In the concentration of the Prussian Corps, another defect in the transmission and execution of orders from Headquarters must be mentioned. Gneisenau, the chief of Blucher’s Staff, sent instructions to Bulow, commanding the Fourth Corps, on the 14th, to the effect that he was so to dispose his Corps that his troops might reach Hannut in one march. The order was indefinite, and contained no statement that Napoleon was about to attack; there was no mention of the disposition of the other Prussian Corps; no mention of Blucher’s intentions, or of the general situation. This was culpable negligence on the part of the chief of the Staff. It was his duty under the circumstances to transmit all such important information to all the Corps commanders; and because Bulow’s Corps was some distance in rear, is no reason why such a necessary step should have been omitted. The result was a serious delay on the part of the Fourth Corps. At midnight on the 14th, a second despatch from Gneisenau was sent to Bulow, ordering a concentration of his Corps on Hannut. The first despatch reached Bulow at 5 A.M. on the 15th, when he was at Liège. The instructions contained in it were at once acted upon, and Bulow sent a report to this effect to Headquarters. While these instructions were being carried out, the second despatch arrived towards midday (on the 15th). Its contents seemed to Bulow to be impossible to act upon until the next day, for most of his troops were by this time so far in their movement that the new order could not reach them in time to be carried out that night; also there would be no quarters prepared for those troops which were still within reach of the new instructions. Furthermore, this second despatch was also indefinite. It contained no positive order that Bulow was to move his headquarters to Hannut; it merely suggested that Hannut appeared suitable. There was no mention of the commencement of hostilities. Bulow therefore decided to postpone the execution of this order until the 16th, and he sent a report to this effect to Blucher, promising to be in Hannut by noon next day (16th). The officer sent with this report reached Namur at 9 P.M., expecting to find Blucher there, but he discovered that Headquarters had been removed to Sombreffe. Meanwhile, a third despatch was sent off at 11 A.M. on the 15th from Namur, instructing Bulow to move the Fourth Corps, after a rest at Hannut, on Gembloux, starting at daybreak on the 16th. The orderly carrying this message naturally went to Hannut, where he expected to find Bulow. At Hannut he found Gneisenau’s second despatch lying unopened, awaiting Bulow’s arrival. He then started off at all speed with both despatches to Liège, where he arrived at daybreak on the 16th. But by this time Gneisenau’s instructions were impracticable. Thus Bulow, through no fault of his own, was prevented from reaching the field of Ligny with his Corps, when his arrival on the