and of the 1st and 3rd _Voltigeurs_, under Lieutenant General Count BARROIS. The Cavalry of the Guard consisted of two Regiments of Heavy Cavalry (_Grenadiers à Cheval_ and Dragoons), under Lieutenant General Count GUYOT; and of three Regiments of Light Cavalry (_Chasseurs à Cheval_ and Lancers), under Lieutenant General LEFÈBVRE-DESNOUETTES. Attached to the Guard were 6 Batteries of Foot, and 4 Batteries of Horse, Artillery, with 3 Batteries of Reserve Artillery; comprising altogether 96 pieces of cannon, under the command of Lieutenant General DESVAUX DE ST. MAURICE. These troops were principally in Paris. * * * * * The French Emperor having, upon the grounds explained in a former Chapter, determined to take the Field against the Allied Armies in Belgium, the commencement of active operations could no longer be deferred. When we reflect upon the disparity of force with which he was going to contend against two such Generals as WELLINGTON and BLÜCHER, we are bound to acknowledge that it was an undertaking daring and perilous in the extreme, even for an individual of the dauntless and adventurous character of NAPOLEON. A delay of only a few weeks would have secured for him, by means of the vast organisation which was in constant and rapid progress, a sufficient accession of disposable troops to have enabled him to effect a powerful diversion upon either WELLINGTON's Right, or BLÜCHER's Left, Flank, and thus to impart an infinitely greater degree of weight and stability to his main operations; but then, on the other hand, this delay would also have brought the powerful Armies of the confederated Sovereigns across the whole line of his eastern frontier, and have led to the consummation of that combined movement upon the capital, the execution of which it was his great aim to frustrate.