“As the day ended, the situation of the opposing forces was somewhat as follows: Blücher had used up in the villages 38,000 infantry, who had suffered considerably, had in great part expended their ammunition, and must be looked upon as useless, in which there was not much more force. 6,000 infantry were stationed behind the villages, scattered in single battalions which had however not yet fought. The rest of the 56,000 men of the Ist and IId army corps were cavalry and artillery, of which only a small part was fresh. “If the IIId army corps had been collected, or if it had been sufficiently provided for, it would have been a reserve of about 18,000 men; it could therefore have been said that Blücher had still 24,000 men in reserve. “Bonaparte, although originally some few thousand men weaker than Blücher, had now, however, several thousand more fresh troops than that general: the cause of this was his keeping back more men, a greater economy of forces in the firing. “This small[394] superiority of reserves would naturally not have decided much, but it must nevertheless be looked on as the first cause of the victory. “The second reason was the unequal result which the firing had up to that time produced. “It is true that when Bonaparte advanced against Ligny we still occupied part of this village, but we had then lost the rest; it is true that we still occupied a position between Wagnelée and St. Amand, but here, too, we had lost villages and ground; the engagement had therefore turned out everywhere a little to our disadvantage, and in such a case the preparations for the deciding blow are already made. “The third and most important reason was, however, without doubt, the fact that Blücher did not have at his disposal the troops which had not yet fought, namely, the IIId Corps. It is true that the XIIth brigade was very near him, but that was too little: the IXth was also not far away; but of this, as well as of the whole of Thielemann’s Corps, there had been no thought; and the IIId Corps, therefore, as regards a decisive blow to be given by it, was as good as out of reach and could be used only for the retreat. Perhaps and very probably, this scattered disposition of Thielemann is to be looked upon as on the whole an actual advantage. If the IIId Corps had been at hand, it would have been employed also, without increasing the chances for a successful result, which, considering the turn which the whole affair had taken, could have been secured only by a decided superiority, such, in fact, as the arrival of Bülow’s Corps would have procured. And if the IIId Corps had been used, the loss in battle would probably have been greater by 10,000 men.” We cannot leave this subject without calling attention to a remark[395] of Marshal Davout’s in his criticism of the Emperor’s conduct of this campaign. He speaks of him in connection with this battle as