"The 25th of June arrived, and the news of the successes obtained at
Fleurus and at Ligny seemed to justify the hopes of the soldiers, when,
in the middle of the day, muttered reports began to spread in the town,
the distant reverberations of the cannon of Waterloo. The silence of the
leaders, the uneasiness of the soldiers, the delight of the Royalists,
foretold the outbreak of a new struggle, the, results of which it was
easy to anticipate. About four o'clock in the afternoon, a man, who had
probably got earlier information than his fellow-townspeople, tore off
his tricoloured cockade and trampled it under foot, crying, "Long live
the king!" The angry soldiers seized him and were about to drag him to
the guard-house, but the National Guards prevented them, and their
interference led to a fight. Shouts were heard on all sides, a large
ring was formed round the soldiers, a few musket shots heard, others
answered, three or four men fell, and lay there weltering in their blood.
Out of this confused uproar the word "Waterloo" emerged distinct; and
with this unfamiliar name pronounced for the first time in the resounding
voice of history, the news of the defeat of the French army and the
triumph of the Allies spread apace. Then General Verdier, who held the
chief command in the absence of Marshal Brune, tried to harangue the
people, but his voice was drowned by the shouts of the mob who had
gathered round a coffee-house where stood a bust of the emperor, which
they insisted should be given up to them. Verdier, hoping to calm, what
he took to be a simple street row, gave orders that the bust should be
brought out, and this concession, so significant on the part of a general
commanding in the emperor's name, convinced the crowd that his cause was
lost. The fury of the populace grew greater now that they felt that they
could indulge it with impunity; they ran to the Town Hall, and tearing
down and burning the tricoloured, raised the white flag. The roll of the
generale, the clang of the tocsin were heard, the neighbouring villages