British troops, to the effect that the invaders had come to deliver them from the iron yoke that oppressed them; and that the population would be well treated by the army, provided they did not join the cause of the “Usurper” (Napoleon), who had been “pronounced to be the enemy of the human race, with whom neither peace nor truce could be made.”[14] Neither in this effort to conciliate the population did Prince Blücher follow the example of his colleague; on the contrary he displayed resentment against the natives of a country whose military genius had, in the past, humbled in the dust the pride of his own nation. It was perhaps natural that he should assume this attitude when the provocation which the Prussians received is taken into account, but it was not calculated to reassure the French in their despair, nor to reconcile them to the restoration of the Royal Family. ----- Footnote 14: Appendix I. 3. ----- In order to give a general view of the whole military situation, it will now be necessary to refer briefly to the incidents of the war that took place close to Waterloo, on the day of the battle, where Marshal Grouchy was struggling with Blücher’s rear-guard. On the 18th he was at Wavre, with 32,000 men, of whom 5000 were cavalry; and there he was held in check during the whole day by Thieleman’s Prussian Corps, only 15,000 strong. It was not until evening that he turned the right of the Prussians, when at length he opened a road for his troops, whereon to advance to the main body of the French army, known to be somewhere near Waterloo. As it was then too late to continue the action, Grouchy hoped next day to complete the victory he had achieved, ere he pushed forward to join his chief. On the morning of the 19th he received no tidings from the Emperor, and he believed that all was well; but Thieleman, though he was not informed of the full details of the disaster to which the French had been subjected, heard that a great battle had been fought, and that they were defeated; so he, too, determined to attack Grouchy in the morning. A battle consequently took place on the 19th, in which the Prussians, though they contested the ground inch by inch, were forced to fall back towards Louvain by the superiority of the masses they engaged. At the very moment of victory, Grouchy received the message which Napoleon had sent him from Quatre-Bras, announcing the total destruction of the French army, and thus revealing to him the full extent of the danger in which he was placed. Perceiving at once the necessity that his corps should be saved from the general wreck, he determined to retreat through Namur upon Givet, and began to move without delay. General Pirch I., having been detached from the main Prussian army on the evening of the 18th to intercept him, joined Thieleman, who also advanced as soon as he perceived that he was no longer being pursued by the corps which had defeated him. Both Prussian