for the ground to dry and become more
practicable for his powerful artillery.[62]

Exception has been taken to the conduct of Wellington in detaching
17,000 men to guard the approach to Brussels at Hal, and, still more, in
not recalling them, when he must have ascertained that nothing was to be
feared on that side, and when such a reinforcement of his right wing
must have been all-important. But it must be remembered that in this
force there were only 1,500 English troops, and 2,000 Hanoverian
militia. The rest were Dutch and Belgians. At all events, Napoleon left
his right flank undefended, though he was already somewhat anxious about
the Prussian movements, and Wellington fought the battle of Waterloo
with a force numerically inferior to that under Napoleon's command,
though it might have been rendered superior by the accession of the Hal
contingent. The effective part of this force, numbering in all 67,661
men, consisted of 24,000 British soldiers, 6,000 soldiers of the king's
German legion, and about 11,000 Hanoverians. Napoleon's force numbered
72,000 men, and it was stronger both in cavalry and in guns. It
represented the flower of the French army; there were few, if any,
recruits as raw as those who swelled the ranks of the British regiments;
there were thousands upon thousands who had formed part of that _Grande
Armee_ which had overawed the continent of Europe. It is fair, however,
to record that, while the British rank and file suffered much for want
of sufficient food, the French had fared still worse, and that very many
of them could have been in no fit condition for the struggle impending
over them.

Both armies occupied ground extending from west to east, on opposite
ridges, and crossed at right angles by the great highway running north
and south from Charleroi to Brussels. In front of the British right were
the chateau and enclosures of Hougoumont which were occupied by the
British; nearly in front of the centre were the large farm-house and
buildings of La Haye Sainte. Further to the left were the hamlet of
Smohain and the farms Papelotte and La Haye. Wellington had arranged his
brigades so as to distribute the older troops as much as possible among
the less experienced. Sir Thomas Picton's fifth division formed the left
of the line; to his right was Alten's second division, and beyond him to
the right was the guards division under Cooke. Further to the right and
partly in reserve was Clinton's second d