“Let him live, and repent; let him seek to atone in humility and solitude for the sins of his political life, an example of the catastrophe of the wicked, and the vanity of false greatness. Great he unquestionably was, great in the resources of a misguided spirit, great in the conception and execution of evil; great in mischief, like the pestilence; great in desolation, like the whirlwind.” From the equivocal loyalty to the common cause of many of the troops in the allied army, and the severity of the contest, we were not so surprised as we were vexed, to see them skulk away, and make for Brussels, or seek shelter in the woods. Our numbers were greatly reduced by this sort of defection, long before the close of the battle. General Müffling estimates the runaways at ten thousand, (far below the real number). Of course, such heroes would invent narratives and retail them in their dishonourable flight, in order to cover themselves from the reproaches and contempt richly merited by such unsoldierly behaviour. A gallant officer records a fact in point: “Having been sent before day-light, on the morning after the battle,” says lieutenant-colonel Basil Jackson, “to communicate the Duke’s orders for his array to move on Nivelles, ... I had an opportunity of witnessing how disgraceful had been the conduct of many of the foreign troops. I saw thousands making their way to the front, who had quitted their colours during the battle and fled to the forest. The commanding officer of a cavalry regiment showed me a hundred and forty men, stating that his loss in the battle had reduced it to that number. I believe this regiment was not engaged; for very nearly the original complement of eight hundred men were forthcoming a few days after! The Duke degraded it, by turning it over to the commissariat to furnish escorts[93].” Some there were who wore the British uniform, who took advantage of the duty of carrying the wounded to the rear, and did not return to their duty on the field. This circumstance has been pitiably exaggerated, and even distorted into a tale that the British generally were flying off to Brussels when the Prussians came up. The duke of Wellington, in his general order, issued at Nivelles, two days after the battle, thus noticed the conduct of those who had improperly absented themselves from their colours: ... “3. The Field-Marshal has observed that several soldiers, and even officers, have quitted their ranks without leave, and have gone to Brussels, and even some to Antwerp; where, and in the country through which they have passed, they have spread a false alarm, in a manner highly unmilitary, and derogatory to the character of soldiers.