I Went Accordingly
With The Sergeant To This House, There I Found The Officer Commanding The
Piquet And Several Others Sitting At Table, Carousing With Beer And Tobacco
And Nearly Invisible From The Clouds Of Smoke Which Pervaded The Room.
I
explained to the officer who we were and requested him to put on the
passport his visa in the German language, so that the non-commissioned
officers at the various posts through which we might pass would be able to
understand it and let us pass without hindrance.
This he did accordingly
and we proceeded on our journey.
We arrived here in the evening and put up at the Hotel Royal. We found at
Charleroy, Binch and here, a number of people employed in repairing and
reconstructing the fortifications. Men, women and boys are all put in
requisition to accelerate this object, as it is the intention of the
Belgian Government to put all the frontier fortresses in the most complete
state of defence. On ascending one of the steeples this morning we had a
fine view of the surrounding country and of the height of Genappe, which
are close to Mons and memorable for the brilliant victory gained by
Dumouriez over the Austrians in 1792. The landscape presents an undulating
campaign country, gentle slopes and alternate plains covered with corn, as
far as the eye can reach, and interspersed with villages and farmhouses. In
Mons is a very large splendid shop or warehouse of millinery, perfumery,
jewellery, etc. It is called La Toilette de Venus, and is served by a
very pretty girl, who, I have no doubt from her simpering look and eloquent
eyes, would have no objection to be a sedulous priestess at the altar of
the Goddess of Amathus. A battalion of Hollanders - a very fine body of
men - marched into this place yesterday evening; the rest of the garrison is
composed of Belgians, chiefly conscripts.
LEUZE, May 15.
Yesterday morning we left Mons and proceeded to Ath to breakfast. A
multitude of people were employed there also at the fortifications. The
garrison of Ath is composed of Hanoverians. Ath reminded me of the wars of
King William III and my Uncle Toby's sieges.[9] There was so little
remarkable to be seen at Ath that we proceeded to this place shortly after
breakfast and arrived at one o'clock, it being only ten miles distance
between Ath and Leuze. We took up our quarters with Major-General Adam, who
commands the Light Brigade of General Sir H. Clinton's division. This
brigade is quartered here and in the adjacent farmhouses. General Adam,
though he has attained his rank at a very early age, is far more fitted for
it than many of our older generals, some of whom (I speak from experience)
have few ideas beyond the fixing of a button or lappel, or polishing a
belt, and who place the whole Ars recondita of military discipline in
pipe-clay, heel-ball and the goose step. Fortunately for this army, the
Duke of Wellington has too much good sense to be a martinet and the good
old times are gone by, thank God, when a soldier used to be sentenced to
two or three hundred lashes for having a dirty belt or being without a
queue. To the Duke of York also is humanity much indebted for his
endeavours to check the frequency of corporal punishment. The Duke of York,
with all his zeal for the service, never loses sight of the comfort of the
soldier and is indefatigable in his exertions to ameliorate his conditions.
We had a pleasant dinner party at General Adam's, and at night I went to
sleep at the house occupied by Captain C., one of the aides-de-camp of the
General,[10] an active, intelligent officer who had formerly served in the
marines, which service he had quitted in order to enter the regular army.
May 16.
Yesterday morning we paid a visit to Tournay, which is distant from Leuze
about ten miles, and we breakfasted at the Signe d'Or. We then proceeded
to pay our respects to the Commandant General V.[11] The garrison consists
of Belgians. General V. had been some time in England as a prisoner of war.
He was made prisoner, I think he said, at Batavia. He received us very
politely, and not only gave us permission to visit the works of the
citadel, but sent a sergeant to accompany us. The new citadel is building
on the site of the old one, and, like it, is to be a regular pentagon. The
fortifications of the city itself are not to be reconstructed; these of the
citadel, which will be very strong, rendering them superfluous. The
sergeant was a native of Wuertemberg and had served in the army of his own
country and in that of France in most of the campaigns under Napoleon. He
was a fine old veteran, and very intelligent, for he explained to us the
nature of the works with great perspicuity. With true Suabian dignity he
refused a five franc piece which I offered him as a slight remuneration for
the trouble he had taken, and as he seemed, I thought, rather offended at
the offer, I felt myself bound to apologize. From the number of workmen
employed in repairing the citadel, it will not be long before it is placed
in a respectable state of defence. Tournay is a large handsome city and the
spacious quais on the banks of the Scheld which runs through it add much to
the neatness of its appearance. It is only ten miles distant from Lille,
but all communication from France is stopped. We learned that some of the
Hanoverians had been deserting. In return we met with a young French hussar
who had come over to the Allies. He seemed to be an impudent sort of
fellow, and said, with the utmost sang-froid, that the reason he deserted
was that he had not been made an officer as he was promised, and he hoped
that Louis XVIII would be more sensible of his merits than the Emperor
Napoleon.
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