May 29 - The Plan’s Revealed?
Napoleon had clearly begun to consider bringing Gérard to the Armée du Nord. It is very possible that Napoleon already knew exactly what he wanted to do in Belgium as well, as Hobhouse wrote in a May 29 letter:
Visiting an aide-de-camp of the Emperor, I found him employed mapping in detail the country on the Belgian frontier, and was asked by him whether a separation of the Prussian and English armies, and a rapid march upon Brussels, would not surprise our politicians in England. “We can beat Blucher first, and then,” added he, smiling, “we shall try your Wellington. No one doubts the undaunted bravery of English soldiers, but the loss of 20,000 men would make the people of London look a little pale. You are rather sparing of your own blood, though I cannot say that you care about that of your friends.”
The Substance of Some Letters Written from Paris, London, 1817, Volume 1, page 379