Lord Wolseley, in his book, “The Decline and Fall of Napoleon,” admits that Wellington’s statements to Blücher were false, but naively remarks, “Wellington, an English gentleman of the highest type, was wholly and absolutely incapable of anything bordering on untruth or deceit in dealing with his allies.” Lord Wolseley’s ingenious explanation is that Wellington must have been deceived “by his inefficient staff.” Yet the undisputed record is that Wellington himself had issued all the orders to his scattered troops, a few hours before, and he knew precisely the distance of each division from the field. To the “English gentleman of the highest type” it was supremely necessary that his ally should break the force of the French onset, delay its advance, and thus give himself time to concentrate his too-widely scattered troops. To influence Blücher he stated to him what he _knew_ to be untrue, and made his ally a promise which he _knew_ he could not keep. CHAPTER IV The Napoleon of the Italian campaign had said: “The Austrians lose battles because they do not know the value of fifteen minutes.” Alas! Neither the Emperor nor his lieutenants now seemed to know the value of time. In former years the French moved forward before dawn. In this final campaign, upon which all was staked, they started late and they moved slowly, when the enemy was crowding into every minute the utmost that human energy could achieve. Standing upon the roof of the mill-tower, Napoleon could not perceive the full strength of Blücher’s position. To the Emperor it seemed that the enemy was posted opposite to him on a slope leading upward to a low range of hills with the village of Sombreff in the center. From the tower he could not see the importance of the small river Ligne, with the ravine formed by the broken ground and the stream itself. In the center of the valley was the village of Ligny, in which stood an old castle, and a church surrounded by a cemetery enclosed by brick walls. Through this village runs the stream of Ligne. There were several other villages in the valley between the two opposing ranges of hills. The Prussian position was in reality strong, with this weakness--the open slope revealed all the movements made over it, and exposed the troops to the cannon of the French.