ONE:In 1820 our imports of foreign and colonial merchandise were valued at ��32,000,000; our exports of foreign and colonial merchandise at ��10,000,000; and our exports of British and Irish produce and manufactures at ��38,000,000. In 1840 these sums had respectively increased to ��67,000,000, ��13,000,000, and ��102,000,000, setting aside odd numbers. From 1831 to 1840 the average annual export of British produce and manufactures was ��45,000,000, while in the nine subsequent years it was nearly ��56,000,000. From[423] 1830 onwards the value of our exports to France increased sixfold, notwithstanding the jealous system of protection that prevails in that country. The sphere of our commercial operations was being continually enlarged from year to year, and the enterprise of our merchants was continually opening up fresh markets in distant parts of the world. The value of the exports of British and Irish produce in 1820 was as follows:��To Northern Europe, ��11,000,000; to Southern Europe, ��7,000,000; to Africa, ��393,000; to Asia, nearly ��4,000,000; to the United States of America, nearly ��4,000,000; to the British North American Colonies and the West Indies, ��5,750,000; to Central and South America, including Brazil, ��3,000,000. The total value of our exports to foreign countries, and to our colonies in that year, was ��36,000,000. In 1840 we exported the following quantities, which, it will be seen, show a large increase:��To Northern Europe, about ��12,000,000; to Southern Europe, ��9,000,000; to Africa, ��1,500,000; to Asia, ��9,000,000; to the United States, ��5,250,000; to the British North American Colonies, ��6,500,000; to the foreign West Indies, ��1,000,000; to Central and Southern America, including Brazil, ��6,000,000; total, ��51,000,000: showing an increase of ��15,000,000 in the annual value of our exports to foreign countries during twenty years.Napoleon, finding Blucher gone, turned his attentions to Wellington, expecting to find him still at Quatre Bras; but, as we have said, the Duke was now on his retreat to Waterloo. Buonaparte dispatched his cavalry in hot haste after him, and they came up with his rear at Genappe, where the British had to pass through a narrow street, and over a narrow bridge across the Dyle. There the French came with such impetus that they threw the light cavalry into confusion; but the heavy dragoons soon rode back, and drove the French with such effect before them, that they made no further interruption of the march. Without an enemy at their rear the march was repugnant enough to the soldiers. British soldiers abominate anything like a retreat. They had heard of the defeat of the Prussians at Ligny; and this retrograde movement looked too much of the same character to please them. Besides, it was raining torrents all the way; and they had to tramp across fields up to the knees in mud. At five in the evening, however, the Duke commanded a halt, and took up his position on ground which thenceforth was to be immortal. He was on the field of Waterloo! Long before this the position had attracted his attention, and he had thought that had he to fight a battle anywhere in that part of the country, it should be on that ground. About two miles beyond the village of Waterloo, which has been chosen to bear the name of this famous battle, and about a mile beyond the hamlet of Mont St. Jean, there stretches across the Charleroi road a ridge of some elevation. On this Wellington posted his army, his left extending to a hamlet called La Haye, and his right across the Nivelles road, to a village and ravine called Braine Merbes. These two roads united in the highway to Brussels, just behind the hamlet of Mont St. Jean, and close behind the centre of Wellington's position was the farm of Mont St. Jean; a little below his centre, on the Charleroi road or causeway, leading through Genappe to Quatre Bras, whence they had come, was another farmhouse, called La Haye Sainte. On Wellington's right, but down in the valley near the Nivelles road, lay an old chateau, with its walled orchard, and a wood beyond it, called Hougomont��a contraction of Chateau-Gomont. Below this[98] position ran a valley, and from it ascended opposite other rising grounds, chiefly open cornfields; and along this ascent, at about half a mile distant, Buonaparte posted his army, shutting in by his right the chateau of Hougomont, and commanding it from the high ground. Nearly opposite to Wellington's centre stood a farmhouse, enclosed in its orchards, called La Belle Alliance. There Buonaparte took his stand, and kept it during all the fight��each commander being able to view the whole field. Close behind Wellington the ground again descended towards Mont St. Jean, which gave a considerable protection to his reserves, and kept them wholly out of the observation of the French. To make the situation of Wellington's army clear, we have only to say that behind the village of Waterloo extended the beech wood of Soigne along the road to Brussels for the greater part of the way. THREE:GEORGE III.

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