_Supplementary Despatches, etc._, xii. 783.
“It is supposed that the enemy is master of Bouchain, Le Quesnoi, and Valenciennes, and occupies a position behind the Escaillon.... The object of the army is to reconnoitre Valenciennes from the heights of Famars, and for this purpose the enemy’s corps is to be forced back upon the place; having been in the first instance dislodged from his position on the Escaillon, the direct attack upon the front of which, is to be facilitated by a movement to turn his left.”
The movements to be executed were all published beforehand, and the operations ended by a march past.[96]
_Ibid._ , xii. 711. The following letter, written by the Duke of Wellington to General Woronzow, commanding the Russian contingent, dated Aix-la-Chapelle, Oct. 13, 1818, just before the review at which the Emperor of Russia was present, is not without interest: “I write you just one line to tell you that, from what the Emperor has said to me, I judge that he thinks, from the reports he has heard, that, in marching in open column your troops do not preserve their distances regularly. You will, of course, attend to those hints, and make them preserve their distances from front rank to front rank” (_Ibid._ , xii. 765).
Soon after the British contingent reached its quarters in the Departments of Pas de Calais and Nord, a reduction was effected in its strength by three regiments of cavalry,[97] by drafts of men entitled to their discharge or unfit for service, and by 400 men from the Guards Brigade (200 from each Battalion, so as to bring them to 1000 instead of 1200 men per Battalion). By this means, taking into account some 800 recruits who joined the contingent, the latter amounted to a little more than 29,000 Officers and men in the beginning of May, 1816.[98]
The three cavalry brigades were, however, still maintained in France, each consisting of two regiments, instead of three.
There were found to be some 60 men unfit for service in the 2nd Coldstream Guards about this time, and the 200 were made up by selecting 15 of the most unserviceable men per company (or 150 from the Battalion). Captain Shirley, and Lieutenants FitzClarence and Douglas, proceeded to England in charge of this party (April 23rd), which, together with that belonging to the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, was placed under the command of Lieut.-Colonel D. MacKinnon, Coldstream Guards.