d to
some such communication, as commander-in-chief of the British forces;
that, nevertheless, the orders concerning the horses were obeyed by
those who received them; that lord George, instead of loitering or
losing time while the troops were forming, prepared to put himself at
the head of the cavalry on the first notice that they were in motion;
that he was so eager to perform his duty, as to set out from his
quarters without even waiting for an aidecamp to attend him, and was in
the field before any general officer of his division. He declared that,
when captain Winchingrode delivered the order to form the cavalry in one
line, making a third, to advance and sustain the infantry, he neither
heard him say he was to march by the left, nor saw him point with
his sword to the wood through which he was to pass. Neither of these
directions were observed by any of the aids-de-camp or officers then
present, except one gentleman, the person who bore witness to the
confusion in the looks and deportment of his lordship. It was proved
that the nearest and most practicable way of advancing against the enemy
was by the way of the windmill, to the left of the village of Halen.
It appeared that lord George imagined this was the only way by which he
should be ordered to advance; that, in this persuasion, he had sent an
officer to reconnoitre the village of Halen, as an object of importance,
as it would have been upon the flank of the cavalry in advancing
forwards; that when he received the order from Winchingrode to form the
line, and advance, he still imagined this was his route, and on this
supposition immediately detached an aidecamp to remove a regiment of
Saxe-Gotha which was in the front; that he sent a second to observe the
place where the infantry were, and a third to reconnoitre the enemy;
that in a few minutes colonel Ligonier coming up with an order from
prince Ferdinand to advance the cavalry, his lordship immediately
drew his sword, and ordered them to march forward by the windmill. The
colonel declared that when he delivered the order, he added, "by the
left;" but lord George affirmed that he heard no such direction, nor
did it reach the ears of any other person then present, except of that
officer who witnessed to the same direction given by Winchingrode. It
was proved that immediately after the troops were put in motion, colonel
Fitzroy arrived with an order from prince Ferdinand, importing that
the British cavalry only