I cannot tell the world that Blücher picked the fattest man in his army to ride with an express to me, and that he took thirty hours to go thirty miles.

From Waterloo A Near Run Thing by David Howarth. Page 32.

It was said afterwards that the Duke was already at the Duchess of Richmond’s celebrated ball, which was held that evening, when he heard that Napoleon had advanced across the frontier. That was not so. He heard of it first by chance from the Prince of Orange, who had come to Brussels for the ball. The Duke was surprised to meet him, because he had posted him on the frontier with his troops to give early warning of any movement by the French. He asked him if there was any news. ‘No,’ the ingenuous Prince replied, ‘nothing but that the French have crossed the Sambre and had a brush with the Prussians. Have you heard of it?’ It was this information, so ludicrously given, that caused the sudden summons to De Lancey and set in train the movement of the army. A little later General Muffling, Marshal Blücher’s representative, arrived with confirmation of the news, and De Lancey found him and the Duke conferring over a map, Muffling in full dress uniform and the Duke in his chemise and slippers, preparing to dress for the ball. ‘I cannot tell the world,’ the Duke said afterwards, ‘that Blücher picked the fattest man in his army to ride with an express to me, and that he took thirty hours to go thirty miles.’

These were not the only sources of information that had failed. Of course, the British had spies in France who had been sending information of Napoleon’s moves by the regular post- chaises from Paris to Brussels. But a few days before, the post- chaises had suddenly been stopped on the French side, and messages at the crucial moment had been delayed. Napoleon’s spies in Belgium were impossible to detect. They could disguise themselves with ease among the multitude of foreign officers, many of whom wore uniforms of their own or their tailors’ invention: one of Napoleon’s generals attended the ball that night in a Belgian uniform and had the distinction of being greeted by the Duke, who shook his hand and said ‘We shall have sharp work soon. I am glad to see you.’ So, it was this multiple failure of his sources of information, rather than any trickery of Napoleon, which led to the Duke’s more famous remark that night to the Duke of Richmond: ‘Napoleon has humbugged me, by God.’