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Water Line - 1815

The necessity of re-establishing the principal fortresses on the Belgian frontier, which commanded the sluices and inundation of the country, had indeed already been evident; and decided upon while Napoleon was yet in Elba. A committee of British engineers had been employed in examining the country for that purpose, but only the general plana and reports had been prepared, when Buonaparte's sudden return and rapid advance upon Paris, and the probahility of a speedy renewal of the war, called for expeditious and immediate Ok:ans of defence. The declaration of the Congress of Vienna, of the 13th March 1815, reached Paris on the same day he arrived there, which must have convinced him he would not be allowed quietly to repossess his throne.

The intelligence of Napoleon having landed at Cannes on the 1st March 1815, reached Brussels on the 9th t March 1815. Preparations were immediately made for the defence of the country. The British troops under General Clinton concentrated, with their allies, near Ath, Mons, and Tournay; and these places, with Ypres Ghent, Oudenarde, were ordered to be pat in a state of defence consistently with the exigence of the moment. To effect this, every use was made of what remained of the old fortifications. New works were added, and by taking advantage of the great system of defence in that country, which is generally under the level of some canal, or the sea, and consequently capable of being inundated. The sluices which commanded the inundations were covered by strong redoubts.

The inundation of the country near the sea, admits of being made in two ways. The canals or rivers are drains for the fresh water of the country to the sea. The sluice-gates are opened for its egress at low water, and shut to prevent the ingress of the sait-water at the return of the tide. It is evident, therefore, that they could have laid tho country under water, and so covered their fortresses on two or three sides, which would prevent the necessity of their having large garrisons to defend them. But sait-water inundation rains the soil for several years, and it was determined only to employ it as a last resource; and in the mean time the sluice-gates were merely kept shut to prevent the egress of the fresh-water, which in that wet season soon accumulated; and the freshwater inundation only destroyed the crops of one season.