Smyth, jealous of the honour of the corps, and feeling this apparent taint upon its character, was highly displeased, and refused to recommend the officers and men of the company for the Waterloo honours and advantages.[226] ----- Footnote 225: To show how serious was the alarm, and how great the number of fugitives, the following extract from general orders, dated Nivelles, 20th June, 1815, will fully testify:— “3. The Field Marshal has observed that several soldiers, and even officers, have quitted their ranks without leave, and have gone to Bruxelles, 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. “4. The Field Marshal requests the General Officers commanding divisions in the British army, and the General Officers commanding the corps of each nation of which the army is composed, to report to him in writing, what officers and men (the former by name) are now, or have been, absent without leave since the 16th instant. “5. The Field Marshal desires that the 14th article of the 14th section of the Articles of War may be inserted in every orderly book of the British army, in order to remind officers and soldiers of the punishment affixed by law to the crime of creating false alarms.”—‘Gurwood,’ viii., p.156, edit. 1847. Nearly 2000 men were returned “missing,” the greater number of whom were said to have gone to the rear with wounded officers and soldiers.—'Gurwood, viii., p.151, edit. 1847. But the probability is, that very few of this strength returned into the battle, but, worked upon by the alarm, helped to swell the force of the renegades. Under the circumstances, the retreat of the company of sappers is fairly exonerated, pressed as it was by masses of troops of all nations, who fled from the field in infamous haste and terror.