more against Tj're than Sal- 
 manasar or Nabuchodonosor had done. Not content with 
 crushing her, he took care that she never should revive : 
 for he founded Alexandria as her substitute, and changed 
 for ever the track of the commerce of the world. There 
 remained Carthage — the great Carthage, and her mighty 
 empire — mighty in a far different degree than Phoenicia's 
 had been. Rome annihilated it. Then occurred that which 
 has no parallel in history — an entire civilization perished 
 at one blow — vanished, like a falling star. The Periplus 
 of Hanno, a few coins, a score of lines in Plautus, and, lo, 
 all that remains of the Carthaginian world ! 
 
 ' Many generations must needs pass away before the 
 struggle between the tAVO races could be renewed ; and the 
 Arabs, that formidable rear-guard of the Semitic world, 
 dashed forth from their deserts. The conflict between the 
 two races then became the confhct of two religions. Fortu- 
 nate was it that those daring Saracenic cavaliers encoun-- 
 tered in the East the impregnable walls of Constantinople, 
 in the West the chivalrous valour of Charles Martel, and 
 the sword of the Cid. The crusades were the natural 
 reprisals for the Arab invasions, and form the last epoch 
 of that great struggle between the two principal families 
 of the human race.' 
 
 It is difficult amid the glimmering light supplied by the 
 allusions of the classical "^Titers to gain a full idea of the 
 character and institutions of Rome's great rival. But we
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 97 
 
 can perceive how inferior Carthage was to her competitor 
 in military resources ; and how far less fitted than Rome 
 she was to become the founder of centralized and cen- 
 tralizing dominion, that should endure for centuries, and 
 fuse into imperial unity the narrow nationalities of the 
 ancient races that dwelt around and near the shores of the 
 Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 Carthage was originally neither the most ancient nor the 
 most powerful of the numerous colonies which the Phoe- 
 nicians planted on the coast of northern Africa. But her 
 advantageous position, the excellence of her constitution 
 (of which, though ill-informed as to its details, we know 
 that it commanded the admiration of Aristotle), and the 
 commercial and political energy of her citizens gave her 
 the ascendancy over Hippo, Utica, Leptis, and her other 
 sister Phoenician cities in those regions ; and she finally 
 reduced them to a condition of dependency, similar to that 
 which the subject allies of Athens occupied relatively to 
 that once imperial city. When Tyre and Sidon, and the 
 other cities of Phoenicia itself sank from independent 
 republics into mere vassal states of the great Asiatic 
 monarchies, and obeyed by turns a Babylonian, a Persian, 
 and a Macedonian master, their power and their traffic 
 rapidly declined ; and Carthage succeeded to the important 
 maritime and commercial character which they had 
 previously maintained. The Carthaginians did not seek 
 to compete with the Greeks on the north-eastern shores 
 of the Mediterranean, or in the three inland seas which are 
 connected with it ; but they maintained an active inter- 
 course with the Phoenicians, and through them with lower 
 and central Asia ; and they, and they alone, after the 
 decline and fall of Tyre, navigated the waters of the Atlantic. 
 They had the monopoly of all the commerce of the world 
 that was carried on beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. We 
 have.yet extant (in a Greek translation) the narrative of the 
 voyage of Hanno, one of their admirals, along the western 
 coast of Africa as far as Sierra Leone. And in the Latin 
 poem of Eestus Avienus, frequent references are made to 
 the records of the voyages of another celebrated Cartha- 
 ginian admiral, Himilco, who had explored the north- 
 western coast of Europe. Our own islands are mentioned
 
 98 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 by Himilco as the lands of the Hiberni and the Albioni. 
 It is indeed certain that the Carthaginians frequented the 
 Cornish coast (as the Phoenicians had done before them) 
 for the purpose of procuring tin ; and there is every reason 
 to believe that they sailed as far as the coasts of the Baltic 
 for amber. When it is remembered that the mariner's 
 compass was unknown in those ages, the boldness and skill 
 of the seamen of Carthage, and the enterprise of her 
 merchants, may be paralleled with any achievements that 
 the history of modern navigation and commerce can supply. 
 
 In their Atlantic voyages along the African shores, the 
 Carthaginians followed the double object of traffic and 
 colonization. The numerous settlements that were planted 
 by them along the coast from Morocco to Senegal, provided 
 for the needy members of the constantly increasing popula- 
 tion of a great commercial capital ; and also strengthened 
 the influence which Carthage exercised among the tribes 
 of the African coast. Besides her fleets, her caravans gave 
 her a large and lucrative trade with the native Africans ; 
 nor must we limit our belief of the extent of the Cartha- 
 ginian trade with the tribes of central and western Africa, 
 by the narrowness of the commercial intercourse which 
 civilized nations of modern times have been able to create 
 in those regions. 
 
 Although essentially a mercantile and seafaring people, 
 the Carthaginians by no means neglected agriculture. On 
 the contrary, the whole of their territory was cultivated 
 like a garden. The fertility of the soil repaid the skill and 
 toil bestowed on it ; and everv invader, from Agathocles 
 to Scipio Aemilianus, was struck with admiration at the 
 rich pasture-lands carefully irrigated, the abundant har- 
 vests, the luxuriant vineyards, the plantations of fig and 
 olive trees, the thriving villages, the populous towns, and 
 the splendid villas of the wealthy Carthaginians, through 
 which his march lay, as long as he was on Carthaginian 
 ground. 
 
 The Carthaginians abandoned the Aegean and the 
 Pontus to the Greeks, but they were by no means disposed 
 to relinquish to those rivals the commerce and the dominion 
 of the coasts of the Mediterranean westward of Itah^ . For 
 centuries the Carthaginians strove to make themselves
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 99 
 
 masters of the islands that lie between Italy and Spain. 
 They acquired the Balearic islands, where the principal 
 harbour, Port Mahon, still bears the name of the Cartha- 
 ginian admiral. They succeeded in reducing the" greater 
 part of Sardinia ; but Sicily could never be brought into 
 their power. They repeatedly invaded that island, and 
 nearly overran it ; but the resistance which was opposed 
 to them by the Syracusans under Gelon, Dionysius, 
 Timoleon, and Agathocles, preserved the island from 
 becoming Punic, though many of its cities remained under 
 the Carthaginian rule, until Rome finally settled the 
 question to whom Sicily was to belong, by conquering it 
 for herself. 
 
 With so many elements of success, with almost un- 
 bounded wealth, with commercial and maritime activity, 
 with a fertile territory, with a capital city of almost impreg- 
 nable strength, with a constitution that ensured for 
 centuries the blessings of social order, with an aristocracy 
 singularly fertile in men of the highest genius, Carthage 
 yet failed signally and calamitously in her contest for power 
 with Rome. One of the immediate causes of this may seem 
 to have been the want of firmness among her citizens, 
 which made them terminate the first Punic war by begging 
 peace, sooner than endure any longer the hardships and 
 burdens caused by a state of warfare, although their 
 antagonists had suffered far more severely than themselves. 
 Another cause was the spirit of faction among their leading 
 men, which prevented Hannibal in the second war from 
 being properly reinforced and supported. But there were 
 also more general causes why Carthage proved inferior to 
 Rome. These were her position relatively to the mass of 
 the inhabitants of the country which she ruled, and her 
 habit of trusting to mercenary armies in her wars. 
 
 Our clearest information as to the different races of men 
 in and about Carthage, is derived from Diodorus Siculus.^ 
 That historian enumerates four different races : first, he 
 mentions the Phoenicians who dwelt in Carthage : next, 
 he speaks of the Liby-Phoenicians ; these, he tells us, 
 dwelt in many of the maritime cities, and were connected 
 by intermarriages with the Phoenicians, which was the 
 ^ Vol. ii. p. 447. Wesscling's ed. 
 H 2
 
 100 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 cause of their compound name : thirdly, he mentions the 
 Libyans, the bulk and the most ancient part of the popu- 
 lation, hating the Carthaginians intensely, on account of 
 the oppressiveness of their domination : lastly, he names 
 the Numidians, the nomad tribes of the frontier. 
 
 It is evident, from this description, that the native 
 Libyans were a subject class, without franchise or political 
 rights ; and, accordingly, we find no instance specified in 
 history of a Libyan holding political office or military 
 command. The half-castes, the Lib3^-Phoenicians, seem 
 to have been sometimes sent out as colonists ; ^ but it may 
 be inferred, from what Diodorus says of their residence, 
 that they had not the right of the citizenship of Carthage : 
 and only a solitary case occurs of one of this race being 
 entrusted with authority, and that, too, not emanating 
 from the home government. This is the instance of the 
 officer sent by Harmibal to Sicily, after the fall of Syracuse ; 
 whom Polybius^ calls Myttinus the Libyan, but whom, 
 from the fuller account in Livy, we find to have been 
 a Liby-Phoenician : ^ and it is expressly mentioned what 
 indignation was felt by the Carthaginian commanders in the 
 island that this half-caste should control their operations. 
 
 With respect to the composition of their armies, it is 
 observable that, though thirsting for extended empire, 
 and though some of the leading men became generals of 
 the highest order, the Carthaginians, as a people, were 
 anything but personally warlike. As long as they could 
 hire mercenaries to fight for them, they had little appetite 
 for the irksome training, and they grudged the loss of 
 valuable time, which military service would have entailed 
 on themselves. 
 
 As Michelet remarks, ' The life of an industrious mer- 
 chant, of a Carthaginian, was too precious to be risked, as 
 long as it was possible to substitute advantageously for it 
 that of a barbarian from Spain or Gaul. Carthage knew, 
 and could tell to a drachma, what the life of a man of each 
 nation came to. A Greek was worth more than a Cam- 
 panian, a Campanian worth more than a Gaul or a Spaniard. 
 When once this tariff of blood was correctly made out, 
 Carthage began a war as a mercantile speculation. She 
 
 * See the Pcriplus of Hanno. " Lib ix. 22. ^ Lib. xxv. 40.
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 101 
 
 tried to make conquests in the hojDe of getting new mines 
 to work, or to open fresh markets for her exports. In one 
 venture she could afford to spend fifty thousand mer- 
 cenaries, in another, rather more. If the returns w^ere 
 good, there was no regret felt for the capital that had been 
 lavished in the investment ; more money got more men, 
 and all went on well.' ^ 
 
 Armies composed of foreign mercenaries have, in all 
 ages, been as formidable to their emplo3^ers as to the 
 enemy against whom they were directed. We know of one 
 occasion (between the first and second Punic wars) when 
 Carthage was brought to the very brink of destruction by 
 a revolt of her foreign troops. Other mutinies of the same 
 kind must from time to time have occurred. Probably one 
 of these was the cause of the comparative weakness of 
 Carthage at the time of the Athenian expedition against 
 Syracuse ; so different from the energy with which she 
 attacked Gelon half a century earlier, and Dionysius half 
 a century later. And even when we consider her armies 
 with reference only to their efficiency in warfare, we 
 perceive at once the inferiority of such bands of condot- 
 tieri, brought together without any common bond of 
 origin, tactics, or cause, to the legions of Rome, which at 
 the time of the Punic wars were raised from the very 
 flower of a hardy agricultural population, trained in the 
 strictest discipline, habituated to victory, and animated 
 by the most resolute patriotism. And this shows also the 
 transcendency of the genius of Hannibal, which could form 
 such discordant materials into a compact organized force, 
 and inspire them with the spirit of patient discipline and 
 loyalty to their chief ; so that they were true to him in his 
 adverse as well as in his prosperous fortunes ; and through- 
 out the chequered series of his campaigns no panic rout ever 
 disgraced a division under his command ; no mutiny, or 
 even attempt at mutiny, was ever known in his camp ; 
 and, finally, after fifteen years of Italian warfare, his men 
 followed their old leader to Zama, ' with no fear and little 
 hope ' ; 2 and there, on that disastrous field, stood firm 
 
 * Histoire Romaine, vol. ii. p. 40. 
 
 * ' We advanced to Waterloo as the Greeks did to Thermopylae ; all 
 of us without fear, and most of us without hope.' — Speech of General Foy.
 
 102 THE BATTLE OF METAURUS 
 
 around him, his Old Guard, till Scipio's Numidian allies 
 came up on their flank ; when at last, surrounded and 
 overpowered, the veteran battalions sealed their devotion 
 to their general with their blood ! 
 
 ' But if Hannibal's genius may be likened to the Homeric 
 god, who, in his hatred to the Trojans, rises from the deep 
 to rally the fainting Greeks, and to lead them against the 
 enemy, so the calm courage with which Hector met his 
 more than human adversary in his country's cause, is no 
 unworthy image of the unyielding magnanimity displayed 
 by the aristocracy of Rome. As Hannibal utterly eclipses 
 Carthage, so, on the contrary, Fabius, Marcellus, Claudius 
 Nero, even Scipio himself, are as nothing when compared 
 to the spirit, and wisdom, and power of Rome. The senate, 
 which voted its thanks to its political enemy, Varro, after 
 his disastrous defeat, " because he had not despaired of 
 the commonwealth," and which disdained either to solicit, 
 or to reprove, or to threaten, or in any way to notice the 
 twelve colonies which had refused their customary supplies 
 of men for the army, is far more to be honoured than the 
 conqueror of Zama. This we should the more carefully bear 
 in mind, because our tendency is to admire individual 
 greatness far more than national ; and, as no single Roman 
 will bear comparison to Hannibal, we are apt to murmur 
 at the event of the contest, and to think that the victory 
 was awarded to the least worthy of the combatants. On 
 the contrary, never was the wisdom of God's Providence 
 more manifest than in the issue of the struggle between 
 Rome and Carthage. It was clearly for the good of mankind 
 that Hannibal should be conquered : his triumph would 
 have stopped the progress of the world. For great men 
 can only act permanently by forming great nations ; and 
 no one man, even though it were Hannibal himself, can in 
 one generation effect such a work. But where the nation 
 has been merely enkindled for a while by a great man's 
 spirit, the light passes away with him who communicated 
 it ; and the nation, when he is gone, is like a dead body, 
 to which magic power had, for a moment, given unnatural 
 life : when the charm has ceased, the body is cold and stifiE 
 as before. He who grieves over the battle of Zama should 
 carry on his thoughts to a period thirty years later, when
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 103 
 
 Hannibal must, in the course of natvue, have been dead, 
 and consider how the isolated Phoenician city of Carthage 
 was fitted to receive and to consolidate the civilization of 
 Greece, or by its laws and institutions to bind together 
 barbarians of every race and language into an organized 
 empire, and prepare them for becoming, when that empire 
 was dissolved, the free members of the commonwealth of 
 Christian Europe.' ^ 
 
 It was in the spring of 207 b. c. that Hasdrubal, after 
 skilfully disentangling himself from the Roman forces in 
 Spain, and, after a march conducted with great judgement 
 and little loss, through the interior of Gaul and the passes 
 of the Alps, appeared in the country that now is the north 
 of Lombardy, at the head of troops which he had partly 
 brought out of Spain, and partly levied among the Gauls and 
 Ligurians on his way. At this time Hannibal, with his 
 unconquered, and seemingly unconquerable army, had been 
 eleven years in Italy, executing with strenuous ferocity the 
 vow of hatred to Rome, which had been sworn by him 
 while yet a child at the bidding of his father, Hamilcar ; 
 who, as he boasted, had trained up his three sons, Hannibal, 
 Hasdrubal, and Mago, like three lion's whelps, to prey 
 upon the Romans. But Hannibal's latter campaigns had 
 not been signalized by any such great victories as marked 
 the first years of his invasion of Italy. The stern spirit of 
 Roman resolution, ever highest in disaster and danger, had 
 neither bent nor despaired beneath the merciless blows 
 which ' the dire African ' dealt her in rapid succession at 
 Trebia, at Thrasymene, and at Cannae. Her population 
 was thinned by repeated slaughter in the field ; poverty 
 and actual scarcity wore down the survivors, through the 
 fearful ravages which Hannibal's cavalry spread through 
 their cornfields, their pasture-lands, and their vineyards ; 
 many of her allies went over to the invader's side ; and 
 new clouds of foreign war threatened her from Macedonia 
 and Gaul. But Rome receded not. Rich and poor among 
 her citizens vied with each other in devotion to their 
 
 ' Arnold, vol. iii. p. 61. — The above is one of the numerous bursts of 
 eloquence that adorn Arnold's third volume, and cause such deep regret 
 that that volume should have been the last, and its great and good 
 author have been cut off with his work thus incomplete.
 
 104 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 country. The wealthy placed their stores, and all placed 
 their lives at the state's disposal. And though Hannibal 
 coulcl not be driven out of Italy, though every year brought 
 its sufferings and sacrifices, Rome felt that her constancy 
 had not been exerted in vain. If she was weakened by the 
 continued strife, so was Hannibal also ; and it was clear 
 that the unaided resources of his army were unequal to the 
 task of her destruction. The single deer-hound could not 
 pull down the quarry which he had so furiously assailed. 
 Rome not only stood fiercely at bay, but had pressed back 
 and gored her antagonist, that still, however, watched her 
 in act to spring. She was w^eary, and bleeding at every 
 pore ; and there seemed to be little hoj)e of her escape, 
 if the other hound of old Hamilcar's race should come up 
 in time to aid his brother in the death-grapple. 
 
 Hasdrubal had commanded the Carthaginian armies in 
 Spain for some time with varying, but generally unpro- 
 pitious fortune. He had not the full authority over the 
 Punic forces in that country, which his brother and his 
 father had previously exercised. The faction at Carthage, 
 which was at feud with his family, succeeded in fettering 
 and interfering with his power ; and other generals were 
 from time to time sent into Spain, whose errors and mis- 
 conduct caused the reverses that Hasdrubal met with. This 
 is expressly attested by the Greek historian, Polybius, who 
 was the intimate friend of the younger Africanus, and 
 drew his information respecting the second Punic war from 
 the best possible authorities. Livy gives a long narrative 
 of campaigns between the Roman commanders in Spain 
 and Hasdrubal, which is so palpably deformed by fictions 
 and exaggerations, as to be hardly deserving of attention.^ 
 
 It is clear that, in the year 208 b. c, at least, Hasdrubal 
 out-manoeuvred Publius Scipio, who held the command of 
 the Roman forces in Spain ; and whose object was to 
 prevent him from passing the Pyrenees and marching ujDon 
 Italy. Scipio expected that Hasdrubal would attempt the 
 nearest route along the coast of the Mediterranean ; and he 
 therefore carefully fortified and guarded the passes of the 
 eastern Pyrenees. But Hasdrubal passed these mountains 
 
 ' See the excellent criticisms of Sir Walter Raleigh on this, in his 
 Historic of the World, book v. chap, iii. sec. 11.
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 105 
 
 near their western extremity ; and then, with a consider- 
 able force of Spanish infantry, with a small number of 
 African troops, with some elephants and much treasure, he 
 marched, not directly towards the coast of the Mediter- 
 ranean, but in a north-eastern line towards the centre of 
 Gaul. He halted for the winter in the territory of the 
 Arverni, the modern Auvergne ; and conciliated or pur- 
 chased the goodwill of the Gauls in that region so far, that 
 he not only found friendly winter quarters among them, 
 but great numbers of them enlisted under him ; and on 
 the approach of spring, marched with him to invade 
 Italy. 
 
 By thus entering Gaul at the south-west, and avoiding 
 its southern maritime districts, Hasdrubal kept the Romans 
 in complete ignorance of his precise operations and move- 
 ments in that country ; all that they knew was that 
 Hasdrubal had baffled Scipio's attempts to detain him in 
 Spain ; that he had crossed the Pyrenees with soldiers, 
 elephants, and money, and that he was raising fresh forces 
 among the Gauls. The spring was sure to bring him into 
 Italy ; and then would come the real tempest of the war, 
 when from the north and from the south the two Cartha- 
 ginian armies, each under a son of the Thunderbolt,^ were 
 to gather together around the seven hills of Rome, 
 
 In this emergency the Romans looked among themselves 
 earnestly and anxiously for leaders fit to meet the perils 
 of the coming campaign. 
 
 The senate recommended the people to elect, as one of 
 their consuls, Caius Claudius Nero, a patrician of one of the 
 families of the great Claudian house. Nero had served 
 during the preceding years of the war, both against Hanni- 
 bal in Italy, and against Hasdrubal in Spain ; but it is 
 remarkable that the histories which we possess record 
 no successes as havmg been achieved by him either before 
 or after his great campaign of the Metaurus. It proves 
 much for the sagacity of the leading men of the senate, 
 that they recognized in Nero the energy and spirit which 
 were requu-ed at this crisis, and it is equally creditable to 
 the patriotism of the people, that they followed the advice 
 
 ^ Hamilcar was suniamed Barca, which means the Thunderbolt. 
 Sultan Bajazet had the similar surname of Yilderim.
 
 106 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 of the senate by electing a general who had no showj' 
 exploits to recommend him to their choice. 
 
 It was a matter of greater difficulty to find a second 
 consul ; the laws required that one consul should be 
 a plebeian ; and the plebeian nobility had been fearfully 
 thinned by the events of the war. While the senators 
 anxiously deliberated among themselves what fit colleague 
 for Nero could be nominated at the coming comitia, and 
 sorrowfully recalled the names of Marcellus, Gracchus, and 
 other plebeian generals who were no more — one taciturn 
 and moody old man sat in sullen apathy among the con- 
 script fathers. This was Marcus Livius, who had been 
 consul in the year before the beginning of this war, and had 
 then gained a victory over the Illyrians. After his consul- 
 ship he had been impeached before the people on a charge 
 of peculation and unfair division of the spoils among his 
 soldiers ; the verdict was unjustly given against him, and 
 the sense of this Avi'ong, and of the indignity thus put upon 
 him, had rankled unceasingly in the bosom of Livius, so 
 that for eight years after his trial he had lived in seclusion 
 at his country seat, taking no part in any affairs of state. 
 Latterly the censors had compelled him to come to Rome 
 and resume his place in the senate, where he used to sit 
 gloomily apart, giving only a silent vote. At last an unjust 
 accusation against one of his near kinsmen made him break 
 silence ; and he harangued the house in words of weight 
 and sense, which drew attention to him, and taught the 
 senators that a strong spirit dwelt beneath that unimposing 
 exterior. Now, while they were debating on what noble 
 of a plebeian house was fit to assume the perilous honours 
 of the consulate, some of the elder of them looked on 
 Marcus Livius, and remembered that in the very last 
 triumph which had been celebrated in the streets of Rome, 
 this grim old man had sat in the car of victory ; and that 
 he had offered the last grand thanksgiving sacrifice for the 
 success of the Roman arms, that had bled before Capito- 
 line Jove. There had been no triumphs since Hannibal 
 came into Italy.^ The Illyrian campaign of Livius was 
 the last that had been so honoured ; perhaps it might be 
 
 1 Marcellus had been only allowed an ovation for the conquest of 
 Syracuse.
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 107 
 
 destined for him now to renew the long-interrupted series. 
 The senators resolved that Liviiis should be put in nomina- 
 tion as consul with Nero ; the people were willing to elect 
 him ; the only opposition came from himself. He taunted 
 them with their inconsistency in honouring a man they 
 had convicted of a base crune. ' If I am innocent,' said he, 
 ' why did you place such a stain on me ? If I am guilty, 
 why am I more fit for a second consulship than I was for 
 my first one ? ' The other senators remonstrated with him, 
 urging the example of the great Camillus, who, after an 
 unjust condemnation on a similar charge, both served and 
 saved his country. At last Livius ceased to object ; and 
 Caius Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius were chosen consuls 
 of Rome. 
 
 A quarrel had long existed between the two consuls, and 
 the senators strove to effect a reconciliation between them 
 before the campaign. Here again Livius for a long time 
 obstinately resisted the wish of his fellow senators. He 
 said it was best for the state that he and Nero should 
 continue to hate one another. Each would do his duty 
 better, when he knew that he was watched by an enemy in 
 the person of his own colleague. At last the entreaties of 
 the senators prevailed, and Livius consented to forgo the 
 feud, and to co-operate with Nero in preparing for the 
 coming struggle. 
 
 As soon as the winter snows were thawed, Hasdrubal 
 commenced his march from Auvergne to the Alps. He 
 experienced none of the difficulties which his brother had 
 met with from the mountain tribes. Hannibal's army 
 had been the first body of regular troops that had ever 
 traversed their regions ; and, as wild animals assail a 
 traveller, the natives rose against it instinctively, in 
 imagined defence of their own habitations, which they 
 supposed to be the objects of Carthaginian ambition. 
 But the fame of the war, with which Italy had now been 
 convulsed for eleven years, had penetrated into the Alpine 
 passes ; and the mountaineers understood that a mighty 
 city, southward of the Alps, was to be attacked by the 
 troops whom they saw marching among them. They not 
 only opposed no resistance to the passage of Hasdrubal, 
 but many of them, out of the love of enterprise and plunder,
 
 108 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 or allured by the high pay that he offered, took service with 
 him ; and thus he advanced upon Italy with an army that 
 gathered strength at every league. It is said, also, that 
 some of the most important engineermg works, which 
 Hannibal had constructed, were found by Hasdrubal still 
 in existence, and materially favoured the speed of his 
 advance. He thus emerged into Italy from the Alpine 
 valleys much sooner than had been anticipated. Many 
 warriors of the Ligurian tribes joined him ; and, crossing 
 the river Po, he marched down its southern bank to the 
 city of Placentia, which he wished to secure as a base for 
 his future operations. Placentia resisted him as bravely 
 as it had resisted Hannibal eleven years before ; and for 
 some time Hasdrubal was occupied with a fruitless siege 
 before its walls. 
 
 Six armies were levied for the defence of Italy when 
 the long-dreaded approach of Hasdrubal was announced. 
 Seventy thousand Romans served in the fifteen legions, 
 of which, with an equal number of Italian allies, those 
 armies and the garrisons were composed. Upwards of 
 thirty thousand more Romans were serving in Sicily, 
 Sardinia, and Spain. The whole number of Roman citizens 
 of an age fit for military duty, scarcely exceeded a hundred 
 and thirty thousand. The census taken before the com- 
 mencement of the war had shown a total of two hundred 
 and seventy thousand, which had been diminished by more 
 than half during twelve j^ears. These numbers are fear- 
 fully emphatic of the extremity to which Rome was reduced, 
 and of her gigantic efforts in that great agony of her fate. 
 Not merely men, but money and military stores, were 
 drained to the utmost ; and if the armies of that year 
 should be swept off by a repetition of the slaughters of 
 Thrasjanene and Cannae, all felt that Rome would cease to 
 exist. Even if the campaign were to be marked by no 
 decisive success on either side, her ruin seemed certain. 
 In South Italy Hannibal had either detached Rome's allies 
 from her, or had impoverished them by the ravages of his 
 army. If Hasdrubal could have done the same in Upper 
 Italy ; if Etruria, Umbria, and northern Latium had either 
 revolted or been laid waste, Rome must have sunk beneath 
 sheer starvation ; for the hostile or desolated territory
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 109 
 
 would have yielded no supplies of corn for her population ; 
 and money, to purchase it from abroad, there was none. 
 Instant victory was a matter of life or death. Three of her 
 six armies were ordered to the north, but the first of these 
 was required to overawe the disaffected Etruscans. The 
 second army of the north was pushed forward, under 
 Porcius, the praetor, to meet and keep in check the advanced 
 troops of Hasdrubal ; while the third, the grand army of 
 the north, which was to be under the immediate command 
 of the consul Livius, who had the chief command in all 
 North Italy, advanced more slowly in its support. There 
 were similarly three armies in the south, under the orders 
 of the other consul, Claudius Nero. 
 
 The lot had decided that Livius was to be opposed to 
 Hasdrubal, and that Nero should face Hannibal. And 
 ' when all was ordered as themselves thought best, the two 
 consuls went forth of the city ; each his several way. The 
 people of Rome were now quite otherwise affected than 
 they had been, when L. Aemilius Paulus and C. Terentius 
 Varro were sent against Hannibal. They did no longer take 
 upon them to direct their generals, or bid them dispatch, 
 and win the victory betimes ; but rather they stood in fear, 
 lest all diligence, wisdom, and valour should prove too 
 little. For since, few years had passed, wherein some one 
 of their generals had not been slain ; and since it was 
 manifest, that if either of these present consuls were de- 
 feated, or put to the worst, the two Carthaginians would 
 forthwith join, and make short work with the other : it 
 seemed a greater hapjDiness than could be expected, that 
 each of them should return home victor ; and come off with 
 honour from such mighty opposition as he was like to find. 
 With extreme difficulty had Rome held up her head ever 
 since the battle of Cannae ; though it were so, that Hannibal 
 alone, with little help from Carthage, had continued the war 
 in Italy. But there was now arrived another son of 
 Amilcar ; and one that, in his present expedition, had 
 seemed a man of more sufficiency than Hannibal himself. 
 For, whereas in that long and dangerous march through 
 barbarous nations, over great rivers and mountains, that 
 were thought unpassable, Hannibal had lost a great part of 
 his army ; this Asdrubal, in the same places, had multiplied
 
 no BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 his numbers ; and gathering the people that he found in 
 the way, descended from the Alps like a rolling snowball, 
 far greater than he came over the Pyrenees at his first 
 setting out of Spain. These considerations, and the like, 
 of which fear presented many unto them, caused the people 
 of Rome to wait vipon their consuls out of the town, like 
 a pensive train of mourners ; thinking upon Marcellus and 
 Crispinus, upon whom, in the like sort, they had given 
 attendance the last year ; but saw neither of them return 
 alive from a less dangerous war. Particularly old Q. Fabius 
 gave his accustomed advice to M. Livius, that he should 
 abstain from giving or taking battle, until he well under- 
 stood the enemies' condition. But the consul made him 
 a froward answer, and said that he would fight the very 
 first day, for that he thought it long till he should either 
 recover his honour by victor}^ or by seeing the overthrow 
 of his own unjust citizens, satisfy himself with the joy of 
 a great, though not an honest revenge. But his meaning 
 was better than his words.' ^ 
 
 Hannibal at this period occupied with his veteran, but 
 much reduced forces the extreme south of Italy. It had 
 not been expected either by friend or foe that Hasdrubal 
 would effect his passage of the Alps so early in the year 
 as actually occurred. And even when Hannibal learned 
 that his brother was in Italy, and had advanced as far as 
 Placentia, he was obliged to pause for further intelUgence, 
 before he himself commenced active operations, as he could 
 not tell whether his brother might not be invited into 
 Etruria, to aid the party there that was disaffected to Rome, 
 or whether he would march doAvn by the Adriatic Sea. 
 Hannibal led his troops out of their winter quarters in 
 Bruttium, and marched northward as far as Canusium. 
 Nero had his head-quarters near Venusia, with an army 
 which he had increased to forty thousand foot and two 
 thousand five hundred horse, by incorj)orating under his 
 own command some of the legions which had been intended 
 to act under other generals in the south. There was 
 another Roman army twenty thousand strong, south of 
 Hannibal, at Tarentum. The strength of that city secured 
 this Roman force from any attack by Hannibal, and it was 
 1 Sir Walter Raleigh.
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 111 
 
 a serious matter to march northward and leave it in his 
 rear, free to act against all his depots and allies in the 
 friendly part of Italy, which for the two or three last cam- 
 paigns had served him for a base of his operations. More- 
 over, Nero's army was so strong that Hannibal could not 
 concentrate troops enough to assume the offensive against 
 it without weakening his garrisons, and relinquishing, at 
 least for a time, his grasp upon the southern provinces. To 
 do this before he was certainly informed of his brother's 
 operations would have been a useless sacrifice ; as Nero 
 could retreat before him upon the other Roman armies near 
 the capital, and Hannibal knew by experience that a mere 
 advance of his army upon the walls of Rome would have no 
 effect on the fortunes of the war. In the hope, probably, 
 of inducing Nero to follow him, and of gaining an oppor- 
 tunity of out-manoeuvring the Roman consul and attacking 
 him on his march, Hannibal moved into Lucania, and then 
 back into Apulia ; — he again marched down into Bruttium, 
 and strengthened his army by a levy of recruits in that 
 district. Nero followed him but gave him no chance of 
 assailing him at a disadvantage. Some partial encounters 
 seem to have taken place ; but the consul could not prevent 
 Hannibal's junction with his Bruttian levies, nor could 
 Hannibal gain an opportunity of surprising and crushing 
 the consul.^ Hannibal returned to his former head- 
 
 ^ The annalists whom Livy copied, spoke of Nero's gaining repeated 
 victories over Hannibal, and killing and taking his men by tens of 
 thousands. The falsehood of all this is self-evident. If Nero could 
 thus always beat Hannibal, the Romans would not have been in such 
 an agony of dread about Hasdrubal, as all writers describe. Indeed, 
 we have the express testimony of Polybius that such statements as we 
 read in Livy of Marcellus, Nero, and others gaining victories over 
 Hannibal in Italy, must be all fabrications of Roman vanity. Polybius 
 states, lib. xv. sec. 16, that Hannibal was never defeated before the 
 battle of Zama ; and in another passage, book ix. chap. 3, he mentions 
 that after the defeats which Hannibal inflicted on the Romans in the 
 early years of the war, they no longer dared face his army in a pitched 
 battle on a fair field, and yet they resolutely maintained the war. He 
 rightly explains this by referring to the superiority of Hannibal's cavalry, 
 the arm which gained him all his victories. By keeping within fortified 
 lines, or close to the sides of the mountains when Hannibal approached 
 them, the Romans rendered his cavalry ineffective ; and a glance at 
 the geography of Italy will show how an army can traverse the greater 
 part of that country without venturing far from the high grounds.
 
 112 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 quarters at Canusium, and halted there in expectation of 
 further tidings of his brother's movements. Nero also 
 resumed his former position in observation of the Cartha- 
 ginian army. 
 
 MeanAvhile Hasdrubal had raised the siege of Placentia, 
 and was advancing towards Ariminum on the Adriatic, 
 and driving before him the R-oman army under Porcius. 
 Nor when the consul Livius had come up, and united the 
 second and third armies of the north, could he make head 
 against the invaders. The Romans still fell back before 
 Hasdrubal, beyond Ariminum, beyond the Metaurus, and 
 as far as the little town of Sena, to the south-east of that 
 river. Hasdrubal was not unmindful of the necessity of 
 acting in concert with his brother. He sent messengers to 
 Hannibal to announce his own line of march, and to propose 
 that they should unite their armies in South Umbria, and 
 then wheel round against Rome. Those messengers 
 traversed the greater part of Italy in safety ; but, when 
 close to the object of their mission, were captured by a 
 Roman detachment ; and Hasdrubal's letter detailing his 
 whole plan of the campaign, was laid, not in his brother's 
 hands, but in those of the commander of the Roman armies 
 of the south. Nero saw at once the full importance of the 
 crisis. The two sons of Hamilcar were now within two 
 hundred miles of each other, and if Rome were to be saved, 
 the brothers must never meet alive. Nero instantly ordered 
 seven thousand picked men, a thousand being cavalry, to 
 hold themselves in readiness for a secret expedition against 
 one of Hannibal's garrisons ; and as soon as night had set 
 in, he hurried forward on his bold enterprise : but he 
 quickly left the southern road towards Lucania, and 
 wheeling round, pressed northward with the utmost rapidity 
 towards Picenum. He had, during the preceding afternoon, 
 sent messengers to Rome, who were to lay Hasdrubal's 
 letters before the senate. There was a law forbidding a 
 consul to make war or to march his army beyond the limits 
 of the province assigned to him, but in such an emergency, 
 Nero did not wait for the permission of the senate to execute 
 his project ; but informed them that he was already on his 
 march to join Livius against Hasdrubal. He advised them 
 to send the two legions, Avhich formed the home garrison,
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 113 
 
 on to Narnia, so as to defend that pass of the Elaminian 
 road against Hasdrubal, in case he should march upon 
 Rome before the consular armies could attack him. They 
 were to supply the place of these two legions at Rome by 
 a levy en masse in the city, and by ordering up the reserve 
 legion from Capua. These were his communications to the 
 senate. He also sent horsemen forward along his line of 
 march, with orders to the local authorities to bring stores 
 
 of provisions and refreshments of every kind to the road- 
 side, and to have relays of carriages ready for the convey- 
 ance of the wearied soldiers. Such were the precautions 
 which he took for accelerating his march ; and when he had 
 advanced some little distance from his camp, he briefly 
 informed his soldiers of the real object of their expedition. 
 He told them that there never was a design more seemingly 
 audacious, and more really safe. He said he was leading 
 them to a certain victory, for his colleague had an army 
 large enough to balance the enemy already, so that their 
 swords would decisively turn the scale. The very rumour 
 
 CREASY I
 
 114 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 that a fresh consul and a fresh army had come up, when 
 heard on the battle-field (and he would take care that they 
 should not be heard of before they were seen and felt) 
 would settle the campaign. They would have all the credit 
 of the victory, and of having dealt the final decisive blow. 
 He appealed to the enthusiastic reception which they 
 already met with on their line of march as a proof and an 
 omen of their good fortune.^ And, indeed, their whole path 
 was amidst the vows and prayers and praises of their 
 countrymen. The entire population of the districts through 
 which they passed, flocked to the roadside to see and bless 
 the deliverers of their country. Food, drink, and refresh- 
 ments of every kind were eagerly pressed on their accep- 
 tance. Each peasant thought a favour was conferred on 
 him, if one of Nero's chosen band would accept aught at his 
 hands. The soldiers caught the full spirit of their leader. 
 Night and day they marched forwards, taking their hurried 
 meals in the ranks, and resting by relays in the wagons 
 which the zeal of the country-people provided, and which 
 followed in the rear of the column. 
 
 Meanwhile, at Rome, the news of Nero's expedition had 
 caused the greatest excitement and alarm. All men felt 
 the full audacity of the enterprise, but hesitated what 
 epithet to apply to it. It w^as evident that Nero's conduct 
 would be judged of by the event, that most unfair criterion, 
 as the Roman historian truly terms it.^ People reasoned 
 on the perilous state in which Nero had left the rest of his 
 army, without a general, and deprived of the core of its 
 strength, in the vicinity of the terrible Hannibal. They 
 speculated on how long it would take Hannibal to pursue 
 and overtake Nero himself, and his expeditionary force. 
 They talked over the former disasters of the war, and the 
 fall of both the consuls of the last year. All these calamities 
 had come on them while they had only one Carthaginian 
 general and army to deal with in Italy. Now they had two 
 Punic Avars at a time. They had two Carthaginian armies ; 
 they had almost two Hannibals in Italy. Hasdrubal was 
 sprung from the same father ; trained up in the same 
 
 * Livy, lib. xxvii. c. 45. 
 
 ^ ' Apparebat (quo nihil iniquius est) ex eventu famam habiturum.' — 
 Livy, lib. xxvii. c. 44.
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 115 
 
 hostility to Rome ; equally practised in battle against their 
 legions ; and, if the comparative speed and success with 
 which he had crossed the Alps was a fair test, he was even 
 a better general than his brother. With fear for their 
 interpreter of every rumour, they exaggerated the strength 
 of their enemy's forces in every quarter, and criticized and 
 distrusted their own. 
 
 Fortunately for Rome, while she was thus a prey to 
 terror and anxiety, her consul's nerves were strong, and 
 he resolutely urged on his march towards Sena, where his 
 colleague, Livius, and the praetor Porcius were encamped ; 
 Hasdrubal's army being in position about half a mile to 
 their north. Nero had sent couriers forward to apprise his 
 colleague of his project and of his approach ; and by the 
 advice of Livius, Nero so timed his final march as to reach 
 the camp at Sena by night. According to a previous 
 arrangement, Nero's men were received silently into the 
 tents of their comrades, each according to his rank. By 
 these means, there was no enlargement of the camjD that 
 could betray to Hasdrubal the accession of force which the 
 Romans had received. This was considerable ; as Nero's 
 numbers had been increased on the march by the volun- 
 teers, who offered themselves in crowds, and from Avhom he 
 selected the most promising men, and especially the veterans 
 of former campaigns. A council of war was held on the 
 morning after his arrival, in which some advised that time 
 should be given for Nero's men to refresh themselves, after 
 the fatigue of such a march. But Nero vehemently op- 
 posed all delay. ' The officer ', said he, ' who is for giving 
 time to my men here to rest themselves, is for giving time 
 to Hannibal to attack my men, whom I have left in the 
 camp in Apulia. He is for giving time to Hannibal and 
 Hasdrubal to discover my march, and to manoeuvre for 
 a junction with each other in Cisalpine Gaul at their leisure. 
 We must fight instantly, while both the foe here and the 
 foe in the south are ignorant of our movements. We must 
 destroy this Hasdrubal, and I must be back in Apulia before 
 Hannibal awakes from his torpor.' ^ Nero's advice pre- 
 vailed. It was resolved to fight directly ; and before the 
 consuls and praetor left the tent of Livius, the red ensign, 
 * Livy, lib. xxvii. c. 45. 
 I 2
 
 116 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 which was the signal to prepare for immediate action, was 
 hoisted, and the Komans forthwith drew up in battle array 
 outside the camp. 
 
 Hasdrubal had been anxious to bring Livius and Porcius 
 to battle, though he had not judged it expedient to attack 
 them in their lines. And now, on hearing that the Romans 
 offered battle, he also drew up his men, and advanced 
 towards them. No spy or deserter had informed him of 
 Nero's arrival ; nor had he received anj^ direct information 
 that he had more than his old enemies to deal with. But 
 as he rode forward to reconnoitre the Roman line, he 
 thought that their numbers seemed to have increased, and 
 that the armour of some of them was unusually dull and 
 stained. He noticed also that the horses of some of the 
 cavalry appeared to be rough and out of condition, as if 
 they had just come from a succession of forced marches. 
 So also, though, owing to the precaution of Livius, the 
 Roman camp showed no change of size, it had not escaped 
 the quick ear of the Carthaginian general, that the trumpet, 
 which gave the signal to the Roman legions, sounded that 
 morning once oftener than usual, as if directing the troops 
 of some additional superior officer. Hasdrubal, from his 
 Spanish campaigns, was well acquainted with all the 
 sounds and signals of Roman war ; and from all that he 
 heard and saw, he felt convinced that both the Roman 
 consuls were before him. In doubt and difficulty as to 
 what might have taken place between the armies of the 
 south, and probably hoping that Hannibal also was ap- 
 proachmg, Hasdrubal determined to avoid an encounter 
 with the combined Roman forces, and to endeavour to 
 retreat upon Insubrian Gaul, where he would be in a 
 friendly countrj^, and could endeavour to reopen his 
 communications with his brother. He therefore led his 
 troops back into their camp ; and, as the Romans did not 
 venture on an assault upon his entrenchments, and Has- 
 drubal did not choose to commence his retreat in their sight, 
 the day passed away in inaction. At the first watch of the 
 night, Hasdrubal led his men silently out of their camp, 
 and moved northwards towards the Metaurus, in the hope 
 of placing that river between himself and the Romans before 
 his retreat was discovered. His guides betraj^ed him ; and
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 117 
 
 having purposely led him away from the part of the river 
 that was fordable, they made their escape in the dark, and 
 left Hasdrubal and his army wandering in confusion along 
 the steep bank, and seeking in vain for a spot where the 
 stream could be safely crossed. At last they halted ; and 
 when day dawned on them, Hasdrubal found that great 
 numbers of his men, in their fatigue and impatience, had 
 lost all discipline and subordination, and that many of his 
 Gallic auxiliaries had got drunk, and were lying helpless 
 in their quarters. The Roman cavalry was soon seen 
 commg up in pursuit, followed at no great distance by 
 the legions, which marched in readiness for an instant 
 engagement. It was hopeless for Hasdrubal to think of 
 continuing his retreat before them. The prospect of im- 
 mediate battle might recall the disordered part of his troops 
 to a sense of duty, and revive the instinct of discipline. 
 He therefore ordered his men to prepare for action instantly, 
 and made the best arrangement of them that the nature 
 of the ground would permit. 
 
 Heeren has well described the general appearance of 
 a Carthaginian army. He says, ' It was an assemblage of 
 the most opposite races of the human species from the 
 farthest parts of the globe. Hordes of half -naked Gauls 
 were ranged next to companies of white-clothed Iberians, 
 and savage Ligurians next to the far-travelled Nasa- 
 mones and Lotophagi. Carthaginians and Phoenici- Africans 
 formed the centre ; while innumerable troops of Numidian 
 horsemen, taken from all the tribes of the Desert, swarmed 
 about on unsaddled horses, and formed the wings ; the 
 van was composed of Balearic slmgers ; and a line of 
 colossal elephants, with their Ethiopian guides, formed, as 
 it were, a chain of moving fortresses before the whole army.' 
 Such were the usual materials and arrangements of the 
 hosts that fought for Carthage ; but the troops under 
 Hasdrubal were not in all respects thus constituted or thus 
 stationed. He seems to have been especially deficient in 
 cavalry, and he had few African troops, though some 
 Carthaginians of high rank were with him. His veteran 
 Spanish infantry, armed with helmets and shields, and 
 short cut-and-thrust swords, were the best part of his army. 
 These, and his few Africans, he drew up on his right wing,
 
 118 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 under his own personal command. In the centre, he placed 
 his Ligurian infantry, and on the left wing he placed or 
 retained the Gai;ls, who were armed with long javelins and 
 with huge broadswords and targets. The rugged nature 
 of the ground in front and on the flank of this part of his 
 line, made him hope that the Roman right wing would be 
 unable to come to close quarters with these unserviceable 
 barbarians, before he could make some impression with his 
 Spanish veterans on the Roman left. This was the only 
 chance that he had of victory or safety, and he seems to 
 have done everything that good generalship could do to 
 secure it. He placed his elephants in advance of his centre 
 and right wing. He had caused the driver of each of them 
 to be provided with a sharp iron spike and a mallet ; and 
 had given orders that every beast that became unmanage- 
 able, and ran back upon his own ranks, should be instantly 
 killed, by driving the spike into the vertebra at the junction 
 of the head and the spine. Hasdrubal's elephants were ten 
 in number. We have no trustworthy information as to the 
 amount of his infantry, but it is quite clear that he was 
 greatly outnumbered by the combined Roman forces. 
 
 The tactic of the Roman legions had not yet acquired 
 the perfection which it received from the military genius 
 of Marius,^ and which we read of in the first chapter of 
 Gibbon. We possess in that great work an account of 
 the Roman legions at the end of the commonwealth, and 
 during the early ages of the empire, which those alone can 
 adequately admire, who have attempted a similar descrip- 
 tion. We have also, in the sixth and seventeenth books of 
 Polybius, an elaborate discussion on the military system 
 of the Romans in his time, which was not far distant from 
 the time of the battle of the Metavirus. But the subject is 
 beset with difficulties : and instead of entering into minute 
 but inconclusive details, I would refer to Gibbon's first 
 chapter, as serving for a general description of the Roman 
 army in its period of })erfection ; and remark, that the 
 training and armour which the whole legion received in 
 the time of Augustus was, two centuries earlier, only 
 
 * Most probably during the period of his prolonged consulship, from 
 B. c. 104 to B. c. 101, while he was training his army against the Cimbri 
 and the Teuton?.
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 119 
 
 partially introduced. Two divisions of troops, called 
 Hastati and Principes, formed the bulk of each Roman 
 legion in the second Punic war. Each of these divisions 
 was twelve hundred strong. The Hastatus and the Princeps 
 legionary bore a breastplate or coat of mail, brazen greaves, 
 and a brazen helmet, with a lofty, upright crest of scarlet 
 or black feathers. He had a large oblong shield ; and, as 
 weapons of offence, two javelins, one of which was light 
 and slender, but the other was a strong and massive weapon, 
 with a shaft about four feet long, and an iron head of equal 
 length. The sword was carried on the right thigh, and was 
 a short cvit-and-thrust weapon, like that which was used by 
 the Spaniards. Thus armed, the Hastati formed the front 
 division of the legion, and the Principes the second. 
 Each division was drawn up about ten deep ; a space of 
 three feet being allowed between the files as well as the 
 ranks, so as to give each legionary ample room for the use 
 of his javelins, and of his sword and shield. The men in 
 the second rank did not stand immediately behind those 
 in the first rank, but the files were alternate, like the position 
 of the men on a draught-board. This was termed the 
 quincunx order. Niebuhr considers that this arrangement 
 enabled the legion to keep up a shower of javelins on the 
 enemy for some considerable time. He says, ' When the 
 first line had hurled its pila, it probably stept back between 
 those who stood behind it, who with two steps forward 
 restored the front nearly to its first position ; a movement 
 which, on account of the arrangement of the quincunx, 
 could be executed without losing a moment. Thus one 
 line succeeded the other in the front till it was time to draw 
 the swords ; nay, when it was found expedient, the lines 
 which had already been in the front, might repeat this 
 change, since the stores of pila were surely not confined to 
 the two which each soldier took with him into battle. 
 
 ' The same change must have taken place in fighting 
 with the sword ; which, when the same tactic was adopted 
 on both sides, was anything but a confused meUe ; on the 
 contrary, it was a series of single combats.' He adds, that 
 a military man of experience had been consulted by him 
 on the subject, and had given it as his opinion, ' that the 
 change of the lines as described above was by no means
 
 120 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 impracticable ; and in the absence of the deafening noise 
 of gunpowder, it cannot have had even any difficulty with 
 trained troops.' 
 
 The third division of the legion was six hundred strong, 
 and acted as a reserve. It was always composed of veteran 
 soldiers, who were called the Triarii. Their arms were the 
 same as those of the Principes and Hastati ; except that 
 each Triarian carried a spear instead of javelins. The rest 
 of the legion consisted of light-armed troops, who acted 
 as skirmishers. The cavalry of each legion was at this 
 period about three hundred strong. The Italian allies, 
 who were attached to the legion, seem to have been simi- 
 larly armed and equipped, but their numerical proportion 
 of cavalry was much larger. 
 
 Such was the nature of the forces that advanced on the 
 Roman side to the battle of the Metaurus. Nero com- 
 manded the right wing, Livius the left, and the praetor 
 Porcius had the command of the centre. ' Both Romans 
 and Carthaginians well understood how much depended 
 upon the fortune of this day, and how little hope of safety 
 there was for the vanquished. Only the Romans herein 
 seemed to have had the better in conceit and opinion, that 
 they were to fight with men desirous to have fled from 
 them. And according to this presumption came Livius 
 the consul, with a proud bravery, to give charge on the 
 Spaniards and Africans, by whom he was so sharply 
 entertained, that victory seemed very doubtful. The 
 Africans and Spaniards were stout soldiers, and well 
 acquainted with the manner of the Roman fight. The 
 Ligurians, also, were a hardy nation, and not accustomed 
 to give ground ; which they needed the less, or were able 
 now to do, being placed in the midst. Livius, therefore, 
 and Porcius found great opposition ; and, with great 
 slaughter on both sides, prevailed little or nothing. Besides 
 other difficulties, they were exceedingly troubled by the 
 elephants, that brake their first ranks, ami put them in 
 such disorder, as the Roman ensigns were driven to fall 
 back ; all this while Claudius Nero, labouring in vain 
 against a steep hill, was unable to come to blows with the 
 Gauls that stood opposite him, but out of danger. This 
 made Hasdrubal the more confident, who, seeing his own
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 121 
 
 left wing safe, did the more boldly and fiercely make 
 impression on the other side upon the left wing of the 
 Romans.' ^ 
 
 But at last Nero, who found that Hasdrubal refused his 
 left wing, and who could not overcome the difficulties of 
 the ground in the quarter assigned to him, decided the 
 battle by another stroke of that military genius which had 
 inspired his march. Wheeling a brigade of his best men 
 round the rear of the rest of the Roman army, Nero fiercely 
 charged the flank of the Spaniards and Africans. The 
 charge was as successful as it was sudden. Rolled back 
 in disorder upon each other, and overwhelmed by numbers, 
 the Spaniards and Ligurians died, fighting gallantly to 
 the last. The Gauls, who had taken little or no part in the 
 strife of the day, were then surrounded, and butchered 
 almost without resistance. Hasdrubal, after having, by 
 the confession of his enemies, done all that a general could 
 do, when he saw that the victory was irreparably lost, 
 scorning to survive the gallant host which he had led, and 
 to gratify, as a captive, Roman cruelty and pride, spurred 
 his horse into the midst of a Roman cohort ; where, sword 
 in hand, he met the death that was worthy of the son of 
 Hamilcar and the brother of Hannibal. 
 
 Success the most complete had crowned Nero's enterprise. 
 Returning as rapidly as he had advanced, he was again 
 facing the inactive enemies in the south, before they even 
 knew of his march. But he brought with him a ghastly 
 trophy of what he had done. In the true spirit of that 
 savage brutality which deformed the Roman national 
 character, Nero ordered Hasdrubal' s head to be flung into 
 his brother's camp. Eleven years had passed since Hannibal 
 had last gazed on those features. The sons of Hamilcar 
 had then planned their system of warfare against Rome, 
 which they had so nearly brought to successful accomiDlish- 
 ment. Year after year had Hannibal been struggling in 
 Italy, in the hope of one day hailing the arrival of him 
 whom he had left in Spain ; and of seeing his brother's 
 eye flash with affection and pride at the junction of 
 their irresistible hosts. He now saw that eye glazed 
 in death, and, in the agony of his heart, the great 
 *■ Historie of the World, by Sir Walter Raleigh, p. 94G.
 
 122 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 
 
 Carthaginian groaned aloud that he recognized his country's 
 destiny. 1 
 
 Rome was almost delirious with joy.^ So agonizing had 
 been the suspense with which the battle's verdict on that 
 great issue of a nation's life and death had been awaited ; 
 so overpowering was the sudden reaction to the conscious- 
 ness of security, and to the full glow of glory and success. 
 From the time when it had been known at Rome that the 
 armies were in presence of each other, the people had 
 never ceased to throng the Forum, the Conscript Fathers 
 had been in j)ermanent sitting at the senate house. 
 Ever and anon a fearful whisper crept among the crowd 
 of a second Cannae won by a second Hannibal. Then 
 came truer rumours that the day was Rome's ; but the 
 people was sick at heart, and heeded them not. The 
 shrines were thronged with trembling women, who seemed 
 to weary heaven with prayers to shield them from the 
 brutal Gavil and the savage African. Presently the reports 
 of good fortune assumed a more definite form. It was said 
 that two Narnian horsemen had ridden from the East into 
 the Roman camp of observation in Umbria, and had brought 
 tidings of the utter slaughter of the foe. Such news seemed 
 too good to be true. Men tortured their neighbours and 
 themselves by demonstrating its improbability and by 
 ingeniously criticizing its evidence. Soon, however, a letter 
 came from Lucius Manlius Acidinus, who commanded in 
 Umbria, and who announced the arrival of the Narnian 
 horsemen in his camp, and the intelligence which they 
 brought thither. The letter was first laid before the senate, 
 and then before the assembly of the people. The excitement 
 grew more and more vehement. The letter was read and 
 re-read aloud to thousands. It confirmed the previous 
 rumour. But even this was insufficient to allay the feverish 
 anxiety that thrilled through every breast in Rome. The 
 letter might be a forgery : the Narnian horsemen might be 
 traitors or impostors. ' We must see officers from the 
 
 ^ Carthagini iam noii ego nuntios 
 Mittam sujDerbos. Occidit, occidit 
 Spes omnis et fortuna nostri 
 
 Nominis, Hasdrubale interemto. — Horace. 
 - See the splendid description in Livy, lib. xxvii." sec. 50, 51.
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 123 
 
 army that fought, or hear dispatches from the consuls 
 themselves, and then only will we believe.' Such was the 
 public sentiment, though some of more hopeful nature 
 already permitted themselves a foretaste of joy. At length 
 came news that officers who really had been in the battle 
 were near at hand. Forthwith the whole city poured forth 
 to meet them, each person coveting to be the first to receive 
 with his own eyes and ears convincing proofs of the reality 
 of such a deliverance. One vast throng of human beings 
 filled the road from Rome to the Milvian bridge. The three 
 officers, Lucius Veturius Pollio, Publius Licinius Varus, and 
 Quintus Caecilius Metellus, came riding on, making their 
 way slowly through the living sea around them. As they 
 advanced, each told the successive waves of eager questioners 
 that Rome was victorious. ' We have destroyed Hasdrubal 
 and his army, our legions are safe, and our consuls are 
 unhurt.' Each happy listener, who caught the welcome 
 sounds from their lips, retired to communicate his own joy 
 to others, and became himself the centre of an anxious and 
 inquiring group. When the officers had, with much 
 difficulty, reached the senate house, and the crowd was 
 with still greater difficulty put back from entering and 
 mingling with the Conscript Fathers, the dispatches of 
 Livius and Nero were produced and read aloud. From the 
 senate house the officers proceeded to the public assembly, 
 where the dispatches were read again ; and then the senior 
 officer, Lucius Veturius, gave in his own words a fuller detail 
 of how went the fight. When he had done speaking to 
 the people, a universal shout of rapture rent the air. The 
 vast assembly then separated : some hastening to the 
 temples to find in devotion a vent for the overflowing 
 excitement of their hearts ; others seeking their homes to 
 gladden their wives and children with the good news, and 
 to feast their own eyes with the sight of the loved ones, who 
 now, at last, were safe from outrage and slaughter. The 
 senate ordained a thanksgiving of three days for the great 
 deliverance which had been vouchsafed to Rome ; and 
 throughout that period the temples were incessantly 
 crowded with exulting worshippers ; and the matrons, 
 with their children round them, in their gayest attire, and 
 with joyous aspects and voices, offered grateful praises to
 
 124 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS AFTER THE 
 
 the immortal gods, as if all apprehension of evil were over, 
 and the war were already ended. 
 
 With the revival of confidence came also the revival 
 of activity in traffic and commerce, and in all the busy 
 intercourse of daily life. A numbing load was taken off 
 each heart and brain, and once more men bought and 
 sold, and formed their plans freely, as had been done 
 before the dire Carthaginians came into Italy. Hannibal 
 was, certainly, still in the land ; but all felt that his power 
 to destroy was broken, and that the crisis of the war-fever 
 was jaast. The Metaurus, indeed, had not only determined the 
 event of the strife between Rome and Carthage, but it had 
 ensured to Rome two centuries more of almost unchanged 
 conquest. Hannibal did actually, with almost superhuman 
 skill, retain his hold on Southern Italy for a few years 
 longer, but the imperial city and her allies were no longer 
 in danger from his arms ; and, after Hannibal's downfall, 
 the great military Republic of the ancient world met in her 
 career of conquest no other worthy competitor. Byron has 
 termed Nero's march ' unequalled ', and, in the magnitude of 
 its consequences, it is so. Viewed only as a military exploit, it 
 remains unparalleled, save by Marlborough's bold march from 
 Flanders to the Danube, in the campaign of Blenheim, and 
 perhaps, also, by the Archduke Charles's lateral march in 1796, 
 by which he overwhelmed the French under Jourdain, and 
 then, driving Moreau through the Black Forest and across 
 the Rhine, for a while freed Germany from her invaders. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE BATTLE OF 
 THE METAURUS, b. c. 207, AND ARMINIUS'S 
 VICTORY OVER THE ROMAN LEGIONS UNDER 
 VARUS, A. D. 9 
 
 B. c. 205 to 201. Scipio is made consul, and carries the 
 war into Africa. He gains several victories there, and the 
 Carthaginians recall Hannibal from Italy to oppose him. 
 Battle of Zama in 201. Hannibal is defeated, and Carthage 
 sues for peace. End of the second Punic war, leaving Rome 
 confirmed in the dominion of Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and 
 Corsica, and also mistress of great part of Spain, and 
 virtually predominant in North Africa.
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 125 
 
 200. Rome makes war upon Philip, king of Macedonia. 
 She pretends to tnke the Greek cities of the Achaean league 
 and the Aetolians under her protection as allies. Philip is 
 defeated by the proconsul Flaminius at Cynocephalae, 198 ; 
 and begs for peace. The Macedonian influence is now 
 completely destroyed in Greece, and the Roman established 
 in its stead, though Rome nominally acknowledged the 
 independence of the Greek cities. 
 
 194. Rome makes war upon Antiochus, king of Syria. 
 He is completely defeated at the battle of Magnesia, 192, 
 and is glad to accept peace on conditions which leave him 
 dependent upon Rome. 
 
 200-190. ' Thus, within the short space of ten years, 
 was laid the foundation of the Roman authority in the 
 East, and the general state of affairs entirely changed. 
 If Rome was not yet the ruler, she was at least the arbitress 
 of the world from the Atlantic to the Euphrates. The 
 power of the three principal states was so completely 
 humbled, that they durst not, without the permission of 
 Rome, begin any new war ; the fourth, Egypt, had already, 
 in the year 201, placed herself under the guardianship of 
 Rome ; and the lesser powers followed of themselves : 
 esteeming it an honour to be called the allies of Borne. 
 With this name the nations were lulled into security, and 
 brought under the Roman yoke ; the new political system 
 of Rome was founded and strengthened, partly by exciting 
 and supporting the weaker states against the stronger, 
 however unjust the cavise of the former might be, and 
 partly by factions which she found means to raise in every 
 state, even the smallest.' (Heeren.) 
 
 172. War renewed between Macedon and Rome. Decisive 
 defeat of Perses, the Macedonian king, by Paulus Aemilius 
 at Pydna, 168. Destruction of the Macedonian monarchy. 
 
 150. Rome oppresses the Carthaginians till they are 
 driven to take i;p arms, and the third Punic war begins. 
 Carthage is taken and destroyed by Scipio Aemilianus, 146, 
 and the Carthaginian territory is made a Roman province. 
 
 146. In the same year in which Carthage falls, Corinth 
 is stormed by the Roman army under Mummivis. The 
 Achaean league had been goaded into hostilities with Rome, 
 by means similar to those employed against Carthage.
 
 126 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS AFTER THE 
 
 The greater part of southern Greece is made a Roman 
 province, under the name of Achaia. 
 
 133. Numantium is destroyed by Scipio Aemilianus. 
 ' The war against the Spaniards, who, of all the nations 
 subdued by the Romans, defended their liberty with the 
 greatest obstinacy, began in the year 200, six years after 
 the total expulsion of the Carthaginians from their country, 
 206. It was exceedingly obstinate, partly from the natural 
 state of the country, which was thickly populated, and 
 where every place became a fortress ; partly from the 
 courage of the inhabitants ; but above all, owing to the 
 peculiar policy of the Romans, who were wont to employ 
 their allies to subdue other nations. This war continued, 
 almost without interruption, from the year 200 to 133, 
 and was for the most part carried on at the same time in 
 Hispania Citerior, where the Celtiberi were the most 
 formidable adversaries, and in Hispania Ulterior, where 
 the Lusitani were equally powerful. Hostilities were at 
 the highest pitch in 195, under Cato, who reduced Hispania 
 Citerior to a state of tranquillity in 185-179, M^hen the 
 Celtiberi were attacked in their native territory ; and 
 155-150, when the Romans in both provinces were so 
 often beaten, that nothing was more dreaded by the 
 soldiers at home than to be sent there. The extortions 
 and perfidy of Servius Galba placed Viriathus, in the 
 year 146, at the head of his nations, the Lusitani : the 
 war, however, soon extended itself to Hispania Citerior, 
 where many nations, particularly the Numantines, took 
 up arms against Rome, 143. Viriathus, sometimes 
 victorious and sometimes defeated, was never more for- 
 midable than in the moment of defeat ; because he knew 
 how to take advantage of his knowledge of the country 
 and of the dispositions of his countrymen. After his 
 murder, caused by the treachery of Saepio, 140, Lusitania 
 was subdued ; but the Numantine war became still more 
 violent, and the Numantines compelled the consul Mancinus 
 to a disadvantageous treaty, 137. When Scipio, in the 
 year 133, put an end to this war, Spain was certainly 
 tranquil ; the northern parts, however, were still unsub- 
 dued, though the Romans penetrated as far as Galatia.' 
 (Heeren.)
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 127 
 
 134. Commencement of the revolutionary century at 
 Rome, i.e. from the time of the excitement produced by 
 the attempts made by the Gracchi to reform the common- 
 Avealth, to the battle of Actium (b.c. 31), which established 
 Octavianus Caesar as sole master of the Roman world. 
 Throughout this period Rome was engaged in important 
 foreign wars, most of which procured large accessions to 
 her territory. 
 
 118-106. The Jugurthine war. Numidia is conquered, 
 and made a Roman province. 
 
 113-101, The great and terrible war of the Cimbri 
 and Teutones against Rome. These nations of northern 
 warriors slaughter several Roman armies in Gaul, and 
 in 102 attempt to penetrate into Italy. The military 
 genius of Marius here saves his country ; he defeats the 
 Teutones near Aix, in Provence ; and in the following 
 year he destroys the army of the Cimbri, who had passed 
 the Alps, near Vercellae. 
 
 91-88. The war of the Italian allies against Rome. 
 This was caused by the refusal of Rome to concede to 
 them the rights of Roman citizenship. After a sanguinary 
 struggle, Rome gradvially grants it. 
 
 89-85. First war of the Romans against Mithridates 
 the Great, king of Pontus, who had overrvm Asia Minor, 
 Macedonia, and Greece, Sylla defeats his armies, and 
 forces him to withdraw his forces from Europe. Sylla 
 returns to Rome to carry on the civil war against 
 the son and partisans of Marius, He makes himself 
 Dictator. 
 
 74-64. The last Mithridatic wars. Lucullus, and after 
 him Pompeius, command against the great King of Pontus, 
 who at last is poisoned by his son, while designing to raise 
 the warlike tribes of the Danube against Rome, and to 
 invade Italy from the north-east. Great Asiatic conquests 
 of the Romans. Besides the ancient province of Pergamus, 
 the maritime countries of Bithynia, and nearly all Paphla- 
 gonia and Pontus, are formed into a Roman province, 
 under the name of Bithynia ; while on the southern coast 
 Cilicia and Pamphylia form another, under the name of 
 Cilicia ; Phoenicia and Syria compose a third, under the 
 name of Syria. On the other hand, Great Armenia is left
 
 128 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS AFTER THE 
 
 to Tigranes ; Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes ; the Bosphorus 
 to Pharnaces ; Judaea to Hyrcanus ; and some other 
 small states are also given to petty princes, all of whom 
 remain dependent on Rome. 
 
 58-50. Caesar conquers Gaul. • 
 
 54. Crassus attacks the Parthians with a Roman army, 
 but is overthrown and killed at Carrhae in Mesopotamia. 
 His lieutenant Cassius collects the wrecks of the army, and 
 prevents the Parthians from conquering Syria. 
 
 49-45. The civil war betAveen Caesar and the Pompeian 
 party. Caesar drives Pompeius out of Italy, conquers his 
 enemy's forces in Spain, and then passes into Greece, where 
 Pompeius and the other aristocratic chiefs had assembled 
 a large army. Caesar gives them a decisive defeat at the 
 great battle of Pharsalia. Pompeius flies for refuge to 
 Alexandria, where he is assassinated. Caesar, who had 
 followed him thither, is involved in a war with the Egyptians, 
 in which he is finally victorious. The celebrated Cleopatra 
 is made Queen of Egypt. Caesar next marches into Pontus, 
 and defeats the son of Mithridates, who had taken part in 
 the war against him. He then proceeds to the Roman 
 j)rovince of Africa, where some of the Pompeian chiefs had 
 established themselves, aided by Juba, a native prince. 
 He overthrows them at the battle of Thapsus. He is again 
 obliged to lead an army into Spain, where the sons of 
 Pompeius had collected the wrecks of their father's party. 
 He crushes the last of his enemies at the battle of Munda. 
 Under the title of Dictator, he is sole master of the Roman 
 world. 
 
 44. Caesar is killed in the senate house ; the civil wars 
 are soon renewed, Brutus and Cassius being at the head of 
 the aristocratic party, and the party of Caesar being led 
 by Mark Antony and Octavianus Caesar, afterwards 
 Augustus. 
 
 42. Defeat and death of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi. 
 Dissensions soon break out between Octavianus Caesar 
 and Antony. 
 
 31. Antony is completely defeated by Octavianus Caesar 
 at Actium. He fiies to Egypt with Cleopatra. Octavianus 
 pursues him. Antony and Cleopatra kill themselves. 
 Egypt becomes a Roman province, and Octavianus Caesar
 
 BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 129 
 
 is left undisputed master of Rome, and all that is Rome's. 
 The state of the Roman world at this time is best described 
 in two lines of Tacitus : ' Postquam bellatum apud 
 Actium, atque omnem potestatem ad unum conferri pads 
 interjuit.' — Hist. lib. i. s. 1. 
 
 The 44th year of the reign of Augustus, and the 1st year 
 of the 195th Olympiad, is commonly assigned as the date 
 of The Nativity of Our Lord. There is much of the 
 beauty of holiness in the remarks with which the American 
 historian, Eliot, closes his survey of the conquering career 
 and civil downfall of the Roman Commonwealth : 
 
 ' So far as humility amongst men was necessary for the 
 preparation of a truer freedom than could ever be known 
 under heathenism, the part of Rome, however dreadful, 
 was yet sublime. It was not to unite, to discipline, or to 
 fortify humanity, but to enervate, to loosen, and to scatter 
 its forces, that the people whose history we have read 
 were allowed to conquer the earth, and were then them- 
 selves reduced to deep submission. Every good labour of 
 theirs that failed was, by reason of what we esteem its 
 failure, a step gained nearer to the end of the well-nigh 
 universal evil that prevailed ; while every bad achievement 
 that may seem to us to have succeeded, temporarily or 
 lastingly, with them was equally, by reason of its success, 
 a progress towards the good of which the coming would 
 have been longed and prayed for, could it have been 
 comprehended. Alike in the virtues and in the vices of 
 antiquity,we may read the progress towards its humiliation.^ 
 Yet, on the other hand, it must not seem, at the last, that 
 the disposition of the Romans or of mankind to submission 
 was secured solely through the errors and the apparently 
 ineffectual toils which we have traced back to these times 
 of old. Desires too true to have been wasted, and strivings 
 too humane to have been unproductive, though all were 
 
 * ' The Christian revelation ', says Leland, in his truly admirable work 
 on the subject (vol. i. p. 488), ' was made to the world at a time when it 
 was most wanted ; when the darkness and corruption of mankind 
 were arrived at the height. ... If it had been published much sooner, 
 and before there had been a full trial made of what was to be expected 
 from human wisdom and philosophy, the great need men stood in of 
 such an extraordinary divine dispensation would not have been so 
 apparent.'
 
 130 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS AFTER METAURUS 
 
 overshadowed by passing \vrongs, still gleam as if 'in 
 anticipation or in preparation of the advancmg day. 
 
 ' At length, when it had been proved by ages of conflict 
 and loss, that no lasting joy and no abiding truth could be 
 procured through the power, the freedom, or the faith of 
 mankind, the angels sang their song in which the glory 
 of God and the good-will of men were together blended. 
 The universe was WTapped in momentary tranquillity, 
 and " peaceful was the night ", above the manger at Bethle- 
 hem. We may believe, that when the morning came, the 
 ignorance, the confusion, and the servitude of humanity, 
 had left their darkest forms amongst the midnight clouds. 
 It was still, indeed, beyond the power of man to lay hold 
 securely of the charity and the regeneration that were 
 henceforth to be his law ; and the indefinable terrors of 
 the future, whether seen from the West or from the East, 
 were not at once to be dispelled. But before the death of 
 the Emperor Augustus, in the midst of his fallen subjects, 
 the busmess of The Father had already been begun in the 
 Temple at Jerusalem ; and near by, The Son was increasing 
 in wisdom and in stature, and m favour with God and man.' 
 
 Eliot's Liberty oj Rome, vol. ii. p. 521.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS OVER THE ROMAN 
 LEGIONS UNDER VARUS, a.d. 9 
 
 ' Hac clade factum iit Imperium quod in littoro oceani non steterat 
 in ripa Rhcni fluminis staret.' — Florus. 
 
 To a truly illustrious Frenchman, whose reverses as 
 a minister can never obscure his achievements m the world 
 of letters, we are indebted for the most profound and most 
 eloquent estimate that we possess of the importance of 
 the Germanic element in European civilization, and of the 
 extent to which the human race is indebted to those brave 
 warriors, who long were the unconquered antagonists, and 
 finally became the conquerors, of Imperial Rome. 
 
 Twenty-three eventful years have passed away since 
 M. Guizot delivered from the chair of modern history at 
 Paris his course of lectures on the History of Civilization in 
 Europe. During those years the spirit of earnest inquiry 
 into the germs and early developments of existing institu- 
 tions has become more and more active and universal ; and 
 the merited celebrity of M. Guizot's work has propor- 
 tionally increased. Its admirable analysis of the complex 
 political and social organizations, of which the modern 
 civilized world is made up, must have led thousands to 
 trace with keener interest the great crises of times past, by 
 which the characteristics of the present were determined. 
 The narrative of one of these great crises, of the epoch a.d. 9, 
 when Germany took up arms for her independence against 
 Roman invasion, has for us this special attraction — that it 
 forms part of our own national history. Had Arminius 
 been supine or unsuccessful, our Germanic ancestors would 
 have been enslaved or exterminated in their original seats 
 along the Eyder and the Elbe. This island would never 
 have borne the name of England, and ' we, this great 
 English nation, whose race and language are now over- 
 
 K 2
 
 132 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS OVER 
 
 running the earth, from one end of it to the other '/ would 
 have been utterly cut off from existence. 
 
 Arnold may, indeed, go too far in holding that we are 
 wholly unconnected in race Avith the Romans and Britons, 
 who inhabited this country before the coming-over of the 
 Saxons ; that, ' nationally speaking, the history of Caesar's 
 invasion has no more to do with us than the natural history 
 of the animals which then inhabited our forests.' There 
 seems ample evidence to prove that the Romanized Celts, 
 whom our Teutonic forefathers found here, influenced 
 materially the character of our nation. But the main 
 stream of our people was and is Germanic. Our language 
 alone decisively proves this. Arminius is far more truly 
 one of our national heroes than Caractacus : and it was 
 our own primaeval fatherland that the brave German 
 rescued, when he slaughtered the Roman legions eighteen 
 centuries ago, in the marshy glens between the Lippe and 
 the Ems.^ 
 
 Dark and disheartening, even to heroic spirits, must 
 have seemed the prospects of Germany, when Arminius 
 planned the general rising of his countrymen against Rome. 
 Half the land was occupied by Roman garrisons ; and 
 what was worse, many of the Germans seemed patiently 
 acquiescent in their state of bondage. The braver portion, 
 whose patriotism could be relied on, was ill-armed and 
 undisciplined ; while the enemy's troops consisted of 
 veterans in the highest state of equipment and training, 
 familiarized with victory, and commanded by officers of 
 proved skill and valour. The resources of Rome seemed 
 boundless ; her tenacity of purpose was believed to be 
 invincible. There was no hope of foreign sympathy or 
 aid ; for ' the self-governing powers, that had filled the 
 old world, had bent one after another before the rising 
 power of Rome, and had vanished. The earth seemed left 
 void of inde])endent nations '? 
 
 The German chieftain knew Avell the gigantic power of 
 the oppressor. Arminius was no rude savage, fighting out 
 
 * Arnold's Lectures on Modern History. 
 
 ' See qmst, remarks on the relationship between the Cherusci and the 
 English. 
 ^ llanko.
 
 THE ROMAN LEGIONS UNDER VARUS 133 
 
 of mere animal instinct, or in ignorance of the might of his 
 adversary.- He was familiar with the Roman language and 
 civilization ; he had served in the Roman armies ; he had 
 been admitted to the Roman citizenship, and raised to the 
 dignity of the equestrian order. It was part of the subtle 
 policy of Rome to confer rank and privileges on the youth 
 of the leading families in the nations which she wished to 
 enslave. Among other young German chieftains, Arminius 
 and his brother, who were the heads of the noblest house 
 in the tribe of the Cherusci, had been selected as fit objects 
 for the exercise of this insidious system. Roman refinements 
 and dignities succeeded in denationalizing the brother, 
 who assumed the Roman name of Flavius, and adhered 
 to Rome throughout all her wars against his country. 
 Arminius remained unbought by honours or wealth, 
 uncorrupted by refinement or luxury. He aspired to and 
 obtained from Roman enmity a higher title than ever 
 could have been given him by Roman favour. It is in the 
 page of Rome's greatest historian that his name has come 
 down to us with the proud addition of ' Liberator haud 
 dubie Germaniae '.^ 
 
 Often must the young chieftain, while meditating the 
 exploit which has thus immortalized him, have anxiously 
 revolved in his mind the fate of the many great men, who 
 had been crushed in the attempt which he was about to 
 renew — the attempt to stay the chariot wheels of trium- 
 phant Rome. Could he hope to succeed where Hannibal 
 and Mithridates had perished ? What had been the doom of 
 Viriathus ? and what warning against vain valour was 
 written on the desolate site where Numantia once had 
 flourished ? Nor was a caution wanting in scenes nearer 
 home and in more recent times. The Gauls had fruitlessly 
 struggled for eight years against Caesar ; and the gallant 
 Vercingetorix, who in the last year of the war had roused 
 all his countrymen to insurrection, who had cut off Roman 
 detachments, and brought Caesar himself to the extreme 
 of peril at Alesia — he, too, had finally succumbed, had 
 been led captive in Caesar's triumph, and had then been 
 butchered in cold blood in a Roman dungeon. 
 
 It was true that Rome was no longer the great military 
 * Tacitus, Annals, ii. 88.
 
 134 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS OVER 
 
 republic which for so many ages had shattered the king- 
 doms of the world. Her system of government was changed ; 
 and after a century of revolution and civil war, she had 
 placed herself under the despotism of a single ruler. But 
 the discipline of her troops was yet unimpaired, and her 
 warlike spirit seemed unabated. The first years of the 
 empire had been signalized by conquests as valuable as 
 any gained by the republic in a corresponding period. It 
 is a great fallacy, though apparently sanctioned by great 
 authorities, to suppose that the foreign policy pursued by 
 Augustus was pacific. He certainly recommended such 
 a policy to his successors, either from timidity, or from 
 jealousy of their fame outshining his own ; ^ but he himself, 
 until Arminius broke his spirit, had followed a very different 
 course. Besides his Spanish wars, his generals, in a series 
 of principally aggressive campaigns, had extended the 
 Roman frontier from the Alps to the Danube ; and had 
 reduced into subjection the large and important countries, 
 that now form the territories of all Austria south of that 
 river, and of East Switzerland, Lower Wirtemberg, Bavaria, 
 the Valteline, and the Tyrol. While the progress of the 
 Roman arms thus pressed the Germans from the south, still 
 more formidable inroads had been made by the Imperial 
 legions in the west. Roman armies, moving from the 
 province of Gaul, established a chain of fortresses along the 
 right as well as the left bank of the Rhine, and, in a series 
 of victorious campaigns, advanced their eagles as far as the 
 Elbe ; which now seemed added to the list of vassal rivers, 
 to the Nile, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube, the Tagus, 
 the Seine, and many more, that acknowledged the supre- 
 macy of the Tiber. Roman fleets also, sailing from the 
 harbours of Gaul along the German coasts, and up the 
 estuaries, co-operated with the land-forces of the empire ; 
 and seemed to display, even more decisively than her 
 armies, her overwhelming superiority over the rude 
 Germanic tribes. Throughout the territory thus invaded, 
 the Romans had, with their usual military skill, established 
 chains of fortified posts ; and a powerful army of occupa- 
 tion was kept on foot, ready to move instantly on any spot 
 where a p()|)ular outbreak might be attempted. 
 
 ^ ' Jnccrtiim mctu an jjer invidiam.' — Tag. Ann. i. 11.
 
 THE ROMAN LEGIONS UNDER VARUS 135 
 
 Vast, however, and admirably organized as the fabric 
 of Roman power appeared on the frontiers and in the 
 provinces, there was rottenness at the core. In Rome's 
 unceasing hostiHties with foreign foes, and still more, in 
 her long series of desolating civil wars, the free middle 
 classes of Italy had almost wholly disappeared. Above the 
 position which they had occupied, an oligarchy of wealth 
 had reared itself : beneath that position a degraded mass 
 of poverty and misery was fermenting. Slaves, the chance 
 sweepings of every conquered country, shoals of Africans, 
 Sardinians, Asiatics, Illyrians, and others, made up the 
 bulk of the population of the Italian Peninsula. The 
 foulest profligacy of manners was general in all ranks. In 
 universal weariness of revolution and civil war, and in 
 consciousness of being too debased for self-government, 
 the nation had submitted itself to the absolute authority 
 of Augustus. Adulation was now the chief function of the 
 senate : and the gifts of genius and accomplishments of 
 art were devoted to the elaboration of eloquently false 
 panegyrics upon the prince and his favourite courtiers. 
 With bitter indignation must the German chieftain have 
 beheld all this, and contrasted with it the rough worth of 
 his own countrymen — their bravery, their fidelity to their 
 word, their manly independence of spirit, their love of their 
 national free institutions, and their loathing of every 
 pollution and meanness. Above all he must have thought 
 of the domestic virtues that hallowed a German home ; of 
 the respect there shown to the female character, and of 
 the pvire affection by which that respect was repaid. His 
 soul must have burned within him at the contemplation 
 of such a race yielding to these debased Italians. 
 
 Still, to persuade the Germans to combine, in spite of 
 their frequent feuds among themselves, in one sudden 
 outbreak against Rome ; to keep the scheme concealed 
 from the Romans until the hour for action arrived ; and 
 then, without possessing a single walled town, without 
 military stores, without training, to teach his insurgent 
 countrymen to defeat veteran armies, and storm fortifica- 
 tions, seemed so perilous an enterprise, that probably 
 Arminius Avould have receded from it, had not a stronger 
 feeling even than patriotism urged him on. Among the
 
 136 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS OVER 
 
 Germans of high rank, who had most readily submitted 
 to the invaders, and become zealous partisans of Roman 
 authority was a chieftain named Segestes. His daughter, 
 Thusnelda, was pre-eminent among the noble maidens of 
 Germany. Arminius had sought her hand in marriage ; 
 but Segestes, who probably discerned the young chief's 
 disaffection to Rome, forbade his suit, and strove to 
 preclude all communication between him and his daughter. 
 Thusnelda, however, sympathized far more with the heroic 
 spirit of her lover, than with the time-serving policy 
 of her father. An elopement baffled the precautions of 
 Segestes ; who, disappointed in his hope of preventing the 
 marriage, accused Arminius, before the Roman governor, 
 of having carried of! his daughter, and of planning treason 
 against Rome. Thus assailed, and dreading to see his bride 
 torn from him by the officials of the foreign oppressor, 
 Arminius delayed no longer, but bent all his energies to 
 organize and execute a general insurrection of the great 
 mass of his countrymen, who hitherto had submitted in 
 sullen inertness to the Roman domiiiion. 
 
 A change of governors had recently taken place, which, 
 while it materially favoured the ultimate success of the 
 insurgents, served, by the immediate aggravation of the 
 Roman oppressions which it produced, to make the native 
 population more universally eager to take arms. Tiberius, 
 who was afterwards emi^eror, had lately been recalled from 
 the command in Germany, and sent into Pannonia to put 
 down a dangerous revolt which had broken out against the 
 Romans in that province. The German patriots were 
 thus delivered from the stern supervision of one of the 
 most suspicious of mankind, and were also relieved from 
 having to contend against the high military talents of 
 a veteran commander, who thoroughly understood their 
 national character, and the nature of the country, which 
 he himself had principally subdued. In the room of 
 Tiberius, Augustus sent into Germany Quintilius Varus, 
 who had lately returned from the proconsulate of Syria, 
 Varus was a true representative of the higher classes of the 
 Romans ; among whom a general taste for literature, 
 a keen susceptibility to all intellectual gratifications, 
 a minute acquaintance with the princij)les and practice of
 
 THE ROMAN LEGIONS UNDER VARUS 137 
 
 their own national jurisprudence, a careful training in the 
 schools of the rhetoricians, and a fondness for either 
 partaking in or watching the intellectual strife of forensic 
 oratory, had become generally diffused ; without, however, 
 having humanized the old Roman spirit of cruel indifference 
 for human feelings and human sufferings, and without 
 acting as the least check on unprincipled avarice and 
 ambition, or on habitual and gross profligacy. Accustomed 
 to govern the depraved and debased natives of Syria, 
 a country where courage in man, and virtue in woman, had 
 for centuries been unknown, Varus thought that he might 
 gratify his licentious and rapacious passions with equal 
 impunity among the high-minded sons and pure-spirited 
 daughters of Germany. When the general of an army sets 
 the example of outrages of this description, he is soon 
 faithfully imitated by his officers, and surpassed by his 
 still more brutal soldiery. The Romans now habitually 
 indulged in those violations of the sanctity of the domestic 
 shrine, and those insults upon honour and modesty, by 
 which far less gallant spirits than those of our Teutonic 
 ancestors have often been maddened into insurrection.^ 
 
 Arminius found among the other German chiefs many 
 who sympathized with him in his indignation at their 
 country's debasement, and many whom private wrongs 
 had stung yet more deeply. There was little difficulty in 
 collecting bold leaders for an attack on the oppressors, and 
 
 ^ I cannot forbear quoting Macaulay's beautiful lines, where he 
 describes how similar outrages in the early times of Rome goaded the 
 plebeians to rise against the patricians. 
 
 Heap heavier still the fetters ; bar closer still the grate ; 
 Patient as sheep we yield us up unto your cruel hate. 
 But by the shades beneath us, and by the gods above. 
 Add not unto your cruel hate your still more cruel love. 
 
 Then leave the poor plebeian his single tie to life — 
 
 The sweet, sweet love of daughter, of sister, and of wife. 
 
 The gentle speech, the balm for all that his vext soul endures, 
 
 The kiss in which he half forgets even such a yoke as yours. 
 
 Still let the maiden's beauty swell the father's breast with pride ; 
 
 Still let the bridegroom's arms enfold an unpolluted bride. 
 
 Spare us the inexpiable wrong, the unutterable shame. 
 
 That turns the coward's heart to steel, the sluggard's blood to flame ; 
 
 Lest when our latest hope is fled ye taste of our despair, 
 
 And learn by proof, in some wild hour, how much the wretched dare.
 
 138 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS OVER 
 
 little fear of the population not rising readily at those 
 leaders' call. But to declare open war against Rome, and 
 to encounter Varus 's army in a pitched battle, would have 
 been merely rushing upon certain destruction. Varus had 
 three legions under him, a force which, after allowing for 
 detachments, cannot be estimated at less than fourteen 
 thousand Roman infantry. He had also eight or nine 
 hundred Roman cavalry, and at least an equal number of 
 horse and foot sent from the allied states, or raised among 
 those provincials who had not received the Roman franchise. 
 
 It was not merely the number, but the quality of this 
 force that made it formidable ; and however contemptible 
 Varus might be as a general, Arminius well kncAv how 
 admirably the Roman armies were organized and officered, 
 and how perfectly the legionaries understood every 
 manoeuvre and every duty, which the varying emergencies 
 of a stricken field might require. Stratagem was, therefore, 
 indispensable ; and it was necessary to blind Varus to his 
 schemes until a favourable opportunity should arrive for 
 striking a decisive blow. 
 
 For this purpose, the German confederates frequented 
 the head-quarters of Varus, which seem to have been near 
 the centre of the modern country of Westphalia, where the 
 Roman general conducted himself with all the arrogant 
 security of the governor of a perfectly submissive province. 
 There Varus gratified at once his vanity, his rhetorical 
 taste, and his avarice, by holdmg courts, to which he 
 summoned the Germans for the settlement of all their 
 disputes, Avhile a bar of Roman advocates attended to 
 argue the cases before the tribunal of the Pro-consul ; who 
 did not omit the opportunity of exacting court-fees and 
 accepting bribes. Varus trusted implicitly to the respect 
 which the Germans pretended to pay to his abilities as a 
 judge, and to the interest which they affected to take in the 
 forensic eloquence of their conquerors. Meanwhile a suc- 
 cession of heavy rains rendered the country more difficult 
 for the operations of regular troops ; and Arminius, seeing 
 that the infatuation of Varus was complete, secretly 
 directed the tribes, near the Weser and the Ems, to take 
 u}) arms in open revolt against the Romans. This war; 
 represented to Varus as an occasion which required his
 
 THE ROMAN LEGIONS UNDER VARUS 139 
 
 prompt attendance at the spot ; but he was kept in studied 
 ignorance of its being part of a concerted national rising ; 
 and he still looked on Arminius as his submissive vassal, 
 whose aid he might rely on in facilitating the march of his 
 troops against the rebels, and in extinguishing the local 
 disturbance. He therefore set his army in motion, and 
 marched eastward in a line parallel to the course of the 
 Lippe. For some distance his route lay along a level plain ; 
 but on arriving at the tract between the curve of the upper 
 part of that stream and the sources of the Ems, the country 
 assumes a very different character ; and here, in the terri- 
 tory of the modern little principality of Lippe, it was that 
 Arminius had fixed the scene of his enterprise. 
 
 A woody and hilly region intervenes between the heads 
 of the two rivers, and forms the water-shed of their streams. 
 This region still retains the name (Teutoburger Wald — 
 Teutoburgiensis saltus) which it bore in the days of Arminius, 
 The nature of the ground has probably also remained un- 
 altered. The eastern part of it, round Detmold, the present 
 capital of the principality of Lippe, is described by a modern 
 German scholar, Dr. Plate, as being ' a table-land inter- 
 sected by numerous deep and narrow valleys, which in 
 some places form small plains, surrounded by steep moun- 
 tains and rocks, and only accessible by narrow defiles. 
 All the valleys are traversed by rapid streams, shallow in the 
 dry season, but subject to sudden swellings in autumn and 
 winter. The vast forests which cover the summits and 
 slopes of the hills consist chiefly of oak ; there is little 
 underwood, and both men and horse would move with 
 ease in the forests if the ground were not broken by gulleys, 
 or rendered impracticable by fallen trees '. This is the 
 district to which Varus is supposed to have marched ; and 
 Dr. Plate adds, that ' the names of several localities on and 
 near that spot seem to indicate that a great battle had once 
 been fought there. We find the names "das Winnefeld " 
 (the field of victory), "die Knochenbahn " (the bone-lane), 
 '"die Knochenbeke " (the bone-brook), " der Mordkessel " 
 (the kettle of slaughter), and others.' ^ 
 
 Contrary to the usual strict principles of Roman disci- 
 
 ' I am indebted for much valuable information on this subject to my 
 friend Mr. Henry Pearson.
 
 140 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS OVER 
 
 pline, Varus had suffered his army to be accompanied and 
 impeded by an immense train of baggage-wagons, and by 
 a rabble of camp followers ; as if his troops had been 
 merely changing their quarters in a friendly country. 
 When the long array quitted the firm level ground, and 
 began to wind its way among the woods, the marshes, and 
 the ravines, the difficulties of the march, even without the 
 intervention of an armed foe, became fearfully apparent. 
 In many places the soil, sodden with rain, was impracticable 
 for cavalry and even for infantry, until trees had been felled, 
 and a rude causeway formed through the morass. 
 
 The duties of the engineer were familiar to all who 
 served in the Roman armies. But the crowd and confusion 
 of the columns embarrassed the working parties of the 
 soldiery, and in the midst of their toil and disorder the word 
 was suddenly passed through their ranks that the rear- 
 guard was attacked by the barbarians. Varus resolved on 
 pressing forward ; but a heavy discharge of missiles from 
 the woods on either flank, taught him how serious was the 
 peril, and he saw his best men falling round him without 
 the opportunity of retaliation ; for his light-armed auxili- 
 aries, who were principally of Germanic race, now rapidly 
 deserted, and it was impossible to deploy the legionaries 
 on such broken ground for a charge against the enemy. 
 Choosing one of the most open and firm spots which they 
 could force their way to, the Romans halted for the night ; 
 and, faithful to their national discipline and tactics, formed 
 their camp amid the harassing attacks of the rapidly 
 thronging foes, with the elaborate toil and systematic skill, 
 the traces of which are impressed permanently on the soil 
 of so many European countries, attesting the presence in 
 the olden time of the imperial eagles. 
 
 On the morrow the Romans renewed their march ; the 
 veteran officers, who served under Varus, now probably 
 directing the operations, and hopmg to find the Germans 
 drawn up to meet them ; in which case they relied on 
 their own superior discipline and tactics for such a victory 
 as should reassure the supremacy of Rome. But Arminius 
 was far too sage a commander to lead on his followers 
 with their unwieldy broadswords and mefficient defensive 
 armour, against the Roman legionaries, fully armed with
 
 THE ROMAN LEGIONS UNDER VARUS 141 
 
 helmet, cuirass, greaves, and shield ; who were skilled to 
 commence the conflict with a murderous volley of heavy 
 javelins, hurled upon the foe when a few yards distant, 
 and then, with their short cut-and-thrust swords, to hew 
 their way through all opposition ; preserving the utmost 
 steadiness and coolness, and obeying each word of command 
 in the midst of strife and slaughter, with the same precision 
 and alertness as if upon parade.^ Arminius suffered the 
 Romans to march out from their camp, to form first in 
 Ime for action, and then in column for marching, without 
 the show of opposition. For some distance Varus was 
 allowed to move on, only harassed by slight skirmishes, 
 but struggling with difficulty through the broken ground ; 
 the toil and distress of his men being aggravated by heavy 
 torrents of rain, which burst upon the devoted legions, as 
 if the angry gods of Germany were pouring out the vials 
 of their wrath upon the invaders. After some little time 
 their van approached a ridge of high woody ground, which 
 is one of the offshoots of the great Hercynian forest, and 
 is situate between the modern villages of Driburg and 
 Bielefeld. Arminius had caused barricades of hewn trees 
 to be formed here, so as to add to the natural difficulties 
 of the passage. Fatigue and discouragement now began 
 to betray themselves in the Roman ranks. Their line 
 became less steady ; baggage-wagons were abandoned 
 from the impossibility of forcing them along ; and, as this 
 happened, many soldiers left their ranks and crowded 
 round the wagons to secure the most valuable portions of 
 their property ; each was busy about his own affairs, and 
 purposely slow in hearing the word of command from his 
 officers. Arminius now gave the signal for a general 
 attack. The fierce shouts of the Germans pealed through 
 the gloom of the forests, and in thronging multitudes they 
 assailed the flanks of the invaders, pouring in clouds of 
 darts on the encumbered legionaries, as they struggled up 
 the glens or floundered in the morasses, and watching every 
 opportunity of charging through the intervals of the 
 disjointed column, and so cutting off the communication 
 
 ^ See Gibbon's description (vol. i. chapter 1) of the Roman legions 
 in the time of Augustus ; and see the description in Tacitus, Ann. 
 lib. i., of the subsequent battles between Caecina and Arminius.
 
 142 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS OVER 
 
 between its several brigades. Arminius, with a chosen 
 band of personal retainers round him, cheered on his 
 countrymen by voice and example. He and his men aimed 
 their weapons particularly at the horses of the Roman 
 cavalry. The wounded animals, slipping about in the 
 ■ mire and their own blood, threw their riders, and plunged 
 among the ranks of the legions, disordering all round them. 
 Varus now ordered the troops to be countermarched, in the 
 hope of reaching the nearest Roman garrison on the Lippe.^ 
 But retreat now was as impracticable as advance ; and 
 the falling back of the Romans only augmented the courage 
 of their assailants, and caused fiercer and more frequent 
 charges on the flanks of the disheartened army. The 
 Roman officer who commanded the cavalry, Numonius 
 Vala, rode off with his squadrons, in the vain hope of 
 escaping by thus abandoning his comrades. Unable to 
 keep together, or force their way across the woods and 
 swamps, the horsemen were overpowered in detail and 
 slaughtered to the last man. The Roman infantry still 
 held together and resisted, but more through the instinct 
 of discipline and bravery than from any hope of success 
 or escape. Varus, after being severely wounded in a charge 
 of the Germans against his part of the column, committed 
 suicide to avoid falling into the hands of those whom he 
 had exasperated by his oppressions. One of the lieutenant- 
 generals of the army fell fighting ; the other surrendered 
 to the enemy. But mercy to a fallen foe had never been 
 a Roman virtue, and those among her legions who now 
 laid down their arms in hope of quarter, drank deep of the 
 cup of suffering, which Rome had held to the lips of many 
 a brave but unfortunate enemy. The infuriated Germans 
 
 1 The circumstances of the early part of the battle which Arminius 
 fought with Caecina six years afterwards, evidently resembled those 
 of his battle with Vanis, and the result was very near being the same : 
 I have therefore adopted part of the description which Tacitus gives 
 {Annal. lib. i. c. 65) of the last-mentioned engagement. ' Neque tamen 
 Arminius quamquam libero incursu statim prorupit : sed ut haesere 
 caeno fossisque impedimenta, turbati circum milites, incertus signorum 
 ordo, utque tali in tempore sibi quisque properus et lentae adversum 
 imperia aurcs, irrumpere Germanos iubet, clamitans "EnVarus, et eodem 
 iterum fato vinctae Icgiones ! " Simul haec et cum delectis scindit agmen 
 equisque maxime vulnera ingerit ; illi sanguine suo et lubrico paludum 
 lapsantes excussis rectoribus disicere obvios, proterere iacentes.'
 
 THE ROMAN LEGIONS UNDER VARUS 143 
 
 slaughtered their oppressors with deliberate ferocity ; and 
 those prisoners who were not hewn to pieces on the spot, were 
 only preserved to perish by a more cruel death in cold blood. 
 
 The bulk of the Roman army fought steadily and stub- 
 bornly, frequently repelling the masses of the assailants, 
 but gradually losing the compactness of their array, and 
 becoming weaker and weaker beneath the incessant shower 
 of darts and the reiterated assaults of the vigorous and 
 unencumbered Germans. At last, in a series of desperate 
 attacks the column was pierced through and through, two 
 of the eagles captured, and the Roman host, which on the 
 yester morning had marched forth in such pride and might, 
 now broken up into coirfused fragments, either fell fighting 
 beneath the overpowering numbers of the enemy, or 
 perished in the swamps and woods in unavailing efforts at 
 flight. Few, very few, ever saw again the left bank of the 
 Rhine. One body of brave veterans, arra3dng themselves 
 in a ring on a little mound, beat off every charge of the 
 Germans, and prolonged their honourable resistance to the 
 close of that dreadful day. The traces of a feeble attempt 
 at forming a ditch and mound attested in after years the 
 spot where the last of the Romans passed their night of 
 suffering and despair. But on the morrow, this remnant 
 also, worn out with hunger, wounds, and toil, was charged 
 by the victorious Germans, and either massacred on the 
 spot, or offered up in fearful rites at the altars of the deities 
 of the old mythology of the North. 
 
 A gorge in the mountain ridge, through which runs the 
 modern road between Paderborn and Pyrmont, leads from 
 the spot where the heat of the battle raged, to the Exter- 
 steine, a cluster of bold and grotesque rocks of sandstone ; 
 near which is a small sheet of water, overshadowed by 
 a grove of aged trees. According to local tradition, this 
 was one of the sacred groves of the ancient Germans, and 
 it Avas here that the Roman captives were slain in sacrifice 
 by the victorious warriors of Arminius.^ 
 
 Never was victory more decisive, never was the liberation 
 of an oppressed people more instantaneous and complete. 
 Throughout Germany the Roman garrisons were assailed 
 
 ^ ' Lucis propinquis barbarae arae, apud quas tribunos ao primoriim 
 ordinum centurioncs mactavcrant.'— Tacitus, Ann. lib. i. c. 01.
 
 144 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS OVER 
 
 and cut off ; and, within a few weeks after Varus had fallen, 
 the German soil was freed from the foot of an invader. 
 
 At Rome, the tidings of the battle were received with 
 an agony of terror, the descriptions of which we should 
 deem exaggerated, did they not come from Roman his- 
 torians themselves. These passages in the Roman writers 
 not only tell emphatically how great was the awe which 
 the Romans felt of the prowess of the Germans, if their 
 various tribes could be brought to re-unite for a common 
 purpose,^ but also they reveal how weakened and debased 
 the population of Italy had become. Dion Cassius says,^ 
 ' Then Augustus, when he heard the calamity of Varus, rent 
 his garments, and was in great affliction for the troops he 
 had lost, and for terror respecting the Germans and the 
 Gauls. And his chief alarm was, that he expected them to 
 push on against Italy and Rome : and there remained no 
 Roman youth fit for military duty, that were worth speaking 
 of, and the allied populations that were at all service- 
 able, had been wasted away. Yet he prepared for the 
 emergency as well as his means allowed ; and when none 
 of the citizens of military age were willing to enlist, he made 
 them cast lots, and punished by confiscation of goods and 
 disfranchisement every fifth man among those under thirty- 
 five, and every tenth man of those above that age. At last, 
 when he found that not even thus could he make many 
 come forward, he put some of them to death. So he 
 made a conscription of discharged veterans and emanci- 
 pated slaves, and collecting as large a force as he could, sent 
 it, under Tiberius, with all speed into Germany.' 
 
 Dion mentions, also, a number of terrific portents that 
 were believed to have occurred at the time ; and the narra- 
 tion of which is not immaterial, as it shows the state of the 
 
 * It is clear that the Romans followed the policy of fomenting dissen- 
 sions and wars of the Germans among themselves. See the thirty-third 
 section of the Germania of Tacitus, where he mentions the destruction 
 of the Bructeri by the neighbouring tribes : ' Favore quodam erga nos 
 deorum ; nam nc spectaculo quidem proclii invidere. Super Ix millia 
 non armis telisquo Romanis, scd, quod magnificentius est, oblectationi 
 oculisquo ccciderunt. Mancat quaeso, duretque gentibus, si non amor 
 nostri, at certo odium sui, quando urgentibus imperii fatis nihil iam 
 pracstare fortuna maius potest quam hostium discordiam.' 
 
 " Lib. Ivi. sec. 23.
 
 THE ROMAN LEGIONS UNDER VARUS 145 
 
 public mind, when such things were so believed in, and so 
 interpreted. The summits of the Alps were said to have 
 fallen, and three columns of fire to have blazed up from 
 them. In the Campus Martins, the temple of the War-God, 
 from whom the founder of Rome had sprung, was struck 
 by a thunderbolt. The nightly heavens glowed several 
 times, as if on fire. Many comets blazed forth together ; 
 and fiery meteors, shaped like spears, had shot from the 
 northern quarter of the sky, down into the Roman camps. 
 It was said, too, that a statue of Victory, which had stood 
 at a place on the frontier, pointing the way towards 
 Germany, had, of its own accord, turned round, and now 
 pointed to Italy. These and other prodigies were believed 
 by the multitude to accompany the slaughter of Varus' s 
 legions, and to manifest the anger of the gods against Rome. 
 Augustus himself was not free from superstition ; but on 
 this occasion no supernatural terrors were needed to 
 increase the alarm and grief that he felt ; and which made 
 him, even for months after the news of the battle had 
 arrived, often beat his head against the wall, and exclaim, 
 ' Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions ! ' We learn 
 this from his biographer, Suetonius ; and, indeed, every 
 ancient writer who alludes to the overthrow of Varus 
 attests the importance of the blow against the Roman 
 power, and the bitterness with which it was felt.^ 
 
 The Germans did not pursue their victory beyond their 
 own territory. But that victory secured at once and for 
 ever the independence of the Teutonic race. Rome sent, 
 indeed, her legions again into Germany, to parade a tem- 
 porary superiority ; but all hopes of permanent conquest 
 were abandoned by Augustus and his successors. 
 
 The blow which Arminius had struck never was forgotten. 
 Roman fear disguised itself under the specious title of 
 moderation ; and the Rhine became the acknowledged 
 boundary of the two nations, mitil the fifth century of our 
 era, when the Germans became the assailants, and carved 
 with, their conquering swords the provinces of Imperial 
 Rome into the kingdoms of modern Europe. 
 
 * riorus expresses its effect most pithily. ' Hac clade factum est ut. 
 imperium quod in litore occani non steterat in ripa Rheni fluniinis 
 starct,' iv. 12. 
 
 CREASY T
 
 146 
 
 ARMINIUS. 
 
 I have said above that the great Cheruscan is more truly 
 one of our national heroes than Caractacus is. It may be 
 added that an Englishman is entitled to claim a closer 
 degree of relationship with Arminius than can be claimed 
 by any German of modern Germany. The proof of this 
 depends on the proof of four facts : first, that the Cherusci 
 were Old Saxons, or Saxons of the interior of Germany : 
 secondly, that the Anglo-Saxons, or Saxons of the coast of 
 Germany, were more closely akin than other German tribes 
 were to the Cheruscan Saxons ; thirdly, that the Old 
 Saxons were almost exterminated by Charlemagne ; 
 fourthly, that the Anglo-Saxons are our immediate ances- 
 tors. The last of these may be assumed as an axiom in 
 English history. The proofs of the other three are partly 
 philological, and partly historical. I have not space to go 
 into them here, but they will be found in the early chapters 
 of the great work of Dr. Robert Gordon Latham on the 
 English Language ; and in the notes to his edition of the 
 Germania of Tacitus. It may be, however, here remarked 
 that the present Saxons of Germany are of the High Ger- 
 manic division of the German race, whereas both the 
 Anglo-Saxon and Old Saxon were of the Low Germanic. 
 
 Being thus the nearest heirs of the glory of Arminius, 
 we may fairly devote more attention to his career than, 
 in such a work as the present, could be allowed to any 
 individual leader. And it is interesting to trace how far 
 his fame survived during the Middle Ages, both among 
 the Germans of the Continent and among ourselves. 
 
 It seems probable that the jealousy with which Mara- 
 boduus, the king of the Suevi and Marcomanni, regarded 
 Arminius, and which ultimately broke out into open 
 hostilities between those German tribes and the Cherusci, 
 prevented Arminius from leading the confederate Germans 
 to attack Italy after his first victory. Perhaps he may have 
 had the rare moderation of being content with the liberation 
 of his country, without seeking to retaliate on her former 
 oppressors. When Tiberius marched into Germany in the 
 year 10, Arminius was too cautious to attack him on 
 ground favourable to the legions, and Tiberius was too
 
 ARMINIUS 147 
 
 skilfiil to entangle his troops in the difficult parts of the 
 country. His march and counter-march were as unresisted 
 as they were unproductive. A few years later, when 
 a dangerous revolt of the Roman legions near the frontier 
 caused their generals to find them active employment by 
 leading them into the interior of Germany, we find Arminius 
 again energetic in his country's defence. The old quarrel 
 between him and his father-in-law, Segestes, had broken 
 out afresh. Segestes now called in the aid of the Roman 
 general, Germanicus, to whom he surrendered himself ; and 
 by his contrivance, his daughter Thusnelda, the wife of 
 Arminius, also came into the hands of the Romans, being 
 far advanced in pregnancy. She showed, as Tacitus 
 relates,^ more of the spirit of her husband than of her 
 father, a spirit that could not be subdued into tears or 
 supplications. She was sent to Ravenna, and there gave 
 birth to a son, whose life we find, from an allusion in 
 Tacitus, to have been eventful and unhappy ; but the part 
 of the great historian's work which narrated his fate has 
 perished, and we only know from another quarter that the 
 son of Arminius was, at the age of four years, led captive 
 in a triumphal pageant along the streets of Rome. 
 
 The high spirit of Arminius was goaded almost into 
 frenzy by these bereavements. The fate of his wife, thus 
 torn from him, and of his babe doomed to bondage even 
 before its birth, inflamed the eloquent invectives with 
 which he roused his countrymen against the home traitors, 
 and against their invaders, who thus made war upon 
 women and children. Germanicus had marched his army 
 to the place where Varus had perished, and had there paid 
 funeral honours to the ghastly relics of his predecessor's 
 legions that he found heaped around him.^ Arminius 
 lured him to advance a little further into the country, and 
 then assailed him, and fought a battle, which, by the Roman 
 accounts, was a drawn one. The effect of it was to make 
 Germanicus resolve on retreating to the Rhine. He him- 
 self, with part of his troops, embarked in some vessels on 
 
 ' Ann. i. 57. 
 
 * In the Museum of Rhenish Antiquities at, Bonn there is a Roman 
 sepulchral monument, the inscription on which records that it was 
 erected to the memory of M. Coelius, who fell ' Bello Variano '. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 ARMINIUS 
 
 the Ems, and returned by that river, and then by sea ; but 
 part of his forces were entrusted to a Roman general, 
 named Caecina, to lead them back by land to the Rhine. 
 Arminius followed this division on its march, and fought 
 several battles with it, in which he inflicted heavy loss on 
 the Romans, captured the greater part of their baggage, 
 and would have destroyed them completely, had not his 
 skilful system of operations been finally thwarted by the 
 haste of Inguiomerus, a confederate German chief, who 
 insisted on assaulting the Romans in their camp, instead of 
 waiting till they were entangled in the diflficulties of the 
 country, and assailing their columns on the march. 
 
 In the following year the Romans were inactive ; but 
 in the year afterwards, Germanicus led a fresh invasion. 
 He placed his army on ship -board, and sailed to the mouth 
 of the Ems, where he disembarked, and marched to the 
 Weser, where he encamped, probably in the neighbourhood 
 of Minden. Arminius had collected his army on the other 
 side of the river ; and a scene occurred, which is powerfully 
 told by Tacitus, and which is the subject of a beautiful 
 poem by Praed. It has been already mentioned that the 
 brother of Arminius, like himself, had been trained up, 
 while young, to serve in the Roman armies ; but, unlike 
 Arminius, he not only refused to quit the Roman service for 
 that of his country, but fought against his country with the 
 legions of Germanicus. He had assumed the Roman name 
 of Flavius, and had gained considerable distinction in the 
 Roman service, in which he had lost an eye from a wound 
 in battle. When the Roman outposts approached the 
 river Weser, Arminius called out to them from the opposite 
 bank, and expressed a wish to see his brother. Flavius 
 stepped forward, and Arminius ordered his own followers 
 to retire, and requested that the archers should be removed 
 from the Roman bank of the river. This was done : and 
 the brothers, who apparently had not seen each other for 
 some years, began a conversation from the opposite sides 
 of the stream, in which Arminius questioned his brother 
 respecting the loss of his eye, and what battle it had been 
 lost in, and what reward he had received for his wound. 
 Flavius told him how the eye was destroyed, and mentioned 
 the increased pay that he had on account of its loss, and
 
 ARMINIUS 149 
 
 showed the collar and other military decorations that 
 had been given him. Arminius mocked at these as badges 
 of slavery ; and then each began to try to win the other 
 over ; Flavins, boasting the power of Rome, and her 
 generosity to the submissive ; Arminius appealing to him 
 in the name of their country's gods, of the mother that 
 had borne them, and by the holy names of fatherland and 
 freedom, not to prefer being the betrayer to being the 
 champion of his country. They soon proceeded to mutual 
 taunts and menaces, and Flavins called aloud for his horse 
 and his arms, that he might dash across the river and attack 
 his brother ; nor would he have been checked from doing 
 so, had not the Roman general, Stertinius, run up to him, 
 and forcibly detained him. Arminius stood on the other 
 bank, threatening the renegade, and defying him to battle. 
 I shall not be thought to need apology for quoting here 
 the stanzas in which Praed has described this scene— a 
 scene among the most affecting, as well as the most striking, 
 that history supplies. It makes us reflect on the desolate 
 position of Arminius, with his wife and child captives in the 
 enemy's hands, and with his brother a renegade in arms 
 against him. The great liberator of our German race stood 
 there, with every source of human happiness denied him, 
 except the consciousness of doing his duty to his country. 
 
 Back, back ! he fears not foaming flood 
 
 Who fears not steel-clad line : — 
 No warrior thou of German blood, 
 
 No brother thou of mine. 
 Go, earn Rome's chain to load thy neck. 
 
 Her gems to deck thy hilt ; 
 And blazon honour's hapless wreck 
 
 With all the gauds of guilt. 
 
 But wouldst thou have me share the prey ? 
 
 By all that I have done, 
 The Varian bones that day by day 
 
 Lie whitening in the sun, 
 The legion's trampled panoply. 
 
 The eagle's shattered wing, — ■ 
 I would not be for earth or sky 
 
 So scorn'd and mean a thing. 
 
 Ho, call me here the wizard, boy. 
 
 Of dark and subtle skill. 
 To agonize but not destroy. 
 
 To curse, but not to kill.
 
 150 ARMINIUS 
 
 When swords are out, and shriek and shout 
 
 Leave little room for prayer. 
 No fetter on man's arm or heart 
 
 Hangs half so heavy there. 
 
 I curse him by the gifts, the land 
 
 Hath won from him and Rome, 
 The riving axe, the wasting brand. 
 
 Rent forest, blazing home. 
 I curse him by our country's gods, 
 
 The terrible, the dark. 
 The breakers of the Roman rods, 
 
 The smiters of the bark. 
 
 Oh, misery that such a ban 
 
 On such a brow should be ! 
 Why comes he not in battle's van 
 
 His country's chief to be ? — 
 To stand a comrade by my side. 
 
 The sharer of my fame. 
 And worthy of a brother's pride 
 
 And of a brother's name ? 
 
 But it is past ! — where heroes press 
 
 And cowards bend the knee, 
 Arminius is not brotherless. 
 
 His brethren are the free. 
 They come around : — one hour, and light 
 
 Will fade from turf and tide. 
 Then onward, onward to the fight 
 
 With darkness for our guide. 
 
 To-night, to-night, when we shall meet 
 
 In combat face to face. 
 Then only would Arminius greet 
 
 The renegade's embrace. 
 The canker of Rome's guilt shall bo 
 
 Upon his dying name ; 
 And as he lived in slavery. 
 
 So shall he fall in shame. 
 
 On the day after the Romans had reached the Weser, 
 Germanicus led his army across that river, and a partial 
 encomiter took place, in which Arminius was successful. 
 But on the succeeding day a general action was fought, in 
 which Arminius was severely wounded, and the German 
 infantry routed with heavy loss. The horsemen of the 
 two armies encountered without either party gaining the 
 advantage. But the Roman army remained master of 
 the ground, and claimed a complete victory. Germanicus 
 erected a trophy in the field, with a vaunting inscription,
 
 ARMINIUS 151 
 
 that the nations between the Rhine and the Elbe had been 
 thoroughly conquered by his army. But that army speedily 
 made a final retreat to the left bank of the Rhine ; nor was 
 the effect of their campaign more durable than their trophy. 
 The sarcasm with which Tacitus speaks of certain other 
 triumphs of Roman generals over Germans, may apply to 
 the pageant which Germanicus celebrated on his return to 
 Rome from his command of the Roman army of the Rhine. 
 The Germans were ' triumphati potius quam victi '. 
 
 After the Romans had abandoned their attempts on 
 Germany, we find Arminius engaged in hostilities with 
 Maroboduus, the king of the Suevi and Marcomanni, who 
 was endeavouring to bring the other German tribes into a 
 state of dependency on him. Arminius was at the head of 
 the Germans who took up arms against this home invader 
 of their liberties. After some minor engagements, a 
 pitched battle was fought between the two confederacies, 
 A. D. 16, in which the loss on each side was equal ; but 
 Maroboduus confessed the ascendancy of his antagonist 
 by avoiding a renewal of the engagement, and by imploring 
 the intervention of the Romans in his defence. The 
 younger Drusus then commanded the Roman legions in 
 the province of Illyricum, and by his mediation a peace 
 was concluded between Arminius and Maroboduus, by the 
 terms of which it is evident that the latter must have 
 renounced his ambitious schemes against the freedom of the 
 other German tribes. 
 
 Arminius did not long survive this second war of inde- 
 pendence, which he successfully waged for his country. 
 He was assassinated in the thirty-seventh year of his age, 
 by some of his own kinsmen, who conspired against him. 
 Tacitus says that this happened while he was engaged in 
 a civil war, which had been caused by his attempts to make 
 himself king over his countrymen. It is far more probable 
 (as one of the best biographers^ of Arminius has observed) 
 that Tacitus misunderstood an attempt of Arminius to 
 extend his influence as elective war-chieftain of the Cherusci 
 and other tribes, for an attempt to obtain the royal dignity. 
 When we remember that his father-in-law and his brother 
 
 * Dr. Plate, in Biographical Dictionary, commenced by the Society for 
 the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
 
 152 ARMINIUS 
 
 were renegades, we can well understand that a party among 
 his kinsmen may have been bitterly hostile to him and have 
 opposed his authority with the tribe by open violence, and 
 when that seemed ineffectual, by secret assassination. 
 
 Arminius left a name which the historians of the nation 
 against which he combated so long and so gloriously have 
 delighted to honour. It is from the most indisputable 
 source, from the lips of enemies, that we know his exploits.^ 
 His countrymen made history, but did not write it. But 
 his memory lived among them in the lays of their bards, 
 who recorded — 
 
 The deeds he did, the fields he won, 
 
 The freedom he restored. 
 
 Tacitus, many years after the death of Arminius, says of 
 him, ' Canitur adhuc barbaras apud gentes '. As time 
 passed on, the gratitude of ancient Germany to her great 
 deliverer grew into adoration, and divine honours were paid 
 for centuries to Arminius by every tribe of the Low Ger- 
 manic division of the Teutonic races. The Irmin-sul, or 
 the column of Hermann, near Eresburg, the modern Stadt- 
 berge, was the chosen object of worship to the descendants 
 of the Cherusci, the old Saxons, and in defence of which 
 they fought most desperately against Charlemagne and his 
 christianized Franks. ' Irmin, in the cloudy Olympus of 
 Teutonic belief, appears as a king and a warrior ; and the 
 pillar, the " Irmin-sul ", bearing the statue, and considered 
 as the symbol of the deity, was the Palladium of the Saxon 
 nation, until the temple of Eresburg was destroyed by 
 Charlemagne, and the column itself transferred to the 
 monastery of Cor bey, where, perhaps, a portion of the rude 
 rock idol yet remains, covered by the ornaments of the 
 Gothic era.' ^ 
 
 Traces of the worship of Arminius are to be found among 
 our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, after their settlement in this 
 island. One of the four great highways was held to be 
 under the protection of the deity, and was called the 
 ' Irmin-street '. The name Arminius is, of course, the 
 mere latinized form of ' Hermann ', the name by which the 
 hero and the deity were known by every man of Low 
 
 * See Tacitus, Ann. lib. ii. sec. 88 ; Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii. sec. 118. 
 
 * Palgrave on the English Commonwealth, vol. ii. p. 140.
 
 ARMINIUS 153 
 
 German blood, on either side of the German sea. It 
 means, etymologically, the ' War-man ', the ' man of 
 hosts '. No other explanation of the worship of the 
 ' Irminsul ', and of the name of the ' Irmin-street ', is so 
 satisfactory as that which connects them with the deified 
 Arminius. We know for certain of the existence of other 
 columns of an analogous character. Thus, there was the 
 Rolandsaule in North Germany ; there was a Thorsaule 
 in Sweden, and (what is more important) there was an 
 Athelstansaule in Saxon England.^ 
 
 There is at the present moment a song respecting the 
 Irminsul, current in the bishopric of Minden, one version 
 of which might seem only to refer to Charlemagne having 
 pulled down the Irminsul : 
 
 Hermann, sla dermen, 
 
 Sla pipen, sla trummen, 
 
 De Kaiser will kummen 
 
 Met hamer un stangen, 
 
 Will Hermann uphangen. 
 
 But there is another version, which probably is the oldest, 
 and which clearly refers to the great Arminius : 
 
 Un Hermann slaug dermen, 
 Slaug pipen, slaug trummen ; 
 De fiirsten sind kummen 
 Met all eren mannen, 
 Hebt Varus uphangen.* 
 
 About ten centuries and a half after the demolition of 
 the Irminsul, and nearly eighteen after the death of Armi- 
 nius, the modern Germans conceived the idea of rendering 
 tardy homage to their great hero ; and, accordingly, some 
 eight or ten years ago a general subscription was organized 
 in Germany, for the purpose of erecting, on the Osning — 
 a conical mountain, which forms the highest summit of the 
 Teutoburger Wald, and is eighteen hundred feet above the 
 level of the sea — a colossal bronze statue of Arminius. The 
 statue was designed by Bandel. The hero was to stand 
 uplifting a sword in his right hand, and looking towards 
 the Rhine. The height of the statue was to be eighty feet 
 
 * See Lappenburg's Anglo-Saxons, p. 376. For nearly all the philo- 
 logical and ethnographical facts respecting Arminius, I am indebted 
 to Dr. R. G. Latham. 
 
 ^ See Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, p. 329.
 
 154 ARMINIUS 
 
 from the base to the point of the sword, and was to stand 
 on a circular Gothic temple, ninety feet high, and supported 
 by oak trees as columns. The mountain, where it was to 
 be erected, is wild and stern, and overlooks the scene of the 
 battle. It was calculated that the statue would be clearly 
 visible at a distance of sixty miles. The temple is nearly 
 finished, and the statue itself has been cast at the copper 
 works at Lemgo. But there, through want of funds to set 
 it up, it has lain for some years, in disjointed fragments, 
 exposed to the mutilating homage of relic-seeking travel- 
 lers. The idea of honouring a hero, who belongs to all 
 Germany, is not one which the present rulers of that divided 
 country have any wish to encourage ; and the statue may 
 long continue to lie there, and present too true a type of 
 the condition of Germany herself.^ 
 
 Surely this is an occasion in which Englishmen might 
 well prove, by acts as well as words, that we also rank 
 Arminius among our heroes. 
 
 I have quoted the noble stanzas of one of our modern 
 English poets on Arminius, and I will conclude this memoir 
 with one of the odes of the great poet of modern Germany, 
 Klopstock, on the victory to which we owe our freedom, 
 and Arminivis mainly owes his fame. Ellopstock calls it 
 the 'Battle of Winfeld '. The epithet of 'Sister of 
 Cannae ' shows that Klopstock followed some chronologers, 
 according to whom Varus w^as defeated on the anniversary 
 of the day on which Paulus and Varro were defeated by 
 Hannibal. 
 
 SONG .OF TRIUMPH AFTER THE VICTORY OF HERMANN, THE 
 DELIVERER OF GERMANY FROM THE ROMANS 
 
 From Klopstock's Hermann und die Filrsten 
 Supposed to be sung by a chorus of Bards 
 
 A CHORUS 
 
 Sister of Cannae ! " Winfeld's ^ fight ! 
 We saw thee with thy streaming bloody hair, 
 With fiery eye, bright with the world's despair. 
 Sweep by Walhalla's bards from out our sight. 
 
 ^ On the subject of this statue I must repeat an acknowledgement 
 of my obligations to my friend Mr. Henry Pearson. 
 
 ^ The battle of Cannae, b. c. 216 — Hannibal's victory over the Romans. 
 * Winfeld — the probable site of the Hermannschlacht. See supra.
 
 ARMINIUS 155 
 
 nermann outspake — ' Now Victory or Death ! ' 
 The Romans . . . ' Victory ! ' 
 And onward rushed their eagles with the cry 
 ■ — So ended the first day. 
 
 ' Victory or Death ! ' began 
 
 Then, first, the Roman chief — and Hermann spake 
 Not, but home-struck : — the eagles fluttered — brake — 
 — So sped the second day. 
 
 TWO CHORUSES 
 
 And the third came . . . the cry was ' Flight or Death ! ' 
 Flight left they not for them who'd make them slaves — 
 Men who stab children ! — flight for them ! . . . no ! graves 
 — 'Twas their last day. 
 
 TWO BARDS 
 
 Yet spared they messengers : — two came to Rome — 
 How drooped the plume — the lance was left to trail 
 Down in the dust behind — ^their cheek was pale — 
 So came the messengers to Rome. 
 
 High in his hall the hnperator sate — 
 Octavianus Caesar Augustus sate. 
 They filled up wine-cups, wine-cups filled they up 
 For him the highest, Jove of all their state. 
 
 The flutes of Lydia hushed before their voice. 
 Before the mcosengers — -the ' Highest ' sprung — 
 The god ^ against the marble pillars, wrung 
 By the dread words, striking his brow, and thrice 
 Cried he aloud in anguish — ' Varus ! Varus ! 
 Give back my legions, Varus ! ' 
 
 And now the world-wide conquerors shrunk and feared 
 For fatherland and home 
 
 The lance to raise ; and 'mongst those false to Rome 
 The death-lot rolled,^ and still they shrunk and feared ; 
 
 ' For she her face hath turned. 
 
 The victor goddess,' cried these cowards — (for aye 
 
 Be it !) — ' from Rome and Romans, and her day 
 
 Is done,' — and still he mourned, 
 
 And cried aloud in anguish—' Varus ! Varus ! 
 
 Give back my legions. Varus ! ' * 
 
 * Augustus was worshipped as a deity in his lifetime. 
 '^ See supra, p. 144. 
 
 ' I have taken this translation from an anonymous writer in Fraser 
 two years ago.
 
 156 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS AFTER 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN ARMINIUS'S 
 VICTORY OVER VARUS AND THE BATTLE OF 
 CHALONS 
 
 A.D. 43. The Romans commence the conquest of Britain, 
 Claudius being then emperor of Rome. The population 
 of this island was then Celtic. In about forty years all 
 the tribes south of the Clyde were subdued, and their 
 land made a Roman province. 
 
 58-60, Successful campaigns of the Roman general 
 Corbulo against the Parthians. 
 
 64. First persecution of the Christians at Rome under Nero. 
 
 68-70. Civil wars in the Roman world. The emperors 
 Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius cut off successively by 
 violent deaths. Vespasian becomes emperor. 
 
 70. Jerusalem destroyed by the Romans under Titus. 
 
 83. Futile attack of Domitian on the Germans. 
 
 86. Beginning of the wars between the Romans and 
 the Dacians. 
 
 98-117. Trajan, emperor of Rome. Under him the 
 empire acquires its greatest territorial extent by his 
 conquests in Dacia and in the East. His successor, Hadrian, 
 abandons the provinces beyond the Euphrates, which 
 Trajan had conquered. 
 
 138-80, Era of the Antonines. 
 
 167-76, A long and desperate war between Rome and 
 a great confederacy of the German nations, Marcus 
 Antoninus at last succeeds in repelling them. 
 
 192-7. Civil wars throughout the Roman world. Severus 
 becomes emperor. He relaxes the discipline of the soldiers. 
 After his death in 211, the series of military insurrections, 
 civil wars, and murders of emperors recommences. 
 
 226. Artaxerxes (Ardisheer) overthrows the Parthian, 
 and restores the Persian kingdom in Asia, He attacks the 
 Roman possessions in the East, 
 
 250. The Goths invade the Roman provinces. The 
 emperor Decius is defeated and slain by them. 
 
 253-60, The Franks and Alemanni invade Gaul, Spain, 
 and Africa. The Goths attack Asia Minor and Greece, 
 The Persians conquer Armenia, Their king, Sapor,
 
 ARMINIUS'S VICTORY OVER VARUS 157 
 
 defeats the Roman emperor Valerian, and takes him 
 prisoner. General distress of the Roman empire. 
 
 268-83. The emperors Claudius, Aurelian, Tacitus, 
 Probus, and Carus defeat the various enemies of Rome, 
 and restore order in the Roman state. 
 
 285. Diocletian divides and reorganizes the Roman 
 empire. After his abdication in 305 a fresh series of 
 civil wars and confusion ensues. Constantine, the first 
 Christian emperor, revmites the empire in 324. 
 
 330. Constantine makes Constantinople the seat of empire 
 instead of Rome. 
 
 363. The emperor Julian is killed in action against the 
 Persians. 
 
 364-75. The empire is again divided, Valentinian being 
 emperor of the West, and Valens of the East. Valentinian 
 repulses the Alemanni, and other German invaders from 
 Gaul. Splendour of the Gothic kingdom under Hermanric, 
 north of the Danube. 
 
 375-95. The Huns attack the Goths, who implore the 
 protection of the Roman emperor of the East. The Goths 
 are allowed to pass the Danube, and to settle in the Roman 
 provinces. A war soon breaks out between them and the 
 Romans, and the emperor Valens and his army are des- 
 troyed by them. They ravage the Roman territories. The 
 emperor Theodosius reduces them to submission. They 
 retain settlements in Thrace and Asia Minor. 
 
 395. Final division of the Roman empire between 
 Arcadius and Hondrius, the two sons of Theodosius, The 
 Goths revolt, and under Alaric attack various parts of 
 both the Roman empires. 
 
 410. Alaric takes the city of Rome. 
 
 412. The Goths march into Gaul, and in 414 into Spain, 
 which had been already invaded by hosts of Vandals, 
 Suevi, Alani, and other Germanic nations. Britain is 
 formally abandoned by the Roman emperor of the West. 
 
 428. Genseric, king of the Vandals, conquers the Roman 
 province of North Africa. 
 
 441. The Huns attack the Eastern empire.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE BATTLE OF CHALONS, a.d. 451 
 
 ' The discomfiture of the mighty attempt of Attila to found a noiy 
 Anti-Christian dynasty upon the wreck of the temporal power of Rome, 
 at the end of the term of twelve hundred years, to which its duration 
 had been limited by the forebodings of the heathen.' — Herbert. 
 
 A BROAD expanse of plains, the Campi Catalaunici of 
 the ancients, spreads far and wide around the city of 
 Chalons, in the north-east of France. The long rows of 
 poplars, through which the river Marne winds its way, 
 and a few thinly scattered villages, are almost the only 
 objects that vary the monotonous aspect of the greater 
 part of this region. But about five miles from Chalons, 
 near the little hamlets of Chape and Cuperly, the ground is 
 indented and heaped up in ranges of grassy mounds and 
 trenches, which attest the work of man's hand in ages past ; 
 and which, to the practised eye, demonstrate that this 
 quiet spot has once been the fortified position of a huge 
 military host. 
 
 Local tradition gives to those ancient earthworks the 
 name of Attila's Camp. Nor is there any reason to question 
 the correctness of the title, or to doubt that behind these 
 very ramparts it was that, 1,400 years ago, the most power- 
 ful heathen king that ever ruled in Europe mustered the 
 remnants of his vast army, which had striven on these 
 plains against the Christian soldiery of Toulouse and Rome. 
 Here it was that Attila prepared to resist to the death 
 his victors in the field ; and here he heaped up the treasures 
 of his camp in one vast pile, which was to be his funeral 
 pyre should his camp be stormed. It was here that the 
 Gothic and Italian forces watched, but dared not assail, 
 their enemy in his despair, a f ter that great and terrible 
 day of battle, when 
 
 The sound 
 Of conflict was o'erpast, the shout of all 
 Whom earth could send from her remotest bounds
 
 BATTLE OF CHALONS 159 
 
 Heathen or faithful ; from thy hundred mouths. 
 That feed the Caspian with Riphean snows. 
 Huge Volga ! from famed Hypanis, which once 
 Cradled the Hun ; from all the countless realms 
 Between Imaus and that utmost strand 
 Where columns of Herculean rock confront 
 The blown Atlantic ; Roman, Goth, and Hun, 
 And Scythian strength of chivalry, that tread 
 The cold Codanian shore, or what far lands 
 Inhospitable drink Cimmerian floods, 
 Franks, Saxons, Suevic, and Sarmatian chiefs. 
 And who from green Armorica or Spain 
 Flocked to the work of death.' 
 
 The victory which the Roman general Aetius, with his 
 Gothic allies, had then gained over the Huns was the 
 last victory of Imperial Rome. But among the long Fasti 
 of her triumphs, few can be found that, for their importance 
 and ultimate benefit to mankind, are comparable with 
 this expiring effort of her arms. It did not, indeed, open 
 to her any new career of conquest — it did not consolidate 
 the relics of her power — it did not turn the rapid ebb of 
 her fortunes. The mission of Imperial Rome was, in truth, 
 already accomplished. She had received and transmitted 
 through her once ample dominion the civilization of Greece. 
 She had broken up the barriers of narrow nationalities 
 among the various states and tribes that dwelt around the 
 coasts of the Mediterranean. She had fused these and 
 many other races into one organized empire, bound 
 together by a community of laws, of government, and 
 institutions. Under the shelter of her full power the 
 True Faith had arisen in the earth, and during the years 
 of her decline it had been nourished to maturity, and had 
 overspread all the provinces that ever obeyed her sway.^ 
 For no beneficial purpose to mankind could the dominion 
 of the seven-hilled city have been restored or prolonged. 
 But it was all-important to mankind what nations should 
 divide among them Rome's rich inheritance of empire : — 
 whether the Germanic and Gothic warriors should form 
 states and kingdoms out of the fragments of her dominions, 
 and become the free members of the commonwealth of 
 Christian Europe ; or whether pagan savages from the wilds 
 
 * Herbert's Attila, book i. line 13. 
 
 * See the Introduction to Ranke's History of the Popes.
 
 160 BATTLE OF CHALONS 
 
 of Central Asia should crush the relies of classic civilization, 
 and the early institutions of the christianized Germans, 
 in one hopeless chaos of barbaric conquest. The Christian 
 Visigoths of King Theodoric fought and triumphed at 
 Chalons, side by side with the legions of Aetius. Their 
 joint victory over the Hunnish host not only rescued for 
 a time from destruction the old age of Rome, but preserved 
 for centuries of power and glory the Germanic element in 
 the civilization of modern Europe. 
 
 In order to estimate the full importance to mankind 
 of the battle of Chalons, we must keep steadily in mind 
 who and what the Germans were, and the important 
 distinctions between them and the numerous other races 
 that assailed the Roman Empire : and it is to be understood 
 that the Gothic and Scandinavian nations are included in 
 the German race. Now, ' in two remarkable traits the 
 Germans differed from the Sarmatic, as well as from the 
 Slavic nations, and, indeed, from all those other races 
 to whom the Greeks and Romans gave the designation of 
 barbarians. I allude to their personal freedom and regards 
 for the rights of men ; secondly, to the respect paid by 
 them to the female sex, and the chastity for which the 
 latter were celebrated among the people of the North. 
 These were the foundations of that probity of character, 
 self-respect, and purity of manners which may be traced 
 among the Germans and Goths even during pagan times, 
 and which, when their sentiments were enlightened by 
 Christianity, brought out those splendid traits of character 
 which distinguish the age of chivalry and romance.' ^ 
 What the intermixture of the German stock with the 
 classic, at the fall of the Western Empire, has done for 
 mankind, may be best felt by watching, with Arnold, over 
 how large a portion of the earth the influence of the German 
 element is now extended. 
 
 ' It affects, more or less, the whole west of Europe, 
 from the head of the Gulf of Bothnia to the most southern 
 promontory of Sicily, from the Oder and the Adriatic to 
 the Hebrides and to Lisbon. It is triie that the language 
 spoken over a large portion of this space is not predomi- 
 
 ^ Soe Prichard's Researches into the Physical History of Man, vol. iii. 
 p. 423.
 
 BATTLE OF CHALONS 161 
 
 nantly German ; but even in France and Italy and Sj^ain, 
 the influence of the Franks, Burgundians, Visigoths, 
 Ostrogoths, and Lombards, while it has colovired even 
 the language, has in blood and institutions left its mark 
 legibly and indelibly. Germany, the Low Countries, 
 Switzerland for the most part, Denmark, Norway, and 
 Sweden, and our own islands, are all in language, in blood, 
 and in institutions, German most decidedly. But all 
 South America is peopled with Spaniards and Portuguese ; 
 all North America, and all Australia, with Englishmen. 
 I say nothing of the prospects and influence of the German 
 race in Africa and in India : it is enough to say that half 
 of Europe, and all America and Australia, are German, 
 more or less completely, in race, in language, or in institu- 
 tions, or in all.' ^ 
 
 By the middle of the fifth century, Germanic nations 
 had settled themselves in many of the fairest regions 
 of the Roman Empire, had imposed their yoke on the 
 provincials, and had undergone, to a considerable extent, 
 that moral conquest which the arts and refinements of 
 the vanquished in arms have so often achieved over the 
 rough victor. The Visigoths held the north of Spain and 
 Gaul south of the Loire. Franks, Alemanni, Alans, and 
 Burgundians, had established themselves in other Gallic 
 provinces, and the Suevi were masters of a large southern 
 portion of the Spanish peninsula. A king of the Vandals 
 reigned in North Africa, and the Ostrogoths had firmly 
 planted themselves in the provinces north of Italy. Of 
 these powers and principalities, that of the Visigoths, 
 under their king Theodoric, son of Alaric, was by far the 
 first in power and in civilization. 
 
 The pressure of the Huns upon Europe had first been 
 felt in the fourth century of our era. They had long been 
 formidable to the Chinese empire ; but the ascendancy 
 in arms which another nomadic tribe of Central Asia, the 
 Sienpi, gained over them, drove the Huns from their 
 Chinese conquests westward ; and this movement once 
 being communicated to the whole chain of barbaric 
 nations that dwelt northward of the Black Sea and the 
 Eoman Empire, tribe after tribe of savage warriors broke 
 ^ Arnold's Lectures on Modern History, p. 35. 
 
 CEEASY . -^
 
 162 BATTLE OF CHALONS 
 
 in upon the barriers of civilized Europe, ' velut unda 
 supervenit undam '. The Huns crossed the Tanais into 
 Europe in 375, and rapidly reduced to subjection the 
 Alans, the Ostrogoths, and other tribes that were then 
 dwelling along the course of the Danube. The armies of 
 the Roman emperor that tried to check their progress, 
 were cut to pieces by them ; and Pannonia and other 
 provinces south of the Danube were speedily occupied by 
 the victorious cavalry of these new invaders. Not merely 
 the degenerate Romans, but the bold and hardy warriors 
 of Germany and Scandinavia were appalled at the numbers, 
 the ferocity, the ghastly appearance, and the lightning-like 
 rapidity of the Huns. Strange and loathsome legends 
 were coined and credited, which attributed their origin 
 to the union of 
 
 Secret, black, and midnight hags 
 
 with the evil spirits of the wilderness. 
 
 Tribe after tribe, and city after city, fell before them. 
 Then came a pause in their career of conquest in south- 
 western Europe, caused probabl}^ by dissensions among 
 their chiefs, and also by their arms being employed in 
 attacks upon the Scandinavian nations. But when Attila 
 (or Atzel, as he is called in the Hungarian language) 
 became their ruler, the torrent of their arms was directed 
 with augmented terrors upon the west and the south ; and 
 their myriads marched beneath the guidance of one master- 
 mind to the overthrow both of the new and the old powers 
 of the earth. 
 
 Recent events have thrown such a strong interest 
 over everything connected with the Hungarian name, that 
 even the terrible name of Attila now impresses us the 
 more vividly through our sympathizing admiration of the 
 exploits of those who claim to be descended from his 
 warriors, and ' ambitiously insert the name of Attila 
 among their native kings '. The authenticity of this 
 martial genealogy is denied by some writers, and questioned 
 by more. But it is at least certain that the Magyars of 
 Arpad, who are the immediate ancestors of the bulk of 
 the modern Hungarians, and who conquered the country 
 which bears the name of Hungary in a.d. 889, were of
 
 BATTLE OF CHALONS 163 
 
 the same stock of mankind as were the Huns of Attila, 
 even if they did not belong to the same subdivision of 
 that stock. Nor is there any improbability in the tradition, 
 that after Attila' s death many of his warriors remained 
 in Hungary, and that their descendants afterwards joined 
 the Huns of Arpad in their career of conquest. It is 
 certain that Attila made Hungary the seat of his empire. 
 It seems also susceptible of clear proof that the territory 
 was then called Hungvar, and Attila' s soldiers Hungvari. 
 Both the Huns of Attila and those of Arpad came from the 
 family of nomadic nations, whose primitive regions were 
 those vast wildernesses of High Asia, which are included 
 between the Altaic and the Himalayan mountain-chains. 
 The inroads of these tribes upon the lower regions of Asia, 
 and into Europe, have caused many of the most remarkable 
 revolutions in the history of the world. There is every 
 reason to believe that swarms of these nations made their 
 way into distant parts of the earth, at periods long before 
 the date of the Scythian invasion of Asia, which is the 
 earliest inroad of the nomadic race that history records. 
 The first, as far as we can conjecture, in respect to the time 
 of their descent, were the Finnish and Ugrian tribes, who 
 appear to have come down from the Altaic border of High 
 Asia towards the north-west, in which direction they 
 advanced to the Uralian mountains. There they estab- 
 lished themselves : and that mountain chain, with its 
 valleys and pasture lands, became to them a new country, 
 whence they sent out colonies on every side ; but the 
 Ugrian colony, which, under Arpad, occupied Hungary, and 
 became the ancestors of the bulk of the present Hungarian 
 nation, did not quit their settlements on the Uralian 
 mountains till a very late period, not until four centuries 
 after the time when Attila led from the primary seats of 
 the nomadic races in High Asia the host with which he 
 advanced into the heart of France.^ That host was Turkish; 
 but closely allied in origin, language, and habits, with the 
 Finno -Ugrian settlers on the Ural. 
 
 Attila' s fame has not come down to us through the 
 partial and suspicious medium of chroniclers and poets 
 of his own race. It is not from Hunnish authorities that 
 
 * See Prichard's Researches into the Physical History o/ Mankind. 
 M 2
 
 164 BATTLE OF CHALONS 
 
 Ave learn the extent of his might : it is from his enemies, 
 from the literature and the legends of the nations whom he 
 afflicted with his arms, that we draw the unquestionable 
 evidence of his greatness. Besides the express narratives 
 of Byzantine, Latin, and Gothic writers, we have the 
 strongest proof of the stern reality of Attila's conquests, 
 in the extent to which he and his Huns have been the 
 themes of the earliest German and Scandinavian laj's. Wild 
 as many of these legends are, they bear concurrent and 
 certain testimony to the aAve A\ith which the memory of 
 Attila was regarded by the bold warriors who composed 
 and delighted in them. Attila's exploits, and the wonders 
 of his unearthly steed and magic sword, repeatedly occur 
 in the Sagas of Norway and Iceland ; and the celebrated 
 Nibelungen-Lied, the most ancient of Germanic poetry, 
 is full of them. There Etsel, or Attila, is described as the 
 wearer of twelve mighty crowns, and as promising to his 
 bride the lands of thirty kings, whom his irresistible sword 
 had subdued. He is, in fact, the hero of the latter part 
 of this remarkable poem ; and it is at his capital city, 
 Etselenburgh, which evidently corresponds to the modem 
 Buda, that much of its action takes place. 
 
 When we turn from the legendary to the historic Attila, 
 we see clearly that he was not one of the vulgar herd of 
 barbaric conquerors. Consummate military skill may be 
 traced in his campaigns ; and he relied far less on the 
 brute force of armies for the aggrandizement of his empire, 
 than on the unbounded influence over the affections of 
 friends and the fears of foes, which his genius enabled him 
 to acquire. Austerely sober in his private life, — severely 
 just on the judgement-seat, — conspicuous among a nation 
 of warriors for hardihood, strength, and skill in every 
 martial exercise, — grave and deliberate in counsel, but 
 rapid and remorseless in execution, — he gave safety and 
 security to all who were under his dominion, while he 
 waged a warfare of extermination against all who opj)osed 
 or sought to escape from it. He watched the national 
 passions, the prejudices, the creeds, and the superstitions 
 of the varied nations over which he ruled, and of those 
 which he sought to reduce beneath his sway : all these 
 feelings he had the skill to turn to his own account. His
 
 BATTLE OF CHALONS 165 
 
 own warriors believed him to be the inspired favourite 
 of their deities, and followed him with fanatic zeal : his 
 enemies looked on him as the pre-appointed minister of 
 Heaven's wrath against themselves ; and, though they 
 believed not in his creed, their own made them tremble 
 before him. 
 
 In one of his early campaigns, he appeared before his 
 troops with an ancient iron sword in his grasp, which he 
 told them was the god of war whom their ancestors had 
 worshipped. It is certain that the nomadic tribes of 
 Northern Asia, whom Herodotus described under the name 
 of Scythians, from the earliest times worshipped as their 
 god a bare sword. That sword-god was supposed, in Attila's 
 time, to have disappeared from earth ; but the Hunnish 
 king now claimed to have received it by special revelation. 
 It was said that a herdsman, who was tracking in the desert 
 a wounded heifer by the drops of blood, found the mysterious 
 sword standing fixed in the ground, as if it had been darted 
 down from heaven. The herdsman bore it to Attila, who 
 thenceforth was believed by the Huns to wield the Spirit 
 of Death in battle ; and the seers prophesied that that 
 sword was to destroy the world. A Roman,^ who was on 
 an embassy to the Hunnish camp, recorded in his memoirs 
 Attila's acquisition of this supernatural weapon, and the 
 immense influence over the minds of the barbaric tribes 
 which its possession gave him. In the title which he 
 assumed, we shall see the skill with which he availed himself 
 of the legends and creeds of other nations as well as of his 
 o\vn. He designated himself ' Attila, Descendant of the 
 Great Nimrod. Nurtured in Engaddi. By the Grace of 
 God, King of the Huns, the Goths, the Danes, and the 
 Medes. The Dread of the World.' 
 
 Herbert states that Attila is represented on an old 
 medallion with a Teraphim, or a head, on his breast ; and 
 the same writer adds : ' We know, from the Hamartigenea 
 of Prudentius, that Nimrod, with a snaky-haired head, 
 was the object of adoration to the heretical followers of 
 Marcion ; and the same head was the palladium set up 
 by Antiochus Epiphanes over the gates of Antioch, though 
 it has been called the visage of Charon. The memory of 
 
 ^ Priscus.
 
 160 BATTLE OF CHALONS 
 
 Nimrod was certainly regarded with mystic veneration by 
 many ; and by asserting himself to be the heir of that 
 mighty hunter before the Lord, he vindicated to himself 
 at least the whole Babylonian kingdom. 
 
 ' The singular assertion in his style, that he was nurtured 
 in Engaddi, where he certainly had never been, will be 
 more easily understood on reference to the twelfth chapter 
 of the Book of Revelation, concerning the woman clothed 
 mth the sun, who was to bring forth in the wilderness — 
 " where she hath a place prepared of God" — a man-child, 
 who was to contend with the dragon having seven heads 
 and ten horns, and rule all nations with a rod of iron. 
 This prophecy was at that time understood universally by 
 the sincere Christians to refer to the birth of Constantine, 
 who was to overwhelm the paganism of the city on the 
 seven hills, and it is still so explained ; but it is evident that 
 the heathens must have looked on it in a different light, and 
 have regarded it as a foretelling of the birth of that Great 
 One who should master the temporal power of Rome. The 
 assertion, therefore, that he was nurtured in Engaddi, is 
 a claim to be looked upon as that man-child who was to be 
 brought forth in a place prepared of God in the wilderness. 
 Engaddi means, a place of palms and vines, in the desert ; 
 it was hard by Zoar, the city of refuge, which was saved in 
 the vale of Siddim, or Demons, when the rest were destroyed 
 by fire and brimstone from the Lord in heaven, and might, 
 therefore, be especially called a place prepared of God in 
 the wilderness.' 
 
 It is obvious enough why he styled himself ' By the 
 Grace of God, King of the Huns and Goths ' ; and it seems 
 far from difficult to see why he added the names of the 
 Medes and the Danes. His armies had been engaged in 
 warfare against the Persian kingdom of the Sassanidae ; 
 and it is certain^ that he meditated the attack and over- 
 throw of the Medo-Persian power. Probably some of the 
 northern provinces of that kingdom had been compelled to 
 pay him tribute ; and this would account for his styling 
 himself King of the Medes, they being his remotest subjects 
 to the south. From a similar cause he may have called 
 himself King of the Danes, as his power may well have 
 * See the narrative of Priscus.
 
 BATTLE OF CHALONS 167 
 
 extended northwards as far as the nearest of the Scandina- 
 vian nations ; and this mention of Medes and Danes as his 
 subjects, would serve at once to indicate the vast extent of 
 liis dominion.^ 
 
 The extensive territory north of the Danube and Black 
 Sea, and eastward of Caucasus, over which Attila ruled, 
 first in conjunction with his brother Bleda, and afterwards 
 alone, cannot be very accurately defined ; but it must have 
 comprised within it, besides the Huns, many nations of 
 Slavic, Gothic, Teutonic, and Finnish origin. South also 
 of the Danube, the country, from the river Sau as far as 
 Novi m Thrace, was a Hunnish province. Such was the 
 empire of the Huns in a. d. 445 ; a memorable year, in 
 which Attila founded Buda on the Danube, as his capital 
 city ; and ridded himself of his brother by a crime, which 
 seems to have been prompted not only by selfish ambition, 
 but also by a desire of turning to his purpose the legends and 
 forebodings, which then were universally spread through- 
 out the Roman Empire, and must have been well known 
 to the watchful and ruthless Hun. 
 
 The year 445 of our era completed the twelfth century 
 from the foundation of Rome, according to the best chrono- 
 logers. It had always been believed among the Romans, 
 that the twelve vultures, which were said to have appeared 
 to Romulus when he founded the city, signified the time 
 during which the Roman power should endure. The twelve 
 vultures denoted twelve centuries. This interpretation of 
 the vision of the birds of destiny was current among learned 
 Romans, even when there were yet many of the twelve 
 centuries to run, and while the imperial city was at the 
 zenith of its power. But as the allotted time drew nearer 
 and nearer to its conclusion, and as Rome grew weaker and 
 weaker beneath the blows of barbaric invaders, the terrible 
 omen was more and more talked and thought of ; and in 
 Attila's time, men watched for the momentary extinction 
 of the Roman State with the last beat of the last vulture's 
 wing. Moreover, among the numerous legends connected 
 
 ' In the Nibehmgen-Lied, the old poet who describes the reception 
 of the heroine Chrimhild by Attila [Etsel], says that Attila's dominions 
 were so vast, that among his subject-warriors there were Russian, Greek, 
 Wallachian, Polish, and even Danish knights.
 
 168 BATTLE OF CHALONS 
 
 Avith the foundation of the city, and the fratricidal death 
 of Remus, there was one most terrible one, which told that 
 Romulus did not put his brother to death in accident, or in 
 hasty quarrel, but that 
 
 He slew his gallant twin 
 With inexpiable sin, 
 
 deliberately, and in compliance with the warnings of super- 
 natural powers. The shedding of a brother's blood was 
 believed to have been the price, at which the founder of 
 Rome had j^urchased from destiny her twelve centuries 
 of existence.^ 
 
 We may imagine, therefore, with what terror in this, the 
 twelve-hundredth year after the foundation of Rome, the in- 
 habitants of the Roman Empire must have heard the tidings, 
 that the royal brethren, Attila and Bleda, had founded 
 a new capitol on the Danube, Avhich was designed to rule 
 over the ancient capitol on the Tiber ; and that Attila, 
 like Romulus, had consecrated the foundations of his 
 new city by murdering his brother ; so that for the new 
 cycle of centuries then about to commence, dominion had 
 been bought from the gloomy spirits of destiny in favour of 
 the Hun, by a sacrifice of equal awe and value with that 
 which had formerly obtained it for the Roman. 
 
 It is to be remembered, that not only the pagans, but also 
 the Christians of that age, knew and believed in these 
 legends and omens, however they might differ as to the 
 nature of the superhuman agency, by which such mysteries 
 had been made known to mankind. And we may observe, 
 with Herbert, a modern learned dignitary of our Church, 
 how remarkably this augury was fulfilled. For, ' if to the 
 twelve centuries, denoted by the twelve vultures that 
 appeared to Romulus, w^e add for the six birds that appeared 
 to Remus six lustra, or periods of five years each, by which 
 the Romans were wont to number their time, it brings us 
 precisely to the year 476, in which the Roman Empire was 
 finally extinguished by Odoacer.' 
 
 An attempt to assassinate Attila, made, or supposed 
 to have been made, at the instigation of Thcodosius the 
 
 * See a curious justification of Attila's murder of his brother, by 
 a zealous Hungarian advocates, in the note to Pray's Annales Ilimnorimn, 
 p. 117. The example of Romulus is the main authority quoted.
 
 BATTLE OF CHALONS 169 
 
 younger, the Emperor of Constantinople, drew the Hunnish 
 armies, in 445, upon the Eastern Empire, and delayed for 
 a time the destined blow against Rome. Probably a more 
 important cause of delay was the revolt of some of the 
 Hunnish tribes to the north of the Black Sea against Attila, 
 which broke out about this period, and is cursorily mentioned 
 by the Byzantine writers. Attila quelled this revolt ; and 
 having thus consolidated his power, and having punished 
 the presumption of the Eastern Roman Emperor by fearful 
 ravages of his fairest provmces, Attila, in 450 a. d., prepared 
 to set his vast forces in motion for the conquest of Western 
 Europe. He sought unsuccessfully by diplomatic intrigues 
 to detach the king of the Visigoths from his alliance with 
 Rome, and he resolved first to crush the power of Theodoric, 
 and then to advance with overwhelming power to trample 
 out the last sparks of the doomed Roman Empire. 
 
 A strange invitation from a Roman princess gave him 
 a pretext for the war, and threw an air of chivalric enter- 
 prise over his invasion. Honoria, sister of Valentinian III, 
 the Emperor of the West, had sent to Attila to ofEer him 
 her hand, and her supposed right to share in the imperial 
 power. This had been discovered by the Romans, and 
 Honoria had been forthwith closely imprisoned. Attila 
 now pretended to take up arms in behalf of his self -pro- 
 mised bride, and proclaimed that he was about to march 
 to Rome to redress Honoria 's wrongs. Ambition and spite 
 against her brother must have been the sole motives that 
 led the lady to woo the royal Hun ; for Attila 's face and 
 person had all the national ugliness of his race, and the 
 description given of him by a Byzantine ambassador must 
 have been well known in the imperial courts. Herbert has 
 well versified the portrait drawn by Priscus of the great 
 enemy of both Byzantium and Rome : — • 
 
 Terrific was his semblance, in no mould 
 
 Of beautiful proportion cast ; his limbs 
 
 Nothing exalted, but with sinews braced 
 
 Of Chalybaean temper, agile, lithe, 
 
 And swifter than the roe ; his ample chest 
 
 Was overbrowed by a gigantic head. 
 
 With eyes keen, deeply sunk, and small, that glcam'd 
 
 Strangely in wrath, as though some spirit unclean 
 
 Within that corporal tenement install'd
 
 170 BATTLE OF CHALONS 
 
 Look'd from its windows, but with temper'd fire 
 Beam'd mildly on the unresisting. Thin 
 His beard and hoary ; his flat nostrils crown'd 
 A cicatrised, swart visage — but withal 
 That questionable shape such glory wore 
 That mortals quail'd beneath him. 
 
 Two chiefs of the Franks, who were then settled on the 
 Lower Rhine, were at this period engaged in a feud with 
 each other ; and while one of them appealed to the Romans 
 for aid, the other invoked the assistance and protection of 
 the Huns. Attila thus obtained an ally, whose co-operation 
 secured for him the passage of the Rhine ; and it was this 
 circumstance which caused him to take a northward route 
 from Hungary for his attack upon Gaul. The muster of 
 the Hunnish hosts was swollen by warriors of every tribe 
 that they had subjugated ; nor is there any reason to suspect 
 the old chroniclers of wilful exaggeration in estimating 
 Attila 's army at seven hundred thousand strong. Having 
 crossed the Rhine, probably a little below Coblentz, he 
 defeated the King of the Burgundians, who endeavoured 
 to bar his progress. He then divided his vast forces into 
 two armies — one of which marched north-west upon 
 Tongres and Arras, and the other cities of that part of 
 France ; while the main body, under Attila himself, 
 marched up the Moselle, and destroyed Besan9on, and other 
 towns in the country of the Burgundians. One of the latest 
 and best biographers of Attila ^ well observes, that, ' having 
 thus conquered the eastern part of France, Attila prepared 
 for an invasion of the West Gothic territories beyond the 
 Loire. He marched upon Orleans, where he intended to 
 force the passage of that river, and only a little attention is 
 requisite to enable us to perceive that he proceeded on 
 a systematic plan : he had his right wing on the north, for 
 the protection of his Frank allies ; his left wing on the 
 south, for the purpose of preventing the Burgundians from 
 rallying, and of menacing the passes of the Alps from Italy ; 
 and he led his centre towards the chief object of the cam- 
 paign — the conquest of Orleans, and an easy passage into 
 the West Gothic dominion. The whole plan is very like 
 that of the allied powers in 1814, with this difference, that 
 
 ' Biographical Dictionary commenced by the Useful Knowledge 
 Society in 1844.
 
 BATTLE OF CHALONS 171 
 
 their left wing entered France through the defiles of the 
 Jura, in the direction of Lyons, and that the military object 
 of the campaign was the capture of Paris.' 
 
 It was not until the year 451 that the Huns commenced 
 the siege of Orleans ; and during their campaign in Eastern 
 Gaul, the Roman general Aetius had strenuously exerted 
 himself in collecting and organizing such an army as might, 
 when united to the soldiery of the Visigoths, be fit to face 
 the Huns in the field. He enlisted every subject of the 
 Roman Empire, whom patriotism, courage, or compulsion 
 could collect beneath the standards ; and round these 
 troops, which assumed the once proud title of the legions of 
 Rome, he arrayed the large forces of barbaric auxiliaries, 
 whom pay, persuasion, or the general hate and dread of 
 the Huns, brought to the camp of the last of the Roman 
 generals. King Theodoric exerted himself with equal 
 energy. Orleans resisted her besiegers bravely as in after 
 times. The passage of the Loire was skilfully defended 
 against the Huns ; and Aetius and Theodoric, after much 
 manoeuvring and difficulty, effected a junction of their 
 armies to the south of that important river. 
 
 On the advance of the allies upon Orleans, Attila in- 
 stantly broke up the siege of that city, and retreated towards 
 the Maine. He did not choose to risk a decisive battle 
 with only the central corps of his army against the com- 
 bined power of his enemies ; and he therefore fell back 
 upon his base of operations ; calling in his wings from Arras 
 and Besan9on, and concentrating the whole of the Hunnish 
 forces on the vast plains of Chalons-sur-Marne. A glance 
 at the map will show how scientifically this place was 
 chosen by the Hunnish general, as the point for his scattered 
 forces to converge upon ; and the nature of the ground 
 was eminently favourable for the operations of cavalry, 
 the arm in which Attila's strength peculiarly lay. 
 
 It was during the retreat from Orleans that a Christian 
 hermit is reported to have approached the Hunnish king, 
 and said to him, ' Thou art the Scourge of God for the 
 chastisement of Christians '. Attila instantly assumed this 
 new title of terror, which thenceforth became the appellation 
 by which he was most widely and most fearfully known. 
 
 The confederate armies of Romans and Visigoths at
 
 172 BATTLE OF CHALONS 
 
 last met their great adversary, face to face, on the ample 
 battle-ground of the Chalons plains. Aetius commanded 
 on the right of the allies ; King Theodoric on the left ; 
 and Sangipan, King of the Alans, whose fidelity was sus- 
 pected, was placed purposely in the centre, and in the very 
 front of the battle. Attila commanded his centre in person, 
 at the head of his own countrymen, while the Ostrogoths, 
 the Gepidae, and the other subject allies of the Huns, were 
 drawn up on the wings. Some manoeuvring appears to 
 have occurred before the engagement, in which Aetius had 
 the advantage, inasmuch as he succeeded in occupying 
 a sloping hill, which commanded the left flank of the Huns. 
 Attila saw the importance of the position taken by Aetius 
 on the high ground, and commenced the battle by a furious 
 attack on this part of the Roman line, in which he seems 
 to have detached some of his best troops from his centre to 
 aid his left. The Romans, having the advantage of the 
 ground, repulsed the Huns, and while the allies gained this 
 advantage on their right, their left, under King Theodoric, 
 assailed the Ostrogoths, who formed the right of AttQa's 
 army. The gallant king was himself struck down by 
 a javelin, as he rode onward at the head of his men, and his 
 own cavalry charging over him trampled him to death in 
 the confusion. But the Visigoths, mfuriated, not dispirited, 
 by their monarch's fall, routed the enemies opposed to 
 them, and then wheeled upon the flank of the Hunnish centre, 
 which had been engaged in a sanguinary and indecisive 
 contest with the Alans. 
 
 In this peril Attila made his centre fall back upon 
 his camp ; and when the shelter of its entrenchments 
 and wagons had once been gained, the Hunnish archers 
 repulsed, without difficulty, the charges of the vengeful 
 Gothic cavalry. Aetius had not pressed the advantage 
 which he gained on his side of the field, and when night 
 fell over the wild scene of havoc, Attila's left was still 
 unbroken, but his right had been routed, and his centre 
 forced back upon his camp. 
 
 Expecting an assault on the morrow, Attila stationed 
 his best archers in front of the cars and wagons, which 
 were drawTi up as a fortification along his Imes, and made 
 every preparation for a desperate resistance. But the
 
 BATTLE OF CHALONS 173 
 
 * Scourge of God ' resolved that no man should boast of the 
 honour of havmg either captured or slain him ; and he 
 caused to be raised in the centre of his encampment a huge 
 pyramid of the wooden saddles of his cavalry : round it he 
 heaped the spoils and the wealth that he had won ; on it 
 he stationed his wives who had accompanied him in the 
 campaign ; and on the summit Attila placed himself, ready 
 to perish in the flames, and baulk the victorious foe of their 
 choicest booty, should they succeed in storming his defences. 
 
 But when the morning broke, and revealed the extent of 
 the carnage, with which the plains were heaped for miles, 
 the successful allies saw also and respected the resolute 
 attitude of their antagonist. Neither were any measures 
 taken to blockade him in his camp, and so to extort by 
 famme that submission which it was too plainly perilous 
 to enforce with the sword. Attila was allowed to march 
 back the remnants of his army without molestation, and 
 even with the semblance of success. 
 
 It is probable that the crafty Aetius was unwilling to 
 be too victorious. He dreaded the glory which his allies 
 the Visigoths had acquired ; and feared that Rome might 
 find a second Alaric in Prince Thorismund, who had 
 signalized himself in the battle, and had been chosen on 
 the field to succeed his father Theodoric. He persuaded 
 the young king to return at once to his capital : and thus 
 relieved himself at the same time of the presence of a dan- 
 gerous friend, as well as of a formidable though beaten foe. 
 
 Attila's attacks on the western empire were soon re- 
 newed ; but never with such peril to the civilized world as 
 had menaced it before his defeat at Chalons. And on his 
 death, two years after that battle, the vast empire, which 
 his genius had founded, was soon dissevered by the success- 
 ful revolts of the subject nations. The name of the Huns 
 ceased for some centuries to inspire terror in Western 
 Europe, and their ascendancy passed away with the life of 
 the great king, by whom it had been so fearfully augmented.^ 
 
 ^ If I seem to have given fewer of the details of the battle itself than 
 its importance would warrant, my excuse must be, that Gibbon has 
 enriched our language with a description of it, too long for quotation 
 and too splendid for rivalry. I have not, however, taken altogether 
 the same view of it that he has. The notes to Mr. Herbert's poem of 
 Attila bring together nearly all the authorities on the subject.
 
 174 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE BATTLE 
 OF CHALONS, A.D. 451, AND THE BATTLE OF 
 TOURS, 732 
 
 A. D. 476. The Roman Empire of the West extinguished 
 by Odoacer. 
 
 481. Establishment of the French monarchy in Gaul by 
 Clovis. 
 
 455-582. The Saxons, Angles, and Frisians conquer 
 Britain, except the northern parts, and the districts along 
 the west coast. The German conquerors found eight 
 independent kmgdoms. 
 
 533-68. The generals of Justinian, the Emperor of 
 Constantinople, conquer Italy and North Africa ; and 
 these countries are for a short time annexed to the Roman 
 Empire of the East. 
 
 568-70. The Lombards conquer great part of Italy. 
 
 570-627. The wars between the Emperors of Constanti- 
 nople and the Kings of Persia are actively continued. 
 
 622. The Mahometan era of the Hegira. Mahomet is 
 driven from Mecca, and is received as prince of Medina, 
 
 629-32. Mahomet conquers Arabia. 
 
 632-51. The Mahometan Arabs invade and conquer 
 Persia. 
 
 632-709. They attack the Roman Empire of the East. 
 They conquer Sj^ria, Egypt, and Africa. 
 
 709-13. They cross the Straits of Gibraltar, and invade 
 and conquer Spain. 
 
 "At the death of Mohammed, in 632, his temporal and 
 religious sovereignty embraced and was limited by the 
 Arabian peninsula. The Roman and Persian empires, 
 engaged in tedious and indecisive hostility upon the rivers 
 of Mesopotamia and the Armenian mountains, were viewed 
 by the ambitious fanatics of his creed as their quarry. In 
 the very first year of Mohammed's immediate successor, 
 Abubeker, each of these mighty empires was invaded. 
 The crumbling fabric of Eastern despotism is never secured 
 against rapid and total subversion ; a few victories, a few 
 sieges, carried the Arabian arms from the Tigris to the Oxus, 
 and overthrew, with the Sassanian dynasty, the ancient 
 and famous religion they had professed. Seven years of
 
 AFTER CHALONS 175 
 
 active and unceasing warfare sufficed to subjugate the rich 
 province of Syria, though defended by numerous armies 
 and fortified cities ; and the Khalif Omar had scarcely 
 returned thanks for the accomplishment of this conquest, 
 when Amrou, his lieutenant, announced to him the entire 
 reduction of Egypt. After some interval, the Saracens won 
 their way along the coast of Africa, as far as the pillars of 
 Hercules, and a third province was irretrievably torn from 
 the Greek empire. These western conquests introduced 
 them to fresh enemies, and ushered in more splendid 
 successes. Encouraged by the disunion of the Visigoths, 
 and invited by treachery, Musa, the general of a master 
 who sat beyond the opposite extremity of the Mediter- 
 ranean Sea, passed over into Spain, and within about 
 two years the name of Mohammed was invoked under the 
 PjTenees.' (Hallam.)
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE BATTLE OF TOURS, a. d. 732 
 
 The events that rescued our ancestors of Britain, and our neighbours 
 of Gaul, from the civil and religious yoke of the Koran.' — Gibbon. 
 
 The broad tract of champaign country which intervenes 
 between the cities of Poictiers and Tours is principally 
 composed of a succession of rich pasture lands, which 
 are traversed and fertilized by the Cher, the Creuse, the 
 Vienne, the Claine, the Indre, and other tributaries of the 
 river Loire. Here and there, the ground swells into 
 picturesque eminences ; and occasionally a belt of forest 
 land, a l3rown heath, or a clustering series of vmeyards, 
 breaks the monotony of the widespread meadows ; but the 
 general character of the land is that of a grassy plain, and 
 it seems naturally adapted for the evolutions of numerous 
 armies, especially of those vast bodies of cavalry which 
 principally decided the fate of nations during the centuries 
 that followed the downfall of Rome, and preceded the con- 
 solidation of the modern European powers. 
 
 This region has been signalized by more than one memor- 
 able conflict ; but it is principally interesting to the historian 
 by having been the scene of the great victory won by 
 Charles Martel over the Saracens, a.d. 732, which gave 
 a decisive check to the career of Arab conquest in Western 
 Europe, rescued Christendom from Islam, preserved the 
 relics of ancient and the germs of modern civilization, and 
 re-established the old superiority of the Indo-European 
 over the Semitic family of mankind. 
 
 Sismondi and Michelet have underrated the enduring 
 interest of this great Appeal of Battle between the champions 
 of the Crescent and the Cross. But, if French writers have 
 slighted the exploits of their national hero, the Saracenic 
 trophies of Charles Martel have had full justice done to 
 them by English and German historians. Gibbon devotes
 
 BATTLE OF TOURS 177 
 
 several pages of his great work ^ to the narrative of the 
 battle of Tours, and to the consideration of the conse- 
 quences which probably would have resulted, if Abderrah- 
 man's enterprise had not been crushed by the Frankish chief. 
 Schlegel ^ speaks of this ' mighty victory ' in terms of fervent 
 gratitude ; and tells how ' the arms of Charles Martel saved 
 and delivered the Christian nations of the West from the 
 deadly grasp of all-destroying Islam ' ; and Ranke ^ points 
 out, as ' one of the most important epochs in the history 
 of the world, the commencement of the eighth century ; 
 when, on the one side, Mahommedanism threatened to 
 overspread Italy and Gaul, and on the other, the ancient 
 idolatry of Saxony and Friesland once more forced its way 
 across the Rhine. In this peril of Christian institutions, 
 a youthful prince of Germanic race, Karl Kartell, arose 
 as their champion ; maintained them with all the energy 
 which the necessity for self-defence calls forth, and finally 
 extended them into new regions.' 
 
 Arnold ranks the victory of Charles Martel even higher 
 than the victory of Arminius,* ' among those signal 
 deliverances which have affected for centuries the happiness 
 of mankind.' In fact, the more we test its importance, the 
 higher we shall be led to estimate it ; and, though the 
 authentic details which we possess of its circumstances 
 and its heroes are but meagre, we can trace enough of its 
 general character to make us watch with deep interest 
 this encounter between the rival conquerors of the decaying 
 Roman empire. That old classic world, the history of 
 which occupies so large a portion of our early studies, lay, 
 in the eighth century of our era, utterly exanimate and 
 overthrown. On the north the German, on the south the 
 Arab, was rending away its provinces. At last the spoilers 
 encountered one another, each striving for the full mastery 
 of the prey. Their conflict brought back upon the memory 
 
 * Vol. vii. p. 17 et seq. Gibbon's remark, that if the Saracen conquests 
 had not then been checked, ' Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran 
 would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might 
 demonstrate to a circumcizcd people the sanctity and truth of the revela- 
 tion of Mahomet,' has almost an air of regret. 
 
 " Philosophy of History, p. 331. 
 
 ' History of the Reformation in Germany, vol. i. p. 5. 
 
 * History of thz later Roman Commonwealth, vol. ii. p. 317. 
 
 CREASY jj
 
 178 BATTLE OF TOURS 
 
 of Gibbon the old Homeric simile, where the strife of Hector 
 and Patroclus over the dead body of Cebriones is compared 
 to the combat of two lions, that in their hate and hunger 
 fight together on the mountain-tops over the carcase of 
 a slaughtered stag : and the reluctant yielding of the 
 Saracen power to the superior might of the Northern 
 warriors, might not inaptly recall those other lines of the 
 same book of the Iliad, where the downfall of Patroclus 
 beneath Hector is likened to the forced yielding of the 
 panting and exhausted wild boar, that had long and 
 furiously fought with a superior beast of prey, for the 
 jjossession of the fountain among the rocks, at which each 
 burned to drink.^ 
 
 Although three centuries had passed away since the 
 Germanic conquerors of Rome had crossed the Rhine, 
 never to repass that frontier stream, no settled system of 
 institutions or government, no amalgamation of the 
 various races into one people, no uniformity of language 
 or habits, had been established in the country, at the 
 time when Charles Martel was called on to repel the 
 menacing tide of Saracenic invasion from the south. 
 Gaul was not yet France. In that, as in other provinces 
 of the Roman empire of the West, the dominion of the 
 Caesars had been shattered as early as the fifth century, 
 and barbaric kingdoms and j)rincipalities had promptly 
 arisen on the ruins of the Roman power. But few of these 
 had any permanency ; and none of them consolidated the 
 rest, or any considerable number of the rest, into one 
 coherent and organized civil and political society. The 
 great bulk of the population still consisted of the conquered 
 provincials, that is to say, of Romanized Celts, of a Gallic 
 race which had long been under the dominion of the 
 Caesars, and had acquired, together with no slight infusion 
 
 * \(0V6^ WS STJptl'Ol'jTTJV, 
 
 w r' opfos Kopvtprjai v(pl KTa^tevrji iKa<pOiO, 
 dfiipo) -nnvaovTf, fiiya (ppoi'tovre ^axtaQov. 
 
 11. 7!'. 756. 
 'fls 5' oTi aw dfcafiavra \iojv Ifii-qaaTo xap^y, 
 u) T 6p(os Kopv(l>yai iJ.eja (ppovfnvTf naxtaOov 
 iriSaKos a.)x<p' 6Xiyq%' iOiXovai Se iriefuv dfufxo' 
 iToWd, 6e t' dad/^aivovTa Kiaiv iSdfiacaf Pir]<l>iv. 
 
 II. ir\ 823.
 
 BATTLE OF TOURS 179 
 
 of Roman blood, the language, the literature, the laws, and 
 the civilization of Latium. Among these, and dominant over 
 them, roved or dwelt the German victors : some retaining 
 nearly all the rude independence of their primitive national 
 character ; others, softened and disciplined by the aspect 
 and contact of the manners and institutions of civilized life. 
 For it is to be borne in mind, that the Roman empire in 
 the West was not crushed by any sudden avalanche of 
 barbaric invasion. The German conquerors came across 
 the Rhine, not in enormous hosts, but in bands of a few 
 thousand warriors at a time. The conquest of a province 
 was the result of an infinite series of partial local invasions, 
 carried on by little armies of this description. The victorious 
 warriors either retired with their booty, or fixed themselves 
 in the invaded district, taking care to keep sufficiently 
 concentrated for military purposes, and ever ready for 
 some fresh foray, either against a rival Teutonic band, or 
 some hitherto unassailed city of the provincials. Gradually, 
 however, the conquerors acquired a desire for permanent 
 landed possessions. They lost somewhat of the restless 
 thirst for novelty and adventure, which had first made 
 them throng beneath the banner of the boldest captains 
 of their tribe, and leave their native forests for a roving 
 military life on the left bank of the Rhine. They were 
 converted to the Christian faith ; and gave up with their 
 old creed much of the coarse ferocity, which must have been 
 fostered in the spirits of the ancient warriors of the North 
 by a mythology which promised, as a reward of the brave on 
 earth, an eternal cycle of fighting and drunkenness in heaven. 
 But, although their conversion and other civilizing influ- 
 ences operated powerfully upon the Germans in Gaul ; and 
 although the Franks (who were originally a confederation 
 of the Teutonic tribes that dwelt between the Rhine, the 
 Main, and the Weser) established a decisive superiority 
 over the other conquerors of the province, as well as over 
 the conquered provincials, the country long remained 
 a chaos of uncombined and shifting elements. The early 
 princes of the Merovingian dynasty were generally occupied 
 in wars against other princes of their house, occasioned by 
 the frequent subdivisions of the Frank monarchy : and 
 the ablest and best of them had found all their energies 
 
 N 2
 
 180 BATTLE OF TOURS 
 
 tasked to the utmost to defend the barrier of the Rhine 
 against the Pagan Germans, who strove to pass that river 
 and gather their share of the spoils of the empire. 
 
 The conquests, which the Saracens effected over the 
 southern and eastern provinces of Rome, were far more 
 rapid than those achieved by the Germans in the north , 
 and the new organizations of society which the Moslems 
 introduced were summarily and uniformly enforced. 
 Exactly a century passed between the death of Mohammed 
 and the date of the battle of Tours. During that century 
 the followers of the Prophet had torn away half the Roman 
 empire ; and, besides their conquests over Persia, the 
 Saracens had overrun Syria, Egypt, Africa, and Spain, in 
 an unchequered and apparently irresistible career of victory. 
 Nor, at the commencement of the eighth century of our era, 
 was the Mohammedan world divided against itself, as it 
 subsequently became. All these vast regions obeyed the 
 Caliph ; throughout them all, from the Pyrenees to the 
 Oxus, the name of Mohammed was invoked in prayer, and 
 the Koran revered as the book of the law. 
 
 It was under one of their ablest and most renowned 
 commanders, with a veteran army, and with every apparent 
 advantage of time, place, and circumstance, that the Arabs 
 made their great effort at the conquest of Europe north of 
 the Pyrenees. The victorious Moslem soldiery in Spain, 
 
 A countless multitude ; 
 Syrian, Moor, Saracen, Greek renegade, 
 Persian, and Copt, and Tartar, in one bond 
 Of erring faith conjoined — strong in the youth 
 And heat of zeal — a dreadful brotherhood, 
 
 Were eager for the plunder of more Christian cities and 
 shrines, and full of fanatic confidence in the invincibility 
 of their arms. 
 
 Nor were the chiefs 
 Of victory less assured, by long success 
 Elate, and proud of that o'erwhelming strength 
 Which, surely they believed, as it had rolled 
 Thus far uncheck'd, would roll victorious on, 
 Till, like the Orient, the subjected West 
 Should bow in. reverence at Mahommed's name ; 
 And pilgrims from remotest Arctic shores 
 Tread with religious feet the burning sands 
 Of Araby and Mecca's stony soil. — Southey's Roderich.
 
 BATTLE OF TOURS 181 
 
 It is not only by the modern Christian poet, but by the 
 old Arabian chroniclers also, that these feelings of ambition 
 and arrogance are attributed to the Moslems, who had 
 overthrown the Visigoth power in Spain. And their eager 
 expectations of new wars were excited to the utmost on the 
 re-appointment by the caliph of Abderrahman Ibn Abdillah 
 Alghafeki to the government of that country, a. d. 729, 
 which restored them a general, who had signalized his skill 
 and prowess during the conquests of Africa and Spain, 
 whose ready valour and generosity had made him the idol 
 of the troops, who had already been engaged in several 
 expeditions into Gaul, so as to be well acquainted with the 
 national character and tactics of the Franks ; and who was 
 known to thirst, like a good Moslem, for revenge for the 
 slaughter of some detachments of the true believers, which 
 had been cut off on the north of the Pyrenees. 
 
 In addition to his cardinal military virtues, Abderrahman 
 is described by the Arab writers as a model of integrity and 
 justice. The first two years of his second administration in 
 Spain were occupied in severe reforms of the abuses which 
 under his predecessors had crept into the system of govern- 
 ment, and in extensive preparations for his intended 
 conquest of Gaul. Besides the troops which he collected 
 from his province, he obtained from Africa a large body of 
 chosen Berber cavalry, officered by Arabs of proved skill 
 and valour : and in the summer of 732 he crossed the 
 Pyrenees at the head of an army, which some Arab writers 
 rate at eighty thousand strong, while some of the Christian 
 chroniclers swell its numbers to many hundreds of thousands 
 more. Probably the Arab account diminishes, but of the 
 two keeps nearer to the truth. It was from this formidable 
 host, after Eudes, the Count of Acquitaine, had vainly 
 striven to check it, after many strong cities had fallen 
 before it, and half the land been overrun, that Gaul and 
 Christendom were at last rescued by the strong arm of 
 Prince Charles, who acquired a surname,^ like that of the 
 war-god of his forefathers' creed, from the might with which 
 he broke and shattered his enemies in the battle. 
 
 The Merovingian kings had sunk into absolute insig- 
 
 ^ Martel — The Hammer. See the Scandinavian Sagas for an account 
 of the favourite weapon of Thor.
 
 182 BATTLE OF TOURS 
 
 nificance, and had become mere puppets of royalty before 
 the eighth century. Charles Martel, like his father, Pepin 
 Heristal, was duke of the Austrasian Franks, the bravest 
 and most thoroughly Germanic part of the nation : and 
 exercised, in the name of the titular king, what little 
 paramount authority the turbulent minor rulers of districts 
 and towns could be persuaded or compelled to acknowledge. 
 Engaged with his national competitors in perpetual conflicts 
 for power, engaged also in more serious struggles for safety 
 against the fierce tribes of the unconverted Frisians, 
 Bavarians, Saxons, and Thuringians, who at that epoch 
 assailed with peculiar ferocity the christianized Germans 
 on the left bank of the Rhine, Charles Martel added 
 experienced skill to his natural courage, and he had also 
 formed a militia of veterans among the Franks. Hallam 
 has thrown out a doubt whether, in our admiration of his 
 victory at Tours, we do not judge a little too much by the 
 event, and whether there was not rashness in his risking 
 the fate of France on the result of a general battle with 
 the invaders. But, when we remember that Charles had 
 no standing arm}^ and the independent spirit of the Frank 
 warriors who followed his standard, it seems most probable 
 that it was not m his power to adopt the cautious policy 
 of watching the invaders, and wearing out their strength 
 by delay. So dreadful and so widespread were the ravages 
 of the Saracenic light cavalry throughout Gaul, that it 
 must have been impossible to restrain for any length of 
 time the indignant ardour of the Franks. And, even if 
 Charles could have persuaded his men to look tamely on 
 while the Arabs stormed more to\^'ns and desolated more 
 districts, he could not have kept an army together when 
 the usual period of a military expedition had expired. 
 If, indeed, the Arab account of the disorganization of the 
 Moslem forces be correct, the battle was as well timed on 
 the part of Charles as it was, beyond all question, well 
 fought. 
 
 The monkish chroniclers, from whom w^e are obliged to 
 glean a narrative of this memorable campaign, bear full 
 evidence to the terror which the Saracen invasion inspired, 
 and to the agony of that great struggle. The Saracens, 
 say they, and their king, who was called Abdirames,
 
 BATTLE OF TOURS 183 
 
 came out of Spain, with all their wives and their children, 
 and their substance, in such great multitudes that no man 
 could reckon or estimate them. They brought with them 
 all their armour, and whatever they had, as if they were 
 thenceforth always to dwell in France.^ 
 
 ' Then Abderrahman, seeing the land filled with the 
 multitude of his army, pierces through the mountains, 
 tramples over rough and level ground, plunders far into 
 the country of the Franks, and smites all with the sword, 
 insomuch that when Eudo came to battle with him at 
 the river Garonne, and fled before him, God alone knows 
 the number of the slain. Then Abderrahman pursued 
 after Count Eudo, and while he strives to spoil and burn 
 the holy shrine at Tours, he encounters the chief of the 
 Austrasian Franks, Charles, a man of war from his youth 
 up, to whom Eudo had sent warning. There, for nearly 
 seven days they strive intensely, and at last they set 
 themselves in battle array ; and the nations of the north 
 standing firm as a wall, and impenetrable as a zone of ice, 
 utterly slay the Arabs with the edge of the sword.' ^ 
 
 The European writers all concur in speaking of the fall 
 of Abderrahman as one of the principal causes of the defeat 
 of the Arabs ; who, according to one writer, after finding 
 that their leader was slain, dispersed in the night, to the 
 agreeable surprise of the Christians, who expected the next 
 morning to see them issue from their tents, and renew the 
 combat. One monkish chronicler puts the loss of the Arabs 
 at 375,000 men, while he says that only 1,007 Christians 
 fell — a disparity of loss which he feels bound to account 
 for by a special interposition of Providence. I have 
 translated above some of the most spirited passages of 
 these writers ; but it is impossible to collect from them 
 anything like a full or authentic description of the great 
 battle itself, or of the operations which preceded or 
 followed it. 
 
 ^ ' Lors issirent d'Espaigne li Sarrazins, et un leur Roi qui avoit nom 
 Abdirames, et ont leur fames et leur enfans et toute leur substance en si 
 grand plente que nus ne le pourroit nombrer ne estimer : tout leur 
 harnois et quanques 11 avoient amenerent avec eutz, aussi comma si 
 ils deussent toujours mes habiter en France.' 
 
 * ' Tunc Abdirrahman, multitudine sui exercitus repletam prosiiiciens 
 terram,' &c. — Script. Gest. Franc, p. 785.
 
 184 BATTLE OF TOURS 
 
 Though, however, we may have cause to regret the 
 meagreiiess and doubtful character of these narratives, 
 we have the great advantage of being able to compare 
 the accounts given of Abderrahman's expedition by the 
 national writers of each side. This is a benefit which the 
 inquirer into antiquity so seldom can obtain, that the fact 
 of possessing it, in the instance of the battle of Tours, 
 makes us think the historical testimony respecting that 
 great event more certain and satisfactorj^ than is the case 
 in many other instances where we possess abundant details 
 respecting military exploits, but where those details come 
 to us from the annalist of one nation only ; and where we 
 have, consequently, no safeguard against the exaggerations, 
 the distortions, and the fictions, which national vanity has 
 so often put forth in the garb and under the title of history. 
 The Arabian writers who recorded the conquests and wars 
 of their countrymen in Spain, have narrated also the 
 expedition into Gaul of their great Emir, and his defeat 
 and death near Tours in battle with the host of the Franks 
 under King Caldus, the name into which they metamorphose 
 Charles.^ 
 
 They tell us how there was war between the count of 
 the Frankish frontier and the Moslems, and how the count 
 gathered together all his people, and fought for a time with 
 doubtful success. 'But', say the Arabian chroniclers, 'Abder- 
 rahman drove them back ; and the men of Abderrahman 
 were pviffed up in sj^irit by their repeated successes, and 
 they were full of trust in the valour and the practice in war 
 of their Emir. So the Moslems smote their enemies, and 
 passed the river Garonne, and laid waste the countr}^, and 
 took captives without number. And that army went 
 through all places like a desolating storm. Prosiierity 
 made those warriors insatiable. At the passage of the 
 river, Abderrahman overthrew the count, and the count 
 retired into his stronghold, but the Moslems fought against 
 
 ' The Arabian chronicles were compiled and translated into Spanish 
 by Don Jose Antonio C'onde, in his Historia de la Dominacion de los 
 Arahos en Esjxma, published at Madrid in 1820. Conde's plan, which 
 I have endeavoured to follow, was to preserve both the style and spirit 
 of his oriental authorities, so that we find in his pages a genuine Saracenic 
 narrative of the wars in Western Europe between the Mohammedans 
 and the Christians.
 
 BATTLE OF TOURS 185 
 
 it, and entered it by force, and slew the count ; for every- 
 thing gave way to their scimitars, which were the robbers 
 of lives. All the nations of the Franks trembled at that 
 terrible army, and they betook them to their king Caldus, 
 and told him of the havoc made by the Moslem horsemen, 
 and how they rode at their will through all the land of 
 Narbonne, Toulouse, and Bordeaux, and they told the 
 king of the death of their count. Then the king bade 
 them be of good cheer, and offered to aid them. And in 
 the 114th year^ he mounted his horse, and he took with 
 him a host that could not be numbered, and went against 
 the Moslems. And he came upon them at the great city 
 of Tours. And Abderrahman and other prudent cavaliers 
 saw the disorder of the Moslem troopg, who were loaded 
 with spoil ; but they did not venture to displease the 
 soldiers by ordering them to abandon everything except 
 their arms and war-horses. And Abderrahman trusted in 
 the valour of his soldiers, and in the good fortune which 
 had ever attended him. But (the Arab writer remarks) 
 such defect of discipline always is fatal to armies. So 
 Abderrahman and his host attacked Tours to gain still 
 more spoil, and they fought against it so fiercely that they 
 stormed the city almost before the eyes of the army that 
 came to save it ; and the fury and the cruelty of the 
 Moslems towards the inhabitants of the city were like 
 the fury and cruelty of raging tigers. It was manifest', 
 adds the Arab, ' that God's chastisement was sure to follow 
 such excesses ; and fortune thereupon turned her back 
 upon the Moslems. 
 
 ' Near the river Owar,^ the two great hosts of the two 
 languages and the two creeds were set in array against 
 each other. The hearts of Abderrahman, his captains, 
 and his men were filled with wrath and pride, and they 
 were the first to begin the fight. The Moslem horsemen 
 dashed fierce and frequent forward against the battalions 
 of the Franks, who resisted manfully, and many fell dead 
 on either side, until the going down of the sun. Night 
 parted the two armies, but in the grey of the morning the 
 Moslems returned to the battle. Their cavaliers had soon 
 hewn their way into the centre of the Christian host. But 
 ^ Of the Hegira. " Probably the Loire.
 
 186 BATTLE OF TOURS 
 
 many of the Moslems were fearful for the safety of the spoil 
 which they had stored in their tents, and a false cry arose 
 in their ranks that some of the enemy were plundering 
 the camp ; whereupon several squadrons of the Moslem 
 horsemen rode off to protect their tents. But it seemed 
 as if they fled, and all the host was troubled. And while 
 Abderrahman strove to check their tumult, and to lead 
 them back to battle, the warriors of the Franks came 
 around him, and he was pierced through with many spears, 
 so that he died. Then all the host fled before the enemy, 
 and many died in the flight. This deadly defeat of the 
 Moslems, and the loss of the great leader and good cavalier, 
 Abderrahman, took place in the hundred and fifteenth 
 year.' 
 
 It would be difficult to expect from an adversary a more 
 explicit confession of having been thoroughly vanquished 
 than the Arabs here accord to the Europeans. The points 
 on which their narrative differs from those of the Christians 
 — as to how many da3's the conflict lasted, whether the 
 assailed city w^as actually rescued or not, and the like — 
 are of little moment compared w^ith the admitted great 
 fact that there was a decisive trial of strength between 
 Frank and Saracen, in which the former conquered. The 
 enduring importance of the battle of Tours in the eyes of 
 the Moslems is attested not only by the expressions of 
 'the deadly battle', and 'the disgraceful overthrow', 
 which their writers constantly employ when referring to it, 
 but also by the fact that no further serious attempts at 
 conquest beyond the Pyrenees were made by the Saracens. 
 Charles Martel, and his son and grandson, w^ere left at 
 leisure to consolidate and extend their power. The new 
 Christian Roman Empire of the West, which the genius of 
 Charlemagne founded, and throughout which his iron will 
 imposed peace on the old anarchy of creeds and races, did 
 not indeed retain its integrity after its great ruler's death. 
 Fresh troubles came over Europe ; but Christendom, 
 though disunited, was safe. The progress of civilization, 
 and the development of the nationalities and governments 
 of modern Europe, from that time forth, went forward in 
 not uninterrupted, but, ultimately, certain career.
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS 187 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE BATTLE 
 OF TOURS, A.D. 732, AND THE BATTLE OF 
 HASTINGS, 1066 
 
 A.D. 768 — 814. Eeign of Charlemagne. This monarch 
 has justly been termed the principal regenerator of Western 
 Europe, after the destruction of the Roman empire. The 
 early death of his brother, Carloman, left him sole master 
 of the dominions of the Franks, which, by a succession of 
 victorious wars, he enlarged into the new Empire of the 
 West. He conquered the Lombards, and re-established 
 the pope at Rome, who, in return, acknowledged Charles 
 as suzerain of Italy. And in the year 800, Leo III, in the 
 name of the Roman people, solemnly crowned Charlemagne 
 at Rome, as Emperor of the Roman Empire of the West. 
 In Spain, Charlemagne ruled the country between the 
 Pyrenees and the Ebro ; but his most important conquests 
 were effected on the eastern side of his original kingdom, 
 over the Sclavonians of Bohemia, the Avars of Pannonia, 
 and over the previously uncivilized German tribes, who 
 had remained in their fatherland. The old Saxons were 
 his most obstinate antagonists, and his wars with them 
 lasted for thirty years. Under him the greater part of 
 Germany was compulsorily civilized, and converted from 
 Paganism to Christianity. His empire extended eastward 
 as far as the Elbe, the S'aale, the Bohemian mountains, 
 and a line drawn from thence crossing the Danube above 
 Vienna, and prolonged to the Gulf of Istria.^ 
 
 Throughout this vast assemblage of provinces, Charle- 
 magne established an organized and firm government. But 
 it is not as a mere conqueror that he demands admiration. 
 ' In a life restlessly active, we see him reforming the coinage, 
 and establishing the legal divisions of money, gathering 
 about him the learned of every country ; founding schools 
 and collecting libraries ; mterfering, with the air of a king, 
 in religious controversies ; attempiting, for the sake of 
 commerce, the magnificent enterprise of uniting the Rhine 
 and the Danube, and meditating to mould the discordant 
 code of Roman and barbarian laws into a uniform system.' ^ 
 
 814 — 88. Repeated partitions of the empire and civil 
 ^ Hallam's Middle Ages. " Hallam, ut suj^ra.
 
 188 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS 
 
 wars between Charlemagne's descendants. Ultimately the 
 kingdom of France is finally separated from Germany and 
 Italy. In 962, Otho the Great of Germany revives the 
 imperial dignity. 
 
 827. Egbert, king of Wessex, acquires the supremacy 
 over the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. 
 
 832. The first Danish squadron attacks part of the 
 English coast. The Danes, or Northmen, had begun their 
 ravages in France a few years earlier. For two centuries 
 Scandinavia sends out fleet after fleet of sea-rovers, who 
 desolate all the western Idngdoms of Europe, and m many 
 cases effect permanent conquests. 
 
 871 — SOO. Reign of Alfred m England. After a long 
 and varied struggle, he rescues England from the Danish 
 invaders. 
 
 911. The French king cedes Neustria to Hrolf the 
 Northman. Hrolf (or Duke Rollo, as he thenceforth was 
 termed) and his army of Scandmavian warriors become 
 the ruling class of the population of the province, which is 
 called after them Normandy. 
 
 1016. Four knights from Normandy, who had been on 
 a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, while returning through 
 Italy, head the people of Salerno in repelling an attack of a 
 band of Saracen corsairs. In the next year many adventurers 
 from Normandy settle in Italy, where they conquer Apulia 
 (1040), and afterwards (1060) Sicily. 
 
 1017. Canute, kmg of Denmark, becomes king of England. 
 On the death of the last of his sons, in 1041, the Saxon line 
 is restored, and Edward the Confessor (who had been bred 
 in the court of the Duke of Normandy) is called by the 
 English to the throne of this island, as the representative 
 of the House of Cerdic. 
 
 1035. Duke Robert of Normandy dies on his return from 
 a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and his son William (after- 
 wards the conqueror of England) succeeds to the dukedom 
 of Normandy.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS, 10G6 
 
 Eis vos la Bataille assemblee, 
 Dune encore est grant renomcc. 
 
 Roman de Eou, 1. 3183. 
 
 Arletta's pretty feet twinkling in the brook gained her 
 a Duke's love, and gave us William the Conqueror. Had 
 she not thus fascinated Duke Robert the Liberal of Nor- 
 mandy, Harold would not have fallen at Hastings, no 
 Anglo-Norman dynasty could have arisen, no British 
 empire. The reflection is Sir Francis Palgrave's : ^ and 
 it is emphatically true. If any one should writ^ a history 
 of ' Decisive loves that have materially influenced the 
 drama of the world in all its subsequent scenes ', the 
 daughter of the tanner of Falaise would deserve a con- 
 spicuous place in his pages. But it is her son, the victor 
 of Hastings, who is now the object of our attention ; and 
 no one, who appreciates the influence of England and her 
 empire upon the destinies of the world, will ever rank that 
 victory as one of secondary importance. 
 
 It is true that in the last century some writers of eminence 
 on our history and laws mentioned the Norman conquest 
 in terms from which it might be supposed that the battle 
 of Hastings led to little more than the substitution of one 
 royal family for another on the throne of this country, and 
 to the garbling and changing of some of our laws through 
 the 'cunning of the Norman lawyers'. But, at least since 
 the appearance of the work of Augustin Thierry on the 
 Norman Conquest, these forensic fallacies have been 
 exploded. Thierry made his readers keenly appreciate the 
 magnitude of that political and social catastrophe. He 
 depicted in vivid colours the atrocious cruelties of the 
 conquerors, and the sweeping and enduring innovations 
 
 * History of Normandy ami England,, vol. i. p. 52G.
 
 190 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 that they ^^Tought, involving the overthrow of the ancient 
 constitution, as well as of the last of the Saxon kings. In 
 his pages we see new tribunals and tenures superseding 
 the old ones, new divisions of race and class introduced, 
 whole districts devastated to gratify the vengeance or the 
 caprice of the new tyrant, the greater part of the lands of 
 the English confiscated and divided among aliens, the 
 very name of Englishmen turned into a reproach, the 
 English language rejected as servile and barbarous, and 
 all the high places in church and state for upwards of a 
 century filled exclusively by men of foreign race. 
 
 No less true than eloquent is Thierry's summing up of 
 the social effects of the Norman Conquest on the generation 
 that witnessed it, and on many of their successors. He 
 tells his reader that ' if he would form a just idea of England 
 conquered by William of Normandy, he must figure to 
 himself — not a mere change of political rule — not the 
 triumph of one candidate over another candidate — of the 
 man of one party over the man of another party, but the 
 intrusion of one people into the bosom of another people 
 ■ — the violent placing of one society over another society, 
 which it came to destroy, and the scattered fragments of 
 which it retained only as personal property, or (to use the 
 words of an old act) as " the clothing of the soil " ; he must 
 not picture to himself, on the one hand, William, a king 
 and a despot — on the other, subjects of William's, high and 
 low, rich and ])oot, all inhabiting England, and conse- 
 quently all English : but he must imagine two nations, 
 of one of which William is a member and the chief — two 
 nations which (if the term must be used) were both subject 
 to William ; but as applied to which the word has quite 
 different senses, meaning in the one case, subordinate — in 
 the other subjugated. He must consider that there are 
 two countries, two soils, included in the same geographical 
 circumference ; that of the Normans rich and free ; that 
 of the Saxons poor and serving, vexed by rent and taillage ; 
 the former full of spacious mansions, and walled and moated 
 castles, — the latter scattered over with huts and straw, 
 and ruined hovels ; that peopled \Aith the happy and the 
 idle — with men of the army and of the court, — with knights 
 and nobles, — this with men of pain and labour — with
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 191 
 
 farmers and artisans : on the one side, luxury and insolence, 
 — on the other, misery and envy — ^not the envy of the poor 
 at the sight of opulence they cannot reach, but the envy 
 of the despoiled when in presence of the despoilers.' 
 
 Perhaps the effect of Thierry's work has been to cast 
 into the shade the ultimate good effects on England of the 
 Norman Conquest. Yet these are as undeniable as are the 
 miseries which that conquest inflicted on our Saxon ances- 
 tors from the time of the battle of Hastings to the time 
 of the signing of the Great Charter at Runny mede. That 
 last is the true epoch of English nationality ; it is the epoch 
 when Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Saxon ceased to keep aloof 
 from each other ; the one in haughty scorn, the other in 
 sullen abhorrence ; and when all the free men of the land, 
 whether barons, knights, yeomen, or burghers, combined 
 to lay the foundations of English freedom. 
 
 Our Norman barons were the chiefs of that primary con- 
 stitutional movement ; those ' iron barons ' whom Chatham 
 has so nobly eulogized. This alone should make England 
 remember her obligations to the Norman Conquest, which 
 planted far and wide, as a dominant class in her land, a 
 martial nobility of the bravest and most energetic race 
 that ever existed. 
 
 It may sound paradoxical, but it is in reality no exag- 
 geration to say, with Guizot,^ that England owes her 
 liberties to her having been conquered by the Normans. 
 It is true that the Saxon institutions were the primitive 
 cradle of English liberty, but by their own intrinsic force 
 they could never have founded the enduring free English 
 constitution. It Avas the Conquest that infused into them 
 a new virtue ; and the political liberties of England arose 
 from the situation in which the Anglo-Saxon and the Anglo- 
 Norman populations and laws found themselves placed 
 relatively to each other in this island. The state of England 
 under her last Anglo-Saxon kings closely resembled the 
 state of France under the last Carlovingian and the first 
 Capetian princes. The crown was feeble, the great nobles 
 were strong and turbulent. And although there was more 
 national unity in Saxon England than in France ; although 
 the English local free institutions had more reality and 
 * Essais sur VHistoire de France, p. 273 et se(j.
 
 192 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 energy than was the case with anything analogous to them 
 on the Continent in the eleventh century ; still, the prob- 
 ability is that the Saxon system of polity, if left to itself, 
 would have fallen into utter confusion, out of which would 
 have arisen first an aristocratic hierarchy like that which 
 arose in France ; next an absolute -monarchy ; and finally 
 a series of anarchical revolutions, such as we now behold 
 around, but not among us.^ 
 
 The latest conquerors of this island were also the bravest 
 and the best. I do not except even the Romans. And, in 
 spite of our sympathies with Harold and Hereward, and 
 our abhorrence of the founder of the New Forest and the 
 desolator of Yorkshire, we must confess the superiority of 
 the Normans to the Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Danes, Avhom 
 they met here in 1066, as well as to the degenerate Frank 
 noblesse, and the crushed and servile Romanesque provin- 
 cials, from whom, in 912, they had wrested the district in 
 the north of Gaul, which still bears the name of Normandy. 
 
 It was net merely by extreme valour and ready sub- 
 ordination or military discipline that the Normans were 
 pre-eminent among all the conquering races of the Gothic 
 stock, but also by their instinctive faculty of appreciating 
 and adopting the superior civilizations which they en- 
 countered. Thus Duke RoUo and his Scandinavian war- 
 riors readily embraced the creed, the language, the laws 
 and the arts, which France, in those troubled and evil times 
 with which the Capetian dynasty commenced, still inherited 
 from imperial Rome and imperial Charlemagne. ' They 
 adopted the customs, the duties, the obedience that the 
 capitularies of emperors and kings had established ; but 
 that which they brought to the ap]ilication of those laws 
 was the spirit of life, the spirit of liberty — the habits also 
 of military subordination, and the aptness for a state 
 politic, which could reconcile the security of all Avith the 
 independence of each.' ^ So also in all chivalric feelings, 
 in enthusiastic religious zeal, in almost idolatrous respect 
 to females of gentle birth, in generous fondness for the 
 nascent poetry of the time, in a keen intellectual relish for 
 subtle thought and disputation, in a taste for architectural 
 
 ^ See Guizot, ut supra. 
 
 ^ Sismondi, Hisloire dcs Fraw^ais, vol. iii. p. 174.
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 193 
 
 magnificence, and all courtly refinement and pageantry, 
 the Normans were the Paladins of the world. Their bril- 
 liant qualities were sullied by many darker traits of pride, 
 of merciless cruelty, and of brutal contempt for the industry, 
 the rights and the feelings of all Avhom they considered the 
 lower classes of mankind. 
 
 Their gradual blending with the Saxons softened these 
 harsh and evil points of their national character, and in 
 return they fired the duller Saxon mass with a new spirit 
 of animation and power. As Campbell boldly expressed 
 it, ' They high-mettled the blood of our veins '. Small had been 
 the figure which England made in the world before the 
 coming over of the Normans ; and without them she never 
 would have emerged from insignificance. The authority 
 of Gibbon may be taken as decisive when he pronounces 
 that, ' Assuredly England was a gainer by the Conquest '. 
 And we may proudly adopt the comment of the Frenchman, 
 Rapin, who, writing of the battle of Hastings more than 
 a century ago, speaks of the revolution effected by it as 
 ' the first step by which England has arrived to that height 
 of grandeur and glory we behold it in at present '.^ 
 
 The interest of this eventful struggle, by which William 
 of Normandy became king of England, is materially 
 enhanced by the high personal characters of the com- 
 petitors for our crown. They were three in number. One 
 was a foreign prince from the North. One was a foreign 
 prince from the South ; and one was a native hero of the 
 land. Harald Hardrada, the strongest and the most 
 chivalric of the kings of Norway ,2 was the first ; Duke 
 William of Normandy was the second ; and the Saxon 
 Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, was the third. Never 
 was a nobler prize sought by nobler champions, or striven 
 for more gallantly. The Saxon triumphed over the Nor- 
 wegian, and the Norman triumphed over the Saxon ; but 
 Norse valoiir was never more conspicuous than when Harald 
 Hardrada and his host fought and fell at Stamford Bridge : 
 nor did Saxons ever face their foes more bravely than our 
 Harold and his men on the fatal day of Hastings. 
 
 • 1 Rapin, Hist. England, p. 164. See also Sharon Turner, vol. iv. p. 72 ; 
 and above all, Palgrave's Normandy and England. 
 ^ See in Snorri the Saga of Haraldi Hardrada. 
 
 CEEASY O
 
 194 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 During the reign of King Edward the Confessor over 
 this land, the claims of the Norwegian king to our crown 
 were little thought of ; and though Hardrada's predecessor, 
 King Magnus of Norway, had on one occasion asserted 
 that, by virtue of a compact with our former king, Hardi- 
 canute, he was entitled to the English throne, no serious 
 attempt had been made to enforce his pretensions. But 
 the rivalry of the Saxon Harold and the Norman William 
 was foreseen and bewailed by the Confessor, who was 
 believed to have predicted on his death-bed the calamities 
 that were pending over England. Duke William was King 
 Edward's kinsman. Harold was the head of the most 
 powerful noble house, next to the royal blood, in England ; 
 and personally, he was the bravest and most popular 
 chieftain in the land. King Edward was childless, and 
 the nearest collateral heir was a puny unpromising boy. 
 England had suffered too severely during royal minorities 
 to make the accession of Edgar Atheling desirable ; and 
 long before King Edward's death, Earl Harold was the 
 destined king of the nation's choice, though the favour 
 of the Confessor was believed to lean towards the Norman 
 duke. 
 
 A little time before the death of Kmg Edward, Harold 
 was in Normandy. The causes of the voyage of the Saxon 
 earl to the Continent are doubtful ; but the fact of his 
 having been in 1065 at the ducal court, and in the power 
 of his rival, is indisputable. William made skilful and 
 unscrupulous use of the opportunity. Though Harold 
 was treated with outward courtesy and friendship, he was 
 made fully aware that his liberty and life depended on his 
 compliance with the duke's requests. William said to him, 
 in apparent confidence and cordiality, ' When King Edward 
 and I once lived like brothers under the same roof, he 
 promised that if ever he became king of England, he would 
 make me heir to his throne. Harold, I wish that thou 
 wouldst assist me to realize this promise.' Harold replied 
 with expressions of assent : and further agreed, at William's 
 request, to marry William's daughter, Adela, and to send 
 over his own sister to be married to one of William's barons.- 
 The crafty Norman was not content with this extorted 
 promise ; he determined to bind Harold by a more solemn
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 195 
 
 pledge, which, if broken, would be a weight on the spirit 
 of the gallant Saxon, and a discouragement to others from 
 adopting his cause. Before a full assembly of the Norman 
 barons, Harold was required to do homage to Duke William, 
 as the heir-apparent of the English crown. Kneeling down, 
 Harold placed his hands between those of the duke, and 
 repeated the solemn form by which he acknowledged the 
 duke as his lord, and promised to him fealty and true 
 service. But William exacted more. He had caused all 
 the bones and relics of saints, that were preserved in the 
 Norman monasteries and churches, to be collected into 
 a chest, which was placed in the council-room, covered 
 over with a cloth of gold. On the chest of relics, which 
 were thus concealed, was laid a missal. The duke then 
 solemnly addressed his titular guest and real captive, and 
 said to him, ' Harold, I require thee, before this noble 
 assembly, to confirm by oath the promises which thou hast 
 made me, to assist me in obtaining the crown of England 
 after King Edward's death, to marry my daughter Adela, 
 and to send me thy sister, that I may give her in marriage 
 to one of my barons.' Harold, once more taken by surprise, 
 and not able to deny his former words, approached the 
 missal and laid his hand on it, not knowing that the chest 
 of relics was beneath. The old Norman chronicler, who 
 describes the scene most minutely,^ says, when Harold 
 placed his hand on it, the hand trembled, and the flesh 
 quivered ; but he swore, and promised upon his oath, to 
 take Ele [Adela] to wife, and to deliver up England to the 
 duke, and thereunto to do all in his power, according to 
 his might and wit, after the death of Edward, if he himself 
 should live : so help him God. Many cried, ' God grant 
 it ! ' and when Harold rose from his knees, the duke made 
 him stand close to the chest, and took off the pall that 
 had covered it, and showed Harold upon what holy relics 
 he had sworn ; and Harold was sorely alarmed at the sight. 
 Harold was soon after this permitted to return to Eng- 
 land ; and, after a short interval, during which he dis- 
 tinguished himself by the wisdom and humanity with 
 which he pacified some formidable tumults of the Anglo- 
 Danes in Northumbria, he found himself called on to 
 ^ Wace, Roman de Rou. I have nearly followed his words. 
 O 2
 
 196 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 decide whether he would keep the oath which the Norman 
 had obtained from him, or mount the vacant throne of 
 England in compliance with the nation's choice. King 
 Edward the Confessor died on the 5th of January, 1086, 
 and on the following day an assembly of the thanes and 
 prelates present in London, and of the citizens of the 
 metropolis, declared that Harold should be their king. 
 It was reported that the dying Edward had nominated 
 him as his successor. But the sense which his countrymen 
 entertained of his pre-eminent merit was the true founda- 
 tion of his title to the crown. Harold resolved to disregard 
 the oath which he made in Normandy as violent and void, 
 and on the 7th day of that January he was anointed king 
 of England, and received from the archbishop's hands the 
 golden crown and sceptre of England, and also an ancient 
 national symbol, a weighty battle-axe. He had deep and 
 speedy need of this significant part of the insignia of Saxon 
 royalty. 
 
 A messenger from Normandy soon arrived to remind 
 Harold of the oath which he had sworn to the duke ' with 
 his mouth, and his hand upon good and holy relics '. ' It is 
 true ', replied the Saxon king, ' that I took an oath to Wil- 
 liam ; but I took it under constraint : I promised Avhat 
 did not belong to me — what I could not in any way hold : 
 my royalty is not my o-^vn ; I could not lay it down against 
 the will of the country, nor can I against the will of the 
 country take a foreign wife. As for my sister, whom the 
 duke claimsthat he may marry her to one of his chiefs, she 
 has died within the j^ear ; would he have me send her 
 corpse ? ' 
 
 William sent another message, which met with a similar 
 answer ; and then the duke published far and wide through 
 Christendom what he termed the perjury and bad faith of 
 his rival ; and proclaimed his intention of asserting his 
 rights by the sword before the year should expire, and of 
 pursuing and punishing the perjurer even in those places 
 where he thought he stood most strongly and most securely. 
 
 Before, however, he commenced hostilities, William, with 
 deep-laid policy, submitted his claims to the decision of 
 the pope. Harold refused to acknowledge this tribunal, or 
 to answer before an Italian priest for his title as an English
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 197 
 
 king. After a formal examination of William's complaints 
 by the pope and the cardinals, it was solemnly adjudged 
 at Rome that England belonged to the Norman duke ; 
 and a banner was sent to William from the holy see, which 
 the pope himself had consecrated and blessed for the 
 invasion of this island. The clergy throughout the Con- 
 tinent were now assiduous and energetic in preaching up 
 William's enterprise as undertaken in the cause of God. 
 Besides these spiritual arms (the effect of which in the 
 eleventh century must not be measured by the philosophy 
 or the indifferentism of the nineteenth), the Norman duke 
 apj)lied all the energies of his mind and body, all the 
 resources of his duchy, and all the influence he possessed 
 among vassals or allies, to the collection of ' the most 
 remarkable and formidable armament which the western 
 nations had witnessed '} All the adventurous spirits of 
 Christendom flocked to the holy banner, under which Duke 
 William, the most renowned knight and sagest general of 
 the age, promised to lead them to glory and wealth in the 
 fair domains of England. His army was filled with the 
 chivalry of continental Europe, all eager to save their souls 
 by fighting at the pope's bidding, ardent to signalize their 
 valour in so great an enterprise, and longing also for the 
 pay and the plunder which William liberally promised. 
 But the Normans themselves were the pith and the flower 
 of the army ; and William himself was the strongest, the 
 sagest, and fiercest spirit of them all. 
 
 Throughout the spring and summer of 1066 all the sea- 
 ports of Normandy, Picardy, and Brittany rang with the 
 busy sound of preparation. On the opposite side of the 
 Channel King Harold collected the army and the fleet, 
 with which he hoped to crush the southern invaders. But 
 the unexpected attack of King Haralcl Hardrada of Norway 
 upon another part of England disconcerted the skilful 
 measures which the Saxon had taken against the menacmg 
 armada of Duke William. 
 
 Harold's renegade brother. Earl Tostig, had excited the 
 Norse king to this enterprise, the importance of which has 
 naturally been eclipsed by the superior mterest attached 
 
 ^ Sir James Mackintosh's History of England, vol. i. p. 97.
 
 198 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 to the victorious expedition of Duke William, but which 
 was on a scale of grandeur which the Scandinavian ports 
 had rarely, if ever, before witnessed. Hardrada's fleet 
 consisted of two hundred warships and three hundred other 
 vessels, and all the best warriors of Norway were in his host. 
 He sailed first to the Orkneys, where many of the islanders 
 joined him, and then to Yorkshire. After a severe conflict 
 near York, he completely routed Earls Edwin and Morcar, 
 the governors of Northumbria. The city of York opened 
 its gates, and all the country, from the Tyne to the Humber, 
 submitted to him. The tidings of the defeat of Edwin and 
 Morcar compelled Harold to leave his ^Dosition on the 
 southern coast and move instantly against the Norwegians. 
 By a remarkably rapid march he reached Yorkshire in four 
 days, and took the Norse king and his confederates by 
 surprise. Nevertheless, the battle which ensued, and which 
 was fought near Stamford Bridge, was desperate, and was 
 long doubtful. Unable to break the ranks of the Norwegian 
 phalanx by force, Harold at length tempted them to quit 
 their close order by a pretended flight. Then the English 
 columns burst in among them, and a carnage ensued, the 
 extent of which may be judged of by the exhaustion and 
 inactivity of Norway for a quarter of a century afterwards. 
 King Harald Hardrada, and all the flower of his nobility, 
 perished on the 25th of September, 1066, at Stamford 
 Bridge ; a battle which was a Flodden to Norway. 
 
 Harold's victory was splendid ; but he had bought it 
 dearly by the fall of many of his best officers and men ; 
 and still more dearly by the opportunity which Duke 
 William had gained of effecting an unopposed landing on 
 the Sussex coast. The whole of William's shipping had 
 assembled at the mouth of the Dive, a little river between 
 the Seine and the Orme, as early as the middle of August. 
 The army which he had collected amounted to fiftv thousand 
 knights, and ten thousand soldiers of inferior degree. 
 Many of the knights were mounted, but many must have 
 served on foot, as it. is hardly possible to believe that 
 William could have found transports for the conveyance 
 of fifty thousand war-horses across the Channel. For a 
 long time the winds were adverse, and the duke employed 
 the interval that passed before he could set sail in com-
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 199 
 
 pleting the organization, and in improving the discipHne, 
 of his army, which he seems to have brought into the same 
 state of perfection as was seven centuries and a half after- 
 wards the boast of another army assembled on the same 
 coast, and which Napoleon designed (but providentially 
 in vain) for a similar descent upon England. 
 
 It was not till the approach of the equinox that the wind 
 veered from the north-east to the west and gave the Nor- 
 mans an opportunity of quitting the weary shores of the 
 Dive. They eagerly embarked, and set sail ; but the wind 
 soon freshened to a gale, and drove them along the French 
 coast to St. Valery, where the greater part of them found 
 shelter : but many of their vessels were wrecked, and the 
 whole coast of Normandy was strewn with the bodies of 
 the drowned. William's army began to grow discouraged 
 and averse to the enterprise, which the very elements thus 
 seemed to fight against ; though in reality the north-east 
 wind which had cooped them so long at the mouth of the 
 Dive, and the western gale which had forced them into 
 St. Valery, were the best possible friends to the invaders. 
 They prevented the Normans from crossing the Channel 
 until the Saxon king and his army of defence had been 
 called away from the Sussex coast to encounter Harald 
 Hardrada in Yorkshire : and also until a formidable Eng- 
 lish fleet, which by King Harold's orders had been cruising 
 in the Channel to intercept the Normans, had been obliged 
 to disperse temporarily for the purpose of refitting and 
 taking in fresh stores of provisions. 
 
 Duke William used every expedient to reanimate the 
 drooping spirits of his men at St. Valery ; and at last he 
 caused the body of the patron saint of the place to be 
 exhumed and carried in solemn procession, while the whole 
 assemblage of soldiers, mariners, and appurtenant priests, 
 implored the saint's intercession for a change of wind. 
 That very night the wind veered, and enabled the mediaeval 
 Agamemnon to quit his Aulis. 
 
 With full sails, and a following southern breeze, the 
 Norman Armada left the French shores and steered for 
 England. The invaders crossed an undefended sea, and 
 found an undefended coast. It was in Pevensey Bay in 
 Sussex, at Bulverhithe, between the castle of Pevensey
 
 200 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 and Hastings, that the last conquerors of this island landed 
 on the 29th of September, 1066. 
 
 Harold was at York, rejoicing over his recent victory, 
 which had delivered England from her ancient Scandi- 
 navian foes, and resettling the government of the counties 
 which Harald Hardrada had overrun, when the tidings 
 reached him that Duke William of Normandy and his host 
 had landed on the Sussex shore. Harold instantly hurried 
 southward to meet this long-expected enemy. The severe 
 loss which his army had sustained in the battle with the 
 Norwegians must have made it impossible for any large 
 number of veteran troops to accompany him in his forced 
 march to London, and thence to Sussex. He halted at 
 the capital only six days ; and during that time gave orders 
 for collecting forces from his southern and midland counties, 
 and also directed his fleet to reassemble off the Sussex 
 coast. Harold was well received in London, and his sum- 
 mons to arms was promptly obeyed by citizen, by thane, 
 by sokman, and by ceorl ; for he had shown himself during 
 his brief reign a just and wise king, affable to all men, 
 active for the good of his country, and (in the words of the 
 old historian) sparing himself from no fatigue by land or 
 sea.^ He might have gathered a much more numerous 
 force than that of William ; but his recent victory had 
 made him over-confident, and he was irritated by the 
 reports of the country being ravaged by the invaders. 
 As soon, therefore, as he had collected a small army in 
 London, he marched off towards the coast, pressing forward 
 as rapidly as his men could traverse Surrey and Sussex, 
 in the hope of taking the Normans unawares, as he had 
 recently by a similar forced march succeeded in surprising 
 the Norwegians. But he had now to deal with a foe eqvially 
 brave with Harald Hardrada, and far more skilful and wary. 
 
 The old Norman chroniclers describe the preparations 
 of William on his landing, with a graphic vigour, which 
 would be wholly lost by transfusing their racy Norman 
 couplets and terse Latin prose into the current style of 
 modern history. It is best to follow them closely, though 
 at the expense of much quaintness and occasional uncouth- 
 
 1 See Roger de Hoveden and William of Malmesbuiy, cited in Thierry, 
 book iii.
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 201 
 
 ness of expression. They tell us how Duke William's own 
 ship was the first of the Norman fleet. ' It was called the 
 Mora, and was the gift of his duchess, Matilda. On the 
 head of the ship in the front, which mariners call the prow, 
 there was a brazen child bearing an arrow with a bended 
 bow. His face was turned towards England, and thither 
 he looked, as though he was about to shoot. The breeze 
 became soft and sweet, and the sea was smooth for their 
 landing. The ships ran on dry land, and each ranged by 
 the other's side. There you might see the good sailors, the 
 sergeants, and squires sally forth and unload the ships ; 
 cast the anchors, haul the ropes, bear out shields and 
 saddles, and land the war-horses and palfreys. The archers 
 came forth, and touched land the first, each with his bow 
 strung, and with his quiver full of arrows, slung at his side. 
 All were shaven and shorn ; and all clad in short garments, 
 ready to attack, to shoot, to wheel about and skirmish. 
 All stood well equipped, and of good courage for the fight ; 
 and they scoured the whole shore, but found not an armed 
 man there. After the archers had thus gone forth, the 
 knights landed all armed, with their hauberks on, their 
 shields slung at their necks, and their helmets laced. They 
 formed together on the shore, each armed, and mounted on 
 his war-horse : all had their swords girded on, and rode 
 forward into the country with their lances raised. Then 
 the carpenters landed, who had great axes in their hands, 
 and planes and adzes hung at their sides. They took 
 counsel together, and sought for a good spot to place a 
 castle on. They had brought with them in the fleet three 
 wooden castles from Normandy, in pieces, all ready for 
 framing together, and they took the materials of one of 
 these out of the ships, all shaped and pierced to receive the 
 pins which they had brought cut and ready in large barrels ; 
 and before evening had set in, they had finished a good fort 
 on the English ground, and there they placed their stores. 
 All then ate and drank enough, and were right glad that 
 they were ashore. 
 
 ' When Duke William himself landed, as he stepped 
 on the shore, he slipped and fell forward upon his two 
 hands. Forthwith all raised a loud cry of distress. " An 
 evil sign ", said they, " is here." But he cried out lustily,
 
 202 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 " See ! my lords ; by the splendour of God,^ I have taken 
 possession of England with both my hands. It is now 
 mine ; and what is mine is yours." 
 
 ' The next day they marched along the sea-shore to 
 Hastings. Near that place the duke fortified a camp, and 
 set up the two other wooden castles. The foragers, and 
 those who looked out for booty, seized all the clothing and 
 provisions they could find, lest what had been brought by 
 the ships should fail them. And the English were to be seen 
 fleeing before them, driving off their cattle, and quitting 
 their houses. Many took shelter in burying-places, and 
 even there they were in grievous alarm.' 
 
 Besides the marauders from the Norman camp, strong 
 bodies of cavalry were detached by William into the 
 country, and these, when Harold and his army made their 
 rapid march from London southward, fell back in good 
 order upon the main body of the Normans, and reported 
 that the Saxon king was rushing on like a madman. But 
 Harold, when he found that his hopes of surprising his 
 adversary were vain, changed his tactics, and halted about 
 seven miles from the Norman lines. He sent some spies, 
 who spoke the French language, to examine the number 
 and preparations of the enemy, who, on their return, related 
 with astonishment that there were more priests in William's 
 camp than there were fighting men in the English army. 
 They had mistaken for priests all the Norman soldiers who 
 had short hair and shaven chins ; for the English laymen 
 were then accustomed to wear long hair and mustachios. 
 Harold, who knew the Norman usages, smiled at their 
 words and said, ' Those whom you have seen in such 
 numbers are not priests, but stout soldiers, as they will 
 soon make us feel.' 
 
 Harold's army was far inferior in number to that of the 
 Normans, and some of his captains advised him to retreat 
 upon London, and lay waste the countrj^ so as to starve 
 down the strength of the invaders. The policy thus 
 recommended was unquestionably the wisest ; for the 
 Saxon fleet had now reassembled, and intercepted all 
 William's communications with Normandy; so that as soon 
 as his stores of provisions were exhausted he must have 
 ^ William's customary oath.
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 203 
 
 moved forward upon London ; where Harold, at the head 
 of the full military strength of the kingdom, could have 
 defied his assault, and probably might have witnessed his 
 rival's destruction by famine and disease, without having to 
 strike a single blow. But Harold's bold blood was up, and 
 his kindly heart could not endure to inflict on his South 
 Saxon subjects even the temporary misery of wasting the 
 country. ' He would not burn houses and villages, neither 
 would he take away the substance of his people.' 
 
 Harold's brothers, Gurth and Leofwine, were with him 
 in the camp, and Gurth endeavoured to persuade him to 
 absent himself from the battle. The incident shows how 
 well devised had been William's scheme of binding Harold 
 by the oath on the holy relics. ' My brother,' said the 
 young Saxon prince, ' thou canst not deny that either by 
 force or freewill thou hast made Duke William an oath on 
 the bodies of saints. Why then risk thyself in the battle 
 with a perjury upon thee ? To us, who have sworn nothing, 
 this is a holy and a just war, for we are fighting for our 
 country. Leave us, then, alone to fight this battle, and he 
 who has the right will win.' Harold replied that he would 
 not look on while others risked their lives for him. Men 
 would hold him a coward, and blame him for sending his 
 best friends where he dared not go himself. He resolved, 
 therefore, to fight, and to fight in person : but he was still 
 too good a general to be the assailant in the action. He 
 strengthened his position on the hill where he had halted, 
 by a palisade of stakes interlaced with osier hurdles, and 
 there, he said, he would defend himself against whoever 
 should seek him. 
 
 The ruins of Battle Abbey at this hour attest the place 
 where Harold's army was posted. The high altar of the 
 Abbey stood on the very spot where Harold's own standard 
 was planted during the fight, and where the carnage was the 
 thickest. Immediately after his victory William vowed 
 to build an Abbey on the site ; and a fair and stately pile 
 soon rose there, where for many ages the monks prayed and 
 said masses for the souls of those who were slain in the 
 battle, whence the Abbey took its name. Before that time 
 the place was called Senlac. Little of the ancient edifice 
 now remains ; but it is easy to trace among its relics and in
 
 204 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 the neighbourhood the scenes of the chief incidents in the 
 action ; and it is impossible to deny the generalship shown 
 by Harold in stationing his men ; especially when we bear 
 in mind that he was deficient in cavalry, the arm in which 
 his adversary's main strength consisted. 
 
 A neck of hills trends inwards for nearly seven miles 
 from the high ground immediately to the north-east of 
 Hastings. The line of this neck of hills is from south-east 
 to north-west, and the usual route from Hastings to London 
 must, in ancient as in modern times, have been along its 
 summits. At the distance from Hastings which has been 
 mentioned, the continuous chain of hills ceases. A valley 
 must be crossed, and on the other side of it, opposite to the 
 last of the neck of hills, rises a high ground of some extent, 
 facing to the south-east. This high ground^ then termed 
 Senlac, was occupied by Harold's army. It could not be 
 attacked in front without considerable disadvantage to 
 the assailants, and could hardly be turned without those 
 engaged in the manoeuvre exposing themselves to a fatal 
 charge in flank, while they wound round the base of the 
 height, and underneath the ridges which project from it 
 on either side. There was a rough and thickly wooded 
 district in the rear, which seemed to offer Harold great 
 facilities for rallying his men, and checking the progress of 
 the enemy, if they should succeed in forcing him back from 
 his post. And it seemed scarcely possible that the Nor- 
 mans, if they met with any repulse, could save themselves 
 from utter destruction. With such hopes and expectations 
 (which cannot be termed unreasonable, though ' Suc- 
 cessum Dea dira negavit '), King Harold bade his standard 
 be set up a little way down the slope of Senlac-hill, at the 
 point where the ascent from the valley was least steep, and 
 on which the fiercest attacks of the advancing enemy were 
 sure to be directed. 
 
 The foundation-stones of the high altar of Battle Abbey 
 have, during late years, been discovered ; and we may 
 place our feet on the very sjDot where Harold stood wdth 
 England's banner waving over him ; where, when the battle 
 was joined, he defended himself to the utmost ; where the 
 fatal arrow came down on him ; Avhere he ' leaned in agony 
 on hi^ shield ', — and where at last he was beaten to the
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 205 
 
 earth, and with him the Saxon banner was beaten down, 
 like him never to rise again. The ruins of the altar are 
 a little to the west of the high road, which leads from 
 Hastings along the neck of hills already described, across 
 the valley, and through the modern town of Battle, towards 
 London. Before a railway was made along this valley, 
 some of the old local features were more easy than now to 
 
 
 
 PLAN OP BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 recognize. The eye then at once saw that the ascent from 
 the valley was least steep at the point which Harold selected 
 for his own post in the engagement. But this is still 
 sufficiently discernible ; and we can fix the spot a little 
 lower down the slope, immediately in front of the high 
 altar, where the brave Kentish men stood, ' whose right it 
 was to strike first whenever the king went to battle,' and 
 who, therefore, were placed where the Normans would be
 
 206 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 most likely to make their first charge. Round Harold 
 himself, and where the plantations wave, which now sur- 
 round the high altar's ruins, stood the men of London, 
 ' whose privilege it was to guard the king's body, to place 
 themselves around it, and to guard his standard'. On 
 the right and left were ranged the other warriors of central 
 and southern England, whose shires the old Noiman 
 chronicler distorts in his French nomenclature. Looking 
 thence in the direction of Hastings, we can distinguish the 
 ' ridge of the rising ground over which the Normans ap- 
 peared advancing '. It is the nearest of the neck of hills. 
 It is along that hill that Harold and his brothers saw 
 approach in succession the three divisions of the Norman 
 army. The Normans came down that slope, and then 
 formed in the valley, so as to assault the whole front of 
 the English position. Duke William's own division, with 
 ' the best men and greatest strength of the army ' , made 
 the Norman centre, and charged the English immediately 
 in front of Harold's banner, as the nature of the ground had 
 led the Saxon king to anticipate. 
 
 There are few battles the localities of which can be more 
 completely traced, and the whole scene is fraught with 
 associations of deep interest ; but the spot which, most of 
 all, awakens our sympathy and excites our feelings, is that 
 where Harold himself fought and fell. The crumbling 
 fragments of the grey altar stones, with the wild flowers 
 that cling around their base, seem fitting memorials of the 
 brave Saxon who there bowed his head in death ; while the 
 laurel trees that are planted near, and wave over the ruins, 
 remind us of the Conqueror, who there, at the close of that 
 dreadful day, reared his victorious standard high over the 
 trampled banner of the Saxon, and held his triumphant 
 carousal amid the corses of the slain, with his Norman 
 chivalry exulting around him. 
 
 When it was known in the invaders' camp at Hastings 
 that King Harold had marched southward with his power, 
 but a brief interval ensued before the two hosts met in 
 decisive encounter. 
 
 William's only chance of safety lay in bringing on a 
 general engagement ; and he joyfully advanced his army 
 from their camp on the hill over Hastings, nearer to the
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 207 
 
 Saxon position. But he neglected no means of weakening 
 his opponent, and renewed his summonses and demands on 
 Harold with an ostentatious air of sanctity and moderation. 
 
 ' A monk named Hugues Maigrot came in William's 
 name to call upon the Saxon king to do one of three things 
 — either to resign his royalty in favour of William, or to 
 refer it to the arbitration of the pope to decide Avhich of the 
 two ought to be king, or to let it be determined by the issue 
 of a single combat. Harold abruptly replied, " I will not 
 resign my title, I will not refer it to the pope, nor will 
 I accept the single combat." He was far from being 
 deficient in bravery ; but he was no more at liberty to 
 stake the crown which he had received from a whole people 
 on the chance of a duel, than to deposit it in the hands of an 
 Italian priest. William was not at all ruffled by the Saxon's 
 refusal, but steadily pursuing the course of his calculated 
 measures, sent the Norman monk again, after giving him 
 these instructions : " Go and tell Harold, that if he will 
 keep his former compact with me, I will leave to him all 
 the country which is beyond the Humber, and will give 
 his brother Gurth all the lands which Godwin held. If he 
 still persist in refusing my offers, then thou shaft tell him, 
 before all his people, that he is a perjurer and a liar, that 
 he, and all who shall support him, are excommunicated by 
 the mouth of the pope ; and that the bull to that effect is 
 in my hands." 
 
 ' Hugues Maigrot delivered this message in a solemn 
 tone ; and the Norman chronicle says that at the word 
 excommunication, the English chiefs looked at one another 
 as if some great danger were impending. One of them 
 then spoke as follows : " We must fight, whatever may be 
 the danger to us ; for what we have to consider is not 
 whether we shall accept and receive a new lord as if our 
 king were dead ; the case is quite otherwise. The Norman 
 has given our lands to his captains, to his knights, to all his 
 people, the greater part of whom have already done homage 
 to him for them ; they will all look for their gift, if their 
 duke become our king ; and he himself is bound to deliver 
 up to them our goods, our wives, and our daughters : all 
 is promised to them beforehand. They come, not only to 
 ruin us, but to ruin our descendants also, and to take from
 
 208 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 us the coiintr}^ of our ancestors. And what shall we do — 
 whither shall we go — when we have no longer a country ? " 
 The English promised, by a unanimous oath, to make neither 
 peace, nor truce, nor treaty, with the invader, but to die, 
 or drive away the Normans.' ^ 
 
 The 13th of October was occupied in these negotiations ; 
 and at night the duke announced to his men that the next 
 day would be the day of battle. That night is said to have 
 been passed by the two armies in very different manners. 
 The Saxon soldiers spent it in joviality, singing their 
 national songs, and draining huge horns of ale and wine 
 round their camp fires. The Normans, Avhen they had 
 looked to their arms and horses, confessed themselves to the 
 priests, with whom their camp was thronged, and received 
 the sacrament by thousands at a time. 
 
 On Saturday the 14th of October was fought the great 
 battle. 
 
 It is not difficult to compose a narrative of its principal 
 incidents, from the historical information which we possess, 
 especially if aided by an examination of the ground. But 
 it is far better to adopt the spirit-stirring words of the old 
 chroniclers, Avho wrote while the recollections of the battle 
 were yet fresh, and while the feelings and prejudices of the 
 combatants yet glowed in the bosoms of their near descen- 
 dants. Robert Wace, the Norman poet, who presented his 
 Roman de Rou to our Henry II, is the most picturesque and 
 animated of the old wTiters ; and from him we can obtain 
 a more vivid and full description of the conflict than even 
 the most brilliant romance-writer of the present time can 
 supply. We have also an antique memorial of the battle, 
 more to be relied on than either chronicler or poet (and 
 which confirms Wace's narrative remarkably), in the 
 celebrated Bayeux tapestry, ^^hich represents the principal 
 scenes of Duke William's expedition, and of the circum- 
 stances connected with it, in minute though occasionally 
 grotesque details, and which was undoubtedly the pro- 
 duction of the same age in which the battle took place ; 
 whether we admit or reject the legend that Queen Matilda 
 and the ladies of her court wrought it with their own hands 
 in honour of the royal conqueror. 
 
 • Thierry.
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 209 
 
 Let us therefore suffer the old Norman chronicler to 
 transport our imaginations to the fair Sussex scenery, 
 north-west of Hastings, with its breezy uplands, its grassy 
 slopes, and ridges of open down swelling inland from the 
 sparkling sea, its scattered copses, and its denser glades of 
 intervening forests, clad in all the varied tints of autumn, 
 as they appeared on the morning of the fourteenth of 
 October, seven hundred and eighty-five years ago. The 
 Norman host is pouring forth from its tents, and each 
 troop, and each company, is forming fast under the banner 
 of its leader. The masses have been sung, which were 
 finished betimes in the morning ; the barons have all 
 assembled round Duke William ; and the duke has ordered 
 that the army shall be formed in three divisions, so as to 
 make the attack upon the Saxon position in three places. 
 The duke stood on a hill where he could best see his men ; 
 the barons surrounded him, and he spake to them proudly. 
 He told them how he trusted them, and how all that he 
 gained should be theirs ; and how sure he felt of conquest, 
 for in all the world there was not so brave an army, or such 
 good men and true as were then forming around him. 
 Then they cheered him in turn, and cried out, ' " You will 
 not see one coward ; none here will fear to die for love of 
 you, if need be." And he answered them, " I thank you 
 well. For God's sake spare not ; strike hard at the begin- 
 ning ; stay not to take spoil ; all the booty shall be in 
 common, and there will be plenty for every one. There will 
 be no safety in asking quarter or in flight : the English will 
 never love or spare a Norman. Felons they were, and 
 felons they are ; false they were, and false they will be. 
 Show no weakness towards them, for they will have no pity 
 on you. Neither the coward for running well, nor the bold 
 man for smiting well, will be the better liked by the English, 
 nor will any be the more spared on either account. You 
 may fly to the sea, but you can fly no further ; you will 
 find neither ships nor bridge there ; there will be no sailors 
 to receive you ; and the English wiU overtake you there 
 and slay you in your shame. More of you will die in flight 
 than in the battle. Then, as flight will not secure you, 
 fight, and j^ou will conquer. I have no doubt of the victory : 
 we are come for glory, the victory is in our hands, and we 
 
 CREASY p
 
 210 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 may make sure of obtaining it if we so please." As the 
 duke was speaking thus, and would yet have spoken more, 
 William Fitz Osber rode up with his horse all coated with 
 iron ; " Sire," said he, " we tarry here too long, let us all 
 arm ourselves. Allans! Allons ! " 
 
 ' Then all went to their tents, and armed themselves as 
 they best might ; and the duke was very busy, giving every 
 one his orders ; and he was courteous to all the vassals, 
 giving away many arms and horses to them. When he 
 prepared to arm himself, he called first for his good hauberk, 
 and a man brought it on his arm, and placed it before him, 
 but in putting his head in, to get it on, he unawares turned 
 it the wrong way, with the back part in front. He soon 
 changed it, but when he saw that those who stood by were 
 sorely alarmed, he said, " I have seen many a man who, 
 if such a thing had happened to him, would not have borne 
 arms, or entered the field the same day ; but I never 
 believed in omens, and I never will. I trust in God, for He 
 does in all things His pleasure, and ordains what is to come 
 to pass, according to His will. I have never liked fortune- 
 tellers, nor believed in diviners, but I commend myself 
 to our Lady. Let not this mischance give you trouble. 
 The hauberk which was turned wrong, and then set right 
 by me, signifies that a change will arise out of the matter 
 which we are now stirring. You shall see the name of duke 
 changed into king. Yea, a king shall I be, who hitherto 
 have been but duke." Then he crossed himself, and 
 straightway took his hauberk, stooped his head, and put 
 it on aright, and laced his helmet, and girt on his sword, 
 which a varlet brought him. Then the duke called for his 
 good horse — a better could not be found. It had been sent 
 him by a king of Spain, out of very great friendship. 
 Neither arms nor the press of fighting men did it fear, if its 
 lord spurred it on. Walter Giffard brought it. The Duke 
 stretched out his hand, took the reins, put foot in stirrup, 
 and mounted ; and the good horse pawed, pranced, reared 
 himself up, and curvetted. The Viscount of Toarz saAV 
 how the duke bore himself in arms, and said to his people 
 that were around him, " Never have I seen a man so fairly 
 armed, nor one who rode so gallantly, or bore his arms, or 
 became his hauberk so well ; neither any one who bore his
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 211 
 
 lance so gracefully, or sat his horse and managed him to 
 nobly. There is no such knight under heaven ! a fair 
 count he is, and fair king he will be. Let him fight, and he 
 shall overcome ; shame be to the man who shall fail him." 
 
 ' Then the duke called for the standard which the pope 
 had sent him, and he who bore it having unfolded it, the 
 duke took it, and called to Raol de Conches. " Bear my 
 standard," said he, " for I would not but do you right ; 
 by right and by ancestry your line are standard-bearers of 
 Normandy, and very good knights have they all been." 
 But Raol said that he would serve the duke that day in 
 other guise, and would fight the English with his hand as 
 long as life should last. Then the duke bade Galtier Giffart 
 bear the standard. But he was old and white-headed, and 
 bade the duke give the standard to some younger and 
 stronger man to carry. Then the duke said fiercely, " By 
 the splendour of God, my lords, I think you mean to betray 
 and fail me in this great need." — " Sire," said Giffart, 
 " not so ! we have done no treason, nor do I refuse from any 
 felony towards you ; but I have to lead a great chivalry, 
 both hired men and the men of my fief. Never had I such 
 good means of serving you as I now have ; and, if God 
 please, I will serve you ; if need be, I will die for you, and 
 Avill give my own heart for yours." 
 
 ' " By my faith," quoth the duke, " I always loved thee, 
 and now I love thee more ; if I survive this day, thou shaft 
 be the better for it all thy days." Then he called out a 
 knight, whom he had heard much praised, Tosteins Fitz- 
 Rou le Blanc, by name, whose abode was at Bec-en-Caux. 
 To him he delivered the standard ; and Tosteins took it 
 right cheerfully, and bowed low to him in thanks, and bore 
 it gallantly, and with good heart. His kindred still have 
 quittance of all service for their inheritance on that account, 
 and their heirs are entitled so to hold their inheritance 
 for ever. 
 
 ' William sat on his war-horse, and called on Rogier, 
 whom they call De Mongomeri. " I rely much upon you," 
 said he, " lead your men thitherward, and attack them from 
 that side. William, the son of Osber, the seneschal, a right 
 good vassal, shall go with you and help in the attack, and 
 you shall have the men of Boulogne and Poix, and all my 
 
 P 2
 
 212 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 soldiers. Alain Fergert and Ameri shall attack on the other 
 side ; they shall lead the Poitevins and the Bretons, and 
 all the Barons of Maine ; and I, with my own great men, 
 my friends and kindred, will fight in the middle throng, 
 where the battle shall be the hottest." 
 
 ' The barons, and knights, and men-at-arms were all 
 now armed ; the foot-soldiers were well-equipped, each 
 bearing bow and sword ; on their heads were caps, and to 
 their feet were bound buskins. Some had good hides 
 which they had bound round their bodies ; and many were 
 clad in frocks, and had quivers and bows hung to their 
 girdles. The knights had hauberks and swords, boots of 
 steel and shining helmets ; shields at their necks, and in their 
 hands lances. And all had their cognizances, so that each 
 might know his fellow, and Norman might not strike 
 Norman, nor Frenchman kill his countryman by mistake. 
 Those on foot led the way, with serried ranks, bearing their 
 bows. The knights rode next, supporting the archers from 
 behind. Thus both horse and foot kept their course and 
 order of march as they began ; in close ranks at a gentle 
 pace, that the one might not pass or separate from the other. 
 All went firmly and compactly, bearing themselves gallantly. 
 
 ' Harold had summoned his men, earls, barons, and 
 vavassours, from the castles and the cities ; from the ports, 
 the villages, and boroughs. The peasants were also called 
 together from the villages, bearing such arms as they found ; 
 clubs and great picks, iron forks and stakes. The English 
 had enclosed the place where Harold was with his friends 
 and the barons of the country whom he had summoned 
 and called together. 
 
 ' Those of London had come at once, and those of Kent, 
 Hertfort, and of Essesse ; those of Suree and Susesse, of 
 St. Edmund and Sufoc ; of Norwis and Norfoc ; of Can- 
 torbierre and istanfort ; Bedefort and Hundetone. The 
 men of Northanton also came ; and those of Eurowic and 
 Bokinkeham, of Bed and Notinkeham, Lindesie and Nichole. 
 There came also from the west all who heard the summons ; 
 and very many were to be seen coming from Salebiere and 
 Dorset, from Bat and from Somerset. Many came, too, 
 from about Glocestre, and many from Wirecestre, from 
 Wincestrc, Hontesire, and Brichesire ; and many more from
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 213 
 
 other counties that we have not named, and cannot, indeed, 
 recount. All who could bear arms, and had learnt the 
 news of the duke's arrival, came to defend the land. But 
 none came from beyond Humbre, for they had other business 
 upon their hands ; the Danes and Tosti having much 
 damaged and weakened them. 
 
 ' Harold knew that the Normans would come and attack 
 him hand to hand ; so he had early enclosed the field in 
 which he placed his men. He made them arm early, and 
 range themselves for the battle ; he himself having put 
 on arms and equipments that became such a lord. The 
 duke, he said, ought to seek him, as he wanted to conquer 
 England ; and it became him to abide the attack, who had 
 to defend the land. He commanded the people, and coun- 
 selled his barons, to keep themselves altogether, and defend 
 themselves in a body ; for if they once separated, they 
 would with difficulty recover themselves. " The Normans ", 
 he said, " are good vassals, valiant on foot and on horseback ; 
 good knights are they on horseback, and well used to battle ; 
 all is lost if they once penetrate our ranks. They have 
 brought long lances and swords, but you have pointed 
 lances and keen-edged bills ; and I do not expect that 
 their arms can stand against yours. Cleave wherever you 
 can ; it will be ill done if you spare aught." 
 
 ' The English had built up a fence before them with their 
 shields, and with ash and other wood ; and had well joined 
 and wattled in the whole work, so as not to leave even 
 a crevice ; and thus they had a barricade in their front, 
 through which any Norman who would attack them must 
 first pass. Being covered in this way by their shields and 
 barricades, their aim was to defend themselves : and if they 
 had remained steady for that purpose, they would not have 
 been conquered that day ; for every Norman who made his 
 way in, lost his life, either by hatchet or bill, by club, or 
 other weapon. They wore short and close hauberks, and 
 helmets that hung over their garments. King Harold 
 issued orders and made proclamation round, that all should 
 be ranged with their faces towards the enemy ; and that 
 no one shovild move from where he was ; so that, whoever 
 came, might find them ready ; and that whatever any one, 
 be he Norman or other, should do, each should do his best
 
 214 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 to defend his own place. Then he ordered the men of Kent 
 to go where the Normans were Hkely to make the attack ; 
 for they say that the men of Kent are entitled to strike first ; 
 and that whenever the king goes to battle, the first blow 
 belongs to them. The right of the men of London is to 
 guard the king's body, to place themselves around him, and 
 to guard his standard ; and they were accordingly placed 
 by the standard to watch and defend it. 
 
 ' When Harold had made his reply, and given his orders, 
 he came into the midst of the English, and dismounted by 
 the side of the standard, Leofwin and Gurth, his brothers, 
 were with him, and around him he had barons enough, as 
 he stood by his standard, which was in truth a noble one, 
 sparkling with gold and precious stones. After the victory, 
 William sent it to the Pope, to prove and commemorate his 
 great conquest and glory. The English stood in close ranks, 
 ready and eager for the fight ; and they moreover made 
 a fosse, which went across the field, guarding one side of their 
 army. 
 
 ' Meanwhile the Normans appeared advancing over the 
 ridge of a rising ground ; and the first division of their 
 troops moved onwards along the hill and across a valley. 
 And presently another division, still larger, came in sight, 
 close followmg upon the first, and they were led towards 
 another part of the field, forming together as the first body 
 had done. And while Harold saw and examined them, 
 and was pointing them out to Gurth, a fresh company came 
 in sight, covering all the plain ; and in the midst of them 
 was raised the standard that came from Rome. Near it 
 was the duke, and the best men and greatest strength of the 
 army were there. The good knights, the good vassals, and 
 brave warriors were there ; and there were gathered to- 
 gether the gentle barons, the good archers, and the men-at- 
 arms, whose dutj^ it was to guard the duke, and range them- 
 selves around him. The youths and common herd of the 
 camp, whose business was not to join in the battle, but to 
 take care of the harness and stores, moved off towards 
 a rising ground. The priests and the clerks also ascended 
 a hill, there to offer up pra3^ers to God, and watch the event 
 of the battle. 
 
 ' The English stood firm on foot in close ranks, and
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 215 
 
 carried themselves right boldly. Each man had his hau- 
 berk on, with his sword girt, and his shield at his neck. 
 Great hatchets were also slung at their necks, with which 
 they expected to strike heavy blows. 
 
 ' The Normans brought on the three divisions of their 
 army to attack at different places. They set out in three 
 companies, and in three companies did they fight. The 
 first and second had come up, and then advanced the third, 
 which was the greatest ; with that came the duke with his 
 own men, and all moved boldly forward. 
 
 ' As soon as the two armies were in full view of each other, 
 great noise and tumult arose. You might hear the sound 
 of many trumpets, of bugles, and of horns : and then you 
 might see men ranging themselves in line, lifting their 
 shields, raising their lances, bending their bows, handling 
 their arrows, ready for assault and defence. 
 
 ' The English stood steady to their post, the Normans 
 still moved on ; and when they drew near, the English were 
 to be seen stirring to and fro ; were going and coming ; 
 troops ranging themselves in order ; some with their colour 
 rising, others turning pale ; some making ready their arms, 
 others raising their shields ; the brave man rousing himself 
 to fight, the coward trembling at the approach of danger. 
 
 ' Then Taillefer, who sang right well, rode mounted on 
 a swift horse, before the duke, singing of Charlemagne, and 
 of Roland, of Olivier, and the Peers who died in Ronces- 
 valles. And when they drew nigh to the English, " A boon, 
 sire! " cried Taillefer ; "I have long served you, and you 
 owe me for all such service. To-day, so please you, j^ou 
 shall repay it. I ask as my guerdon and beseech you for it 
 earnestly, that you will allow me to strike the first blow in 
 the battle ! " And the duke answered, " I grant it." 
 Then Taillefer put his horse to a gallop, charging before all 
 the rest, and struck an Englishman dead, driving his lance 
 below the breast into his body, and stretching him upon the 
 ground. Then he drew his sword, and struck another, 
 crying out, " Come on, come on ! What do ye, sirs ? 
 lay on, lay on ! " At the second blow he struck, the English 
 pushed forward, and surrounded and slew him. Forth- 
 with arose the noise and cry of war, and on either side the 
 people put themselves in motion.
 
 216 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 ' The Normans moved on to the assault, and the English 
 defended themselves well. Some were striking, others 
 urging onwards ; all were bold, and cast aside fear. And 
 now, behold, that battle was gathered, whereof the fame is 
 yet mighty. 
 
 ' Loud and far resounded the bray of the horns ; and 
 the shocks of the lances, the mighty strokes of maces, and 
 the quick clashing of swords. One while the Englishmen 
 rushed on, another while they fell back ; one while the men 
 from over sea charged onwards, and again at other times 
 retreated. The Normans shouted " Dex Aie ", the English 
 people " Out ". Then came the cunning manoeuvres, the 
 rude shocks and strokes of the lance and blows of the swords, 
 among the Serjeants and soldiers, both English and Norman. 
 
 ' When the English fall, the Normans shout. Each 
 side taunts and defies the other, yet neither knoweth what 
 the other saith ; and the Normans say the English bark, 
 because they understand not their speech. 
 
 ' Some wax strong, others weak : the brave exult, but 
 the cowards tremble, as men who are sore dismayed. The 
 Normans press on the assault, and the English defend their 
 post well : they pierce the hauberks, and cleave the shields, 
 receive and return mighty blows. Again, some press 
 forwards ; others yield, and thus in various ways the 
 struggle proceeds. In the plain was a fosse, which the 
 Normans had now behind them, having passed it in the 
 fight without regarding it. But the English charged and 
 drove the Normans before them till they made them fall 
 back upon this fosse, overthrowing into it horses and men. 
 Many were to be seen falling therein, rolling one over the 
 other, with their faces to the earth, and unable to rise. 
 Many of the English, also, whom the Normans drew down 
 along with them, died there. At no time during the day's 
 battle did so many Normans die as perished in that fosse. 
 So those said who saw the dead. 
 
 ' The varlets who were set to guard the harness began 
 to abandon it as they saw the loss of the Frenchmen, when 
 thrown back upon the fosse without power to recover them- 
 selves. Being greatly alarmed at seeing the difficulty in 
 restoring order, they began to quit the harness, and sought 
 around, not knowing where to find shelter. Then Duke
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS - 217 
 
 William's brother, Odo, the good priest, the Bishop of 
 Bayeux, galloped up, and said to them, " Stand fast ! stand 
 fast ! be quiet and move not ! fear nothing, for if God 
 please, we shall conquer yet." So they took courage, and 
 rested where they were ; and Odo returned galloping back 
 to where the battle was most fierce, and was of great service 
 on that day. He had put a hauberk on, over a white aube ; 
 wide in the body, with the sleeve tight ; and sat on a white 
 horse, so that all might recognize him. In his hand he held 
 a mace, and wherever he saw most need he held up and 
 stationed the knights, and often urged them on to assault 
 and strike the enemy. 
 
 ' From nine o'clock in the morning, when the combat 
 began, till three o'clock came, the battle was up and down, 
 this way and that, and no one knew who would conquer 
 and win the land. Both sides stood so firm and fought so 
 well, that no one could guess which would prevail. The 
 Norman archers with their bows shot thickly upon the 
 English ; but they covered themselves with their shields, 
 so that the arrows could not reach their bodies, nor do any 
 mischief, how true soever was their aim, or however well 
 they shot. Then the Normans determined to shoot their 
 arrows upwards into the air, so that they might fall on their 
 enemies' heads, and strike their faces. The archers adopted 
 this scheme, and shot up into the air towards the English ; 
 and the arrows in falling struck their heads and faces, and 
 put out the eyes of many ; and all feared to ojjen their eyes, 
 or leave their faces unguarded. 
 
 ' The arrows now flew thicker than rain before the wind ; 
 fast sped the shafts that the EngHsh called " wibetes ". 
 Then it was that an arrow, that had been thus shot upwards, 
 struck Harold above his right eye, and put it out. In his 
 agony he drew the arrow and threw it away, breaking it 
 with his hands : and the pain to his head was so great, that 
 he leaned upon his shield. So the English were wont to say, 
 and still say to the French, that the arrow was well shot 
 which was so sent up against their king ; and that the 
 archer won them great glory, who thus put out Harold's eye. 
 
 ' The Normans saw that the English defended themselves 
 well, and were so strong in their position that they could do 
 little against them. So they consulted together privily.
 
 218 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 and arranged to draw off, and pretend to flee, till the 
 English should pursue and scatter themselves over the field ; 
 for they saw that if they could once get their enemies to 
 break their ranks, they might be attacked and discomfited 
 much more easily. As they had said, so they did. The 
 Normans by little and little fled, the English following 
 them. As the one fell back, the other pressed after ; and 
 when the Frenchmen retreated, the English thought and cried 
 out, that the men of France fled, and would never return. 
 
 ' Thus they were deceived by the pretended flight, and 
 great mischief thereby befell them ; for if they had not 
 moved from their position, it is not likely that they would 
 have been conquered at all ; but like fools they broke their 
 lines and pursued. 
 
 ' The Normans were to be seen following up their strata- 
 gem, retreating slowly so as to draw the English further on. 
 As they still flee, the English pursue ; they push out their 
 lances and stretch forth their hatchets : foUoAving the 
 Normans, as they go rejoicing in the success of their scheme, 
 and scattering themselves over the plain. And the EngUsh 
 meantime jeered and insulted their foes with words. 
 " Cowards," they cried, " you came hither in an evil hour, 
 wanting our lands, and seeking to seize our property, fools 
 that ye were to come ! Normandy is too far off, and you 
 will not easily reach it. It is of little use to run back ; 
 unless you can cross the sea at a leap, or can drink it dry, 
 your sons and daughters are lost to you." 
 
 ' The Normans bore it all, but in fact they knew not what 
 the English said ; their language seemed lie the baying of 
 dogs, which they could not understand. At length they 
 stopped and turned round, determined to recover their 
 ranks ; and the barons might be heard crying dex aie ! 
 for a halt. Then the Normans resumed their former 
 position, turning their faces towards the enemy ; and their 
 men were to be seen facing round and rushing onwards to 
 a fresh melee ; the one party assaulting the other ; this 
 man striking, another pressing onwards. One hits, another 
 misses ; one flics, another pursues : one is aiming a stroke, 
 while another discharges his blow. Norman strives with 
 Englishman again, and aims his blows afresh. One flies, 
 another pursues swiftly : the combatants are many, the
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS • 219 
 
 plain wide, the battle and the melee fierce. On every hand 
 they fight hard, the blows are heavy, and the struggle 
 becomes fierce. 
 
 ' The Normans were playing their part well, when an 
 English knight came rushing up, having in his company 
 a hundred men, furnished with various arms. He wielded 
 a northern hatchet, with the blade a full foot long ; and 
 was well armed after his manner, being tall, bold, and of 
 noble carriage. In the front of the battle where the 
 Normans thronged most, he came bovniding on swifter than 
 the stag, many Normans falling before him and his company. 
 He rushed straight upon a Norman who was armed and 
 riding on a war-horse, and tried with his hatchet of steel to 
 cleave his helmet ; but the blow miscarried, and the sharp 
 blade glanced down before the saddle-bow, driving through 
 the horse's neck down to the ground, so that both horse and 
 master fell together to the earth. I know not whether the 
 Englishman struck another blow ; but the Normans who 
 saw the stroke were astonished, and about to abandon the 
 assault, when Roger de Montgomeri came galloping up, 
 with his lance set, and heeding not the long-handled axe, 
 which the Enghshman wielded aloft, struck him down, and 
 left him stretched upon the ground. Then Roger cried out, 
 " Frenchmen, strike ! the day is ours ! " And again 
 a fierce melee was to be seen, with many a blow of lance and 
 sword ; the English still defending themselves, killing the 
 horses and cleaving the shields. 
 
 ' There was a French soldier of noble mien, who sat his 
 horse gallantly. He sjoied two Englishmen who were also 
 carrying themselves boldly. They were both men of great 
 worth, and had become companions in arms and fought 
 together, the one protecting the other. They bore two long 
 and broad bills, and did great mischief to the Normans, 
 killing both horses and men. The French soldier looked at 
 them and their bills, and was sore alarmed, for he was afraid 
 of losing his good horse, the best that he had ; and would 
 willingly have turned to some other quarter, if it would 
 not have looked like cowardice. He soon, however, re- 
 covered his courage, and spurrmg his horse gave him the 
 bridle, and galloped swiftly forward. Fearing the two 
 bills, he raised his shield, and struck one of the Englishmen
 
 220 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 with his lance on the breast, so that the iron passed out at 
 his back. At the moment that he fell, the lance broke, 
 and the Frenchman seized the mace that hung at his right 
 side, and struck the other Englishman a blow that com- 
 pletely broke his skull. 
 
 ' On the other side was an Englishman who much annoyed 
 the French, continually assaulting them with a keen-edged 
 hatchet. He had a helmet made of wood, which he had 
 fastened down to his coat, and laced round his neck, so that 
 no blows could reach his head. The ravage he was making 
 was seen by a gallant Norman knight, who rode a horse 
 that neither fire nor water could stop in its career, when its 
 master urged it on. The knight spurred, and his horse 
 carried him on well till he charged the Englishman, striking 
 him over the helmet, so that it fell down over his eyes ; and 
 as he stretched out his hand to raise it and uncover the face, 
 the Norman cut off his right hand, so that his hatchet fell to 
 the ground. Another Norman sprang forward and eagerly 
 seized the prize with both his hands, but he kept it little 
 space, and paid dearly for it, for as he stooped to pick up 
 the hatchet, an Englishman with his long-handled axe 
 struck him over the back, breaking all his bones, so that his 
 entrails and lungs gushed forth. The knight of the good 
 horse meantime returned without injury ; but on his way he 
 met another Englishman, and bore him down under his 
 horse, wounding him grievously, and tramplmg him alto- 
 gether under foot. 
 
 ' And now might be heard the loud clang and cry of 
 battle, and the clashing of lances. The English stood firm 
 in their barricades, and shivered the lances, beating them 
 into pieces with their bills and maces. The Normans drew 
 their swords, and hewed down the barricades, and the 
 English in great trouble fell back upon their standard, where 
 were collected the maimed and wounded. 
 
 ' There were many knights of Chauz, who jousted and 
 made attacks. The English knew not how to joust, or bear 
 arms on horseback, but fought with hatchets and bills. 
 A man, when he wanted to strike with one of their hatchets, 
 was obliged to hold it with both his hands, and could not 
 at the same time, as it seems to me, both cover himself and 
 strike with any freedom.
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 221 
 
 ' The English fell back towards the standard which was 
 iijDon a rising ground, and the Normans followed them 
 across the valley, attacking them on foot and horseback. 
 Then Hue de Mortemer, with the sires D'Auviler, D'Onebac, 
 and St. Cler, rode up and charged, overthrowing many. 
 
 ' Robert Fitz Erneis fixed his lance, took his shield, and, 
 galloping towards the standard, with his keen-edged sword 
 struck an Englishman who was in front, killed him, and then 
 drawing back his sword, attacked many others, and pushed 
 straight for the standard, trying to beat it down, but the 
 English surrounded it, and killed him with their bills. He 
 was found on the spot, when they afterwards sought for 
 him, dead, and lying at the standard's foot. 
 
 ' Duke William pressed close upon the English with his 
 lance ; striving hard to reach the standard with the great 
 troop he led ; and seeking earnestly for Harold, on whose 
 account the whole war was. The Normans follow their 
 lord, and press around him ; they ply their blows upon the 
 English ; and these defend themselves stoutly, striving 
 hard with their enemies, returning blow for blow, 
 
 ' One of them was a man of great strength, a wrestler, 
 who did great mischief to the Normans with his hatchet ; 
 all feared him, for he struck down a great many Normans. 
 The duke spurred on his horse, and aimed a blow at him, 
 but he stooped, and so escaped the stroke; then jumping 
 on one side, he lifted his hatchet aloft, and as the duke bent 
 to avoid the blow, the Englishman boldly struck him on the 
 head, and beat in his helmet, though without doing much 
 injury. He was very near falling, however, but bearing 
 on his stirrups he recovered himself immediately ; and 
 when he thought to have revenged himself upon the churl 
 by killing him, he had escaped, dreading the duke's blow. 
 He ran back in among the English, but he was not safe even 
 there ; for the Normans seeing him, pursued and caught 
 him ; and having pierced him through and through with 
 their lances, left him dead on the ground. 
 
 ' Where the throng of the battle was greatest, the men of 
 Kent and Essex fought wondrously well, and made the 
 Normans again retreat, but without doing them much 
 injury. And when the duke saw his men fall back, and the 
 English triumphing over them, his spirit rose high, and he
 
 222 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 seized his shield and his lance, which a vassal handed to 
 him, and took his post by his standard. 
 
 ' Then those who kept close guard by him and rode where 
 he rode, being about a thousand armed men, came and 
 rushed with closed ranks upon the English ; and with the 
 weight of their good horses, and the blows the knights gave, 
 broke the press of the enemy, and scattered the crowd 
 before them, the good duke leading them on in front. 
 Many pursued and many fled ; many were the Englishmen 
 who fell around, and were trampled under the horses, 
 crawling upon the earth, and not able to rise. Many of 
 the richest and noblest men fell in that rout, but the English 
 still rallied in places ; smote down those whom they reached, 
 and maintained the combat the best they could ; beating 
 down the men and killing the horses. One Englishman 
 watched the duke, and plotted to kill him ; he would have 
 struck him with his lance, but he could not, for the duke 
 struck him first, and felled him to the earth. 
 
 ' Loud was now the clamour, and great the slaughter ; 
 many a soul then quitted the body it inhabited. The living 
 marched over the heaps of dead, and each side was weary 
 of striking. He charged on who could, and he who could 
 no longer strike still pushed forward. The strong struggled 
 with the strong ; some failed, others triumphed ; the 
 cowards fell back, the brave pressed on ; and sad was his 
 fate who fell in the midst, for he had little chance of rising 
 again ; and many in truth fell, who never rose at all, being 
 crushed imder the throng. 
 
 ' And now the Normans pressed on so far, that at last 
 they had reached the standard. There Harold had re- 
 mained, defending himself to the utmost ; but he was sorely 
 wounded in his eye by the arrow, and suffered grievous pain 
 from the blow. An armed man came in the throng of the 
 battle, and struck him on the ventaille of his helmet, and 
 beat him to the ground ; and as he sought to recover him- 
 self, a knight beat him down again, striking him on the thick 
 of his thigh, down to the bone. 
 
 ' Gurth saw the English falling around, and that there 
 was no remedy. He saw his race hastening to ruin, and 
 despaired of any aid ; he would have fled, but could not, for 
 the throng continually mcreased. And the duke pushed on
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 223 
 
 till he reached him, and struck him with great force. 
 Whether he died of that blow I know not, but it was said 
 that he fell under it, and rose no more. 
 
 ' The standard was beaten down, the golden standard was 
 taken, and Harold and the best of his friends were slain ; 
 but there was so much eagerness, and throng of so many 
 around, seeking to kill him, that I know not who it was that 
 slew him. 
 
 ' The English were in great trouble at having lost their 
 king, and at the duke's having conquered and beat down 
 the standard ; but they still fought on, and defended them- 
 selves long, and in fact till the day drew to a close. Then 
 it clearly appeared to all that the standard was lost, and the 
 news had spread throughout the army that Harold for 
 certain was dead ; and all saw that there was no longer any 
 hope, so they left the field, and those fled who could. 
 
 ' William fought well ; many an assault did he lead, 
 many a blow did he give, and many receive, and many 
 fell dead under his hand. Two horses were killed vmder 
 him, and he took a third at time of need, so that he fell 
 not to the ground ; and he lost not a drop of blood. But 
 whatever any one did, and whoever lived or died, this is 
 certain, that William conquered, and that many of the 
 English fled from the field, and many died on the spot. 
 Then he returned thanks to God, and in his pride ordered 
 his standard to be brought and set up on high, where the 
 English standard had stood ; and that was the signal of 
 his having conquered, and beaten down the foe. And he 
 ordered his tent to be raised on the spot among the dead, 
 and had his meat brought thither, and his supper prepared 
 there. 
 
 ' Then he took off his armour ; and the barons and 
 knights, pages and squires, came, when he had unstrung 
 his shield : and they took the helmet from his head, and 
 the hauberk from his back, and saw the heavy blows 
 upon his shield, and how his helmet was dinted in. And 
 all greatly wondered, and said, " Such a baron never 
 bestrode war-horse, or dealt such blows, or did such feats 
 of arms ; neither has there been on earth such a knight 
 since Rollant and Olivier." 
 
 ' Thus they lauded and extolled him greatly, and
 
 224 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 rejoiced in what they saw ; but grieving also for their 
 friends who were slain in the battle. And the duke stood 
 meanwhile among them of noble stature and mien ; and 
 rendered thanks to the King of Glory, through whom he 
 had the victory ; and thanked the knights around him, 
 mourning also frequently for the dead. And he ate and 
 drank among the dead, and made his bed that night upon 
 the field. 
 
 ' The morrow was Sunday ; and those who had slept 
 upon the field of battle, keeping watch around, and 
 suffering great fatigue, bestirred themselves at break of 
 day, and sought out and buried such of the bodies of 
 their dead friends as they might find. The noble ladies 
 of the land also came, some to seek their husbands, and 
 others their fathers, sons, or brothers. They bore the 
 bodies to their villages, and interred them at the churches ; 
 and the clerks and priests of the country were ready, and 
 at the request of their friends, took the bodies that were 
 found, and prepared graves and laid them therein. 
 
 ' King Harold was carried and buried at Varham ; 
 but I know not who it Avas that bore him thither, neither 
 do I know who buried him. Many remained on the field, 
 and many had fled in the night.' 
 
 Such is a Norman account of the Battle of Hastings,^ 
 which does full justice to the valour of the Saxons, as 
 well as to the skill and bravery of the victors. It is 
 indeed evident that the loss of the battle to the English 
 was owing to the wound which Harold received in the 
 afternoon, and which must have incapacitated him from 
 effective command. When we remember that he had 
 himself just won the battle of Stamford Bridge over 
 Harald Hardrada by the mananivre of a feigned flight, 
 it is impossible to suppose that he could be deceived by 
 the same stratagem on the part of the Normans at Hastings. 
 But his men, when deprived of his control, would very 
 
 * In the preceding pages I have woven together the ' purpureos 
 pannos ' of the old chronicler. In so doing I have largely availed 
 myself of Mr. Edgar Taylor'.s version of that part of the Roman dc JRou 
 which describes the conquest. By giving engravings from the Bayeux 
 Tapestry, and by his excellent notes, Mr. Taylor has added much to 
 the value and interest of his volume.
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 225 
 
 naturally be led by their inconsiderate ardour into the 
 pursuit that proved so fatal to them. All the narratives 
 of the battle, however much they may vary as to the 
 precise time and manner of Harold's fall, eulogize the 
 generalship and the personal prowess which he displayed 
 until the fatal arrow struck him. The skill with which 
 he had posted his army was proved both by the slaughter 
 which it cost the Normans to force the position, and also 
 by the desperate rally which some of the Saxons made 
 after the battle, in the forest in the rear, in which they cut 
 off a large number of the pursuing Normans. This circum- 
 stance is particularly mentioned by William of Poictiers, 
 the Conqueror's own chaplain. Indeed, if Harold, or 
 either of his brothers, had survived, the remains of the 
 English army might have formed again in the wood, and 
 could at least have effected an orderly retreat and pro- 
 longed the war. But both Gurth and Leofwine, and all 
 the bravest thanes of Southern England, lay dead on 
 Senlac, around their fallen king and the fallen standard 
 of their country. The exact number of the slain on the 
 Saxon side is unknown ; but we read that on the side of 
 the victors, out of sixty thousand men who had been 
 engaged, no less than a fourth perished. So well had the 
 English bill-men ' plied the ghastly blow ', and so sternly 
 had the Saxon battle-axe cloven Norman casque and mail.^ 
 The old historian Daniel justly as well as forcibty remarks ,2 
 ' Thus was tried, by the great assize of God's judgement 
 in battle, the right of power between the English and 
 Norman nations ; a battle the most memorable of all 
 others ; and, however miserably lost, yet most nobly fought 
 on the part of England.' 
 
 Many a pathetic legend was told in after-years respecting 
 the discovery and the burial of the corpse of our last 
 Saxon king. The main circumstances, though they seem 
 to vary, are perhaps reconcilable.^ Two of the monks of 
 
 * The Conqueror's chaplain calls the Saxon battle-axes ' saevissimas 
 secures '. 
 
 * As cited in the Pictorial History. 
 
 ^ See them collected in Lingard, vol. i. p. 452 et seq. Thierry, vol. i. 
 p. 299 ; Sharon Turner, vol. i. p. 82 ; and Histoire de Normandie, par 
 Lieguet, p. 242. 
 
 CREASY Q
 
 226 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS AFTER THE 
 
 Waltham Abbey, which Harold had founded a little time 
 before his election to the throne, had accompanied him to 
 the battle. On the morning after the slaughter they begged 
 and gained permission of the Conqueror to search for the 
 body of their benefactor. The Norman soldierj^ and camp- 
 followers had stripped and gashed the slain ; and the two 
 monks vainly strove to recognize from among the mutilated 
 and gory heaps around them the features of their former 
 kmg. They sent for Harold's mistress, Edith, surnamed 
 ' the Fair ' and ' the swan-necked ', to aid them. The eye 
 of love proved keener than the eye of gratitude, and the 
 Saxon lady, even in that Aceldama, knew her Harold. 
 
 The king's mother now sought the victorious Norman, 
 and begged the dead body of her son. But William at 
 first answered m his wrath and in the hardness of his 
 heart, that a man who had been false to his word and his 
 religion should have no other sepulchre than the sand 
 of the shore. He added, with a sneer, ' Harold mounted 
 guard on the coast while he was alive ; he may continue 
 his guard now he is dead.' The taunt was an unintentional 
 eulogy ; and a grave washed by the spray of the Sussex 
 waves would have been the noblest burial-place for the 
 martyr of Saxon freedom. But Harold's mother was 
 urgent in her lamentations and her prayers : the Conqueror 
 relented : like Achilles, he gave up the dead body of his 
 fallen foe to a parent's supplications ; and the remains 
 of King Harold were deposited with regal honours in 
 Waltham Abbey. 
 
 On Christmas Day of the same year William the Con- 
 queror was crowned at London, King of England. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE BATTLE 
 OF HASTINGS, a.d. 1006, AND JOAN OF ARC'S 
 VICTORY AT ORLEANS, 1429 
 
 A.D. 1066-87. Reign of William the Conqueror. Fre- 
 quent risings of the English against him, which are quelled 
 with merciless rigour. 
 
 1096. The first Crusade. 
 
 1112. Commencement of the disputes about investitures 
 between the emperors and the popes.
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 227 
 
 1140. Foundation of the city of Lubeck, whence 
 originated the Hanseatic league. Commencement of the 
 feuds in Italy between the Guelphs and Ghibelines. 
 
 1146. The second Crusade. 
 
 1154. Henry II becomes King of England. Under 
 him Thomas a Becket is made Archbishop of Canterbury : 
 the first instance of any man of the Saxon race being 
 raised to high ofifice in Church or State since the Conquest. 
 
 1170. Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, lands with an 
 English army in Ireland. 
 
 1189. Richard Coeur de Lion becomes King of England, 
 He and King Philip Augustus of France join in the third 
 Crusade. 
 
 1199-1204. On the death of King Richard, his brother 
 John claims and makes himself master of England and 
 Normandy and the other large continental possessions of 
 the early Plantagenet princes. Philip Augustus asserts the 
 cause of Prince Arthur, John's nephew, against him. 
 Arthur is murdered, but the French king continues the 
 war against John, and conquers from him Normandy, 
 Brittany, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and Poictiers. 
 
 1215. The barons, the freeholders, the citizens, and 
 the yeomen of England rise against the tyranny of John 
 and his foreign favourites. They compel him to sign 
 Magna Charta. This is the commencement of our nation- 
 ality : for OUT history from this time forth is the history 
 of a national life, then complete, and still in being. All 
 English history before this period is a mere history of 
 elements, of their collisions, and of the processes of their 
 fusion. For upwards of a century after the Conquest, 
 Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Saxon had kept aloof from each 
 other : the one in haughty scorn, the other in sullen 
 abhorrence. They were two peoples, though living in 
 the same land. It is not until the thirteenth century, the 
 period of the reigns of John and his son and grandson, 
 that we can perceive the existence of any feeling of common 
 patriotism among them. But in studying the history of 
 these reigns we read of the old dissensions no longer. 
 The Saxon no more appears in civil war against the Norman ; 
 the Norman no longer scorns the language of the Saxon, or 
 refuses to bear together with him the name of Englishman. 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS AFTER THE 
 
 No part of the community think themselves foreigners 
 to another part. They feel that they are all one people, 
 and they have learned to unite their efforts for the common 
 purpose of protecting the rights and promoting the welfare 
 of all. The fortunate loss of the Duchy of Normandy in 
 John's reign greatly promoted these new feelings. Thence- 
 forth our barons' only homes were in England. One 
 language had, in the reign of Henry III, become the language 
 of the land ; and that also had then assumed the form 
 in which we still possess it. One law, in the eye of which 
 all freemen are equal without distinction of race, was 
 modelled, and steadily enforced, and still continues to 
 form the groundwork of our judicial system.^ 
 
 1273. Rodolph of Hapsburg chosen emperor of Germany. 
 
 1283. Edward I conquers Wales. 
 
 1346. Edward III invades France, and gains the battle 
 of Cressy. 
 
 1356. Battle of Poictiers. 
 
 1360. Treaty of Bretigny between England and France. 
 By it Edward III renounces his pretensions to the French 
 crown. The treaty is ill kept, and indecisive hostilities 
 continue between the forces of the two countries. 
 
 1414. Henry V of England claims the crown of France, 
 and resolves to invade and conquer that kingdom. At this 
 time France was in the most deplorable state of weakness 
 and suffering, from the factions that raged among her 
 nobility, and from the cruel oppressions which the rival 
 nobles practised on the mass of the community. ' The 
 people were exhausted by taxes, civil wars, and military 
 executions ; and they had fallen into that worst of all 
 states of mind, when the independence of one's country 
 is thought no longer a paramount and sacred object. 
 " What can the English do to us worse than the thing we 
 suffer at the hands of our own princes ? " was a common 
 exclamation among the poor people of France.' ^ 
 
 1415. Henry invades France, takes Harflcur, and wins 
 the great battle of Agincourt. 
 
 1417-19. Henry conquers Normandy. The French 
 Dauphin assassinates the Duke of Burgundy, the most 
 
 * Creasy's Text-hook of the Constitution, p. 4. 
 
 • Pictorial Hist, of England, vol. i. p. 28
 
 BATTLE OF HASTINGS 229 
 
 powerful of the French nobles, at Montereau. The successor 
 of the murdered duke becomes the active ally of the English. 
 
 1420. The Treaty of Troyes is concluded between 
 Henry V of England and Charles VI of France, and Philip, 
 Duke of Burgundy. By this treaty it was stipulated that 
 Henry should marry the Princess Catherine of France ; 
 that King Charles, during his hfetime, should keep the 
 title and dignity of King of France, but that Henry should 
 succeed him, and should at once be entrusted with the 
 administration of the government, and that the French 
 crown should descend to Henry's heirs ; that France and 
 England should for ever be united under one king, but 
 should still retain their several usages, customs, and 
 privileges ; that all the princes, peers, vassals, and com- 
 munities of France should swear allegiance to Henry as 
 their future king, and should pay him present obedience 
 as regent ; that Henry should unite his arms to those of 
 King Charles and the Duke of Burgundy, in order to subdue 
 the adherents of Charles, the pretended dauphin ; and that 
 these three princes should make no peace or truce with 
 the dauphin but by the common consent of all three. 
 
 1421. Henry V gains several victories over the French, 
 who refuse to acknowledge the Treaty of Troyes. His 
 son, afterwards Henry VI, is born. 
 
 1422. Henry V and Charles VI of France die. Henry VI 
 is proclaimed at Paris, King of England and France. The 
 followers of the French dauphin proclaim him Charles VII, 
 King of France. The Duke of Bedford, the English 
 Regent in France, defeats the army of the dauphin at 
 Crevant. 
 
 1424. The Duke of Bedford gains the great victorv of 
 Verneuil, over the French partisans of the dauphin and 
 their Scotch auxiliaries. 
 
 1428. The English begin the siege of Orleans.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 JOAN OF ARC'S VICTORY OVER THE ENGLISH 
 AT ORLEANS, a.d. 1429 
 
 'The eyes of all Europe were turned towards this scene; where, it 
 was reasonably supposed, the French were to make their last stand for 
 maintaining the inde2:)endence of their monarchy and the rights of their 
 sovereign. ' — Hume. 
 
 When, after their victory at Salamis, the generals of 
 the various Greek states voted the prizes for distinguished 
 individual merit, each assigned the first place of excellence 
 to himself, but they all concurred in giving their second 
 votes to Themistocles.^ This was looked on as a decisive 
 proof that Themistocles ought to be ranked first of all. 
 If we were to endeavour, by a similar test, to ascertain 
 which European nation has contributed the most to the 
 progress of European civilization, we should find Italy, 
 Germany, England, and Spain, each claiming the first 
 degree, but each also naming France as clearly next in 
 merit. It is impossible to deny her paramount importance 
 in history. Besides the formidable part that she has for 
 nearly three centuries played, as the Bellona of the Euro- 
 pean commonwealth of states, her influence during all this 
 period over the arts, the Hterature, the manners and the 
 feelings of mankind, has been such as to make the crisis 
 of her earlier fortunes a pomt of world-wide interest ; and 
 it may be asserted without exaggeration, that the future 
 career of every nation was involved in the result of the 
 struggle by which the unconscious heroine of France, m 
 the beginning of the fifteenth century, rescued her country 
 from becoming a second Ireland under the yoke of the 
 triumphant English. 
 
 Seldom has the extinction of a nation's independence 
 appeared more inevitable than was the case in France, 
 when the English invaders completed their lines round 
 ^ Plutarch, Vit. Them. 17.
 
 JOAN OF ARC'S VICTORY 231 
 
 Orleans, four hundred and twenty-three years ago. A 
 series of dreadful defeats had thinned the chivalry of 
 France and daunted the spirits of her soldiers. A foreign 
 king had been proclaimed in her capital ; and foreign 
 armies of the bravest veterans, and led by the ablest 
 captains then known in the world, occupied the fairest 
 portions of her territory. Worse to her, even than the 
 fierceness and the strength of her foes, were the factions, 
 the vices, and the crimes of her own children. Her native 
 prince was a dissolute trifler, stained with the assassination 
 of the most powerful noble of the land, whose son, in revenge, 
 had leagued himself with the enemy. Many more of her 
 nobility, many of her prelates, her magistrates, and rulers, 
 had sworn fealty to the English king. The condition of 
 the peasantry amid the general prevalence of anarchy and 
 brigandage, which were added to the customary devasta- 
 tions of contending armies, was wretched beyond the power 
 of language to describe. The sense of terror and suffering 
 seemed to have extended itself even to the brute creation. 
 
 ' In sooth, the estate of France was then most miserable. 
 There appeared nothing but a horrible face, confusion, 
 poverty, desolation, solitarinesse, and feare. The lean and 
 bare labourers in the country did terrifie even theeves 
 themselves, who had nothing left them to spoile but the 
 carkasses of these poore miserable creatures, wandering up 
 and down like ghostes drawne out of their graves. The 
 least farmes and hamlets were fortified by these robbers, 
 English, Bourguegnons, and French, every one striving 
 to do his worst ; all men-of-war were well agreed to spoile 
 the countryman and merchant. Even the cattell, accustomed 
 to the larmne bell, the signe of the enemy''s approach, would 
 run home of themselves without any guide, by this accustomed 
 misery.'' ^ 
 
 In the autumn of 1428 the English, who were already 
 masters of all France north of the Loire, prepared their 
 forces for the conquest of the southern provinces, which 
 yet adhered to the cause of the dauphin. The city of 
 Orleans, on the banks of that river, was looked upon as 
 the last stronghold of the French national party. If the 
 English could once obtain possession of it, their victorious 
 * De Serres, quoted in the notes to Southey's Joan of Arc.
 
 232 JOAN OF ARC'S VICTORY 
 
 progress through the residue of the kingdom seemed free 
 from any serious obstacle. Accordingly the Earl of 
 Sahsbury, one of the bravest and most experienced of the 
 English generals, who had been trained under Henry V, 
 marched to the attack of the all-important city ; and, 
 after reducing several places of inferior consequence in 
 the neighbourhood, appeared with his army before its 
 walls on the 12th of October 1428. 
 
 The city of Orleans itself was on the north side of the 
 Loire, but its suburbs extended far on the southern side, 
 and a strong bridge connected them with the town. A 
 fortification, which in modern military phrase would be 
 termed a tete-de-pont, defended the bridge-head on the 
 southern side, and two towers, called the Tourelles, were 
 built on the bridge itself, where it rested on an island at 
 a little distance from the tete-de-pont. Indeed, the soUd 
 masonry of the bridge terminated at the Tourelles ; and 
 the communication thence with the tete-du-pont on the 
 southern shore was by means of a drawbridge. The 
 Tourelles and the tete-de-pont formed together a strong 
 fortified post, capable of containing a garrison of consider- 
 able strength ; and so long as this was in possession of 
 the Orleannais, they could communicate freely with the 
 southern provinces, the inhabitants of which, like the 
 Orleannais themselves, supported the cause of their 
 dauphin against the foreigners. Lord Sahsbury rightly 
 judged the capture of the Tourelles to be the most material 
 step towards the reduction of the city itself. Accordingly 
 he directed his principal operations against this post, and 
 after some severe rejaulses, he carried the Tourelles by 
 storm on the 23rd of October. The French, however, 
 broke down the part of the bridge which was nearest to 
 the north bank, and thus rendered a direct assault from 
 the Tourelles upon the city impossible. But the possession 
 of this post enabled the English to distress the town greatly 
 by a battery of cannon which they planted there, and which 
 commanded some of the jDrincijaal streets. 
 
 It has been observed by Hume, that this is the first 
 siege in which any important use apj^ears to have been 
 made of artillery. And even at Orleans both besiegers 
 and besieged seem to have employed their camions more
 
 AT ORLEANS 
 
 233 
 
 as instruments of destruction against their enemy's men, 
 than as engines of demolition against their enemy's walls 
 and works. The efficacy of camion in breaching solid 
 masonry was taught Eurojie by the Turks, a, few years 
 afterwards, at the memorable siege of Constantinople. In 
 our French wars, as in the wars of the classic nations, 
 famine was looked on as the surest weapon to compel the 
 submission of a well- walled town ; and the great object of 
 the besiegers was to effect a complete circumvallation. 
 The great ambit of the walls of Orleans, and the facilities 
 which the river gave for obtaining succour and supplies, 
 
 rendered the capture of the place by this process a matter 
 of great difficulty. Nevertheless, Lord Salisbury, and Lord 
 Suffolk, who succeeded him in command of the English 
 after his death by a cannon-ball, carried on the necessary 
 works with great skill and resolution. Six strongly-fortified 
 posts, called bastilles, were formed at certain intervals 
 rovind the town ; and the purpose of the English engineers 
 was to draw strong lines between them. During the winter 
 little progress was made with the entrenchments, but when 
 the spring of 1429 came, the English resumed their works 
 with activity ; the communications between the city and 
 
 ' This is taken from an old plan of Orleans when besieged by the Duke 
 of Guise in the Huguenot wars. The state of the Tourelles and bridge 
 is not identical with what it was in Joan of Arc's time, but it may give 
 a general idea of it.
 
 2U JOAN OF AEO'S VICTORY 
 
 the country became more difficult, and the approach of 
 want began already to be felt in Orleans. 
 
 The besieging force also fared hardly for stores and 
 provisions, until relieved by the effects of a brilliant 
 victory which Sir John Fastolfe, one of the best English 
 generals, gained at Rouvrai, near Orleans, a few days 
 after Ash Wednesday, 1429. With only sixteen hundred 
 fighting men, Sir John completely defeated an army of 
 French and Scots, four thousand strong, which had been 
 collected for the purpose of aidmg the Orleannais and 
 harassing the besiegers. After this encounter, which 
 seemed decisively to confirm the superiority of the English 
 in battle over their adversaries, Fastolfe escorted large 
 supplies of stores and food to Suffolk's camp, and the 
 spirits of the English rose to the highest pitch at the 
 prosj)ect of the speedy capture of the city before them, and 
 the consequent subjection of all France beneath their arms. 
 
 The Orleannais now in their distress offered to surrender 
 the city into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy, who, 
 though the ally of the English, was yet one of their native 
 princes. The Regent Bedford refused these terms, and the 
 speedy submission of the city to the English seemed 
 inevitable. The Dauphin Charles, who was now at Chinon 
 with his remnant of a court, despaired of maintaining any 
 longer the struggle for his crown ; and was only prevented 
 from abandoning the country by the more masculine 
 spirits of his mistress and his queen. Yet neither they 
 nor the boldest of Charles's captains could have shown 
 him where to find resources for prolonging the war ; and 
 least of all could any human skill have predicted the quarter 
 whence rescue was to come to Orleans and to France. 
 
 In the village of Domremy, on the borders of Lorraine, 
 there was a poor peasant of the name of Jacques d'Arc, 
 resjaected in his station of life, and who had reared a family 
 in virtuous habits and in the practice of the strictest 
 devotion. His eldest daughter was named by her parents 
 Jeannette, but she was called Jeanne by the French, which 
 was latinized into Johamia, and anglicized into Joan.^ 
 
 ^ ' Respondit quod in partibus suis vocabatur Johanneta, et postquam 
 venit in Franciam vocata est Johanna.' — Proces de Jeanne d'Arc, 
 vol. i. p. 46.
 
 AT ORLEANS 235 
 
 At the time when Joan first attracted attention she 
 was about eighteen years of age. She was naturally of 
 a susceptible disposition, which diligent attention to the 
 legends of saints, and tales of fairies, aided by the dreamy 
 loneliness of her life while tending her father's flocks,^ 
 had made peculiarly prone to enthusiastic fervour. At 
 the same time she was eminent for piety and purity of 
 soul and for her compassionate gentleness to the sick and 
 the distressed. 
 
 The district where she dwelt had escaj)ed comparatively 
 free from the ravages of war, but the approach of roving 
 bands of Burgundian or English troops frequently sjaread 
 terror through Domremy. Once the village had been 
 plundered by some of these marauders, and Joan and her 
 family had been driven from their home, and forced to seek 
 refuge for a time at Neuf chateau. The peasantry in 
 Domremy were principally attached to the house of Orleans 
 and the dauphin ; and all the miseries which France 
 endured were there imputed to the Burgundian faction 
 and their allies, the English, who were seeking to enslave 
 unhappy France. 
 
 ' Southey, in one of the speeches which he puts in the mouth of his 
 Joan of Arc, has made her beautifully describe the effect on her mind 
 of the scenery in which she dwelt. 
 
 Here in solitude and peace 
 My soul was nurst, amid the loveliest scenes 
 Of unpolluted nature. Sweet it was 
 As the white mists of morning roU'd away. 
 To see the mountain's wooded heights appear 
 Dark in the early dawn, and mark its slope 
 With gorse-flowers glowing, as the rising sun 
 On the golden ripeness pour'd a deepening light. 
 Pleasant at noon beside the vocal brook 
 To lay me down, and watch the lloating^clouds, 
 And shape to Fancy's wild similitudes 
 Their ever-varying forms ; and oh, how sweet. 
 To drive my flock at evening to the fold. 
 And hasten to our little hut, and hear 
 The voice of kindness bid me welcome home ! 
 The only foundation for the story told by the Burgundian partisan 
 Monstrelet, and adopted by Hume, of Joan having been brought up 
 as servant at an inn, is the circumstance of her having been once, with 
 the rest of her family, obliged to take refuge in an auberge in Neufchateau 
 for fifteen days, when a party of Burgundian cavalry made an incursion 
 into Domremy. (See the Quarterly Review, No. 138.)
 
 236 JOAN OF ARC'S VICTORY 
 
 Thus from infancy to girlhood Joan had heard con- 
 tinually of the woes of the war, and she had herself wit- 
 nessed some of the wretchedness that it caused. A feeling 
 of intense patriotism grew in her with her growth. The 
 deliverance of France from the English was the subject of 
 her reveries by day and her dreams by night. Blended 
 with these aspirations were recollections of the miraculous 
 interpositions of heaven in favour of the oppressed, which 
 she had learned from the legends of her church. Her faith 
 was undoubting ; her prayers were fervent. ' She feared 
 no danger, for she felt no sin ; ' and at length she believed 
 herself to have received the supernatural inspiration which 
 she sought. 
 
 According to her own narrative, delivered by her to 
 her merciless inquisitors in the time of her captivity and 
 approaching death, she was about thirteen years old when 
 her revelations commenced. Her own words describe them 
 best.^ ' At the age of thirteen, a voice from God came near 
 to her to help her in ruling herself, and that voice came to her 
 about the hour of noon, in summer time, while she was in 
 her father's garden. And she had fasted the day before. 
 And she heard the voice on her right, in the direction of 
 the church ; and when she heard the voice she also saw a 
 bright light. Afterwards, St. Michael and St. Margaret and 
 St. Catherine appeared to her. They were always in a halo 
 of glory ; she could see that their heads were crowned 
 with jewels : and she heard their voices, which were sweet 
 and mild. She did not distinguish their arms or limbs. 
 She heard them more frequently than she saw them ; and 
 the usual time when she heard them was when the church 
 bells were sounding for prayer. And if she was in the woods 
 when she heard them, she could plainly distinguish their 
 voices drawing near to her. When she thought that she 
 discerned the Heavenly Voices, she knelt down, and bowed 
 herself to the ground. Their presence gladdened her even 
 to tears ; and after they departed she wept because they 
 had not taken her with them back to Paradise. They 
 always spoke soothingly to her. They told her that France 
 would be saved, and that she was to save it.' Such were 
 the visions and the Voices that moved the spirit of the girl 
 * Proces de Jeanne cfArc, vol. i, p. 52.
 
 AT ORLEANS 237 
 
 of thirteen ; and as she grew older they became more 
 frequent and more clear. At last the tidings of the siege of 
 Orleans reached Domremy. Joan heard her parents and 
 neighbours talk of the sufferings of its population, of the 
 ruin which its capture would bring on their lawful sovereign, 
 and of the distress of the dauphin and his court. Joan's 
 heart was sorely troubled at the thought of the fate of 
 Orleans ; and her Voices now ordered her to leave her 
 home ; and warned her that she was the instrument 
 chosen by heaven for driving away the English from that 
 city, and for taking the dauphin to be anointed king at 
 Rheims. At length she informed her parents of her divine 
 mission, and told them that she must go to the Sire de 
 Baudricourt, who commanded at Vaucouleurs, and who 
 was the appointed person to bring her into the presence 
 of the king, whom she was to save. Neither the anger nor 
 the grief of her parents, who said that they would rather 
 see her drowned than exposed to the contamination of the 
 camp, could move her from her purpose. One of her 
 uncles consented to take her to Vaucouleurs, where De 
 Baudricourt at first thought her mad, and derided her ; 
 but by degrees was led to believe, if not in her inspiration, 
 at least in her enthusiasm, and in its possible utility to 
 the dauj)hin's cause. 
 
 The inhabitants of Vaucouleurs were completely won 
 over to her side, by the piety and devoutness which she 
 displayed, and by her firm assurance in the truth of her 
 mission. She told them that it was God's will that she 
 should go to the king, and that no one but her could save 
 the kingdom of France. She said that she herself would 
 rather remain with her poor mother and sj)in ; but the 
 Lord had ordered her forth. The fame of ' The Maid ', as 
 she was termed, the renown of her holiness and of her 
 mission spread far and wide. Baudricourt sent her with 
 an escort to Chinon, where the Dauphin Charles was dally- 
 ing away his time. Her Voices had bidden her assume the 
 arms and the apparel of a knight ; and the wealthiest 
 inhabitants of Vaucouleurs had vied with each other in 
 equipping her with war-horse, armour, and sword. On 
 reaching Chinon, she was, after some delay, admitted into 
 the presence of the dauphin. Charles designedly dressed
 
 238 JOAN OF ARC'S VICTORY 
 
 himself far less richly than many of his courtiers were 
 apparelled, and mingled with them, when Joan was intro- 
 duced, in order to see if the Holy Maid would address her 
 exhortations to the wrong person. But she instantly 
 singled him out, and kneeling before him, said, ' Most 
 noble dauphin, the King of Heaven announces to you by 
 me, that you shall be anointed and crowned king in the 
 city of Rheims, and that you shall be his vicegerent in 
 France.' His features may probably have been seen by her 
 previously in portraits, or have been described to her by 
 others ; but she herself believed that her Voices inspired her 
 when she addressed the king ; ^ and the report soon spread 
 abroad that the Holy Maid had found the king by a miracle ; 
 and this, with many other similar rumours, augmented the 
 renown and influence that she now rapidly acquired. 
 
 The state of public feeling in France was now favourable 
 to an enthusiastic belief in a Divine interposition in favour 
 of the party that had hitherto been unsuccessful and 
 oppressed. The humiliations which had befallen the 
 French royal family and nobility were looked on as the 
 just judgements of God upon them for their vice and 
 impiety. The misfortunes that had come upon France as 
 a nation were believed to have been drawn down by 
 national sins. The English, who had been the instruments 
 of heaven's wrath against France, seemed now by their 
 pride and cruelty to be fitting objects of it themselves. 
 France in that age was a profoundly religious country. 
 There was ignorance, there was superstition, there was 
 bigotry ; but there was Faith — a Faith that itself worked 
 true miracles, even while it believed in unreal ones. At 
 this time, also, one of those devotional movements began 
 among the clergy in France, which from time to time occur 
 in national Churches, without it being possible for the 
 historian to assign any adequate human cause for their 
 immediate date or extension. Numberless friars and priests 
 traversed the rural districts and towns of France, preaching 
 to the people that they must seek from heaven a deliverance 
 from the pillages of the soldiery, and the insolence of the 
 foreign oppressors. ^ The idea of a Providence that works 
 
 ^ Proces de Jeanne d'Arc, vol. i. p. 56. 
 
 * See Sismondi, vol. xiii. p. 114 ; Jlichelet, vol. v. livre x.
 
 AT ORLEANS 239 
 
 only by general laws was wholly alien to the feelings of the 
 age. Every political event, as well as every natural 
 phenomenon, was believed to be the immediate result of 
 a special mandate of God. This led to the belief that His 
 holy angels and saints were constantly employed in execu- 
 ting His commands and mingling in the affairs of men. The 
 Church encouraged these feelings ; and at the same time 
 sanctioned the concurrent popular belief that hosts of evil 
 spirits were also ever actively interposing in the current of 
 earthly events, with whom sorcerers and wizards could 
 league themselves and thereby obtain the exercise of 
 supernatural power. 
 
 Thus all things favoured the influence which Joan 
 obtained both over friends and foes. The French nation, 
 as well as the English and the Burgundians, readily ad- 
 mitted that superhuman beings inspired her : the only 
 question was, whether these beings were good or evil 
 angels ; whether she brought with her ' airs from heaven, or 
 blasts from hell '. This question seemed to her countrymen 
 to be decisively settled in her favour, by the austere 
 sanctity of her life, by the holiness of her conversation, but, 
 still more, by her exemplary attention to all the services 
 and rites of the Church. The daujohin at first feared the 
 injury that might be done to his cause if he had laid him- 
 self open to the charge of having leagued himself with a 
 sorceress. Every imaginable test, therefore, was resorted 
 to in order to set Joan's orthodoxy and purity beyond 
 suspicion. At last Charles and his advisers felt safe in 
 accepting her services as those of a true and virtuous 
 daughter of the Holy Church. 
 
 It is indeed probable that Charles himself and some of 
 his counsellors may have suspected Joan of being a mere 
 enthusiast ; and it is certain that Dunois, and others of 
 the best generals, took considerable latitude in obeying or 
 deviating from the military orders that she gave. But 
 over the mass of the peoj)le and the soldiery her influence 
 was unbounded. While Charles and his doctors of theology, 
 and court ladies, had been deliberating as to recognizing 
 or dismissing the Maid, a considerable period had passed 
 away, during which a small army, the last gleanings, as it 
 seemed, of the English sword, had been assembled at Blois,
 
 240 JOAN OF ARC'S VICTORY 
 
 under Dunois, La Hire, Xaintrailles, and other chiefs, who 
 to their natural valour were now beginning to unite the 
 wisdom that is taught by misfortune. It was resolved to 
 send Joan with this force and a convoy of provisions to 
 Orleans. The distress of that city had now become urgent. 
 But the communication with the open country was not 
 entirely cut off : the Orleannais had heard of the Holy 
 Maid whom Providence had raised up for their deliverance, 
 and their messengers urgently implored the dauphin to send 
 her to them without delay. 
 
 Joan appeared at the camp at Blois, clad in a new suit 
 of brilliant white armour, mounted on a stately black war- 
 horse, and with a lance in her right hand, which she had 
 learned to wield with skill and grace. ^ Her head was 
 unhelmeted ; so that all could behold her fair and expres- 
 sive features, her deep-set and earnest eyes, and her long 
 black hair, which was parted across her forehead, and 
 bound by a ribbon behind her back. She wore at her side 
 a small battle-axe, and the consecrated sword, marked on 
 the blade with five crosses, which had at her bidding been 
 taken for her from the shrine of St. Catherine at Fierbois. 
 A page carried her banner, which she had caused to be 
 made and embroidered as her Voices enjoined. It was 
 white satin,^ strewn with fleur-de-lis ; and on it were the 
 words ' Jhesus Mahia ', and the representation of the 
 Saviour in His glory. Joan afterwards generally bore her 
 banner herself in battle ; she said that though she loved 
 her sword much, she loved her banner forty times as much ; 
 and she loved to carry it because it could not kill any one. 
 
 Thus accoutred, she came to lead the troops of France, 
 who looked with soldierly admiration on her well-propor- 
 tioned and upright figure, the skill with which she managed 
 her war-horse, and the easy grace with which she handled 
 her weapons. Her military education had been short, but 
 she had availed herseK of it well. She had also the good 
 sense to interfere little with the manoeuvres of the troops ; 
 
 * See the description of her by Gui de Laval, quoted in the note to 
 Michclct, p. 69 ; and see the account of the banner at Orleans, which 
 is bcHeved to bear an authentic portrait of the Maid, in Murray's 
 Handbook for France, p. 175. 
 
 * Proces de Jeanne d Arc, vol. i. p. 238.
 
 AT ORLEANS 241 
 
 leaving those things to Dunois, and others whom she had 
 the discernment to recognize as the best officers in the 
 camp. Her tactics in action were simple enough. As she 
 herself described it : 'I used to say to them, " Go boldly 
 in among the English," and then I used to go boldly in 
 myself.' ^ Such, as she told her inquisitors, was the only 
 spell she used ; and it was one of power. But while 
 interfering little with the military discipline of the troops, 
 in all matters of moral discipline she was inflexibly strict. 
 All the abandoned followers of the camp were driven away. 
 She compelled both generals and soldiers to attend regularly 
 at confessional. Her chaplain and other priests marched 
 with the army under her orders ; and at every halt an 
 altar was set up and the sacrament administered. No oath 
 or foul language passed without punishment or censure. 
 Even the roughest and most hardened veterans obeyed her. 
 They put off for a time the bestial coarseness which had 
 grown on them during a life of bloodshed and rapine ; they 
 felt that they must go forth in a new spirit to a new career, 
 and acknowledged the beauty of the holiness in which the 
 heaven-sent Maid was leading them to certain victory. 
 
 Joan marched from Blois on the 25th of April with a 
 convoy of provisions for Orleans, accompanied by Dunois, 
 La Hire, and the other chief captains of the French ; and 
 on the evening of the 28th they approached the town. In 
 the words of the old chronicler Hall : ^ ' The Englishmen, 
 perceiving that they within could not long continue for 
 faute of vitaile and pouder, kepte not their watche so 
 diligently as thei were accustomed, nor scoured now the 
 countrey environed as thei before had ordained. Whiche 
 negligence the citizens shut in perceiving, sent worde 
 thereof to the French captaines, which with Pucelle in the 
 dedde tyme of the nighte, and in a greate rayne and 
 thundere, with all their vitaile and artillery entered into 
 the citie.' 
 
 When it was day, the Maid rode in solemn procession 
 through the city, clad in complete armour, and mounted 
 on a white horse. Dunois was by her side, and all the 
 bravest knights of her army and of the garrison followed 
 in her train. The whole population thronged around her ; 
 ^ Proces de Jeanne d'Arc, vol. i. p. 238. ^ Hall, f. 127. 
 
 CREASY K,
 
 242 JOAN OF ARC'S VICTORY 
 
 and men, women and children strove to touch her garments, 
 or her banner, or her charger. They j^oured forth blessings 
 on her, whom they already considered their deliverer. In 
 the words used by two of them afterwards before the 
 tribunal which reversed the sentence, but could not re- 
 store the life of the virgin-martyr of France, ' the people 
 of Orleans, when they first saw her in their city, thought 
 that it was an angel from heaven that had come down to 
 save them '. Joan spoke gently in reply to their acclama- 
 tions and addresses. She told them to fear God, and trust 
 in Him for safety from the fury of their enemies. She first 
 went to the principal church, where Te Deuyn was chanted ; 
 and then she took up her abode in the house of Jacques 
 Bourgier, one of the principal citizens, and whose wife was 
 a matron of good repute. She refused to attend a splendid 
 banquet which had been provided for her, and passed 
 nearly all her time in prayer. 
 
 When it was known by the English that the Maid was 
 in Orleans, their minds were not less occupied about her 
 than were the minds of those in the city ; but it was in 
 a very different spirit. The English believed in her super- 
 natural mission as firmly as the French did ; but they 
 thought her a sorceress who had come to overthrow them 
 by her enchantments. An old prophecy, which told that 
 a damsel from Lorraine was to save France, had long been 
 current ; and it was known and applied to Joan by 
 foreigners as well as by the natives. For months the 
 English had heard of the coming Maid ; and the tales of 
 miracles which she was said to have wrought, had been 
 listened to by the rough yeomen of the English camp with 
 anxious curiosity and secret aAve. She had sent a herald to 
 the English generals before she marched for Orleans ; and 
 he had summoned the English generals in the name of the 
 Most High to give up to the Maid, who was sent by Heaven, 
 the keys of the French cities which they had Avrongfully 
 taken : and he also solemnly adjured the English troops, 
 whether archers, or men of the companies of war, or 
 gentlemen, or others, who were before the city of Orleans, 
 to depart thence to their homes, under peril of being visited 
 by the judgement of God. On her arrival in Orleans, Joan 
 sent another similar message ; but the English scoffed at
 
 AT ORLEANS 243 
 
 her from their towers, and threatened to burn her heralds. 
 She determined before she shed the blood of the besiegers, 
 to repeat the warning with her own voice ; and accordingly 
 she mounted one of the boulevards of the town, which was 
 within hearing of the Tourelles ; and thence she spoke to 
 the English, and bade them depart, otherwise they would 
 meet with shame and woe. Sir William Gladsdale (whom 
 the French call Glacidas) commanded the English post at 
 the Tourelles, and he and another English officer replied 
 by bidding her go home and keep her cows, and by ribald 
 jests, that brought tears of shame and indignation into 
 her eyes. But though the English leaders vaunted aloud, 
 the effect produced on their army by Joan's presence in 
 Orleans was proved four days after her arrival ; when, on 
 the approach of reinforcements and stores to the town, Joan 
 and La Hire marched out to meet them, and escorted the 
 long train of provision wagons safely into Orleans, between 
 the bastilles of the English, who cowered behind their walls, 
 instead of charging fiercely and fearlessly, as had been 
 their wont, on any French band that dared to show itself 
 within reach. 
 
 Thus far she had prevailed without striking a blow ; 
 but the time was now come to test her courage amid the 
 horrors of actual slaughter. On the afternoon of the day 
 on which she had escorted the reinforcements into the city, 
 while she was resting fatigued at home, Dunois had seized 
 an advantageous opportunity of attacking the English 
 bastille of St. Loup : and a fierce assault of the Orleannais 
 had been made on it, which the English garrison of the fort 
 stubbornly resisted. Joan was roused by a sound which 
 she believed to be that of her Heavenly Voices ; she called 
 for her arms and horse, and, quickly equipping herself, she 
 mounted to ride off to where the fight was raging. In her 
 haste she had forgotten her banner ; she rode back, and, 
 without dismounting, had it given to her from the window, 
 and then she galloped to the gate whence the sally had 
 been made. On her way she met some of the wounded 
 French who had been carried back from the fight, ' Ha,' 
 she exclaimed, ' I never can see French blood flow without 
 my hair standing on end.' She rode out of the gate, and 
 met the tide of her countrymen, who had been repulsed 
 
 E. 2
 
 244 JOAN OF ARC'S VICTORY 
 
 from the English fort, and were flying back to Orleans in 
 confusion. At the sight of the Holy Maid and her banner 
 they rallied, and renewed the assault. Joan rode forward 
 at. their head, waving her banner and cheering them on. 
 The English quailed at what they believed to be the charge 
 of hell ; St. Loup was stormed, and its defenders put to 
 the sword, except some few, whom Joan succeeded in 
 saving. All her woman's gentleness returned when the 
 combat was over. It was the first time that she had ever 
 seen a battle-field. She wept at the sight of so many blood- 
 stained and mangled corpses ; and her tears flowed doubly 
 when she reflected that they were the bodies of Christian 
 men who had died without confession. 
 
 The next day was Ascension Day, and it was passed by 
 Joan in prayer. But on the following morrow it was 
 resolved by the chiefs of the garrison to attack the English 
 forts on the south of the river. For this jDurpose they 
 crossed the river in boats, and after some severe fighting, 
 in which the Maid was wounded in the heel, both the 
 English bastilles of the Augustins and St. Jean de Blanc 
 were captured. The Tourelles were now the only post 
 Avhich the besiegers held on the south of the river. But 
 that post was formidably strong, and by its command of 
 the bridge, it was the key to the deliverance of Orleans. 
 It Avas known that a fresh English army was approaching 
 under Fastolfe to reinforce the besiegers, and should that 
 army arrive, while the Tourelles were yet in the possession 
 of their comrades, there Avas great peril of all the advan- 
 tages which the French had gained being nullified, and of 
 the siege being again actively carried on. 
 
 It was resolved, therefore, by the French, to assail the 
 Tourelles at once, while the enthusiasm Avhich the presence 
 and the heroic valour of the Maid had created was at its 
 height. But the enterprise was difficult. The rampart of 
 the tete-de-pont, or landward bulwark, of the Tourelles 
 was steep and high ; and Sir John Gladsdale occupied this 
 all-important fort with five hundred archers and men-at- 
 arms, who were the very flower of the English army. 
 
 Early in the morning of the 7th of May, some thousands 
 of the best French troops in Orleans heard mass and 
 attended the confessional by Joan's orders ; and then
 
 AT ORLEANS 245 
 
 Crossing the river in boats, as on the preceding day, they 
 assailed the bulwark of the Tourelles, ' with light hearts 
 and heavy hands'. But Gladsdale's men, encouraged by 
 their bold and skilful leader, made a resolute and able 
 defence. The Maid planted her banner on the edge of the 
 fosse, and then springing down into the ditch, she placed 
 the first ladder against the wall, and began to mount. An 
 English archer sent an arrow at her, which pierced her 
 corslet and wounded her severely between the neck and 
 shoulder. She fell bleeding from the ladder , and the 
 English were leaping do^vn from the wall to capture her, 
 but her followers bore her off. She was carried to the rear, 
 and laid upon the grass ; her armour was taken off, and 
 the anguish of her wound and the sight of her blood made 
 her at first tremble and weep. But her confidence in her 
 celestial mission soon returned : her patron saints seemed 
 to stand before her and reassure her. She sat up and 
 drew the arrow out with her own hands. Some of the 
 soldiers who stood by wished to stanch the blood, by say- 
 ing a charm over the wound ; but she forbade them, saying 
 that she did not wish to be cured by unhallowed means. 
 She had the wound dressed with a little oil, and then bidding 
 her confessor come to her, she betook herself to prayer. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the English in the bulwark of the 
 Tourelles had repulsed the oft-renewed efforts of the 
 French to scale the wall. Dunois, who commanded the 
 assailants, was at last discouraged, and gave orders for 
 a retreat to be sounded. Joan sent for him and the other 
 generals, and implored them not to despair. ' By my 
 God,' she said to them, ' you shall soon enter in there. 
 Do not doubt it. When you see my banner wave again up 
 to the wall, to your arms again ! the fort is yours. For the 
 present, rest a little, and take some food and drink. They 
 did so,' says the old chronicler of the siege,^ 'for they 
 obeyed her marvellously.' The faintness caused by her 
 wound had now passed off, and she headed the French in 
 another rush against the bulwark. The English, who had 
 thought her slain, were alarmed at her reappearance ; 
 while the French pressed furiously and fanatically forward. 
 A Biscayan, soldier was carrying Joan's banner. She had 
 * Journal du Siege d''OrUans, p. 87.
 
 246 JOAN OF ARC'S VICTORY 
 
 told the troops that directly the banner touched the wall 
 they should enter. The Biscayan waved the banner 
 forward from the edge of the fosse, and touched the wall 
 with it ; and then all the French host swarmed madly up 
 the ladders that now were raised in all directions against 
 the English fort. At this crisis, the efforts of the English 
 garrison were distracted by an attack from another quarter. 
 The French troops who had been left in Orleans had placed 
 some planks over the broken part of the bridge, and 
 advanced across them to the assault of the Tourelles on the 
 northern side. Gladsdale resolved to withdraw his men 
 from the landward bulwark, and concentrate his whole 
 force in the Tourelles themselves. He was passing for this 
 purpose across the drawbridge that connected the Tourelles 
 and the tete-de-pont, when Joan, who by this time had 
 scaled the wall of the bulwark, called out to him, ' Sur- 
 render, surrender to the King of Heaven. Ah, Glacidas, 
 you have foully wronged me with your words, but I have 
 great pity on your soul and the souls of your men.' The 
 Englishman, disdainful of her summons, Avas striding on 
 across the drawbridge, when a cannon-shot from the town 
 carried it away, and Gladsdale perished in the water that 
 ran beneath. After his fall, the remnant of the English 
 abandoned all further resistance. Three hundred of them 
 had been killed in the battle, and two hundred were made 
 prisoners. 
 
 The broken arch was speedily repaired by the exulting 
 Orleannais ; and Joan made her triumphal re-entry into 
 the city by the bridge that had so long been closed. Every 
 church in Orleans rang out its gratulating peal ; and 
 throughout the night the sounds of rejoicing echoed, and 
 the bonfires blazed up from the city. But in the lines and 
 forts which the besiegers yet retained on the northern shore, 
 there was anxious watching of the generals, and there was 
 desponding gloom among the soldiery. Even Talbot now 
 counselled retreat. On the following morning, the Orlean- 
 nais, from their walls, saw the great forts called ' London ' 
 and ' St. Lawrence ' in flames ; and witnessed their 
 invaders busy in destroying the stores and munitions which 
 had been relied on for the destruction of Orleans. Slowly 
 and sullenly the English army retired ; but not before it
 
 AT ORLEANS 247 
 
 had drawn up in battle array opposite to the city, as if to 
 challenge the garrison to an encounter. The French troops 
 were eager to go out and attack, but Joan forbade it. The 
 day was Sunday. ' In the name of God,' she said, ' let them 
 depart, and let us return thanks to God.' She led the 
 soldiers and citizens forth from Orleans, but not for the 
 shedding of blood. They passed in solemn procession round 
 the city walls ; and then, while their retiring enemies were 
 yet in sight, they knelt in thanksgiving to God for the 
 deliverance which He had vouchsafed them. 
 
 Within three months from the time of her first interview 
 with the Dauphin, Joan had fulfilled the first part of her 
 promise, the raising of the siege of Orleans. Within three 
 months more she fulfilled the second part also ; and she 
 stood Avith her banner in her hand by the high altar at 
 Rheims while he was anointed and crowned as King 
 Charles VII of France. In the interval she had taken 
 Jargeau, Troyes, and other strong places ; and she had 
 defeated an English army in a fair field at Patay. The 
 enthusiasm of her countrymen knew no bounds, but the 
 importance of her services, and especially of her primary 
 achievement at Orleans, may perhaps be best proved by 
 the testimony of her enemies. There is extant a fragment 
 of a letter from the Regent Bedford to his royal nephew, 
 Henry VI, in which he bewails the turn that the war had 
 taken, and especially attributes it to the raising of the 
 siege of Orleans by Joan. Bedford's own words, which 
 are preserved in Rymer,^ are as follows : 
 
 'And alle thing there prospered for you til the tyme of the 
 Siege of Orleans, taken in hand, God knoweth by what advis. 
 
 'At the whiche tyme, after the adventure fallen to the 
 persone of my cousin of Salisbury, whom God assoille, there 
 felle, by the hand of God as it seemeth, a great strook upon 
 your peuple that was assembled there in grete nombre, caused 
 in grete partie, as y trowe, of lakke of sadde beleve, and of 
 unlevefulle doubte, that thei hadde of a disciple and lyme of 
 the Feende, called the Pucelle, that used fats enchantments 
 and sor eerie. 
 
 ' The whiche strooke and discomfiture not oonly lessed in 
 grete partie the nombre of your peuple there, but as well with- 
 » Vol. X. p. 403.
 
 248 JOAN OF ARC'S VICTORY 
 
 drewe the courage of the remenant in merveillous wyse, and 
 couraiged your adverse partie and ennemys to assemble them 
 forthwith in grete nombre.' 
 
 When Charles had been anointed King of France, Joan 
 beheved that her mission was accomplished. And in truth 
 the deliverance of France from the English, though not 
 completed for many years afterwards, was then ensured. 
 The ceremony of a royal coronation and anointment was 
 not in those days regarded as a mere costly formality. It 
 was believed to confer the sanction and the grace of heaven 
 upon the X)rince, who had previously ruled with mere 
 human authority. Thenceforth he was the Lord's anointed. 
 Moreover, one of the difficulties that had j^reviously lain 
 in the way of many Frenchmen when called on to support 
 Charles VII was now removed. He had been publicly 
 stigmatized, even by his own parents, as no true son of the 
 royal race of France. The queen-mother, the English, and 
 the partisans of Burgundy called him the ' Pretender to 
 the title of Dauphin ' ; but those who had been led to 
 doubt his legitimacy were cured of their scepticism by the 
 victories of the Holy Maid, and by the fulfilment of her 
 pledges. They thought that heaven had now declared 
 itself in favour of Charles as the true heir of the crown of 
 St. Louis ; and the tales about his being spurious were 
 thenceforth regarded as mere English calumnies. With 
 this strong tide of national feeling in his favour, with vic- 
 torious generals and soldiers round him, and a dispirited 
 and divided enemy before him, he could not fail to conquer, 
 though his own imprudence and misconduct, and the stub- 
 born valour which some of the English still displayed, 
 prolonged the war in France nearly to the time when the 
 civil war of the Roses broke out in England and ensured 
 for France peace and repose. 
 
 Joan knelt before the new-crowned king in the cathedral 
 of Rheims and shed tears of joy. She said that she had 
 then fulfilled the work which the Lord had commanded 
 her. The young girl now asked for her dismissal. She 
 wished to return to her peasant home, to tend her parents' 
 flocks again, and to live at her own will in her native village.^ 
 
 ^ ' Je voudrois bien qu'il voulut mc faire" ramener aupres mes pere et 
 mere, a garder leurs brebis et betail, et faire ce que je voudrois faire.'
 
 AT ORLEANS 219 
 
 Siie had always believed that her career would be a short 
 one. But Charles and his captains were loath to lose 
 the presence of one who had such an influence upon the 
 soldiery and the people. They persuaded her to stay with 
 the army. She still showed the same bravery and zeal for 
 the cause of France. She was as fervent as before in her 
 prayers, and as exemplary in all religious duties. She still 
 heard her Heavenly Voices, but she now no longer thought 
 herself the appointed minister of heaven to lead her 
 countrymen to certain victory. Our admiration for her 
 courage and patriotism ought to be increased a hundredfold 
 by her conduct throughout the latter part of her career, 
 amid dangers against which she no longer believed herself 
 to be divmely secured. Indeed, she believed herself 
 doomed to perish in little more than a year ; ^ but she still 
 fought on as resolutely, if not as exultingly as ever. 
 
 As in the case of Arminius, the interest attached to 
 individual heroism and virtue makes us trace the fate of 
 Joan of Arc after she had saved her country. She served 
 well with Charles's army in the capture of Laon, Soissons, 
 Compiegne, Beauvais, and other strong places ; but in 
 a premature attack on Paris, in September 1429, the 
 French were repulsed, and Joan was ceverely wounded. 
 In the winter she was again in. the field with some of the 
 French troops ; and in the following spring she threw 
 herself into the fortress of ComiDiegne, which she had her- 
 self won for the French king in the preceding autumn, and 
 which was now besieged by a strong Burgundian force. 
 
 She was taken prisoner in a sally from Compiegne, on 
 the 24th of May, and was imprisoned by the Burgundians 
 first at Arras, and then at a place called Crotoy, on the 
 Flemish coast, until November, when for payment of a 
 large sum of money she was given up to the English, and 
 taken to Rouen, which was then their main stronghold in 
 France. 
 
 Sorrow it were, and shame to tell, 
 The butchery that there befell : 
 
 And the revolting details of the cruelties practised upon 
 this young girl may be left to those whose duty, as avowed 
 
 ^ ' Des le commencement elle avait dit, " II me faut employer : je 
 ne durerai qu'uu an, ou guere plus ",' — Michelet, v. p. 101.
 
 250 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS TO 
 
 biographers, it is to describe them.^ She was tried before 
 an ecclesiastical tribunal on the charge of witchcraft, and 
 on the 30th of May, 1431, she was burnt alive in the 
 market-place at Rouen. 
 
 I will add but one remark on the character of the truest 
 heroine that the world has ever seen. 
 
 If any person can be found m the present age who would 
 join in the scofEs of Voltaire against the Maid of Orleans 
 and the Heavenly Voices by which she believed herself 
 inspired, let him read the life of the %visest and best man 
 that the heathen nations ever produced. Let him read 
 of the Heavenly Voice by which Socrates believed himself 
 to be constantly attended, which cautioned him on his way 
 from the field of battle at Delium, and which from his 
 boyhood to the time of his death visited him with unearthly 
 warnings. 2 Let the modern reader reflect upon this ; and 
 then, unless he is prepared to term Socrates either fool or 
 impostor, let him not dare to deride or vilify Joan of Arc. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN JOAN OF ARC'S 
 VICTORY AT ORLEANS, a.d. 1429, AND THE 
 DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA, a.d. 1588 
 
 A.D. 1452. Final expulsion of the English from France. 
 
 1453. Constantinople taken, and the Roman empire of 
 the East destroyed by the Turkish Sultan Mahomet II. 
 
 1455. Commencement of the eivil wars in England 
 between the houses of York and Lancaster. 
 
 1479. Union of the Christian kingdoms of Spain under 
 Ferdinand and Isabella. 
 
 1492. Capture of Grenada by Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 and end of the Moorish dominion in Spain. 
 
 ^ The whole of the Proces de Condamnation et de Rehabilitation de 
 Jeanne d'Arc has been published in five volumes by the Societe de 
 I'Histoire de France. All the passages from contemporary chroniclers 
 and poets are added ; and the most ample materials are thus given for 
 acquiring full information on a subject which is, to an Englishman, one 
 of painful interest. There is an admirable essay on Joan of Arc in the 
 138th number of the Quarterly. 
 
 ^ See Cicero, de Divinalione, lib. i. sec. 41 ; and see the words of 
 Socrates himself, in Plato, Apol. Soc.''Oti fioi Otiov n kqI Saifj.ovtoi' yi^yferai. 
 f/xol 5i ToiiT tariy etc iraiSos dp^afifvov, (pwyrj tis fLyvoixivr]^ ktK,
 
 THE DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 251 
 
 1492. Columbus discovers the New World. 
 
 1494. Charles VIII of France invades Italy. 
 
 1497. Expedition of Vasco da Gama to the East Indies 
 round the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 1503. Naples conquered from the French by the great 
 Spanish general, Gonsalvo of Cordova. 
 
 1508, League of Cambray, by the Pope, the Emperor, 
 and the King of France, against Venice. 
 
 1509. Albuquerque establishes the empire of the Portu- 
 guese m the East Indies. 
 
 1516. Death of Ferdinand of Spain ; he is succeeded by 
 his grandson Charles, afterwards the Emperor Charles V. 
 
 1517. Dispute between Luther and Tetzel respecting the 
 sale of indulgences ; which is the immediate cause of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 1519. Charles V is elected Emperor of Germany. 
 
 1520. Cortez conquers Mexico. 
 
 1525. Francis I of France defeated and taken prisoner 
 by the imperial army at Pa via. 
 
 1529. League of Smalcald formed by the Protestant 
 princes of Germany. 
 
 1533. Henry VIII renounces the Papal supremacy. 
 
 1533. Pizarro conquers Peru. 
 
 1556. Abdication of the Emperor Charles V. Philip II 
 becomes Kmg of Spain, and Ferdinand I Emperor of 
 Germany. 
 
 1557. Elizabeth becomes Queen of England. 
 
 1557. The Spaniards defeat the French at the battle of 
 St. Quentin. 
 
 1571. Don John of Austria at the head of the Spanish 
 fleet, aided by the Venetian and the Papal squadrons, 
 defeats the Turks at Lepanto. 
 
 1572. Massacre of the Protestants in France on St. Bar- 
 tholomew's day. 
 
 1579. The Netherlands revolt against Spain. 
 
 1580. Philip II conquers Portugal.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA, 
 
 A.D. 1588 
 
 ' In that memorable year, when the dark cloud gathered round our 
 coasts, when Europe stood by in fearful suspense to behold what should 
 be the result of that great cast in the game of human politics, what the 
 craft of Rome, the power of Philip, the genius of Farnese, could achieve 
 against the island -queen, with her Drakes and Cecils, — in that agony 
 of the Protestant faith and English name.' — Hallam, Const. Hist., 
 vol. i. p. 220. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 19th of July, a.d. 1588, a grouj) 
 of EngHsh captains was collected at the Bowlmg Green on 
 the Hoe at Plymouth, whose equals have never before or 
 since been brought together, even at that favourite mus- 
 tering place of the heroes of the British navy. There was 
 Sir Francis Drake, the first English circumnavigator of 
 the globe, the terror of every Spanish coast in the old world 
 and the new ; there was Sir John Hawkms, the rough 
 veteran of many a daring voyage on the African and 
 American seas, and of many a desperate battle ; there was 
 Sir Martin Frobisher, one of the earliest explorers of the 
 Arctic seas m search of that North-West Passage which 
 is still the darling object of England's boldest mariners. 
 There was the high-admiral of England, Lord Howard of 
 Effingham, prodigal of all things in his country's cause, 
 and who had recently had the noble darmg to refuse to 
 dismantle part of the fleet, though the queen had sent him 
 orders to do so, in consequence of an exaggerated report 
 that the enemy had been driven back and shattered by a 
 storm. Lord Howard (whom contemporary writers describe 
 as being of a \Adse and noble courage, skilful in sea matters, 
 wary and provident, and of great esteem among the sailors) 
 resolved to risk his sovereign's anger, and to keep the ships 
 afloat at his own charge, rather than that England should 
 run the peril of losmg their protection.
 
 DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA 253 
 
 Another of our Elizabethan sea-kmgs, Sir Walter 
 Raleigh, was at that time commissioned to raise and 
 equip the land forces of Cornwall ; but, as he was also 
 commander of Plymouth, we may well believe that he 
 must have availed himself of the opportunity of consulting 
 with the lord-admiral and other high officers, which was 
 offered by the English fleet putting into that port ; and 
 we may look on Raleigh as one of the group that was 
 assembled at the Bowling Green on the Hoe. Many other 
 brave men and skilful mariners, besides the chiefs whose 
 names have been mentioned, were there, enjoying, with 
 true sailor-like merriment, their temporary relaxation 
 from duty. In the harbour lay the English fleet with 
 which they had just returned from a cruise to Corunna in 
 search of information respecting the real condition and 
 movements of the hostile Armada. Lord Howard had 
 ascertained that our enemies, though tempest-tossed, were 
 still formidably strong ; and fearing that part of their 
 fleet might make for England in his absence, he had hurried 
 back to the Devonshire coast. He resumed his station at 
 Plymouth, and waited there for certain tidings of the 
 Spaniard's approach. 
 
 A match at bowls was being played, in which Drake 
 and other high officers of the fleet were engaged, when 
 a small armed vessel was seen running before the wind 
 into Plymouth harbour, with all sails set. Her commander 
 landed in haste, and eagerly sought the place where the 
 English lord-admiral and his captains were standing. 
 His name was Fleming ; he was the master of a Scotch 
 privateer ; and he told the English officers that he had 
 that morning seen the Spanish Armada off the Cornish 
 coast. At this exciting information the captams began 
 to hurry down to the water, and there was a shouting for 
 the ships' boats ; but Drake coolly checked his comrades, 
 and insisted that the match should be played out. He 
 said that there was plenty of time both to win the game 
 and beat the Spaniards. The best and bravest match that 
 ever was scored was resumed accordingly. Drake and his 
 friends aimed their last bowls with the same steady cal- 
 culating coolness with which they were about to point 
 their guns. The winning cast was made ; and then they
 
 254 DEFEAT OF 
 
 went on board and prepared for action, with their hearts 
 as light and their nerves as firm as they had been on the 
 Hoe Bowling Green. 
 
 Meanwhile the messengers and signals had been dis- 
 patched fast and far through England, to warn each town 
 and village that the enemy had come at last. In every 
 seaport there was instant making ready by land and by 
 sea ; in every shire and every city there was instant mus- 
 tering of horse and man.^ But England's best defence 
 then, as ever, was her fleet ; and after warping laboriously 
 out of Plymouth harbour against the wind, the lord-admiral 
 stood westward under easy sail, keej)ing an anxious look-out 
 for the Armada, the approach of which was soon announced 
 by Cornish fisher-boats and signals from the Cornish cliffs. 
 
 The England of our own days is so strong, and the Spain 
 of our own days is so feeble, that it is not possible, without 
 some reflection and care, to comprehend the full extent 
 of the peril which England then ran from the power and 
 the ambition of Spain, or to appreciate the importance 
 of that crisis in the history of the world. We had then no 
 Indian or Colonial Empire, save the feeble germs of our 
 North American settlements, which Raleigh and Gilbert 
 had recently planted. Scotland was a separate kingdom ; 
 and Ireland was then even a greater source of weakness, 
 and a worse nest of rebellion than she has been in after 
 times. Queen Elizabeth had found at her accession an 
 encumbered revenue, a divided people, and an unsuccessful 
 foreign war, in which the last remnant of our possessions in 
 France had been lost ; she had also a formidable pretender 
 to her crown, whose interests were favoured by all the 
 Roman Catholic jDowers ; and even some of her subjects 
 were warped by religious bigotry to deny her title and to 
 look on her as an heretical usurper. It is true that during 
 the years of her reign which had passed away before the 
 attempted invasion of 1588, she had revived the commercial 
 
 * In Macaulay's Ballad on the Spanish Armada, the transmission of the 
 tidings of the Armada's approach, and the arming of the English 
 nation, are magniiicently described. The progress of the fire-signals 
 is depicted in lines which are worthy of comparison with the renowned 
 passage in the Agamemnon, which describes the transmission of the 
 beacon-light announcing the fall of Troy, from Mount Ida to Argos.
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 255 
 
 prosperity, the national spirit, and the national loyalty of 
 England. But her resources, to cope with the colossal 
 power of Philip II, still seemed most scanty ; and she had 
 not a single foreign ally, except the Dutch, who were 
 themselves struggling hard, and, as it seemed, hopelessly, 
 to maintain their revolt against Spain. 
 
 On the other hand, Philip II was absolute master of an 
 empire so superior to the other states of the world in extent, 
 in resources, and especially in military and naval forces, as 
 to make the project of enlarging that empire into a universal 
 monarchy seem a perfectly feasible scheme ; and Philip 
 had both the ambition to form that project, and the 
 resolution to devote all his energies, and all his means, to 
 its realization. Since the downfall of the Roman empire 
 no such prej)onderating power had existed in the world. 
 During the mediaeval centuries the chief European kingdoms 
 were slowly moulding themselves out of the feudal chaos. 
 And, though their wars with each other were numerous and 
 desperate, and several of their respective kings figured for 
 a time as mighty conquerors, none of them in those times 
 acquired the consistency and perfect organization which 
 are requisite for a long-sustained career of aggrandizement. 
 After the consolidation of the great kingdoms, they for 
 some time kept each other in mutual check. During the 
 first half of the sixteenth century, the balancing system 
 was successfully practised by European statesmen. But 
 when Philip II reigned, France had become so miserably 
 weak through her civil wars, that he had nothing to dread 
 from the rival state, which had so long curbed his father 
 the Emperor Charles V. In Germany, Italy, and Poland 
 he had either zealous friends and dependants, or weak and 
 divided enemies. Against the Turks he had gained great 
 and glorious successes ; and he might look round the 
 continent of Europe without discerning a single antagonist 
 of whom he could stand in awe. Spain, when he acceded to 
 the throne, was at the zenith of her power. The hardihood 
 and spirit which the Arragonese, the Castilians, and the 
 other nations of the peninsula had acquired during centuries 
 of free institutions and successful wa.r against the Moors, 
 had not yet become obliterated. Charles V had, indeed, 
 destroyed the liberties of Spain ; but that had been done
 
 256 DEFEAT OF 
 
 too recently for its full evil to be felt in Philip's time. 
 A peojDle cannot be debased in a single generation ; and 
 the Sjianiards under Charles V and Philip II proved the 
 truth of the remark, that no nation is ever so formidable 
 to its neighbours for a time as is a nation which, after 
 being trained up in self-government, passes suddenly under 
 a despotic ruler. The energy of democratic institutions 
 survives for a few generations, and to it are superadded 
 the decision and certainty, which are the attributes of 
 government, when all its powers are directed by a single 
 mind. It is true that this preternatural vigour is short- 
 lived : national corruj)tion and debasement gradually 
 follow the loss of the national liberties ; but there is an 
 interval before their workings are felt, and in that interval 
 the most ambitious schemes of foreign conquest are often 
 successfully undertaken. 
 
 Philip had also the advantage of finding himself at 
 the head of a large standing army in a perfect state of 
 discipline and equijDment, in an age when, except some 
 few insignificant corps, standing armies were unknown in 
 Christendom. The renown of the Spanish troops was 
 justly high, and the infantry in particular was considered 
 the best in the world. His fleet, also, was far more numerous 
 and better ap]3ointed than that of any other European 
 power ; and both his soldiers and his sailors had the 
 confidence in themselves and their commanders which 
 a long career of successful warfare alone can create. 
 
 Besides the Spanish crown, Philip succeeded to the 
 kingdom of Naples and Sicily, the duchy of Milan, Franche- 
 Comte, and the Netherlands. In Africa he possessed Tunis, 
 Oran, the Cape Verd, and the Canary Islands ; and in Asia, 
 the Philippine and Sunda Islands, and a part of the 
 Moluccas. Beyond the Atlantic he was lord of the most 
 splendid portions of the New World which ' Columbus 
 found for Castile and Leon'. The empires of Peru and 
 Mexico, New Sj)ain, and Chili, with their abundant mines 
 of the precious metals, Hispaniola and Cuba, and many 
 other of the American Islands, were provinces of the 
 sovereign of Spain. 
 
 Philip had, indeed, experienced the mortification of 
 seeing the inhabitants of the Netherlands revolt against
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 257 
 
 his authority, nor could he succeed in bringing back 
 beneath the Spanish sceptre all the possessions which his 
 father had bequeathed to him. But he had reconquered 
 a large number of the towns and districts that originally 
 took up arms against him. Belgium was brought more 
 thoroughly into implicit obedience to Spain than she had 
 been before her insurrection, and it was only Holland and 
 the six other Northern States that still held out against his 
 arms. The contest had also formed a compact and veteran 
 army on Philip's side, which, under his great general, the 
 Prince of Parma, had been trained to act together under all 
 difficulties and all vicissitudes of warfare ; and on whose 
 steadiness and loyalty perfect reliance might be placed 
 throughout any enterprise, however difficult and tedious. 
 Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, captain-general of the 
 Spanish armies, and governor of the Spanish possessions m 
 the Netherlands, was beyond all comparison the greatest 
 military genius of his age. He was also highly distinguished 
 for political wisdom and sagacity, and for his great adminis- 
 trative talents. He was idolized by his troops, whose 
 affections he knew how to win without relaxing their 
 discipline or diminishing his own authority. Pre-eminently 
 cool and circumspect in his plans, but swift and energetic 
 when the moment arrived for striking a decisive blow, 
 neglecting no risk that caution could provide against, 
 conciliating even the populations of the districts which 
 he attacked, by his scrupulous good faith, his moderation, 
 and his address, Farnese was one of the most formidable 
 generals that ever could be placed at the head of an army 
 designed not only to win battles, but to effect conquests. 
 Happy it is for England and the world that this island was 
 saved from becoming an arena for the exhibition of his 
 powers. 
 
 Whatever diminution the Spanish empire might have 
 sustained in the Netherlands, seemed to be more than 
 compensated by the acquisition of Portugal, which Philip 
 had completely conquered in 1580. Not only that ancient 
 kingdom itself, but all the fruits of the maritime enterprises 
 of the Portuguese had fallen into Philip's hands. All the 
 Portuguese colonies in America, Africa, and the East Indies 
 acknowledged the sovereignty of the King of Spain ; who
 
 258 DEFEAT OF 
 
 thus not only united the whole Iberian peninsula under his 
 single sceiDtre, but had acquired a transmarine empire, 
 little inferior in wealth and extent to that which he had 
 inherited at his accession. The splendid victory which 
 his fleet, in conjunction with the Papal and Venetian 
 galle3^s, had gained at Lepanto over the Turks, had 
 deservedly exalted the fame of the Spanish marine through- 
 out Christendom ; and when Philip had reigned thirty-five 
 years, the vigour of his empire seemed unbroken, and the 
 glory of the Spanish arms had increased, and was increasing 
 throughout the world. 
 
 One nation only had been his active, his persevering, and 
 his successful foe. England had encouraged his revolted 
 subjects in Flanders against him, and given them the aid 
 in men and money without which they must soon have 
 been humbled in the dust. English ships had plundered 
 his colonies ; had defied his supremacy in the New World, 
 as well as the Old ; they had inflicted ignominious defeats 
 on his squadrons ; they had captured his cities, and burned 
 his arsenals on the very coasts of Spain. The English 
 had made Philip himself the object of personal insult. 
 He was held up to ridicule in their stage plays and masks, 
 and these scoffs at the man had (as is not unusual in such 
 cases) excited the anger of the absolute king even more 
 vehemently than the injuries inflicted on his power.i 
 Personal as well as political revenge urged him to attack 
 England. Were she once subdued, the Dutch must submit ; 
 France could not cope with him, the empire would not 
 oppose him ; and universal dominion seemed sure to be 
 the result of the conquest of that malignant island. 
 
 There was yet another and a stronger feeling which 
 armed King Philip against England. He was one of the 
 sincerest and sternest bigots of his age. He looked on 
 himself, and was looked on by others, as the appointed 
 champion to extirpate heresy and re-establish the Papal 
 power throughout Europe. A powerful reaction against 
 Protestantism had taken place since the commencement 
 of the second half of the sixteenth century, and Phih'j> 
 beheved that he was destined to complete it. The Reform 
 doctrines had been thoroughly rooted out from Italy and 
 * See Ranke's Hist. Popes, vol. ii. p. 170.
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 259 
 
 Sj)ain. Belgium, which had previously been half Protestant, 
 had been reconquered both in allegiance and creed by Philip, 
 and had become one of the most Catholic countries in the 
 world. Half Germany had been won back to the old faith. 
 In Savoy, in Switzerland, and many other countries, the 
 progress of the counter-Reformation had been rapid and 
 decisive. The Catholic league seemed victorious in France. 
 The Papal Court itself had shaken off the supineness of 
 recent centuries ; and, at the head of the Jesuits and the 
 other new ecclesiastical orders, was displaying a vigour and 
 a boldness worthy of the days of Hildebrand or Innocent III. 
 
 Throughout continental Europe, the Protestants, dis- 
 comfited and dismayed, looked to England as their protector 
 and refuge. England was the acknowledged central point 
 of Protestant power and policy ; and to conquer England 
 was to stab Protestantism to the very heart. Sixtus V, 
 the then reigning pope, earnestly exhorted Philip to this 
 enterprise. And when the tidings reached Italy and Spain 
 that the Protestant Queen of England had put to death 
 her Catholic prisoner, Mary Queen of Scots, the fury of the 
 Vatican and Escurial know no bounds. 
 
 The Prince of Parma, who was appointed military chief 
 of the expedition, collected on the coasts of Flanders 
 a veteran force that was to play a principal part in the 
 conquest of England. Besides the troops who Avere in 
 his garrisons, or under his colours, five thousand infantry 
 were sent to him from northern and central Italy, four 
 thousand from the kingdom of Naples, six thousand from 
 Castile, three thousand from Arragon, three thousand from 
 Austria and Germany, together with four squadrons of 
 heavy-armed horse ; besides which he received forces from 
 the Franche-Comte and the Walloon country. By his 
 command, the forest of Waes was felled for the purpose of 
 building flat-bottomed boats, which, floating down the 
 rivers and canals to Meinport and Dunkerque, were to 
 carry this large army of chosen troops to the mouth of the 
 Thames, under the escort of the great Spanish fleet. 
 Gun-carriages, fascines, machines used in sieges, together 
 with every material requisite for building bridges, forming 
 camps, and raising fortresses, were to be placed on board 
 the flotillas of the Prince of Parma, who followed up the 
 
 S 2
 
 260 DEFEAT OF 
 
 conquest of the Netherlands, whilst he was making pre- 
 parations for the invasion of this island. Favoured by 
 the dissensions between the insurgents of the United 
 Provinces and Leicester, the Prince of Parma had recovered 
 Deventer, as well as a fort before Zutphen, which the 
 English commanders, Sir William Stanle}^, the friend of 
 Babington, and Sir Roland York, had surrendered to him, 
 when with their troops they passed over to the service of 
 Philip II, after the death of Mary Stuart, and he had also 
 made himself master of the Sluys. His intention was to leave 
 to the Count de Mansfeldt sufficient forces to follow^ up the 
 war with the Dutch, which had now become a secondary 
 object, whilst he himself went at the head of fifty thousand 
 men of the Armada and the flotilla, to accomplish the 
 principal enterprise — that enterprise which, in the highest 
 degree, affected the interests of the pontifical authority. 
 In a bull, intended to be kept secret until the day of 
 landing, Sixtus V, renewing the anathema fulminated 
 against Elizabeth by Pius V and Gregory XIII, affected 
 to depose her from our throne.^ 
 
 Elizabeth was denounced as a murderous heretic whose 
 destruction was an instant duty. A formal treaty was 
 concluded (in June 1587), by which the pope bound 
 himself to contribute a million of scudi to the expenses 
 of the war ; the money to be paid as soon as the king had 
 actual possession of an English port. Philip, on his part, 
 strained the resources of his vast empire to the utmost. 
 The French Catholic chiefs eagerly co-operated with him. 
 In the sea-ports of the Mediterranean, and along almost 
 the whole coast from Gibraltar to Jutland, the preparations 
 for the great armament were urged forward with all the 
 earnestness of religious zeal, as well as of angry ambition. 
 — ' Thus ', says the German historian of the popes,^ ' thus 
 did the united powers of Italy and Spain, from which such 
 mighty influences had gone forth over the whole world, 
 now rouse themselves for an attack upon England ! The 
 king had already compiled, from the archives of Simancas, 
 a statement of the claims which he had to the throne of 
 that country on the extinction of the Stuart line ; the most 
 
 * See Mignet's Mary Queen o/ Scots, vol. ii. 
 
 * Ranke, vol. ii. p. 172.
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 261 
 
 brilliant prospects, especially that of a universal dominion 
 of the seas, were associated in his mind with this enterprise. 
 Everything seemed to conspire to such end ; the predomi- 
 nance of Catholicism in Germany, the renewed attack upon 
 the Huguenots in France, the attempt upon Geneva, and 
 the enterprise against England. At the same moment 
 a thoroughly Catholic prince, Sigismund III, ascended the 
 throne of Poland, with the prospect also of future succession 
 to the throne of Sweden. But whenever any principle or 
 power, be it what it may, aims at unlimited supremacy in 
 Europe, some vigorous resistance to it, having its origin in 
 the deepest springs of human nature, invariably arises. 
 Philip II had had to encounter newly awakened powers, 
 braced by the vigour of youth, and elevated by a sense 
 of their future destiny. The intrepid corsairs, who had 
 rendered every sea insecure, now clustered round the coasts 
 of their native island. The Protestants in a body — even 
 the Puritans, although they had been subjected to as 
 severe oppressions as the Catholics — rallied round their 
 queen, who now gave admirable proof of her masculine 
 courage, and her princely talent of winning the affections, 
 and leading the minds, and preserving the allegiance of 
 men.' 
 
 Ranke should have added that the English Catholics 
 at this crisis proved themselves as loyal to their queen, 
 and true to their country, as were the most vehement 
 anti-Catholic zealots in the island. Some few traitors there 
 were ; but, as a body, the Englishmen who held the ancient 
 faith, stood the trial of their patriotism nobly. The lord- 
 admiral himself was a Catholic, and (to adopt the words of 
 Hallam) ' then it was that the Catholics in every county 
 repaired to the standard of the lord-lieutenant, imploring 
 that they might not be suspected of bartering the national 
 independence for their religion itself.' The Spaniard found 
 no partisans in the country which he assailed, nor did 
 England, self-wounded. 
 
 Lie at the proud foot of her enemy. 
 
 For some time the destination of the enormous armament 
 of Philip was not publicly announced. Only Philip himself, 
 the Poj^e Sixtus, the Duke of Guise, and Philip's favourite
 
 262 DEFEAT OF 
 
 minister, Mendoza, at first knew its real object. Rumours 
 were sedulously' spread that it was designed to proceed 
 to the Indies to realize vast projects of distant conquest. 
 Sometimes hints were drojiped by Philip's ambassadors in 
 foreign courts, that his master had resolved on a decisive 
 effort to crush his rebels in the Low Countries. But 
 Elizabeth and her statesmen could not view the gathering 
 of such a storm without feeling the probability of its 
 bursting on their own shores. As early as the spring of 
 1587, Elizabeth sent Sir Francis Drake to cruise off the 
 Tagus. Drake sailed into the Ba}- of Cadiz and the Lisbon 
 Koads, and burnt much shipping and military stores, 
 causing thereby an important delay in the progress of the 
 Spanish jjreparations. Drake called this ' Singeing the 
 King of Spain's beard '. Elizabeth also increased her suc- 
 cours of troops to the Netherlanders, to prevent the Prince 
 of Parma from overwhelming them, and from thence being 
 at full leisure to employ his army against her dominions. 
 
 Each party at this time thought it politic to try to 
 amuse its adversary by pretending to treat for jaeace, 
 and negotiations were opened at Ostend in the beginning 
 of 1588, which were prolonged during the first six months 
 of that year. Nothing real was effected, and probably 
 nothing real had been intended to be effected by them. 
 But, in the meantime, each party had been engaged in 
 important communications with the chief powers in France, 
 in which Elizabeth seemed at first to have secured a 
 great advantage, but in which Philip ultimately prevailed. 
 ' Henry III of France was alarmed at the negotiations 
 that were going on at Ostend ; and he especially dreaded 
 any accommodation between Spain and England, in conse- 
 quence of which Philip II might be enabled to subdue the 
 United Provinces, and make himseff master of France. 
 In order, therefore, to dissuade Elizabeth from any arrange- 
 ment, he offered to support her, in case she were attacked 
 by the Spaniards, with twice the number of troops, which 
 he was bound by the treaty of 1574 to send to her assistance. 
 He had a long conference with her ambassador, Stafford, 
 upon this subject, and told him that the pope and the 
 Catholic king had entered into a league against the queen 
 his mistress, and had invited himself and the Venetians
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 263 
 
 to join them, but they had refused to do so. " If the 
 Queen of England ", he added, " conchides a peace with 
 the Catholic king, that peace will not last three months, 
 because the Catholic king will aid the League with all his 
 forces to overthrow her, and you may imagine what fate 
 is reserved for your mistress after that." On the other 
 hand, in order most effectually to frustrate this negotiation, 
 he proposed to Philip II to form a still closer union between 
 the two crowns of France and Spain : and, at the same 
 time, he secretly dispatched a confidential envoy to Con- 
 stantinople, to warn the Sultan, that if he did not again 
 declare war against the Catholic king, that monarch, who 
 already possessed the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the 
 Indies, and nearly all Italy, would soon make himself 
 master of England, and would then turn the forces of all 
 Europe against the Turks.' ^ 
 
 But Philip had an ally in France who was far more 
 powerful than the French king. This was the Duke of 
 Guise, the chief of the League, and the idol of the fanatic 
 partisans of the Romish faith. Philip prevailed on Guise 
 openly to take up arms against Henry III (who was reviled 
 by the Leaguers as a traitor to the true Church, and a secret 
 friend to the Huguenots) ; and thus prevent the French 
 king from interfering in favour of Queen Elizabeth. ' With 
 this object, the commander, Juan Iniguez Moreo, was 
 dispatched by him in the early part of April to the Duke 
 of Guise at Soissons. He met with complete success. He 
 offered the Duke of Guise, as soon as he took the field against 
 Henry III, three hundred thousand crowns, six thousand 
 infantry, and twelve hundred pikemen, on behalf of the 
 king his master, who would, in addition, withdraw his 
 ambassador from the court of France, and accredit an envoy 
 to the Catholic party. A treaty was concluded on these 
 conditions, and the Duke of Guise entered Paris, where 
 he was expected by the Leaguers, and whence he expelled 
 Henry III on the 12th of May, by the insurrection of the 
 barricades. A fortnight after this insurrection, which 
 reduced Henry III to impotence, and, to use the language 
 of the Prince of Parma, did not even " permit him to assist 
 the Queen of England with his tears, as he needed them all 
 ^ Mignet's Flidory of Mary Queen of Scots, vol. ii.
 
 264 DEFEAT OF 
 
 to weep over his own misfortunes ", the Spanish fleet left 
 the Tagus and sailed towards the British isles.' ^ 
 
 Meanwhile in England, from the sovereign on the throne 
 to the peasant in the cottage, all hearts and hands made 
 ready to meet the imminent deadly jaeril. Circular letters 
 from the queen were sent round to the lord-lieutenants 
 of the several counties requiring them ' to call together 
 the best sort of gentlemen under their lieutenancy, and to 
 declare unto them these great jirejDarations and arrogant 
 threatenings, now burst forth in action upon the seas, 
 wherein every man's particular state, in the highest degree, 
 could be touched in respect of countrj^ liberty, wives, 
 children, lands, lives, and (which was specially to be regarded ) 
 the profession of the true and sincere religion of Christ : 
 and to lay before them the infinite and unspeakable miseries 
 that would fall out upon any such change, which miseries 
 were evidently seen by the fruits of that hard and cruel 
 government holden in countries not far distant. We do 
 look,' said the queen, ' that the most jDart of them should 
 have, upon this instant extraordinary occasion, a larger 
 projjortion of furniture, both for horsemen and footmen, 
 but especially horsemen, than hath been certified ; thereby 
 to be in their best strength against any attempt, or to be 
 employed about our own person, or otherwise. Hereunto 
 as we doubt not but by your good endeavours they will 
 be the rather conformable, so also w^ e assure ourselves, that 
 Almighty God will so bless these their loj^al hearts borne 
 towards us, their loving sovereign, and their natural 
 country, that all the attempts of any enemy whatsoever 
 shall be made void and frustrate, to their confusion, your 
 comfort, and to God's high glory.' ^ 
 
 Letters of a similar kind were also sent by the council 
 to each of the nobilitj^, and to the great cities. The primate 
 called on the clergy for their contributions ; and by every 
 class of the community the apj)eal was responded to with 
 liberal zeal, that offered more even than the queen required. 
 The boasting threats of the Spaniards had roused the spirit 
 of the nation ; and the whole people ' were thoroughly 
 irritated to stir uj) their whole forces for their defence 
 against such prognosticated conquests ; so that, in a very 
 Migaet. * Strype, cited in Southey's Naval History.
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 265 
 
 short time, all the whole realm, and every corner, were 
 furnished with armed men, on horseback and on foot ; 
 and these continually trained, exercised, and put into 
 bands, in warlike manner, as in no age ever was before 
 in this realm. There was no sparing of money to provide 
 horse, armour, weapons, powder, and all necessaries ; no, 
 nor want of provision of pioneers, carriages, and victuals, 
 in every county of the realm, without exception, to attend 
 upon the armies. And to this general furniture every man 
 voluntarily offered, very many their services personally 
 without wages, others money for armour and weapons, 
 and to wage soldiers : a matter strange, and never the like 
 heard of in this realm or elsewhere. And this general 
 reason moved all men to large contributions, that when 
 a conquest was to be withstood wherein all should be 
 lost, it was no time to spare a portion.' ^ 
 
 Our lion-hearted queen showed herself worthy of such 
 a people. A camp was formed at Tilbury ; and there 
 Elizabeth rode through the ranks, encouraging her captains 
 and her soldiers by her presence and her words. One of 
 the speeches which she addressed to them during this 
 crisis has been preserved ; and, though often quoted, it 
 must not be omitted here. 
 
 ' My loving people,' she said, ' we have been persuaded 
 by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how 
 we commit ourselves to armed multitudes for fear of 
 treachery ; but I assure you I do not desire to live to 
 distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear ! 
 I have always so behaved myself, that, under God, I have 
 placed my chief est strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts 
 and good will of my subjects ; and, therefore, I am come 
 amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation 
 or disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of 
 the battle, to live or die amongst you all, to lay down for 
 my God, for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour 
 and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body 
 but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and 
 stomach of a king, and of a King of England too ; and 
 think it foul scorn that Parma, or Spain, or any prince 
 
 ^ Copy of contemporary letter in the Harleian Collection, quoted 
 by Southey.
 
 266 DEFEAT OF 
 
 of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm ; 
 to which, rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, 
 I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, 
 judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the 
 field. I know already for your forwardness you have 
 deserved rewards and crowns ; and we do assure you, on 
 the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the 
 meantime, my lieutenant-general shall be in my -stead, 
 than Avhom never prince commanded a more noble or 
 worthy subject, not doubting but by your obedience to 
 my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour 
 in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those 
 enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.' 
 
 We have minute proofs of the skill with which the 
 government of Elizabeth made its preparations ; for the 
 documents still exist which were drawn up at that time 
 by the ministers and military men who were consulted by 
 Elizabeth respecting the defence of the country.^ Among 
 those summoned to the advice of their queen at this crisis, 
 were Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Grey, Sir Francis Knolles, 
 Sir Thomas Leighton, Sir John Norris, Sir Richard Grenville, 
 Sir Richard Bingham, and Sir Roger WilHams ; and the 
 biographer of Sir Walter Raleigh observes that ' These 
 councillors were chosen by the queen, as being not only 
 men bred to arms, and some of them, as Grey, Norris, 
 Bingham, and Grenville, of high military talents, but of 
 grave experience in affairs of state, and in the civil govern- 
 ment of provinces — qualities by no means unimportant, 
 when the debate referred not merely to the leading of an 
 army or the plan of a campaign, but to the organization 
 of a militia, and the communication with the magistrates 
 for arming the peasantry, and encouraging them to a resolute 
 and simultaneous resistance. From some private papers of 
 Lord Burleigh, it appears that Sir Walter took a principal 
 share in these deliberations ; and the abstract of their 
 proceedings, a document still preserved, is sui)posed to 
 have been drawn up by him. They first prepared a list of 
 places where it was likely the Spanish army might attempt 
 a descent, as well as of those which lay most exposed to 
 the force under the Duke of Parma. They next considered 
 ' See note in Tytler'.s Life of Rahigh, j). 71.
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 267 
 
 the speediest and most effectual means of defence, whether 
 by fortification or the muster of a military array ; and, 
 lastly, deliberated on the course to be taken for fighting 
 the enemy if he should land.' 
 
 Some of Elizabeth's advisers recommended that the 
 whole care and resources of the government should be 
 devoted to the equipment of the armies, and that the 
 enemy, when he attempted to land, should be welcomed 
 with a battle on the shore. But the wiser counsels of 
 Raleigh and others prevailed, who urged the importance 
 of fitting out a fleet, that should encounter the Spaniards 
 at sea, and, if possible, prevent them from approaching 
 the land at all. In Raleigh's great work on the History of 
 the World, he takes occasion, when discussing some of the 
 events of the first Punic war, to give his reasonings on the 
 proper policy of England when menaced with invasion. 
 Without doubt, we have there the substance of the advice 
 which he gave to Elizabeth's council ; and the remarks 
 of such a man on such a subject have a general and enduring 
 interest beyond the immediate peril which called them forth. 
 Raleigh says : ^ ' Surely I hold that the best way is to 
 keep our enemies from treading upon our ground : wherein 
 if we fail, then must we seek to make him wish that he 
 had stayed at his own home. In such a case if it should 
 happen, our judgments are to weigh many particular 
 circumstances, that belongs not unto this discourse. But 
 making the question general, the positive. Whether England, 
 without the help of her fleet, be able to debar an enemy from 
 landing ; I hold that it is vniable so to do ; and therefore 
 I think it most dangerous to make the adventure. For 
 the encouragement of a first victory to an enemy, and the 
 discouragement of being beaten, to the invaded, may draw 
 after it a most perilous consequence. 
 
 ' Great difference I know there is, and a diverse considera- 
 tion to be had, between such a country as France is, 
 strengthened with many fortified places ; and this of ours, 
 where our ramparts are but the bodies of men. But I say 
 that an army to be transported over sea, and to be landed 
 again in an enemy's country, and the place left to the choice 
 of the invader, cannot be resisted on the coast of England, 
 1 Uistorie of the World, pp. 799-801.
 
 268 DEFEAT OF 
 
 without a fleet to impeach it ; no, nor on the coast of 
 France, or any other country ; except every creek, port, or 
 sandy bay, had a powerful army, in each of them, to make 
 opposition. For let the supposition be granted that Kent 
 is able to furnish twelve thousand foot, and that those 
 twelve thousand be layed in the three best landing-places 
 within that country, to wit, three thousand at Margat, 
 three thousand at the Nesse, and six thousand at Foulkstone, 
 that is, somewhat equally distant from them both ; as 
 also that two of these troops (unless some other order be 
 thought more fit) be directed to strengthen the third, when 
 they shall see the enemies' fleet to head towards it : I say, 
 that notwithstanding this jDrovision, if the enemy, setting 
 sail from the Isle of Wight, in the first watch of the night, 
 and towing their long boats at their sterns, shall arrive 
 by dawn of day at the Nesse, and thrust their army on 
 shore there, it will be hard for those three thousand that 
 are at Margat (twenty-and-four long miles from thence), 
 to come time enough to reinforce their fellows at the Nesse. 
 Nay, how shall they at Foulkstone be able to do it, who 
 are nearer by more than half the way ? seeing that the 
 enemy, at his first arrival, will either make his entrance 
 by force, with three or four shot of great artillery, and 
 quickly put the first three thousand that are entrenched 
 at the Nesse to run, or else give them so much to do that 
 they shall be glad to send for help to Foulkstone, and 
 perhaps to Margat, whereby those places will be left bare. 
 Now let us suppose that all the twelve thousand Kentish 
 soldiers arrive at the Nesse, ere the enemy can be ready 
 to disembarque his army, so that he will find it unsafe to 
 land in the face of so many prepared to withstand him, yet 
 must we believe that he will play the best of his own game 
 (having liberty to go which way he list), and under covert 
 of the night, set sail towards the east, where what shall 
 hinder him to take ground either at Margat, the Downes, 
 or elsewhere, before they, at the Nesse, can be well aware 
 of his departure ? Certainly there is nothing more easy 
 than to do it. Yea, the like may be said of Weymouth, 
 Piirbeck, Poole, and of all landing-places on the south- 
 west. For there is no man ignorant, that ships, without 
 putting themselves out of breath, will easily outrun the
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 260 
 
 souldiers that coast them '' Les armies ne volent point en 
 poste ; ' — " Armies neither flye, nor rmi post," saith 
 a marshal of France. And I know it to be true, that a fleet 
 of ships may be seen at sunset, and after it at the Lizard, 
 yet by the next morning they may recover Portland, 
 whereas an army of foot shall not be able to march it in 
 six dayes. Again, when those troops lodged on the sea- 
 shores, shall be forced to run from place to place in vain, 
 after a fleet of ships, they will at length sit down in the 
 midway, and leave all at adventure. But say it were 
 otherwise, that the invading enemy will offer to land in 
 some such place, where there shall be an army of ours ready 
 to receive him ; yet it cannot be doubted, but that when 
 the choice of all our trained bands, and the choice of our 
 commanders and captains, shall be drawn together (as 
 they were at Tilbury in the year 1588) to attend the person 
 of the prince, and for the defence of the city of London ; they 
 that remain to guard the coast can be of no such force as to 
 encounter an army like unto that wherewith it was intended 
 that the Prince of Parma should have landed in England. 
 
 ' For end of this digression, I hope that this question 
 shall never come to trial ; his majestie's many moveable 
 forts will forbid the experience. And although the English 
 will no less disdain than any nation under heaven can do, 
 to be beaten, upon their own ground, or elsewhere, by 
 a foreign enemy ; yet to entertain those that shall assail 
 us with their own beef in their bellies, and before they 
 eat of our Kentish capons, I take it to be the wisest way ; 
 to do which his majesty, after God, will employ his good 
 ships on the sea, and not trust in any intrenchment upon 
 the shore.' 
 
 The introduction of steam as a propelling power at sea 
 has added tenfold weight to these arguments of Raleigh. 
 On the other hand, a well-constructed system of railwa3'S, 
 especially of coast lines, aided by the operation of the 
 electric telegraph, would give facilities for concentrating 
 a defensive army to oppose an enemy on landing, and for 
 moving troops from place to place in observation of the 
 movements of the hostile fleet, such as would have aston- 
 ished Sir Walter even more than the sight of vessels passing 
 rapidly to and fro without the aid of wind or tide. The
 
 270 DEFEAT OF 
 
 observation of the French marshal, whom he quotes, is 
 now no longer correct. Armies can be made to pass from 
 place to place almost with the speed of wings, and far more 
 rapidly than any post-travelling that was known in the 
 Elizabethan or any other age. Still, the presence of a suffi- 
 cient armed force at the right spot, at the right time, can 
 never be made a matter of certainty ; and even after the 
 changes that have taken place, no one can doubt but that 
 the policy of Raleigh is that which England should ever 
 seek to follow in defensive war. At the time of the Armada, 
 that policy certainly saved the country, if not from conquest, 
 at least from deplorable calamities. If indeed the enemy 
 had landed, we may be sure that he would have been 
 heroically opposed. But history shows us so many examples 
 of the superiority of veteran troops o-^er new levies, however 
 numerous and brave, that without disparaging our country- 
 men's soldierly merits, we may well be thankful that no 
 trial of them was then made on English land. Especially 
 must we feel this, when we contrast the high military 
 genius of the Prince of Parma, who would have headed the 
 Spaniards, with the imbecility of the Earl of Leicester, to 
 whom the deplorable spirit of favouritism, which formed 
 the greatest blemish in Elizabeth's character, had then 
 committed the chief command of the English armies. 
 
 The ships of the royal navy at this time amounted to 
 no more than thirty-six ; but the most serviceable mer- 
 chant vessels were collected from all the ports of the coun- 
 try ; and the citizens of London, Bristol, and the other 
 great seats of commerce, showed as liberal a zeal in equip- 
 ping and manning vessels as the nobility and gentry 
 displayed in mustering forces by land. The seafaring 
 population of the coast, of every rank and station, was 
 animated by the same ready spirit ; and the whole number 
 of seamen who came forward to man the English fleet was 
 17,472. The number of the ships that were collected was 
 191 ; and the total amount of their tonnage 31,985. There 
 was one ship in the fleet (the Triumph) of 1,100 tons, one 
 of 1,000, one of 900, two of 800 each, three of 600, five of 500, 
 five of 400, six of 300, six of 250, twenty of 200, and the 
 residue of inferior burden. Application was made to the 
 Dutch for assistance ; and, as Stowe expresses it, ' The
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 271 
 
 Hollanders came roundly in, with threescore sail, brave 
 ships of war, fierce and full of spleen, not so much for 
 England's aid, as in just occasion for their own defence ; 
 these men foreseeing the greatness of the danger that might 
 ensue, if the Spaniards should chance to win the day and 
 get the mastery over them ; in due regard whereof their 
 manly courage was inferior to none.' 
 
 We have more minute information of the numbers and 
 equipment of the hostile forces than we have of our own. 
 In the first volume of Hakluyt's Voyages, dedicated to 
 Lord Effingham, who commanded against the Armada, 
 there is given (from the contemporary foreign writer, 
 Meteran) a more complete and detailed catalogue than has 
 perhaps ever appeared of a similar armament. 
 
 ' A very large and particular description of this navie 
 was put in print and published by the Spaniards ; wherein 
 was set downe the number, names, and burthens of the 
 shippes, the number of mariners and soldiers throughout 
 the whole fleete ; likewise the quantitie of their ordinance, 
 of their armour, of bullets, of match, of gun-poulder, of 
 victuals, and of all their navall furniture, was in the saide 
 description particularized. Unto all these were added the 
 names of the governours, captaines, noblemen, and gentle- 
 men voluntaries, of whom there was so great a multitude, 
 that scarce was there any family of accompt, or any one 
 principall man throughout all Spaine, that had not a 
 brother, sonne, or kinsman in that fleete ; who all of them 
 were in good hope to purchase mito themselves in that 
 navie (as they termed it) invincible, endless glory and 
 renown, and to possess themselves of great seigniories and 
 riches in England, and in the Low Countreys. But because 
 the said description was translated and published out of 
 Spanish into divers other languages, we will here only 
 make an abridgement or brief rehearsal thereof. 
 
 ' Portugal furnished and set foorth under the conduct 
 of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, generall of the fleete, 
 ten galeons, two zabraes, 1,300 mariners, 3,300 souldiers, 
 300 great pieces, with all requisite furniture. 
 
 ' Biscay, under the conduct of John Martines de Ricalde, 
 admiral of the whole fleete, set forth tenne galeons, four 
 pataches, 700 mariners, 2,000 souldiers, 260 great pieces, &c.
 
 272 DEFEAT OF 
 
 ' Guipusco, under the conduct of Michael de Orquendo, 
 tenne galeons, four pataches, 700 mariners, 2,000 souldiers, 
 310 great pieces. 
 
 ' Italy with the Levant islands, under Martino de Verten- 
 dona, ten galeons, 800 mariners, 2,000 souldiers, 310 great 
 pieces, &c. 
 
 ' Castile, under Diego Flores de Valdez, fourteen galeons, 
 two pataches, 1,700 mariners, 2,400 souldiers, and 380 great 
 pieces, &c. 
 
 ' Andaluzia, under the conduct of Petro de Valdez, 
 ten galeons, one patache, 800 mariners, 2,400 souldiers, 
 280 great pieces, &c. 
 
 ' Item, under the conduct of John Lopez de Medina, 
 twenty-three great Flemish hulkes, with 700 mariners, 
 3,200 souldiers, and 400 great pieces. 
 
 'Item, under Hugo de Mon^ada, foure galliasses, con- 
 taining 1,200 gally-slaves, 460 mariners, 870 souldiers, 
 200 great pieces, &c. 
 
 ' Item, under Diego de Mandrana, foure gallies of Portu- 
 gall, with 888 gally-slaves, 360 mariners, twenty great 
 pieces, and other requisite furniture. 
 
 ' Item, under Anthonio de Mendoza, twenty-two pataches 
 and zabraes, with 574 mariners, 488 souldiers, and 193 
 great pieces. 
 
 ' Besides the ships aforementioned, there were twenty 
 caravels rowed with oares, being appointed to perform 
 necessary services under the greater ships, insomuch that 
 all the ships appertayning to this navie amounted unto the 
 summe of 150, eche one being sufficiently provided of 
 furniture and victuals. 
 
 ' The number of mariners in the saide fleete were above 
 8,000, of slaves 2,088, of souldiers 20,000 (besides noblemen 
 and gentlemen voluntaries), of great cast pieces 2,600. 
 The foresaid ships were of an huge and incredible capacitie 
 and receipt : for the whole fleete was large enough to 
 containe the burthen of 60,000 tunnes. 
 
 ' The galeons were 64 in number, being of an huge big- 
 nesse, and very flately built, being of marvellous force also, 
 and so high, that they resembled great castles, most fit 
 to defend themselves and to withstand any assault, but in 
 giving any other ships the encounter farr inferiour unto
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 273 
 
 the English and Dutch ships, which can with great dexteritie 
 weild and turne themselves at all assayes. The upper- 
 worke of the said galeons was of thicknesse and strength 
 sufficient to bear ofi musket-shot. The lower worke and the 
 timbers thereof were out of measure strong, being framed 
 of plankes and ribs foure or five foote in thicknesse, inso- 
 much that no bullets could j)ierce them, but such as were 
 discharged hard at hand ; which afterward prooved true, 
 for a great number of bullets were found to sticke fast 
 within the massie substance of those thicke plankes. Great 
 and well pitched cables were twined about the masts of 
 their shippes, to strengthen them against the battery 
 of shot. 
 
 ' The galliasses were of such bignesse, that they con- 
 tained within them chambers, chapels, turrets, pulpits, 
 and other commodities of great houses. The galliasses 
 were rowed with great oares, there being in eche one of 
 them 300 slaves for the same purpose, and were able to do 
 great service with the force of their ordinance. All these, 
 together with the residue afore-named, were furnished and 
 beautified with trumpets, streamers, banners, warlike 
 ensignes, and other such like ornaments. 
 
 ' Their pieces of brazen ordinance were 1,600, and of 
 yron 1,000. 
 
 ' The bullets thereto belonging were 120 thousand. 
 
 ' Item of gun-poulder, 5,600 quintals. Of matche, 
 1,200 quintals. Of muskets and kaleivers, 7,000. Of 
 haleberts and partisans, 10,000. 
 
 ' Moreover they had great store of canons, double -canons, 
 culverings, and field-pieces for land services. 
 
 ' Likewise they were provided of all instruments neces- 
 sary on land to conveigh and transport their furniture from 
 place to place ; as namely of carts, wheeles, wagons, &c. 
 Also they had spades, mattocks, and baskets, to set pioners 
 to worke. They had in like sort great store of mules and 
 horses, and whatsoever else was requisite for a land-armie. 
 They were so well stored of biscuit, that for the space of 
 halfe a yeere, they might allow eche person in the whole 
 fieete halfe a quintall every month ; whereof the whole 
 summe amounteth unto an hundreth thousand quintals. 
 
 ' Likewise of wme they had 147 thousand pipes, sufficient 
 
 CREASY rp
 
 274 DEFEAT OF 
 
 also for halfe a yeeres expedition. Of bacon, 6,500 quintals. 
 Of cheese, three thousand quintals. Besides fish, rise, 
 beanes, pease, oile, vinegar, &c. 
 
 ' Moreover they had 12,003 pipes of fresh water, and all 
 other necessary provision, as, namely, candles, lanternes, 
 lampes, sailes, liempe, oxe-hides, and lead to stop holes 
 that should be made with the battery of gun-shot. To be 
 short, they brought all things expedient, either for a fleete 
 by sea, or for an armie by land. 
 
 ' This navie (as Diego Pimentelli afterward confessed) 
 was esteemed by the king himselfe to containe 32,000 
 persons, and to cost him every day thirty thousand ducates. 
 
 ' There were in the said navie five terzaes of Spaniards 
 (which terzaes the Frenchmen call regiments), under the 
 command of five governours, termed by the Spaniards 
 masters of the field, and amongst the rest there were many 
 olde and expert souldiers chosen out of the garisons of 
 Sicilie, Naples, and Ter9era. Their captaines or colonels 
 Avere Diego Pimentelli, Don Francisco de Toledo, Don 
 Alongo de Lugon, Don Nicolas de Isla, Don Augustin de 
 Mexia ; Avho had each of them thirty-two companies under 
 their conduct. Besides the which companies, there were 
 many bands also of Castilians and Portugals, every one of 
 which had their peculiar governours, captains, officers, 
 colours, and weapons.' 
 
 While this huge armada was making ready in the southern 
 ports of the Spanish dominions, the Prince of Parma, with 
 almost incredible toil and skill, collected a squadron of 
 war-ships at Dunkirk, and his flotilla of other ships and of 
 flat-bottomed boats for the transport to England of the 
 picked troops, which were designed to be the main instru- 
 ments in subduing England. Thousands of workmen were 
 employed, night and day, in the construction of these 
 vessels, in the ports of Flanders and Brabant. One hun- 
 dred of the kind called hendes, built at Antwerp, Bruges, 
 and Ghent, and laden with provision and ammunition, 
 together with sixty flat-bottomed boats, each capable of 
 carrying thirty horses, were brought, by means of canals 
 and fosses, dug expressly for the purpose, to Nieuport and 
 Dunkirk. One hundred smaller vessels were equipped at 
 the former place, and thirty-two at Dunkirk, provided with
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 275 
 
 twenty thousand empty barrels, and with materials for 
 making pontoons, for stopping up the harbours, and raising 
 forts and entrenchments. The army which these vessels 
 were designed to convey to England amounted to thirty 
 thousand strong, besides a body of four thousand cavalry, 
 stationed at Courtrai, composed chiefly of the ablest 
 veterans of Europe ; invigorated by rest (the siege of 
 Sluys having been the only enterprise in which they were 
 emploj^ed during the last campaign), and excited by the 
 hopes of plunder and the expectation of certain conquest.^ 
 And ' to this great enterprise and imaginary conquest, 
 divers princes and noblemen came from divers countries ; 
 out of Spain came the Duke of Pestrafja, who was said to be 
 the son of Ruy Gomez de Silva, but was held to be the king's 
 bastard ; the Marquis of Bourgou, one of the Archduke 
 Ferdinand's sons, by Philippina Welserine ; Don Vespasian 
 Gonzaga, of the house of Mantua, a great soldier, who had 
 been viceroy in Spain ; Giovanni de' Medici, Bastard of 
 Florence ; Amedo, Bastard of Savoy, with many such like, 
 besides others of meaner quality'.^ 
 
 Philip had been advised by the deserter. Sir William 
 Stanley, not to attack England in the first instance, but 
 first to effect a landing and secure a strong position in 
 Ireland ; his admiral, Santa Cruz, had recommended him 
 to make sure, in the first instance, of some large harbour 
 on the coast of Holland or Zealand, where the Armada, 
 having entered the channel, might find shelter in case of 
 storm, and whence it could sail without difficulty for 
 England ; but Philip rejected both these counsels, and 
 directed that England itself should be made the immediate 
 object of attack ; and on the 20th of May the Armada left 
 the Tagus, in the pomp and pride of supposed invincibility, 
 and amidst the shouts of thousands, who believed that 
 England was already conquered. But steering to the 
 northAvard, and before it was clear of the coast of Spain, 
 the Armada was assailed by a violent storm, and driven 
 back with considerable damage to the ports of Biscay and 
 Galicia. It had, however, sustained its heaviest loss before 
 it left the Tagus, in the death of the veteran admiral Santa 
 Cruz, who had been destined to guide it against England. 
 * Davis's Holland, vol. ii. p. 219. * Grimstone, cited in Southey. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 DEFEAT OF 
 
 This experienced sailor, notwithstanding his diligence 
 and success, had been unable to keep pace with the im- 
 patient ardour of his master. Philip II had reproached 
 him with his dilatoriness, and had said with ungrateful 
 harshness, ' You make an ill return for all my kindness to 
 you '. These words cut the veteran's heart, and proved 
 fatal to Santa Cruz. Overwhelmed with fatigue and grief, 
 he sickened and died. Philip II had replaced him by 
 Alonso Perez de Gusman, Duke of Medina Sidonia, one of 
 the most powerful of the Spanish grandees, but wholly 
 unqualified to command such an expedition. He had, 
 however, as his lieutenants, two seamen of proved skill and 
 bravery, Juan de Martinez Recalde of Biscay, and Miguel 
 Orquendo of Guipuzcoa. 
 
 The report of the storm which had beaten back the 
 Armada reached England with much exaggeration, and 
 it was supposed by some of the queen's counsellors that 
 the invasion would now be deferred to another year. But 
 Lord Howard of Effingham, the lord high-admiral of the 
 English fleet, judged more wisely that the danger was not 
 yet passed, and, as already mentioned, had the moral 
 courage to refuse to dismantle his principal ships, though 
 he received orders to that effect. But it was not Howard's 
 design to keep the English fleet in costly inaction, and to 
 wait patiently in our own harbours, till the Spaniards had 
 recruited their strength, and sailed forth again to attack us. 
 The English seamen of that age (like their successors) loved 
 to strike better than to parry, though, when emergency 
 required, they could be patient and cautious in their 
 braver3\ It was resolved to proceed to Spain, to learn the 
 enemy's real condition, and to deal him any blow for which 
 there might be opportunity. In this bold policy we may 
 well believe him to have been eagerly seconded by those who 
 commanded under him. Howard and Drake sailed accord- 
 ingly to Corunna, hoping to surprise and attack some part 
 of the Armada in that harbour ; but when near the coast 
 of Spain, the north wind, which had blown up to that time, 
 veered suddenly to the south ; and fearing that the Spaniards 
 might put to sea and pass him unobserved, Howard returned 
 to the entrance of the Channel, where he cruised for some 
 time on the look-out for the enemJ^ In part of a letter
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 277 
 
 written by him at this period, he speaks of the difficulty of 
 guarding so large a breadth of sea — a difficulty that ought 
 not to be forgotten when modern schemes of defence against 
 hostile fleets from the south are discussed. ' I myself ', 
 he wrote, ' do lie m the midst of the Channel, with the 
 greatest force ; Sir Francis Drake hath twenty ships, and 
 four or five pinnaces, which lie towards Ushant ; and 
 Mr. Hawkms, with as many more, lieth towards Scilly. 
 Thus we are fain to do, or else with this wind they might 
 pass us by, and we never the wiser. — The Sleeve is another 
 manner of thing than it was taken for : we find it by 
 experience and daily observation to be 100 miles over : 
 a large room for me to look unto ! ' But after some time 
 further reports that the Spaniards were inactive in their 
 harbour, where they were suffermg severely from sickness, 
 caused Howard also to relax m his vigilance ; and he 
 returned to Plymouth with the greater part of his fleet. 
 
 On the 12th of July, the Armada having completely 
 refitted, sailed again for the Channel, and reached it without 
 obstruction or observation by the English. 
 
 The design of the Spaniards was, that the Armada should 
 give them, at least for a time, the command of the sea, and 
 that it should join the squadron which Parma had collected 
 off Calais. Then, escorted by an overpowering naval force, 
 Parma and his army were to embark in their flotilla, and 
 cross the sea to England, where they were to be landed, 
 together with the troops which the Armada brought from 
 the ports of Spain. The scheme was not dissimilar to one 
 formed agamst England a little more than two centuries 
 afterwards. 
 
 As Napoleon, in 1805, waited with his army and flotilla 
 at Boulogne, looking for Villeneuve to drive away the 
 English cruisers, and secure him a passage across the 
 Channel, so Parma, m 1588, waited for Medina Sidonia to 
 drive away the Dutch and English squadrons that watched 
 his flotilla, and to enable his veterans to cross the sea to the 
 land that they were to conquer. Thanks to Providence, 
 m each case England's enemy waited in vain ! 
 
 Although the number of sail which the queen's govern- 
 ment, and the patriotic zeal of volunteers, had collected 
 for the defence of England, exceeded the number of sail
 
 278 DEFEAT OF 
 
 in the Spanish fleet, the Enghsh ships Avere, collectively, 
 far inferior in size to their adversaries ; their aggregate 
 tonnage being less by half than that of the enemy. In the 
 number of guns, and weight of metal, the disproportion 
 was still greater. The English admiral was also obliged 
 to subdivide his force ; and Lord Henry Seymour, with 
 forty of the best Dutch and English ships, was employed 
 in blockading the hostile ports in Flanders, and in prevent- 
 ing the Prince of Parma from coming out of Dunkirk. 
 
 The orders of King Philip to the Duke de Medina Sidonia 
 were, that he should, on entering the Channel, keep near 
 the French coast, and, if attacked by the English ships, 
 avoid an action, and steer on to Calais roads, where the 
 Prince of Parma's squadron was to join him. The hope of 
 surprising and destroying the English fleet in Plymouth 
 led the Spanish admiral to deviate from these orders, and 
 to stand across to the English shore ; but, on finding that 
 Lord Howard was coming out to meet him, he resumed the 
 original plan, and determined to bend his way steadily 
 towards Calais and Dunkirk, and to keep merely on the 
 defensive against such squadrons of the English as might 
 come up with him. 
 
 It was on Saturday, the 20th of July, that Lord Effingham 
 came in sight of his formidable adversaries. The Armada 
 was drawn up in form of a crescent, which from horn to 
 horn measured some seven miles. There was a south-west 
 wind ; and before it the vast vessels sailed slowly on. The 
 English let them pass by ; and then, following in the rear, 
 commenced an attack on them. A running fight now took 
 place, in which some of the best ships of the Spaniards were 
 captured ; many more received heavy damage ; while the 
 English vessels, which took care not to close with their huge 
 antagonists, but availed themselves of their superior celerity 
 in tacking and manoeuvring, suffered little comparative 
 loss. Each day added not only to the spirit, but to the 
 number of Effingham's force. Raleigh, Oxford, Cumber- 
 land, and Sheffield joined him ; and ' the gentlemen of 
 England hired ships from all parts at their own charge, and 
 with one accord came flocking thither as to a set field, 
 where glory was to be attained, and faithful service per- 
 formed unto their prince and their country '.
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 279 
 
 Raleigh justly praises the English admiral for his skilful 
 tactics. He says/ ' Certainly, he that will happily perform 
 a fight at sea, must be skilful in making choice of vessels to 
 fight in ; he must believe that there is more belonging to 
 a good man-of-war, upon the waters, than great daring ; 
 and must know that there is a great deal of difEerence 
 between fighting loose, or at large and grappling. The 
 guns of a slow ship pierce as well, and make as great holes, 
 as those in a swift. To clap ships together, without con- 
 sideration, belongs rather to a madman than to a man of 
 war ; for by such an ignorant bravery was Peter Strossie 
 lost at the Azores, when he fought against the Marquis of 
 Santa Cruza. In like sort had the Lord Charles Howard, 
 Admiral of England, been lost in the year 1588, if he had 
 not been better advised, than a great many malignant fools 
 were, that found fault with his demeanour. The Spaniards 
 had an army aboard them, and he had none : they had 
 more ships than he had, and of higher building and charg- 
 ing ; so that, had he entangled himself with those great and 
 powerful vessels, he had greatly endangered this kingdom 
 of England. For twenty men upon the defences are equal 
 to a hundred that board and enter ; whereas then, con- 
 trariwise, the Spaniards had a hundred, for twenty of ours, 
 to defend themselves withall. But our admiral knew his 
 advantage, and held it : which, had he not done, he had 
 not been worthy to have held his head.' 
 
 The Spanish admiral also showed great judgement and 
 firmness in following the line of conduct that had been 
 traced out for him ; and on the 27th of July he brought his 
 fleet unbroken, though sorely distressed, to anchor in Calais 
 roads. But the King of Spain had calculated ill the number 
 and the activity of the English and Dutch fleets ; as the old 
 historian expresses it, ' It seemeth that the Duke of Parma 
 and the Spaniards grounded upon a vain and presumptuous 
 expectation, that all the ships of England and of the Low 
 Countreys would at the first sight of the Sj^anish and Dun- 
 kerk navie have betaken themselves to flight, yeelding them 
 sea-room, and endeavouring only to defend themselves, 
 their havens, and sea-coasts from invasion. Wherefore 
 their intent ajid purpose was, that the Duke of Parma, in 
 1 Historie of the World, p. 791.
 
 280 DEFEAT OF 
 
 his small and flat-bottomed ships should, as it were, under 
 the shadow and wings of the Spanish fleet, convey over all 
 his troupes, armour, and warlike provisions, and with their 
 forces so united, should invade England ; or, while the 
 English fleet were busied in fight against the Spanish, 
 should enter upon any part of the coast which he thought 
 to be most convenient. Which invasion (as the captives 
 afterwards confessed) the Duke of Parma thought first to 
 have attempted by the river of Thames ; upon the banks 
 whereof, having at the first arrivall landed twenty or thirty 
 thousand of his prmcipall souldiers, he supposed that he 
 might easily have wonne the citie of London ; both because 
 his small shippes should have followed and assisted his 
 land-forces, and also for that the citie itselfe was but 
 meanely fortified and easie to ouercome, by reason of the 
 citizens' delicacie and discontinuance from the warres, who, 
 with continuall and constant labour, might be vanquished, 
 if they yielded not at the first assault.' ^ 
 
 But the English and Dutch found ships and mariners 
 enough to keep the Armada itself in check, and at the 
 same time to block up Parma's flotilla. The greater part 
 of Seymour's squadron left its cruising-ground ofE Dunkirk 
 to join the English admiral ofiE Calais ; but the Dutch 
 manned about five-and-thirty sail of good ships, with 
 a strong force of soldiers on board, all well seasoned to the 
 sea-service, and with these they blockaded the Flemish 
 ports that were in Parma's power. Still it was resolved 
 by the Spanish admiral and the prmce to endeavour to 
 effect a junction, which the English seamen were equally 
 resolute to prevent : and bolder measures on our side now 
 became necessary. 
 
 The Armada lay off Calais, with its largest ships ranged 
 outside, ' like strong castles fearing no assault ; the lesser 
 placed in the middle ward'. The English admiral could 
 not attack them in their position without great disadvan- 
 tage, but on the night of the 29th he sent eight fire-ships 
 among them, with almost equal effect to that of the fire- 
 ships which the Greeks so often employed against the 
 Turkish fleets in their late war of independence. The 
 Spaniards cut their cables and put to sea in confusion. 
 ^ Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. i. p. 601.
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 281 
 
 One of the largest galeasses ran foul of another vessel and 
 was stranded. The rest of the fleet was scattered about 
 on the Flemish coast, and when the morning broke, it was 
 with difficulty and delay that they obeyed their admiral's 
 signal to range themselves round him near Gravelines. 
 Now was the golden opportunity for the English to assail 
 them, and prevent them from ever letting loose Parma's 
 flotilla against England ; and nobly was that opportunity 
 used. Drake and Fenner were the first English captains 
 who attacked the unwieldy leviathans : then came Fenton, 
 Southwell, Burton, Cross, Raynor, and then the lord- 
 admiral, with Lord Thomas Howard and Lord Sheffield. 
 The Spaniards only thought of forming and keeping close 
 together, and were driven by the English past Dunkirk, and 
 far away from the Prince of Parma, who in watching their 
 defeat from the coast, must, as Drake expressed it, have 
 chafed like a bear robbed of her whelps. This was indeed 
 the last and the decisive battle between the two fleets. It 
 is, perhaps, best described in the very words of the contem- 
 porary writer as we may read them in Hakluyt.^ 
 
 ' Upon the 29th of July in the morning, the Spanish fleet 
 after the forsayd tumult, having arranged themselues 
 againe into order, were, within sight of Greveling, most 
 bravely and furiously encountered by the English ; where 
 they once again got the wind of the Spaniards ; who suffered 
 themselues to be deprived of the commodity of the place in 
 Caleis road, and of the advantage of the wind neer unto 
 Dunkerk, rather than they would change their array or 
 separate their forces now conjoyned and united together, 
 standing only upon their defence. 
 
 ' And howbeit there were many excellent and warlike 
 ships in the English fleet, yet scarce were there 22 or 23 
 among them all, which matched 90 of the Spanish ships in 
 the bigness, or could conveniently assault them. Where- 
 fore the English ships using their prerogative of nimble 
 steerage, whereby they could turn and wield themselves 
 with the wind which way they listed, came often times very 
 near upon the Spaniards, and charged them so sore, that 
 now and then they were but a pike's length asunder : and 
 so contmually giving them one broadside after another, 
 ^ Vol. i. p. 602.
 
 282 DEFEAT OF 
 
 they discharged all their shot both great and small upon 
 them, spending one whole day from morning till night in 
 that violent kind of conflict, untill snch time as powder and 
 bullets failed them. In regard of which want they thought 
 it convenient not to pursue the Spaniards any longer, be- 
 cause they had many great vantages of the English, namely, 
 for the extraordinary bigness of their ships, and also for 
 that they were so neerley conjoyned, and kept together in 
 so good array, that they could by no meanes be fought 
 withall one to one. The English thought, therefore, that 
 the}^ had right well acquitted themselues, in chasing the 
 Spaniards first from Caleis, and then from Dunkerk, and 
 by that meanes to have hindered them from joyning with 
 the Duke of Parma his forces, and getting the wmd of them, 
 to have driven them from their own coasts. 
 
 ' The Spaniards that day sustained great loss and damage, 
 having many of their shippes shot thorow and thorow, and 
 they discharged likewise great store of ordinance against 
 the English ; who, indeed, sustained some hindrance, but 
 not comparable to the Spaniard's loss : for they lost not any 
 one ship or person of account, for very diligent inquisition 
 being made, the English men all that time wherein the 
 Spanish navy sayled upon their seas, are not found to haue 
 wanted aboue one hundred of their people : albeit Sir 
 Francis Drake's ship was pierced with shot aboue forty 
 times, and his very cabben was twice shot thorow, and 
 about the conclusion of the fight, the bed of a certaine 
 gentleman lying weary thereupon, was taken quite from 
 under him with the force of a bullet. Likewise, as the 
 Earle of Northumberland and Sir Charles Blunt were at 
 dinner upon a time, the bullet of a demy-culverin brake 
 thorow the middest of their cabben, touched their feet, and 
 strooke downe two of the standers by, with many such 
 accidents befalling the English shippes, which it were tedious 
 to rehearse.' 
 
 It reflects little credit on the English government that 
 the English fleet was so deficiently supplied Avith ammu- 
 nition, as to be unable to complete the destruction of the 
 invaders. But enough was done to ensure it. Many of the 
 largest Spanish ships were sunk or captured m the action 
 of this day. And at length the Spanish admiral, despairing
 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA 283 
 
 of success, fled northward with a southerly wind, in the hope 
 of rounding Scotland, and so returning to Spain without 
 a further encounter with the English fleet. Lord Eflingham 
 left a squadron to continue the blockade of the Prince of 
 Parma's armament ; but that wise general soon withdrew 
 his troops to more promising fields of action. Meanwhile 
 the lord-admiral himself, and Drake chased the vincible 
 Armada, as it was now termed, for some distance north- 
 ward ; and then, when it seemed to bend away from the 
 Scotch coast towards Norway, it was thought best, in the 
 words of Drake, ' to leave them to those boisterous and 
 uncouth northern seas '. 
 
 The sufferings and losses which the unhappy Spaniards 
 sustained in their flight round Scotland and Ireland are 
 well known. Of their whole Armada only fifty-three 
 shattered vessels brought back their beaten and wasted 
 crews to the Spanish coast which they had quitted in such 
 pageantry and pride. 
 
 Some passages from the ^v^itings of those who took part 
 in the struggle have been already quoted ; and the most 
 spirited description of the defeat of the Armada which ever 
 was penned may perhaps be taken from the letter which 
 our brave vice-admiral Drake wrote in answer to some 
 mendacious stories by which the Spaniards strove to hide 
 their shame. Thus does he describe the scenes in which he 
 played so important a part : ^ 
 
 ' They were not ashamed to publish, in sundry languages 
 in print, great victories in words, which they pretended to 
 have obtained against this realm, and spread the same in 
 a most false sort over all parts of France, Italy, and else- 
 where ; when, shortly afterwards, it was happily mani- 
 fested in very deed to all nations, how their navy, which 
 they termed invincible, consisting of one hvnidred and forty 
 sail of ships, not only of their own kingdom, but strengthened 
 with the greatest argosies, Portugal carracks, Florentines, 
 and large hulks of other countries, were by thirty of her 
 majesty's own ships of war, and a few of our own merchants, 
 by the wise, valiant, and advantageous conduct of the Lord 
 
 * See Strype, and the notes to the Life of Drake, in the Biographia 
 Britannica.
 
 284 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS TO 
 
 Charles Howard, high-admiral of England, beaten and 
 shuffled together even from the Lizard in Cornwall, first 
 to Portland, when they shamefully left Don Pedro de 
 Valdez with his mighty ship ; from Portland to Calais, 
 where they lost Hugh de Mon9ado, with the galleys of 
 which he was captam ; and from Calais, driven with squibs 
 from their anchors, were chased out of the sight of England, 
 round about Scotland and Ireland. Where, for the sym- 
 pathy of their religion, hopmg to find succour and assistance, 
 a great part of them were crushed against the rocks, and 
 those others that landed, being very many ui number, were, 
 notwithstanding, broken, slain, and taken ; and so sent 
 from village to village, coupled in halters, to be shipped into 
 England, where her majesty, of her princely and invincible 
 disposition, disdaining to put them to death, and scorning 
 either to retain or to entertain them, they were all sent 
 back agam to their countries, to witness and recount the 
 w'orthy achievement of their invincible and dreadful navy. 
 Of which the number of soldiers, the fearful burthen of their 
 ships, the commanders' names of every squadron, with all 
 others, their magazines of provision were put in print, as 
 an army and navy irresistible and disdammg prevention : 
 with all which their great and terrible ostentation, they did 
 not in all their sailing round about England so much as sink 
 or take one ship, bark, pmnace, or cock-boat of ours, or 
 even burn so much as one sheep-cote on this land.' 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE DEFEAT OF 
 THE SPANISH ARMADA, a.d. 1588, AND THE 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM, a.d. 1704 
 
 A.D. 1594. Henry IV of France conforms to the Roman 
 Catholic Church, and ends the civil wars that had long 
 desolated France. 
 
 1598. Philip II of Spain dies, leaving a ruined navy and 
 an exhausted kingdom. 
 
 1603. Death of Queen Elizabeth. The Scotch dynasty 
 of the Stuarts succeeds to the throne of England. 
 
 1619. Commencement of the Thhty Years' War in 
 Germany.
 
 THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 285 
 
 1624-42. Cardinal Richelieu is minister of France. He 
 breaks the power of the nobility, reduces the Huguenots to 
 complete subjection ; and by aiding the Protestant German 
 princes in the latter part of the Thirty Years' War, he 
 humiliates France's ancient rival, Austria. 
 
 1630. Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, marches into 
 Germany to the assistance of the Protestants, who were 
 nearly crushed by the Austrian armies. He gains several 
 great victories, and, after his death, Sweden, under his 
 statesmen and generals, continues to take a leading part in 
 the war. 
 
 1640. Portugal throws off the Spanish yoke, and the 
 House of Braganza begins to reign. 
 
 1642. Commencement of the civil war in England between 
 Charles I and his Parliament. 
 
 1648. The Thirty Years' War in Germany ended by the 
 Treaty of Westphalia. 
 
 1653. Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of England. 
 
 1660. Restoration of the Stuarts to the English throne. 
 
 1661. Louis XIV takes the administration of affairs in 
 France into his own hands. 
 
 1667-8. Louis XIV makes war in Spain, and conquers a 
 large part of the Spanish Netherlands. 
 
 1672. Louis makes war upon Holland, and almost over- 
 powers it. Charles II of England is his pensioner, and 
 England helps the French in their attacks upon Holland 
 until 1674. Heroic resistance of the Dutch under the 
 Prince of Orange. 
 
 1674. Louis conquers Franche-Comte. 
 
 1679. Peace of Nimeguen. 
 
 1681. Louis invades and occupies Alsace. 
 
 1682. Accession of Peter the Great to the throne of 
 Russia. 
 
 1685. Louis commences a merciless persecution of his 
 Protestant subjects. 
 
 1688. The glorious Revolution in England. Expulsion 
 of James II. William of Orange is made King of England. 
 James takes refuge at the French court, and Louis under- 
 takes to restore him. General Avar in the west of Europe. 
 
 1697. Treaty of Ryswick. Charles XII becomes King 
 of Sweden.
 
 286 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS TO BLENHEIM 
 
 1700. Charles II of Spain dies, having bequeathed his 
 dominions to Philip of Anjou, Louis XIV's grandson. 
 Defeat of the Russians at Narva, by Charles XII. 
 
 1701. William III forms a 'Grand Alliance' of Austria, 
 the Empire, the United Provinces, England, and other 
 powers, against France. 
 
 1702. King William dies ; but his successor, Queen Anne, 
 adheres to the Grand Alliance, and war is proclaimed 
 as:ainst France.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM, 1704 
 
 'The decisive blow struclv at Blenheim resounded through every part 
 of Europe : it at once destroyed the vast fabric of power which it had 
 taken Louis XIV, aided by the talents of Turennc, and the genius of 
 Vauban, so long to constnict.' — Alison. 
 
 Though more slowly moulded and less imposingly vast 
 than the empire of Napoleon, the power which Louis XIV 
 had acquired and was acquiring at the commencement 
 of the eighteenth century, was almost equally menacing 
 to the general liberties of Europe. If tested by the amount 
 of jiermanent aggrandizement which each procured for 
 France, the ambition of the royal Bourbon was more 
 successful than were the enterprises of the imperial Corsican. 
 All the provinces that Bonaparte conquered were rent 
 again from France within twenty years from the date 
 when the very earliest of them was acquired. France is 
 not stronger by a single city or a single acre for all the 
 devastating wars of the Consulate and the Empire. But 
 she still possesses Franche-Comte, Alsace, and part of 
 Flanders. She has still the extended boundaries M^hich 
 Louis XIV gave her. And the royal Spanish marriages, 
 a few years ago, proved clearly how enduring has been the 
 political influence which the arts and arms of France's 
 ' Grand Monarque ' obtained for her southward of the 
 Pyrenees. 
 
 When Louis XIV took the reigns of government into 
 his own hands, after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, there 
 was a union of ability with opportunity, such as France 
 had not seen since the days of Charlemagne. Moreover, 
 Louis's career was no brief one. For upwards of forty 
 years, for a period nearly equal to the duration of 
 Charlemagne's reign, Louis steadily followed an aggressive 
 and a generally successful polic3^ He passed a long youth
 
 288 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 and manhood of triumph, before the military genius of 
 Marlborough made him acquainted with humihation and 
 defeat. The great Bourbon lived too long. He should 
 not have outstayed our two English kings — one his depen- 
 dant, James II, the other his antagonist, William III. 
 Had he died in the year within which they died, his reign 
 would be cited as unequalled in the French annals for its 
 prosperity. But he lived on to see his armies beaten, his 
 cities captured, and his kingdom wasted by disastrous war. 
 It is as if Charlemagne had survived to be defeated by 
 the Northmen, and to witness the misery and shame that 
 actuall}^ fell to the lot of his descendants. 
 
 Still, Louis XIV had forty years of success ; and from 
 the permanence of their fruits we may judge what the 
 results would have been if the last fifteen years of his reign 
 had been equally fortunate. Had it not been for Blenheim, 
 all Europe might at this day suffer under the effect of 
 French conquests resembling those of Alexander in extent, 
 and those of the Romans in durability. 
 
 When Louis XIV began to govern, he found all the 
 materials for a strong government ready to his hand. 
 Richelieu had completely tamed the turbulent spirit of 
 the French nobility, and had subverted the ' imperium 
 in imperio ' of the Huguenots. The faction of the Frondeurs 
 in Mazarin's time had had the effect of making the Parisian 
 parliament utterly hateful and contemptible in the eyes of 
 the nation. The Assemblies of the States-General were 
 obsolete. The royal authority alone remained. The King 
 was the State. Louis knew his position. He fearlessly 
 avowed it, and he fearlessly acted up to it.^ 
 
 Not only was his government a strong one, but the 
 coinitry which he governed was strong : strong in its 
 geographical situation, in the compactness of its territory, 
 in the number and martial spirit of its inhabitants, and in 
 their complete and undivided nationality. Louis had 
 neither a Hungary nor an Ireland in his dominions. And 
 it was not till late in his reign, when old age had 
 made his bigotry more gloomy, and had given fanaticism 
 
 * ' Qiiand Louis XIV dit, "L'etat, c'est moi " : il n'y eut dans cette 
 parole ni enflure, ni vanterie, mais la simple dnonciation d'un fait.' — 
 MrcHELET, Histoire. Modcrne, vol, ji v. 106.
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 289 
 
 the mastery over prudence, that his persecuting intolerance 
 caused the civil war in the Cevennes. 
 
 Like Napoleon in after-times, Louis XIV saw clearly 
 that the great wants of France were ' ships, colonies, 
 and commerce '. But Louis did more than see these wants : 
 by the aid of his great minister, Colbert, he supplied them. 
 One of the surest proofs of the genius of Louis was his 
 skill in finding out genius in others, and his promptness 
 in calling it into action. Under him, Louvois organized, 
 Turenne, Conde, Villars, and Berwick led the armies of 
 France ; and Vauban fortified her frontiers. Throughout 
 his reign French diplomacy was marked by skilfulness and 
 activity, and also by comprehensive far-sightedness, such 
 as the representatives of no other nation possessed. Guizot's 
 testimony to the vigour that was displayed through every 
 branch of Louis XIV' s government, and to the extent to 
 which France at present is indebted to him, is remarkable. 
 He says that, ' taking the public services of every kind, 
 the finances, the departments of roads and public works, 
 the military administration, and all the establishments 
 which belong to every branch of administration, there is 
 not one that will not be found to have had its origin, its 
 development, or its greatest perfection, under the reign 
 of Louis XIV '.^ And he points out to us, that ' the 
 government of Louis XIV was the first that presented 
 itself to the eyes of Europe as a power acting upon sure 
 grounds, which had not to dispute its existence with 
 inward enemies, but was at ease as to its territory and 
 its people, and solely occupied with the task of adminis- 
 tering government, properly so called. All the European 
 governments had been previously thrown into incessant 
 wars, which deprived them of all security as well as of 
 all leisure, or so harassed by internal parties or antagonists, 
 that their time was passed in fighting for existence. The 
 government of Louis XIV was the first to appear as a busy 
 thriving administration of affairs, as a power at once defini- 
 tive and progressive, which was not afraid to innovate, 
 because it could reckon securely on the future. There have 
 been in fact very few governments equally innovating. 
 Compare it with a government of the same nature, the 
 ^ History of European Civilization. Lecture 13. 
 
 CREASY U
 
 290 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 unmixed monarchy of Philip II in Spain ; it was more 
 absolute than that of Louis XIV, and yet it was far less 
 regular and tranquil. How did Philip II succeed in estab- 
 lishing absolute power in Spain ? By stifling all activity 
 in the country, opposing himself to every species of ameliora- 
 tion, and rendering the state of Spain completely stagnant. 
 The government of Louis XIV, on the contrary, exhibited 
 alacrity for all sorts of innovations, and showed itself 
 favourable to the progress of letters, arts, wealth, in short, 
 of civilization. This was the veritable cause of its pre- 
 ponderance in Europe, which arose to such a pitch, that 
 it became the type of a government not only to sovereigns, 
 but also to nations, during the seventeenth century.' 
 
 While France was thus strong and united in herself, 
 and ruled by a martial, an ambitious, and (with all his 
 faults) an enlightened and high-spirited sovereign, what 
 European power was there fit to cope with her, or keep 
 her in check ? 
 
 'As to Germany, the ambitious projects of the German 
 branch of Austria had been entirely defeated, the peace of 
 the empire had been restored, and almost a new constitu- 
 tion formed, or an old revived, by the treaties of Westphalia ; 
 nay, the imperial eagle was not only fallen but her wings were 
 clipped.' ^ 
 
 As to Spain, the Spanish branch of the Austrian house 
 had sunk equally low. Philip II left his successors a ruined 
 monarchy. He left them something worse ; he left them 
 his example and his principles of government, founded in 
 ambition, in pride, in ignorance, in bigotry, and all the 
 pedantry of state. ^ 
 
 * Bolingbroke, vol. ii. p. 378. Lord Bolingbrokc's Letters on the Use 
 of History, and his Sketch of the History and State of Eiirope, abound with 
 remarks on Louis XIV and his contemporaries, of which the substance 
 is as sound as the style is beautiful. Unfortunately, like all his other 
 works, they contain also a large proportion of sophistry and misrepre- 
 sentation. The best test to use before we adopt any opinion or assertion 
 of Bolingljroke's, is to consider whether in writing it he was thinking 
 either of Sir Robert Walpole or of Revealed Religion. When either of 
 these objects of his hatred was before his mind, he scrupled at no artifice 
 or exaggeration that might serve the purpose of his malignity. On most 
 other occasions he may be followed with advantage, as he always may 
 be read with pleasure. 
 
 * Bolingbroke, vol. ii. p. 378.
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 291 
 
 It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that France, in 
 the first war of Louis XIV, despised the opposition of both 
 branches of the once predominant house of Austria. Indeed, 
 in Germany the French king acquired alHes among the 
 princes of the Empire against the emperor himself. He 
 had a still stronger support in Austria's misgovernment of 
 her own subjects. The words of Bolingbroke on this are 
 remarkable, and some of them sound as if written within 
 the last three years. Bolingbroke says, ' It was not merely 
 the want of cordial co-operation among the princes of the 
 Empire that disabled the emperor from acting with vigour 
 in the cause of his family then, nor that has rendered the 
 house of Austria a dead weight upon all her allies ever 
 since. Bigotry, and its inseparable companion, cruelty, 
 as well as the tyranny and avarice of the court of Vienna, 
 created in those days, and has maintained in ours, almost 
 a perpetual diversion of the imperial arms from all effectual 
 opposition to France, / mean to sjyeak of the troubles in 
 Hungary. Whatever they became in their ^progress, they were 
 caused originally by the usurpations and persecutions of the 
 emperor : and when the Hungarians were called rebels first, 
 they were called so for no other reason than this, that they 
 would not be slaves. The dominion of the emperor being 
 less supportable than that of the Turks, this unhappy 
 people opened a door to the latter to infest the empire, 
 instead of making their country, what it had been before, 
 a barrier against the Ottoman power. France became a sure 
 though secret ally of the Turks, as well as the Hungarians, 
 and has found her account in it, by keeping the emperor 
 in perpetual alarms on that side, while she has ravaged 
 the Empire and the Low Countries on the other.' ^ 
 
 If, after having seen the imbecility of Germany and 
 Spain against the France of Louis XIV, we turn to the 
 two only remaining European powers of any importance 
 at that time, to England and to Holland, we find the 
 position of our own country as to European j^olitics, from 
 1660 to 1688, most painful to contemplate. From 1660 to 
 1688, ' England, by the return of the Stuarts, was reduced 
 to a nullity'. The words are Michelet's,- and though 
 
 ^ Bolingbroke, vol. ii. p. 397. 
 * Histoire Moderne, vol. ii. p. 106. 
 U 2
 
 292 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 severe they are just. They are, in fact, not severe enough : 
 for when England, under her restored dynasty of the 
 Stuarts, did take any part in European poHtics, her 
 conduct, or rather her king's conduct, was almost 
 invariably wicked and dishonourable. 
 
 Bolingbroke rightly says that, previous to the Revolution 
 of 1688, during the whole progress that Louis XIV made 
 in obtaining such exorbitant power as gave him well- 
 grounded hopes of acquiring at last to his family the Spanish 
 monarchy, England had been either an idle spectator of 
 what passed on the Continent, or a faint and uncertain ally 
 against France, or a warm and sure ally on her side, or 
 a partial mediator between her and the powers confederated 
 together in their common defence. But though the court 
 of England submitted to abet the usurj^ations of France, 
 and the King of England stooped to be her pensioner, the 
 crime was not national. On the contrary, the nation 
 cried out loudly against it even whilst it was being com- 
 mitted.^ 
 
 Holland alone, of all the European powers, opposed from 
 the very beginning a steady and uniform resistance to the 
 ambition and power of the French king. It was against 
 Holland that the fiercest attacks of France were made, 
 and though often apparently on the eve of complete 
 success, they were ahvays ultimately baffled by the stubborn 
 bravery of the Dutch, and the heroism of their leader, 
 William of Orange. When he became king of England, the 
 power of this country was thrown decidedly into the scale 
 against France ; but though the contest was thus rendered 
 less unequal, though William acted throughout ' with 
 invincible firmness, like a patriot and a hero',^ France 
 had the general superiority in every war and in every treaty : 
 and the commencement of the eighteenth century found 
 the last league against her dissolved, all the forces of the 
 confederates against her dispersed, and many disbanded ; 
 while France continued armed, with her veteran forces by 
 sea and land increased, and held in readiness to act on all 
 sides, whenever the opportunity should arise for seizing 
 on the great prizes which, from the very beginning of his 
 reign, had never been lost sight of by her king. 
 
 * Bolingbroke, vol. ii. p. 418. ^ Ibid. p. 404.
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 293 
 
 This is not the place for any narrative of the first essay 
 which Louis XIV made of his power in the war of 1667 ; 
 of his rapid conquest of Flanders and Franche-Comte ; of 
 the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which ' was nothing more than 
 a composition between the bully and the bullied ' ; ^ of 
 his attack on Holland in 1672 ; of the districts and barrier- 
 towns of the Spanish Netherlands which were secured to 
 him by the treaty of Nimeguen in 1678 ; of how, after this 
 treaty, he ' continued to vex both Spain and the Empire, 
 and to extend his conquests in the Low Countries and on 
 the Rhine, both by the pen and the sword ; how he took 
 Luxembourg by force, stole Strasburg, and. bought Casal ' ; 
 of how the league of Augsburg was formed against him 
 in 1686, and the election of William of Orange to the 
 English throne in 1688 gave a ncAv spirit to the opposition 
 which France encountered ; of the long and chequered war 
 that followed, in which the French armies were generally 
 victorious on the Continent, though his fleet was beaten at 
 La Hogue, and his dependant, James II, was defeated at 
 the Boyne ; or of the treaty of Ryswick, which left France 
 in possession of Roussillon, Artois, and Strasburg, which 
 gave Europe no security against her claims on the Spanish 
 succession, and which Louis regarded as a mere truce, to 
 gain breathing-time before a more decisive struggle. It 
 must be borne in mind that the ambition of Louis in these 
 wars was twofold. It had its immediate and its ulterior 
 objects. Its immediate object was to conquer and annex to 
 France the neighbouring provinces and towns that were 
 most convenient for the increase of her strength ; but the 
 ulterior object of Louis, from the time of his marriage to 
 the Spanish Infanta in 1659, was to acquire for the house 
 of Bourbon the whole empire of Spain. A formal renuncia- 
 tion of all right to the Spanish succession had been made at 
 the time of the marriage ; but such renunciations were never 
 of any practical effect, and many casuists and jurists of the 
 age even held them to be intrinsically void. As time passed 
 on, and the prospect of Charles II of Spain dying without 
 lineal heirs became more and more certain, so did the 
 claims of the house of Bourbon to the Spanish crown after 
 his death become matters of urgent interest to French 
 * Bolingbroke, vol. ii. p. 399.
 
 294 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 ambition on the one hand, and to the other powers of Europe 
 on the other. At length the unhappy King of Spain died. 
 By his will he appointed Philip, Duke of Anjou, one of 
 Louis XIV's grandsons, to succeed him on the throne of 
 Spain, and strictly forbade any partition of his dominions. 
 Louis well knew that a general European war would follow 
 if he accepted for his house the crown thus bequeathed. 
 But he had been preparing for this crisis throughout his 
 reign. He sent his grandson into Spain as King Philip V 
 of that country, addressing to him on his departure the 
 memorable words, ' There are no longer any Pyrenees.' 
 
 The empire, which now received the grandson of Louis 
 as its king, comprised, besides Spain itself, the strongest 
 part of the Netherlands, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, the 
 principality of Milan, and other possessions in Italy, the 
 Philippines and Manilla Islands in Asia, and, in the New 
 World, besides California and Florida, the greatest part of 
 central and of southern America. Philip was well received 
 in Madrid, where he was crowned as King Philip V in the 
 beginning of 170L The distant portions of his empire sent 
 in their adhesion ; and the house of Bourbon, either by its 
 French or Spanish troops, now had occupation both of the 
 kingdom of Francis I, and of the fairest and amplest portion 
 of the empire of the great rival of Francis, Charles V. 
 
 Loud was the wrath of Austria, whose princes were the 
 rival claimants of the Bourbons for the empire of Spain. 
 The indignation of our William III, though not equally loud, 
 was far more deep and energetic. By his exertions a league 
 against the house of Bourbon was formed between England, 
 Holland, and the Austrian Emperor, which was subse- 
 quently joined by the Kings of Portugal and Prussia, by 
 the Duke of Savoy, and by Denmark. Indeed, the alarm 
 throughout Europe was now general and urgent. It was 
 clear that Louis aimed at consolidating France and the 
 Spanish dominions into one preponderating empire. At 
 the moment when Philip was departing to take possession 
 of Spain, Louis had issued letters-patent in his favour to 
 the effect of preserving his rights to the throne of France. 
 And Louis had himself obtained possession of the imjoortant 
 frontier of the Spanish Netherlands, with its numerous 
 fortified cities, which were given up to his troops under
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 295 
 
 pretence of securing them for the young King of Spain. 
 Whether the formal union of the two crowns was likely to 
 take place speedily or not, it was evident that the resources 
 of the whole Spanish monarchy were now virtually at the 
 French king's disposal. 
 
 The peril that seemed to menace the empire, England, 
 Holland, and the other independent powers, is well summed 
 up by Alison : ' Spain had threatened the liberties of 
 Europe in the end of the sixteenth century, France had all 
 but overthrown them in the close of the seventeenth. 
 What hope was there of their being able to make head 
 against them both, united under such a monarch as Louis 
 XIV ? ' 1 
 
 Our knowledge of the decayed state into which the 
 Spanish power had fallen ought not to make us regard 
 their alarms as chimerical. Spain possessed enormous 
 resources, and her strength was capable of being regenerated 
 by a vigorous ruler. We should remember what Alberoni 
 effected, even after the close of the War of Succession. By 
 what that minister did in a few years, we may judge what 
 Louis XIV would have done in restoring the maritime and 
 military power of that great country which nature has so 
 largely gifted, and which man's misgovernment has so 
 debased. 
 
 The death of King William on the 8th of March, 1702, 
 at first seemed likely to paralyse the league against France, 
 for ' notwithstanding the ill-success with which he made 
 war generally, he was looked upon as the sole centre of 
 union that could keep together the great confederacy then 
 forming ; and how much the French feared from his life 
 had appeared a few years before, in the extravagant and 
 hidecent joy they expressed on a false report of his death. 
 A short time showed how vain the fears of some, and the 
 hopes of others were.' ^ Queen Anne, within three days 
 after her accession, went down to the House of Lords, and 
 there declared her resolution to support the measures 
 planned by her predecessor, who had been ' the great 
 support, not only of these kingdoms, but of all Europe '. 
 Anne was married to Prince George of Denmark, and by 
 
 ^ Military History of the Duke of Marlborough, p. 32. 
 * Bolingbroke, vol. ii, p. 445.
 
 296 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 her accession to the English throne the confederacy against 
 Louis obtained the aid of the troops of Denmark ; but 
 Anne's strong attachment to one of her female friends led 
 to far more important advantages to the anti-Gallican 
 confederacy than the acquisition of many armies, for it gave 
 them Marlborough as their Captain-General. 
 
 There are few successful commanders on whom Fame 
 has shone so unwillingly as upon John Churchill, Duke of 
 Marlborough, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, — victor 
 of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, andMalplaquet, — captor 
 of Liege, Bonn, Limburg, Landau, Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp, 
 Oudenarde, Ostend, Menin, Dendermonde, Ath, Lille, 
 Tournay, Mons, Douay, Aire, Bethune, and Bouchain ; 
 who never fought a battle that he did not win, and never 
 besieged a place that he did not take. Marlborough's own 
 private character is the cause of this. Military glory may, 
 and too often does, dazzle both contemporaries and pos- 
 terity, until the crimes as well as the vices of heroes are 
 forgotten. But even a few stains of personal meanness 
 will dim a soldier's reputation irreparably ; and Marl- 
 borough's faults were of a peculiarly base and mean order. 
 Our feelings towards historical personages are in this 
 respect like our feelings towards private acquaintances. 
 There are actions of that shabby nature, that, however 
 much they may be outweighed by a man's good deeds on 
 a general estimate of his character, we never can feel any 
 cordial liking for the person who has been guilty of them. 
 Thus, with respect to the Duke of Marlborough, it goes 
 against our feelings to admire the man, who owed his first 
 advancement in life to the court-favour which he and his 
 family acquired through his sister becoming one of the 
 mistresses of the Duke of York. It is repulsive to know 
 that Marlborough laid the foundation of his wealth by being 
 the paid lover of one of the fair and frail favourites of 
 Charles II. His treachery and ingratitude to his patron 
 and benefactor, James II, stand out in dark relief, even in 
 that age of thankless perfidy. He was almost equally 
 disloyal to his new master. King William ; and a more 
 un-English act cannot be recorded than Godolphin's and 
 Marlborough's betrayal to the French court in 1694 of the 
 expedition then designed against Brest, an act of treason
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 297 
 
 which caused some hundreds of English soldiers and sailors 
 to be helplessly slaughtered on the beach in Camaret Bay. 
 
 It is, however, only in his military career that we have 
 now to consider him ; and there are very few generals, of 
 either ancient or modern times, whose campaigns will bear 
 a comparison with those of Marlborough, either for the 
 masterly skill with which they were planned, or for the bold 
 yet prudent energy with which each plan was carried into 
 execution. Marlborough had served while young under 
 Turenne, and had obtained the marked praise of that great 
 tactician. It would be difficult, indeed, to name a single 
 quality which a general ought to have, and with which 
 Marlborough was not eminently gifted. What principally 
 attracted the notice of contemporaries was the imperturb- 
 able evenness of his spirit. Voltaire ^ says of him : 
 
 ' He had, to a degree above all other generals of his time, 
 that calm courage in the midst of tumult, that serenity of 
 soul in danger, which the English call a cool head [que les 
 Anglais appellent cold head, tete froide], and it was, perhaps, 
 this quality, the greatest gift of nature for command, which 
 formerly gave the English so many advantages over the 
 French in the plains of Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt.' 
 
 King William's knowledge of Marlborough's high abilities, 
 though he knew his faithlessness equally well, is said to have 
 caused that sovereign in his last illness to recommend Marl- 
 borough to his successor as the fittest person to command 
 her armies : but Marlborough's favour with the new queen 
 by means of his wife was so high, that he was certain of 
 obtaining the highest employment : and the war against 
 Louis opened to him a glorious theatre for the display of 
 those military talents which he had before only had an 
 opportunity of exercising in a subordinate character, and 
 on far less conspicuous scenes. 
 
 He was not only made Captain- General of the English 
 forces at home and abroad, but such was the authority of 
 England in the council of the Grand Alliance, and Marl- 
 borough was so skilled in winning golden opinions from all 
 whom he met with, that, on his reaching the Hague, he 
 was received with transports of joy by the Dutch, and it was 
 agreed by the heads of that republic, and the minister of the 
 * Siecle de Louis -Quatorze.
 
 298 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 emperor, that Marlborough should have the chief command 
 of all the allied armies. 
 
 It must, indeed, in justice to Marlborough, be borne in 
 mind that mere military skill was by no means all that was 
 required of him in this arduous and invidious station. 
 Had it not been for his unrivalled patience and sweetness 
 of temper, and his marvellous ability in discerning the 
 character of those with whom he had to act, his intuitive 
 perception of those who w^re to be thoroughly trusted, and 
 of those who were to be amused with the mere semblance 
 of respect and confidence, — had not Marlborough possessed 
 and employed, while at the head of the allied armies, all the 
 qualifications of a polished courtier and a great statesman, 
 he never would have led the allied armies to the Danube. 
 The Confederacy would not have held together for a single 
 year. His great political adversary, Bolingbroke, does him 
 ample justice here. Bolingbroke, after referring to the 
 loss which King William's death seemed to inflict on the 
 cause of the Allies, observes that, ' By his death, the Duke 
 of Marlborough was raised to the head of the army, and, 
 indeed, of the Confederacy ; where he, a new, a private 
 man, a subject, acquired by merit and by management, 
 a more deciding influence than high birth, confirmed 
 authority, and even the crown of Great Britain, had given 
 to King William. Not only all the parts of that vast 
 machine, the Grand Alliance, were kept more compact and 
 entire, but a more rapid and vigorous motion was given to 
 the whole ; and instead of languishing and disastrous 
 campaigns, we saw every scene of the war full of action. 
 All those wherein he appeared, and many of those wherein 
 he was not then an actor, but abettor, however, of their 
 action, were crowned with the most triumphant success. 
 
 ' I take with pleasure this opportvmity of doing justice 
 to that great man, whose faults I knew, whose virtues 
 I admired ; and whose memory, as the greatest general 
 and as the greatest minister that our country, or perhaps 
 any other, has produced, I honour.' ^ 
 
 War was formally declared by the Allies against France 
 on the 4th of May, 1702. The principal scenes of its 
 operation were, at first, Flanders, the Upper Rhine, and 
 * Bolingbroke, vol. ii. p. 445.
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 299 
 
 North Italy. Marlborough headed the allied troops in 
 Flanders during the first two years of the war, and took 
 some towns from the enemy, but nothing decisive occurred. 
 Nor did any actions of imjaortance take place during this 
 period between the rival armies in Italy. But in the centre 
 of that line from north to south, from the mouth of the 
 Scheldt to the mouth of the Po, along which the war was 
 carried on, the generals of Louis XIV acquired advantages 
 in 1703 which threatened one chief member of the Grand 
 Alliance with utter destruction. France had obtained 
 the important assistance of Bavaria, as her confederate in 
 the war. The Elector of this powerful German state made 
 himself master of the strong fortress of Ulm, and opened 
 a communication with the French armies on the Upper 
 Rhine. By this junction, the troops of Louis were enabled 
 to assail the Emperor in the very heart of Germany. In 
 the autumn of the year 1703, the combined armies of the 
 Elector and French king completely defeated the Imperial- 
 ists in Bavaria ; and in the following winter they made 
 themselves masters of the important cities of Augsburg and 
 Passau. Meanwhile the French army of the Upper Rhine 
 and Moselle had beaten the allied armies ojDposed to them, 
 and taken Treves and Landau. At the same time the 
 discontents in Hungary with Austria again broke out into 
 open insurrection, so as to distract the attention, and 
 complete the terror of the Emperor and his council at 
 Vienna. 
 
 Louis XIV ordered the next campaign to be commenced 
 by his troops on a scale of grandeur and with a boldness 
 of enterprise, such as even Napoleon's military schemes 
 have seldom equalled. On the extreme left of the line of 
 the war, in the Netherlands, the French armies were to act 
 only on the defensive. The fortresses in the hands of the 
 French there, were so many and so strong that no serious 
 impression seemed likely to be made by the Allies on the 
 French frontier in that quarter during one campaign ; and 
 that one campaign was to give France such triumphs else- 
 where as would (it was hoped) determine the war. Large 
 detachments were, therefore, to be made from the French 
 force in Flanders, and they were to be led by Marshal 
 Villeroy to the Moselle and Upper Rhine. The French
 
 300 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 army already in the neighbourhood of those rivers was to 
 march under Marshal Tallard through the Black Forest, 
 and join the Elector of Bavaria and the French troops that 
 were already with the Elector under Marshal Marsin. 
 Meanwhile the French army of Italy was to advance through 
 the Tyrol into Austria, and the whole forces were to combine 
 between the Danube and the Inn. A strong body of troops 
 was to be dispatched into Hungary, to assist and organize 
 the insurgents in that kingdom ; and the French grand 
 army of the Danube was then, in collected and irresistible 
 might, to march upon Vienna, and dictate terms of peace 
 to the Emperor. High military genius was shown in the 
 formation of this plan, but it was met and baffled by a genius 
 higher still. 
 
 Marlborough had watched, with the deepest anxiety, 
 the progress of the French arms on the Rhine and in Bavaria, 
 and he saw the futility of carrying on a war of posts and 
 sieges in Flanders, while death-blows to the empire were 
 being dealt on the Danube. He resolved therefore to let 
 the war in Flanders languish for a year, while he moved 
 with all the disposable forces that he could collect to the 
 central scenes of decisive operations. Such a march was 
 in itself difficult, but Marlborough had, in the first instance, 
 to overcome the still greater difficulty of obtaining the 
 consent and cheerful co-operation of the Allies, especially 
 of the Dutch, whose frontier it was proposed thus to deprive 
 of the larger part of the force which had hitherto been its 
 protection. Fortunately, among the many slothful, the 
 many foolish, the many timid, and the not few treacherous 
 rulers, statesmen, and generals of different nations with 
 whom he had to deal, there were two men, eminent both in 
 ability and integrity, who entered fully into Marlborough's 
 projects, and who, from the stations which they occupied, 
 were enabled materially to forward them. One of these 
 was the Dutch statesman Heinsius, who had been the 
 cordial supporter of King William, and who now, with 
 equal zeal and good faith, supported Marlborough in the 
 councils of the Allies ; the other was the celebrated general. 
 Prince Eugene, whom the Austrian cabinet had recalled 
 from the Italian frontier, to take the command of one of the 
 Emperor's armies in Germany. To these two great men,
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 801 
 
 and a few more, Marlborough communicated his plan 
 freely and unreservedly ; but to the general councils of his 
 allies he only disclosed part of his daring scheme. He 
 proposed to the Dutch that he should march from Flanders 
 to the Upper Rhine and Moselle, with the British troops 
 and part of the foreign auxiliaries, and commence vigorous 
 operations against the French armies in that quarter, whilst 
 General Auverquerque, with the Dutch and the remainder 
 of the auxiliaries, maintained a defensive war in the Nether- 
 lands. Having with difficulty obtained the consent of the 
 Dutch to this portion of his project, he exercised the same 
 diplomatic zeal, with the same success, in urging the King 
 of Prussia, and other princes of the empire, to increase the 
 number of the troops which they supplied, and to post 
 them in places convenient for his own intended movements. 
 Marlborough commenced his celebrated march on the 
 19th of May. The army, which he was to lead, had been 
 assembled by his brother, General Churchill, at Bedburg, 
 not far from Maestricht, on the Meuse : it included sixteen 
 thousand English troops, and consisted of fifty-one bat- 
 talions of foot, and ninety-two squadrons of horse. Marl- 
 borough was to collect and join with him on his march the 
 troops of Prussia, Liineburg, and Hesse, quartered on the 
 Rhine, and eleven Dutch battalions that were stationed at 
 Rottweil.^ He had only marched a single day, when the 
 series of interruptions, complaints, and requisitions from 
 the other leaders of the Allies began, to which he seemed 
 doomed throughout his enterprise, and which would have 
 caused its failure in the hands of any one not gifted with 
 the firmness and the exquisite temper of Marlborough. 
 One specimen of these annoyances and of Marlborough's 
 mode of dealing with them may suffice. On his encamping 
 at Kupen on the 20th, he received an express from Auver- 
 querque pressing him to halt, because Villeroy, who com- 
 manded the French army in Flanders, had quitted the lines 
 which he had been occupying, and crossed the Meuse at 
 Namur with thirty-six battalions and forty-five squadrons, 
 and was threatening the town of Huys. At the same time 
 Marlborough received letters from the Margrave of Baden 
 and Count Wratislaw, who commanded the Imperialist 
 ^ Coxe's Life of Marlborough.
 
 302 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 forces at Stollhoffen near the left bank of the Rhine, stating 
 that Tallard had made a movement as if intending to cross 
 the Rhine, and urging him to hasten his march towards 
 the lines of Stollhoffen. Marlborough was not diverted by 
 these applications from the prosecution of his grand design. 
 Conscious that the army of Villeroy would be too much 
 reduced to undertake offensive operations, by the detach- 
 ments which had already been made towards the Rhine, 
 and those which must follow his own march, he halted only 
 a day to quiet the alarms of Auverquerque. To satisfy 
 also the margrave, he ordered the troops of Hompesch and 
 Billow to draw towards Philippsburg, though with private 
 injunctions not to proceed beyond a certain distance. He 
 even exacted a promise to the same effect from Count 
 Wratislaw, who at the juncture arrived at the camp to 
 attend him during the whole campaign.^ 
 
 Marlborough reached the Rhine at Coblentz, where he 
 crossed that river, and then marched along its right bank 
 to Brombach and Mentz. His march, though rapid, was 
 admirably conducted, so as to save the troops from all 
 unnecessary fatigue ; ample supplies of provisions were 
 ready, and the most perfect discipline was maintained. 
 By degrees Marlborough obtained more reinforcements 
 from the Dutch and the other confederates, and he also 
 was left more at liberty by them to follow his own course. 
 Indeed, before even a blow was struck, his enterprise had 
 paralysed the enemy, and had materially relieved Austria 
 from the pressure of the war. Villeroy, with his detach- 
 ments from the French-Flemish army, was completely 
 bewildered by Marlborough's movements ; and, unable to 
 divine where it Avas that the English general meant to 
 strike his blow, wasted away the early part of the summer 
 between Flanders and the Moselle without effecting any- 
 thing. ^ 
 
 Marshal Tallard, who commanded forty-five thousand 
 men at Strasburg, and who had been destined by Louis 
 
 ' Coxc. 
 
 ^ ' Marshal Villeroy,' says Voltaire, ' who had wished to follow 
 Marlborough on his first marches, suddenly lost sight of him altogether, 
 and only learned where he really was, on hearing of his victory at Donau- 
 worth.' — Siede de Louis XIV.
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 303 
 
 to march early in the year into Bavaria, thought that 
 Marlborough's march along the Rhine was preliminary to 
 an attack upon Alsace ; and the marshal therefore kept his 
 forty-five thousand men back in order to support France in 
 that quarter. Marlborough skilfully encouraged his appre- 
 hensions, by causing a bridge to be constructed across the 
 Rhine at Philippsburg, and by making the Landgrave of 
 Hesse advance his artillery at Mannheim, as if for a siege of 
 Landau. Meanwhile the Elector of Bavaria and Marshal 
 Marsin, suspecting that Marlborough's design might be 
 what it really proved to be, forbore to press upon the 
 Austrians opposed to them, or to send troops into Hungary ; 
 and they kept back so as to secure their communications 
 with France. Thus, when Marlborough, at the beginning 
 of June, left the Rhine and marched for the Danube, the 
 numerous hostile armies were uncombined, and unable to 
 check him. 
 
 ' With such skill and science had this enterprise been 
 concerted, that at the very moment when it assumed a 
 specific direction, the enemy was no longer enabled to render 
 it abortive. As the march was now to be bent towards 
 the Danube, notice was given for the Prussians, Palatines, 
 and Hessians, who were stationed on the Rhine, to order 
 their march so as to join the main body in its progress. At 
 the same time directions were sent to accelerate the advance 
 of the Danish auxiliaries, who were marching from the 
 Netherlands.' ^ 
 
 Crossing the river Neckar, Marlborough marched in 
 a south-eastern direction to Mundelsheim, where he had 
 his first personal interview with Prince Eugene, who was 
 destined to be his colleague on so many glorious fields. 
 Thence, through a difficult and dangerous country, Marl- 
 borough continued his march against the Bavarians, whom 
 he encountered on the 2nd of July, on the heights of the 
 Schullenberg, near Donauworth. Marlborough stormed 
 their entrenched camp, crossed the Danube, took several 
 strong places in Bavaria, and made himself completely 
 master of the Elector's dominions, except the fortified 
 cities of Munich and Augsburg. But the Elector's army, 
 though defeated at Donauworth, was still nvimerous and 
 
 ^ Coxe.
 
 304 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 strong ; and at last Marshal Tallard, when thoroughly 
 ajjprised of the real nature of Marlborough's movements, 
 crossed the Rhine. He was suffered, through the supine- 
 ness of the German general at Stollhoffen, to march without 
 loss through the Black Forest, and united his powerful army 
 at Biberach, near Augsburg, with that of the Elector and 
 the French troops under Marshal Marsin, who had previ- 
 ously been co-operating with the Bavarians. On the other 
 hand, Marlborough re-crossed the Danube, and on the 
 11th of August united his army with the Imperialist forces 
 under Prince Eugene. The combined armies occupied 
 a position near Hochstadt, a little higher up the left bank 
 of the Danube than Donauworth, the scene of Marlborough's 
 recent victory, and almost exactly on the ground where 
 Marshal Villars and the Elector had defeated an Austrian 
 army in the preceding year. The French marshals and 
 the Elector were now in position a little farther to the east, 
 between Blenheim and Lutzingen, and with the little stream 
 of the Nebel between them and the troops of Marlborough 
 and Eugene. The Gallo-Bavarian army consisted of about 
 sixty thousand men, and they had sixty-one pieces of artil- 
 lery. The army of the Allies was about fifty-six thousand 
 strong, with fifty-two guns.^ 
 
 Although the French army of Italy had been unable to 
 penetrate into Austria, and although the masterly strategy 
 of Marlborough had hitherto warded off the destruction 
 with which the cause of the Allies seemed menaced at the 
 beginning of the campaign, the peril was still most seriqus. 
 It was absolutely necessary for Marlborough to attack 
 the enemy, before Villeroy should be roused into action. 
 There was nothing to stop that general and his army from 
 marching into Franconia, whence the Allies drew their 
 principal supplies ; and besides thus distressing them, he 
 might, by marching on and joining his army to those of 
 Tallard and the Elector, form a mass which would over- 
 whelm the force under Marlborough and Eugene. On the 
 
 ^ A short time before the War of the Succession the musket and 
 bayonet had been made the arms of all the French infantrj'-. It had 
 formerly been usual to mingle pike-men with musketeers. The other 
 European nations followed the example of France, and the weapons 
 used at Blenheim were substantially the same as those still employed.
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 305 
 
 other hand, the chances of a battle seemed perilous, and the 
 fatal consequences of a defeat were certain. The inferiority 
 of the Allies in point of number was not very great, but still 
 it was not to be disregarded ; and the advantage which 
 the enemy seemed to have in the composition of their 
 troops was striking. Tallard and Marsin had forty-five 
 thousand Frenchmen under them, all veterans, and all 
 trained to act together : the Elector's own troops also were 
 good soldiers. Marlborough, like Wellington at Waterloo, 
 headed an army of which the larger proportion consisted 
 not of English, but of men of many different nations, and 
 many different languages. He was also obliged to be the 
 assailant in the action, and thus to expose his troops to 
 comparatively heavy loss at the commencement of the 
 battle, while the enemy would fight under the protection of 
 the villages and lines which they were actively engaged in 
 strengthening. The consequences of a defeat of the con- 
 federated army must have broken up the Grand Alliance, 
 and realized the proudest hopes of the French king. Mr. 
 Alison, in his admirable military history of the Duke of 
 Marlborough, has truly stated the effects which would have 
 taken place if France had been successful in the war. And, 
 when the position of the Confederates at the time when 
 Blenheim was fought is remembered ; when we recollect 
 the exhaustion of Austria, the menacing insurrection of 
 Hungary, the feuds and jealousies of the German princes, 
 the strength and activity of the Jacobite party in England, 
 the imbecility of nearly all the Dutch statesmen of the 
 time, and the weakness of Holland if deprived of her allies, 
 we may adopt his words in speculating on what would have 
 ensued if France had been victorious in the battle, and 
 ' if a power, animated by the ambition, guided by the 
 fanaticism, and directed by the ability of that of Louis XIV, 
 had gained the ascendancy in Europe. Beyond all question, 
 a universal despotic dominion would have been established 
 over the bodies, a cruel spiritual thraldom over the minds 
 of men. France and Spain united under Bourbon princes, 
 and in a close family alliance — the empire of Charlemagne 
 with that of Charles V — the power which revoked the edict 
 of Nantes, and perpetrated the massacre of St. Bartho- 
 lomew, with that which banished the Moriscoes, and
 
 306 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 established the Inquisition, would have proved irresistible, 
 and beyond example destructive to the best interests of 
 mankind. 
 
 ' The Protestants might have been driven, like the Pagan 
 heathens of old by the son of Pepin, bej'ond the Elbe ; 
 the Stuart race, and with them Romish ascendancy, might 
 have been re-established in England ; the fire lighted by 
 Latimer and Ridley might have been extinguished in blood ; 
 and the energy breathed by religious freedom into the 
 Anglo-Saxon race might have expired. The destinies of the 
 world would have been changed. Europe, instead of a variety 
 of independent states, whose mutual hostility kept alive 
 courage, while their national rivalry stimulated talent, 
 would have sunk into the slumber attendant on universal 
 dominion. The colonial empire of England would have 
 withered away and perished, as that of Spain has done 
 in the grasp of the Inquisition. The Anglo-Saxon race 
 would have been arrested in its mission to overspread the 
 earth and subdue it. The centralized despotism of the 
 Roman empire would have been renewed on continental 
 Europe ; the chains of Romish tyranny, and with them the 
 general infidelity of France before the Revolution, would 
 have extinguished or perverted thought in the British 
 islands.' ^ 
 
 Marlborough's words at the council of war, when a battle 
 was resolved on, are remarkable, and they deserve recording. 
 We know them on the authority of his chaplain, Mr. (after- 
 wards Bishop) Hare, who accompanied him throughout 
 the campaign, and in whose journal the biographers of 
 Marlborough have found many of their best materials. 
 Marlborough's words to the officers who remonstrated 
 with him on the seeming temerity of attacking the enemy 
 in their position, were : ' I know the danger, yet a battle 
 is absolutely necessary ; and I rely on the braver}^ and 
 discipline of the troops, which will make amends for our 
 disadvantages.' In the evening orders were issued for 
 a general engagement, and received by the army with an 
 alacrity which justified his confidence. 
 
 The French and Bavarians were posted behind a little 
 stream called the Nebel, which runs almost from north 
 * Alison's Lije of Marlborough, p. 248.
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 307 
 
 to south into the Danube immediately in front of the 
 village of Blenheim. The Nebel flows along a little valley, 
 and the French occupied the rising ground to the west of it. 
 The village of Blenheim was the extreme right of their 
 position, and the village of Lutzingen, about three miles 
 north of Blenheim, formed their left. Beyond Lutzingen 
 
 PLA'S OF THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 are the rugged high grounds of the Godd Berg and Eich 
 Berg, on the skirts of which some detachments were posted 
 so as to secure the Gallo-Bavarian position from being 
 turned on the left flank. The Danube protected their 
 right flank ; and it was only in front that they could be 
 attacked. The villages of Blenheim and Lutzingen had 
 been strongly palisadoed and entrenched. Marshal Tallard, 
 who held the chief command, took his station at Blen- 
 heim : Prince Maximilian the Elector and Marshal Marsin 
 
 X2
 
 308 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 commanded on the left. Tallard garrisoned Blenheim 
 with twenty-six battalions of French infantry and twelve 
 squadrons of French cavalry. Marsin and the Elector 
 had twenty-two battalions of infantry and thu-ty-six 
 squadrons of cavalry in front of the village of Lutzingen. 
 The centre was occupied by fourteen battalions of infantry, 
 including the celebrated Irish Brigade. These were posted 
 in the little hamlet of Oberglau, which lies somewhat nearer 
 to Lutzingen than to Blenheim. Eighty squadrons of 
 cavalry and seven battalions of foot were ranged between 
 Oberglau and Blenheim. Thus the French position was 
 very strong at each extremity, but was comparatively 
 weak in the centre. Tallard seems to have relied on the 
 swampy state of the part of the valley that reaches from 
 below Oberglau to Blenheim, for preventing any serious 
 attack on this part of his line. 
 
 The army of the Allies was formed into two great divisions : 
 the largest being commanded by the duke in person, and 
 being destined to act against Tallard, while Prince Eugene 
 led the other division, which consisted chiefly of cavalry, 
 and was intended to oppose the enemy under Marsin and 
 the Elector. As they approached the enemy, Marlborough's 
 troops formed the left and the centre, while Eugene's 
 formed the right of the entire army. Early in the morning 
 of the 13th of August, the Allies left their own camp and 
 marched towards the enemy. A thick haze covered the 
 ground, and it was not until the allied right and centre had 
 advanced nearly within cannon-shot of the enemy that 
 Tallard was aware of their approach. He made his prepara- 
 tions with what haste he could, and about eight o'clock 
 a heavy fire of artillery was opened from the French right 
 on the advancing left wing of the British. Marlborough 
 ordered up some of his batteries to reply to it, and while 
 the columns that were to form the allied left and centre 
 deployed, and took up their proper stations in the line, 
 a warm cannonade was kept up by the guns on both sides. 
 
 The ground which Eugene's columns had to traverse 
 was peculiarly difficult, especially for the passage of the 
 artillery ; and it was nearly midday before he could get 
 his troops into line opposite to Lutzingen. During this 
 interval, Marlborough ordered divme service to be per-
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 309 
 
 formed by the chaplains at the head of each regiment ; 
 and then rode along the lines, and found both officers and 
 men in the highest spirits, and waiting impatiently for the 
 signal for the attack. At length an aide-de-camp galloped 
 up from the right with the welcome news that Eugene 
 was ready. Marlborough instantly sent Lord Cutts, with 
 a strong brigade of infantry, to assault the village of 
 Blenheim, while he himself led the main body down the 
 eastward slope of the valley of the Nebel, and prepared to 
 effect the passage of the stream. 
 
 The assault on Blenheim, though bravely made, was 
 repulsed with severe loss ; and Marlborough, finding how 
 strongly that village was garrisoned, desisted from any 
 further attempts to carry it, and bent all his energies to 
 breaking the enemy's Ime between Blenheim and Oberglau. 
 Some temporary bridges had been prepared, and planks 
 and fascines had been collected ; and by the aid of these, 
 and a little stone bridge which crossed the Nebel, near 
 a hamlet called Unterglau, that lay in the centre of the 
 valley, Marlborough succeeded in getting several squadrons 
 across the Nebel, though it was divided into several 
 branches, and the ground between them was soft, and, in 
 places, little better than a mere marsh. But the French 
 artillery was not idle. The cannon balls plunged mcessantly 
 among the advancing squadrons of the Allies ; and bodies 
 of French cavalry rode frequently down from the western 
 ridge, to charge them before they had time to form on the 
 firm ground. It was only by supporting his men by fresh 
 troops, and by bringing up mfantry, who checked the 
 advance of the enemy's horse by their steady fire, that 
 Marlborough was able to save his army in this quarter 
 from a repulse, which, following the failure of the attack 
 upon Blenheim, would probably have been fatal to the 
 Allies. By degrees, his cavalry struggled over the blood- 
 stained streams ; the infantry were also now brought 
 across, so as to keep in check the French troops who held 
 Blenheim, and who, when no longer assailed in front, had 
 begun to attack the Allies on their left with considerable effect. 
 
 Marlborough had thus at last succeeded m drawing up 
 the whole left wing of his army beyond the Nebel, and 
 was about to press forward with it, when he was called
 
 310 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 
 
 away to another part of the field by a disaster that had 
 befallen his centre. The Prince of Holstein-Beck had, with 
 eleven Hanoverian battalions, passed the Nebel opposite 
 to Oberglau, when he was charged and utterly routed by 
 the Irish brigade which held that village. The Irish drove 
 the Hanoverians back with heavy slaughter, broke com- 
 pletely through the Ime of the Allies, and nearly achieved 
 a success as brilliant as that which the same brigade after- 
 wards gained at Fontenoy. But at Blenheim their ardour 
 in pursuit led them too far. Marlborough came up in 
 person, and dashed in upon their exposed flank with some 
 squadrons of British cavalry. The Irish reeled back, and 
 as they strove to regain the height of Oberglau, their 
 column was raked through and through by the fire of three 
 battalions of the Allies, which Marlborough had summoned 
 up from the reserve. Marlborough having re-established 
 the order and communications of the Allies in this quarter, 
 now, as he returned to his own left wing, sent to learn how 
 his colleague fared against Marsin and the Elector, and to 
 inform Eugene of his own success. 
 
 Eugene had hitherto not been equally fortunate. He 
 had made three attacks on the enemy opposed to him, 
 and had been thrice driven back. It was only by his own 
 desperate personal exertions, and the remarkable steadiness 
 of the regiments of Prussian infantry which were under 
 him, that he was able to save his wing from being totally 
 defeated. But it was on the southern part of the battle- 
 field, on the ground which Marlborough had won beyond 
 the Nebel with such difficulty, that the crisis of the battle 
 was to be decided. 
 
 Like Hannibal, Marlborough relied principally on his 
 cavalry for achieving his decisive successes, and it was 
 by his cavalry that Blenheim, the greatest of his victories, 
 was won. The battle had lasted till five in the afternoon. 
 Marlborough had now eight thousand horsemen drawn up 
 in two lines, and in the most perfect order for a general 
 attack on the enemy's line along the space between 
 Blenheim and Oberglau. The mfantry was drawn up in 
 battalions in their rear, so as to support them if repulsed, 
 and to keep in check the large masses of the French that 
 still occupied the village of Blenheim. Tallard now inter-
 
 BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 311 
 
 laced his squadrons of cavalry with battalions of infantry ; 
 and Marlborough, by a corresponding movement, brought 
 several regiments of infantry, and some pieces of artillery, 
 to his front line, at intervals between the bodies of horse. 
 A little after five, Marlborough commenced the decisive 
 movement, and the allied cavalry, strengthened and 
 supported by foot and guns, advanced slowly from the 
 lower ground near the Nebel up the slope to where the 
 French cavalry, ten thousand strong, awaited them. On 
 riding over the summit of the acclivity, the Allies were 
 received with so hot a fire from the French artillery and 
 small arms, that at first the cavalry recoiled, but without 
 abandoning the high ground. The guns and the infantry 
 which they had brought with them maintained the contest 
 with spirit and effect. The French fire seemed to slacken. 
 Marlborough instantly ordered a charge along the line. 
 The allied cavalry galloped forward at the enemy's squad- 
 rons, and the hearts of the French horsemen failed them. 
 Dischargmg their carbines at an idle distance, they wheeled 
 round and spurred from the field, leaving the nine infantry 
 battalions of their comrades to be ridden down by the 
 torrent of the allied cavalry. The battle was now won. 
 Tallard and Marsin, severed from each other, thought only 
 of retreat. Tallard drew up the squadrons of horse which 
 he had left, in a line extended towards Blenheim, and sent 
 orders to the infantry in that village to leave and join him 
 without delay. But long ere his orders could be obeyed, 
 the conquering squadrons of Marlborough had wheeled to 
 the left and thundered down on the feeble array of the 
 French marshal. Part of the force which Tallard had 
 drawn up for this last effort was driven into the Danube ; 
 part fled with their general to the village of Sonde rheim, 
 where they were soon surrounded by the victorious Allies 
 and compelled to surrender. Meanwhile, Eugene had 
 renewed his attack upon the Gallo-Bavarian left, and 
 Marsin, finding his colleague utterly routed, and his own 
 right flank uncovered, prepared to retreat. He and the 
 Elector succeeded in withdrawing a considerable part of 
 their troops in tolerable order to Dillingen, but the large 
 body of French who garrisoned Blenheim were left exposed 
 to certain destruction. Marlborough speedily occupied all
 
 312 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS 
 
 the outlets from the village with his victorious troops, 
 and then, collecting his artillery round it, he commenced 
 a cannonade that speedily would have destroyed Blenheim 
 itself and all who were in it. After several gallant but 
 unsuccessful attemjDts to cut their way through the Allies, 
 the French in Blenheim were at length compelled to 
 surrender at discretion ; and twenty-four battalions, and 
 twelve squadrons, with all their officers, laid down their 
 arms, and became the captives of Marlborough. 
 
 ' Such', says Voltaire, ' was the celebrated battle, which 
 the French call the battle of Hochstet, the Germans 
 Plentheim, and the English Blenheim. The conquerors 
 had about five thousand killed and eight thousand wounded, 
 the greater part being on the side of Prince Eugene. The 
 French army was almost entirely destroyed : of sixty 
 thousand men, so long victorious, there never reassembled 
 more than t^'enty thousand effective. About twelve 
 thousand killed, fourteen thousand prisoners, all the cannon, 
 a prodigious number of colours and standards, all the tents 
 and equipages, the general of the army, and one thousand 
 two hundred officers of mark, in the power of the conqueror, 
 signalized that day ! ' 
 
 Ulm, Landau, Treves, and Traerbach surrendered to the 
 Allies before the close of the year. Bavaria submitted to 
 the emperor, and the Hungarians laid down their arms. 
 Germany was completely delivered from France ; and the 
 military ascendancy of the arms of the AUies was completely 
 established. Throughout the rest of the war Louis fought 
 only in defence. Blenheim had dissipated for ever his once 
 proud visions of almost universal conquest. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE BATTLE OF 
 BLENHEIM, 1704, AND THE BATTLE OF PUL- 
 TOWA, 1709 
 
 A. D. 1705. The Archduke Charles lands in Spain with 
 a small English army imder Lord Peterborough, who takes 
 Barcelontv. 
 
 1706. Marlborough's victory at Ramillies. 
 
 1707. The English army in Spain is defeated at the 
 battle of Almanza. 
 
 1708. Marlborough's victory at Oudenarde.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE BATTLE OF PULTOWA, 1709 
 
 Dread Pultowa's day, 
 
 When fortune left the royal Swede, 
 Around a slaughtered army lay, 
 
 No more to combat and to bleed. 
 The power and fortune of the war 
 Had passed to the triumphant Czar. — Bykon. 
 
 Nap oleon prophesied at 8t. Helena that all Europ e 
 wou'I3"soon be either Cossack or Repu]bJican. Four years 
 ago, the fulfilment of the last of these alternatives appeared 
 most probable. But the democratic movements of 1848 
 were sternly repressed in 1849. The absolute authority of 
 a single ruler, and the austere stillness of martial law, are 
 now paramount in the capitals of the Continent, which 
 lately owned no sovereignty save the will of the multitude ; 
 and where that which the democrat calls his sacred right 
 of insurrection was so loudly asserted and so often fiercely 
 enforced. Many causes have contributed to bring about 
 this reaction, but the most effective and the most permanent 
 have been Russian influence and Russian arms. Russia is 
 now the avowed and acknowledged champion of Monarchy 
 against Democracy ; of constituted authority, however 
 acquired, against revolution and change for whatever 
 purpose desired ; of the imperial supremacy of strong 
 states over their weaker neighbours against all claims for 
 political independence, and all striving for separate 
 nationality. She has crushed the heroic Hungarians ; 
 and Austria, for whom nominally she crushed them, is 
 now one of her dependants. Whether the rumours of her 
 being about to engage in fresh enterprises be well or ill 
 founded, it is certain that recent events must have fearfully 
 augmented the power of the Muscovite empu'e, which, even 
 previously, had been the object of well-founded anxiety to 
 all Western Europe.
 
 314 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 
 
 It was truly stated, twelve years ago, that ' the acquisi- 
 tions which Russia has made within the [then] last sixty-four 
 years, are equal in extent and importance to the whole 
 empire she had in Europe before that time ; that the 
 acquisitions she has made from Sweden are greater than 
 what remains of that ancient kmgdom ; that her acquisitions 
 from Poland are as large as the whole Austrian empire ; 
 that the territory she has wrested from Turkey in Europe 
 is equal to the dominions of Prussia, exclusive of her 
 Rhenish provinces ; and that her acquisitions from Turkey 
 in Asia are equal in extent to all the smaller states of 
 Germany, the Rhenish provinces of Prussia, Belgium, and 
 Holland taken together ; that the country she has conquered 
 from Persia is about the size of England ; that her acquisi- 
 tions in Tartary have an area equal to Turkey in Europe, 
 Greece, Italy, and Spain. In sixty-four years she has 
 advanced her frontier eight hundred and fifty miles towards 
 Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Munich, and Paris ; she has 
 approached four hundred and fifty miles nearer to Con- 
 stantinople ; she has possessed herself of the capital of 
 Poland, and has advanced to within a few miles of the 
 capital of Sweden, from which, when Peter the Great 
 mounted the throne, her frontier was distant three hundred 
 miles. Smce that time she has stretched herself forward 
 about one thousand miles towards India, and the same 
 distance towards the capital of Persia.' ^ 
 
 Such, at that period, had been the recent aggrandizement 
 of Russia ; and the events of the last few years, by weakening 
 and disuniting all her European neighbours, have immeasur- 
 ably augmented the relative superiority of the Muscovite 
 empire over all the other contmental powers. 
 
 With a population exceeding sixty millions, all implicitly 
 obeying the impulse of a single ruling mind ; with a terri- 
 torial area of six millions and a half of square miles ; with 
 a standing army eight hundred thousand strong ; with 
 powerful fleets on the Baltic and Black Seas ; with a skilful 
 host of diplomatic agents planted in every court, and 
 among every tribe ; with the confidence which unexpected 
 success creates, and the sagacity which long experience 
 fosters, Russia now grasps with an armed right hand the 
 * Progress oj Russia in, the East, p. 142.
 
 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 315 
 
 tangled thread of European politics, and issues her mandate 
 as the arbitress of the movements of the age. Yet, a century 
 and a half have hardly elapsed since she was first recognized 
 as a member of the drama of modern European history, — ■ 
 previously to the battle of Pultowa, Russia played no 
 part. Charles V and his great rival, our Elizabeth and her 
 adversary Philip of Spain, the Guises, Sully, Richelieu, 
 Cromwell, De Witt, William of Orange, and the other 
 leading spirits of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 
 thought no more about the Muscovite Czar than we now 
 think about the King of Timbuctoo. Even as late as 1735, 
 Lord Bolingbroke, in his admirable Letters on History, 
 speaks of the history of the Muscovites as having no relation 
 to the knowledge which a practical English statesman 
 ought to acquire.^ It may be doubted whether a cabinet 
 council often takes place now in our Foreign Office, without 
 Russia being uppermost m every English statesman's 
 thoughts. 
 
 But, though Russia remained thus long unheeded amid 
 her snows, there was a northern power the influence of 
 which was acknowledged in the principal European quarrels, 
 and whose goodwill was sedulously courted by many of the 
 boldest chiefs and ablest councillors of the leadmg States. 
 This was Sweden ; Sweden, on whose ruins Russia has 
 risen, but whose ascendancy over her semi-barbarous 
 neighbours was complete, until the fatal battle that now 
 forms our subject. 
 
 As early as 1542 France had sought the alliance of 
 Sweden to aid her in her struggle agamst Charles V. 
 And the name of Gustavus Adolphus is of itself sufficient 
 to remind us, that in the great contest for religious liberty, 
 of which Germany was for thirty years the arena, it was 
 Sweden that rescued the falling cause of Protestantism ; 
 and it was Sweden that principally dictated the remodelling 
 of the European state-system at the peace of Westphalia. 
 
 From the proud pre-eminence in which the valour of 
 the ' Lion of the North ', and of Torstenston, Bannier, 
 Wrangel, and the other generals of Gustavus, guided by 
 
 * Bolingbroke's Works, vol. ii. p. 374. In the same page he observes 
 how Sweden had often turned her arms southwards with prodigious 
 effect.
 
 316 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 
 
 the wisdom of Oxenstiern, had placed Sweden, the defeat 
 of Charles XII at Pultowa hurled her down at once and 
 for ever. Her efforts during the wars of the French Revolu- 
 tion to assume a leading part in European politics met with 
 instant discomfiture, and almost provoked derision. But 
 the Sweden whose sceptre was bequeathed to Christina, 
 and whose alliance Cromwell valued so highly, was a different 
 power from the Sweden of the present day. Finland, 
 Ingria, Livonia, Esthonia, Carelia, and other districts east 
 of the Baltic, then were Swedish provinces ; and the 
 possession of Pomerania, Rugen, and Bremen made her 
 an important member of the Germanic empire. These 
 territories are now all reft from her, and the most valuable 
 of them form the staple of her victorious rival's strength. 
 Could she resume them, could the Sweden of 1648 be 
 reconstructed, we should have a first-class Scandinavian 
 State in the North, well qualified to maintain the balance of 
 power, and check the progress of Russia ; whose power, 
 indeed, never could have become formidable to Europe, save 
 by Sweden becoming weak. 
 
 The decisive triumph of Russia over Sweden at Pultowa 
 was therefore all important to the world, on account of 
 what it overthrew as well as for what it established ; and 
 it is the more deeply interesting because it was not merely 
 the crisis of a struggle between two states, but it was a trial 
 of strength between two great races of mankind. We 
 must bear in mind, that while the Swedes, like the English, 
 the Dutch, and others, belong to the Germanic race, the 
 Russians are a Slavonic people. Nations of Slavonian 
 origin have long occupied the greater part of Europe 
 eastward of the Vistula, and the populations also of Bohemia, 
 Croatia, Servia, Dalmatia, and other important regions 
 westward of that river, are Slavonic. In the long and 
 varied conflicts between them and the Germanic nations 
 that adjoin them, the Germanic race had, before Pultowa, 
 almost always maintained a superiority. With the single 
 but important exception of Poland, no Slavonic state had 
 made any considerable figure in history before the time 
 when Peter the Great won his great victory over the Swedish 
 king.^ What Russia has done since that time we know and 
 ^ The Hussito wars may, ijcrhaps, entitle Bohemia to be distinguished.
 
 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 317 
 
 we feel. And some of the wisest and best men of our own 
 age and nation, who have watched with deepest care the 
 annals and the destinies of humanity, have believed that 
 the Slavonic element in the population of Europe has as 
 yet only partially developed its powers : that, while other 
 races of mankind (our own, the Germanic, included) have 
 exhausted their creative energies, and completed their 
 allotted achievements, the Slavonic race has yet a great 
 career to run : and that the narrative of Slavonic ascen- 
 dancy is the remaining page that will conclude the history 
 of the world. ^ 
 
 Let it not be supposed that in thus regarding the primary 
 triumph of Russia over Sweden as a victory of the Slavonic 
 over. the Germanic race, we are dealing with matters of 
 mere ethnological pedantry, or with themes of mere 
 speculative curiosity. The fact that Russia is a Slavonic 
 empire is a fact of immense practical influence at the 
 present moment. Half the inhabitants of the Austrian 
 empire are Slavonian. The population of the larger part 
 of Turkey in Europe is of the same race. Silesia, Posen, 
 and other parts of the Prussian dominions are principally 
 Slavonic. And during late years an enthusiastic zeal for 
 blending all Slavonians into one great united Slavonic 
 empire has been growing up in these countries, which, 
 however we may deride its principle, is not the less real and 
 active, and of which Russia, as the head and the champion 
 of the Slavonic race, knows well how to take her advantage. ^ 
 
 ' See Arnold's Lectures on Modern History, pp. 36-9. 
 
 ' ' The idea of Panslavism had a purely literary origin. It was started 
 by KoUar, a Protestant clergyman of the Slavonic congregation at 
 Pesth, in Hungary, who wished to establish a national literature, by 
 circulating all works, written in the various Slavonic dialects, through 
 every country where any of them are spoken. He suggested that all 
 the Slavonic literati should become acquainted with the sister dialects, 
 so that a Bohemian, or other work, might be read on the shores of the 
 Adriatic, as well as on the banks of the Volga, or any other place where 
 a Slavonic language was spoken ; by which means an extensive 
 literature might he created, tending to advance knowledge in all Slavonic 
 countries ; and he supported his arguments by observing that the 
 dialects of ancient Greece differed from each other, like those of his 
 own language, and yet that they formed only one Hellenic literature. 
 The idea of an intellectual union of all those nations naturally led to 
 that of a political one ; and the Slavonians, seeing that their numbers 
 amounted to about one-third part of the whole population of Europe,
 
 318 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 
 
 It is a singular fact that Russia owes her very name to 
 a band of Swedish invaders who conquered her a thousand 
 years ago. They were soon absorbed in the Slavonic 
 population, and every trace of the Swedish character had 
 disappeared in Russia for many centuries before her 
 invasion by Charles XII. She was long the victim and the 
 slave of the Tartars ; and for many considerable periods 
 of years the Poles held her in subjugation. Indeed, if we 
 except the expeditions of some of the early Russian chiefs 
 against Byzantium, and the reign of Ivan Vasilovitch, the 
 history of Russia before the time of Peter the Great is one 
 long tale of suffering and degradation. 
 
 But whatever may have been the amount of national 
 injuries that she sustained from Swede, from Tartar, or 
 from Pole in the ages of her weakness, she has certainly 
 retaliated tenfold during the century and a half of her 
 strength. Her rapid transition at the commencement of 
 that period from being the prey of every conqueror to 
 being the conqueror of all with whom she comes into 
 contact, to being the oppressor instead of the oppressed, 
 is almost without a parallel in the history of nations. 
 It was the work of a single ruler ; who, himself without 
 education, promoted science and literature among barbaric 
 millions ; who gave them fleets, commerce, arts, and arms ; 
 who, at Pultowa, taught them to face and beat the pre- 
 
 and occupied more than half its territory, began to be sensible that they 
 might claim for themselves a position to which they had not hitherto 
 aspired. 
 
 ' The opinion gained ground ; and the question now is, whether the 
 Slavonians can form a nation independent of Russia ; or whether they 
 ought to rest satisfied in being part of one great race, with the most 
 powerful member of it as their chief. The latter, indeed, is gaining 
 ground amongst them ; and some Poles are disposed to attribute their 
 sufferings to the arbitrary will of the Czar, without extending the blame 
 to the Russians themselves. These begin to think that, if they cannot 
 exist as Poles, the best thing to be done is to rest satisfied with a position 
 in the Slavonic empire, and they hope that, when once they give up 
 the idea of restoring their country, Russia may grant some concessions to 
 their separate nationality. 
 
 ' The same idea has been put forward by writers in the Russian 
 interest ; great efforts are making among other Slavonic people, to 
 induce them to look upon Russia as their future head ; and she has 
 already gained considerable influence over the Slavonic populations 
 of Turkey.' — Wilkinson's Dalmatia.
 
 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 319 
 
 viously invincible Swedes : and who made stubborn valour, 
 and implicit subordination, from that time forth the 
 distinguishing characteristics of the Russian soldiery, 
 which had before his time been a mere disorderly and 
 irresolute rabble. 
 
 The career of Philip of Macedon resembles most nearly 
 that of the great Muscovite Czar : but there is this impor- 
 tant difference, that Philip had, while young, received in 
 southern Greace the best education in all matters of peace 
 and war that the ablest philosophers and generals of the 
 age could bestow. Peter was brought up among bar- 
 barians, and in barbaric ignorance. He strove to remedy 
 this when a grown man, by leaving all the temptations to 
 idleness and sensuality which his court offered, and by 
 seeking instruction abroad. He laboured with his own 
 hands as a common artisan in Holland and England, that 
 he might return and teach his subjects how ships, com- 
 merce, and civilization could be acquired. There is a degree 
 of heroism here superior to anything that we know of in 
 the Macedonian king. But Philip's consolidation of the 
 long disunited Macedonian empire; his raising a people, 
 which he found the scorn of their civilized southern neigh- 
 bours, to be their dread ; his organization of a brave and 
 well-disciplined army, instead of a disorderly militia ; his 
 creation of a maritime force, and his systematic skill in 
 acquiring and improving seaports and arsenals ; his 
 patient tenacity of purpose under reverses ; his personal 
 bravery ; and even his proneness to coarse amusements 
 and pleasures — all mark him out as the prototype of the 
 imperial founder of the Russian power. In justice, how- 
 ever, to the ancient hero, it ought to be added, that we find 
 in the history of Philip no examples of that savage cruelty 
 which deforms so grievously the cliaracter of Peter the 
 Great. 
 
 In considering the effects of the overthrow which the 
 Swedish arms sustained at Pultowa, and in speculating 
 on the probable consequences that would have followed 
 if the invaders had been successful, we must not only 
 bear in mind the wretched state in which Peter found 
 Russia at his accession, compared with her present grandeur, 
 but we must also keep in view the fact that, at the time
 
 320 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 
 
 when Pultowa was fought, his reforms were yet incomplete, 
 and his new institutions immature. He had broken up the 
 Old Russia ; and the New Russia, which he ultimately 
 created, was still in embryo. Had he been crushed at 
 Pultowa, his mighty schemes would have been buried with 
 him ; and (to use the words of Voltaire) ' the most exten- 
 sive empire in the world would have relapsed into the chaos 
 from which it had been so lately taken '. It is this fact 
 that makes the repulse of Charles XII the critical point in 
 the fortunes of Russia. The danger which she incurred 
 a century afterwards from her invasion by Napoleon was 
 in reality far less than her peril when Charles attacked her ; 
 though the French Emperor, as a military genius, was 
 infinitely superior to the Swedish King, and led a host 
 against her, compared with which the armies of Charles 
 seem almost insignificant. But, as Fouche well warned his 
 imperial master, when he vainly endeavoured to dissuade 
 him from his disastrous expedition against the empire of the 
 Czars, the difference between the Russia of 1812 and the 
 Russia of 1709 was greater than the disparity between the 
 power of Charles and the might of Napoleon. ' If that 
 heroic king ', said Fouche, ' had not, like your imperial 
 Majesty, half Europe in arms to back him, neither had his 
 opponent, the Czar Peter, 400,000 soldiers and 50,000 
 Cossacks.' The historians, who describe the state of the 
 Muscovite empire when revolutionary and imperial France 
 encountered it, narrate with truth and justice, how ' at the 
 epoch of the French Revolution this immense empire, 
 comprehending nearly half of Europe and Asia within its 
 dominions, inhabited by a patient and indomitable race, 
 ever ready to exchange the luxury and adventure of the 
 south for the hardships and monotony of the north, was 
 daily becoming more formidable to the liberties of EurojDe. 
 The Russian infantry had then long been celebrated for its 
 immovable firmness. Her immense population, amount- 
 ing then in Europe alone to nearly thirty-five millions, 
 afforded an inexhaustible supply of men. Her soldiers, 
 inured to heat and cold from their infancy, and actuated by 
 a blind devotion to their Czar, united the steady valour of 
 the English to the impetuous energy of the French troops.' ^ 
 
 ^ Alison.
 
 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 321 
 
 80, also, we read how the haughty aggressions of Bonaparte 
 ' went to excite a national feeling, from the banks of the 
 Borysthenes to the wall of China, and to unite against him 
 the wild and uncivilized inhabitants of an extended empire, 
 jDossessed by a love to their religion, their government, and 
 their country, and having a character of stern devotion, 
 which he was incapable of estimating ' .^ But the Russia of 
 1709 had no such forces to oppose to an assailant. Her 
 whole population then was below sixteen millions ; and, 
 what is far more important, this population had neither 
 acquired military spirit nor strong nationality ; nor was 
 it united in loyal attachment to its ruler. 
 
 Peter had wisely abolished the old regular troops of the 
 empire, the Strelitzes ; but the forces Avhich he had raised 
 in their stead on a new and foreign plan, and principally 
 officered with foreigners, had, before the Swedish invasion, 
 given no proof that they could be relied on. In numerous 
 encounters with the Swedes, Peter's soldiery had run like 
 sheep before inferior numbers. Great discontent, also, 
 had been excited among all classes of the community by the 
 arbitrary changes which their great emperor introduced, 
 many of which clashed with the most cherished national 
 prejudices of his subjects. A career of victory and pros- 
 perity had not yet raised Peter above the reach of that 
 disaffection, nor had superstitious obedience to the Czar 
 yet become the characteristic of the Muscovite mind. 
 The victorious occupation of Moscow by Charles XII would 
 have quelled the Russian nation as effectually as had been 
 the case when Batou Khan, and other ancient invaders, 
 captured the cajaital of primitive Muscovy. How little 
 such a triumph could effect towards subduing modern 
 Russia, the fate of Napoleon demonstrated at once and 
 for ever. 
 
 The character of Charles XII has been a favourite theme 
 with historians, moralists, philosophers, and poets. But 
 it is his military conduct during the campaign in Russia 
 that alone requires comment here. Napoleon, in the 
 memoirs dictated by him at St. Helena, has given us a 
 systematic criticism on that, among other celebrated cam- 
 paigns, his own Russian campaign included. He labours 
 * Scott's Life of Napoleon. 
 
 CREASJT . Y
 
 322 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 
 
 hard to prove that he himself observed all the true principles 
 of offensive war : and probably his censures of Charles's 
 generalship were rather highly coloured, for the sake of 
 making his own military skill stand out in more favourable 
 relief. Yet, after making all allowances, we must admit 
 the force of Napoleon's strictures on Charles's tactics, and 
 own that his judgement, though severe, is correct, when he 
 pronounces that the Swedish king, unlike his great prede- 
 cessor Gustavus, knew nothing of the art of war, and was 
 nothing more than a brave and intrepid soldier. Such, 
 however, was not the light in which Charles was regarded 
 by his contemporaries at the commencement of his Russian 
 expedition. His numerous victories, his daring and 
 resolute spirit, combined v/ith the ancient renown of the 
 Swedish arms, then filled all EurojDe with admiration and 
 anxiety. As Johnson expresses it, his name was then one 
 at which the world grew pale. Even Louis le Grand 
 earnestly solicited his assistance ; and our own Marlborough, 
 then in the full career of his victories, was specially sent 
 by the English court to the camp of Charles, to propitiate 
 the hero of the north in favour of the cause of the allies, 
 and to prevent the Swedish sword from being flung into 
 the scale in the French king's favour. But Charles at that 
 time was solely bent on dethroning the sovereign of Russia, 
 as he had already dethroned the sovereign of Poland, and 
 all Europe fully believed that he would entirely crush the 
 Czar, and dictate conditions of peace in the Kremlin.^ 
 Charles himself looked on success as a matter of certainty ; 
 and the romantic extravagance of his views was continually 
 increasing. ' One year, he thought, would suffice for the 
 conquest of Russia. The court of Rome was next to feel 
 his vengeance, as the pope had dared to oppose the conces- 
 sion of religious liberty to the Silesian Protestants. No 
 enterprise at that time appeared impossible to him. He 
 had even dispatched several officers privately into Asia and 
 Egypt, to take plans of the towns, and examine into the 
 strength and resources of those countries.' - 
 
 ^ Voltaire attests, from personal inspection of the letters of several 
 public ministers to their respective courts, that such was the general 
 expectation. 
 
 ^ Crighton's Scandinavia.
 
 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 323 
 
 Napoleon thus epitomizes the earlier operations of 
 Charles's invasion of Russia : 
 
 ' That prince set out from his camp at Aldstadt, near 
 Leipsic, in September 1707, at the head of 45,000 men, 
 and traversed Poland ; 20,000 men, under Count Lewen- 
 haupt, disembarked at Riga ; and 15,000 were in Finland. 
 He was therefore in a condition to have brought together 
 80,000 of the best troops in the world. He left 10,000 men 
 at Warsaw to guard King Stanislaus, and in January 1708 
 arrived at Grodno, where he wintered. In June, he crossed 
 the forest of Minsk, and presented himself before Borisov ; 
 forced the Russian army, which occupied the left bank of 
 the Beresina ; defeated 20,000 Russians who were strongly 
 entrenched behind marshes ; passed the Borysthenes at 
 Mohiloev, and vanquished a corps of 16,000 Muscovites 
 near Smolensko, on the 22nd of September. He was now 
 advanced to the confines of Lithuania, and was about to 
 enter Russia Proper : the Czar, alarmed at his approach, 
 made him proposals of peace. Up to this time all his 
 movements were conformable to rule, and his communica- 
 tions were well secured. He was master of Poland and 
 Riga, and only ten days' march distant from Moscow : and 
 it is probable that he would have reached that capital, had 
 he not quitted the high road thither, and directed his steps 
 towards the Ukraine, in order to form a junction with 
 Mazeppa, who brought him only 6,000 men. By this move- 
 ment his line of operations, beginning at Sweden, exposed 
 his flank to Russia for a distance of four hundred leagues, 
 and he was unable to protect it, or to receive either rein- 
 forcements or assistance.' 
 
 Napoleon severely censures this neglect of one of the 
 great rules of war. He points out that Charles had not 
 organized his war like Hannibal, on the principle of relin- 
 quishing all communications with home, keeping all his 
 forces concentrated, and creating a base of operations in the 
 conquered country. Such had been the bold system of the 
 Carthaginian general ; but Charles acted on no such 
 principle, inasmuch as he caused Lewenhaupt, one of his 
 generals, who commanded a considerable detachment and 
 escorted a most important convoy, to follow him at a dis- 
 tance of twelve days' march. By this dislocation of his 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 
 
 forces he exposed Lewenhaupt to be overwhelmed separ- 
 ately by the full force of the enemy, and deprived the troops 
 under his own command of the aid w^hich that general's 
 men and stores might have afforded, at the very crisis of the 
 campaign. 
 
 The Czar had collected an army of about a hundred 
 thousand effective men ; and though the Swedes, in the be- 
 ginning of the invasion, were successful in every encounter, 
 the Russian troops were gradually acquiring discipline ; 
 and Peter and his officers were learning generalship from 
 their victors, as the Thebans of old learned it from the 
 Spartans. When Lewenhaupt, in the October of 1708, was 
 striving to join Charles in the Ukraine, the Czar suddenly 
 attacked him neai' the Borysthenes with an overwhelming 
 force of fifty thousand Russians. Lewenhaupt fought 
 bravely for three days, and succeeded in cutting his way 
 through the enemy, with about four thousand of his men, 
 to where Charles awaited him near the river Desna ; but 
 upwards of eight thousand Swedes fell in these battles ; 
 Lewenhaupt' s cannon and ammunition were abandoned ; 
 and the whole of his important convoy of provisions, on 
 which Charles and his half-starved troops were relying, fell 
 into the enemy's hands. Charles was compelled to remain 
 in the Ukraine during the winter ; but in the spring of 1709 
 he moved forAvard towards Moscow, and invested the 
 fortified town of Pultowa, on the river Vorskla, a place 
 where the Czar had stored up large supplies of provisions 
 and military stores, and which commanded the roads 
 leading towards Moscow. The possession of this place 
 would have given Charles the means of supplying all the 
 Avants of his suffering army, and would also have furnished 
 him with a secure base of operations for his advance against 
 the Moscovite capital. The siege was therefore hotly 
 pressed by the Swedes ; the garrison resisted obstinately ; 
 and the Czar, feeling the importance of saving the town, 
 advanced in June to its relief, at the head of an army from 
 fifty to sixty thousand strong. 
 
 Both sovereigns now prej^ared for the general action, 
 which each perceived to be inevitable, and which each felt 
 would be decisive of his own and of his country's destiny. 
 The Czar, by some masterly manoeuvres, crossed the
 
 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 325 
 
 Vorskla, and posted his army on the same side of that river 
 with the besiegers, but a little higher up. The Vorskla falls 
 into the Borysthenes about fifteen leagues below Pultowa, 
 and the Czar arranged his forces in two lines, stretching 
 from one river towards the other ; so that if the Swedes 
 attacked him and were repulsed, they would be driven 
 backwards into the acute angle formed by the two streams 
 at their junction. He fortified these lines with several 
 redoubts, lined with heavy artillery ; and his troops, both 
 horse and foot, were in the best possible condition, and 
 amply provided with stores and ammunition. Charles's 
 forces were about twenty-four thousand strong. But not 
 more than half of these were Swedes ; so much had battle, 
 famine, fatigue, and the deadly frosts of Russia, thinned the 
 gallant bands which the Swedish king and Lewenhaupt 
 had led to the Ukraine. The other twelve thousand men 
 under Charles were Cossacks and Wallachians, who had 
 joined him in that country. On hearing that the Czar was 
 about to attack him, he deemed that his dignity required 
 that he himself should be the assailant ; and, leading his 
 army out of their entrenched lines before the town, he 
 advanced with them against the Russian redoubts. 
 
 He had been severely wounded in the foot in a skirmish 
 a few days before ; and was borne in a litter along the ranks, 
 into the thick of the fight. Notwithstanding the fearfid 
 disparity of numbers and disadvantage of position, the 
 Swedes never showed their ancient valour more nobly than 
 on that dreadful day. Nor do their Cossack and Wallachian 
 allies seem to have been unworthy of fighting side by side 
 with Charles's veterans. Two of the Russian redoubts were 
 actually entered, and the Swedish infantry began to raise 
 the cry of victory. But on the other side neither general 
 nor soldiers flinched in their duty. The Russian cannonade 
 and musketry were kept up ; fresh masses of defenders 
 were poured into the fortifications, and at length the 
 exhausted remnants of the Swedish columns recoiled from 
 the blood-stained redoubts. Then the Czar led the infantry 
 and cavalry of his first line outside the works, drew them up 
 steadily and skilfully, and the action was renewed along 
 the whole fronts of the two armies on the open ground. 
 Each sovereign exposed his life freely in the world-winning
 
 326 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 
 
 battle ; and on each side the troops fought obstinately 
 and eagerly under their ruler's eye. It was not till two 
 hours from the commencement of the action that, over- 
 powered by numbers, the hitherto invincible Swedes gave 
 way. All was then hopeless disorder and irreparable rout. 
 Driven downward to where the rivers join, the fugitive 
 Swedes surrendered to their victorious pursuers, or perished 
 in the waters of the Borysthenes. Only a few hundreds 
 swam that river with their king and the Cossack Mazeppa, 
 and escaped into the Turkish territory. Nearly ten thou- 
 sand lay killed and wounded in the redoubts and on the 
 field of battle. 
 
 In the joy of his heart the Czar exclaimed, when the strife 
 was over, ' That the son of the morning had fallen from 
 heaven ; and that the foundations of St. Petersburg at 
 length stood firm.' Even on that battle-field, near the 
 Ukraine, the Russian emperor's first thoughts were of 
 conquests and aggrandizements on the Baltic. The peace 
 of Nystadt, which transferred the fairest provinces of 
 Sweden to Russia, ratified the judgement of battle which 
 was pronounced at Pultowa. Attacks on Turkey and 
 Persia by Russia commenced almost directly after that 
 victory. And though the Czar failed in his first attempts 
 against the Sultan, the successors of Peter have, one and 
 all, carried on a uniformly aggressive and uniformly suc- 
 cessful system of policy against Turkey, and against every 
 other state, Asiatic as well as European, which has had 
 the misfortune of having Russia for a neighbour. 
 
 Orators and authors, who have discussed the progress of 
 Russia, have often alluded to the similitude between the 
 modern extension of the Muscovite em]:>ire and the exten- 
 sion of the Roman dominions in ancient times. But 
 attention has scarcely been drawn to the closeness of the 
 parallel between conquering Russia and conquering Rome, 
 not only in the extent of conquests, but in the means of 
 effecting conquest. The history of Rome during the 
 century and a half which followed the close of the second 
 Punic War, and during which her largest acquisitions of 
 territory were made, should be minutely compared with 
 the history of Russia for the last one hundred and fifty 
 years. The main points of similitude can only be indicated
 
 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 327 
 
 in these pages ; but they deserve the fullest consideration. 
 Above all, the sixth chapter of Montesquieu's great treatise 
 on Rome, the chapter ' De la conduite que les Eomains 
 tinrent pour soumettre les peuples ', should be carefully 
 studied by every one who watches the career and policy of 
 Russia. The classic scholar will remember the state-craft 
 of the Roman senate, which took care in every foreign 
 war to appear in the character of a Protector. Thus Rome 
 protected the Aetolians, and the Greek cities, against 
 Macedon ; she protected Bithynia, and other small Asiatic 
 states, against the Syrian kings ; she protected Numidia 
 against Carthage ; and in numerous other instances assumed 
 the same sj)ecious character. But, ' Woe to the people 
 whose liberty depends on the continued forbearance of an 
 over-mighty protector.' ^ Every state which Rome pro- 
 tected was ultimately subjugated and absorbed by her. 
 And Russia has been the protector of Poland, — the pro- 
 tector of the Crimea, — the protector of Courland, — the 
 protector of Georgia, Immeritia, Mingrelia, the Tcher- 
 kessian and Caucasian tribes. She has first protected and 
 then ajjpropriated them all. She protects Moldavia and 
 Wallachia. A few years ago she became the protector of 
 Turkey from Mehemet Ali ; and since the summer of 1849 
 she has made herself the protector of Austria. 
 
 When the partisans of Russia speak of the disinterested- 
 ness with which she withdrew her protecting troops from 
 Constantinople, and from Hungary, let us here also mark 
 the ominous exactness of the parallel between her and 
 Rome. While the ancient world yet contained a number 
 of independent states, which might have made a formidable 
 league against Rome if she had alarmed them by openly 
 avowing her ambitious schemes, Rome's favourite policy 
 Avas seeming disinterestedness and moderation. After her 
 first war against Philip, after that against Antiochus, and 
 many others, victorious Rome promptly withdrew her 
 troops from the territories which they occupied. She 
 affected to employ her arms only for the good of others ; 
 but, when the favourable moment came, she always found 
 a pretext for marching her legions back into each coveted 
 district, and making it a Roman province. Fear, not 
 ^ Malkin's History of Greece.
 
 328 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS AFTER THE 
 
 moderation, is the only effective check on the ambition of 
 such powers as Ancient Rome and Modern Russia. The 
 amount of that fear depends on the amount of timely 
 vigilance and energy which other states choose to employ 
 against the common enemy of their freedom and national 
 independence. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE BATTLE OF 
 PULTOWA, 1709, AND THE DEFEAT OF BUR- 
 GO YNE AT SARATOGA, 1777 
 
 A.D. 1713. Treaty of Utrecht. Philip is left by it in 
 possession of the throne of Spain. But Naples, Milan, the 
 Spanish territories on the Tuscan coast, the Spanish 
 Netherlands, and some parts of the French Netherlands, 
 are given to Austria. France cedes to England Hudson's 
 Bay and Straits, the Island of St. Christopher, Nova Scotia, 
 and Newfoundland in America. Spain cedes to England 
 Gibraltar and Minorca, which the English had taken during 
 the war. The King of Prussia and the Duke of Savoy both 
 obtain considerable additions of territory to their dominions. 
 
 1714. Death of Queen Anne. The House of Hanover 
 begins to reign in England. A rebellion in favour of the 
 Stuarts is put down. Death of Louis XIV. 
 
 1718. Charles XII killed at the siege of Frederickshall. 
 
 1725. Death of Peter the Great of Russia. 
 
 1740. Frederick II, King of Prussia, begins his reign. 
 He attacks the Austrian dominions, and conquers Silesia. 
 
 1742. War between France and England. 
 
 1743. Victory of the English at Dettingen. 
 
 1745. Victory of the French at Fontenoy. Rebellion in 
 Scotland in favour of the House of Stuart : finally quelled 
 by the battle of Culloden in the next year. 
 
 1748. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 
 1756-63. The Seven Years' War, during which Prussia 
 makes an heroic resistance against the armies of Austria, 
 Russia, and France. England, under the administration 
 of the elder Pitt (afterwards Lord Chatham), takes a 
 glorious part in the war in opposition to France and Spain. 
 Wolfe wins the battle of Quebec, and the English conquer 
 Canada, Cape Breton, and St. John. Clive begins his
 
 BATTLE OF PULTOWA 329 
 
 career of conquest in India. Cuba is taken by the English 
 from Spain. 
 
 1763. Treaty of Paris : which leaves the power of 
 Prussia increased, and its military rej^utation greatly 
 exalted. 
 
 ' France, by the treaty of Paris, ceded to England 
 Canada, and the island of Cape Breton, with the islands 
 and coasts of the gulf and river of St. Lawrence. The 
 boundaries between the two nations in North America 
 were fixed by a line drawn along the middle of the Missis- 
 sippi, from its source to its mouth. All on the left or 
 eastern bank of that river was given up to England, except 
 the city of New Orleans, which was reserved to France ; 
 as was also the liberty of the fisheries on a part of the coasts 
 of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The 
 islands of St. Peter and Miquelon were given them as 
 a shelter for their fishermen, but without permission to 
 raise fortifications. The islands of Martinico, Guadaloupe, 
 Mariegalante, Desirada, and St. Lvicia, were surrendered to 
 France ; while Grenada, the Grenadines, St. Vincent, 
 Dominica, and Tobago, were ceded to England. This latter 
 power retained her conquests on the Senegal, and restored 
 to France the island of Goree, on the coast of Africa. 
 France was put in possession of the forts and factories 
 which belonged to her in the East Indies, on the coasts 
 of Coromandel, Orissa, Malabar, and Bengal under the 
 restriction of keeping up no military force in Bengal. 
 
 ' In Europe, France restored all the conquests she had 
 made in Germany ; as also the island of Minorca. England 
 gave up to her Belleisle, on the coast of Brittany ; while 
 Dunkirk was kept in the same condition as had been 
 determined by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. The island 
 of Cuba, with the Havannah, were restored to the King 
 of Spain, who, on his part, ceded to England Florida, with 
 Port Augustine and the Bay of Pensacola. The King of 
 Portugal was restored to the same state in which he had 
 been before the war. The colony of St. Sacrament in 
 America, which the Spaniards had conquered, was given 
 back to him. 
 
 ' The peace of Paris, of which we have just now sjooken, 
 was the era of England's greatest prosperity. Her
 
 330 SYNOPSIS OF E.VENTS 
 
 commerce and navigation extended over all parts of the 
 globe, and were supported by a naval force so much the 
 more imposing, as it was no longer counterbalanced by 
 the maritime power of France, which had been almost 
 annihilated in the preceding war. The immense territories 
 which that peace had secured her, both in Africa and 
 America, opened up new channels for her industry : and 
 what deserves specially to be remarked is, that she acquired 
 at the same time vast and important possessions in the 
 East Indies.' ^ 
 
 * Koch's Revolutions 0/ Europe.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS OVER BURGOYNE 
 AT SARATOGA, a. d. 1777 
 
 Westward the course of empire takes its way ; 
 
 The first four acts ah'eady past, 
 A fifth shall close the drama with the day, 
 
 Time's noblest offspring is its last. 
 
 Bishop Berkeley. 
 
 ' Even of those great conflicts, in which hundreds of thousands have 
 been engaged and tons of thousands have fallen, none has been more 
 fruitful of results than this surrender of thirty-five hundred fighting- 
 men at Saratoga. It not merely changed the relations of England and 
 the feelings of Europe towards these insurgent colonies, but it has modified, 
 for all times to come, the connexion between every colony and eveiy 
 parent state.' — Lord Mahon. 
 
 Of the four great powers that now principally rule the 
 political destinies of the world, France and England are 
 the only two whose influence can be dated back beyond 
 the last century and a half. The third great power, Russia, 
 was a feeble mass of barbarism before the ej)och of Peter 
 the Great ; and the very existence of the fourth great 
 power, as an independent nation, commenced within the 
 memory of living men. By the fourth great power of the 
 world I mean the mighty commonwealth of the western 
 continent, which now commands the admiration of mankind. 
 That homage is sometimes reluctantly given, and accom- 
 panied with suspicion and ill will. But none can refuse it. 
 All the physical essentials for national strength are unde- 
 niably to be found in the geographical position and ampli- 
 tude of territory which the United States possess ; in their 
 almost inexhaustible tracts of fertile, but hitherto untouched, 
 soil ; in their stately forests, in their mountain-chains and 
 their rivers, their beds of coal, and stores of metallic wealth ; 
 in their extensive sea-board along the waters of two oceans, 
 and in their already numerous and rapidly increasing
 
 332 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 population. And, when we examine the character of this 
 population, no one can look on the fearless energy, the 
 sturdy determination, the aptitude for local self-govern- 
 ment, the versatile alacrity, and the unresting spirit of 
 enterisrise, which characterize the Anglo-Americans, with- 
 out feeling that he here beholds the true moral elements of 
 progressive might. 
 
 Three-quarters of a century have not yet passed away 
 since the United States ceased to be mere dependencies 
 of England. And even if we date their origin from the 
 period, when the first permanent European settlements, 
 out of which they grew, were made on the western coast 
 of the North Atlantic, the increase of their strength is 
 unparalleled, either in rapidity or extent. 
 
 The ancient Roman boasted, with reason, of the growth 
 of Rome from humble beginnings to the greatest magni- 
 tude which the world had then ever witnessed. But the 
 citizen of the United States is still more justly entitled to 
 claim this praise. In two centuries and a haK his country 
 has acquired ampler dominion than the Roman gained in 
 ten. And, even if we credit the legend of the band of 
 shepherds and outlaws with which Romulus is said to have 
 colonized the Seven Hills, we find not there so small a germ 
 of future greatness as we find in the group of a hundred 
 and five ill-chosen and disunited emigrants who founded 
 Jamestown in 1607, or in the scanty band of the Pilgrim 
 Fathers who, a few years later, moored their bark on the 
 wild and rock-bound coast of the wilderness that was to 
 become New England. The power of the United States is 
 emphatically the ' Imperium, quo neque ab exordio uUum 
 fere minus, neque incrementis toto orbe amplius, humana 
 potest memoria recordari'.^ 
 
 Nothing is more calculated to impress the mind with 
 a sense of the rapidity with which the resources of the 
 American Republic advance, than the difficulty which the 
 historical inquirer finds in ascertaining their j)recise amount. 
 If he consults the most recent works, and those written 
 by the ablest investigators of the subject, he finds in them 
 admiring comments on the change which the last few years, 
 before those books were written, had made ; but when he 
 * Eutropius, lib. i. (exordium).
 
 AT SARATOGA ' 333 
 
 turns to apply the estimates in those books to the present 
 moment, he finds them wholly inadequate. Before a book 
 on the subject of the United States has lost its novelty, 
 those states have outgrown the description which it con- 
 tains. The celebrated work of the French statesman, De 
 Tocqueville, appeared about fifteen years ago. In the 
 passage which I am about to quote it will be seen that he 
 predicts the constant increase of the Anglo-American 
 power, but he looks on the Rocky Mountains as their 
 extreme western limit for many years to come. He had 
 evidently no expectation of himself seeing that power 
 dominant along the Pacific as well as along the Atlantic 
 coast. He says : ^ 
 
 ' The distance from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico 
 extends from the 47th to the 30th degree of latitude, 
 a distance of more than 1,200 miles as the bird flies. The 
 frontier of the United States winds along the whole of this 
 immense line, sometimes falling within its limits, but more 
 frequently extending far beyond it into the waste. It has 
 been calculated that the Whites advance every year a mean 
 distance of seventeen miles along the whole of this vast 
 boundary. Obstacles, such as an unproductive district, 
 a lake, or an Indian nation unexpectedly encountered, are 
 sometimes met with. The advancing column then halts for 
 a while ; its two extremities fall back upon themselves, and 
 as soon as they are reunited they proceed onwards. This 
 gradual and continuous progress of the European race 
 towards the Rocky Mountains has the solemnity of a Provi- 
 dential event : it is like a deluge of men rising unabatedly, 
 and daily driven onwards by the hand of God. 
 
 ' Within this first line of conquering settlers towns are 
 built, and vast estates founded. In 1790 there were only 
 a few thousand pioneers sprinkled along the valleys of 
 the Mississippi : and at the present day these valleys 
 contain as many inhabitants as were to be found in the 
 whole Union in 1790. Their population amounts to nearly 
 
 '■ The original French of these passages will be found in the chapter 
 on ' Quelles sont les chances de duree de I'Union Americaine — Quels 
 dangers la menacent', in the third volume of the first part of De Tocque- 
 ville, and in the conclusion of the first part. They are (with others) 
 collected and translated by Mr. Alison, in his Essays, vol. iii. p. 374.
 
 334 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 four millions. The city of Washington was founded in 
 1800, in the very centre of the Union ; but such are the 
 changes which have taken place, that it now stands at one 
 of the extremities ; and the delegates of the most remote 
 Western States are already obliged to perform a journey 
 as long as that from Vienna to Paris. 
 
 ' It must not, then, be imagined that the impulse of the 
 British race in the New World can be arrested. The dis- 
 memberment of the Union, and the hostilities which might 
 ensue, the abolition of republican institutions, and the 
 tyrannical government which might succeed it, may retard 
 this impulse, but they cannot prevent it from ultimately 
 fulfilling the destinies to which that race is reserved. No 
 power upon earth can close upon the emigrants that fertile 
 wilderness, which offers resources to all industry, and 
 a refuge from all want. Future events, of whatever nature 
 they may be, will not deprive the Americans of their 
 climate or of their inland seas, or of their great rivers, or 
 of their exuberant soil. Nor will bad laws, revolutions, and 
 anarchy be able to obliterate that love of prosperity and 
 that spirit of enterprise which seem to be the distinctive 
 characteristics of their race, or to extinguish that knowledge 
 which guides them on their way. 
 
 ' Thus, in the midst of the uncertain future, one event 
 at least is sure. At a period which may be said to be near 
 (for we are speaking of the life of a nation), the Anglo- 
 Americans will alone cover the immense space contained 
 between the Polar regions and the Tropics, extending from 
 the coast of the Atlantic to the shores of the Pacific Ocean ; 
 the territory which will probably be occupied by the 
 Anglo-Americans at some future time may be computed 
 to equal three-quarters of Europe in extent. The climate 
 of the Union is upon the whole preferable to that of Europe, 
 and its natural advantages are not less great ; it is therefore 
 evident that its population will at some future time be 
 proportionate to our own. Europe, divided as it is between 
 so many different nations, ancl torn as it has been by 
 incessant wars and the barbarous manners of the Middle 
 Ages, has notwithstanding attained a population of 410 in- 
 habitants to the square league. What cause can prevent the 
 United States from having as numerous a population in time?
 
 AT SARATOGA 335 
 
 * The time Avill therefore come when one hundred and 
 fifty miUions of men will be living in North America, equal 
 in condition, the progeny of one race, owing their origin to 
 the same cause, and preserving the same civilization, the 
 same language, the same religion, the same habits, the same 
 manners, and imbued with the same opinions, propagated 
 vnider the same forms. The rest is uncertain, but this is 
 certain ; and it is a fact new to the world, a fact fraught 
 with such portentous consequences as to baffle the efforts 
 even of the imagination.' 
 
 Let us turn from the French statesman writing in 1835, 
 to an English statesman, who is justly regarded as the 
 highest authority on all statistical subjects, and who de- 
 scribed the United States only seven years ago. Macgregor^ 
 tells us : 
 
 ' The States which, on the ratification of mdependence, 
 formed the American Republican Union, were thirteen, viz.: 
 
 ' Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode 
 Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, 
 Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
 and Georgia. 
 
 ' The foregoing thirteen States {the whole inhabited 
 territory of which, with the exception of a few small settlements, 
 was confined to the region extending between the Alleghany 
 mountains and the Atlantic) were those which existed at 
 the period when they became an acknowledged separate 
 and independent federal sovereign power. The thirteen 
 stripes of the standard or fiag of the United States con- 
 tinue to represent the original number. The stars have 
 multiplied to twenty-six,^ according as the number of 
 States have increased. 
 
 ' The territory of the thirteen original States of the 
 Union, including Maine and Vermont, comprehended 
 a superficies of 371,124 English square miles; that of the 
 whole United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 120,354 ; that of France, including Corsica, 214,910 ; that 
 of the Austrian Empire, including Hungary and all the 
 Imperial States, 257,540 English square miles. 
 
 ' The present superficies of the twenty-six constitutional 
 
 ^ Macgregor's Commercial Statistics. 
 
 ^ Fresh stars have dawned siace this was written.
 
 336 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 States of the Anglo-American Union, and the district of 
 Cohimbia, and territories of Florida, include 1,029,025 
 square miles ; to which if we add the north-west, or Wis- 
 consin territory, east of the Mississippi, and bounded by 
 Lake Superior on the north, and Michigan on the east, and 
 occupying at least 100,000 square miles, and then add the 
 great western region, not yet well-defined territories, but 
 at the most limited calculation comprehending 700,000 
 square miles, the whole imbroken in its vast length and 
 breadth by foreign nations, comprehends a portion of the 
 earth's surface equal to 1,729,025 English, or 1,296,770 
 geographical square miles.' 
 
 We may add that the population of the States, when 
 they declared their independence, was about two millions 
 and a half ; it is now twenty-three millions. 
 
 I have quoted Macgregor, not only on account of the 
 clear and full view which he gives of the progress of America 
 to the date when he wrote, but because his description may 
 be contrasted with what the United States have become 
 even since his book appeared. Only three years after the 
 time when Macgregor thus wrote, the American President 
 truly stated : 
 
 ' Within less than four years the annexation of Texas to 
 the Union has been consummated ; all conflicting title 
 to the Oregon territory, south of the 49th degree of north 
 latitude, adjusted ; and New Mexico and Upper California 
 have been acquired by treaty. The area of these several 
 territories contains 1,193,061 square miles, or 763,559,040 
 acres ; while the area of the remaining twenty-nine States, 
 and the territory not yet organized into states east of the 
 Rocky Mountains, contains 2,059,513 square miles, or 
 1,318,126,058 acres. These estimates show that the 
 territories recently acquired, and over which our exclusive 
 jurisdiction and dominion have been extended, constitute 
 a country more than half as large as all that which was held 
 by the United States before their acquisition. If Oregon be 
 excluded from the estimate, there will still remain within 
 the limits of Texas, New Mexico, and California, 851,598 
 square miles, or 545,012,720 acres ; being an addition 
 equal to more than one-third of all the territory owned by 
 the United States before their acquisition ; and, including
 
 AT SARATOGA 337 
 
 Oi'egon, nearly as great an extent of territory as the whole 
 of Europe, Russia only excepted. The Mississippi, so 
 lately the frontier of our country, is now only its centre. With 
 the addition of the late acquisitions, the United States are 
 now estimated to be nearly as large as the whole of Europe, 
 The extent of the sea-coast of Texas on the Gulf of Mexico 
 is upwards of 400 miles ; of the coast of Upper California, 
 on the Pacific, of 970 miles ; and of Oregon, including the 
 Straits of Fuca, of 650 miles ; making the whole extent of sea- 
 coast on the Pacific 1,620 miles ; and the whole extent on 
 both the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, 2,020 miles. The 
 length of the coast on the Atlantic, from the northern 
 limits of the United States, round the Capes of Florida to 
 the Sabine on the eastern boundary of Texas, is estimated 
 to be 3,100 miles, so that the addition of sea-coast, including 
 Oregon, is very nearly two-thirds as great as all we possessed 
 before ; and, excluding Oregon, is an addition of 1,370 miles ; 
 being nearly equal to one-half of the extent of coast which 
 we possessed before these acquisitions. We have now 
 three great maritime fronts — on the Atlantic, the Gulf 
 of Mexico, and the Pacific ; making, in the whole, an extent 
 of sea-coast exceeding 5,000 miles. This is the extent of 
 the sea-coast of the United States, not including bays, 
 sounds, and small irregularities of the main shore, and of 
 the sea islands. If these be included, the length of the shore 
 line of coast, as estimated by the superintendent of the 
 Coast Survey, in his report, would be 33,063 miles.' 
 
 The importance of the power of the United States being 
 then firmly planted along the Pacific applies not only to 
 the New World, but to the Old. Opposite to San Francisco, 
 on the coast of that ocean, lie the wealthy but decrepit 
 empires of China and Japan. Numerous groups of islets 
 stud the larger part of the intervening sea, and form 
 convenient stepping-stones for the progress of commerce 
 or ambition. The intercourse of traffic between these 
 ancient Asiatic monarchies, and the young Anglo-American 
 Republic, must be rapid and extensive. Any attempt of 
 the Chinese or Japanese rulers to check it will only accelerate 
 an armed collision. The American will either buy or force 
 his way. Between such populations as that of China and 
 Japan on the one side, and that of the United States on 
 
 CEEASY Z
 
 338 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 the other — the former haughty, formal, and insolent, the 
 latter bold, intrusive, and unscrupulous — causes of quarrel 
 must, sooner or later, arise. The results of such a quarrel 
 cannot be doubted. America will scarcely imitate the 
 forbearance shown by England at the end of our late war 
 with the Celestial Empire ; and the conquests of China and 
 Japan, by the fleets and armies of the United States, are 
 events which many now living are likely to witness. 
 Compared with the magnitude of such changes in the 
 dominion of the Old World, the certain ascendancy of 
 the Anglo-Americans over Central and Southern America 
 seems a matter of secondary importance. Well may we 
 repeat De Tocqueville's words, that the growing power of 
 this commonwealth is ' un fait entierement nouveau dans 
 le monde, et dont I'imagination elle-meme ne saurait saisir 
 la portee '.^ 
 
 An Englishman may look, and ought to look, on the 
 growing grandeur of the Americans with no small degree 
 of generous sympathy and satisfaction. They, like ourselves, 
 are members of the great Anglo-Saxon nation, ' whose race 
 and language are now overrunning the world from one end 
 of it to the other.' ^ And whatever differences of form of 
 government may exist between us and them ; whatever 
 reminiscences of the days when, though brethren, we strove 
 together, may rankle in the minds of us, the defeated party ; 
 we should cherish the bonds of common nationality that 
 still exist between us. We should remember, as the Athe- 
 nians remembered of the Spartans at a season of jealousy and 
 temptation, that our race is one, being of the same blood, 
 speaking the same language, having an essential resemblance 
 in our institutions and usages, and worshipping in the 
 temples of the same God.^ All this may and should be 
 borne in mind. And yet an Englishman can hardly watch 
 the progress of America, without the regretful thought 
 
 ^ These remarks wore written in May 1851, and now, in May 1852, 
 a powerful squadron of American war-steamers has been sent to Japan, 
 for the ostensible purpose of securing protection for the crews of 
 American vessels shipwrecked on the Japanese coasts, but also evidently 
 for important ulterior purposes. 
 
 ^ Arnold. 
 
 ' ^Evv ojjLainov Tf Kai ofwyXcuarrov, icai Oewv ISpyj-iaTa. re Koiva Kal Ova'tai 
 i]9ea re ufiuTpona.- — Herodotus, viii. 144.
 
 AT SARATOGA 339 
 
 that America once was English, and that, but for the folly 
 of our rulers, she might be English still. It is true that 
 the commerce between the two countries has largely and 
 beneficially increased ; but this is no proof that the increase 
 would not have been still greater, had the States remained 
 integral portions of the same great empire. By giving 
 a fair and just participation in political rights, these, ' the 
 fairest possessions ' of the British crown, might have been 
 preserved to it. ' This ancient and most noble monarchy ' ^ 
 would not have been dismembered ; nor should we see 
 that which ought to be the right arm of our strength noAv 
 menacing us in every political crisis, as the most formidable 
 rival of our commercial and maritime ascendancy. 
 
 The war which rent away the North American colonies 
 of England is, of all subjects in history, the most painful 
 for an Englishman to dwell on. It was commenced and 
 carried on by the British ministry in iniquity and folly, 
 and it was concluded in disaster and shame. But the 
 contemplation of it cannot be evaded by the historian, 
 however much it may be abhorred. Nor can any military 
 event be said to have exercised more important influence 
 on the future fortunes of mankind than the complete 
 defeat of Burgoyne's expedition in 1777 — ^a defeat which 
 rescued the revolted colonists from certain subjection ; 
 and which, by inducing the courts of France and Spain to 
 attack England in their behalf, ensured the independence 
 of the United States, and the formation of that trans- 
 atlantic power which, not only America, but both Europe 
 and Asia, now see and feel. 
 
 Still, in proceeding to describe this ' decisive battle of 
 the world ', a very brief recapitulation of the earlier events 
 of the war may be sufficient ; nor shall I linger unnecessarily 
 on a painful theme. 
 
 The five northern colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
 Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont, usually 
 classed together as the New England colonies, were the 
 strongholds of the insurrection against the mother-country. 
 The feeling of resistance was less vehement and general 
 in the central settlement of New York ; and still less so 
 in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the other colonies of the 
 ^ Lord Chatham. 
 Z 2
 
 340 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 south, although everywhere it was formidably active. 
 Virginia should, perhaps, be j)articularized for the zeal 
 which its leading men displayed in the American cause ; 
 but it v/as among the descendants of the stern Puritans 
 that the spirit of Cromwell and Vane breathed in all its 
 fervour ; it was from the New Englanders that the first 
 armed opposition to the British crown had been offered ; 
 and it was by them that the most stubborn determination 
 to fight to the last, rather than waive a single right or 
 privilege, had been displayed. In 1775, they had succeeded 
 in forcing the British troops to evacuate Boston ; and the 
 events of 1776 had made New York (which the royalists 
 captured in that year) the principal basis of operations 
 for the armies of the mother-country. 
 
 A glance at the map will show that the Hudson river, 
 which falls into the Atlantic at New York, runs doAvn from 
 the north at the back of the New England States, forming 
 an angle of about forty-five degrees with the line of the 
 coast of the Atlantic, along which the New England States 
 are situate. Northward of the Hudson, we see a small 
 chain of lakes communicating with the Canadian frontier. 
 It is necessary to attend closely to these geographical 
 points, in order to understand the plan of the operations 
 which the English attempted in 1777, and which the battle 
 of Saratoga defeated. 
 
 The English had a considerable force in Canada ; and 
 in 1776 had completely repulsed an attack which the 
 Americans had made upon that province. The British 
 ministry resolved to avail themselves, in the next year, 
 of the advantage which the occupation of Canada gave 
 them, not merely for the purpose of defence, but for the 
 purpose of striking a vigorous and crushing blow against 
 the revolted colonies. With this view, the army in Canada 
 Avas largely reinforced. Seven thousand veteran troops 
 were sent out from England, with a corps of artillery 
 abundantly supplied, and led by select and experienced 
 officers. Large quantities of military stores were also 
 furnished for the equipment of the Canadian volunteers, 
 Avho Avere expected to join the expedition. It was intended 
 that the force thus collected should march southward by 
 the line of the lakes, and thence along the banks of the
 
 AT SARATOGA 
 
 341 
 
 Hudson river. The British army in New York (or a large 
 detachment of it) was to make a simultaneous movement 
 northward, up the line of the Hudson, and the two expedi- 
 tions were to unite at Albany, a town on that river. By 
 these operations all communication between the northern 
 
 colonies and those of the centre and south would be cut 
 off. An irresistible force would be concentrated, so as to 
 crush all further opposition in New England ; and when 
 this was done, it was believed that the other colonies would 
 speedily submit. The Americans had no troops in the field 
 that seemed able to baffle these movements. Their princij)al 
 army, under Washington, was occupied in watching over
 
 342 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 Pennsylvania and the south. At any rate it was believed 
 that, in order to oppose the plan intended for the new 
 campaign, the insurgents must risk a pitched battle, in 
 which the sviperiority of the royalists, in numbers, in 
 discipline, and in equipment, seemed to promise to the 
 latter a crowning victory. Without question the plan was 
 ably formed ; and had the success of the execution been 
 equal to the ingenuity of the design, the re-conquest or 
 submission of the thirteen United States must, in all human 
 probability, have followed ; and the independence which 
 they proclaimed in 1776 would have been extinguished 
 before it existed a second year. No European power had 
 as yet come forward to aid America. It is true that England 
 was generally regarded with jealousy and ill-will, and was 
 thought to have acquired, at the treaty of Paris, a prepon- 
 derance of dominion which was perilous to the balance of 
 power ; but though many were willing to wound, none had 
 yet ventured to strike ; and America, if defeated in 1777, 
 would have been suffered to fall unaided.^ 
 
 ^ In Lord Albemarle's Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham is 
 contained the following remarkable State paper, drawn up by King 
 George III himself respecting the plan of Burgoyne's expedition. The 
 original is in the king's own hand. 
 
 ' REMARKS ON THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR FROM CANADA 
 
 ' The outlines of the plan seem to be on a proper foundation. The 
 rank and file of the army now in Canada (including the 11th Regiment 
 of British, M'Clean's corps, the Brunswicks and Hanover) amount to 
 10,527 ; add the eleven additional companies and four hundred Hanover 
 Chasseurs, the total will be 11,443. 
 
 ' As sickness and other contingencies must be expected, I should think 
 not above 7,000 effectives can be spared over Lake Champlain ; for it 
 would be highly imprudent to run any risk in Canada. 
 
 ' The fixing the stations of those left in the province may not be 
 quite right, though the plan proposed may be recommended. Indians 
 must be employed, and this measure must be avowedly directed, and 
 Carleton must be in the strongest manner directed that the Apollo shall 
 bo ready by that day, to receive Burgoyne. 
 
 ' The magazines must be formed with the greatest expedition, at 
 Crown Point. 
 
 ' If possible, possession must be taken of Lake George, and nothing 
 but an absolute impossibility of succeeding in this, can be an excuse for 
 proceeding by South Bay and Skeenborough. 
 
 ' As Sir W. Howe does not think of acting from Rhode Island into the 
 Massachusets, the force from Canada must join him in Albany.
 
 AT SARATOGA 343 
 
 Burgoyne had gained celebrity by some bold and 
 dashing exploits in Portugal during the last war ; he was 
 personally as brave an oflEicer as ever headed British 
 troops ; he had considerable skill as a tactician ; and his 
 general intellectual abilities and acquirements were of 
 a high order. He had several very able and experienced 
 officers under him, among whom were Major-General 
 Phillips and Brigadier-General Frazer. His regular troops 
 amounted, exclusively of the corps of artillery, to about 
 seven thousand two hundred men, rank and file. Nearly 
 half of these were Germans. He had also an auxiliary 
 force of from two to three thousand Canadians. He 
 summoned the warriors of several tribes of the Red Indians 
 near the western lakes to join his army. Much eloquence was 
 poured forth, both in America and in England, in denouncing 
 the use of these savage auxiliaries. Yet Burgoyne seems to 
 have done no more than Montcalm, Wolfe, and other 
 French, American, and English generals had done before 
 him. But, in truth, the lawless ferocity of the Indians, 
 their unskilfulness in regular action, and the utter impossi- 
 bility of bringing them inider any discij^line, made their 
 services of little or no value in times of difficulty : while 
 the indignation which their outrages inspired, went far 
 to rouse the whole population of the invaded districts 
 into active hostilities against Burgoyne's force. 
 
 Burgoyne assembled his troops and confederates near 
 the river Bouquet, on the west side of Lake Champlain. 
 He then, on the 21st of June, 1777, gave his Red Allies 
 a war-feast, and harangued them on the necessity of 
 abstaining from their usual cruel practices against unarmed 
 people and prisoners. At the same time he published 
 
 ' The diversion on the Mohawk River ought at least to be strengthened 
 by the addition of the four hundred Hanover Chasseurs. 
 
 ' The Ordnance ought to furnish a complete proportion of intrenching 
 tools. 
 
 ' The provisions ought to be calculated for a third more than the 
 effective soldiery, and the General ordered to avoid delivering these 
 when the army can be subsisted by the country. Burgoyne certainly 
 greatly undervalues the German recruits. 
 
 ' The idea of carrying the army by sea to Sir W. Howe would certainly 
 require the leaving a much larger part of it in Canada, as in that case the 
 rebel army would divide that province from the immense one under 
 Sir W. Howe. I greatly dislike this last idea.'
 
 344 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 a pompous manifesto to the Americans, in ^hich he 
 threatened the refractory with all the horrors of Avar, 
 Indian as well as European. The army proceeded by water 
 to Crown Point, a fortification which the Americans held 
 at the northern extremity of the inlet by which the water 
 from Lake George is conveyed to Lake Champlain. He 
 landed here without opposition ; but the reduction of 
 Ticonderoga, a fortilication about twelve miles to the south 
 of Crown Point, was a more serious matter, and was sup- 
 posed to be the critical part of the expedition. Ticonderoga 
 commanded the passage along the lakes, and was considered 
 to be the key to the route which Burgoyne wished to follow. 
 The English had been repulsed in an attack on it in the 
 w ar with the French in 1758 with severe loss. But Burgoyne 
 now invested it with great skill ; and the American 
 General, St. Clair, who had only an. ill-equipped army of 
 about three thousand men, evacuated it on the 5th of 
 July. It seems evident that a different course would have 
 caused the destruction or capture of his whole army ; 
 which, weak as it was, was the chief force then in the field 
 for the protection of the New England States. When 
 censured by some of his countrjanen for abandoning 
 Ticonderoga, St. Clair truly replied, ' that he had lost 
 a post, but saved a province.' Burgoyne's troops pursued 
 the retiring Americans, gained several advantages over 
 them, and took a large part of their artillery and military 
 stores. 
 
 The loss of the British in these engagements was triflmg. 
 The army moved southward along Lake George to Skenes- 
 borough ; and thence, slowly, and with great difficulty, 
 across a broken country, full of creeks and marshes, and 
 clogged by the enemy with felled trees and other obstacles, 
 to Fort Edward, on the Hudson river, the American 
 troops continuing to retire before them. 
 
 Burgo^aie reached the left bank of the Hudson river on 
 the 30th of July. Hitherto he had overcome every difficulty 
 which the enemy and the nature of the country had placed 
 in his way. His army was in excellent order and in the 
 highest spirits ; and the peril of the expedition seemed over, 
 when they were once on the bank of the river which was 
 to be the channel of communication between them and the
 
 AT SARATOGA 345 
 
 British army in the south. But their feelings, and those of 
 the Enghsh nation in general when their successes were 
 announced, may best be learned from a contemporary 
 writer. Burke, in the Annual Register for 1777, describes 
 them thus : 
 
 ' Such was the rapid torrent of success, which swept 
 everything away before the northern army in its onset. 
 It is not to be wondered at, if both officers and private 
 men were highly elated with their good fortune, and 
 deemed that and their prowess to be irresistible ; if they 
 regarded their enemy with the greatest contempt ; con- 
 sidered their own toils to be nearly at an end ; Albany 
 to be already in their hands ; and the reduction of the 
 northern provinces to be rather a matter of some time, 
 than an arduous task full of difhculty and danger. 
 
 ' At home, the joy and exultation was extreme ; not 
 only at court, but with all those who hoped or wished the 
 unqualified subjugation and unconditional submission of 
 the colonies. The loss in reputation was greater to the 
 Americans, and capable of more fatal consequences, than 
 even that of ground, of posts, of artillery, or of men. All 
 the contemptuous and most degrading charges which had 
 been made by their enemies, of their wanting the resolu- 
 tion and abilities of men, even in their defence of whatever 
 was dear to them, were now repeated and believed. Those 
 who still regarded them as men, and who had not yet lost 
 all affection to them as brethren, who also retained hopes 
 that a happy reconciliation upon constitutional principles, 
 without sacrificing the dignity or the just authority of 
 government on the one side, or a dereliction of the rights 
 of freemen on the other, was not even now impossible, 
 notwithstanding their favourable dispositions in general, 
 could not help feeling upon this occasion that the Americans 
 sunk not a little in their estimation. It was not difficult 
 to diffuse an opinion that the war in effect was over ; and 
 that any further resistance could serve only to render the 
 terms of their submission the worse. Such were some of 
 the immediate effects of the loss of those grand keys of 
 North America, Ticonderoga and the lakes.' 
 
 The astonishment and alarm which these events produced 
 among the Americans were naturally great ; but in the
 
 34G VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 midst of their disasters none of the colonists showed any 
 disposition to submit. The local governments of the New 
 England States, as well as the Congress, acted with vigour 
 and firmness in their efforts to repel the enemy. General 
 Gates was sent to take the command of the army at 
 Saratoga ; and Arnold, a favourite leader of the Americans, 
 was dispatched by Washington to act inider him, with 
 reinforcements of troops and guns from the main American 
 army. Burgoyne's employment of the Indians now produced 
 the worst possible effects. Though he laboured hard to 
 check the atrocities which they were accustomed to commit, 
 he could not prevent the occurrence of many barbarous 
 outrages, repugnant both to the feelings of humanity and 
 to the laws of civilized warfare. The American commanders 
 took care that the reports of these excesses should be cir- 
 culated far and wide, well knowing that they would make 
 the stern New Englanders not droop, but rage. Such was 
 their effect ; and though, when each man looked upon his 
 wife, his children, his sisters, or his aged parents, the thought 
 of the merciless Indian ' thirsting for the blood of man, 
 woman, and child ', of ' the cannibal savage torturing, 
 murdering, roasting, and eating the mangled victims of 
 his barbarous battles ' ,^ might raise terror in the bravest 
 breasts, this very terror produced a directly contrary 
 effect to causing submission to the royal army. It was seen 
 that the few friends of the royal cavise, as well as its enemies, 
 were liable to be the victims of the indiscriminate rage of 
 the savages ; '^ and thus ' the inhabitants of the open and 
 frontier countries had no choice of acting : they had no 
 means of security left, but by abandoning their habitations 
 and taking up arms. Every man saw the necessity of 
 becoming a temporary soldier, not only for his own securitj^ 
 but for the protection and defence of those connexions 
 which are dearer than life itself. Thus an army was poured 
 forth by the woods, mountains, and marshes, which in 
 this part were thickly sown with plantations and villages. 
 The Americans recalled their courage ; and when their 
 regular army seemed to be entirely wasted, the spirit of 
 
 ^ Lord Chatham's speech on the employment of Indians in the war. 
 ^ See in the Annual Register for 1777, p. 117, the ' Narrative of the 
 Murder of ]VIiss M'Crea, the daughter of an American loyalist '.
 
 AT SARATOGA 317 
 
 the country produced a much greater and more formidable 
 force.' ^ 
 
 While resolute recruits, accustomed to the use of fire- 
 arms and all partially trained by service in the provincial 
 militias, were thus flocking to the standard of Gates and 
 Arnold at Saratoga ; and while Burgoyne was engaged 
 at Fort Edward in providing the means for the further 
 advance of his army through the intricate and hostile 
 country that still lay before him, two events occurred, in 
 each of which the British sustained loss, and the Americans 
 obtained advantage, the moral effects of which were even 
 more important than the immediate result of the encounters. 
 When Burgoyne left Canada, General St. Leger was detached 
 from that province with a mixed force of about one thousand 
 men, and some light field-pieces, across Lake Ontario 
 against Fort Stanwix, which the Americans held. After 
 capturing this, he was to march along the Mohawk river to 
 its confluence with the Hudson, between Saratoga and 
 Albany, where his force and that of Burgoyne were to 
 unite. But, after some successes, St. Leger was obliged 
 to retreat, and to abandon his tents and large quantities 
 of stores to the garrison. At the very time that General 
 Burgoyne heard of this disaster, he experienced one still 
 more severe in the defeat of Colonel Baum with a large 
 detachment of German troojjs at Benington, whither 
 Burgoyne had sent them for the purpose of capturing 
 some magazines of provisions, of which the British army 
 stood greatly in need. The Americans, augmented by 
 continual accessions of strength, succeeded, after many 
 attacks, in breaking this corps, which fled into the woods, 
 and left its commander mortally wounded on the field : they 
 then marched against a force of five hundred grenadiers 
 and light infantry, which was advancing to Colonel Baum's 
 assistance, under Lieutenant-Colonel Breyman ; who, after 
 a gallant resistance, was obliged to retreat on the main army. 
 The British loss in these two actions exceeded six hundred 
 men : and a party of American loyalists, on their way 
 to join the army, having attached themselves to Colonel 
 Baum's corps, were destroyed with it. 
 
 Notwithstanding these reverses, which added greatly to 
 1 Burke.
 
 348 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 the spirit and numbers of the American forces, Burgoyne 
 determined to advance. It was impossible any longer to 
 keep up his communications with Canada by way of the 
 lakes, so as to supply his army on his southward march ; 
 but having by unremitting exertions collected provisions 
 for thirty days, he crossed the Hudson by means of a bridge 
 of rafts, and, marching a short distance along its western 
 bank, he encamped on the 14th of September on the 
 heights of Saratoga, about sixteen miles from Albany. The 
 Americans had fallen back from Saratoga, and were now 
 strongly posted near Stillwater, about half-way between 
 Saratoga and Albany, and showed a determination to 
 recede no farther. 
 
 Meanwhile Lord Howe, with the bulk of the British 
 army that had lain at New York, had sailed away to the 
 Delaware, and there commenced a campaign against 
 Washington, in which the English general took Philadelphia, 
 and gained other showy, but unprofitable successes. But 
 Sir Henry Clinton, a brave and skilful officer, was left with 
 a considerable force at New York ; and he undertook the 
 task of moving up the Hudson to co-operate with Burgoyne. 
 Clinton Avas obliged for this purpose to wait for reinforce- 
 ments which had been promised from England, and these 
 did not arrive till September. As soon as he received them, 
 Clinton embarked about 3,000 of his men on a flotilla, 
 convoyed by some ships of war under Commander Hotham, 
 and proceeded to force his way up the river, but it was long 
 before he was able to open any communication with 
 Burgoyne. 
 
 The country between Burgoyne' s position at Saratoga 
 and that of the Americans at Stillwater was rugged, and 
 seamed with creeks and water-courses ; but after great 
 labour in making bridges and temporary causeways, the 
 British army moved forward. About four miles from 
 Saratoga, on the afternoon of the 19th of September, 
 a sharp encounter took place between part of the English 
 right wing, under Burgoyne himself, and a strong body of 
 the enemy, under Gates and Arnold. The conflict lasted 
 till sunset. The British remained masters of the field ; 
 but the loss on each side was nearly equal (from five 
 hundred to six hundred men) ; and the spirits of the
 
 AT SARATOGA Si9 
 
 Americans were greatly raised by having withstood the 
 best regular troops of the English army. Burgoyne now 
 halted again, and strengthened his position by field-works 
 and redoubts ; and the Americans also improved their 
 defences. The two armies remained nearly within cannon- 
 shot of each other for a considerable time, during which 
 Burgoyne was anxiously looking for intelligence of the 
 promised expedition from New York, which, according to 
 the original plan, ought by this time to have been approach- 
 ing Albany from the south. At last, a messenger from 
 Clinton made his way, with great difficulty, to Burgoyne's 
 camp, and brought the information that Clinton was on 
 his way up the Hudson to attack the American forts which 
 barred the passage up that river to Albany. Burgoyne, 
 in reply, on the 30th of September, urged Clinton to attack 
 the forts as speedily as possible, stating that the effect 
 of such an attack, or even the semblance of it, would be 
 to move the American army from its position before his 
 own troops. By another messenger, who reached Clinton 
 on the 5th of October, Burgoyne informed his brother 
 general that he had lost his communications with Canada, 
 but had provisions which would last him till the 20th. 
 Burgoyne described himself as strongly posted, and stated 
 that though the Americans in front of him were strongly 
 posted also, he made no doubt of being able to force them, 
 and making his way to Albany ; but that he doubted whether 
 he could subsist there, as the country was drained of 
 provisions. He wished Clinton to meet him there, and to 
 keep open a communication with New York.^ 
 
 Burgoyne had over-estimated his resources, and in the 
 very beginning of October found difficulty and distress 
 pressing him hard. 
 
 The Indians and Canadians began to desert him ; while, 
 on the other hand, Gates's army was continually reinforced 
 by fresh bodies of the militia. An expeditionary force was 
 detached by the Americans, which made a bold, though 
 unsuccessful, attempt to retake Ticonderoga. And finding 
 the number and spirit of the enemy to increase daily, and 
 
 * See the letters of General Clinton to General Harvey, published 
 by Lord Albemarle in his Memoirs oj the Marquis oj Rockingham, vol. ii. 
 p. 335 et seq.
 
 350 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 his own stores of provision to diminish, Burgoync deter- 
 mined on attacking the Americans in front of him, and by 
 dislodging them from their position, to gain the means of 
 moving npon Albany, or at least of relieving his troops from 
 the straitened position in which they were cooped up. 
 
 Burgoyne's force was now reduced to less than 6,000 
 men. The right of his camp was on some high ground 
 a little to the west of the river ; thence his entrenchments 
 extended along the lower ground to the bank of the Hudson, 
 the line of their front being nearly at a right angle with the 
 course of the stream. The lines were fortified with redoubts 
 and field-works, and on a height on the flank of the extreme 
 right a strong redoubt was reared, and entrenchments, in 
 a horse-shoe form, thro^vn up. The Hessians, under 
 Colonel Breyman, were stationed here, forming a flank 
 defence to Burgoyne's main army. The numerical force of 
 the Americans was now greater than the British, even in 
 regular troops, and the numbers of the militia and volunteers 
 which had joined Gates and Arnold were greater still. 
 
 General Lincoln, with 2,000 New England troops, had 
 reached the American camp on the 29th of September. 
 Gates gave him the command of the right wing, and 
 took in person the command of the left wing, which was 
 composed of two brigades under Generals Poor and 
 Leonard, of Colonel Morgan's rifle corps, and part of the 
 fresh New England Militia. The whole of the American 
 lines had been ably fortified inider the direction of the 
 celebrated Polish General, Kosciusko, who was now serving 
 as a volunteer in Gates's army. The right of the American 
 position, that is to say, the part of it nearest to the river, 
 was too strong to be assailed with any prospect of success : 
 and Burgoyne therefore determined to endeavour to force 
 their left. For this purpose he formed a column of 1,500 
 regular troops, with two twelve-pounders, two howitzers, 
 and six six-pounders. He headed this in person, having 
 Generals Phillips, Reidesel, and Frazer under him. The 
 enemy's force immediately in front of his lines was so 
 strong that he dared not weaken the troops who guarded 
 them by detaching any more to strengthen his column of 
 attack. 
 
 It was on the 7th of October that Burgoyne led his
 
 AT SARATOGA 
 
 351 
 
 column forward ; and on the preceding day, the 6th, 
 Chnton had successfully executed a brilliant enterprise 
 against the two American forts which barred his progress 
 up the Hudson. He had captured them both, with severe 
 loss to the American forces opposed to him ; he had de- 
 stroyed the fleet which the Americans had been forming 
 
 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OE SARATOGA ' 
 
 on the Hudson, under the protection of their forts ; and the 
 upward river was laid open to his squadron. He had 
 also, with admirable skill and industry, collected in small 
 vessels, such as could float within a few miles of Albany, 
 provisions sufficient to supply Burgoyne's army for six 
 months. 2 He was now only a hundred and fifty-six miles 
 
 ^ I am indebted for this plan, and for many of the details of the battle, 
 to Mr. Lossing's Field-hook of the Revolution. 
 ^ See Clinton's letters in Lord Albemarle, p. 337.
 
 352 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 distant from Burgoyne ; and a detachment of 1,700 men 
 actually advanced within forty miles of Albany. Unfor- 
 tunately Burgoyne and Clinton were each ignorant of the 
 other's movements ; but if Burgoyne had won his battle 
 on the 7th, he must on advancing have soon learned the 
 tidings of Clinton's success, and Clinton would have heard 
 of his. A junction would soon have been made of the two 
 victorious armies, and the great objects of the campaign 
 might yet have been accomplished. All depended on the 
 fortune of the column with which Burgoyne, on the eventful 
 7th of October, 1777, advanced against the American posi- 
 tion. There were brave men, both English and German, in 
 its ranks ; and in particular it comprised one of the best 
 bodies of grenadiers in the British service. 
 
 Burgoyne pushed forward some bodies of irregular troops 
 to distract the enemy's attention ; and led his column 
 to within three-quarters of a mile from the left of Gates's 
 camp, and then deployed his men into line. The grenadiers 
 imderMajorAckland, and the artillery under Major Williams, 
 were drawn up on the left ; a corps of Germans, vnider 
 General Reidesel, and some British troops under General 
 Phillips, were in the centre ; and the English light infantry 
 and the 24th regiment, mider Lord Balcarres and General 
 Frazer, were on the right. But Gates did not wait to be 
 attacked ; and directly the British line M^as formed and 
 began to advance, the American general, with admirable 
 skill, caused General Poor's brigade of New York and New 
 Hampshire troops, and part of General Leonard's brigade, 
 to make a sudden and vehement rush against its left, and 
 at the same time sent Colonel Morgan, with his rifle corps 
 and other troops, amounting to 1,500, to turn the right of 
 the English. The grenadiers under Ackland sustained the 
 charge of superior numbers nobly. But Gates sent more 
 Americans forward, and in a few minutes the action became 
 general along the centre, so as to prevent the Germans 
 from detaching any help to the grenadiers. Morgan, with 
 his riflemen, was now pressing Lord Balcarres and General 
 Frazer hard, and fresh masses of the enemy were observed 
 advancing from their extreme left, with the evident 
 intention of forcing the British right and cutting off its 
 retreat. The English light infantry and the 24th now fell
 
 AT SARATOGA 353 
 
 back and formed an oblique second line, which enabled 
 them to baffle this manoeuvre, and also to succour their 
 comrades in the left wing, the gallant grenadiers, who 
 were overpowered by superior numbers, and, but for this 
 aid, must have been cut to pieces. 
 
 The contest now was fiercely maintained on both sides. 
 The English cannon were repeatedly taken and retaken ; 
 but when the grenadiers near them were forced back by the 
 weight of superior numbers, one of the guns was permanently 
 captured by the Americans, and turned upon the English. 
 Major Williams and Major Ackland were both made 
 prisoners, and in this part of the field the advantage of the 
 Americans was decided. The British centre still held its 
 ground ; but now it was that the American general Arnold 
 appeared upon the scene, and did more for his countrymen 
 than whole battalions could have effected. Arnold, when 
 the decisive engagement of the 7th of October commenced, 
 had been deprived of his command by Gates, in consequence 
 of a quarrel between them about the action of the 19th of 
 September. He had listened for a short time in the Ameri- 
 can camp to the thunder of the battle, in which he had no 
 military right to take part, either as commander or as 
 combatant. But his excited spirit could not long endure 
 such a state of inaction. He called for his horse, a powerful 
 brown charger, and springing on it, galloped furiously to 
 where the fight seemed to be the thickest. Gates saw him, 
 and sent an aide-de-camp to recall him ; but Arnold 
 spurred far in advance, and placed himself at the head of 
 three regiments which had formerly been under him, and 
 which welcomed their old commander with joyous cheers. 
 He led them instantly upon the British centre ; and then 
 gallopmg along the American Ime, he issued orders for 
 a renewed and a closer attack, which were obeyed with 
 alacrity, Arnold himself setting the example of the most 
 daring personal bravery, and charging more than once, 
 sword in hand, into the English ranks. On the British side 
 the officers did their duty nobly ; but General Frazer was 
 the most eminent of them all, restoring order wherever the 
 line began to waver, and infusing fresh courage mto his men 
 b}'' voice and example. Mounted on an iron-grey charger, 
 and dressed in the full uniform of a general officer, he was 
 
 PREASY A a
 
 354 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 conspicuous to foes as well as to friends. The American 
 Colonel Morgan thought that the fate of the battle rested 
 on this gallant man's life, and caUing several of his best 
 marksmen round him, pointed Frazer out, and said : ' That 
 officer is General Frazer ; I admire him, but he must die. 
 Our victory depends on it. Take your stations in that 
 clump of bushes, and do j'our duty.' Within five minutes, 
 Frazer fell mortally woimded, and was carried to the British 
 camp by two grenadiers. Just previously to his being 
 struck by the fatal bullet, one rifle-ball had cut the crupper 
 of his saddle, and another had passed through his horse's 
 mane close behind the ears. His aide-de-camp had noticed 
 this, and said : ' It is evident that you are marked out for 
 particular aim ; would it not be prudent for j^ou to retire 
 from this place ? ' Frazer replied : ' My duty forbids me 
 to fly from danger ; ' and the next moment he fell.^ 
 
 Burgoyne's whole force was now compelled to retreat 
 towards their camp ; the left and centre were in complete 
 disorder, but the light mfantrj^ and the 24th checked the 
 fury of the assailants, and the remains of the column with 
 great difficulty effected their return to their camp ; leaving 
 six of their cannons in the possession of the enemy, and 
 great numbers of killed and wounded on the field ; and 
 especially a large proportion of the artillerymen, who had 
 stood to their guns until shot down or bayoneted beside 
 them bjT^ the advancing Americans. 
 
 Burgoyne's column had been defeated, but the action 
 was not yet over. The English had scarcely entered the 
 camp, when the Americans, pursuing their success, assaulted 
 it in several places with remarkable impetuosity, rushing 
 in upon the entrenchments and redoubts through a severe 
 fire of grape-shot and musketry. Arnold especially, who 
 on this day appeared maddened vrith. the thirst of combat 
 and carnage, urged on the attack against a part of the 
 entrenchments which was occupied by the light infantry 
 under Lord Balcarres.^ But the English received him with 
 vigour and spirit. The struggle here was obstinate and 
 sanguinary. At length, as it grew towards evening, Arnold," 
 having forced all obstacles, entered the works with, some 
 of the most fearless of his followers. But in this critical 
 ^ Lossing. » Botta's American War, book viii.
 
 AT SARATOGA 355 
 
 moment of glory and danger, he received a painful wound 
 in the same leg which had already been injured at the 
 assault on Quebec. To his bitter regret he Avas obliged to 
 be carried back. His part}' still continued the attack, but 
 the English also continued their obstinate resistance, and 
 at last night fell, and the assailants withdrew from this 
 quarter of the British entrenchments. But in another part 
 the attack had been more successful. A body of the 
 Americans, under Colonel Brooke, forced their way in 
 through a part of the horse-shoe entrenchments on the 
 extreme right, which was defended by the Hessian reserve 
 under Colonel Breyman. The Germans resisted well, and 
 Bre5anan died in defence of his post ; but the Americans 
 made good the ground which they had won, and captured 
 baggage, tents, artillery, and a store of ammunition, which 
 they were greatly in need of. They had, by establishing 
 themselves on this point, acquired the means of completely 
 turning the right flank of the British and gaming their rear. 
 To prevent this calamity, Burgoyne effected during the 
 night an entire change of position. With great skill he 
 removed his whole army to some heights near the river, 
 a little northward of the former camp, and he there drew 
 up his men, expecting to be attacked on the following day. 
 But Gates was resolved not to risk the certain triumph 
 which his success had already secured for him. He harassed 
 the English with skirmishes, but attempted no regular 
 attack. Meanwhile he detached bodies of troops on both 
 sides of the Hudson to prevent the British from recrossing 
 that river, and to bar their retreat. When night fell, it 
 became absolutely necessary for Burgoyne to retire again, 
 and, accordingly, the troops were marched through a 
 stormy and rainy night towards Saratoga, abandoning their 
 sick and wounded, and the greater part of their baggage, 
 to the enemy. 
 
 Before the rear-guard quitted the camp, the last sad 
 honours were paid to the brave General Frazer, who 
 expired on the day after the action. 
 
 He had, almost with his last breath, expressed a wish 
 to be buried in the redoubt which had formed the part of 
 the British lines where he had been stationed, but which 
 had now been abandoned by the English, and was within 
 
 A a 2
 
 35G VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 full range of the cannon which the advancing Americans 
 were rapidly placing in position to bear upon Burgoyne's 
 force. Burgoyne resolved, nevertheless, to comply with 
 the dying wish of his comrade ; and the interment took 
 place under circumstances the most affecting that hav^e ever 
 marked a soldier's funeral. Still more interesting is the 
 narrative of Lady Ackland's passage from the British to the 
 American camp, after the battle, to share the captivity and 
 alleviate the sufferings of her husband, who had been 
 severely wounded, and left in the enemy's power. The 
 American historian, Lossing, has described both these 
 touching episodes of the campaign, in a spirit that does 
 honour to the ^vriter as well as to his subject. After 
 narrating the death of General Frazer, on the 8th of October, 
 he says that ' It was just at sunset, on that calm October 
 evening, that the corpse of General Frazer was carried up 
 the hill to the place of burial within the " great redoubt ". 
 It was attended only by the military members of his family 
 and Mr. Brudenell, the chaplain ; yet the eyes of hundreds 
 of both armies followed the solemn procession, while the 
 Americans, ignorant of its true character, kept up a con- 
 stant cannonade upon the redoubt. The chaplain, unawed 
 by the danger to which he was exposed, as the cannon-balls 
 that struck the hill threw the loose soil over him, pronounced 
 the impressive funeral service of the Church of England 
 with an unfaltering voice. The growing darkness added 
 solemnity to the scene. Suddenly the irregular firing 
 ceased, and the solemn voice of a single cannon, at measured 
 intervals, boomed along the valley and awakened the 
 responses of the hills. It was a minute gun fired by the 
 Americans in honour of the gallant dead. The moment the 
 information was given that the gathermg at the redoubt 
 was a funeral company, fulfilling, at imminent peril, the last- 
 breathed wishes of the noble Frazer, orders M^ere issued to 
 withhold the cannonade with balls, and to render military 
 homage to the fallen brave. 
 
 ' The case of Major Ackland and his heroic wile presents 
 kindred features. He belonged to the grenadiers, and was 
 an accomplished soldier. His wife accompanied him to 
 Canada in 1776 ; and during the whole campaign of that 
 year, and until his return to England after the surrender of
 
 AT SARATOGA 357 
 
 Burgoyne, in the autumn of 1777, endured all the hardships, 
 dangers, and privations of an active campaign in an enemy's 
 country. At Chambly, on the Sorel, she attended him in 
 illness, in a miserable hut ; and when he was wounded in the 
 battle of Hubbardton, Vermont, she hastened to him at 
 Henesborough from Montreal, where she had been persuaded 
 to remain, and resolved to follow the army hereafter. 
 Just before crossing the Hudson, she and her husband had 
 had a narrow escape from losing their lives in consequence 
 of their tent accidentally taking fire. 
 
 ' During the terrible engagement of the 7th October, she 
 heard all the tumult and dreadful thunder of the battle 
 in which her husband was engaged ; and when, on the 
 morning of the 8th, the British fell back in confusion to 
 their new position, she, with the other women, was obliged 
 to take refuge among the dead and dying ; for the tents 
 were all strvick, and hardly a shed was left standing. Her 
 husband Avas wounded, and a prisoner in the American 
 camp. That gallant officer was shot through both legs. 
 When Poor and Learned's troops assaulted the grenadiers 
 and artillery on the British left, on the afternoon of the 7th, 
 Wilkinson, Gates's adjutant-general, while pursuing the 
 flying enemy when they abandoned their battery, heard 
 a feeble voice exclaim, " Protect me, sir, against that boy ". 
 He turned and saw a lad with a musket takmg deliberate 
 aim at a wounded British officer, lying in a corner of a low 
 fence. Wilkinson ordered the boy to desist, and discovered 
 the wounded man to be Major Ackland. He had him con- 
 vej'ed to the quarters of General Poor (now the residence 
 of Mr. Neilson) on the heights, where every attention was 
 paid to his wants. 
 
 ' When the intelligence that he was wounded and a 
 prisoner reached his wife, she was greatly distressed, and, 
 by the advice of her friend. Baroness Reidesel, resolved to 
 visit the American camp and implore the favour of a 
 personal attendance upon her husband. On the 9th she 
 sent a message to Burgoyne by Lord Petersham, his aide- 
 de-camp, asking permission to depart. " Though I was 
 ready to believe ", says Burgoyne, " that patience and 
 fortitude, in a supreme degree, were to be found, as well as 
 every other virtue, under the most tender forms, I was
 
 358 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 astonished at this proposal. After so long an agitation of 
 spirits, exhausted not only for want of rest, but absolutely 
 want of food, drenched in rains for twelve hours together, 
 that a woman should be capable of such an undertaking as 
 delivering herself to an enemy, probably in the night, and 
 uncertain of what hands she might fall into, appeared an 
 effort above human nature. The assistance I was able to 
 give was small indeed. I had not even a cup of wine to 
 offer her. All I could furnish her with was an open boat, 
 and a few lines, written upon dirty wet paper, to General 
 Gates, recommendmg her to his protection." The follow- 
 ing is a copy of the note sent by Burgoyne to General Gates : 
 " Sir, — Lady Harriet Ackland, a lady of the first distinc- 
 tion of family, rank, and personal virtues, is under such 
 concern on account of Major Ackland, her husband, wounded 
 and a prisoner in . your hands, that I cannot refuse her 
 request to commit her to your protection. Whatever 
 general impropriety there may be in persons of my situation 
 and yours to solicit favours, I cannot see the uncommon 
 perseverance in every female grace, and the exaltation of 
 character of this lady, and her very hard fortune, without 
 testifying that your attentions to her mil lay me under 
 obligations. I am, sir, your obedient servant, J. Bur- 
 goyne." She set out in an open boat upon the Hudson, 
 accompanied by Mr. Brudenell, the chaplain, Sarah Pollard, 
 her waiting-maid, and her husband's valet, who had been 
 severel^y wounded while searching for his master upon the 
 battle-field. It was about sunset when they started, and 
 a violent storm of rain and wind, which had been mcreasing 
 smce the morning, rendered the vo}' age tedious and perilous 
 in the extreme. It was long after dark when they reached 
 the American outposts ; the sentmel heard their oars, 
 and hailed them. Lady Harriet returned the answer 
 herself. The clear, silvery tones of a woman's voice amid 
 the darkness, filled the soldier on duty with suiJerstitious 
 fear, and he called a comrade to accompany him to the 
 river bank. The errand of the voyagers was made known, 
 but the faithful guard, apprehensive of treachery, would not 
 allow them to land until they sent for Major Dearborn. 
 They were invited by that officer to his quarters, where 
 every attention was paid to them, and Lady Harriet was
 
 AT SARATOGA 359 
 
 comforted by the joyful tidings that her husband was safe. 
 In the morning she experienced parental tenderness from 
 General Gates, who sent her to her husband, at Poor's 
 quarters, under a suitable escort. There she remained 
 until he was removed to Albany.' 
 
 Burgoyne now took up his last position on the heights 
 near Saratoga ; and hemmed in by the enemy, who refused 
 any encounter, and baffled m all his attempts at finding 
 a path of escape, he there lingered until famine compelled 
 him to capitulate. The fortitude of the British army 
 during this melancholy period has been justly eulogized by 
 many native historians, but I prefer quoting the testimony 
 of a foreign writer, as free from all possibility of partiality. 
 Botta says : ^ 
 
 ' It exceeds the j^ower of words to describe the pitiable 
 condition to which the British army was now reduced. 
 The troops were worn down by a series of toil, privation, 
 sickness, and desperate fighting. They were abandoned by 
 the Indians and Canadians ; and the efEective force of the 
 whole army was now diminished by repeated and heavy 
 losses, which had principally fallen on the best soldiers, and 
 the most distinguished officers, from ten thousand com- 
 batants to less than one-half that number. Of this remnant 
 little more than three thousand were English. 
 
 ' In these circumstances, and thus weakened, they were 
 invested by an army of four times their own number, 
 whose position extended three parts of a circle round them ; 
 who refused to fight them, as knowing their weakness, and 
 who, from the nature of the ground, could not be attacked 
 in any part. In this helpless condition, obliged to be 
 constantly under arms, while the enemy's cannon played on 
 every part of their camp, and even the American rifle-balls 
 whistled in many parts of the lines, the troops of Burgoyne 
 retained their customary firmness, and while sinking under 
 a hard necessity, they showed themselves worthy of a 
 better fate. They could not be reproached with an action 
 or a word which betrayed a want of temper or of fortitude.' 
 
 At length the 13th of October arrived, and as no prospect 
 of assistance appeared, and the provisions were nearly 
 exhausted, Burgoyne, by the unanimous advice of a council 
 * Botta, book viii.
 
 360 VICTORY OF THE AMERICANS 
 
 of war, sent a messenger to the American camp to treat 
 of a convention. 
 
 General Gates in the first instance demanded that the 
 royal army should surrender prisoners of war. He also 
 proposed that the British should ground their arms. 
 Burgoyne replied, ' This article is inadmissible in every 
 extremity ; sooner than this army will consent to ground 
 their arms in their encampment, they will rush on the 
 enemy, determined to take no quarter '. After various 
 messages, a convention for the surrender of the army was 
 settled, which provided that ' The troops under General 
 Burgoyne were to march out of their camp with the honours 
 of war, and the artillery of the entrenchments, to the verge 
 of the river, where the arms and artillery were to be left. 
 The arms to be piled by word of command from their owti 
 officers. A free passage w^as to be granted to the army 
 under Lieutenant-General Burgoyne to Great Britain, upon 
 condition of not serving again m North America during the 
 present contest.' 
 
 The articles of capitulation were settled on the 15th 
 of October ; and on that very evening a messenger arrived 
 from Clinton wdth an account of his successes, and with the 
 tidings that part of his force had penetrated as far as Esopus, 
 within fifty miles of Burgoyne 's camp. But it was too late. 
 The public faith Avas pledged ; and the army was, indeed, 
 too debilitated by fatigue and hunger to resist an attack if 
 made ; and Gates certainly w^ould have made it, if the 
 convention had been broken off. Accordingly, on the 17th, 
 the convention of Saratoga was carried into effect. By 
 this convention 5,790 men surrendered themselves as 
 prisoners. The sick and wounded left in the camp w'hen 
 the British retreated to Saratoga, together with the num- 
 bers of the British, German, and Canadian troops who were 
 killed, wounded, or taken, and who had deserted in the 
 preceding part of the expedition, w^ere reckoned to be 4,689. 
 
 The British sick and wounded who had fallen into the 
 hands of the Americans after the battle of the 7th were 
 treated with exemplary humanity ; and w^hen the conven- 
 tion was executed, General Gates showed a noble delicacy 
 of feeling, w^hich deserves the highest degree of honour. 
 Every circumstance was avoided which could give the
 
 AT SARATOGA 361 
 
 appearance of triumph. The American troops remained 
 within their lines until the British had piled their arms ; 
 and when this was done, the vanquished officers and 
 soldiers were received with friendly kindness by their 
 victors, and their immediate wants were promptly and 
 liberally supplied. Discussions and disputes afterwards 
 arose as to some of the terms of the convention ; and the 
 American Congress refused for a long time to carry into 
 effect the article which provided for the return of Bur- 
 goyne's men to Europe ; but no blame was imputable to 
 General Gates or his army, who showed themselves to be 
 generous as they had proved themselves to be brave. 
 
 Gates, after the victory, immediately disj)atched Colonel 
 Wilkinson to carry the happy tidings to Congress. On 
 being introduced into the hall, he said, ' The whole British 
 army has laid down its arms at Saratoga ; our own, full of 
 vigour and courage, expect your order. It is for your 
 wisdom to decide where the country may still have need 
 for their service.' Honours and rewards were liberally 
 voted by the Congress to their conquering general and his 
 men ; ' and it would be difficult (says the Italian historian) 
 to describe the transports of joy which the news of this event 
 excited among the Americans. They began to flatter 
 themselves with a still more happy future. No one any 
 longer felt any doubt about their achieving their indepen- 
 dence. All hoped, and with good reason, that a success of 
 this importance would at length determine France, and the 
 other European powers that waited for her example, to 
 declare themselves in favour of America. There could no 
 longer he any question respecting the future ; since there was 
 no longer the risk of espousing the cause of a peopile too feeble 
 to defend themselves.^ ^ 
 
 The truth of this was soon disjalayed in the conduct of 
 France. When the news arrived at Paris of the capture of 
 Ticonderoga, and of the victorious march of Burgoyne 
 towards Albany, events which seemed decisive in favour of 
 the English, instructions had been immediately dispatched 
 to Nantes, and the other ports of the kingdom, that no 
 American privateers should be suffered to enter them, 
 except from indispensable necessity, as to repair their 
 ^ Botta, book ix.
 
 362 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS 
 
 vessels, to obtain provisions, or to escape the perils of the 
 sea. The American commissioners at Paris, in their 
 disgust and despair, had almost broken off all negotiations 
 with the French Government ; and they even endeavoured 
 to open communications with the British ministry. But 
 the British Government, elated with the first successes of 
 Burgoyne, refused to listen to any overtures for accommo- 
 dation. But when the news of Saratoga reached Paris, the 
 whole scene was changed. Franklin and his brother 
 commissioners found all their difficulties with the French 
 Government vanish. The time seemed to have arrived for 
 the House of Bourbon to take a full revenge for all its 
 humiliations and losses in previous wars. In December a 
 treaty was arranged, and formally signed in the February 
 following, by which France acknowledged the Independent 
 United States of America. This was, of course, tantamount 
 to a declaration of war with England. Spain soon followed 
 France ; and before long Holland took the same course. 
 Largely aided by French fleets and troops, the Americans 
 vigorously maintained the war against the armies which 
 England, in spite of her European foes, continued to send 
 across the Atlantic. But the struggle was too unequal to 
 be maintained by this country for many years : and when 
 the treaties of 1783 restored peace to the world, the inde- 
 pendence of the United States was reluctantly recognized 
 by their ancient parent and recent enemy, England. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE DEFEAT OF 
 BURGOYNE AT SARATOGA, 1777, AND THE 
 BATTLE OF VALMY, 1792 
 
 A.D. 1781. Surrender of Lord Cornwallis and the British 
 army to Washington. 
 
 1782. Rodney's victory over the Spanish fleet. Unsuc- 
 cessful siege of Gibraltar by the Spaniards and French. 
 
 1783. End of the American war. 
 
 1788. The States-General are convened in France : be- 
 ginning of the Revolution.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE BATTLE OF VALMY 
 
 Purpiirei metuunt tyranni, 
 Iniurioso ne pede proruas 
 Stantem columnam, neu populus frequeiis 
 Ad arma cessantes, ad arma 
 Concitet imperiumque frangat. 
 
 HoRAT. Od. i. 35. 
 
 A little fire is quickly trodden out. 
 
 Which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench. 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 A FEW miles distant from the little town of St. Mene- 
 hould, in the north-east of France, are the village and hill 
 of Valmy, and near the crest of that hill a simple monument 
 points out the burial-place of the heart of a general of the 
 French republic, and a marshal of the French empire. 
 
 The elder Kellerman (father of the distinguished officer 
 of that name, whose cavalry-charge decided the battle of 
 Marengo) held high commands in the French armies 
 throughout the wars of the Convention, the Directory, the 
 Consulate, and the Emj)ire. He survived those wars, and 
 the Empire itself, dymg in extreme old age in 1820. The 
 last wish of the veteran on his death-bed was that his heart 
 should be deposited in the battle-field of Valmy, there to 
 repose among the remains of his old companions in arms, 
 who had fallen at his side on that spot twenty-eight years 
 before, on the memorable day when they won the primal 
 victory of revolutionary France, and prevented the armies 
 of Brunswick and the emigrant bands of Conde from 
 marching on defenceless Paris, and destroying the immature 
 democracy in its cradle. 
 
 The Duke of Valmy (for Kellerman, when made one of 
 Napoleon's military peers in 1802, took his title from this 
 same battle-field) had participated, during his long and 
 active career, in the gaining of many a victory far more
 
 364 BATTLE OF VALMY 
 
 immediately dazzling than the one, the remembrance of 
 which he thus cherished. He had been present at many 
 a scene of carnage, where blood flowed in deluges, compared 
 with which the libations of slaughter poured out at Valmy 
 would have seemed scant and insignificant. But he rightly 
 estimated the paramount importance of the battle with 
 which he thus wished his appellation while living, and his 
 memory after his death, to be identified. The successful 
 resistance, which the new Carmagnole levies, and the 
 disorganized relics of the old monarchy's army, then opposed 
 to the combined hosts and chosen leaders of Prussia, 
 Austria, and the French refugee noblesse, determined at 
 once and for ever the belligerent character of the Revolution. 
 The raw artisans and tradesmen, the clumsy burghers, the 
 base mechanics and low peasant churls, as it had been the 
 fashion to term the middle and lower classes in France, 
 found that they could face cannon-balls, pull triggers, and 
 cross bayonets, "without having been drilled into military 
 machines, and without being officered by scions of noble 
 houses. They awoke to the consciousness of their own 
 instinctive soldiership. Thej^ at once acquired confidence 
 in themselves and in each other ; and that confidence soon 
 grew into a spirit of unbounded audacity and ambition. 
 ' From the cannonade of Valmy maj^ be dated the com- 
 mencement of that career of victory which carried their 
 armies to Vienna and the Kremlin.' ^ 
 
 One of the gravest reflections that arises from the con- 
 templation of the civil restlessness and military enthusiasm 
 which the close of the last century saw nationalized in 
 France, is the consideration that these disturbmg influences 
 have become perpetual. No settled system of government, 
 that shall endure from generation to generation, that shall 
 be proof against corruption and popular violence, seems 
 capable of taking root among the French. And every 
 revolutionary movement in Paris thrills throughout the 
 rest of the world. Even the successes which the powers 
 allied against France gained in 1814 and 1815, important 
 as they were, could not annul the effects of the preceding 
 twenty-three years of general convulsion and war. 
 
 Tn 1830, the dj^nast}' which foreign bayonets had imposed 
 ^ Alison.
 
 BATTLE OF VALMY 365 
 
 on France was shaken o£E ; and men trembled at the 
 expected outbreak of French anarchy and the dreaded 
 inroads of French ambition. They ' looked forward with 
 harassing anxiety to a period of destruction similar to that 
 which the Roman world experienced about the middle of 
 the third century of our era'.^ Louis Philippe cajoled 
 Revolution, and then strove with seeming success to stifle it. 
 But in spite of Fieschi laws, in spite of the dazzle of Algerian 
 razzias and Pyrenees -effacing marriages, in spite of hundreds 
 of armed forts, and hundreds of thousands of coercing troops. 
 Revolution lived, and struggled to get free. The old Titan 
 spirit heaved restlessly beneath ' the monarchy based on 
 republican institutions '. At last, four years ago, the whole 
 fabric of kingcraft was at once rent and scattered to the 
 winds, by the uprising of the Parisian democracy ; and 
 insurrections, barricades, and dethronements, the downfall 
 of coronets and crowns, the armed collisions of parties, 
 systems, and populations, became the commonplaces of 
 recent European history. 
 
 France now calls herself a republic. She first assumed 
 that title on the 20th of September, 1792, on the very day 
 on which the battle of Valmy was fought and won. To 
 that battle the democratic spirit which m 1848, as well as 
 in 1792, proclaimed the Republic in Paris, owed its pre- 
 servation, and it is thence that the imperishable activity 
 of its principles may be dated. 
 
 Far different seemed the prospects of democracy in 
 Europe on the eve of that battle ; and far different would 
 have been the present position and influence of the French 
 nation, if Brunswick's columns had charged with more 
 boldness, or the lines of Dumouriez resisted with less 
 firmness. When France, in 1792, declared war with the 
 great powers of Europe, she was far from possessing that 
 splendid military organization which the experience of 
 a few revolutionary campaigns taught her to assume, and 
 which she has never abandoned. The army of the old 
 monarchy had, during the latter part of the reign of 
 Louis XV, sunk into gradual decay, both in numerical 
 force and in efficiency of equipment and spirit. The laurels 
 
 ^ See Niebuhr's Preface to the second volume of the History of Rome, 
 written in October 1830.
 
 366 BATTLE OF VALMY 
 
 gained by the auxiliary regiments which Louis XVI sent 
 to the American war did but little to restore the general 
 tone of the army. The insubordination and licence which 
 the revolt of the French guards and the participation of 
 other troops in many of the first excesses of the Revolution 
 introduced among the soldiery, were soon rapidly dis- 
 seminated through all the ranks. Under the Legislative 
 Assembly every complaint of the soldier against his officer, 
 however frivolous or ill-founded, was listened to with 
 eagerness, and mvestigated with partiality, on the principles 
 of liberty and equality. Disciplme accordingly became 
 more and more relaxed ; and the dissolution of several of 
 the old corps, under the pretext of their being tainted with 
 an aristocratic feeling, aggravated the confusion and ineffi- 
 ciency of the war department. Many of the most effec- 
 tive regiments during the last period of the monarchy had 
 consisted of foreigners. These had either been slaughtered 
 in defence of the throne against insurrections, like the Swdss ; 
 or had been disbanded, and had crossed the frontier to 
 recruit the forces which were assembling for the invasion of 
 France. Above all, the emigration of the noblesse had 
 stripped the French army of nearly all its officers of high 
 rank, and of the greatest portion of its subalterns. More 
 than twelve thousand of the high-born j^outh of France, 
 who had been tramed to regard military command as their 
 exclusive patrimony, and to whom the nation had been 
 accustomed to look up as its natural guides and cham- 
 pions in the storm of war, were now marshalled beneath 
 the banner of Conde and the other emigrant princes, for the 
 overthrow of the French armies and the reduction of the 
 French capital. Their successors in the French regiments 
 and brigades had as yet acquired neither skill nor experience: 
 they possessed neither self-reliance nor the respect of the 
 men who were under them. 
 
 Such was the state of the "WTCcks of the old army ; but 
 the bulk of the forces with which France began the war 
 consisted of raw insurrectionary levies, which were even less 
 to be depended on. The Carmagnoles, as the revolutionary 
 volunteers were called, flocked, indeed, readily to the fron- 
 tier from every department when the war was proclaimed, 
 and the fierce leaders of the Jacobins shouted that the
 
 BATTLE OF VALMY 367 
 
 country was in danger. They were full of zeal and courage, 
 ' heated and excited by the scenes of the Revolution, and 
 inflamed by the florid eloquence, the songs, dances, and 
 signal- words with which it had been celebrated '.^ But 
 they were utterly undisciplined, and turbulently impatient 
 of superior authority or systematical control. Many 
 ruffians, also, who were sullied with participation m the 
 most sanguinary horrors of Paris, joined the camps, and 
 were pre-eminent alike for misconduct before the enemy 
 and for savage insubordination against their own officers. 
 On one occasion during the campaign of Valmy, eight 
 battalions of federates, intoxicated with massacre and 
 sedition, joined the forces under Dumouriez, and soon 
 threatened to uproot all discipline, saymg openly that the 
 ancient officers were traitors, and that it was necessary 
 to purge the army, as they had Paris, of its aristocrats. 
 Dumouriez posted these battalions apart from the others, 
 placed a strong force of cavalry behind them, and two 
 pieces of cannon on their flank. Then, affecting to review 
 them, he halted at the head of the line, surrounded by all 
 his staff, and an escort of a hundred hussars. ' Fellows,' 
 said he, ' for I will not call you either citizens or soldiers, 
 you see before you this artillery, behind you this cavalry ; 
 you are stained with crimes, and I do not tolerate here 
 assassins or executioners. I know that there are scoundrels 
 amongst you charged to excite you to crime. Drive them 
 from amongst you, or denounce them to me, for I shall hold 
 you responsible for their conduct.' ^ 
 
 One of our recent historians of the Revolution, who 
 narrates this incident,^ thus apostrophizes the French 
 general : 
 
 ' Patience, Dumouriez ! This uncertain heap of shriekers, 
 mutineers, were they once drilled and inured, will become 
 a phalanxed mass of fighters ; and wheel and whirl to order 
 swiftly, like the wmd or the whirlwind ; tanned mustachio- 
 figures ; often barefoot, even barebacked ; with sinews of 
 iron ; who require only bread and gunpowder ; very sons 
 of fire, the adroitest, hastiest, hottest, ever seen perhaps 
 since Attila's time.' 
 
 * Scott, Life of Napoleon, vol. i. c. viii. 
 
 * Lamartine. ' Carlyle.
 
 3G8 BATTLE OF VALMY 
 
 Such phalanxed masses of fighters did the Carmagnoles 
 ultimately become ; but France ran a fearful risk in being 
 obliged to rely on them when the process of their trans- 
 mutation had barely commenced. 
 
 The first events, indeed, of the war were disastrous 
 and disgraceful to France, even beyond w^hat might have 
 been expected from the chaotic state in which it found 
 her armies as well as her government. In the hopes of 
 profiting by the unprepared state of Austria, then the 
 mistress of the Netherlands, the French opened the cam- 
 paign of 1792 by an invasion of Flanders, with forces 
 whose muster-rolls showed a numerical overwhelming 
 superiority to the enemy, and seemed to promise a speedy 
 conquest of that old battle-field of Europe. But the first 
 flash of an Austrian sabre, or the first sound of an Austrian 
 gun, was enough to discomfit the French. Their first corps, 
 four thousand strong, that advanced from Lille across the 
 frontier, came suddenly upon a far inferior detachment of 
 the Austrian garrison of Tournay. Not a shot was fired, 
 not a bayonet levelled. With one simultaneous cry of 
 panic, the French broke and ran headlong back to Lille, 
 where they completed the specimen of insubordination 
 which they had given in the field, by murdering their 
 general and several of their chief officers. On the same day, 
 another division under Biron, mustering ten thousand 
 sabres and bayonets, saw a few Austrian skirmishers 
 reconnoitring their position. The French advanced posts 
 had scarcely given and received a volley, and only a few 
 balls from the enemy's field-pieces had fallen among the 
 lines, when two regiments of French dragoons raised the 
 cry, ' We are betrayed,' galloped off, and were followed in 
 disgraceful rout by the rest of the whole army. Similar 
 panics, or repulses almost equally discreditable, occurred 
 whenever Bochambeau, or Luckner, or La Fayette, the 
 earliest French generals in the war, brought their troops 
 into the presence of the enemy. 
 
 Meanwhile the allied sovereigns had gradually collected 
 on the Bhine a veteran and finely disciplined army for the 
 invasion of France, which for numbers, equipment, and 
 martial renown, both of generals and men, was equal to 
 any that Germany had ever sent forth to conquer. Their
 
 BATTLE OF VALMY 369 
 
 design was to strike boldly and decisively at the heart of 
 France, and penetrating the country through the Ardennes, 
 to proceed by Chalons upon Paris. The obstacles that 
 lay in their Avay seemed insignificant. The disorder and 
 imbecility of the French armies had been even augmented 
 by the forced flight of La Fayette, and a sudden change of 
 generals. The only troops posted on or near the track by 
 which the Allies were about to advance were the twenty- 
 three thousand men at Sedan, whom La Fayette had 
 commanded, and a corps of twenty thousand near Metz, 
 the command of which had just been transferred from 
 Luckner and Kellerman. There were only three fortresses 
 which it was necessary for the Allies to capture or mask — 
 Sedan, Longwy, and Verdun. The defences and stores of 
 these three were known to be wretchedly dismantled and 
 insufficient ; and when once these feeble barriers were 
 overcome, and Chalons reached, a fertile and unprotected 
 country seemed to invite the invaders to this ' military 
 promenade to Paris ', which they gaily talked of accom- 
 plishing. 
 
 At the end of July the allied army, having completed all 
 preparations for the campaign, broke up from its canton- 
 ments, and, marching from Luxembourg upon Longwy, 
 crossed the French frontier. Sixty thousand Prussians, 
 trained in the school, and many of them under the eye of 
 the Great Frederick, heirs of the glories of the Seven Years' 
 War, and universally esteemed the best troops in Europe, 
 marched in one column against the central point of attack. 
 Forty-five thousand Austrians, the greater part of whom 
 were picked troops, and had served in the recent Turkish 
 war, supplied two formidable corps that supported the 
 flanks of the Prussians. There was also a powerful body 
 of Hessians, and, leagued with the Germans against the 
 Parisian democracy, came fifteen thousand of the noblest 
 and bravest amongst the sons of France. In these corps 
 of emigrants, many of the highest born of the French 
 nobility, scions of houses whose chivalric trophies had for 
 centuries filled Europe with renown, served as rank and file. 
 They looked on the road to Paris as the path which they 
 were to carve out by their swords to victory, to honour, to 
 the rescue of their kmg, to reunion with their families, to 
 
 CREASY B \)
 
 370 BATTLE OF VALMY 
 
 the recovery of their patrimony, and to the restoration of 
 their order. ^ 
 
 Over this imposing army the allied sovereigns placed as 
 generalissimo the Duke of Brunswick, one of the minor 
 reigning prmces of Germany, a statesman of no mean 
 capacity, and who had acquired in the Seven Years' War 
 a militarj^ reputation second only to that of the Great 
 Frederick himself. He had been deputed a few years 
 before to quell the popular movements which then took 
 place in Holland ; and he had put down the attempted 
 revolution in that country with a promptitude and com- 
 pleteness which appeared to augur equal success to the 
 army that now marched under his orders on a similar 
 mission into France. 
 
 Moving majestically forward, with leisurely deliberation, 
 that seemed to show the consciousness of superior strength, 
 and a steady purpose of doing their work thoroughly, the 
 Allies appeared before Long^w on the 20th of August, and 
 the dispirited and dependent garrison opened the gates of 
 that fortress to them after the first shower of bombs. On 
 the 2nd of September the still more important stronghold 
 of Verdun capitulated after scared j' the shadow of resistance. 
 
 Brunswick's superior force was now interposed between 
 Kellerman's troops on the left, and the other French army 
 near Sedan, which La Fayette's flight had, for the time, 
 left destitute of a commander. It was in the power of the 
 German general, by striking with an overwhelming mass to 
 the right and left, to crush in succession each of these weak 
 armies, and the Allies might then have marched irresistible 
 and unresisted upon Paris. But at this crisis Dumouriez, 
 the new commander-in-chief of the French, arrived at the 
 camp near Sedan, and commenced a series of movements 
 by which he reunited the dispersed and disorganized forces 
 of his country, checked the Prussian columns at the very 
 moment when the last obstacles of their triumph seemed to 
 have given way, and finally rolled back the tide of invasion 
 far across the enemy's frontier. , 
 
 The French fortresses had fallen ; but nature herself 
 still offered to brave and vigorous defenders of the land 
 the means of opposing a barrier to the progress of the Allies. 
 ^ See Scott, Life of Napoleon, vol. i. c. xi.
 
 BATTLE OF VALMY 371 
 
 A ridge of broken ground, called the Argonne, extends from 
 the vicinity of Sedan towards the south-west for about 
 fifteen or sixteen leagues. The country of L' Argonne has 
 now been cleared and drained, but in 1792 it was thickly 
 wooded, and the lower portions of its unequal surface 
 were filled with rivulets and marshes. It thus presented 
 a natural barrier of from four or five leagues broad, which 
 w^as absolutely impenetrable to an army, except by a few 
 defiles, such as an inferior force might easily fortify and 
 defend. Dumouriez succeeded in marching his army down 
 from Sedan behind the Argonne, and in occupying its 
 passes, while the Prussians still lingered on the north- 
 eastern side of the forest line. Ordering Kellerman to wheel 
 round from Metz to St. Menehould, and the reinforcements 
 from the interior and extreme north also to concentrate at 
 that spot, Dumouriez trusted to assemble a powerful force 
 in the rear of the south-west extremity of the Argonne, 
 while, with the twenty-five thousand men under his 
 immediate command, he held the enemy at bay before the 
 passes, or forced him to a long circumvolution round one 
 extremity of the forest ridge, during which favourable 
 opportunities of assailmg his flank were almost certain 
 to occur. Dumouriez fortified the principal defiles, and 
 boasted of the Thermopylae which he had found for the 
 invaders ; but the simile was nearly rendered fatally 
 complete for the defending force. A pass, which was 
 thought of inferior importance, had been but slightly 
 manned, and an Austrian corps under Clairfayt forced it 
 after some sharp fighting. Dumouriez with great difficulty 
 saved himself from being enveloped and destroyed by the 
 hostile columns that now pushed through the forest. But 
 instead of despairing at the failure of his plans, and falling 
 back into the interior, to be completely severed from 
 Kellerman's army, to be hunted as a fugitive under the 
 walls of Paris by the victorious Germans, and to lose all 
 chance of ever rallying his dispirited troops, he resolved 
 to cling to the difficult country in which the armies still 
 were grouped, to force a junction with Kellerman, and so 
 to place himself at the head of a force which the invaders 
 would not dare to disregard, and by Avhich he might drag 
 them back from the advance on Paris, which he had not 
 
 B b 2
 
 372 BATTLE OF VALMY 
 
 been able to bar. Accordingly, by a rapid movement to 
 the south, during which, in his o\\'n words, ' France was 
 within a hair's-brcadth of destruction,' and after with 
 difficulty checking several panics of his troops, in which 
 they ran by thousands at the sight of a few Prussian 
 hussars, Dumoviriez succeeded in establishing his head- 
 quarters in a strong position at St. Menehould, protected 
 by the marshes and shallows of the river Aisne and Aube, 
 beyond which, to the north-west, rose a firm and elevated 
 plateau, called Dampierre's Camp, admirably situated for 
 commanding the road by Chalons to Paris, and where he 
 intended to post Kellerman's army so soon as it came up.^ 
 
 The news of the retreat of Dumouriez from the Argonne 
 passes, and of the panic flight of some divisions of his 
 troops, spread rapidly throughout the country ; and 
 Kellerman, who believed that his comrade's army had 
 been annihilated, and feared to fall among the victorious 
 masses of the Prussians, had halted on his march from 
 Metz when almost close to St. Menehould. He had actually 
 commenced a retrograde movement, when couriers from his 
 commander-in-chief checked him from that fatal course ; 
 and then continuing to wheel round the rear and left flank 
 of the troops at St. Menehould, Kellerman, with twenty 
 thousand of the army of Metz, and some thousands of 
 volunteers who had joined him in the march, made his 
 appearance to the west of Dumouriez, on the very evening 
 when Westerman and Thouvenot, two of the staff-officers 
 of Dumouriez, galloped in with the tidings that Brunswick's 
 army had come through the upper passes of the Argonne in 
 full force, and was deploj^mg on the heights of La Lune, 
 a chain of emmences that stretch obliquely from south-west 
 to north-east, opposite the high ground which Dumouriez 
 held, and also opposite, but at a shorter distance from, the 
 position which Kellerman was designed to occupy. 
 
 The Allies were now, in fact, nearer to Paris than were 
 the French troops themselves ; but, as Dumouriez had 
 foreseen, Brunswick deemed it unsafe to march upon the 
 
 ^ Some late writers represent that Bninswick did not wish to crash 
 Dumouriez. There is no sufficient authority for this insinuation, which 
 seems to have been first prompted by a desire to sooth the wounded 
 military pride of the Prussians.
 
 BATTLE OF VALMY 373 
 
 capital with so large a hostile force left in his rear betAveen 
 his advancing columns and his base of operations. The 
 young King of Prussia, who was in the allied camp, and 
 the emigrant prmces eagerly advocated an instant attack 
 upon the nearest French general. Kellerman had laid 
 himself umiecessarily open, by advancing beyond Dam- 
 pierre's camp, which Dumouriez had designed for him, and 
 moving forward across the Aube to the plateau of Valmy, 
 a post inferior in strength and space to that which he had 
 left, and which brought him close upon the Prussian lines, 
 leaving him separated by a dangerous interval from the 
 troops under Dumouriez himself. It seemed easy for the 
 Prussian army to overwhelm him while thus isolated, and 
 then they might surround and cr ush D umouriez at their leisure . 
 Accordmgly the right wing of the allied army moved 
 forward, in the grey of the morning of the 20th of September, 
 to gain Kellerman's left flank and rear, and cut him of£ 
 from retreat upon Chalons, while the rest of the army, 
 moving from the heights of La Lune, which here converge 
 semi-circularly round the plateau of Valmy, were to assail 
 his position in front, and interpose between him and 
 Dumouriez. An unexpected collision between some of the 
 advanced cavalry on each side in the low ground warned 
 Kellerman of the enemy's api)roach. Dumouriez had not 
 been unobservant of the danger of his comrade, thus 
 isolated and involved ; and he had ordered up troops 
 to support Kellerman on either flank in the event 
 of his being attacked. These troops, however, moved 
 forward sloM'ly ; and Kellerman's army, ranged on the 
 plateau of Valmy, ' projected like a cape into the midst of 
 the Imes of the Prussian bayonets '.^ A thick autumnal 
 mist floated in waves of vapour over the plains and ravines 
 that lay between the two armies, leaving only the crests 
 and peaks of the hills glittermg in the early light. About 
 ten o'clock the fog began to clear off, and then the French 
 from their promontory saw emergmg from the white wreaths 
 of mist, and glittering in the sunshine, the countless 
 Prussian cavalry which were to envelop them as in a net 
 if once driven from their position, the solid columns of the 
 
 ^ See Lamartine, Hist. Girond. livre xvii. I have drawn much of 
 the ensuing description from him.
 
 374 BATTLE OF VALMY 
 
 infantry that moved forward as if animated by a single 
 will, the bristling batteries of the artillery, and the glancing 
 clouds of the Austrian light troops, fresh from thek contests 
 with the Spahis of the east. 
 
 The best and bravest of the French must have beheld 
 this spectacle with secret apprehension and awe. However 
 bold and resolute a man may be in the discharge of duty, 
 it is an anxious and fearful thing to be called on to encounter 
 danger among comrades of whose steadiness you can feel 
 no certainty. Each soldier of Kellerman's army must have 
 remembered the series of panic routs which had hitherto 
 invariably taken place on the French side durmg the war ; 
 and must have cast restless glances to the right and left, to 
 see if any symptoms of w^avering began to show themselves, 
 and to calculate how long it was likely to be before a general 
 rush of his comrades to the rear would either hurry him oS 
 with involuntary disgrace, or leave him alone and helpless, 
 to be cut down by assailmg multitudes. 
 
 On that very morning, and at the self-same hour, in 
 which the allied forces and the emigrants began to descend 
 from La Lune to the attack of Valmy, and while the 
 cannonade Mas openmg between the Prussian and the 
 Revolutionary batteries, the debate in the National Con- 
 vention at Paris commenced on the proposal to proclaim 
 France a Republic. 
 
 The old monarchy had little chance of support in the hall 
 of the Convention ; but if its more effective advocates at 
 Valmy had triumphed, there were yet the elements existing 
 in France for a permanent revival of the better part of 
 the ancient institutions, and for substitutmg Reform for 
 Revolution. Only a few^ weeks before, numerously signed 
 addresses from the middle classes in Paris, Rouen, and 
 other large cities, had been presented to the king expressive 
 of their horror of the anarchists, and their readiness to 
 uphold the rights of the crow^n, together with the liberties 
 of the subject. And an armed resistance to the authority 
 of the Convention, and in favour of the king, was in reality 
 at this time bemg actively organized in La Vendee and 
 Brittany, the importance of which may be estimated from 
 the formidable opposition which the Royalists of these 
 provmces made to the Republican party, at a later j)eriod,
 
 BATTLE OF VALMY 375 
 
 and under much more disadvantageous circumstances. 
 It is a fact peculiarly illustrative of the importance of the 
 battle of Valmy, that ' during the summer of 1792, the 
 gentlemen of Brittany entered into an extensive association 
 for the purpose of rescumg the country from the oppressive 
 yoke which had been imposed by the Parisian demagogues. 
 At the head of the whole was the Marquis de la Rouarie, 
 one of those remarkable men who rise into pre-emmence 
 during the stormy days of a revolution, from conscious 
 ability to direct its current. Ardent, impetuous, and 
 enthusiastic, he was first distinguished in the American 
 war, when the intrepidity of his conduct attracted the 
 admiration of the Republican troops, and the same qualities 
 rendered him at first an ardent supporter of the Revolution 
 in France ; but when the atrocities of the people began, 
 he espoused with equal warmth the opposite side, and used 
 the utmost efforts to rouse the noblesse of Brittany against 
 the plebeian yoke which had been imposed upon them by 
 the National Assembly. He submitted his plan to the 
 Count d'Artois, and had organized one so extensive as 
 would have proved extremely formidable to the Convention, 
 if the retreat of the Duke of Brunswick, in September, 1792, 
 had not damped the ardour of the whole of the west of 
 France, then ready to break out into insurrection.' ^ 
 
 And it was not only among the zealots of the old mon- 
 archy that the cause of the king would then have found 
 friends. The ineffable atrocities of the September massa- 
 cres had just occurred, and the reaction produced by them 
 among thousands who had previously been active on the 
 ultra-democratic side, was fresh and powerful. The 
 nobility had not yet been made utter aliens in the eyes of 
 the nation by long expatriation and civil war. There was 
 not yet a generation of youth educated in revolutionary 
 principles, and knowing no worship save that of military 
 glory. Louis XVI was just and humane, and deeply 
 sensible of the necessity of a gradual extension of political 
 rights among all classes of his subjects. The Bourbon 
 throne, if rescued in 1792, would have had chances of stabi- 
 lity, such as did not exist for it in 1814, and seem never 
 likely to be found again in France. 
 
 ^ Alison, vol. iii. p. 323.
 
 376 BATTLE OF VALMY 
 
 Serving under Kellerman on that day was one who 
 experienced, perhaps the most deeply of all men, the 
 changes for good and for evil which the French Revolution 
 has produced. He who, in his second exile, bore the name 
 of the Count de Neuilly in this country, and who lately 
 was Louis Philippe, King of the French, figured in the 
 French lines at Valmy as a young and gallant officer, cool 
 and sagacious beyond his years, and trusted accordingly 
 by Kellerman and Dumouriez with an important station 
 in the national army. The Due de Chartres (the title he 
 then bore) commanded the French right, General Valence 
 was on the left, and Kellerman himself took his post in the 
 centre, which was the strength and key of his position. 
 
 Besides these celebrated men, who were in the French 
 army, and besides the King of Prussia, the Duke of Bruns- 
 wick, and other men of rank and power, who were in the 
 lines of the Allies, there was an individual present at the 
 battle of Valmy, of little political note, but who has exer- 
 cised, and exercises, a greater influence over the human 
 mind, and whose fame is more widely spread, than that of 
 either duke, or general, or king. This was the German poet, 
 Goethe, who had, out of curiosity, accompanied the allied 
 army on its march into France as a mere spectator. He 
 has given us a curious record of the sensations which he 
 experienced during the cannonade. It must be remem- 
 bered that many thousands in the French ranks then, like 
 Goethe, felt the ' camion-fever ' for the first time. The 
 German poet says : ^ 
 
 ' I had heard so much of the cannon-fever, that I wanted 
 to know what kind of thing it was. Ennui, and a spirit 
 which every kind of danger excites to daring, nay even to 
 rashness, induced me to ride up quite coolly to the outwork 
 of La Lune. This Avas again occupied by our people, but 
 it presented the wildest aspect. The roofs were shot to 
 pieces ; the corn-shocks scattered about, the bodies of men 
 mortally wounded stretched upon them here and there ; 
 and occasionally a spent cannon-ball fell and rattled 
 among the ruins of the tile roofs. 
 
 ' Quite alone, and left to myself, 1 rode away on the 
 
 * Goethe's Campaign in France in 1792, Farie's translation, p. 77.
 
 BATTLE OF VALMY 377 
 
 heights to the left, and could plainly survey the favourable 
 position of the French ; they were standing in the form of 
 a semicircle, in the greatest quiet and security ; Kellerman, 
 then on the left wing, being the easiest to reach. 
 
 ' I fell in with good company on the way, officers of my 
 acquaintance, belonging to the general staff and the regi- 
 ment, greatly surprised to find me here. They wanted to 
 take me back again with them, but I spoke to them of 
 particular objects I had in view, and they left me, without 
 further dissuasion, to my well-known singular caprice. 
 
 ' I had now arrived quite in the region where the balls 
 were playing across me : the sound of them is curious 
 enough, as if it were composed of the humming of tops, the 
 gurgling of water, and the whistling of birds. They were 
 less dangerous, by reason of the wetness of the ground ; 
 wherever one fell, it stuck fast. And thus my foolish 
 experimental ride was secured against the danger at least 
 of the balls rebounding. 
 
 ' In the midst of these circumstances, I was soon able to 
 remark that something unusual was taking place within me. 
 I paid close attention to it, and still the sensation can be 
 described only by similitude. It appeared as if you were 
 m some extremely hot place, and, at the same time, quite 
 penetrated by the heat of it, so that you feel yourself, as it 
 were, quite one with the element in which you are. The 
 eyes lose nothing of their strength or clearness ; but it is 
 as if the world had a kind of brown-red tint, which makes 
 the situation, as well as the surrounding objects, more 
 impressive. I was unable to perceive any agitation of the 
 blood, but everything seemed rather to be swallowed up 
 in the glow of which I speak. From this, then, it is clear 
 in what sense this condition can be called a fever. It is 
 remarkable, however, that the horrible uneasy feeling 
 arising from it is produced in us solely through the ears ; 
 for the cannon-thunder, the howling, and crashing of the 
 balls through the air, is the real cause of these sensations. 
 
 ' After I had ridden back, and was in perfect security, 
 I remarked with surprise that the glow was completely 
 extinguished, and not the slightest feverish agitation was 
 left behind. On the whole, this condition is one of the 
 least desirable ; as, indeed, among my dear and noble
 
 378 BATTLE OF VALMY 
 
 comrades, I found scarcely one who expressed a really 
 passionate desire to try it.' 
 
 Contrary to the expectations of both friends and foes, 
 the French infantry held their ground steadily under the 
 fire of the Prussian guns, which thundered on them from 
 La Lune ; and their o^vn artillery replied with equal spirit 
 and greater effect on the denser masses of the allied army. 
 Thinking that the Prussians were slackening in their fire, 
 Kellerman formed a column in charging order, and dashed 
 down into the valley, in the hopes of capturing some of the 
 nearest guns of the enemy. A inasked battery opened its 
 fire on the French column, and drove it back in disorder, 
 Kellerman having his horse shot under him, and being with 
 difficulty carried off by his men. The Prussian columns 
 now advanced in turn. The French artillerymen began 
 to waver and desert their posts, but were rallied by the 
 efforts and example of their officers ; and Kellerman, 
 reorganizing the line of his infantry, took his station in 
 the ranks on foot, and called out to his men to let the enemy 
 come close up, and then to charge them with the bayonet. 
 The troops caught the enthusiasm of their general, and 
 a cheerful shout of Vive la nation ! taken by one battalion 
 from another, pealed across the valley to the assailants. 
 The Prussians flinched from a charge up-hill against a force 
 that seemed so resolute and formidable ; they halted for 
 a while in the hollow, and then slowly retreated up their 
 own side of the valley. 
 
 Indignant at being thus repulsed by such a foe, the King 
 of Prussia formed the flower of his men in person, and, 
 riding along the column, bitterly reproached them with 
 letting their standard be thus humiliated. Then he led 
 them on again to the attack, marching in the front line, 
 and seeing his staff mowed down around him by the deadly 
 fire which the French artillery re-opened. But the troops 
 sent by Dumouriez were now co-operating effectually with 
 Kellerman, and that general's own men, flushed by success, 
 presented a firmer front than ever. Again the Prussians 
 retreated, leaving eight hundred dead behind, and at 
 nightfall the French remained victors on the heights of 
 Valmy. 
 
 All hopes of crushing the revolutionary armies, and of
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS 379 
 
 the promenade to Paris, had now vanished, though Bruns- 
 Avick lingered long in the Argonne, till distress and sickness 
 wasted away his once splendid force, and finally biit a mere 
 wreck of it recrossed the frontier. France, meanwhile, felt 
 that she possessed a giant's strength, and like a giant did 
 she use it. Before the close of that year, all Belgium 
 obeyed the National Convention at Paris, and the kings of 
 Europe, after the lapse of eighteen centuries, trembled once 
 more before a conquering military Republic, 
 
 Goethe's description of the cannonade has been quoted. 
 His observation to his comrades in the camp of the Allies, 
 at the end of the battle, deserves citation also. It shows 
 that the poet felt (and, probably, he alone of the thousands 
 there assembled felt) the h\\\ importance of that day. He 
 describes the consternation and the change of demeanour 
 which he observed among his Prussian friends that evening. 
 He tells us that ' most of them were silent ; and, in fact, 
 the power of reflection and judgement was wanting to all. 
 At last I was called upon to say what I thought of the en- 
 gagement ; for I had been in the habit of enlivening and 
 amusing the troop with short sayings. This time I said : 
 " From this j^lace, and from this day forth, commences a new 
 era in the ivorld's history ; and you can all say that you were 
 present at its birth." ' 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE BATTLE 
 OF VALMY, 1792, AND THE BATTLE OF 
 WATERLOO, 1815 
 
 A.D. 1793. Trial and execution of Louis XVI, at Paris. 
 England and Spain declare war against France. Royalist 
 Avar in La Vendee. Second invasion of France by the Allies. 
 
 1794. Lord Howe's victory over the French fleet. Final 
 partition of Poland by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. 
 
 1795. The French armies under Pichegru conquer 
 Holland. Cessation of the war in La Vendee. 
 
 1796. Bonaparte commands the French army of Italy 
 and gains repeated victories over the Austrians. 
 
 1797. Victory of Jervis, off Cape St. Vincent. Peace of 
 Campo Formio between France and Austria. Defeat of 
 the Dutch o£E Camperdowu by Admiral Duncan.
 
 380 SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS 
 
 1798. Rebellion in Ireland. Expedition of the French 
 under Bonaparte to Egypt. Lord Nelson destroys the 
 French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. 
 
 1799. Renewal of the war between Austria and France. 
 The Russian emperor sends an army in aid of Austria, 
 under Suwarrow. The French are repeatedly defeated in 
 Italy. Bonaparte returns from Egypt and makes himself 
 First Consul of France. Massena wins the battle of Ziirich. 
 The Russian emperor makes peace with France. 
 
 1800. Bonaparte passes the Alps and defeats the Austrians 
 at Marengo. Moreau wins the battle of Hohenlinden. 
 
 1801. Treaty of Luneville, between France and Austria. 
 The battle of Copenhagen. 
 
 1802. Peace of Amiens. 
 
 1803. War between England and France renewed. 
 
 1804. Napoleon Bonaparte is made Emperor of France. 
 
 1805. Great preparations of Napoleon to invade Eng- 
 land. Austria, supported by Russia, renews war with 
 France. Napoleon marches into Germany, takes Vienna, 
 and gains the battle of Austerlitz. Lord Nelson destroys 
 the combined French and Spanish fleets, and is killed, at the 
 battle of Trafalgar. 
 
 1806. War between Prussia and France. Napoleon 
 conquers Prussia in the battle of Jena. 
 
 1807. Obstinate warfare between the French and Russian 
 armies in East Prussia and Poland. Peace of Tilsit. 
 
 1808. Napoleon endeavours to make his brother King of 
 Spain. Rising of the Spanish nation against him. Eng- 
 land sends troops to aid the Spaniards. Battles of Vimiera 
 and Corunna. 
 
 1809. War renewed between France and Austria. Battles 
 of Aspern and Wagram. Peace granted to Austria. Lord 
 Wellington's victory of Talavera, in Spain. 
 
 1810. Marriage of Napoleon and the Arch-duchess Maria 
 Louisa. Holland annexed to France. 
 
 1812. War between England and the United States. 
 Na[)()Ieon invades Russia. Battle of Borodino. The 
 French occupy Moscow, which is burned. Disastrous 
 retreat and almost total destruction of the great army of 
 France. 
 
 1813. Prussia and Austria take up arms again against
 
 BEFORE WATERLOO 381 
 
 France. Battles of Liitzen, Bautzen, Dresden, Culm, and 
 Leipsic. The French are driven out of Germany. Lord 
 WelUngton gains the great battle of Vittoria, which com- 
 pletes the rescue of Spain from France. 
 
 1814. The Allies invade France on the eastern, and Lord 
 Wellington invades it on the southern frontier. Battles of 
 Laon, Montmirail, Arcis-sur-Aube, and others in the north- 
 east of France ; and of Toulouse in the south. Paris 
 surrenders to the Allies, and Napoleon abdicates. First 
 restoration of the Bourbons. Napoleon goes to the isle of 
 Elba, which is assigned to him by the Allies. Treaty of 
 Ghent, between the United States and England. 
 
 1815. Napoleon suddenly escapes from Elba, and lands 
 in France. The French soldiery join him, and Louis XVIII 
 is obliged to fly from the throne.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO, 1815 
 
 Thou first and last of fields, king-making victory ! — Byron. 
 
 England has now been blest with thirty-sev^en years of 
 peace. At no other period of her history can a similarly 
 long cessation from a state of warfare be found. It is true 
 that our troops have had battles to fight during this interval 
 for the protection and extension of our Indian possessions 
 and our colonies ; but these have been with distant and 
 unimportant enemies. The danger has never been brought 
 near our own shores, and no matter of vital importance to 
 our empire has ever been at stake. We have not had 
 hostilities with either France, America, or Russia ; and 
 when not at war with any of our peers, we feel ourselves to 
 be substantially at peace. There has, indeed, throughout 
 this long period been no great war, like those with which 
 the previous history of modern Europe abounds. There 
 have been formidable collisions between particular states ; 
 and there have been still more formidable collisions between 
 the armed champions of the conflicting principles of abso- 
 lutism and democracy ; but there has been no general war, 
 like those of the French Revolution, like the American, or 
 the Seven Years' War, or like the War of the Spanish 
 Succession. It w^ould be far too much to augur from this, 
 that no similar wars will again convulse the world ; but the 
 value of the period of peace which Europe has gained is 
 incalculable ; even if we look on it as only a truce, and 
 expect again to see the nations of the earth recur to what 
 some philosophers have termed man's natural state of 
 warfare. 
 
 No equal number of years can be found during which 
 science, commerce, and civilization have advanced so 
 rapidly and so extensively as has been the case since 1815. 
 When we trace their progress, especially in this country, 
 it is impossible not to feel that their wondrous development
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 383 
 
 has been mainly due to the land having been at peace. ^ 
 Their good effects cannot be obliterated, even if a series of 
 wars were to recommence. When we reflect on this, and 
 contrast these thirty-seven j^ears with the period that pre- 
 ceded them, a period of violence, of tumult, of unrestingly 
 destructive energy, — a period throughout which the wealth 
 of nations was scattered like sand, and the blood of nations 
 lavished like water, — it is impossible not to look Avith deep 
 interest on the final crisis of that dark and dreadful epoch ; 
 the crisis out of which our own happier cycle of years has 
 been evolved. The great battle which ended the twenty- 
 three years' war of the first French Revolution, and which 
 quelled the man whose genius and ambition had so long dis- 
 turbed and desolated the world, deserves to be regarded by us, 
 not only with peculiar pride, as one of our greatest national 
 victories, but with peculiar gratitude for the repose which it 
 secured for us, and for the greater part of the human race. 
 
 One good test for determining the importance of Water- 
 loo is to ascertain what was felt by wise and prudent 
 statesmen before that battle, respecting the return of 
 Napoleon from Elba to the Imperial throne of France, and 
 the probable effects of his success. For this purpose, I will 
 quote the words, not of any of our vehement anti-Gallican 
 politicians of the school of Pitt, but of a leader of our 
 Liberal party, of a man whose reputation as a jurist, 
 a historian, and a far-sighted and candid statesman was, 
 and is, deservedly high, not only in this country, but 
 throughout Europe. Sir James Mackintosh, in the debate 
 in the British House of Commons, on the 20th April, 1815, 
 spoke thus of the retvirn from Elba : 
 
 ' Was it in the power of language to describe the evil ? 
 Wars which had raged for more than twenty years through- 
 out Europe ; which had spread blood and desolation from 
 Cadiz to Moscow, and from Naples to Copenhagen ; which 
 had wasted the means of human enjoyment, and destroyed 
 the instruments of social improvement ; which threatened 
 to diffuse among the European nations, the dissolute and 
 ferocious habits of a predatory soldiery, — at length, by one 
 of those vicissitudes which bid defiance to the foresight of 
 
 * See the excellent Introduction to Mr. Ckarles Knight's History of the 
 Thirty Years' Peace.
 
 384 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 man, had been brought to a close, upon the whole, happy 
 beyond all reasonable expectation, with no violent shock 
 to national independence, with some tolerable compromise 
 between the opinions of the age and reverence due to 
 ancient institutions ; with no too signal or mortifying 
 triumph over the legitimate interests or avowable feelings 
 of any numerous body of men, and, above all, without those 
 retaliations against nations or parties which beget new 
 convulsions, often as horrible as those which they close, 
 and perpetuate revenge and hatred and bloodshed, from 
 age to age. Europe seemed to breathe after her sufferings. 
 In the midst of this fair prospect, and of these consolatory 
 hopes, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba ; three 
 small vessels reached the coast of Provence ; our hopes are 
 instantly dispelled ; the work of our toil and fortitude is 
 undone ; the blood of Europe is spilt in vain — 
 Ibi omnis effusus labor ! ' 
 
 The Congress of Emperors, Kings, Princes, Generals, and 
 Statesmen who had assembled at Vienna to remodel the 
 Avorld after the overthrow of the mighty conqueror, and 
 who thought that Napoleon had passed away for ever from 
 the great drama of European politics, had not yet com- 
 pleted their triumphant festivities, and their diplomatic 
 toils, when Talleyrand, on the 11th of March, 1815, rose up 
 among them, and announced that the ex-emperor had 
 escaped from Elba and was Emperor of France once more. 
 It is recorded by Sir Walter Scott, as a curious physiological 
 fact, that the first effect of the news of an event which 
 threatened to neutralize all their labours, was to excite 
 a loud burst of laughter from nearly every member of the 
 Congress.^ But the jest was a bitter one : and they soon 
 were deeply busied in anxious deliberations respecting the 
 mode in which they should encounter their arch-enemy, 
 who had thus started from torpor and obscurity into 
 renovated splendour and strength : 
 
 Qualis ubi in lucera coluber mala gramina pastus, 
 
 Frigida sub terra tumidum quern bruma tegebat, 
 
 Nunc, positis novus exuviis nitidusque iuventa, 
 
 Lubrica convolvit sublato pectore terga 
 
 Arduus ad solem, et Unguis micat ore trisulcis. — 'Vieg. Acn. ii. 471. 
 
 ^ Life of Napoleon, vol. viii. chap. 1.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 385 
 
 Napoleon sought to disunite the formidable confederacy, 
 which he knew would be arrayed against him, by endea- 
 vouring to negotiate separately with each of the allied 
 sovereigns. It is said that Austria and Russia were at first 
 not unwilling to treat with him. Disputes and jealousies 
 had been rife among several of the Allies on the subject of 
 the division of the conquered countries ; and the cordial 
 unanimity with which they had acted during 1813 and the 
 first months of 1814 had grown chill during some weeks of 
 discussions. But the active exertions of Talleyrand, who 
 represented Louis XVIII at the Congress, and who both 
 hated and feared Napoleon with all the intensity of which 
 his powerful spirit was capable, prevented the secession of 
 any member of the Congress from the new great league 
 against their ancient enemy. Still it is highly probable 
 that, if Napoleon had triumphed in Belgium over the 
 Prussians and the English, he would have succeeded in 
 opening negotiations with the Austrians and Russians ; 
 and he might have thus gained advantages similar to those 
 which he had obtained on his return from Egypt, when he 
 induced the Czar Paul to withdraw the Russian armies from 
 co-operating with the other enemies of France in the 
 extremity of peril to which she seemed reduced in 1799. 
 But fortune now had deserted him both in diplomacy and 
 in war. 
 
 On the 13th of March, 1815, the Ministers of the seven 
 Powers, Austria, Spain, England, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, 
 and Sweden, signed a manifesto, by which thej^ declared 
 Napoleon an outlaw ; and this denunciation was instantly 
 followed up by a treaty between England, Austria, Prussia, 
 and Russia (to which other powers soon acceded), by which 
 the rulers of those countries bound themselves to enforce 
 that decree, and to prosecute the war until Napoleon should 
 be driven from the throne of France, and rendered incapable 
 of disturbing the peace of Europe. The t)uke of Wellington 
 was the representative of England at the Congress of 
 Vienna, and he was immediately applied to for his advice 
 on the plan of military operations against France. It was 
 obvious that Belgium would be the first battle-field ; and 
 by the general wish of the Allies, the English Duke pro- 
 ceeded thither to assemble an army from the contingents 
 
 CREASY Q Q
 
 386 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 of Dutch, Belgian, and Hanoverian troops, that were most 
 speedily available, and from the English regiments which 
 his own Government was hastening to send over from this 
 country. A strong Prussian corps was near Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 having remained there since the campaign of the preceding 
 year. This was largely reinforced by other troops of the 
 same nation ; and Marshal Bliicher, the favourite hero of 
 the Prussian soldiery and the deadliest foe of France, 
 assumed the command of this army, which was termed the 
 Army of the Lower Rhine ; and Avhich, in conjunction with 
 Wellington's forces, was to make the van of the armaments 
 of the Allied Powers. Meanwhile Prince Swartzenburg 
 was to collect 130,000 Austrians, and 124,000 troops of 
 other Germanic States, as ' the Army of the Upper Rhine ' ; 
 and 168,000 Russians, inider the command of Barclay 
 de Tolly, were to form ' the Army of the Middle Rhine ', 
 and to repeat the march from Muscovy to that river's 
 banks. 
 
 The exertions which the Allied Powers thus made at 
 this crisis to grapple promptly with the French Emperor 
 have truly been termed gigantic ; and never were Napo- 
 leon's genius and activity more signally displayed than in 
 the celerity and skill by which he brought forward all the 
 military resources of France, which the reverses of the three 
 preceding years, and the pacific policy of the Bourbons 
 during the months of their first restoration, had greatly 
 diminished and disorganized. He re-entered Paris on the 
 20th of March, and by the end of May, besides sending 
 a force into La Vendee to put down the armed risings of the 
 royalists in that province, and besides providing troops 
 under Massena and Suchet for the defence of the southern 
 frontiers of France, Napoleon had an army assembled in 
 the north-east for active operations under his own command, 
 which amounted to between one hundred and twenty and 
 one hundred and thirty thousand men, with a superb park 
 of artillery and in the highest possible state of equipment, 
 discipline, and efficiency.^ 
 
 The approach of the multitudinous Russian, Austrian, 
 Bavarian, and other foes of the French Emperor to the 
 
 ^ See for these numbers Sibome's History of the Camfaign of Waterloo, 
 vol. i. p. 41.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 387 
 
 Rhine was necessarily slow ; but the two most active of 
 the Allied Powers had occupied Belgium with their troops, 
 while Napoleon was organizing his forces. Marshal Bliicher 
 was there with one hundred and sixteen thousand Prussians ; 
 and, before the end of May, the Duke of Wellington was 
 there also with about one hundred and six thousand troops, 
 either British or in British pay.^ Napoleon determined to 
 attack these enemies in Belgium. The disparity of numbers 
 was indeed great, but delay was sure to increase the propor- 
 tionate numerical superiority of his enemies over his own 
 ranks. The French Emperor considered also that ' the 
 enemy's troops were now cantoned under the command of 
 two generals, and composed of nations differing both in 
 interest and in feelings ' ?■ His own army was under his 
 own sole command. It was composed exclusively of 
 French soldiers, mostly of veterans, well acquainted with 
 their officers and with each other, and full of enthusiastic 
 confidence in their commander. If he could separate 
 the Prussians from the British, so as to attack each singly, 
 he felt sanguine of success, not only against these the most 
 resolute of his many adversaries, but also against the other 
 masses that were slowly labouring up against his eastern 
 dominions. 
 
 The triple chain of strong fortresses which the French 
 possessed on the Belgian frontier formed a curtain, behind 
 which Napoleon was able to concentrate his armj^ and to 
 conceal, till the very last moment, the precise line of 
 attack which he intended to take. On the other hand, 
 Bliicher and Wellington were obliged to canton their troops 
 along a line of open counti y of considerable length, so as to 
 watch for the outbreak of Napoleon from whichever point 
 of his chain of strongholds he should please to make it. 
 Bliicher, with his army, occupied the banks of the Sambre 
 and the Meuse, from Liege on his left to Charleroi on his 
 right ; and the Duke of Wellington covered Brussels, his 
 
 * Ibid. vol. i. chap. 3. Wellington had but a small part of his old 
 Peninsular army in Belgium. The flower of it had been sent on the 
 expeditions against America. His troops, in 1815, were chiefly second 
 battalions, or regiments lately filled up with new recruits. See Scott, 
 vol. viii. p. 474, 
 
 * See Montholon's Memoirs, p. 45. 
 
 C C 2
 
 388 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 cantonments being jiartly in front of that city and between 
 it and the French frontier, and partly on its west ; their 
 extreme right reaching to Courtrai and Tournay, while 
 the left approached Charleroi and communicated with the 
 Prussian right. It was upon Charleroi that Napoleon 
 resolved to level his attack, in hopes of severing the two 
 allied armies from each other, and then pursuing his 
 favourite tactic of assailing each separately with a superior 
 force on the battlefield, though the aggregate of their 
 numbers considerably exceeded his own. 
 
 The first French corps d'armee, commanded by Count 
 d'Erlon, was stationed in the beginning of June in and 
 around the city of Lille, near to the north-eastern frontier 
 of France. The second corps, under Count Reille, was at 
 Valenciennes, to the right of the first one. The third corps, 
 inider Count Vandamme, was at Mezieres. The fourth, 
 under Count Gerard, had its head-quarters at Metz, and 
 the sixth, ^ under Count Lobau, was at Laon. Four corps 
 of reserve cavalry, under Marshal Grouchy, were also near 
 the frontier, between the rivers Aisne and Sambre. The 
 Imperial Guard remained in Paris until the 8th of June, 
 when it marched towards Belgium, and reached Avesnes 
 on the 13th ; and in the course of the same and the following 
 day, the five corps d'armee, with the cavalry reserves 
 which have been mentioned, were, in pursuance of skilfully 
 combined orders, rai:)idly drawn together, and concentrated 
 in and around the same place, on the right bank of the 
 river Sambre. On the 14th Napoleon arrived among his 
 troops, who were exulting at the display of their com- 
 mander's skill in the celerit}' and precision with which 
 they had been drawn together, and in the consciousness 
 of their collective strength. Although Napoleon too often 
 permitted himself to use language unworthy of his own 
 character respecting his great English adversary, his real 
 feelings in commencing this campaign may be judged from 
 the last words which he sjaoke, as he threw himself into 
 his travelling carriage to leave Paris for the army. 'I go ', 
 he said, ' to measure myself with Wellington.' 
 
 The enthusiasm of the French soldiers at seeing their 
 
 * The fifth corps was under Count Rapp at Strasburg.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 389 
 
 Emperor among them was still more excited by the ' Order 
 of the day ', in which he thus apjDealed to them : 
 
 ' Napoleon, by the Grace of God, and the Constitution of the Empire, 
 Emperor of the French, &c., to the Grand Army. 
 
 ' At the Imperial Head-Quarters, 
 ' Avesnes, June I4th, 1815. 
 
 ' Soldiers ! this day is the anniversary of Marengo and of Friedland, 
 which twice decided the destiny of Europe. Then, as after Aiisterlitz, 
 as after Wagram, we were too generous ! We believed in the protesta- 
 tions and in the oaths of princes, whom we left on their thrones. Now, 
 however, leagued together, they aim at the independence and the most 
 sacred rights of France. They have commenced the most unjust of 
 aggressions. Let us, then, march to meet them. Are they and we no 
 longer the same men ? 
 
 ' Soldiers ! at Jena, against these same Prussians, now so arrogant, 
 you were one to three, and at Montmirail one to six ! 
 
 ' Let those among you who have been captives to the English, describe 
 the nature of their prison-ships, and the frightful miseries they endured. 
 , ' The Saxons, the Belgians, the Hanoverians, the soldiers of the 
 Confederation of the Rhine, lament that they are compelled to use their 
 arms in the cause of princes, the enemies of justice and of the rights of 
 all nations. They know that this coalition is insatiable ! After having 
 devoured twelve millions of Poles, twelve millions of Italians, one million 
 of Saxons, and six millions of Belgians, it now wishes to devour the 
 states of the second rank in Germany. 
 
 'Madmen! one moment of prosperity has bewildered them. The 
 oppression and the humiliation of the French people are beyond their 
 power. If they enter France they will there find their grave. 
 
 ' Soldiers ! we have forced marches to make, battles to fight, dangers 
 to encounter ; but, with firmness, victory will be ours. The rights, 
 the honour, and the happiness of the country will be recovered ! 
 
 ' To every Frenchman who has a heart, the moment is now arrived to 
 conquer or to die ! 
 
 ' NAPOLEON.' 
 'The Marshal Duke of Dalmatia, 
 ' Major General.' 
 
 The 15th of June had scarcely dawned before the French 
 army was in motion for the decisive campaign; and crossed the 
 frontier in three columns, which were pointed upon Charleroi 
 and its vicinity. The French line of advance upon Brussels, 
 which city NajDoleon resolved to occupy, thus lay right 
 through the centre of the cantonments of the Allies, 
 
 Much criticism has been expended on the supposed 
 surprise of Wellington's army in its cantonments by 
 Napoleon's rapid advance. These comments would hardly 
 have been made if sufficient attention had been paid to
 
 390 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 the geography of the Waterloo campaign ; and if it had 
 been remembered that the protection of Brussels was 
 justly considered by the allied generals a matter of primary 
 importance. If Napoleon could, either by manoeuvring or 
 fighting, have succeeded in occupying that city, the greater 
 part of Belgium would unquestionably have declared in 
 his favour ; and the results of such a success, gained by 
 the Emperor at the commencement of the campaign, might 
 have decisively influenced the whole after-current of events. 
 A glance at the map will show the numerous roads that 
 lead from the different fortresses on the French north- 
 eastern frontier, and converge upon Brussels ; any one of 
 which Najooleon might have chosen for the advance of 
 a strong force upon that city. The Duke's army was 
 judiciously arranged, so as to enable him to concentrate 
 troops on any one of these roads sufficiently in advance of 
 Brussels to check an assailing enemy. The army was kept 
 thus available for movement in any necessary direction, 
 till certain intelligence arrived on the 15th of June that 
 the French had crossed the frontier in large force near 
 Thuin, that they had driven back the Prussian advanced 
 troops under General Ziethen, and were also moving across 
 the Sambre upon Charleroi. 
 
 Marshal Bliicher now rapidly concentrated his forces, 
 calling them in from the left upon Ligny, which is to the 
 north-east of Charleroi. Wellington also drew his troops 
 together, calling them in from the right. But even now, 
 though it was certain that the French were in large force 
 at Charleroi, it was unsafe for the English general to place 
 his army directly between that place and Brussels, until it 
 was certain that no corps of the enemy was marching 
 upon Brussels by the western road through Mons and Hal. 
 The Duke, therefore, collected his troops in Brussels and 
 its immediate vicinity, ready to move due southward upon 
 Quatre Bras, and co-operate with Blijcher, who was taking 
 his station at Ligny : but also ready to meet and defeat 
 any manoeuvre that the enemy might make to turn the 
 right of the Allies, and occupy Brussels by a flanking 
 movement. The testimony of the Prussian general. Baron 
 Mijffling,^ wlio was attached to the Duke's staff during 
 • See Passages from my Jyifc and Writings, by BaT'on Miiffling, p. 22-1,
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 391 
 
 the campaign, and who expressly states the reasons on 
 which the English general acted, ought for ever to have 
 silenced the ' weak inventions of the enemy ' about the 
 Duke of Wellington having been deceived and surprised 
 by his assailant, which some writers of our own nation, as 
 well as foreigners, have incautiously repeated. 
 
 It was about three o'clock in the afternoon of the 15th 
 that a Prussian officer reached Brussels, whom General 
 Ziethen had sent to Miiffling to inform him of the advance of 
 
 the main French army upon Charleroi. Miiffling immediately 
 communicated this to the Duke of Wellington ; and 
 asked him whether he would now concentrate his army, 
 and what would be his point of concentration ; observing 
 that Marshal Bliicher in consequence of this intelligence 
 would cei'tainly concentrate the Prussians at Ligny. The 
 Duke replied : ' If all is' as General Ziethen supposes, 
 I Avill concentrate on my left wing, and so be in readiness 
 
 of the English Translation, edited by Col. Yorke. See also the 178th 
 number of the Quarterly. It is strange that Lamartine should, after 
 the appearance of Miiffling's work, have repeated in his History of the 
 liettflration the myth of Wellington having been surprised in the Brussels 
 ball-room, &c.
 
 392 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 to fight in conjunction with the Prussian army. Should, 
 however, a jjortion of the enemy's force come by Mons, 
 I must concentrate more towards my centre. This is the 
 reason why I must wait for positive news from Mons before 
 I fix the rendezvous. Since, however, it is certain that the 
 troops must march, though it is uncertain upon what precise 
 spot they must march, I will order all to be in readiness, and 
 will direct a brigade to move at once towards Quatre Bras.' ^ 
 
 Later in the same day a message from Bliicher himself 
 was delivered to Miiffiing, in which the Prussian Field- 
 Marshal informed the Baron that he was concentrating 
 his men at Sombref and Ligny, and charged Miiffling to 
 give him speedy inteUigence respecting the concentration 
 of Wellington. Miiffiing immediately communicated this 
 to the Duke, who expressed his satisfaction with Bliicher's 
 arrangements, but added that he could not even then 
 resolve upon his own point of concentration before he 
 obtained the desired intelligence from Mons. About mid- 
 night this information arrived. The Duke went to the 
 quarters of General Miiffling, and told him that he now had 
 received his reports from Mons, and was sure that no French 
 troops were advancing by that route, but that the mass 
 of the enemy's force was decidedly directed on Charleroi. 
 He informed the Prussian general that he had ordered 
 the British troops to move forward upon Quatre Bras, 
 but with characteristic coolness and sagacity resolved not 
 to give the appearance of alarm by hurrying on with them 
 himself. A ball was to be given by the Duchess of Richmond 
 at Brussels that night, and the Duke proposed to General 
 Miiffling that they should go to the ball for a few hours, 
 and ride forward in the morning to overtake the troops at 
 Quatre Bras. 
 
 To hundreds, who were assembled at that memorable 
 ball, the news that the enemy was advancing, and that the 
 time for battle had come, must have been a fearfully 
 exciting surprise, and the magnificent stanzas of Byron ^ 
 
 1 Miiffling, p. 231. 
 
 ^ There was a sound of revelry by night. 
 And Belgium's capital had gather'd then 
 Her Beauty and her Chivalry, and bright 
 The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men ;
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 393, 
 
 are as true as they are beautiful ; but the Duke and his 
 principal officers knew well the stern termination to that 
 
 A thousand hearts beat happily ; and when 
 Music arose with its vohiptuous swell, 
 Soft eyes look'd love to eyes which spake again, 
 And all went merry as a marriage-bell ; 
 But hush ! hark ! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell. 
 
 Did ye not hear it ? — No ; 'twas but the wind, 
 Or the car rattling o'er the stony street ; 
 On with the dance ! let joy be unconfined ; 
 No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet 
 To chase the glowing Hours with flying feet — 
 But, hark ! — that heavy sound breaks in once more, 
 As if the clouds its echo would repeat ; 
 And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before ! 
 Arm ! Arm ! it is — it is — the cannon's opening roar ! 
 
 Within a window'd niche of that high hall 
 Sate Brunswick's fated chieftain ; he did hear 
 That sound the first amidst the festival, 
 And caught its tone with Death's prophetic ear ; 
 And when they smiled because he deem'd it near. 
 His heart more truly knew that peal too well 
 Which stretch'd his father on a bloody bier. 
 And roused the vengeance blood alone could quell : 
 He rush'd into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell. 
 
 Ah ! then and there was hurrying to and fro. 
 And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress. 
 And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago 
 Blush'd at the praise of their own loveliness ; 
 And there were sudden partings, such as press 
 The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs 
 Which ne'er might be repeated ; who could guess 
 If ever more should meet those mutual eyes. 
 Since upon night so sweet such awful mom could rise ? 
 
 And there was mounting in hot haste : the steed. 
 The mustering squadron, and the clattering car. 
 Went pouring forward with impetuous speed. 
 And swiftly forming in the ranks of war; 
 And the deep thunder peal on peal afar ; 
 And near, the beat of the alarming drum 
 Roused up the soldier ere the morning star ; 
 While throng'd the citizens with terror dumb. 
 Or whispering, with white lips — ' The foe ! They come ! they come !' 
 
 And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves. 
 Dewy with nature's tear-drops, as they pass. 
 Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves. 
 Over the unreturning brave, — alas !
 
 394 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 festive scene which was aj)proaching. One by one, and in 
 such a way as to attract as little observation as possible, 
 the leaders of the various corps left the ball-room, and took 
 their stations at the head of their men, who were pressing 
 forward through the last hours of the short summer night 
 to the arena of anticipated slaughter. 
 
 Napoleon's operations on the 15th had been conducted 
 with signal skill and vigour ; and their results had been 
 very advantageous for his plan of the campaign. With 
 his army formed in three vast columns,^ he had struck at 
 the centre of the line of cantonments of his allied foes ; and 
 he had so far made good his blow, that he had effected the 
 passage of the Sambre, he had beaten with his left wing 
 the Prussian corps of General Ziethen at Thuin, and with 
 his centre he had in person advanced right through Charleroi 
 upon Fleurus, inflicting considerable loss upon the Prussians 
 that fell back before him. His right column had with little 
 opposition moved forward as far as the bridge of Chatelet. 
 
 Napoleon had thus a powerful force immediately in 
 front of the point, which Bliicher had fixed for the con- 
 centration of the Prussian army, and that concentration was 
 still incomplete. The French Emperor designed to attack 
 the Prussians on the morrow in person, with the troops of 
 his centre and right columns, and to employ his left wing 
 in beating back such English troops as might advance to 
 the help of their allies, and also in aiding his own attack 
 upon Bliicher. He gave the command of this left wing 
 
 Ere evening to be trodden like the grass 
 Which now beneath them, but above shall grow 
 In its next verdure, when this fiery mass 
 Of living valour, rolling on the foe 
 And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low. 
 
 Last noon beheld them full of lusty life. 
 Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay, 
 The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife, 
 The mom the marshalling in arms, — the day 
 Battle's magnificently-stern array ! 
 The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which when rent 
 The earth is covered thick with other clay. 
 Which her own clay shall cover, heap'd and pent. 
 Rider and horse, — friend, foe, — in one red burial blent ! 
 
 ^ Victoires et Conquetes des Franqais, vol. xxv. p. 177.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 395 
 
 to Marshal Ney. Napoleon seems not to have originally 
 intended to employ this celebrated General in the campaign. 
 It was only on the night of the 11th of Jiine that Marshal 
 Ney received at Paris an order to join the army. Hurrying 
 forward to the Belgian frontier he met the Emperor near 
 Charleroi. Napoleon immediately directed him to take the 
 command of the left wing, and to press forward with it 
 upon Quatre Bras by the line of the road which leads from 
 Charleroi to Brussels, through Gosselies, Frasne, Quatre 
 Bras, Genappe, and Waterloo. Ney immediately proceeded 
 to the post assigned him ; and before ten on the night 
 of the 15th he had occupied Gosselies and Frasne, driving 
 out without much difficulty some weak Belgian detachments 
 which had been stationed in those villages. The lateness 
 of the hour, and the exhausted state of the French troops, 
 who had been marching and fighting since ten in the morning, 
 made him pause from advancing further to attack the 
 much more important position of Quatre Bras. In truth, 
 the advantages which the French gained by their almost 
 superhuman energy and activity throughout the long day 
 of the 15th of June, were necessarily bought at the price 
 of more delay and inertness during the following night 
 and morrow, than would have been observable if they 
 had not been thus overtasked. Ney has been blamed for 
 want of promptness in his attack upon Quatre Bras, and 
 Napoleon has been criticized for not having fought at 
 Ligny before the afternoon of the 16th : but their censors 
 should remember that soldiers are but men ; and that 
 there must be necessarily some interval of time before 
 troops, that have been worn and weakened by twenty 
 hours of incessant fatigue and strife, can be fed, rested, 
 reorganized, and brought again into action with any hope 
 of success. 
 
 Having on the night of the 15th placed the most advanced 
 of the French under his command in position in front of 
 Frasne, Ney rode back to Charleroi, where Napoleon also 
 arrived about midnight, having returned from directing 
 the operations of the centre and right colunm of the French. 
 The Emperor and the Marshal supped together, and remained 
 in earnest conversation till two in the morning. An hour 
 or two afterwards Ney rode back to Frasne, where ho
 
 396 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 endeavoured to collect ti(lin<{s of the numbers and move- 
 ments of the enemy in front of him ; and also busied 
 himself in the necessary duty of learning the amount and 
 composition of the troops which he himself was com- 
 manding. He had been so suddenly appointed to his high 
 station, that he did not know the strength of the several 
 regiments under him, or even the names of their com- 
 manding officers. He now caused his aides-de-camp to 
 prepare the requisite returns, and drew together the troops, 
 whom he was thus learning before he used them. 
 
 Wellington remained at the Duchess of Richmond's 
 ball at Brussels till about three o'clock in the morning of 
 the 16th, 'showing himself very cheerful', as Baron 
 Miiffling, who accompanied him, observes .^ At five o'clock 
 the Duke and the Baron were on horseback, and reached 
 the position at Quatre Bras about eleven. As the French, 
 who were in front of Frasne, were perfectly quiet, and the 
 Duke was informed that a very large force under Napoleon 
 in jDcrson was menacing Bliicher, it was thought possible 
 that only a slight detachment of the French was posted 
 at Frasne in order to mask the English army. In that 
 event Wellington, as he told Baron Miiffling, would be 
 able to employ his whole strength in supporting the 
 Prussians : and he proposed to ride across from Quatre 
 Bras to Bliicher's position, in order to concert with him 
 personally the measures which should be taken in order to 
 bring on a decisive battle with the French. Wellington 
 and Miiffling rode accordingly towards Ligny, and found 
 Marshal Bliicher and his staff at the windmill of Bry, near 
 that village. The Prussian army, 80,000 strong, was drawn 
 up chiefly along a chain of heights, with the villages of 
 Sombref, St. Amand, and Ligny in their front. These 
 villages were strongly occupied by Prussian detachments, 
 and formed the keys of Bliicher's position. The heads of 
 the columns which Naj^oleon was forming for the attack 
 were visible in the distance. The Duke asked Bliicher and 
 General Gneisenau (who w^as Bliicher's adviser in matters 
 of strategy) what they wished him to do. Miiffling had 
 already explained to them in a few words the Duke's 
 earnest desire to sujoport the Field-Marshal, and that he 
 1 Miiffling, p. 233.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 397 
 
 would do all that they wished, provided they did not ask 
 him to divide his army, Avhich was contrary to his principles. 
 The Duke wished to advance with his army (as soon as it 
 was concentrated) upon Frasne and Gosselies, and thence 
 to move upon Napoleon's flank and rear. The Prussian 
 leaders preferred that he should march his men from 
 Quatre Bras by the Namur road, so as to form a reserve in 
 rear of Bliicher's army. The Duke replied, ' Well, I will 
 come if I am not attacked myself,' and galloped back with 
 Miiffling to Quatre Bras, where the French attack was now 
 actually raging. 
 
 Marshal Ney began the battle about two o'clock in the 
 afternoon. He had at this time in hand about 16,000 
 infantry, nearly 2,000 cavalry, and 38 guns. The force 
 which Napoleon nominally placed at his command exceeded 
 40,000 men. But more than one-half of these consisted 
 of the first French corps d'armee, under Count d'Erlon ; 
 and Ney was deprived of the use of this corps at the time 
 that he most required it, in consequence of its receiving 
 orders to march to the aid of the Emperor at Ligny. 
 A magnificent body of heavy cavalry under Kellerman, 
 nearly 5,000 strong, and several more battalions of artillery 
 were added to Ney's army during the battle of Quatre 
 Bras, but his effective infantry force never exceeded 
 16,000. 
 
 When the battle began, the greater part of the Duke's 
 army was yet on its march towards Quatre Bras from 
 Brussels and the other joarts of its cantonments. The force 
 of the Allies, actually in position there, consisted only 
 of a Dutch and Belgian division of infantry, not quite 
 7,000 strong, with one battalion of foot, and one of horse 
 artillery. The Prince of Orange commanded them. A 
 wood, called the Bois de Bossu, stretched along the right 
 (or western) fiank of the position of Quatre Bras ; a farm- 
 house and building, called Gemiancourt, stood on some 
 elevated ground in its front ; and to the left (or east) 
 were the enclosures of the village of Pierremont. The 
 Prince of Orange endeavoured to secure these posts ; but 
 Ney carried Gemiancourt in the centre, and Pierremont 
 on the east, and gained occupation of the southern part 
 of the wood of Bossu. He ranged the chief part of his
 
 398 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 artillery on the high ground of Gemiancourt, whence it 
 played throughout the action with most destructive effect 
 upon the Allies. He was pressing forward to further 
 advantages, when the fifth infantry division under 8ir 
 Thomas Picton, and the Duke of Brunswick's corps, 
 appeared upon the scene. Wellington (who had returned 
 to Quatre Bras from his interview with Bliicher shortly 
 before the arrival of these forces) restored the fight with 
 them ; and, as fresh troops of the Allies arrived, they were 
 brought forward to stem the fierce attacks which Ney's 
 columns and squadrons continued to make with unabated 
 gallantry and zeal. The only cavalry of the Anglo-allied 
 army that reached Quatre Bras during the action consisted 
 of Dutch and Belgians, and a small force of Brunswickers 
 under their Duke, who was killed on the field. These 
 proved wholly unable to encounter Kellerman's cuirassiers 
 and Pire's lancers ; the Dutch and Belgian infantry also 
 gave way early in the engagement ; so that the whole 
 brunt of the battle fell on the British and German infantry. 
 They sustained it nobl}'. Though repeatedly charged by 
 the French cavalry, though exposed to the murderous fire 
 of the French batteries, which from the heights of Gemian- 
 court sent shot and shell into the devoted squares whenever 
 the French horsemen withdrew, they not only repelled 
 their assailants, but Kempt's and Pack's brigades, led on 
 by Picton, actually advanced against and through their 
 charging foes, and with stern determination made good 
 to the end of the day the ground which they had thus 
 boldly won. Some, however, of the British regiments were 
 during the confusion assailed by the French cavalry before 
 they could form squares, and suffered severely. One regi- 
 ment, the 92nd, was almost wholly destro3'ed by the 
 cuirassiers. A French private soldier, named Lami, of 
 the 8th regiment of cuirassiers, captured one of the English 
 colours, and presented it to Ne3^ It was a solitary trophy. 
 The arrival of the English Guards about half-past six 
 o'clock enabled the Duke to recover the wood of Bossu, 
 which the French had almost entirely won, and the posses- 
 sion of which by them would have enabled Xey to operate 
 destructively upon the allied flank and rear. Xot only was 
 the wood of Bossu recovered on the British right, but the
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 399 
 
 enclosures of Pierremont were also carried on the left. 
 When night set in the French had been driven back on all 
 points towards Frasne, but they still held the farm of 
 Gemiancourt in front of the Duke's centre. Wellington 
 and Miiffling were unacquainted with the result of the 
 collateral battle between Bliicher and Napoleon, the 
 cannonading of which had been distinctly audible at 
 Quatre Bras throughout the afternoon and evening. The 
 Duke observed to Miiffling, that of course the two allied 
 armies would assume the offensive against the enemy on 
 the morrow ; and consequently, it would be better to 
 capture the farm at once, instead of waiting till next 
 morning. Muffling agreed in the Duke's views, and 
 Gemiancourt was forthwith attacked by the English and 
 captured with little loss to its assailants.^ 
 
 Meanwhile the French and the Prussians had been 
 fighting in and round the villages of Ligny, Sombref, and 
 St. Amand, from three in the afternoon to nine in the 
 evening, with a savage inveteracy almost unparalleled in 
 modern warfare. Bliicher had in the field, when he began 
 the battle, 83,417 men and 224 guns. Biilow's corps, 
 which was 25,000 strong, had not joined him ; but the 
 Field-Marshal hoped to be reinforced by it, or by the 
 English army before the end of the action. But Biilow, 
 through some error in the transmission of orders, was far 
 in the rear ; and the Duke of Wellington was engaged, as 
 we have seen, with Marshal Ney. Bliicher received early 
 warning from Baron Muffling that the Duke could not come 
 to his assistance ; but, as Miiffling observes, Wellington 
 rendered the Prussians the great service of occupying 
 more than 40,000 of the enemy, who otherwise would have 
 crushed Bliicher 's right flank. For not only did the conflict 
 at Quatre Bras detain the French troops which actually 
 took part in it, but d'Erlon received orders from Ney to 
 join him, which hindered d'Erlon from giving effectual aid 
 to Napoleon. Indeed, the whole of d'Erlon's corps, in con- 
 sequence of conflicting directions from Ney and the Emperor, 
 marched and countermarched, during the 16th, between 
 Quatre Bras and Ligny without firing a shot in either battle. 
 
 Bliicher had, in fact, a superiority of more than 12,000 
 1 Miiffling, p. 242.
 
 400 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 in number over the French army that attacked him at Ligny. 
 The numerical difference was even greater at the beginning 
 of the battle, as Lobau's corps did not come up from 
 Charleroi till eight o'clock. After five hours and a half of 
 desperate and long-doubtful struggle, Napoleon succeeded 
 in breaking the centre of the Prussian line, at Ligny, and 
 in forcing his obstinate antagonists off the field of battle. 
 The issue was attributable to his skill, and not to any want 
 of spirit or resolution on the part of the Prussian troops ; 
 nor did they, though defeated, abate one jot in discipline, 
 heart, or hope. As Bliicher observed, it was a battle in 
 which his army lost the day but not its honour. The 
 Prussians retreated during the night of the 16th, and the 
 early part of the 17th, with perfect regularity and steadiness. 
 The retreat was directed not towards Maestricht, where 
 their principal depots were established, but towards Wavre, 
 so as to be able to maintain their communication with 
 Wellington's army, and still follow out the original plan of 
 the campaign. The heroism with which the Prussians 
 endured and repaired their defeat at Ligny is more glorious 
 than many victories. 
 
 The messenger Avho was sent to inform Wellington of 
 the retreat of the Prussian army was shot on the way ; 
 and it was not until the morning of the 17th that the Allies, 
 at Quatre Bras, knew the result of the battle of Ligny. The 
 Duke was ready at daybreak to take the offensive against 
 the enemy with vigour, his whole army being by that time 
 fully assembled. But on learning that Bliicher had been 
 defeated, a different course of action was clearly necessary. 
 It was obvious that Napoleon's main army would now be 
 directed against Wellington, and a retreat was inevitable. 
 On ascertaining that the Prussian army had retired upon 
 Wavre, that there was no hot pursuit of them by the 
 French, and that Billow's corps had taken no part in the 
 action at Ligny, the Duke resolved to march his army back 
 towards Brussels, still intending to cover that city, and to 
 halt at a point in a line with Wavre, and there restore his 
 communication with Bliicher. An officer from Bliicher's 
 army reached the Duke about nine o'clock, from whom he 
 learned the effective strength that Bliicher still possessed, 
 and how little discouraged his ally was by the yesterday's
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 401 
 
 battle. Wellington sent word to the Prussian commander 
 that he would halt in the position of Mont St. Jean, and 
 accept a general battle with the French, if Bliicher would 
 pledge himself to come to his assistance with a single corps 
 of 25,000 men. This was readily promised ; and after 
 allowing his men ample time for rest and refreshment, 
 Wellington retired over about half the space between 
 Quatre Bras and Brussels. He was pursued, but little 
 molested by the main French army, which about noon of 
 the 17th moved laterally from Ligny, and joined Ney's 
 forces, which had advanced through Quatre Bras when the 
 British abandoned that position. The Earl of Uxbridge, 
 with the British cavalry, covered the retreat of the Duke's 
 army, with great skill and gallantry ; and a heavy thunder- 
 storm, with torrents of rain, impeded the operations of the 
 French pursuing squadrons. The Duke still expected that 
 the French would endeavour to turn his right, and march 
 upon Brussels by the high road that leads through Mons 
 and Hal. In order to counteract this anticipated manoeuvre, 
 he stationed a force of 18,000 men, under Prince Frederick 
 of the Netherlands, at Hal, with orders to maintain himself 
 there, if attacked, as long as possible. The Duke halted with 
 the rest of his army at the position near Mont St. Jean, 
 which, from a village in its neighbourhood, has received 
 the ever-memorable name of the field of Waterloo. 
 
 Wellington was now about twelve miles distant, on 
 a line running from west to east, from Wavre, where the 
 Prussian army had now been completely reorganized and 
 collected, and where it had been strengthened by the 
 junction of Biilow's troops, which had taken no part in 
 the battle of Ligny. Bliicher sent word from Wavre, to 
 the Duke, that he was coming to help the English at Mont 
 St. Jean, in the morning, not with one corps, but with his 
 whole army. The fiery old man only stipulated that the 
 combined armies, if not attacked by Napoleon on the 18th, 
 should themselves attack him on the 19th. So far were 
 Bliicher and his army from being in the state of annihilation 
 described in the boastful bulletin by which Napoleon 
 informed the Parisians of his victory at Ligny. Indeed, 
 the French Emperor seems himself to have been misin- 
 formed as to the extent of loss which he had inflicted on the 
 
 CREASY D d
 
 402 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 Prussians. Had he known in what good order and with 
 what undiminished spirit they were retiring, he would 
 scarcely have delayed sending a large force to press them 
 in their retreat mitil noon on the 17th. Such, however, 
 was the case. It was about that time that he confided to 
 Marshal Grouchy the duty of pursuing the defeated 
 Prussians, and preventing them from joining Wellington. 
 He placed for this purpose 32,000 men and 96 guns under 
 his orders. Violent complaints and recriminations passed 
 afterAvards between the Emperor and the Marshal respecting 
 the manner in which Grouchy attempted to perform this 
 duty, and the reasons why he failed on the 18th to arrest 
 the lateral movement of the Prussians from Wavre to 
 Waterloo. It is sufficient to remark here, that the force 
 which Napoleon gave to Grouchy (though the utmost that 
 the Emperor's limited means would allow) was insufficient 
 to make head against the entire Prussian army, especially 
 after Billow's junction with Bliicher. We shall presently 
 have occasion to consider what opportunities were given 
 to Grouchy during the 18th, and what he might have 
 effected if he had been a man of original military genius. 
 
 But the failure of Grouchy was in truth mainly owing to 
 the indomitable heroism of Bliicher himself, who, though 
 he had received severe personal injuries in the battle of 
 Ligny, was as energetic and ready as ever in bringing his 
 men into action again, and who had the resolution to expose 
 a part of his army, under Thielman, to be overwhelmed by 
 Grouchy at Wavre on the 18th, while he urged the march of 
 the mass of his troops upon Waterloo. ' It is not at Wavre, 
 but at Waterloo,' said the old Field-Marshal, ' that the 
 campaign is to be decided ; ' and he risked a detachment, 
 and won the campaign accordingly. Wellington and 
 Bliicher trusted each other as cordially, and co-operated 
 as zealously, as formerly had been the case with Marlborough 
 and Eugene. It was in full reliance on Bliicher 's jiromise 
 to join him, that the Duke stood his ground and fought at 
 Waterloo ; and those who have ventured to impugn the 
 Duke's capacity as a general ought to have had common 
 sense enough to perceive, that to charge the Duke with 
 having won the battle of Waterloo by the help of the 
 Prussians, is really to say that he won it by the very
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 403 
 
 means on which he relied, and without the expectation 
 of which the battle would not have been fought. 
 
 Napoleon himself has found fault with Wellington for 
 not having retreated further, so as to complete a junction 
 of his army with Bliicher's, before he risked a general 
 engagement.^ But, as we have seen, the Duke justly 
 considered it important to protect Brussels. He had 
 reason to expect that his army could singly resist the 
 French at Waterloo until the Prussians came up, and 
 that, on the Prussians joining, there would be a sufficient 
 force united under himself and Bliicher, for completely 
 overwhelming the enemy. And while Napoleon thus 
 censures his great adversary, he involuntarily bears the 
 highest possible testimony to the military character of 
 the English, and proves decisively of what paramount 
 importance was the battle to which he challenged his 
 fearless opponent. Napoleon asks, ' // the English army 
 had been beaten at Waterloo, what would have been the use 
 of those numerous bodies of troops, of Prussians, Austrians, 
 Germans, and Spaniards, which ivere advancing by forced 
 marches to the Rhine, the Aljys, and the Pyrenees 1 ' ^ 
 
 The strength of the army, under the Duke of Wellington 
 at Waterloo, was 49,608 infantry, 12,402 cavalry, and 
 5,645 artillerymen with 156 guns.^ But of this total of 
 67,655 men, scarcely 24,000 were British, a circumstance 
 of very serious importance, if Napoleon's own estimate of 
 the relative value of troops of different nations is to be 
 taken. In the Emperor's own words, speaking of this 
 campaign, ' A French soldier would not be equal to more 
 than one English soldier, but he would not be afraid to 
 meet two Dutchmen, Prussians, or soldiers of the Con- 
 federation '.* There were about 6,000 men of the old 
 German Legion with the Duke ; these were veteran troops 
 and of excellent quality. Of the rest of the army the 
 Hanoverians and Brunswickers proved themselves deserving 
 of confidence and praise. But the Nassauers, Dutch, and 
 Belgians were almost worthless ; and not a few of them 
 were justly suspected of a strong wish to fight, if they 
 
 ^ See Montholon's Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 44. " Ibid. 
 
 * Sibome, vol. i. p. 376. * Montholon's Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 41. 
 
 Dd2 ^
 
 404 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 fought at all, under the French eagles rather than against 
 them. 
 
 Napoleon's army at Waterloo consisted of 48,950 infantry, 
 15,765 cavalry, 7,232 artillerymen, being a total of 71,947 
 men and 246 guns.^ They were the flower of the national 
 forces of France ; and of all the numerous gallant armies 
 Avhich that martial land has poured forth, never was there 
 one braver, or better disciplined, or better led, than the 
 host that took up its position at Waterloo on the morning 
 of the 18th of June, 1815. 
 
 Perhaps those who have not seen the field of battle at 
 Waterloo, or the admirable model of the ground, and of 
 the conflicting armies, which w^as executed by Captain 
 Siborne, may gain a generall}^ accurate idea of the localities 
 by picturing to themselves a valley between two and three 
 miles long, of various breadths at different points, but 
 generally not exceeding half a mile. On each side of the 
 valley there is a winding chain of low hills, running 
 somewhat parallel with each other. The declivity from 
 each of these ranges of hills to the intervening valley is 
 gentle but not uniform, the undulations of the ground 
 being frequent and considerable. The English army was 
 posted on the northern, and the French army occupied 
 the southern ridge. The artillery of each side thundered 
 at the other from their respective heights throughout the 
 day, and the charges of horse and foot were made across 
 the valley that has been described. The village of Mont 
 St. Jean is situate a little behind the centre of the northern 
 chain of hills, and the village of La Belle Alliance is close 
 behind the centre of the southern ridge. The high road 
 from Charleroi to Brussels (a broad paved causeway) runs 
 through both these villages, and bisects therefore both the 
 English and the French positions. The line of this road 
 was the line of Napoleon's intended advance on Brussels. 
 
 There are some other local particulars, connected with 
 the situation of each army, which it is necessary to bear 
 in mind .2 The strength of the British position did not 
 consist merely in the occupation of a ridge of high ground. 
 A village and ravine, called Merk Braine, on the Duke of 
 Wellington's extreme right, secured his flank from being 
 * See Sibome, ut supra. * See Plan at p. 409.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 405 
 
 turned on that side ; and on his extreme left, two little 
 hamlets called La Haye and Papelotte gave a similar, 
 though a slighter, protection. Behind the whole British 
 position is the extensive forest of Soignies. As no attempt 
 was made by the French to turn either of the English flanks, 
 and the battle was a day of straightforward fighting, it is 
 chiefly important to ascertain what posts there were m 
 front of the British line of hills, of which advantage could 
 be taken either to repel or facilitate an attack ; and it will 
 be seen that there were two, and that each was of very 
 great importance in the action. In front of the British, 
 right, that is to say, on the northern slope of the valley 
 towards its western end, there stood an old-fashioned. 
 Flemish farm-house called Goumont, or Hougoumont, with 
 outbuildings and a garden, and with a copse of beech trees 
 of about two acres in extent round it. This was strongly 
 garrisoned by the allied troops ; and while it was in their 
 possession, it was difficult for the enemy to press on and 
 force the British right wing. On the other hand, if the. 
 enemy could take it, it would be difficult for that wing to 
 keep its ground on the heights, with a strong post held 
 adversely in its immediate front, being one that would give 
 much shelter to the enemy's marksmen, and great facilities 
 for the sudden concentration of attacking columns. Almost 
 immediately in front of the British centre, and not so far 
 down the slope as Hougoumont, there was another farm- 
 house, of a smaller size, called La Haye Sainte,^ which was 
 also held by the British troops, and the occupation of which 
 was found to be of very serious consequence. 
 
 With respect to the French position, the principal 
 feature to be noticed is the village of Planchenoit, which 
 lay a little in the rear of their right (i. e. on the eastern 
 side), and which proved to be of great importance in 
 aiding them to check the advance of the Prussians. 
 
 Napoleon, in his memoirs, and other French writers, 
 have vehemently blamed the Duke for having given battle 
 in such a position as that of Waterloo. They particularly 
 object that the Duke fought without having the means of 
 a retreat, if the attacks of his enemy had proved successful ; 
 
 ^ Not to be confounded with the hamlet of La Haye at the extreme 
 left of the British line.
 
 40G BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 and that the English army, if once broken, must have lost 
 all its guns and materiel in its flight through the Forest of 
 Soignies, that lay in its rear. In answer to these censures, 
 instead of merely referring to the event of the battle as 
 prooi of the correctness of the Duke's judgement, it is to be 
 observed that many military critics of high authority have 
 considered the position of Waterloo to have been admirably 
 adapted for the Duke's purpose of jjrotecting Brussels by 
 a battle ; and that certainly the Duke's opinion in favour 
 of it was not lightly or hastily formed. It is a remarkable 
 fact (mentioned in the speech of Lord Bathurst w^hen 
 moving the vote of thanks to the Duke in the House of 
 Lords ),^ that when the Duke of Wellington w'as passing 
 through Belgium in the preceding summer of 1814, he 
 particularly noticed the strength of the position of Waterloo, 
 and made a minute of it at the time, stating to those who 
 were with him, that if it ever should be his fate to fight 
 a battle in that quarter for the protection of Brussels, he 
 should endeavour to do so in that position. And Avith 
 respect to the Forest of Soignies, which the French (and 
 some few^ English) critics have thought calculated to prove 
 so fatal to a retreating force, the Duke on the contrary 
 believed it to be a post that might have proved of infinite 
 value to his army m the event of his having been obliged 
 to give way. The Forest of Soignies has no thicket or 
 masses of close-growing trees. It consists of tall beeches, 
 and is ever^'Avhere passable for men and horses. The 
 artillery could have been withdrawn by the broad road 
 which traverses it towards Brussels ; and in the meanwhile 
 a few regiments of resolute infantry could have held the 
 forest and kept the pursuers in check. One of the best 
 WTiters on the Waterloo campaign. Captain Prmgle,^ well 
 observes that ' every person, the least experienced in war, 
 knows the extreme difficulty of forcing infantry from 
 a wood which cannot be turned'. The defence of the 
 Bois de Bossu near Quatre Bras on the 16th of June had 
 given a good proof of this ; and the Duke of Wellmgton, 
 when speaking in after years of the possible events that 
 might have followed if he had been beaten back from the 
 
 ^ Parliamentary Debates, vol. xxxi. p. 875. 
 
 * See the Appendix to the 8th volume of Scott's Life of Napoleon.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 407 
 
 open field of Waterloo, pointed to the wood of Soignies as 
 his secure rallying-place, saying, ' They never could have 
 beaten us so that we could not have held the wood against 
 them '. He was always confident that he could have made 
 good that post until joined by the Prussians, upon whose 
 co-operation he throughout depended.^ 
 
 As has been already mentioned, the Prussians, on the 
 morning of the 18th, were at Wavre, which is about twelve 
 miles to the east of the field of battle of Waterloo. The 
 junction of Billow's division had more than made up for 
 the loss sustained at Ligny ; and leaving Thielman with 
 about seventeen thousand men to hold his ground, as he 
 best could, against the attack which Grouchy was about 
 to make on Wavre, Biilow and Bliicher moved with the 
 rest of the Prussians through St. Lambert upon Waterloo. 
 It was calculated that they would be there by three o'clock ; 
 but the extremely difficult nature of the ground which they 
 had to traverse, rendered worse by the torrents of rain that 
 had just fallen, delayedthem long ontheir twelve miles' march. 
 
 An army, indeed, less animated by bitter hate against 
 the enemy than was the Prussian, and under a less energetic 
 chief than Bliicher, would have failed altogether in effecting 
 a passage thi-ough the swamps, into which the incessant 
 rain had transformed the greater part of the ground through 
 which it was necessary to move not only with columns of 
 foot, but with cavalry and artillery. At one point of the 
 march, on entering the defile of St. Lambert, the spirits of 
 the Prussians almost gave way. Exhausted in the attempts 
 to extricate and drag forward the heavy guns, the men 
 began to murmur. Bliicher came to the spot, and heard 
 cries from the ranks of — ' We cannot get on.' ' But you 
 must get on,' was the old Field-Marshal's answer. ' I have 
 pledged my word to Wellington, and you surely will not 
 make me break it. Only exert yourselves for a few hours 
 longer, and we are sure of victory.' This appeal from old 
 ' Marshal Forwards ', as the Prussian soldiers loved to call 
 Bliicher, had its wonted effect. The Prussians again moved 
 forward, slowly, indeed, and with pain and toil ; but still 
 they moved for ward. ^ 
 
 ^ See Lord EUesmere's Lije and Character of the Dtike of Wellington, 
 p. 40. ^ See Sibome, vol. ii. p. 137.
 
 408 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 The French and British armies lay on the open field 
 during the wet and stormy night of the 17th : and when the 
 dawn of the memorable 18th of June broke, the rain was still 
 descending heavily upon Waterloo. The rival nations rose 
 from their dreary bivouacs, and began to form, each on the 
 high ground which it occupied. Towards nine the weathergre w 
 clearer, and each army was able to watch the position and 
 arrangements of the other on the opposite side of the valley. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington drew up his army in two lines ; 
 the principal one being stationed near the crest of the ridge 
 of hills already described, and the other being arranged 
 along the slope in the rear of his position. Commencing 
 from the eastward, on the extreme left of the first or main 
 line were Vivian's and Vandeleur's brigades of light cavalry, 
 and the fifth Hanoverian brigade of infantry, under Von 
 Vincke. Then came Best's fourth Hanoverian brigade. 
 Detachments from these bodies of troops occupied the 
 little villages of Papelotte and La Haye, down the hollow 
 in advance of the left of the Duke's position. To the right 
 of Best's Hanoverians, Bylandt's brigade of Dutch and 
 Belgian infantry was drawn up on the outer slope of the 
 heights. Behind them were the ninth brigade of British 
 infantry under Pack ; and to the right of thess last, but 
 more in advance, stood the eighth brigade of English 
 mfantry under Kempt. These were close to the Charleroi 
 road, and to the centre of the entire position. These two 
 English brigades, with the fifth Hanoverian, made up the 
 fifth division, commanded by Sir Thomas Picton. Imme- 
 diately to their right, and westward of the Charleroi road, 
 stood the third division, commanded by General Alten, and 
 consisting of Ompteda's brigade of the King's German 
 Legion, and Kielmansegge's Hanoverian brigade. The 
 important post of La Haye Sainte, which it will be remem- 
 bered lay in front of the Duke's centre, close to the Charleroi 
 road, was garrisoned with troops from this division. West- 
 ward, and on the right of Kielmansegge's Hanoverians, 
 stood the fifth British brigade under Halkett ; and behind, 
 Kruse's Nassau brigade was posted. On the right of 
 Halkett 's men stood the English Guards. They were in 
 two brigades, one commanded by Maitland, and the other 
 by Byng. The entire division was under General Cooke.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 409 
 
 The buildings and gardens of Hougoumont, which lay 
 immediately under the height on which stood the British 
 Guards, were principally manned by detachments from 
 Byng's brigade, aided by some brave Hanoverian riflemen 
 and accompanied by a battalion of a Nassau regiment. 
 On a plateau in the rear of Cooke's division of Guards, and 
 inchning westward towards the village of Merk Braine, 
 
 WATERLOO AT THE BEGINNIKG OF THE ACTION 
 
 The white are English, the black are French. 
 
 were Clinton's second infantry division, composed of 
 Adams's third brigade of light infantry, Du Plat's first 
 brigade of the King's German Legion, and the third Han- 
 overian brigade under Colonel Halkett. 
 
 The Duke formed his second line of cavalry. This only 
 extended behind the right and centre of his first line. The 
 largest mass was drawn up behind the brigades of infantry 
 in the centre, on either side of the Charleroi road. The 
 brigade of household cavalry under Lord Somerset was 
 on the immediate right of the road, and on the left of it 
 was Ponsonby's brigade. Behind these were Trip's and
 
 410 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 Ghingy's brigades of Dutch and Belgian horse. The 
 3rd Hussars of the King's German Legion were to the right 
 of Somerset's brigade. To the right of these, and behind 
 Maitland's infantry, stood the 3rd brigade under Dornberg, 
 consisting of the 23rd English Light Dragoons, and the 
 regiments of Light Dragoons of the King's German Legion. 
 The last cavalry on the right was Grant's brigade, stationed 
 in the rear of the Foot-Guards. The corps of Brunswickers, 
 both horse and foot, and the 10th British brigade of foot, 
 were in reserve behind the centre and right of the entire 
 position. The artillery ^\'as distributed at convenient 
 intervals along the front of the whole line. Besides the 
 generals who have been mentioned. Lord Hill, Lord 
 Uxbridge (who had the general command of the cavalry), 
 the Prince of Orange, and General Chasse, were present, 
 and acting under the Duke.^ 
 
 * Prince Frederick's force remained at Hal, and took no part in the 
 battle of the 18th. The reason for this arrangement (which has been 
 much cavilled at) may be best given in the words of Baron Miiffling : 
 ' The Duke had retired from Quatre Bras in three columns, by three 
 chaussees ; and on the evening of the 17th, Prince Frederick of Orange 
 was at Hal, Lord Hill at Braine la Leud, and the Prince of Orange 
 with the reserve at Mont St. Jean. This distribution was necessary, 
 as Napoleon could dispose of these three roads for his advance on Brussels. 
 Napoleon on the 17th had pressed on by Genappe as far as Rossomme. 
 On the two other roads no enemy had yet shown himself. On the 18th 
 the offensive was taken by Napoleon on its greatest scale, but still the 
 Nivelles road was not overstepped by his left wing. These circumstances 
 made it possible to draw Prince Frederick to the army, which would 
 certainly have been done if entirely new circumstances had not arisen. 
 The Duke had, twenty-four hours before, pledged himself to accept 
 a battle at Mont St. Jean if Bliicher would assist him there with one 
 corps, of 25,000 men. This being promised, the Duke was taking his 
 measures for defence, when he learned that, in addition to the one corps 
 promised, Bliicher was actually already on the march with his whole 
 force, to break in by Planchenoit on Napoleon's flank and rear. If 
 three corps of the Pioissian army should penetrate by the unguarded 
 plateau of Rossomme, which was 7iot improbable. Napoleon would be 
 thrust from his line of retreat by Genappe, and might possibly lose even 
 that by Nivelles. In this case Prince Frederick, with his 18,000 men (who 
 might be accounted superfluous at Mont St. Jean), might have rendered 
 the most essential service.' — See Miiffling, p. 246, and the Quarterly 
 Review, No. 178. It is also worthy of observation that Napoleon 
 actually detached a force of 2,000 cavalry to threaten Hal, though 
 they returned to the main French army during the night of the 17th. See 
 Victoires et Conqmtes des FrariQais, vol. xxiv. p. 186.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 411 
 
 On the opposite heights the French army was drawn up 
 in two general lines, with the entire force of the Imperial 
 Guards, cavalry as well as infantry, in rear of the centre, 
 as a reserve. 
 
 The first line of the French army was formed of the two 
 corps commanded by Count d'Erlon and Count Reille. 
 D'Er Ion's corps was on the right, that is, eastward of the 
 Charleroi road, and consisted of four divisions of infantry 
 under Generals Durette, Marcognet, Alix, and Donzelot, 
 and of one division of light cavalry under General Jaquinot. 
 Count Reille's corps formed the left or western wing, and 
 was formed of Bachelu's, Foy's, and Jerome Bonaparte's 
 divisions of infantry, and of Fire's division of cavalry. 
 The right wing of the second general French line was 
 formed of Milhaud's corps, consisting of two divisions of 
 heavy cavalry. The left wing of this line was formed by 
 Kellerman's cavalry corps, also in two divisions. Thus 
 each of the corps of infantry that composed the first line 
 had a corps of cavalry behind it ; but the second line con- 
 sisted also of Lobau's corps of infantry, and Domont and 
 Subervie's divisions of light cavalry ; these three bodies of 
 troops being drawn up on either side of La Belle Alliance, 
 and forming the centre of the second line. The third or 
 reserve line had its centre composed of the infantry of the 
 Imperial Guard. Two regiments of grenadiers and two of 
 chasseurs formed the foot of the Old Guard under General 
 Friant. The Middle Guard, under Count Morand, was 
 similarly composed ; while two regiments of voltigeurs, 
 and two of tirailleurs, under Duhesme, constituted the 
 Young Guard. The chasseurs and lancers of the Guard 
 were on the right of the infantry, under Lefebvre Des- 
 nouettes ; and the grenadiers and dragoons of the Guards, 
 under Guyot, were on the left. All the French corps 
 comprised, besides their cavalry and infantry regiments, 
 strong batteries of horse artillery ; and Napoleon's numeri- 
 cal superiority in guns was of deep importance throughout 
 the action. 
 
 Besides the leading generals who have been mentioned as 
 commanding particular corps, Ney and Soult were present, 
 and acted as the Emperor's lieutenants in the battle. 
 
 English military critics have highly eulogized the adnnr-
 
 412 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 able arrangement which Napoleon made of his forces of 
 each arm, so as to give him the most ample means of sus- 
 taining, by an immediate and sufficient support, any attack, 
 from whatever point he might direct it ; and of drawing 
 promptly together a strong force, to resist any attack that 
 might be made on himself in any part of the field. ^ When 
 his troops were all arrayed, he rode along the lines, receiving 
 everywhere the most enthusiastic cheers from his men, of 
 whose entire devotion to him his assurance was now doubly 
 sure. On the northern side of the valley the Duke's army 
 was also drawn up, and ready to meet the menaced attack. 
 Wellington had caused, on the preceding night, every 
 brigade and corps to take up its station on or near the 
 part of the ground which it was intended to hold in the 
 coming battle. He had slept a few hours at his head- 
 quarters in the village of Waterloo ; and rising on the 
 18th, while it was yet deep night, he wrote several letters 
 to the Governor of Antwerp, to the English Minister at 
 Brussels, and other official personages, in which he ex- 
 pressed his confidence that all would go well, but ' as it was 
 necessary to provide against serious losses should any 
 accident occur ', he gave a series of judicious orders for 
 what should be done in the rear of the army, in the event 
 of the battle going against the Allies. He also, before he 
 left the village of Waterloo, saw to the distribution of the 
 reserves of ammunition which had been parked there, so 
 that supplies should be readily forwarded to every part of 
 the line of battle where they might be required. The Duke 
 also personally inspected the arrangements that had been 
 made for receiving the wounded, and providing temporary 
 hospitals in the houses in the rear of the army. Then, 
 mounting a favourite charger, a small thoroughbred 
 chestnut horse, named ' Copenhagen ', Wellington rode 
 forward to the range of hills where his men were posted. 
 Accompanied by his staff and by the Prussian general 
 Miiffling, he rode along his lines, carefully inspecting all the 
 details of his position. Hougoumont was the object of his 
 special attention. He rode down to the south-eastern 
 extremity of its enclosures, and after having examined the 
 nearest French troops, he made some changes in the dis- 
 ^ Sibome, vol. i. p. 376.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 413 
 
 position of his own men who were to defend that important 
 post. 
 
 Having given his final orders about Hougoumont, the 
 Duke galloped back to the high grovmd in the right centre 
 of his position ; and halting there, sat watching the enemy 
 on the opposite heights, and conversing with his staff with 
 that cheerful serenity which was ever his characteristic in 
 the hour of battle. 
 
 Not all brave men are thus gifted ; and many a glance 
 of anxious excitement must have been cast across the valley 
 that separated the two hosts during the protracted pause 
 which ensued between the completion of Napoleon's pre- 
 parations for attack and the actual commencement of the 
 contest. It was, indeed, an awful calm before the coming 
 storm, when armed myriads stood gazing on their armed 
 foes, scanning their number, their array, their probable 
 powers of resistance and destruction, and listening with 
 throbbing hearts for the momentarily expected note of 
 death ; while visions of victory and glory came thronging 
 on each soldier's high-strung brain, not unmingled with 
 recollections of the home which his fall might soon leave 
 desolate, nor without shrinking nature sometimes prompt- 
 ing the cold thought that in a few moments he might be 
 writhing in agony, or lie a trampled and mangled mass of 
 clay on the grass now waving so freshly and purely before 
 him- 
 
 Such thoughts will arise in human breasts, though 
 the brave man soon silences ' the child within us that 
 trembles before death ',^ and nerves himself for the coming 
 struggle by the mental preparation which Xenophon has 
 finely called ' the soldier's arraying his own soul for battle '.^ 
 Well, too, may we hope and believe that many a spirit 
 sought aid from a higher and holier source ; and that many 
 a fervent though silent prayer arose on that Sabbath morn 
 (the battle of Waterloo was fought on a Sunday) to the 
 Lord of Sabaoth, the God of Battles, from the ranks 
 whence so many thousands were about to appear that day 
 before His judgement-seat. 
 
 Not only to those who were thus present as spectators 
 
 ' See Plato, Phaedon, c. 60 ; and Grote's History of Greece, vol. viii. 
 p. 656. ^ Helknica, lib. vii. c. v.; s. 22.
 
 414 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 and actors in the dread drama, hut to all Europe, the 
 decisive contest then impending between the rival French 
 and English nations, each under its chosen chief, was the 
 object of exciting interest and deepest solicitude. ' Never, 
 indeed, had two such generals as the Duke of Wellington 
 and the Emperor Napoleon encountered since the day when 
 Scipio and Hannibal met at Zama.' ^ 
 
 The two great champions who now confronted each 
 other were equals in years, and each had entered the 
 military profession at the same early age. The more con- 
 spicuous stage, on which the French general's youthful 
 genius w^as displayed, his heritage of the whole military 
 power of the French Republic, the position on which for 
 years he was elevated as sovereign head of an empire 
 surpassing that of Charlemagne, and the dazzling results 
 of his victories, which made and unmade kings, had given 
 him a formidable pre-eminence in the eyes of mankind. 
 Military men spoke with justly rapturous admiration of the 
 brilliancy of his first Italian campaigns, when he broke 
 through the pedantry of traditional tactics, and with a 
 small but promptly wielded force, shattered army after 
 army of the Austrians, conquered provinces and capitals, 
 dictated treaties, and annihilated or created states. The 
 iniquity of his Egyptian expedition was too often forgotten 
 in contemplating the skill and boldness with which he 
 destroyed the Mameluke cavalry at the Pjrramids and the 
 Turkish infantry at Aboukir. None could forget the 
 marvellous passage of the Alps in 1800, or the victory of 
 Marengo, which wrested Italy back from Austria, and 
 destroyed the fruit of twenty victories, which the enemies 
 of France had gained over her in the absence of her favourite 
 chief. Even higher seemed the glories of his German cam- 
 paigns, the triumphs of Ulm, of Austerlitz, of Jena, of 
 Wagram. Napoleon's disasters in Russia, in 1812, were 
 imputed by his admirers to the elements ; his reverses in 
 Germany, in 1813, were attributed by them to treachery : 
 and even those two calamitous years had been signalized 
 by his victories at Borodino, at Liitzen, at Bautzen, at 
 Dresden, and at Hanau. His last campaign, in the early 
 months of 1814, was rightly cited as the most splendid 
 ^ See supra, p. 94.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 415 
 
 exhibition of his military genius, when, with a far inferior 
 army, he long checked and frequently defeated the vast 
 hosts that were poured upon France. His followers fondly 
 hoped that the campaign of 1815 would open with another 
 ' week of miracles ' , like that which had seen his victories at 
 Montmirail and Montereau. The laurel of Ligny was even 
 now fresh upon his brows. Bliicher had not stood before 
 him ; and who was the Adversary that now should bar 
 the Emperor's way ? 
 
 That Adversar}^ had already overthrown the Emperor's 
 best generals, and the Emperor's best armies ; and, like 
 Napoleon himself, had achieved a reputation in more than 
 European wars. Wellington was illustrious as the destroyer 
 of the Mahratta power, as the liberator of Portugal and 
 Spain, and the successful invader of Southern France. In 
 early youth he had held high command in India ; and had 
 displayed eminent skill in planning and combining move- 
 ments, and unrivalled celerity and boldness in execution. 
 On his return to Europe several years passed away before 
 any fitting opportunity was accorded for the exercise of his 
 genius. In this important respect, Wellington, as a sub- 
 ject, and Napoleon, as a sovereign, were far differently 
 situated. At length his appointment to the command in 
 the Spanish Peninsula gave him the means of showing 
 Europe that England had a general who could- revive the 
 glories of Crecy, of Poictiers, of Agincourt, of Blenheim, 
 and of Ramillies. At the head of forces always numerically 
 far inferior to the armies with which Napoleon deluged the 
 Peninsula — thwarted by jealous and incompetent allies 
 — ill-supported by friends, and assailed by factious enemies 
 at home, — Wellington maintained the war for seven years, 
 unstained by any serious reverse, and marked by victory 
 in thirteen pitched battles, at Vimiera, the Douro, Talavera, 
 Busaco, Fuentes d'Oiioro, Salamanca, Vittoria, the Pyre- 
 nees, the Bidassoa, the Nive, the Nivelle, Orthes, and 
 Toulouse. Junot, Victor, Massena, Ney, Marmont, and 
 Jourdain — marshals whose names were the terrors of 
 continental Europe — had been baffled by his skill, and 
 smitten down by his energy, while he liberated the king- 
 doms of the Peninsula from them and their Imperial master. 
 In vain did Napoleon at last dispatch Soult, the ablest of
 
 416 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 his lieutenants, to turn the tide of WelUngton's success, and 
 defend France against the EngHsh invader. Wellington 
 met Soult's manoeuvres with superior skill, and his boldness 
 with superior vigour. When Napoleon's first abdication, 
 in 1814, suspended hostilities, Wellington was master of the 
 fairest districts of Southern France ; and had under him 
 a veteran army, with which (to use his own expressive 
 phrase) ' he felt he could have gone anywhere and done 
 anything.' The fortune of war had hitherto kept separate 
 the orbits in which Napoleon and he had moved. Now, 
 on the ever memorable 18th of June, 1815, they met at last. 
 It is, indeed, remarkable that Napoleon, during his 
 numerous campaigns in Spain as well as other countries, 
 not only never encountered the Duke of Wellington before 
 the day of Waterloo, but that he was never until then 
 personally engaged with British troops, except at the siege 
 of Toulon, in 1793, which was the very first incident of his 
 military career. Many, however, of the French generals 
 who were with him in 1815 knew well, by sharp experience, 
 what English soldiers were, and what the leader was who 
 now headed them. Ney, Foy, and other officers who had 
 served in the Peninsula, warned Napoleon that he would 
 find the English infantry ' very devils in fight '. The 
 Emperor, however, persisted in employing the old sj^stem 
 of attack, with which the French generals often succeeded 
 against continental troops, but which had always failed 
 against the English in the Peninsula. He adhered to his 
 usual tactics of employing the order of the column ; a mode 
 of attack probably favoured by him (as Sir Walter Scott 
 remarks) on account of his faith in the extreme valour of 
 the French officers by whom the column Avas headed. It 
 is a threatening formation, v/ell calculated to shake the 
 firmness of ordinary foes ; but which, when steadily met, 
 as the English have met it, by heavy volleys of musketry 
 from an extended line, followed up by a resolute bayonet 
 charge, has always resulted in disaster to the assailants.^ 
 
 ^ See especially Sir W. Napier's glorious pictures of the battles of 
 Busaco and Albuera. The theoretical advantages of the attack in column, 
 and its peculiar fitness for a French army, are set forth in the Chevalier 
 Folard's Traite de la Colonne, prefixed to the first volume of his Polyhius. 
 See also the preface to his sixth volume.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 417 
 
 It was approaching noon before the action commenced. 
 Napoleon, in his Memoirs, gives as the reason for this delay 
 the miry state of the ground through the heavy rain of the 
 preceding night and day, which rendered it impossible for 
 cavalry or artillery to manoeuvre on it till a few hours of 
 dry weather had given it its natural consistency. It has 
 been supposed, also, that he trusted to the effect which the 
 sight of the imposing array of his own forces was likely to 
 produce on the part of the allied army. The Belgian 
 regiments had been tampered with ; and Napoleon had 
 well-founded hopes of seeing them quit the Duke of Welling- 
 ton in a body, and range themselves under his own eagles. 
 The Duke, however, who knew and did not trust them, had 
 guarded against the risk of this by breaking up the corps 
 of Belgians, and distributing them in separate regiments 
 among troops on whom he could rely.^ 
 
 At last, at about half-past eleven o'clock, Napoleon 
 began the battle by directing a powerful force from his 
 left wing under his brother. Prince Jerome, to attack 
 Hougournont. Column after column of the French now 
 descended from the west of the southern heights, and 
 assailed that post with fiery valour, which was encountered 
 with the most determined bravery. The French won the 
 copse round the house, but a party of the British Guards 
 held the house itself throughout the day. The whole of 
 Byng's brigade was required to man this hotly contested 
 post. Amid shell and shot, and the blazing fragments of 
 part of the buildings, this obstinate contest was continued. 
 But still the English were firm in Hougoumont ; though the 
 French occasionally moved forward in such numbers as 
 enabled them to surround and mask it with part of their 
 troops from their left wing, while others pressed onward 
 up the slope, and assailed the British right. 
 
 The cannonade, which commenced at first between the 
 British right and the French left, in consequence of the 
 attack on Hougoumont, soon became general along both 
 lines ; and, about one o'clock. Napoleon directed a grand 
 attack to be made under Marshal Ney upon the centre and 
 left wing of the allied army. For this purpose four columns 
 of infantry, amounting to about eighteen thousand men, 
 ^ Siborne, vol. i. p. 373. 
 
 €REAsy E e
 
 418 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 were collected, supported by a strong division of cavalry 
 under the celebrated Kellerman ; and seventj^-four guns 
 were brought forward ready to be posted on the ridge of 
 a little undulation of the ground in the interval between the 
 two principal chains of heights, so as to bring their fire to 
 bear on the Duke's line at a range af about seven hundred 
 yards. By the combined assault of these formidable forces, 
 led on by Ney , ' the bravest of the brave ' , Napoleon hoped 
 to force the left centre of the British position, to take La 
 Haye Sainte, and then pressing forward, to occupy also the 
 farm of Mont St. Jean. He then could cut the mass of 
 Wellington's troops off from their line of retreat upon 
 Brussels, and from their own left, and also completely sever 
 them from any Prussian troops that might be approaching. 
 
 The columns destined for this great and decisive operation 
 descended majestically from the French line of hills, and 
 gained the ridge of the intervening eminence, on which the 
 batteries that supported them were now ranged. As the 
 columns descended again from this eminence, the seventy- 
 four guns opened over their heads with terrible effect upon 
 the troops of the Allies that were stationed on the heights 
 to the left of the Charleroi road. One of the French columns 
 kept to the east, and attacked the extreme left of the Allies ; 
 the other three continued to move rapidly forwards upon 
 the left centre of the allied position. The front line of the 
 Allies here was composed of Bylandt's brigade of Dutch and 
 Belgians. As the French columns moved up the south- 
 ward slope of the height on which the Dutch and Belgians 
 stood, and the skirmishers in advance began to open their 
 fire, Bylandt's entire brigade turned and fled in disgraceful 
 and disorderly panic ; but there were men more worthy of 
 the name behind. 
 
 In this part of the second line of the Allies were posted 
 Pack and Kempt's brigades of English infantry, which 
 had suffered severely at Quatre Bras. But Picton was here 
 as general of division, and not even Ney himself surpassed 
 in resolute bravery that stern and fiery spirit. Picton 
 brought his two brigades forward, side by side, in a thin 
 two-deep line. Thus joined together, they were not three 
 thousand strong. With these Picton had to make head 
 against the three victorious French columns, upwards of
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 419 
 
 four times that strength, and who, encouraged by the easy- 
 rout of the Dutch and Belgians, now came confidently over 
 the ridge of the hill. The British infantry stood firm ; and 
 as the French halted and began to deploy into line, Picton 
 seized the critical moment. He shouted in his stentorian 
 voice to Kempt's brigade : ' A volley, and then charge ! ' 
 At a distance of less than thirty yards that volley was 
 poured upon the devoted first sections of the nearest 
 column ; and then, with a fierce hurrah, the British dashed 
 in with the bayonet. Picton was shot dead as he rushed 
 forward, but his men pushed on with the cold steel. The 
 French reeled back in confusion. Pack's infantry had 
 checked the other two columns, and down came a whirlwind 
 of British horse on the whole mass, sending them staggering 
 from the crest of the hill, and cutting them down by whole 
 battalions. Ponsonby's brigade of heavy cavalry (the 
 Union Brigade, as it was called, from its being made up of 
 the British Royals, the Scots Greys, and the Irish Innis- 
 killings) did this good service. On went the horsemen 
 amid the wrecks of the French columns, capturing two 
 eagles and two thousand prisoners ; onwards still they 
 galloped, and sabred the artillerymen of Ney's seventy-four 
 advanced guns ; then severing the traces, and cutting the 
 throats of the artillery horses, they rendered these guns 
 totally useless to the French throughout the remainder of 
 the day. While thus far advanced beyond the British 
 position and disordered by success, they were charged by 
 a large body of French lancers, and driven back with severe 
 loss, till Vandeleur's light horse came to their aid, and beat 
 off the French lancers in their turn. 
 
 Equally unsuccessful with the advance of the French 
 infantry in this grand attack had been the efforts of the 
 French cavalry who moved forward in support of it, along 
 the east of the Charleroi road. Somerset's cavalry of the 
 English Household Brigade had been launched, on the right 
 of Picton' s division, against the French horse, at the same 
 time that the English Union Brigade of heavy horse charged 
 the French infantry columns on the left. 
 
 Somerset's brigade was formed of the Life Guards, the 
 Blues, and the Dragoon Guards. The hostile cavalry, which 
 Kellerman led forward, consisted chiefly of Cuirassiers. 
 
 E e2
 
 420 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 This steel-clad mass of French horsemen rode down some 
 companies of German infantry, near La Haye Sainte, and 
 flushed with success, they bounded onward to the ridge 
 of the British position. The English Household Brigade, 
 led on by the Earl of Uxbridge in person, spurred forward 
 to the encounter, and in an instant the two adverse lines of 
 strong swordsmen, on their strong steeds, dashed furiously 
 together. A desperate and sanguinary hand-to-hand fight 
 ensued, in which the physical superiority of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, guided by equal skill, and animated with equal 
 valour, was made decisively manifest. Back went the 
 chosen cavalry of France ; and after them, in hot pursuit, 
 spurred the English Guards. They went forward as far 
 and as fiercely as their comrades of the Union Brigade ; 
 and, like them, the Household Cavalry suffered severely 
 before they regained the British position, after their 
 magnificent charge and adventurous pursuit. 
 
 Napoleon's grand effort to break the English left centre 
 had thus completely failed, and his right wing was seriously 
 weakened by the heavy loss which it had sustained. Hou- 
 goumont was still being assailed, and was still successfully 
 resisting. Troops were now beginning to appear at the 
 edge of the horizon on Napoleon's right, which he too 
 well knew to be Prussian, though he endeavoured to per- 
 suade his followers that they were Grouchy's men coming 
 to their aid. 
 
 Grouchy was in fact now engaged at Wavre with his 
 whole force against Thielman's single Prussian corps, while 
 the oilier three corps of the Prussian army were moving 
 without opposition, save from the difficulties of the ground, 
 upon Waterloo. Grouchy believed, on the 17th, and caused 
 Napoleon to believe, that the Prussian army was retreating 
 by lines of march remote from Waterloo upon Namur and 
 Maestricht. Napoleon learned early on the 18th that 
 there were Prussians in Wavre, and felt jealous about the 
 security of his own right. He accordingly, before he 
 attacked the English, sent Grouchj^ orders to engage the 
 Prussians at Wavre without delay, and to approach the 
 main French army, so as to unite his commv.nication with 
 the Emperor's. Grouchy entirely neglected this last part 
 of his instructions ; and in attacking the Prussians whom
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 421 
 
 he found at Wavre, he spread his force more and more 
 towards his right, that is to say, in the direction most 
 remote from Napoleon. He thus knew nothing of Bliicher's 
 and Billow's flank march upon Waterloo till six in the 
 evening of the 18th, when he received a note which Soult 
 by Napoleon's orders had sent off from the field of battle 
 at Waterloo at one o'clock, to inform Grouchy that Biilow 
 was coming over the heights of 8t. Lambert, on the Em- 
 peror's right flank, and directing Grouchy to approach and 
 join the main army instantly, and crush Biilow en flagrant 
 delit. It was then too late for Grouchy to obey ; but it is 
 remarkable that as early as noon on the 18th, and while 
 Grouchy had not proceeded as far as Wavre, he and his 
 suite heard the sound of heavy cannonading in the direction 
 of Planchenoit and Mont St. Jean. General Gerard, who 
 was with Grouchy, implored him to march towards the 
 cannonade, and join his operations with those of Napoleon, 
 v/ho was evidently engaged with the English. Grouchy 
 refused to do so, or even to detach part of his force in that 
 direction. He said that his instructions were to fight the 
 Prussians at Wavre. He marched upon Wavre and fought 
 for the rest of the day with Thielman accordingly, while 
 Bliicher and Biilow were attacking the Emperor.^ 
 
 ^ I have heard the remark made that Grouchy twice had in his hands 
 the power of changing the destinies of Europe, and twice wanted neiTe 
 to act : first when he fiinched from landing the French army at Bantry 
 Bay in 1796 (he was second in command to Hoche, whose ship was 
 blown back by a storm), and secondly, when he failed to lead his whole 
 force from Wavre to the scene of decisive conflict at Waterloo. But such 
 were the arrangements of the Prussian General, that even if Grouchy 
 had marched upon Waterloo, he would have been held in check by the 
 nearest Prussian corps, or certainly by the two nearest ones, while the 
 rest proceeded to join Wellington. This, however, would have diminished 
 the number of Prussians who appeared at Waterloo, and (what is still 
 more important) would have kept them back to a later hour. — See 
 Siborne, vol. i. p. 323, and Gleig, p. 142. 
 
 There are some very valuable remarks on this subject in the 70th No. 
 of the Quarterly, in an article on ' The Life of Bliicher ', usually attributed 
 to Sir Francis Head. The Prussian writer. General Clausewitz, is there 
 cited as ' expressing a positive opinion, in which every military critic 
 but a Frenchman must concur, that, even had the whole of Grouchy's 
 force been at Napoleon's disposal, the Duke had nothing to fear pending 
 Bliicher's arrival. 
 
 ' The Duke is often talked of as having exhausted his reserves in
 
 422 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 Napoleon had witnessed with bitter disappointment 
 the rout of his troops — foot, horse, and artillery — which 
 attacked the left centre of the English, and the obstinate 
 resistance which the garrison of Hougoumont opposed to 
 all the exertions of his left wing. He now caused the 
 batteries along the line of high ground held by him to be 
 strengthened, and for some time an unremitting and most 
 destructive cannonade raged across the valley, to the partial 
 cessation of other conflict. But the superior fire of the 
 French artillery, though it weakened, could not break the 
 British line, and more close and summary measures were 
 requisite. 
 
 It was now about half past three o'clock ; and though 
 Wellington's army had suffered severely by the unremitting 
 cannonade, and in the late desperate encounter, no part 
 of the British position had been forced. Napoleon deter- 
 mined therefore to try what effect he could produce on 
 the British centre and right by charges of his si)lendid 
 cavalry, brought on in such force that the Duke's 
 cavalry could not check them. Fresh troops were at the 
 same time sent to assail La Have Sainte and Hougoumont, 
 the possession of these posts being the Emperor's unceasing 
 object. Squadron after squadron of the French cuirassiers 
 accordingly ascended the slopes on the Duke's right, and 
 rode forward with dauntless courage against the batteries 
 of the British artillery in that part of the field. The 
 artillerymen were driven from their guns, and the cuirassiers 
 cheered loudly at their supposed triumph. But the Duke 
 had formed his infantry in squares, and the cuirassiers 
 charged in vain against the impenetrable hedges of bayonets, 
 while the fire from the imier ranks of the squares told 
 with terrible effect on their squadrons. Time after time 
 they rode forward with invariably the same result : and 
 as they receded from each attack the British artillerymen 
 
 the action. This is another gross error, which Clausewitz has thoroughly 
 disposed of (p. 125). He enumerates the tenth British brigade, the 
 division of Chasse, and the cavalry of Collaert, as having been little or 
 not at all engaged ; and he might have also added two brigades of light 
 cavalry.' The fact, also, that Wellington did not at any part of the day 
 order up Prince Frederick's corps from Hal, is a conclusive proof that 
 the Duke was not so distressed as some writers have represented. Hal 
 is not ten miles from the field of Waterloo.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 423 
 
 rushed forward from the centres of the squares, where they 
 had taken refuge, and pUed their guns on the retiring 
 horsemen.^ Nearly the whole of Napoleon's magnificent 
 
 ^ On came the whirlwind — like the last 
 But fiercest sweep of tempest -blast — - 
 On came the whirlwind — steel-gleams broke 
 Like lightning through the rolling smoke ; 
 
 The war was waked anew. 
 Three hundred cannon-mouths roar'd loud, 
 And from their throats, with flash and cloud. 
 
 Their showers of iron threw. 
 Beneath their fire, in full career, 
 Rush'd on the ponderous cuirassier. 
 The lancer couch'd his ruthless spear, 
 And hurrying as to havoc near. 
 
 The cohorts' eagles flew. 
 In one dark torrent, broad and strong. 
 The advancing onset roll'd along. 
 Forth harbinger'd by fierce acclaim. 
 That, from the shroud of smoke and flame, 
 Peal'd wUdly the imperial name. 
 
 But on the British heart were lost 
 
 The terrors of the charging host ; 
 
 For not an eye the storm that view'd 
 
 Changed its proud glance of fortitude. 
 
 Nor was one forward footstep staid. 
 
 As dropp'd the dying and the dead. 
 
 Fast as their ranks the thunders tear. 
 
 Fast they renew'd each serried square ; 
 
 And on the wounded and the slain 
 
 Closed their diminish'd files again. 
 
 Till from their line scarce spears' lengths three, 
 
 Emerging from the smoke they see 
 
 Helmet, and plume, and panoply, — 
 
 Then waked their fire at once ! 
 Each musketeer's revolving knell. 
 As fast, as regularly fell. 
 As when they practise to display 
 Their discipline on festal day. 
 
 Then down went helm and lance, 
 Down were the eagle banners sent, 
 Down reeling steeds and riders went. 
 Corslets were pierced, and pennons rent ; 
 
 And, to augment the fray, 
 Wheel'd full against their staggering flanks, 
 The English horsemen's foaming ranks 
 
 Forced their resistless way. 
 
 Then to the musket-knell succeeds 
 
 The clash of swords — the neigh of steeds — ■
 
 424 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 body of heavy cavalry was destroyed in these fruitless 
 attempts upon the British right. But in another part of the 
 field fortune favoured him for a time. Two French columns 
 of infantry from Donzelot's division took La Haye Sainte 
 between six and seven o'clock, and the means were now 
 given for organizing another formidable attack on the 
 centre of the Allies. 
 
 There was no time to be lost — Bliicher and Biilow were 
 beginning to press hard upon the French right. As early 
 as five o'clock, Napoleon had been obliged to detach 
 Lobau's infantry and Domont's horse to check these 
 new enemies. They succeeded in doing so for a time ; but 
 as larger numbers of the Prussians came on the field, they 
 turned Lobau's right flank, and sent a strong force to 
 seize the village of Planchenoit, which, it will be remem- 
 bered, lay in the rear of the French right. 
 
 The design of the Allies was not merely to prevent 
 Napoleon from advancing upon Brussels, but to cut off 
 his line of retreat and utterly destroy his army. The defence 
 of Planchenoit therefore became absolutely essential for 
 the safety of the French, and Napoleon was obliged to 
 send his Young Guard to occupy that village, which was 
 accordingly held by them with great gallantry against 
 the reiterated assaults of the Prussian left, under Biilow. 
 Three times did the Prussians light their way into Plan- 
 chenoit, and as often did the French drive them out : the 
 contest was maintained with the fiercest desperation on 
 both sides, such being the animosity between the two 
 nations that quarter was seldom given or even asked. 
 Other Prussian forces were now appearing on the field 
 nearer to the English left, whom also Napoleon kept in 
 check by troops detached for that purpose. Thus a large 
 
 As plies the smith his clanging trade, 
 
 Against the cuirass rang the blade ; 
 
 And while amid their close array 
 
 The well-served cannon rent their way, 
 
 And while amid their scatter'd band 
 
 Raged the fierce rider's bloody brand, 
 
 Recoil'd in common rout and fear, 
 
 Lancer and guard and cuirassier, 
 
 Horsemen and foot, — a mingled host. 
 
 Their leaders fall'n, their standards lost. — Scott.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 425 
 
 part of the French army was noAV thrown back on a line 
 at right angles with the Ime of that portion which still 
 confronted and assailed the English position. But this 
 portion was now numerically mferior to the force under the 
 Duke of Wellington, which Napoleon had been assailing 
 throughout the day, without gaining any other advantage 
 than the capture of La Haye Sainte. It is true that, 
 owing to the gross misconduct of the greater ftart of the 
 Dutch and Belgian troops, the Duke was obliged to rely 
 exclusively on his English and German soldiers, and the 
 ranks of these had been fearfully thinned ; but the sur- 
 vivors stood their ground heroically, and opposed a resolute 
 front to every forward movement of their enemies. 
 
 On no point of the British line was the pressure more 
 severe than on Halkett's brigade in the right centre, 
 which was composed of battalions of the 30th, the 33rd, 
 the 69th, and the 73rd British regiments. We fortunately 
 can quote from the journal ^ of a brave officer of the 30th, 
 a narrative of what took place in this part of the field. 
 The late Major Macready served at Waterloo in the light 
 company of the 30th. The extent of the peril and the 
 carnage which Halkett's brigade had to encounter, may 
 l)e judged of by the fact that this light company marched 
 into the field three officers and fifty-one men, and that at 
 the end of the battle they stood one officer and ten men. 
 Major Macready 's blunt soldierly account of what he 
 actually saw and felt, gives a far better idea of the terrific 
 scene than can be gamed from the polished generalizations 
 which the conventional style of history requires, or even 
 from the glowing stanzas of the jDoet. During the earlier 
 part of the day Macready and his light company were 
 thrown forward as skirmishers m front of the brigade ; but 
 when the French cavalry commenced their attacks on 
 the British right centre, he and his comrades were ordered 
 back. The brave soldier thus himself describes what 
 passed : 
 
 ' Before the commencement of this attack our company 
 and the Grenadiers of the 73rd were skirmishing briskly 
 in the low ground, covering our guns, and annoying those 
 
 ' This excellent journal was published in the Untied Service Magazine 
 during the year 1852.
 
 426 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 of the enemy. The line of tirailleurs opposed to us was not 
 stronger than our own, but on a sudden they were reinforced 
 by numerous bodies, and several guns began playing on 
 us with canister. Our poor fellows dropped very fast, and 
 Colonel Vigoureux, Rumley, and Pratt, were carried off 
 badly wounded in about two minutes. I was now com- 
 mander of our company. We stood under this hurricane 
 of small shot till Halkett sent to order us in, and I brought 
 away about a third of the light bobs ; the rest were killed 
 or wounded, and I really wonder how one of them escaped. 
 As our bugler was killed, I shouted and made signals to 
 move by the left, in order to avoid the fire of our guns, 
 and to put as good a face upon the business as possible. 
 ' When I reached Lloyd's abandoned guns, I stood near 
 them for abovit a minute to contemplate the scene : it 
 was grand beyond description. Hougoumont and its wood 
 sent up a broad flame through the dark masses of smoke 
 that overhung the field ; beneath this cloud the French 
 were indistinctly visible. Here a waving mass of long 
 red feathers could be seen ; there, gleams as from a sheet 
 of steel showed that the cuirassiers were movmg ; 400 cannon 
 were belching forth fire and death on every side ; the roaring 
 and shoutmg were mdistinguishably commixed — together 
 they gave me an idea of a labouring volcano. Bodies of 
 infantry and cavalry were pourmg down on us, and it was 
 time to leave contemplation, so I moved towards our 
 columns, which were standing up in square. Our regiment 
 and 73rd formed one, and 33rd and 69th another ; to our 
 right beyond them were the Guards, and on our left the 
 Hanoverians and German legion of our division. As I 
 entered the rear face of our square I had to step over 
 a body, and, looking down, recognized Harry Beere, an 
 officer of our Grenadiers, who about an hour before shook 
 hands with me, laughing, as I left the columns. I was on 
 the usual terms of military intimacy with poor Harry — 
 that is to say, if either of us had died a natural death, the 
 other would have pitied him as a good fellow, and smiled 
 at his neighbour as he congratulated him on the step ; but 
 seeing his herculean frame and animated countenance thus 
 suddenly stiff and motionless before me (I know not whence 
 the feelmg could originate, for I had just seen my dearest
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 427 
 
 friend drop, almost with indifference), the tears started in 
 my eyes as I sighed out, " Poor Harry ! " The tear was 
 not dry on my cheek when poor Harry was no longer 
 thought of. In a few minutes after, the enemy's cavalry 
 galloped up and crowned the crest of our position. Our 
 guns were abandoned, and they formed between the two 
 brigades, about a hundred paces in our front. Their first 
 charge was magnificent. As soon as they quickened their 
 trot into a gallop, the cuirassiers bent their heads, so that 
 the peaks of their helmets looked like visors, and they 
 seemed cased in armour from the plume to the saddle. 
 Not a shot was fired till they were within thirty yards, 
 when the word was given, and our men fired away at them. 
 The effect was magical. Through the smoke we could see 
 helmets falling, cavaliers starting from their seats with 
 convulsive springs as they received our balls, horses 
 plunging and rearing in the agonies of fright and pain, and 
 crowds of the soldiery dismounted, part of the squadron 
 in retreat, but the more daring remainder backing their 
 horses to force them on our bayonets. Our fire soon 
 disposed of these gentlemen. The main body re-formed 
 in our front, and rapidly and gallantly repeated their 
 attacks. In fact, from this time (about four o'clock) till 
 near six, we had a constant repetition of these brave but 
 unavailing charges. There was no difficulty in repulsing 
 them, but our ammunition decreased alarmingly. At length 
 an artillery wagon galloped up, emptied two or three casks 
 of cartridges into the square, and we were all comfortable. 
 ' The best cavalry is contemptible to a steady and well- 
 supplied infantry regiment ; even our men saw this, and 
 began to pity the useless perseverance of their assailants, 
 and, as they advanced, would growl out, " Here come 
 these fools again ! " One of their superior officers tried 
 a ruse de guerre, by advancing and dropping his sword, as 
 though he surrendered ; some of us were deceived by him, 
 but Halkett ordered the men to fire, and he coolly retired, 
 saluting us. Their devotion was invincible. One officer 
 whom we had taken prisoner was asked what force Napoleon 
 might have in the field, and replied with a smile of mingled 
 derision and threatening, " Vous verrez bientot sa force, 
 messieurs." A private cuirassier was wounded and dragged
 
 428 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 into the square ; his only cry was, " Tuez done, tuez, tuez- 
 moi, soldats ! " and as one of our men dropped dead close 
 to him, he seized his bayonet, and forced it into his own 
 neck ; but this not dispatching him, he raised up his . 
 cuirass, and phinging the bayonet into his stomach, kept 
 working it about till he ceased to breathe. 
 
 ' Though we constantly thrashed our steel-clad opponents, 
 we found more troublesome customers in the round shot 
 and grape, which all this time played on us with terrible 
 effect, and fully avenged the cuirassiers. Often as the 
 vollej's created openings in our square would the cavalry 
 dash on, but they Avere uniformly unsuccessful. A regiment 
 on our right seemed sadly disconcerted, and at one moment 
 was in considerable confusion. Halkett rode out to them, 
 and seizing their colour, waved it over his head, and 
 restored them to something like order, though not before 
 his horse was shot under him. At the height of their 
 unsteadiness we got the order to " right face " to move 
 to their assistance ; some of the men mistook it for " right 
 about face ", and faced accordingly, when old Major 
 M'Laine, 73rd, called out, "Xo, my boys, it's 'right face ' ; 
 you'll never hear the right about as long as a French 
 bayonet is in front of you ! " In a few moments he was 
 mortally wounded. A regiment of light Dragoons, by 
 their facings either the 16th or 23rd, came up to our left 
 and charged the cuirassiers. We cheered each other as they 
 passed us ; they did all they could, but were obliged to 
 retire after a few minutes at the sabre. A body of Belgian 
 cavalry advanced for the same purpose, but, on passing 
 our square, they stopped short. Our noble Halkett rode 
 out to them and offered to charge at their head ; it was 
 of no use ; the Prince of Orange came up and exhorted 
 them to do their duty, but in vain. They hesitated till 
 a few shots whizzed through them, when the}^ turned about, 
 and galloped like fury, or, rather, like fear. As they passed 
 the right face of our square the men, irritated by their 
 rascally conduct, unanimously took up their pieces and 
 fired a volley into them, and " many a good fellow was 
 destroyed so cowardly ". 
 
 ' The enemy's cavalry were by this time nearly disposed 
 of, and as they had discovered the inutility of their charges,
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 429 
 
 they commenced amioying us by a spirited and well- 
 directed carbine fire. While we were employed in this 
 manner it was impossible to see farther than the columns 
 on our right and left, but I imagine most of the army was 
 similarly situated : all the British and Germans were doing 
 their duty. About six o'clock I perceived some artillery 
 trotting up our hill, which I knew by their caps to belong 
 to the Imperial Guard. I had hardly mentioned this to 
 a brother officer when two guns unlimbered within seventy 
 paces of us, and, by their first discharge of grape, blew 
 seven men into the centre of the square. They immedi- 
 ately reloaded, and kept up a constant and destructive 
 fire. It was noble to see our fellows fill up the gaps after 
 every discharge. I was much distressed at this moment ; 
 having ordered up three of my light bobs, they had hardly 
 taken their station whentAvo of them fell horribly lacerated. 
 One of them looked up in my face and uttered a sort of 
 reproachful groan, and I involuntarily exclaimed, " I 
 couldn't help it ". We would willingly have charged these 
 guns, but, had we deployed, the cavalry that flanked them 
 would have made an example of us. 
 
 ' The " vivida vis animi " — the glow which fires one 
 upon entering into action — had ceased ; it was now to 
 be seen which side had most bottom, and would stand 
 killing longest. The Duke visited us frequently at this 
 momentous period ; he was coolness personified. As he 
 crossed the rear face of our square a shell fell amongst our 
 grenadiers, and he checked his horse to see its effect. Some 
 men were blown to pieces by the explosion, and he merely 
 stirred the rein of his charger, apparently as little concerned 
 at their fate as at his own danger. No leader ever possessed 
 so fully the confidence of his soldiery — wherever he appeared 
 a murmur of "Silence — stand to your front — here's the 
 Duke ", was heard through the column, and then all was 
 steady as on a parade. His aides-de-camj). Colonels Canning 
 and Gordon, fell near our square, and the former died within 
 it. As he came near us late in the evening, Halkett rode 
 out to him and represented our weak state, begging his 
 Grace to afford us a little support. "It's impossible, 
 Halkett," said he. And our general replied, " If so, sir, 
 you may depend on the brigade to a man ! " '
 
 430 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 All accounts of the battle show that the Duke was 
 ever present at each spot where danger seemed the most 
 pressing ; inspiriting his men by a few homely and good- 
 humoured words, and restraining their impatience to be 
 led forward to attack in their turn. — ' Hard pounding this, 
 gentlemen : we will try who can pound the longest ; ' 
 Avas his remark to a battalion, on which the storm from 
 the French guns was pouring with peculiar fury. Riding 
 up to one of the squares, which had been dreadfully 
 weakened, and against which a fresh attack of French 
 cavalry was coming, he called to them : ' Stand firm, my 
 lads ; what will they say of this in England ? ' As he rode 
 along another part of the line where the men had for 
 some time been falling fast beneath the enemy's cannonade, 
 without having any close fighting, a murmur reached his 
 ear of natural eagerness to advance and do something 
 more than stand still to be shot at. The Duke called to 
 them : ' Wait a little longer, my lads, and you shall have 
 your wish.' The men were instantly satisfied and steady. 
 It was, indeed, indispensable for the Duke to bide his time. 
 The premature movement of a single corps doMTi from the 
 British line of heights would have endangered the whole 
 position, and have probably made Waterloo a second 
 Hastings 
 
 But the Duke inspired all under him with his own spirit 
 of patient firmness. When other generals besides Halkett 
 sent to him, begging for reinforcements or for leave to 
 withdraw corps which were reduced to skeletons the answer 
 was the same : ' It is impossible ; you must hold jout 
 ground to the last man, and all will be well.' He gave 
 a similar reply to some of his staff, who asked instructions 
 from him, so that, in the event of his falling, his successor 
 might follow out his plan. He answered, ' My plan is 
 simply to stand my ground here to the last man.' His 
 personal danger was indeed imminent throughout the day ; 
 and though he escaped without injury to himself or horse, 
 one only of his numerous staff was equally fortunate.^ 
 
 ^ ' As far as the French accounts would lead us to infer, it appears 
 that the losses among Napoleon's staff were comparatively trifling. 
 On this subject perhaps the marked contrast afforded by the following 
 anecdotes, which have been related to me on excellent authority, may
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 431 
 
 Napoleon had stationed himself during the battle on 
 a little hillock near La Belle Alliance, in the centre of 
 the French position. Here he was seated, with a large 
 table from the neighbourmg farm-house before him, on 
 which maps and plans were spread ; and thence with his 
 telescope he surveyed the various points of the field. 
 Soult watched his orders close at his left hand, and his 
 staff was grouped on horseback a few paces in the rear.^ 
 Here he remained till near the close of the day, preserving 
 the appearance at least of calmness, except some expres- 
 sions of irritation which escaped him when Ney's attack 
 on the British left centre was defeated. But now that the 
 crisis of the battle was evidently approaching, he mounted 
 a white Persian charger, which he rode in action because 
 the troops easily recognized him by the horse's colour. 
 He had still the means of effecting a retreat. His Old 
 Guard had yet taken no part in the action. Under cover 
 of it, he might have withdrawn his shattered forces and 
 retired upon the French frontier. But this would only 
 have given the English and Prussians the opportunity of 
 completing their junction ; and he knew that other armies 
 were fast coming up to aid them in a march upon Paris, 
 if he should succeed in avoiding an encounter with them 
 
 tend to throw some light. At one period of the battle, when the Duke 
 was surrounded by several of his staff, it was very evident that the group 
 had become the object of the fire of a French battery. The shot fell 
 fast about them, generally striking and turning up the ground on which 
 they stood. Their horses became restive, and " Copenhagen " himself 
 so fidgety, that the Duke, getting impatient, and having reasons for 
 remaining on the spot, said to those about him, " Gentlemen, we are 
 rather too close together — -better to divide a little." Subsequently, at 
 another point of the line, an officer of artillery came up to the Duke, and 
 stated that he had a distinct view of Napoleon, attended by his staff ; 
 that he had the guns of his battery well pointed in that direction, and was 
 prepared to fire. His Grace instantly and emphatically exclaimed, 
 " No ! no ! I'll not allow it. It is not the business of commanders to 
 be firing upon each other." ' Sibome, vol. ii. p. 263. How different 
 is this from Napoleon's conduct at the battle of Dresden, when he per- 
 sonally directed the fire of the battery, which, as he thought, killed 
 the Emperor Alexander, and actually killed Moreau ! 
 
 ^ Souvenirs militaires, par Col. Lemonnier-Delafosse, p. 407. ' Ouvrard, 
 who attended Napoleon as chief commissary of the French armj' on 
 that occasion, told me that Napoleon was suffering from a complaint 
 which made it very painful for him to ride.' — Lord Ellesmerc, p. 47.
 
 432 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 and retreating upon the capital. A victory at Waterloo 
 was his only alternative from utter ruin, and he determined 
 to employ his Guard in one bold stroke more to make that 
 victory his own. 
 
 Between seven and eight o'clock, the infantry of the 
 Old Guard was formed into two columns, on the declivity 
 near La Belle Alliance. Ney was placed at their head. 
 Napoleon himself rode forward to a spot by which his 
 veterans were to pass ; and, as they approached, he raised 
 his arm, and pointed to the position of the Allies, as if to 
 tell them that their path lay there. They answered with 
 loud cries of ' Vive I'Empereur ! ' and descended the hill 
 from their own side, into that ' valley of the shadow of 
 death ', while the batteries thundered with redoubled 
 vigour over their heads upon the British line. The line 
 of march of the columns of the Guard was directed between 
 Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte, against the British 
 right centre ; and at the same time the French under 
 Donzelot, who had possession of La Haye Sainte, com- 
 menced a fierce attack upon the British centre, a little more 
 to its left. This part of the battle has drawn less attention 
 than the celebrated attack of the Old Guard, but it formed 
 the most perilous crisis for the allied army ; and if the 
 Young Guard had been there to support Donzelot, instead 
 of being engaged with the Prussians at Planchenoit, the 
 consequences to the Allies in that part of the field must 
 have been most serious. The French tirailleurs, who were 
 posted in clouds in La Haye Sainte, and the sheltered spots 
 near it, picked off the artillerymen of the English batteries 
 near them : and, taking advantage of the disabled state 
 of the English guns, the French brought some field-pieces 
 up to La Haye Sainte, and commenced firing grape from 
 them on the infantry of the Allies, at a distance of not 
 more than a hundred paces. The allied infantry here 
 consisted of some German brigades, who were formed in 
 squares, as it was believed that Donzelot had cavalry 
 ready behind La Haye Sainte to charge them with, if they 
 left that order of formation. In this state* the Germans 
 remained for some time with heroic fortitude, though the 
 grape-shot was tearing gaps in their ranks, and the side of 
 one square was literally blown away by one tremendous
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 433 
 
 volley which the French gunners poured into it. The 
 Prince of Orange in vain endeavoured to lead some Nassau 
 troops to the aid of the brave Germans. The Nassauers 
 would not or could not face the French ; and some battalions 
 of Brunswickers, whom the Duke of Wellington had ordered 
 up as a reinforcement, at first fell back, until the Duke in 
 person rallied them, and led them on. Having thus barred 
 
 WATERLOO AT THE TIME OF THE LAST FRENCH ATTACK 
 
 The white are English, the black French, the shaded are Prussians. 
 
 the farther advance of Donzelot, the Duke galloped off 
 to the right to head his men who were exposed to the attack 
 of the Imperial Guard. He had saved one part of his 
 centre from being routed ; but the French had gained 
 ground and kept it ; and the pressure on the allied line 
 in front of La Haye Sainte was fearfully severe, until it 
 was relieved by the decisive success which the British in 
 the right centre achieved over the columns of the Guard. 
 The British troops on the crest of that part of the 
 
 CREASY J- f
 
 434 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 position which the first cohimn of Napoleon's Guards 
 assailed were Maitland's brigade of British Guards, having 
 Adams's brigade (which had been brought forward during 
 the action) on their right. Maitland's men were lying down, 
 in order to avoid as far as possible the destructive effect of 
 the French artillery, which kept up an unremitting fire 
 from the opposite heights, until the first column of the 
 Imperial Guard had advanced so far up the slope towards 
 the British position that any further firing of the French 
 artillerymen would have endangered their own comrades. 
 Meanwhile the British guns were not idle, but shot and 
 shell ploughed fast through the ranks of the stately array 
 of veterans that still moved imposingly on. Several of 
 the French superior officers were at its head. Ney's horse 
 was shot under him, but he still led the way on foot, sword 
 in hand. The front of the massive column now was on 
 the ridge of the hill. To their surprise they saw no troops 
 before them. All they could discern through the smoke 
 was a small band of mounted officers. One of them was 
 the Duke himself. The French advanced to about fifty 
 yards from where the British Guards were lying down, when 
 the voice of one of the group of British officers was heard 
 calling, as if to the ground before him, ' Up, Guards, and 
 at them ! ' It was the Duke who gave the order ; and at 
 the words, as if by magic, up started before them a Ime 
 of the British Guards four deep, and in the most compact and 
 perfect order. They poured an instantaneous volley upon 
 the head of the French column, by which no less than three 
 hundred of those chosen veterans are said to have fallen. 
 The French officers rushed forwards ; and, conspicuous in 
 front of their men, attempted to deploy them mto a more 
 extended line, so as to enable them to reply with effect to 
 the British fire. But Maitland's brigade kept showering m 
 volley after volley with deadly rapidity. The decimated 
 column grew disordered in its vain efforts to expand itself 
 into a more efficient formation. The right word was given 
 at the right moment to the British for the bayonet-charge, 
 and the brigade sprang forward with a loud cheer against 
 their dismayed antagonists. In an instant the compact 
 mass of the French spread out into a rabble, and they fled 
 back down the hill, pursued by Maitland's men, who,
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 435 
 
 however, returned to their position in time to take part in 
 the repulse of the second column of the Imperial Guard. 
 
 This column also advanced with great spirit and firmness 
 under the cannonade which was opened on it ; and passing 
 by the eastern wall of Hougoumont, diverged slightly to 
 the right as it moved up the slope towards the British 
 position, so as to approach nearly the same spot where the 
 first column had surmounted the height, and been defeated. 
 This enabled the British regiments of Adams's brigade to 
 form a line parallel to the left flank of the French column ; 
 so that while the front of this column of French Guards had 
 to encounter the cannonade of the British batteries, and 
 the musketry of Maitland's Guards, its left flank was 
 assailed with a destructive fire by a four-deep body of 
 British infantry, extending all along it. In such a position 
 all the bravery and skill of the French veterans were vain. 
 The second column, like its predecessor, broke and fled, 
 taking at first a lateral direction along the front of the 
 British line towards the rear of La Haye Sainte, and so 
 becoming blended with the divisions of French infantry, 
 Avhich under Donzelot had been assailing the Allies so 
 formidably in that quarter. The sight of the Old Guard 
 broken and in flight checked the ardour which Donzelot's 
 troops had hitherto displayed. They, too, began to waver. 
 Adams's victorious brigade was pressing after the flying 
 Guard, and now cleared away the assailants of the allied 
 centre. But the battle was not yet won. Napoleon had 
 still some battalions in reserve near La Belle Alliance. He 
 was rapidly rallying the remains of the first column of his 
 Guards, and he had collected into one body the remnants 
 of the various corps of cavalry which had suffered so 
 severely in the earlier part of the da3^ The Duke instantly 
 formed the bold resolution of now himself becoming the 
 assailant and leading his successful though enfeebled army 
 forward, while the disheartening effect of the repulse of the 
 Imperial Guard on the rest of the French army was still 
 strong, and before Napoleon and Ne}^ could rally the 
 beaten veterans themselves for another and a fiercer charge. 
 As the close approach of the Prussians now completely 
 protected the Duke's left, he had drawn some reserves of 
 horse from that quarter, and he had a brigade of Hussars 
 
 rf 2
 
 436 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 under Vivian fresh and ready at hand. Without a mo- 
 ment's hesitation he launched these against the cavalry 
 near La Belle Alliance. The charge was as successful as it 
 was daring : and as there was now no hostile cavalry to 
 check the British infantry in a forward movement, the 
 Duke gave the long-wished-for command for a general 
 advance of the army along the whole line upon the foe. 
 It was now past eight o'clock, and for nearly nine deadly 
 hours had the British and German regiments stood unflinch- 
 ing under the fire of artillery, the charge of cavalry, and 
 every variety of assault which the compact columns or the 
 scattered tirailleurs of the enemy's infantry could inflict. 
 As they joyovisly sprang forward against the discomfited 
 masses of the French, the setting sun broke through the 
 clouds which had obscured the sky during the greater part 
 of the day, and glittered on the bayonets of the Allies, 
 while they poured down into the valley and towards the 
 heights that were held by the foe. The Duke himself was 
 among the foremost in the advance, and personally directed 
 the movements against each body of the French that 
 essayed resistance. He rode in front of Adams's brigade, 
 cheering it forward, and even galloj^ed among the most 
 advanced of the British skirmishers, speaking joyously to 
 the men, and receiving their hearty shouts of congratula- 
 tion. The bullets of both friends and foes were whistling 
 fast round him, and one of the few survivors of his staff 
 remonstrated with him for thus exposing a life of such 
 value. ' Never mind,' was the Duke's answer — ' Never 
 mind, let them fire away ; the battle's won, and my life is 
 of no consequence now.' And, indeed, almost the whole of 
 the French host was now in irreparable confusion. The 
 Prussian army was coming more and more rapidly forwards 
 on their right ; and the Young Guard, which had held 
 Planchenoit so bravely, was at last compelled to give way. 
 Some regiments of the Old Guard in vain endeavoured to 
 form in squares and stem the current. They were swept 
 away, and wrecked among the waves of the fliers. Napo- 
 leon had placed himself in one of these squares : Marshal 
 Soult, Generals Bertram!, Drouot, (-orbinoau, De Flahaut, 
 and Gourgaiid were with him. The Emperor s])oke of 
 dying on the lield, but Soult seized his bridle and turned his
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 437 
 
 charger round, exclaiming, ' Sire, are not the enemy ah'eady 
 lucky enough ? ' ^ With the greatest difficulty, and only 
 by the utmost exertion of the devoted officers round him, 
 Napoleon cleared the throng of fugitives, and escaped from 
 the scene of the battle and the war, which he and France 
 had lost past all recovery. Meanwhile the Duke of Welling- 
 ton still rode forward with the van of his victorious troops, 
 until he reined up on the elevated ground near Rossomme. 
 The daylight was now entirely gone ; but the young moon 
 had risen, and the light which it cast, aided l3y the glare 
 from the burning houses and other buildings in the line of 
 the flying French and pursviing Prussians, enabled the Duke 
 to assure himself that his victory was complete. He then 
 rode back along the Charleroi road toward Waterloo : and 
 near La Belle Alliance he met Marshal Bliicher. Warm 
 were the congratulations that were exchanged between the 
 allied chiefs. It was arranged that the Prussians should 
 follow up the pursuit, and give the French no chance oi 
 rallying. Accordingly the British army, exhausted by its 
 toils and sufferings during that dreadful day, did not 
 advance beyond the heights which the enemy had occuj^ied. 
 But the Prussians drove the fugitives before them in merci- 
 less chase throughout the night. Cannon, baggage, and all 
 the materiel of the army were abandoned by the French, 
 and many thousands of the infantry threw away their arms 
 to facilitate their escape. The ground was strewn for miles 
 with the wrecks of their host. There was no rear-guard, 
 nor was even the semblance of order attempted. An 
 attempt at resistance was made at the bridge and village of 
 Genappe, the first narrow pass through which the bulk of 
 the French retired. The situation was favourable ; and 
 a few resolute battalions, if ably commanded, might have 
 held their pursuers at bay there for some considerable time. 
 But despair and panic were now universal in the beaten 
 army. At the first sound of the Prussian drums and 
 bugles, Genappe was abandoned ; and nothing thought of 
 but headlong flight. The Prussians, under General Gnei- 
 senau, still followed and still slew ; nor even when the 
 
 * Colonel Lemonnier Delafosse, Memoircs, p. 388. The Colonel 
 states that he hoard these details from (ieneral Gourgaud himself. 
 The English reader will be reminded of Charles I's retreat from Naseby.
 
 438 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 Prussian infantry stopped in sheer exhaustion was the 
 pursuit given up. Gneisenau still pushed on with the 
 cavalry, and by an ingenious stratagem made the French 
 believe that his infantry were still close on them, and 
 scared them from every spot where they attempted to 
 pause and rest. He mounted one of his drummers on 
 a horse which had been taken from the captured carriage 
 of Napoleon, and made him ride along with the pursuing 
 cavalry, and beat the drum whenever they came on any 
 large number of the French. The French thus fled, and the 
 Prussians pursued through Quatre Bras, and even over the 
 heights of Frasne ; and when at length Gneisenau drew 
 bridle, and halted a little beyond Frasne with the scanty 
 remnant of keen hunters who had kept up the chase with 
 him to the last, the French were scattered through Gosselies, 
 Marchiennes, and Charleroi, and were striving to regain 
 the left bank of the river Sambre, which they had crossed 
 in such pomp and pride not a hundred hours before. 
 
 Part of the French left wing endeavoured to escape from 
 the field without blending with the main body of the 
 fugitives who thronged the Genappe causeway. A French 
 officer, who was among those who thus retreated across the 
 country westward of the high-road, has vividly described 
 what he witnessed and what he suffered. Colonel Lemon- 
 nier Delafosse served in the campaign of 1815 in General 
 Foy's staff, and was consequently in that part of the 
 French army at Waterloo which acted against Hougou- 
 mont and the British right wing. When the column of the 
 Imperial Guard made their great charge at the end of the 
 day, the troops of Foy's division advanced in support of 
 them, and Colonel Lemonnier Delafosse describes the 
 confident hopes of victory and promotion with which he 
 marched to that attack, and the fearful carnage and con- 
 fusion of the assailants, amid Avhich he was helplessly 
 hurried back by his flying comrades. He then narrates the 
 closing scene : ^ 
 
 * Near one of the hedges of Hougoumont farm, without 
 even a drummer to beat the rappel, we succeeded in rallying 
 under the enemy's fire 300 men : they were nearly all that 
 
 ^ Col. Lemonnier Delafosse, Memoires, pp. 385-405. There are 
 omissions and abridgements in the translation which I have given.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 439 
 
 remained of our splendid division. Thither came together 
 a band of generals. There was Reille, whose horse had 
 been shot under him ; there were D'Erlon, Bachelu, Foy, 
 Jamin, and others. All were gloomy and sorrowful, like 
 vanquished men. Their words were: "Here is all that 
 is left of my corps, of my division, of my brigade. I, my- 
 self." We had seen the fall of Duhesme, of Pelet-de- 
 Morvan, of Michel- — generals who had found a glorious 
 death. My general, Foy, had his shoulder pierced through 
 by a musket-ball J and out of his whole staff two officers 
 only were left to him, Cahour Duhay and I. Fate had 
 spared me in the midst of so many dangers, though the first 
 charger I rode had been shot and had fallen on me. 
 
 ' The enemy's horse were coming down on us, and our 
 little groujj was obliged to retreat. What had happened 
 to our division of the left wing had taken place all along 
 the line. The movement of the hostile cavalry, which 
 inundated the whole plain, had demoralized our soldiers, 
 who seeing all regular retreat of the army cut off, strove 
 each man to effect one for himself. At each instant the 
 road became more encumbered. Infantry, cavalry, and 
 artillery were pressing along pell-mell : jammed together 
 like a solid mass. Figure to yourself 40,000 men struggling 
 and thrusting themselves along a single causeway. We 
 could not take that way without destruction, so the 
 generals who had collected together near the Hougoumont 
 hedge dispersed across the fields. General Foy alone 
 remained with the 300 men whom he had gleaned from the 
 field of battle, and marched at their head. Our anxiety 
 was to withdraw from the scene of action without being 
 confounded with the fugitives. Our general wished to 
 retreat like a true soldier. Seeing three lights in the 
 southern horizon, like beacons. General Foy asked me what 
 t thought of the position of each. I answered, " The first 
 to the left is Genappe ; the second is at Bois-de-Bossu, near 
 the farm of Quatre Bras ; the third is at Gosselies." " Let 
 us march on the second one, then," replied Foy, " and let 
 no obstacle stop us — take the head of the column, and do 
 not lose sight of the guiding light." Such was his order, 
 and I strove to obey. 
 
 ' After all the agitation and the incessant din of a long
 
 440 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 day of battle, how imposing was the stillness of that night ! 
 We proceeded on our sad and lonely march. We were 
 a prey to the most cruel reflections, we were humiliated, 
 we were hopeless ; but not a word of complaint was heard. 
 We walked silently as a troop of mourners, and it might 
 have been said that we were attending the funeral of our 
 country's glory. Suddenly the stillness was broken by 
 a challenge : " Qui vive V " France ! " " Kellerman ! " 
 " Foy ! " " Is it you, General ? Come nearer to us." 
 At that moment we Mere passing over a little hillock, at 
 the foot of which was a hut, in which Kellerman and some 
 of his officers had halted. They came out to join us. Foy 
 said to me, " Kellerman knows the country : he has been 
 along here before with his cavalry ; we had better follow 
 him." But we found that the direction which Kellerman 
 chose was towards the first light, towards Genappe. That 
 led to the causeway which our general rightly wished to 
 avoid. I went to the left to reconnoitre, and was soon 
 convinced that such was the case. It was then that I was 
 able to form a full idea of the disorder of a routed army. 
 What a hideous spectacle ! The mountain torrent, that 
 uproots and whirls along with it every momentary obstacle, 
 is a feeble image of that heap of men, of horses, of equipages, 
 rushing one upon another ; gathering before the least 
 obstacle which dams up their way for a few seconds, only to 
 form a mass which overthrows everything in the path which 
 it forces for itself. Woe to him whose footing failed him 
 in that deluge ! He was crushed, trampled to death ! I 
 returned and told my general what I had seen, and he 
 instantly abandoned Kellerman, and resumed his original 
 line of march. 
 
 ' Keeping straight across the country over fields and 
 the rough thickets, we at last arrived at the Bois-de-Bossu, 
 where we halted. My general said to me, " Go to the farm 
 of Quatre Bras and announce that we are here. The 
 Emperor or Soult must be there. Ask for orders, and 
 recollect that I am waiting here for you. The lives of these 
 men depend on your exactness." To reach the farm I was 
 obliged to cross the high-road : I was on horseback, but 
 nevertheless was borne away by the crowd that fled along 
 the road, and it was long ere I could extricate myself and
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 441 
 
 reach the farm-house. General Lobau was there with his 
 staff, resting in fancied security. They thought that their 
 troops had halted there ; but, though a halt had been 
 attempted, the men had soon fled forwards, Hke their com- 
 rades of the rest of the army. The shots of the approaching 
 Prussians were now heard ; and I beheve that General 
 Lobau was taken prisoner in that farm-house. I left him 
 to rejoin my general, which I did with difficulty. I found 
 him alone. His men, as they came near the current of 
 flight, were infected with the general panic, and fled also. 
 
 ' What was to be done ? Follow that crowd of runaways ? 
 General Foy would not hear of it. There were five of us 
 still with him, all officers. He had been wounded at about 
 five in the afternoon, and the wound had not been dressed. 
 He suffered severely, but his moral courage was unbroken. 
 " Let us keep ", he said, " a line parallel to the high-road, 
 and work our way hence as we best can." A foot-track 
 was before us, and we followed it. 
 
 ' The moon shone out brightly, and revealed the full 
 wretchedness of the tableau which met our eyes. A briga- 
 dier and four cavalry soldiers, whom we met with, formed 
 our escort. We marched on, and, as the noise grew more 
 distant, I thought that we were losing the parallel of the 
 high way. Finding that we had the moon more and more 
 on the left, I felt sure of this, and mentioned it to the 
 general. Absorbed in thought, he made me no reply. 
 We came in front of a windmill, and endeavoured to procure 
 some information ; but we could not gain an entrance, or 
 make any one answer, and we continued our nocturnal 
 march. At last we entered a village, but found every door 
 closed against us, and were obliged to use threats in order 
 to gain admission into a single house. The poor woman 
 to whom it belonged, more dead than alive, received us as 
 if we had been enemies. Before asking where we were, 
 " Food, give us some food!" was our cry. Bread and 
 butter and beer were brought, and soon disappeared before 
 men who had fasted for twenty-four hours. A little 
 revived, we ask, " Where are we? What is the name of this 
 village ? "— " Vieville." 
 
 ' On looking at the map, I saw that in coming to that 
 village we had leaned too much to the right, and that we
 
 442 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 were in the direction of Mons. In order to reach the 
 tSambre at the bridge of Marchiennes, we had four leagues 
 to traverse ; and there was scarcely time to march the 
 distance before daybreak. I made a villager act as our 
 guide, and bound him by his arm to my stirrup. He led 
 us through Roux to Marchiennes. The poor fellow ran 
 alongside of my horse the whole way. It was cruel, but 
 necessary to compel him, for we had not an instant to spare. 
 At six in the morning we entered Marchiennes. 
 
 ' Marshal Ney was there. Our general went to see him, 
 and to ask what orders he had to give. Ney was asleep ; 
 and, rather than rob him of the first repose he had had for 
 four days, our general returned to us Avithout seeing him. 
 And, indeed, what orders could Marshal Ney have given ? 
 The whole army was crossing the Sambre, each man where 
 and how he chose ; some at Charleroi, some at Marchiennes. 
 We were about to do the same thing. When once beyond 
 the Sambre we might safely halt, and both men and horses 
 were in extreme need of rest. We passed through Thuin ; 
 and finding a little copse near the road, we gladly sov^ght its 
 shelter. While our horses grazed, we lay down and slept. 
 How sweet was that sleep after the fatigues of the long day 
 of battle, and after the night of retreat more painful still ! 
 We rested in the little coj^se till noon, and sat there 
 watching the wrecks of our army defile along the road 
 before us. It was a soul-harrowing sight ! Yet the different 
 arms of the service had resumed a certain degree of order 
 amid their disorder ; and our general, feeling his strength 
 revive, resolved to follow a strong column of cavalry which 
 was taking the direction of Beaumont, about four leagues 
 off. We drew near Beaumont, when suddenly a regiment 
 of horse was seen debouching from a wood on our left. 
 The column that we followed shouted out, " The Prussians ! 
 the Prussians ! " and galloped off in utter disorder. The 
 troops that thus alarmed them were not a tenth part of 
 their number, and were in reality our o^sii 8th Hussars, 
 who wore green uniforms. But the panic had been brought 
 even thus far from the battle-field, and the disorganized 
 column galloped into Beaumont, which was already 
 cro\A'ded with our infantry. We were obliged to follow 
 that debacle. On entermg Beaumont we chose a house
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 443 
 
 of superior appearance, and demanded of the mistress of 
 it refreshments for the general. " Alas ! " said the lady, 
 " this is the tenth general who has been to this house since 
 this morning. I have nothmg left. Search, if you please, 
 and see." Though unable to find food for the general, 
 I persuaded him to take his coat off and let me examine his 
 wound. The bullet had gone through the twists of the left 
 epaulette, and penetrating the skin had run round the 
 shoulder without injuring the bone. The lady of the house 
 made some lint for me ; and without any great degree of 
 surgical skill I succeeded in dressing the wound. 
 
 ' Being still anxious to procure some food for the general 
 and ourselves, if it were but a loaf of ammunition bread, 
 I left the house and rode out into the town. I saw pillage 
 going on in every direction : open caissons, stripped and 
 half-broken, blocked up the streets. The pavement was 
 covered with plundered and torn baggage. Pillagers and 
 runaways, such were all the comrades I met with. Dis- 
 gusted at them, I strove, sword in hand, to stop one of the 
 plunderers ; but, more active than I, he gave me a bayonet 
 stab in my left arm, in which I fortunately caught his 
 thrust, which had been aimed full at my body. He dis- 
 appeared among the crowd, through which I could not 
 force my horse. My spirit of discipline had made me forget 
 that in such circumstances the soldier is a mere wild beast. 
 But to be wounded by a fellow countryman after having 
 passed unharmed through all the perils of Quatre Bras and 
 Waterloo ! — this did seem hard, indeed. I was trying to 
 return to General Foy, when another horde of fliers burst 
 into Beaumont, swept me into the current of their flight, 
 and hurried me out of the town with them. Until I 
 received my wound I had preserved my moral courage in 
 full force ; but now, worn out with fatigue, covered with 
 blood, and suffering severe pain from the wound, I own 
 that I gave way to the general demoralization, and let 
 myself be inertly borne along with the rushing mass. At 
 last I reached Landrecies, though I know not how or when. 
 But I found there our Colonel Hurday, who had been left 
 behind there in consequence of an accidental injury from 
 a carriage. He took me with him to Paris, where I retired 
 amid my family, and got cured of my wound, knowing
 
 444 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 nothing of the rest of political and military events that 
 were taking place.' 
 
 No returns ever were made of the amount of the French 
 loss in the battle of Waterloo ; but it must have been 
 immense, and may be partially judged of by the amount 
 of killed and w^ounded in the armies of the conquerors. 
 On this subject both the Prussian and British official 
 evidence is unquestionably full and authentic. The 
 figures are terribly emphatic. 
 
 Of the army that fought under the Duke of Wellington 
 nearly 15,000 men were killed and wounded on this single 
 day of battle. Seven thousand Prussians also fell at 
 Waterloo. At such a fearful price was the deliverance of 
 Europe purchased. 
 
 By none was the severity of that loss more keenly felt 
 than by our great deliverer hunself. As may be seen in 
 Major Macready's narrative, the Duke, while the battle was 
 raging, betrayed no sign of emotion at the most ghastly 
 casualties ; but, when all was over, the sight of the carnage 
 Avith which the field was covered, and still more, the sicken- 
 ing spectacle of the agonies of the wounded men who lay 
 moaning in their misery by thousands and tens of thousands, 
 weighed heavily on the spirit of the victor, as he rode back 
 across the scene of strife. On reachmg his head-quarters 
 in the village of Waterloo, the Duke inquired anxiously 
 after the numerous friends who had been round him in the 
 morning, and to whom he was warmly attached. Many 
 he was told were dead ; others were lying alive, but mangled 
 and suffering, in the houses round him. It is in our hero's 
 own words alone that his feelings can be adequately told. 
 In a letter -s^Titten by him almost immediately after his 
 return from the field, he thus expressed himself : ' My 
 heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my 
 old friends and companions, and my poor soldiers. Believe 
 me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy 
 as a battle won ; the bravery of my troops has hitherto 
 saved me from the greater evil ; but to win such a battle 
 as this of Waterloo, at the expense of so many gallant 
 friends, could only be termed a heavy misfortune but for 
 the result to the public' 
 
 It is not often that a successful general in modern
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 445 
 
 warfare is called on, like the victorious commander of the 
 ancient Greek armies, to award a prize of superior valour 
 to one of his soldiers. Such was to some extent the case 
 with respect to the battle of Waterloo. In the August of 
 1818, an English clergyman offered to confer a small 
 annuity on some Waterloo soldier, to be named by the 
 Duke.^ The Duke requested Sir John Byng to choose 
 a man from the 2nd Brigade of Guards, which had so highly 
 distinguished itself in the defence of Hougouraont. There 
 were many gallant candidates, but the election fell on 
 Sergeant James Graham, of the light company of the 
 Coldstream. This brave man had signalized himself, 
 throughout the day, in the defence of that important post, 
 and especially in the critical struggle that took place at the 
 period when the French, who had gained the wood, the 
 orchard, and detached garden, succeeded in bursting open 
 a gate of the courtyard of the chateau itself, and rushed in 
 in large masses, confident of carrying all before them. 
 A hand-to-hand fight, of the most desperate character, was 
 kept up between them and the Guards for a few minutes ; 
 but at last the British bayonets prevailed. Nearly all the 
 Frenchmen who had forced their way in were killed on the 
 spot ; and, as the few survivors ran back, five of the Guards, 
 Colonel Macdonnell, Captain Wyndham, Ensign Gooch, 
 Ensign Hervey, and Sergeant Graham, by sheer strength, 
 closed the gate again, in spite of the efforts of the French 
 from without, and effectually barricaded it against further 
 assaults. Over and through the loopholed wall of the 
 courtyard the English garrison now kept up a deadly fire 
 of musketry, which was fiercely answered by the French, 
 who swarmed round the curtilage like ravening wolves. 
 Shells, too, from their batteries were falling fast into the 
 besieged place, one of which set part of the mansion and 
 some of the out-buildings on fire. Graham, who was at 
 this time standing near Colonel Macdonnell at the wall, 
 and who had shown the most perfect steadiness and courage, 
 now asked permission of his commanding officer to retire 
 for a moment. Macdonnell replied, ' By all means, Graham ; 
 but I wonder you should ask leave now.' Graham an- 
 swered, ' I would not, sir, only my brother is wounded, and 
 ^ Siborne, vol. i. p. 391.
 
 446 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 he is in that out -building there, which has just caught fire.* 
 Laymg down his musket, Graham ran to the blazing spot, 
 lifted up his brother, and laid him in a ditch. Then he was 
 back at his post, and was plying his musket against the 
 French again, before his absence was noticed, except by 
 his colonel. 
 
 Many anecdotes of individual proAvess have been pre- 
 served, but of all the brave men who were in the British 
 army on that eventful day, none deserve more honour for 
 courage and indomitable resolution than Sir Thomas Picton, 
 who, as has been mentioned, fell in repulsmg the great 
 attack of the French upon the British left centre. It was 
 not until the dead body was examined after the battle, 
 that the full heroism of Picton was discerned. He had been 
 wounded on the 16th, at Quatre Bras, by a musket-ball, 
 which had broken two of his ribs, and caused also severe 
 internal injuries ; but he had concealed the circumstance, 
 evidently in expectation that another and greater battle 
 would be fought in a short time, and desirous to avoid 
 being solicited to absent himself from the field. His body 
 was blackened and swollen by the wound, which must have 
 caused severe and incessant pain ; and it was marvellous 
 how his spirit had borne him up, and enabled him to take 
 part in the fatigues and duties of the field. The bullet 
 which, on the 18th, killed the renowned leader of ' the 
 fighting Division ' of the Peninsula, entered the head near 
 the left temi^le and passed through the brain ; so that 
 Picton's death must have been instantaneous. 
 
 One of the most interesting narratives of personal 
 adventure at Waterloo is that of Colonel Frederick 
 Ponsonby, of the 12th Light Dragoons, who was severely 
 wounded when Vandeleur's brigade, to which he belonged, 
 attacked the French lancers, in order to bring off the 
 Union Brigade, which was retiring from its memorable 
 charge.^ The 12th, like those whom they rescued, advanced 
 much further against the French position than prudence 
 warranted. Ponsonby, Avith many others, was speared by 
 a reserve of Polish lancers, and left for dead on the field. 
 It is well to refer to the description of what he suffered (as 
 he afterwards gave it, when almost miraculously recovered 
 ^ Sec p. 419, supra.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 447 
 
 from his numerous wounds), because his fate, or worse, 
 was the fate of thousands more ; and because the narrative 
 of the pangs of an individual, with whom we can identify 
 ourselves, always comes more home to us than a general 
 description of the miseries of whole masses. His tale may 
 make us remember what are the horrors of war as well as 
 its glories. It is to be remembered that the operations 
 which he refers to took place about three o'clock in the 
 day, and that the fighting went on for at least five hours 
 more. After describing how he and his men charged 
 through the French whom they first encoinitered, and 
 went against other enemies, he states : 
 
 ' We had no sooner passed them than we were ourselves 
 attacked, before we could form, by about 300 Polish lancers, 
 Avho had hastened to their relief ; the French artillery 
 pouring in among us a heavy fire of grape, though for one 
 of our men they killed three of their own. 
 
 ' In the melee I was almost instantly disabled in both 
 arms, losing first my sword, and then my reins, and followed 
 by a few men, who were presently cut down, no quarter 
 being allowed, asked, or given, I was carried along by my 
 horse, till, receiving a blow from a sabre, I fell senseless on 
 my face to the ground. 
 
 ' Recovering, I raised myself a little to look round, being 
 at that time, I believe, in a condition to get up and run 
 aAvay ; when a lancer passing by, cried out, " Tu n'est pas 
 mort, coquin ! " and struck his lance through my back. 
 My head dropped, the blood gushed into my mouth, 
 a difficulty of breathing came on, and I thought all was 
 over. 
 
 ' Not long afterwards (it was impossible to measure 
 time, but I must have fallen in less than ten minutes after 
 the onset), a tirailleur stopped to plunder me, threatening 
 my life. I directed him to a small side-pocket, in which 
 he found three dollars, all I had ; but he continued to 
 threaten, and I said he might search me : this he did 
 immediately, unloosing my stock and tearing open my 
 waistcoat, and leaving me in a very uneasy posture. 
 
 ' But he was no sooner gone, than an officer bringing 
 up some troops, to which probably the tirailleur belonged, 
 and happening to halt where I lay, stooped down and
 
 448 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 addressed me, saying he feared I was badly wounded ; 
 I said that I was, and expressed a wish to be removed to 
 the rear. He said it was against their orders to remove 
 even their own men, but that if they gained the day (and 
 he understood that the Duke of Wellington was killed, 
 and that some of our battalions had surrendered), every 
 attention in his power would be shown me. I complained 
 of thirst, and he held his brandy-bottle to my lips, directing 
 one of the soldiers to lay me straight on my side, and place 
 a knapsack under my head. He then passed on into action 
 —soon, perhaps, to want, though not receive, the same 
 assistance ; and I shall never know to whose generosity 
 I was indebted, as I believe, for my life. Of what rank he 
 was, I cannot say : he wore a great-coat. By and by 
 another tirailleur came up, a fine young man, full of ardour. 
 He knelt down and fired over me, loading and firing many 
 times, and conversing with me all the while.' The French- 
 man with strange coolness informed Ponsonby of how he 
 was shooting, and what he thought of the progress of the 
 battle. ' At last he ran off, exclaiming, " You will probably 
 not be sorry to hear that we are going to retreat. Good 
 day, my friend." It was dusk,' Ponsonby adds, ' when two 
 squadrons of Prussian cavalry, each of them two deep, 
 came across the valley and passed over me in full trot, 
 lifting me from the ground and tumbling me about cruelly. 
 The clatter of their approach, and the apprehensions they 
 excited, may be imagined ; a gun taking that direction 
 must have destroyed me. 
 
 ' The battle was now at an end, or removed to a distance. 
 The shouts, the imprecations, the outcries of " Vive 
 I'Empereur ! " the discharge of musketry and cannon, 
 were over ; and the groans of the wounded all around me 
 became every moment more and more audible. I thought 
 the night would never end. 
 
 'Much about this time I found a soldier of the Royals 
 lying across my legs : he had probably crawled thither in 
 his agony ; and his weight, his convulsive motions, and 
 the air issuing through a wound in his side, distressed me 
 greatly ; the last circumstance most of all, as I had a wound 
 of the same nature myself. 
 
 ' It was not a dark night, and the Prussians were
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 449 
 
 wandering about to plunder ; the scene in Ferdinand 
 Count Fathom came into my mind, though no women 
 appeared. Several stragglers looked at me, as they passed 
 by, one after another, and at last one of them stopped to 
 examine me. I told him as well as I could, for I spoke 
 German very imperfectly, that I was a British officer, and 
 had been plundered already ; he did not desist, however, 
 and pulled me about roughly. 
 
 ' An hour before midnight I saw a man in an English 
 uniform walking towards me. He was, I suspect, on the 
 same errand, and he came and looked in my face. I spoke 
 instantly, telling him who I was, and assuring him of 
 a reward if he would remain by me. He said he belonged 
 to the 40th, and had missed his regiment : he released me 
 from the dying soldier, and being unarmed, took up a sword 
 from the ground, and stood over me, pacing backwards 
 and forwards. 
 
 ' Day broke ; and at six o'clock in the morning some 
 English were seen at a distance, and he ran to them. 
 A messenger being sent off to Hervey, a cart came for 
 me, and I was placed in it and carried to the village of 
 Waterloo, a mile and a half ofi, and laid in the bed from 
 which, as I understood afterwards, Gordon had been just 
 carried out. I had received seven wounds : a surgeon slept 
 in my room, and I was saved by excessive bleeding.' 
 
 Major Macready, in the journal already cited,^ justly 
 praises the deep devotion to their Emperor which marked 
 the French at Waterloo. Never, indeed, had the national 
 bravery of the French people been more nobly shown. 
 One soldier in the French ranks was seen, when his arm 
 was shattered by a cannon-ball, to wrench it ofE with the 
 other ; and throwing it up in the air, he exclaimed to his 
 comrades, ' Vive I'Empereur jusqu'a la mort ! ' Colonel 
 Lemonnier Delafosse mentions in his Memoirs,^ that at the 
 beginning of the action, a French soldier who had had both 
 legs carried o£E by a cannon-ball, was borne past the front 
 of Toy's division, and called out to them, ' Ce n'est rien, 
 camarades ; Vive I'Empereur ! Gloire a la France ! ' The 
 same officer, at the end of the battle, when all hope was 
 lost, tells us that he saw a French grenadier, blackened 
 ^ See, supra, p. 425. * Page 388. 
 
 CEEASy G g
 
 450 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 with powder, and with his clothes torn and stained, leaning 
 on his musket, and immovable as a statue. The colonel 
 called to him to join his comrades and retreat ; but the 
 grenadier showed him his musket and his hands, and said, 
 ' These hands have with this musket used to-day more 
 than twenty packets of cartridges : it was more than my 
 share : I supplied myself with ammunition from the dead. 
 Leave me to die here on the field of battle. It is not courage 
 that fails me, but strength.' Then, as Colonel Delafosse 
 left him, the soldier stretched himself on the ground to 
 meet his fate, exclaiming, ' Tout est perdu ! pauvre 
 France ! ' The gallantry of the French officers at least 
 equalled that of their men. Ney, in particular, set the 
 example of the most daring courage. Here, as in every 
 French army in which he ever served or commanded, he 
 was ' le brave des braves '. Throughout the day he was in 
 the front of the battle ; and was one of the very last French- 
 men who quitted the field. His horse was killed under him 
 in the last attack made on the English position ; but he 
 was seen on foot, his clothes torn with bullets, his face 
 smirched with powder, striving, sword in hand, first to 
 urge his men forward, and at last to check their flight. 
 
 There was another brave general of the French army 
 whose valour and good conduct on that day of disaster 
 to his nation should never be unnoticed, when the story 
 of Waterloo is recounted. This was General Pelet, who, 
 about seven in the evening, led the first battalion of the 
 2nd regiment of the Chasseurs of the Guard to the defence 
 of Planchenoit ; and on whom Napoleon personally urged 
 the deep importance of maintaining possession of that 
 village. Pelet and his men took their post in the central 
 part of the village, and occupied the church and chiu'chyard 
 in great strength. There they repelled every assault of 
 the Prussians, who m rapidly increasing numbers rushed 
 forward with infuriated pertinacity. They held their post 
 till the utter rout of the main army of their comrades was 
 apparent, and the victorious aUies were thronging around 
 Planchenoit. Then Pelet and his brave chasseurs quitted 
 the churchyard and retired with steady march, though 
 they suffered fearfully from the moment they left their 
 shelter, and Prussian cavalry as well as infantry dashed
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 451 
 
 fiercely after them. Pelet kept together a little knot of 
 250 veterans, and had the eagle covered over and borne 
 along in the midst of them. At one time the mequality of 
 the ground caused his ranks to open a little ; and in an 
 instant the Prussian horsemen were on them, and striving 
 to capture the eagle. Captain Siborne relates the conduct 
 of Pelet with the admiration worthy of one brave soldier 
 for another : 
 
 ' Pelet, taking advantage of a spot of ground which 
 afforded them some degree of cover against the fire of 
 grape by which they were constantly assailed, halted the 
 standard-bearer, and called out, " A moi, chasseurs ! 
 sauvons Vaigle ou mourons aulour d'elle ! " The chasseurs 
 immediately pressed around him, forming what is usually 
 termed the rallying square, and, lowering their bayonets, 
 succeeded in repulsing the charge of cavalry. Some guns 
 were then brought to bear upon them, and siibsequently 
 a brisk fire of musketry ; but, notwithstanding the awful 
 sacrifice which was thus offered up in defence of their 
 precious charge, they succeeded in reaching the main line 
 of retreat, favoured by the universal confusion, as also by 
 the general obscurity which now prevailed ; and thus 
 saved alike the eagle and the honour of the regiment.' 
 
 French writers do injustice to their own army and general 
 when they revive malignant calumnies against Wellington, 
 and speak of his having blundered into victory. No 
 blunderer could have successfully encountered such troops 
 as those of Napoleon, and under such a leader. It is 
 superfiuous to cite against these cavOs the testimony which 
 other continental critics have borne to the high military 
 genius of our illustrious chief. I refer to one only, which 
 is of peculiar value, on account of the quarter whence it 
 comes. It is that of the great German writer, Niebuhr, 
 whose accurate acquaintance with every important scene 
 of modern as well as ancient history was unparalleled : 
 and who was no mere pedant, but a man practically versed 
 in active life, and had been personally acquainted with 
 most of the leading men in the great events of the early 
 part of this century. Niebuhr, in the passage which 
 I allude to,^ after referring to the military ' blunders ' 
 ^ Roman History, vol. v. p. 17. 
 Gg2
 
 452 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 
 
 of Mithridates, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, Pyrrhus, 
 and Hannibal, uses these remarkable words, ' The Duke 
 of Wellington is, I believe, the only general in whose 
 conduct of war we cannot discover any important mistake'. 
 Not that it is to be supposed that the Duke's merits were 
 simply of a negative order, or that he was merely a cautious, 
 phlegmatic general, fit only for defensive warfare, as some 
 recent French historians have described him. On the 
 contrary, he was bold, even to audacity, when boldness 
 was required. ' The intrepid advance and fight at Assaye, 
 the crossing of the Douro, and the movement on Talavera 
 in 1809, the advance to Madrid and Burgos in 1812, the 
 actions before Baj^onne in 1813, and the desperate stand 
 made at Waterloo itself, when more tamely prudent 
 generals would have retreated beyond Brussels, place this 
 beyond a doubt.' ^ 
 
 The overthrow of the French military power at Waterloo 
 was so complete that the subsequent events of the brief 
 campaign have little interest. Lamartine truly says : 
 ' This defeat left nothing undecided in future events, for 
 victory had given judgement. The war began and ended 
 in a single battle.' Napoleon himself recognized instantly 
 and fully the deadly nature of the blow which had been 
 dealt to his empire. In his flight from the battle-field he 
 first halted at Charleroi, but the approach of the pursuing 
 Prussians drove him thence before he had rested there an 
 hour. With difficulty gettmg clear of the -vvTecks of his 
 own army, he reached Philippeville, where he remained 
 a few hours, and sent orders to the French generals in the 
 various extremities of France to converge with their troops 
 upon Paris. He ordered Soult to collect the fugitives of 
 his own force, and lead them to Laon. He then hurried 
 forward to Paris, and reached his capital before the news 
 of his own defeat. But the stern truth soon transpired. 
 At the demand of the Chambers of Peers and Representatives 
 he abandoned the throne by a second and final abdication on 
 the 22nd of June. On the 29th of June he left the neighbour- 
 hood of Paris, and proceeded to Rochefort in the hope of 
 
 * See the admirable parallel of Wellington and Marlborough at the 
 end of Sir Archibald Alison's Life of the Duke of Marlborough. Sir 
 Archibald justly considers Wellington the more daring general of the two.
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO 453 
 
 escaping to America : but the coast was strictly watched, 
 and on the 15th of July the ex-emperor surrendered himself 
 on board of the English man-of-war the Bellerophon. 
 
 Meanwhile the allied armies had advanced steadily upon 
 Paris, drivuig before them Grouchy 's corps and the scanty 
 force which Soult had succeeded in rallying at Laon. 
 Cambray, Peronne, and other fortresses were speedily 
 captured ; and by the 29th of June the invaders were 
 taking their positions in front of Paris. The Provisional 
 Government, which acted in the French capital after the 
 emperor's abdication, opened negotiations with the allied 
 chiefs. Bliicher, in his quenchless hatred of the French, 
 was eager to reject all proposals for a suspension of hostilities, 
 and to assault and storm the city. But the sager and 
 calmer spirit of Wellington prevailed over his colleague ; 
 the entreated armistice was granted ; and on the 3rd of July 
 the capitulation of Paris terminated the War of the Battle 
 of Waterloo. 
 
 In closing our observations on this the last of the Decisive 
 Battles of the World, it is pleasing to contrast the year 
 which it signalized with the year that is now ^ passing over 
 our heads. We have not (and long may we be without) 
 the stern excitement of martial strife, and we see no captive 
 standards of our European neighbours brought in triumph 
 to our shrines. But we behold an infuiitely prouder 
 spectacle. We see the banners of every civilized nation 
 waving over the arena of our competition with each other 
 in the arts that minister to our race's support and happiness, 
 and not to its suffering and destruction. 
 
 Peace hath her Victories 
 No less renowned than War ; 
 
 and no battle-field ever witnessed a victory more noble 
 than that which England, under her Sovereign Lady and 
 her Royal Prince, is now teaching the peoples of the earth 
 to achieve over selfish prejudices and international feuds, 
 in the great cause of the general promotion of the industry 
 and welfare of mankind. 
 
 i Written in June, 1851.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abderrahman Ibn Abdillah Alghafeki, Saracen general, appointed 
 governor in Spain, 181 ; his character, ib. ; his army, ib. ; his exploits, 
 as given by the monkish chroniclers, 183 ; his battles and death, as 
 given by Arabian chroniclers, 184. 
 
 Aetius, Roman general, 159 ; his exertions in collecting his army, 171 ; 
 effects a junction with his ally Theodoric, ib. ; commands the right 
 wing of the army at Chalons, 172 ; his jealousy of the Visigoths, 173. 
 
 Alcibiades, Athenian general, 51 ; his character, ib. ; his revenge on 
 the Athenians, ib. ; his harangue in the Spartan assembly, ib. 
 
 Alexander, his character slandered by ancient rhetoricians, 64 ; 
 Arrian's remarks on, 65 ; Sir Walter Raleigh's, ib. ; Napoleon's, 66 ; 
 important results of his conquests, 68 ; numbers of his army at Arbela, 
 73 ; passes unconsciously the remains of Nineveh, 76 ; comes in sight 
 of the Persian army, 77 ; holds a council of war, ib. ; his address to 
 his officers, 78 ; refuses to attack the Persians by night, ib. ; great 
 skill shown in his disposition of his army, 80 ; his personal valour, 82 ; 
 form of attack, 83 ; description of his manoeuvres, 85 ; gains a com- 
 plete victory, 87 ; enters Arbela, ib. ; enters Babylon, ib. ; the victory 
 at Arbela the crisis of his career, 88 : his later exploits, ib. 
 
 America, her recent origin as an independent power, 331 ; the physical 
 and moral elements of progressive might combined in the United States 
 of, ib. ; continual rapid advancement and extension of the United 
 States of, 332 ; passage on this subject quoted from De Tocqueville, 
 333 ; Macgregor's account of the United States, 335 ; remarks on the 
 probable results of intercourse between the, and the Chinese, &c., 337; 
 feelings with which the English ought to regard the progress of, 338 ; 
 result of the unwise policy of England towards the American colonies, 
 339 ; consequences resulting from Burgoyne's defeat, and a brief 
 recapitulation of the early events of the war between England and, ib. 
 
 Arabs, loss of the, at the battle of Toulouse, 183 ; the Arabian chroni- 
 clers, 184, note ; the Arabian chroniclers' account of the exploits of 
 Abderrahman, ib. 
 
 Arbela, 63 ; situation of, 70 ; its importance as a military position, 72 ; 
 amount of Darius's army at Arbela, ib. ; his proposed plan of the battle, 
 79 ; Alexander's anny, 73 ; its strength and constitution, 74 ; his 
 instructions to his generals, 78 ; date of the battle, 80 ; the disposi- 
 tion of Alexander's army, ib. ; plan of the battle, 81 ; description of 
 the battle, 83 ; Persians defeated, 87 ; Alexander enters the city and 
 takes possession of the treasure, ib. 
 
 Abletta, the daughter of the tanner of Falaise, influence which the 
 events of her life have exercised over the subsequent history of the 
 world, 188 ; William the Conqueror, her son, ib.
 
 456 INDEX 
 
 Arminius, his victory over the Roman Legions under Varus, 131 ; one 
 of our national heroes, 132 ; his character, 133 ; perilous nature of 
 the enterprise which immortalized him, ib. ; state of Rome and her 
 government at the time of, 134 ; private causes which hcl[>ed to urge 
 Arminius on to the deliverance of his country, 136 ; his marriage with 
 Thusnclda, ib. ; succeeds in blinding Varus as to his schemes, 138 ; 
 description of the locality chosen by Arminius for his enterprise against 
 Varus, 139 ; names of several spots in the vicinity still indicate the 
 scene of the battle, ib. ; the Roman army is harassed and its march 
 impeded by, 141 ; he gives the signal for a general attack, ib. ; de- 
 scription of the battle, ib. ; Roman captives slain in sacrifice by the 
 German victors, 143 ; extreme terror which this decisive victory 
 caused at Rome, 144 ; tcrrilic portents believed to have occurred at 
 the time, 145 ; the independence of Germany effectually gained by 
 the victory of, ib. ; our right to claim, as one of our national heroes, 
 proved, 146 ; his subsequent contests with the Romans, ib. ; unhappy 
 fate of his wife and child, 147 ; fights various battles with the Romans 
 under Germanicus, and afterwards Caecina, ib. ; assembles his army 
 on the banks of the Weser, the Roman army under Gennanicus being 
 encamped on the opposite bank, 148 ; his interview with his brother 
 Flavins, who adhered to the Romans, ib. ; beautiful stanzas by Praed, 
 describing the interview of the brothers, 149 ; Arminius wounded in 
 battle — the Romans claim the victory', but immediately retreat, 150 ; 
 Arminius takes up arms against Maroboduus, who is endeavouring to 
 enslave the other tribes of Germanj% 151 ; a peace concluded, ib. ; 
 death of, by assassination, erroneous statements of Tacitus on the 
 subject, ib. ; sources from which we hear the glorious exploits of, 152 ; 
 Divine honours paid to his memory by his countrymen, ib. ; etymology 
 of Hermann — the German stanzas of an old song, referring to, 153 ; 
 tardy homage which the Germans eight or ten years ago proposed 
 rendering to the memory of Arminius, ib. ; ode by Klopstock on, 154. 
 
 Arrian, his defence of Alexander, quoted, 65 ; fidelity of his history, 
 and peculiar value of his military authorities, 73, 79, 80. 
 
 AsDRUBAL, &c. See Hasdrcbax, &c. 
 
 Athenian citizens, number of, 2 ; assist the lonians, 16 ; killed at 
 Marathon, 29 ; their burial, 30 ; Athenians besiege SjTacuse, 43 ; 
 description of the armament, 49 ; second expedition sent against 
 Syracuse, 55. 
 
 Athens, great power of, in the year b. c. 414, 44 ; her tyranny, 45 ; 
 naval force, 46 ; ambition of, 48 ; perseverance of, 55 ; her power 
 broken, 60. 
 
 Attica, small extent of, 11. 
 
 Attila, king of the Huns, his camp, 158 ; lines from Herbert's Aitila, 
 ib. ; various sources from which we may gather indisputable testimony 
 to the power and greatness of, 164 ; numerous legendan,- lays, of which 
 he is the hero, ib. ; his remarkable character, ib. ; legend of the Sword- 
 God, the iron sword, 165 ; title assumedby, ib. ; remarks of Herbert 
 ou the title of, ib. ; the possible reason for his asserting in his title that 
 he was ' nurtured in Engaddi ', 166 ; extent of his conquests and king- 
 dom, ib. and note ; founded Buda on the Danube, 167 ; murder of 
 his brother, ib. ; legend which may have induced him to commit the
 
 INDEX 457 
 
 crime, 168, note ; receives from Honoria, a Roman princess, an offer 
 of her hand, and share of the empire, 109 ; her imprisonment gives 
 him a pretext for war with Rome, ib. ; ugliness of, ib. ; his assistance 
 requested by a chief of the Franks, 170 ; strength of his army, ib. ; 
 account of his march and of the disposition of his forces, ib. ; com- 
 mences the siege of Orleans, 171 ; breaks up the siege and falls back 
 towards the plains of Chalons, ib. ; assumes the title of the 'Scourge 
 of God', ib. ; disposition of his army at Chalons, 172 ; description 
 of the battle, ib. ; Attila forced to retire within his entrenchments, 
 ib. ; allowed to retreat, 173 ; his subsequent history, ib. 
 
 Augustus Caesar, his foreign policy, 134 ; his alarm and bitter grief 
 at the defeat of the army under Vams, in Germany, 144. 
 
 Austria, state of, at the time of Louis XIV, remarks of Bolingbroke on 
 misgovernment of, 290. 
 
 Battle Abbey, built on the site of the battle of Hastings, the place then 
 called Senlac, 203 ; descrii)tion of the locality of, 204 ; the foundation- 
 stone of the high altar of, lately discovered, ib. ; deep interest which 
 attaches to this spot, 206. 
 
 Bedford (the Regent), refuses to accept the surrender of the city of 
 Orleans on the terms offered, 234 ; his letter to Henry VI on the 
 influence exercised by Joan d'Arc, 247. 
 
 Blenheim, battle of, 287 ; for account of the state of France and of the 
 events immediately preceding the l)attle of, see France, Lours XIV, 
 and Marlborough ; description of the ground occupied by the French 
 and Bavarians at the battle of, 306 ; the chief command held by Mar- 
 shal Tallard, 307 ; plan of the battle of, ib. ; numbers and disposi- 
 tion of the forces of the French and Bavarians, 308 ; the army of 
 the Allies at, how commanded, &c., ib. ; commencement of the battle 
 of, ib. ; the assault on the village of, 309 ; Marlborough crosses the 
 Nebel, ib. ; rescues the centre of his army, 310 ; valour of Prince 
 Eugene, ib. ; the crisis of the battle described, ib. ; complete victory 
 gained by Marlborough, 311 ; the numbers of the killed and wounded, 
 and of the prisoners as stated by Voltaire, 312 ; results of this 
 victory, ib. 
 
 Blucher (Marshal), Prussian General, for account of his proceedings in 
 the campaign against Napoleon after his return from Elba, see 
 Waterloo and Wellington. 
 
 Bolingbroke, referred to, 290 ; remarks on his writings, 290, note. 
 
 Brunswick (the Duke of), see Valmy ; imputation cast upon him by 
 some modern writers with regard to his conduct at Valmy, 372, note. 
 
 Burgoyne, Commander of the English army in the American war ; 
 State paper drawn up by King George III on the plan of Burgoyne's 
 expedition, 342 ; description of, 343 ; the officers and army under 
 him, ib. ; he assembles his troops — gives a war-feast to the Indians, 
 ib. ; succeeds in reducing the forts at Ticonderoga, 344 ; remarks of 
 the American general, St. Clair, on abandoning the fort, ib. ; reaches 
 the left bank of the Hudson — confidence of success felt by his army, 
 ib. ; feelings of the army and of the people of England on the subject 
 of the war, as described by Burke in the Annual Register for 1777, 
 345 ; fresh efforts of the Americans — General Gates sent to command
 
 458 INDEX 
 
 the army at Saratoga, Arnold to act under him, 346 ; ill effects which 
 the employment of the Indians produced on the British cause, ib., 
 notes ; expedition of General St. Leger, 347 ; his defeat, ib. ; defeat 
 of Colonel Baum at Benington, ib. ; Burgoyne continues his march, 
 and encamps at Saratoga, near to the post occupied by the Americans, 
 348 ; proceedings of Lord Howe in his campaign against Washington, 
 ib. ; Sir Henry Clinton commences his task of forcing his way up the 
 River Hudson, to co-operate with Burgoyne, ib. ; Burgoyne attacks 
 the Americans opposed to him at Saratoga, 350 ; he is defeated and 
 retreats, 354 ; capitulates, 360. 
 
 Carthage, her power shattered at the Metaurus, 95 ; her inferiority to 
 Rome, 97 ; her rise, ib. ; her commerce and navigation, ib. ; her 
 agricultural industry, 98 ; her conquests, 99 ; causes of her ill success 
 in the contest with Rome, ib. ; various races of men in and about, ib. ; 
 her mercenary troops, 100 ; description of a Cart.haginian anny, 117. 
 
 Chalons, battle of, 158 ; description of the locality of, ib. ; remains of 
 Attila's camp in the vicinity of, ib. ; the battle of — the last gained by 
 imperial Rome, and one conferring most important and lasting bene- 
 fits on mankind, 159 ; preponderance of power given by the victory 
 of, to German tribes, 160 ; the allied armies of the Romans and Visi- 
 goths meet their enemies, the Huns, under Attila, in the plains of, 172 ; 
 description of the battle, ib. ; retreat of AttUa, 173. 
 
 Charles Martel, importance of the victory he gained over the Saracens 
 at Tours, 176 ; disorganized state of Gaul in respect of government, 
 &c., in the time of, 178 ; signification of his surname, Martel, 181 ; 
 his parentage and early career, 182 ; reasons which justified him in 
 seeking a battle, ib. ; name of, changed to Caldus by the Arabian 
 writers, 184 ; Arabian account of the battle of Tours, ib. 
 
 Cherusci, one of the German tribes — Arminius one of the heads of the 
 noblest house of the, 133 ; English akin to, through the Anglo-Saxons, 
 146. 
 
 Civilization, Asiatic, 12 ; European, 13 ; greatly promoted by the 
 victories of Alexander the Great, 68 ; its progress in Europe secured 
 by the victory at Tours, 176. 
 
 Cleisthenes, 8. 
 
 Clinton, Sir Henry, English officer, 348 ; endeavours to co-operate with 
 Burgoyne, see Burgoyne. 
 
 Cuneiform inscriptions, 14. 
 
 Darius Codomannus, aware of the important results that would follow 
 a defeat at Arbela, 71 ; his precautions, 72 ; his anny, ib. ; skill 
 shown in the choice of his position before the battle of Arbela, ib., 76 ; 
 apprehends a night attack, 79 ; disposition of his army, ib. ; his plan 
 of attack, 83 ; it is frustrated by Alexander's tactics, ib. ; he takes 
 to flight, 85 ; defeat of his army, 87 ; his death, ib. 
 
 Darius Hystaspe-j, his power, 15 ; prepares armies against Eretria and 
 Athens, 17. ^ee Marathon. 
 
 Datis, commands given him by Darius, 18 ; embarks for Greece, 19 ; 
 encamped on the Attic coast, his position at Marathon, ib. ; his 
 manauuvre to surprise Atticus counteracted, 29.
 
 INDEX 459 
 
 Dauphin (Charles VII), the, his character, 231 ; he holds his court at 
 Chinon, 234 ; his interview with Joan d'Arc, 237 ; he is crowned as 
 King Charles VII of France at Rheims, 247. 
 
 Demosthenes, the Athenian general, his character and early career, 
 56 ; commands the second expedition against Syracuse, 57 ; endea- 
 vours to regain possession of Epipolae, ib. ; is defeated, 59 ; his 
 death, 60. 
 
 Detmold, capital of the principality of Lippe, near to which the victory 
 was gained by Arminius over the Roman legions under Varus, 139. 
 
 Drake, Sir Francis, his exploits, 252 ; his coolness upon the intelligence 
 of the approach of the Annada, 253 ; his cruise off the Tagus, 262 ; 
 his letter describing the defeat of the Armada, 283. 
 
 DRUSUS,commanderof the Roman legion in lUyricum, mediates between 
 Arminius and Maroboduus, 151. 
 
 DuMOURiEZ. See Valmy. 
 
 DuNOis, one of the generals who commanded the army with which Joan 
 d'Arc raised the siege of Orleans, 241. 
 
 Elizabeth (queen of England), state of England at the time of the 
 accession of, 254 ; anathema against her renewed by Pope Sixtus V, 
 260 ; loyalty of her subjects, both Catholic and Protestant, at the 
 Spanish Invasion, 261 ; her precautions, 262 ; letters sent by, to 
 unite the patriotic feelings of her people, 264 ; the effect produced, 
 ih. ; her address to the army at Tilbury Fort, 265 ; the councillors 
 chosen by, 266. 
 
 England, conquered by the Normans, see Hastings ; fails in an attempt 
 to conquer France, see Joan of Arc ; resists the ambitious attempts 
 of Spain, 258 ; proper policy of England when menaced with invasion, 
 267 ; degraded state of, under the two last of the Stuart sovereigns, 
 291 ; joins the Grand Alliance against France, 294 ; recognizes the 
 independence of the United States, 362 ; long period of peace with 
 which England has now been blessed, 382 ; advantages which we have 
 reaped from it, ih. 
 
 Epipolae, 43, 51, 55, 57, 58. 
 
 Eretria, 2 ; sends assistance to lona, 17 ; attacked by Datis, 19 ; 
 betrayed to the Persians, ib. 
 
 European civilization, 13 ; state of, in different countries of Europe at 
 the time of the battle of Marathon, 20 ; progress of, secured by the 
 victory at Tours, 176 ; important influence of France on, 230 ; state 
 of Europe of late years, 313. 
 
 Farnese (Alexander), prince of Parma, captain-general of the Spanish 
 armies, under Philip II, his character, 257 ; he is appointed military 
 chief of the expedition against England — his army, 259 ; his pro- 
 ceedings in the Netherlands, ih. 
 
 Fastolfe (Sir John), English general, gains the victory at Rouvrai, near 
 Orleans, 234. 
 
 FoY, General, his speech quoted, 101, note ; his retreat from Waterloo, 
 439. 
 
 France, important influence exercised by, 230 ; her perilous condition 
 at the time of the siege of Orleans, ih. ; state of religion in, at the time
 
 460 INDEX 
 
 of the siege of Orleans, 238 ; is still possessed of some of the provinces 
 acquired by Louis XIV, 287 ; war declared against, by the allied 
 powers of England, Austria, and Holland, 298 ; particulars of the 
 war, see Louis XIV, Maelboeough, Blenheim ; reflections on effects 
 which the growth of revolutionaiy principles has produced on, 364 ; 
 the title of a republic first assumed by, 365. 
 
 Feanks, their origin, 179. 
 
 Feobishee, Sir Martin, his exploits, 252. 
 
 Gates, General, commander of the American army at Saratoga, 346 ; for 
 the details of his conduct, see Saeatoga. 
 
 Geemany, her early struggles for freedom a part of our national history, 
 131 ; state of, at the time of the victory gained by Arminius, 132 ; 
 her cause favoured by the departure of Tiberius from, 136 ; indigna- 
 tion of the people of, at the tyranny and licentiousness of the Romans, 
 137 ; her independence secured by the victory gained by Arminius 
 over Varus, 145 ; delineation of the German character as a nation, 
 160 ; its superiority over that of the Slavic nations, ;'6. ; extent and 
 influence of the German race traced, ib. ; remarks on the Germanic 
 race and the Slavonic race, 316. 
 
 Gibbon, his description of the Roman army, 118, 141, note ; account 
 of the battle of Chalons, 173, note. 
 
 Gladsdale, Sir William, called by the French Glacidas, commander of 
 the English, posted at Les Tourelles at the siege of Orleans, 243 ; his 
 defence of the Tourelles, 244 ; his death, 246. 
 
 Goethe, the German poet, present at the battle of Valmy, see Valmy ; 
 his Campaign in France quoted, 376. 
 
 Goths, allies of Rome against AttUa, 159 ; Gothic and Scandinavian 
 nations included in the German race, 160 ; Visigoths under their king 
 Theodoric the leading tribe, 161. 
 
 Gylippus, 53 ; his influence and skill in saving Syracuse, 54. 
 
 Hamilcae, his hatred to Rome, 103 ; surnamed Barca, or the Thunder- 
 bolt, 105. 
 
 Hannibal, contest maintained between England and Napoleon com- 
 pared to that between Rome and, 94 ; his genius as a commander, 
 101 ; his vow, 103 ; he ravages Italy, ih. ; marches northward, 110 ; 
 his uncertainty as to his brother Hasdrubal's movements, ib. ; again 
 returns to Canusium and awaits tidings of Hasdrubal, 112 ; his 
 brother's head is thrown in his camp after the battle of Metaurus, 121 ; 
 Hamubal's power no longer dreaded, 124. 
 
 Haeald Haedrada, King of Norway, a competitor for the English 
 crown, 193 ; he attacks England — all the countrj% from the Tyne to 
 the Humber, submits to him, 198 ; his defeat and death at the battle 
 of Stamford Bridge, ib. 
 
 Haeold, son of the Earl of Godwin, 193 ; one of the competitors for the 
 throne of England, ib. ; his residence at the court of William of Nor- 
 mandy, 194 ; assents to the propositions of his rival, and does homage 
 to him, 195 ; stratagem used by Wflliam on the occasion to render 
 more solemn the oath, ib. ; return of, to England, ib. ; he is elected 
 king after the death of Edward the Confessor, 196 ; accepts the crown.
 
 INDEX 461 
 
 ib. ; his reply to William's remonstrance, ib. ; refusal of, to acknow- 
 ledge the authority of the Pope and the subject, ib. ; collects an army 
 to repel William's invasion, 197 ; his measures disconcerted by the 
 unexpected attack of the Norwegian king, ib. ; defeats the Norwegians 
 at Stamford Bridge — his victory dearly bought, 198 ; his hasty march 
 to London, 200 ; his march into Sussex, ib. ; report brought by his 
 spies of the appearance of the Normans, 202 ; he refuses to follow 
 advice to retreat to London, laying waste the country, ib. ; his 
 brothers vainly try to persuade him not to fight in person, 203 ; the 
 place where Harold's army was posted, called at that time Senlac, 
 shown by the ruins of Battle Abbey, ib. ; skill shown by, in the 
 stationing of his army at Senlac Hill, 204 ; sets up his standard on the 
 spot now marked by the remains of the High Altar of Battle Abbey, 
 ib. ; old local features of the country still discernible, 205 ; deep 
 interest which attaches to the spot, 206 ; William sends a monk to, 
 calling upon him to accept conditions, and Harold's reply, 207 ; the 
 English chiefs take an oath to oppose the invader unto death, 208 ; 
 the eve of the battle, how spent by the two armies, ib. ; account of 
 the battle taken from one of the old Norman chroniclers, 209 ; Harold's 
 anny, ib. ; his directions to his barons, 213 ; his barricades, ib. ; his 
 standard, 214 ; the advance of the Normans awaited by the English, 
 ib. ; an arrow wounds Harold in his eye, 217 ; Duke William eagerly 
 seeks to reach, 221 ; death of, 222 ; defeat of the English, chiefly 
 caused by his death, 223 ; universal testimony of all writers to the 
 valour and military skill of, 225 ; legends with regard to the finding 
 of his corpse, 225, note ; his body discovered by his mistress, Edith the 
 Fair, 226 ; William the Conqueror at length yields to his mother's 
 entreaties, and permits her to have her son's remains, ib. ; burial 
 of, ib. 
 
 Hasdrubal, commands the Carthaginian army in Spain, 104 ; eludes 
 Publius Scipio and passes the Pyrenees, halts among the Averni, ib. ; 
 commences his march to the Alps, 107 ; is joined by many of the 
 natives, and enters Italy, 108 ; besieges Placentia, ib. ; raises the 
 siege and marches towards Ariminum, 112 ; the bearer of his letter 
 to Hannibal is captured by the Romans, ib. ; discovers the arrival of 
 Nero in the camp of Livius, 116 ; endeavours to avoid a battle, is 
 betrayed by the guides in crossing the Metaurus, and left by them, ib. ; 
 he prepares for immediate action, 117 ; his disposition of his army, 
 ib. ; his death, 121 ; the last meeting of the brothers Hasdrubal and 
 Hannibal, ib. 
 
 Hastings, battle of, 189 ; magnitude of the results of the battle, ib. ; 
 Thierry quoted on the social effects of the Norman Conquest, 190 ; 
 the ultimate good effects derived by England from the Conquest, 191; 
 landing of William before the battle of, 200 ; description of the 
 locality of the battle of, 204 ; plan of the battle, 205 ; old features 
 of the ground still discernible, ib. ; deep interest which attaches to 
 the spot, 206 ; eve of the battle of, how spent by the two armies, 208 ; 
 description of the battle, taken from one of the old Norman chroniclers, 
 209-24 ; the onset, 215 ; war-cries of the combatants, 216 ; advan- 
 tage equal from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m., 217 ; Harold wounded in the eye 
 by an arrow, ib. ; the Normans feign flight, 218 ; their return to the
 
 462 INDEX 
 
 charge, ib. ; anecdotes of the gallant conduct of various individuals 
 on both sides, 219-21 ; death of King Harold and his brother Gurth 
 — the English standard taken, 222, 223 ; the English continue to 
 resist till the close of the day, but are defeated, 223 ; the morning 
 after the battle, 224 ; number of the slain, 225. 
 
 Hawkins, Sir John, his exploits, 252. 
 
 Holland, the only European power which steadily opposed the ambi- 
 tious schemes of Louis XIV, 292. 
 
 Honoria, Roman princess, sister to the Emperor Valentinian III, offers 
 her hand to Attila the Hun, 169. 
 
 Howard of Efiingham, Lord High-Admiral, Lord, his character, 252 ; 
 see also 279. 
 
 Hungary, interest now felt in everything connected with the name of, 
 162 ; descent of the Hungarians from the Huns considered, ib. ; 
 remarks of Bolingbroke on the revolutions in Hungary, 291. 
 
 Huns, long formidable to the Chinese empire, 161 ; they enter Europe, 
 162 ; their appearance, superstitions with regard to them, ib. ; their 
 conquests, ib. ; Attila becomes their king, ib. ; the probability of the 
 modern Hungarians being descended from the Huns, considered, ib. ; 
 extent of the empire of the, 166 ; their numbers in the army under 
 Attila, 170. 
 
 Iemin-sul, or the column of Hermann (Anninius), 152; old song still 
 current respecting the, 153. 
 
 Joan of Arc, her parentage and early life, 234 ; her character, 235 ; 
 stanzas on, quoted from Southey's poem, ib., note ; mistake which 
 has arisen with regard to early life of, ib. ; patriotic feelings of, 236 ; 
 her own account of the Heavenly Voices which inspired her, ib. ; her 
 Voices declare her to be the chosen instrument of Heaven for the 
 rescue of her country, 237 ; her interview with De Baudricourt at 
 Vaucouleurs, ib. ; she assumes the apparel of a knight, ib. ; her inter- 
 view with the Dauphin at Chinon, 238 ; various opinions with regard 
 to her, 239 ; description of, as she appeared at the Camp at Blois, 
 240 ; her banner, ib. ; her simple tactics in action, 241 ; strictness of 
 moral discipline which she enforced among the troops, ib. ; through 
 negUgence on the part of the English, she is enabled to enter Orleans 
 during a storm in the night, 241 ; she rides in procession through the 
 city, attends divine service in the church, ib. ; she is regarded as a 
 sorceress by the English, 242 ; she sends messages summoning the 
 English to yield, addresses them herself, ib. ; insulting replies of the 
 English officers, 243 ; she escorts the convoy that brings provisions, 
 &c. into the city, ib. ; account of her first mingling in actual battle 
 scenes at the storming of St. Loup, ib. ; she attacks the Tourelles, che 
 is severely wounded, 245 ; she rallies the troops and resumes the attack, 
 ib. ; captures the Tourelles, 246 ; loss on the English side, ib. ; rejoic- 
 ings at Orleans, ib. ; English retreat, ib. ; fulfilment of her mission, 247 ; 
 her other exploits, ib. ; her influence shown by an extract of a letter 
 from the Regent Bedford on the subject, ib. ; having assisted at the 
 coronation of the king at Rheims, she considers her mission ended, 248 ; 
 consents to remain with the army — her presentiments, her courage,
 
 INDEX 4G3 
 
 her piety, 249 ; her later exploits, i6. ; her imprisonment and dreadful 
 death, 249, 250 ; remarks on inspiration of, 250. 
 
 Kellerman, Duke of Valmy (see Valmy) ; he commands a division of 
 
 cavalry at Waterloo, 418. 
 Klopstock, translation of his ode on the victory of Arminius over Varus 
 
 quoted, 154. 
 
 Lacedaemonians, rapid march to Marathon, 29 ; warfare against 
 Athens, 47. 
 
 Latham, Dr. Robert Gordon, his work on the English Language, and 
 his notes to the Germania of Tacitus, referred to, 146, 153. 
 
 Livius, Marcus, his indignation at the injustice shown him after his first 
 Consulate, 106 ; consents to being again made Consul, 107 ; is recon- 
 ciled to his colleague, Nero, ib. ; has the chief command in North 
 Italy, 109 ; commands the left wing of the army at Metaurus, 120. 
 
 Louis XIV, some of his conquests still retained by France, 287 ; review 
 of his career, ib. ; state of affairs in France when he began to govern, 
 288 ; his absolute power, ib. ; his talents for government, 289 ; extent 
 to which France is still indebted to, ib. ; peculiar features to be re- 
 marked in the government of, and which gave such power to France, 
 ib. ; state of Germany at the time of, 290 ; state of Spain, ib. ; state 
 of England, 291 ; Holland alone the steady opponent of, 292 ; early 
 conquests of, 293 ; ambition of, twofold, ib. ; his ulterior object, the 
 conquest or the acquisition of the whole of Spain, ib. ; Spain is 
 bequeathed to his grandson, 294 ; the extent of the empire thus 
 annexed to France, ib. ; the indignation of Austria, and William III, 
 at this event — formation of the league between England, Holland, 
 and Austria, ib. ; peril which menaced the independent states of 
 Europe from the aggression of Louis, 295 ; death of William III, ib. ; 
 Queen Anne supports the League, ib. ; successes gained by Louis, at 
 the commencement of the war, 299 ; sketch of the scheme marked 
 out by, for his next campaign, ib. ; his visions of universal conquest 
 for ever dissipated by his defeat at Blenheim, 312. 
 
 Louis Philippe, 365. See Valmy. 
 
 Macedonian Phalanx described, 74 ; strength of the Macedonian army, 
 73 ; superior discipline of cavalry, 84, note. 
 
 Marathon, numbers of the Greeks at, 4; of the Persians, i6. ; council of 
 war before, 5 ; description of the plain of, 10 ; importance of the 
 consequences staked on the results of the battle of, 20 ; associations 
 connected with the plain of, 23 ; form of attack, ib. ; valour of the 
 Persians, but inferiority in point of arms, 26 ; victory of the Greeks, 
 27 ; losses, 28, 29 ; their burial, 30 ; memorials of, 29, 30 ; important 
 effects of the victory of, 33 ; explanatory remarks on the battle of, 
 35. 
 
 Marlborough (John Churchill, Dulce of), circumstances to which he 
 owed his appointment as Captain-General of the British Armies, 296, 
 his many victories and remarkable success in all his enterprises, ib. ; 
 his private history and character, ib. ; he receives the chief command 
 over all the allied armies, 298 ; the qualities which rendered him 
 peculiarly fitted for such a post, ib. ; the allied army in Flanders 
 commanded by, 299 ; no decisive advantage gained during two yeara,
 
 464 INDEX 
 
 ib. ; determines to move his forces from Flanders towards the Rhine, 
 300 ; difficulties which he had to contend with in gaining the consent 
 of his allies, ib. ; is supported by Heinsius the Dutch statesman and 
 by Prince Eugene, ib. ; he overcomes all obstacles, 301 ; commences 
 his march, ib. ; description of his army, ib. ; instance given of the 
 kind of hindrances with which his allies annoyed him, and of his 
 conduct under them, ib. ; account of his march, 302 ; Villeroy 
 bewildered, and unable to divine the projects of, ib., note ; Marshal 
 Tallard equally at fault, 303 ; great skill shown in Marlborough's 
 march towards the Danube, ib. ; his first interview with Prince 
 Eugene, ib. ; defeats the Bavarian army near Donauworth, ib. ; 
 manoeuvres of the various armies, 304 ; position occupied by the 
 allied armies, and their opponents — strength of opposing armies, ib. ; 
 their weapons, ib., note ; perilous position in which Marlborough 
 was placed, and absolute necessity of hazarding a battle, ib. ; advan- 
 tages on the side of the enemy, ib. ; the consequences which must 
 have resulted from a defeat, 305 ; Alison's remarks on the subject 
 quoted, ib. ; words spoken by, to his officers at the council of war 
 before the laattle of Blenheim, 306. (For particulars of the battle, 
 see Blenheim.) 
 
 Maroboduus, King of the Suevi and Marcomanni, 151. 
 
 Merovingian Kings in earlier times always engaged in petty wars, 179 ; 
 their insignificance in later times, 181. 
 
 Metaurus, battle of, 93 ; its locality, ib. ; associations connected with, 
 ib. ; the battle of, the crisis of the contest between Rome and Carthage, 
 95 ; council of war before the battle of, 115 ; Hasdrubal betrayed by 
 the guides who were to lead him across the, 116 ; description of the 
 battle of the, 120 ; defeat of the Carthaginians, 121 ; sentiments at 
 Rome on the occasion, 122. 
 
 Michelet, his remarks on the Punic wars, 95. 
 
 MiLTiADES, his history, 6 ; his address to Callimachus, 9 ; various 
 reasons which made him vote for an immediate attack, 20 ; his 
 disposition of the forces at Marathon, 23 ; form of attack, 24 ; returns 
 to protect Athens, 29 ; subsequent history of, 31. 
 
 MiTFORD, his qualities as an historian referred to, 73, note. 
 
 MiJFFLiNG (Baron), a Prussian general attached to the Duke of Welling- 
 ton's staff during the Waterloo campaign, 390 ; his memoirs referred 
 to, ib., note, 392, &c. 
 
 Napoleon, 63 ; his critique on the achievements of Alexander, 66 ; his 
 account of the cavalrj' fights between the French and the Mamelukes, 
 84, note ; contest maintained between Napoleon and England com- 
 pared to that between Hannibal and Rome, 94 ; his prophecy with 
 regard to the future state of Europe, 313 ; comparison between the 
 campaign of, in Russia, and that of Charles XII of Sweden, 320; 
 his return from Elba, 384 ; his fruitless endeavours to negotiate 
 severally with the allied sovereigns, 385 ; he is proclaimed an outlaw 
 by the allied powers, ib. ; genius he displayed in his military prepara- 
 tions after his return from Elba, 386 ; the strength of his army, ib. ; 
 resolves to commence the attack in Belgium, 387 ; he hopes to effect 
 a separation between the two allied armies, ib. ; his address to his
 
 INDEX 465 
 
 troopa, 389 ; he marches towards Charleroi, ib. ; his successful 
 operations on 15th June, 1815, 394 ; sends Ney to occupy Quatre Bras 
 and engage the English, ib. ; defeats Bliicher at Ligny, 400 ; marches 
 against the English, 401 ; and sends a force under Marshal Grouchy 
 to prevent Bliicher from marching to aid the English, 402 ; censure 
 which he has passed upon the course pursued by the Duke of Welling- 
 ton, 403 ; Napoleon's estimate of the relative value of troops of 
 different nations, ib. ; army of, at the battle of Waterloo, 404 ; 
 sketch of his career, 414 ; personal description of, at Waterloo, 431 ; 
 his flight, 436 ; his abdication, and his surrender on board the 
 Bdlerophon, 452, 453. 
 
 Nero, Roman consul and commander with Livius of the Roman army 
 at Metaurus (b. c. 207), 93 ; his parentage and history, 105 ; is 
 commander-in-chief over the armies in South Italy, 109 ; profits by 
 the intelligence gained by the capture of Hasdrubal's messengers, 112 ; 
 enthusiasm of the Roman people and soldiers, 114; he reaches the 
 camp at Sena, 115; urges immediate action, ib. ; commands the 
 right wing, 120 ; decides the fat« of the day by his skilful manoeuvre, 
 121 ; after gaining the victory of the Metaurus he returns with speed 
 to the south, ib. ; his march compared to similar exploits of modem 
 generals, 124. 
 
 Ney, commands at Quatre Bras, 397 ; his bravery at Waterloo, 450. 
 
 NiciAS, 50 ; his incompetency in command against Syracuse, 55 ; is put 
 to death, 60. 
 
 Niebtjhr's praise of Wellington, 451. 
 
 NiMPOD claimed as an ancestor by Attila the Hun, 165 ; an object of 
 adoration in the East, ib. 
 
 Nineveh, its remains passed by Alexander in his march towards Arbela, 
 76. 
 
 Norman — effects of the Norman conquest, 190 ; character of the 
 Normans, 193 ; description of the appearance of the Norman soldiers 
 by Harold's spies, 202 ; numbers said to have perished on the side of 
 the, at battle of Hastings, 225. 
 
 Orleans, Joan of Arc's victory over the English at, 230 ; welfare of all 
 Europe concerned in the struggle at, ib. ; the city of, the last strong- 
 hold remaining to the French, 231 ; it is besieged, description of the 
 city and fortification of, 232 ; capture of the Tourelles, ib. ; artillery 
 first used with effect at, ib. ; picture of (note on the same), 233 ; 
 works of the besiegers, ib. ; scarcity of food at Orleans, 234 ; the 
 besiegers receive supplies after the victory gained at Rouvrai, ib. ; 
 the Orleannais offer to surrender : the terms refused by the English, 
 ib. ; supinencss of the Dauphin Charles, ib. ; in their last extremity 
 the Orleannais hear of the Maid of Orleans, 240 ; for particulars of 
 the battle of, see Joan of Arc. 
 
 Pelet, French General, his gallant conduct at Waterloo, 450. 
 
 Peloponnesian War, 42, 46, 47 ; usual mode of besieging during the, 42. 
 
 Persia, extensive dominions, 11, 15, 16; government of, 12; Persian 
 armv at Marathon, 19 ; inferiority in point of arms, 26 ; defeat at 
 Marathon, 27 ; number of killed, 29 ; her pride then first broken, 34 ; 
 Persian empire crushed by Alexander at Arbela, 88. 
 
 CREASY j£ ]i
 
 466 INDEX 
 
 Pbter the Great, of Russia, his character, 318 ; defeats Charles XII, 
 see PuLTOWA. 
 
 Pevensey, on the coast of Sussex, the spot where William of Normandy 
 landed before the battle of Hastings, 199. 
 
 Philip of Macedon compared to the Czar Peter, 319. 
 
 Philip, second King of Spain, see Spanish Armada ; state of Spain at 
 death of, 284. 
 
 Phoenicians, 99. 
 
 PiCTON, his bravery at Waterloo, 446. 
 
 Peaed, his poem on the meeting of Arminius with his brother Flavius 
 quoted, 149. 
 
 PuLTOWA, battle of, 313 ; importance to the world of the victory then 
 gained by Russia, 316; immense interest which attaches to it as 
 a trial of strength between two great races of mankind, ih. ; inferiority 
 of the Slavonic to the Germanic race till the battle of, except in one 
 or two instances, ib. ; increased influence of Russia since that period, 
 ih. ; thoughts of the wise and learned on the development of the 
 Slavonic race, 317 ; the extent over which the Slavonic race has 
 spread, ih. ; spirit of national union which has of late years sprung 
 up among them, ih. ; the town of Pultowa is besieged by the Swedes, 
 324 ; the Czar marches to its relief, ih. ; strength of his army, ih. ; 
 his disposition of his forces, 325 ; disparity of the army of Charles XII 
 to that of his opponent, ih. ; Charles XII borne in a litter into the 
 battle, ih. ; valour shown by the Swedes, ib. ; description of the 
 battle, ih. ; the Swedes overpowered by numbers, 326 ; the joy of 
 the Czar — his subsequent conquests, ih. • closeness of the parallel 
 between modem Russia and ancient Rome, as regards their policy 
 towards foreign nations, ih. 
 
 Ppnic wars, importance of the results of the, 95. 
 
 QuATRE Bras, action at, between Ney and Wellington, 397. 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, quoted on the character and exploits of Alexander, 
 65 ; on the departure of the generals from Rome to oppose Hasdrubal, 
 &c., 109 ; on the battle of the Metaurus, 120 ; commander of Ply- 
 mouth at time of the Spanish Armada, 253 ; his views on the proper 
 policy of England when menaced by invasion quoted, 267 ; see 
 Spanish Armada. 
 
 Rawlinson, Major, his successful labours in deciphering the cuneiform 
 inscription, 15. 
 
 Roman, the senate and people select Caius Claudius Nero and Marcus 
 Livius as consuls, 107 ; armies raised to oppose Hasdrubal and 
 Hannibal, 108 ; feelings of the Roman people when the consuls 
 departed to meet the enemy, 109 ; military system of the Romans 
 described by Gibbon and by Polybius — remarks on the Roman 
 Legion, 118 ; discipline of the Roman armies, 139. 
 
 Rome, noble spirit of Rome as a nation in the second Punic war, 103 ; 
 her strenuous resistance to Hannibal, ih. ; her resources drained, 108 ; 
 sends three armies to the north of Italy under Livius, and three to 
 the south under Nero, 109 ; alarm and consternation felt at Rome 
 at Nero's expedition against Hasdrubal, 114; excitement prevalent 
 as to the result of the battle of the Metaurus, 122 ; excessive joy at
 
 INDEX 467 
 
 the victory, 123 ; state of, and her government and policy at the 
 time of Augustus, 134 ; excessive terror felt at Rome at the defeat 
 of the Roman army under Varus, 144 ; supernatural portents of evil 
 believed to have occurred at the time, 145 ; her power in Germany 
 crushed, ib. ; Chalons the last victory gained by Imperial Rome, and 
 one of the most important and beneficial in its results to mankind, 
 159 ; her mission ended, ib. ; legend of the twelve vultures said to 
 have appeared to Romulus, 167 ; legend connected with the death of 
 Remus, 168 ; omens believed in by the Christians of that age, remark- 
 able fulfilment of the augury of the vultures, ib. 
 Russia, her influence, 313 ; her despotism, ib. ; her conquests of late 
 years, 314 ; strength of, ib. ; her insignificance a century back 
 contrasted with her present immense power and importance, 315 ; 
 her rise on the ruins of Sweden, ib. ; the Russians a Slavonic people, 
 316 ; importance of this fact at the present time, ib. ; her early 
 history, 318 ; her rapid transition from weakness to power, how 
 achieved, ib. ; comparison drawn between Philip of Macedon and the 
 Czar Peter the Great, 319 ; state of, at the time of the battle of 
 Pultowa, reasons which rendered that battle the most critical point 
 in the history of, ib. ; comparison between, at that period, and 
 Russia at the time when Napoleon attacked her, 320 ; the Russian 
 army under Peter the Great, 321 ; aggressive policy of, 326 ; closeness 
 of the parallel which may be traced between ancient Rome and 
 modem Russia in their policy towards foreign nations, ib. 
 
 Salisbury, the Earl of, 232 ; besieges Orleans, ib. ; his death by 
 a cannon-ball, 233. 
 
 Saracens, rapidity and extent of their conquests, 180 ; they cross the 
 Pyrenees, hoping to conquer Europe, ib. ; Southey's lines quoted, ib. ; 
 Abderrahman Ibn Abdillah Alghafeki appointed to the government 
 in Spain, 181 ; his character, his army, he crosses the Pyrenees, ib. ; 
 is vainly opposed by Eudes, Count of Acquitaine, ib. ; terror inspired 
 by the, 182 ; account given of them by the monkish chroniclers, and 
 of the contests maintained with them by Count Eudes and Charles 
 Martel, 183, note ; death of Abderrahman one cause of the defeat of the, 
 ib. ; statement of the monkish chroniclers as to the numbers slain, ib. 
 
 Saratoga, victory of the Americans at, 331 ; brief recapitulation of the 
 earlier events of the war, 340 ; army in Canada reinforced by fresh 
 troops, &c. from England, ib. ; map of the country round, 341 ; 
 line of march and operations proposed, ib. ; the success which appeared 
 likely to attend the scheme, ib. ; America quite destitute of European 
 allies, 342 ; State paper drawn up by George III on the plan of this 
 expedition, 342, note ; for the details of the expedition up to the 
 victory at, see Burgoyne. Burgoyne encamps at — the Americans 
 take up their position near Stillwater, 348 ; description of the country 
 between the two armies, ib. ; encounter between them, ib. ; Burgoyne 
 receives a message from Clinton — his reply — he sends a second 
 messenger to Clinton, 349 ; Burgoyne, distressed for provisions, 
 resolves to attack the enemy, 350 ; position occupied by his army — • 
 its inferiority in numbers to that of the Americans, ib. ; description 
 of American army, ib. ; Burgoyne's plan of attack, ib. ; plan of the
 
 468 INDEX 
 
 battle of, 351 ; account of the success of Clinton's enterprise on the 
 Hudson, ib. ; Burgoyne's disposition of his forces, 352; Gates, the 
 American General, ib. ; description of the battle, 353-4 ; conduct of 
 General Arnold, 354 ; gallantry of General Frazer — his death, ib. ; 
 Burgoyne's force compelled to retreat, ib. ; they are assaulted in 
 their camp, ib. ; Arnold wounded — success of the Americans, 355 ; 
 Burgoyne is obliged to retire towards Saratoga, ib. ; the funeral of 
 General Frazer, 356 ; touching account of the event given by the 
 American writer Lossing, ib. ; his account of the heroic conduct of 
 Lady Harriet Ackland, ib. ; Burgoyne completely hemmed in by the 
 enemy at Saratoga, 359 ; testimony of a foreign writer, Botta, to 
 the fortitude shown by the British army during this trjdng period, 
 ib. ; Burgoyne at last forced to treat of a convention, 360 ; terms 
 finally agreed upon, ib. ; Burgoyne, when too late, receives tidings 
 of the approach of Clinton, ib. ; the convention is carried into effect, 
 ib. ; noble delicacy of feeling shown by General Gates on the occasion, 
 t6. ; joy of the Americans when the victory of, became known, 361 ; 
 change which the victory of, effected in the feelings of France towards 
 the American cause, 362 ; the independence of the United States at 
 length recognized by England, ib. 
 
 Saxons, remarks on the Saxons and Anglo-Saxons, 146 ; relative 
 positions of the Saxons and Normans after the Conquest, 190 ; blend- 
 ing of the two nations at the time of the signing of Magna Charta, 
 191 ; benefits which England ultimately reaped by the Conquest, 
 ib. ; the political state of England under the last Saxon kings, ib. ; 
 superiority in many points of the Norman over the Saxon character, 
 193 ; exact number of, slain at the battle of Hastings, not known, 225. 
 
 SciPio, PuBLius, remarkable parallel between Wellington and, 94 ; 
 baffled in his attempts to detain Hasdrubal in Spain, 104. 
 
 Sicily, 41 ; never conquered by Carthage, 99. 
 
 Sieges of the ancient Greeks, how usually conducted, 42. 
 
 Sikhs, their ancestors aided Darius against Alexander, 72. 
 
 Slavonic, for remarks on the Slavonic race, see Pultowa. 
 
 Spanish Armada, defeat of the, 252 ; is seen off the Comish coast, 253 ; 
 signals sent through England, and preparation made, 254 ; Macaulay's 
 ballad on the subject, ib., note ; difference between the relative 
 strength of England and Spain tJien and now, 254 ; remarks on the 
 state of Spain under Philip II, 255 ; his army and fleet, 256 ; his 
 foreign possessions, ib. ; character of his celebrated general, the 
 Prince of Parma (Famese), 257 ; Portugal and all her dependencies 
 conquered by Philip, ib. ; animosity of England against Philip, 258 ; 
 his zeal in the cause of Popery, ib. ; preparations for fitting out the 
 Armada, 259 ; destination of the, kept a secret, 261 ; both Spain and 
 England affect a desire to treat for peace, 262 ; Philip prevails on the 
 Due de Guise, his partisan in France, to take up arms against Henry 
 III, 263 ; full description of the, taken from vol. i of Hakluyt's 
 Voyages, 271 ; the, sails for England, but is driven back by a violent 
 storm, 275 ; death of Santa Cruz, the Spanish Admiral, ib. ; his 
 successor in command, 276 ; his lieutenants, ib. ; Howard and 
 Drake sail to Corunna, return to the Channel, ib. ; Howard's letter 
 on the difficulty of guarding so large a breadth of sea, his return to
 
 INDEX 469 
 
 Plymouth, 277 ; the, sails again for the Channel, plan of attack 
 designed, similarity of the scheme to that formed by Napoleon, ib. ; 
 relative strength of the English and Spanish fleets, 278 ; King Philip's 
 orders to the Admiral the Duke de Medina Sidonia, ib. ; the English 
 come in sight of the, ib. ; the commencement of the engagement — ■ 
 praise bestowed by Raleigh on the skill shown by the English Admiral, 
 279 ; presumptuous expectations formed by the Spaniards, ib. ; 
 the Dutch blockade the Flemish ports, and prevent the junction of 
 Parma's flotilla with the Armada, 280 ; the English send fire-ships 
 amongst the Armada, and thus disperse their ships, ib. ; the Spaniards 
 are attacked by the English, 281 ; description of the fight taken from 
 Hakluyt, ib. ; total defeat of the, 282 ; description of the defeat of 
 the, in a letter written by Admiral Drake, 283. 
 
 Spartans, delay of the, in marching to Marathon, 3, 5 ; send assistance 
 to the Syracusans^ — influence of the name of Sparta on the other 
 Greeks, 53. 
 
 Stamford Bridge, defeat of the Norwegians and the death of Harald 
 Hardrada at the battle of, 198. 
 
 Suffolk, Lord, takes the command of the English army at Orleans 
 on the death of Salisbury, 233. 
 
 Sweden, her importance as a nation till the battle of Pultowa, 315 ; 
 her present feebleness, 316 ; the Swedes of Germanic origin, ib. ; 
 the character of Charles XII of, 321 ; Napoleon's criticisms on his 
 generalship, ib. ; renown of Charles, 322 ; his confidence of success, 
 ib. ; Napoleon's epitome of the earlier operations of Charles's invasion 
 of Russia, 323 ; the grand error Charles made, ib. ; defeat which his 
 general Lewenhaupt sustained near the Borysthenes — Charles besieges 
 the town of Pultowa, 324 ; the Czar marches with a strong army to 
 relief of the town, ib. (For particulars of the battle, see Pultowa.) 
 
 Syracuse, frequent sieges of, 40 ; strength and importance in ancient 
 times of, ib. ; description of, 41 ; besieged by the Athenians, 43 ; 
 state of Syracuse at the time of the Peloponnesian war, 49 ; receives 
 aid when about to capitulate, 54 ; the Syracusans repulse the Athe- 
 nians and drive them from Ei)ipolae, 55 ; defeat them by sea, 57 ; 
 gain a final and decisive victory, 59. 
 
 Theodoric, King of the Visigoths, 161 ; Attila seeks to withdraw him 
 from his alliance with Rome, 169 ; he commands the left wing of the 
 army at Chalons, 172 ; his death on the field, ib. 
 
 Tours, battle of, 176 ; description of country between Poictiers and 
 Tours, ib. ; historical interest attached to the locality, ib. ; results of 
 the victory won by Charles Martel over the Saracens of, ib. ; opinions 
 of historians on the subject, ib. ; reasons which justified Charles 
 Martel in risking the battle of Tours, 182 ; account of the monkish 
 chroniclers of the battle of, and of the numbers of the slain on 
 both sides on the occasion, 183 ; unusual advantage that historians 
 have with regard to the battle of, in being able to compare the testi- 
 mony of writers on both sides, 184, note ; account of the battle of 
 Tours and of the death of Abderrahman quoted from Arabian chroni- 
 clers, ib. ; no serious attempt at conquest made by the Saracens 
 beyond the Pyrenees after the battle of, 186.
 
 470 INDEX 
 
 United States. See America. 
 
 Valmy, the battle of, 3G3 ; gcograpliical position of the village of, 
 ib. ; the monument at, which marks the spot where, at his especial 
 request, the heart of Kcllerraan was buried, ih. ; sketch of the career 
 of Kellerman, Duke of, ib. ; importance of the battle of, 364 ; the 
 prospects of democracy on the eve of the battle of, 365 ; state of the 
 French army at the battle of, 366 ; the Carmagnoles or revolutionary 
 volunteers, ib. ; their insubordination, Dumouriez's treatment of 
 them, 367 ; instances of the disorder and misconduct of the French 
 army at the commencement of the war, 368 ; plan of operations 
 marked out by the allied sovereigns for their first campaign, 369 ; 
 description of the allied army, ib. ; the Duke of Bmnswick appointed 
 generalissimo — his military abilities, 370; the allies take the fortresses 
 of Longwy and Verdun, ib. ; the arrival of Dumouriez at the camp 
 near Sedan, ib. ; description of the country in the vicinity of Sedan, 
 371 ; Dumouriez's manoeuvres, ib. ; Dumouriez is in danger of being 
 enveloped and destroyed by the allied armies, ib. ; skill with which 
 he extricates himself from his difficult position so as to effect a junction 
 with Kellerman, ib. ; Dumouriez sends messengers to Kellerman, 
 who was about to retreat, 372 ; receives tidings of the approach of 
 the allied army, ib. ; the position occupied by Kellerman on the 
 Plateau of Valmy, 373 ; the allied army moves forward to attack 
 him, ib. ; the appearance of the allied army when it first became 
 visible to the French, ib. ; on the same day, and at the same hour, as 
 the attack upon Valmy, the debate was commenced in the National 
 Convention on the proposal to proclaim France a Republic, 374 ; 
 the victory of the republican troops at, a fatal blow to the cause 
 of monarchy in France, ib. ; the royalist association organized under 
 the Marquis de la Rouarie, 375 ; the ardour of the Royalists damped 
 by the defeat of the allied armies at, ib. ; Louis Philippe, then called 
 Due de Chartres, had the command of the right of the French army 
 at, 376 ; the German poet, Goethe, present at the battle of, ib. ; 
 curious record which he has given us of the sensations he experienced 
 during the cannonade, and which he calls the cannon-fever, 377 ; 
 description of the battle of, 378 ; the French remain victors on the 
 heights of, ib. ; the immediate results of the battle of, 379 ; Goethe's 
 observation on the battle of, ib. 
 
 Varus, Quintilius, sent to take the command in Germany — his profligate 
 character, 137 ; strength of his anuy, 138 ; his arrogance and vanity, 
 ib. ; his march against the rebels, 139 ; difficulties which impeded his 
 progress, 140 ; is attacked by the Germans, ib. ; halts for the night, 
 ib. ; resumes his march, ib. ; vainly endeavours to retreat, 142 ; 
 commits suicide, ib. ; his army cut to pieces, ib. ; the captives slain 
 in sacrifice by the victorious Germans, 143. 
 
 Waterloo, comparison drawn by Arnold between the struggle at, and 
 the struggle at Zama, 94 ; the importance of the victory at, tested 
 by the opinion ^of statesmen on the subject before the battle, 383 ; 
 quotation from the speech of Sir James Mackintosh in the debate 
 in the House of Commons on the return from Elba, ib. ; Talleyrand
 
 INDEX 471 
 
 announces to the sovereigns then assembled in congress at Vienna 
 the return of Napoleon from Elba, 384 ; the effect which was pro- 
 duced on the members, ib. ; Napoleon endeavours to negotiate with 
 some of the allied sovereigns, but fails, 385 ; the preparation of the 
 allied powers for war, ib. ; Marshal Bliicher and the Duke of Wellington 
 with their two armies occupy Belgium, 386 ; (for account of the 
 proceedings of the two generals during the campaign before the battle 
 of, see Wellington) ; the Duke of Wellington resolves to give battle 
 on the spot since known as the field of, 401 ; the heroism of Bliicher, 
 and skill with which he baffles Marshal Grouchy's endeavours to pre- 
 vent his junction with Wellington at, 402, 420, 421, note ; Napoleon's 
 remarks bear testimony to the importance of the battle of, 403 ; 
 strength of the army under Wellington at, ib. ; description of the 
 ground at, and its localities, 404 ; detailed account of the Duke of 
 Wellington's disposition of his forces at the battle of, 408 ; map of 
 the field of, at the beginning of the action, 409 ; the disposition of the 
 French army described^ — its superiority in point of guns, 411 ; praise 
 which English military critics have always awarded to Napoleon's 
 arrangement of his forces at, ib. ; causes which delayed the com- 
 mencement of the battle, 417 ; the Duke of Wellington's precaution 
 against the suspected treachery of the Belgian troops, ib. ; Napoleon 
 commences the action by an attack upon Hougoumont, ib. ; attack 
 on the centre and left of the allied army, ib. ; disgraceful flight 
 of the Dutch and Belgian troops at the advance of the French, 418 ; 
 gallant conduct of the British infantry under Picton, ib. ; charge of 
 the Union Brigade, 419 ; the capture of Marshal Ney's seventy-four 
 advanced guns, ib. ; the Prussian army appears in sight, 420 ; 
 Napoleon endeavours to force the centre and right of the British 
 army by successive, charges of cavalry, 422 ; which are repulsed 
 by the British irjantry with immense loss, ib. ; the French succeed 
 in taking La Haye Sainte, 424 ; Bliicher and Biilow assail the French 
 on the right, ib. ; the village of Planchenoit gallantly held against 
 the Prussians by Napoleon's Young Guard, ib. ; severe loss and 
 heroism of the Duke's English and German troops, 425 ; Major 
 Macready's narrative, ib. ; as a last resource, Napoleon determines 
 to employ the Old Guard to break the English, 432 ; the Old Guard 
 in two columns, with Ney at their head, descend the hill, ib. ; the 
 fierce attack upon the British left centre made by the French from La 
 Haye Sainte, ib. ; map of, at the time of the last French attack, 433 ; 
 heroic fortitude of Germans who opposed them — they are rescued 
 by reinforcements led on by the Duke of Wellington, ib. ; description 
 of the engagement between the first column of the Imperial Guard 
 and the British Guards, 434 ; the advance of the second column of 
 the Old Guard — its defeat, 435 ; the Duke of Wellington resolves to 
 become the assailant, and advances his whole army upon the enemy, 
 ib. ; Napoleon flies from the field — -the French are entixely defeated, 
 437 ; French officer's narrative of the retreat, 438 ; numbers of the 
 killed and wounded of the allied armies, 444 ; anecdotes of individuals 
 who signalized themselves, 445-51 (Sergeant Graham, 445 ; Picton, 
 446 ; Ney, 450 ; Pelet, ib.) ; sufferings of the wounded, Colonel 
 Ponsonby's narrative, 446 ; remarks upon the contrast which the
 
 472 INDEX 
 
 year signalized by the battle of Waterloo presents with the one during 
 which the author was writing (1851), 453. 
 
 Wkllington, the Duke of, comparison which may be drawn between 
 Scipio and, 94 ; affectionate admiration now universally accorded to 
 him, 95 ; ho acted as the English representative at the Congress at 
 Vienna, 385 ; is sent by the allied powers to assem})le an army in 
 Belgium, ih. ; numbers of the troops under Bliichcr and of those 
 commanded by, 387; they occupy Belgium — their positions, ib.; 
 the importance to tho Allies of protecting Brussels, 390 ; Marshal 
 Bliicherconcentrat«s his forces upon Ligny, ib. ; measures of Welling- 
 ton on the 15th of June, 1815, 391 ; map of the country and roads 
 between the French frontier and Bnissels, ib. ; abundant proof 
 given as to the falsity of the statement as to his having been surprised 
 by the approach of the enemy whilst at the ball-room at Brussels, 
 ih. ; he orders tho troops to move forward to Quatre Bras in tho 
 night — he attends the Duchess of Richmond's ball to avoid all appear- 
 ances of alarm and haste, 392 ; his interview with Bliichcr, 396 ; 
 Marshal Ney attacks, at Quatre Bras, 397 ; the Duke retires on tho 
 17th, to continue within reach of communication with Bliicher, 400 ; 
 halts near Mont St. Jean, since known as the field of Waterloo, 401 ; 
 (for the details of the battle, see Waterloo ;) sketch of the Duke's 
 previous career, 415 ; his feelings after the battle, 444 ; his advance 
 upon Paris, 453 ; prevents Bliicher from sacking Paris, ib. 
 
 William the Ck3NQUEROR, his parentage, 189 ; one of the competitors 
 for the crown of England, 193 ; his claims, 194 ; his conduct to 
 Harold, ib. ; his stratagem to render more solemn the oath taken by 
 Harold, 195 ; remonstrates with Harold on his disregard of the oath, 
 and threatens to avenge it, 196 ; submits his claims to the decision 
 of the Pope, ib. ; collects his army, 197 ; numbers of his army — it is 
 detained by adverse winds, 198 ; the Normans set sail, but are 
 driven back to St. Valery — disasters which befell them on first setting 
 sail, and which obliged them to return, 199 ; advantages gained by, 
 from these seeming hindrances, ib. ; he crosses the Channel and lands 
 at Pevensey, ib. ; description of his landing and march to Hastings, 
 taken from one of the old Norman chroniclers, 200 ; address of, to his 
 army, 209 ; anecdote of what passed when he was putting on his 
 armour, 210; his horse, ib. ; his standard, 211 ; his directions to 
 various barons, ib. ; description of his anny as they marched to the 
 fight, 212 ; endeavours of, to reach King Harold in the battle, 221 ; 
 he leads a column of cavalrj^ 222 ; his valour, 223 ; his conduct 
 after the battle, ib. (note on the source from which the descriptions 
 of the battle have been drawn, 224) ; his cruel taunt with regard to 
 Harold's burial — he j^elds at length to the entreaties of the king's 
 mother, and pennits her to have the body for interment, 226 ; he is 
 crowned king of England, ib. 
 
 Zama, comparison between Waterloo and, 94. 
 
 Printed in England at the Oxford University Press
 
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