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Minister of Foreign Affairs . Champagny. Duc de Cadore. Chaptal. Minister of the Interior. Comte de Chanteloupe. Clarke. Minister of War. Duc de Feltre. Daru. Comte. *Davoust. Duc d'Auerstädt. Prince d'Eckmühl. Drouet. Comte d'Erlon. Drouot. Comte. Aide-Major of the Guard. Duroc. Grand Marshal of the Palace. Duc de Friuli. Viceroy of Italy. Grand Almoner. Fouché. Duc d'Otranto. *Grouchy. Comte.

Minister of Foreign Affairs . Champagny. Duc de Cadore. Chaptal. Minister of the Interior. Comte de Chanteloupe. Clarke. Minister of War. Duc de Feltre. Daru. Comte. *Davoust. Duc d'Auerstädt. Prince d'Eckmühl. Drouet. Comte d'Erlon. Drouot. Comte. Aide-Major of the Guard. Duroc. Grand Marshal of the Palace. Duc de Friuli. Viceroy of Italy. Grand Almoner. Fouché. Duc d'Otranto. *Grouchy. Comte.

It is perhaps possible to produce troops as good as those that composed my army of Italy and Austerlitz, but certainly none can ever surpass them." The anniversary of the battle of Waterloo produced a visible impression on the Emperor. "Incomprehensible day!" said he, dejectedly; "concurrence of unheard-of fatalities! Grouchy, Ney, D'Erlon was there treachery or was it merely misfortune?

On the same day Ney with twenty thousand men, and an equal force under D'Erlon in reserve, appeared before Quatre Bras, where as yet only ten thousand English and the same force of Belgian troops had been able to assemble.

Reille afterwards came in, and, finding how confident the Emperor was, mentioned the matter to D'Erlon, who advised his colleague to return and caution him. "What is the use," rejoined Reille; "he would not listen to us." In truth, Napoleon was in no mood to receive advice. He admitted on the voyage to St. Helena that "he had not exactly reconnoitred Wellington's position."

Some part of the blame must surely attach to the slow-paced D'Erlon and to the Emperor himself, who first underrated the difficulties both at Ligny and Quatre Bras, and then changed his plans when Ney was in the midst of a furious fight. Nevertheless, the general results obtained on June the 16th were enormously in favour of Napoleon.

Had this been done, Quatre Bras might have ended like Marengo. Far more serious, however, was his action in countermanding the Emperor's orders' by recalling D'Erlon to Quatre Bras; for, as we have seen, it robbed his master of the decisive victory that he had the right to expect at Ligny. Yet this error must not be unduly magnified.

In 1792, he enlisted as a volunteer and in a year he was general of brigade. Kleber, Lefebvre, Suchet, Victor, Lannes, Soult, Massena, St. Cyr, D'Erlon, Murat, Augereau, Bessieres and Ney, all rose from the ranks. In some cases promotion was rapid, in others it was slow. St.

He at once had an interview with the Emperor, who, according to General Gourgaud, gave the Marshal verbal orders to take command of the corps of Reille and D'Erlon, to push on northwards, take up a position at Quatre Bras, and throw out advanced posts beyond on the Brussels and Namur roads; but it seems unlikely that the Emperor would have given one of the most venturesome of his Marshals an absolute order to push on so far in advance, unless the French right wing had driven the Prussians back beyond the Sombref position.

The wings of the two armies extended to the right and left of the two roads to Genappe and Nivelles; d'Erlon facing Picton, Reille facing Hill. Behind the tip of the A, behind the plateau of Mont-Saint-Jean, is the forest of Soignes.