("He has left, absconded, escaped and disappeared") — originally to describe the actions of Catiline — was inscribed over the centre of the archway of the Charleroi gate and the military historian William Siborne thought it a fitting epitaph for Napoleon's flight.

The light cavalry at the head of the column reached the passages of the Sambre at Châtelet, Charleroi, and Marchienne-au-Pont, without meeting any sort of opposition or impediment; nor did it perceive any thing of the French on the other side of the river.

[17] On the evening of 18 June, Pirch I received orders to march from the field of Waterloo with his II Corps in the direction of Namur; for the purpose of turning Marshal Grouchy's left flank and intercepting his retreat upon the river Sambre.

[18] Pirch I made this movement during the night, passing through Maransart, where he was joined by his 7th Brigade; and crossing the Dyle rivulet at Bousval,[c] and also, subsequently, the Thyle, on his way to Mellery: which place he reached at 11:00 the following day.

Stilbourn comments that taking all the circumstances into consideration, more especially the express object of the detached movement of the Prussian II Corps, it must be admitted that, on this occasion, there was a want of due vigilance on the part of General Pirch I.

[27] On the same day (20 June), Wellington, in consequence of a report received by him from Lieutenant-General Lecoq, and of a previous communication made to him by King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, consented to take command of the Saxon Corps, amounting to nearly 17,000 men.

[29] As the I Corps advanced, it discovered at every step fresh proofs of the extreme disorder in which the French army had retreated; and found twelve pieces of artillery which they had hitherto contrived to save from the great wreck at Waterloo but had now abandoned to their pursuers.

Considerable delay arose in consequence of the degree of caution imparted to the movements by the impression which Bülow entertained that the French would defend the passages, and endeavour to maintain himself along the opposite side of the river.

[35] At length, on arriving near the village next to the Château La Falize (within about 3 miles (4.8 km) from Namur), the Prussians found Vamdamme's III Corps' rearguard posted on the brow of the declivity at the foot of which lay the town,[j] in the valley of the river Meuse.

Upon the height on which the Château de Flawinne is situated was posted a detachment from Vandamme's Corps, consisting of from four to five battalions with a battery, and a regiment of cavalry, for the purpose of receiving Gérard's column as it fell back, and of protecting its retreat As the Enemy continued its retrograde march in close column and in good order; it was not deemed advisable to undertake an attack with the two Prussian cavalry brigades of the III Corps, which were much fatigued: but the horse battery was drawn up, and discharged several rounds of shell and grape at the French troops during their retreat upon the town.

Colonel Zastrow, the second in command of the Sixth Brigade, wished to burst open the gate which leads to the Louvain road; but was repulsed by a most murderous fire of musketry and grape, directed upon the assailants from the walls of the town.

[46] General Teste had, in fact, prepared everything for his retreat; and had so well calculated the time which the Prussians would require in forcing an entrance by the Porte de Fer, that he succeeded in filing his battalions along the parapets of the bridge, which had been barricaded, and thus withdrew them to the south bank of the Sambre.

The gate and the street were soon in flames, and the pursuit was thus obstructed; but even had this not occurred, the great fatigue of the Prussian troops who, during the previous sixteen hours, had been either marching or fighting, was sufficient to deprive them of the power of following the retreating French with any degree of vigour.

The long defile which extends from this place to Dinant, in which only a single column can march, and the embarrassment arising from the numerous transports of wounded rendered it necessary to hold for a considerable time the town, in which, I had not the means of blowing up the bridge.

[49] A small party of cavalry, under Captain Thielmann, of the Pomeranian Hussars, was sent forward a short distance on the road to Dinant, to form the advance of the troops destined to pursue the enemy at daybreak.

[50] In the view of the military historian William Slbourn this retreat of Grouchy by Namur upon Dinant was executed in a skilful and masterly manner; and the gallant defence of the former town by General Teste's Division, unaided by artillery, merits the highest commendation.

[50] The circumstances under which the French army, generally, was placed on 19 June rendered it sufficiently obvious that Grouchy would be compelled to effect his retreat by Namur; and further, that whatever show of resistance he might offer on that point would be solely intended to gain time for the security of his troops whilst retiring, in one column only, by the long and narrow defile of the river Meuse which leads to Dinant.

However (it has already been explained), that on reaching Mellery at 11:00 on the following morning, he halted to give his troops rest; that be subsequently ascertained, through Lieutenant Colonel Sohr, who had been despatched, during the march, with his cavalry brigade to reconnoitre on the left, that the French occupied the defile of Mont-Saint-Guibert in force.

[52] In Sibourn's opinion this intelligence might have satisfied Pirch that Grouchy had not yet reached Namur; but, if he entertained any doubts on that point, these could easily have been settled by means of a reconnoitring party, detached from Mellery, by Gentinnes and Saint-Géry, to Gembloux, a distance of 7 miles (11 km).

[55] Pirch probably felt that his corps, part of which was then attached to the army pressing the French by the Charleroi road, was not equal to cope with Grouchy's troops; but in the case here supposed, by judiciously disposing his force then present so as to command the defile at some favourable point in its course, he would have secured for himself an advantage which, under such circumstances, would have fully compensated for his deficiency in regard to numbers.

Some of the fugitives hastened towards Avesnes to Philippeville: whilst a very great proportion of them sought no temporary rest of this kind, but, throwing away their arms, tied into the interior, to return to their homes; the cavalry, in many instances, disposing of their horses to the country people.

[57] Both the Coalition Commanders had now reached the Triple Line of Fortresses, which, until the campaign of 1814 proved the contrary, had been considered by so many military men as presenting an insurmountable barrier to the advance of hostile armies into France by its north-eastern frontier.

The following, which first presented themselves on the respective lines of advance of the two Commanders, were destined to be immediately blockaded: Valenciennes, Le Quesnoy, and Cambrai, by the Anglo-allied army; and Maubeuge, Landrecy, Avesnes-sur-Helpe (Avesnes), and Rocroi, by the Prussians.

[62] Anxious to gain intelligence concerning the assembling and marching of the French troops on the left of the Coalition armies, Blücher despatched Major Falkenhausen, with the 3rd Regiment of Silesian Landwehr Cavalry, to scour the country in the vicinity of the road by Rettel to Laon.

At the fourteenth round, a ten-pounder shell struck the principal powder magazine, when a tremendous explosion ensued, by which forty houses were involved in one common ruin; but it occasioned no damage whatever to the fortifications.

The intelligence they had procured having satisfied them that the French was collecting their forces at Laou and Soissons: they decided upon not pursuing them along that line, since their own progress towards the capital might, in that case, be impeded by affairs of advanced and rearguards; but upon moving by the right bank of the Oise, and crossing this river at either Compiègne or Pont-Sainte-Maxence.

[74] This plan of operations was such as might have been expected from the combined councils of such leaders as Wellington and Blücher and was undoubtedly the one best calculated to attain the object they had in view; and it was carried into effect with all that mutual cordiality and good fellowship which had invariable-characterised their proceedings.

[75] On the arrival of these troops, Colville made his preparations for the attack; which took place in the evening, in the following manner: three columns of attack were formed, one commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Sir Neil Campbell (Major in the 54th Regiment), escaladed at the angle formed by the Valenciennes Gateway and the Curtain of the body of the place; a second commanded by Colonel Sir William Douglas, of the 91st Regiment, and directed by Lieutenant Gilbert of the Royal Engineers, escaladed at a large ravelin near the Amiens road.

[81] Louis XVIII, acting on the advice so urgently tendered to him by Wellington, arrived at Le Cateau late in the evening of 24 June, followed by a numerous train; and only awaited the surrender of the Citadel of Cambari to take up temporary residence in the town.

At break of day, Lieutenant Colonel Schmiedeberg was despatched with the Silesian Regiment of Uhlans, and some horse artillery, towards Laon; for the purpose, in conjunction with the detachments already sent from the Prussian I Corps, of watching and deceiving the French.