that the soldiers who carried off the reluctant Oudinot and chased the
flying Macdonald, had such a reverence for the "Rougeot," as they called
him, that they would have stood by while he committed this murder? The
whole idea is absurd: as Ney himself said at his trial, they would have
"pulverized" him. Undoubtedly the honourable course for Ney would have
been to have left his corps when he lost control over them; but to urge,
as was done afterwards, that he had acted on a preconceived scheme, and
that his example had such weight, was only malicious falsehood. The
Emperor himself knew well how little he owed to the free will of his
Marshal, and he soon had to send him from Paris, as Ney, sore at heart,
and discontented with himself and with both sides, uttered his mind with
his usual freedom. Ney was first ordered to inspect the frontier from
Dunkirk to Bale, and was then allowed to go to his home. He kept so
aloof from Napoleon that when he appeared on the Champ de Mai the Emperor
affected surprise, saying that he thought Ney had emigrated. At the last
moment Marshal Mortier fell ill. Ney had already been sent for. He
hurried up, buying Mortier's horses (presumably the ill-fated animals who
died under him at Waterloo), and reached the army just in time to be
given the command of the left wing.

It has been well remarked that the very qualities which made Ney
invaluable for defence or for the service of a rear-guard weighed against
him in such a combat as Quatre Bras. Splendid as a corps leader, he had
not the commander's eye to embrace the field and surmise the strength of
the enemy at a glance. At Bautzen in 1818 his staff had been unable to
prevent him from leaving the route which would have brought him on the
very rear of the enemy, because seeing the foe, and unable to resist the
desire of returning their fire, he turned off to engage immediately. At
Quatre Bras, not seeing the force he was engaged with, believing he had
the whole English army on his hands from the first, he let himself at the