M 
 
 mmmmm 
 
 MWMPMimgMMM) 
 
 ) 
 
 ■^ '\ 
 
 
 ■mmwimifwiiiMUMmim 

 
 i 
 
 //i 
 
 J. 
 
 r//i.ce^t.
 
 'fe
 
 LORD SEATON'S EEGIMENT, 
 
 (THE 52^ LIGHT INFANTEY,) 
 
 AT 
 
 THE BATTLE OE WATEELOO; 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 MR. LEEKE'S REPLIES TO CERTAIN CRITICISMS ON HIS WORK BY OFFICERS OF 
 THE FIRST GUARDS, AND SOME OTHER MATTERS, WILL BE FOUND BOUND UP IN THIS 
 FIRST VOLUME, BETWEEN PAGES 104 AND 105, IN WHICH ORDER THOSE PAMPHLETS 
 SHOULD BE READ. 
 
 THOSE WHO ALREADY HAVE THE WORK SHOULD APPLY TO MESSRS. HATCHARD, 
 187 PICCADILLY, FOR A COPY OF THE PAMPHLETS, WHICH THEY WILL SEND WITHOUT 
 CHARGE, AND THEY MAY BE FIXED IN THE PROPER PLACE, BY MEANS OF A THIN 
 RIBBON, UNDER THE BACK OF THE COVER. 
 
 March, JH(J8.
 
 ,.IU J I I 
 
 l^lMSOflAL L^Um S[£AT®N.(5XolB,^(5. 
 
 /y^U/^^yJi„ . -^jf^ ^/^ot^yu^ ^'^:^,{5^«^^^i:^^^(''^'^^.:yM;'^ . /Dyuaa//
 
 THE HISTOEY 
 
 OF 
 
 LOED SEATON'S EEGIMENT, 
 
 (THE 52ND LIGHT INFANTRY,) 
 
 AT 
 
 THE BATTLE OF WATEELOO; 
 
 TOGETHER WITH VARIOUS 
 
 NOT ONLY AT WATERLOO, BUT ALSO AT PARIS, IN THE NORTH OF FRANCE, AND 
 FOR SEVERAL YEARS AFTERWARDS: 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED MANY OF 
 
 THE AUTHOE'S EEMINISCENCES OF HIS MILITAEY 
 AND CLEEICAL CAEEEES, 
 
 DURING A PERIOD OF MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS. 
 
 REV. WILLIAM LEEKE, M.A., 
 
 • I 
 
 (of queen's college, CAMBRIDGE,) INCUMBENT OP HOLBROOKE, DEBBYSHIEE, AND RURAL DEAN, 
 WHO CARRIED THE 52nD REGIMENTAL COLOUR AT WATERLOO. 
 
 THE AUTHOR CLAIMS FOR LORD SEATON AND THE 52ND THE HONOUR OF HAVING 
 
 DEFEATED, SINGLE-HANDED, WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF THE 1ST BRITISH 
 
 GUARDS OR ANY OTHER TROOPS, THAT PORTION OF THE IMPERIAL 
 
 GUARD OF FRANCE, ABOUT 10,000 IN NUM BER, WHICH ADVANCED 
 
 TO MAKE THE LAST ATTACK ON THE BRITISH POSITION: 
 
 THE 3BD BATTALION OF THE IST FOOT GUARDS, BY THE DUSE OP WELLINGTON'S ORDER, DROVE 
 
 THE SKIRMISHERS OP THE IMPERIAL GUARD OPP THE BRITISH POSITION, 
 THE OTHER BATTALION OP GENERAL MAITLAND'S BRIGADE OF GUARDS REMAINING STATIONARY. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES.— VOL. I. 
 
 WITH A PORTRAIT OF FIELD-MARSHAL LORD SEATON, 
 
 AND THREE PLANS OP WATERLOO, SHEWING THE POSITIONS AND 
 
 MOVEMENTS OF THE 52nD DURING THE ACTION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HATCHAED AND CO., 187, PICCADILLY, 
 
 18iJ6.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It is beginning to be more and more widely understood 
 that very great injustice has been done to Lord Seaton 
 and the 52nd Light Infantry, which regiment he com- 
 manded at Waterloo, by those who have attempted, in 
 subsequent years, to write the history of that great 
 battle. 
 
 My only reason for thinking of writing these 
 volumes was that I had always felt this injustice 
 very strongly, and that with other officers of the 
 regiment I thought, if it were possible, the truth, 
 with regard to what we knew the 52nd had achieved 
 at Waterloo, ought to see the light. 
 
 We knew that it had moved down 300 or 400 
 yards from the British position by itself, and had, 
 single-handed, attacked and routed two heavy columns 
 of the French Imperial Guard, consisting of about 
 10,000 men, and further we saw with our own eyes
 
 VI PEE FACE. 
 
 that tliis defeat was followed by the fliglit of tlie 
 whole Frencli army: wliy should this daring feat of 
 their great commander not be made known to the 
 British army and to the British nation ? 
 
 The having a very vivid recollection of the scenes 
 and events I witnessed at Waterloo, and the having 
 the written recollections of several 52nd officers, and 
 also other sources of information, led me to think I 
 had a mass of materials for the work I was contem- 
 plating, which justified my proceeding with it; and I 
 more particularly felt justified in doing so, when I 
 considered, that amongst the few remaining officers of 
 the regiment, who served at Waterloo, from various 
 circumstances there was no one else who would feel 
 at all disposed to encounter the labour, and difficulties, 
 and perhaps annoyances, which such an undertaking 
 would involve. 
 
 My first idea was only to write about the 52nd at 
 Waterloo, and then I thought I would give some little 
 account of the regiment during the time that it formed 
 part of the army of occupation in the North of France. 
 I found, as I proceeded, that my work took up more of 
 my time than I felt justified in giving to it, unless I 
 could hope in some way to make it not only interest- 
 ing, but also calculated to be useful in a religious point 
 of view, to those who might read it ; and thus I was 
 led on to adopt the plan set forth in the title page. 
 
 There have been three subjects, to which, in 
 addition to my duties as a clergyman, I have given 
 a great deal of time and earnest attention now for 
 more than thirty years. The first, to which I have
 
 PKEFACE. Vll 
 
 devoted more time than to anytliing else, and wliicli 
 I have always considered to be one of the most 
 important objects which can engage the attention of 
 a Christian community, has been the endeavouring to 
 assist in promoting, amongst all classes of persons 
 throughout the country, more correct views of the 
 Divine Authority and of the perpetual and universal 
 obligation of the Lord's Day, or the Christian Sabbath, 
 and of the benefits, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, 
 which result to nations and individuals from its due 
 observance. 
 
 Another object of great solicitude with me ha? 
 been the settins; free the Protestant officers and men, 
 of the British army, from their forced attendance on 
 the idolatrous ceremonies of the Roman Catholic and 
 Greek Churches. 
 
 The third object, which at one time engaged a 
 great deal of my time and attention, was, what I 
 considered to be a great blot on the escutcheon of our 
 Established Church : I mean the plurality system, or 
 the holding, by the same clergyman, of more livings 
 than one, merely for his own personal advantage. 
 This system, I am thankful to say, now appears to 
 be in a fair way of gradual extinction. 
 
 It is natural, therefore, that, in such a work as this, 
 I should have devoted some chapters to these subjects, 
 which I trust will not be without interest and instruc- 
 tion to the reader. 
 
 I shall be grieved if anything I have written 
 should occasion pain to any one. It is obvious that 
 I could not ask the permission of individuals, with
 
 Vill PREFACE. 
 
 regard to the introducing particular names, or subjects, 
 or letters, without running the risk of placing myself 
 in a most difficult position. 
 
 There are two persons, to whom I, at one time, 
 thought of applying as to the desirableness (of which 
 I had no doubt myself) of stating certain details in 
 these volumes ; but I felt that such application would 
 only embarrass them, as well as myself, whether they 
 might or might not take the same view of the matter 
 which I did. 
 
 I did not originally contemplate the introduction 
 of the early and subsequent history of the 52nd into 
 this work, but it has lately occurred to me that I 
 should not be performing my duty to my countrymen, 
 (only a very few of whom can have access to the 
 52nd "Record,") if I did not take advantage of my 
 present opportunity to lay before them many most 
 interesting particulars relating to the high character, 
 military bearing and martial prowess of that old 
 "Light Division Regiment," which General Sir William 
 Napier, the celebrated historian of the Peninsular War, 
 has described as, "a regiment never surpassed in 
 
 " ARMS, SINCE ARMS WERE FIRST BORNE BY MEN ! " 
 
 It will not be necessary to apologize to the reader 
 for writing in the first person singular, for it very soon 
 became evident that the doing so was a necessity, but 
 I should rather apologize to the printer, who has been 
 so frequently forced, in his proofs, to find substitutes, 
 in some of the chapters, for quite a company of capital 
 fellows, whom I have no better way of designating than 
 by calling them No. 9. This little double enigma the
 
 pi:eface. IX 
 
 reader will not fully understand till lie has read well 
 on in the book. 
 
 And here I think I must plead guilty of having 
 introduced into this work some few puerilities, some 
 repetitions, and many defects, which I trust will be 
 forgiven; and I must also claim indulgence for the 
 style of writing : which I found could not very well be 
 other than that of the common familiar letter-writing 
 style, beyond which I have seldom attempted to soar. 
 
 In giving an account of the various incidents 
 which came under my observation at Waterloo, I 
 have been compelled to speak of myself and of my 
 own feelings, and in detailing many of the reminiscences 
 of both my military and my clerical careers, I must 
 1 think, as a matter of course, lay myself open to the 
 charge of vanity ; but it must be allowed, in extenua- 
 tion of what may appear to be a palpable fault in 
 that direction, that it is absolutely necessary that 
 the author of a book of this description, containing 
 as it does such a medley of subjects, and which is 
 written chiefly for the purpose of proving a particular 
 point with regard to Waterloo, but also with an earnest 
 desire to make it religiously useful to those who may 
 read it — it is absolutely necessary, that a person so 
 circumstanced should have a fair character, in the eyes 
 of those whom he desires to convince, and entertain, 
 and benefit, for a certain amount of military intelli- 
 gence, and also for uprightness of purpose : this must 
 be my apology for letting many things appear in this 
 work which bear favourably on my character both as 
 an officer and as a clergyman.
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 I cannot quite agree with one of my old and 
 valued brother-officers, that "he, who praises his 
 "regiment praises himself," and that that would be a 
 reason for not retaining in my book Napier's words 
 about the 52nd, already mentioned ; for a person may 
 assuredly have a comparatively humble view of him- 
 self, who may at the same time think, that his regiment, 
 or his ship, or his wife, cannot be surpassed by any 
 other. 
 
 I cannot expect, indeed I know it must be other- 
 wise, that any person can read this work without 
 being annoyed at many things in it which he will 
 consider to be in bad taste; such persons must, how- 
 ever, try and bear with, or pass over, what they dislike, 
 and see if there is not much which they approve of, 
 and which, by God's mercy, may be not without 
 benefit to them. 
 
 I wish to call special attention to Chapter LV of 
 this work, in which there is a strong recapitulation of 
 much that I have said, in the early chapters, about the 
 single-handed attack of the 52nd on the columns of the 
 French Guard, without the assistance of the British 
 Guards or any other troops. Some additional points 
 of interest are also brought forward in it. 
 
 I think all my readers will be pleased with the 
 fine portrait of Field Marshal Lord Seaton, which I 
 am enabled to present to them through the kindness 
 of Mr. Graves, the eminent engraver, of 6, Pall 
 Mall. Photographers must not copy it without his 
 permission, which I only have for its introduction 
 into this work, and any further edition of it.
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 My military readers especially will admii'e tlie three 
 plans of Waterloo, whicli very accurately represent tlie 
 various movements and positions of the 52nd throughout 
 the battle. They, the 52nd, must be looked for first 
 of all at Merbe Braine, in the north-western corner of 
 Plan I, and then in the same plan they may be traced, 
 over the Allied position, to the slope in rear of Hougo- 
 mont, where they were formed into two squares, and 
 proceeded, with their gallant friends the 71st and 95th 
 Kiiles, to the north-east of Hougomont, where they 
 remained for two hours and a half. In Plan II their 
 place on the position, which they reached about seven 
 o'clock, is marked by a dotted line from which their 
 advance, about eight o'clock, may be traced to the 
 flank of the French Imperial Guard. In Plan III 
 they will been seen, at 8. 30, close to the Charleroi 
 road, in front of, and two hundred yards from, the Old 
 French Guard; from that spot their track will be 
 found to the left of the Charleroi road and La Belle 
 Alliance as far as the farm of Rosomme where they 
 Lalted for the night at 9. 15. 
 
 WILLIAM LEEKE. 
 
 HoLBKooKE Hall, near Derby, 
 November 27, 1866.
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1815. 
 o2nD light INFANTKY at WATERLOO. 
 
 Selection of a profession— Death of my eldest brother — Bonaparte's landing 
 in the South of France— Joining 52nd Light Infantry in Flanders as a 
 voIunteer^Sir John Colborne (Lord Seaton)— June 16, March to Eng- 
 hein— Cannonade at Quatre Bras— March to Waterloo— Bivouac on 
 the night of the 17th— Position of troops before the battle— Ordered 
 to carry the 52nd regimental colour ..... 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1815. 
 52nd LIGHT INFANTRY AT WATERLOO. 
 
 Commencement of the battle at twelve o'clock— 52nd in reserve — Chalmers's 
 horse shot — Several casualties — First narrow escape — Attack on Hougo- 
 niont — Attack on La Haye Sainte and Picton's division — Charge of 
 the Union Brigade and of the Life Guards — Grand charge of 6000 
 French cavalry — British guns deserted— 52nd form square, and advance 
 over and down the British position — Brunswickers — French cavalry 
 rally and are supported by 7000 fresh horsemen — Adam's brigade in 
 squares to the left of Hougomont — 52nd in two squares — Cannonade — 
 French cuirassiers— Various mcidents — La Haye Sainte taken by the 
 French — The squares of the brigade ordered to retire up to the position
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 1815. 
 DEFEAT OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD BY THE 52nD LIGHT INFANTRY. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Form a four-deep line — Wounded men of the 52nd — Spent round-shot — 
 Duke of WelUngton — French officer of cuirassiers — Advance of the 
 Imperial Guard — 52nd advances singly to meet them— 3rd battalion of 
 1st Guards drives a mass of skirmishers down the position — Defeat of 
 tlie whole of the Imperial Guard by the 52nd alone — No other English 
 troops within 300 yards of them— Flight of the French army— 52nd 
 passes over the killed and the wounded of the French Guard — Various 
 incidents — Charge of cavalry — 52nd suffer from grape — Prussian round 
 -sliot— Serious thoughts ... . ... 39 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 1815. 
 52nD ATTACK AND DEFEAT THE IMPERIAL GRENADIERS. 
 
 52nd attack and drive off Old Guard— Duke of Wellington arrives— Lord 
 Uxbridge wounded — The Duke and Napoleon in nearest proximity — 
 52nd pass La Belle Alliance — No other troops in sight— Pass 75 pieces 
 of deserted cannon — Encounter a French division and guns— Tlieir 
 surrender — Fire on French staff-officers — Last infantry shots at Waterloo 
 — Bivouac at Rosomme — The Duke and Blucher — The 1st Guards 
 between La Belle Alliance and British position — Sir John Byng's speech 
 about 52nd — Wounded officers at the village of Waterloo — Sir Thomas 
 Reynell's letter — Wounded hussar and Imperial grenadier — Amnmnition 
 waggon blown up— Various other incidents on the 19th . . .55 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 1815. 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH IMPERIAL GUARD BY THE 52nD ALONE. 
 
 Defeat of the Imperial Guard by the 52nd, and not by the 1st British Guards 
 — Lord Seaton and Sir John Byng — Steadiness of 52nd when wheeling 
 in line, &c. — The Duke's despatch written on the night of the 18th — 
 Duke of Richmond — Colonel Gawler — Siborne's mistakes — Sir W. 
 Napier's statement about treachery and secret politics in connexion with 
 Waterloo — Napier's letter about officers being drilled with men, and. 
 Lord Seaton with 52nd at Waterloo— Colonel Bentham and Minie rifle — 
 Bentham and Waterloo— Lieutenant Shari)in of the Artillery contra- 
 dicts Siborne— Lord Seaton's letter to Bentham on defeat of French 
 Guard by 52nd— Mr. Yonge's conversation with Lord Seaton— Colonel 
 Brotherton ........ 79
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1815. 
 
 sibokne's, Alison's, and shaw Kennedy's mistakes kefuted. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Duke's memorandum of 1836 about Waterloo — Much confusion in it — 
 Confidence in the truth of history much shaken — Siborne, Alison, the 
 Chaplain-General, Gleig, make great mistakes — Hooper's account more 
 correct— Amount of the French Guard from 1804 to 1815— 52nd, "a 
 "bright beam of red light, &c." — Baron Muffling— Shaw Kennedy — 
 What the 1st Guards did really do at the crisis of Waterloo — Killed and 
 wounded of each battalion of the 1st Guards — How came Sir John Byng 
 to allow the 52nd to go on alone? — Great injustice perpetrated against 
 light infantry regiments — Letter to "The Times" in 1855 — Brevet rank 
 of the Guards injurious to the service • . . . .105 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1815. 
 
 MARCH TO PARIS. 
 
 Nive'des— Letters to England— News of battle— Lists of killed and wounded 
 —Mother ill— Alarm of sisters— March to Binche— Coal pit— Enter 
 France — Le Cateau — Loss of baggage — Claim for remuneration — Other 
 claims rejected — Fate of the baggage— Officers on baggage- guards 
 ^Marshal Moncey's Chateau — Distant view of Paris — Montmartre— 52nd 
 alone at Argenteuil — Pontoon bridge — Convention — Bridge and grave- 
 yard of Neuilly— Enter Paris— Encamp in the Champs Elysees . 138 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1815. 
 
 PARIS. THE 52nd encamped IN THE CHAMPS ELYSeES. 
 
 Two companies a guard to the Duke's house — Colonel W. Rowan comman- 
 dant — Bonaparte finds refuge on board the Bellerophon — Entry of Louis 
 XVIII into Paris— The Imperial Guard— Position of 52nd in Paris — 
 Cricket and drill — Dine with Sir John Colborne — Restoration of pictures, 
 &c., taken by the French — Review of Russian Guards — Accident — 
 Cossacks of the Don — Ecole de Natation — Practical jokes — Row in the 
 Palais Royal — Row at St. Cloud — Gaming-houses — Observations on the 
 evil of letting children play at games for money — Soldier condemned 
 to be shot — Caricatures of English — "Les Anglaises pour rire" — 
 " Monsieur Calico "—Playhouses to be avoided. . . . .154
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1815, 1816. 
 THE 52nd QUAKTEKED at VERSAILLES, ST. GERMAIN, AND CLEllMONT. 
 
 PAOS 
 
 Quarter at Versailles— Palace— St. Germain— Sir John Colborne goes on 
 leave — His good advice — Clermont — Anniversary of the death of 
 Louis XVI— A guard of honour in the church— Atchison and Dawson of 
 the artillery . . . . . . . .174 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1816. 
 
 CANTONMENTS IN THE NORTH OF FRANCE. 
 
 Villages around Therouenne— Henry VIII— Siege of Therouenne and 
 Battle of Spurs three hundred years before— Honours gained by an- 
 cestors — Alarming occurrence — Periodical encampment and march to 
 Valenciennes — Kind feeling between the villagers and our men — 
 Meadow at Therouenne^Bathing in the river Lys — Sir Denis Pack's 
 inspection — Brigade orders — Curious occurrence — Remarkable case of 
 one of the men becoming religious ..... 180 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1816. 
 
 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS. 
 
 The regiment start a pack of fox-hounds— Anecdotes connected with our 
 hunting — Accident— Go over to the cavalry quarters— Commandant of 
 St. Omer and his staff— Lord Combermere joins the party — His regret 
 at not having been at Waterloo —Dissertation on cruelty to the animals 
 hunted — A singular argument on the subject — Extinction of poaching 
 — A trumpeter-boy of the Life Guards . . . . .191 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1816. 
 AMUSEMENTS AND INCIDENTS IN THE NORTH OF FRANCE. 
 
 Hunting at Callone — Captain English— Duke of Wellington's boar-hounds — 
 Lord Hill and his brother — Gymnastic club near St. Pol— 52nd play 
 the rest of Colville's division at cricket — Fatal accident — Mess at 
 Therouenne in the summer — Accident to a friend in the 71st — Medals 
 for Waterloo served out— Two of us wear them on going to Aire — Death 
 of a poor woman in the Grande Place — Curious anecdote about the 
 18th of June, 1816, by a corporal of the 23rd Fusileers— Ball given 
 by the English officers at St. Omer — My servant drowned — Remarkable 
 dreams— Holman's servant shot — A corporal stabbed by a French officer 
 — Cai)ture of thieves — Winterbottom and his former comrade — Anecdote 
 of the master tailor ....... 20-t
 
 CONTEXTS. XVII 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1816, 1817, 1818. 
 LKAVE TO ENGLAND AND PARIS. RETURN OF THE ARMY TO ENGLAND. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cheltenham — Duke of Wellington — Paris in 1817 — French family — 
 Chef d'escadron — Labedoyere's tomb — Ball at the English Ambassador's 
 — Denain— General Beckwith — Encampment again at St. Omer in 1818 
 —Sir John Colborne joins — Purchases a horse from me — The horse's 
 proceedings on parade — Last visit to Valenciennes — 52nd occupy citadel 
 — Review by the Emperor of Russia — 52nd the last regiment in France 
 — March to Calais— Embarkation — Arrival in England, November 29, 
 1818 221 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1818, 1819. 
 THE 52nd march to CHESTER AND ARE STATIONED THERE. 
 
 Dover — Deal — Ramsgate — Custom-bouse — Scene at Canterbury —Start for 
 Sheerness — Short visit to friends — Sir John Moore's mother — Various 
 incidents — Balls — Races — Hunting — The Bishop and Archdeacon- 
 Special assize — Lord Lyndhurst commandant of the garrison — Fire, 
 and amusing incident — 52nd ball given to the town and county — 
 Several incidents — Visit to Bold Hall — Obtain leave to go to Germany 
 —Proceed to Plymouth— Ball at General Brown's — Sail in Myrmidon to 
 Spithead — Bishop Crowther rescued from slavery by Myrmidon — 
 Incidents connected with bis deliverance .... 232 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1819, 1820. 
 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 
 
 Calais to Bnissels — Murder of English gentlemen — How discovered ^ 
 Tradition about the fight at Cheriton in the time of Charles L — Visit 
 the field of Waterloo — Corn rank where we defeated the Imperial 
 Guard — The Rhine — Ehrenbreitstein, beautiful scenery— University of 
 Gottingen — Curious funeral ceremonies— Hanover — The Jager Guards 
 — Colonel Reynett — Leave Hanover for Sottrum— Arrangements for 
 learning German — Alarming illness — Religious feeling — Return to 
 Hanover — Difficulty in speaking English properly — Advised to return to 
 England— Paper written on my 22nd birthday — Ludicrous difficulty at 
 Yarmouth — Thames frozen over — Anecdote connected with the loss of 
 the Royal George— Unpleasant occurrence at races — Think of going on 
 half-pay — Kind remonstrance from the regiment — Proceed to Nice — 
 Bonaparte at Frejus in 1814 — Religious friends, &c. — Adventure with 
 a mosquito — The climate of the south of France and Italy . . 245
 
 PAGE 
 
 XVlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1821. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 Proceed by water to Genoa — From Genoa to Pisa — Cross a portion of the 
 Apennines — Misunderstanding with a vetUirino — Bridge over the 
 Serchio carried away— The leaning tower at Pisa, etc. — The death of a 
 student — The Carnival, etc. — Florence to Rome — Austrians bivouacked 
 around Terni — St. Peter's at Rome— Curious scene— From Rome to 
 Naples — Appii Forum — Cicero's villa and tomb — Naples — Portici, 
 Pompeii— Go up Vesuvius— English squadron— Sir Graham Moore- 
 Return by Rome, Florence, Milan, Turin, and Geneva to England — 
 Dr. Malan at Geneva— Narrow escape at the mortar-practice there . 2()8 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1821. 
 AT HOME, AND THEN REJOIN THE 52ND AT DUBLIN. 
 Feelings of my relatives with regard to my religious views — Family prayers 
 — Testimony of some now gone — Sir John Colborne — Coronation of 
 George IV — Queen Caroline — Feelings of the people — Rejoin the 52nd 
 at Dublin — My altered feelings with regard to religion— Found Gawler 
 a religious man — Several incidents connected with his change — First 
 intimation to the other officers of my altered views — Attendance at 
 mess— The King's visit to Dublin — Incidents on his landing — Levee 
 at the castle — A judge awkwardly circumstanced — 43rd and 52nd 
 reviewed by the King— In command of McNair's company that day — 
 A ramrod accidentally discharged — Charge of cavalry, shewing that the 
 horses would be willing to go on to the bayonets — The King's visit to 
 St. Patrick's Cathedral— Mr. Guinness ..... 292 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1821. 
 DUELLING. 
 Major Oliver of the artillery— Is sent to " Coventry" by the artillery officers of 
 the Dublin district — I become acquainted with him — Discussions on duel- 
 ling, at the 52ndmess — Colonel Rowan's opinion — Remarkable instance of 
 apology — Recent additions to the Articles of War — Roman Catholic 
 officers of the Prussian Guards removed for declaring they would Inot 
 fight a duel — Severe sentence on officers of the Russian Guards for 
 fighting a duel— Belgian Minister of War sentenced to imprisonment 
 for engaging in a duel ....... 305 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1821, 1822. 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 
 Meeting of naval and military officers for reading the Scriptures — Lady 
 Grey, Mr. Mathias, Mr. Nixon — Scripture argument against balls — 
 Village dances — Refuse an invitation to a ball at Dublin — Difficulties and 
 plan with regard to intercourse with the families of any neighbourhood . 314
 
 CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 1821, 1822. 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. page 
 
 The castle guard — The Montagus of the 71st and 52nd — Irritation of the 
 King about a sentry — Amusing order handed down by the sentries on 
 the bridge to the garden — Tracts and books for the men taken away 
 by the captain of the guard — Some reason to hope they were made 
 useful to him — Several anecdotes connected with that proceeding — 
 Winterbottom and religious tracts at the bank guard; curious and 
 important dialogue — Anecdote connected with Winterbottom's wound at 
 Waterloo— Mention of his services in 52nd record — Peculiarities of 
 religious people— Definition of a Methodist — A clergyman and his wife 
 each considering the other to be free from sin — What a blessing that 
 we have the first prayer of the liturgy — Expected Whiteboy attack on 
 the barracks — On detachment at the Pigeon-house Fort— Boldness and 
 discomfiture of rats — Detached to Wicklow — Rudiments of a savings' 
 bank ......... 318 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 1821, 1822. 
 DUBLIN. PARTICULARS RELATING TO THREE 52nD SOLDIERS. 
 Pat Kelly's proceedings in Spain and France — Remarkable visitation — 
 Becomes a religious man — One of the guard of honour to the King — 
 Selected as a trustworthy man — His suspicious death at the Pigeon- 
 house — Dogherty— Houghton's remarkable case — Benefit arising from 
 the distribution of the Scriptures— My visits to him in the hospital- 
 He leaves the army— His letter to me— Enters Trinity College, Dublin 
 — Becomes a devoted minister of the Church of England— His death . 33-1 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 1822. 
 THE 52nD in the SOUTH OF IRELAND. 
 March from Dublin- Fair at Ballynahill— The county of Tipperary under 
 the Insurrection Act — Detached to New Birmingham— The Rev. John 
 Galway — Set up a school for the men — Two drunken men shot by sentry 
 near Carrick — Refuse invitation to dine out on Sunday — Extracts from 
 journal — The priest prohibits my tracts — Tracts given to beggars to sell 
 — Benefit arising from this — Interesting details — Introduced to a very 
 clever nailer — Conies to compare Roman Catholic catechism with Bible 
 — Praying to angels — Hopeful state of several persons — Joined at night 
 by a stranger on the road— The priest burns the tracts — Give Bibles and 
 Douay Testaments— Instance lately discovered of good done by the tracts 
 given to the soldiers— Relieved by Gawler— Clonmel, Ballynamult— 
 Escort prisoners to Fermoy — On duty to Dublin— Return to New 
 Birmingham for a short time— Account in after years of one of the New 
 Birmingham converts— Converts become protestant Scripture readers — 
 Establishment of a regimental savings' bank — Compliment to my 
 efficiency— First epistle of St. Peter- Lord Seaton . . .344
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXIII. 
 
 1823. 
 
 SANDHURST. page 
 
 Senior department at Sandhurst — Determined to work hard — Religious 
 duties— Strict observance of the Lord's Day — Boerhave — Diggle's wound 
 — Serjeant Housley met him wounded at Waterloo — Diggle's anecdote 
 about a toast in Sicily — My order to join 52nd, and to embark for 
 America— Sir George Murray, the governor, opposes it, but without 
 success — Asks me to dine Avith him on Sunday — Correspondence with 
 the Horse Guards — Proceed to Cork — Find 52nd embarking . . 3G3 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 1823. 
 
 THE 52nd go to NEWFOUNDLAND AND NEW BKUNSWICK. 
 Ex]>lanation with Sir John Tylden — Proceed with three companies to New- 
 foundland—Off Kinsale and Castle Townsend — Sea sickness — Calm- 
 Visit timber vessel— Sudden squall — Shark — A bonnet overboard — 
 Cards — Bible— Banks of Newfoundland — Fogs — Vessels— 74th at St. 
 John's — Found an order to proceed to New Brunswick— Naval officer 
 — Rencontre — Frigate — Go on board — Leave Newfoundland — Bay of 
 Fundy — St. John's — Annapolis — Proceed with one company to St. 
 Andrew's— Barracks — Expel vermin — Level a road— Prayer for the 
 people — Snow-shoes— Frost-bites— Kindness of the people— Many joined 
 us in meeting to read the Scriptures —Party kept up for many years . 378 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 1823, 1824. 
 
 ST. ANDREW'S, NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 Benefit of religious tracts— One lent in twenty-two houses— Man with cart — 
 Tract given to one man, the means of the conversion of anotiier— 
 Sermons — Mr.Simeon— Description of a good minister — H. M.S. Sparrow- 
 hawk— Smuggled provisions — Smuggled fowl for dinner — Meat pre- 
 served by becoming frozen — ^Expedition into the uncleared woods — 
 American General — Charlotte county militia — Voyage to St. John's — 
 Find half the town on fire — Of some use in stopping the conflagration 
 — Armine Mountain ....... 397 
 
 LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 Portrait of Field-Marshal Lord Seaton, G.C.B, . . Frontispiece. 
 
 Plan of Waterloo, No. I . . ..... 29 
 
 Plan of Waterloo, No. II . . . . . . . 43 
 
 Plan of Waterloo, No. Ill . . . . . . 55
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 1815. 
 
 52lsrD LIGHT INFANTRY AT WATERLOO. 
 
 Selection of a profession — Death of my eldest brother — Bonaparte's landing in the 
 South of France — Joining 52nd Light Infantry in Flanders as a volunteer^ 
 Sir John Colborne (Lord Seaton)— June 16, March to Enghien— Cannonade 
 at Quatre Bras — March to Waterloo — Bivouac on the night of the 17th— 
 Position of troops before the battle — Ordered to carry the 52nd regimental 
 colour. 
 
 It was intended that I should have been a sailor, in which pro- 
 fession my two elder brothers were, but my eldest brother having 
 been killed in action in 1810,* my mother no longer thought 
 of that career for me, and it was never mentioned to me ; she 
 then intended me for the church, but to this arrangement I 
 had a great repugnance, as I considered myseK altogether unfit 
 to be a clergyman ; then the law was very seriously thought of, 
 and I turned my attention to it for some months after leaving 
 school at the age of sixteen ; but all intentions in that direction 
 were completely upset by my meeting at a ball a young officer 
 of the 51st Light Infantry, who had just returned from Spain, 
 and to whose account of his adventures I listened with the 
 greatest avidity for two or three hours, and then immediately 
 determined that I would go into the army. Our friend and 
 relative, Sir John Colborne, afterwards Lord Seaton, then in 
 command of the 52nd, was written to ; but before any course 
 could .be recommended, the Peninsular war came to an end. 
 He, some time after, advised that I should go to a military 
 
 '>' * See Appendix No. 1. 
 
 B
 
 2 62nd light infantry 
 
 institution, at which Captain Malortie de Martemont received a 
 few young men who were preparing for the army. Captain 
 Malortie was a French royalist, and professor of fortification at 
 the Woolwich Academy. I was there for several months, and 
 made some little progress in fortification and military plan 
 drawing, &c. 
 
 In the early part of 1815, Sir Theophilus and Lady Pritzler 
 and their family were staying with my mother, preparatory to 
 their embarking for India ; they were relatives of ours, and he 
 commanded the 22nd Light Dragoons. On hearing of my plans, 
 they proposed that I should purchase a vacant cornetcy in the 
 22ud, and follow them to India. Arrangements were made 
 accordingly at the Horse Guards, and I was written to, and a 
 little time was allowed for my decision. It had, however, been 
 before arranged with Sir John Colborne that, if the American 
 war continued, I should proceed with the 52nd to America. 
 
 Just at the time that the cornetcy in the 22nd Dragoons was 
 mentioned to me, we were daily expecting to receive the account 
 of the ratification of peace with America, so that, although I 
 was much pleased with the arrangement about India, I felt that 
 I had better not take the decided step about going there, until 
 there was an end of all hope of seeing active service on the 
 other side of the Atlantic. In a short time, the news of the 
 ratification of peace with America appeared in a second edition 
 of the papers ; and, in the very same papers, was a third edition, 
 announcing the landing of Bonaparte in the south of France 
 from Elba, on the 1st of March. If the intelligence of Bonaparte's 
 return to France had reached me four-and-twenty hours later, all 
 my steps for -getting my cornetcy and for proceeding to India 
 would have been taken, and probably mine would have been an 
 Indian life for many years. As it was, I determined on doing 
 nothing until I saw what success Bonaparte's enterprise met with. 
 I knew that, if it succeeded, the 1st battalion of the 52nd, 
 already embarked at Cork, would most probably be ordered with 
 other troops to reinforce the 10,000 men we already had in 
 Flanders under the Prince of Orange. 
 
 When we heard of Bonaparte's arrival at Paris on the 20th 
 of March, I immediately wrote to Sir John Colborne, who was
 
 AT WATERLOO. S 
 
 military secretary to the Prince of Orange, to beg of him to let 
 me know what I had better do under the circumstances. Several 
 weeks passed away, and I received no reply to my letter, and I 
 hardly knew what to think of Sir John Colborne's silence, when, 
 towards the end of April, a letter arrived from him, but it was 
 directed to my mother, who opened it with considerable anxiety, 
 and then produced the one which had been sent in answer to my 
 first letter some weeks before. My poor mother had felt justified, 
 considering my youth, (I was rather more than seventeen,) in 
 opening and keeping back from me my own letter, until she 
 should ao-ain communicate with Sir John Colborne on the sub- 
 ject. His reply was, that he could not give any other advice 
 than that which he had already given in his letter to me. The 
 advice he had given, Avhich so alarmed my mother, and which he 
 still gave, was that I should at once lodge my money for an 
 ensigncy in the 52nd, and come out immediately and join the 
 1st battalion as a volimteer. « 
 
 The day after the arrival of Sir John Colborne's letter, on 
 Friday, the 28th of April, I left home for London. I am writing 
 this more than fifty years after that first step in my military 
 career, and so rapidly has the time passed away, that it seems to 
 be only a few years since my dear mother, when the carriage 
 was at the door, to convey me to the place where I should meet 
 the coach for London, pressed me to her, and begged me with 
 many tears not to go, saying, it was not necessary that I should 
 rim into such danger, or that I should go into any profession 
 whatever. I felt this parting very much, but of course it was 
 impossible for me to yield to her wish, dearly as I loved her. 
 The kind relatives, at whose house I was during the few days 
 that I remained in London, had secured for me the assistance 
 of a colonel in the Guards, who kindly devoted to me many 
 hours on the day after my arrival, and went with me to the 
 several tradesmen to order my outfit. During my short stay in 
 town I saw Mrs. and Miss Moore, the mother and sister of 
 General Sir John Moore, who fell at Corunna, and who had been 
 so much respected and beloved by the 52nd. At the house of my 
 aunt, I met with the widow of my cousin. Captain Bogue, who 
 had fallen at the battle of Leipsic about eighteen months before, 
 
 B 2
 
 4 52nd light infantry 
 
 in command of the British Kocket Brigade * I recollect she 
 regarded me and my enthusiasm about the 52nd, and my com- 
 mencing career, with much kind and melancholy interest. 
 
 On Tuesday, May 2nd, I left London for Dover by the 
 evening coach, with all my outfit, as a 52nd officer, complete. 
 1 was to embark for Ostend on the evening of the 3rd, and did 
 not know very well what to do with myself during the day. 
 The 2nd battalion of the 52nd was stationed at Dover, and, 
 under my circumstances, I was not anxious to fall in with any 
 of the officers, having some undefinable fear that something 
 might turn up to prevent my getting out at once to the 1st 
 battalion. However, I only came across one solitary bugler of 
 the regiment the whole day. I was in a military great coat, 
 with 52nd cap and sword. After seeing what there was to be 
 seen, I strolled into a billiard room, where I found several officers 
 of the old 95 th, (now the Eifle Brigade) ; they were very civil 
 and kind, and I played with the^ for some hours. I was rather 
 a good player at billiards, and consequently won almost every 
 game we played ; and, although we played for small sums, I was 
 ashamed to find, when it was nearly time for me to embark, that 
 I was a winner of between four and five pounds. I had hardly 
 time for another game, but still I arranged to play one, and 
 contrived, by offering odds, to have quite as much at stake as I 
 had won altogether, with the full intention of losing the game. 
 When I had got about half way through it, and was rather 
 behind-hand in my score, I told them I feared I should be too 
 late for the packet, and that, as I was sure to lose the game, I 
 would pay my losses and not play it out. My 95th friends, 
 however, I think rather suspecting what I was aiming at, begged 
 me to finish it, which I did to save appearances, and to prevent 
 them from refusing to take the money I had won from them. I 
 soon managed, by making two or three bad hits, to lose the 
 game, and, putting down my money, I hastened off, and was 
 just in time not to lose my passage. I must not conclude this 
 -.vithout referring my readers to the Appendix,-}- for my opinions on 
 the subject of the immense evils which arise from young persons 
 being allowed to learn and play at games of chance. 
 
 * See Appendix Ko. 2. t See Appendix No. 3.
 
 AT WATEKLOO. 5 
 
 I left Dover for Ostend on the evening of the 3rd of May. 
 I recollect little more of the voyage than that I was dreadfully 
 sea-sick — so much so, that it was a great trouble to me to think 
 that I could not reach England again without passing through 
 the same fearful ordeal. We had rather a head wind and a short 
 chopping sea ; and the first time we tacked and were in stays, 
 when I was half asleep in my berth in the middle of the night, 
 I, who had never been at sea before, fancied, for a few seconds, 
 that the ship had met with some disaster and was settling down 
 and sinking. I well remember that the first thought was. Oh, 
 then, I shall get rid of this horrid sea-sickness ! 
 
 I arrived at Ostend in the forenoon of Thursday, the 4th of 
 May, which, as I afterwards found, was the date of my com- 
 mission as ensign in the 52nd. As I landed on the quay, they 
 were unloading cannon-balls from an arsenal transport, pitching 
 them up as bricklayers do bricks ; I thought it looked very war- 
 like. At Ostend I found Lieutenant Cottingham, and four men 
 just come out of hospital, who were going up in four days from 
 that, to join the regiment at Lessines ; I arranged to wait and go 
 with them. The only thing I recollect doing at Ostend was the 
 buying a baggage-horse ; I took a fancy to him from his ver}' 
 superior powers in leaping over the very broad gutters across the 
 street, which were filled with water by the pouring rain. 
 
 I went part of the way to Ghent in the canal-boat; my only 
 fellow-passenger was Major-General Sir James Kempt, who was 
 going up to the army to take the command of a brigade in 
 Picton's division. He was very kind to me : when, after some 
 hours' abstinence, we began to feel hungry I volunteered to go 
 and see what was the state of the larder, and came back with 
 the report that there was literally nothing to eat on board, the 
 general produced two gingerbread nuts from a paper, and gave 
 me one of them. Even little kindnesses of that sort are often 
 remembered for years afterwards. 
 
 The having fallen in with Cottingham made my march up 
 from Ghent very agreeable, and also took off from the awkward- 
 ness attending my first introduction to the officers of the regiment. 
 We reached Lessines on the 11th of May, exactly five weeks and 
 three days before the Battle of Waterloo. When we arrived
 
 6 52nd light infantry 
 
 the regiment had marched out some miles, and we only found a 
 Serjeant's guard at the entrance of the town. Soon, however, 
 we heard the martial notes of the bugles, and I had the 
 great delight of seeing a regiment of upwards of 1000 men, 
 whom I looked upon as the finest soldiers in the world, come 
 winding down the road amongst the corn, marching to the sound 
 of one of those stirring tunes, which one always connected with 
 feats of arms and deeds of daring. 
 
 When the regiment was dismissed, many of the officers gathered 
 round Cottiugham and me, and he talked away with them for three 
 or four minutes, quite forgetting that he was leaving me in a some- 
 what awkward position, as I was unknown to any of them, till 
 at last one of them said, " Cottingham, will you not introduce 
 your friend to us V when, they of course, received me very 
 kindly. That afternoon I was put in orders, as Volunteer Leeke, 
 and attached to Captain McNair's company. 
 
 During the Peninsular war, and how long before I know not, 
 it was very occasionally permitted to young men, who had 
 difficulty in getting a commission, with the consent of the 
 commanding officer, to join some regiment on service before the 
 enemy. In action the volunteer acted as a private soldier, 
 carrying his musket and wearing his cross belts like any other 
 man. After a campaign or two, or after having distinguished 
 himself at the storming of some fort or fortress, he would probably 
 obtain a commission. He messed with the officers of the com- 
 pany to which he was attached. His dress was the same as that 
 of an officer, except that, instead of wings or epaulettes, he wore 
 shoulder straps of silver or gold, to confine the cross belts. 
 
 My case was somewhat different ; my money was lodged for 
 the purchase of my commission, and it was known that only a 
 short time would elapse before I was gazetted, and that I had 
 come out as a volunteer to avoid being sent to the 2nd battalion 
 in England, with which I should have had to remain for at least 
 six mouths. In fact, the notification of my having been gazetted 
 as an ensign in the regiment appeared in orders about ten days 
 after I joined. Under the circumstances Colonel Charles Eowan 
 desired me not to have the wings removed from my jacket. I 
 was an anomalous sort of personage ; and I recollect at first
 
 AT WATERLOO. 7 
 
 some of the men saluted me, and others did not, when they 
 passed me in the streets. 
 
 Two or three days after I arrived, Sir John Colborne joined 
 from Brussels, and took the command of the regiment. I had 
 only seen him once before, and stood in considerable awe of him, 
 though I was thoroughly convinced that he had the kindest 
 feeling towards me. He was a sort of nephew of my mother's, 
 her brother having married his mother. He told me, I remember, 
 that he thought, from Sir James Kempt's description of the 
 person he had met in the canal-boat, that I had arrived out. He 
 recommended me to purchase a riding-horse in addition to the 
 one I had for my baggage ; I told him I had been intending to 
 try and do without a horse, until after the first action, in which, 
 no doubt, many officers would be killed, and then a horse would 
 be purchased at a cheap rate ; he smiled, I suppose at my war- 
 like and sanguinary ideas, and merely said, " You had better get 
 " a horse at once." This I did, and purchased a black horse with 
 a long tail, very much like those used by the Life Guards and 
 Lines ; he was consequently called in the regiment " the Life 
 " Guardsman." 
 
 Sir John Colborne always strongly advocated the importance 
 of infantry officers, when on active service, having riding-horses, 
 and used to say, that if, from insufficiency of income, they found 
 it difficult to manage this, still they should stint themselves in 
 wine, and in every thing else, in order to keep a horse if possible. 
 As mounted officers they were more useful, under very many 
 circumstances ; they were less tired at the end of a day's march, 
 and more ready for any duty which might be required of them ; 
 they could be more effective in bringing up stragglers on a long 
 and weary march ; some of them might be usefully employed 
 when extra staff officers were required. I think, on the long march 
 of upwards of fifty miles, which we had from Quevres-au-camps 
 to AVaterloo, all but two of the officers of the 52nd were mounted. 
 
 During the five weeks between my joining at Lessines and 
 our start for Waterloo, I went through some portion of my drill, 
 which, soon after our arrival at Paris, was completed in the 
 Champs Elys^es. 
 
 At Lessines, on one occasion when the regiment was at ball-
 
 8 52nd light infantry 
 
 practice not far from the bank of the Dender, and were firing 
 volleys by companies at targets set close to a very thick wood, we 
 were all astonished and horrified, and our firing put a stop to, by 
 the appearance, round tlie side of the wood, of a man and woman 
 with uplifted arms and horror-stricken countenances, No one 
 had the least idea that there was any habitation in the wood ; 
 but it turned out that these poor people occupied a cottage some- 
 where within it. No wonder that they were alarmed, for, before 
 they could get round the skirts of the wood, several volleys had 
 been fired into it by the ten companies, each consisting of about 
 one hundred men. 
 
 There were fully sixty officers with the regiment at that time. 
 We messed at the same hotel, in two separate rooms ; after mess, 
 each day, between thirty and forty horses were usually paraded, 
 and we used to have some excellent steeple-chasing or rather 
 brook-leaping in the meadows adjoining the town. I recollect 
 particularly Whichcote, now General Whichcote, as the most 
 determined rider on those occasions ; it was really a very pleasant 
 and happy time. 
 
 About 150 of the 52nd had volunteered from the South 
 Hants Militia, and I selected a servant from amongst them, that 
 I might have one who came from the same part of the country 
 that I did. I recollect well the being laughed at by my brother 
 officers, when first I joined, for talking of the right or left " side " 
 of the company instead of the " flank," and of being " behind " 
 instead of being " in the rear " of it. In our company's mess, 
 they voted me a very good messmate, for not liking eggs, or 
 strong tea, or brandy. When furnishing a canteen which I pur- 
 chased in London, I was wise enough, although I was going to 
 the continent, to desire the two large bottles, containing about 
 three pints each, to be filled with the best brandy which the 
 canteen maker could procure. Before I lost my canteen, which 
 I did with the rest of my baggage at Waterloo, I found that, 
 although I did not drink brandy myself, some of my friends had 
 no objection to it, for without being particularly invited to do 
 so, they had emptied my bottles of brandy in no very long 
 space of time. One of their jokes with me was that, if I was a 
 lucky fellow, I should get made " a field officer " before Lille, by
 
 AT WATERLOO. 9 
 
 whicii they meant that I should perhaps be killed and buried 
 under the sod before Lille. 
 
 Whilst we were at Lessines there was a grand review of the 
 greater portion of the splendid cavalry and horse-artillery of 
 Great Britain and of the King's German Legion. This took 
 place near Grammont, about eight or nine miles from Lessines. 
 There were about 7000 men present. There were no particular 
 incidents ; but we were exposed to a most drenching rain for some 
 time. The Prince of Orange and his brother, who were on a 
 break with some young Englishmen, were placed by them, well 
 wrapped up in great coats and tolerably well exposed to the 
 storm, on the box of the break, the seat of honour, whilst their 
 young friends got a much better berth themselves under the body 
 of the vehicle. 
 
 When I had been four weeks at Lessines ,1 one day asked Sir 
 John Colborne if he had any objection to my going for a day to 
 Brussels, which was about twenty miles off, as possibly I might 
 not again have so good an opportunity of seeing it. He told me 
 he thought I had better be getting on with my drill ; he however 
 kindly added, " but you can go if you like." As I saw he had 
 some reason for thinking I had better not go there at that 
 time, I gave it up ; and it was well that I was not there on the 
 16th of June, for two of the 52nd captains, who were at Brussels 
 on leave at that time, had the misfortune not to be able to find 
 their regiment. They probably, misled by various reports, rode 
 about in vain on the roads between Brussels, Lessines, Ath, 
 Enghien, and Quatre Bras. One of them never reached the 
 regiment at all, until after the action at Waterloo ; the other 
 only reached it in the evening, just at the moment it was 
 advancing to charge the French Imperial Guard, and thereby, 
 to the regret of his brother officers, lost his brevet-lieutenant- 
 colonelcy, which fell to the lot of a junior brevet-major. 
 
 Towards the latter end of May, Sir Henry Clinton's division, 
 of which Adam's light brigade, in which the 52nd was, formed a 
 part, proceeded to occupy the country beyond Ath towards the 
 French fortress of Cond^ and they assembled for division drill 
 in a large domain, surrounded by extensive plantations, in the 
 neighbourhood of Qaevres-au-camps. Here they practised the
 
 10 52nd light infantry 
 
 formation of an encampment by means of blanket tents, which 
 appeared to be a most troublesome affair, and did not meet with 
 much favour on the part of officers or men. 
 
 "We remained there only a few days, and then returned to 
 our former cantonments. About the 12th of June, the 52nd 
 finally left Lessines, and the 2nd division of the British army 
 made another demonstration toM^ards Cond^. 
 
 It was known that the Emperor Napoleon was likely soon to 
 make his attack either on the Prussian or the English army, and 
 great watchfulness was exercised along the front of both armies, 
 which extended over a length of upwards of 100 miles, Eegular 
 information also reached the Duke of Wellington of the move- 
 ments of various bodies of the French troops ; but still all was 
 uncertainty as to the point at which Bonaparte would strike his 
 first blow. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton's division had been some days near Quevres- 
 au-camps, occupying the villages near that place in the direction 
 of Ath, and were preparing for a division field day, on the 
 morning of the 16th of June. The 52nd were at Elleguies St. 
 Ann, and were assembling on the various company parades at ten 
 o'clock. I was on the parade of No. 9, Captain McNair's com- 
 pany, with one man and one bugler only besides myself, when 
 the general's aide-de-camp came cantering down the village, and 
 delivered the following order to me, " Your company. Sir, is to 
 " be a mile on the Ath road in twenty minutes from this time." He 
 then rode forward, the bugler sounded the assembly, and the men 
 who were close at hand, came pouring in immediately, and the 
 company was at the rendezvous on the Ath road at the time ap- 
 pointed. Every one was on the qui vive, and various reports of the 
 advance of the enemy were afloat. After halting a short time, 
 that the baggage might come up, we were ordered to move on 
 Ath and Enghien ; we reached the latter place a little after two 
 o'clock. There we halted for two or three hours, and the men 
 cooked their ration beef During this time we distinctly heard 
 the cannonade of Quatre Bras, although it was twenty-two 
 miles from us. Yet strange to say, two days afterwards, the 
 troops at Hal, under Sir Charles Colville, though they were only 
 eight miles distant, never heard the firing or anything about the
 
 AT WATERLOO. 11 
 
 action at Waterloo, till the morning of the 19th. When we first 
 heard the cannonade at Quatre Bras, one of the old soldiers 
 exclaimed, " there they go shaking their blankets again." The 
 sound of a distant cannonade is not unlike that arising from the 
 shaking of a carpet or a blanket. 
 
 From Enghien we marched a considerable distance on the Hal 
 road, passing the road leading back towards Mons. After proceed- 
 ing several miles towards Hal, we countermarched, and I think 
 retraced our steps till, about two miles before reaching Enghien 
 again, we struck into the above-mentioned road leading to 
 Mons, and afterwards, leaving that road, we must have got, by 
 some cross road to the left, to Braine-le-comte, without going 
 through Soignies, which place I have no recollection of. I 
 remember one good halt after leaving Enghien, which we made 
 from about eight till half-past nine. There was also another halt 
 on the 16th, which took place in a large open wood. As we 
 moved off again, the band struck up a march, the horse in a 
 sutler's ' light covered cart, frightened by the band, dashed off 
 amongst the trees, and the last I saw of the occurrence was that 
 the body of the cart separated from the wheels and axletree 
 and shafts, with which the horse ran off, leaving the poor woman 
 inside the body of the cart. I think she could not have been 
 much hurt ; but it would probably be some considerable time 
 before she and her husband, if she had one, would be able to 
 join the division again. 
 
 We reached Braine-le-comte at midnight, on the 1 6th, and 
 remained there till a little after two on the morning of the 17th, 
 in the midst of torrents of rain. It was with some difficulty that 
 I got my horse under cover. I found there were some persons 
 in a large barn, and, on making some attempt to open the large 
 door, was told in a strong Scotch accent, " There's no room here, 
 " we are all full here;" however by kicking up a great row and 
 insisting on having the door opened, I at last succeeded, and 
 found within only two men of the 71st Highlanders. The lower 
 room of an adjacent auberge I found crowded with men of the 
 brigade waiting for their turn to purchase something to eat ; I 
 was directed to a room upstairs, where I found some bread and 
 cheese on the table, and two 71st ofhcers lying their full length
 
 12 52XD LIGHT INFANTRY 
 
 on two beds fast asleep. After eating some bread and cheese, I 
 took the liberty of lying down by the side of one of them, 
 although they were perfect strangers to me, judging that, accord- 
 ing to the laws of war, the one half of the bed fairly belonged 
 to me. I could not sleep, so, after lying there about an hour 
 and getting a good rest, I left my friends of the 71st not at all 
 aware of the honour I had conferred upon them. 
 
 We reached Mvelles about seven o'clock ; the narrow streets 
 were full of cavalry horses tied to the doors and windows of the 
 houses. The morning had become fine, and the 52nd got into 
 a large orchard. Here we got our breakfast, and here about 
 thirty of the officers of the 52nd, I being amongst the number, 
 saw their basjcrase for the last time. There was much confusion 
 on the road between Waterloo and Brussels on the 18th, and 
 thus the baggage of nearly half the officers of the army was 
 plundered, either by foreign allies running away from the action 
 or by the Belgian peasantry. 
 
 In the middle of the day on the 17th we moved off from 
 Nivelles along the direct road from that place to Hougomont, 
 Waterloo, and Brussels ; this road joins the road from Charleroi, 
 Quatre Bras, and Genappe, on which the French were advancing, 
 near the farm of Mont St. Jean. Shortly after leaving Nivelles, 
 we found ourselves marching in a parallel line with British 
 artillery and cavalry, we being on the road and they moving for 
 some distance along the fields on either side. At the same time 
 a Dutch Belgian battalion was trying to cross our line of march 
 in the direction of Genappe. We moved very slowly, the men 
 being wearied with their long march, and by the heavy load 
 which each had to carry ; this consisted of the knapsack, con- 
 taining the kit and blanket, (the great coats had been sent to 
 England,) the musket, and bayonet, and 120 rounds of ball- 
 cartridge, sixty rounds of the latter being in the knapsack ; this 
 was a wise precaution adopted by the commanding officer. Had 
 the Germans, posted in the farm house of La Haye Sainte on the 
 18th, been thus provided with the reserve of ammunition in 
 their knapsacks, it is very probable that the French would never 
 have taken that important post ; and had the brigade of the 
 1st British Guards been similarly provided, the 52ud would
 
 AT WATERLOO. Vo 
 
 probably not have been left without support in their single- 
 handed attack on the columns of the French Imperial Guard. 
 Sir John Byng, who succeeded to the command of the two 
 brigades of Guards when General Cooke was wounded, gave this 
 to Sir John Colborne as his reason for not advancing Maitland's 
 brigade to his support. 
 
 Colonel Hall tells me, " Near J'Tivelles we overtook Barlow, 
 "captain in the 69th. He had been promoted from the 52nd 
 " about a year before. Through the fault of the Prince of Orange, 
 " the 69th, in the act of changing position, had been charged by 
 "French dragoons. Barlow, and many others, lay down and 
 "escaped hurt, except from the trampling of the horses. He 
 " was limping along, very sore and lame, and feelingly declaimed 
 " against the common notion, that a horse will not tread on a 
 " man lying on the ground. His jacket was blackened with the 
 " marks of horse shoes. I suppose in such a case the horse has 
 " no choice and cannot pick its way." 
 
 About midway between Nivelles and Hougomont, the 52nd 
 halted for rather more than two hours, 200 yards to the left of 
 the road. I heard Sir John Colborne (for the future I think I 
 shall call him Lord Seaton,) asking if any of the of&cers could 
 lend him the cape of a boat-cloak, as he wished to lie down for 
 a couple of hours, and try and get some sleep ; I had a very 
 large boat-cloak with a cape and hood to it, I unhooked the cape 
 and hood and handed them to him. He wore them over his 
 uniform during the whole of the Battle of Waterloo. 
 
 Whilst we were halted on this occasion, several waggons, 
 with those wounded at Quatre Bras, passed along the main road 
 towards Waterloo and Brussels. 
 
 After our halt we came on to the road again just ahead of a 
 regiment of Dutch Belgians, and formed open column of com- 
 panies from subdivisions as each company reached it, so that our 
 allies had to halt till we were all on the road. Each side of the 
 road was now Imed with soldiers of different regiments, and with 
 some women and drummer boys, who had fallen out from fatigue. 
 From this time until some time after we had reached the entrance 
 to Hougomont, no less than five mounted ofticers were sent, one 
 after the other, to bring up stragglers belonging to the 52nd.
 
 14 52nd light infantry 
 
 About a mile and a half before we reached Hougomont, we 
 saw something of the French troops on our right, marching on 
 the Charleroi road, towards Maison du Eoi and Eosomme. This 
 was the first we had seen of them. Shortly after this we halted, 
 still in open column of companies, and loaded. Two French 
 staff officers rode down to within 200 yards of us to recon- 
 noitre, and one of them I saw writing down what he observed. 
 On our arriving at the avenue leading to the Chateau of Hougo- 
 mont, the head of the column turned to the right, and had 
 advanced some distance down the avenue, when it was halted 
 and countermarched, from which it was supposed that the original 
 intention was that our brigade should occupy Hougomont for the 
 night. 
 
 About this time, half-past seven, the British and French 
 armies were taking up their positions on the Field of Waterloo. 
 The French, at first, appeared not quite to understand that the 
 English had arrived at their position, and had to be restrained by 
 Picton, from behind La Haye Sainte, opening a cannonade from 
 two brigades of artillery upon a mass of French infantry, which 
 had advanced along the Charleroi road to some little distance in 
 front of La Belle Alliance. In other parts of the field, between 
 the two positions, there were some spirited little affairs of cavalry 
 at intervals, in which our troops, forming part of the rear-guard 
 under the Earl of Uxbridge, very much distinguished themselves. 
 "When we were on the slope, to the rear of Hougomont, looking 
 towards La Belle Alliance, we had close to us a British light 
 dragoon regiment with white facings, who appeared to have just 
 come up the slope after one of these encounters. As they faced 
 about and re-formed on our position there was some cheering 
 amongst them. As we were marching at ease across the slope 
 just about this time, and appeared to be not far from the French, 
 I heard one of our men say we were likely to be engaged at once, 
 when another replied, " There will be no battle to night, but 
 " to morrow ; all the Duke of Wellington's great battles have been 
 " fought on a Sunday." 
 
 Whilst we were halted near Hougomont, a heavy clap of 
 thunder from the direction of Mont Plaisir startled us all ; my first 
 idea was that the French artillery in that direction were opening
 
 AT WATEELOO. 15 
 
 upon lis. Siborne speaks of there having been much thunder 
 and lightning during the evening and night of the 17th of June, 
 but that was the only clap of thunder I heard ; there was much 
 rain during the night. Just after this, when it was decided to 
 what part of the ground we should move, Lord Seaton directed 
 me to ride and see if the regiment could get through a hedge 
 about two hundred yards off, in the direction of the village of 
 Merbe Braine ; it was a stiff hedge cut down to stakes nearly 
 five feet high, with gaps here and there through which a single 
 file might pass, and I was somewhat afraid if I reported that the 
 regiment might pass through it, I might get into a scrape, if the 
 column should be brought up by it. I reported it passable, and 
 we marched through it without any great difficulty, and took up 
 our position in a ploughed field, just in advance of Merbe Braine, 
 looking towards Hougomont, and at about two miles to the 
 eastward of the town of Braine-la-leud. 
 
 I was ordered with a fatigue party to go into the village to 
 bring straw for the company. As we passed along the street we 
 saw lying in the middle of the road, opposite to one of the 
 cottages, the dead body of one of the 95th Eifles ; I supposed 
 he had been plundering and had been killed by one of the 
 inhabitants. I proceeded with my fatigue party to the principal 
 farm, where I found our general of brigade, Adam, who had 
 taken up his quarters there. AVe could find no straw in the barn, 
 and so, as " necessitas non habet leges," we took the straw from 
 the roof of the barn itself, which had been recently thatched. 
 A German soldier was walking off with a fine calf about a month 
 old, when the mistress of the house appealed to us for assistance, 
 and the general's aide-de-camp, Campbell, coming out at the 
 moment, gave the fellow a good kicking, and took the calf from 
 him. 
 
 On my return to the bivouac, our servants made a bed of 
 straw on the wet ploughed field, and all four of us, McNair, 
 Hall, Yonge, and I, lay down and, being covered with our boat 
 cloaks, tried to go to sleep ; it was very hot and there was heavy 
 rain, and the straw conducted the rain into the inside of my stock, 
 so that I was soon glad to get up. I think it was a little after ten 
 o'clock when we were ordered to fall in again, as we were going to
 
 16 52nd lioht infantry 
 
 move, and eacli man was to take his straw with him. I don't 
 know where the others were, but I found myself to be for a short 
 time the only officer with the company. We moved in file, left 
 in front, and I was very proud of my command, when Colonel 
 Charles Eowan rode up to me, as 'No. 9 formed up into line on 
 the left of No. 10, and said to me, "Leeke, dress your company 
 in a line with that distant fire." Our line then faced the French 
 position, and was about 400 yards in rear of the crest of the 
 British position, and about 500 yards from Merbe Braine. Here, 
 having formed open column of companies, we piled arms and 
 remained for the night. My friend Yonge shared my boat- 
 cloak and straw with me, and we consequently both of us got 
 very wet. The horses were picketed near us, and very soon 
 some half-dozen of them got loose and galloped away towards 
 Hougomont and the French position, and then came back again 
 at speed towards the horses they had left, nearly passing over us, 
 and only being prevented from doing so by our jumping up ; they 
 galloped about in this way the whole night, and thus made this 
 wi'etched night still more wretched. I fell asleep several times, 
 then dreamt we were advancing and closing with the enemy, then 
 started up again, then thought of home and all my beloved ones 
 there; again I dozed off, then came our horses like a furious 
 charge of cavalry, and we had to start up and scare them off; 
 and this kind of thing went on till the night had passed, and the 
 morning of the 18th broke upon us. 
 
 As the morning of this eventful day advanced, the heavy rain 
 of the preceding night passed off and was succeeded by fine 
 weather. The men of the regiment were soon to be seen in every 
 direction in their shirt sleeves, drawing the charges from their 
 muskets and cleaning and drying their arms, and thus preparing 
 for the coming conflict. The French line of battle was about 
 three-quarters of a mile from that of the English. The great 
 road from Charleroi to Brussels ran through the centres of each 
 line, dividing the right wing of each army from the left. On 
 the right of the British army were the chateau and farm and 
 grounds of Hougomont, the whole in a square each side of which 
 was a quarter of a mile in length. The northern side of the 
 inclosure towards Brussels was nearly a quarter of a mile from
 
 AT WATEKLOO. 17 
 
 the British position; the southern side of the inclosure was about 
 the same distance from the position occupied by General Foy's 
 9th division of the French army, and the western side was a 
 quarter of a mile from Prince Jerome's division. In the centre of 
 the British position, 300 yards down the slope and close to the right 
 of the Charleroi road, was the farm house of La Haye Sainte ; its 
 yard and orchard extended nearly a quarter of a mile along the 
 right of the road, and the inclosure, in its whole length, was about 
 eightyyards in width; theleftof theBritishpositionextended about 
 a mile and a half from the centre above La Haye Sainte, and was 
 composed of Picton's division (in which were Kempt's and Pack's 
 British, and Von Viucke's Hanoverian brigades) containing up- 
 wards of 7000 men; and of Lambert's and Best's brigades of 
 Cole's division, containing upwards of 5000 men, and, further to 
 the left, of Vandeleur's and Vivian's brigades of light cavalry, 
 containing 2500 men. Along the front of the left wing, and 
 extending down to the farm of Papelotte and the village of 
 Smohain, were Perponcher's Dutch Belgian division, in which 
 were Bylandt's and Prince Bernhard of Saxe Weimar's brigades, 
 containing 7500 men; a quarter of a mile in rear of Kempt's 
 infantry brigade was Sir William Ponsonby's Union Brigade, 
 containing the Scots Greys, the Enniskillens, and 1st Eoyal 
 Dragoons, about 1200 heavy cavalry; 300 yards to the rear of 
 these, to the left of the farm of Mont St. Jean, were a reserve of 
 upwards of 1000 Belgian horse under General Ghigny ; so 
 that from the left of La Haye Sainte and of the Charleroi road to 
 the extreme left of the British position there were stationed 
 about 24,000 men, who formed the left wing of the army. 
 
 The right wing of the army extended away, from the centre 
 to the rioht, for about the same distance of a mile and a half. 
 Colonel Von Ompteda's brigade of four battalions of the King's 
 German Legion, had its left resting on the Charleroi road. To 
 the right of Ompteda's brigade stood Count Kielmansegge's 
 brigade of six battalions of Hanoverian landwehr or militia; 
 and further to the right was Sir Colin Halkett's British brigade 
 of four battalions. These three brigades formed Count Alten's 
 division, and occupied about 800 yards of the British position, 
 from the centre towards the right ; they contained about 8000 
 
 c
 
 18 52nd light infantry 
 
 men. In rear of Alten's division were General Von Kruse's 
 Nassau contingent of 3000 infantry, Lord Edward Somerset's 
 brigade of the Life Guards, Blues, and 1st Dragoon Guards, 
 Trip's and Van Merlen's brigades of Dutch Belgian cavalry, and 
 Arentschildt's light cavalry brigade. On the right of Alten's 
 division were Cooke's 1st division of the British army, composed 
 of Maitland's and Byng's brigades of Guards. Maitland's brigade 
 consisted of the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 1st regiment of 
 Guards, and Byng's consisted of the 2nd battalion of the 2nd 
 or Coldstream Guards, and of the 2nd battalion of the 3rd Guards. 
 The division was nearly 4000 strong; Byng's brigade was posted 
 on the higher ground above Hougomont; the light companies 
 of all the four battalions of the division occupied the farm house 
 and buildings, and the garden of Hougomont ; there were also in 
 the inclosure of Hougomont a battalion of the Nassau troops 
 and two companies of Hanoverians. To the right of the Guards 
 and to the rear and north-west of the grounds and inclosure of 
 Hougomont, Mitchell's brigade, of Sir Charles Colville's division 
 was posted ; it consisted of the 51st Light Infantry, and of a 
 battalion of the 14th regiment and another of the 23rd Fusi- 
 leers, and was about 1800 strong. 
 
 Between tliese last mentioned troops and the village of Merbe 
 Braine, on the reverse slope of the British position, there was a 
 most imposing force, which formed a very strong reserve; and 
 which, if the French had attempted to advance upon Brussels 
 to their left of Hougomont and by Hal, as the Duke of Welling- 
 ton expected, would most completely have intercepted them and 
 defeated their intention. These troops were composed of the 
 three brigades of Sir Henry Clinton's division, namely, General 
 Adam's brigade, consisting of the 52nd Light Infantry, the 71st 
 Highland Light Infantry, six companies of the 2nd battalion of 
 the old 95th Eifles (now the Eifle Brigade), and of two companies 
 of the 3rd battalion of the 95th Eifles; these fine regiments 
 contained 2600 men. The other two brigades of Clinton's 
 division, amounting together to 4000 men, were Colonel Du 
 Plat's 1st brigade of the King's German Legion, and Colonel 
 Halket's Hanoverian brigade. To the left of Merbe Braine and 
 between it and the road from Nivelles to Brussels, were the
 
 AT WATERLOO. • 19 
 
 Biunswickers, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, making up 6000 or 
 7000 men; in rear of the guard, also, were Grant's, and Dornberg's, 
 and other brigades of cavalry. The British and Allied artillery, 
 amounting to 196 guns and upwards of 8000 men, were attached 
 to their several divisions or brigades. 
 
 The above is a rough but tolerably accurate account of the 
 positions occupied by the British and Allied troops on the 
 morning of the 18th of June ; but whilst some of the troops 
 occupied the same ground the whole day, others, and more es- 
 pecially our own brigade, passed over a large portion both of 
 the British and French positions. 
 
 Here I beg leave to state, that I do not profess to give any 
 detailed account of any other regiment than my own. I may 
 have occasion to mention some of those other glorious regiments, 
 but I have scarcely any details which I could give, if I wished 
 to do so, excepting such as relate to the 52nd ; and those state- 
 ments which I may make respecting the 52nd at the battle of 
 Waterloo will be almost all such as I witnessed myself. 
 
 Early on the 18th, Captain Diggle's company. No. 1 of the 
 52nd, was sent with two or three companies of the 95th into the 
 inclosures of the village of Merbe Braine, facing Braine-la-leud ; 
 they were withdrawn sometime before the action commenced. 
 Some little time after we were all stirring, I wandered off a short 
 distance to a fire belonging to the 71st, at which one or two 
 officers were standing ; I was very glad to get the opportunity 
 of warming and drying myself. I found a plank, of about my 
 own length, near the fire; where it came from I have no idea, but 
 I took the liberty, as no one was using it, of laying myself at full 
 length on it before the tire ; I very soon fell asleep and must 
 have slept three hours, which much refreshed me, when my ser- 
 vant came to tell me some breakfast was going on amongst the 
 officers of Captain Mc ISTair's company, the company to which 
 I belonged. Our breakfast consisted of a biscuit each and scmj 
 soup, which was in one of the servants' mess tins ; I was, unin- 
 tentionally on his part, done out of my drink of broth by one of 
 the officers exclaiming, just as I put my lips to the tin, " Come, 
 " Master Leeke, I think you have had your share of that." This 
 half-mouthful of broth and a biscuit were all I tasted that day 
 
 c 2
 
 20 52nd light infantky 
 
 iintil after nine o'clock, when I got a lump of bread about as big 
 as my fist from a French loaf. About ten o'clock, Lord Hill, 
 with his staff, came galloping along, about fifty yards in the rear 
 of the 52nd, through the high corn ; he was riding towards the 
 extreme right of our position ; as he passed me, I recollect he 
 gave me one of his pleasant smiles. Shortly after this we got 
 under arms, and Nettles and I were warned by Winterbottom, 
 the adjutant, that we were to carry the colours ; on our taking 
 them over from the Serjeants, we both agreed that it was not our 
 turn to carry the colours, and wondered why we had been told off 
 to them. I recollect observing, that it would suit me very well, 
 that I had not been long enough in the regiment (I had only 
 joined five weeks before) to be of any other use, but that I could 
 carry a colour. Major William Chalmers rode up to us and said, 
 " The regiment is going to act in separate wings ; I am going to 
 " command the right wing, and one of you gentlemen will go to 
 " my wing," and addressing me, he added, " You, sir, will go to the 
 " right wing." Now I was anxious, as I did not know so much of 
 the other officers as I did of those belonging to my own company, 
 No. 9, to be in the left wing with them, which I knew was the 
 proper wing for the regimental colour, carried by me as the junior 
 ensign of the two. I therefore ventured to tell Major Chalmers 
 that mine was the regimental colour which should be with the 
 left wing, but he did not choose to rectify the immaterial mistake, 
 which nobody (jlse, probably, discovered at the time, for our 
 colours, which had been with the regiment and the light division 
 all through the Peninsular War, were little more than bare poles. 
 Immediately afterwards, poor Nettles and I separated, not to meet 
 again ; he was killed by a cannon-shot, about seven o'clock in 
 the evening. There were two brevet-majors by the name of 
 William Chalmers in the 52nd ; the one at Waterloo, being a 
 dark man, was always called " Black Will," the other, " White 
 " WiU." 
 
 The following extracts, from a letter I have lately received 
 from Captain the Hon. William Ogilvie, relates to circumstances 
 which occurred before the action commenced, and should find 
 insertion here, and will be read with interest : — " I was in Eobert 
 " Campbell's company, commanded by Captain Cross, afterwards
 
 AT WATERLOO. 21 
 
 "Lieut-Colonel of the 68tli. I was the senior subaltern, poor 
 " Nettles also belonged to the company, I am not sure if we had 
 " any other officer at this time. I happen to have preserved the 
 "parade state of the company on the 16th of June, on which 
 " morning I dare say you will remember we turned out for one of 
 " Sir H. Clinton's field days. Cross, not being very well, did not 
 " come out, and, by the time I had inspected the company, a 
 " cavalry man was seen on a jaded horse comiug up the road, and, 
 " it was soon known that he brought an order for the division to 
 " march on Enghien, &c. In the agreeable excitement at the news, 
 " Winterbottom did not collect the states. The state is interest- 
 " ing from shewing the splendid condition of the corps then. The 
 " company, 87 rank and file, under arms, five tailors left at Les- 
 " sines employed on the soldiers' clothing,* and only one man 
 " sick ; officers' servants, batmen, band, &c. making a total of 104 
 " rank and file. I have no doubt the other companies were equally 
 " strong. What a noble battalion it was ! 
 
 "One additional cii'cumstance, which I have not seen anywhere 
 " mentioned, occurred shortly before the action. An order came 
 " for a working party from the brigade with intrenching tools ; it 
 " was accordingly paraded ; William Eowan, now General Sir 
 " William Eowan, commanded it, and it chanced to be my turn for 
 " that duty also. When ready, I heard the brigade-major direct 
 " Eowan to march on a single tree, far to our left, where he would 
 " receive further orders. The party, however, had proceeded but a 
 " very short way, when the French attack on Hougomont com- 
 " menced, and we were immediately recalled. I have since had 
 " very little doubt that the purpose was to have used the working 
 " iDarty to strengthen the post of La Haye Sainte, had time allowed, 
 "and it was unfortunate it was not thought of a few hours 
 " sooner." 
 
 About eleven o'clock the 52nd moved from the ground on 
 which it had bivouacked, about 300 yards more to the rear. The 
 right wing of the regiment was in column of subdivisions, about 
 twenty yards in front of the steep bank between it and Merbe 
 
 * The men at Lessines, amounting to between forty and fifty, probably joined 
 us at Enghien or Nivelles. Siborne states, that the 52nd had 1038 men at 
 Waterloo, which amount would agree with this company's parade state.
 
 22 52nd light infantry at waterlog. 
 
 Braine ; the left wing was in line to the left of the front sub- 
 division of the right wing, with an interval of a few paces 
 between the wings. Captain Siborne, in his first plan of the 
 field of Waterloo, places the 52nd, when in reserve, 200 yards 
 more in advance, and 100 yards more to the eastward than they 
 were.
 
 23 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 1815. 
 
 52nd light infantry at waterlog. 
 
 Commencement of the battle at twelve o'clock— 52nd in resen^e — Chalmers's horse 
 shot — Several casualties — First narrow escape — Attack on Hougomont — 
 Attack on La Haye Sainte and Picton's division — Charge of the Union 
 Brigade and of the Life Guards — Grand charge of 6000 French cavalry — 
 British guns deserted— 52nd form square, and advance over and down the 
 British position — Brunswickers — French cavalry rally and are supported by 
 7000 fresh horsemen — Adam's brigade in squares to the left of Hougomont — 
 52nd in two squares — Cannonade — French cuirassiers— Various incidents — 
 La Haye Sainte taken by the French — The squares of the brigade ordered 
 to retire up to the position. 
 
 Exactly at twelve o'clock, by Chalmers's watcli, the battle was 
 begun by a cannon shot fired from the French position at 
 the Duke of Wellington, who, with a numerous assemblage of 
 general and other staff officers, had taken post about a third of a 
 mile in our front on the high ground in rear of the north-eastern 
 corner of the enclosure of Hougomont, from whence he could 
 see the greater part of the French position. Such an assemblage 
 was sure to attract the attention of the enemy, and unnecessarily 
 to bring on itself the opening cannonade. It was said the Duke 
 told some of the generals they were " rather too thick upon 
 " the ground." 
 
 Whilst we were in reserve above the village of Merbe Braine, 
 the regiment suffered several casualties from the shot and shell 
 which passed over the British position in our front. I think 
 the first occurred to Major Chalmers. The regiment was lying 
 down ; I was forced to remain with the colour in rear of the 
 centre subdivision of the right wing, but several of the officers 
 were standing in a group round Chalmers's horse when a ricochet
 
 24 52nd light mFANTRY 
 
 shot came lobbing in amongst them, but fortunately did no other 
 inj ury than that of breaking the horse's leg ; Chalmers drew 
 a pistol from his holster and put the animal out of his misery. 
 
 Most of our casualties at this time were occasioned by shell 
 bursting over us, but we saw many cannon-shot ploughing up 
 the ground near us : I had been already regarding several of 
 them with great respect, when my colour-serjeant, Khodes, who 
 took great care of me and shewed me much kindness all the day, 
 said, pointing to a shot passing through the standing corn, on 
 the right of the column, "There, Mr. Leeke, is a cannon-shot, if you 
 "never saw one before. Sir!" Serjeant Houseley,* whilst standing 
 in rear of the column, narrowly escaped having a round shot 
 through him, by stooping just as he saw it in a line with him at 
 some little distance ; this was quite allowable when his comrades 
 were lying down at their ease. One of my narrow escapes 
 occurred whilst we were lying here in reserve ; I had my head 
 against my colour-serjeant's knapsack, and was trying, but in 
 vain, to get some sleep, when all at once there was a great rattle 
 against the mess-tins, which, fitting one within the other, were 
 strapped to the back of every man's knapsack ; a piece of shell 
 about the size and about as thick as the half of the palm of 
 one's hand, had struck, and lodged in the inner tin ; we both sat 
 up, and he extracted the inner tin and the piece of shell, saying, 
 as he pitched them both away, "If that had hit either you or me 
 " on the head. Sir, I think it would have settled our business for 
 " us." On our leaving this ground I looked back and saw we had 
 left two poor fellows in 52nd uniform lying dead under a tree, 
 and could scarcely refrain from shedding tears at the melancholy 
 sight ; one of them was the assistant serjeant-major, a man 
 greatly respected in the regiment. We lost, whilst in reserve, 
 these two men killed, and I think about ten or twelve men 
 wounded, who were taken to Merbe Braine. 
 
 Colonel Hall, speaking of the casualties which occurred at 
 this time in the 52nd, says : — " A young lad, (Kearns) of our com- 
 " pany was struck by a cannon-shot, and was borne off motionless 
 " and white as a sheet. Those about me and myself concluded he 
 " was dying. Two or three days afterwards I could scarcely be- 
 
 * See Aijpendix No. 4.
 
 AT WATEHLOO. 25 
 
 " lieve my eyes, when I saw him walk into the bivouac. The shot 
 " had carried away his pouch so cleanly, that he suffered no injury 
 " beyond the temporary shock and fright." 
 
 The 52nd remained about three hours in reserve just above 
 Merbe Braine, and during that time three of the principal attacks 
 of the French took place on our position. The first of these was 
 made on the post of Hougomont, by large bodies of skirmishers 
 and their supports detached from Prince Jerome Bonaparte's and 
 General Toy's divisions. Hougomont was defended by the light 
 companies of the two brigades of the British Guards, by the 
 Hanoverian riflemen, and by the Nassau battalion. The French 
 and English skirmishers advanced on and gave way before each 
 other with alternate success. At one time the French, superior 
 in numbers, had almost got into the farm yard of Hougomont, 
 but were repulsed by the light company of the Coldstream 
 Guards ; the French did actually pass round to the northern 
 side of the inclosures near to the British position. Some of the 
 masses sent forward by Foy and Prince Jerome, were forced to 
 retire by the fire opened on them from the British and German 
 guns and howitzers. Some companies from the Coldstream and 
 3rd Guards, having reinforced the gallant defenders of Hougo- 
 mont, the enemy were driven off from the chateau to the lower 
 inclosures of the place. 
 
 The attack on Hougomont was preparatory to, and appears 
 also to have been, in a great measure, a feint to draw off attention 
 from, a grand attack which the Emperor caused to be made 
 about half-past one or two on La Haye Sainte and the centre of 
 the Allied position, by the whole of Count d'Erlon's corps, which 
 formed the right wing of the French army, supported by a 
 division of cavalry from the left wing and by the fire of no less 
 than seventy -four pieces of cannon, intended, whilst the troops 
 were forming for the attack in advance of La Belle Alliance, and 
 whilst they crossed the lower ground and the first rise of the 
 British position, to draw off the fire of the British artillery from 
 them. In the latter part of the action, the most of these pieces 
 and many others were abandoned by the French, in conse- 
 quence of the rapid advance of the 52nd to the British left of 
 La Belle Alliance between eight and nine o'clock in the evening,
 
 26 52nd light infantry 
 
 after they had defeated the cohimns of the French Imperial 
 Guard. 
 
 This attack of the centre and left wing of the Allied 
 position was made by about 17,500 infantry supported by cavalry. 
 The left division of this force under General Donzelot tried in its 
 advance to gain possession of the farm of La Haye Sainte, 
 but were successfully resisted at that time by Major Baring 
 and his Hanoverians. The French attack embraced the whole 
 of the left wing, so that the Nassau troops under Prince 
 Bernhard, of Saxe Weimar, were driven by the French skir- 
 mishers from the farm of Papelotte, which, however, they 
 speadily retook. 
 
 The first and chief brunt of the attack appears to have fallen 
 on Kempt's brigade of Picton's division, composed of the 
 battalions of those fine regiments, the 28th, 32nd, 79th High- 
 landers, and (those old friends of the 52nd in the light division 
 in Spain) the 95th Rifles. The French sent forward as usual a 
 mass of skirmishers. Bylandt's Dutch Belgian brigade was in 
 advance of the interval between Kempt's and Pack's brigades, 
 and shamefully fled past the British brigades, notwithstanding 
 the eflbrts of their ofiicers to restrain them, directly they felt the 
 fire of the advancing skirmishers ; Picton ordered Kempt's 
 brigade to advance on the enemy, which they did, and fired 
 on them and charged them as they were reaching the crest of 
 the position and completely routed them. In this melee the 
 gallant Sir Thomas Picton was killed.* The 1st light battalion 
 of the King's German Legion, belonging to Colonel Von Ompteda's 
 brigade, crossed to their left of the Charleroi road, and joined 
 Kempt's brigade in this charge. The Frencli advancing in front 
 of Pack's brigade were repulsed with equal gallantry by that 
 brigade, consisting of the 1st Royals, the 42nd, and 92nd 
 Highlanders, and the 44th regiment. 
 
 * After his death it was discovered that his hip had heen very severely 
 contused by a spent cannon shot at the action of Quatre Bras, two days before ; this 
 wound he had concealed, that he might not be absent from the grand battle, 
 which was fought at Waterloo. In the United Service Museum, on the wall just 
 above Captain Siborne's model of the battle of Waterloo, hangs the map of 
 Belgium which poor Picton carried in the breast of his coat when he was killed. 
 It is stained in several places with his blood.
 
 AT WATERLOO. 27 
 
 Some of the French supporting cavalry advanced to their 
 left of La Haye Sainte and inflicted severe loss on one of 
 Kielmansegge's Hanoverian regiments, which had been sent by 
 the Duke to reinforce the troops holding La Haye Sainte. 
 "VVliilst this was taking place, and during the advance of Kempt's 
 and Pack's brigades, Lord Uxbridge ordered forward the House- 
 hold Brigade of cavalry under Lord Edward Somerset, consisting 
 of the Life Guards, Blues, and the 1st Dragoon Guards ; and 
 also Sir William Ponsonby's brigade, consisting of the Enniskillen 
 Dragoons, the Scots Greys, and 1st or Eoyal Dragoons. Pon- 
 sonby's brigade charged to the left of Kempt's brigade and was 
 somewhat mixed up with Pack's. They took two eagles, and 
 with Somerset's brigade, which advanced more to the right, 
 greatly contributed to consummate the rout of this large French 
 force, which Picton's division had initiated. The French fled in 
 in all directions, leaving two eagles and 3000 prisoners in our 
 hands, and having many pieces of cannon disabled. 
 
 The English had two generals. Sir Thomas Picton and Sir 
 William Ponsonby, killed on this occasion. The Union Brigade, 
 as Ponsonby's was called, from its consisting of an English, an 
 Irish, and a Scotch regiment, and also a portion of the Household 
 Brigade, after the rout of the French, did not know when to 
 pull up, but followed them on to the French position, and thereby, 
 after causing much confusion, suffered most severely, when attacked 
 in their scattered state and cut off by the formed cavalry of the 
 enemy. Sir Colin Campbell, who was on the Duke of Welling- 
 ton's staff, told me that he saw what I have attempted briefly to 
 state, respecting the attack and defeat of the French on this 
 occasion, including the splendid charge of the two brigades of 
 cavalry, and that he saw the white horses of the Scots Greys 
 carrying confusion into the French ranks, as far as the eye could 
 reach ; he saw also the enemy detaching troops in various 
 directions to cut them off in detail. The supporting regiment of 
 the Union Brigade in charging got mixed up with those in ad- 
 vance, and Vandeleur consequently moved down two of the regi- 
 ments of his brigade, the 12th and 16th Light Dragoons, in 
 support, and by charging and routing the French lancers, secured 
 the retreat of some of the scattered remnants of Ponsonby's
 
 28 52nd light infantry 
 
 brigade. In the charge of the 12th Light Dragoons, Colonel the 
 Hon. Frederick Ponsonby was disabled in both arms, and his 
 horse carried him on to the French position where he was struck 
 to the ground by a sabre cut.* 
 
 About three o'clock, the Emperor ordered Marshal Ney to 
 make a grand attack with 6000 cavalry on the right wing of the 
 British; it extended from La Haye Sainte in the centre to 
 Hougomont on the right of the position ; as these troops advanced 
 they could only see the British artillery standing to their guns 
 on the crest of the position ; the infantry was in battalion 
 squares on the reverse incline of the position. The Duke had 
 moved up the Bruns wickers from their place in reserve, and also 
 Colonel Du Plat's brigade of the King's German Legion. After 
 firing round shot and grape into the advancing cavalry of the 
 enemy till they could no longer stand to their guns, the British 
 and German artillerymen took refuge in the squares nearest to 
 them. The French, on reaching the summit of the position, 
 found the whole line of guns deserted, and found themselves in 
 presence of the British, German, and Brunswick squares, which 
 they charged and which opened fire upon them. The French 
 cavalry did not attempt to charge home on any one of the squares, 
 but inclined to the right and left and rode between them, 
 receiving the "fire of the four faces of almost every square. They 
 were thrown into much confusion, which the Allied cavalry 
 taking advantage of, charged and drove them from the position. 
 Directly this occurred, the artillerymen ran to their guns and 
 opened a most destructive fire on the retiring squadrons. The 
 French soon rallied, and supported by 7000 fresh cavalry, again 
 attacked the guns and the squares with the same result, suffering 
 very severe loss in killed and wounded and being thrown into 
 very great and irretrievable confusion by the mLxing up of 
 various divisions, and various brigades, and regiments. On one 
 of these occasions. Sir Colin Campbell told me, that he, having 
 lost his horse, got under an ammunition waggon near the centre 
 of the position, to avoid the charge of the French cavalry. 
 Directly the French cavalry had fled, the French artillery again 
 opened a tremendous fire on our position, under cover of which the 
 
 • See Appendix No. 5.
 
 WATERLOO 18^" JUNE 1815 FROM 4.30 TO 6.30 O'CLOCK P. M 
 
 PI 
 
 
 
 
 "^^ 
 
 'i^! ^omcf,. 
 
 
 _(^' 
 
 ..'^'^'Ofc^risi. 
 
 I|,n.i.i..i, W^MJ 
 
 
 "ino'/il!)!!!' 
 
 
 
 
 *5 BH. 
 
 MB' 
 
 u^ 
 
 
 uii_ 
 
 
 VA R OS 
 
 <T Joliins.S'Wan'.'iak Gnui 
 
 O 100 'iOO 300- *00 VOi"
 
 AT WATERLOO. 29 
 
 enemy sent forward a large force of infantry and cavalry, which 
 maintained itself in the hollow to the Allied right of La Haye 
 Sainte until nearly the close of the action. 
 
 During the occurrence of nearly all the stirring events briefly 
 recorded in the foregoing portion of the chapter, the 52nd were 
 lying down in reserve in front of Merbe Braine. About three 
 o'clock or a little after, the whole regiment formed open column 
 of companies to the left, and proceeded about a quarter of a mile 
 along the right of the road from Braine-la-leud, in an eastern 
 direction, nearly to the angle formed by the junction of that 
 road with that running from Nivelles to Brussels, and formed 
 square on No. 10 company. We there saw the grand charge of 
 the French cavalry, before described, all along the British position, 
 a quarter of a mile in our front, and numbers of our guns 
 deserted. Colonel Charles Ptowan addressed the regiment, and 
 said, he did not think " those fellows would come near us, but 
 " that if they did we would give them a warm reception." Sir 
 John Colborne was somewhere away in front at that time. 
 Almost immediately after the formation of the square, the 52nd 
 advanced in square, up to, and over the British position. Some 
 little time before it crossed the position, Cottingham, who was 
 the first officer wounded, was struck by a spent cannon-ball on 
 the right ankle. He had a trick of continually exclaiming " By 
 " Jove ! " and was often joked about it. I had a little joke against 
 him on the subject, as on our march up from Ostend, in describing 
 to me an attack by a German regiment of cavalry on a body of 
 French, he concluded by saying, " By Jove, they cut them up 
 " like sparrows." When he received this very severe contusion, he 
 was immediately supported by one of the Serjeants, and hopped 
 about on his other foot, crying out " Oh, by Jove, by Jove ! " 
 One could hardly help smiling at the exclamation. This shot 
 must have been fired from the extreme left of the French army, 
 at the troops of Mitchell's or Du Plat's brigade, stationed on the 
 higher ground in rear of Hougomont, and have first taken the 
 ground near them. It passed over, or through the lengthened- 
 out right face of the 52nd square, and spent its strength on poor 
 Cottiugham's ankle. I was marching about five or six feet 
 behind him ; and first of all thought it was a shell, but, on
 
 30 52nd light infantry 
 
 looking at it, I found it to be a round-shot, from one of the 
 French twelve-pounder batteries. 
 
 On the position we passed over the spot on which one of the 
 Brunswick squares had stood, and found lying there many of 
 their killed and badly-wounded men. They had suffered most 
 severely from round-shot and shells. It was one of the most 
 shocking sights we saw even on that most blood-stained battle 
 field. One poor fellow, whose thigh was completely taken off 
 high up, by the explosion of a shell at the moment it struck him, 
 and who was black in the face, raised himself and caught hold 
 of the hand of one of our men, and then fell dead. Another, 
 who had not long to live, shook the hand of another 52nd man, 
 as we were passing to the front, and cried " Brave Anglais." 
 Close to this was a Brunswick square, prepared to receive 
 cavalry, with the front rank kneeling, as steady as a rock ; but 
 wdiether it was the square these wounded men belonged to, 
 which had been removed out of its exposed position, or another 
 square, I know not. We must have passed here near to the 
 right square of Maitland's brigade of Guards, but we saw 
 nothing of them. Our advance was just at the close of the 
 first attack of the French cavalry on the Allied squares. I 
 think, but am not sure, that we saw at this time, the 13th Light 
 Dragoons, of Grant's brigade, ride down the slope on our left, 
 to charge some French cavalry on their left front. 
 
 Immediately on descending the slope of the position towards 
 the enemy, the regiment, almost concealed by the tall rye, which 
 was then for the first time trampled down, formed two squares. 
 I remember that when we formed these two squares, we were 
 not far from the north-eastern point of the Hougomont inclosure, 
 and on the narrow white road which, passing within 100 yards 
 of that point, crosses the interval between the British and 
 French positions in the direction of La Belle Alliance. 
 
 The squares of Adam's brigade advanced till the 71st were 
 nearly half way down the inclosure of Hougomont, and about 
 300 yards from it ; the right square of the 52nd was nearly 150 
 yards down the line of the inclosure and about 400 yards from 
 it, the left square of the 52nd being on its left, and more up the 
 British position, whilst the square of the 2nd battalion of the
 
 AT WATERLOO. 31 
 
 95tli Piifles, was the left square of the whole brigade, and was 
 still further up the position. 
 
 When I was talking with Sir Colin Campbell on the subject 
 of the battle of Waterloo, he said he never understood why 
 Adam's brigade was placed in that advanced and exposed 
 position, and inquired if I knew what the object of it was. 
 I told him that we had supposed we were placed there as a 
 support to the troops in Hougomont. It has, however, occurred 
 to me whilst I have been writing this portion of my book, 
 that this brigade posted in squares in the manner above 
 described, if it could maintain its ground, in spite of the 
 tremendous cannonade to which it must necessarily be exposed, 
 would so break the force of any fresh cavalry attack on the 
 English guns and squares on the crest of the position, as to 
 render it abortive ; and also, that its maintaining its ground 
 so far in advance of the other troops, many of whom were 
 young battalions who had never been in action before, would 
 tend to inspire them with confidence. In the next chapter I 
 shall bring before my readers many events of interest which 
 occurred in connexion with the 52nd squares. Of the 71st and 
 95th squares I only know that they suffered very severely 
 from the fire of the French artillery ; and they appeared, as 
 the French General Foy said of the squares of this brigade, to 
 be rooted to the ground, so steady were they, under the 
 tremendous fire to which they were exposed. 
 
 The old officers, who had served during the whole of the 
 Peninsula war, stated that they were never exposed to such a 
 cannonade as that which the 52nd squares had to undergo on 
 this occasion for two hours and a half, from the French artillery 
 planted about half a mile in their front. Our own artillery, 
 on, or just under the crest of our position, were also firing over 
 our heads the whole time, either at the enemy's troops or at 
 their guns. Some shrapnel-shells burst short, and wounded 
 some of the 52nd men ; but the firing of these shells was 
 discontinued, on our sending notice of what they were doing 
 to the artillery above us. In the right square of the 52nd, and 
 I suppose it was the same in all the squares of our brigade, there 
 was one incessant roar of round-shot and shells passing over
 
 S2 52XD LIGHT IXFANTRY 
 
 or close to us on either flank ; occasionally they made gaps in 
 the square. The only interval that occurred in the cannonade, 
 was when we were charged by the French cavalry, for they, 
 of course, could not fire on our squares for fear of injuring their 
 own squadrons, so that the charges of cavalry were a great 
 relief to us all I believe, at least, I know they were so to me. 
 
 The standing to be cannonaded, and having nothing else to 
 do, is about the most unpleasant thing that can happen to 
 soldiers in an engagement. I frequently tried to follow, with 
 my eye, the course of the balls from our own guns, which were 
 firing over us. It is much more easy to see a round-shot 
 passing away from you over your head, than to catch sight of 
 one coming through the air towards you, though this also occurs 
 occasionally. I speak of shot fired from six, eight, nine, or 
 twelve-pounder guns. Some of the artillery above us were 
 firing at one time, over our square, at a body of cuirassiers 
 drawn up to their right and rear of the lower inclosure of 
 Hougomont ; one of the round-shot, which I caught sight of, 
 made a regular gap, and occasioned some confusion in their 
 front squadron. After this, as the officer in command of the 
 regiment was riding up and down about twenty yards in front 
 of the leading squadron, I saw a round-shot which I thought 
 would have struck his horse's head ; it however appeared to 
 pass about half a foot from his head, causing him to start back 
 affrighted, and in a way calculated to have unseated his rider 
 had he not been a superior horseman. 
 
 My position in the right square was in the rear of the centre 
 of the front face. I have before stated that it is only very 
 occasionally that a person can see a round-shot coming from 
 a twelve-pounder gun, or from one of smaller ■ calibre. After 
 we had been stationed for more than an hour so far down in 
 front of the British position, a gleam of sunshine, falling on 
 them, particularly attracted my attention to some brass guns 
 in our front which appeared to be placed lower down the 
 French slope, and nearer to us, than the others ; I distinctly 
 saw the French artilleryman go through the whole process 
 of spunging out one of the guns and reloading it ; I could see 
 that it was pointed at our square, and when it was discharged
 
 AT WATEKLOO. 33 
 
 I caught sight of the ball, which appeared to be in a direct 
 line for me. I thonglit, Shall I move ? No ! I gathered 
 myseK up, and stood firm, with the colour in my right hand. 
 I do not exactly know the rapidity with which cannon-balls fly, 
 but I think that two seconds elapsed from the time that 
 I saw this shot leave the gun until it struck the front face 
 of the square. It did not strike the four men in rear of whom 
 I was standing, but the four poor fellows on their right. It 
 was fired at some elevation, and struck the front man about 
 the knees, and coming to the ground under the feet of the 
 rear man of the four, whom it most severely wounded, it rose 
 and, passing within an inch or two of the colour pole, went 
 over the rear face of the square without doing further injury. 
 The two men in the first and second rank feU outward, I fear 
 they did not survive long ; the two others fell within the square. 
 The rear man made a considerable outcry on being wounded, 
 but on one of the officers saying kindly to him, " man, don't 
 " make a noise," he instantly recollected himself, and was quiet. 
 This was the only noise, except the " By Jove ! " mentioned 
 before, whicli I heard from any wounded man during the battle, 
 although I must have been within hearing distance of many 
 hundreds of the wounded, particularly later in the day, when 
 we passed over the killed and wounded of the French Imperial 
 Guard. The story one used to hear in one's boyhood, of the 
 bands of regiments playing during the raging of a battle to drown 
 the cries of the wounded, is a myth. The men of the band and 
 some of the buglers generally make themselves useful in action, 
 in attending to the wounded. This cannon-shot coming through 
 the centre of the front rank of our square without touching 
 me was, I think, my narrowest escape up to that period of 
 the action. I should not omit to mention that it was said, 
 after the action, that a round-shot had expended its force in 
 the solid square of the 71st Highland Light Infantry on our 
 right front, and only stopped when it had killed or wounded 
 seventeen men ; I can easily supipose this to be possible from 
 what I saw of the effects of the shot which passed so close to 
 me. 
 
 We stood in the right square, not on rye, or wheat trampled 
 
 D
 
 34 52nd light infantry 
 
 down, but, I think, on clover or seeds which had been recently 
 mown. I furnished information to Captain Siborne with regard 
 to this crop, and to that on which we afterwards stood on the 
 British position, when he was forming his beautiful model of 
 the Field of Waterloo, and was very anxious to procure accurate 
 information on the subject. It was generally supposed that 
 there would have been a much greater loss in killed and 
 wounded at Waterloo, if the heavy rain on the nights of the 
 16th and 17th had not well saturated the ground. Many of the 
 shells which fell near the troops went so far into the ground, 
 perhaps a foot or more, that they exploded without doing any 
 injury. This was the case in and near our squares. A- company 
 of the 95th Rifles were extended in front of the brigade at one 
 time, that they might fire into the French cuirassiers, who were 
 drawn up some three hundred yards from us. One of the files 
 was about ten paces in front of our right square; they were 
 both kneeling, and the front rank man was taking aim at the 
 cuirassiers, when a shell pitched two or three feet before 
 them ; they hastily retired towards our square, when, from its 
 not exploding, they supposed it was a round-shot, and returned 
 to the spot and knelt down, and the front rank man was just 
 raising his rifle again to take aim, when the shell exploded, 
 covering them with dirt, and they retired, the front rank man 
 having evidently been wounded. 
 
 It was said some little time after the action, but I did not 
 observe it myself, that in one of the squares, probably the 
 left, whilst Colonel Nicolay or some other officer who liad come 
 down from the position, was speaking to Colonel Charles 
 Eowan, a shell fell in the midst of the square, when on Colonel 
 Eowan saying, " Steady, men ! " Colonel Nicolay observed, " I 
 "never saw men steadier in my life." The shell burst, and seven 
 poor fellows were struck by the fragments. 
 
 Speaking of the left square of the 52nd, Colonel Hall writes, 
 " A French half battery {i.e. two guns) about 600 yards distantfrom 
 " the farthest advance of this square, made it their especial object. 
 "They hit us several times whilst we stood halted, yet the 
 " casualties were not so numerous as might have been expected. 
 " I should say the enemy fired well but not with rapidity. Did
 
 AT WATERLOO. 35 
 
 " you notice any of the cannon-shot wounds ? While the left 
 "wing square stood under the cannonade, one of Shedden's 
 " company (Woods I think) was struck down by a baU fidl on 
 " the knee. He was removed into the centre of the square. I 
 " observed the limb above the knee quickly swell till it became 
 " the size of his body. The poor fellow was left upon the ground, 
 " I suppose to die there." In addition to one or two advanced 
 batteries, the brigade, being almost the only British infantry in 
 sight, must have been cannonaded by a considerable portion of 
 the artillery of the left wing of the French army. 
 
 I have a very vivid recollection of the charge of the French 
 cavalry. Those who advanced on the right square of the 52nd 
 were cuirassiers, having not only a steel breastplate but the 
 same covering for the back. As I observed before, the pleasing 
 part of the charge was that, for several minutes, perhaps ten, we 
 were relieved from the cannonade which the French had kept up 
 upon us, except when their cavalry charged. They came on in 
 very gallant style and in very steady order, first of all at the 
 trot, then at a gallop, till they were within forty or fifty yards of 
 the front face of the square, when, one or two horses having 
 been brought down, in clearing the obstacle they got a somewhat 
 new direction, which carried them to either flank of the face of 
 the square, which direction they one and all preferred to the 
 charging home and riding on to our bayonets. Notwithstanding 
 their armour many of the men were laid low, many horses 
 also were brought down, and the men had a difficulty in disen- 
 tangling themselves from them. The cuirassiers passed the 
 square, receiving the fire of all the four faces, and proceeded up 
 to the crest of the British position. They then re-formed, and 
 came down the slope again upon us in the same way, and again 
 avoiding to charge home upon the rear face of the square, as 
 they could scarcely hope to penetrate the squares ; possibly it 
 was a reconnoisance ordered to be made by the Emperor, who 
 had no other means of ascertaining wliat force the Duke of 
 Wellington had at that time on the reverse slope of the position. 
 From the French position scarcely any of the British troops 
 could at tliat time be seen, except our own and the other 
 regiments of General Adam's brigade. 
 
 T) 2
 
 36 52nd light infantey 
 
 An interesting anecdote was mentioned to me not long ago, 
 by the late General Sir Frederick Love, who was a captain and 
 brevet-major in the 52nd at Waterloo : — "Some years ago he and 
 " his brother were retxirning through the South of France, from a 
 " trip they had been taking to the Pyrenees, when they fell in 
 "with a nice gentlemanly Frenchman in one of the public 
 " conveyances, who, in the course of conversation, told them that 
 " he also had served at Waterloo; and it turned out, on their com- 
 " paring notes, that he had beeii an officer of some standing in the 
 "very regiment of cuirassiers which had charged the right square 
 " of the 52ud in that action. Amongst other things, the French 
 " officer said that whilst the cuirassiers were re-forming, just under 
 "the British position, preparatory to renewing their attack 
 " upon us, he observed that the men had ordered their arms and 
 " were standing at ease, and that he said to a young officer near 
 " him, 'See how coolly those fellows take it; depend upon it that 
 " ' is one of the old Spanish regiments, and we shall make no 
 " ' impression on them.' " 
 
 This officer added, that on charging back again he rode close 
 to the right face of our square, so close, that a young fellow 
 sprang from the square and wounded him with his bayonet, on 
 the left side of his neck, it M'as a slight wound, but he showed 
 them the scar which it had left. My attention, when the 
 cuirassiers charged back upon us, was chiefly directed to those 
 who were brought down by our fire, about twenty yards from the 
 angle formed by the front and right faces ; but I have a recol- 
 lection of something having occurred at that time, without 
 knowing what it was, in the front ranks of the right face of the 
 square, not far from its junction with the rear face. 
 
 When we were in squares of wings, to the left of Hougomont, 
 the French had two divisions, consisting of 12,000 men and 
 some cavalry, in the neighbourhood of La Haye Sainte, from 
 which, about six o'clock, they, after a severe fight, succeeded in 
 driving the Germans under Major Baring, who had expended 
 all their ammunition. The left square of the 52nd was not 
 much more than a quarter of a mile from La Haye Sainte, and 
 in much closer proximity to General Donzelot's division, which 
 was between La Haye Sainte and the square. At one time some
 
 AT WATERLOO. 37 
 
 skirmishers from Donzelot's division crept up through the high 
 standing corn and fired into this left square. There being some 
 difficulty about the 3rd battalion of the 95th Rifles sending out 
 skirmishers to drive them in, Lord Seaton ordered the front rank 
 of the left face of the 52nd square to do so, thus leaving that 
 face of the square with only three ranks for a short time. 
 
 Captain Yorke of the 52nd, who served at Waterloo as extra 
 aide-de-camp to General Adam commanding our brigade, had 
 his horse killed by a cannon-shot or a shell, when riding near 
 the 52nd squares. 
 
 The following circumstance mentioned to me by Lord Seaton, 
 when I was dining with him in London some years ago, will 
 help to shew that the cannonade our squares were exposed to at 
 Waterloo was something out of the common way. His words 
 were, " I recollect a friend of mine, Beckwith of the 95th, riding 
 " down to the square in which I was, and when the men had 
 " opened out and let him pass into the square, he threw his bridle 
 " on his horse's neck, and said, ' I hope you are satisfied now, I 
 "'hope you are satisfied.'" Major Beckwith was an assistant 
 quartermaster-general, and, after leaving the square, lost his leg 
 by the explosion of a shell. I recollect his dining with us, when 
 we were encamped some miles from Valenciennes in the autumn 
 of 1816, and keeping the whole mess in roars of laughter, with 
 anecdotes relating to the light division in Spain. At one time 
 Lord Seaton desired the right square to kneel, thinking, from 
 the peculiar formation of the ground in front, that it would 
 thereby be somewhat protected from the enemy's fire. We were 
 told, when we arrived at Paris, that Napoleon had said of the 
 British squares, that they stood like walls, and that the French 
 cannon-balls seemed to make no impression on them. 
 
 About half-past six o'clock, the Duke of Wellington sent an 
 order by his aide-de-camp, Colonel Hervey, to the commanding 
 officer, that the 52nd should retire ; but he replied that, if it 
 was necessary, he could remain, for although the squares appeared 
 very much exposed, the shot generally passed over them. Imme- 
 diately afterwards, however, when the Nassau troops were driven 
 back in the inclosures of Hougomont, the 52 nd squares were 
 ordered to retire up and over the position. Wliilst this move-
 
 38 52nd light infantry at waterlog. 
 
 ment was taking place, the jfire of the French artillery was more 
 furious than ever, and several casualties occurred. In the left 
 square Colonel William Eowan was wounded in the elbow by a 
 shot which passed through his horse's neck and killed it, bring- 
 ing its rider very heavily to the ground. Poor Nettles, who 
 carried the king's colour, was killed just before reaching the 
 summit of the position, by a cannon-shot through his body ; and 
 it was said that his colour-serjeant was killed at or about the 
 same time ; and, in some unaccoimtable way, the colour was left 
 under the body of poor Nettles till the next morning, when it was 
 discovered by a Serjeant of Captain Mercer's troop of horse- 
 artillery. The other two Serjeants attached to that colour, I 
 presume, were in front of it when retiring in square, and poor 
 Nettles, if he kept his relative position, would be just in front of 
 the rear rank of what had been the front face of the square 
 before it faced about to retire. As we neared the summit of our 
 position, it seemed as if the whole of the French artillery was 
 firing round-shot at our devoted squares. Almost every shot 
 which took effect, brought death or some dreadful wound to the 
 person struck. It certainly was a pleasant relief from "one 
 " of the most murderous cannonades ever recorded in the annals 
 " of war," when, on passing the crest of the position, we found 
 ourselves, at forty paces from it, out of fire on its reverse slope.
 
 S9 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD BY THE 5 2ND LIGHT INFANTRY. 
 
 Form a four-deep line — Wounded men of the 52nd — Spent round-shot — Duke of 
 Wellington — French officer of cuirassiers — Advance of the Imperial Guard 
 — 52nd advances singly to meet them — 3rd battalion of 1st Guards drives a 
 mass of skirmishers down the position — Defeat of the whole of the Imperial 
 Guard by the 52nd alone — No other English troops within 300 yards of them 
 — Flight of the French army— 52nd passes over the killed and the Avounded 
 of the French Guard — Various incidents — Charge of cavalry — 52nd suffer 
 from grape — Prussian round-shot — Serious thoughts. 
 
 It was now getting on for seven o'clock. The 52nd formed line 
 four deep, the right wing being in the front line, and the left wing 
 liaving closed up upon it. The regiment stood about forty paces 
 below the crest of the position, so that it was nearly or quite out 
 of fire. The roar of round-shot still continued, many only just 
 clearing our heads — others striking the top of the position and 
 bounding over us — others, again, almost spent and rolling down 
 gently towards us. One of these, when we were standing in 
 line, came rolling down like a cricket-ball, so slowly that I was 
 putting out my foot to stop it, when my colour-serjeant quickly 
 begged me not to do so, and told me it might have seriously 
 injured my foot. Exactly in front of me, when standing in line, 
 lay, at the distance of two yards, a dead tortoise-shell kitten. It 
 had probably been frightened out of Hougomont, which was the 
 nearest house to us, and about a quarter of a mile off. The 
 circumstance led me to think of my friends at home. 
 
 For some little time there was a luU in the battle all aloncr 
 the British line, excepting that the French artillery kept up their 
 fire on the British artillery, almost the only force which could 
 then be seen by them. 'No shells were at that time directed against
 
 40 DEFEAT OF THE IMPERIAL GUAED 
 
 the troops posted just behind the summit of the British position. 
 Here was a most interesting scene ! Everything was wild and 
 strange, yet everything was quiet and natural. This is rather a 
 bold paradox ! Bounding our view, about forty paces in our 
 front, was a bank not quite three feet high ; there was a stunted 
 hedge on it away to the right of our centre, btit not so to the 
 left. Under this bank and hedge to the right lay some twenty 
 of our badly and mortally wounded men, covered by their 
 blankets, which some of the poor fellows had got out from their 
 knapsacks. I particularly remember at that time two poor 
 fellows passing through the line to the rear, who, I think, must 
 have had their arms carried away by the same cannon-shot, for 
 they were both struck exactly in the same place, about four 
 inches below the shoulder, the wounded arm being attached to 
 the upper part by a very small portion of skin and flesh, and 
 being supported by the man taking hold of the hand of that arm 
 with his other hand. About the same time, I made way also for 
 one of the Kifles, who was seriously wounded in the head, to pass 
 to the rear. Lieut.-Colonel George Hall, then a lieutenant in 
 McNair's company, tells me that at that time most of the buglers 
 had, with the permission of the officers, gone to the rear with 
 wounded men ; and that Captain Cross, at his request, allowed 
 his last remaining bugler to take charge of and convey to the 
 rear a severely wounded man of McNair's company. 
 
 In front of our left company were several killed and wounded 
 horses ; some of the latter were lying, some standing, but some 
 of both were eating the trodden down wheat or rye, notwith- 
 standing that their legs were shot off, or that they were otherwise 
 badly wounded. I observed a brigade of artillery, coming from 
 our left, pass over the bank into action in a very cool and gallant 
 style. In doing this, some of the guns went over the legs of the 
 wounded horses — the wounded men were out of their way. It 
 often happens in action that, in charges of cavalry and in rapid 
 advances of artillery, wounded men are ridden or run over. It 
 is mentioned that at the battle Qf Ligny, two days before 
 Waterloo, Blucher's horse fell, and that, before he could dis- 
 entangle himself from it, the French and Prussian cavalry 
 charged each other twice, passing over him and liis horse without
 
 BY THE 52nd light ixfantry. 41 
 
 his being hurt. There was a peculiar smell at this time, arising 
 from a mingnling of the smell of the wheat trodden flat down 
 with the smell of gunpowder. 
 
 Half an hour, or perhaps three-quarters of an hour, had 
 elapsed after our return to the position, when a French cuirassier 
 officer came galloping up the slope and down the bank in our 
 front, near to Sir John Colborne, crying, "Vive le Eoi !" He was 
 a chef d'escadron, and took that opportunity of escaping from 
 the French left wing, that he might shew his loyalty to Louis 
 XVIII. He told Sir John Colborne that the French Imperial 
 Guard were about to advance, and would be led by the Emperor. 
 I think the officer of cuirassiers was sent, under the charge of a 
 Serjeant, to the Duke of Wellington. 
 
 Soon after this, when it was nearly eight o'clock, the Duke 
 rode across our front from the left of the line quite alone, and 
 spoke to Sir John Colborne, as they were both sitting on their 
 horses observing the enemy. The Duke's dress consisted of a 
 blue surtout coat, white kerseymere pantaloons, and Hessian boots. 
 He wore a sword with a waist-belt, but no sash, and liad a small 
 extended telescope in his right hand. He rode a chestnut horse. 
 He rode across our front within fifteen paces of our centre, so 
 that I had a complete view of him. I remember him and his 
 cool, quiet demeanour as well as if I had seen him only yester- 
 day. This was the first time the 52nd had seen him on the 18th. 
 He wore no cloak, but Sir John Colborne wore then and during 
 the whole of the action, as a short cloak, the cape and hood of 
 my blue camlet boat-cloak, which I had lent him on the afternoon 
 of the 17th. After speaking for a short time to Sir John 
 Colborne, the Duke rode quietly away again in the direction of 
 the centre of the position, still unattended. 
 
 We heard what the officer of cuirassiers had said to Sir John 
 Colborne about the attack of the Imperial Guard, and not long 
 after we heard them advancing with continued shouts of " Vive 
 " I'Empereur " away to our left front. The drummers were beat- 
 ing the " pas de charge," which sounded, as well as I recollect, 
 very much like this, "the rum dum, the rum dum, the rumma- 
 " dum dummadum, dum, dum," then " Vive I'Empereur." This 
 was repeated again and again, till, in about a quarter of an hour
 
 42 DEFEAT OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD 
 
 or twenty minutes, we put an end to it in the manner mentioned 
 a little further on. 
 
 The Imperial Guard advanced from the low ground in front of 
 La Belle Alliance, and on the French left of the Charleroi road. 
 At the same time a forward movement, in support of this attack, 
 was made both by the right and left wings of the French army, 
 whilst the troops forming the centre of their left wing under Toy, 
 made a corresponding advance within the inclosures of Hougomont. 
 The French had maintained themselves in force for several hours 
 to the right and left of La Haye Sainte, about 300 yards under the 
 crest of the British position, and had taken that post from the 
 Germans about six o'clock. Thus, when the Imperial Guard 
 were advancing from the low ground towards the right centre of 
 the position, the Duke could not withdraw any of his brigades 
 of infantry from any other part of the line. A mass of skir- 
 mishers was sent forward from the Imperial Guard, who were 
 joined on their right by skirmishers from Donzelot's division; both 
 sets of skirmishers getting, I believe, intermingled in some 
 measure. Whether the Imperial Guard skirmishers fired into 
 the right regiment of the 1st British Guards, that is, the 2nd 
 battalion, and into the left of the 2nd battalion of the Eifles, I 
 am uncertain, but the brunt of the attack from the French skir- 
 mishers fell upon the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards. 
 
 Under these circumstances, when the leading battalion of the 
 first column of the Imperial Guard was about 400 yards from 
 that part of the British position occupied by Maitland's brigade of 
 Guards, Sir John Colborne, who had been watching his opportu- 
 nity, ordered No. 5 company of the 52nd, under Lieutenants 
 Anderson, Campbell, and F. W. Love, to extend and move down and 
 fire into the enemy's columns, looking to the regiment for support.* 
 
 * The left of the skirmishers of the 52nd and the left of those of the 
 Imperial Guard could not have passed very far from each other, for only the four- 
 deep line of the six companies of the 95th Rilies intervened, between the left of 
 the 52nd and the right battalion of Maitland's brigade of Guards, yet the 
 hostile skirmishers did not meet or even see each other ; probably when the 52nd 
 skirmishers advanced from the left of the regiment, which, owing to the for- 
 mation of the ground, was more forward on the British position than the troops 
 on its left, the French skirmishers were just surmounting the more retired crest 
 of the position in front of the British Guards, and had commenced firing into them.
 
 WATERLOO IB^ " JUNE 1815 AT 8. 10 O'CLOCK P. M. 
 
 PI TT, 
 
 
 mm 
 0* 
 
 
 
 vmmm 
 
 nrs" - ..mm'- 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
 
 WM' _jvrtw*_ 
 
 ''/'''';.''??>S*i'''i'>''"i/)i''" ' ■■■■i/"'.'-':^' **'^ ■-'■■=~- ■ iffci-^' r>^i<sii?i ..^nK".." 
 
 Ofiir ■ 
 
 
 ..s\ 
 
 
 ■a^vwj-^'- 
 
 YARDS 
 
 J Jo'Hiiiie,3,'WWwiok Court 
 
 100 100 300 4O0VDS
 
 BY THE 52nd light INFANTRY. 43 
 
 He then, without having received any orders from the Duke 
 or any other superior officer, moved forward the o2nd, in 
 quick time, directly to its front. As we passed over the low 
 bank and the crest of our position, we plainly saw, about 
 800 or 400 yards from us, in the direction of La Belle Alliance, 
 midway between the inclosures of Hougomont and La Haye 
 Sainte, and about a quarter of a mile from each of those places, 
 two long columns of the Imperial Guard of France, of about 
 equal length, advancing at right angles with the position and in 
 the direction of Maitland's brigade of Guards, stationed on our 
 left. The whole number of these two columns of the French 
 Guard appeared to us to amount to about 10,000 men. There 
 was a small interval of apparently not more than twenty paces 
 between the first and second column ; from the left centre of our 
 line we did not at any time see through this interval ; I think 
 they were all in close column. 
 
 As the 52nd moved down towards the enemy it answered the 
 cries of "Vive I'Empereur," with three tremendous British 
 cheers. When the left of the regiment was in a line with the 
 leading company of the Imperial Guard, it began to mark time, 
 and the men touched in to their left, every one seeing the 
 necessity for such a movement, and that, if they proceeded, they 
 would be outflanked by the French column, which was then not 
 quite two hundred yards from us. In two or three seconds the 
 word of command, "Eight shoulders forward," came down the 
 line from Sir John Colborne, repeated by the movmted officers, 
 and the officers commanding the front companies ; the move- 
 ment was soon completed, and the 52nd four-deep line became 
 parallel to the left flank of the leading column of the French 
 Guard, there being a slight dip and rise again of the ground 
 between us and the enemy. The 52nd was alone, the other regi- 
 ments of Adam's brigade having been thrown out by the sudden- 
 ness and peculiarity of the movement. In this dangerous and 
 exposed advance Sir John Colborne was on the right of the 
 regiment, anxiously watching a large mass of the enemy's 
 cavalry, which was seen between us and the French position. 
 From the left centre of the 52nd line we saw a numerous body 
 of skirmishers of the Imperial Guard running towards, and then
 
 4i DEFEAT OF THE IMPEKIAL GUARD 
 
 forming about 100 yards in front of, their leading column* 
 These appear not to have been seen by the 52nd officers on the 
 right ; possibly the head of the French column intervened. I 
 recollect seeing a French officer strike, with the flat of his sword, 
 a skirmisher, who was running farther to the rear than the point 
 at which the others were forming ; at that time I could see 300 
 yards up the slope of the British position to our left, and not a 
 British regiment or a British soldier was in sight. These 
 skirmishers no doubt were the troops driven in from the British 
 position, by the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards, which was the 
 left battalion of Maitland's brigade ; Lord Hill was on the right 
 of the 2nd battalion of the 1st Guards, which was the other and 
 right battalion of the brigade, and it was " stationary and not 
 " firing." The 3rd battalion of this brigade of Guards was lying 
 down in square, on the reverse incline of the position, to the 
 left of their 2nd battalion and at some distance from it, when 
 the Duke, coming back from the centre of the position, and 
 seeing how they were fired into by a large mass of skirmishers of 
 the Imperial Guard, desired the commanding officer "to form 
 " line on the front face of the square, and to drive those fellows 
 " in," (this was the origin of " Up Guards, and at them," words 
 which were never uttered.) The Duke's order was immediately 
 obeyed, and the 2nd battalion of the Guards drove them some 
 little distance down the slope, when there was a cry of "cavalry," 
 and the Guards retired up and over the British position in some 
 disorder. This agrees with Colonel Gurwood's statement, that as 
 the 10th Hussars, in which he commanded a troop, were moving 
 from the left to the right centre of the position, they saw the 
 Guards retiring in some confusion. This, from all accounts, was 
 the only movement made against the enemy by Maitland's 
 brigade of Guards (and this was made by one battalion of 
 it only) during the action. They suffered severely from the 
 cannonade, and were charged, as all the troops were, by the 
 French cavalry, and suffered very much from the fire of these 
 skirmishers of the Imperial Guard, whom they drove in ; but 
 this was the only forward movement they made against the 
 
 • This was erroneously spoken of after the battle, as "an attempt at 
 " deployment."
 
 BY THE 52nd light iniantry. 45 
 
 enemy. Gurwood must have seen them at some distance down 
 the reverse slope of the British position, just about the time that 
 the 52nd were completing their right-shoulder-forward movement, 
 and that the skirmishers of the Imperial Guard were forming in 
 front of their leading column. I must not now stop to prove 
 that the story of Maitland's brigade of Guards having attacked 
 and routed the leading column of the Imperial Guard is a mere 
 myth, and that this has been all along well known to every 
 officer of the 52nd who was present at Waterloo, from Lord 
 Seaton down to myself, the youngest ensign, but will hereafter 
 devote a chapter or two to the subject. 
 
 This advance of the 52nd line and its right-shoulder-forward 
 movement was seen from the height above, and was spoken of 
 by Lord Hill as one of the most beautiful advances he had ever 
 seen. Sir John Byng, who had succeeded to the command of 
 the whole division of the Guards when General Cooke was 
 wounded, and was at the time near Maitland's brigade, said of 
 it to one of the 52nd officers that night, " We saw the 52nd 
 " advancing gloriously, as they always do." The Duke of Welling- 
 ton also was much pleased w4th it, as I shall have to state more 
 particularly in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 It is very difficult to calculate time during the progress of a 
 battle ; one officer told me that the whole action only appeared 
 to him to last two hours, whereas it commenced exactly at twelve 
 o'clock at noon, and lasted till a quarter after nine at night. It 
 must have been nearly a quarter past eight wlien the 52nd 
 stood parallel with the left flank of the Imperial Guard. 
 
 Our artillery on the British position, 300 yards above, had 
 been playing upon the masses of the French Guard, but when 
 we saw them there appeared to be no confusion amongst them ; 
 our advance put a stop to the fire of our artillery ; it was not 
 till the 52nd skirmishers fired into them that the Imperial 
 Guard halted, then as many files as possible, on the left of each , 
 company of their leading column, faced outwards and returned 
 the fire ; as the 52nd approached, our skirmishers fell back to 
 the regiment, two of the three officers being severely wounded, 
 and many of the men being either killed or wounded. The 
 regiment opened fire upon the enemy without halting ; the men
 
 46 DEFEAT OF THE IMPE11IA.L GUAED 
 
 fired, then partly halted to load, whilst those in the rear slipped 
 round them in a sort of skirmishing order, though they main- 
 tained a compact line, occupying, however, nearly double the 
 extent of ground, from front to rear, which a four-deep line 
 usually requires. 
 
 The French writer, Quinet, although his account of this 
 action contains all kinds of mistakes, speaks of this attack 
 of the 52nd on the flank of the Imperial Guard as follows : 
 " Le 52e regiment Anglais en profite pour venir audacieusement 
 "se deployer sur le flanc gauche. Quand le regiment Anglais 
 " I'eut d^bordee tout entiere, il ouvrit son feu a brule-pourpoint 
 " qui r^crasait." 
 
 Here was a most exciting as well as a most critical period in 
 this famous battle. The far-famed Imperial Guard of France, 
 led on by the gallant Marshal Ney, whom the French styled 
 " Le plus brave des braves," came into contact with that British 
 regiment, of which Sir William ISTapier, the historian of the 
 Peninsular War, had written that it was " a regiment never sur- 
 " passed in arms, since arms were fh-st borne by men ;" and this 
 regiment was commanded by Colonel Sir John Colborne (after- 
 wards Field-Marshal Lord Seaton) one of the most experienced, 
 steady, cool, and at the same time, gallant and dashing officers 
 of the British or any other army. 
 
 The mounted officers rode to the front of the line. There 
 were Colonel Sir John Colborne, Lieut.-Colonel Charles Eowan, 
 Major Wm. Chalmers, Adjutant Winterbottom, and Assistant- 
 Adjutant Nixon, also our general of brigade, Adam, who had just 
 come up, and some of his staff, Lieutenant Campbell, 7th Fusileers, 
 and Major Hunter Blair, 91st regiment, brigade-major. Chalmers, 
 in front of the right of ISTo. 4 company, placed his cap on the 
 point of his sword, and, standing up in his stirrups, cheered the 
 regiment on. Here I saw Winterbottom badly wounded in the 
 head, and brought by his horse through the line, without his 
 cap, the blood streaming down him ; the poor fellow managed to 
 hold on by the pommel of his saddle. Captain Diggle, com- 
 manding No. 1 company, had been desperately wounded just 
 before on the left temple. Lieutenant Dawson was shot through 
 the lungs ; Anderson lost a leg. Major Love was severely wounded
 
 BY THE 52nd light INFANTRY. 47 
 
 in the head, and afterwards, as he lay on the ground, in the foot 
 and in two other places. Lieutenant Campbell, who had been 
 skirmishing, came through the line severely wounded in the 
 groin ; General Adam was severely wounded in the leg, but did 
 not quit the field. Colonel Charles Eowan was also slightly 
 wounded ; Sir John Colborne had his horse killed under him, 
 and was grazed in the hand and on the foot. Several of the 
 other officers were very slightly hit, but were not returned as 
 wounded ; I consider that about 140 of our men were killed or 
 wounded at this time, in the course of five or six minutes. I 
 missed Sir John Colborne for two or three minutes, and felt very 
 anxious about him, but presently he came quickly down the 
 front on foot, giving directions, still wearing a portion of my 
 cloak, and wiping his mouth with his white handkerchief. 
 
 As we closed towards the French Guard, they did not wait 
 for our charge, but the leading column at first somewhat receded 
 from us, and then broke and fled ; a portion of the rear column 
 also broke and ran ; but three or four battalions of the Old Guard, 
 forming part of this second column, retired hastily, in some degree 
 of order, towards the rising ground in front of La Belle Alliance, 
 with a few pieces of the artillery of the Guard, which must have 
 heen on their right flank when they advanced, as we did not see 
 them, and those which were left by the gunners on the ground, 
 until the French Guard had given way ; indeed, had these guns been 
 on the left flank of the columnsof the Imperial Guard, when we were 
 bringing our right shoulders forward, they might have plied our 
 line with grape, and have caused us the most serious loss ; or, 
 possibly, had they been there. Sir John Colborne would not have 
 ventured on the movement at all. With the exception of these 
 battalions of the Old Guard, the whole French armv, as far as 
 the eye could reach, appeared to us to be in utter confusion. 
 
 The 52nd still advanced by itself, in the direction of the 
 lower inclosure of La Haye Sainte, towards the Charleroi road, 
 and nearly at right angles with that part of the British position 
 behind which, on the reverse slope, stood Maitland's brigade of 
 Guards, and Sir Colin Halkett's, Count Kielmansegge's, and Colonel 
 Von Ompteda's brigades, at a distance from the 52nd varying, 
 as the regiment continued to advance, from 350 to 700 yards.
 
 '48 DEFEAT OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD 
 
 Immediately after the defeat of the Imperial Guard, the 52iid 
 passed over their killed and wounded, who, poor fellows, were 
 lying very thick upon the ground, where I passed on a breadth of 
 about fifty yards ; in some places I had to spring over heaps of 
 them lying over each other. One of the 52nd officers, who has 
 now been dead for many years, told me, some time after the 
 action, that an occurrence had taken place as we passed the 
 killed and wounded of the French Guard, which had since given 
 him at times some uneasiness. It was this : — As he was advancing 
 in rear of the regiment, he saw a Belgian soldier, who was 
 following us in pursuit of plunder, try to take money from a 
 wounded Frenchman, who begged him to let him keep what little 
 he had ; on which the Belgian dealt him a heavy blow on the head 
 with the butt end of his musket, which appeared to kill him, 
 and that he was so indignant at this atrocity, that he immediately 
 ran the Belgian through the body with his sword. He asked 
 me what I should have done under the circumstances, and I 
 replied, that I most likely should have done the same ; but that 
 I was not sure it was the right thing to do ; yet, as the scoundrel 
 had left his own corps in search of plunder, and had under those 
 circumstances taken away life, his own life seemed to be fairly 
 forfeited. I saw a man of the 40th regiment about the same 
 time, who also was probably on the same sort of errand, and 
 I only mention him, because I observe that in Colonel Ponsonby's 
 account of what happened to him when he was lying w^ounded 
 on the ground, he mentions amongst other things that a soldier 
 of the 40th came across him late at night, and took care of him 
 till the morning of tiie 19th. This was probably the same man 
 we had seen earlier in the evening.* 
 
 The 52nd had only got a very short distance from the killed 
 and wounded of the Imperial Guard, when suddenly, through the 
 smoke, it saw a charge of cavalry coming upon its flanks and 
 centre. They consisted of British and German light dragoons, 
 mingled with French cuirassiers, before whom they were retiring 
 at speed. We took them all for the enemy, and they were fired 
 on and lost some men before it was discovered that many of 
 them were English. Some went round the flanks, but many 
 
 * See Appendix No. 5, again.
 
 BY THE 52nd light infantky. 49 
 
 rode at the centre of the regiment, and, when they were about 
 twenty yards off, the line opened about six or eight feet in the 
 centre to let them pass. I thought at the moment that the men 
 were not right in making an opening for those whom we regarded 
 as enemies, and should have received the charge on their bayo- 
 nets ; I, therefore, stood to the front, on the right of the formed 
 line and to the left of the opening, and attempted to draw my 
 sword from the scabbard that I migjht attack the leading horse- 
 man. It was hanging on my left side, hooked up to the waist- 
 belt, as officers carrying the colours do not draw their swords in 
 action, except in cases of emergency. To my great dismay, the 
 looped sword-knot w^as entangled in the button of the scabbard, 
 and I could not get my sword out, and therefore T instantly took 
 the colour in both hands with the intention of using it as a 
 lance against the foremost dragoon. The poor fellow was, how- 
 ever, shot dead by our men, and fell headlong from his horse on 
 his back, with his head towards us, about six feet in front of the 
 opening ; I then saw by his three stripes that he was a Serjeant. 
 The horse passed through the centre of the interval, and, as he was 
 at speed, the stiri'ups flew out at right angles from the saddle, 
 and the right one nearly struck me in the face. There was 
 then a cry, " They are English," and the firing ceased. Opposite 
 to the centre of the 52nd, the cuirassiers were seen to draw off in 
 admirable order. On the right, one gallant cuirassier penetrated 
 the line and was cut down, just as he got through it, by the 
 serjeant-major. 
 
 Just clear of the right of our line, an encounter was witnessed 
 between a cuirassier officer and a cadet, (answering to a volunteer 
 in our service,) attached to one of the German light dragoon regi- 
 ments of Dornberg's brigade. The latter was retreating at speed 
 before his antagonist, with his head down on his horse's neck and his 
 sword over his own neck. The German cadet was watching his 
 opportimity, and on finding himself near his friends, on the right 
 of our line, suddenly pulled his horse up upon his haunches, and 
 dealt the cuirassier a blow across his face ; he wheeled round 
 and engaged the cadet in single combat, who managed to 
 strike him again on his face, so that he fell over on one side, and 
 was pierced under the arm and killed. 
 
 E
 
 50 DEFEAT OF THE IMPERIAL GUAED 
 
 Colonel Hall, writes as follows, on the subject of this passage 
 of the light dragoons through our centre : — '•' The uniform of the 
 " light dragoons had just been altered, and they were dressed as 
 " the French chasseurs, so it was quite natural that they should 
 " receive a volley. I remarked that but few fell in front of the 
 " line, but a considerable number in the rear. The coolness of 
 "our men in this unfortunate mistake was admirable; in the 
 " smoke and noise and confusion, no one knew if his comrade was 
 " cut down or not, but there was no thought of dispersing or of 
 " lying down for safety ; they just faced about and prepared to 
 " fire on the supposed enemy in the rear. I believe some did do 
 " so before the officers, who had discovered the error, could stop 
 " them. Anderson told me that the dragoons who rode through 
 " our line, re-formed close to where he was sitting wounded, and 
 " that he heard the commanding officer exclaim, in a tone of 
 " vexation, ' It's always the case, we always lose more men by 
 " ' our own people than we do by the enemy.' " 
 
 It was said that some of the 23rd Light Dragoons (and it 
 seems there were German light dragoons with them) had 
 attacked a body of French infantry, probably some of the 
 defeated Imperial Guard, and that being consequently somewhat 
 brcken, they were charged by a formed body of cuirassiers, 
 b ^fore whom they had to retire, in order that they might re-forni. 
 They did good service in engaging the enemy, but when they had 
 to letire, they ought to have ridden round the flanks, and not 
 through the line, of one of their own infantry regiments. I may 
 remark that if all our soldiers, cavalry and infantry, wore the 
 scarlet uniform, these unfortunate mistakes of taking friends for 
 foes would be of less frequent occurrence. 
 
 Almost immediately after we had become disengaged from the 
 above-mentioned cavalry, we suddenly found that some guns on 
 our right, towards La Belle Alliance, were firing grape into the 
 front of the reghnent, and making some serious gaps in our 
 line. One discharge came into the centre, and the rattle of 
 the grape against arms, accoutrements, and men, was something 
 very different from the roar of round-shot, the noise from the 
 explosion of shells, and the whistling and humming of bullets, 
 which we had hitherto been accustomed to. Sir John Colborne,
 
 BY THE 52nd light INFANTRY. 51 
 
 who was not then mounted, anxiously exclaimed, as he went 
 quickly towards the right of the line, " Where are these guns ? 
 " they are destroying the regiment." Lieutenant Gawler, who, after 
 Captain Diggle was wounded, had taken command of the right 
 company, told him they were not far away on the right, and 
 asked if he should take the right section and drive them in ; Sir 
 John Colborne told him to do so, and he then wheeled the right 
 section to the right, extended it, and advanced towards them. As 
 soon as the French gunners saw the red coats through the smoke, 
 they immediately limbered up and retired. Gawler found a con- 
 siderable body of French infantry in front of him, at 200 or 300 
 yards distance, and collected his men and waited for the regiment, 
 which in the meantime had brought its left shoulder rather more 
 forward. 
 
 When the discharge of grape came into the centre, I saw a man 
 spring behind to take the musket of one who was killed, as his 
 own would not go off Another man near me said, in an under- 
 tone to his comrade, " the top of — — 's skull was taken off," 
 mentioning the poor fellow's name, which I do not now recollect. 
 Shortly after, as we were advancing, (there was no halt,) I found 
 about a foot-and-a-half of my colour-pole was very wet with 
 blood, about the height of my shoulder, and that there was blood 
 on the buff cuff of the left sleeve of my jacket. It was not my 
 own blood. The next morning I found that the thumb of my 
 left hand was black and sore. I think my left hand and the 
 colour-pole must have been struck, without my perceiving it at 
 the moment, by a part of the skull of the man mentioned above, 
 for the contusion could not have been occasioned merely by 
 blood. I believe it was at this time that Lieutenant Holman 
 had three musket-balls through the blade of his sword, without 
 being touched himself. I have often seen the sword, and the 
 holes made by the balls are connected with each other, as if they 
 had been made by canister-shot ; the -thick rim of the sword 
 holding the two parts of the blade so strongly together, that 
 Holman used the sword for several years afterwards whenever he 
 was on duty. He was the brother of Mr. Holman the blind 
 traveller, whom I afterwards met at Nice and Kome. 
 
 I have mentioned that Sir John Colborne was on foot when 
 
 E 2
 
 52 DEFEAT OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD 
 
 the Frencli fired grape into our line. Just before this, both he 
 and the present Lieut.-General Sir William Eowan, G.C.B., now 
 colonel of the 52nd, made an ineffectual attempt again to 
 become mounted officers. I think I may venture to rel8.te the 
 circumstance in Sir William Eowan's own words : — " I was 
 " mounted, and my horse shot under me by a grape shot,* which 
 " first grazed my right arm and then passed through my horse's 
 " head. The fall stunned me a good deal. Sir John Colborne's 
 " horse was also (afterwards) shot, which led to a laughable scene. 
 " On our coming up to an abandoned French gun, with the horses 
 " still attaclied to it, Sir John and I mounted two of the horses, 
 " calling to our men to cut the traces, which they were unable to 
 " accomplish ; and as the regiment was advancing rapidly, we had 
 " to dismount and follow as fast as we could. Shortly after we 
 " met plenty of horses with empty saddles." 
 
 It has been said that the guns which retired with the rear 
 battalions of the second column, and which afterwards, as I have 
 related, fired grape into us, were directed to open fire on the 
 advancing 52nd line by the Emperor himself; but I think it 
 more likely they were directed to take up their ground by 
 General Drouot, who was with the Imperial Guard when they 
 gave way. The Emperor was then on the height above, in front 
 of La Belle Alliance. Drouot had commanded the artillery of 
 the Guard in several of the former campaigns of the Emperor, 
 and had accompanied him to Elba, and afterwards went with him 
 to St. Helena. At Waterloo he was the " General aide-de-camp 
 " de rEmpereur."-f- 
 
 Directly after the guns were driven in on our right by Gawler, 
 we distinctly saw on our left, SOO or 400 yards up the British 
 
 * I think it must have been a round-shot. 
 + It is recorded of Drouot that he always carried a small Bible with him to 
 read, which constituted his chief delight ; and he avowed it openly to the persons 
 in the imperial suite, a peculiarity not a little remarkable on that staff, and the 
 admission of which required no small degree of moral courage. Napoleon often 
 placed him in the most exposed positions, so that his situation was full of peril. 
 He was said to be somewhat superstitious, because in action he took care to wear 
 his old uniform of general of artillery, as he had long worn it.and had never been 
 wounded. The probability is, that he considered it unwise. to draw the fire of 
 the enemy upon himself by wearing a splendid uniform. He also always dis- 
 mounted when near the enemy.
 
 BY THE 52nd light INFANTRY. 53 
 
 position, and on the Hougomont side of La Haye Sainte, four 
 battalions in column, apparently French, standing with ordered 
 arms. According to all accounts they were too far down the 
 British position to be Dutch Belgians ; they certainly were not 
 English. It was thought they were French, and part of Donzelot's 
 division, who did not know how to get away, and therefore 
 remained quietly where they were until the 52ud had passed. We 
 were then about 200 yards from the Charleroi road, and I think 
 a line in prolongation of our front would on the left have cut the 
 farm house of La Haye Sainte, at 300 yards distance, and on our 
 right the south-eastern point of the inclosures of Hougomont, at 
 a distance of rather more than half a mile from us. The 52nd 
 was then, as before, quite alone, and had these four battalions of 
 Donzelot's division come down upon our left flank with a regular 
 British charge, they would possibly have prevented the rout of 
 the French army from becoming so complete as it was. The 
 brigades of Alten's division could not at this time have made 
 any forward movement down a portion of the British position, 
 which they did afterwards, when the Duke ordered the whole line 
 to advance, or we should have seen them. I think the 71st, the 
 right regiment of our brigade, and the left regiment, the 2nd 
 battalion of the Kifles, both of which had been thrown out by 
 the sudden advance of the 52nd, and perhaps the Osnabruck 
 landwehr battalion, under Colonel Halkett, were the only 
 British troops which had left the crest of the British position 
 at this time ; and we saw nothing even of these till the 
 next morning, though Captain Siborne and other historians of 
 the battle place the 71st and Eifles in line with us in our attack 
 on the battalion of the Old Guard, which will presently be 
 described. 
 
 When we were about 200 yards from the Charleroi road, the 
 Prussian round-shot, directed either at our line or at the French 
 extreme right, began to strike near us, one about fifteen yards from 
 the centre, but apparently none of them touched the regiment. 
 The Prussians had come up on the right flank of the French 
 .from the direction of Wavre, and at that time were trying 
 to drive them out of the village of Planchenoit ; rather later 
 they succeeded in doing so, at an immense loss to themselves.
 
 54 DEFEAT OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD BY THE 52ND. 
 
 The Prussian guns were more than a mile from us; they 
 soon discovered that we were friends, and ceased to cannonade 
 us. 
 
 I well remember thinking, when I saw some of these Prussian 
 round-shot striking the ground not far from us, that it would be 
 very unfortunate to be killed or wounded just at the close of the 
 action, when the enemy were in full retreat. I think it must 
 have been at a rather earlier period of our advance, that my first 
 thought occurred, of what would become of my soul in case I 
 should be killed ; I recollect I quieted the thought at once, by 
 thinking that those who believed in the Saviour, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, would be saved; and that, as I believed in Him, all would be 
 right if I should be killed that day. Of course most of my readers 
 will be aware that such a mere belief in the history given in the 
 Bible of what our Saviour did and said and suffered is not that 
 saving faith or trust in Him, spoken of in John i, 11, 12 ; in 
 John iii, 14 — 16 ; in Eomans viii, 1 ; in 2 Corinthians v, 17 ; and 
 in many other passages of the word of God. My careless and 
 sinful life for several years afterwards, evidently shewed that, 
 though I believed the history of the Saviour's life and death, I 
 had, at the time referred to, no saving knowledge of Him. As 
 1 write this, I desire and pray that those of my readers, who 
 have not hitherto laid this matter to heart, will look out 
 these passages and consider them and the whole subject, 
 with humble prayer that their God will, by means of His word, 
 guide them into the way of salvation, holiness, peace, and 
 eternal life.
 
 pun 
 
 WATERLOO IS^" JUNE 1815 FROM 8.30 TO 9.15 O'CLOCK P.M. 
 
 YAfl OS 
 
 J.Jdhibfus.S^arvni-k Gouit 
 
 100 200 300 too YDS 
 
 ;4 MILE
 
 i)o 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 1815. 
 
 52nd attack and defeat the imperial grenadiers. 
 
 52nd attack and drive off Old Guard — Duke of Wellington arrives— Lord Uxbridge 
 wounded — The Duke and Napoleon in nearest proximity — 52nd pass La Belle 
 Alliance — No other troops in sight— Pass 75 pieces of deserted cannon — 
 Encounter a French division and guns — Their surrender — Fire on French 
 
 staff-officers Last infantry shots at Waterloo — Bivouac at Rosonime — 
 
 The Dukeand Blucher — The 1st Guards between La Belle Alliance and British 
 position — Sir John Byng's speech about 52nd — Wounded officers at the 
 village of Waterloo — Sir Thomas Reynell's letter — Woundetl hussar and 
 Imperial grenadier — Amnumition waggon blown up — Various other incidents 
 on the 19th. 
 
 It was about twenty minutes after eight, when Sir John 
 Colborne seeing a considerable body of troops in his front inclined 
 to make a stand, halted the 52nd in the low ground close to the 
 Charleroi road, for the purpose of dressing the line, which had 
 then advanced more than half a mile without any halt from the 
 time it had left the British position. The regimental colour and 
 the covering-serjeants were ordered out, and Nixon, the acting 
 adjutant, had just dressed them, when the Duke of Wellington, 
 attended by Sir Colin Campbell, rode up to Sir John Colborne, 
 who was in the rear of the centre of the 52nd, and I heard him 
 say, as I looked back from my position in front of the centre, 
 " Well done, Colborne ! Well done ! Go on, don't give them 
 " time to rally."* 
 
 *The Duke, referring to this part of the action in a memorandum written 
 in October, 1836, twenty-one years after the Battle of Waterloo, has shown 
 perhaps a very pardonable forgetfulness of the exact circumstance here related. 
 ile writes, " The infantry was advanced in line. I halted them for a moment in 
 " the bottom, that they might be in order to attack some battalions of the enemy
 
 56 52nd attack and defeat 
 
 The French had then opened fire on our line at abont 200 
 yards distance, and I well recollect that several bullets streaked 
 the ground close to me, many others seemed to whiz very close to 
 my ears, so that I suspected the French were directing more atten- 
 tion than was quite pleasant to me and my (fclour. It may 
 however have been principally attracted by the Duke, and Sir 
 Colin Campbell and Sir John Colborne, who were immediately 
 in my rear and about ten paces from me. The colour and the 
 covering Serjeants were immediately called in, without the line 
 being dressed, and the regiment advanced and drove off the 
 enemy. It was here that the Marquis of A.iglesea, then Lord 
 Uxbridge, rode up to the Duke and said, " For God's sake, Duke, 
 "don't expose yourself so, you know what a valuable life yours 
 " is," and that the Duke replied, " I'll be satisfied, when I see 
 " those fellows go." Lord Uxbridge was wounded by a grape or 
 musket-shot in the knee. I did not see it, nor was it observed 
 by Sir John Colborne or by any of the officers of the regiment, 
 our attention being engaged by the enemy's troops in our front. 
 Sir Colin Campbell told me, several years afterwards, that, ou 
 observing that Lord Uxbridge was wounded, he rode up to him 
 and laid hold of him by his collar and held him on his horse till 
 his aide-de-camp took charge of him. 
 
 These troops, who acted as a rear guard to the French army 
 now retiring in the greatest confusion, were, it is said, three 
 battalions of the Old Guard, a small body of cuirassiers of 
 the Guard, and a few pieces of artillery, probably the same 
 guns which had been driven off by the right section of the 52nd 
 under Lieutenant Gawler. It has been stated and is supposed 
 that the Emperor Napoleon was with these troops. If so, the 
 Emperor and the Duke were at this time in closer proximity, 
 than they ever were at any other time ; and I am not sure that 
 
 " still on the heights." This is altogether incorrect. The Duke found the 52nil 
 already halted, and said " Go on, don't give them time to rally." I find that 
 after the lapse of several years, almost all those who were present at Waterloo 
 forget many circumstances, which one is perfectly astonished at, whilst they are 
 very clear about other points even of very minor importance. The being always 
 able to distinguish between what they themselves witnessed and what they have 
 heard from others or read of, is a great difficulty with some of my friends, after 
 the lapse of fifty years. I do not experience the same difficulty myself.
 
 THE IMPERIAL GRENADIERS. 57 
 
 I have not a good claim to having been at this time, for a few 
 seconds, for the second time the foremost man of the British 
 army, and the one nearest to the French Emperor ; excepting of 
 course the three or four persons who had been taken prisoners 
 during the action and had been brought before him to see what 
 information he could draw from them. 
 
 Here again was a most interesting period of the Battle of 
 Waterloo, a battle of which the Duke of Wellington wrote, that 
 being "possibly the most important single military event in 
 " modern times, it was attended by advantages sufficient for the 
 " glory of many such armies, as the two great Allied armies en- 
 " gaged." Here the 52nd, certainly a most distinguished regiment 
 in the British army, and one of the regiments formerly composing 
 the famous light division in Spain, were opposed to the Old 
 Guard, which was recruited from the Young Guard and from the 
 other French regiments, not a man being admitted into it, who 
 had not seen twelve years' service and who was not distinguished 
 for good and crallant conduct. No man was admitted into the 
 Young Guard who had not been in the army for four years. 
 These fine fellows had never met with any defeat before, unless 
 such had happened to them in other corps of the French army. 
 Twenty minutes before this they had witnessed the defeat by the 
 52nd of the first column of their Guard and of the leading portion 
 of their own column, from which they had hastily retired to their 
 present position, where they were making something of a stand 
 against us. 
 
 As I have observed above, here were the choicest troops of 
 France, opposed to one of England's choicest regiments. Many 
 fine and gallant officers had fallen on both sides, but here were 
 on one side the Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Uxbridge, 
 Commander-in-Chief of the British cavalry. Lord Seaton (then 
 Sir John Colborne), an officer of the very highest repute in the 
 English army, and Sir Colin Campbell (not the one who was 
 afterwards Lord Clyde), Chief of the Duke's staff. On the other 
 side were the Emperor Napoleon, Marshal Ney, Prince of Mos- 
 kowa, Bertrand, General Drouot, Count D'Erlon, and probably 
 Soult. From my point of view, I saw in front of us two or three 
 bodies of men on the rising ground before us, but I could not see
 
 58 52nd attack and defeat 
 
 clearly their formation, for they were either kneeling, or no more 
 of their bodies could be seen than to about a foot below their 
 shoulders, owing to the ruggedness of the ground ; they are, how- 
 ever, described by others of the 52nd as having been three 
 squares, with a body of cavalry on their right ; they had three 
 guns on their left, which fired a round or two of grape at us. The 
 5 2nd did not return the fire of these troops of the Old Guard. 
 On our advancing, the French retired in good order. The cavalry 
 on their right faced about to cover the retreat of their squares, 
 but, on our pressing on in pursuit, they prudently refused the 
 encounter with our compact four-deep line. Only one of their 
 squares retreated by our left of La Belle Alliance and the 
 Charleroi road ; and this square the 52nd kept in view for 
 nearly a mile further, until they lost sight of it about a quarter 
 of a mile before it reached the farm house of Eosomme, where 
 we brought up for the night. 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell told me that, when Lord Uxbridge was 
 wounded, he himself again pressed the Duke not to expose, as 
 he was doing, his valuable life, and that he received the same 
 reply which the Duke had immediately before given to Lord 
 Uxbridge, that " he would be satisfied when he saw those fellows 
 " go." He told me several other things about the Duke, most of 
 which I noted down the day after I had the conversation with 
 him. He told me that, when the 52nd advanced, the Duke and 
 he went off to our right, which would probably be towards the 
 lower part of the inclosures of Hougomont, and that some little 
 time afterwards they crossed over some rising ground to their 
 left, where they witnessed the unsuccessful charge by Major 
 Howard and a party of the 10th Hussars upon a body of French 
 infantry, and that the Duke was very angry when he saw them 
 make the attack without having any support. Before he had 
 accompanied the Duke down to the rear of the 52nd and about 
 twenty minutes after we had advanced from the British position, 
 he had taken an order from the Duke of Wellington to Sir 
 Hussey Vivian to bring forward his hussar brigade, consisting 
 of the 10th, 18th, and 1st German Hussars. He met him 
 coming down the slope of the position and Vivian told him his 
 brigade was just behind him. It appears from Vivian's cor-
 
 THE IMPERIAL GRENADIERS. 59 
 
 respondence with Gawler of the 52nd in 1833, that he mnst 
 have come down the British position, through the interval made 
 by the sudden advance of the 52nd, and that he saw no British 
 troops as he advanced at right angles with the position, either to 
 his right or left, and that his brigade came upon and charged a 
 large body of cavalry somewhere in front of the 2nd French 
 corps. These cavalry were mixed ; there were cuirassiers, lancers, 
 and "uns with their horses attached. Colonel Gurwood, who had 
 been in the 52nd, but at Waterloo commanded a troop in the 10th 
 Hussars and was wounded, told me that, as he lay on the ground, 
 he saw poor Howard's charge ; that Vivian, after the charge of 
 the 10th, observing some formed infantry in front, desired 
 Howard to collect as many men as he could of those who had 
 got into confusion in their charge on the French cavalry and to 
 attack this infantry. This was looked upon as a very desperate 
 service, as cavalry have rarely been known to defeat regularly 
 formed and steady infantry. Gurwood told me that a young 
 officer said to Howard, " If I were you, Howard, I would'nt do 
 " it," and that Howard replied, " You heard the General's order, 
 " and you know my position in the regiment." The charge was 
 made and repulsed, Howard being killed. The infantry they 
 attacked appears to have been one of the squares of the Grena- 
 diers of the Imperial Guard, which had retired just to the right 
 of La Belle AUiance and Primotion, when the square, followed by 
 the 52nd, retired to the left of those houses, and to the left of the 
 Chaiieroi road. As far as I can make out, this square and another 
 were under Cambronne, and were closely followed, when he came 
 near them, by Colonel Hugh Halkett with the Osnabruck bat- 
 talion, one of the regiments of his Hanoverian brigade. Halkett 
 had seen the sudden movement of the 52nd, and having sent his 
 brigade-major* to order the rest of the brigade to follow, he moved 
 the Osnabruck battalion down the slope of our position from the 
 rif'ht of the 71st, and came away to the right of the 52nd, when 
 these squares of the Imperial Guard were attacked by us ; 
 Halkett with his Hanoverian battalion got so near to one of these, 
 that he made a dash at General Cambronne, who was at some 
 little distance from the square, and took him prisoner with his 
 * The brigade-major was killed before he could deliver his order.
 
 r>o 52nd attack and defeat 
 
 own hands.* The other square, which Major Howard charged, 
 was farther to the rear of the French position, and more to our 
 right than the square which Halkett was so close to. Vivian, 
 in his correspondence with Gawler, eighteen years after the action, 
 mentions that he expected a regiment of Hanoverians, on his 
 left and rear, to have advanced to attack the square that 
 Howard charged, but that this regiment, instead of doing so, 
 followed another square more to its left. 
 
 I must now return to the account of the advance of the 
 52nd in its pursuit of the square of the Old Guard to our left 
 of the Charleroi road. It gradually brought its left shoulders more 
 forward, till opposite to La Belle Alliance the line was exactly 
 at right angles with this road, the British position being about a 
 mile directly in our rear. "We passed great numbers of guns 
 and ammunition waggons, which had been deserted in conse- 
 quence of our rapid advance. Lord Seaton stated that at this 
 time we passed no less than "seventy-five pieces of French 
 " artillery, and that very shortly after the French columns dis- 
 " parsed." 
 
 Leaving La Belle Alliance and, farther on, the farm of Pri- 
 motion on its right, the 52nd advanced in pursuit to the left of 
 the Charleroi road, and at no great distance from it. It had been 
 
 * French writers assert that General Carabronne never exclaimed, " La Garde 
 " meurt et ne se rend pas " (The Guard dies and does not surrender), but that these 
 memorable words were uttered by General Michel, " who was killed at Waterloo 
 " at the head of the square of the grenadiers of the Old Guard." In 1845, the 
 two sons of General Michel addressed a request to the French King that a 
 royal ordinance which authorised the town of Nantes to erect a statue to the 
 memory of General Cambronne might be modified, that is to say, that the 
 commission, charged with the erection of this monument, should not be autho- 
 rised to cause to be engraven on the base of this statue those admirable words, 
 " La Garde meurt et ne se rend pas." In support of their request, the sons of 
 General Michel brought forward many witnesses to prove that Cambronne him- 
 self had denied using these words, and others to prove that they heard General 
 Michel use them. Amongst these last was Baron Martenot, who com- 
 manded the battalion in which the Emperor took refuge " for a moment at the 
 "end of the battle." Bertrand presented to General Michel's widow a stone 
 detached from the Emperor's tomb, at Sainte Helena, on which he had inscribed 
 these words and signed them : — " A la Baronne Michel, veuve du General Michel, 
 " tue h Waterloo, oi\ il repondit aux sommations de I'ennemi par ces paroles 
 " sublimes — ' La Garde meurt et ne se rend pas ' ! 
 
 " Pierre du tombeau de Sainte Helena. [Signe,] Bertrand."
 
 THE IMPEKIAL GRENADIERS. 61 
 
 quite alone since it left tlie British position, and continued so till it 
 halted for the night. 
 
 I think it was after passing the farm of Primotion that I 
 remember seeing, on the other side of the Charleroi road about 
 300 yards to our right, a small body of cavalry riding to the 
 charge, probably it was poor Howard's charge, before referred to. 
 Sir Colin Campbell thought, on examining with me a plan of 
 the Field of Waterloo, that this charge took place not far from 
 Primotion ; he remembered there were some trees there near to 
 a house, and that it then wanted a quarter to nine by his watch.* 
 
 One hundred yards to the south of the inclosures of Primo- 
 tion, we being about the same distance to the left of the Charleroi 
 road, the 52nd found itself on the edge of a deep hollow road 
 with steep banks, in which were a large body of French infantry 
 retiring from their right. lii the centre it appeared to be a 
 mutual surprise; they threw down their arms in token of sur- 
 render, and we rapidly passed through them. In the centre not 
 a shot was exchanged. Captain McN"air, however, made the 
 men break some of the French muskets by knocking them 
 against the ground, thinking it unwise to leave so large an armed 
 body of the enemy in our rear, but there was no time for much 
 of this, and probably not more than a dozen muskets were 
 smashed. What took place on the right of the 52nd was thus 
 graphically described by Colonel Gawler, in his "Crisis of Water- 
 " loo," thirty years ago : — " A hundred yards to the Allied left of 
 
 * Tlie following letter from the Duke of York to the Duke of Wellington 
 is published in the tenth volume of the Duke's supplementary despatches :— 
 
 " Horse Guards, June 'SOth, 1815. 
 " j\Iy dear Lord Duke, — The family of the late Major Howard, of the 
 " 10th Hussars, have urged so earnestly that every possible measure should 
 " be adopted for finding the body of that officer, as to induce me to desire that the 
 " officer commanding at Bruxelles should be written to on the subject. I under- 
 " stood that two Serjeants of his regiment were employed to bury him ; and if you 
 " will give orders that one of them should be sent back to Bruxelles to give any 
 "information on the subject, the family will feel that both your Grace and 
 " myself have done all that is practicable to eflect their wishes. 
 
 " I remain, my dear Lord Duke, yours sincerely, 
 
 " Frederick." 
 [" Let inquiry be made on this subject at the regiment for the two Serjeants 
 " mentioned. Wellington."]
 
 62 52nd attack and defeat 
 
 " La Belle Alliance, a hollow road runs, nearly at riglit angles 
 "towards the chaussee, up wliich a column of artillery and infan- 
 " try was hastily retreating. The square (of the Imperial Guard) 
 " crossed the head of this body, but the high bank concealed the 
 " approach of the 52nd, until the distancebecame too small to admit 
 " of any but ahand-to-hand contest. The column seemed not suffi- 
 " ciently aware of its desperate circumstances to surrender without 
 " hesitation, and for a moment the scene was singularly wild. The 
 " infantry, before they threw down their arms, made an effort 
 " either at defence or escape. The artillery dashed at the opposite 
 " bank, but some of the horses of each gun were in an instant brouaht 
 " down. A subaltern of the battery, threw his sword on the 
 " ground in token of surrender ; but the commander, standing in 
 " the centre of his guns, waved his above his head in defiance. A 
 " soldier sprang from the British ranks, parried his thrust, closed 
 " with him, threw him on the ground, and keeping him down Math 
 " his foot, reversed his musket in both hands to bayonet him ; 
 " when that repugnance to shedding of blood, which so often rises 
 " in the hearts of British soldiers even under circumstances of 
 "personal danger and prudential necessity, burst forth in a groan 
 " of disgust from his surrounding comrades ; it came, however, in 
 " this case too late, the fatal thrust was sped, and the legion of 
 " honour lost another member." 
 
 On the left flank of the 52nd line, at no very great distance 
 from it, a French officer brought up and formed about a hundred 
 men from the hollow road, apparently with the view of makino- 
 some attack upon us, but, on this being observed, the left company 
 of the 52nd brought up its right shoulders to drive them in, when 
 they retired back into the hollow road much faster than they 
 came out of it ; there was no firing on either side. 
 
 I was the first up on the top of the opposite bank, and the 
 regiment formed on the colour. It was then getting somewhat 
 duskish, and must have been close upon nine o'clock. At a 
 distance of about 200 yards we observed four French staff-officei'S. 
 McNair who was on the right of No. 4, (his own company, No. 9, 
 being in the rear) gave the word, " No. 4, make ready," when I, 
 who was next to him on his right, begged him to " let those poor 
 " fellows off." He replied, " I dare not, I know not who they
 
 THE IMPERIAL GRENADIERS. 63 
 
 " may be." He then completed the word of command, and No. 4 
 fired a volley ; No. 3, on the right did the same. The " cease 
 " firing " sounded down the line from the right, and I'believe these 
 were the last infantry-shots fired at Waterloo. The horse of one 
 of the French officers fell, and we soon lost sight of them. I 
 liave thought it was probably Marshal Ney, who thus had his 
 horse shot under him. It tallies with his own account ; he 
 speaks of lingering on the field, and of all his horses being shot. 
 "SMien McNair said, " He did not know who they might be," he 
 was thinking of Napoleon, and thought it was not right to let 
 him get away, if he could prevent it. It is very possible that 
 the Emperor did form one of this group, for in the note at page 
 60, he is spoken of as having at the end of the hattle been, " for a 
 moment," in one of the squares of the Old Guard. Now one of 
 them was retirinoj before the 52nd, and the other two or three 
 were in our immediate vicinity on the other side of the Charleroi 
 road. He may have been in the square we pursued, and have 
 left it when they halted for a moment to throw off their knapsacks. 
 This they were seen to do I think before we reached the hollow 
 road. Being thus lightened they gained on us and we no longer saw 
 them when, from the top of the hollow road, the two centre 
 companies, 3 and 4, fired on the four mounted French oificers. 
 
 There was no pursuing-cavalry on our side of the main road. 
 Vivian's brigade of cavalry came up into line with us, far away 
 to the right, when we were somewhere abreast of Primotion. 
 Vandeleur's brigade of cavalry, came up rather later in pursuit. 
 Halkett, with the Osnaln^uck battalion, must have been not very far 
 in our rear, on the other side of the chaussee ; and I conjecture 
 from Colonel Eeynell's letter that when we were at Primotion, or 
 at the hollow road beyond it, the 71st, one of the two other regi- 
 ments of our brigade, must have been away on the other side of 
 Vivian's brigade, in a line witli us, but at a distance from us of 
 nearly 700 yards. The 71st, [perhaps the 2nd and 3rd Ptifles,] 
 and Halkett's Osnabruck battalion, afforded a most important 
 support to the 52nd in its single-handed attack on the French 
 Imperial Guard, but none of them nor any other regiment 
 of the British or Allied troops were at all engaged with them. As 
 far as I have been able to make matters out, the above mentioned
 
 64 52nd attack and defeat 
 
 regiments were the only infantry which advanced that night 
 beyond the low ground between the French and British positions. 
 The rest of the infantry bivouacked on the lower part of the 
 slope of our own position ; the enemy having been fairly routed 
 and dispersed, long before th e rest of the British and Allied army 
 passed over the crest of that position. 
 
 In the advance of the 52nd from the hollow road to the farm 
 of Eosonime, where it halted for the night, it jDassed at one place 
 within a quarter of a mile of the nearest houses of Planchenoit, 
 but saw nothing of the French who nearly up to that time had 
 been keeping the Prussians in check in that village, and had 
 inflicted severe loss upon them. They had now made off, with 
 the rest of the French army who could get away, in the direction 
 of Genappe and somewhat to their right of it, between it and 
 Maison du Eoi. About a quarter of a mile before we reached 
 Eosomme we came iipon the knapsacks of the square of the Old 
 Guard. My colour-serjeant took possession of a havre-sac and 
 afterwards took from it a loaf, from which he cut a good slice of 
 bread, and offering it to me said, " Won't you have a slice of bread, 
 Mr. Leeke ? I am sure you deserve it, sir ! " I was very glad of 
 the bread, for I had eaten nothing but one biscuit for more than 
 twenty-four hours ; and I was pleased also with the kind and 
 approving words of the serjeant. Shortly after this we reached 
 Eosomme, and forming column of companies on the northern side 
 of the farm, we halted in the angle formed by the Charleroi road 
 and the road leading into it from Planchenoit, and piling arras 
 bivouacked there for the night. It was a quarter after nine 
 o'clock. 
 
 The farm of Eosomme is three-quarters of a mile from La 
 Belle Alliance, and exactly the same distance from the church of 
 Planchenoit. On this ground we found the straw which the 
 French Imperial Guard had collected for themselves, and slept 
 on the night before. The Duke himself must have ordered Sir 
 John Colborne to halt there, for General Adam had not been 
 with us since the defeat of the 10,000 men of the Imperial Guard, 
 but had, notwithstanding he was severely wounded, been away 
 to look after the 71st, who had been so much separated from the 
 52nd. I did not see the Duke at that time, but I recoUect hear-
 
 THE IMPERIAL GRENADIERS. 65 
 
 ing that when he came up to the regiment at Eosomme, he asked 
 Sir John Colborne "if there was anything he could do for the 
 " o2nd," and that Colborne replied he should be very glad if the 
 Duke could send them a barrel of biscuits ; which he promised to do. 
 
 As there has been so much controversy as to whether or not 
 the Duke of Wellington and ^Marshal Blucher met, after the battle, 
 at La Belle Alliance, the Duke himself even having declared 
 that they met first at Genappe, and his memory evidently hav- 
 ing been confused about it, I will copy verbatim the note I made 
 of the information I got from Sir Colin Campbell the very day 
 after I had the conversation with him in 1833. It is as follows: 
 — "The Duke, seeing where we (the 52nd) were to halt for the 
 " night, returned to La Belle Alliance and arranged with Blucher 
 " that the Prussians should undertake the pursuit." 
 
 Soon after we halted a large fire was lighted, round which the 
 officers stood, and talked over the events of the battle. Whilst 
 we were thus engaged, we heard some cheering away in our rear, 
 near La Belle Alliance, and May, of the 52nd, coming up shortly 
 afterwards, told us that it proceeded from those who were pre- 
 sent when Wellington and Blucher met.* 
 
 One of the first duties attended to when the regiment had 
 piled arms and were lying down in column, was the calling the. 
 roll by a serjeant of each company. I observed that in almost 
 every case of absence, some of the men could say what had hap- 
 pened to the man, whether they knew him to be killed or only 
 wounded. We had left, including officers, exactly 206 of our 
 
 * The following is from the " Edinburgh Review" for^^n7, 1864:—" In a letter 
 " to Mr. Mudford, dated June 8th, 181(5, he (the Duke) wrote :—' A remarkable 
 " ' instance of the falsehoods, circulated through the evidence of unofficial des- 
 " ' patches, is to be found in the report of a meeting between Marshal Blucher 
 " ' and me at La Belle Alliance, (and some have gone so far as to have seen the 
 " ' chair in which I sat down in the farm house.) It hapiens that the meeting 
 " ' took place after ten at night, at the village of Genappe, and anybody who 
 " 'attempts to describe with truth the operations of the different armies will see 
 " * that it could not be otherwise.' 
 
 " Captain Gronow has gone so far as to say that he was present, with other 
 " officers, at the meeting at La Belle Alliance. Confidently as the Duke writes, 
 " there are strong reasons for suspecting that he was mi.staken as to the ] rccise 
 " place. It is clear, from French official accounts, that the French did not 
 " abandon Genappe till past eleven ; from the Prussian, that Blucher and his 
 
 " .staff did not reach it till near midnight."
 
 GQ 52nd attack and defeat 
 
 poor fellows on the Field of Waterloo. Many of the wounded, I 
 believe, but not all, got into houses at Merbe Braine or at the 
 village of Waterloo. 
 
 The following was the return of the casualties of the 52nd 
 at Waterloo : — 
 General Eeturn. Officers' Names. 
 
 Killed. Killed. 
 
 1 Ensign Ensign Nettles 
 
 1 Serjeant Wou7ided. 
 
 36 Eank and File Major and Bt. -Lieut. -Col. Charles Eowan Slightly 
 
 Capt. Charles Diggle . . . Severely 
 
 Wounded. Capt. and Bt.-Major J. F. Love . Severely 
 
 1 Major Lieut, and Adjt. John Winterbottom Severely 
 
 2 Captains Lieut. Charles Dawson . . . Severely 
 5 Lieutenants Lieut. Matthew Anderson . . Severely 
 
 10 Serjeants Lieut. George Campbell . . Severely 
 
 150 Rank and File Lieut. Thomas Cottingham . . Severely 
 
 Major Hunter Blair, our brigade-major, who was in much 
 concern about General Adam, whom he had not been able to find, 
 came up to me about half an hour after we had halted, when I 
 was near the men, and inquired if anybody had seen General 
 Adam, and stated that he would reward any man who would 
 find the general. This I made known, neither the brigade- 
 major nor I thinking at the moment that by so doing we were 
 giving an opportunity to any bad fellows, who might be so dis- 
 posed, an opportunity of quitting the column for the purpose of 
 plundering the killed and wounded they might meet with ; I am 
 not aware that any did so ; but within half a minute, a man 
 came to me in front of the general, who rode into the bivouac 
 from the direction of Genappe, and said, " Here is General 
 "Adam, sir!" Neither Blair nor I thought him entitled to the 
 promised reward, as the general had found the regiment and was 
 within a few paces of it when the man saw him. Adam had con- 
 ducted himself with great gallantry in front of the 52nd when 
 they took the French Imperial Guard in flank, and evinced his 
 pluck also in not leaving the field, when severely wounded in 
 the leg. As he sat on his horse for some little time near our fire, 
 I heard him say that " he should never forget the honour of hav- 
 "ing commanded the 52nd on that eventful day."
 
 THE IMPERIAL GREN^VDIEES. 67 
 
 The following is taken from the 52nd record : — 
 
 "On returning to England for the recovery of his wounds, the 
 " following extract of a letter from Major General Sir Frederick 
 " Adam was communicated to the 52nd regiment : — 
 
 " ' I request you will express in my name to the officers, non- 
 " ' commissioned officers and men of the brigade, (52nd, 71st, and 
 " ' 95th regiments,) how much I regret my separation from them. 
 " ' The expectation of being early enabled to rejoin, and the hope 
 " ' of doing so, (which till within these last few days I have 
 " ' continually entertained,) have alone prevented my sooner ex- 
 " ' pressing to the several corps of the brigade the admiration I 
 " ' shall ever entertain of their intrepid and noble conduct in 
 "'the battle of the 18th of June. To have had the good 
 " ' fortune of being at their head on so glorious an occasion 
 " ' will be to me a subject of increasing satisfaction. In pro- 
 " ' portion as T have regretted being separated from the light 
 " ' brigade, I shall look forward with anxiety to resuming that 
 " ' which through life it will be my pride to have held. 
 
 " (Signed) ' Frederick Adam, 
 
 " ' Major-General.' " 
 
 After our arrival at Eosomme I lay down for a few minutes 
 on the flank of No. 9 company, and on my saying "Can any one 
 " give me a drink of water," I was gratified with the kindness of 
 the men, for there was no getting a supply of water where w^e 
 were, yet four or five of them, directly they heard me, readily 
 began to pass their canteens (wallets) towards me. I have always 
 retained a grateful recollection of this little kindness. It is a 
 rule with soldiers to go into action, if they can, with their can- 
 teens full of water, for, when a man is severely wounded, the 
 desire for water is sometimes almost intolerable. I shall have to 
 relate an instance of this presently. 
 
 About three-quarters of an hour after we had halted at 
 liosomme, the first column of the Prussians, by whom the pur- 
 suit was to be taken up, arrived from Planchenoit. As they 
 marched round the column of the 52nd from Planchenoit into 
 the Charleroi road, they broke into slow time, and their bands 
 played, " God save the King." A mounted officer, who rode up 
 the bank, and passed along the flank of the column, which was 
 
 F 2
 
 68 52nd attack and defeat 
 
 lying down, pulled up and asked me in French " if that was an 
 " English colour;" (I still kept it in my possession, to give some 
 poor tired fellow a little rest before he was placed on sentry over 
 it.) On my replying that it was, he let go his bridle, and taking 
 hold of the colour with both hands, pressed it to his bosom, and 
 patted me on the back, exclaiming, " Brave Anglais." 
 
 The 52nd record relates the above occurrence as follows : — 
 
 "The Prussian regiments, as they came up the road from 
 " Planchenoit and wheeled round into the great chaussee by 
 " Eosomme, moved in slow time, their bands playing our National 
 "■ Anthem, in compliment to our success; and a mounted officer at 
 "the head of them embraced the 52nd colour, (which had been 
 " carried that day by Ensign William Leeke,) to serve as the 
 " expression of his tribute of admiration for the British army." 
 
 In a note from my name is the following : " Now the Eev. 
 " W. Leeke, of Holbrooke, near Derby. The king's colour was 
 " singularly lost for a time, buried under the body of Ensign 
 "Nettles, who was killed in retiring from the square near 
 " Hougomont, about 7 p.m. It was recovered on picking up the 
 " wounded." 
 
 Some few of the Prussian soldiers passed up the bank and 
 along the flank of our column with strings of three or four horses 
 each, which they had picked up between Planchenoit and 
 Eosomme. They were apparently horses taken from the French 
 guns and ammunition waggons. One man, to whom I spoke, I 
 found very ready to part with a couple of horses for a few francs. 
 Probably the thinking he would have considerable difficulty in 
 conducting his prizes very far, in the confused state of the roads 
 by which the Prussians were to advance, may have had some- 
 thing to do with his willingness to part with them at so small 
 a price. I had no defined object in the purchase, except that T 
 thought it unfair that the Prussians should walk off with all the 
 horses they came across, whilst we got none of them for our por- 
 tion of the spoil. I took one of the horses for myself, and the 
 other as a mess horse for the officers of the company. It turned 
 out to be a very useful purchase ; for half the officers of the 
 regiment lost the whole of their baggage and baggage-horses, in 
 the confusion which prevailed during the whole of the 18th
 
 THE IMPERIAL GRENADIERS. C9 
 
 on the road between Waterloo and Brussels. The officers of 
 McNair's company were amongst the unfortunate sufferers. In a 
 pocket on one of the saddles I found a quart bottle of brandy, 
 which I suppose the Prussian soldier had not discovered. I do 
 not think I tasted any of it myself, but I have no doubt it was 
 properly appreciated by some of the more experienced officers, 
 in the absence of anything else to drink or to eat. 
 
 Major Chalmers had a small straw hut constructed for him- 
 self just large enough to cover the upper half of his body. I 
 took the liberty of lying down at the back of it with my head 
 near to his and my legs stretched out in a contrary direction. I 
 slept soundly and sweetly that night from eleven till about half- 
 past two. How many thousands, within the space of two miles 
 from us, British, Hanoverian, Brunswick, Nassau, Dutch, Belgian, 
 Prussian and Prench, who bid as fair for life as any of us on the 
 morning of the 18th, were now sleeping the sleep of death or 
 lying desperately wounded on the field of Waterloo amidst what 
 Marshal Ney described, as " the most frightful carnage he had 
 " ever witnessed ! " Including the battle of Ligny, between the 
 French and Prussians, on the 16th, and that on the same day be- 
 tween the French and English, &c., at Quatre Bras, the English, 
 Germans, and Prussians lost about 33,857 in killed and wounded, 
 from the 16th to the 18th inclusive. The loss of the French 
 must have been much greater. Probably the whole amount of 
 the loss on both sides during those three days would be about 
 75,000 men. Almost all the 52nd wounded officers were very 
 " severely wounded." The late Lieut. -General Sir James Frede- 
 rick Love, then a brevet-major, was wounded in tlie head in our 
 attack upon the columns of the Imperial Guard. On falling, he 
 lay on the ground stunned, for some moments ; and, on recover- 
 ing, he put his finger into the wound, and, in his confusion, it 
 appeared to him to go straight down into his head, and, feeling 
 convinced that no man could recover with such a wound, and 
 seeing the 52nd advancing, he ran after them, thinking that he 
 would die with his regiment, instead of lying to die where he 
 was. He, however, after making the trial, had to succumb. He 
 remained on the ground and there received another severe wound 
 in the foot, besides two other slight wounds. There was some
 
 70 52nd attack and defeat 
 
 serious intention at one time of taking off his leg, but Bell, the 
 eminent surgeon who wrote one of the "Bridgewater Treatises," to 
 whom he was known and who had received some attention from 
 him in the Peninsula, hearing that he was lying badly wounded 
 at the village of Waterloo, went to see him, and by his advice 
 the operation was delayed and the limb was saved. 
 
 Sir J. F. Love had two brothers in the 52nd, and they, hear- 
 ing that their brother was severely wounded, obtained leave from 
 Sir John Colborne, after the action, to go back and look for him. 
 As people are so apt to do in the night, they completely missed 
 their direction, and after wandering about for a considerable time, 
 till they were regularly knocked up, they determined to remain foi 
 the night at a farm house which they had come to. Here the 
 people, who were very glad of their protection, were very kind to 
 them ; and after getting something to eat, they had just laid 
 themselves down on some straw in the large kitchen, when there 
 was a loud knocking at the great gates of the farm, and, on these 
 being opened, in stalked three grenadiers of the Imperial Guard 
 with their firelocks and with bayonets fixed. They would not 
 have been pleasant opponents perhaps for two young officers, but 
 on the elder Love saying to them " Vous etes prisonniers ? " they 
 very gladly acquiesced in the proposal, and their firelocks having 
 been placed against the corner of the room, after a little time the 
 five wearied soldiers, who had so lately met in mortal strife, 
 were lying side by side on the same straw, and there slept to- 
 gether till daylight. The French soldiers, no doubt, were most 
 thankful for the protection thus secured to them ; for soldiers of 
 a^defeated army can never feel quite sure that their lives will be 
 spared by any of their enemies whom they may fall in with ; 
 and I suspect the French were that night especially, to make use 
 of an elegant expression recently imported from Cambridge, 
 " awfully afraid " of the Prussians. 
 
 I may here mention that General Gneisenau, who had the com- 
 mand of the Prussian advanced troops on the night of the 18th, 
 gave the French no rest. When his infantry, who had been on 
 the march or in action since daybreak, were unable to march 
 any further, he mounted a drummer on one of the horses taken 
 rom Napoleon's carriage at Genappe, and made him every now
 
 THE IMPERIAL GRENADIERS. 71 
 
 and then beat his drum, to make the French, who did not care 
 so much for the cavahy, think that the infantry were close at 
 their heels. It is stated that in this manner Gneisenau drove 
 the French from seven bivouacs which they had taken up, that 
 he passed through Quatre Bras, which had been abandoned on 
 his approach, and advanced beyond Frasne, a distance of eight 
 mUes from Rosomme, before he halted. The French army, com- 
 pletely scattered and disheartened, fled beyond the Sambre with- 
 out venturing to make the least stand against their pursuers. 
 
 Soon after the 52nd had halted at Eosomme, the present Sir 
 William Eowan, then a brevet-major, received permission from 
 Sir John Colborne to go and look after his brother, the late Sir 
 Charles Eowan, K.C.B., who had been wounded. After passing 
 beyond La Belle Alliance and the ground beyond it, he found 
 Maitland's brigade of Guards between the British and French 
 positions, with theu' arms piled, he thought. He fell in with an 
 officer of the 1st regiment of Guards, whom he knew ; whilst he 
 was speaking to him Sir John Byng rode up and asked " Who is 
 "that ? " and on the officer replying, "It is Eowan of the 52nd, 
 " Sir," Sir John said, " Ah, we saw the 52nd advancing gloriously, 
 " as they always do." Sir John Byng, in the early part of the 
 action, commanded the brigade of Guards, composed of a battalion 
 of the Coldstream and one of the 3rd Guards, which was posted 
 in and to the rear of Houfjomont. When General Cooke was 
 wounded, Byng succeeded to the command of the whole division 
 of the Guards, and was with Maitland's brigade when the 52nd 
 attacked the Imperial Guard and advanced in the manner described 
 by him in such glowing terms. Now this conversation happened 
 about a quarter past ten o'clock, two hours after the 52 nd had 
 crossed the whole front of the right wing of the British army, 300 
 yards and more below the crest of the position; and the fact 
 that Maitland's brigade was still at that late hour below the 
 French position, helps to confirm the idea I have before advanced 
 that scarcely more than four infantry regiments and two brigades 
 of cavalry, Vivian's and Vandeleur's, advanced over the low ground 
 towards the French position on the evening or night of the 18th 
 of June, notwithstanding all that has been said about the Duke's 
 advancing his whole line in support of those troops. I suppose
 
 72 52nd attack and defeat 
 
 that the greater portion of the British and Allied troops left their 
 stations on the reverse slope of our position, and sought out for 
 themselves ground on which to bivouac, more free, than that on 
 which they had been stationed, from the melancholy sight of the 
 slain and from the groans of the wounded and dying. I fear it 
 was an unavoidable necessity that many of the wounded should 
 be left for the night on the field of battle. One of the 52nd 
 officers who was ordered on duty to Brussels the next morning, 
 on passing over the ground by which we had advanced, was 
 called upon by name by some of the 52nd men, who had been 
 lying wounded all night, to get something done for them. He 
 was unable to assist them, but at a very early hour a strong 
 fatigue-party was sent out from the regiment to place them under 
 the care of the surgeons. Another fatigue-party was sent out to 
 collect the arms belonging to the regiment. I think by far the 
 greater number of the wounded on our side were removed into 
 houses at Waterloo, Merbe Braine, and other villages, before it 
 became dark on the evening of the 18th. Sir William Rowan 
 proceeded to Waterloo and there found his brother and all the 
 52nd wounded officers, except Anderson, in the same house. 
 
 At daylight on the 19th all were stirring. It was some time 
 before we left our bivouac at Eosomme, perhaps an hour or two. 
 On the opposite side of the Charleroi road was a battalion of the 
 95th Eifles, whom we had not seen the night before ; probably 
 they were the 2nd battalion of the 95th, who belonged to our 
 brigade, and had come up some time after we had halted for the 
 night. 
 
 About a third of a mile from the 52nd bivouac, near the farm 
 of Eosomme to the south-east, is the house in which Bonaparte 
 is said to have slept on the night of the 17th. On the other 
 side of the Charleroi road, we found at some little distance some 
 dead bodies, and swords and cuirasses which had been thrown 
 away. This would be the ground over which some portions of 
 Vandeleur's and Vivian's cavalry brigades must have passed in 
 pursuit the night before. In one place were a number of letters 
 strewn about which appeared to have been taken from the dead 
 body of a French officer ; they were the letters of a young lady 
 in Scotland, to her husband, a French officer, who had recently
 
 THE IMPEKIAL GIIENADIERS. 73 
 
 left her to join the French army. They were just the tender 
 affectionate letters which a young loving wife would write to a 
 liusband under such circumstances. I well remember the follow- 
 ing sentence in one of them, " How I pity the poor English." 
 Portions of these letters were listened to with great interest by 
 several officers who were present, and all felt distressed at the 
 thought that such a bitter cup of sorrow awaited the poor young 
 widow. It was observed that one of those present took a pecu- 
 liar interest in the writer of these letters ; he frequently spoke of 
 them, and of her afterwards, and it turned out that he had taken 
 down her name and address, and that on his going on leave to 
 Scotland some time after, he determined to go to the place in 
 which she lived and to make enquiries about her. The sequel of 
 the story is, that he was somewhat disappointed to find, that she 
 and her husband were living most happily together. The hus- 
 band had only been severely wounded at Waterloo, and had lost 
 his letters. 
 
 If the French officer and his wife should be still living, and 
 this should be read bv them, the account of a matter, with which 
 they were so closely mixed up, will be interesting to them, and 
 it is hoped its public narration wiU not occasion them any 
 annoyance. The Scotch officer died many years ago. 
 
 On moving from Eosomme, we passed through the burning 
 village of Maison du Roi, about a quarter of a mile oft', and joined 
 the 71st on the other side of it. The following soldier-like letter 
 to " The United Service Journal" from Sir Thomas Reynell, who 
 commanded the 71st at Waterloo, will shew the good service 
 that regiment performed when the 52nd moved down alone upon 
 the two columns of the Imperial Guard. It also helps to shew 
 that these columns were " at the bottom of the declivity" that is, 
 three or four hundred yards from the crest of the British position, 
 so that the 2nd battalion of the 1st Guards could not have come 
 in contact with them, but only with their sldrmishers : — 
 
 Sir Thomas Reynell on the Movement of the 71st during the 
 "Crisis" at Waterloo. 
 
 " Mk. Editor, — I am induced to address you in consequence of 
 " some observations on Sir Hussey Vivian's Reply to ' The Crisis 
 " ' of Waterloo,' that appeared in your last Journal, which leave i^i
 
 7-i 52nd attack and defeat 
 
 " doubt whether the Vlst regiment was not that 'regiment in red' 
 "represented to have halted and opened a fire more destructive 
 " to their friends than foes, instead of charging at a very critical 
 "moment, and thus 'contributing to prevent the complete success 
 " ' of the attack.' 
 
 " Although Sir Hussey adds that the officer whom he sent to 
 " stop the fire of this battalion reported it to be a regiment of the 
 " Hanoverian Legion, and asserts, in another part of his reply, 
 " that the impression on his mind has always been that they were 
 " so, and not the 71st regiment, still something less questionable 
 " seems indispensable for the honour and character of the latter 
 " distinguished corps ; and I trust that I shall be able, in a few 
 " words, to supply that something. 
 
 "From having commanded the 7 1st regiment from the com- 
 " mencement to the close of that eventful day of Waterloo, and not 
 " having for a moment quitted its ranks, it may be presumed that 
 " no other person can speak with so much correctness as I can as 
 " to the part it performed during the battle. 
 
 " After the deployment from square, the 71st regiment moved 
 " in line, the right wing to the front, the left wing to the rear, 
 " forming a third and fourth rank. We passed Hougomont ob- 
 " liquely, throwing the right shoulders a little forward, as stated 
 " by the author of ' The Crisis,' and experienced some loss in the 
 " companies nearest to the orchard hedge from the fire of the 
 " tirailleurs posted there. We had in view, at the bottom of the de- 
 " clivity, two columns of the enemy s infantry; and my object, and 
 " I believe the object of every officer and soldier in the corps, was 
 " to come in contact with those columns, but they did not wait 
 " our approach, or afford us an opportunity of attacking them. 
 
 " I can positively assert that from the time the 71st regiment 
 " commenced this forward movement it never halted, but main- 
 " tained a steady advance upon the only enemy in front, until it 
 " reached the village of Caillon, against the walls of which were 
 " deposited a considerable quantity of arms, as if abandoned by 
 " the soldiers composing the enemy's two columns. It was becom- 
 " ing dark at this period, and after scouring the village of Caillon, 
 " we retired to a field to the right of it, where we bivouacked for 
 " the night, near to our friends the 52nd.
 
 THE IMPERIAL GEENADIEES. /O 
 
 " I do not recollect to have seen in our advance any body of 
 " men, cavalry or infantry, to our front, but the two columns of the 
 " enemy ; nor do I know that there was any on our right flank so 
 " much advanced as we were. I can well imagine that the move- 
 "ment of the 71st, conducted, as I trust it was, in a steady and 
 " soldier-like manner, must have afforded a very decided and im- 
 " portant support to the troops acting to our left, who approxi- 
 " mated closer to the point of the enemy's final attack. 
 
 " I have no desire whatever to attract notice to the services of 
 " the 71st regiment in the battle of Waterloo, firmly believing that 
 " every battalion and corps of the British army engaged did the 
 " duty assigned to it fully as well; but I confess that I have every 
 " wish to remove the possibility of its being supposed that at any 
 " moment the regiment could have hesitated to attack an enemy 
 " opposed to it; and I only hope that this plain statement of facts 
 " will convince the readers of your valuable Journal that the 
 " ' regiment in red,' alluded to in Sir Hussey Vivian's Eeply, was 
 "not the 71st Light Infantry. 
 
 " I remain, Sir, your most obedient humble Servant, 
 
 "Thos. Eeynell, Major-General. 
 " Devonshire Place, 18th July, 1833." 
 
 The 52nd remained for several hours on the morning of the 
 19th near Maison du Eoi, before they marched to Nivelles. 
 Meat was served out, and the men cooked. I recollect having 
 there first eaten "beefsteaks fried at the end of a ramrod." My 
 servant brought some water for us to drink from a pond in which 
 he said there were the dead bodies of two French soldiers, and 
 tliat he could not find any other water. Some of our men had 
 some orders and other things, which they had picked up on the 
 field of battle ; probably the men had belonged to one of the 
 fatigue-parties sent out to take up any of our wounded who had 
 remained on the ground all night, and to collect arms belonging 
 to the regiment. I bought a pair of brass-barrelled pistols from 
 one of the men. In a field about two hundred yards off, to the 
 left of the chauss^e, I found a French ammunition- waggon, and 
 supplied my self with some cartridges, which fitted my pistols, for the 
 purpose of putting an unfortunate horse, that had had its leg shot 
 off, out of its misery. I did not succeed very well, as the horse,
 
 76 52nd attack and defeat 
 
 whenever I pulled the trigger, so suddenly moved his head that 
 my aim did not take effect. Two Prussians coming up from 
 Planchenoit, one of them a Serjeant, shot the horse for me. After 
 this I rode forward to a hamlet nearly half a mile in advance. I 
 took three or four canteens with me to see if I could not get 
 some water fit to drink ; hut one of our men whom I desired to 
 fill them for me, told me when I was leaving the place after- 
 wards, that he had filled them with beer, which he thought better 
 than water. I remained in a farm house at this place for some 
 time, as there were several wounded men filling all the lower 
 rooms, to whom I and some of our men tried to render some little 
 services. One was a man. of the 7th Hussars who had received 
 seven wounds when that regiment charged the French lancers, 
 just to the north of Genappe, on the afternoon of the 17th. He 
 described to me the manner and order in which he had received 
 his wounds, all of which I do not distinctly recollect ; but seve- 
 ral of them, though not all, were lance wounds, inflicted whilst 
 he was lying on the ground. There appears to have been much 
 of this unnecessarily cruel work of piercing those lying on the 
 ground wounded, carried on by the French lancers at Waterloo. 
 Some of our cavalry regiments have since that time been armed 
 with lances ; but it may be worthy of the consideration of our 
 own military authorities and of those of other nations, whether 
 the use of a weapon, which appears to be chiefly used for the un- 
 manly and cruel purpose of putting the wounded to death, might 
 not be altogether given up. This 7th Hussar man, who had not 
 till then been discovered and visited by any surgeon, was, whilst 
 I was at the place, taken away by his own regiment. How he 
 had got so far away from the ground on which he was wounded 
 I do not know ; but I think the distance from Genappe must 
 have been nearly two miles. I had some hope that the man 
 would recover. 
 
 On the other side of the fireplace, on a bed or mattrass, lay 
 a poor fellow belonging to the grenadiers of the French Guard. 
 He had, I thought, a fatal wound from which the bowels pro- 
 truded. When he saw one of our men washing the wounds of 
 the hussar, he begged that he would bring the water to him also; 
 and on this being done, he eagerly seized the basin, and quenched
 
 THE IMPERIAL GRENADIERS. 77 
 
 his burning thirst by drinking deeply of the bloody water which 
 it contained. 
 
 On my return to the regiment, with my canteens hanging on 
 each side of my saddle, and my pistols stuck through the straps 
 which fastened on my boat cloak in front of me, I saw our gene- 
 ral of division, Sir Henry Clinton, and some of his staff coming 
 towards me. He looked all the more formidable from a fashion 
 he had adopted of wearing his cocked hat, not in the usual way, 
 " fore and aft," but with the small ends over either shoulder. I 
 thought I must look so much like a marauder, that I was rather 
 ashamed of being seen by him. I soon disposed of my pistols 
 by pitching them over a hedge on my right, never to see them 
 again, and thus freed from the chief appendage I was ashamed 
 of, I passed the general without attracting his particular atten- 
 tion. 
 
 Whilst I was away, a French ammunition- waggon was blown 
 up not far from the regiment, and two men of the brigade were 
 killed. I think one belonged to the 71st and the other to the 
 95th Eifles. They were on the top of the waggon, hacking at it 
 with a hatchet or bill-hook to get some wood for cookinsr. I am 
 not sure that it was not the same ammunition-waggon from 
 which I had been helping myself to cartridges some little time 
 before. 
 
 When the regiment fell in for the march to Nivelles, an in- 
 spection of knapsacks took place and several things were thrown 
 away with which some of the men had encumbered themselves. 
 We formed square either before or after this inspection, and some 
 men were paraded as prisoners, who had fallen out drunk at 
 Braine-le-comte on the morning of the 17th, in consequence of 
 getting access to some wine vaults in that town, and had thus 
 missed being with their regiment at Waterloo. Sir John Colborne 
 addressed them, and said he should forgive them, as he considered 
 it was a sufficient punishment for them that they had been 
 absent from their regiment " vjhen they had the. honour of defeat- 
 " ing the Imperial Guard of France, led on hy the Emperor 
 " Napoleon Bonaparte in person." We supposed then, from what 
 the French chef d'escadron had reported, that the Emperor was 
 with his guard when we attacked them ; but it afterwards
 
 78 52nd attack a\d defeat the imperial gkenadiers. 
 
 appeared from tlie French accounts that it was not so, and that 
 after they had marched past him in the low ground between the 
 two armies, he had gone back to the French position, from which 
 he only retired with the squares of the Old Guard.
 
 79 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1815. 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE FEENCH IMPEEIAL GUAKD BY THE 52ND ALONE. 
 
 Defeat of the Imperial Guard by the 52nd, and not by the 1st British Guards- 
 Lord Seaton and Sir John Byng— Steadiness of 52nd when wheeHng in 
 line, &c.— The Duke's despatch written on the night of the 18th— Duke of 
 Richmond— Colonel Gawler— Siborne's mistakes— Sir W. Napier's state- 
 ment about treachery and secret politics in connexion with Waterloo— Napier's 
 letter about officers being drilled with men, and Lord Seaton with 52nd at 
 Waterloo— Colonel Bentham and Minie rifle— Bentham and Waterloo- 
 Lieutenant Sharpin of the Artillery contradicts Sibome— Lord Seaton's 
 letter to Bentham on defeat of French Guard by 52nd— Mr. Yonge's con- 
 versation with Lord Seaton — Colonel Brotherton. 
 
 I MUST now, before I proceed to give the account of our march 
 from Waterloo to Paris, enter upon the consideration of the 
 following questions : — 
 
 1. Did the 52nd, as I have asserted in my account of what 
 that regiment achieved at Waterloo, move down at least 300 
 yards from its position in the right wing of the Allied army, and 
 defeat, single-handed, by an attack on their left flank, the two 
 heavy columns of the Imperial Guard, apparently consisting of 
 about 10,000 men ? 
 
 2. Did the 1st Guards on that occasion, or on any other on that 
 day, do anything beyond receiving and defeating various charges 
 made by the Preuch cavalry, and driving off, by an advance of 
 their left battalion in line, the mass of skirmishers of the French 
 Guard, and perhaps of Donzelot's division, who were firing into 
 them? 
 
 I must endeavour to bring forward the various proofs I have 
 of the correctness of my assertion relative to the defeat of the 
 Imperial Guard by the 52nd alone, in the best order I can. 
 
 Every officer of the regiment who served at Waterloo has 
 never had the least doubt of the correctness of the statement that
 
 80 DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH IMPERIAL GUARD 
 
 the 52ncl, and the 52nd alone, moved down upon the left flank of 
 the Imperial Guard and defeated it, and when the Duke of 
 Wellington's despatch reached us on our march to Paris, all 
 considered themselves as most unjustly treated because Colborne's 
 daring feat was not even alluded to. 
 
 Shortly after the 52nd reached Paris and were encamped in 
 the Champs Elysees, Sir John Colborne gave us the following 
 account of what Sir John Byng had said, on meeting him a day 
 or two before. He said, " How do your fellows like our getting 
 " the credit of doing what you did at Waterloo ? I could not 
 " advance when you did, because all our ammunition was gone." 
 Some little time afterwards, when Sir John Colborne met Byng, 
 and tried to lead him to speak on the subject again, he found 
 him quite disinclined to do so. Many years afterwards, I think 
 it was in 1850, wdien I was dining with Lord Seaton in town, 
 one of his sons requested me to try and draw his father out to talk 
 about Waterloo, saying that he often told them about his other 
 battles, but they could not get him to speak much about that. 
 I took an opportunity of asking him if he recollected much about 
 Waterloo, and I suppose I particularized the charge of the 52nd 
 on the Imperial G-aard, for I remember he said, " Did you ever 
 " hear what Sir John Byng said to me at Paris ?" I replied that I 
 had a very distinct recollection of it ; but that I should be very 
 much obliged if he would repeat to me what Sir John Byng had 
 said, in order that I might see, if my recollection of it exactly 
 tallied with his. Lord Seaton then gave me the account of what 
 passed on the two occasions of his meeting Byng, just as I have 
 related it above, and exactly as I remembered to have heard it 
 from him five and thirty years before in the camp at Paris. 
 
 An old officer of the 52nd, who has now been dead for many 
 years, wrote as follows in 1853, in reference to the advance of the 
 52nd on the the French Guard and to the subsequent unjust 
 treatment the regiment received, in that the credit of, and the 
 reward for, their splendid charge was given to the 1st regiment 
 of the British Guards, who really had nothing at all to do with it: — ' 
 
 " The wheeling of a battalion in line, though under such cir- 
 " cumstances the only practicable mode of changnig front, was 
 '' altogether unprecedented, just one of those promptings of inspi-
 
 BY THE o2nD alone. 81 
 
 " ration that mark the mind of a great general. Executed amid 
 "a continued roar of artillery that rendered words of command 
 " inaudible, trusting cliiefly to the further companies that they 
 " would be guided by the touch to their inward flank, it could 
 " hardly have been ventured at all, but for the previous precaution 
 " of the commanding officer, who, when the order was given by the 
 " Duke, that all the regiments in the centre should form four deep, 
 " rather than loosen his files by that formation, had prepared to 
 " double his line by placing one wing closed up in rear of the 
 " other; another instance, to show how the knowledge of details, 
 " and constant attention to them, are essential in order to enable 
 " an officer to apply his men to the best purpose. 
 
 " Owing to the skill with which the movement was made, 
 " the very acm^ of time being seized, never perhaps was more 
 " signal service done by a body of troops so disproportionate in 
 " number to the force attacked ; that force being composed of the 
 " Mite of the enemy's army, the most veteran troops in Europe. 
 " A line on the flank of a column exhibits in the highest degree 
 " the triumphs of skill over number. The column has only the 
 " alternative of flight or destruction. 
 
 " This adventurous movement was undertaken upon his sole 
 " responsibility, by the commanding officer of a single battalion, 
 " and, from the first onset of the 52nd, that regiment and the 
 " 71st proceeded to the close of the day without receiving orders 
 " from any general officer, whether of brigade or division* 
 
 " The successful charge and immediate pursuit of the broken 
 " columns carried Adam's brigade far ahead of the other troops, 
 " constituting them, as it were, an advanced guard to the main 
 " body of the British army. 
 
 " We must not omit the admirable steadiness and intelligence 
 " of the men, mostly veterans of the Peninsula, enabling the com- 
 " manding officer in the first place to rely on them for taking up, 
 "amid a deafening fire, such a movement as a wheel in line, 
 " which every military man knows would in general be an awk- 
 " ward business for the first time on a quiet parade-ground, and 
 
 * The movement of the 71st in support of the advance of the 52ud is 
 described in Sir Thomas Reynell's letter, which will be found towards the close 
 of the last chapter. 
 
 G
 
 82 DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH IMPERIAL GUARD 
 
 " next exhibited in the cool way in which they treated the irrup- 
 " tion of cavalry on them, causing the officers to remark, that 
 " with such self possession, they need never be under any appre- 
 " hension from a charge. 
 
 " The Duke in his account of the battle entered but little 
 " into particulars. Of the period here referred to he says, ' These 
 " ' attacks were repeated till about seven in the evening, when the 
 " ' enemy made a desperate charge with cavalry and infantry, sup- 
 " ' ported by the fire of artillery, to force our left centre near the 
 " ' farm of La Haye Sainte, which, after a severe contest, was 
 " ' defeated.' It is to be recollected that the despatch was written 
 " during the night succeeding the day of the battle in the house 
 " in which some of his staff were lying wounded and dying, and 
 " that it comprised also the action of Quatre Bras. 
 
 " These circumstances may account for its being somewhat 
 
 " brief, but certainly when the Gazette came out, a good deal of 
 
 " disappointment was felt that more detail had not been given. It 
 
 " was not only those who were engaged in that particular part of 
 
 " the fight we have been describing who were impressed with the 
 
 " importance of the service rendered in that conjuncture, but, two 
 
 " days after the battle, it so happened that sufficient means were 
 
 " afforded of learning something of the general sense of the army 
 
 " on the subject. Two officers from every regiment of cavalry and 
 
 " infantry were ordered back to Brussels to look after any missing 
 
 " soldiers, and among these, on their meeting there in the public 
 
 " rooms, discussing the events so fresh in their minds, it was the 
 
 " common consent that the charge of the 52nd was not only the 
 
 " decisive action of the day, but that it was one of the most gallant 
 
 " feats ever performed. And it may be said that a feeling stronger 
 
 " than disappointment arose, when it appeared that the defeat of 
 
 " Napoleon's last great effort was attributed to the Guards. The 
 
 " error was thus occasioned : — The battle commenced by the attack 
 
 " on Hougomont, which was occupied by a detachment of Byng's 
 
 " brigade of Guards, who held it during the day, had a hard service, 
 
 " and performed it well. So the Duke in his despatch said, ' The 
 
 " ' Guards set an example which was followed by all.' 
 
 " This therefore was true enough, but Lord Bathurst, at that 
 " time Secretary for War and the Colonies, haviag to make a
 
 BY THE 52nd alone. 83 
 
 " speech on the occasion in the House of Lords, founded a romance 
 " upon it, and said that the British Guards had encountered the 
 " grenadiers of the Imperial Guard and overthrown them. Then 
 " too was invented the story of ' Up, Guards, and at them,' a 
 " myth of the same baseless character with the ' Meurt mais ne 
 " ' se rend pas ' of the French. It was a piece of gossip picked 
 " up in the camp by Sir Walter Scott on his visit to Paris, first 
 " appearing in his ' Paul's letters to his kinsfolk,' and from 
 " thence gravely adopted by Alison as an historical fact.* 
 
 " However, these fictions served as an excuse for making the 
 " 1st Guards grenadiers, and giving the ensigns of all three regi- 
 " ments precedence over those of the Line by lieutenant's rank. 
 " And as most writers of narratives of battles think it is excu- 
 " sable to cover their ignorance of facts, by the use of inflated 
 "language and figurative descriptions of unrealities, so these 
 " inventions have become the staple of almost every subsequent 
 " account of Waterloo, and this trash has been handed on from 
 " one to the other till, by force of repetition, there is risk that at a 
 " future day, when none remain to contradict, it may be recog- 
 " nized as authentic ; while the knowledge of such a piece of 
 "generalship as the charge of the 52nd, so full of interest and 
 " instruction to military men, is in danger of being altogether 
 "lost." 
 
 The writer of the above says, in a letter I received from him 
 in June, 1853. "The Duke of Eichmond,f I mean the present 
 " one, was with the Duke very near the Guards, and he says that 
 " until the 52nd began their movement tlie Duke was very 
 " anxious ; that his anxiety was to be seen in his countenance, 
 
 * An instance of the common proneness to fiction respecting the events of 
 great battles is to be observed in the repeated French assertions, that the British 
 at Waterloo fought behind entrenchments. It had been proposed to the Duke, 
 when he looked over the ground a month before, to throw up some redoubts, but 
 he refused, saying, " No, no, that would tell them where we mean to fight." The 
 choice was decided rather by the junction of the great roads to Brussels, than 
 by any great advantage of the ground : so that Picton, half an hour before the 
 action began, said, " I have just ridden along the whole length of the line, and 
 I never saw a worse position." 
 
 + The Duke of Richmond was a captain in the 52nd at that time, but served 
 on the stafl" of the Prince of Orange at Waterloo. After the Prince was 
 wounded he attached himself it appears to the Duke of Wellington. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH IMPERIAL GUARD 
 
 " and that he never saw such evident relief of mind as when the 
 " 52nd appeared moving across the ground so strong and 
 " steady." 
 
 I have mentioned before that all the officers of the 52nd who 
 served at Waterloo were fully convinced that a very great in- 
 justice had been done to the regiment by the attempt to give to 
 the British Guards the credit of having repulsed the attack of 
 the French Imperial Guard, or, as Captain Siborne has ventured 
 to state, of having repulsed the leading cohtmn of the Imperial 
 Guard. 
 
 In 1833 my friend and relative Colonel Gawler, then a major 
 in the 52nd, published his admirably written work, "The Crisis of 
 " Waterloo," and the wonder is how, with the few materials he had 
 at command for such a work, he described so accurately, as he 
 did, the movem^tsof the two brigades of cavalry, and of the three 
 or four regiments of infantry who were engaged at the crisis. 
 From being on the extreme right of the 52nd he was not aware 
 of the great distance (300 yards) of the left of our line from the 
 British position, when it became parallel with the leading 
 column of the French Guard, nor did he see, as we on the left 
 and left centre of the 52nd line saw, the skirmishers of the 
 Imperial Guard forming about a hundred yards in front of the 
 leading battalion, when they had been driven down from the 
 British position — no doubt by the 3rd battalion of the 1st 
 Guards ; he therefore fell into the mistake, which has been 
 adopted by subsequent writers, of thinking and stating " that 
 " the headmost companies of the Imperial Guard [those that the 
 " 52nd attacked] crowned the very summit of the position — their 
 " dead bodies, the next day, bore unanswerable evidence to the 
 " fact." When he wrote "The Crisis" he was not aware, that the 
 columns of the Imperial Guard had been preceded by a mass of 
 skirmishers, and that the bodies he saw the next morning on the 
 summit of the position, must have been the bodies of some of 
 these skirmishers. But Colonel Gawler, although supposing that 
 the head of the columns of the Imperial Guard had reached the 
 summit of the British position, never for a moment had the idea 
 that these columns were repulsed by the British Guards, but 
 solely by the flank attack of the 52nd. His book was only
 
 BY THE 52nd alone. 85 
 
 written to refute the claim put forward on tlie part of the Guards, 
 and he thus expresses himself on the subject : — 
 
 " All the accounts of the battle which have hitherto come 
 " before the public, including those by the standard writers of the 
 " day, (and general opinion even in the army has much followed 
 " the same current), assert more or less directly, that the attack 
 " of the Imperial Guard was repulsed and the French army thrown 
 " into irretrievable confusion — either by a charge of General Mait- 
 " land's brigade of Guards — or by an advance of the whole line. 
 " But, if the leading points in the preceding account be, as they 
 " are maintained to be, correct, it follows, that the attack of the 
 " Imperial Guard was repulsed, and the French army thrown into 
 " consequent irretrievable confusion by neither of these causes, 
 " but by a charge of the 52nd covered by the 71st regiment, with- 
 " out the direct co-operation of any other portion of the AUied 
 " army. For as the 52ud charged across the whole front of attack 
 " from right to left, a simultaneous successful attack from any other 
 " corps must have crossed the charge of the 5 2nd, and no such event 
 " took place. These points are not advanced in a spirit either of 
 " display or dispute, but simply for the purposes before described. 
 " If incorrect they are open to refutation ; and no one will be more 
 " gratified than the writer to see correction or refutation ably and 
 " thoroughly, if candidly attempted by any, who, having been 
 " eye-witnesses of these events, may conceive they have sufficient 
 " grounds for establishing either. If injustice in any shape has 
 " been done to the corps, to whom the credit of deciding the crisis 
 " has been hitherto more or less imputed, it is altogether uninten- 
 " tional. These battalions very hardly earned the honours justly 
 " due to them, not at the crisis and close, but by a most successful 
 " defence of their place in the position, during the reiterated 
 " attacks of the ordinary progress of the battle : they earned them 
 " well, and may they long, very long, continue to wear them un- 
 " tarnished. General Adam's brigade, posted during the early 
 " part of the day in reserve on the extreme right of the line * 
 
 • It ■will be perceived that Colonel Gawler has here omitted to mention the 
 advance of Adam's brigade over the British position and a quarter of a mile down 
 the slope towards the enemy, and our standing there for nearly thi-ee hours, 
 exposed to a furious cannonade from the artillery of the centre and of a part of 
 the left wing of the French army.
 
 86 DEFEAT OF THE FEENCH IMPERIAL GUARD 
 
 " came up to the right centre at an advanced period of the action, 
 " principally to meet the fresh and desperate masses of the enemy 
 " which pressed on for the crisis ; it was then their opportunity, 
 " and why should they not also wear the laurels they then as fairly 
 " gained ? The battalions first referred to, possess too many indis- 
 " putably their own, gathered on this and other fields, to require 
 " for the completion of their reputation a leaf to which they have 
 " no just title, while that leaf, torn as it was from the bearskin 
 " caps of imperial grenadiers at the grand crisis of the fate of 
 " Waterloo, of Napoleon, and of Europe, should not for ever be 
 " silently relinquished of those, by whom it was really won. 
 
 " Eighteen years* have elapsed without an effort to correct the 
 " error or to establish the claim, and if the attempt had further 
 " been deferred to any much later period, the generation of those 
 " who fought at Waterloo might so far have passed away, as to 
 " have left the question, without sufficient supporting evidence 
 " on either side, a standing subject of doubtful dispute and of 
 " historical obscurity." 
 
 It will have been observed from what has been stated, that 
 those on the left of the 52nd line, when it was nearly parallel with 
 the flank of the columns of the Imperial Guard, could see up the 
 British position 200 yards beyond the ground on which the 
 Erench skirmishers formed, when repulsed by the Srd battalion 
 of the Guards. This ground was entirely clear of anything in 
 the shape of a defeated column of the Imperial Guard. And 
 we were not a little astonished when we lound that Siborne had 
 stated in his "History of Waterloo" that the Guards had defeated 
 the leading column of the French Guard. He was fully aware, when 
 compiling his history, of what the 52nd claimed to have done ; 
 but yet, on weighing all the intricate and contradictory accounts 
 which he received from officers of different corps, with whom he 
 corresponded, he sought to reconcile them all by adopting this 
 myth about a leading column having been defeated by our Guards. 
 
 The history of a great battle, especially if the materials for it 
 are collected by one who did not see the principal events which 
 he attempts to describe, must necessarily abound in mistakes. 
 Captain Siborne took immense pains in collecting information, 
 
 * Colonel Gawler published " The Crisis of Waterloo " in 1833.
 
 BY THE 52nd alone. 87 
 
 both wlien he first determined to construct his beautiful model 
 of the Field of Waterloo, and afterwards when he was about to 
 wi'ite the history of the battle, nearly thirty years after it was 
 fought. Of course after the lapse of so many years, the greater 
 portion of those he consulted could not be expected to recollect 
 much that they had witnessed with any great degree of accuracy, 
 or to be able always to distinguish between what they themselves 
 Imd witnessed and what they had heard from others or had read 
 of in accounts of the action. 
 
 In the preface to his history, dated March, 1844, he says :-— 
 
 " Anxious to ensure the rigorous accuracy of my work, (the 
 " model,) I ventured to apply for information to nearly all the 
 " surviving eye-witnesses of the incidents which my model was 
 " intended to represent. In every quarter, and amongst officers of 
 " all ranks, from the general to the subaltern, my applications 
 " were responded to in a most generous and liberal spirit, and the 
 " result did indeed surprise me, so greatly at variance was this 
 " historical evidence with the general notions which had prevailed 
 " on the subject. Thus was suggested the present work. I was 
 " induced by the success of this experiment, to embrace a wider 
 " field, and to extend my inquiries over the entire battle, and 
 " ultimately throughout the campaign itself, from its commence- 
 " ment to its close. 
 
 " Having become the depositary of such valuable materials, I 
 " felt a duty to the honourable profession of which I am a 
 " humble member, to submit to it and to the world a true and 
 " faithful account of this memorable epoch in the history of 
 "■ Britain's military greatness. 
 
 " Though not so presumptuous as to imagine that I have fully 
 " supplied so absolute a desideratum, yet I consider myself fortu- 
 " nate in being the instrument of withdrawing so far the veil from 
 " truth. One of my Waterloo correspondents has humourously 
 " remarked that ' if ever truth lies at the bottom of a well, she 
 " ' does so immediately after a great battle, and it takes an 
 " ' amazingly long time before she can be lugged out.' The time 
 " for her emerging appears to have at length arrived, but, while 
 " I feel that I have brought to light much that was involved in 
 " obscurity, I cannot but be sensible that I may have fallen into
 
 88 DEFEAT or THE FRENCH IMPEEIAL GUAKD 
 
 " errors. Should such be the case, I shall be most ready, here- 
 " after, to make any corrections that may appear requisite, on 
 " my being favoured, by eye-witnesses, with further well authenti- 
 " cated information." 
 
 I find the following note written by me some years ago on 
 the pages of my copy of Captain Siborne's work which contain 
 the preface from which the above is extracted: — "Captain 
 " Siborne appears to have consulted more than one officer, and in 
 " some cases, several officers of the same regiment. Their accounts 
 " would of course vary as to the exact time and as to circumstances. 
 " In the case of the 52nd, and I think in the case of the 3rd 
 " battalion of the 1st Guards, he mentions things somewhat similar . 
 " to each other, as having taken place on separate occasions, when 
 " in fact they only occurred once." It may be well to remark here 
 that in nothing have I found so much difference as in the ideas 
 which people have formed respecting the time occtqned by the 
 several events, which occurred in connexion with the proceedings 
 of the 52nd at Waterloo. Even under the long and severe 
 cannonade we experienced, time passed much more quickly than 
 it appeared to do. One intelligent 52nd officer, who, some years 
 ago, was arguing with me about the time occupied by a certain 
 movement or event — I forget now what it was — very soon gave 
 way, saying, "I must not argue with you about the time it occu- 
 " pied, for I confess the whole of the Battle of Waterloo appeared 
 " to me only to last two hours." 
 
 The following are instances in which Captain Siborne has 
 been led, in the arrangement of the immense amount of conflicting 
 information supplied to him, to mention the same event as having 
 hapfened at two or three different times. At page 116 of the second 
 volume of the second edition of his work, in speaking of events 
 which took place some considerable time before the advance of 
 the Imperial Guard, he gives the following description of an event 
 which resembles in some of its principal features, what did after- 
 wards really take place as regards the 3rd battalion of the 
 Guards,* with the exception that the skirmishers are not repre- 
 sented as being Imperial Guardsmen, but as having come from 
 the hollow near La Haye Sainte : — 
 
 * See my account at page 44.
 
 BY THE 52nd alone. 89 
 
 " A mass of tirailleurs now ascended by their left, from the 
 " hollow westward of La Haye Sainte, and pushed forward with 
 " great boldness against the advanced square of Maitland's British 
 " brigade formed by the 3rd battalion of the 1st Foot Guards. 
 " Their fire, concentrated upon tlie square, and maintained with 
 " astonishing rapidity and vigour, was most galling to the British 
 " Guards. Also upon their left another portion of their numbers 
 " poured a destructive fire upon the left square of Adam's brigade, 
 "formed by the 2nd battalion of the 95th Eilles. The exposed 
 " situation of the 3rd battalion of Guards, the fire from which in 
 " square was necessarily so vastly disproportioned to that by which 
 " it was assailed, caught the eye of the Duke of Wellington, who 
 " immediately rode up to the battalion, and ordered it to form line 
 "and drive the skirmishers down the slope. Its commander, 
 " Lieut.-Colonel D'Oyley, wheeled up the right and left faces of the 
 " square — the right half of the rear face accompanying the former, 
 " and the other half the left face — into line with the front face, 
 " and charged the enemy down the hill. A body of French cavalry 
 " was now seen approaching, but the battalion re-formed square 
 " with great rapidity and regularity. The cavalry refused the 
 " square, but receiving its fire, and then dashing along the front 
 "of the 52nd regiment, it exposed itself to another vigorous 
 " fire by which it was nearly destroyed ; whilst the 3rd bat- 
 " talion of the Guard retired, in pei;fect order, to its original 
 " position." 
 
 As regards the 52nd, all that is said in the above paragraph 
 is mere moonshine ; the 52nd never fired on the enemy's cavalry 
 at the time referred to ; indeed they never fired, vMlst in line, 
 on any cavalry excepting on a mixed body of English and French, 
 immediately after passing the killed and wounded of the Imperial 
 Guard, and both on that occasion and when in square they were 
 charged by the French cuirassiers, they were some hundreds of 
 yards from the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards. 
 
 It must be remembered that the 2nd battalion of the 1st 
 Guards, which was the right battalion of Maitland's brigade, was 
 stationary and not firing at the time of the attack of the Imperial 
 Guard. This was Lord HiU's statement, who was on the right 
 of the brigade, and from the position saw the advance of the
 
 90 DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH IMPERIAL GUARD 
 
 Imperial Guard and also the right-shoulder- forward move- 
 ment and charge of the 52nd. The 3rd battalion of the 1st 
 Guards only claimed to have advanced against the enemy once, 
 and that was against wliat they called a column of the Imperial 
 Guard, and that advance took place as I have before described 
 it. Not only the Imperial Guard skirmishers, whom we saw 
 form in front of their leading column, were driven in by this 
 advance, but also the skirmishers and their supports said to have 
 been sent forward from Donzelot's division to attack the right 
 of Alten's division ; this might account for their being called a 
 column, and some of the skirmishers being Imperial Guardsmen 
 may have led to its being called the leading column of the Imperial 
 Ouard ; but as I have stated, and as will be shewn still more 
 clearly hereafter, no eolumn of the French Guard preceded those 
 with which we came in contact. 
 
 At pages 168 — l7eL of the second volume of Siborne's history, 
 we have his account of the attack of the French Imperial Guard 
 on the British Guards, and it will be seen from the following 
 extracts, how it coincides, in various particulars, (such as the 
 Duke riding up, the square forming line on its front face, the 
 driving the enemy down the slope, the alarm of cavalry, and the 
 retiring to the position,) with the advance of the 3rd battalion of 
 the 1st Guards related above as having taken place a consider- 
 able time before : — 
 
 " Pressing boldly forward, they had arrived within fifty paces 
 " of the spot on which the British Guards were lying down, when 
 " Wellington gave the talismanic call, 'Up, Guards, make ready !'* 
 " and ordered Maitland to attack." 
 
 " The British Guards had continued their charge some dis- 
 " tance down the slope of the hill, when Maitland perceived the 
 " second attacking column of tlie Imperial Guard advancing on 
 " his right, and exposing his hrigade-f to the imminent risk of being 
 
 * Neither this, nor the more current expression of " Up, Guards, and at 
 " them ! " was ever used by the Duke of Welhugton. He merely told the 
 commanding officer of the 2nd battalion of the Guards to " form in line on the 
 " front face of the square and drive those fellows in." 
 
 + Who would gather from this description the fact, that the 2nd battalion of 
 the 1 st Guards never moved from their place on the position all this time, as 
 there is abundant testimony to prove, besides that of Lord Hill and Sir John
 
 BY THE 52nd alone. 91 
 
 " turned on that flank. He accordingly gave the order to face 
 " about and retire ; but amidst their victorious shouts, and the 
 " noise of the firing of cannon and other arms, the command was 
 " imperfectly understood, and the first sense of danger led to a cry 
 " of ' Form square ' being passed along the line, it being naturally 
 " assumed that the enemy's cavalry would take advantage of their 
 " isolated position ; w^hich, however, was not the case. The flanks 
 " of battalions gave way as if to form square. Saltoun conspicu- 
 " ously exerted himself in endeavouring to rectify the mistake, 
 " but in vain ; and the whole went to the rear." 
 
 At page 100 of his second volume, Captain Siborne, in 
 attempting a description of the advance of our brigade over the 
 British position, four hours before the driving in of the skir- 
 mishers of the Imperial Guard by the 3rd battalion of the 1st 
 Guards, makes statements and brings forward expressions, so 
 similar, in some respects, to those used in relation to this latter 
 event, that I cannot but look upon them as really belonging to 
 that period. They certainly do not at all properly describe what 
 happened to Adam's brigade on that occasion, for the Duke was 
 not then near them, nor were any French skirmishers attacked by 
 them, and therefore the Duke could not order them, as Siborne 
 states in the following extract, to " drive those fellows away ;" 
 but all these things did occur to the 3rd battalion of the 1st 
 Guards, and the very words just mentioned were uttered by the 
 Duke to Colonel D'Oyley, four hours afterwards, when they 
 attacked and drove off the Imperial Guard skirmishers. This I 
 had several years ago from a very intelligent officer of the 3rd 
 battalion of the Guards, who was present in the action. 
 The extracts referred to above are as follows : — 
 "Suddenly the summit in front of Adam's brigade was crowded 
 " with the French skirmishers, who were almost as quickly con- 
 " cealed by the smoke from the rattling fire which they opened 
 " upon the Allied artillery and the squares. The gunners, whose 
 " numbers were fearfully diminished, were speedily driven back 
 " from their crippled batteries upon the nearest infantry, upon 
 " which the concentration of this most galling fire threatened the 
 
 Byng ? There were only two battalions in Maitland's brigade of the 1st regi- 
 ment of Guards— the 2nd and 3rd battalions.
 
 92 DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH IMPERIAL GUARD 
 
 " most serious consequences. But succour was at hand. Welling- 
 " ton, in the midst of a shower of bullets, had galloped to the front 
 " of Adam's brigade, ordered it to form line, four deep, and then, 
 " pointing to the daring skirmishers on the height, called out, with 
 " perfect coolness and unaffected assurance, ' Drive those fellows 
 " 'away.' With loud cheers the brigade moved rapidly up the slope, 
 " eager to obey the Duke's commands. 
 
 " The French skirmishers began to give way as the firm and 
 " intrepid front of the brigade presented itself to their view. Adam 
 " continued his advance, driving the French infantry before him." 
 
 I have thus endeavoured to point out how Captain Siborne 
 has mentioned things as having taken place on two or three sepa- 
 rate occasions, when in fact they only occurred once. In the 
 case of the 3rd battalion of Maitland's brigade of Guards, they 
 themselves only claim to have advanced and driven the enemy 
 down the slope on one occasion, and that this advance was not 
 an advance of the whole brigade, but only of one battalion, 
 whereas Siborne makes them to have done so twice. And he 
 has also scattered some leaves of laurel on the 52nd which they 
 are not entitled to, whilst at the same time he has treated them 
 most unfairly by attempting to deprive them of that full share 
 of honour and glory, and of that very large branch of the emble- 
 matic evergreen, which so justly is their due, for having so 
 steadily and " gloriously," under their noble and gallant com- 
 mander, moved down upon and defeated, without the direct help 
 of any other regiment or portion of a regiment, ten thousand of 
 the best and most veteran troops of Europe, led on by Marshal 
 Ney, " the bravest of the brave," and others of the most experi- 
 enced officers of the French army, and accompanied by their 
 artillery, and having large bodies of cavalry not far from them. 
 Perhaps this was one of the most dashing exploits ever performed 
 by a single regiment ;— and I trust the 52nd will no longer be 
 deprived of the laurels they so nobly and fairly won on the 
 blood-stained field of Waterloo. It must be remembered also 
 that the defeat of the two columns of the Imperial Guard by 
 the 52nd led immediately to the flight of the whole French army. 
 The Prussians till then had been completely held at lay hj the 
 French at Planchenoit.
 
 BY THE 52nd alone. 93 
 
 Some time after the completion of the model of Waterloo, 
 and when it was about to be removed from London for exhibi- 
 tion in the large towns of England and Scotland, I went to see it 
 for the first time, and met Captain Siborne there. I had given him 
 information, in consequence of his having applied to me through 
 Colonel Gawler, as to the crops growing wherewe stood in square 
 to the left of Hougomont, and where we stood in line on the 
 reverse slope of the British position just before we advanced to 
 the attack of the Imperial Guard, and with regard to some other 
 matters connected with that attack. I therefore introduced my- 
 self to him, and spoke in terms of admiration of his beautiful 
 model ; but I told him that we of the 52nd were dissatisfied with 
 the forward position he had given to Maitland's brigade of 
 Guards, and to his representing a first French column as having 
 been routed by them, and as flying in disorder towards and near 
 to the Charleroi road, as we knew both these things to he incorrect. 
 He merely shrugged his shoulders as much to say he could not now 
 help it, and that there was no use now in discussing the matter. 
 There was a serjeant there who was helping to exhibit the model: 
 he had been in the 1st Guards at AVaterloo ; on my asking how 
 far they had gone down the slope, from the British position, in 
 pursuit of the French, he said " a few yards only, and that then 
 " they retired again." 
 
 It seems somewhat astonishing that when Captain Siborne 
 must have known that only the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards 
 made the forward movement, and that the 2nd battalion of that 
 regiment was stationary at the time, he should have ventured to 
 place the latter on his model in a forward position, and on a line 
 with the 3rd battalion within 100 yards of the French Guard, at 
 the moment that he represents the 52nd as being at exactly the 
 same distance from the flank of the same Imperial column. 
 When the 52nd was within that distance of the column of the 
 Imperial Guard, the French skirmishers had just been driven in, 
 the 8rd battalion of the Guards, on the cry of " cavalry," had 
 retired over the British position and some considerable distance 
 down the reverse slope to the point at which Vivian's hussar brigade 
 had arrived, for they were seen by that brigade retiring in some dis- 
 order. They would have arrived at a point at some distance below
 
 94 DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH IMPERIAL GUARD 
 
 the British position on its reverse slope, at the very time that the 
 French skirmishers were seen by the 52nd to run in and form 
 100 yards in front of the leading column of the Imperial Guard, 
 and 200 yards from the British position ; these 300 yards being 
 seen by us to be clear of all troops excepting these two or three 
 companies of the Imperial Guard, containing perhaps three 
 hundred men who had been skirmishing and firing into the square 
 of the 3rd battalion of the Guards, and had then been driven off 
 by them. 
 
 If there had been a first column of the Imperial Guards 
 defeated and driven down the slope, as Siborne represents the 
 case, how is it that the skirmishers, we saw, ran down to the long 
 columns the 52nd attacked, and formed up in such a soldier-like 
 and steady way a little a-head of that mass of troops ? besides 
 which, we must have seen such a defeated column, if there had 
 been one at the time and on the ground indicated by Siborne 
 both on his model and in his history of Waterloo. 
 
 In the "Life" of the late Lieut.-General Sir William Napier, the 
 historian of the peninsular war, the following paragraph appears 
 in one of his letters : — 
 
 " Depend upon it, Waterloo has a long story of treachery and 
 " secret politics attached to it, which will not be made known in 
 " our days, if ever." 
 
 I have frequently wondered if Sir William Napier wrote this 
 in connexion with the wrong, which he knew very well had been 
 perpetrated on the 52nd, in what has somewhat the appearance 
 of a systematic plan to deprive that regiment of the honour of 
 having done, what the world never saw before, in having 
 made single-handed the most glorious advance against, and the 
 most successful defeat of, ten times their own number, of the 
 best disciplined troops of any age or country, barring always our 
 own gallant army. 
 
 I shall here introduce what I had intended to place in the 
 appendix — a letter, taken from Sir William Napier's "Life," on 
 the regimental training of our young officers, written some time in 
 1853, in which he speaks of the defeat of the French Imperial 
 Guard by the 52nd, under Lord Seaton, in connexion with Sir 
 John Moore's system of training : —
 
 BY THE 52nd alone. 95 
 
 " To the Editor of ' The Naval and Military Gazette.' 
 
 "Sir, — Introducing the letter of Veritas/ you say, the late Duke 
 " of Wellington opposed, ' as contrary to our natio7ial feelings' 
 " the having officers taught practically the whole routine of regi- 
 " mental discipline, from the first position of the drill-squad to 
 " marching in the ranks and mounting guard with the privates, 
 " which you nevertheless think would be useful. 
 
 "Did the Duke really object? He must have known that 
 " at Shorncliffe Sir John Moore introduced, and rigidly enforced 
 " that very system, and thus formed the British regiments of the 
 " light division, who were perhaps, or rather certainly, the best 
 " instructed, the most efficient military body in the field that 
 " modern times has produced — not excepting Napoleon's Guard, 
 " as Lord Seaton well proved with the 52nd regiment at Water- 
 " loo. The officers of those regiments, the 43rd, 52nd, and 95th 
 " Eifles, were never averse to, or mortified at, being made to 
 "acquire, amidst the private soldiers, a complete knowledge of 
 " what as officers they were to exact from, and superintend with, 
 " those privates. Never did the system lead to disrespect or un- 
 " due familiarity on the part of the soldiers ; on the contrary, it 
 " produced the natural effect of knowledge, combined with power, 
 " willing and entire obedience from the soldiers, while the officers 
 " were proud of their acquirements, knew their men, and were 
 " known to them ; knew when to exact and when to relax, and 
 "were in every sense commanders. This knowledge carried 
 "them through many a hard struggle, when ignorance would 
 " have gone to the wall. 
 
 "Much, very much, now forgotten and unknown, did Sir 
 " John Moore do for the British army, and I may perhaps here- 
 " after recall some of it to public recollection. At present I halt 
 " at this point." 
 
 Whilst reading Sir William Napier's "Life," I made also the 
 following extract, as it bears upon my present object : — 
 
 " What would become of mankind if the arena where must 
 " be fought out the great battle of right against wrong should be 
 " deserted by the champions of the good cause ? " 
 
 In accordance with this sentiment I have felt it to be my
 
 96 DEFEAT OF THE FRKXCH IMPEKIAL GUAED 
 
 duty to endeavour to set forth in its right and true light the 
 great event which took place at the crisis of the battle of Water- 
 loo — the defeat of the French Imperial Guard. I believe there 
 is no one now remaining of the 52nd officers, but myself, who has 
 both the recollections and the materials necessary for bringing 
 before tlie public the " wrong " which was perpetrated against 
 that regiment immediately after Waterloo, and which has con- 
 tinued to be perpetrated, though not to the same extent, ever 
 since. 
 
 I think I have observed before, that the officers of the 52nd 
 always felt, with great indignation, the wrong which had been 
 inflicted on the regiment. 
 
 Lord Seaton was very decided in his statements on the sub- 
 ject, though he always spoke about the charge of the 52nd with 
 his usual modesty. 
 
 The late Lieut.-Colonel John Bentham, who served in the 52nd 
 for many years, and afterwards did himself so much credit, and 
 rendered good service to his country, when in command of the 3rd 
 regiment of Lancashire militia, and also by his unwearied efforts to 
 introduce the use of the Minie rifle into the British army, took a 
 most enthusiastic interest in the 52nd, and especially in its glori- 
 ous advance on the French Imperial Guard at Waterloo. In a 
 letter on this subject, written to me in 1853, he shews his strong 
 feeling about it, when he says, " I hope to live to see this matter 
 " made transparent." He entered into correspondence with many 
 of the old officers of the regiment, and especially with Lord 
 Seaton and Mr. Yonge, the latter a very intelligent officer who 
 served in the 52nd, in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, and who 
 also exerted himself for the introduction of the Minie rifle. The 
 following testimonial was sent to Mrs. Bentham, sometime after 
 the death of Colonel Bentham, by Lord Seaton : — " At the 
 " request of Mrs. Bentham I have great satisfaction in stating 
 " that the late Colonel Bentham served under my command in 
 " the 52nd regiment ; that he was one of the most active and 
 " efficient officers in that distinguished corps ; and that by his 
 "exertions and perseverance, for ten years, he accelerated the 
 " adoption of the Enfield rifle — having visited Viucennes fre- 
 " quently, and established by his inspections of the rifle-practice
 
 BY THE 52nd alone. 97 
 
 " at that military station, the superiority and precision of the 
 *' Minie Eifle. 
 
 " I am persuaded that the attention of the authorities at the 
 " Horse Guards was first attracted to this subject, in consequence 
 " of his strong representations, and of his having, in conjunction 
 " with the late Mr. Yonge, of the 52nd, published the report of 
 " Colonel Sir Frederic Smith of the trial of the old musket at 
 " Chatham, proving its defects. 
 
 " Seaton, Field-Marshal. 
 
 "London, May 16, 1860." 
 
 As some acknowledgment of the service thus rendered by 
 Colonel Bentham to the army in the above matter, the Govern- 
 ment have given his son an appointment in the War Ofiice. 
 
 The following are extracts from a letter written to me by 
 Bentham, in November, 1853: — 
 
 " I read with very great interest and satisfaction your remi- 
 " niscences of Waterloo, forwarded to me by Yonge, and consider- 
 "ing the intense excitement and bustle at the period chiefly 
 " dwelt on, it is marvellous how closely all the statements of 
 " 52nd men agree thereon." 
 
 " It can hardly be conceived that the Duke, who witnessed 
 " the glorious swoop, and would not give the men time to inflate 
 " their lungs, but urged ' Colborne to go on,' could not only com- 
 " pletely ignore this astounding flight, but allow others to have 
 " the credit of it, by strong marks of distinction." 
 
 " I can fully bear you out as to Gurwood's declaration about 
 "the Guards. He was always very strong on this point. I met 
 "Gurwood in London, about 1828; he was then staying at 
 " Apsley House, and I asked him why he never drew the Duke 
 " out about the catastrophe at Waterloo. He said that he had 
 " repeatedly made the attempt, but that it was a subject which 
 "always excited great impatience. On the last attempt the 
 " Duke said, ' Oh, I know nothing of the services of particular 
 " ' regiments ; there was glory enough for us all.' But had he 
 " written his annals true. Baron Muffling would not, as he has 
 "done recently, have charged him with 'policy' in advancing 
 " his weak battalions to prevent the Prussians coming in for the 
 
 H
 
 98 DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH IMPEEIAL GUARD 
 
 " victory. Baron Muffling and the world would liave known that 
 " the genius and daring of Colborne gave the panic and death- 
 " blow, before the French began to yield to the Prussians. Let 
 " us yet have the whole truth." 
 
 In a letter I received from Colonel Bentham, dated May 16, 
 1854<, he gives the account of an interview he had with Lieut. 
 Sharpin, of Captain Bolton's brigade of artillery, attached to our 
 division; it was stationed just to the left of the 52nd, and 
 not far from the right of the 2nd battalion of the 1st Guards. It 
 must be borne in mind that Captain Siborne, in his history of 
 the Battle of Waterloo, has stated, on what the 52nd knew to be 
 incorrect information, that a first column of the Imperial Guard 
 was repulsed by Maitland's brigade of Guards, and that I main- 
 tain no such column, (but only the skirmishers of the Imperial 
 Guard) reached within three hundred yards of the British Guards, 
 and that these skirmishers were driven off the British position, 
 not by an advance of the whole of Maitland's brigade, but by the 
 advance of the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards, whilst the 2nd 
 battalion remained stationary. Captain Siborne has ventured to 
 dress up his account of the supposed column {" which, as far as I 
 can gather," writes Colonel Bentham, " was a column in buck- 
 " ram,") with several details, which belong to the advance of the 
 two long columns of about 10,000 men, which the 52nd encoun- 
 tered and defeated. It must be borne in mind also that these 
 two columns of the Imperial Guard were apparently of equal 
 length, and were so close to each other that, although we could, 
 in the left centre of the 52nd, see that there was an interval be- 
 tween them, we could not see through it. I should say that the 
 interval did not exceed twenty paces. 
 
 Before I give the account of Colonel Bentham's interview 
 with Lieutenant Sharpin, I must give the following extract from 
 Siborne's history, in that part in which he is giving his account 
 of what he calls a first column of the Imperial Guard :— 
 
 " Wellington rode up to the British foot battery, posted on 
 " the immediate right of Maitland's brigade of Guards, with its 
 " own right thrown somewhat forward, and addressing himself to 
 "an artillery officer, (Lieutenant Sharpin) hastily asked who 
 "commanded it. The latter replied that, Captain Bolton having
 
 BY THE 52nd alone. 99 
 
 "just been killed, it was now under the command of Captain 
 " Napier. The Duke then said, ' Tell him to keep a look out to 
 " ' his left, for the French will soon be with him.' The message 
 " had scarcely been communicated, when the bear-skin caps of 
 " the' leading divisions of the column of the Imperial Guard 
 " appeared just above the summit of the hill. The cannonade, 
 " hitherto directed upon this point from the distant French bat- 
 " teries, now ceased, but a swarm of skirmishers opened a sharp 
 " and teasing fire among the British gunners. In the next 
 " moment, however, they were scattered and driven back upon 
 " the main body by a sudden shower of canister, grape, and 
 " schrapnel shells, poured forth from Napier's guns, which now 
 " kept up a terrific fire upon the column, within a distance of 
 " forty or fifty yards. Nevertheless the French Guards continued 
 " to advance. They had now topped the summit. To the 
 " astonishment of the officers who were at their head, there ap- 
 " peared, in their immediate front, no direct impediment to their 
 " further advance. They could only distinguish dimly through 
 " the smoke extending from Napier's battery, the cocked hats of 
 " a few mounted officers, little imagining, probably, that the most 
 " prominent of these was the great Duke himself Pressing 
 " boldly forward, they had arrived within fifty paces of the spot 
 " on which the British Guards were lying down, when Wellington 
 " gave the talismanic call, ' Up, Guards, make ready,' and ordered 
 " Maitland to attack, &c., &c." 
 
 In contradiction of the above statement of Captain Siborne's, 
 relating that Napier's battery fired into a column of the Imperial 
 Guard which the British Guards had defeated. Colonel Bentham 
 says, in his above-mentioned letter to me : — 
 
 " Since I wrote to you I ferretted out a Lieutenant Sharpin, 
 " of the artillery, who was attached to the battery in the angle 
 " made by the Guards and 52nd. He tells me that, until he saw 
 " the statement in Siborne, he never saw or heard of two attempts 
 " on our centre by the Imperial Guard ; and subsequently in a 
 " detailed description, he says that Siborne was wrong in making 
 " his battery fire on any column but the one taken in flank by 
 " the infantry on the right. He is an excellent witness on our 
 " side." 
 
 H 2
 
 100 DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH IMPEEIAL GUARD 
 
 I now introduce in extenso a letter written by the late Field- 
 Marshal Lord Seaton, (formerly Sir John Colborne) to the late 
 Colonel Bentham, on the subject of the defeat of the Imperial 
 Guard of France solely by the flank attack of the 52nd on their 
 columns. I prefer giving it in full, although I think there are 
 one or two slight mistakes in it, which I can rectify in a note. I 
 copy from the letter in Lord Beaton's own hand- writing : — 
 
 Deer Park, Honiton, October 15, 1853. 
 
 " My DEAR Bentham, 
 
 " 1 forwarded to Lord Hardinge your letter addressed to 
 " him, and your suggestions relative to the extension of the system 
 " of education at Sandhurst. I do not, however, think that the 
 " authorities will encourage the establishment of an 'Ecole de Tir ' 
 " at that college on the scale proposed by you. 
 
 " With reference to your letter of the 7th, it may be more 
 " satisfactory to you, instead of replying to your queries, to draw 
 "your attention to the principal movements which accelerated 
 " the termination of the battle of Waterloo, and to the facts which 
 " would have been admitted as evidence in support of the claims 
 " of the 52nd, to the merit of having first checked the advance of 
 "the Imperial Guard at the crisis of the battle, and of having 
 " completed their deroutc, by marching directly on their dense 
 " columns, and by a flank movement charging them so vigorously, 
 " that the whole gave way and retired in confusion. The state- 
 " ments of officers, engaged at Waterloo, I found were generally 
 " so different and conflicting, that it was impossible to draw up 
 " any correct account of them. Captain Siborne, I believe, con- 
 " suited every officer in command with whom he was acquainted, 
 " or to whom he was introduced, and endeavoured to make their 
 "versions correspond with the facts generally known relative to 
 " the movements of regiments, brigades, and divisions. I have 
 " never read his account. If you bring the 52nd into a contest 
 "with the Guards by attempting to prove from rumours that the 
 "latter were retiring at the time they are said to have charged 
 " and defeated the French troops, you will raise up a host of op- 
 " ponents to your account, which would rather injure the cause 
 "of the 52nd. I suppose the Guards must have made some for-
 
 BY THE o2ND alone. 101 
 
 " ward movement, and that many officers must have seen it, but 
 " 1 contend that the French column had been checked and 
 " thrown into disorder before the Guards moved. I saw the 
 " column of the Imperial Guard steadily advancing to a certain 
 " point, and I observed them halt, which was precisely as the 
 " skirmishers of the 52nd opened fire on their flank. My atten- 
 " tion was so completely drawn to our position and dangerous 
 " advance — a large mass of cavalry having been seen on our 
 " right, exposed as it was, that I could see no movement what- 
 " ever on the part of the Guards, and indeed, as w^e advanced, I 
 " believe, we were too much under the position to have been able 
 " to have them in sight. Sir John Byng's brigade * remained in 
 " line without firing or making any movement, while we passed 
 " along its front, our line forming a right angle with that brigade, 
 " and being about two hundred yards nearer to the French. Sir 
 " John Byng told me afterwards at Paris, that he had his whole 
 " attention drawn to our movement, and that his brigade had no 
 " ammunition left. He gave tis, at that time, full credit for our 
 " advance. Till the Duke of Wellington's dispatch was made 
 " known at Paris, we had never heard of the charge of the 
 " Guards ; ai;d I am inclined to believe that the attack of the 
 " French had been checked by the advance of the 52nd, and the 
 " movements afterwards of the whole of Sir H. Clinton's division,-f- 
 " before any forward movement had been made by the brigade 
 " commanded by Sir P. Maitland. This account .corresponds 
 " with that given to me by Lord Hill, who was close to the 
 
 • It was Sir Peregrine Maitland' s brigade, composed of the 2nd and 3rd 
 battalions of the 1st Guards. Sir John Byng commanded the other brigade of 
 Guards composed of the 2nd battalion of the Coldstream, and of the 2nd battalion 
 of the 3rd Guards. This brigade was principally engaged in the defence of 
 Hougomont. Major- General Cooke commanded the whole division, and on liis 
 being wounded, Byng succeeded to his command, and thus was with Maitland's 
 brigade towards the close of the action. The whole of this brigade was not in 
 line (possibly the right battalion was) when it was attacked and fired into by the 
 skirmishers of the Imperial Guard ; the 3rd battalion was at first in square, and 
 was ordered by the Duke to " form line on its front face, and drive those fellows 
 " in," which it immediately did, and the 2nd battalion remained stationary. 
 
 t Besides Adam's brigade, the Osnabruck battalion, under Colonel Hugh 
 Halkett, was the only infantry regiment which advanced at that period of the 
 close of the action. Vivian's hussar brigade appears to have come up with 
 them somewhere between La Belle Alliance and Hougomont.
 
 102 DEFEAT OF THE FKENCH IMPERIAL GUARD 
 
 " Guards and ' saw us moving across the plain.' When we 
 " followed the French towards La Belle Alliance, no troops from 
 " the part of the position occupied by the Guards were near us, 
 " and we passed eighty guns and carriages, a short time after the 
 "' French had retired, which they had left on the road between 
 " La Haye Sainte and La Belle Alliance. 
 
 " I have written this, as circumstances have occurred to me 
 " to remind me of the part we performed, without method — but 
 " with these remarks and the facts mentioned in the inclosure, 
 " you may be able to judge correctly of the claims of the 52nd. 
 
 " Yours very faithfully, 
 
 " Seatok" 
 
 The following passages, bearing upon the defeat of the French 
 Imperial Guard by the single-handed attack of the 52nd, are 
 extracted from some remarks on Waterloo by Lord Seaton : — 
 
 " The crisis may be called the period when the French columns, 
 "advancing with the intention of penetrating our centre, were 
 " checked and compelled to halt by the flank movement and fire 
 " of the 52nd. This was the very first appearance of a change in 
 " our favour. The attackers were attacked and checjied in their 
 " assault, and driven from the ground they had gained before 
 
 " they could deploy The whole of the Imperial Guard 
 
 " advanced at the same time, and their flank was first attacked 
 " by the 52nd, before any forward movement was made to check 
 
 " them in front The Prussians could not have attracted 
 
 " the attention of the French, so as to cause the throwing back of 
 " their right wing, until after the Imperial Guard had commenced 
 
 " their attack on our centre No regiment except the 52nd 
 
 " fired on the flank of the Imperial Guard." 
 
 The late Mr. Wm. Crawley Yonge, of the 52nd, in a letter to 
 Colonel Bentham written in November, 1853, says: — "He (Lord 
 " Seaton) was saying here last week that after his conversation with 
 " the French cuirassier officer, he kept watching the heavy column 
 " advancing, saw it directed against a very weak part of the line, 
 " saw no attempt at preparation to meet it, and therefore, (making 
 ' light of his own exercise of judgment and decision,) he said, 
 " there was nothing else to do, having such a strong battalion in
 
 BY THE 52nd alone. 103 
 
 " hand, but to endeavour to stop them by a flank attack, for it 
 " seemed quite evident that, if something of that sort was not 
 " done, our line would unquestionably be penetrated. With a 
 " man looking on in this intelligent way, and acting on what he 
 "saw, how is it possible that all this fanfaronade, of Guards 
 " charging the head of this column, can have the smallest found- 
 "ation in truth?" 
 
 The same officer writes : — " It is the dearest wish of my heart 
 " to see that affair put to rights in the eyes of the world. As to 
 " Lord Seaton, I think there never was a man so ill-used as he 
 "was — only fancy how many men were there at any time, 
 " who would have done what he did, being only the commanding 
 " officer of his own regiment, without orders or sanction from any 
 " superior officer, his own general of brigade yet on the field, to 
 " take upon himself such responsibility ; first, in acting without 
 " orders, and secondly, daring to expose his flank to the enemy 
 " as he did ? How few would have seen and cauQ;ht the right 
 " moment ; and was there another man in the army who would 
 " have ventured on it, if he had seen it ? As for the regiment, if 
 " they had their rights, they ought to have more credit for their 
 " exemplary steadiness under heavy fire for a good while previous 
 " to the charge, than for the charge and pursuit itself. It was 
 " capitally done, and few regiments could have borne to be so 
 " handled without getting into confusion, but it was easy work 
 " compared with the other." 
 
 On another occasion he speaks of Lord Seaton's characteristic 
 humility and modesty in the following terms : — " Meeting him 
 "in Loudon a little while ago at the house of a lady, a mutual 
 " friend, she, hearing us talk over some of the occurrences of the 
 " war, remarked, ' How proud you gentlemen may feel at the 
 " ' recollection that you had a share in those great events ; ' on 
 " which he replied very gently, ' Proxid ! No, rather humbled, I 
 " ' think.' How characteristic this is, is it not ? It puts me in 
 " mind of two lines in 'The Christian Year' on St. Philip and St. 
 " James's day. The stanza ends — 
 
 " ' Thankful for all God takes away, 
 " ' Humbled by all He gives.' " 
 
 In "The United Service Journal" for 1833, Colonel Gawler
 
 104 DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH IMPERIAL GUARD. 
 
 published a letter from Colonel Brotherton, from which the fol- 
 lowing is an extract : — 
 
 " Some years ago, not long after the Battle of Waterloo, in 
 " conversation with a French officer of the staff, who had accom- 
 " panied the column led by Marshal N"ey at the close of the day, 
 " we were describing the relative merits of our different modes of 
 " attack. I observed to him that to us it seemed surprising and 
 " unaccountable that our gallant opponents should obstinately 
 " persist in a practice, which experience must have taught them 
 " to be so unavailing and destructive to themselves, viz., their 
 " constant attacks in column against our infantry in line. I 
 " cited as a last and conclusive instance, the failure of the attack 
 " at the close of the day at Waterloo, where a column composed 
 " of such distinguished veterans, and led by such a man as Ney, 
 " was repulsed and upset by some comparatively young soldiers 
 " of our Guards, (for of such I understood the brigade in ques- 
 " tion to be composed,) adverting also to the singular coincidence 
 " of the Imperial Guard encountering our British Guards at such 
 " a crisis. Upon which he observed, without seeming in the 
 " least to detract from the merit of the troops which the column 
 " had to encounter in its front, who, he said, showed ' tres bonne 
 " ' contenance,' * that I was wrong in adducing tliis instance in 
 " support of my argument, or in supposing the attack was solely 
 " repulsed by the troops opposed to it in front ; ' for,' added he, 
 " ' nous fumes principalement repousses par une aitaqm de Jlanc, 
 " ' tres vive, qui nous ecrasa.' f 
 
 " As far as I can recollect, these were his very words. I retain 
 " all the feelings of a Guardsman, in which corps I served several 
 " years, and should feel as jealous of its honours as if still in 
 " its ranks, &c. 
 
 " Cavalry Depot, August 2nd, 1833." 
 
 * This expression would fairly apply to the driving in of the skirmishers by 
 the charge of the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards. 
 
 t " We were chiefly repulsed hy a very sharp flank attack, which destkoted 
 " us." 
 
 These last words are the same as those employed by Quinetin 
 describing the result of the fire of the 52nd, on the same occasion.
 
 MR. LEKKE'S REPLIES TO CERTAIN CRITICISMS 
 
 ox HIS 
 
 HISTORY OF LOED SEATON^S EEGDIENT 
 
 (THE .32N'D LIGHT INFANTRY) 
 AT THE BATTLE UE WATERLOO, &c., S:c. 
 
 to THE EDITOll OF THE AKMV AM) NAVY GAZETTE. 
 
 SiK, — I feel much indebted to you for your kind review, in your paper of 
 the 22nd of December last, of my "History of Lord Seaton's Regiment at 
 Waterloo," &c. I should almost immediately have requested a short space in 
 your columns in order to make a few observations on the two points in which 
 you differ from me, but I thouglit it better to wait a few weeks, to see if any 
 statements on the subject appeared in the Annij a ad JS'avy Gazette, from 
 any other quarter, and after that a most severe affliction prevented me for many 
 weeks from giving any attention to these matters. I think it right thus to 
 account for my having allowed several montlis to elapse without requesting you 
 to insert the following remarks on the two points to which I refer : — Istly, that 
 of placing on my plan. No. 2, the columns of the Imperial Guard too far dov.u 
 the slope of the British position at the moment of their being taken in flank 
 by the 52nd ; and 2ndly, the stating the numbers of these "dense cohunns" to 
 have amounted apparently to about 10,000 men. 
 
 With regard to the distance, three hundred yards, at which I have placed 
 the head of tlie leading column of tlie French Guard from the slope of the 
 plateau in front of Maitland's Brigade of the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 1st 
 Guards, I will first mention what I observed myself, and what I have a most 
 perfect recollection of. From the left centre of the 52nd four-deep line, when 
 it was nearly parallel with the left flank of the Imperial Guard, and at right 
 angles with the British position, on looking to see what support we had, I could 
 see the whole of the ground between the head of the Imperial colinnn and the 
 outer slope of that part of the position behind which [Maitland's Brigade must 
 have been stationed, and I had no doubt, when most anxiously considering the 
 exact position which I should give on my plan to the head of tlie French column, 
 nor have I now, that it should have the position which I have assigned to it, at 
 the distance of three hundred yards from the point that I could plainly see, 
 which must have been the outer part of the plateau. I distinctly saw the 
 Imperial Guard skirmishers form in front of the head of the column when they 
 had been driven in from the position. Captain the Hon. William Ogilvy, an olil
 
 Peninsular otticer, M'itli seven clasps, and who was towards the left of the 52nd 
 line when it came on the Hank of the Inijterial Guard at Waterloo, wrote to me 
 as follows, on the 1st of January last : — " To-day came a copy of the Army and 
 Xdvij Gazette, which I have also to thank you for, containing a full and, as I 
 think, a fair and honest estimate of your description, of the important part 
 taken hy Lord Seaton at the close of the field of Waterloo, but I cannot agree 
 with the writer that your plan is inaccurate in showing the 52nd so far in advance 
 of the rest of the Army, at least I am sure there was no force within our sight 
 near enough to be considered a support in any degree." General Sir William 
 Rowan, after reading my account of the proceedings of the 52nd at Waterloo, 
 in writing to me at the end of January, says : " So far as my memory serves me, 
 your account of the several movements of the 52nd Regiment is correct." 
 Colonel Hall, in writing to me on the 4th of February says : " In rei)ly to your 
 question, if I can depend on my memory, I say you are correct ; I could see 
 beyond the head of the column ; there was a consideralde S2)ace between it and 
 the brow of the British i)osition. But in front of the column appeared a cloud 
 of scattered men, probably its own skirmishers ; even they had not nearly 
 reached the summit of tlie hill." Sir Thomas Reynell, who commanded the 
 71st at Waterloo, in writhig to the United Service Journal in 1S33, describes 
 the Imperial Guard, which the 52nd defeated, as " two columns of the enemy's 
 infantry at the bottom of the declivity," by which expression he must mean 
 that they were far down the slope. Lord Seaton says, when our skirmishers 
 " had advanced a few hundred yards, the Imperial Guard halted, and opened 
 fire upon them." Sir Hussey Vivian, who commanded the Hussar Brigade at 
 Waterloo, and who kept a journal, from which most of the details given in a 
 letter which he sent to the United Service Journal in July, 1833, are drawn, 
 writes as follows : — " When I went on the following day over the ground, I saw 
 some few French infantry within our lines, but the mass of the enemy's dead 
 and dying lay below the crest, extending away from tlie French left of La Haye 
 Sainte, and rather in the rear of it." He was speaking of the slope of the 
 position in front of the ground on which Maitland's Brigade of Guards and his 
 own Hussar Brigade were stationed, when the Imperial Guard were attacked 
 by the 52nd. If any of your readers Avill draw a line from the buildings of La 
 Haye Sainte to the north-western corner of the enclosures of Hougoumont they 
 will find that it about cuts the head of the Imperial Guard column as placed 
 on my plan. No. 2 , therefore the mass of the French killed and wounded, 
 stated by Vivian to have been seen by him rather to the rear of the head of the 
 column, would )»e exactly where I have stated them to have fjillen — more than 
 three hundred yards below the British position. 
 
 In pages 119 and 120 of the first volume of my "History of Lord Seaton's 
 Regiment at Waterloo," &c., &c., I have introduced a statement of the nuniljer 
 of men of which tlie Imperial Guard consisted in each year from its formation 
 in 1804, taken from a French history of that celebrated corps. They amounted 
 in 1S14 to 112,482: in 1815 the number Avas 25,870, of which 20,400 were 
 infantry. Siborne states that there were only 12,000 infantry of the Imperial 
 Guard at Waterloo, and twelve battalions of these, or 6000, he mentions as 
 Jiaving been detached to Planchenoit to oppose the Prussians ^ but I am inclined 
 %j think tliathc nuist either have made a mistake as to the munher nf liattalions
 
 3 
 
 sent to Plfiiichenoit m- with regard to the numbers of which the several 
 I)attalions consisted. According to the Imperial Guard histor}', quoted above, 
 each regiment of the Tirailleurs and Yolfigeurs of the Guard consisted of 
 1200 men, whilst the regiments of Chasseurs and Grenadiers of the Guard con- 
 sisted only of 1,000 men each. But "much confusion exists in the accounts 
 of these columns of attack, their number and formation," and the exactness 
 of my statement, that the i5-2nd attacked 10,000 men of the Imperial Guard, 
 may be fairly questioned. Colonel Gawler speaks only of eight battalions 
 having been detached to Planchenoit. Baron IMuftling states that sixteen 
 battalions of the Imperial Guard made the last attack upon the British position ; 
 General Drouot also stated that there were sixteen battalions engaged in the 
 last attack. I lielieve the whole of the remaining infantry of the Imperial 
 Guard advanced to this attack, and that there were no battalions left in reserve, 
 but that the rear guard or reserve of the Imperial Guard who were found by 
 the 52nd near the Charleroi-road twenty minutes after the defeat of the two 
 lieavy columns, had formed the rear portion of the second column, and retired 
 Imstily towards the French position on the defeat and flight of the liattalions in 
 tlieir front, who were more immediately in front of the 52nd four-deep line. 
 
 Baron JMutHing, in his despatch, says, " Some of the enemies' batteries 
 cover Avith grape-shot the retreat of four battalions of the Guard." Now the 
 only British infantry who had grape flred into them, at least at that period of 
 the battle, were the 52nd, and it was immediately afterwards that Lieutenant 
 Gawler drove in those three guns with the right section, and found himself as 
 the smoke cleared off, witii "tln-ee battalions of the Old Guard" two or three 
 hundred yards in his front, "which having formed the rear of the columns of 
 attack, had retired in tolerable order, and now stood in squares supported by a 
 small body of cuirassiers on the first rise of their position." I am sorry to 
 occupy so nuich of your space, Imt I have been anxious to show that I had no 
 wish to exaggerate when I stated in the title page of my work that " the 52nd 
 defeated, single-handed, tliat portion of the Imperial Guard of France, about 
 10,000 in number, which advanced to make the last attack on the British 
 position." 
 
 The 52nd, from their appearance, always considered these two "dense 
 columns," as Lord Seaton calls them, (which were in the very closest proximity,) 
 and always spoke of them as amounting to about 10,000 men. Colonel Gawler, 
 in his " Crisis of Waterloo," written thirty-four years ago, speaks of them as 
 10,000, In my work I have called them " about 10,000," and in one place 8,000 
 or 1 0,000," by way of not exceeding the number, which we always su]iposed, 
 from their appearance, that they amounted to. Tlie later Frencli writers appear, 
 for obvious reasons, to have missed no opportunity of stating the number of the 
 Imperial Guard attacked by the 52nd at the lowest possible figure. The defeat 
 of a previous column of the Imperial Guard by the Britisli Guards I consider 
 to be impossible. The 52nd found the " dense cohunns " of the French Guard 
 apparently untouched. Lord Seaton says : " The whole of the Imperial Guard 
 advanced at the same time, and their flank was first attacked by the 52nd before 
 any furward movement was made to check them in front." The old officers of 
 the 52nd were not likely to make the great mistake of taking the " black, 
 massive, solid columns" of the Imperial Guard, M-hich we put to flight, to con-
 
 sist of 10,000 men if they only amounted to little more than half that number ; 
 even I, who had been only a few weeks in the army, was capable of forming- 
 something like a correct estimate of their numbers, for I had had opportunities 
 of seeing together the whole of our division, Sir Henry Clinton's, which con- 
 sisted of 6,833 men. At some future and not very distant time, I shall hope to 
 reply, but not at this same length, to the several letters which the officers of 
 the Guards and Sir Edward Cast have written to your paper and to the Pull 
 Mall Gazette on the subject of my statements relating to the defeat of the 
 Imperial Guard at Waterloo. — Very faithfully yours, 
 
 Holbrooke, May SOtli, 1867. William Leeke. 
 
 THE r)2ND AND THE FIRST GUARDS AT WATERLOO. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARMY AND NAVY GAZETTE. 
 
 Sir,- In my letter inserted in the Army and Navy Gazette of the 1st of 
 June, on the subject of the position and numbers of the Imperial Guard defeated 
 by the .52iid, as stated in my " History of Lord Seaton's Regiment at Waterloo," 
 &c., I mentioned my intention of endeavouring to reply, at no very distant time, 
 to the letters which some of the officers of the Guards and Sir Edward Gust 
 have written on the subject of my statement, that the 52nd " defeated, single- 
 handed, without the assistance of the 1st British Guards or any other troops, 
 that portion of the Imperial Guard of France, about 10,000 in number, which 
 advanced to make the last attack on the British position." As I have said in 
 my former letter, " the defeat of a previous column of the Imperial Guard by 
 the British Guards I consider to be impossible." Lord Seaton says, " the whole 
 of the Imperial Guard advanced at the same time, and their flank was first 
 attacked by the 52nd before any forward movement was made to attack them in 
 front. No regiment, except the 52nd, fired on the flank of the Imperial Guard." 
 Agahi he says, "I saw the column of the Imperial Guard steadily advancing to 
 a certain point, and I observed them halt, which was precisely as the skirmishers 
 of the 52nd opened fire on their flank."— (See " History of Lord Seaton's Regi- 
 ment, &c.," vol. i., pp. 101, 2.) The following extract from a letter from Colonel 
 (now General) Sir Thomas William Brotherton, G.C B., to Colonel Gawler in 
 1833, and published in the United Service Journal, completely disproves tho 
 statement made by Siborne in his " History of Waterloo," that a first column, 
 led by Ney, and Friant, and Michel, was defeated by the 1st Brigade of Gunrds, 
 and it will be observed that this letter only speaks of one attack, and not of 
 two separate attacks by two separate columns of the Imperial Guard, and als ) 
 that it M-as addressed to Colonel Gawler, and published by him for the very pur- 
 pose of proving that Ney's columns (which the 52nd f^aw to be in the very 
 closest proximity, the rear of the one being al)0ut twenty paces from the front 
 of the other) were not defeated by a front attack of the 1st Guards, but by the 
 flank attack of the 52nd. Sir Thomas Brotherton says:— "Some years ago, 
 not long after the battle of Waterloo, in conversation with a French officer of 
 the staff, who had accompanied the column led l;)y Marshal Ney at the close of 
 the day, we were describing the merits of our different modes of attack. I ob- 
 served to him, that to us it seemed surprising and unaccountable that our gallant 
 opponents should obstinately persist in a practice which experience must have 
 taught them to be so unavailing and destructive to themselves, — viz., their con- 
 stant attacks in column against our infantry in line. I cited as a last and con-
 
 5 
 
 elusive instance, the failure of the attack at the close of the day cat 
 Waterloo, where a column composed of such distinguished veterans, and 
 led by such a man as Ney, was repulsed and upset by some comjiaratively 
 young soldiers of our Guards, (for of such I understood the brigade in 
 question to be composed,) adverting also to the singular coincidence of 
 the Imperial Guard encountering our British Guards at such a crisis. 
 Upon which, he observed, without seeming in the least to detract from 
 the merit of the troops which the column had to encounter in its front, who, 
 he said, sliowed ires bonne contenance, [This expression would fairly apply to 
 the driving in of the mass of skirmishers and their supports by the 3rd battalion 
 of the 1st Guards. — W.L.] that I was wrong in adducing this instance in sup- 
 port of my argument, or in supposing the attack was solely repulsed by the 
 troops opposed to it in front ; for, added he, ' Nous fumes princii)alement 
 repousses par une attaque detlanc, trOs vive, qui nous ecrasa.' [' We were chietly 
 repulsed by a very sharp flank attack, which destroyed us.'] As far as I can 
 recollect these were his very words. I retain all the feelings of a Guardsman, 
 in whicli corps I served several years, and should feel as jealous of its honours 
 as if still in its ranks, &c.— Cavalry Depot, August 2nd, 1833." General 
 Brotherton and the French officer were here speaking of the column of the 
 Imperial Guard led by'Ney. Siborne, (see his 14th chapter,) misled by all kinds 
 of conflicting reports, and the other writers, who have followed in his Avake, 
 declare that a first colunui, led by Ney, was attacked, and defeated, and entirely 
 routed by the 1st British Guards alone, whilst the French officer, in his conver- 
 ^•iation with General Brotherton, declares that Ney's column was defeated by 
 
 a sharp flank attack, wliich destroyed it ; " and the 52nd know well that it 
 was their flank attack which effected this remarkable defeat of the chosen troops 
 of France, and tliat no column of the French Guard preceded those with 
 whom they, the 52nd, came in contact ? When the 52nd fmr-deep line Avas 
 becoming parallel with the left flank of the Imperial Guard, and at right angles 
 with the British position, tlie left of the 52nd and the head of the Imperial 
 column were botli of them about 300 yards from that part of the position to the 
 rear of which Maitland's brigade of Guards must have been stationed. The 
 whole slope was clear of smoke and clear of troops, excepting the skirmishers 
 of the Imperial Guard, Avhom I saw run in and form about 100 yards in front of 
 their leading battalion. Lord Seaton says, "The whole of the Imperial Guard 
 advanced at the same time, and their flank was flrst attacked by the 52nd," 
 
 The late Mr. Yonge, of the 52nd, wrote to Colonel Bentham in November, 
 1853, as follows : — " He (Lord Seaton) was saying here last week that, after his; 
 conversation with the Frencli Cuirassier officer, he kept watching the heavy 
 column advancing, saw it directed against a very weak part of the line, saw no 
 attempt at preparation to meet it, and therefore (making light of his own exer- 
 cise of judgment and decision") he said there was nothing else to do, having 
 such a strong battalion in hand, but to endeavour to stop them by a flank 
 attack, for it seemed quite evident that if something of that sort was not done 
 our line would unquestionably be penetrated. With a man looking on in this 
 intelligent way, and acting on Avhat he saw, how is it possible that all this fan- 
 faronade of Guards charging the head of this colunui can have any foundation 
 in truth ?"— (See " History of .52nd at Waterloo," pp. 99—102.)
 
 6 
 
 Captain Siborne and those liistorians who have adopted his account of tlie 
 defeat of a tir.st colinnn of tlie Iniiierial Guard by the 1st Britisli Guards, have 
 made a sad jumble of the wliole affair. Amongst other statements he makes 
 Captain Bolton's brigade of artillery to fire into this first column, and mentions 
 Lieutenant Sharpin, wlio was attached to this brigade, as having been spoken to 
 by the Duke of Wellington on the occasion. Colonel Bentham, in a letter I 
 received from him in May, 1854, says : " Since I wrote to you I have ferreted 
 out Lieutenant Sharjiin, of the artillery, who was attached to the battery in 
 the angle made by the Guards and 52nd. He tells me that until he saw the 
 statement in Siborne he never saw or heard of two attempts on our centre ))y 
 the Imperial Guard, and subsequently, in a detailed description, he says that 
 Siborne was wrong in making his liattery fire on any columu but the one taken 
 in flank by the infantry on the right. He is an excellent witness on our side." 
 It is very difhcult to unravel all the apparently conflicting statements on the 
 subject of a first colunm defeated by the 1st Guards, and then a second column 
 defeated by the 52nd flank attack supported by an attack of Maitland's brigade 
 of Guards in front. But the French ofhcer's statement to General Brotherton, 
 Lord Seaton's positive declaration, that of Lieutenant Sharpin, and what the 
 officers on the left and in the left centre of the 52nd line saw of the strength of 
 the two Imperial columns equal in length, and the rear column within twer^ty 
 paces of that in front of it, and what they also saw of the 300 yards of ground 
 and of the Imperial skirmishers between the head of the column and the British 
 position, all make it a matter of certainty to my mind that skirmishers of the 
 Imperial Guard, joined by their supports, and by quantities of skirmishers of 
 Donzelot's Division, and their supports, were massed together and fired into the 
 square of the 3rd battalion of Maitland's brigade of Guards, stationed on the 
 reverse slope of the British position, and that these massed and intermingled 
 skirmisliers, and possibly some of Donzelot's battalions, seen at no very great 
 distance away to their left front, as the 3rd battalion of the Guards passed over 
 the summit of the position, were mistaken by them for a column of the Impe- 
 rial Guard. Several years ago I received from an officer, who told me that he M'as 
 sergeant-major of the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards at Waterloo, and noted 
 it down the day after, the following information with regard to what his battalion 
 really did at the crisis of Waterloo. I copy a portion of it from my history of 
 the battle (vol. 1, p. 122) :— " They were attacked by a ' column ' of twelve or 
 fourteen hundred men, and that these troops opened fire upon them at a distance 
 of fifty or sixty paces ; that the Duke coming along from their left, ob-served 
 how this 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards was suffering from the heavy fire of 
 the mass of troops in their front, and desired the commanding officer to form 
 line on the front face of the square, and ' drive those fellows off',' which they did 
 in very gallant style, and followed them for some eighty or a hundred yards 
 down the slope ; then there was an alarm of cavalry, and the 3rd battalion of 
 the Guards, some of them thinking they were to form square, got into confusion 
 and retired hastily over the crest of the position and beyond it on the reverse 
 slope." This officer told me most positively that this was the only movement 
 the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards made against the enemy's infantry at 
 Waterloo, and that their 2nd battalion was not witluthem. It will be seen, 
 therefore, that the two battalions of which Maitland's lirigade consisted, could
 
 not at any time have advanced together, as Siborne and other writers have 
 asserted, I observe that, in their letters to the Army and Nacy Gazette and 
 the Pall Mall Gazette, the othcers of the Guards themselves speak of the two 
 battalions of the Guards having advanced together in brigade and defeated the 
 Inijierial Guard. Their statements and the very positive declaration of the 
 officer who was sergeant-major of the 3rd battalion at Waterloo are at variance. 
 When the 3rd battalion of the Guards drove off from the British position the 
 mass of skirn)ishers in their front, those belonging to Donzelot's French division 
 would run into the nearest battalion of that division away to their left front ; 
 the Imperial Guard skirmishers, running in fronr the front of both battalions of 
 the 1st Guards and of the 2nd battalion of the 95th Rifles, would be those I 
 saw form in front of the leading battalion of the leading column of the Imperial 
 Guard, when the 52nd were becoming parallel with its left tiank. At that time 
 the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards had recrossed the position, as we saw nothing 
 of them, although the slope of 300 yards between the Imperial column and the 
 edge of the plateau towards us was clear of smoke. The 3rd battalion, being 
 in square at the time, must have been at a considerable distance from the 2nd 
 battalion on its right ; when in a four-deep line there would, probably, be an 
 interval of about ISO yards between eacli battalion which Avas on the right 
 centre of the British position, so that I cannot at all understand how General 
 Buckley's statement can be correct, that the 1st Brigade of Guards— i.e., both 
 the battalions together — advanced over the crest and defeated a battalion or 
 brigade [he does not know which] in grenadier caps and close columns ; nor 
 can I understand what General Buckley means when he says, " The men 
 wheeled up their flanks, as it were, to enclose the colunnis." Neither General 
 Buckley nor any of the other officers of the Guards appear to claim the two 
 advances and attacks which Siborne, in his history, on his sixth jilan, and on 
 his model, claims for them. He makes them to attack and route a previous 
 culunni led on by Ney, and then to advance and fire into a second and larger 
 column, wjiich was taken in flank by the 52nd. Now, Sir Thomas Brotherton's 
 letter shows that the column led liy Ney was taken in flank by the 52nd. 
 Lieutenant Sharpin's statement is that there was no previous column into which 
 Bolton's battery fired. Lord Seaton, and other 52nd officers, saw that the whole 
 of the Imperial Guard advanced together. The officers towards the left of the 
 52nd four-deep line saw that the British Guards, who were more than 300 yards 
 away from the head of the column, and out of sight behind the crest of the 
 position, never fired into it, and it, therefore, appears certain to me that the 
 " swarm uf skirmishers" and their supports massed together were the enemy 
 which the Guards defeated. It is hardly necessary that I should add any more 
 than I have already written in reply t(j the letters of the Duke of Manchester 
 and Colonel Maitland. I think the former, who was on Sir Peregrine Maitland's 
 staff thirty years ago, and who mentions his recollections of what his general 
 used to say about the battle, will, on consideration, feel sure that that gallant 
 and respected soldier, in giving directions for the advance of his brigade, or, as 
 I believe it to have been, of the 3rd battalion, never could have addressed them 
 in such unsoldierlike words as those of " Up Guards, and at them." I do not 
 quite see how Colonel Maitland knows the contents of a letter written by liis 
 father to Captain Siborne, and that it " debcribed a previous movement of the
 
 8 
 
 3rd batcaliuii of the 1st Guards down the slope for the purpose of driving off 
 some skirmishers," for he says, he " has not any written account by his father 
 of the battle." If he merely gathers from Siborne's " History of Waterloo " 
 that Sir Peregrine Maitland must have written to him " describing a previous 
 movement," &c., lie relies on what I cannot rely upon, for not only had Siborne 
 many condicting accounts, as regarded both time and movements, from ofhcers 
 of the same regiment, but, as I have shown in the 5th chapter, page 88, of my 
 work, he mentions the same sort of thing about driving in skirmishers two or 
 three times over, Avith nearly the same attendant circumstances— of the Duke 
 being present, the forming a four-deep line, and the words, " Up Guards," &c., 
 or, " Drive those fellows off."- There is good reason to believe that the three 
 accounts, one mentioning Adam's brigade at four o'clock in the afternoon, all 
 properly belong to the advance of the ord battalion of the 1st Guards, by the 
 Duke of Wellington's order, at eight o'clock in the evening. Although it is not 
 necessary that I should reply further than I have already done to Colonel 
 Ponsonby's straightforward and courteous letter in the Pcdl Mall Gazette, of 
 December 26th, I hope that he and all the officers of the Guards will unite with 
 me and others in an effort, not to deprive the officers of the. Guards of the 
 brevet-rank which has been accorded to them in their several grades, but to have 
 exactly the same rank given, in each grade, to the officers of all the other corps 
 in the Army, for it is evidently most injurious to the service, and most morti- 
 fying to the other branches of it, that the officers of the Guards should, as a 
 rule, arrive at the higher rariks of the Army at a much earlier age than that at 
 which the officers of the rest of the Army arrive at the same ranks. I have 
 shown, by a calculation made some years ago, that, on an average, the officers 
 of the Guards arrived at the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in fifteen years, and 
 the officers of the line in thirty years. (See my Vol. 1, pp. 136, 187.) 
 
 I am soriy to say that, as regards the crisis of Waterloo, General Sir Edward 
 Gust, who quotes from his "Annals of the Wars," in the Army and Navy 
 Gazette of the 15th January, has fallen into all kinds of mistakes, one or 
 two of which oidy I will take the liberty of mentioning. He brings forward 
 the word of command, which, one would suppose, never could have been given 
 by any officer in connnand, " Up Guards, and at them ! " He says, " the Duke, 
 stationed near Bolton's battery, was heard to exclaim, ' Go on, Colborne.' " 
 Now, even Siborne, with all his vexatious mistakes, makes the Duke to utter these 
 words where he did really utter something like them — at the Charleroi-road, 
 800 yards away from Bolton's battery. Again, Cust makes Vivian's Hussar 
 Brigade to come down the Charleroi-road to the help of the 52nd, when they 
 really moved down the British position direct to their front, through the interval 
 in the line, left by the 52nd, 800 yards away from the Charleroi-road, and never 
 came near the 52nd. Sir Edward Cust not having been at Waterloo, and having 
 Siborne and various other conflicting accounts to lead him, or rather to mislead 
 liim, was sure " to come to grief." I hope, in the next edition of the " Annals 
 of the Wars," he will do me the favour to be guided very much by my account 
 of the crisis and close of the battle of Waterloo.— Very faithfully yours, 
 
 Wm. Leeke. 
 
 I'LETCHEl; AND bON, rKINTERfci, NuRWlCH,
 
 (From "Thr Armn and Xmuj Gar.eUe" of Avgnst 17, 1867.; 
 
 THE 52nd light INFANTRY, 
 
 THE FIRST GUARDS, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE BIPERIAL GUARD OF FRANCE, 
 AT WATERLOO. 
 
 TO TliE EDITOR OP "tHE ARMY ANP \AVY GAZETTE." 
 
 Sir, — With your permission I wish to make tlie following remarks on 
 Major-General Lindsay's letter, inserted in the Amu/ and Nary Gazette of 
 July 27, on the subject of tlie defeat of the Frencli Guard at AYaterloo, 
 General Lindsay says, " I do not propose here to reply to Mr, Leeke's letter, 
 {Army and Xacy Gazette, June 29,) nor to argue upon the movements of the 
 two battalions whieli composed the brigade, (Maitland's,) nor upon the luimbers 
 of tlie Imperial Guard, Imt shall content myself with quotations from docu- 
 ments written by officers who were present, which assert as a fact the defeat of 
 a column of the Imperial Guard by the 1st regiment of Guards. Major-Gen- 
 erals Sir John Byng and Sir Peregrine Maitland commanded the two brigades 
 of Guards under Lieutenant-General Sir George Cooke. When the latter was 
 wounded, the command of the division devolved ujjon Sir John Byng. On the 
 day after the battle both brigadiers wrote a despatch to tlie Duke of York as 
 senior colonel of the l)rigade of Guards." Tiie following is the portion of 
 Byng's despatch which relates to IMaitland's brigade, consisting of the 2nd and 
 ord battalions (jf tlie Lst Guards, and the attack of the Imperial Guard. "I 
 had also to witness the gallantry with which they met the last attack made by 
 the Grenadiers df the Imperial Guard, ordered on by Bonaparte himself, the 
 destructive fire they poured in, and the subsequent charge, which together com- 
 })letely routed the enemy. A second attempt met with a similar reception, and 
 the loss they caused the French, of the tinest troops I ever saw, was immense.'' 
 
 General Lindsay's extract from Maitland's despatch is as follows : — " It 
 was at this period that Napoleon made his last effort against our centre, and 
 advanced with masses of infantry, sujiported by ca\alry and a l)laze of artillery. 
 At tlie command of the Duke of Wellington, our two squares formed into a line 
 four deep. Napoleon himself led on his Imperial Guard against us to tlie 
 bottom of tlie hill (or, ratlier, tlic small acclivity}. The moment tliey appeared, 
 and began to form about twenty yards in our front, we poured in tlie most 
 deadly tire that perhaps was ever witnessed, as the field of battle abundantly 
 testified the following day. The Imperial Guard retreated," &c. \_'l\m is the
 
 whole of tlie extract which General Lindsay gives from Maitland's despatch.] 
 It must lie home in mind that these extracts both from B.yng's and Maitland's 
 despatches refer only to Maitland's brigade, Byng's own brigade of Guards 
 being at the time more than half a mile away, in or about the chateau and 
 grounds of Hougomont, 
 
 I iiave already proved, as I believe, in my letter to you, (in the Army and 
 Navy UitutU of June 29,) that there was no cohmm in front of those led by 
 Marshal Ney for the 1st British Guards to encounter, and that the troops they 
 defeated on the British position nmst have been massed skirmishers from Key's 
 column of the Iin]»erial Guard, and from Donzelot's division, which was in 
 force to the Frencli left of La llaye 8ainte. It niiiy, however, be well for me 
 to repeat, as your readers may not bear them in mind, the proofs of this, Avhicli 
 I advanced in that letter. Lord Seaton says : — " The whole of the Lniierial 
 Guard advanced at the same time, and their tlank was first attacked by the 
 r)2nd befoie any forward movement was made to attack them in front. No 
 I'egiment except the 52nd fired on the fiank of the Imperial Guard." Again 
 he says : — " I saw tlie column of the Imiierial Guard steadily advancing to a 
 certain ]iriint, which was precisely as the skirmishers of the 52nd opened fire on 
 their fiank."— (See " History of Lord Seaton's," &c., vol. i, pp. 101-2.) These 
 columns, apparently containing about 10,00(» men, were in the very closest 
 }iroximity, the rear of the one being about twenty paces from tlie fnint of the 
 other. Colonel Bentham, in his letter to me in May, 1S54, states that Lieu- 
 tenant Sharjiin, of the Artillery, stationed in the angle made by the Guards 
 and 52nd, says that "till he saw Siliorne's statement, he never saw or heard of 
 two attempts on our centre by the Imperial Guard." He says, " Siborne was 
 wrong in making his battery fire on any cohunn l»ut the one taken in fiank liy 
 the infantry on the right." Colonel Bentham adds, " He is an excellent wit- 
 ness on our side." General Sir Thomas Brotherton's letter to Colonel Gawler, 
 in 1833, mentions that in las conversation, not long after Waterloo, with a 
 French staff officer who accompanied the Imperial Guard column led by Xey, 
 the officer stated that " they were chiefly repulsed by a very sharp flank attack, 
 which destroyed them." This ivas the single-handed attack of the 52nd. The 
 ofiicers of tlie 52nd, who were towards the left of the 52nd four deep line, saw- 
 that the British Guards who were more than 800 yards away from the liead of 
 Ney's cohunn, and out of sight behind the crest of the position, never fired into 
 it ; but they did see skirmishers of the Imperial Guard retire down the British 
 ]iosition, and form in front of the head of tlie colunni. As I observed before, 
 these various circumstances, which I have stated more particularly in ray letter 
 to you of the 29th of .June, make it a matter of certainty to my mind that 
 skirmishers of the Im]>erial Guard, joined by their supports, and 1>y quantities 
 of skiruushers of DonzelOt's division and their supports, were massed together 
 and fired into the 3rd Ijattalion of the 1st Guards, stationed on the reverse slope 
 of the British position, and that these massed and intermingled skirmisliers, 
 and iirubably some of Donzelut's battalions, seen at no Aery great distance 
 away to their left front, as the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards passed over the 
 sunnnit of the position, w'ere mistaken by them for a colunni of the Imperial 
 Guard. When the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards formed line, by the Duke 
 of "Wellington's order, on the front face of its sipiare, and di-ove off from the
 
 3 
 
 British position tiie mass of skirmisiiers in their front, those beJonging to Don • 
 zelut's ilivisioii would run intu the nearest liattalion of tliat division away b> 
 their left front ; the Imperial Guard skirmishers, running in from both bat- 
 talions of the 1st Guards, and from the •2nd battalion of the Doth rifles, would 
 lie those I saw form in front of the leading battalion of Ney's culumns, when 
 the 52nd were Iiecumiiig parallel with their left flank ; the left uf the .■)2ud line 
 and the liead of the Imperial Guard being both of them 300 yards from tlie 
 British position. When the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards advanced over the 
 position in pursuit of the mass of skirmishers, they would probably see the 
 nearest of Doiizelut'.s battalions about 230 yards away to tlieir left front, and 
 the head of Joey's eulunin about 330 yards from them to their right front. 
 
 I must now make some observations on the extracts contained in General 
 Lindsay's letter from Byng's and Maitland's despatches to the Duke of York. 
 Having jiruved that there was no column in advance of the column of the Im- 
 perial Guard led by Ney, Michel, and Friant, which was routed l.iy the tiank 
 attack of the 52nd, and which the British Guards never attacked, I can still 
 only understand the statements of Byng and Maitland as referiing to the 
 repulse of the swarms of massed skirmishers of the Imperial Guard and Donze- 
 lot's division by the two battalions of Maitland's brigade, but not by the two 
 battalions in one almost contiguous line, but hy each battalion separately. 
 There is the very best authority for stating that the 3rd battalion of the 1st 
 Guards, when lying down in S(iuare on the reverse slope of the position, Avcre 
 attacked by a " column " (as the officer, who was sergeant-major of that bat- 
 talion at Waterloo called it) of twelve or fourteen lumdred men, and that the«e 
 troops opened fire upon them at a distance of fifty or sixty paces ; that the 
 Duke, connng along from their left, obsened how this 3rd battalion of the 1st 
 Guards was sutt'ering from the heavy mass of troojis in their front, and desire<l 
 the commanding officer to form line on the front face of the s([uare, and " drive 
 those fellows ofi'," which they did in very gallant style, and followed them for 
 some eighty or a hundred yards down the slope ; then there was an alai-m of 
 cavalry, and the 3rd battalion of the Guards, some of them thinking they were 
 to form s(puirc, got into confusion, and retired hastily over the crest of the po- 
 sition, and beyond it on the reverse slo^ic. [Colonel Gurwood, then with tbe 
 10th Hussars, stated that they saw the Guards thus retiring in confusion. | 
 " The ofiicer told me most positively that this was the only movement the 3rd 
 battalion of the 1st Guards made against the enemy's infantry at Waterloo, and 
 that their second battalion was nut with them." Siborne erroneously speaks 
 of this as a separate and previous attack, after the taking of La Have Sainte, 
 by tirailleurs from that (piarter, who not only fii-ed into the 3rd liattalion of the 
 1st Guards, but " also, upon their left, another portion of tiieir mindjers ])Oured 
 a destructive fire upon the left square of Adam's brigade, formed by the 2nd 
 battalion of the 95th Rifles." Then he mentions the Duke coming up to the 
 3rd liattalion of the Guards, and ordering the connnanding otficer to form line 
 on the front face of the s(piare and drive the skirmishers down the slope, wliici 
 they did. He says on the approach of cavalry " the battalion re-fonned square 
 with great rapidity and regularity. Tbe cavalry refused the square, hut re- 
 ceiving its fire and then dashing along the front of the 52nd lleuiment it cxiioseil 
 itself to another A-igorous fife, by i^-liich it was nearly destroyed ; ••.^■]lilst the 3rd
 
 battalion of the Guards retired, iu perfect order, to its original jtosition." Here 
 is an instance of the confusion -whicli a writer of the history of a battle, who 
 himself was not an eye-witness, n)ay be led into both as to time and circum- 
 stances, ]ty the varied accounts given to him by several officers of the same 
 regiments : The r)2nd did not at that time tire on any body of cavalry ; the 
 officer of the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards, as I have just stated, gave me 
 very much the same account witli regard to the repulse of a " column " as he 
 called it, of tlie Imperial Guard ; but he did not say the battalion formed 
 scpiare and iired into tlie cavalry, but there was a cry of " cavalry," and that, 
 some tliinking they were to form square, they got into confusion, and retired 
 over the summit of the position again. The two generals, Maitland and Byng, 
 do not mention tliis affair. Maitland appears to allude to Siborne's statement, 
 Avhen he says, in his letter to him in 1847, "the formation in line four deep, 
 which yoii nuist liave had in mind, belongs to a later liour of the day, when the 
 Imperial Guard were advancing," &c. 
 
 The extract from Byng's despatch speaks of "a second attempt whicli met 
 with a similar reception ;" this I suppose must have reference to tlie repulse of 
 the massed skirmishers, wlio, we are told, fired into the 2nd battalion of the 
 Guards and the 2ik1 battalion of tlie !)5th Rifles. Sir Peregrine Maitland 
 speaks only of one attack made by the Frencli on his brigade. He says in his 
 despatch, " at the command of the Duke of Wellington, our two squares formed 
 into a line four deep." There ^vould be an interval between the two squares ; 
 and when both of them were in a four-deep line, there would still be a very con- 
 siderable interval, as tlie lines would only occupy half the sjiace which they 
 would require in a two-deep line ; and I suppose that the 3rd battalio4i of the 
 1st Guards, after having recovered its order on the reverse slope of the position, 
 took ground tu wards the 2nd battalion on their right, and that this is Avhat 
 Lord Saltoun meant when he wrote as follows : — " Tiie left shoulder was then 
 brought forward, and we advanced against the second column of the Imperial 
 Guard, but whicli body was defeated by General Adam's brigade [it was defeated 
 by the o2nd alone] before we reached it, although Ave got near enough to fire if 
 we had been ordered to do so, and, as far as I can recollect, we did fire into 
 that column." As I have stated before, tlie 52nd knew well that the Guards 
 were never in a position to fire into the column, which they (the o2nd) took in 
 flank ; yet from such loose and conflicting statements as these, Siborne, and 
 many other historians of Waterloo, Avho have followed his account, lia\'e been 
 forced to draw the materials for their histories. When the third battalion of 
 the 1st Guards drove in the swarm of massed skirmishers in tlieir front, and 
 followed them for a short distance down the slope, no doubt they would, many 
 of them, see the heavy columns of the Imperial Guard, whicli the 52nd took in 
 flank — their officers on the look-out must have seen them before — but how, 
 after the retiring of the 3rd battalion in confusion over the crest again, and 
 some distance down the reverse slope, the two generals and other officers could 
 fancy that they defeated the columns of the Imi)erial Guard, led on by Ney, 
 and so decided the fate of AVaterloo, it is very difficult to understand. It may 
 partly liave had its origin in the fact of the separation of the two battalions of 
 tlie Guards at the time of the advance of the Imperial Guard and its skirm- 
 ishers, so that, wlien the accounts of what each battalion saw were collected, in
 
 order to the preiiaration of Byng's and Maitland's despatches for tlie Duke of 
 York and tlie Duke of WelUngton, there might he a greater UabiUty to strong 
 expressions, and to mistakes as to wliat was really done hy the 1st Guards at 
 the close of the action, and with regard to the fate of the French columns 
 seen hy them below the position. I think it is to be regretted that the two 
 generals and other othcers have confused their accounts by speaking of the 
 whole brigade having resisted or made attacks, Avhich it is clear were only 
 made or resisted by each of the two battalions separately. 
 
 In the memoramiuin of Sir Peregrine Maitland in ls34, in the possession 
 of the late Captain Siborne, he saj^s :— "As the attacking force moved forward 
 it separated, the Chasseurs inclined to their left, the Grenadiers ascended the 
 acclivity towards our position." With regard to most persons, I have not 
 much contidence in the accuracy of their recollections about Waterloo after the 
 lapse of many years, as it is difficult for them to distinguish between what they 
 themselves saw and what they have read in histories, or have heard from 
 others ; but I have no doubt that these were the skirmishers seen just before 
 they extended, one body inclining to their left towards tlie '2nA l)attalion of the 
 1st Guards, and the 2nd, 95th, and the other advancing towards the 3rd bat- 
 talion of the 1st Guards. 
 
 ^Major- General Lindsay mentions that he lias " brought forward information 
 which could not be in my possession," and that he ha.s many letters and docu- 
 ments from many other officers, who were personally engaged, corroborative of 
 what he has advanced. I have also in my possession, but I cannot at the 
 moment lay my hand upon them, extracts from letters from several officers of 
 the 1st -Guards, who were at Waterloo, written soon after the action, in wliich 
 they fully claim all the hoiKiur of the defeat of the Imi)erial Guard, and the coii- 
 seiiuent victory. But Avhat does all this amount to .' The two generals and 
 the senior otticers came to the conclusion tliat when they drove ofl' the massed 
 skirmishers the victory was gained ; whilst Xey's colunuis were still untouched, 
 and i)robably would have penetrated the British line of battle but for the flank 
 attack of the .j2nd. If the senior officers made such a mistaken claim, im 
 wonder that the others, in the excitement consequent upon the victory, sliould 
 Avrite home to their friends and claim the honour of having defeated the far- 
 famed and choicest troops of France. No wonder that Lord Bathurst, on the 
 23rd of .Tune, lsl;>, only eight days after the action, made use of the following 
 words in the House of Lords : — " Towards the close of the ilay Bonaparte him- 
 self, at the head of his Guards^ made a desperate charge on the British Guards, 
 and the British Guards inniiediately overthrew tlie Freuch." No wonder that 
 the following order appeared in the Gar.ette of tlie 29th of July, 1815 :— " His 
 Royal Highness has been pleased to approve of the 1st Regiment of Foot 
 Guards being made a regiment of grenadiers, and styled ' the 1st or Grenadier 
 Regiment of Foot Guards,' in commemoration of their having defeated the 
 Grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard upon thi^; memorable occasion." 
 
 But all ^vllo know the circumstances have greatly wonolered that the Duke 
 of Wellington should, in the manner he did, so completely ignore the remark- 
 able defeat of Ney's colunuis by the 52nd, under Lurd Seaton. Colonel Pou- 
 sonby states that, " it was he who recommended the 1st Guards for the distinc- 
 tion it enjoys, and he could scarcely have done so, had Mr. Leeke's version been
 
 correct." Wlien the Duke had directed tlie advance of the 3rd battalion "to 
 drive those fellows olf," (an expression, by the way, liardly applicalile to a strong 
 colunni, but (juite so to skirnn'shers en max>se,) he must almost immediately 
 Iiave seen Colborne's (Lord .Beaton's) right-shoulder-forward movement, and 
 have sent Colonel Percy to desire him to continue it. The Duke, therefore, 
 must have )>een fully aAvare of (Jolborne's exploit, as apjiears also from the 
 words Avhich I heard him address to him, Avlien he I'ude up to the .52nd, close to 
 the Charleroi-road, twenty minutes after we had ymt to tlight the " lilaek mas- 
 sive solid columns" of the Imperial Guard. Tiie words were " Well done, 
 Colborne ! AVell done ! Go on ; (km't give them time to rally." During the 
 half hour liefore, Colborne had taken his regiment by itself ilown on the Hank 
 of the Imperial Guard, had thoroughly defeated it, liad then led it over the 
 thickly-strewed killed and wounded of the Imperial Guard ; tlien it was ridden 
 at by cuirassiers, and our own cavalry, one Hying froni the otlier ; then it had 
 grape tired into it, from the three guns of the Old Guard ; it had traversed by 
 itself eight lunidred yards from its place on the position , and -when the Duke 
 came down to it it Avas preparing, after a miiuite's halt for tlic purpcise of dres- 
 sing the Une, to advance against tlie reserve of the Uld (iuard, which had 
 retired to the first rise of the French position. The Duke might well exclaim 
 " Well done, Colliorne !" &c. But tlie Duke owed also a great deal of his sue 
 cess in tlie Peninsula war to Colborne and his gallant regiment, Avhere they and 
 the 43rd and 9oth Ritles (the three regiments of the Light Division) so often 
 led the way to victory in nuany a general action, and so greatly distinguished 
 themselves also in equally hard-fought divisional engageinents. Colborne was 
 much valued by the Duke as an otticer in tlie Peninsula, as may be seen in the 
 " Record" of the 52nd, from its formation to the storming of Delhi, a great 
 portion of which will be found in some of the later cha]itei\s of my " History of 
 the .j2nd at Waterloo." How Avas it then, that the Duke alloweil the great 
 services of Colborne and the 52nd at Waterloo to lie ignored, and how came lie 
 to allow the 1st Guards to be honoured and rewarded for "having defeated the 
 Grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard," when the feat was really performed 
 by the 52nd 1 If the Duke did not inform himself on the subject of course his 
 conduct would be most censurable. The reviewer of my " History of the 52nd 
 at Waterloo," in the Pall Mall Ga:ette, makes the following observations : — 
 " Perha])S the cpiestion of most general interest mooted in our author's pages is 
 the charge of injustice on the piart of the Duke of Wellington towards the 52nd 
 in reference to Waterloo, in evading the distinct recognition of the deciding in- 
 tiuence which that regiment exerted on the issue of the battle, and, indeed, in 
 countenancing the error wliich attributed to the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 
 Jst Guards a sliare in the exploit which Mas really achieved by the 52nd alone. 
 
 It is possible, too, (for the Duke was decidedly human,) that he felt 
 
 lie owed the 52nd too much. It may have been uncomfortable to enter into tlie 
 examination of the circumstances Avhicli gave that regiment a chance of coming 
 (like a Deus ex machrad) to the rescue of the British army. It has always been 
 our opinion that the Duke Avas not particularly proud of his conduct of the great 
 battle. . . . Perhaps a jiart of his knoAvn dislike to conversing on the subject 
 of Waterloo may be attributed to Ids own dissatisfaction Avith a performance 
 which nearly all the Avorld Avas agreed in considering faultless."
 
 The following is an extract from a letter written to me by Culonel Bentham 
 in November, 1853: — "I can fully l^ear you out as to Gurwood's declaration 
 about the Guai-ds. He was always very strong on this point. I met Gurwood 
 in London, about 182S ; he was then staying at A}isley House, and I asked 
 him why he never drew the Duke out about the catastrophe at Waterloo. He 
 said that he had repeated!} made the attemjtt, but that it was a subject which 
 always created great impatience. On the last attempt tlie Duke said, ' Oh ! I 
 know nothing of the services of particular regiments ; there was glory enough 
 for us all!'" 
 
 Although I have greatly exceeded the proper limits of a letter, I must lieg 
 of you to permit me, before I close this, to make some few observations on the 
 folloAving extract whicli General Lindsay Ijrings forward in support of his claim 
 that Maitland's Brigade defeated the attack of the French Imperial Guard at 
 Waterloo. It is an extract from (.'aptain Powelfs journal :— "A close colunm 
 of grenadiers, of La Moyenne Garde, about 6000 strong, were seen ascending 
 the rise a?(jj(M de charge. They continued to a(U*ance till within fifty or .sixty 
 paces of our front, when tlie brigade was ordered to stand up" He then men- 
 tions that this, or the tremendously lieavy tire thrown into them, stopped the 
 French Guard, and forced the head of the column back. He then says, " We 
 charged down tlie hill till we passed the end of the Orchard of Hougomont, 
 when our right tiaiik became exposed to another lieavy cohunn, whicli was ad- 
 vancing in sup}iort of tlie former. This circumstance obliged us to retire to 
 our original position." Captain Powell published this part of his journal u]i- 
 wards of tliirty years ago, and there are several other statements in it besides 
 those wliich General Lindsay has sent to you, and there are also two or three 
 things in the extract which differ from the printed statement which I have men- 
 tioned. Captain Powell's printed statement mentions tliat the column was a 
 close column of the Moyenne Guard fit does not mention " Grenadiers" as tlie 
 extract tloes), '■•about S00(» strong, le<l hy Marsha/ AV//.'" General Lindsay's 
 extract, published in his letter to you, does not contain this line which I have 
 italiciseil. Tlie line seems to indicate that Ney's column of "eight or ten 
 thousand men," which was taken in flank by the ')-2nd, was ncen by the 3rd bat- 
 talion of the Guards, when it drove in the skirmishers from the position. 
 Had General Lindsay been at Waterloo he would have understood how impos- 
 sil>le it was that the Guards could set down near tlie inclosures of Hougomont, 
 That is unless they were going out of tlie fray, for tlie tide of battle, at the time 
 
 sjioken of, ran cpiite the other way. — Very fiiitlifully yours, 
 
 Wm. Leeke. 
 
 Holbrooke, near Ihrbij. A'Mjiui s, fsCT.
 
 As I am circulating many thousand copies of my " replies to certain 
 criticisms on my History of Lord Soaton's Eegiment (the 52nd 
 Light Infantry) at the hattle of Waterloo," I think it desirable 
 to fill up this remaining space, in tlie second pam]ihlet, -with tlio 
 following extracts, &c. : — 
 
 General Sir William Rowan, now colonel of the .'52nd, in a letter written in 
 December last, says:— "My dear Leeke,— You seem so anxious to attach the 
 extracts from my letter of the 31st of January last to other paiiers which yon 
 are about to i>nblish, that I cannot resist giving my consent, tliough I have a 
 great horror of appearing in print ; but you have taken so much trouble and 
 have incurred so serious an expense to clear up any doubts, which may have existed 
 with regard to the 52nd Regiment at Waterloo, that I feel every person con- 
 nected with the regiment, is bound to render you all the assistance in his power. 
 You fought bravely to maintain the position you liad taken up at Waterloo ; I 
 suppose now the war is over. Had I known of your intention to visit that cele- 
 l>ratedspot, I think I should have proposed joining your party: I have not 
 been there since the ISth of June, 1815 ; it was my birthday." [He was then 
 twenty-five, and a Brevet Major for Orthes.] The following is the extract 
 above referred to, from Sir W. Rowan's letter to me of the 31st of January, 
 1867 :— "The fact that the 52nd had the glory of attacking and defeating the 
 principal columns of the Imperial Guard, and that the decisive movement was 
 the spontaneous act of Sir John Colborne, had become matter of history, was 
 abundantly proved l>y the remarks of the press on the death of Loid Seaton. 
 Of that fact no individual of the regiment ever entertained a doubt, Avhich was 
 the cause of their taking no notice of the remarkable omission of their exploit 
 in the Duke of Wellington's despatch. Gawler's Crisis of Waterloo published it 
 to the world many years since. So far as my memory serves me, your account 
 of the several movements of the 52nd Regiment is correct ! " 
 
 At the end of September last I went with my two eldest sons to Brussels, 
 and spent two days on tbe Field of AA'aterloo : I was very much pleased to find, 
 that in the various positions occupied Ijy the 52nd — when in reserve in front of 
 Merbe Braine ; when in sq^uare a quarter of a mile in front of the whole army, 
 and to the left of Ilougomont, Avhere, as Sir Henry Clinton, in his despatch 
 says, the manner in which they, with the 71st and 2nd and 3rd !)5th, "dis- 
 charged their duty was witnessed and admired by the whole army" ; and when 
 also, after retiring from s(|\uire they stood, from seven till eight o'clock, just out 
 of fire, forty paces below the position, on its reserve slope, pre])aratory to their 
 advance on the French Imperial Guard — I was much pleased to find that the 
 ground in these positions tallied with my recollections of it fifty-two years 
 before. On my arrival at Paris from lirussels, I wrote at ten o'clock at niglit a 
 very hasty note to a relative in England fiom which I copy the following 
 remarks ; — " I was very glatltogo a second time to Waterloo, two days ago, and
 
 to follow the exact course of the 52nd four-deep line in its advance against, and 
 defeat of, the Imperial Guard, and over the ground on which their killed and 
 Avounded lay : and that on which we were charged by the mixed cavalry ; and 
 that from which the three guns, driven off by Gawler, made such holes in our line 
 with grape. We saw, also, how short the distance was of the first rise to 
 which these French guns had retired. We then found about the exact spot on 
 which I stood to the right of the lower inclosures of La Haye Sainte, when the 
 Duke came up. The guide pointed out the spot on which Shaw, the Life 
 Guardsman was buried, which was not far from that on which the Marquis of 
 Anglesea was wounded, about half-past eight, just in rear of the r)2nd line." 
 
 After crossing the Charleroi road and driving off a square of the Old Guard 
 and some cavalry on the height above, the 52nd advanced well to the left of 
 La Belle Alliance and Primotion, and came upon a French Division, which sur- 
 rendered to them in a hollow road, 100 yards beyond the latter place. I was 
 able to pick ovit the exact spot at which the left centre of the 52nd four-deej) 
 line passed the deep part of tliat road, 300 yards to the left of the point at 
 which it crosses at right angles the Charleroi road, and about fifty yards from 
 where it turns up to the right to Planchenoit. From the top of this bank the 
 two centre companies had fired the last infantry shots fired at Waterloo, at, I 
 believe. Marshal Ney and his staff. From thence they had advanced in pursuit 
 nearly three quarters of a mile farther to the farm of Rossomme, where they 
 bivouacked for the night on the straw used the night before by the Imperial 
 Guard. The two guides, who were with us at Rossomme, were much pleased 
 when I picked out the very ground on which I had slept on the night of the 
 battle. The guides I found to be intelligent, pleased to have what they knew 
 confirmed, and to receive further information on which they thought they could 
 depend. I think visitors should not fail to visit the Hotel de Lion, at the 
 foot of the Belgian mount ; they will find Sergeant-major Cotton's niece very 
 obliging, the fare good, and the Museum worth seeing. 
 
 I have now accomplished to my own satisfaction, and I believe to that of 
 the great mass of the readers of my " History of Lord Seaton's Regiment at 
 Waterloo " and of the.se supplementary pamphlets, the object with which 1 com- 
 menced writing that work — that object being, as I have stated in the title-page, 
 to ])riive that " Lord Seaton and the o2nd liad the lionour of defeating, single- 
 handed, without the assistance of the 1st British Guanls, or of any other troo])s, 
 that portion of the Imperial Guard of France, about 10,000 in lunnber, which 
 advanced to make the last attack on the British position." 
 
 Even the 1st Guards, I think, must recognise the fact that the exploits of 
 the .52Md at Waterloo were ignored, and that tlu'ough a mistaken claim the 
 Guards had the honours and rewards thrust upon them, which in a tenfold 
 degree belonged to the 52nd Never before had the 52nd " surpassed in arms" 
 wdiat they acliieved at Waterloo. 
 
 I may venture to observe that every 52nd officer and man, who was with 
 the regiment from the begiiming to the end of the action, had a fiir greater 
 opportunity of seeing the details of that great battle than any other officer or 
 man in the whole army. 
 
 My readers will see what further object I have in view, if they will turn 
 back to the eighth page and fourteenth and following lines of the first of these
 
 1(1 
 
 lianiphlets, or to luy Volume I, pp. 136, 137. 1 1 elieve it would be of much 
 iionefit to the service, if the officers of every rogimeut in it held the hame rank 
 in eacii grade, wliich the othcers of the Guaids hold, so that tlie latter should 
 not, as a rule, arrive at the higher ranks and commands o' the army at an earlier 
 age than is the case v.itli regard to the officers of all the other regiments. Tlie 
 officers of all the otlier regiments of the army would no doubt be satistie I with 
 such an arrangement, witliout any consequent present increase of pay, suppos- 
 ing that to be a difficulty in the way of carrying out such an arrangement. It 
 vvould, perhaps, be difficult for the officers of the rest of the army to take tlie 
 initiative in making such a proposal, however much they may see the injury in- 
 flicted on the service by the present state of things, but it would be a noble and 
 gracefud thing for the officers of the Guards to do. 
 
 There is another point Avhich 1 think no other person is likely to moot, and 
 whicli I therefore consider it my duty to mention, seeing I have the present 
 favourable opportunity of doing so. I dare say the thought may have occured 
 to others, particularly of late years, wlien so many soldiers, both officers and 
 men, have had their attention seriously drawn to the subject of religion : — How 
 is it that in the British array there is never any public and united acknowledg- 
 memt of God and of His power and grace and mercy, when it is known, some 
 time before an action comnrences, that tlie troops are about to be engaged with 
 the enemy I It is known that many are about to lose their lives, that many 
 others will lie desperately wounded on the field of battle, and I believe that it 
 would then be a most proper and suitable time for seeking the blessing of the 
 Lord of Hosts, the God of battles ; and I think it would be acceptable to the 
 vast proportion of those about to be engaged. My own feeling is, that instead 
 of there being anything dispiriting to a soldier in such a proceeding, it would 
 rather have a contrary tendency. With regard to the difficulty of fixing a time 
 for having three or four minutes' prayer just before the commencement of an 
 action, i would say that in tlie case of a sudden attack it might be necessary to 
 omit it, but that on most occasions there would be no such difficulty. Before 
 the commencement of the battle of Waterloo there was abundant time, after 
 all were ready for action, between eleven and twelve o'clock, for the formation 
 of battalion scpiares throughout the whole army, in order to the offering up i if 
 prayer to Almighty God. A signal gun might be fired, and all or most of the 
 troops might engage in i)rayer for a few minutes at the same time. What a 
 noble sight it would be to see a whole army thus acknowledging their dependence 
 on God ; and if the enemy should suddenly prepare to attack, the battalions 
 would soon be in their proper formations again, and ready to receive them. 
 Again, after the battle, and especially when a victory has been gained, praise 
 might be offered up to Almighty God, if it were only by repeating and perliaps 
 
 singing, 
 
 " Praise God, from whom all blessings flow ; 
 
 Praise Him, all creatures here below ; 
 
 Praise Him above, ye heavenly host, 
 
 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 
 
 Holbrooke, near Derby, February I5th, 1868. 
 
 Wm. Leeke. 
 
 FLETCHER AND SON, PRINTERS, NORWICH.
 
 105 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 ISlf). 
 
 siborne's, Alison's, and siiaw kennkdy's mistakes refuted. 
 
 The Duke's inemoraiuium of 183(! about Waterloo- Miicli confusioii in it - Cotili- 
 dence in the truth of history much shaUcn Sil)orne, AHsoii, the Cliajtlaiii- 
 General,Gleig,niakegrcat mistakes — Hooper's account more correct — Amount 
 of the French Guard from 1804 to ISIH-Mnd, "al)n'dithcatii of red li,i;lit, 
 "&c."— Baron Mullling— -Sliaw Kennedy- What the Lst (Jnanis did really 
 do at the crisis of Waterloo— Killed and wounded of each hattalion of the 
 1st Guards — How came Sir Jolm JJyng to allow the r)2nd to go on afour? - 
 Great injustice perpetrated against light infantry regiments —Letter to " The 
 " Times" in 1855— Brevet rank of tiie Cluards injurious to the service. 
 
 In reading over the numerous accounts, both printed smd in 
 manuscript, botli English and Frencli, of ilio Crisis of Waterloo, 
 that is, of the advance of the two long columns of 10,000 
 men- of the French Imperial Guard, towards the liritish [)(j.sition, 
 supported by a forward movement of a great portion of tlui re- 
 mainder of the French army, and of the total defeat of these 
 columns, followed by the flight of the whole of the French army, 
 one has been almost struck down with a feeling of dcspondeiKsy 
 and of utter despair of being able to unravel the confustul and 
 complicated mass of detail, into which the various wrilccs on the 
 subject have together managed to w(nk the history of that event. 
 Many of these writers have followed in the wake of (Japtain 
 Siborue, who, not having had the good fortune; to be at Wattirloo, 
 and not having witnessed the attack, was sure, as I have before 
 shewn, to fall into the most terrible mistaktis with regard to p(;r- 
 sons and time, in working up all the conllicting information
 
 106 MISTAKES EEFUTED. 
 
 which he received, so many years after the battle, from great 
 numbers of officers who were present at it. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington, whose own memory, with regard to 
 many things which occurred at Waterloo, has been found to be 
 exceedingly defective in after years, wrote as follows to a person 
 whom 'he wished to deter from attempting to write a history of 
 the Battle of Waterloo : — 
 
 "Paris, 8th August, 1815. 
 
 " I have received your letter of the 2nd, regarding the Battle 
 " of Waterloo. The object which you propose to yourself is very 
 " difficult of attainment, and, if really obtained, is not a little 
 " invidious. The history of a battle is not unlike the history of 
 " a ball. Some individuals may recollect all the little events, of 
 " which the great result is the battle lost or won ; but no indi- 
 " vidua] can recollect the order in which, or the exact moment 
 " at which they occurred, which makes all the difference as to 
 " their value and importance." 
 
 To another person he writes, in 1816 : — "The Battle of Water- 
 " loo is undoubtedly one of the most interesting events of modern 
 "times, but the Duke entertains no hopes of ever seeing an 
 " account of all its details, which shall be true." Again in 1816 
 he says : — " The people of England may be entitled to a detailed 
 " and accurate account of the Battle of Waterloo, and I have no 
 "objection to their having it ; but I do object to their being mis- 
 " informed and misled by those novels called * Eelations,' ' Im- 
 " 'partial Accounts,' &c., &c., of that transaction, containing the 
 " stories which curious travellers have picked up from peasants, 
 " private soldiers, individual officers, &c., &c., and have published 
 
 " to the world as the truth I am really disgusted with 
 
 " and ashamed of all that I have seen of the Battle of Waterloo. 
 " The number of writings upon it would lead the world to sup- 
 " pose that the British army had never fought a battle before ; 
 " and there is not one which contains a true representation, or 
 "even an idea, of the transaction; and this is because the writers 
 " have referred as above quoted, instead of to the official sources 
 " and reports." 
 
 Alas! the official reports are very meagre, and the Duke's 
 own despatch is particularly so, and I must say, and every 52nd
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. 107 
 
 officer who fought at Waterloo, from the gallant Colborne (Lord 
 Seaton) to the youngest ensign, always felt that that despatch 
 was most unjust towards that man and that regiment, which 
 very probably had saved himself and his army from an ignomini- 
 ous defeat. The Duke surely knew the great exploit which had 
 been performed by Lord Seaton and the 52nd, when he rode down 
 with Sir Colin Campbell to the rear of the centre of the 52nd line, 
 near the Charleroi road, eight hundred yards from their original 
 position on the right of the 1st Guards, and found them there by 
 themselves preparing to attack the three battalions of the grena- 
 diers of the Old Guard, and when he exclaimed, as he rode up to 
 us, " Well done, Colborne ! Well done ! Don't give them time 
 "to rally." 
 
 In after years the Duke's recollections of what took place at 
 the crisis of Waterloo were most confused, as will be seen from a 
 memorandum written by him in October, 1836, one-and-twenty 
 years after the battle, which I shall take the liberty of extracting 
 from the despatches and memoranda published by his son. I 
 shall also number the several paragraphs, and give my commen- 
 tary upon some of them in brackets : — 
 
 Memorandum upon the plan of the Battle of Waterloo, 
 written in October, 1836. 
 
 1. " I have looked over the plan of the ground of the 
 " Battle of Waterloo, which appears to me to be accurately 
 " drawn." 
 
 2. " It is very difficult for me to judge of the particular posi- 
 " tion of each body of the troops under my command, much less 
 " of the Prussian army, at any particular hour." 
 
 3. " I was informed that the smoke of the fire of cannon was 
 " seen occasionally from our line, behind Hougomont, at a dis- 
 " tance, in front of our left, about an hour before the British 
 " army advanced to the attack of the enemy's line." [The Italics 
 are mine here, and in the succeeding paragraph.] 
 
 4. " The attack was ordered possibly at aliout half-past seven, 
 " when I saw the confusion in their position upon the result of the 
 " last attack of their infantry," and when I rallied and brought 
 " up again into the first line the Brunswick infantry." 
 
 [The hour was much later than " half-past seven," at which
 
 108 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 the Duke of Wellington ordered the whole of his troops, then in 
 position, to move forward, " when he saw the confusion on the 
 " French position upon the repulse of the last attack of their in- 
 " fantry." It must have been a quarter past eight o'clock when the 
 52nd repulsed this last attack of infantry, which was made by the 
 10,000 men of the Imperial Guard. It will here be seen that 
 the Duke himself makes a distinction between the repulse of 
 this last attack of the French Guard by the 52nd, followed by 
 the advance of the 71 st and of the Osnabruck battalion on the 
 right, and the subsequent advance of his cavalry and infantry 
 from the British position. He calls this last advance an "attack," 
 but it will have been seen that after the return of the 3rd bat- 
 talion of the 1st Guards from driving off the Imperial Guard 
 skirmishers, and the defeat of the columns of the Imperial Guard 
 by the 52nd, and the flight of the French army, there were no 
 remaining French infantry to be attacked, except the three or 
 four battalions of the Old Guard, who had retired hastily, without 
 breaking, from the rear of the columns repulsed by the 52nd, and 
 had brought up, 500 yards to their proper right and rear, on the 
 rising ground situated about midway between the lower end of 
 the inclosures of La Haye Sainte and La Belle Alliance, and 
 which is crossed by the Charleroi road ; and these battalions 
 were attacked and driven off by the 52nd ; and it would appear 
 from Sir Colin Campbell's and Sir Hussey Vivian's statements 
 that one, if not two of them, was afterwards followed and fired 
 into by Halkett's Osnabruck battalion, and that one of them was 
 that charged by Major Howard and a small party of the 10th 
 Hussars. Vivian's and Vandeleur's brigades of cavalry found 
 and " attacked " the retiring French on and beyond the French 
 position.] 
 
 5. " The whole of the British and Allied cavalry of our army 
 " was then in the rear of our infantry. I desired that it might 
 " be collected in rear of our centre ; that is, between Hougomont 
 " and La Haye Sainte." 
 
 6. " The infantry was advanced in line. I halted them for a 
 " moment in the bottom, that they might be in order to attack 
 " some battalions of the enemy still on the heights." 
 
 [There is much confusion in the statements made in the
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. 109 
 
 whole of this memorandum, but this 6th paragraph must refer to 
 the 52nd and 71st, who were each in a four-deep line, and the 
 Duke says, in the 9th paragraph, " the infantry was formed into 
 "columns, and moved in pursuit in columns of battalions," which 
 9th paragraph must therefore refer to the infantry which ad- 
 vanced after the repulse of the Imperial Guard by the 52nd. 
 AVhat the Duke means, when he says these columns advanced in 
 pursuit, I do not quite understand ; but they probably moved 
 down the British position some distance, and bivouacked on 
 the lower slope of it, when it was ascertained that the whole 
 French army was in utter d4route far beyond the French 
 position. 
 
 The infantry, which the Duke says he halted for a moment 
 in the bottom, was the 52nd by itself, which Lord Seaton had 
 halted for a moment close to the Charleroi road, {immediately/ be- 
 fore the Duke rode up) in order to dress the line before he 
 attacked the battalions of the Old Guard in his front. The Duke 
 never halted the regiment, but on the contrary, found it just 
 halted, and said, " Well done, Colborne ! Go on, &c." One does 
 not altogether wonder at mistakes on the part of the Duke when 
 speaking of movements which had been made by portions of his 
 army at Waterloo one-and-twenty years before, but they help to 
 shew that his statements with regard to the events, and with 
 regard even to the very great events, of that battle, must be received 
 with caution.] 
 
 7. " The cavalry halted likewise. The whole moved forward 
 " again in very few moments. The enemy did not stand the 
 " attack. Some had fled before we halted. The whole abandoned 
 " their position." 
 
 8. "The cavalry were then ordered to charge, and moved 
 " round the flanks of the battalions of infantry." 
 
 [I believe scarcely any one but myself could possibly discover 
 what movements the Duke had in his mind when he wrote down 
 paragraphs 7 and 8. I think, after some amount of puzzling, 
 I have found the clue to his meaning. No. 8, which should 
 have preceded No. 7 paragraph, must refer to the advance of Sir 
 Hussey Vivian's hussar brigade, from the British position round 
 the flank of the Guards or of the 2nd battalion of the 95th
 
 110 ' MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 Ptifles * the left battalion of our brigade, which, if it had not then 
 left the position, wonld be in line to the right of the 1st Guards. 
 In a note made the day after a conversation I had with Sir Colin 
 Campbell in 1833, I find the following entry:— "Sir Colin 
 " Campbell told me distinctly that he did not go with the order 
 " to Sir Hussey Vivian until twenty minntes after our advance 
 " against the Imperial Guard ; that he went before the three 
 " squares of the Old Guard and the cuirassiers gave way before 
 " us ; that he met Sir Hussey coming down the hill, who said 
 " his brigade was close at hand in his rear." " The cavalry halt- 
 " ing likewise," in paragraph 7, refers to Vivian's disposition of 
 his brigade on the rise of the French position, before they made 
 their charge on the intermingled French cavalry of all arms, 
 somewhere in a line with La Belle Alliance, away to our right.] 
 
 9. " The infantry was formed into columns, and moved in 
 " pursuit in columns of battalions." 
 
 "Wellington." 
 
 [This 9th paragraph I have endeavoured to explain under 
 paragraph 6.] 
 
 What the Duke has said of the inaccuracies and mistakes of 
 others, and of the confusion they would be sure to fall into, in 
 attempting to give a history of the Battle of Waterloo, I have 
 found, to my very great disgust and annoyance, to be perfectly 
 and painfully true; but I think my readers will agree with me, 
 that the Duke, in his memorandum of 1836, which I have just 
 quoted and commented on, has shewn himself not to be a whit 
 behind the writers of the "Relations," "Impartial Accounts," and 
 "Histories" of Waterloo, whom he so properly denounces, in the 
 inaccuracies, mistakes, and confusion of ideas which he himself 
 has fallen into. 
 
 It may be asked, Are the histories of all battles equally in- 
 
 * I am exceedingly sorry not to be able to speak of the position or movements 
 of our gallant friends of the 2nd battalion of the 95th Rities after the 52nd moved 
 down from the British position on the flank of the Imperial Guard. They were, 
 of course, thrown out by our sudden movement, and were not with us when Tve 
 defeated the 10,000 men of the French Guard ; nor when we afterwards drove off 
 the battalions of the grenadiers of the Guard from the height in front of La Belle 
 Alliance. We were alone from the time we left the British position till we halted 
 for the night at Rosomme, at about a quarter past nine.
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. Ill 
 
 correct ? Perhaps never were there anything like so many his- 
 tories of any other battle written, either before or since, as have 
 been written about Waterloo, I must, however, for myself con- 
 fess that my confidence in the accuracy of history in general, 
 which was never very great, has received the very rudest possible 
 shake from all that I have read, both in English, German, Prus- 
 sian, Belgian, French, and Spanish accounts concerning this great 
 battle. 
 
 I feel that I must not leave the subject I am endeavouring to 
 elucidate, without introducing one or two specimens of the man- 
 ner in which persons, professing to describe the leading events of 
 the crisis at Waterloo, have made the most egregious mistakes. 
 The following is one in which much credit is given to General 
 Adam's brigade, consisting of the 52nd, the 71 st, and the 2nd 
 and 3rd battalions of the 95th Eifles, for repulsing the French 
 Imperial Guard. I will mark those portions of the account, 
 which I know to be incorrect, in italics, and afterwards advert to 
 it within brackets. It is called. An exti'actfrom a Utter from an 
 eye, witness : — 
 
 " After various hot and desultory attacks of the day, the last 
 " and most dreadful was made by the Old Imperial Guard, grown 
 " grey in an uninterrupted career of victory. In black, massive, 
 " solid columns, supported and covered by the fire of a numerous 
 " artillery, they advanced in spite of the most desperate resist- 
 " auce. Lord Hill, who had seen the approaching storm, having 
 "formed General Adam's brigade a little 'eiipotence' on the enemy's 
 " left, placed himself at its head, and advanced with dreadful regu- 
 " larity to the assistance of the Guards. General Adam's veterans 
 " of the Peninsula, after one terrible volley within a few yards of 
 " the Imperial Guard, cheered and charged. These gallant 
 " troops (the Imperial Guard) for the first time fled, although 
 " encouraged to the last by the conduct of the brave but unfor- 
 " tunate Ney. Lord Hill followed with his usual rapidity, the 
 " British Guards sitppo^iing him, and at the same instant our great 
 " Duke ordered the general and decisive advance of the whole 
 
 t)^ 
 
 " armv. 
 
 [Lord Hill, and the British Guards, and the 71st, and 2nd and 
 3rd battalions of the 95th, were not engaged in the attack on
 
 112 MISTAKES EEFUTED. 
 
 these "black, massive, solid columns" of the Imperial Guard. 
 It was made by the 52iid alone. The name of Sir John Colborne 
 (Lord Seaton) should be substituted for that of Lord Hill. Gene- 
 ral Adam came up at the exact moment of the charge, and 
 behaved most gallantly in front of the 52nd line, and was 
 severely wounded, but he did not at all interfere with the com- 
 mand of the 52nd, which was left entirely to Colborne. After 
 the Imperial Guard had fled, we saw no more of him until he 
 rode into our bivouac at Rosomme, towards ten o'clock. With 
 regard to the " general advance of the army," I have shewn a few 
 pages back, under the paragraph in the Duke's memoranduiu 
 which I have numbered 6, that it could not have taken place till 
 about twenty minutes after the 52nd had routed the French Im- 
 perial Guard.] 
 
 I have shewn that Siborne, in his account of the crisis of 
 Waterloo, has made most terrible mistakes. Alison, in his his- 
 tory of Europe, has followed him and taken much of his version 
 of the crisis from Siborne. The Chaplain-General, Gleig, whilst 
 following the account of a French writer, has written a work on 
 the Battle of Waterloo, and dedicated it to the Queen, which 
 appears to me to be about as full of errors as it is possible for 
 any work to be. Hooper, in his history of the campaign of 1815, 
 has followed Siborne, and gives the myth of the British Guards 
 having defeated a first column of the Imperial Guard, very much 
 in Siborne's own words. Mr. Hooper has evidently taken much 
 pains to give a correct account of the battle and of the defeat of 
 the French Guard ; but he not only speaks of a first column of 
 them, but even makes the British Guards, as Siborne does, both 
 on his model and in his history, to assist in the defeat of a second 
 column. Mr. Hooper candidly acknowledges in a note appended 
 to his account of the defeat of the Imperial Guard, that " much 
 " confusion exists in the accounts of these cohim7is of attack, their 
 "number and formation," but adds, "the conclusions in the text 
 "are derived from a study of the best accounts on both sides." * 
 
 * I would here ask, If the British Guards sent a column of the Imperial 
 Guards flying down the slope, how was it that the 52nd, who were at that time 
 300 yards in a dh-ect line in front of the British Guards, and at right angles with 
 them ; liow was it tliat the 52nd never saw this column, but tliat they did see 
 the skirmishers of the Imperial Guard run in and form 100 yards in front of the
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. 113 
 
 The following account, from Hooper's work, of the advance of 
 the o2nd, may be taken as nearly correct, if it be recollected 
 that the British Guards were not there, but 300 yards away ; 
 that the 71st never reached the enemy, but were away to the 
 right, near the inclosures of Hougomont ; that the 95th were 
 not in line with the 52nd, and were not seen by them, and that 
 the column said to have been defeated by the 3rd battalion of the 
 1st Guards still formed a portion of the " black, massive, solid 
 columns," attacked by the 52nd, and that even the Imperial 
 Guard skirmishers, driven back from the British position by the 
 advance of the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards, had returned to 
 swell the numbers of the enemy, which we believe were fairly 
 estimated as amounting to about ten thousand men.* It must 
 also always be borne in mind that the arena, on which this con- 
 flict between the 52nd and the 10,000 picked and veteran soldiers 
 of the Imperial Guard took place, was not towards the crest of 
 the British position, as has been related by Siborne and others, 
 but 300 yards below it. Lord Seaton calls it " the plain," Sir 
 Thomas Eeynell, of the 71st, speaks of it " as the bottom of the 
 " declivity." Hooper writes as foUow^s : — 
 
 "At this moment Sir John Colborne, who had steadily ob- 
 
 " black, massive, solid columns of the French Guard," which they (the 52nd) took 
 in flank and overthrew, whilst the whole slope of the British position, above and 
 in front of them, was quite clear of troops of any kind for 300 yards ? 
 
 * Baron IMuffling, who was present with the British army, says, respecting the 
 strength of the columns of the French Guard, defeated by the 52nd, " The 
 " enemy's Guard began to move, and with sixteen battalions, leaving La Haye 
 " Sainte a little to the right, at half-past six o'clock advanced towards the plat- 
 " form." [There is a great mistake here about the time of their advance ; it must 
 have been nearly eight o'clock when they reached the first ascent of the British 
 position.] 
 
 IMuffling states also, " Some of the enemy's batteries cover, with grape-shot, 
 " the retreat of the four battalions of the Guard." [These battalions were the bat- 
 talions of the Old Guard which, on the flight of the rest of the Imperial Guard, 
 drew off hastily towards the French position.] 
 
 Sixteen battalions of bOO men each give an amount of 12,800 men, besides the 
 officers and the artillery, and some cavalry of the Guard ; so that allowing for any 
 casualties or mistakes as to the numbers, there must have been, as it was always 
 stated by tlie 52nd officers, about 10,00 J of the Imperial Guard, when we attacked 
 and defeated them. Ney, in his letter to the Duke of Otranto, speaks of four 
 regiments, that is eight battalions, of the Middle Guard, and foui- battahons of 
 the Old Guard.
 
 114 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 " served their progress, wheeled the 52nd upon its left company,* 
 
 " and brought it nearly parallel to the left flank of the attacking 
 
 " column. What was he going to do ? was the inquiry of his 
 
 " superior officer. ' To make that column feel our fire,' was the 
 
 "prompt answer. The Duke and Lord Hill had seen and ap- 
 
 " proved of the movement, and the next moment the 52nd was 
 
 " over the brow, and its full fire was brought to bear upon the 
 
 " heavy masses before it." [The Duke and Lord Hill only saw 
 
 the 52nd when it had moved some distance down the slope, and 
 
 then sent to desire Sir John Colborne to continue the movement.] 
 
 " The Imperial Guardsmen faced this new and terrible foe, and 
 
 " began to fire from the flank. For a brief space the combat was 
 
 " one of musketry. ' A thick, white smoke enveloped the con- 
 
 " ' tending parties.' Napier's guns double-shotted, the muskets 
 
 " of the British Guards, the rifles of the 95th, and the rapid fire 
 
 " of the 52nd, shook the column from front to rear." [The artillery 
 
 had ceased to fire on the Imperial Guard, the left of the 52nd 
 
 being in their way ; and, I think, the French were then rather 
 
 sheltered by the ground from Napier's guns. The British Guards 
 
 were on the reverse slope of the British position, 800 yards away; 
 
 the 95th were not there ; the 52nd had it all to themselves, with 
 
 the exception, that their truly gallant general of brigade, Adam, 
 
 and his staff, arrived in time to get into the thick of the fight in 
 
 front of the 52ud four-deep line.-|-] 
 
 Hooper thus continues his account : — " Eeduced to an 
 " unsteady crowd, it yielded and fled, when, at Colborne's 
 " command, the 52nd brought down their bayonets to the 
 " charge, cheered and dashed on. This splendid regiment, sup- 
 " ported on the right by the 71 st and on the left by the 95th, 
 
 * Sir John Colborne had at first, for a moment, the idea of changing in some 
 degree the direction of the 52nd line, by 'wheeling back the right companies, 
 (No. 1 and No. 6 in its rear,) on their right a few paces only, so as to throw back 
 the left of the regiment before he brought them over the crest of the position, 
 but it was immediately given up, and they advanced directly to the front, after- 
 wards bringing their right shoulders forward as they moved down the slope, in 
 the manner before described. 
 
 t General Adam's spurs were well won on that glorious occasion. He was made 
 a Knight Commander of the Bath ; and so was Sir Thomas Reynell of the 7lst ; 
 Sir John Colborne had obtained that distinction, and several other honours, at 
 the close of the Peninsular war in 1814.
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. 115 
 
 " did not halt in its career in the track of the fugitives until it had 
 " swept, from right to left, along the front of the British centre. 
 " When the regiment halted, its left flank was in the hollow on 
 " the chaussee to Genappe, in advance of the orchard of La Haye 
 "Sainte, 800 yards from the ground at which the charge 
 " commenced. Colborne had led it from the little hollow above 
 " the north east angle of Hougomont, working through the 
 " furrowed and muddy ground, trampling amidst the dead and 
 " the wounded, a bright beam of red light streaking the sombre 
 " and misty field until the left flank of the brigade [of the 52nd] 
 " nearly touched the edge of the Charleroi road. Before its steady 
 " march the broken Imperialists withdrew without a halt ; but 
 " not without looking back fiercely and grimly upon their pur- 
 " suers, whose bayonets glittered in the yellow glare of the set- 
 " ting sun." 
 
 Hooper continues : — " The battle was won ; it was now the 
 " time to reap in ample measure the fruits of victory. 
 
 " The British leader, watchful of the course of the fight, had 
 " been patient and persevering for nine hours. It was now his 
 " turn to attack. He had been stricken long. It was now for 
 " him to break out from his fastness and strike. The charge of 
 " the 52nd, so magical and so decisive, begun at the right mo- 
 " ment, and carried forward by the right kind of daring, was 
 •' speedily sustained. At the order of the Duke, Vivian's un- 
 " touched light horsemen broke from the cloud of thick smoke, 
 " which hung over the ridge, and wheeling round the right flank 
 " of the British Guards poured down the slope, through the space 
 "left vacant by the light infantry brigade, [52nd, 71st, and 95th,] 
 " and, ably led by its consummate chief, swept onward over the 
 "field." 
 
 Since the foregoing portion of this volume was written, a work 
 has come out, entitled " Notes on the battle of Waterloo, by the 
 " late General Sir James Shaw Kennedy, K.CB." Captain Shaw, 
 at the time of the battle, was a captain in the 43rd Light Infan- 
 try and deputy-assistant quartermaster-general attached to 
 General Baron Alten's division, the 3rd division of the British 
 army. He was an old peninsular officer, and was much 
 distinguished for his gallantry and intelligence. He afterwards 
 
 I 2
 
 116 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 took the name of Kennedy. He appears to have seen nothing of 
 the 52nd during the action, though he speaks most highly of 
 their advance ; nor does he appear to have seen the 3rd battalion 
 of the 1st (ruards drive in the skirmishers of the Imperial Guard. 
 What he saw himself is very interesting. In almost everything 
 which he did not see he acknowledges that he has followed 
 Siborne's account. 
 
 I propose to select some of his observations and to comment 
 freely upon them, for as Captain Siborne was not at Waterloo, 
 and Shaw Kennedy did not leave the British position, they 
 cannot speak of what happened to the 52nd and to the Imperial 
 Guard 300 yards below that position, with the same authority 
 with which I and other 52nd officers can speak, who saw, and 
 participated in, the remarkable encounter which took placebetween 
 the 52nd, then about 950 strong, and their renowned adversaries. 
 I repeat here again, that the Imperial Guard was in two columns 
 of equal length, apparently consisting of, and always mentioned 
 by us as containing, 10,000 men. All that has been said about 
 a first column of the Erench Guard having been separated from 
 the other column, and having been defeated by Maitland's 
 brigade of Guards, is a myth. And I repeat again, the 2nd 
 battalion of the 1st Guards, never advanced from the British 
 position, when the 3rd battalion drove in the Imperial Guard 
 skirmishers and probably some skirmishers and their supports of 
 Donzelot's division, and then, after following them a short 
 distance down the slope, retired in some confusion, and did not 
 come in contact with the enemy again, though Siborne states 
 erroneously that both battalions did so. 
 
 Sir Shaw Kennedy says of Siborne and his history of Water- 
 loo : — "Captain Siborne's history of the campaign has very great 
 "merit, I doubt if, as to any other battle, there ever were so great 
 " a number of facts brought together, or more care, industry, and 
 " fidelity displayed in their collection, so that all other accounts 
 "of the battle, to be correct, must, for a great portion of the details, 
 " borrow from Siborne, as he had access to sources of information 
 " that no historian following him can have." 
 
 As regards the 52nd and the French Imperial Guard, my 
 information, derived from Lord Seatou and other 52nd officers,
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. 117 
 
 and from my own very accurate recollection of every movement 
 of the 52nd, nmst be allowed to come from sources very superior 
 to those from which Siborne or Kennedy derived their information. 
 And even as regards the movements of the 2nd and 3rd battalions 
 of the 1st Guards, I know my information is more accurate than 
 that of either of them. Will the surviving officers of the 2nd 
 battalion of the 1st Guards maintain that their battalion advanced 
 against the Imperial Guard skirmishers or against a first column 
 of the Imperial Guard when Lord Hill, who was on their right, 
 and Sir John Byng, (afterwards Lord Strafford,) who had suc- 
 ceeded to the command of the whole divison of the Guards, both 
 declare that they did not ? And when it is declared, on the 
 part of the 3rd battalion of the Guards, that the 2nd battalion 
 did not advance with them? 
 
 In the "Life" of Sir William Napier, we are told that in a matter 
 of dispute as to whether a howitzer was taken from the French 
 by the 43rd or the 52nd at Sabugal, speaking of his informants 
 of the 43rd, he wrote : — " They know what they have written 
 " and said to me, and I expect them to respond to my appeal. 
 " If they do not, the 43rd regiment must bear the stigma of 
 " having accepted from the Duke of Wellington the credit of an 
 " exploit belonging to another regiment." 
 
 Awkward as it may be, should not the 1st Guards even at 
 this late period, when more than fifty years have passed away 
 since the famous battle was fought, listen to my appeal, and no 
 longer "accept," I do not say, "from the Duke of Wellington," 
 for he never assigned that credit to them, but from Captain 
 Siborne, Alison who has copied Siborne, and other mistaken his- 
 torians of Waterloo, a portion of "the credit of an exploit 
 " belonging [entirely] to another regiment ? " Should they not 
 even lend their assistance towards rectifying the representation 
 of a column of the Imperial Guard routed by them, and the 
 position of the 1st Guards on Siborne's beautiful model, so that 
 they should no longer be represented as firing into a colunm of the 
 Imperial Guard which the 52nd single-handed attacked in flank 
 and completely defeated? Some of the officers of the Guards did 
 much towards rescuing the model from being lost to the public, 
 and no doubt have much in their power, respecting the alteration
 
 118 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 of the position of troops on the model, in any case in which a 
 most glaring injustice has been perpetrated against one gallant 
 regiment, and undeserved honour has been thrust upon another 
 gallant corps. Siborne himself caused a considerable alteration 
 to be made in the positions he had assigned to several of the 
 Prussian corps, on the representation of some of the superior 
 Prussian officers ; thus alteration appears to be possible, with- 
 out injury being done to the model. 
 
 A 52nd officer remarks in a letter, written to me in the year 
 1853, that "in addition to the honour yet due to the regiment, 
 " the crisis and close of the action of Waterloo is a matter of im- 
 "portance, historically, nationally, and professionally." 
 
 The French historians of the battle, who have written of late 
 years, have not been at all unwilling to adopt Siborne's (to the 
 52nd vexatious) account of the successive defeat of the columns 
 of the Imperial Guard; because in a national point of view, 
 there is not so much discredit in the rout, first of all of six 
 battalions of the Imperial Guard by Maitland's brigade of the 
 1st British Guards, supported by the 33rd and 69th regiments, 
 and then ten or twelve minutes afterwards in the defeat of the 
 remaining battalions of the Imperial Guard by the flank attack 
 of the 52nd assisted by Maitland's Guards in front, as in the defeat 
 of the whole of the Imperial Guard of about 1 0,000 men, as I have 
 before described it, by the 52nd alone at the distance of 300 yards 
 from any other British or Allied regiments. The defeat, by the 
 advance of a single British battalion, of 10,000 or even 8,000 of the 
 finest troops in Europe is an honour to the regiment, and an honour 
 to Lord Seaton who commanded it, and an honour to the British 
 army and nation, which must not be tamely relinquished whilst 
 there is any British blood and old 52nd Waterloo spirit remain- 
 ing, combined with the possession of sufficient amount of material 
 and detail to justify one in advancing almost single-handed to 
 meet the many shafts, which I must expect to be levelled against 
 me and my attempt to rescue one of the most daring exploits I 
 believe ever performed in war, from the mass of confusion and 
 error with which succeeding historians have, unwittingly I pre- 
 sume, almost ingulfed it. 
 
 When I was going into action at Waterloo I was very anxious
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 119 
 
 to know how I should feel and conduct myself under fire ; I 
 perhaps am not less anxious now as to the point of how I may feel, 
 when I and my work are exposed to the very formidable artillery 
 of the Press levelled against all my inflated and presumptuous 
 pretensions, both military and religious, as they may perhaps 
 consider them. Did my readers ever stop to see what would 
 be the fate of a little dog who goes yelping and barking 
 at a great big mastiff ? I have often witnessed such a scene, 
 and have invariably observed, that the little cur, directly the 
 large dog comes up to him throws himself upon his back in 
 token of submission, and the large one never hurts him, but 
 stands over him for a second or two and perhaps licks him 
 and wags his tail. Well, my readers, I am the little dog ; 
 the mastiff is the Press; and though I don't mean to knock 
 under, unless I am convinced I am wrong in any point, yet I do 
 humbly deprecate any angry feeling or criticism on the part of 
 the Press. 
 
 Baron Muffling, who was attached to the British head-quarters 
 by the Prussian Commander-in-Chief,,and was present at the battle 
 of Waterloo, says in his history of the campaign of 1815, when 
 speaking of the advance of the Imperial Guard towards the close 
 of the action, that the columns consisted of sixteen battalions. 
 
 The following statement of the number of men of which the 
 Imperial Guard consisted in each year from its first formation, 
 is taken from a French history of that celebrated corps. 
 
 In 1804 
 
 9,798 men. 
 
 „ 1805 
 
 12,187 „ 
 
 „ 1806 
 
 16,656 „ 
 
 „ 1807 
 
 15,361 „ 
 
 „ 1808 
 
 15,392 „ 
 
 ,, 1809 
 
 31,203 „ 
 
 „ 1810 
 
 32,130 „ 
 
 ,, 1811 
 
 31,960 „ 
 
 „ 1812 
 
 56,169 „ 
 
 „ 1813 
 
 92,472 „ 
 
 ,. 1814 
 
 . 112,482 „ 
 
 „ 1815 
 
 25,870 „ 
 
 The following table, taken from the same work, gives the 
 composition and amount of the Imperial Guard in 1815.
 
 120 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 Head Quartebs 
 
 • • • • 
 
 • 
 
 20 
 
 Staff 
 
 • • • • 
 
 INFANTRY. 
 
 • 
 
 200 
 
 Grenadiers . 
 
 3 Eegiments 
 
 3,000 
 
 
 Chasseurs 
 
 3 Eegiments 
 
 3,000 
 
 
 Tirailleurs . 
 
 6 Regiments 
 
 7,200 
 
 
 Yoltigeurs 
 
 6 Regiments 
 
 7,200 
 
 
 
 
 20,400 
 
 20,400 
 
 
 CAYAT.RT. 
 
 
 
 Grenadiers . 
 
 1 Regiment 
 
 800 
 
 
 Chasseurs 
 
 1 Regiment 
 
 800 
 
 
 Dragoons . 
 
 1 Regiment 
 
 800 
 
 
 Gendarmerie . 
 
 1 Company 
 
 100 
 
 
 Light Dragoons, 
 
 Lancers . 1 Regiment 
 
 800 
 
 
 
 
 3,300 
 
 3,300 
 
 
 ARTILLERY. 
 
 
 
 Old Guard, 6 Foot Batteries 
 
 ") 
 
 
 Old Guard, 4 Horse Batteries 
 
 • I 
 
 1,500 
 
 1 Company of labourers, 1 squadron of the Military | 
 
 Train . 
 
 . 
 
 J 
 
 
 Engineers and S 
 
 appers . 
 
 • 
 
 250 
 
 Waggon Train, 1 
 
 L squadron .... 
 
 Total . . 
 
 200 
 
 
 25,870 
 
 Mr. George Hooper, in his history of the campaign of 18T5, a 
 pleasing and well written book in which the author follows 
 Siborne's mistakes as to the 1st Guards, makes out that altogether 
 there were twelve battalions of the Imperial Guard brought 
 forward by Napoleon to make his last attack on the Britisli 
 risht centre, and that two of them were formed in reserve mid- 
 way between La Belle Alliance and the southern end of Hougo- 
 mont. This last statement of the two battalions being left in 
 reserve I doubt, because the two columns of equal length having 
 not an interval of 30 paces between them, both gave way before 
 the 52nd, but whilst the leading column of the two fled in utter 
 confusion, and a portion of the rear column also, leaving some of 
 the guns of the Old Guard with the horses harnessed to them, yet it 
 is said that some of the rear battalions of the rear column fell 
 back hastily but in comparative order to the French position ; 
 their immediate rear, at the time they gave way before the 52nd, 
 being the spot indicated by Hooper as that at which Napoleon
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. 121 
 
 left two battalions of his Guard in reserve — I am inclined to 
 think therefore that these two battalions of the fine Old Guard 
 advanced with, and retired from, the rear column of the two. 
 
 Hooper observes in a note : — " Much confusion exists in the 
 " accounts of these columns of attack, their number and formation. 
 " The conclusions in the text are derived from a study of the best 
 " accounts on both sides." I wish Hooper and Siborne and 
 Alison had been with thie 52nd at Waterloo, and they would 
 have understood plainly that no column of the Imperial Guard 
 could possibly have advanced upon, or have been defeated by, 
 any portion of the British Guards without their seeing it ; and 
 that all three of them, Siborne at their head, have been robbing 
 the 52nd of a portion of the honour belonging to them, by advan- 
 cing this " column in buckram," or this mythical column, up 
 the British position to the attack of the Guards. 
 
 Colonel Gawler, as I have before observed, from being on the 
 extreme right of the 52nd line, and from seeing the dead bodies 
 of Imperial Guardsmen on the summit of the British position 
 the next morning, not reflecting that they might be those of their 
 skirmishers only, fell into the mistake of supposing that the head of 
 the column of the Imperial Guard had reached that point, when 
 in reality it was 300 yards or thereabouts from the position. 
 But Colonel Gawler speaks of the 52nd when it cleared the 
 ascent being "under a furious fire [this however was further 
 " down the position than he supposed] from the long Jlanh of the 
 " cohcmns," and his book, " The Crisis of Waterloo," was written in 
 1833 on purpose to maintain " that the attack of the Imperial 
 " Guard was repulsed, and the French army tlirown into conse- 
 " quent irretrievable confusion, by a charge of the 52nd covered 
 " by the 71st regiment without the direct co-operation of any 
 " other portion of the Allied army." Colonel Gawler reckoned the 
 columns attacked and defeated by the 52nd at 10,000 men, and 
 he had as good a view of them as any other 52nd man had. 
 
 Siborne says in his first preface, dated March, 1844 : — " One 
 " of my Waterloo correspondents has humorously remarked, that, 
 " •' if ever truth lies at the bottom of a well, she does so immedi- 
 " ' ately after a great battle, and it takes an amazingly long time 
 " ' before she can be lugged out.' "
 
 122 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 I have good reason to believe that the following is tlie truth 
 with regard both to the advance of the 3rd battalion of the 
 Guards, and to the defeat of the two columns of the Imperial 
 Guard by the 52nd : — That the mass of skirmishers of the 
 Imperial Guard and their supports were joined by the skirmishers 
 and their supports from the French troops_^massed to the left of 
 La Haye Sainte, and that the whole of the intermingled skir- 
 mishers and their supports were still further supported by the 
 advance of the battalions themselves of Donzelot's division, which, 
 with many other divisions of the French army, is spoken of, 
 as moving forward at this time in support of the advancing 
 columns of the Imperial Guard. These skirmishers extended along 
 the front of both the battalions of the Guards who are stated by 
 Kennedy to have been lying down in square, though I do not 
 feel sure of this as regards the right or 2nd battalion ; the skir- 
 mishers extended also along the front of Sir Colin Halkett's 
 brigade, which was on the British left of Maitland's brigade of 
 Guards, for both these brigades maintain that they were opposed 
 to troops wearing the bear skin caps of the Imperial Guard. 
 And the 2nd battalion of the Guards declared that they were 
 attacked by a " column " of twelve or fourteen hundred men, 
 and that these troops opened fire "upon them at a distance of 
 fifty or sixty paces ; that the Duke coming along from their left, 
 observed how this 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards was suffering 
 from the heavy fire of the mass of troops in their front, and 
 desired the commanding officer to form line on the front face of 
 the square, and " drive those fellows off," which they did in very 
 gallant style, and followed them for some eighty or a hundred 
 yards down the slope ; then there was an alarm of cavalry 
 and the 3rd battalion of the Guards, some of them thinking they 
 were to form square, got into confusion and retired hastily over 
 the crest of the position and beyond it on the reverse slope, to 
 where the 10th Hussars and all Vivian's brigade were, on their 
 way from the extreme left of the position to the interval made 
 by the advance of the 52nd from the position. The 2nd battalion 
 of the 1 st Guards took no part in this charge, but was stationary. 
 The only conclusion I can come to is that the mass of troops 
 seen and defeated by the 3rd battalion of the Guards, were, as I
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. 123 
 
 have before observed, the skirmishers of the Imperial Guard and 
 of Donzelot's division and their supports ; and that when the 
 Guards passed over the top of the position they saw also, away 
 to their left, some of Donzelot's battalions. Any other troops 
 than skirmishers, whom they saw, must have been other than 
 troops of the Imperial Guard. 
 
 The skirmishers of the Imperial Guard came down the slope 
 running towards the leading battalion of the French Guard, and 
 formed about 100 yards or rather more in front of it, just as the 
 52nd was completing its right-shoulder-forward movement and 
 becoming parallel to the left flank of the Imperial columns. 
 There was no smoke, there was a gleam of sunshine on the 
 skirmishers, as they were forming, and I could see them 
 most completely, and 200 yards or more beyond them up 
 the British position. Of any other troops driven in by the 
 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards we could see nothing, nor of 
 the Guards themselves, therefore they could not have come far 
 down the position in pursuit. Donzelot's skirmishers and their 
 supports, when they gave way, must have run towards their 
 own division in the direction of La Haye Sainte. This formation of 
 the retiring Imperial Guard skirmishers was afterwards spoken of 
 in mistake, by some writers, as an attempt at deployment on the 
 part of their leading battalion. 
 
 The 52ud fired into and charged the Imperial Guard, as I 
 have before related, and it gave way and fled in utter confusion, 
 with the exception, it was said, of two or three of the rear 
 battalions of the rear column, who gained the French position 
 hastily and in comparative order. 
 
 The 52nd never met with or saw any British troops from tlie 
 time they left their position till they halted for the night at 
 Eosomme, excepting the English and German cavalry — before- 
 mentioned, as having ridden at speed round the flanks and 
 through the centre of the 52nd, when retiring before the cuiras- 
 siers — and with the exception also of those whom I suppose to 
 have been engaged in poor Howard's charge. 
 
 If there was a second column of the Imperial Guard defeated, 
 as the historians try to make out, 'partly hy the 5'2nd, and 'partly 
 hy Maitland's brigade of Guards, how came it that Maitland
 
 1245 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 allowed the 52nd to go on hy themselves to, and over, and a mile 
 heyond, the French 'position, in pursuit of the enemy, tvhen there 
 were tens of thousands of French infantry, and thousands of 
 cavalry still in the field ? 
 
 Sir John Byng, who said " we saw the 52nd advancing glori- 
 " ously, as they always do," and who thought it necessary to say 
 to Sir John Colborne, " I could not advance when you did, for 
 " our ammunition was exhausted," would he, if he had been near 
 the 52nd, and been engaged with them in defeating the same 
 column, would he, ammunition or no ammunition, have allowed 
 them to be exposed, single-handed, to all the dangers to which, 
 by their isolation from the rest of the army, they were really 
 exposed ? Must he not, if he had been so near them as is repre- 
 sented, have brought down Maitland's brigade of Guards to their 
 support, instead of keeping them in rear of the crest of the 
 British position until the Duke, long after, made a sort of forward 
 movement from the position of some portion of his troops, which 
 was called an advance of his whole line ? 
 
 I wish not, nor do I mean, to say one word in disparagement 
 of any individual or of any regiment, but as I feel certain the 
 52nd came in contact just below the British position with all the 
 remainder of the Imperial Guard, after the half of it had been 
 sent to Planchenoit to hold the Prussians at bay, that is, that 
 they engaged and defeated two heavy columns of equal length, 
 apparently containing 10,000 men, and as this was always the 
 opinion of the 52nd officers who were present, and as the 
 greater portion of these officers have passed away, and I am almost 
 the only person left who could take this matter in hand, I think 
 it right not to shrink from doing so, though I may conjecture 
 that much unpleasantness and annoyance to myself may possibly 
 be the result of my undertaking it. 
 
 Another idea occurs to me, and I think it will approve itself 
 to the minds of all military men. "A column" of twelve or 
 fourteen hundred men or more of the Imperial Guard bent on 
 penetrating the British line, and especially if they were backed 
 up by other advancing troops, would never have contented them- 
 selves with reaching the crest of the position, and then halting 
 that their front company might fire on a British square, lying
 
 MISTAKES KEFUTED. 125 
 
 down at sixty or eighty yards distance from them on the reverse 
 slope of the position. It is exactly what a swarm of daring 
 French skirmishers would do. especially if the Imperial Guard 
 skirmishers and Donzelot's were intermixed and vying witli 
 each other. It must be remembered that the square of the 3rd 
 battalion of the 1st Guards, was about 150 yards to the left of 
 the 2nd battalion, and probably at nearly double that distance 
 from the nearest square of Halkett's brigade on its left, so that 
 the skirmishers, intended to occupy ground 300 yards or more 
 in length, would as a matter of course close more and more to 
 the points from which they might fire into the front and flank 
 faces of the square of the 3rd battalion of the Guards. It is most 
 probable also that their supports had joined them. Hence, I 
 suggest, there were enough of skirmishers congregated in a space 
 perhaps not exceeding fifty yards in length, to give them the 
 appearance through the smoke of being a formed body of men. 
 
 Although Kennedy, following in Siborne's wake, makes the 
 vexatious mistakes about the defeat of a first column of four 
 battalions of the Imperial Guard by Maitland's brigade of Guards, 
 and about the head of a second column of the Imperial Guard 
 being fired into by Maitland's brigade at the same time that 
 Colborne charged it in flank, (all which is a regular myth,) yet 
 he gives the 52nd as much honour and credit for their share in 
 the rout of the 2nd column of four battalions, as would have 
 quite satisfied, them, for what they really did do, for the defeat of 
 the whole of the ten or twelve battalions of the Freneh Guard, with- 
 out any other British regiment being within 300 yards of them. 
 Kennedy says, " The French column, feeling the severity of the 
 " fire of the 52nd, wheeled up its left sections and commenced 
 " firing, but the fire from the 52nd threw it into great disorder, 
 " and the combined fire and formidable advance in line of the 
 " 52nd caused the entire rout and dispersion of the four [twelve] 
 " battalions of the French Guard which were opposed to it." 
 
 Again, Sir Shaw Kennedy says, " The march of the 52nd 
 " has thus been traced continuously, without referring to other 
 " incidents of the battle during its advance ; for its progress was 
 " the leading and distinctive feature of the action during that 
 " period ; and it will thus be more easy, by reference to the pro-
 
 126 MISTAKES KEFUTED. 
 
 
 CTress of the 52nd, to understand what was done by the rest of 
 " the Anglo-Allied army, and the Prussian army, during this most 
 " highly interesting part of the action." 
 
 Again, he says, "It is perhaps impossible to point out in history 
 " any other instance in which so small a force as that with which 
 " Colborne acted, had so powerful an influence on the result of a 
 " great battle, in which the numbers engaged on each side were so 
 "large." Now there is great truth in this last observation, if 
 applied to the real exploit of the 52nd at the crisis and close of 
 the Battle of Waterloo, but for which exploit. Sir John Colborne 
 thought, the columns of the Imperial Guard would be likely to 
 penetrate the British line of battle. 
 
 In consequence of the sad mistake of La Haye Sainte being 
 allov/ed to fall into the hands of the enemy,* Donzelot was 
 enabled to establish himself in force, within 100 yards of the 
 centre of the British and Allied army, and exceedingly to harass 
 Alten's division, which occupied the British position for a quarter 
 of a mile or more, between the centre of the position and the left 
 of Maitland's brigade of Guards. Had Napoleon sent his 
 Imperial Guard to attack the British centre by La Haye Sainte 
 it has been thought by some that he would have succeeded in 
 defeating the troops at that point, harassed and reduced in 
 numbers as they were. 
 
 When the Imperial Guard was ordered to advance towards 
 the right centre of the British line, opposite to the spot where 
 the 3rd battalion of the 1st Guards was lying down in square, 
 orders were at the same time given that all the French infantry 
 should advance in support of their attack. Sir Shaw Kennedy, 
 who be it remembered was with Alten's division during the 
 whole of the engagement, says, "the attack of Donzelot's division 
 " from La Haye Sainte preceded that by the Imperial Guard, as 
 " that attack had never ceased from the taking of that farm, and 
 " increased in intensity as the grand general attack progressed. 
 
 * This took place only at six o'clock in the evening, according to Kennedy, 
 at about the same time that the last of the great cavalry attacks was repulsed. 
 Major Baring, who commanded the 2nd light battalion of the King's German 
 Legion at La Haye Sainte, and the reinforcements subsequently sent there, slept 
 on the ground with Kennedy, on the night of the action, close to the Wellington 
 Tree.
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. 127 
 
 " . . . . The attack was preceded along the whole line by a 
 " furious cannonade ; and the whole front of attack was covered 
 " by a swarm of skirmishers." 
 
 Farther on in his work Kennedy adds : — " The effect of the 
 "defeat of the ten battalions of the Imperial Guard, and of 
 " Colborne's diagonal march, was electrical on Donzelot's division, 
 "which was in fact compromised by the advance of Adam's 
 " brigade.* Its attack, which had up to that time been violently 
 " severe on Alten's division, was at once slackened and very soon 
 " suspended, and a retreat commenced." 
 
 The loss of the 2nd battalion of the 1st Guards at Waterloo 
 was as follows : — 
 
 Killed. Wounded. Total. 
 
 Officers. Serjts. Rank & File. Officers. Serjts. Rank & File. 
 
 1—50 5 7 80 143 
 
 Of the 3rd battalion as follows : — 
 3 2 79 6 7 238 335 
 
 If we deduct 143, the total loss in killed and wounded of the 
 2nd battalion, from 335, the total loss of the 3rd battalion, we 
 find that the loss of the 3rd battalion exceeded that of the 2nd 
 battalion by 192. This excess of loss on the part of the 3rd 
 battalion, perhaps helps to prove the truth of what I have 
 advanced, that the 2nd battalion was not engaged to the extent 
 that the 3rd battalion was, and that it was stationary when the 
 latter, by the Duke's order, formed line on the front face of its 
 square, and drove off the mass of skirmishers assembled on the 
 crest of the position before it. 
 
 I have already, in a quotation from a work printed and cir- 
 culated by a very intelligent Peninsular and Waterloo 52nd 
 officer, mentioned that the 1st Guards were made grenadiers, and 
 that the ensigns of all the three regiments of Guards were given 
 precedence over all the ensigns of the line by lieutenant's rank, 
 for their good conduct at Waterloo. All the regiments of the 
 Guards did good service at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, as I have 
 observed before, but the singling those regiments out for these 
 
 * Kennedy is wrong, the 52nd were alone ; the 71st were far away, not far 
 from the inclosures of Hougomont and advancing towards the French position ; 
 the other part of the brigade, six companies of the 2nd battalion of the Rifles and 
 two of the 3rd battalion, were not with the 52ud during then- advance.
 
 128 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 particular rewards was unfair towards the rest of the army. And 
 it was particularly awkward that the 1st Guards should be made 
 grenadiers for defeating the grenadiers of the French Imperial 
 Guard, when all they really did, as regards the Imperial Guard, was 
 to drive in their skirmishers. There was no harm in their being 
 made a regiment of grenadiers, but it was an awkward mistake 
 that the thing should have been mismanaged as it was. 
 
 The giving to the ensigns of the three regiments of Guards 
 the brevet rank of lieutenant, was afterwards followed up by 
 depriving several of the regiments of the Line of little distinctions, 
 some of which were an advantage to them, others merely prized 
 by them as distinctions, probably conferred upon them for services 
 rendered, or supposed to have been rendered to their country, 
 and the being deprived of which occasioned perhaps in some 
 cases only a little annoyance at the time, but in others very 
 considerable hardships. Still if it was an advantage to the 
 service, that there should be no invidious distinctions, then of 
 course the change might be necessary ; but why should it not 
 be equally necessary that there should be no invidious distinction 
 in favour of the three regiments of Foot Guards ? 
 
 It was not till the year 1854, that the Fusileer regiments, the 
 5th, 7th, 21st, 23rd, and 87th, and the 60th Rifles and the Eifle 
 Brigade had the rank of ensign given to their junior officers 
 instead of that of 2nd lieutenant. In the case of the 7th 
 Fusileers all their subalterns were, till that time, full lieutenants. 
 All this appears to have been fairly done, and without infliction 
 of hardship on individual officers; but still the only reason for it 
 appears to have arisen from a desire to make all the infantry 
 regiments, except the guards, alike, as to the appellation of their 
 junior subalterns. 
 
 In the light infantry regiments, it appears, from the following 
 document addressed to the lamented Sir John Moore, that an 
 additional lieutenant was appointed for each company as far 
 back as 1803 : — 
 
 "War Office, 18th October, 1803. 
 
 " Sir, — In pursuance of a communication from His Royal 
 " Highness the Commander-in-Chief, I have the honourto acquaint 
 " you, that as the 52nd Regiment of Foot under your command,
 
 MISTAKES EEFUTED. 129 
 
 "being a light infantry corps, requires a greater proportion of 
 " officers and non-commissioned officers than a battalion of the 
 " Line, His Majesty has been pleased to order that an augmenta- 
 *'tion of one lieutenant, one Serjeant, and one corporal per 
 " company, shall be made to the establishment thereof from the 
 " 25th instant inclusive. 
 
 " I have the honour, &c., 
 
 " (Signed) C. Bragg. 
 " Major-General Moore, 52nd Eegiment." 
 
 I cannot trace the whole detail of circumstances which led 
 to the injustice and hardship perpetuated on some of the officers 
 of the 52nd, and of the other light infantry regiments, in con- 
 nexion with some of the reductions which took place after 
 Waterloo and the return of the army of occupation from France. 
 There were ten captains with the 52nd at Waterloo (besides 
 Lord March and Yorke who were on the staff) thirty-five lieute- 
 nants including the adjutant, and eight ensigns. On the return 
 of the 52nd, then only consisting of one battalion, from France, 
 the establishment of subalterns was reduced to ten lieutenants and 
 ten ensigns, and on the 25th of August, 1822, it was reduced to 
 eight lieutenants and eight ensigns. On the first of these reduc- 
 tions taking place, the junior lieutenants beyond the ten remained 
 on the list of lieutenants, receiving only ensign's pay, until by 
 death- vacancies the two supernumerary lieutenants were absorbed, 
 and in the mean time the ensigns could only become lieutenants 
 by purchase. The grievance created by this paltry and shabby 
 arrangement was very great in the 52nd, and ought to be a lesson 
 to all admirers of Mr. Joseph Hume's views of economy, to consider 
 well the amount of annoyance and disgust which they may occasion 
 to many deserving officers, before they proceed, for the sake of saving 
 the veriest trifle of expense to the country, to recommend and 
 carry out reductions which interfere, in so great a degree as those 
 I speak of did, with the feelings and prospects of individuals. 
 The hardship inflicted upon one of the officers of the 52nd, the 
 late Lieutenant Yonge, was that he was put on ensign's pay, 
 after having received the extra pay of a seven years' lieutenant. 
 In mentioning this in a letter to the Secretary of War some 
 
 K
 
 130 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 years ago, he also spoke of the injustice it was, " that while the 
 " ensigns of the Guards were made lieutenants on the pretence of 
 " the 1st Guards having repulsed the Imperial Guard, the lieu- 
 " tenants of the regiment that actually did that work were made 
 " ensigns." 
 
 In a subsequent letter to the same Secretary of War, he 
 wrote thus : — " But I was led to speak more particularly of the 
 " 43rd, 52nd, and Eifle Brigade, because being the originally-formed 
 " light corps, and constituting as they did the light division, to 
 " them especially fell the outpost duties of the Peninsular army, 
 " and the practice of the system, of which they had acquired the 
 " theory from Sir John Moore. How they acquitted themselves 
 " is sufficiently known. Their losses were proportionately severe. 
 " The merit of their services had been continually acknowledged, 
 " and to my own regiment, the 52nd, the Commander-in-Chief 
 " had repeatedly accorded a quite unusual amount of promotion, 
 " professedly on account of the high character it sustained. It 
 " was a strange turn of affairs that, as soon as the war was over, 
 " they should have thus been placed in a more disadvantageous 
 " position than any of the ordinary regiments of the Line, and 
 " this on the miserable pretext that they had no flank companies, 
 " whereas it should rather have been held, that theirs were all 
 " flank companies. The detached services required of them had 
 "been tenfold more numerous than could ever be required of 
 
 " the flank companies of any Line regiment No one who 
 
 " is made aware of it can, I am sure, refuse to acknowledge that 
 " the light regiments have not been fairly treated, and it appears 
 " still more glaring, when we look at the Fusileers, differing in 
 ■' no respect but in name only from the other Line regiments — 
 " yet in these, in the place of the ten lieutenants and ten ensigns 
 "of the light corps, the subalterns of the 7th are all 1st lieute- 
 ' nants and the establishment of the 21st and 23rd is twelve 
 " 1st lieutenants and eight 2nd lieutenants." Mr. Yonge, who 
 received ensign's pay as a supernumerary lieutenant, after having 
 received extra pay as a seven years' lieutenant, was a very 
 intelligent and good officer. His services are enumerated as 
 follows, in the 52nd record : — "Lieutenant William Crawley 
 *' Yoiige entered the 52nd in 1810, served with the regiment at
 
 1 MISTAKES REFUTED. 131 
 
 "the Nivelle, the Nive, Orthes, Toulouse, and the intervening 
 " affairs. He also served in the campaign and Battle of Waterloo. 
 " He has received the Peninsular war medal with four 
 " clasps." 
 
 These supernumerary lieutenancies, which were to be absorbed 
 by death vacancies, interfered very much with the promotion 
 of the ensigns. The only hardship besides my own which I 
 recollect was that of Ension Bentham, who stood next to me on 
 the list and remained an ensign twelve years. My own case was 
 a very trying one. My money was lodged all along for the pur- 
 chase of my lieutenancy, and yet, very much owing to this 
 treatment of the light regiments, I was more than eight years 
 and a half an ensign. And when in November, 1823, I pur- 
 chased my lieutenancy, the delay that had been occasioned by 
 the falling in of the supernumerary lieutenancy, which had not 
 been filled up when Brevet-Major Sheddendied in 1821, was the 
 means of my tardy promotion coming just too late to enable me 
 to avoid the very great mortification of having an ensign four 
 years my junior, by the purchase of a half-pay lieutenancy, and by 
 a subsequent exchange, pass into the regiment again as my 
 senior in the list of lieutenants. 
 
 I perhaps should just mention that all the ensigns of the 
 Guards who were at Waterloo, and who remained long enough 
 in their regiments, were lieutenants and brevet-captains before I 
 obtained my lieutenancy. 
 
 Just as I had written so far, one of my family interrupted 
 me by coming to have an accustomed reading of the scripture 
 with me and prayer, and in the reading these words occurred, 
 appropriate to the subject I am writing on: — "Lift not up 
 " your horn on high, speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion 
 " cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the 
 " south. But God is the judge, he putteth down one and setteth 
 " up another :" Psalm Ixxv, 5 — 7. I am sure that aU these 
 events have been directed by unerring wisdom and in infinite 
 mercy and loving-kindness ; and yet I think these mistakes, 
 and injustice, and hardships should be recorded. 
 
 I have always felt that the favour and distinctions accorded 
 to the three regiments of Foot Guards in the way of a step in 
 
 K 2
 
 132 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 advance of the officers of the other infantry regiments, in the 
 several ranks of ensign, lieutenant, and captain, so that all the 
 ensigns are brevet-lieutenants, the lieutenants captains, and the 
 captains lieutenant-colonels, is not only very annoying and 
 galling to the other officers of the army, but also exceedingly 
 injurious to the service. And so much did I feel this, that, in 
 December, 1855, when the Guards were making some stir 
 about a disadvantage which they considered their senior officers 
 were labouring imder, and expressed a desire to be placed on 
 an " equality with their more fortunate brethren of the Line," I 
 went out of my way as a clergyman and took some trouble in 
 drawing up the following letter and explanatory columns, which 
 were published by "The Times," and I think led our friends of the 
 Guards to see that, with regard to the further agitation of the 
 point they aimed at, " the better part of valour was discretion." 
 
 THE GUAEDS. 
 
 " To the Editor of ' The Times: 
 
 " Sir, — The accompanying columns are taken from the 'Army 
 " ' Lists' for April, 1824, and January, ] 841, which are the oldest 
 " 'Army Lists' I have at hand. If you think well to publish them 
 "in 'The Times' they will help to point out what the officers of 
 " the Guards will obtain if they really are placed on an ' equality 
 " ' with their more fortunate brethren of the line.' 
 
 "I have taken the names and the dates of the commissions 
 " of the ensigns of the Guards mentioned in the ' Army List' of 
 " 1824, who subsequently obtained the rank of lieutenant-colonel, 
 " and have shown from the 'Army List' of 1841 when they arrived 
 " at that rank. I have also taken from the same ' Army Lists' the 
 " names of the officers of the first thirty regiments of the Line 
 " and of the light infantry and rifle regiments, which occur in 
 " both these lists, and have shown the rank which they respec- 
 " tively held in 1824 and in 1841. The average time, from their 
 "first entrance into the army, in which the 19 officers of the 
 " Guards have obtained their lieutenant-colonelcies, is as nearly as 
 " possible fifteen years. Of the 76 officers of the Line, men- 
 "tioned in the two ' Army Lists,' only 16 had arrived at the rank
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. 133 
 
 " of lieutenant-colonel in 1841, and of these not less than 12 were 
 " on an average 20 years and six months after they got their 
 " companies in obtaining their lieutenant-colonelcies. If we 
 " make the moderate calculation that, on an average, they were 
 " 10 years in getting their companies, then it appears that all 
 " the officers of these Line regiments who reached the rank of 
 " lieutenant-colonel were, on an average, 30 years in doing so — 
 " just twice the average time that it took the officers of the 
 " Guards to attain the same rank. But if your readers will look 
 " at the columns, they will perceive greater hardships than 
 " these. For instance. Ensigns MuUer and Eichardson, of the 
 " 1st Eoyals, were still only subalterns in 1841, after 21 years' 
 " service. 
 
 " These peculiar privileges of the officers of the Guards have 
 " always been obnoxious to the other officers of the army, and in 
 " the opinion of many are not only unjust, but also injurious to 
 " the best interests of the service. If the brevet rank in each grade 
 " is a desirable thing, let it be extended to the whole army ; if 
 " not, then let it be abolished as quickly as possible in the regi- 
 " ments of the Guards. But the present system pushes forward 
 " many men in the Guards to the rank of major-general who 
 " know but little of the handling of a battalion, or of its internal 
 " economy and requirements. If it is to be retained and 
 " extended, then some plan must be devised by which no 
 " man shaU pass on to the rank of major-general without 
 "having an adequate acquaintance with the whole regimental 
 " system. 
 
 " The Guards did their duty as well as other regiments at 
 " Quatre Bras and Waterloo, but they have never done anything 
 " to entitle them to peculiar privileges, and, unfortunately for 
 " one of these truly gallant regiments, it was by mistake rewarded 
 " for that which was actually performed at Waterloo by regiments 
 " of the Line. I write advisedly, and allude to the defeat of the 
 " heav}' columns of the French Imperial Guard by the 52nd 
 " Light Infantry, supported by the 71st Light Infantry, and 
 "by the 2nd and part of the 3rd battalions of the 95th 
 " Rifles. 
 
 "QU.EQUE IPSE MISERRIMA VIDI."
 
 184 
 
 MISTAKES KEFUTED. 
 
 Grenadier Guards. 
 
 W. Greenwood ... 
 J. W. An^erstein 
 Sir J. M. Burgoyne 
 G. W. Eyres ... 
 W. Fludyer 
 P. J. Perceval ... 
 J. R. Craufnrd ... 
 Fredei-ick Clinton 
 E. W. Astell ... 
 
 Coldstream Guards. 
 
 W. H. Cornwall* 
 
 B. Broadhead* 
 
 C. M. Hay 
 
 J. D. Rawdon ... 
 Hon. T. Asliburnham 
 W. J. Codrington 
 Ely D. Wigram... 
 
 Fusileer Guards. 
 
 Hon. T. C. Westenra 
 P. J. Yorke 
 
 G.Dillon 
 
 Hon. C. B. Phipps 
 J. G. Robinson 
 
 Date 
 
 of first 
 
 Commission. 
 
 April 18, 
 
 April 9, 
 
 Oct. 1, 
 
 Dec. 3, 
 
 Oct. 25, 
 
 May 23, 
 
 Aug. 29, 
 
 Nov. 19, 
 
 Nov. 20, 
 
 1816 
 1818 
 1818 
 1818 
 1821 
 1822 
 1822 
 1823 
 1823 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 1, 1821 
 
 30, 1823 
 
 30, 1823 
 
 4, 1823 
 
 29, 1823 
 
 May 
 May 
 Jan. 
 Aug. 
 Jan. 
 
 4, 
 
 5, 
 
 20, 
 
 17, 
 
 23, 
 
 1814 
 1814 
 
 1820 
 1820 
 1817 
 
 When made 
 Captain and 
 Lt. -Colonel. 
 
 May 
 
 Sep. 
 
 June 
 
 July 
 
 Dec. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 Feb. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 July 
 
 9, 
 
 12, 
 
 6, 
 
 1, 
 
 2, 
 
 10, 
 
 18, 
 
 12, 
 
 V, 
 
 1834 
 1834 
 1835 
 1836 
 1836 
 1837 
 1837 
 1833 
 1838 
 
 June 22, 1832 
 
 Nov. 15, 1833 
 
 Mar. 27, 1835 
 
 July 8, 1836 
 
 Jan. 13, 1837 
 
 Aug. 
 Aug. 
 May 
 
 May 
 Auer. 
 
 9, 
 
 7, 
 20, 
 26, 
 12, 
 
 18.33 
 1835 
 1836 
 1837 
 1837 
 
 How many years 
 in attaining rank 
 of Lieut.-Colonel. 
 
 18 yrs. 
 
 161 yrs. 
 
 161 yr3. 
 
 17i yrs. 
 
 15 yrs. 5 weeks 
 
 14 yrs. 8 months 
 
 14| yrs. 
 
 14 yrs. 2 months 
 
 14 yrs. 41 ditto 
 
 10 vrs. 8 months 
 10 "yrs. 10 ditto 
 
 12 yrs. 2 ditto 
 
 13 yi-s. 3 ditto 
 13 yrs. 8 ditto 
 
 19 yrs. 
 21 yrs. 
 16 yrs. 
 16 yrs. 
 
 20 yrs. 
 
 3 months 
 
 3 ditto 
 
 4 ditto 
 9 ditto 
 6 ditto 
 
 * Appear not to have got their first commissions in the Coldstream. 
 
 Regiments of the 
 Line. 
 
 1st Foot- 
 Edward Muller 
 J. Richardson... 
 
 2nd Foot— 
 
 O. Robinson ... 
 G. D. J. Raitt 
 
 3rd Foot— 
 R. N. Everard 
 G. L. Christie... 
 
 4th Foot— 
 T. Williams ... 
 
 5th Foot— 
 C. Wood 
 
 6th Foot— 
 J. T. Griffiths 
 
 7th Fusileers*- 
 
 F. Farquharson 
 8th Foot- 
 Thomas G. Ball 
 
 9th Foot— 
 
 G. L. Davis ... 
 10th Foot— 
 
 Saville Broom 
 T. L. L. Galloway 
 11th Foot— 
 B. V. Derinzy 
 W. Chambre ... 
 
 Rank in Army List 
 of 1824. 
 
 Ensign, 1820... 
 Ensign, 1820... 
 
 Ensign, 1820... 
 Ensign, 1823... 
 
 Ensign, 1817... 
 Ensign, 1822... 
 
 Ensign, 1822... 
 
 Ensign, 1820... 
 
 Lieutenant, 1821 
 
 Captain, 1819 
 
 Captain, 1814 
 
 Lieutenant, 1811 
 
 Lieutenant, 1820 
 Lieutenant, 1822 
 
 Rank in Army List of 1841. 
 
 * No 
 
 Captain, 1814 
 Captain, 1822 
 subalterns in Army List of 
 
 Still Sen. Lieutenant only, 1841 
 2nd Lieutenant, 1841 
 
 6th Capt. and Brev.-Major, 1841 
 Senior Captain and Brevet- 
 Major, 1841 
 Senior Captain, 1841 
 2nd Captain, 1841 
 
 2nd Captain, 1841 
 
 3rd Captain, 1841 
 
 3rd Captain, 1841 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1832 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1835 
 
 Junior Major, 1841 
 
 2nd Major, 1841 
 Senior Captain, 1841 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1833 
 
 Sen. Capt. and Brev.-Major, 1841 
 
 1824 remaining in 1841.
 
 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 135 
 
 Regiments of the 
 Line. 
 
 Rank in Army List 
 of 1824. 
 
 Rank in Army List of 1841. 
 
 12th Foot- 
 
 
 
 Joseph Jones 
 
 Captain, 1823 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1835 
 
 S. F. Glover 
 
 Lieutenant, 1813 
 
 2nd Captain, 1841 
 
 Julius Stjrke 
 
 Lieutenant, 1823 
 
 5th Captain, 1841 
 
 13th Light Infantry— 
 
 
 
 T.C. Squire 
 
 Captain, 1821 
 
 2nd Major, 1841 
 
 James Kershawe 
 
 Ensign, 1817 
 
 Senior Captain and Brevet- 
 Major, 1841 
 
 A. Wilkinson 
 
 Ensign, 1822... 
 
 8th Captain, 1841 
 
 14th Foot— 
 
 
 
 M. Everard 
 
 Captain, 1807 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1831 
 
 James Watson 
 
 Lieutenant, 1822 ... 
 
 Major, 1841 
 
 15th Foot— 
 
 
 
 T. A. Drought 
 
 Captain, 1822 
 
 Only Senior Major, 1841 
 
 16th Foot— 
 
 
 
 H. Clements 
 
 Captain, 1813 
 
 Junior Major, 1841 
 
 R. Browne 
 
 Lieutenant, 1803 ... 
 
 Senior Captain and Brevet- 
 Major, 1841 
 2nd Capt. and Brev.-Major, 1841 
 
 J. DalzeU 
 
 Lieutenant, 1812 
 
 H. M'Manus 
 
 Lieutenant, 1820 
 
 3rd Captain, 1841 
 
 J. Brand 
 
 Lieutenant, 1820 ... 
 
 4th Captain, 1841 
 
 C. F. Thompson 
 
 Ensign, 1820 
 
 Junior Captain, 1841 
 
 17th Foot— 
 
 
 
 W. Croker 
 
 Captain, 1806 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel. 1886 
 
 J. T. Nagel 
 
 Lieutenant, 1820 ... 
 
 8th Captain, 1841 
 
 18th Foot— 
 
 
 
 E. N. Tomlinson 
 
 Ensign, 1821 
 
 2nd Major, 1841 
 
 19th Foot- 
 
 
 
 Thomas Hamilton ... 
 
 Lieutenant, 1814 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1838 
 
 20th Foot— 
 
 
 
 Frederick Croad 
 
 Lieutenant, 1818 
 
 2nd Major, 1841 
 
 21st Fusileers — 
 
 
 
 J. P. Beete 
 
 Ensign, 1820 
 
 1st Major, 1841 
 
 22nd Foot - 
 
 
 
 John Poole 
 
 Lieutenant, 1819 
 
 1st Major, 1841 
 
 23rd Fusileers — 
 
 
 
 W. Ross (Waterloo) ... 
 
 Captain, 1813 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1837 
 
 R. P.Holmes (ditto)... 
 
 Captain, 1823 
 
 Major, 1841 
 
 Thomas Matheson ... 
 
 1st Lieutenant, 1823 
 
 2nd Major, 1841 
 
 J. Enoch (Waterloo)... 
 
 1st Lieutenant, 1811 
 
 2nd Captain, 1841 
 
 24th Foot— 
 
 
 
 C. Hughes 
 
 Captain, 1804 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1835 
 
 H. D. Townshend ... 
 
 Captain, 1821 
 
 Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel, 1839 
 
 Robert Marsh 
 
 Lieutenant, 1817 ... 
 
 3rd Captain, 1841 
 
 25th Foot— 
 
 
 
 J. J. Hollis 
 
 Captain, 1809 
 
 Senior Captain and Brevet- 
 
 26th Foot— 
 
 
 Major, 1841 
 
 W. Johnstone 
 
 Captain, 1820 
 
 Senior Captain and Brevet- 
 Major, 1841 
 
 H. F. Strange 
 
 Ensign, 1815 
 
 3rd Captain, 1841 
 
 James Piggott 
 
 Ensign, 1823 
 
 6th Captain, 1841 
 
 27th Foot— 
 
 
 
 D. M'Pherson 
 
 Lieutenant, 1806 ... 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1840 
 
 M. C. Johnstone 
 
 Ensign, 1823 
 
 Senior Major, 1841 
 
 28th Foot- 
 
 
 
 Thomas Wheeler 
 
 Lieutenant, 1817 
 
 Senior Captain, 1841 
 
 J. A. Messiter 
 
 Ensign, 1823 
 
 Senior Major, 1841 
 
 29th Foot— 
 
 
 
 R. P. Douglas 
 
 Lieutenant, 1824 
 
 Senior Captain, 1841 
 
 30th Foot- 
 
 
 
 John Tongue 
 
 Captain, 1811 
 
 Junior Major, 1841 
 
 J. Poyntz 
 
 Lieutenant, 1815 ... 
 
 3rd Captain, 1841
 
 136 MISTAKES REFUTED. 
 
 Remaining Light Infantry and Rifle Regiments. 
 
 Regiments of the 
 Line. 
 
 43rd Light Infantry — 
 J. B. B. Estcourt ... 
 Samuel Tryon 
 
 51st Light Infantry — 
 W. H. Elliott (Water- 
 loo) 
 
 Edward St. Maur ... 
 O. Ainsworth (Water- 
 loo) 
 
 F. Main waring (Water- 
 loo) 
 
 52nd Light Infantry — 
 William Blois 
 
 60th Rifles- 
 Ambrose Spong 
 
 68th Light Infantry — 
 Harry Smyth... 
 
 71st Light Infantry — 
 J. Impett (Waterloo) 
 A. R. L'Estrange 
 (Waterloo) 
 
 85th Light Infantry— 
 
 F. Maunsell 
 
 Henry J. French 
 William T. Hunt ... 
 Manley Power 
 
 Herbert E. Taylor ... 
 90th Light Infantry— 
 
 T. W. Eyles 
 
 John Wilson 
 
 Rifle Brigade — 
 
 J. C. Hope (Waterloo) 
 
 Richard Irton 
 
 Hon. J. St. V. Sau- 
 marez 
 
 Rank in Army List 
 of 1824. 
 
 Ensign, 1820... 
 Ensign, 1823... 
 
 Captain, 1820 
 Captain, 1823 
 
 Lieutenant, 1810 
 
 Lieutenant, 1813 
 
 Ensign, 1815 
 
 Lieutenant, 1814 
 
 Ensign, 1823 
 
 Lieutenant, 1820 
 
 Lieutenant, 1821 
 
 Captain, 1819 
 Captain, 1823 
 Lieutenant, 1814 
 Lieutenant, 1823 
 
 Ensign, 1824 
 
 Ensign, 1820 
 
 Lieutenant, 1824 
 
 Captain, 1820 
 
 2nd Lieutenant, 1815 
 
 2nd Lieutenant, 1824 
 
 Rank in Army List of 1841. 
 
 Brevet Lieut.-Colonel, 1839 
 3rd Captain, 1841 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1838 
 
 Still senior Major only, 1841 
 
 Senior Captain, 1841 
 
 2nd Major, 1841 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1839 
 
 2nd Capt. andBrev.-Major, 1841 
 
 Senior Captain, 1841 
 
 Senior Captain, 1841 
 
 2nd Captain, 1841 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1836 
 Senior Major, 1841 
 Junior Major, 1841 
 Senior Captain and Brevet- 
 Major, 1841 
 2nd Captain, 1841 
 
 Senior Major, 1841 
 2nd Captain, 1841 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, 1837 
 2nd Major, 1841 
 
 4th Major, 1841 
 
 It would probably be better for the officers of the Guards 
 themselves, and certainly more pleasant to the officers of the rest of 
 the army, and for the benefit of the service generally, if these dis- 
 tinctions were abolished, perhaps not by taking awaytherank which 
 the officers of the Guards hold, but by giving exactly the same rank 
 to the officers of all the other corps in the army. There would 
 not be any very tremendous difficulty in finding out appropriate 
 titles if the present titles for the several grades were considered 
 unsuitable ; and the army rank of those who became brevet- 
 lieutenant-colonels, might be so adjusted by antedate (and why 
 should this not be done ?) as no longer to allow the regimental 
 captains of the Guards to be of higher standing in the army than
 
 MIST.VILES REFUTED. 137 
 
 captains of other regiments, whose regimental commissions might 
 be of an older date. I suspect, if it should be once conceded 
 that it was injurious to the service that the officers of the Guards 
 should as a rule arrive at the higher ranks of the army at a 
 much earlier acje than that at which the officers of the rest of the 
 army should arrive at the same ranks — then some of the various 
 difficulties, which may now appear to loom in the distance, would 
 soon be got over. 
 
 One obvious disadvantage of the present system, of the officers 
 of the Guards having invariably a step of army rank in advance 
 of their regimental rank, is this that, both in garrison and camp, 
 and on active service, it may be often happening that consider- 
 ably younger men will take the command of their seniors and of 
 men of many years' more experience than themselves. The 
 system may probably foster a spirit of pride and conceit in the 
 guardsmen, and a feeling of disgust and annoyance in the minds 
 of the other officers of the army, who suffer from the invidious 
 distinctions heaped upon the Guards. I should suppose it must 
 frequently happen that officers of the latter service, really feel 
 pained, when called upon to command those older and more 
 experienced than themselves. 
 
 It may be desirable that there should be a body of men, 
 accustomed to the duties required from the troops usually 
 stationed in London or at Windsor, but their position should be 
 rendered as little invidious in the eyes of the rest of the army as 
 possible. They should be let off taking their turn of duty in the 
 East and West Indies, and in China, and in other distant places ; 
 no one would begrudge them those little distinctions : — gallant 
 fellows as they are, and as they have ever shewn themselves, 
 they would always wish to take their turn of active service.
 
 138 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 1815. 
 MARCH TO PARIS. 
 
 Nivelles — Letters to England — News of battle— Lists of killed and wounded— 
 Mother ill — Alarm of sisters — March to Binche— Coal pit — Enter France— 
 Le Gateau — Loss of baggage— Claim for remuneration — Other claims rejected 
 — Fate of the baggage — Officers on baggage-guard — Marshal Moncey's 
 Chateau — Distant view of Paris — Montmartre— 52nd alone at Argenteuil — 
 Pontoon bridge — Convention — Bridge and graveyard of Neuilly — Enter 
 Paris — Encamp in the Champs Elysees. 
 
 In 1859 I drew up, for the regimental record, a very short 
 account of the march of the 52 nd from Waterloo to Paris. I 
 will, in introducing it into this work, endeavour to mention 
 several details, which may possibly add to its interest. 
 
 I believe it was between twelve and one o'clock on the 19th, 
 when we left our ground near Maison du Eoi, and marched to 
 Nivelles, which, by the road we took, was about nine miles off. 
 We had now fairly started on our triumphant march to the 
 French capital, and all were in the highest state of delight at our 
 glorious victory, in the gaining which the 52nd had been fortu- 
 nate enough to take such a leading part, and in our glorious 
 prospect of immediately entering France, and eventually Paris 
 itself We bivouacked about a mile beyond Nivelles, on the left 
 of the chauss(5e, and about a hundred yards from a beautiful little 
 stream, at which we washed our hands and faces, not having 
 been able even to wash our hands since the morning of the 16th. 
 
 Hearing that there was an opportunity of sending letters to 
 England, I got some paper from the colour-serjeant of the com-
 
 MAKCH TO PARIS. 139 
 
 pany, and wrote two short notes, one to my mother and sisters, 
 the other to a kind friend much interested in the o2nd. My 
 letters, which I am sorry to say, have been long ago lost, though 
 short, were to the point, and very astounding no doubt. I well 
 recollect telling them that we had gained a glorious victory, and 
 that the 52nd had " defeated the Imperial Guard of France, led 
 " on by the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in person," using the 
 same words which I had heard Sir John Colborne use in the 
 morning. 
 
 My letter did not reach my mother for several days. She 
 was very ill, and confined to her bed with rheumatic fever. The 
 news, that a great battle had been fought, and that there had 
 been great numbers of killed and wounded on both sides, 
 reached every corner of the land some days before the long list 
 of killed and wounded made its appearance. These were days of 
 great suspense and anxiety to my young sisters, who had kept 
 all mention of the battle from their poor mother. They have 
 often given me the account of their proceedings. At last they 
 got the newspaper containing the fearful list. They tremblingly 
 spread it out on the sideboard, that all three might read it to- 
 gether. As every one knows, there was first of all a long list of 
 those who had been killed. They looked down it to the 52nd, 
 
 and there they read Ensign William , and they had time 
 
 for a moment of agony, before they found that the surname was 
 not mine, but that of my poor brother-ensign. The longer list of 
 the wounded was then examined with almost equal anxiety, and 
 when my name did not appear there, the eldest exclaimed, 
 " Thank God, he's safe ; " and they went to my mother, and after 
 telling her quietly that I was safe, they told her of the " bloody 
 " battle and glorious victory of Waterloo," and then they all cried 
 together, and felt very tliankful for God's great kindness to us. 
 My brother, who arrived from the Cape a few days after, as a 
 young commander, first heard the news of the victory at Spit- 
 head, or on landing at Portsmouth, and first heard that I was in 
 the army, by being told that I had been in the action and was 
 safe. I recollect he wrote me a letter on the occasion, in which 
 he said he always thought that I had " a great desire to smell 
 " powder," which I suppose somewhat flattered my vanity.
 
 140 MAECH TO PARIS. 
 
 On tlie 20tli of June we readied the neighbourhood of Binche, 
 and I think it was not far from our halting-place that I went 
 down a coal-pit of considerable depth. I had to put off all my 
 own clothes and to dress myself in the very thick flannel shirt 
 and trowsers which the colliers use ; and thus clothed, and with 
 one of their old felt caps on my head, into which a short iron 
 spike was run, with a socket at the end for the lighted candle, I 
 followed my guide down the ladder fixed to the side of the pit, 
 to the depth of, I think they told me, 1100 feet. All the way 
 down there were wooden platforms, at about every forty yards, 
 completely filling up the whole area of the pit, with the excep- 
 tion of the hole which we had to pass through, in our descent 
 from each platform, so that there was some comfort in thinking 
 that if I got giddy I could not fall to the bottom of the pit. 
 After descending some not very considerable distance, the water 
 began to trickle down the sides of the pit, and my candle was 
 frequently put out before we reached the bottom. My guide, 
 whenever this happened, was very attentive in relighting my 
 candle or starting me with a fresh one. When I got amongst 
 the colliers at the bottom of the pit, they were very curious to 
 know who I was, and made many inquiries about me of my guide, 
 some suggesting that I was a deserter, endeavouring to conceal 
 myself from those in pursuit of me. One advantage of my expe- 
 dition was that I had to wash from head to foot before I could 
 get into my own clothes again. The officers of the company 
 were rather surprised at my little adventure, for they had not 
 missed me. 
 
 On the 21st of June, between Binche and Bavay, we passed 
 the frontier, and entered France from Belgium. We bivouacked 
 in a very pleasant orchard, within half-a-mile of Bavay, and an 
 order was given that no one was to enter the town. However, 
 I was soon despatched with a havre-sac, as caterer for the com- 
 pany's officers' mess ; they all insisting upon it, when I pleaded 
 the order, that it was not intended to apply to the officers. On 
 getting into Bavay, I tied up my horse and got into a cabaret, the 
 lower rooms of which were filled with English and German 
 soldiers, all intent on getting anything they could meet with in 
 the shape of eatables. I considered myself very fortunate, when
 
 MARCH TO PARIS. 14;1 
 
 I managed to purchase some small loaves, and two or three very 
 small cheeses, about six inches by four, and one-and-a-half thick ; 
 and also a dozen of eggs, which I boiled for a good quarter of an 
 hour. Having put all into my havre- sac, I started off for the 
 bivouac ; but whom should I fall in with, as I rode out of the 
 town, but Sir John Colborne, who, however, as he rode by my 
 side, to my great relief did not mention the order, either because 
 it was not intended for the officers, or from a very kind feeling 
 which all persons in authority find it desirable to exercise at 
 times, and which leads them to appear not to notice things, 
 which if noticed at all, would render it necessary that they should 
 speak or act in a way which would be more productive of harm 
 than good. I rode rather fast over part of the way from the 
 auberge to the bivouac, and the consequence was that all my 
 eggs, which I thought were hard-boiled, were smashed, and made 
 a regular mess of the cheese and the bread in the havre-sac, to 
 the no small annoyance of my mess friends and myself Know- 
 ing nothing about egg-boiling, I had neglected to make the water 
 boil before I put the eggs into it. 
 
 On the 22nd we marched from Bavay to Le Cateau Cambresis. 
 I think it was on this march, at one of our halts, that 1 found 
 one of our men washing a nasty-looking wound on his breast- 
 bone, at least half-a-foot square ; on my inquiring how he had 
 got it, he told me that it was occasioned by a musket ball strik- 
 ing his breastplate, as we advanced on the Imperial Guard ; and 
 that he had determined not to mention it, as he did not wish to 
 be left behind in hospital. But for the breastplate, he would 
 have been a dead man. 
 
 We remained at Le Cateau till the morning of the 25th, and 
 the regiment had a very agreeable bivouac in a large, square 
 grass-field, which, as I recollect it, had on two or three sides the 
 ruins of old walls, partly covered with grass. It was close to the 
 town. 
 
 Louis XVIII arrived at Le Cateau on the 24th, and was 
 received by the Duke of Wellington. 
 
 The Duke halted his advanced troops at this place for several 
 purposes. Some of the French fortresses near the frontier were 
 to be taken possession of Cambrai was taken on the 24th, and
 
 142 MARCH TO PARIS. 
 
 its citadel on tlie 25th, and Louis the XVIII entered the town on 
 the 20th. Peronne was taken on the 26th. On all these occa- 
 sions there was but trifling loss. 
 
 The Duke wrote as follows, two days afterwards, to Lord 
 Bathurst : — " The armies under Marshal Blucher and myself 
 " have continued their operations since I last wrote to your 
 " Lordship. The necessity which I was under of halting at Le 
 " Gateau, to allow the pontoons and certain stores to reach me, 
 " and to take Cambrai and Peronne, had placed the Marshal one 
 " march before me ; but I conceive there is no danger in this 
 " separation between the two armies." 
 
 He wrote to Lord Liverpool on the same day: — "You will see 
 " in my letter to Lord Bathurst the account of the state of things 
 " here, which I hope we shall bring to the conclusion we wish for, 
 "without firing another shot. I hope to be in Paris on the 1st 
 " of July." 
 
 On the same day the Duke, in writing to the Duke of York, 
 the Commander-in-Chief, made the following recommendation 
 relative to the Companionship of the Bath, and to the gold medal, 
 and to a medal for Waterloo : — 
 
 " I confess that I do not concur in the limitation of the order 
 " to field-officers. Many captains in the army conducted them- 
 " selves in a very meritorious manner, and deserve it ; and I 
 " never could see the reason for excluding them, either from the 
 " order or from the medal. I would also like to suggest to your 
 " Royal Highness the expediency of giving to the non-commis- 
 " sioned officers and soldiers, engaged in the Battle of Waterloo, 
 " a medal. I am convinced it would have the best effect in the 
 " army ; and, if that battle should settle our concerns, they will 
 " well deserve it." 
 
 The medal for Waterloo was given to every officer and man 
 in the field, and was distributed to each some little time before 
 the first anniversary of the battle. 
 
 The non-commissioned officers and men were allowed two 
 years' time towards any claim for increase of pension ; and the 
 Waterloo subalterns were allowed two years for Waterloo towards 
 getting the additional shilling per day which they before received 
 after seven years' service.
 
 MARCH TO PARIS. 143 
 
 The 1st Guards were made " Grenadier Guards," for defeat- 
 ing the grenadiers of the Imperial Guard of France; and the 
 ensigns of all the three regiments of the Guards, were for the 
 future to be ensigns and lieutenants ; the ensigns thus having 
 precedence given them over all the ensigns of the British army. 
 
 The following are extracts from a general order, dated JSTivelles, 
 20th June, 1815 :— 
 
 " The Field-Marshal takes this opportunity of returning to 
 " the army his thanks for their conduct in the glorious action 
 "fought on the 18th instant. With a view to preserve order, 
 " and to provide for attendance at the hospitals at Bnixelles, the 
 " commander of the forces desires that one officer, one non-com- 
 " missioned officer, and three private men, for 100 men sent to 
 "the hospital, wounded in the late actions of the 16th and 18th 
 " instant, may be sent from the several regiments to Bruxelles to- 
 " morrow, and place themselves under the orders of the com- 
 " mandant there. 
 
 "No regiment need send officers and men for more than 100 
 " men, and in case any regiment has not sent more than fifty 
 " men to the hospital, such regiment will send only one non- 
 " commissioned officer and two men to take charge of them." 
 
 During the two clear days that we remained at Le Cateau, 
 our hope of seeing our baggage come up was greatly diminished. 
 I rode out several times on the Brussels road, and at times 
 thought I had caught sight of it in the distance ; but it always 
 turned out to be the baggage of some other corps. The baggage 
 of half the officers of the 52nd was entirely lost, and it was 
 reported that it was plundered on the 18th, on the road to 
 Brussels, by some foreign cavalry, who were running away from 
 the action. Some time after Waterloo, but I cannot recollect the 
 exact time, I determined on sending in a claim for remunera- 
 tion for the loss of my baggage ; and this I did, notwithstanding 
 that all the officers told me it was perfectly useless for me to pre- 
 fer such a claim, as remuneration was never allowed unless the 
 baggage had been taken by the enemy. I thought it was a gross 
 piece of injustice that officers should be fighting the battles of 
 their country and risking their lives in its service, and incur 
 such a serious loss without any fault of their own, and that the
 
 144 MARCH TO PARIS. 
 
 country should not bear them harmless from it. My claim was 
 accordingly made out ; and Colonel Charles Eowan certified that 
 it was correctly and justly stated, and forwarded it to the proper 
 quarter. It included the value of my baggage-horse and saddle, 
 a bearskin bed, and a canteen, and all the clothes, regimentals, 
 &c., &c., which I had not on my back and in a small valise 
 fastened behind the saddle of my riding-horse. The things were 
 all new since the 1st of May, and my outfit had cost me about 
 £200. However, I could only recollect the articles and their 
 prices, which had to be specified, sufficiently to enable me to 
 make out a claim for £77 14s. Od. I believe the claim was 
 referred by the Duke of Wellington to the proper board in Eng- 
 land. After some time the commanding officer received infor- 
 mation that the claim was allowed to a certain extent, and that 
 the sum of, I think it was, £63 was to be paid to me. Then, of 
 course, all the other officers of the regiment who had lost their 
 baggage sent in claims for remuneration ; but, notwithstanding 
 my success, all their claims were rejected. I, of course, was 
 rather proud of having displayed more generalship than any of 
 them. However, the matter did not quite end there, for Colonel 
 Eowan wrote a letter of expostulation on the subject, in which 
 he stated that some of the officers claiming were in the same 
 company with me, and their horses in the same string of horses 
 with mine ; that I had received remuneration for my loss, and 
 that it would, of course, be considered a very great hardship if 
 they should not be remunerated also. I was rather joked and 
 twitted about the probability of my having to refund the money 
 which I had received ; but, as I thought it well to have some 
 answer to this threatened and very probable disaster, I used to 
 say, " Oh ! that's impossible, for I have spent it all." In due tima 
 a reply came to Colonel Eowan's letter, and then I had a regular 
 crow over all my friends. The reply was, that " if Ensign Leeke 
 "had received remuneration for the baggage which he lost at 
 " Waterloo, all the Duke of Wellington could say was, that he 
 " knew nothing at all about it." And thus it all ended. We 
 heard at the time that one other officer in the army had obtained 
 remuneration for loss of baocrage. 
 
 We afterwards learnt the true fate of the baggage of some of
 
 MARCH TO PARIS. 145 
 
 the officers. Two of the batmen, of which the man having charge 
 of the string of horses belonging to McNair's company was one, 
 reached Brussels, and had the rascality to pass themselves off as 
 wounded English officers, having managed to rig themselves out 
 with the officers' clothes which had been entrusted to them ; 
 they managed to obtain billets from the proper authorities. This 
 was not likely to last long, when there were upwards of 170 
 wounded officers and men of their own regiment in Brussels, 
 besides the officers and men who had been sent there to look after 
 the wounded ; so in the course of three or four weeks they were 
 denounced to the officers, and I recollect our man was sent up to 
 the regiment, and tried by a general regimental court-martial, 
 and was sentenced to be transported for seven years. 
 
 Amongst the clothes which this man had not got rid of — and 
 he had sold the greater part of the things — there were articles of 
 clothing discovered belonging to all the other officers of Mc 
 Nair's company except myself After the court-marshal I asked 
 him how this happened to be the case, and he told me that in 
 the great confusion which there was amongst the baggage, it was 
 almost impossible for one man to take care of a string of four or 
 five horses, and that much baggage was lost in consequence ; that 
 my horse was the last, and that he saw a Belgian peasant cut the 
 rope which fastened him to the horse before him ; that he could 
 not leave the leading horse, and that whilst he was loading his 
 firelock to have a shot at the Belgian, some increased confusion 
 took place, and the man succeeded in getting off with my horse 
 and baggage. Very possibly this account was correct. I forget 
 what became of the other delinquent, but he was not tried at the 
 same time with our batman. 
 
 I believe it was not unfrequently the case in the Peninsula, 
 that officers on baggage-guard at the time of a general action, ran 
 the risk of getting into a scrape, and left their guard and went 
 lip to the front, to their regiments, to see the fun, as it was termed. 
 I think I understood that our subaltern on the baggage-guard 
 did this at "Waterloo ; and probably, had he not done so, much of 
 the confusion and loss I have described would have been avoided. 
 But I dare say there was not an officer, who sustained the loss of 
 his baggage on that occasion, who would not rather have done so 
 
 L
 
 14'6 MAECH TO PARIS. 
 
 than that this poor fellow should have missed the pleasure of 
 being present with his regiment at Waterloo. And yet the prac- 
 tice cannot be defended, and I do not mean to defend it, but 
 merely to describe the feeling on the subject. 
 
 It is related in the 52nd regimental record that the late Duke 
 of Eichmond, The Prince of Orange, and Lord Fitzroy Somerset 
 (afterwards Lord Eaglan) entered the breach at Ciudad Eodrigo 
 with the 52nd storming party, and that on the following morn- 
 ing, when taking their places at breakfast in Lord Wellington's 
 tent, " they received a gentle reproof for adventuring into a posi- 
 " tion which, being officers of the staff, they were not called upon 
 " to undertake by the customs of the service." 
 
 I believe it was at Le Gateau that we had notice that there 
 was a sale of the effects of some of the German officers who had 
 been killed at Waterloo. I went to it, as some of us were very 
 much in want of a change of linen ; somehow or other I only 
 succeeded in securing two shirts, the best of which fell to the lot 
 of one of my brother- officers. It was either when we were at Le 
 Gateau or a day or two afterwards, that kSir John Golborne, on 
 finding that my boots were in a most dilapidated state, very 
 kindly made me a present of a new pair of his own. 
 
 On the 25th of June the 52nd marched from Le Gateau to 
 the neighbourhood of Joncour; on the 26th they were near 
 Beauvoir and Lanchy ; on the 27th close to Eoye ; on the 28th 
 at Petit Grevecoeur, on the road to St. Just ; on the 29th near 
 Clermont ; on the 80th near La Ghapelle. On the 30th I think 
 it was that Gaptain McNair's company (No. 9) was sent, in con- 
 sequence of an application from Marshal Mongey, Duke of Gorne- 
 gliano, to occupy for the night and protect his chateau, about a mile 
 from the bivouac of the regiment. The grounds of this chateau, 
 and the chateau itself, were in excellent taste, and we considered 
 ourselves very fortunate in being quartered there for the night. 
 The servants provided us with a very nice dinner, but the greatest 
 luxury was to be able for the first time since the 16th to undress 
 ourselves and sleep in a bed. They told me that the room 
 selected for me was Mademoiselle Mon9ey's. 
 
 I must not neglect to mention, that one of the officers of the 
 company having met with an accident and injured his shin, some
 
 MARCH TO PARIS. 147 
 
 time before we arrived at "Waterloo, tlic wound bccaino so trouble- 
 some that his trowsers stuck to it, and got into such a state on 
 the outside that, when the battle was over, he sent back his ser- 
 vant to search for another pair for hiiu. auvl he succeeded in 
 bringing him a pair drawn from the body of a dead Frenchman. 
 It happened that the Frenchman was what is termed " Ibitch- 
 " built," and the officer was taller and thinner than his predecessor 
 in the property ; and so, after bearing for twelve days with the 
 inconvenience arising from the unfitness of the trowsers for him, 
 and finding that there was no chance of the baggage turning up, 
 he took advantage of our occupying the chateau to lie in his 
 cloak for some hours, whilst a tailor belonging to the coniimuy 
 reduced the trowsers to dimensions suited to the wants and taste 
 of their new proprietor. 
 
 Sir John Colborne also took up his quarters at this chateau, 
 but I did not come across him. The next morning, when the 
 company had marched about a hundred 3^ards from the gates, we 
 met a very gentlemanly-looking elderly man on a liandsoine 
 long-tailed grey horse, whom we supposed to bo the duke;, but 
 he passed us witliout taking any notice of us, or wc of him. He 
 might have thanked us for taking care of his property, but wo 
 could not well take any notice of him, as we were not sure that 
 he was the duke. 
 
 Some days before this it was currently reportcul in tlie army 
 that Marshal I>lucher had declared most positiv(!ly, tliat if the 
 Prussians got hold of Bonaparte, he would hang him. And he 
 was equally determined to destroy any monuments in I'aris 
 which recorded any of the victories gained by the French over 
 the Prussians in former years. Some days after (jur ariival at 
 Paris, I saw the Prussian engineers very busy under one of the 
 arches of the bridge of Jena, wliich received its name to com- 
 memorate a victory gained by the French in IHOO. 'I'liore was 
 also a strong report that Blucher would destroy the splendid 
 column in the Place Vend6me fornuMl out of the brass cannon 
 taken by the French from their enomi(;s during their long course 
 of victories in former years. He intended also to im])Ose a heavy 
 contribution on the city of Paris. The Duke of Wellington had 
 some dilliculty in restraining Blucher's angry impetuosity until 
 
 L 2
 
 148 MAECH TO PAEIS. 
 
 the course of action as to these and other matters should he 
 decided by all the Allied powers. 
 
 The following letter from Lord Castlereagh to Lord Liverpool, 
 written June 2oth, will give some idea of the state of affairs at 
 this time : — 
 
 " The papers of the 23rd just arrived. 
 
 " Bonaparte has abdicated in favour of his son. The assem- 
 " blies have accepted the abdication unconditionally. They have 
 " nominated a provisional government of five, of which Fouche, 
 " Carnot, and Caulaincourt are three, and determined to send 
 " commissioners to the Allies to negotiate. 
 
 " The Minister of War states in the House of Peers, that they 
 "have still an army of 60,000 men to cover the north ; Ney con- 
 " tradicts this, and says it does not exceed 25,000 ; and that 
 " there is nothing that can prevent the advance of the enemy to 
 " Paris. He tells them they have no choice but to negotiate 
 " with the Allies. The French army is admitted to have been en- 
 " tirely dissolved in the battle of the 18th. Vandamme seems to 
 "have got with 10,000 men in the rear of the Allies, and to be 
 " thus cut off. 
 
 " Sir C. Stuart writes from Mons, the 23rd, to which place 
 " Louis XVIII had removed :— 'Wellington at Gateau Cambresis; 
 " ' Blucher at Avesnes. We have parked 172 cannon ; the Prus- 
 " ' sians 62.' I have called a cabinet council. Ever yours, 
 
 " Castlereagh." 
 
 On the 1st of July, when we were not many miles from Marshal 
 Mon9ey's chateau, the 52nd first saw Paris, and the splendid 
 dome of the hospital of the Invalides in the distance. It was a 
 beautiful day. The regiment moved off the road to the right to 
 a rising ground, called the Jardin de Paris, finding large quan- 
 tities of fru.it-trees covering an immense extent of ground. Here 
 they looked down on St. Denis, rather towards the left, and the 
 hill of Montmartre, between them and the French capital. 
 Montmartre appeared very rugged and to be strongly fortified, 
 and our feelings got on to the war establishment again, as we 
 fancied we might very probably have to storm this not very 
 pleasant-looking fortified hill on the morrow. It was when we 
 9,rriv6d at the Jardin de Paris that we first saw tlie French
 
 MARCH TO PARIS. 149 
 
 troops again after their defeat at Waterloo, they having sent out 
 from St. Denis alonor the high road a few skirmishers to fire at 
 one of the English videttes. It was not a very pleasant post for 
 him to be on sentry in, as he had some thirty or forty fellows 
 blazing away at him for some considerable time at a distance of 
 about 250 yards. As he walked his horse up and down on his 
 post, he occasionally returned the fire of the skirmishers by giving 
 them a shot from his carbine. Sir John Colborne, who had com- 
 manded the brigade since the action, Adam and Eeynell being 
 wounded, sent down a party of the 71st, who drove the French 
 skirmishers off. 
 
 I remember we very much enjoyed the ripe currants and 
 cherries on the slope to the right below our bivouac. At the 
 bottom of the slope, about half-a-mile off, I found a deserted 
 village, in which there were a great number of gentlemen's houses 
 completely plundered, and every atom of furniture destroyed in 
 the most wanton manner by the Prussians. Mirrors and chests 
 of drawers, &c., &c., were smashed to atoms. This was the first 
 time that we had come across the Prussian line of march. They 
 were determined to retaliate upon the French civilians all the 
 suffering and cruelty they had experienced at the hands of the 
 French soldiers in by-gone years. 
 
 On the 2nd of July the 52nd were alone at Argenteuil on 
 the Seine. Here we found the village had been plundered by 
 the Prussians. Three of them who had to turn out of the village, 
 when we arrived there, not being well pleased at being interfered 
 with, did us the favour, when they had proceeded about two or 
 three hundred yards on the road, to send three musket-balls 
 whistling through our bivouac ; they rather astonished us, but did 
 no harm ; and I think the fellows were not followed and punished. 
 
 In the afternoon of the 2nd McNair's company crossed the 
 Seine in boats, and took possession of and loopholed a gentle- 
 man's house on the other side, to protect the formation of a pon- 
 toon bridge across the Seine ; the French troops being about a 
 mile off, but not shewing themselves. The next morninsr another 
 company of the 52nd joined us, and pushed on an officer and 
 some men to a village in front, from which a few French soldiers 
 hastily retired as they entered it. On the 2nd and 3rd of July
 
 150 MAKCH TO PARIS. 
 
 the Prussians were twice attacked by the French under Davoust, 
 and the latter were defeated, the Prussians following them nearly 
 to the walls of Paris. 
 
 On the same day a convention was signed, Napoleon having 
 abdicated and fled, by which, amongst other arrangements, it was 
 agreed that there should be a suspension of arms, that the French 
 army opposed to us should evacuate Paris in three days, and 
 retire behind the Loire, and that, within the same space of time, 
 all the barriers of Paris and also Montmartre should be given up. 
 The English and Prussian commissioners. Colonel Hervey and 
 Baron Muffling, were fired at in the streets of Paris, shortly 
 after entering it by the barrier of Villette ; which might have 
 led to very disastrous consequences, but an ample apology was 
 made by the Prince of Eckmiihl and the French commissioners 
 charged with the execution of the convention, and the affair was 
 passed over. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 3rd of July the 52nd crossed the 
 Seine on the. pontoon bridge, and proceeded to the bridge of 
 Neuilly. We observed places along the side of the road where 
 the Prussians and French were buried who had been killed there, 
 I think, the day before. Sir John Colborne had received orders 
 to cross the bridge of Neuilly ; but the French refused to retire 
 from the strong barricade, which had been built across the centre 
 of it. The two front companies of the 52nd (10 and 9) were 
 advanced a very short distance in front of the column of com- 
 panies, on the road by the side of the river, with fixed bayonets. 
 Sir John Colborne coolly took out his watch and allowed five 
 minutes to the French commander in which to give up the 
 bridge or to have it stormed ; in two or three minutes it was 
 given up, some few men coming over and shouting "Vive le Eoi!" 
 The village of Neuilly, within a short distance of one of the 
 barriers of Paris, was occupied, and the 52nd passed the night in 
 the walled gTaveyard of that place. The only things I recollect 
 as occurring on that night were the getting some bread and 
 cheese in a cabaret ; and, with the assistance of one of the officers, 
 getting late at night a truss of hay for our horses out of the hay- 
 loft belonging to a gentleman's house, which was either deserted, 
 or the inhabitants declined to " shew up."
 
 MAUCH TO PARIS. 151 
 
 On the morning of the 4th of July we saw the last of the 
 French troops, two videttes close to the gate of the graveyard, 
 having two English videttes within twenty paces of them^ and a 
 French infantry picket about lialf-a-mile off on the road to Paris. 
 They soon retired, and the French army began to evacuate Paris 
 that day, and, I think, it was on the same day, that the National 
 Guard of Paris relieved the guard of the troops of the Line at the 
 Barriere de I'Etoile. The 5 2nd proceeded to the Bois de Boulogne, 
 to the right of the road from JSTeuilly to Paris, and remained 
 there till the 7th. On the 5th Montmartre was given up to the 
 English, and on the 6th, I believe, some of our brigade took pos- 
 session of the Barriere de I'Etoile. 
 
 On the morning of the 7th of July General Adam's brigade 
 (52nd, 7lst, and 95th) had the honour of entering Paris by the 
 Barriere de I'Etoile. They marched down the centre of the road 
 leading through the Champs Elysees,.to the Place Louis Quinze, 
 (now the Place de la Concorde) and the Tuileries. A brigade of 
 artillery, with lighted matches, was posted close to the barrier on 
 either side of the chaussee. It was a proud and happy moment, 
 when, with bands and bugles playing, we thus took possession of, 
 and entered, the capital of France. At least I am sure it was 
 the proudest moment of my life, when I found myself riding 
 down the centre of the avenue of the Champs Elys^es, bearing in 
 triumph, into the enemy's capital, that same 52nd regimental 
 colour which I had the honour of carrying to victory on the 
 eventful and glorious day of Waterloo. 
 
 The whole brigade halted and piled arms in the Champs 
 Elysees, to the right of the main road and between it and the 
 Seine, and not far from the Place Louis Quinze. These were the 
 British troops which occupied the French capital ; almost the 
 whole of the rest of the Allied army remained in the Bois de Bou- 
 logne, although some were at Montmartre. Before the 52nd band 
 was dismissed, Sir John Colborne ordered it to play " Vive Henri 
 " Quatre," one of the principal royalist tunes, but it did not 
 appear to attract any number of people. Indeed, there were not 
 many more persons stirring at that hour — it was between eight 
 and nine — than one would see at the same hour in Hyde Park, 
 between Apsley House and the Marble Arch. Mr, Hollond, an
 
 152" MARCH TO PARIS. 
 
 English gentleman, who had a house in Paris, had ridden out to 
 see the arrival of his compatriots, and having entered into con- 
 versation with me, invited me to go and breakfast with him in 
 the Eue de Mont Blanc. I willingly accepted his invitation, and 
 having deposited my colour, I rode with him into Paris and 
 along the beautiful boulevards to his residence. With the ex- 
 ception of Colonel Hervey, the commissioner, I suspect I was the 
 first individual of the British army who entered the streets of 
 Paris.* Mr. Hollond was exceedingly kind, and I remember 
 that, amongst other things, when on inquiry he found I had only 
 a few ducats in my pocket, he insisted on becoming my banker 
 and on lending me ten napoleons till I should get a bill on Eng- 
 land cashed. McNair begged of me, directly I got back to the 
 Champs Elysees, not to lose a day in getting a bill cashed by the 
 paymaster and in repaying the money. This I did the very next 
 (lay. I was not aware, till Jie told me, that I had done anything 
 wrong, or iiifra dig, in thus allowing a stranger to become my 
 banker for a few days. Just as we had finished breakfast, a 
 Prussian general and his aide-de-camp arrived with a biUet on 
 Mr. HoUond's house, which must have been a considerable 
 nuisance to him, but not so great a one as it would have been, 
 had he not been a bachelor. The Prussian officers were remark- 
 ably quiet and gentlemanly in their demeanour. 
 
 On my way back, as I walked my horse along the boulevards, 
 some boys did me the favour of throwing stones at me, but as I 
 thought that, on that occasion at least, " the better part of valour 
 " was discretion," I contented, myself with quietly cantering 
 away from them. 
 
 The 52nd, in the course of the morning, crossed the main 
 road and encamped on the other side of the Champs Elysees, 
 leaving the 71st and 95th on the side nearest to the river, and 
 
 * I at one time used rather to boast of three things, that ver'if probably I had 
 the honour of being the youngest officer at Waterloo, of being the nearest British 
 officer to the Emperor Napoleon in that battle, (I mean when the .52nd colour 
 was in front of the 52nd line with the covering Serjeants, at the moment that 
 the Duke and Lord Uxbridge were in our rear, and Bonaparte was, as it was 
 afterwards reported, with the Old Guard in our front,) and thirdly, as I have 
 mentioned, that I was the first officer who entered Paris. I lately heard of a 
 Waterloo officer, who was my junior by about six weeks.
 
 MARCH TO PARIS. 153 
 
 throwing its sentries forward about 140 yards to the low rail 
 separating the Champs Elysees from the Place Louis Quinze, 
 where the unfortunate Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were 
 executed in 1783. For a day or two the whole regiment was 
 together, encamped in a large open square place bordered on the 
 four sides by rows of trees. The Champs Elysees consisted of a 
 series of these large square openings ; there was the main road 
 from the Arc de Triomphe and the Barriere de I'Etoile in the 
 direction of the Tuileries, down which we had marched, and 
 about half-way up it was crossed at right angles by another main 
 road, leading from the Eue du Faubourg St. Honore, and the 
 palace called the Elysee Bourbon, to the Seine. On the other 
 side of the river were the Champs de Mars, the Ecole Militaire, 
 and the hospital of the Invalides facing the Champs Elysees. 
 The bridge of Jena, which was near the barrier, and which 
 Blucher wished to destroy, led from the Champ de Mars towards 
 the Champs Elys(5es. 
 
 Close to the large open space in which the 52nd encamped 
 there was a decent restaurateur^ s. There were several of these 
 places, and also dancing houses, in different parts of the Champs 
 Elysees.
 
 154 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1815. 
 PAEIS. THE 52nd encamped IN THE CHAMPS ELYSEES. 
 
 Two companies a giiard to the duke's house — Colonel W. Rowan commandant 
 — Bonaparte finds refuge on board the Bellerophon — Entry of Louis XVIII 
 into Paris— The Imperial Guard — Position of 52nd in Paris— Cricket and 
 drill — Dine with Sir John Colborne — Restoration of pictures, &c., taken 
 by the French — Review of Russian Guards — Accident — Cossacks of the 
 Don — Ecole de Natation — Practical jokes — Row in the Palais Royal — 
 Row at St. Cloud — Gaming-houses — Observations on the evil of letting 
 children play at games for money — Soldier condemned to be shot — Carica- 
 tures of English — "Les Anglaises pour rire" — " Monsieur Calico " — Play- 
 houses to be avoided. 
 
 Either the day after we entered Paris, or on the following 
 day, No. 9 and No. 10 companies of the 52nd were ordered to 
 encamp nearer to the Place Louis Quinze, and near to where the 
 quarter-guard already was, close to the wall of the Duke of 
 Wellington's garden. The cords of the officers' tents were close 
 to the short palings, which fenced off about ten feet of garden- 
 ground between them and the wall. My tent was against the 
 little gate in the palings which led to the garden-door, and close 
 up to it, so close that one day, about a week or fortnight after 
 we arrived, I heard somebody floundering about and stumbling 
 over the cords, and, on looking out, found it was the duke him- 
 self, who sometimes, but not often, came out that way. He 
 desired that the tent might be moved a few feet forward. The 
 whole brigade remained encamped in the manner I have men- 
 tioned till the 2nd of November, a period of nearly four months.
 
 THE 52nd encamped in the champs elysees. 155 
 
 Lieut-Colonel W. Ko^Yan of tlie 52nd was made commandant of 
 the first arrondissement of Paris. We, who belonged to No. 9 
 and No. 10, considered ourselves as an especial guard to the 
 Duke. There was a Serjeant's guard at the entrance to the court- 
 yard of his residence, in a short street leading out of the Place 
 Louis Quinze. I think it was on the afternoon of the 8th, that two 
 of the King's Garde du Corps took refuge with this guard, 
 having been pursued by a street mob. 
 
 Bonaparte, after lingering at the Elys^e and then for several 
 days at Malmaison, in the vain hope that something might occur, 
 which would afford him a chance of retrieving his broken for- 
 tunes, was persuaded, if not forced, by the provisional govern- 
 ment, to take the road to Eochefort, where they had placed two 
 French frigates at his disposal, with the view of his escaping to 
 America, He embarked in the Saale on the 8th of July, but in 
 vain did some of his devoted friends endeavour to obtain a pro- 
 mise from Captain Maitland of the Bellerophon, the blockading 
 English ship, that he would allow the French frigates to pass 
 with Napoleon on board. In a few days he found it necessary 
 to take refuge in the Bellerophon, and before he readied the 
 quarter-deck of that ship, the French frigates had both hoisted 
 the white flag. The Bellerophon, on her way to Torbay, which 
 she reached on the 15th, astonished the captain and crew of an 
 English frigate on their way to Spithead from the Adriatic, who 
 were quite unacquainted with recent events in France, by sig- 
 nalling " Napoleon on board." The Bellerophon was ordered to 
 Plymouth, where Bonaparte was transferred to the Nortliumber- 
 land. He was not permitted to land either at Torbay or Ply- 
 mouth. It was decided, after some little time, that he should be 
 sent as a prisoner of war to St. Helena, for which island the 
 Northumberland sailed on the 8th of August. 
 
 The King, Louis XVIII, reached Paris on the 8th of July, 
 the day after we entered the city. I was present in the Tuileries 
 on the afternoon of the day of his arrival, and I think no one 
 could have desired to have a greater display of enthusiasm and 
 loyalty than was manifested on the occasion of his presenting 
 himself to the people on one of the balconies of the Tuileries 
 looking towards the Champs Elysees. There must have been
 
 156 THE 52nd encamped 
 
 from fifteen to twenty thousand persons as5emblcd. When tlie 
 King came forward there was a cry for the people to take their 
 hats off, which almost all appeared to do, and, being tall, I had a 
 good view over the whole assembled people. I was in the midst 
 of the crowd, and whilst they knocked off the hats of one or two 
 obstinate fellows near me, they treated me with marked civility, 
 one patting me on the back, as the Prussian officer did on the 
 night of the Battle of Waterloo, and calling me " Brave Anglais." 
 As an officer in uniform I of course kept my cap on. I saw two 
 other English officers at a distance in the crowd. 
 
 I must now record something more about the proceedings of 
 the Imperial Guard. It must be remembered that it consisted 
 in 1815 of 25,870 men. There were 20,400 infantry, 3300 cavalry, 
 and 2170 artillery, sappers, waggon train, &c. Of these 25,870 men, 
 after deducting for casualties on the 16th and 17th, probably nearly 
 the half were engaged with the Prussians at Planchenoit. After the 
 defeat of the whole of the Imperial Guard at Waterloo, " Generals 
 "Morand and Colbert succeeded in rallying some remnants of com- 
 " panics of them at Beaumont," about five-and-twenty miles from 
 AVaterloo, and from thence they proceeded towards Paris, and 
 made a considerable stand against the Prussians at the village of 
 Vertus, near St. Denis, and afterwards made good their retreat 
 from that place when forced out of it by very superior numbers. 
 The French historian of the Imperial Guard states that this 
 affair of the 30th of June was the last in which they were en- 
 gaged. During the 4th, 5th, and 6th of July, the whole French 
 army marched from the neighbourhood of Paris on the road to 
 Orleans, and retired behind the Loire. Great numbers retired to 
 their homes. On the breaking up of the army, many of the 
 officers of the Imperial Guard emigrated, some to Turkey, others 
 to Greece, others again to America. Several of the chief officers. 
 Marshal Grouchy, and the Generals Clausel, Vandamme, Lefevre- 
 Desnouettes, Eigaud, and a great many officers of rank, were at 
 New York and Philadelphia in 1817, and a large portion of them, 
 under the direction of General Lallemand, attempted to found a 
 colony in Texas, but it did not prosper, and after losing three- 
 fourths of their numbers, the remainder of these poor fellows 
 returned to New Orleans and settled there.
 
 IN THE CHAMPS ELYSFES. 157 
 
 The eucampment of Adam's brigade in the Champs Elys(^es was 
 about the same thing, as regarded Paris and its inhabitants, as 
 would be the encampment of 2500 men in Hyde Park, between 
 tlie entrance gate near Apsley house and the statue of Achilles, 
 to London and its inhabitants ; or the same number in the Green 
 Park, near Piccadilly; or in St. James's park, between the Horse 
 Guards and Dartmouth street ; it was also the same sort of thing to 
 us. We were not troubled with any orders about not appearing in 
 the streets except in uniform. We generally wore the blue 
 surtout coat, when in undress, and had but to exchange a 
 foraging-cap for a round hat, and spring over the low rails in 
 front of our quarter-guard near the Cafe Ledoyen, and we found 
 ourselves in Paris, en hourgcois, in less than two minutes after we 
 had made up our minds to go there. We were within four or 
 five minutes' walk of the principal entrance to the Tuileries, 
 which was just across the Place Louis Quinze. The men could 
 only pass the cordon of sentries under certain regulations. There 
 was no regular officers' mess whilst we were in Paris, but the 
 officers of each company messed together in one of their 
 tents, and I remember that I continued to be the caterer, and 
 a very inexpensive mess it was, for we none of us cared much 
 about eating and drinking. 
 
 A considerable number of the Parisians visited our camp 
 from the first, and some of them I know were ladies belonging 
 to superior Bonapartist families ; such confidence had they in the 
 discipline and good behaviour of the British soldiers. Crowds 
 of persons came to see us play at cricket, which we sometimes 
 did in the 52nd. It was a game to which the French were 
 unaccustomed, and one speech which was overheard was that, "no 
 " wonder the English were not afraid of cannon-balls, when 
 " they could so fearlessly meet and stop those dreadful cricket- 
 " balls coming towards them with such terrific force." It was 
 a current report at Paris, that the Emperor had said, that " at 
 " Waterloo the English squares had stood like walls, and the 
 " French cannon-balls could make no impression on them." 
 
 Out on the same open place on which we played at cricket, 
 beyond the 52nd encampment, our regular drill was carried on, 
 and as I had done very little in the way of driU before the
 
 158 THE 52nd excamped 
 
 campaign commenced, I had much to learn after we reached 
 Paris. I perhaps was the only British officer who had the 
 honour of finishing his drill in the French capital. We had 
 many spectators who, of course, were much interested in the 
 light infantry movements, and the bugle sounds. We had 
 some forty men who had to go through the same amount of 
 drill that I had. The 52nd drill instructors were always required 
 to be most particular in the marching drill, from the goose-step 
 upwards ; and it was to this great attention paid to the 
 balancing of the body in marching, and the avoiding of all 
 flourishing of the foot as it came to the ground, that we used to 
 attribute the good marching of the 52nd, and especially their 
 beautiful advances in line, for which they were very remarkable 
 in my 52nd days, and for years afterwards ; I hope they are 
 so still. 
 
 About ten days after our arrival in Paris, Sir John Colborne 
 (Lord Seaton) very kindly invited me to dine with him at his 
 lodgings, or billet, somewhere to the left, in a line with the 
 principal entrance of the Tuileries from the Place Louis Quinze, 
 and in the street leading down past the end of the Eue de la Paix. 
 I met there only three or four of the senior officers of the regiment, 
 and I well recollect his telling me, before them, that I might 
 consider myself one of the most fortunate fellows in the whole 
 army ; for I had only been in it two months, and had, in that 
 short space of time, not only taken part in the glorious action 
 at Waterloo, but had also been present at the taking of the 
 capital of France. 
 
 I kept no journal at that time, and not till about four years 
 afterwards, and then only occasionally during the next four or 
 five years, so that in describing the circumstances that occurred 
 at Paris and elsewhere, I have to trust to my memory, which 
 I have good reason to think is particularly retentive and 
 accurate. 
 
 The French commanders, as is well known, had during a 
 long course of years, wherever their arms were successful, 
 brought away from the museums of the several countries, and 
 from other places where they were to be found, great numbers 
 of the choicest paintings and statues. Vast numbers of these
 
 IX THE CHAMPS ELYSEES. 159 
 
 paintings, etc., were found in the Louvre when the Allies took 
 possession of Paris. The French ministers, and also the King, 
 were very unwilling to restore these improperly acquired 
 treasures of art to their rightful owners , more especially perhaps 
 as they knew such restitution would be very unpalatable to 
 the French people. The following extracts from a letter from 
 the Duke of Wellington to Lord Castlereagh will show how the 
 affair ended : — 
 
 "Paeis, 23rd September, 1815. 
 "Shortly after the arrival of the sovereigns at Paris, the 
 " minister of the King of the Netherlands claimed the pictures, 
 " etc., belonging to his sovereign equally with those of other 
 " powers ; and, as far as I could learn, never could get any 
 " satisfactory reply from the French government. After several 
 "conversations with me he addressed your lordship in an 
 " official note, which was laid before the ministers of the Allied 
 " sovereigns assembled in conference, and the subject was 
 " taken into consideration repeatedly, with a view to discover a 
 ''mode of doing justice to the claimants of the specimens of 
 " the arts in the museums, without hurting the feelings of the 
 " King of France. In the mean time the Prussians had obtained 
 "from his majesty not only all the really Prussian pictures, 
 "but those belonging to the Prussian territories on the left of 
 " the Rhine, and the pictures, etc., belonging to all the allies of his 
 " Prussian majesty; and the subject pressed for an early decision ; 
 "and your lordship wrote your note of the 11th instant, in 
 " which it was fully discussed. 
 
 " The minister of the King of the Netherlands, still having 
 " no satisfactory answer from the French government, applied to 
 " me, as the Commander-in-Chief of the army of the King of 
 "the Netherlands, to know if I had any objection to employ 
 " his majesty's troops to obtain possession of what was his 
 " undoubted property. I referred this application again to the 
 "ministers of the Allied courts, and no objection having been 
 " stated, I considered it my duty to take the necessary measures 
 " to obtain what was his right. 
 
 " I spoke to Prince de Talleyrand on the subject .... and 
 " begged him to state the case to the King, (of France,) and to
 
 160 THE 52nd encamped 
 
 " ask his majesty to do me the favour to point out the mode of 
 "efiecting the object of the King of the Netherlands, which 
 " which should be least offensive to his majesty. 
 
 " The Prince de Talleyrand promised me an answer on the 
 "following evening ; which not having received, I called upon 
 " him at night, and had another discussion with him on the 
 " subject, in which he informed me that the King could give no 
 " orders upon it ; that I might act as I thought proper, and 
 " that I might communicate with M. Denon. 
 
 " I sent my aide-de-camp, Lieut.-Colonel Fremantle, to 
 " M. Denon in the morning, who informed him that he had no 
 " orders to give any pictures out of the gallery, and that he 
 " could give none without the use of force. 
 
 " I then sent Colonel Fremantle to the Prince de Talleyrand 
 " to inform him of this answer, and to acquaint him that the 
 " troops would go the next morning at twelve o'clock to take 
 " possession of the King of the Netherland's pictures ; and to 
 " point out, that if any disturbance resulted from this measure, 
 " the King's ministers, and not I, were responsible. Colonel 
 " Premantle also informed M. Denon that the same measure 
 " would be adopted. 
 
 " It was not necessary however to send the troops, as a 
 " Prussian guard had always remained in possession of the 
 " gallery, and the pictures were taken without the necessity of 
 " calling for those under my command, excepting as a working 
 " party to assist in taking them down and packing them. 
 
 • •••••• 
 
 " The Allies, having the contents of the museum justly in 
 " their possession, could not do otherwise than restore them to 
 'the countries from which, contrary to the practice of civilized 
 " warfare, they had been torn during the disastrous period of the 
 " French revolution and the tyranny of Bonaparte. 
 
 " It has never appeared to me to be necessary that the Allied 
 " sovereigns should omit this opportunity to do justice and to 
 " gratify their own subjects, in order to gratify the people of 
 " France. 
 
 " It is on many accounts desirable, as well for their own 
 " happiness as that of the world, that the people of France, if
 
 IN THE CHAMPS ELYSeES. 161 
 
 " they do not already feel that Europe is too strong for them, 
 " should be made sensible of it." 
 
 The Duke argues, in conclusion, that it would not only be 
 unjust in the sovereigns to give way in this matter, but also 
 " impolitic, as it would deprive them of the opportunity of 
 " giving the people of France a great moral lesson." 
 
 I was at the Louvre once or twice when this taking down 
 and packing the pictures was going on ; whether or not I was 
 there on duty I do not recollect, but I remember seeing a fatigue- 
 party of the 52nd there. There was no particular excitement 
 observable amongst the French on that occasion. 
 
 But about that time the 52nd remained fully accoutred and 
 ready to fall in at a moment's notice, for eight-and-forty hours, and 
 on one of those two days, we were marched up, and remained for two 
 or three hoitrs on the Place Louis Quinze, in front of the gates of 
 the Tuileries ; I think it was when the Austrians were taking down 
 the horses dedicated to the sun from the top of the gateway leading 
 into the Place du Carrousel. They had been taken from Venice. 
 It was expected that much discontent would be manifested by 
 the French, and perhaps some violence on that occasion. Each 
 horse was taken away separately, and was escorted by a whole 
 regiment of Austrian dragoons. I was the orderly-oSicer on the 
 day that the last horse was removed and was sent that evening 
 by Sir John Colborne to report to General Adam, who had 
 recovered from his wound and taken command of the brigade 
 again, that all had passed off quietly. 
 
 We had one or two reviews on rather a large scale on an 
 extensive plain near Paris, in which we passed over immense 
 quantities of beet-root, which is grown there in order to produce 
 sugar from it. I fear a large amount of damage was done to the 
 crops, as we could scarcely take a step without each person 
 treading on, and breaking in two, one of the roots ; but the 
 reviews were especially memorable for the clouds of black dust 
 in which the troops were enveloped during nearly the whole 
 time they were marching and manoeuvring. AVe must have been 
 terrible warriors to look at, as on our return to camp we marched 
 through the streets of Paris covered from head to foot with this 
 dust, and with our clothes and accoutrements, our faces, eyes, 
 
 M
 
 162 THE 52nd encamped 
 
 and ears, and our hair and whiskers, (at least of those who had 
 any of the latter,) completely blackened by it. A considerable 
 amount of time was consumed in getting all right again, to say 
 nothing of the possible injury done to the clothing and appoint- 
 ments of both officers and men. 
 
 Sir John Colborne took the 52nd several times to the Champ de 
 Mars, which was a very extensive and good exercising-ground. Tliere 
 we first practised the half-face movement in column, which I 
 think was taken up from the Prussians, and was afterwards found 
 to be a most useful movement. One day we came across the 
 Emperor of Eussia and his staff, in the Champ de Mars, and Sir 
 John very neatly threw the regiment into close column just as 
 the Emperor was arriving in frontof the flank company, and saluted 
 him with carried arms. As the Emperor was merely riding 
 across the Champ de Mars, and as we were only there for drill, 
 the salute with carried arms in close column was the only avail- 
 able method, under the circumstances, of shewing him any 
 attention. It was the Emperor Alexander who received and 
 acknowledged this salute. 
 
 I think it was not many weeks after our arrival in Paris that 
 there was a review of several thousands of the Eussian Guards 
 in the Champs Elysees, on the road leading from the Barri^re 
 de I'Etoile to the Tuileries. They were a very fine body of picked 
 men. The Eussian soldiers of the Line appeared to me to be 
 shorter and smaller men than the ordinary soldiers of any of the 
 other armies who were in the neigbourhood of Paris at that time. 
 On returning from this review I met with a rather severe fall, 
 when galloping round one of the sunk plantations inclosed by 
 balustrades in the Place Louis Quinze. My horse's legs flew 
 from under him and he came down heavily on his side on my 
 left leg, by which my knee and shoulder were cut. It was 
 rather a nuisance, too, to be thus sent sprawling in uniform on 
 the paved square in the presence of a good number of spectators ; 
 and I was very glad to slink off into our camp, which was close 
 
 at hand. 
 
 Two or three hundred yards from the 52nd encampment 
 towards the barrier there was stationed a troop of Cossacks of 
 the Don, whom we occasionally used to visit. They were fine
 
 IN THE CHAMPS ELYSeES. 163 
 
 men and very orderly. Their horses were tied to the trees in the 
 Champs Elysees, four or five round the same tree. Whenever 
 tliere was any disturbance amongst them in the sliape of biting 
 or kicking, the Cossacks reduced them to order by thrashing 
 them severely with the fiat part of their naked swords. It was 
 no uncommon thing among the Cossacks, though we saw nothing 
 of the kind at Paris, for the officers to order their men to receive 
 the same description of punishment for not very grave offences. 
 One of the members of an English family which was thrown 
 very much among the Cossacks, when the Eussians marched on 
 Paris in 1814, told me that on complaints being made to the 
 officers of any infringement of the rules laid down, they would 
 tell them in French that the delinquent should forthwith receive 
 " vingt-cinq coups de plat de sabre." 
 
 When I was in Paris in 1817, I observed that great numbers 
 of the trees which the Cossack horses had barked in 1815 had 
 been thereby destroyed and that fresh trees had been planted in 
 their place. 
 
 There was a very good swimming-bath on the Seine, not far 
 from our camp, called in French the " Ecole de Natation." I 
 learnt to swim there, and used it very frequently during the 
 whole time of our occupation of Paris. I think it was on the 
 first occasion of my visiting it, that I was in some danger of 
 being drowned, by foolishly jumping into deep water, about six 
 feet from the nettings, to try and solve the question, " Why, as 
 " every other animal will swim, if thrown into water, should not 
 " man do the same? " My attempts to swim were abortive, and I 
 had gone under water twice, when six or eight of the bathers 
 jumped in, and one of them saved me from going down again 
 by pushing me against the netting at the side. Before we left 
 Paris, I could swim and float very fairly. 
 
 There was always plenty of excitement for us, encamped as 
 we were so far within the barrier of Paris, and so close to the 
 Tuileries and other public places ; the Champs Elysees were a 
 favourite resort of the Parisians, and, although scarcely any of us 
 had any opportunity of entering into French society, yet the 
 meeting with numbers of the better classes in the public walks, 
 and in the various places of public amusement, and the numbers 
 
 M 2
 
 164! THE 52nd encamped 
 
 of tilings we had to see, always prevented the time from hanging 
 heavily on our hands. Besides which, some of us had friends 
 from England staying there, who helped to make our occupation 
 of Paris very pleasant to us. 
 
 I recollect only a few of the tricks which we used to play 
 each other ; a very approved one, now and then practised, was 
 the quietly loosening the cords and loops of a tent from their 
 stakes on a very wet night, and then letting the wet tent down 
 on the helpless and infuriated occupier ; the perpetrator generally 
 managing not to be discovered. I did hear of one man, who un- 
 dertook to take a portmanteau from under the walls, or lower 
 canvass of a tent, but the occupant heard him and attacked him 
 with his sword, very reasonably taking him for a thief, when the 
 attacking party after seizing the sword, and getting his hands 
 cut, found it necessary to beat a retreat. 
 
 The only practical joke I remember to have played at Paris, 
 occurred as follows ; and as far as the joke went it was a very 
 innocent one : — Two of us came into camp from Paris one very 
 dark night, and, after replying to the sentry's challenge, we 
 passed the tent of the officer of the quarter-guard, whom we saw 
 fully accoutred lying on his back on his guard-bed, very fast 
 asleep with his mouth open : there were eight or ten rather 
 large books on the table, and going into the tent I piled them up 
 on a chair, one above another, till the top one touched the tent 
 just over our friend's head. I then went round to the back of 
 the tent, where, by the light of the candle inside, I could easily 
 see the upper book, and giving it a push I sent the pile on to our 
 victim's face, having done which I quietly and quickly got 
 round to the darkness, pervading the trees of the Champs 
 Elys^es, at a very short distance, opposite to the tent door ; from 
 this we saw the officer coming out of his tent, hardly aware of 
 what had exactly happened, and we heard the following short 
 dialogue between him and the sentry. Ojflccr calls out : — 
 " Sentry ! " The Sentry replies :~" Yes, Sir ! " " Officer .—" Has 
 " any one just come into camp ? " Sentry : — " No, Sir ! " We 
 then made off, leaving the officer of the guard to renew his 
 slumbers. This was the officer who, when the 52nd were pur- 
 suing the French at Vera, about two years before, went over a
 
 IN THE CHAMPS ELYSEES. 165 
 
 short mountain path with Sir John Colborne and four soldiers, 
 and rushed down on to the road, into the middle of the 9 th 
 French light infantry, and summoned them to surrender, which 
 those who were thus cut off did, to the number of two or three 
 hundred. This officer, Lieutenant Cargill, received on the spot, 
 and tucked under his arm, the swords of fourteen of the French 
 officers. I have frequently heard it mentioned as a fact, that 
 one of these officers having hesitated to deliver up his sword, 
 Cargill struck him a blow in his face with his fist which made 
 his mouth bleed, and had the effect of making him tractable. In 
 these days such acts of daring would be deservedly rewarded by 
 the grant of the Victoria Cross. 
 
 The anecdote just related brings to my remembrance an 
 occurrence which took place at Paris a few weeks after we had 
 left it. Some detachments sent out from England, just at the 
 time that the army was about to proceed to take up its canton- 
 ments in the north of France, arrived in the neighbourhood of 
 Paris, and several of the officers, amongst whom were two of the 
 52nd, availed themselves of the opportunity of seeing something 
 of the French capital. One of the places they visited was the 
 Palais Pioyal. As they were walking along the covered pave- 
 ment, near the shops, they met several persons, who had all the 
 appearance of being half-pay French officers ; one of these, as 
 they passed them, kicked against the foot of one of the 52nd 
 officers with the evident desit^n of insultincc him ; the 52nd 
 officer immediately started round and inquired what he meant, 
 but he not knowing much of French, the other 52nd man began 
 to interpose, when the Frenchman gave him a smart box on the 
 ear, asking him at the same time, what he had to do with it ? 
 This of course was responded to in the shape of a heavy blow 
 planted on the Frenchman's mouth, which made his teeth both 
 rattle and bleed : before the row had proceeded to any greater 
 length, the guard appeared, and marched off both parties to the 
 prefecture, where the whole case was gone into. The Frenchmen 
 were adjudged to be the aggressors, and the English officers were 
 freed from all blame in the transaction. Insults offered to the 
 English were seldom heard of during the three years of our 
 occupation of France.
 
 166 THE 52nd encamped 
 
 I went -with three or four artillery officers, whom I knew, to 
 the fair of St. Cloud, and we rather enjoyed it, and got on very 
 well, till we were just coming away, when we got into a consider- 
 able unpleasantness through the stupidity, and possibly also the 
 rascality, of the driver of the carriage which we had hired for 
 the occasion. When we were about to return, he insisted upon 
 it that he should be paid before we started : possibly somebody 
 had done him out of what he considered his fare on some former 
 occasion. However that may have been, he positively refused 
 to drive us back to Paris, unless we first settled with him ; this 
 we considered very impertinent on his part, and determined not 
 to give way to it. A crowd of eighty or a hundred persons were 
 gathered round us, and on our attempting to take possession of 
 the carriage, an altercation ensued with some of them, and then, 
 without its actually coming to a fight, they began to interrupt 
 our proceeding. A friend of mine, a very nice fellow, by the 
 name of Heisse, belonging to one of the Hanoverian Jager Corps, 
 to whom I had been speaking during the day, happening to pass, 
 saw our difficulty, and ran down to the bridge of St. Cloud, where 
 a German picket was stationed, and brought up a few men to 
 our assistance just at the right moment. They very unceremoni- 
 ously made the mob stand back by striking at their legs with 
 the butt ends of their muskets. The Prussians were to leave 
 the neighbourhood of Paris the next morning, and our driver, 
 who appeared to have a very wholesome fear of them, was con- 
 siderably alarmed by hearing some of our party say, that it 
 would serv^e him right, and do him good, if we could manage to 
 get him pressed into their service, on the occasion of their march 
 northwards. 
 
 Paris, of course, had many temptations for the officers of the 
 British army. One was that arising from the gaming-houses, of 
 which there were many, especially in the Palais Royal. I never 
 heard, whilst we were there, of any body having suffered very 
 severely from them ; but yet I have no doubt that many were 
 inconveniently fleeced, to say the least of it, by occasionally 
 visiting them. I do not think it will be injurious to my readers, 
 if I briefly mention what I saw of them. I had been to one of 
 the theatres with a captain of the 52ud, and when it was
 
 IN THE CHAMPS ELYSKES. 167 
 
 over I found he was not going back to camp, but going to look 
 into one of these gaming-houses at the Palais Royal. I had 
 never seen a gaming-house, and begged that I might accompany 
 liini ; but he said, Colborne would never forgive him, if he took 
 me to such a place ; however, on my pressing him, and shewing 
 him that I had uot above two napoleons in my pocket, so that 
 I could not lose much, he gave way, and I went with him. The 
 way to the first and second floors of these houses was up a very 
 wide and substantial staircase, lighted with one gloomy lamp 
 on each landing, the whole appearance of which led one's mind 
 to associate with these places scenes of violence and assassina- 
 tion. There were about forty or fifty persons standing, and 
 several of them playing at a roulette table in one room, and 
 about as many more at a rouge-et-noir table in another. If 
 I recollect rightly, I won a few napoleons that night by playing 
 with two-franc pieces, which I think was the lowest sum which 
 by the rules of the place was allowed to be hazarded. On a 
 subsequent evening I took with me about seven napoleons, 
 tliinking that if I had been able to win a tolerable sum by play- 
 ing with two-franc pieces, I might perhaps gain ten times as 
 much by playing with napoleons. On tliis second night I 
 seemed to have what is termed, a great run of luck, and at last 
 I found my two waistcoat pockets to be so full of napoleons 
 that it was not safe to put any more into them, and I began to 
 stow away my winnings in my trowsers pockets. I could make 
 no proper calculation of the amount of my " ill gotten wealth," 
 but I observed at last that I had attracted the attention of most 
 of the persons present, and especially that of the croupiers who 
 received and handed out the money. 
 
 I now began to think of making good my retreat, but how to 
 do it decently I did not know. However, having made up my 
 mind to leave the place, I very quietly, though unexpectedly to 
 them, walked to the door, and went tolerably quickly down tlie 
 stairs, but, quick as I was in my movements, a man who followed 
 me was on the landing-place at the bottom of the first flight of 
 stairs before I had quitted it. He begged me to give him some 
 money, as he was a person in distress ; this I declined to do, not 
 only because I thought it was not quite safe to be parleying with
 
 1()8 THE 52nd encamped 
 
 him under all the circumstances, but also because I felt annoyed 
 that a person should pursue the degraded course of watching the 
 gaming-tables for the purpose of demanding charity from the 
 successful players. 
 
 As I crossed the Palais Eoyal, I roughly calculated that I 
 had two or three hundred napoleons io my pocket, and thought 
 that these would soon be gone and would do me no permanent 
 good, whereas, if I could make the sum up to a thousand, I 
 could, in some way, make it do me some more lasting benefit. 
 With this idea in my head I went into another house on the 
 opposite side of the Palais Koyal, and played away as largely as 
 I had done before ; my pockets were very neaily emptied again. 
 I determined, how^ever, not to return to camp without taking 
 back with me a small roll of napoleons which I felt were still 
 remaining in my pocket, and which I judged to amount to about 
 the sum I had started with. I was surprised, on reaching my 
 tent, and counting over my remaining napoleons, that I had 
 tliirty-nine, instead of seven, remaining. This led me to think 
 that I had been greatly mistaken as to the sum which I had at 
 first gained, and that it must have amounted to three or four 
 times as much as I had roughly calculated it to be. 
 
 This was a great ordeal for a boy under eighteen years of age 
 to go through ; but it was a very great mercy that I lost the 
 money which I had gained. As it w^as, my taste for play con- 
 tinued, to an extent, for some years, (until I saw that it was 
 decidedly wrong and sinful, and evidently a breach of the tenth 
 commandment, to desire to win another person's money,) and if 
 I had carried away with me the large sum above mentioned, it 
 would probably have been more injurious to me than one can 
 well imagine. I went three or four times after that to these 
 maisons de jeu, but I was careful not to lose my money to any 
 great extent ; yet I did lose it, I am now thankful to say. 
 
 I have hesitated to write down the fore^oinff account, lest it 
 
 DO ' 
 
 should possibly do harm, in the way of exciting in any one an 
 " itch for gambling." I may possibly not publish it ; if I do so, 
 I wish it to be accompanied by my protest against a practice 
 which I believe is not so prevalent now in the houses of our 
 gentry as it was fifty or sixty years ago ; I mean the allowing
 
 IN THE CHAMPS ELYSeES. 169 
 
 children to play at cards or otlier games of chance, by which 
 they may win money. I trace much evil that arises in the 
 way of ruinous betting at races, or in playing at cards or 
 billiards, for large sums of money, to this practice. I recollect it 
 was the custom to set a dozen or more of children to play at com- 
 merce, when each put down a shilling, and the winner of the 
 game took the whole of the money. It was this sort of thing, 
 which led to an immense deal of gamblin;? in a small vrav at 
 schools, where the boys played at marbles and with tops, and at 
 other things, for money; this easily paved the way for attendance 
 and l)etting at public billiard-tables and races. I never but 
 once made a bet at a race, but I knew a youth most respectably 
 connected, who was utterly ruined both in character and fortune, 
 who told me that his evil courses commenced when a near 
 relative took him to a racecourse, and encouraged him to bet 
 thore. Many years ago, when I little thought of publishing a 
 book, I used to say, half in joke, "■ If ever I publish a book, it 
 ■"' shall be against allowing boys at school, or in the streets, to 
 " play at marbles for money," so convinced was I of the impor- 
 tance of endeavouring to check any disposition to gamble at an 
 early age, or, what is still better, as far as possible not to let 
 children or young people be at places, or amongst persons, where 
 anything of the sort is practised. I have always enjoined on 
 my children never to play at any game for money, and never on 
 any account to make even the smallest bet, and I have never 
 had a card in my house. I consider myself to be fully justified 
 in stating, that all desire to win anything belonging to another, 
 at a game of chance or skill, is contrary to that which God 
 enjoins upon His people in the tenth conmiandment. I must 
 apologize to my readers for this digression from the account of 
 the various occurrences which took place whilst w^e were at 
 Paris ; but I do sincerely hope that all parents, and heads of 
 schools, and others who may read it, will use their best efforts to 
 nip in the bud that taste for gambling, wdiich is yet so prevalent 
 amongst both rich and poor, and which I believe, in nine cases 
 out of ten, commences in early youth. It is obvious that every 
 thing in the shape of a lottery or raffle is of evil tendency. 
 
 I must not attempt to speak of the execution of Marshal
 
 170 THE 52nd encamped 
 
 Ney and Colonel Labc^doyere, which all of us were much grieved 
 at ; nor of the remarkable escape of Lavalette from prison, by 
 putting on some of his wife's clothes, she remaining behind 
 whilst he passed out of the prison, nor of his escape from Paris, 
 disguised as an English general, by the help of Sir Kobert 
 Wilson and two other Englishmen. These tilings took place 
 whilst we were at Paris, and the accounts of them may easily be 
 obtained. 
 
 A very sad and exciting business occurred, whilst we were 
 at Paris, in connexion with the mutinous behaviour of one of 
 our own men, when coming to join the army with detachments 
 under the command of a captain and other officers belonging to 
 other regiments; I think I recollect the circumstances very 
 clearly, they were these : — Several of the men of these detach- 
 ments had got drunk, and this man, when ordered by Captain 
 
 to be silent, or to perform some duty, refused to obey, as he was 
 
 not a 52nd officer, and swore at him, calling him a d d ; 
 
 the officer drew his sword, and cut the drunken mutineer very 
 severely across the shoulder. Eor this the officer was afterwards 
 brought to a court-martial and honourably acquitted. The Duke 
 of Wellington, on reading the proceedings of the court-martial, 
 ordered the 52nd soldier to be brought to a general court-martial 
 for mutinous conduct towards his superior officer; he was 
 accordingly tried, found guilty, and condemned to be shot. The 
 Duke, who always felt the vast importance of upholding the 
 discipline of the army, determined that the sentence should be 
 executed. I saw at a little distance, not far from my tent, an 
 interview between the Duke and Sir John Colborne, which I had 
 reason to believe was connected with this man's execution. The 
 Duke had come into our camp from his garden door, and as 
 Colborne almost immediately joined him, I fancy the interview 
 had been arranged before. The Duke, who generally appeared 
 to be a person of very quiet demeanour, seemed on this occasion 
 to speak with some considerable earnestness, and Colborne, who 
 was most anxious, as we all were, that the man's life should be 
 spared, was equally energetic. The conversation did not last 
 more than seven or eight minutes, and I did not learn the result, 
 until the order for the execution appeared in orders. I think
 
 m THE CHAMPS ELYSeES. 171 
 
 the next morning, the regiments of the brigade marched to some 
 ground near the walls of Paris, to see the sentence carried into 
 effect. 
 
 The regiments were drawn up so that each occupied one 
 side of a large square, the man to be executed being placed 
 in the middle of the fourth side of the square with his coffin 
 behind him, and the firing party, consisting I think, of a 
 Serjeant and twelve rank and file, a few paces in his front. 
 The brigade-major, or some other staff-ofhcer, then rode forward 
 and read the charge against the soldier, the finding of the court- 
 martial, and the sentence. When this was done, an aide-de- 
 camp, the bearer of a reprieve, rode into the square ; I think it 
 was an order from the Duke, granting the man a pardon, and 
 stating, amongst other reasons for doing so, that it was partly in 
 consideration of the high character of the regiment to which he 
 belonged, that the Duke was induced to take this course. 
 
 I have an idea that some of us were aware the night before 
 that the man would be pardoned, but the man himself, and the 
 men of the regiment and of the brigade generally, expected the 
 execution to take place. I met him close to the camp, in the 
 course of the afternoon, walking with one of the men, and I 
 recollect that the poor fellow sobbed as he passed and saluted 
 me. I cannot quite bear in mind whether I spoke to him or 
 not ; but I am sure I must have shewn him, in some wa}", how 
 much I felt for him. 
 
 Two or three other recollections which I have of Paris at the 
 time of our encampment there, are of a much lighter character than 
 the occurrences I have just mentioned. Great numbers of English 
 families came out to Paris during the summer and autumn of 
 1S15, and the costumes of many of the women, who, according 
 to the most approved English fashion of that day, wore very 
 short waists and very long bonnets, appeared very odd and 
 ridiculous, even to us who were their countrymen, when con- 
 trasted with the neat and elegant style of dress of the Parisian 
 ladies. We used to think that our fair countrywomen, as a general 
 rule, greatly excelled the French females in beauty, whilst the 
 latter carried away the palm with regard to dress. 
 
 The caricatures of the English visitors, exhibited in the shop
 
 172 THE 52nd excamped 
 
 windows, were very good, and did not go far beyond the reality. 
 A large stout John Bull, weighing from sixteen to eighteen 
 stone, was generally the principal figure, and there were 
 generally Mrs. and some Misses Bull with their short waists, &c., 
 and sometimes a Master Bull or two, staring about, as one saw 
 them do every day, at everything they came across. Sometimes 
 the whole party were represented as standing out in the middle 
 of the street, curiously examining the tops of the tall houses, 
 at other times walking along the streets, staring at everything 
 and everybody. But the French were not satisfied with 
 exhibiting caricatures of our females, dressed in the inelegant 
 national costume of that day, but they brought forward a 
 comedy at one of the theatres, called " Lcs Anglaises pour rire' 
 in which the same sort of characters and costumes were repre- 
 sented on the stage. I once saw the play acted, and could not 
 but join in the general laugh at the ludicrous exhibitions made 
 of the curiosity, and want of taste in dress, of our fair country- 
 women. 
 
 One evening some English officers determined to oppose 
 
 the acting of the play, and there was some skirmishing between 
 them and the police before the opposition ceased ; shortly 
 afterwards the piece was given up. 
 
 There was also another very laughable piece, which was 
 brought forward at one of the theatres, and which met with 
 great success. It was intended as a burlesque on the drapers' 
 and other shopkeepers' assistants, many of whom were in the 
 habit, on Sundays and fete-days, of dressing, and passing 
 themselves off, as military men. The farce was called 
 •• Monsieur Calico." 
 
 Monsieur Calico himself was represented, in the caricatures 
 and on the stage, as a young man of three or four-and-twenty, 
 about five feet high, dressed, I think, in a tailed coat and round 
 hat, and manifesting considerable pretensions also, as regards 
 the hair, whiskers, front of shirt, and stock. But the most 
 remarkable appendage was a pair of steel spurs, about four 
 inches in length, attached to the heels of his boots. The linen 
 drapers' assistants, and numerous other young men, who felt 
 themselves aggrieved, were furious at the representation, and at
 
 IN THE CHAMPS ELYSkES. 173 
 
 the success which it met with, and for several nights they 
 endeavoured to take possession of the theatre, and to put down 
 the obnoxious piece. I believe it was withdrawn after some 
 little time. 
 
 It would not be right that I should leave the subject of 
 attending theatres, without stating my very decided opinion, 
 that parents should keep their children from such places, as 
 being calculated to do them the greatest injury. It is well 
 known that they are often frequented by the very worst 
 characters of both sexes ; indeed, I have heard it stated, fifty 
 years ago, that if such characters were excluded, some of the 
 largest theatres in London would become regular failures. Then it 
 was notorious in those days that many of the actors and actresses 
 were not persons of good moral character. I know not how far 
 there has been any improvement of late years. I know that 
 respectable persons do still take their children to such scenes, but 
 I always wonder how they can do so. Supposing the attending 
 the theatre to be free from the above objections, which it is not, 
 many of the representations which take place are not calculated to 
 improve the moral and religious tone of society. When I was a 
 very little child I went to see a play at a country theatre, in 
 which a man rushed on the stage with a child in his arms, in 
 the midst of a storm of thunder and lightning, and, dropping on 
 one knee, offered up earnest words of prayer to God for 
 protection. Notwithstanding all that may be advanced about 
 its being a proper representation of what those who fear God 
 are encouraged to do in aU times of danger, I consider that such 
 addresses, pretended to be offered up in theatrical representations, 
 must be highly offensive to the Almighty. I am glad to 
 think that increasing numbers of respectable persons, of all 
 classes of society, now avoid the theatre. My rule will 
 well apply here : — " Never allow yourself, for purposes of 
 " amusement, to be in any company or place in which God is 
 " dishonoured."
 
 174 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1815, 181G. 
 THE 52nd quartered at VERSAILLES, ST. GERMAIN, AND CLERMONT. 
 
 Quarter at Versailles— Palace — St. Germain— Sir John Colborne goes on leave— 
 His good advice — Clermont— Anniversarj' of the death of Louis XVI — 
 A guard of honour in the church — Atchison and Dawson of the artillery. 
 
 On the 2nd of November, 1815, we broke up our agreeable 
 encampment in the Champs Elys^es, and went into quarters at 
 Versailles, which is about fourteen miles from Paris. Versailles 
 is a beautifully built town, and I was quartered in a very good 
 house belonging to Madame Courtin, a very nice old lady, who 
 was very kind to me, and gave me three neatly-bound volumes, 
 containing Voltaire's Histories of Peter the Great, of Eussia, and 
 of Charles XII, of Sweden ; they now lie before me, as I 
 write this, fifty years after I received them. We had not much 
 to do at Versailles, where we remained about six weeks, and I 
 spent much of my time in the palace, and in the adjoining 
 beautiful gardens and grounds. In this palace of Versailles 
 Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were attacked five-and-twenty 
 years before, by the Parisian mob, accompanied by soldiers under 
 La Payette, and treated with great indignity ; they were forced 
 to accompany them the next day to Paris, and I believe never 
 returned again to Versailles. 
 
 About the middle of December the 52nd marched from Ver- 
 sailles to St. Germain. The men were in the palace, and the 
 officers were quartered on the inhabitants. I was on guard the 
 first night, and passed one of the most wretched nights I ever
 
 THE 52XD QUARTERED AT VERSAILLES. 175 
 
 passed in my life. By some accident there was no proper officers' 
 guard- room, and when it was too late, I found myself with a 
 whole suite of magnificent rooms, on the first floor of the palace, 
 for my guard-rooms, without one single article of furniture in 
 them ; there w^ere some logs of wood, but no other means had I 
 of igniting them, or of keeping any heat in my body during that 
 very cold night, than by collecting from time to time, and burning, 
 quantities of straw, which had been swept out on to the balconies 
 extending along the whole of the suite of apartments. 
 
 Sir John Colborne went on leave, during the short time that 
 the 52nd was at St. Germain. On my calling npon him shortly 
 before I started, he gave me some good advice on the subject of 
 the importance of my improving myself by reading, &c., &c., and 
 kindly told me he might very probably have it in his power to 
 be of use to me in the service, but .that of course my getting on 
 well in the army must depend chiefly on my own attention to 
 the reading and studies necessary in order to my becoming a good 
 and useful officer. He was travelling in Germany during most 
 of the time that he was absent from the regiment, and I think 
 he joined us again about June or July, 1818, at the camp near 
 St. Omer, when I was much pleased by his saying that Colonel 
 Charles Eowan had given him a good account of my endeavours 
 to improve myself during his absence. 
 
 In order to strengthen the government of Louis XVIII, and 
 to give him time to reconstruct his army, and to feel increasing 
 security against any attempts which might be made again to 
 overthrow the newly established order of things in France, it had 
 been determined by the Allied sovereigns that an army of 150,000 
 should remain in the north of France for three years, and that 
 certain fortresses should be held and garrisoned by them durino' 
 that period. Tlie troops were to be paid,* clothed, and provisioned 
 at the expence of France. The leading powers of Europe sent 
 their several quotas of troops, and the whole Allied army of 
 
 * Will it be believed, that under these circumstances the officers of the 
 British portion of the army of occupation had to pay an income-tax of ten per 
 cent. ? I well recollect that it was deducted from my ensign's pay of about £95 
 a year. There must have been some mennness or rascality somewhere. The 
 amount thus deducted from the British officers, certainly would not find its way 
 into the French Treasury.
 
 176 THE 52nd QUAKTEEKD at VERSAILLES, 
 
 occupation was placed under the command of the Duke of 
 Wellington. 
 
 The 52nd marched from St. Germain, I think, on Christmas- 
 day, towards the cantonments which they were to occupy in the 
 Pas de Calais. All the necessary arrangements appear not to 
 have been completed at that time, for we were quartered in the 
 town of Clermont, about thirty miles from Paris, and in some of 
 the neiglibouring villages, for about a month before we proceeded 
 to our destination. I have very little recollection of Clermont 
 and of the village about a mile and a half from it, which I occu- 
 pied with about forty or fifty men. I well remember that I first 
 tried to smoke a cigar as I walked out from the town one night, 
 and that it made me dreadfully ill ; I also remember that on the 
 21st of January, the anniversary of the death of Louis the XVI, 
 in 1793, a guard of honour, accompanied by the King's colour, was 
 allowed to be present in the church at Clermont : at a particular 
 moment, I suppose on the elevation of the host, the colour was 
 lowered, and the guard poresented arms, at the same time each 
 man coming down on one knee. The whole scene appeared to 
 me to be exceedingly ludicrous, and this arose especially from the 
 awkward business the men made of saluting in a posture which 
 they were of course unaccustomed to. We thought nothing at 
 the time of the sin of thus joining in an idolatrous ceremony. I 
 trust the practice, which prevailed so many years, of requiring 
 our officers and soldiers to take part in the idolatrous ceremonies 
 of the Ptoman Catholic and Greek churches, has now been entirely 
 given up. 
 
 In the year 1824 Captain Atchison and Lieutenant Dawson, 
 two officers of the Ptoyal Artillery stationed at Malta, w^ere cash- 
 iered by sentence of a court-martial, the president of which was 
 the Eoman Catholic colonel of the Maltese Fencibles, for request- 
 ing to be excused from superintending the tolling of a bell and 
 the firing of a petteraro salute in honour of the procession of St. 
 
 ; the petteraroes were small pieces of cannon, 
 used by the priests for such purposes. Mr. Dawson was first put 
 in orders for the performance of this unmilitary duty ; but he, 
 feeling the irksomeness of having anything to do with what he 
 had religious and conscientious scruples against, requested the
 
 ST. GERMAIN, AND CLEEMONT. • 177 
 
 officer commanding the artillery at ]\Ialta, to excuse him from it ; 
 this request he very kindly acceded to, and Captain Atchison was 
 put in orders for it ; but Cajjtain Atchison also had his strong 
 objections to the performance of the obnoxious duty, and requested 
 the commanding officer to let him off: this he readily did, and 
 very good-naturedly superintended the tolling of the bell and 
 the firing of the salute himself 
 
 The affair was supposed to have been settled, but of course it 
 was talked of in the garrison, and after a considerable time the 
 thing was referred to the Horse Guards by Sir Thomas Maitland, 
 and orders eventually came out for Atchison and Dawson to be 
 brought to a court-martial for disobedience of orders. In their 
 defence they not only pleaded that they had not disobeyed orders, 
 and that it was not a military duty from which they had requested 
 to be excused, but they wished also to shew from Scripture that 
 the service required of them was idolatrous and profane, and 
 contrary to what was laid down in the articles and homilies of 
 the Church of England. In this last mentioned line of defence 
 they were not allowed to proceed ; they consequently declined to 
 continue their defence. The proceedings of the court-martial 
 were sent to England, and the judge-advocate returned them to 
 Malta, observing that the oflicers must be permitted to shew, as 
 they desired to do, that the duty they were ordered to perform, 
 was opposed to what w^as contained in the Word of God and in 
 the Prayer Book ; the court reassembled, and its proceedings 
 were resumed, and Captain Atchison and Mr. Dawson were found 
 guilty of disobedience of orders. In promulgating, in a general 
 order, the sentence of dismissal from the service, the Duke of 
 York, who was then Commander-in-Chief, laid down the monstrous 
 dogma, that a " lawful order was any order given by a lawful 
 " superior ;" so that if a superior officer were to order an oflicer 
 junior to him to clean his boots, or should he desire any officer 
 or man to kill an innocent person or persons, he must be obeyed, 
 although it might be strongly suspected that he was intoxicated, 
 or labouring under some aberration of intellect. I myself knew 
 the case of an officer, belonging to the army of occupation in 
 France, who, under a delusion of mind, after firing away his ser- 
 vant's ammunition at every living person or thing he could see, 
 
 N
 
 178 THE 52nd quartered at VERSAILLES, 
 
 without doing any damage, ordered the corporal's guard to turn 
 out and fire at every person who might shew himself in any of 
 the village streets. According to the Duke of York's idea, this 
 order should have been obeyed, as it was " the order of a lawful 
 " superior." It was, however, not obeyed, and the officer was im- 
 mediately sent in charge of another officer to England, and placed 
 under the care of his friends. 
 
 Many years ago I wrote to the Hon. John Forbes, who had 
 been in the 52nd, and who, at the time I wrote, was aide-de-camp 
 to General Sir A. Woodford, at Corfu ; and at my request he gave 
 me an account of the procession of the Greek Church, in which 
 the British officers were expected to take part, carrying long 
 lighted candles, in honour of St. Spiridione. I have, I am sorry to 
 say, lost his letter. 
 
 Some time after the court-martial on Captain Atchison and 
 Mr. Dawson, I took considerable pains to induce persons, who 
 felt strongly the injustice which had been done to these officers, 
 to get up petitions to parliament, and addresses to the Crown, on 
 the subject. Many petitions, &c., were consequently sent up from 
 Derbyshire. I drew out a petition, in which a few clergymen, 
 formerly in the army, joined, stating we knew the necessity that 
 existed for prompt obedience to military commands, but that, had 
 we been required to perform the service required of Captain 
 Atchison and Lieutenant Dawson, we must have refused to obey 
 the order, even had we known that death would be the conse- 
 quence of such refusal. This petition, with the others, made 
 some stir. Dr. Blom field. Bishop of London, undertook to pre- 
 sent it in the House of Lords, and called on Lord Hill, the then 
 Commander-in-Chief, and wrote to the Duke of Wellington on the 
 subject. The Duke had not replied to his letter when I called 
 on the Bishop the second time, and he felt annoyed at his apparent 
 inattention. When the petition was presented in the House of 
 Commons, amongst others Daniel O'Connell stood up and spoke 
 warmly on the subject, saying, that if the state of the case, with 
 regard to Protestant officers and soldiers being required to join 
 in the ceremonies of the Ptoman Catholic and Greek churches^ 
 was as the petition represented it to be, the objectionable practice 
 should at once be done away with.
 
 ST. GERMAIN, AND CLERMONT. 179 
 
 Mr. Dawson became a clergyman of the cliurch of England, 
 and resided at Jersey for some considerable time. He has been 
 dead now for many years. Captain Atchison was, after several 
 years, restored to his rank and pay as a captain of artillery, and 
 he has been for many years, and still is, colonel-commandant 
 of the Eoyal Lancashire Artillery Militia.* 
 
 On our way from Clermont to our cantonments, we halted for 
 two days at Amiens. On the first day I was on guard. When 
 relieved from guard the next day, I went to the house I was 
 quartered on ; it was occupied by a very quiet, gentlemanly man 
 and his wife ; but in finding me accommodation they shewed an 
 extreme ignorance of the relative positions of officer and soldier 
 in the British army, for I found at night that they had actually 
 made up a stretcher-bed for my servant in the small room which 
 I was to occupy ; I had the greatest difficulty in getting them to 
 understand that this arrangement would never do. After some 
 considerable parley, it ended in my servant and I carrying the 
 stretcher-bed into a sitting room on the other side of the passage ; 
 they all the time thinking me a most unreasonable person, and 
 maintaining that as the arrangement was only for one night, we 
 might as well submit to it. 
 
 * Colonel Atchison has kindly promised to give me the particulars of his restora- 
 tion to the service, and I hope they will reach me in sufficient time to enable me 
 to place them in Chapter XLV of this work. 
 
 N 2
 
 ]80 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1816. 
 
 CANTONMENTS IN THE NOETH OF FRANCE. 
 
 Villages aroimd Therouenne — Henry VIII— Siege of Th6rouenne and Battle of 
 Spurs three hundred years before — Honours gained by ancestors — Alarming 
 occurrence — Periodical encampment and march to Valenciennes — Kind 
 feeling between tlie villagers and our men — Meadow at Therouenne — 
 Bathing in the river Lys — Sir Denis Pack's inspection — Brigade orders- 
 Curious occurrence — Remarkable case of one of the men becoming religious. 
 
 About the beginning of February, 1816, we reached our canton- 
 ments in the north of France. The regiment occupied six-and- 
 twenty villages. They were within a circle of which the ancient 
 town (now only a village) of Therouenne might be considered as 
 the centre ; the diameter of the circle would be about seven miles. 
 Therouenne was besieged and taken by our Henry VIII, in 
 1514 ; it is situated about seven miles south of St. Omer, and is 
 on the Lys, a very small river, fordable in many places below the 
 town, but not above it. The first village we arrived at was 
 Estrceblanche, which was my quarter during the greater part of 
 our occupation of France ; but I was stationed first of all, for 
 several months, at Enguinegatte or Guinegatte, a village about 
 two miles from Estrceblanche, and the same distance from The- 
 rouenne, a quarter of a mile to the left of the road, the Chaussee 
 Brunehaut. Here the Battle of Spurs was fought, during the 
 siege of Therouenne, between the French and English. The gar- 
 rison was in great want of provisions, and Louis XI, the French 
 king, sent all his cavalry, to the nimiber of 8000, to try and
 
 CANTONMENTS IN THE NORTH OF FEANCE. 181 
 
 convey succours to them. King Henry, it is said, by tlie advice 
 of the emperor Maximilian, who was serving as a private soldier 
 under him, threw several bridges over the Lys, which I know 
 above the toM'n, abreast of Enguinegatte, is deep and rapid, and 
 for a long distance from fifteen to twenty feet broad ; by follow- 
 ing this advice, the English king was enabled to pass his troops 
 over, so as to meet the enemy on the side by which they were 
 most likely to approach the town. The French were totally 
 defeated with great loss, " and fled so fast, that thar from it Avas 
 " called the Battel of Spurs, for that they used more their spurs in 
 " running away, than their launces in fighting." The Duke of 
 Longueville, who commanded, and several superior officers, were 
 made prisoners. The town of Therouenne shortly after surren- 
 dered, and the fortifications were levelled. 
 
 Enguinegatte, close to which the Battle of Spurs was fought, 
 is two miles from Thdrouenne ; but that which makes these 
 places and these events particularly interesting, in connexion with 
 their forming part of the cantonments of the 52nd, is this — that 
 there is good ground for thinking it probable that the ancestors 
 of two of the 52nd officers who occupied them, fought and 
 obtained honours at the Battle of Spurs, and at the siege of The- 
 rouenne, three hundred years before. 
 
 Sir William Henry Gierke, Bart., was a lieutenant in the 
 52nd in the Peninsula, and at Waterloo. Erom 1816 to 1818 he 
 was quartered about two miles from the ground on which the 
 Battle of Spurs was fought. The servi(;es of his ancestor on that 
 occasion are thus mentioned in the peerage : — " Sir John Gierke, 
 " Knt., of Weston, a military man of great valour, had the fortune 
 " to make Louis d'Orleans, Duke of Longueville, prisoner, at Borny, 
 " near Therouenne, 14th August, in the fifth year of Hei^y VIII, 
 " and was, for that signal service, rewarded by the king with an 
 " honorary addition to his arms." I presume the addition was that 
 of the two fleur-de-lis, which I see form part of the Gierke arms. 
 
 Sir John Leke, who died in 1522, "was knighted by Henry 
 " VIII at the siege of Lisle ; the king gave him for his crest two 
 " eagles as supporters to a peacock's tail." Now there appears to 
 have been no siege of Lisle ; but Tournay, near Lisle, was be- 
 sieged immediately after th-^ full of Therouenne ; so that the
 
 1^2 CANTONMENTS IN 
 
 addition of the eagles to his crest must have been given for his 
 good conduct at and near Therouenne, or at Tournay, near Lisle. 
 Henry VIII visited Lisle during the siege of Tournay, and on 
 his march from Therouenne ; hence probably the mistake about 
 the siege of Lisle. My family have the crest of a peacock's tail, 
 with eagles as supporters, handed down to them on very old seals. 
 AVhen quartered at Enguinegatte, on my inquiring of the people 
 if they had any tradition as to where the famous Battle of the 
 Spurs was fought, they told me that the house in which I was 
 then quartered was built on the very ground. It was on the 
 western extremity of the village. I often to this day think with 
 what pleasure, and with what proud, martial feelings, I frequently 
 on a moonliglit night used to walk up and down the few pasture 
 fields of that part of the viUage, whistling bugle tunes, or 
 listening to the tattoo, sounded so well and so clearly by the two 
 buglers of my detachment. Until our arrival, no sound of British 
 martial music had been heard there since the Battle of Spurs 
 three hundred years before. And we had something to be proud 
 of, as well as our forefathers of the tenth generation back, who 
 had fought and conquered on that very ground. 
 
 The house I was first quartered in at Enguinegatte, was not 
 the same as that above-mentioned, to which I had to remove on 
 one of our assistant surgeons, who had a choice of quarters before 
 me, being ordered to that village. My first quarter was at the 
 house of the principal man of the village, a most respectable 
 farmer, by the name of Ledoux, I think. He was one of the 
 finest men I ever saw; his son and daughter also were fine, 
 handsome young people, of about twenty-one and nineteen. I 
 had a large square room, the principal room in the house, which 
 served Ejie both as a sitting and a bed room ; the windows were 
 towards the garden, and the lower part of them, where there was 
 a ledge of nearly the breadth of the wall, was about four feet 
 from the ground ; I should say they were four feet square. I 
 have been thus particular in describing the room on account of 
 a somewhat alarming occurrence which took place on the very 
 first night of my arrival at Enguinegatte. I must premise that I 
 am rather ashamed of relating the occurrence, but I do so more 
 particularly for the benefit of my younger readers.
 
 THE NORTH OF FEANCE. 183 
 
 My narrow iron bedstead was placed in one corner of the 
 room, close under one of the windows, and there was just room 
 for a chair between the bedstead and an old fashioned fireplace, 
 which was on the same side of the room with the head of my 
 bed and the chair ; the fireplace projected about twenty inches 
 from the wall. As I was in a strange place and amongst stran- 
 gers, I thought it desirable before I went to bed to examine the 
 fastenings of my doors before I retired .to rest. As usual, there 
 was no fastening to the main door communicating with the farm- 
 house kitchen, and the other door was locked or bolted on the 
 other side. On going to bed, I laid my sword, in the scabbard, 
 along the sill of the window, which was above my bed to the 
 left. I soon fell asleep, and slept soundly for some hours ; in the 
 middle of the night I awoke, and was conscious that I had been 
 awakened by some noise in the room. I listened for some seconds, 
 and (|uietly taking my sword from the window, I drew it, and 
 having a good hold of it so that I could use it, if necessary, I laid 
 it along the outside of the bed clothes, and listened very anx- 
 iously for any sound which might discover to me who or what it 
 was that had disturbed me. I could hear no footstep or other 
 sound for a minute or two, but after a little time, I distinctly 
 heard what appeared to be the breathing of a person standing by 
 tlie side of my bed, with his head a foot or two above my face. 
 Without any consideration, I immediately made a horizontal cut, 
 with all the force I could use in my horizontal position, in the 
 direction of the fire-place : to my great astonishment, I only cut 
 through the air, and my sword made a tremendous clatter against 
 the projecting wall of the fire-place. I lay quietly for a minute 
 or two, and then heard the breathing again, but closer to me ; 
 and then I thought it possibly proceeded from a rat either on my 
 bed or on the chair ; in order to dislodge this enemy, I took the 
 pillow, and making a dash at him with it, upset the chair, and 
 altogether made so much noise, that it disturbed my host and 
 hostess, who, I then found, from a peculiar cough of one of them, 
 were my neighbours, in the room the door of which was fastened 
 on the other side. They probably began to wonder what the 
 young English officer, who had just taken up his residence with 
 them, was up to, in making all these terrible noises in the middle
 
 184 CANTONMENTS IN 
 
 of the niglit. I did not hear any rat scamper away, but wishing 
 to find out, if I could, what had led to all this disturbance, and 
 recollecting that possibly there might yet be some small remains 
 of fire in the wood ashes on the hearth, I felt my way to the fire- 
 place, and found the bellows, a long iron tube about two feet and 
 a half long, and more than half an inch in diameter in the inside, 
 and blowing through this tube, I produced enough light from the 
 dying embers to shew me, not a fairy, but a poor quiet tabby cat 
 sitting and warming herself in the chimney corner. 
 
 I had about seventy men of No. 9 company with me at 
 Eno'uine'Tatte ; the remainder of them were at Estreeblanche with 
 the two other officers : when the weather permitted, the two 
 parties met about ten o'clock each day, two or three times a 
 week, on the company's parade ground, which was between the 
 two villages, and about a mile from each ; the whole regiment 
 was occasionally assembled at Th(^rouenne, but the frequent 
 assembling of the regiment during the winter was not necessary, 
 as in the summer months the whole division was encamped at 
 Eacquingham, not far from St. Omer, and each autumn we 
 marched to Valenciennes, and its neighbourhood, and joined the 
 rest of the British and German troops for the purpose of engaging 
 in sham fights and other field movements. In 1816 and in 1817, 
 towards the end of October, the 52nd returned from Valenciennes 
 to their old cantonments, but after proceeding to Valenciennes in 
 1818, and being encamped on the glacis there for some time, they 
 occupied the citadel of that place for several weeks, till they 
 marched on the i9th of November to Calais, to embark for En- 
 gland, being the last remaining regiment of the British army of 
 occupation. 
 
 The kind feeling which existed between the inhabitants of 
 the villages in which we were quartered and ourselves, both 
 officers and men, is described in the following extract from a 
 letter I received from Colonel Hall, on my mentioning to him 
 my idea of publishing my reminiscences of the 52nd at Water- 
 loo, &c., &c. : — " You might, I think, make some mention of the 
 " excellent people amongst whom we passed nearly three years. 
 " The public statistics show that the population of this part is the 
 " most moral, the most intelligent, and the best behaved of all
 
 THE NOETII OF FRANCE. 185 
 
 " France. You must remember the peasants ; how sober, steady, 
 " and industrious they were — how obliging and respectful, without 
 " the least taint of servility — and the women, how gentle, good, 
 " and kind. You must remember the quiet and comfortable habits 
 " of life in the farm-houses, where, as in England of old, the un- 
 " married labourers dwelt under the same roof with their masters — 
 " the prayers morning and evening — the little patches of land, 
 " leased in part payment of labour, a strong incentive to industry, 
 "and which created in the fields a variety agreeable and novel to 
 " our eyes. I recall, with grateful feelings, the friendly feeling 
 " which we strangers experienced from the people who were com- 
 " j)elled to endure us. Our men, as you know, became domesticated 
 " in their billets, and, as it were, members of the cottage families ; 
 " they partook of the household fare, and their rations went into 
 " the common stock ; even the tobacco which the French govern- 
 " ment issued to them, they shared with their hosts. It was the 
 " same in the towns of the neighbourhood, where all were kindly 
 " disposed towards us. The banker at St. Omer cashed our bills 
 " at once without any endorsement ; he asked for no reference 
 " nor recommendation, and the sole security he had was the uniform 
 " we wore. It is gratifying to reflect that his generous confidence 
 " was not misplaced : after the army of occupation had been with- 
 " drawn, he declared he had not lost a franc by the British officers." 
 I think few of the families of the French gentry remained 
 at their residences in our cantonments ; but there were many 
 such families in St. Omer, Aire, and Bethune, which were forti- 
 fied towns, with French garrisons in them ; we were, however, 
 very little mixed up with them. When at Estreeblanche, two of 
 us were quartered in the house of a very respectable miller by 
 the name of Campagne, who was also the mayor of the comnmne ; 
 Captain McNair was quartered at the chateau of Monsieur Eo- 
 bichez, a kind old man ; he was scarcely ever resident there, but 
 left his establishment in the care of a very faithful housekeeper, 
 named Angelique. As it was within two or three hundred yards 
 of our quarters, we usually messed there, and M. Eobichez very 
 kindly supplied us with most excellent wine at the cost price : 
 I particularly weU recollect some beautiful red champagne 
 at fifteenpence a bottle. In the spring we got up a mess at
 
 186 CANTONMENTS IN 
 
 Therouenne for several weeks, from sixteen to twenty officers 
 usually (lining at it; no one could be there everyday, but it was a 
 pleasant change for us, when we could get there. I think I was 
 the only one of the Estreeblanche party who managed it, for it 
 was a ride of eight miles there and back : then sometimes we 
 went earlier in the day, and spent several hours together. Poor 
 Jock Anderson, who lost his leg at Waterloo, was at Therouenne, 
 and usually had some friends who visited him, and tried to 
 amuse him. 
 
 In the long meadow of Therouenne, as it was called, we had 
 our regimental drills and the general's inspections. The Lys 
 formed its southern boundary, and some of us used to bathe 
 there. I particularly well remember the pleasure I felt at 
 having learnt to swim so well at Paris, that I could make head 
 against the rapid stream of the Lys ; sometimes I used to fold 
 my arms and allow it to carry me down, in four or five seconds, 
 a distance of twenty yards, which it had taken me as many 
 minutes to make good when swimming against the stream, I 
 have often been reminded, in after years, of this little feat con- 
 nected with my bathing in the Lys, when thinking of the diffi- 
 culties which a child of God, one who trusts in the death of 
 Christ as the satisfaction made for sin, and whose heart is turned 
 from the love and practice of sin to the love of God and His 
 commands, has to contend with in his course through this world. 
 So long as he strives to live near to God, diligently using all the 
 appointed means of grace, and seeking especially to grow in 
 knowledge, faith, holiness, and peace, by means of God's word, 
 under the teaching of the Holy Spirit (1 Peter ii, 1 — 3), so long 
 as he thus seeks help from God, so long shall he be enabled 
 successfully to make head against the temptations of his power- 
 ful, but not all-powerful, enemies — the world, the flesh, and the 
 devil ; but let him cease to meditate daily in the Word of God, 
 and to watch, and to pray for strength to do what is right, and 
 to give up what is wrong in thought, word, and deed — let him 
 fold his arms and cease to strive, and almost before he has time 
 to think of what has happened to him, he may find that he has 
 been most fearfully carried down the stream of worldliness and 
 sin by the force of those temptations which he has not taken the
 
 THE NOKTH OF FKANCE. 187 
 
 appointed means to overcome. That a child of God, one horn of 
 the Spirit, may fearfully fall into sin, is evident from the case of 
 David. His new nature, although it cannot perish, will be 
 greatly enfeebled, and he will lose the comfort of knowing that 
 he is one of God's children, as David did ; and he can only re- 
 cover it in the same way of humiliation and prayer and watch- 
 fulness and diligence that David had recourse to, as we read in 
 Psalm li, 7—11. 
 
 I will not pursue this subject except to observe the following 
 is the most satisfactory definition of the word " world," as used 
 in 1 John v, 4, 5, which I have met with, I forget whose it is : — 
 " By the world is meant everything around us, which tends to 
 " draw or keep our hearts from God, including all persons, 
 " whether neighbours, relatives, or acquaintances ; superiors, 
 " equals, or inferiors ; friends or enemies ; or all objects or cir- 
 " cumstances (whatever tliey may be) which, by the power they 
 " exert over our bodies or our minds, prevent our loving or 
 " serving God as we ought to do." The flesh is our old corrupt 
 nature, which, as the 9th article of the Church of England states, 
 " doth remain, yea in them that are regenerate." It is made up 
 of all the sinful desires and propensities of the mind and body 
 (Gal. V, 19 — 21), which the devil (Eph. vi, 12) stirs up to make 
 a sinful use of the world. These are subdued, but not eradicated, 
 in the hearts of those whose hearts are changed and turned to 
 God, who have put on the new man, (the image, or character, or 
 likeness of Christ,) " which after God is created in righteousness 
 " and true holiness." This new nature is formed in every be- 
 liever (2 Cor. V, 1 7), though it is in an infant state at first. It is 
 made up of the fruits of the Spirit (GaL v, 22, 23) ; and to put 
 on Christ, or to put on the new man, i.e. to increase in all the 
 fruits of the Spirit, and to put off the old man, or the old cor- 
 rupt nature, that is, to have the fruits of the flesh subdued in 
 him, is the daily prayer and aim and desire of every child of 
 God : 1 Peter ii, 1 — 3, When a man is endeavouring, looking 
 for that " strength which is made perfect in weakness," to do 
 what is right with regard to persons, things, and circumstances, 
 he is trying to make a right use of the world ; he is " using the 
 "world as not abusing it:" 1 Cor. vii, 31. In connexion with
 
 188 CANTONMENTS IN 
 
 this subject, let us well consider those two important verses in 
 1 John V, 4, 5 : " Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the 
 " world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world 
 " but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ? " I should 
 add, that I believe these three enemies never act separately ; 
 that the devil always makes use of some person, object, or cir- 
 cumstance, in acting upon the corrupt nature of man. I trust 
 many of my readers may derive benefit from the consideration of 
 this subject. 
 
 When the alterations were made in the various brigades and 
 divisions after the battle of Waterloo, and before the army of 
 occupation marched to the north of France, the 52nd was placed 
 in Major-General Sir Denis Pack's brigade with the 4th regiment 
 and 79th highlanders ; and in the division commanded by Lieut.- 
 General Sir Charles Colville. Pack inspected us in the long 
 meadow near Therouenne early in June, 1816, and afterwards 
 issued the following : — 
 
 " Extixcct from Brigade Orders, Jun.e 11th, 1816. 
 
 " Major-General Sir Denis Pack feels much pleasure in re- 
 " cording his opinion that the appearance of the 52nd regiment, 
 " on his late inspection, justified all he heard in praise of the 
 " system established in that corps. He thinks particular praise 
 " is due to the officers for the good example they set by their 
 " strict uniformity of dress and officer-like appearance in every 
 " respect." 
 
 I believe it was on this occasion that he halted the reajiment, 
 and inquired of one of the officers " where was the place for the 
 " covering-serjeant of a company, when the battalion was in 
 " open column of sections, left in front?" The 52nd practice was 
 not exactly in accordance with his view of what was correct, and 
 after asking the same question from a second officer and not get- 
 ting the right answer, he told us " that the place for the covering- 
 " Serjeant, under the circumstances, was on the right of the rear 
 " section, that, when the company wheeled into line, he might be 
 " in his proper place." After the movements, &c., were ended, 
 the general and the officers proceeded to the paymaster's quarter 
 at, I think, the north-eastern extremity of the meadow. While 
 we were there, bearing in mind what had occurred about the
 
 THE NORTH OF FRANCE. 189 
 
 covering-serjeant's post, he desired an officer, who I think was 
 on his staff or acting on the staff for the day, to look the thing 
 out in Dundas ; and when he had turned over the pages for 
 some time, the general said " how can you be so stupid, i\Iajor 
 
 " ? " and took the book himself. He was quite as unable to 
 
 find the place as the other officer liad been, and had to relinquish 
 his task with rather a bad grace. 
 
 As my plan is to record my recollections of most of the 
 things which can be properly recorded without giving annoyance 
 to any one, I must mention a circumstance which occurred either 
 then or at some other time in the garden of the paymaster's 
 quarter. Two of us were amusing ourselves, and whiling the 
 time away by playing at pitch-and-toss with five-franc pieces, 
 when one of the pieces, which had been pitched not more than 
 five yards, on to the centre of the gravel walk, disappeared in a 
 most remarkable manner. We had both seen it pitched to the 
 mark, and had then lost sight of it, to our very great astonish- 
 ment. We hunted for it and searched everywhere and every- 
 thing for it, within several feet of the mark, for a good quarter of 
 an hour or more, but it was all in vain ; and we seriously, and 
 not at all laughingly or in a joke, felt constrained to come to the 
 conclusion that it had disappeared through the agency of Satan 
 himself. It made a great impression on me at the moment, and 
 the thoughts passed my mind, that it had possibly been per- 
 mitted on account of our sins, or that it foreboded some impend- 
 ing evil. After we had given up every idea of finding the five- 
 franc piece, on turning up a leaf, which appeared to be flat on 
 the ground and to be no larger than the piece itself, there it was, 
 to our very great surprise. 
 
 I believe there was scarcely anything that could be considered 
 religion, or even the appearance of religion, amongst us at that 
 time. Some years afterwards I heard that, whilst we were in 
 those cantonments, an agent from some Bible Society, I believe 
 it was the jSTaval and Military Bible Society, had sold or given 
 bibles to a few of our men. Long afterwards one of the soldiers, 
 who had become quite a religious man, said that this great 
 change had taken place in him, solely through his having read 
 one of these bibles, whilst he was quartered on a Eoman Catholic
 
 190 CANTONMENTS IN THE NORTH OF FEANCE. 
 
 family near Therouenne, witliout his liaving had any communi- 
 cation with them on the subject of religion. It was the only 
 means of grace he had at the time ; chaplains' visits to the regi- 
 ments were almost unknown in those scattered quarters. I have 
 no doubt but that God in His mercy does sometimes, perhaps 
 frequently, bring the truths of His word home to the hearts and 
 consciences of persons whilst they are studying it alone and 
 without the intervention of others, although His usual mode of 
 proceeding, in effecting a change of heart in a poor sinner, is by 
 his becoming acquainted with the truths of His word through 
 their being taught to him by His ministers or by others, or 
 through their being brought before him in some of those useful 
 religious publications which are now so almndant, but were 
 rarely met with fifty years ago. It must always be borne in 
 mind that, whoever may be the instrument of leading a fellow- 
 sinner to feel his sins and his need of a Saviour, it is His 
 own Word by which God converts the soul, and also builds up 
 the believer's soul in faith and holiness and peace. We are said 
 by the inspired apostle St. Peter, " to be born again, not of cor- 
 " ruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which 
 "liveth and abideth for ever:" 1 Peter i, 23, 25; James i, 18 ; 
 Psalm xix, 7. It is the Holy Spirit wliich makes the Word 
 effectual ; so we are said to be " born again of the Spirit." May 
 we pray that He may effect this change in every heart. 
 
 When we were in these separate villages, I do not recollect 
 that any attention was paid to the observance of the Lord's Day, 
 either as regarded ourselves or the men. There was no instruc- 
 tion for them in anything of a religious nature ; nor indeed did 
 it occur to us to endeavour to employ and amuse them by giving 
 them any other kind of instruction. When encamped at Valen- 
 ciennes, service was performed by the chaplain, but whether he 
 was attached to the brigade or to the division I forget.
 
 391 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 1816. 
 
 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS. 
 
 The regiment start a pack of fox-hounds —Anecdotes connected with our hunt- 
 ing—Accident—Go over to the cavahy quarters— Corainandant of St. 
 Omer and his staff— Lord Combertnere joias the party— His regret at not 
 having been at Waterloo —Dissertation on cruelty to the animals hunted— A 
 singular argument on the subject— Extinction of poaching — A trumpeter- 
 boy of the Life Guards. 
 
 Our amusements were not miicli varied, yet we managed to pass 
 
 our days very pleasantly. I think it was after our return from 
 
 Valenciennes, in the autumn of 1816, that we started a pack of 
 
 fox-hounds in the regiment ; tliey were a very nice pack, and 
 
 were well managed nnder the superintendence of one or two of 
 
 the of&cers. When we returned to England at the end of 
 
 November, 1818, ten couples were sold at Tattersall's at a high 
 
 price. I was very fond of hunting, and will mention a few 
 
 anecdotes counected with our proceedings in that direction. 
 
 Almost the whole of the country was uninclosed ; the woods and 
 
 villages being the exceptions. When we were clear of them, the 
 
 chief impediments to a straightforward gallop were deep hollow 
 
 roadS; and steep banks. There was a long bank, some miles from 
 
 my quarters, which, on more than one occasion, was a sore trouble to 
 
 a sailor friend of mine, by the name of Charles English, who was 
 
 staying with me and others of the 52nd for some time. I mounted 
 
 him ; and as he was not a first-rate horseman, the difficulties he 
 
 frequently got into, afforded his friends much amusement ; and 
 
 after he had got safely back to our quarters, the recounting them
 
 102 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS. 
 
 afforded him also mucli gratification. This higli harik was per- 
 haps about seventeen feet deep, and certainly very steep, but 
 still it was what those who were used to such things would take 
 their horses down on their haunches, yet it was a real trouble 
 to our friend, and I recollect looking back for him several times, 
 in the space of about two miles that we had ridden away from 
 him, and still seeing him riding backwards and forwards on the 
 top of the bank, doing what we termed " life-guardsman's duty," 
 searching for some more promising-looking place of descent than 
 he had hitherto discovered. 
 
 One day, when I was the officer of the day, I had to go to 
 make a report to Colonel Charles Eowan, who was quartered at 
 the Chateau d'Uppeu, about a mile from Therouenne. On coming 
 away, after making my report, I found that our hounds had just 
 run a fox into the adjoining wood, and, as my duty was per- 
 formed, I at once joined them, although, as I was in full regi- 
 mentals and had my sword hanging by my side, I was not very 
 suitably equipped for hunting. As soon as the fox had broken 
 cover again, a greyhound joined in the chase, and threatened to 
 spoil our sport, so as I was well mounted, and could, when I 
 chose, ride from the rear to the front of the hounds, I rode ahead 
 to drive him off. Having done this, I kept my place at the 
 head of the party, as we entered the inclosures of a village, with 
 the hounds well up to the fox. After j)assing two or three fields, 
 in taking a fence, my cap was knocked off my head by the 
 bough of a tree. Of course, as I was before everybody, I could 
 not stop to pick it iqj, but, noting the place, I rode on till in a 
 short time we killed our fox. This being accomplished, I began 
 to think of recovering my cap, and returned to the fence, at 
 which I felt quite sure I had lost it. The cap, however, was no 
 where to be seen. Our caps or shakoes were at that time orna- 
 mented, or rather disfigured, by a very broad band of silver round 
 the top, a very unsuitable appendage to the cap of a light in- 
 fantry officer. I thought I could not have made a mistake about 
 the fence, and became convinced that somebody, tempted by the 
 silver lace on the cap, had walked off with it. On raising my- 
 self in my stirrups and taking a survey, as well as I could, of the 
 fences of the adjoining fields, I saw the head of a woman through
 
 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS. 193 
 
 the higher branches of one of them, about two fields distant 
 from me. On riding up to her and inquiring if she had seen my 
 cap, she strenuously denied knowing anything about it ; how- " 
 ever, notwithstanding that she endeavoured to keep in a position 
 to prevent my discovering that she had something bulky under 
 her clothing, I at once perceived that such was the case ; and on 
 my accusing her of having my unfortunate cap there, she was 
 forced to hand it out, and I was only too glad to recover and 
 ride off with it, after giving her a good scolding for her dis- 
 honesty. 
 
 I have forgotten to mention an occurrence which took place 
 at the first meet of our hounds. My recollection of the ground 
 leads me to think that we met abreast of Enguinegatte, near to 
 the south-eastern corner of that long village, nearly on the re- 
 verse side of it from that on which the Battle of Spurs was 
 fought. I am not quite sure that this was the place, but I men- 
 tion it, as perhaps some of the surviving officers of the 52nd may 
 recollect it. I believe almost all the officers of the regiment, 
 and no others, were present on the occasion. The thought crosses 
 my mind as I write, and I feel disposed to give my readers the 
 benefit of it — If these recent warriors and heroes of Waterloo could 
 have met at this place the warriors and heroes who had fought 
 and conquered at the Battle of the Spurs, what an astonishing in- 
 terview it would have been. But let me for a moment follow on 
 with the idea — They will assuredly one day raeet together — 
 the day is coming, when all who have ever lived, or ever shall 
 live, upon this earth, shall stand together "before the judgment 
 " seat of Christ," " when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from 
 "heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking ven- 
 " geance on them that know not God, and that obey not the 
 " gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ : who shall be punished with 
 " everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and 
 " from the glory of his power ; when he shall come to be glori- 
 " fied in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." 
 May we all prepare daily and diligently for that solemn, and 
 awful, and most glorious day ! Then at least will all our foolish 
 " pride of human glory be stained." 
 
 How, after this digression, I am to get back to the trilling 
 

 
 194 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS, 
 
 anecdote I was about to mention, I know not : — The officers of 
 the 52nd were all assembled to see their new hounds throw off. 
 The hounds had never hunted together, and were of course very 
 wild. As we were all sitting very carelessly on our horses, one 
 of the horses got loose and galloped away. This was a great deal 
 too much for the sobriety of the new hounds, and they set off in 
 full cry after the horse ; and this sudden start made many of the 
 horses set off also. I was sitting in my saddle, with my bridle 
 lying on my horse's neck, and my horse, " Norman," (not the one 
 before mentioned,) a horse well known in the regiment as some- 
 thing very superior to a baggage-horse, and whom I saw last in 
 the stables of the posting-house at Calais, this horse made a 
 sudden start away, which threw me quite backwards before I 
 could touch the bridle, and from his back I fell off on the left 
 side without being able to disengage my foot from the left stir- 
 rup ; I was consequently dragged a short distance, and, either 
 accidently in his gallop, or purposely by a kick, he gave me a 
 heavy blow on my jaw, close to my chin, which covered me with 
 blood, and the mark of which I carry to this day. I was des- 
 perately afraid that my jaw was broken, and sought out our 
 assistant-surgeon, who was on the ground. It seems but yester- 
 day, so vividly do I recollect the scene, although it took place 
 as nearly as possible fifty years ago from the day on which I am 
 writing this. The following short dialogue took place: — 
 "Macartney! I fear my jaw is broken." He then took hold of 
 my chin and giving it a slight shake, said, " Oh, your jaw is not 
 " broken." I think no other person was thrown. I forget what 
 sort of a run we had that day, but I remember my horse got 
 planted in some ploughed land, and that I thought he was at 
 last paid off for all his ill behaviour at the start. 
 
 I don't know if any other regiment in the army of occupation 
 kept a pack of hounds, though I think the brigade in which the 
 29th was kept a pack. We once by arrangement took our 
 hounds to the cavalry quarters to the north of St. Omer, to give 
 the cavalry officers a day's sport. Lord Combermere,* who had 
 
 * The great disappointment of the gallant Sir Stajileton Cotton, (Lord Com- 
 bermere,) at not being allowed to proceed to Flanders in 1815, as Commander-in- 
 Chief of the cavalry, is mentioned iu very strong terms in his " Life," which has just
 
 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS. 195 
 
 taken the command of the cavalry, after Lord Uxbridge (the 
 Marquis of Anglesea) had lost his leg at Waterloo, went out 
 with us, and many other catalry officers. The French general 
 and his staff' came out from St. Omer, in full uniform, to see the 
 fun. In order to avoid disappointment, a bag-fox had been pro- 
 vided, which was turned out about a mile or more to the north- 
 ward of St. Omer, on the chaussee, along which it went for per- 
 haps half a mile. When it had had sufficient " law," the hounds 
 were laid on. It was a brilliant day, and there was a good and 
 well-mounted field. As we galloped after the hounds, none 
 appeared to enjoy the sport or to ride faster than the French 
 general and his staff ; but as they were not at all used to hunting 
 after our English fashion, their pleasure soon came to an end. 
 The fox after a time was headed, and crossing a tolerably wide 
 ditch to the left of the road, took to the open country. The 
 ditch was altogether too much for our French friends, as it would 
 have been for my sailor friend of whom I wrote before, but all 
 the rest of the party thought nothing of it. Before I had gone 
 half a mile from it, I had the misfortune, when I was well placed, 
 to break one of my stirrup-leathers, and I thought the best plan 
 was to pull up and see what I could do to remedy the disaster. 
 Fortunately it had broken exactly at the buckle, so that by 
 shortening my stirrups one hole, which I could well afford to do, 
 I avoided the, to me, great annoyance of riding the rest of the 
 day without stirrups. I was not very long in getting all to- 
 rights, and at once began to fetch up my lee-way in pretty good 
 style ; and it certainly was a considerable pleasure when I found 
 myself steadily advancing upon, and then passing. Lord Comber- 
 mere, who of course was well mounted. After some time I found 
 myself ahead of everybody, and I rode for several minutes nearly 
 abreast of the two leading hounds, being about thirty yards on 
 
 been published by Lady Combermere :— " All was of no avail. Both his personal 
 " claims and the representations of the Duke of Wellington failed to induce the 
 " Prince Regent to forego his revenge or partiality for the sake of the public 
 " service, and at Waterloo Stapleton Cotton's sword flashed not in the van as it 
 " was wont to be. The disappointment was grievous, and to the end of his days 
 " he never could bear to speak on the subject of the Battle of Waterloo. On 
 " the 15th of July, 1815, in a letter from Paris, he wrote :— ' I regret more than 
 " ' ever not having been at the famous battle which decided the fate of Europe.' " 
 
 2
 
 196 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS. 
 
 their right, and they gradually gaining on the fox, which I had 
 in full view all the time, till we came to the inclosures of a 
 village. There we had to gallop at speed up the most muddy 
 lane I ever galloped through in my life. One of the 52nd came 
 next to me and rode within about eight yards, and got his face 
 and the whole front of his body regularly plastered with thick mud, 
 after a fashion which I never saw equalled either before or since. 
 The fox took to a large piece of water in the village, and was 
 caught by our huntsman in a boat, and given to the hounds, after 
 having afforded us a very excellent run. I think it was recol- 
 lecting, several years afterwards, the miserable plight in which I 
 had seen this poor wretched fox, that first determined me to give 
 up hunting, of which amusement I was exceedingly fond. There 
 may be other reasons why a man who fears God might avoid 
 hunting — for instance, he might think it calculated to lead him 
 on other occasions into the society of persons not of congenial 
 habits and feelings with himself ; but it appeared to me (I have 
 never forced these opinions on others) that I had no right to in- 
 flict pain on any of God's creatures — my fellow-creatures, for 
 such they are — merely for my amusement. The same argument 
 may be made use of I think with regard to shooting and fishing, 
 and some other amusements of a similar kind. It is true we 
 may freely destroy noxious animals, and we may kill game or 
 any other animals which we may require for food, but then, in 
 both cases, we are certainly bound to kill the animals in the 
 most humane manner possible. The snaring birds and hares, 
 and then killing them as quickly as possible, must surely be a 
 more humane practice than that of shooting them, with the great 
 chance, particularly in the case of bad shots, of leaving a con- 
 siderable portion of them in a wounded state to linger in great 
 pain, perhaps for a week or two — or more, before they die. I 
 have found wounded hares, with broken legs, several days or a 
 week after there had been any shooting in the neighbourhood ; 
 and whenever there is a shooting party and plenty of game, how 
 many birds have the feathers knocked out of them, which shews 
 they are severely wounded, and yet get away. What should we 
 say of a man, who, instead of letting his sheep be killed as 
 quickly and humanely as it could be done by the butcher, should,
 
 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS. 197 
 
 for his amusement and that of his friends, fire at them with ball 
 from behind the fence walls, or mountain crags, killing and 
 taking away some, but leaving others to get away wounded, and 
 to die after languishing, for days perhaps, in misery and pain ? 
 Should we not say of such a man that he was brutal and cruel ? 
 And yet the very thing must constantly occur in deer-stalking. 
 How careful owners of hounds and others are to preserve foxes, 
 in order (may I say ?) to torment them for their own amusement, 
 when, if the plea of their being noxious animals is urged as an 
 excuse, it would be so easy, particularly when they are young, to 
 put several of them together to a ten times more humane death, 
 by suffocating them in their holes. I recollect a case in which 
 an owner of hounds imported fifty foxes from Erance; so the 
 excuse for destroying them by hunting, because they are de- 
 stroyers of poultry, &c., falls to the ground. 
 
 But now I come, if my readers have not already tossed the 
 book aside, and will bear with me a little longer, to a very 
 specious plea for hunting and shooting for mere amusement, 
 although the engaging in these sports is attended, as has been 
 shewn, with very great cruelty to the animals hunted or shot ; I 
 do not speak of cruelty to the dogs and horses, for I believe they 
 enjoy the sport ; but no one will persuade me that the fox likes 
 to be hunted, or the hares and birds to be shot and wounded. 
 
 The specious plea I have just alluded to, in favour of hunt- 
 ing and shooting for mere amusement, notwithstanding the 
 cruelty inflicted, is this : — These sports help to raise up amongst 
 us a bold and hardy race of gentlemen, many of whom, having 
 been thus inured to danger and fatigue from their early youth, 
 become most effective, valuable, and daring officers in our army 
 and navy. Not that I think many of our sailor friends have 
 acquired their dash in the hunting field. I quite agree that the 
 same men who will ride straight across a country at a gallop, 
 taking their fences generally as they come, without pulling up, 
 will be likely to do anything or everything which may be re- 
 quired of them in action, be it the leading a charge of cavalry, 
 the mounting a rampart or breach, or (in order that I may include 
 our gallant sailors) storming a battery or boarding an enemy's 
 frigate. No doubt, these manly exercises, engaged in by our
 
 198 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS. 
 
 gentry, are of mucli benefit to them, and throngli them, of bene- 
 fit to the country. And these sports also help to give us, what 
 is also a great advantage, a number of resident gentlemen in the 
 various localities, who, but for these amusements, would spend a 
 much greater portion of their lives than they now do, either in 
 London or in travelling abroad, to the neglect of those various 
 duties of a country life, the engaging in which may render their 
 residence amongst them so beneficial, in various ways, to those 
 who come within their sphere of influence. 
 
 But there is much to be said in answer to all this. First of 
 all, we have had many as gallant an officer as ever stepped, who 
 never rode hunting in his life. Then, our common soldiers and 
 sailors — equally brave with their officers, ready to go anywhere, 
 and into any danger — did they acquire their hardihood and courage 
 in the hunting field, and in amusing themselves by exercising 
 cruelty on foxes and hares ? Surely the British soldier or the 
 British sailor has plenty of pluck, innate or acquired, without its 
 having been so engendered. 
 
 But again, let it be granted that the manly amusement of 
 hunting is of national benefit, or that great numbers are not 
 willing to give it up, merely because there is grekt cruelty 
 attending the present mode of carrying on the sport : is there no 
 plan of proceeding by which the various benefits and desires 
 above-mentioned may be as fully met and realized without the 
 attendant cruelty, as with it? From what I know of hunting, 
 I am inclined to maintain that as good sport may be had by 
 hunting a drag, as by hunting a fox, or a hare, or a wild boar. 
 Let a good rider and the best horse be started with a drag, and 
 let them have a start of a quarter of an hour, less or more 
 according to circumstances, and there is no reason why they 
 should not give a well mounted field a good twenty miles' run on 
 any day when the scent will lie ; and if twenty miles should not 
 be sufficient for our modern Nimrods, the run might easily be 
 extended, with, or even without, a fresh drag, horse, and rider, to 
 double that distance. A second drag might always be carried, 
 in case of any accident happening to the first. 
 
 But I am inclined, from some experience in such matters, to 
 maintain that as good sport may be obtained not only without
 
 AMUSEMENTS IX CANTONMENTS. 199 
 
 an animal or a drag to hunt, but also even without hounds, as can 
 be met with in the best hunts of the present day. In the be- 
 ginning of 1819, when I was quartered at Chester, on one occasion 
 wlien hunting with the Cheshire hounds, we had had very little 
 sport, and being about seven miles from Chester, several of us 
 determined to ride there across the country. The horses were 
 quite as eager as they would have been had they been following 
 the hounds. I found by measurement a few days afterwards that 
 my mare, in taking a hedge about three feet high at a fair gallop 
 on level turf, had cleared two-and-twenty feet. 
 
 One advantage which I hereby propose to my hunting friends 
 is, the saving all the expence of keeping a pack of hounds, of 
 earth-stopping, of huntsmen and whippers-in, &c., &c. Then 
 this mode of riding across a country would help to supersede the 
 present mode of steeple-chasing, which certainly is frequently 
 attended with cruelty, witness the broken backs of the horses, 
 and the broken limbs and necks of the riders which we sometimes 
 read of Then, again, it certainly woidd be a great boon to the 
 community if it might be allowed by our sporting friends to 
 supersede the present system of horse-racing, with all its attendant 
 evils — cruelty to the horses, gambling, the rascality practised in 
 racing stables, drinking, and the assembling together of the very 
 worst characters. In many places they are mainly got up by the 
 public-house keepers for their own benefit, and it would be of 
 very great benefit to the youth of both sexes, if races and the 
 race course could be altogether abolished. It is a fact which 
 should have its weight with all frequenters of races, plays, and 
 pleasure fairs, that whenever persons become really religious, 
 and, consequently, sincerely desirous that God should be honoured 
 in all things, generally one of their first resolves is that they will 
 avoid, and try to lead others to avoid, all places, and companies, 
 and practices which in any way tend to promote that which is 
 sinful and hateful in His sight. 
 
 If the seeking our amusement in that which is attended with 
 cruelty to animals is wrong, then any proposal to do away with 
 such a system should, to say the least, receive attention and con- 
 sideration on the part of those to whom it is made. Now what 
 substitute can be proposed for, I presume I may call it, the crael
 
 200 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS. 
 
 amusement of sliooting ? Before, however, I proceed to answer 
 my own question, I would observe that a very small proportion 
 of the community have the opportunity of following this amuse- 
 ment ; I must also mention that were half the inhumanity which 
 is practised towards hunted foxes, and wounded hares, pheasants, 
 and partridges, to be displayed by the owners or drivers of our 
 London cabs towards their horses, or by our drovers with regard 
 to the animals entrusted to their care, I suspect they would very 
 likely be at once committed to durance vile for a month or six 
 weeks, without the option of paying a fine. 
 
 I have proposed a substitute for hunting animals, and now I 
 ■will say something about a substitute for the cruel amusement 
 of shooting at, and maiming, hares and partridges ; though, if the 
 thing is wrong, the upright man should give up the amusement 
 without requiring that a substitute for it should be discovered 
 for him. All will be of opinion that the enrolment of our noble 
 corps of volunteers, and the rifle competition which has every- 
 where been engaged in by them, affords to great numbers of our 
 young men, of all classes of society, an exciting, healthy, and, at 
 the same time, a most useful employment ; great numbers of 
 individuals have devoted, no doubt, much of the time which they 
 used to employ in shooting, in endeavouring to perfect themselves 
 in rifle-shooting. Much might be done in the way of increasing 
 the amusement of rifle-shooting ; perhaps by constructing move- 
 able inanimate objects to be fired at ; but this, on account of the 
 danger, could only be done on or near the sea, or on the mountain 
 side, or on a very extensive level. Common shooting, in lieu of 
 killing and maiming partridges and hares, might take place 
 somewhat after the popinjay fashion ; or that miglit be improved 
 upon by clever inventors who, by means of simple machinery, 
 might make to move rapidly, along high wires, figures of birds 
 or anything else, which might be so constructed as to be 
 knocked down when fairly struck, and they might contain that 
 which should constitute as great a prize as a head of game would 
 be. But what would then become of all the game in the country ? 
 In reply to that I would say, abolish the game laws, give, under 
 certain restrictions, the general right of pursuing and snaring 
 game for a certain time, and probably in two years there would
 
 AMUSExMENTS IN CANTONMENTS. 201 
 
 scarcely be a head of game in our island. Attend more closely 
 to the rearing of domestic fowls ; but I would do away with 
 pigeons, which not only tempt poaching-people to try and kill 
 them in the fields, but which also, it is computed, consume yearly 
 grain, not generally belonging to their owners, to the value of a 
 million and a half sterling:. I confess that I find it difficult to 
 propose anything which would be a substitute for the healthy 
 and exciting walk of miles either on enclosed or open land, on 
 the moor or mountain, which the amusement of shooting induces ; 
 and yet I think I could myself enjoy, and benefit by, the long 
 and varied walk equally well if I had neither dogs nor gun with 
 me, particularly if I was accompanied by a pleasant companion. 
 And then what a great blessing it would be to the country to do 
 away with all temptation to poaching, by destroying the game. 
 If, as I believe it might be fairly calculated, there are two occa- 
 sional or regular poachers, on an average, in every parish in our 
 land, and, in addition, fifty regular poachers in every town con- 
 taining 50,000 inhabitants and upwards, then, at a rough estimate, 
 we may say there are some 30,000 poachers in the country. 
 What an improvement it WTJuld be if there were no temptation 
 to these men to continue their demoralizing pursuit of game, and 
 consequently no temptation to those, who come after them, to 
 tread in their steps. 
 
 The most difficult objection to answer to the giving up hunt- 
 ing and shooting on the ground that we have no right to inflict 
 cruelty and pain on any portion of God's animal creation is, I 
 think, the following : — God Himself has allowed numbers of 
 animals to prey on others, and to inflict a certain amount of pain 
 on them, and almost all kinds of animals, &c., die a death of 
 suffering and pain ; and people might argue, if a kind and mer- 
 ciful God permits this, why need we be so particular about 
 inflicting pain in killing animals, &c., for our food, or in the 
 pursuit of amusement ? I should have no difficulty as to the 
 propriety of inflicting any amount of pain by bad shooting, or in 
 any other way, if I could not procure food in any other way, but 
 it appears to me to be contrary to the Scripture injunctions to be 
 " gentle" and " tender-hearted," that we should be careless about
 
 202 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS. 
 
 inflicting pain on animals. God lias, no doubt for wise purposes, 
 permitted animals, birds, fishes, and insects to prey on each other ; 
 He has left numbers of them to die the most painful deaths ; but 
 surely that must not be made an excuse by man for revelling in 
 cruelty, and inflicting pain on animals, &c., for mere amusement. 
 How contrary, also, such an idea is to all those lessons of kind- 
 ness to animals, and birds, and insects, and even worms, which 
 have been instilled into most of us by our tender mothers amongst 
 the first ideas which our infant minds received. 
 
 I must, having gone so far, venture to pursue the subject 
 still further. When God first gave permission to man to eat 
 animal food, (perhaps man did so before,) and said. Genesis ix, 8, 
 " every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you ; even as 
 " the green herb have I given you all things," the permission was 
 accompanied by this restriction, as we read in the next verse, 
 " but flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall 
 " ye not eat." Thomas Scott, in his Commentary, says on this 
 passage, " The grant here given fully warrants our use of the 
 " animals for food, but not the abuse of them by intemperance or 
 " cruelty. The restriction might be intended as a check to 
 "cruelty, lest men, inured to shed and feed upon the blood of 
 "animals, should grow unfeeling, and be the less shocked at 
 " shedding human blood." 
 
 I have begun to think that it may not be really unfair, if 
 men pursue the sports of hunting, shooting, &c., for pleasure, 
 regardless of the pain and misery inflicted upon the animals, 
 that they have no right to complain, if they should find themselves 
 classed with such men as Nero, or any other cruel monster of 
 former or more recent ages. 
 
 In Hooper's Waterloo is the ^following anecdote, which I 
 venture to borrow from him ; I omitted to do so in the more 
 suitable part of my work : — " A trumpeter-boy of the 2nd Life 
 " Guards, Thomas Beamond, was riding through the field when a 
 " cuirassier rushed at him, with his sword's point levelled at the 
 " boy's breast. Discovering he was a mere lad, the gallant 
 " Frenchman dropped his point, spared him, and passed on. Sad 
 " to relate, in sight of the poor boy, a comrade, who had not
 
 AMUSEMENTS IN CANTONMENTS, 203 
 
 " witnessed tlie noble act of the cuirassier, fell upon liim and 
 " slew liim. When the boy, grown a man, told the story to my 
 " informant, he was, even after years had passed by, affected even 
 " to tears." 
 
 May such gentle and generous feelings be cultivated, as far 
 as possible, by all contending armies, until God shall "make 
 " wars to cease unto the end of the earth."
 
 204 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1816. 
 AMUSEMENTS AND INCIDENTS IN THE NORTH OF FRANCE. 
 
 Hunting at Callone — Captain English — Duke of Wellington's boar-hounds — Lord 
 Hill and his brother— Gymnastic club near St. Pol — 52nd play the rest of 
 Colville's division at cricket — Fatal accident— Mess at Therouenne in the 
 summer — Accident to a friend in the 71st— Medals for Waterloo served 
 out — Two of us wear them on going to Aire — Death of a poor woman in 
 the Grande Place — Curious anecdote about the 18th of June, 1816, by a 
 corporal of the 23rd Fusileers — Ball given by the English officers at St. 
 Omer— My servant drowned — Remarkable dreams— Holman's servant 
 shot — A corporal stabbed by a French officer — Capture of thieves— Winter- 
 bottom and his former comrade— Anecdote of the master tailor. 
 
 We had not a very great variety of amusements during the time 
 of our occupation of the North of France. I received from time 
 to time during several weeks, as a present, from our regimental 
 pack, those hounds which, from their being rather small or for 
 any other reason, our managing committee wished to part with ; 
 and thus I collected, I think, seven hounds, for my kind friend 
 Captain Frederick English, of the Engineers, who was quartered 
 with his family at the chateau of Callone, near St. Pol, about 
 seventeen miles from us. Whilst I was collecting them, two or 
 three of us got a little private hunting of our own occasionally. 
 At Callone they were considered a great acquisition, and I several 
 times went there for two or three days, and enjoyed hunting 
 with them very much. On one occasion I remember riding 
 ahead with a drag, which afforded us very good sport. There was 
 in existence at one time, several years after our return from
 
 AMUSEMENTS, ETC., IN THE NORTH OF FRANCE. 205 
 
 France, a very spirited sketch, by Captain English, of tlie officers, 
 liorses, and hounds of that hunt ; I think he never mustered 
 more than five horsemen, even when I made one of the party. 
 Captain English and his horse, and I and my mare, were 
 amongst the figures ; and I should have liked to have brought 
 Away "wit]i me the sketch, if they could have parted 
 with it, when I last saw my kind friends in England some thirty 
 years ago. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington, whose head -quarters were at 
 Cambrai, between fifty and sixty miles distant from our canton- 
 ments, on one occasion sent his boar-hounds for a day's hunting 
 in our direction, and four of the 52nd officers went between 
 twenty and thirty miles the day before in order to hunt with 
 them. They threw off not very far from the inn at which we 
 slept, in a forest, the name of which I have forgotten, but we had 
 scarcely any sport. The hounds found a boar, and hunted him 
 for a considerable time, and we rode up and down the rides of 
 the forest ; at last he broke cover, but merely to run about half a 
 mile across an open space to another part of the forest. There 
 was a tremendous and awkward leap out of the forest, which my 
 mare managed very cleverly. The boar is said to be a fast run- 
 ner when hunted, but I had not the pleasure of seeing him during 
 the whole day. Lord Hill and his brother. Colonel Hill, of the 
 Blues, were out, and I think not more than half a dozen other 
 people, besides ourselves, one of whom was Colonel Fremantle. 
 Lord Hill and his brother carried boar-spears, as did one or two 
 of the others. Soon after we got into the forest, as I was walking 
 my horse along, about 150 yards behind the other 52nd men, 
 Lord Hill overtook me, and coming up alongside, asked me 
 " How are Sir John Colborne and the 52nd, Sir?" He miffht 
 have heard that some 52nd officers were to be out that day, but 
 I remember my impression then was, that he had not had the 
 opportunity of hearing that we were to be there, and that it was 
 a case of remembering, after having only once or at the most 
 twice, seen me before ; the one occasion being when he rode 
 very close upon me in the standing corn, half an hour or au 
 hour before the commencement of the Battle of Waterloo ; the 
 other, in passing along the front at a review, when the troops
 
 206 AMUSEMENTS AND INCIDENTS 
 
 were standing in contiguous close columns, and when I think I 
 carried one of the colours. 
 
 Some of our officers got some good coursing ; I only occasion- 
 ally joined them. The shooting was very bad, the birds being 
 very wild on the extensive cultivated lands between the villages. 
 Sometimes, for want of something else to do, I recollect firing 
 ball from my double-barrelled gun at partridges, which I could 
 often see running on the rise of the ground 200 yards off, when I 
 could not get within half that distance of them. I need scarcely 
 add, that this ball-practice of mine did not inflict any serious 
 injury on the enemy in my front. 
 
 Some spirited officers, quartered in the neighbourhood of St. 
 Pol, belonging to our division, proposed, in the spring of 1816, I 
 think, the establishment of a gymnastic club, at which those 
 of the officers of the division who were so disposed, might meet 
 at stated times to play at cricket and other games. The meet- 
 ings were to take place some few miles to the northward of St. 
 Pol. This was at a great distance from our brigade, but two of 
 us from the 52nd attended the first meeting. The 71st, belong- 
 ino- to another brigade, were close to us at Estreeblanche to the 
 eastward ; and inclining towards the south, and in the direction 
 of St. Pol, were the 6th regiment, I think, at or near Lillers, and 
 beyond them the 29th regiment ; and nearer to St. Pol, and 
 beyond it, there was another brigade and some artillery. These 
 being nearer to the place of meeting than Pack's brigade, were 
 enabled to contribute a goodly number of members to the insti- 
 tution. I forget what games were played at the first meeting, 
 but after dinner, Captain McDonald, the hon. secretary, came to 
 where I was sitting, and said it was proposed that our brigade 
 should play the rest of the division at cricket, at the next meet- 
 ing of the club, and asked if I would undertake, on the part of 
 the brigade, to accept the challenge ; I was foolish enough to 
 reply, that I could not answer for the rest of the brigade, as I 
 knew nothing of them, but that I would undertake that the 
 52nd should play the rest of the division, I dare say I should 
 just as readily have said that they would play "All England."^ 
 I have no doubt it created some smiles when this was announced, 
 as it immediately was.
 
 IN THE NORTH OF FRANCE. 207 
 
 On my giving an account, on my return to tlie regiment, of 
 all that had taken place, they told me that I had acted very 
 foolishly in what I had done, but that as the thing was con- 
 sidered as fixed, they would endeavour to turn out in sufficient 
 force to try and do some credit to the expectations which I 
 might have raised of their prowess as cricketers. We did not 
 take any men with us, but eight of the officers including myself 
 went, and some of them must have ridden upwards of forty 
 miles there and back ; for I was the nearest to the place of meet- 
 ing, and I reckoned that my quarters were about sixteen miles 
 from it. 
 
 We found a numerous assemblage of the officers of the divi- 
 sion there. It was arranged that there should be only eight on 
 a side. We were not overmatched, and had a most excellent 
 game. They paid us the compliment of saying, that they never 
 saw better fielding in their lives. They had a major in the 
 artillery on the other side, who got fifty-two runs. We consoled 
 ourselves with saying, that had he been an ordinary batter, and 
 had not made more than half that score, we should have carried 
 away the laurels. But I have a sad addition to make to this 
 account. We heard a few days afterwards, that this poor major 
 of artillery, I am sorry I cannot recollect his name, who had 
 been full of health and spirits, and who was the hero of the day, 
 was killed on his return to his quarters that evening, by the 
 upsetting of the gig, in which he and another officer were riding, 
 at the turn of a road. How often do the solemn warnings come 
 to us — "memento mori !" and, "tliere is but a step between me 
 " and death ! " 
 
 One moonlight evening, as four of us, including a young 
 acquaintance of mine, a fine young fellow by the name of 
 Barnett, of the 71st Highland Light Infantry, were returning 
 along the Cliaussee Brunehaut, from our mess at Therouenne, 
 to Estreeblanche, four miles distant, the 71st officer and another 
 of the party determined to ride a race, from the top of the 
 ascent from Therouenne, in the direction of Estreeblanche. I 
 always thought those races on roads extremely dangerous and 
 disagreeable, and being mounted on a small Galloway, contented 
 myself with trotting smartly along the road. When I had pro-
 
 208 AMUSEMENTS AND INCIDENTS 
 
 ceeded about a mile, I heard a voice crying out, " Hold hard, 
 " hold hard ! " The first object which I saw was one of the 
 horses fixed in a ditch to the right of the road, two feet wide 
 and two feet deep, with his back at the bottom of it, and the 
 four feet up in the air. The two racing horses, in some curious 
 way, had got their fore feet entangled and had both fallen. The 
 52nd officer and his horse had not taken much harm; but my 
 poor 71st friend was insensible, having fallen most heavily on his 
 head ; his horse was in the ditch, as I have described. The 52nd 
 officer was sitting down with the head of the other on his lap. 
 The fourth man of the party was up immediately after me ; they 
 left me with poor Barnett, and one of the other two rode off to 
 a village two miles off", for an assistant-surgeon, and the second, 
 after giving notice to some of our men at Enguinegatte, a third 
 of a mile off, to come to my assistance, went in another direc- 
 tion. As I sat supporting our injured friend, I desired the last 
 officer, as he was moving off', if he had a knife in his pocket, to 
 leave it with me, intending to get some blood from his temples 
 or some other part, if Barnett should appear to cease to breathe. 
 I was often joked afterwards about this. It was not a very 
 pleasant position to be in, for I thought it most probable that 
 my companion would die before assistance came. When we had 
 been there about twenty minutes, I was for a moment startled 
 by four of our men rushing down some broken ground behind 
 us, with drawn bayonets, one exclaiming, as he saw our figures, 
 "Where's Mr. Leeke?" They were the men quartered a,t the 
 first farm house, and had misunderstood the hasty notice given 
 by the officer, that they should lose no time in going to my 
 assistance. They gathered that there was a dying man on the 
 Therouenne road, and that I was there, and probably thought 
 that we had been attacked by some party. Two or three others 
 came to our assistance, and we placed Barnett, still insensible, 
 upright on one of the horses ; and, two men holding him on 
 and I leading the horse by the bridle, we proceeded to my 
 quarters at Estreeblanche. A small river, called the Laquele, 
 flowed along the road of the village for eighty or a hundred yards, 
 completely filling it and being nearly knee deep, the footpath 
 going along the bank on the right. On our arriving at this water,
 
 IX THE NOETH OF FRANCE, 209 
 
 Barnett astonislied me by taking hold of the bridle and pulling the 
 horse up, and saying that I must not go through the water. Here 
 was a momentary consciousness. Of course, however, 1 did this. 
 He was put into a bed at my quarters, and our assistant-surgeon 
 attended him. The day after, the surgeon and the assistant- 
 surgeon of the 71st arrived, and said he had received a severe 
 concussion of the brain ; they were anxious to get hun into their 
 neighbourhood, and he was removed to his own quarters on the 
 third day, where he gradually recovered. I wonder whether he 
 is still living. Perhaps one fourth of the officers who fought at 
 Waterloo, still survive at this date, December 8, 1865; at 
 least that is about the proportion of survivors of the 52nd 
 Waterloo officers. There were sixty-three officers present on 
 that occasion, including the surgeons and two aides-de-camp, of 
 whom it is ascertained that about forty-five are dead. I only 
 know of fourteen that survive, now at the end of fifty years. 
 Three of these were captains at Waterloo; William Eowan, James 
 Frederick Love, and Charles Yorke, now lieutenant-generals and 
 G.C.B.'s. Ten of them w^ere then lieutenants : George Hall, 
 (now lieutenant-colonel,) George Gawler, (now colonel,) George 
 Whichcote, (major-general,) Hon. William Ogilvy, (captain,) 
 E. R Northey, (lieutenant-colonel,) Hon. W. Browne, Edward 
 Scoones, (major,) W. Austin, (major,) Charles Holman, (captain,) 
 G. E. Scott. One only was then an ensign, William Leeke. 
 
 Just before the 18th of June, 1816, the medals for Waterloo 
 were served out to all those who had been present, and on the 
 anniversary of the victory two of us thought well to ride into 
 Aire, which was about six miles from Estreeblanche ; it was the 
 nearest fortified place to our village, and was garrisoned by the 
 French. None of our non-commissioned officers pr soldiers 
 were admitted into St. Omer or Aire without a pass from the 
 officers commanding the company to which each belonged, but 
 officers in uniform might enter without any pass. It must 
 be recollected that there were very few soldiers remaining in the 
 French army who had been at Waterloo, and that they were 
 now the soldiers of our ally Louis XVIII, for whom we had 
 fouo'ht and some thousands of our comrades had shed their 
 blood, but, nevertheless, our riding into one of the French
 
 210 AMUSEMENTS AND INCIDENTS 
 
 garrisons on the first anniversary of a victory gained over 
 French troops, would perhaps have been better avoided. My 
 companion, on the occasion, thus speaks of it in a letter which I 
 received from him not very long ago. " Do you remember how 
 " you and I rode into Aire, on the first anniversary of Waterloo, 
 " wearing the medals just issued, and laurel in our shakos. The 
 ''guards at the gate scowled, but we met with no adventure. 
 " Kenny, a very correct and rather censorious person, thought we 
 " had been extremely unwise — it was all your doing too — I, so 
 " many years older, ought to have tried to dissuade you, instead 
 " of being led away by you as I was." In reply, I told him that 
 I perfectly well recollected the whole affair, and that it certainly 
 was much more like me than like him to engage in such an ad- 
 venture. I felt rather confident that it was on this occasion 
 that the following, in some little measure redeeming, occurrence 
 took j)lace, but my friend says he has not the least recollection 
 of it, so it is probable that it happened when I rode into Aire 
 on some other occasion with some other officer. As we rode 
 across the large square of the town, an old woman, carrying one 
 of those small tin boxes with lighted charcoal, which the older 
 Erench women are so constantly seen with, suddenly fell down 
 in what appeared to be a fainting fit ; we immediately jumped 
 off our horses, and letting them loose, carried the poor woman 
 into the nearest house : on our seating her in a chair, her lower 
 clothes were found to be slightly on fire from the charcoal-box, 
 and she was quite dead. 
 
 A fine old soldier, a corporal in the 23rd Fusileers, recently 
 told me that their grenadier company, in which he was, adopted 
 a singular method of parading their medals on the first anni- 
 versary of Waterloo. Two of their comrades were, for some not 
 very serious offence, confined in the guard-house at head- 
 quarters, not very far distant from their colonel's quarters ; so 
 they made one of their number put on his red jacket and all his 
 regimentals, and having fastened the whole of their medals all 
 over the front of his jacket, they borrowed an ass, on which he 
 rode to their head-quarters, accompanied by the whole of the 
 grenadier company. When they arrived, they asked permission 
 to see the colonel, and he immediately came out to them, and on
 
 IN THE NORTH OF FRANCE. 211 
 
 his asking what they wanted, they told him that they had come 
 to ask him to do them a great favor on the anniversary of the 
 great victory, and it was that he would have the kindness to 
 forgive their two comrades, who were in disgrace. He smiled at 
 their gallant cavalier bedizened with medals, and good naturedly 
 told them that their comrades should be at the village they were 
 quartered at, before the company could get there themselves. The 
 two men joined them in a very few minutes after they left the 
 colonel's quarters. 
 
 Monsieur Eobichez, the owner of the chateau, at Estr^e- 
 blanche, at which Captain McNair was quartered, on one 
 occasion pressed me very much to go with him to a ball, at 
 Betune, a French fortress, about ten miles from Aire. I was the 
 only Englishman there ; indeed, all the rest were French, and 
 many of them French officers in uniform, and although there 
 was nothing uncivil in their conduct, yet there was a certain 
 constraint, which was almost sure to arise under the circum- 
 stances, and which made me feel I had been very foolish in 
 allowing myself to be placed in such a position. 
 
 Although I was too far from St. Omer to have any acquaintances 
 amongst either the inhabitants or the few English residents there ; 
 yet, on one occasion I, with many 52nd officers, joined the other 
 regiments of Pack's brigade, and the cavalry quartered to the 
 north of St. Omer, in giving a grand ball to the people of the 
 town and neighbourhood, both English and French ; which was 
 attended, including the entertainers, by about four hundred 
 people. The supper-tables, it was arranged, were first to accom- 
 modate the one half of the assemblage, and when they had been 
 duly feasted, then the other half were to be admitted, and the 
 only thing I now remember of that ball is, that when the second 
 detachment of supper-eaters arived, every bonbon, and every 
 other pocketable eatable, had been carried off by those who had 
 been invited to make the first attack upon the abundant pro- 
 vision, which had been intended to be more than sufficient for 
 the whole party. 
 
 As I was returning from the ball-room to the hotel at which 
 I was to sleep, at a very badly lighted spot I made some wrong 
 turn, and lost my way for a minute or two ; I heard some one 
 
 P 2
 
 212 AMUSEMENTS AND INCIDENTS 
 
 coming, but could not, as it was very dark, see more than tlie 
 figure of a man approaching. I took him to be a Frenchman, and 
 asked him which was the way to the hotel. He answered in 
 French, and gave me some directions, which, although I had in 
 some degree lost my way, I felt very confident were incorrect, 
 and, as I thought he was leading me wrong on purpose, I gave him 
 somewhat of a scolding for his conduct in my best French, which 
 he took very quietly, and then said good naturedly in English, 
 " Oh come with me and I'U shew you the way h I'ancienne poste," 
 I walked with him twenty or thirty yards, when he put me into 
 the right direction, for which I thanked him. I could not see 
 his face, but I discovered from his voice that it was the com- 
 manding officer of the 4th English regiment. I cannot at all 
 understand how it was that, in a fortified place of some extent, 
 the streets, or at least some of them, were left in such a state of 
 darkness. 
 
 I think the army was very healthy during the time of the 
 occupation of France. We had two sad accidents at Estr^e- 
 blanche, and whilst we were there one of our men was mortally 
 wounded by a retired French officer, who lodged in the village. 
 
 I have mentioned that at one time we regularly dined at the 
 chateau at which Captain McNair was quartered. It was sur- 
 rounded by a moat about thirty feet broad, over which there was 
 a bridge about five or six feet wide, formed of planks, resting on 
 four or five walls built up from the bottom of the moat ; there 
 was no railing on either side of the wooden bridge. It commu- 
 nicated with a vaulted passage, which passed under some of tlie 
 rooms to a smaU open court within, surrounded by the buildings 
 on three sides, whilst on that side which was opposite to the 
 passage to the bridge, we looked over the moat to the field 
 beyond it. There was a massive door between the end of the 
 passage and the bridge. We often crossed this bridge on the 
 darkest nights without the least apprehension of clanger, 
 although the water was deep all round the chateau except at the 
 edge. 
 
 One dark night my servant, whose name was George Soones, 
 with another soldier, was passing through the doorway close to 
 the bridge, and, as it was blowing hard through the passage from
 
 IX THE NORTH OF FrxANCE. 213 
 
 the opposite direction, he found some difficulty in keeping the 
 door open, and at the same time in keeping alight a piece of 
 candle which he was carrying between his fingers. The other 
 man was nearly across the bridge, and heard Soones say, " If 
 " this light goes out I'm done." At that moment the door was 
 blown heavily to upon him, and the light went out, and before 
 he had reached the middle of the bridge he feU over, striking his 
 neck, it was supposed, against one of the buttresses on which 
 the bridge was built; he was a good swimmer, and, notwith- 
 standing the hurt he received, which was shown by an extensive 
 bruise on the' side of the neck, he swam about five-and-thirty 
 yards, but not towards the shore of the moat. His body was 
 not found until about two hours afterwards, under the waUs of 
 the chateau. 
 
 I was away from Estr^eblanche on that evening, and was 
 very much grieved to hear of poor Soones's fate. He and his 
 two brothers had volunteered into the 52nd from the South 
 Hants Militia, and his friends, I found, lived within two miles 
 of my home, though I had never known them ; and possibly this 
 made me feel his death all the more. It was truly melancholy 
 for me to enter my bedroom at night. He had been the last 
 person there, and had turned down my bed, and laid out my 
 things. It was impossible to get to sleep, and I felt very 
 wretched. Divided from my room by a thin lath and plaster 
 partition was the servants' room, in which they kept their fire- 
 locks and accoutrements, and slept. Holman's servant, a nice 
 fellow by the name of Blackman, slept, or rather dozed there on 
 the night in question. I heard him all night tumbling about on 
 his bed, and more than once I heard him say, " I'm coming, 
 " George, I'm coming !" 
 
 The next morning, in good time, I sent a man to the next 
 village, about a mile and a half off, occupied by Shedden's com- 
 pany, in which Soones's brothers were, to break the melancholy 
 intelligence to them. On his return, he told me that he had 
 met one of them before he reached the village, and on his saying 
 that he was come to look for him, he at once exclaimed, " You 
 " have no occasion to tell me what you are come for, I dreamt 
 " lust night that my brother was drowned." Now I am sure, so
 
 214 AMUSEMENTS AND INCIDENTS 
 
 much did every one feel the melancholy death which had 
 occurred, that the man would tell me exactly what passed be- 
 tween him and the brother, and I perfectly remember it all. 
 However, I should probably not have thought so much about 
 this dream, had it not been for the additional circumstance 
 which I am going to mention. I wrote home to my mother to 
 request her to inform George Soones's family of his death. She 
 could not go to their house, and therefore sent to request that 
 one of them would come and speak to her; the poor mother 
 came, and on being informed that her son was dead, immediately 
 said, "Was he drowned, Ma'am?" and on being told that he 
 was, she replied, " I thought so, for I dreamt several nights ago, 
 " that he was drowned." These things made considerable im- 
 pression on our minds at the time, but I do not think they pro- 
 duced any religious feeling. As I write, the words of the 73rd 
 Psalm occur to me, though they are there used in a different way 
 by the Psalmist, to that in which they would have been appli- 
 cable to us — " So foolish was I, and ignorant ; I was as a beast 
 "before thee." I do not place any confidence in dreams, 
 although there are many well authenticated instances of remark- 
 able dreams turning out to be true, but we must allow that 
 dreams, as all other circumstances, are under the control of God, 
 therefore they may lead us to reflexion. I well remember how 
 melancholy I felt, as we marched along a long pathway, by the 
 side of a high hedge, following poor Soones's remains from the 
 chateau to the Eoman Catholic church at Estr^eblanche, on the 
 north side of which he was buried. The " Dead March in Saul," 
 which I had never heard before, was sounded very nicely, by our 
 two buglers, who preceded the corpse, and had a very solemn 
 effect. I have no recollection of the service being read over his 
 remains, though I suppose it was read by McNair or Holman ; 
 nor do I recollect the firing the three volleys over his grave, 
 though that must have been done. So curious is memory ! 
 Some very trifling words or circumstances we remember with 
 the greatest accuracy, when somewhat more important things, 
 which happened at the same time, we entirely forget. 
 
 But I have another very sad event to relate, which happened 
 a week only after poor Soones's death. The whole company, or
 
 IN THE NORTH OF FRANCE. 215 
 
 the Estreeblanche portion of it, I forget which, were at ball- 
 practice, about half a mile above the village, under the command 
 of Holman. I was not present, and I have some idea I was at 
 Euguinegatte. One of the men's firelocks would not go off, (it 
 was the same man who was just in front of Soones when he fell 
 off the bridge,) he went to the rear of the firing-party to hammer 
 the flint with his turnscrew, but instead of pointing his musket 
 to the rear, he thoughtlessly pointed it towards the men standing 
 in line in front of him. It went off, and the ball went through 
 the arm (breaking it) and through the lungs of a corporal in the 
 rear rank, and lodged in the body of poor Blackman, Holman's 
 servant, who was in the front rank. The corporal recovered, but 
 Blackman was mortally wounded. He was taken to the nearest 
 cottage, and placed on a chair, and lived about three-quarters of 
 an hour. I think no surgeon could get to him before his death. 
 They told me, he was quite aware that he had not long to live, 
 and said he should " soon be with poor George ;" and again, 
 immediately before his death, " I'm going to poor George." He 
 was buried by the side of poor Soones, and I often think of their 
 last resting-place. Blackman also was a Hampshire man, and I 
 think the man who accidentally shot him, also came out of the 
 South Hants Militia. This man afterwards became my servant, 
 somewhat I believe to the astonishment of people, as they 
 thought " he was so unlucky." I do not think I took him as a 
 servant out of bravado, but out of compassion in some measure, 
 for he felt how unfortunate he had been in the matter of these 
 deaths, and how blameable for his great carelessness as regarded 
 that of poor Blackman. He was a clean, smart soldier, and one 
 likely to make a good servant. 
 
 We were sitting at our mess one evening after dinner, and 
 Brisbane, one of our assistant-surgeons, was with us, when a mes- 
 senger came from the village, to say that Corporal Gilpin had 
 been stabbed by a Frenchman. We found, on going to the public 
 house, that the intestines being "wounded there was scarcely any 
 hope of his recovery. His wound was dressed and sewn up, and 
 he was the next day sent to the hospital, where he died within 
 the week. Gilpin and this retired French officer were great 
 friends, and they studied a little together ; the Frenchman assist-
 
 216 AMUSEMENTS AND INCIDENTS 
 
 ing Gilpin, I tliink, in French and arithmetic ; but they also 
 drank together, and on this occasion they were both in liquor, 
 and a quarrel arose between them, when Gilpin struck the other 
 severely with his fists. The French officer took up a chair to 
 protect himself with it, at the same time opening his knife, and 
 when Gilpin again advanced upon him, he stabbed him under 
 the chair. Corporal Gilpin was one of our finest men, and was 
 the right hand man of the company. 
 
 The Frenchman made his escape into Belgium, and was 
 afterwards, if I recollect right, condemned to death, " par con- 
 " tumace," I think they call it. He was very nearly taken, for 
 he jumped out of a window with his double-barrelled gun in his 
 hand, just as our village guard, of a corporal and three, came to 
 the other side of the house in which he lodged, and they pursued 
 him down the garden, but lost sight of him. I remember his 
 once being examined as a witness at a court-martial, at Estr^e- 
 blanche, and I met him once afterwards as I was returning from 
 shooting, where, as he passed me at about sixty yards distance, 
 he saluted me by taking off his hat, which of course I returned. 
 Captain McNair had to attend with some others at the trial, 
 when he was found guilty. 
 
 McNair also had to give evidence on another occasion. The 
 circumstances were these, and although there was nothing very 
 particular in what occurred, they were well remembered because 
 they afforded us some little excitement for the moment in the 
 midst of our rather monotonous life : — We were sitting quietly 
 one moonlight evening after dinner, when Angelique, M. Eobi- 
 chez's housekeeper, came into the room, and told us she had just 
 watched some men who had gone into her master's barn, about 
 eighty yards from the chateau, no doubt for the purpose of steal- 
 ing the wheat, and requested us to come and try and secure them. 
 We did not at first pay much, attention to what she said, but 
 presently she returned in a very excited state, saying she had 
 seen people going into the barn, and reproached us with being 
 unwilling to take any trouble to prevent her master from being 
 robbed. On this we sallied out, and one or two of the servants 
 came also. McNair stopped to take a pistol with him, so that I 
 got downstairs and over the bridge the first, and picked up a
 
 IN THE NOKTH OF FKANCE. 217 
 
 switch, for want of sometliing more suitable, as I ran along. 
 Just as I came to the barn door it was partly opened, and then 
 shut to again hastily ; so, giving it a smart cut with the switch, 
 I ran round to a door, which I knew was on the other side ; on 
 my arriving at it, the persons within had got it half open for the 
 purpose of getting away, but on seeing me they closed it again, 
 and I could not move it when I pushed heavily against it, nor 
 could all our party together make any impression on the doors ; 
 so one of the men was sent to the village, a quarter of a mile off, 
 for the corporal's guard. Just then we heard voices about fifty 
 yards off, and recognised amongst them the voice of one of our 
 own men, who was a drinking, troublesome fellow, and we 
 immediately feared that he and his companions were in some way 
 mixed up with the proceedings in the barn. Leaving two of our 
 party, one of them with his musket in his hand, to look after the 
 barn doors, and to prevent the escape of the men within, McISTair 
 and I proceeded to reconnoitre the party whom we heard talking 
 at a little distance. They turned out to be the man, whose voice 
 we had recognised, and six soldiers of the 71st. They were on 
 the footpath leading from Estreeblanche to the nearest 71st 
 village, which was rather more than a mile off, and they were all 
 out after hours. On our coming up to them they made no 
 attempt to run off, and at once obeyed McNair's order to follow 
 each other in smgle file. He told me to keep by the rear man 
 and bring them all along. I was greatly afraid that finding 
 themselves brought along by only two persons, they might be 
 tempted to break away from us, for I knew, if they did so, that 
 McNair would certainly shoot one of them, he being a most 
 determined man. However they walked quietly along till we 
 came abreast of the gable end of the barn, and a little beyond, 
 when they were ordered to halt and remain there. They then 
 saw that something was up at the barn. 
 
 The guard had by this time arrived, and we proceeded to 
 force open the principal door, which had been barricaded with 
 beams by those within. Augelique bravely volunteered so to 
 hold the lantern that we might see those within, when the door 
 gave way. It opened inwards, and was about four feet wide ; 
 and it shut to against a sill at the bottom, about fourteen inches
 
 218 AMUSEMENTS AND INCIDENTS 
 
 high. The four men of the guard with their bayonets fixed, with 
 my help added, soon made the props yield a little, and two or 
 three of us got each a foot over the sill, and the butt ends of two 
 or three muskets were in, and the door had opened nearly two 
 feet at my end, when the brave Angelique ran right off with the 
 lantern, leaving the small open space in darkness ; so, for a few 
 seconds, we allowed the door to close to upon us again. I took 
 the lantern from Angelique, and we again made good our foot- 
 ing within the sill, and the door went right back on its hinges, 
 all of us going forward almost on our faces ; and then, I confess, 
 I felt somewhat ashamed, for we found in the barn only two 
 poor frightened Frenchmen, who fell on their knees, crying 
 "Misericors, Misericors." I think they were afraid that our 
 soldiers would bayonet them. Angelique's courage returned, 
 and, mounting a wheelbarrow which was in the barn, she 
 harangued them vehemently for their ingratitude in robbing so 
 kind a master as M. Robichez. They were afterwards condemned 
 to five years' imprisonment. The seven soldiers, when it was 
 found that they were not mixed up with the attempt to rob the 
 barn, were, I think, allowed to go to their quarters. I believe all 
 our characters rose wonderfully in the estimation of Angelique. 
 
 We had a court-marshal on one of our men at Estreeblanche, 
 for being drunk on guard, when he was found guilty, and received 
 one hundred lashes. Winterbottom, our adjutant, who had risen 
 from the ranks, and of whom I have written much in another 
 place,* told me, when the sentence was executed, that the poor 
 fellow had been his comrade when first he entered the regiment, 
 and added, " I feel very sorry for him. He took to drinking- 
 " ways, which has brought him to this degradation and punish- 
 " ment. I avoided drinking, and tried to do my duty, and am 
 " now adjutant, and nearly the senior lieutenant of the regiment." 
 
 I had a curious complaint made to me by one of the men, 
 when the new clothing of the company was being fitted on at 
 Therouenne. He came to me and said, " If you please, Sir, ser- 
 
 " jeant (the master tailor) has cut my chin with his scissors." 
 
 I told him it must have been done accidently. He replied, " No, 
 " Sir, I believe it was done out of spite. He has always had a 
 
 * See Chapter XX.
 
 IN THE NOKTH OF FEANCE, 219 
 
 " spite against me, since I brought up his wife, when I was 
 " sentry on the quarter-guard at St. Omer camp, and she tried to 
 " pass into camp without answering, when I challenged her." I 
 immediately went with the man, who I think was the same man 
 who had his pouch knocked oft' at Waterloo by a cannon-shot, 
 to the master tailor, and told him of the complaint, when he said, 
 " I was trying on his jacket, Sir, with my scissors in my hand, 
 " when he fidgetted about so much, that he made me impatient, 
 "and I said, 'do stand still,' at the same time putting up my 
 " hand, when the point of the scissors caught him accidentally 
 " on the chin." There was nothing to be donfe but to accept this 
 excuse, and to tell him quietly to be more careful in future. 
 The master tailor of the regiment was attached to No. 9 company, 
 and was in the rear of it as a Serjeant on inspection and review 
 days. He tried to have himself looked upon as a privileged 
 character, on those occasions, with regard to his military bearing, 
 &c., but this I never permitted. There was no great harm in 
 him, but he was rather conceited in his undress and in his walk, 
 and attempted to be a bit of a dandy. I recollect on the occa- 
 sion of one of the older officers joining at the citadel of Valen- 
 ciennes, after having been away from the regiment for some very 
 considerable time, he was shaking hands very cordially with all 
 the officers who met him, when the master tailor passed along, 
 dressed in a blue surtout coat which he was allowed to wear, 
 and an undress cap, somewhat resembling those of the officers, 
 and before he could salute the major, the latter, knowing his face 
 and taking him for one of the officers, put out his hand and 
 gave it a hearty shake, saying, " I'm very glad to see you, my 
 " good fellow ; " which my unmilitary readers must understand 
 was, under the circumstances, rather contrary to military etiquette. 
 On finding out his mistake, and getting a little laughed at for it, 
 the major uttered something in wliicli the words " scoundrel," 
 and " put him in the guard-house," were distinguishable. 
 
 It is a general feeling, I believe, in the army, that officers 
 cannot be too particular in their behaviour to sentries, when 
 challenged by them. The sentry may be placed in very awk- 
 ward circumstances, particularly with regard to officers, when 
 enforcmg the orders of his post. At the camp near St. Omer,
 
 220 AMUSEMENTS, ETC., IN THE NORTH OF FRANCE. 
 
 one night when I was the officer of the guard, as I lay on my 
 guard-bed, I heard one of my sentries challenge some one who 
 was passing near his post without receiving any reply, and the 
 " Halt, who comes there?" was repeated several times without the 
 question being answered. At last he crossed the path of the 
 person, who proved to be an officer of another regiment encamped 
 beyond us, and stopped him, when he gave the answer, " officer," 
 and I heard the sentry say, " Then, Sir, you should liaA^e said 
 " that you were an officer." I was just going to the sentry's assist- 
 ance, when I found that the officer made no further reply, and 
 was allowed to pass on. But I had no idea of allowing sentries 
 to be improperly treated by anyone.
 
 221 
 
 • CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1816, 1817, 1818. 
 LEAVE TO ENGLAND AND PARIS. EETURN OF THE ARMY TO ENGLAND. 
 
 Chrftenham — Duke of Wellington — Paris in 1817 — Frencli family — 
 Chef d'escadron — Labedoyere's tomb — Ball at the English Ambassador's 
 — Denain — General Beckwith — Encampment again at St. Omer in 1818 — 
 Sir John Colborne joins — Purchases a horse from me — The horse's 
 proceedings on parade — Last visit to Valenciennes — 52nd occujiy citadel — 
 Review by the Emperor of Russia — 52nd the last regiment in France — 
 March to Calais — Embarkation — Arrival in England, November 29, 
 1818. 
 
 In the autumn of 1816, 1 obtained three months' leave of absence 
 to go to England. We were told afterwards, that on the very 
 night of our departure, there was a very heavy gale with rain ; 
 and that great numbers of the tents were blown down. There 
 were two other officers went on leave at the same time, but I 
 forget who they were. We started on a Sunday morning from 
 Dover, in a postchaise, for London. I was voted the paymaster 
 for the journey, and at one of the turnpilces I recollect I had a 
 bad shilling given to me in the change for a pound note, and that 
 it gave us some trouble, as we went along, so to shy it out of 
 the window that no one might be likely to find it. I well 
 remember the delight and pleasure I felt that morning, on 
 finding myself again in our own dear country. I have always 
 felt that one great advantage to be derived from travelling in 
 other parts of the world, was the learning from it to love and 
 value one's own country all the more. As it was Sunday, all 
 the people were very nicely dressed, and in our eyes our fair
 
 222 LEAVE TO ENGLAND AND PARLS. 
 
 countrywomen carried off the palm of beauty, when compared 
 with the nice and kind-hearted females on the other side of the 
 channel. I had not then learnt to value the Sunday as a day 
 set apart by Almighty God as a day of rest, and of holy 
 observance, and, consequently, if rightly observed, of spiritual 
 benefit to man. 
 
 I recollect nothing more of the journey, than that I found 
 myself on the the afternoon of the next day at Cheltenham, 
 where my family were staying. I was not expected, and was not 
 at first recognized by my mother and sisters, when I was ushered 
 into the drawing room, without being announced. Each looked 
 at the other, as much as to enquire who the stranger was. I was 
 now more than eighteen years and a half old, and fifteen months 
 had made some considerable alteration in my appearance. At 
 last one of them ventured to mention my christian name, and 
 then we enjoyed one of those happy meetings which occur so 
 seldom in the course of our lives. 
 
 I have not much to relate about Cheltenham ; but one of 
 
 the first things I discovered was, that the Duke of Wellington 
 
 and I were still nearer neighbours there, than we were when my 
 
 tent was close to the garden door of his house at Paris. He was 
 
 in the next house to us ; but all I remember of him was, the 
 
 seeing him attending to the present Duke, and, I think, his 
 
 brother, when they were put on a couple of ponies, apparently 
 
 for the first time, on the other side of the fence which separated 
 
 the drives up to the two houses. There was a great deal of 
 
 gaiety going forward at that time at Cheltenham, which we 
 
 entered into very freely. One of our chief friends, with 
 
 whom we first became acquainted there, was Captain Sir Edward 
 
 Tucker,* of the Navy, who early in 1817 married my eldest 
 
 sister. After spending about a month at Cheltenham, and a 
 
 very agreeable week at Malvern with a very large party, we 
 
 went into Hampshire, and I returned to the north of France in 
 
 the early part of November. One day at Cheltenham an old 
 
 * Admiral Sir Edward Tucker was one of our most gallant officers, and was 
 made a K.C.B. in 1814, for distinguished services rendered in the capture of 
 several of the Molucca Islands, when in command of H.M. Ship Dover. He 
 died in 1864, at the age of 86, humbly trusting in the righteousness and 
 atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
 EETUEN OF THE AEMY TO ENGLAND. 223 
 
 gentleman accosted me, and told me he had been in my 
 reoiment at the Battle of Bunker's Hill ; but I never fell in 
 with him afterwards. He did not mention his name, but I 
 think it very likely that he was General Hunter, who I know 
 served at Bunker's Hill in 1777, and whose journal of what took 
 place with regard to the services of the 52nd in America and India, 
 is largely quoted in the early part of the regimental record. 
 
 Towards the end of the summer of 1817, Colonel Charles 
 Rowan very kindly applied for three months' leave for me to go 
 to Paris, to improve myself in French. I lived in the family of 
 a superior French officer, who had suffered a great reverse of 
 fortune and prospects by the overthrow of Bonaparte, and the 
 restoration of the Bourbons. They were very nice people, and 
 were very kind to me ; but they were very strong Bonapartists. 
 I picked up a good deal of French whUst I was there, and tried 
 to make a start in German. I also did something, but very 
 little, in the way of military surveying. Several other persons 
 usually dined with the family with whom I had taken up my 
 quarters ; amongst them was a French chef d'escadron, who 
 had served at Waterloo in the cuirassiers. He was now on 
 half-pay. He generally sat at a distant part of the table from 
 me, so that I knew little of him ; we were however on very 
 good terms. I only remember two circumstances connected 
 with him, one of which shewed rather strongly his dislike to 
 the English, a dislike very natural, and, I suspect, almost 
 universal amongst Bonaparte's officers and soldiers, many of 
 whom had met with such signal defeats at the hands of the 
 Enslish in the Peninsula and at Waterloo. The circumstance 
 was this : — We were sitting at dinner one day, when I heard 
 some considerable laughing at the other end of the table, and 
 found, from several of the party looking towards me, that they 
 rather wondered if I had heard what had just been said by the 
 French officer. On my requesting that he would repeat it, he 
 did so, and said, good humouredly, " I was saying, ' we dislike 
 " ' very much the Prussians, the Prussians, and the other dogs, 
 " ' [meaning the Austrians] but with regard to these English we 
 " ' detest them.' " The words " autres chiens," (in English, other 
 dogs,) sound very much like the word " Autrichiens," which is
 
 22-i LEAVE TO ENGLAND AND PAEIS. 
 
 the French word for Aiistrians. I think this play upon the 
 words was common amongst the French at that time. I took 
 the speech very quietly, and merely said, that "there was no 
 " love lost between us." 
 
 The other circumstance connected with the proceedings of 
 this French officer was as follows : — We went with a party to 
 the cemetery of Pere la Chaise, and as I followed them I found 
 our friend the cuirassier writing something on one of the tombs 
 in pencil. On my asking, if I might read what he had written, 
 he made no difficulty in allowing me to do so. The words 
 were very treasonable, and had he been denounced to the 
 government, no doubt they would have cost him his liberty, 
 if not his life. They were to the following effect : — " Else, 
 "Frenchmen, and avenge yourselves on this executioner of a 
 " king, [ce bourreau du roi] who has deprived of life the noble 
 " Labedoy^re." * I think some few years afterwards I saw an 
 account in the papers of some trouble which this officer had got 
 into, in connexion with a disturbance in front of the Chamber 
 of Deputies. 
 
 I had several English friends at Paris, which enabled me to 
 spend my time there very pleasantly, although I did not allow 
 my intercourse with them to interfere with my study of French, 
 foi* which I had principally gone to Paris. I recollect a very 
 pleasant picnic to Malmaison, with a large party of English 
 and French ; and the going to a ball at the English ambassador's. 
 As some of the French royal family were to be there, it was 
 necessary to go in a court dress ; I had no regimental court dress 
 with me, and, therefore, as was customary, hired a civilian's 
 dress. It consisted of a chocolate-coloured coat and waistcoat, 
 with cut steel buttons, black satin knee-breeches, with buckles, 
 white silk stockings, shoes and buckles, sword, and cocked hat. 
 
 * On the return of Napoleon from Elba, Colonel Labedoyere was one of the first 
 sent, at tlie head of his regiment, to oppose his progress towards Paris ; but instead 
 of doing so, he, and the troops he commanded, went over to the late Emperor. 
 After serving at Fleurus and at Waterloo, he retired, at the capitulation of 
 Paris, with the French army behind the Loire. He was soon afterwards arrested, 
 brought to Paris, tried by a court-martial, and condemned to death. He was 
 shot on tlie plains of Grenoble, on the 19th of August, 1815, when he was not 
 yet thirty years of age.
 
 RETURN OF THE ARMY TO ENGLAJSTD. 225 
 
 On my return from Paris, I found the 52nd at Valenciennes. 
 On my way thither with the mail courier, I encountered, near 
 Denain, the most tremendous thunder-storm I was ever exposed 
 to. We were afterwards encamped for two or three weeks, and 
 the army was reviewed, on the plains" of Denain. Two of us 
 put one of our tents over the other, which helped to keep out 
 the cold. We had a brother -officer in the next tent to us, 
 whose horse's name was " Chance," and having, on two or three 
 mornings, heard him ask his servant, when he called him, " How 
 " is old Chance ? " (he pronounced the name in a peculiar 
 manner) we, during the remainder of our encampment there, 
 made a point, the first thing every morning, of inquiring 
 after the health of his horse, in the same words, and with the 
 same peculiarity in pronouncing the animal's name. Every 
 morning, for a fortnight, might be heard the following colloquy ; 
 for although after a few days it was very difficult to get him 
 to answer when we called to him by name, yet we always 
 persisted, sometimes in a coaxing way, till we made him do so, 
 which latterly he did, by saying, somewhat impatiently, " Well, 
 " what do you want ? " when we immediately replied by asking, 
 " How is old Chance ? " I fear I have not been able to make 
 the anecdote so amusing to my readers, as the little daily 
 inquiry after the horse's welfare was to us. The words are often 
 quoted by my sons ; when, at cricket or any other game, I have 
 made some lucky stroke, or have had some lucky escape, they 
 to this day often exclaim, "How is old Chance ? " 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel Beckwith, whom I have mentioned in my 
 account of the battle of Waterloo,* dined with us one day in 
 our large-mess marquee, in the neighbourhood of Denain, and 
 kept the whole mess in roars of laughter, when talking over, 
 with his old Peninsula friends, many of their adventures of 
 former days. He was a great favourite in the light division. 
 AVe returned to Estreeblauche and Thcrouenne, late in October, 
 1817, and I think I have nothing to recount of the ensuing 
 winter and spring, which has not been already mentioned. 
 
 * See page 37. He afterwards became a very religious man, and took a great 
 interest in the Vaudois, amongst whom he lived for many years, and to whom 
 he rendered many services, by his influence with the Sardinian government. 
 
 Q
 
 226 LEAVE TO ENGLAND AND PARIS. 
 
 Early in June, 1818, we occupied our old encampment- 
 ground to the south of St. Omer. Sir John Colborne joined us 
 there, and I remember his telling me, he was glad to hear from 
 Colonel Eowan, that I had not been idling away my time, 
 during his absence from the regiment, but had been trying to 
 improve myself. His establishment of horses was not complete, 
 and some one mentioned that I had a horse to part with, which 
 it was thought might suit him. On the first day on which he 
 appeared on parade, mounted on his new purchase, the horse 
 behaved very well for a time. But on our forming square, and 
 Sir John Colborne, who was on the outside, giving the word of 
 command, " Prepare to receive cavalry," the horse bolted, and 
 carried him off the common, and down the hill to his quarters 
 a mile and a half away ; and we saw no more of him till the 
 next morning. His right arm had been disabled at Ciudad 
 Eodrigo, and he had consequently no proper command of the horse. 
 
 About the middle of August we marched to Valenciennes, 
 and encamped on the glacis and in the ditch ; one officer per 
 company having to remain in camp, and the others being 
 quartered in the town. In October the 52nd marched into the 
 citadel. On the 23rd of October the army was reviewed by 
 the Emperor of Eussia, the King of Prussia, and their chief 
 commanders, and I was left on guard in the horn work of the 
 citadel, with some thirty or forty men, for eight-and-forty hours. 
 I think there were no other troops in the town ; I had some 
 particular orders, but I forget now what they w^ere, but no one 
 was likely to endeavour to gain possession of a fortress, which, 
 in less than a month, was to be handed over to the French. 
 After the review the 52nd returned to the citadel, and held 
 possession of it till the rest of the British army had embarked. 
 
 The following came out in general orders, just as the army 
 was breaking up : — 
 
 "Cambrai, 10th November, 1818. 
 
 " Upon the return to England of the troops which have so 
 " long served under the command of the Eield-Marshal, he again 
 " returns his thanks for their uniform good conduct, during the 
 "period in which tbey have formed part of the army of 
 " occupation.
 
 RETURN OF THE ARMY TO ENGLAND. 227 
 
 " The Field-Marshal has in another order, addressed to the 
 " army of occupation at large, expressed his sentiments regarding 
 " the conduct of, and his obligation to, the general -officers and 
 " officers of that army. These are especially due to the general- 
 " officers and officers of the British contingent, and he begs them 
 " to accept of his best acknowledgments, for the example they 
 " have given to others, by their own good conduct, and for the 
 " support and assistance they have invariably afforded him, to 
 " maintain the discipline of the army. 
 
 "After a service of ten years' duration, almost without 
 "interruption, with the same officers and troops, the Field- 
 " Marshal separates from them with regret ; but he trusts that 
 " they will believe that he will never cease to feel a concern for 
 " their honour and interest." 
 
 I think it desirable to insert here what the Duke said of the 
 British army when leaving Spain and France in 1814. It is 
 extracted from his evidence given before the royal commission 
 for inquiring into military punishments : — " I always thought 
 "1 could have gone anywhere, or done anything with that 
 " army. It was impossible to have a machine more highly 
 " mounted and in better order, and in a better state of discipline 
 "than that army was. When I quitted that army upon the 
 " Garonne, I do not think it was possible to see anything in a 
 " higher state of discipline ; and I believe there was a total 
 " discontinuance of all punishment." 
 
 I do not know the exact order in which the British troops 
 were withdrawn from France, or the exact time of the em- 
 barkation of each corps at Calais. Sir Eobert Arbuthnot of the 
 Guards, who was commandant of Valenciennes, left the place 
 some little time before we did. I went to make some report t(j 
 him one morning, and found him in his shirt sleeves, very hard 
 at work packing some wine, which he was starting for England. 
 Two or three hundred Sappers and JMiners, with the Engineer 
 officers, were the last troops to leave us. When they had fairly 
 started, I recollect a passing thought of loneliness passed over 
 my mind, at the idea of the 52nd being the only English 
 regiment left in France. 
 
 The night before the Sappers left Valenciennes, the Engineer 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 LEAVE TO ENGLAND AND PAEIS. 
 
 officers dined at our mess. I was president or vice-president, and 
 I well remember having a very long and interesting conversation 
 with the officer on my left, about the truth of the Christian 
 religion. I was not very capable of arguing correctly on the 
 subject, and I now wonder how I managed at all, in attempting 
 to combat his sceptical ideas. He was quartered in the town, 
 and I went with him to see him safely out of the citadel and 
 over the esplanade into the first street. I never read the last 
 sentence but one in Acts xii, 10, without thinking of him. 
 When we were about to separate, I said, " I wonder when we 
 " two shall meet again ? " He replied " Perhaps in heaven." I 
 understood, several years afterwards, that he had accompanied 
 Mr. Owen, of Lanark, to America. 
 
 Colonel Hall has given me the following account of our 
 giving over the town and citadel of Valenciennes to the French 
 civil authorities, which I think we did on the 22nd of 
 November, 1818 : — 
 
 " The authorities wished to embody some of the Na.tional 
 " Guard to receive over the place, but Colborne would allow no 
 " Frenchmen in arms until we had quitted it. The regiment 
 " marched out, and halted on the glacis, leaving the main-guard 
 " under Clerke, in the Grande Place. When the citadel had been 
 " given over to the civil authorities, the town was also formally 
 "surrendered. Clerke and his guard joined us on the glacis, 
 " and we marched to Auberchicourt, a coaling village, for that 
 " night. Some hours after we left Valenciennes, a French garrison 
 " of the line entered the town. I forget for what reason, Clerke 
 " returned to pass the night there. We heard from him that the 
 " town had been illuminated on the occasion of our departure. 
 " He remarked, either in lamps, or on a transparency, the words, 
 Tlie more we see of strangers, the more we like our own 
 "'countrymen:' base, if only to curry favour with the new 
 " garrison ; and ungrateful, if a true sentiment. The English had 
 " been great benefactors to Valenciennes, and we never ex- 
 " perienced the smallest symptom of dislike from the inhabitants. 
 " The tradesmen, I am sure, regretted us. A good woman who 
 " kept a shop of pastry and comestibles, seemed inconsolable at 
 " our departure. She made it known that she wished we would
 
 EETURN OF THE ARMY TO ENGLAND. 229 
 
 " all come and take leave of her the day before we left, and 
 " help ourselves gratis to the best she had. So we did all go 
 " in the course of the day, and ate some little thing to please 
 " her, of course without offering payment. The poor woman 
 " was sitting with her handkerchief to her eyes all day, in the 
 "greatest distress. This was something more than interested 
 " sorrow for the loss of custom." 
 
 The mention of the main-guard in the foregoing account 
 reminds me that shortly before our departure from Valenciennes 
 the Emperor of Eussia slept there one night. We had notice 
 that it was his intention to do so, and that he wished that no 
 attention should be shewn to him beyond that of placing a couple 
 of sentries at the gate of the house in which he took up his 
 quarters, and, to supply these sentries, a few more men were sent 
 to join the guard some little time before the Emperor (Alexander) 
 was expected. I commanded the main-guard that day, and de- 
 termined to give him a salute, if he did not pass through 
 the Grande Place too quickly. Although the Place was 
 rather crowded and noisy, (I think it was about eight o'clock 
 at night on the market day,) and he passed along the other side 
 of it, at a distance of about fifty yards from us, we managed to 
 turn out and salute him in time. He was travelling in an open 
 caleche, drawn by four post horses, and had three other persons 
 in the carriage with him, and two attendants on the seat behind. 
 He did not at first, on account of the noise of the carriage and 
 people, observe the salute, or hear the accompanying bugle sound ; 
 but I observed that one of the of&cers with him pointed out the 
 guard to him, when he immediately acknowledged the salute in 
 the usual foreign style, by placing the two first fingers of his 
 right hand against the forward point of his cocked hat. Soon 
 after the Emperor's arrival, Sir John Colborne saw General 
 Wiuzingerode for a minute or two to see if the arrangement made 
 was what was desired, and I visited the sentries as a part of my 
 guard. The Emperor went away early, having left a small but 
 handsome sum of money to be given to those who had been 
 actually sentries at his house. 
 
 We made seven days' march from Valenciennes to Calais. 
 I think it was after we had halted on the third dav, that I heard
 
 230 LEAVE TO ENGLAND AND PAEIS. 
 
 Sir John Colborne telling some one that he was just going to 
 write to the commandant of St. Omer to request that the regiment, 
 or a portion of it might, when it arrived in his district, be quar- 
 tered within the territoires de la place, so as to avoid the fatigue 
 and annoyance to the men of being taken two or three miles 
 from the line of march to the several villages from which they 
 would have to return the same distance the next morning. On 
 the 26th I was ordered to go forward to see that proper arrange- 
 ments had been made with respect to the quarters, and found 
 tliat no orders had been given that we should be quartered within 
 the territories, but that the old plan was adhered to, which in- 
 volved much additional fatigue to the men ; I therefore took 
 upon myself to ride into St. Omer, and to see the commandant. 
 (1 could not recognize him as our fox-hunting friend.) I told 
 him that I came on the part of the Chevalier Colborne, who, I 
 understood, had written to him to request that he would allow 
 the regiment, or a portion of it, to be quartered for the night 
 within the territoires de la place. He said he had not received 
 any letter from Colborne, but immediately granted the permission 
 requested, and issued the necessary orders. When I reached the 
 column of march, I found that one or two companies had already 
 branched off from the main road to occupy the distant quarters 
 intended for them ; they were greatly pleased when I quickly 
 overtook them, and thus saved them some considerable extra 
 fatigue, and Sir John Colborne was pleased with my having taken 
 upon myself to call on the commandant of St. Omer. 
 
 We embarked at Calais on the afternoon of the 28th of No- 
 vember in about thirty small sailing craft, and reached England 
 the next morning. There are some strange mistakes about some 
 of these points in the 52nd record : it makes us to have been 
 only five days on the march from Valenciennes to Calais, and 
 three nights and two days between Calais and Dover. The wind 
 was contrary, but there was not much of it till the next morning, 
 and the night was tolerably clear. We had about half the 
 company in the vessel in which I was with another officer. As 
 each vessel of the flotilla sailed independently of the others, 
 they soon got well separated ; but as we tacked about, we occa- 
 sionally came near enough to some of them to give them a hail.
 
 KETURN OF THE AEMY TO EXGLAND. 231 
 
 With tlie lielp of tlie master's speaking-trumpet we contrived to 
 give ourselves some considerable amusement, by keeping up a 
 little talk with them in the following fashion. Self: — "What 
 " ship is that ?" Reply :—" The Harriet, of Eamsgate." Self : — 
 "What have you on board?" ^^7% ;—" Troops." Self :— 
 
 " What troops ?" Rejply : — " Part of Captain 's company, of 
 
 "the 52nd Light Infantry." Self: — "Ar'nt you ashamed of 
 " yourselves, you lubberly set of fellows T In the morning the 
 breeze freshened a good deal; almost all the vessels got into 
 Eamsgate ; two were on the Goodwin sands for some hours, and 
 the one I was in, and another, put into Dover. Thus the last 
 portion of the army of occupation reached England on the 29th 
 of November, 1818.
 
 232 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 1818, 1819. 
 
 THE 52nd MAECH to CHESTER AND ARE STATIONED THERE. 
 
 Dover — Deal — Ramsgate — Custom-house — Scene at Canterbury — Start for 
 Sheerness — Short visit to friends — Sir John Moore's mother — Various 
 incidents — Balls — Races — Hunting — The Bishop and Archdeacon— Special 
 assize — Lord Lyndhurst commandant of the garrison — Fire, and amusing 
 incident — 52nd ball given to the town and county — Several incidents — 
 Visit to Bold Hall — ^Obtain leave to go to Germany — Proceed to Plymouth — 
 Ball at General Brown's — Sail in Myrmidon to Spithead — Bishop Crowther 
 rescued from slavery by Myrmidon — Incidents connected with his deliverance. 
 
 According to my arrangement, I found letters in the post office 
 at Dover from my brother, and found that his ship, the Alert, 
 was to be in the downs that day from Sheerness, so leaving my 
 men to proceed to Canterbury the next morning under the com- 
 mand of the other officer, I posted off to Deal, where I could 
 hear no tidings of the Alert, but, I afterwards learnt that my 
 brother had sent a boat on shore that evening, on his arrival, to 
 enquire for me ; I therefore proceeded to Ramsgate, where my 
 baggage and my horse were landed, and where I found the rest 
 of the regiment. Either that night or the next morning, I dis- 
 covered, that, in the absence of my keys, the custom-house 
 officers had broken open my trunks and chests to see if they 
 contained any contraband articles. It was somewhat curious, 
 that I had brought, from Valenciennes, a tolerable quantity of 
 handkerchiefs and other things intended for my friends, which I 
 meant to pay for, and which the custom-house officers had over- 
 looked. Under the circumstances, the matter certainly does not
 
 THE 52nd MAriCII TO CHESTER. 233 
 
 weigli so heavily on my conscience as to lead me to offer to 
 repay to the revenue what it lost by the transaction. As my locks 
 were injured, it is possible that / may have been the loser by it. 
 It would have been but a proper compliment to their victorious 
 troops on their return from France, if an order had been sent 
 down by the government to let all their baggage be landed, 
 without being subjected to the, at all times, unpleasant ordeal 
 of undergoing an examination. But what we looked upon as a 
 real grievance, and as a very shabby transaction, was the requir- 
 ing the officers of the army of occupation, who were paid and 
 provisioned by the French government, to pay ten per cent, 
 income-tax on the amount of their pay. I suspect it did not 
 find its way back to the coffers of the French treasury. 
 
 We marched the next morning to Canterbury. Some of 
 the officers had relatives there, and the regiment had been 
 frequently stationed there. It was known also that it M^as the 
 last regiment to arrive from the army of occupation in France, 
 and there was consequently an unusual scene when it halted in 
 the main street. It appeared as if all the principal families of 
 that ancient city had assembled to greet its arrival. It certainly 
 was a very pleasing scene and "a proud moment." I had 
 obtained leave from Sir John Colborne to proceed to Sheerness 
 to look after my brother ; as I proceeded, I found the road in 
 one place so exceedingly muddy that I turned my horse on to 
 the footpath for a short distance, and came in for a greeting 
 and a specimen of English manners and civility which stood in 
 rather unfavourable contrast with the scene which I had just 
 before witnessed at Canterbury. A young fellow, of about my 
 own age, who might have been the son of a farmer, or of rather 
 a lower grade, was a few yards before me, with a gun in his 
 hand, and I suppose thinking that my riding on the footpath 
 was an undue interference with his liberty and rights as an 
 Englishman, had the hardihood to tell me, tliat if I did not get 
 off the footpath he should take my horse off for me. Mine was 
 almost a case of necessity ; but, however that might be, and as 
 I was not in his way at all, I was not going to let him take the 
 law into his own hands. After telling him that he had better 
 not attempt to put his threat into execution, I attacked him
 
 234 THE 52nd march to Chester 
 
 about his carrying a gun without a qualification, and it was 
 curious to observe how the consciousness that he was doing an 
 illegal thing completely silenced him. 
 
 A few miles from Canterbury, I met two sailors, who had 
 come from Sheerness that morning, and who told me the Alert 
 had sailed for Portsmouth. I immediately determined to go to 
 my home, near Portsmouth, and got on as fast as I could to 
 Sittingbourne in the hope of falling in with some coach to 
 London, which would be in time for the Portsmouth mail. I 
 left my horse at Sittingbourne, at whicli place a detachment of 
 the 52nd was to halt the next day, and left a note for one of the 
 officers to take the horse on, and proceeded in a post-chaise to 
 overtake a coach which had started only a very short time 
 before I arrived. I overtook it, I think, at Rochester, and 
 reached London, and the Angel at the back of St. Clements, in 
 very good time for the Portsmouth mail. I reached Horudean 
 very early in the morning, and slept there for a few hours, and 
 got home about ten o'clock, to the great delight of the whole 
 party, who had not the least expectation of seeing me. It does 
 not now appear to be more than four or five years ago, but five- 
 and-forty years have passed since then. I recollect very well 
 that as I went up to the drawing-room, I purposely let my 
 sword dangle against the stairs, rather to astonish whoever 
 might be there. I heard them rush to the door, one of them 
 saying, " If it should be William." That was one of the truly 
 happy days of my life. There was no Alert at Portsmouth. It 
 was a mistake of the sailors. After spending a clear day or 
 two at home, and seeing several of my old friends in the neigh- 
 bourhood, I returned to London, and from thence in a day or 
 two went to Uxbridge, where the regiment had orders to remain 
 for about a week. At this time I went with some valued 
 relations, who were as fond of the 52nd as I was, (they being 
 also near relatives of Sir John Colborne,) to call on Mrs. and 
 Miss Moore, the aged mother and sister of that great and gallant 
 connnander. Sir John Moore, who was killed at Corunna, in 
 1809, and who had been colonel of the 52nd, and had intro- 
 duced into it and into the 43rd and the old 95th Ptifles (now the 
 Pk,ifle Brigade) that system of drill, &c., which helped to make
 
 AND AEE STATIONED THEEE. 235 
 
 them sucli splendid and efficient regiments, when with two 
 battalions of Portuguese ca9adores they formed the famous 
 light division in the Peninsula. ]\Irs. Moore, whom I had before 
 seen when I was starting for Flanders in 1815, asked me, 
 " Whpre the 52nd were now ? " when I told her that the last 
 detachment of them had marched through London that morning 
 on their way to Uxbridge, she said, she should have liked to have 
 seen them, adding " I would go some distance to see the 52nd." 
 
 During the time the 52nd were at Uxbridge, I had permis- 
 sion to be at Hillingdon with some kind friends and connexions. 
 Dr. Hodgson, the Dean of Carlisle, and his family. I recollect 
 on my arrival, the Dean and Mrs. Hodgson were at a dinner 
 party and had desired their two pretty little daughters to 
 entertain me, if I should arrive that evening. When eight 
 o'clock arrived, the elder one, who was nearly fourteen, said to 
 lier sister who was a year younger ; " I think, Mary, as it is 
 " eight o'clock you had better go to bed," which she accordingly 
 did. Their mother told me that the next morning, in relating what 
 had passed, one of them observed, " He talked so sensibly, just 
 " like you, mamma." 
 
 It had been intended that the 52nd, on its return from 
 France, should be stationed at Plymouth, but their destination 
 was altered, and they were sent, the head-quarters and five 
 companies to Chester, three companies to Liverpool, one to 
 Warrington, and one to the Isle of Man. We enjoyed the 
 march from Uxbridge to Chester very much. One way in which 
 some of us at times beguiled the weariness of the march was by 
 getting into the fields and taking in succession every fence which 
 ran at right angles from the line of march ; these were generally 
 taken, as in hunting, at a gallop, and of course without knowing 
 what kind of a landing there was on the other side ; consequently 
 now and then we came down, horse and all, but usually recovered 
 ourselves without parting company from our horses. It was a 
 great amusement to the men, and helped them to look upon our 
 marches as anything but tedious. Then the enlivening and 
 martial airs played alternately by the band, and our corps of 
 more than thirty buglers, as we passed through the various 
 towns on our route, of course brought the whole population.
 
 236 THE 52nd makch to Chester 
 
 male and female, either into the streets or to their doors and 
 windows, and we were not a little proud of ourselves and of our 
 fine 52nd fellows, the vast majority of whom were decorated 
 with the medal, which was the first which had ever been given 
 to a British soldier. We passed through Aylesbury, Coventry, 
 where we saw peeping Tom, and Birmingham, where thousands 
 thronged us as we marched away, so that we could hardly get 
 along, and every soldier seemed to have some dear friend who 
 pressed into the ranks to try and get the last shake of the hand. 
 I think it was at Wellington beyond Shifthall, or at a village 
 full of colliers, called Oakenwood Gates, that I was billetted by 
 myself for the Saturday and Sunday with the wliole or a portion 
 of Captain McNair's company, and the daughter of the landlord, 
 on being requested to supply me with some books, brought ine 
 a volume of Mrs. Opie's tales, in which I found the story of 
 " White Lies," which I was much pleased with. It called my 
 attention to an important point which I had never thought of 
 before. 
 
 We arrived at Chester about the 20th of December, and were 
 very much pleased with our quarters, the only quarter I ever was 
 in in England. We met with great attention and kindness from 
 the various families of the town and neigh])ourliood. The men 
 and two officers were in the barracks in the castle, the other 
 officers in lodgings in the town. Our mess-room was in the 
 castle on a rock looking over the city walls underneath, on to 
 the river Dee. The 20th Eoman legion was stationed at Chester 
 after the defeat of Caractacus. The old rows or galleries in 
 front of the houses in two or three of the streets, and which serve 
 as covered footpaths, are supposed by some to be of Eoman origin. 
 Here the 52nd remained for more than six months. I should 
 think it could not have been surpassed, as an agreeable quarter, 
 by any other place in England or elsewhere. Our walks on the 
 Ehoodee and along the bank of the Dee, on the walls, which 
 are nearly two miles in circumference, and in the rows, 
 with our kind and fair Chester friends, have often been looked 
 back to in after years with pleasure and regret. It would be 
 bad taste to mention the families by name, though they are all 
 well and gratefully remembered. During the races, which took
 
 AND AEE STATIONED THEKE, 237 
 
 place on the Ehoodee, and lasted nearly a week, the dinner 
 engagements were two for each day at different houses. The 
 races commenced at two ; and the first dinner was at one, and 
 the second at seven. It was the gayest time of the year at 
 Chester. There were also balls and other amusements. Some of 
 us hunted occasionally. I well recollect the first time we went 
 out with the Cheshire hounds ; I enquired who were the most 
 forward riders, and some of my acquaintance pointed out two 
 persons, one of them on a white horse, as those who would 
 shew the way to the whole field. Being w^ell mounted, I deter- 
 mined to keep my eye on them. The country was what was 
 called a stiff one. Directly the fox and hounds had got away 
 I was much pleased at seeing at least a dozen fellows, of whom 
 I was one, take the first fence together at a gallop. They took no 
 more fences together. My friend on the white horse soared 
 rather ahead, and took his fences at a first-rate pace and in 
 first-rate style. After we had gone about a quarter of a mile, I 
 gave him the go-by, and maintained my position afterwards. I 
 recollect a curious scene, in the course of our nine miles' run, 
 which occurred amongst some inundations, occasioned by the 
 overflowing of a brook.- The two or three first horses got 
 through the brook very w^ell, it was impossible to leap it ; but 
 the opposite bank, which was somewhat steep and only passable 
 in two or three places, became very slippery after the first few 
 had passed, and as I trotted on to take a low fence with the 
 water on both sides of it, I looked back and counted seventeen 
 of our friends some on and some off' their horses in the brook. 
 The horses had slipped and fallen back from the slippery bank. 
 The next time I went out with the hounds, I found nearly the 
 whole field reconnoitred and admired my horse : she had been 
 bought in France from an officer of the 12tli Light Dragoons, 
 and was up to any pace or any practicable fence. The last time 
 I ever hunted, in taking a severe fence and ditch out of a wood 
 on to lower ground, she met with an over-reach, which laid her 
 up for many weeks. 
 
 When the 52nd were ordered to Chester, one of my relatives 
 wrote to the good Bishop to request him to shew me some atten- 
 tion ; but innnediately after our arrival he experienced a severe
 
 238 THE 52nd MA.ECH TO CHESTER 
 
 domestic affliction, and shortly he went away, and did not return 
 whilst I remained there. He deputed one of the dignitaries of 
 the church to call upon me, and to express his sorrow that he 
 could not see me himself Something led me on one occasion 
 to ask this gentleman if he ever played at whist, and if he 
 would come to my lodgings on a certain evening and play a 
 rubber with some of my brother officers. This he assented to, 
 and came accordingly. We always dined very late, and we 
 never thought of tea afterwards ; so that, strange as it may 
 appear, it did not cross my mind that our friend had come to 
 drink tea with us, until quite late he very modestly inquired if 
 he " might ask for a glass of water." Frequently in after years 
 was I told by my brother-officers of my inhospitable behaviour 
 to the kind Archdeacon. 
 
 Whilst we were at Chester, Lord Lyndhurst, then Sir John 
 Copley, came there to hold a special assize for the trial of some 
 prisoners accused of high treason. The custom then with regard 
 to the military was that they should not be removed during the 
 assizes, but that the Judge should be considered as the com- 
 mandant of the garrison, and the officer on duty should receive 
 the watchword and countersign from him. Accordingly on the 
 first day, when the court had adjourned, I proceeded to his 
 lodgings and explained to him the custom, at which he seemed 
 amused, and gave me two of the Peninsula battles, I think 
 Vimiero and Busaco, as the watchword and countersign. 
 
 One night there was an alarm given that the Dee mills were 
 on fire. They were very extensive and lofty mills, which were 
 the property of a gentleman in the town. The progress of the 
 fire could not be arrested, and they were burnt down. I worked 
 hard in various ways, as I usually did on such occasions, and had 
 a most narrow escape of being run over by one of the engines, 
 which the people were moving without being aware that I was 
 just in front of it, and unable to extricate myself from my 
 position. It was one of my most narrow escapes, as the engine 
 touched me when it was stopped. It was considered necessary 
 to convey the hose of the engine across the stream, which was 
 then running out with great rapidity. I undertook to do this, but 
 had not proceeded two yards, when to my astonishment I was
 
 AND ARE STxVTIONED THEKE. 239 
 
 swept off my legs, and four or five of our men, who made a dash 
 to lay hold of me, were also swept down. We were, however, 
 all brought to the bank, without receiving any injury. During 
 the progress of the fire, the following somewhat ludicrous 
 occurrence took place. A servant in livery came up to me and 
 addressing me somewhat in the heroic style, said, "I have 
 
 " mentioned your conduct, Mr. Leeke, to the Miss s, (ladies 
 
 " to whose family the buildings belonged,) and they desired me 
 " to present their compliments, and to thank you, and to beg you, 
 " to continue your exertions." It was my turn for duty of that 
 sort, therefore I had to take charge of the guard which was 
 necessary to keep the crowds of people from going near the 
 dangerous ruins. At my request, however, the adjutant re- 
 mained in charge himself, whilst I went to change my wet 
 clothes. I recollect tlie master of the house, in which my 
 lodgings were, begged me not to delay for a moment changing 
 my things ; he told me that on a similar occasion, some montlis 
 before, he had got very wet, and had neglected himself, and was 
 then in a hopeless state of consumption. 
 
 In return for all the civilities and kindness we had received 
 from the gentry of the city and county of Chester, we determined 
 to invite them to a grand ball and supper. I had the chief ar- 
 rangement and management of it, and it was said that it gave 
 universal satisfaction. I came across the bill of costs very lately, 
 amongst some old papers. I recollect .two or three incidents 
 connected with this ball. We read a long and flaming account 
 of it in a Chester paper before we left the room, in which I was 
 described as the Ho7i. Mr. L. On proceeding to leave the hotel, 
 we found a gentleman lying very drunk on the floor of the 
 entrance hall ; the hotel people knew nothing of him, and said 
 that he had not secured any bed there. My impression is that 
 he had not been at our ball, but that he was in hunting costume. 
 Although he was quite a stranger to all of us, we did not like to 
 leave him. On arousing him, we could just make out that he 
 had a lodging in some other street in the town : so we got him 
 out, and found that with some help he could manage to walk. 
 He pointed out the direction in which the street was, and we 
 asked him, when we came to the first turn, if that was it, and on
 
 240 THE 52nd MAKCH to CHESTER 
 
 his saying it was not, we went on to tlie next street, wliich he 
 thought was the right one, so we took him along it, although it 
 seemed quite hopeless that we should discover the lodging. At 
 last, in a window at the top of one house, we saw a light, and 
 rapping loudly, inquired of a won^an, who put her head out of tlie 
 window, if a gentleman was expected who had taken a lodging 
 there : she replied in the affirmative, and told us to open the 
 door, which was not fastened, and how to find a light and the 
 room. On getting him into the room he objected strongly, and 
 for some time, to get into bed ; when asked his reason, he refused 
 to tell us. At last I proposed that he should whisper it to me, 
 which he consented to do, and the poor fellow said he " could not 
 " go to bed without saying his prayers." We persuaded him at 
 last to go to bed, and then we left him, though we were not at 
 all assured that he was the person for whom the bed was 
 intended, the woman of the house not having taken the trouble 
 to ascertain the fact. 
 
 One Sunday afternoon, towards the close of my stay at Chester, 
 I rode out a short distance into the country, and seeing a gate 
 rather sloping, so as to make it not a high leap, I put my horse, 
 a new one, at it ; he managed the leap very clumsily, and came 
 down on the other side, falling on my leg, without, however, 
 hurting me in the least. I had no religious feeling at that time, 
 but as I rode back to Chester, I remember that I thought it was 
 a judgment, and a warning to me that I should not so profane 
 the Sabbath day. 
 
 On one occasion four of us accepted an invitation to go to 
 Bold HaU, in Lancashire, where we spent one or two clear days 
 very pleasantly, and made the acquaintance of the pleasing 
 daughters of the house, the eldest of whom, who was heiress to 
 the immense property of her father, afterwards married Prince 
 Saphie, and did not long survive her marriage. The second 
 married Sir Henry Houghton. I sat next to the eldest daughter 
 at dinner, and in the course of conversation on the subject of 
 engagements, she made the following very true remark: — That she 
 thought young persons with veiy large fortunes were very much 
 to be pitied, on two grounds — the first, that men paid them 
 attention, and made offers of marriage to them, who were not
 
 AND AEE STATIONED THERE, 241 
 
 really attached to them, and only sought them for the sake of 
 their money — the second, that they themselves were very liable 
 to miss the opportunities of becoming better acquainted with 
 men who might be very suitable husbands for them, and who 
 might have shewn them some attention, from the fear or suspicion 
 that these men also were attracted by their money, and not by a 
 personal regard for themselves. I find it very difficult, in writing 
 my various recollections of bygone days, to adhere to my deter- 
 mination to avoid all such subjects as the above, and the mention 
 of anything which, by any possibility, may occasion annoyance to 
 any one. I have reason, however, to believe that the relation of the 
 above conversation cannot now give the least pain to any person. 
 
 I had here committed to paper the relation of a circumstance 
 which I thought might be botli useful and amusing, but, just on 
 the point of printing it, I think it better to withdraw the anecdote, 
 and merely to give the useful portion of it, by stating that I have 
 often observed that many people do not seem to be aware that, 
 by the light of a fire, or a candle by night, or from the morning 
 sun shining strongly into their rooms, they can sometimes be 
 seen into, very clearly, even from a distance of fifty or sixty 
 yards or more. 
 
 Some little time before the regiment left Chester, I thousht 
 one evening, as I was hastily preparing for mess, that I was 
 leading a very idle life ; and I began to consider what I could 
 do, in the shape of setting to M'ork, to improve myself ; and I de- 
 cided, certainly in less than ten minutes, that I would try and 
 get leave of absence to proceed to Germany, for the purpose of 
 learning German. At mess I happened to sit next to the com- 
 manding officer, Sir John Tylden, and told him what I had been 
 thinking of: — he replied, "and a very good thing too, I will 
 " apply for leave for you at once, if you like." This I assented 
 to, and in less than a week I received six months' leave. Another 
 officer, a nobleman, for whom application was made at the same 
 time for leave to go and see his friends, was refused his leave. 
 The authorities, it appeared from this, were desirous of encourag- 
 ing officers to acquire a knowledge of foreign languages. I Was 
 very sorry to leave Chester. 
 
 My brother was fittiiig out the ]\Iyrmidon at Plymouth, so I 
 
 K
 
 242 THE 52nd maech to Chester 
 
 went there to take leave of him. I went with him to call on 
 General Brown, who commanded that district ; on our way we 
 came across the 85th Light Infantry, one of the finest body of 
 men I ever saw ; they were advancing in line, which movement 
 they made exceedingly well, even in my eyes, who had seen such 
 wonderful advances in line, even over broken ground, by the 
 52nd. General Brown enquired about my regiment, saying that 
 he had never seen a regiment move so well as the 85th, but that 
 he was told they were not equal to the 52nd. He then asked 
 me what I thought about it, and I replied that I could not say 
 anything about the relative merits of the regiments with regard 
 to their movements, but that I believed the 52nd were in as high 
 a state of efficiency at that moment as they had ever been in. 
 Some of General Brown's family asked me why the 52nd had 
 not come to Plymouth, as was at first intended, and said that 
 they understood Colonel C. Ptowan had got our destination changed. 
 There was an amusing story which had been told to us first by 
 Lord Seaton. It was this : that there was some grass not very 
 far from the Government-house, and the orders of one of the 
 sentries were, that nothing was to be allowed to go on^t, except 
 the general's cow. One day Lady Thornborough, the port admi- 
 ral's wife, who was walking there, got on to the turf, and was 
 immediately ordered off by the sentry, who, on her remonstrating 
 with him, was very peremptory in carrying out his orders. At 
 last Lady Thornborough said, "Do you know who I am ?" "When 
 he answered, " No, but I know you are not General Brown's cow." 
 She went into General Brown's directly, and was delighted to 
 tell them the story. 
 
 During my short stay at Plymouth, we went to Puslinch, and 
 met Lord and Lady Seaton there ; and we went also with a large 
 party to Soltrum to a picnic. I dined at the mess of the 85th, 
 and was particularly pleased with two men there, one of whom 
 was Vandeleur ; the names of all the other officers I forget. We 
 had a ball on board the Myrmidon, and, immediately after, 
 another, which the Browns gave more particularly on our account ; 
 at four in the morning we went from the ball on board the Myr- 
 midon, sailed immediately for Portsmouth, and^ after a pleasant 
 run, anchored at Spithead, at twelve at night.
 
 AND AEE STATIONED THERE. 243 
 
 The Myrmidon shortly after sailed for the coast of Africa, 
 where she was stationed for three years, and did some good 
 service there, for which my brother obtained the honour of 
 knighthood. The Myrmidon took and destroyed numbers of 
 slave vessels, and, on 'one occasion, when in company with the 
 Iphigenia, took the vessel in which Samuel Crowther was. He 
 was then a boy of twelve years of age. He was transferred to 
 the Myrmidon, and remained in that sliip for some weeks. He 
 is now Bishop of the Niger. 
 
 I have twice met this truly good and sensible man — once 
 several years ago — and more recently, just as he was about to be 
 consecrated as Bishop of the Niger. He gave me the whole 
 account of the village in which he lived being attacked, of his 
 father being killed in resisting the attack, and of his mother and 
 her children being sold into slavery. He was on his way in a 
 slave-ship to the West Indies, when the Myrmidon and the 
 Iphigenia fell in with the ship. He told me how frightened he 
 was at the serjeant of marines, who was pacing the deck of the 
 slaver, as the slaves were being transferred to the British ships ; 
 for the Spanish slave-dealers had told them how cruel the Englisli 
 were, and that they were in the habit of killing the slaves, and 
 dyeing their soldiers' jackets with their blood. He and live other 
 boys agreed to keep back as much as they (fould, so that they 
 might be the last to be taken on board the English man-of-war. 
 In speaking of the serjeant, he said, " I assure you I was ver}^ 
 " much afraid of that gentleman." These six boys were taken on 
 board the Myrmidon, and their alarm was greatly increased as 
 they stepped on the quarter-deck of the corvette, by seeing, as they 
 thought, the body of one of their companions hanging in the rigging, 
 and the heads of many of them ranged in a row all round the deck 
 of the ship, between the guns. They were greatly relieved when 
 they found out that what they took to be the body of a man was 
 that of a pig, which was about to be cut up, and served out to 
 the crew, and the supposed heads were cannon-balls painted 
 black, and ranged round the ship on a rack. He assured me 
 that his feelings at first were exactly as I have here described 
 them. My lamented sister-in-law, the late Lady Leeke, made 
 him his first clothes ; whether or not she attempted to teach him 
 
 K 2
 
 244 THE 52nd march to Chester 
 
 anything I am not quite sure. Not very long after his release 
 from slavery, he was taken to Sierra Leone, and placed under tlie 
 care and instruction of the missionaries of that excellent society, 
 the Church Missionary Society, and soon became one of their 
 most promising scholars. How wonderful are the ways of God ! 
 How wonderfully has He overruled the cruel and iniquitous slave- 
 trade for taking persons from several of the tribes of Western 
 Africa, bringing them to Sierra Leone for instruction in the great 
 truths of Christianity, and then returning many of them, as 
 preachers of salvation through Christ, to the persons amongst 
 whom they have lived, and whose language and habits they are 
 acquainted with ! After the lapse of many years Bishop Crow- 
 ther's mother was restored to him again, and became a convert to 
 Christianity. I think it was about the beginning of 1852 that 
 my brother sent out a nice Bible, and that I sent to him a copy of 
 Simeon's " Life." He told us afterwards that he lost both these 
 presents when his house was burnt to the ground. My brother 
 presented him in 1864 with another Bible, with the following 
 inscription written in it : — " To the Eight Eeverend Samuel Edjai 
 " Crowther, Bishop of the region of the Mger river, in Western 
 " Africa, this copy of God's holy Word is presented, on the occa- 
 " sion of his consecration as Bishop, at Canterbury, on the 29th 
 "of June, 1864, by his friend Admiral Sir Henry John Leeke, 
 "who, when commanding His Majesty's ship Myrmidon on the 
 "coast of Africa in the year 1821, captured the slave vessel in 
 " which S. E. Crowther, then a boy of about twelve years of age, 
 "was being conveyed to the West Indies to a life of slavery. 
 " Isaiah Iv ; Acts xx, 28 ; John xxi, 15 — 17."
 
 245 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 1819, 1820. 
 GEEMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 
 
 Calais to Brussels — Murder of English gentlemen — How discovered— Tradition 
 about the fight at Cheriton in the time of Charles I. — Visit the field of 
 Waterloo— Corn rank where we defeated the Imperial Guard— The Rhine 
 — Ehreubreitstein, beautiful scenery — University of Gottingen — Curious 
 funeral ceremonies— Hanover — The Jilger Guards — Colonel Reynett — Leave 
 Hanover for Sottrum— Arrangements for learning German— Alarming ill- 
 ness — Religious feeling — Return to Hanover — Difficulty in speaking Eng- 
 lish properly — Advised to return to England — Paper written on my 22nd 
 birthday — Ludicrous difficulty at Yarmouth — Thames frozen over — Anec- 
 dote connected with the loss of the Royal George — Unpleasant occurrence 
 at races — Think of going on half pay — Kind remonstrance from the regi- 
 ment — Proceed to Nice — Bonaparte at Frejus in 1814 — Religious friends, 
 &c.— Adventure with a mosquito — The chmate of the south of France and 
 Italy. 
 
 I EMBARKED at Dover and arrived at Calais, on my way into 
 Germany, on the 19tli of July, 1819. A journal which I com- 
 menced at that time states that I " met in the packet Mr. Eogers, 
 Beauclerc, and a Frenchman, a very entertaining fellow, who 
 was quite in raptures about England," and that I " dined with 
 them at Quillac's, and went to the play, and very stupid it was. 
 My friend, the Frenchman, insisted on my breakfasting with 
 him in the morning." I have not now the least idea of who 
 these agreeable fellows were. The next morning I started in the 
 diligence, by way of Dunkirk, Lille, and Tournay, for Brussels, 
 which place I reached only on the third day. It is by that route 
 sixty leagues from Calais.
 
 246 GEEM.VNY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE, 
 
 Between Calais and Dunkirk the following tragedy occurred, 
 not many miles from the former place. It is thus stated in 
 Burke's "Peerage and Baronetage," in the pedigree of the 
 Sebrights : — " Edward, second son of the third baronet, was 
 "murdered in 1723, near Calais, as he was travelling with some 
 " English gentlemen, A monument to his memory was erected 
 " on the spot where the foul deed was committed.'' My mother, 
 several times in former years, mentioned this murder to me, and 
 stated that Mr. Locke, a relative of her grandfather, who was a 
 Locke, (they both<were from the same stem as John Locke, who 
 wrote on the human understanding,) was the only friend who 
 was with Mr. Sebright at the time. They were murdered by the 
 innkeeper and his son, belonging to the inn at which they had 
 been staying at Calais. Mr. Locke was alive when he was found 
 with his throat cut, but life was instantly destroyed by a woman 
 pouring brandy into the w^ound. The murderers were discovered 
 about six months afterwards, when the innkeeper sent some of 
 the linen to the same washerwoman, who observed that " she 
 " had seen none so fine, since she washed that of the English 
 " gentlemen, who were murdered." My mother had this account 
 from her mother, who was a Locke, and was born two or three 
 years after the murder. 
 
 The above tradition is not very striking as regards the time 
 which has elapsed since the event took place. The following, 
 however, which has come down to us, through the same family, 
 is remarkable. My mother told me that her aunt. Miss Locke, 
 whom I also recollect very well, stated to her that her grand- 
 mother told her, that when she was a girl, she stood at a certain 
 gate, on or near a farm now belonging to my brother. Admiral 
 Sir Henry Leeke, and saw the fight at Cheriton, between three 
 and four miles off, in the time of Charles L 
 
 At Lille I went to see the citadel, into which I was allowed 
 to pass without interruption. The esplanade is pretty, as is also 
 its bridge. Left Lille at four o'clock in the morning, breakfasted 
 at Tournay, and a little way from it saw the ground on which 
 the Battle of Fontenoy was fought. Passed through Ath, 
 Enghien, and Hal, and arrived at the Hotel d'Angleterre, at 
 Brussels, at eight in the evening.
 
 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 247 
 
 On the 24th of July I went from Brussels to visit the field 
 of Waterloo, and went over a great deal of the same ground 
 which the 52ud had gone over four years before. Numbers had 
 been buried where we remained so long in squares, and where we 
 were charged by the French cavalry. But many hundreds had 
 been buried more towards La Haye Sainte, about three hundred 
 yards below the British position, where the 52nd had defeated 
 the French Imperial Guard. The corn was rank and nearly 
 rotten in these places. The people said the soil was still too 
 rich. I dined at La Belle Alliance on bread and cheese, and re- 
 turned to Brussels in time to start that evening for Aix La 
 Chapelle, which I reached the next day. In the evening I went 
 to the maisoii de jeu, or salon, where all the gentry of the place 
 seemed to have assembled. There, for the last time, I risked 
 and lost a few napoleons at roulette, or rouge-et-noir. 
 
 On the 26th I started for Cologne, and the next day went up 
 the left bank of the PJiine to Coblentz. On the 28th I started 
 for Hesse Cassel, in a chaise de poste with a merchant of Bruns- 
 wick, passing over the Ehine on a bridge of boats to Ehrenbreit- 
 stein, a fortress on the opposite height. Between this place and 
 Limburg the scenery was most beautiful ; scores of wooded hills 
 shewing their summits in front, and to the right and left, as far 
 as the eye could reach. We forded the river Lahn twice, and 
 passed through Weisbourg, Wetzlar, and Giessen, all in the 
 duchy of Nassau. The travelling was exceedingly slow; the 
 postillion, I think, did not once touch the horses with his whip ; 
 and consequently they might well look fat and sleek. He ap- 
 peared very fond of them. He played nicely on his horn several 
 times, especially as the horses trotted quickly up the paved 
 streets of Cassel, after midnight, when he thought it desirable 
 that the inhabitants should be aroused from their slumbers to 
 learn the important fact, that travellers of distinction had come 
 amongst them. On the evening of the 30th I arrived at the 
 University of Gottingen, where I proposed to take up my resi- 
 dence for some time. I find the following entry made in my 
 journal : — " Arrived at Gottingen at seven o'clock. All anxiety 
 to know how I am to get on. Speak scarcely a word of Ger- 
 man and don't know a soul. Dined (or rather supped) at the
 
 248 GEKMANY, EXGLAND, PAFJS, NICE. 
 
 table d'hote, and never opened my lips except to ask for bread." 
 The next day I dined at the table d'hote at one o'cloclc, and met 
 several Hanoverian officers and four young Englishmen, three of 
 whom were in the army. I find I forthwith applied myself with 
 much diligence to the study of German, taking two lessons a 
 day, of an hour each, and working hard at it also by myself, but 
 the being acquainted with so many Englishmen, and with 
 Hanoverians who spoke English very fluently, was a great 
 hindrance to me ; I therefore soon began to make enquiries 
 about some respectable German family into which I could be 
 received, and who would be able to assist me in learning their 
 language. I soon heard of a clergyman's family, living in a 
 village between Bremen and Hamburg, who would be willing to 
 receive me ; and, after remaining altogether a month at Gottingen, 
 I started for Hanover, which had been my original destination. 
 I had been informed that purer German was spoken in the 
 kingdoms of Hanover and Saxony than in any other part of 
 Germany. 
 
 Wliilst I was at Gottingen I saw two funerals. At one of 
 them, from a house opposite to my lodging, the coffin was 
 brought out by twelve men, in plain blue dresses, Hessian boots, 
 and cocked hats with crape streamers, and was placed on a low 
 car, about nine or ten feet long and six broad, drawn by four 
 horses and covered with black cloth. The coffin was not made 
 to the shape of the body, but was three feet high, and appeared 
 to shut down like a trunk. The postillions walked by the 
 side of their horses, and a woman, who seemed to be the mistress 
 of the ceremonies, went in front, and the twelve men, headed by 
 a sort of commanding officer with a sword, followed the car, the 
 procession moving as slowly as possible. On another occasion 
 I attended the funeral of a rich merchant, who was followed to 
 the grave by about forty or fifty of the principal people of the 
 town, some on foot, some in miserable carriages. The grave was 
 about eight feet deep. There was no funeral service, but when 
 the coffin was in the grave, aU the people said a short prayer in 
 their hats ; and then, looking into the grave, each said " guten 
 " morgen," after which they went away. 
 
 Professor Blumenbach had a large collection of the sculls of
 
 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 249 
 
 all nations, which I went to see. He told me he wanted very- 
 much to get the scull of a Scotchman. There were between 
 thirty and forty professors at Gottingen, who gave lectures which 
 the students might attend on paying a moderate fee. Herr 
 Blumenbach gave lectures on natural history, comparative 
 anatomy, and physiology. 
 
 Some of our English friends got into a scrape for painting 
 some of the doors white, and kicking up a row, and were im- 
 prisoned by the authorities for two nights and a day ; rooms, 
 however, were fitted up for them on the occasion. The day be- 
 fore I left Hanover, I met at dinner the grand maitre desforets, 
 who offered me as much shooting as I pleased. I left Gottingen 
 in the evening of the 29th of August, after taking coffee with 
 many of my friends, who again met me at the post- house. When 
 I had proceeded some miles, I was exceedingly annoyed to find 
 that I had omitted to pay my small account at the hotel, where 
 they had the table d'hote, amounting, perhaps, to half a louis. 
 However, when we changed horses, I went to the post-office, and, 
 by the postmaster's advice, sent a louis in a letter to one of my 
 English friends, requesting him to pay my debt. As the Ger- 
 mans are generally honest fellows, I trust the money reached 
 him, though I never heard from him about it. The journey 
 from Gottingen to Hanover in one of the public conveyances was 
 not performed in those days under one-and-twenty hours, so that 
 we only made good three English miles an hour. 
 
 At Hanover I found Colonel Eeynett, of the 52nd, who was 
 on the Duke of Cambridge's staff. Colonel Eowan had written 
 to him about me. He was exceedingly kind, and had arranged, 
 if I remained at Hanover, that I should mess with the officers of 
 the Jiiger Guards, but as they had many of them served with the 
 English army, and could speak English, he agreed with me, that 
 I w^as not so likely to improve so much in German amongst 
 them, as I should be if I followed out the before-mentioned plan. 
 He shewed me over the Duke of Cambridge's house, and offered 
 to take charge of my letters, which were to be directed to him at 
 Cambridge house, London, and must be there on " Tuesdays and 
 "Fridays." I saw the king's stables, with about two hundred 
 horses ; there were thirty away with the Duke of Cambridge,
 
 250 GEEMANY, ENGLAND, PAPJS, NICE. 
 
 and about two hundred mares and colts in the country. There 
 were eight cream-coloured horses, and six white ones. I made 
 an arrangement with the bugle-major of the Jager Guards to 
 write out for me about two hundred bugle tunes, such as he felt 
 tolerably sure the 52nd could not have. These he was to send 
 to England, and I paid him, I think, ten louis for them. Colonel 
 Charles Eowan wrote afterwards to thank me for my handsome 
 present to the regiment. I also received a letter to the same 
 effect, in French, from Kirwan Hill of the 52nd.* 
 
 I left Hanover for Sottrum, between Bremen and Hamburg, 
 on the first of September, at half-past four in the morning, and, 
 passing through Nieustadt, reached Hoya about eight at night. 
 As there was a ball at the principal inn, and I could not secure 
 a bed, I determined to go on to Verden, which placa I reached, 
 about twelve o'clock. This proceeding from Hoya to sleep at 
 Verden that night had, as will presently appear, a most remark- 
 able influence on the whole of my future course of life The 
 night was bitterly cold, and I had foolishly not brought a great 
 coat with me, and on arriving at Verden the people of the inn 
 had all retired to rest. There was no fire, and, regularly chilled 
 through as I was, I had nothing left for it but to turn into a cold 
 bed, in which I slept soundly for several hours. When, how- 
 ever, I awoke in the morning I was surprised to find that my 
 legs and feet were as wretchedly cold as they were when I went 
 to bed. I did not think much about it, and having got my 
 breakfast I felt as well as usual. I had a letter for General 
 Victor Alten, who lived at Verden, from his son, but, as 
 he was from home, I proceeded at once to Sottrum, which was 
 about fifteen English miles off. Here I met with a kind welcome 
 from the clergyman, Herr Biittner, and his mother and sisters, 
 and also from a Hanoverian Waterloo officer who was staying 
 with them, by the name of Schleppegrell. They were a very 
 happy party, though they often spoke of a severe affliction which 
 had befallen them some years before, when Bonaparte had taken 
 possession of the kingdom of Hanover, and their two brothers had 
 been taken from their home as conscripts. One perished in the re- 
 treat from Moscow ; what became of the other they had never known. 
 
 * See Appendix No. 6.
 
 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 251 
 
 The terms for board and lodging and instruction were soon 
 arranged ; they were most moderate. The whole party helped to 
 teach me their language, so that I had the benefit of reading or 
 conversing with one or another of them, dming the greater 
 part of the day. Even when we walked out our chief business 
 was attended to, and my German and English dictionary accom- 
 panied us. French was now and then spoken by us, in order to 
 explain a German word or sentence, but very seldom for any 
 other purpose. English was almost entu'ely banished from our 
 conversation, although they knew a little of it. In this way I 
 of course made rapid progress, both in understanding and speak- 
 ing German. 
 
 When I had been at Sottrum a fortnight, I went with some 
 of the family to Bremen, distant about twenty-five miles. It is a 
 neat, pleasant place, with beautiful walks. We visited the Bley 
 Keller or Lead Cellar, the atmosphere of which has the peculiar 
 property of preserving from decay the human and other bodies 
 which are placed in it. We saw there the body of a Countess 
 Stanhope, who died at Bremen about the year 1565, and also the 
 bodies of Count Brake and his aide-de-camp, who were killed 
 in the thirty years' war. Bremen is on the Weser, and contained 
 at that time 40,000 inhabitants. We saw Madame Eeichard 
 ascend in a balloon. We were from eight in the evening till 
 half-past two in the morning in getting back to Sottrum. It was 
 a cold night, and I was on the box. When we stopped at the 
 inn to give the horses some hay and water, I took a wine glass 
 full of brandy " to keep the cold out." As we pursued our 
 journey, I found that I had constantly to clear my throat and 
 mouth, but when I reached Sottrum I found, to my dismay, that I 
 was coughing up a cj^uantity of blood. No doubt my exposure 
 on the journey, and my cold sleep at Verden, a fortnight before, 
 had laid the foundation for this ; and the exposure on the road 
 from Bremen, together with the strong stimulant, which I was 
 not at all accustomed to take, brought matters to a climax. I 
 was alarmed at first, but as I did not feel ill, and as the blood 
 very much decreased in quantity, I remained quietly at Sottrum, 
 and pursued my studies. About a year afterwards it was clearly 
 ascertained that the blood proceeded from the throat, and not 
 from the lungs as I at first feared.
 
 252 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PAEIS, NICE. 
 
 I had been coufirmed and had received the sacrament when 
 I was about fifteen or sixteen, and, at the time, felt veiy serious ; 
 but the impression soon passed away, and when I went to 
 Sottrum 1 had for years been very careless, negligent, and ignor- 
 ant about religion. It was at this time that I recollect forming 
 some very strong resolutions, that I would make a determined 
 effort to serve God in everything, and give up whatever I might 
 discover to be wrong in His sight. I remained very ignorant 
 about real religion for nearly a year after this. Still I believe I 
 was sincerely desiring to do what was right. I have a clear 
 recollection that in one of the few walks, which I took by myself 
 during my stay at Sottrum, I went to the " Fir Wood," as they 
 called it, and that all at once the question presented itself to me : 
 — Is it right that a person, who wishes to honour God and to 
 benefit his fellow-creatures, should follow the profession of a 
 soldier, whose chief employment, when he is actively engaged, is 
 to take away, or help to take away, the lives of his fellow-men ? 
 This idea had never crossed my mind before, and it startled me 
 exceedingly, for I was devotedly attached to my regiment, and 
 to a soldier's life, and I thought I would more willingly part with 
 my right arm than leave the army ; yet I determined that I would 
 endeavour to examine the matter thoroughly, and if I found that I 
 could not conscientiously remain in the army I would at once 
 leave it. I, however, soon convinced myself, by a very short pro- 
 cess of reasoning, that it was right for a nation to have an army 
 for its own defence, and for the defence of a weak ally ; otherwise 
 it might soon be overrun, and be oppressed by even a very small 
 number of its neighbours ; and that sometimes the best mode of 
 defence would be to carry the war into the enemy's country. I 
 have merely gone into this matter in order to shew that here was 
 a decided intention to give up what was wrong and to do what 
 was right. 
 
 I remained with my kind friends at Sottrum nearly two 
 months and a half, when, finding that my health was not in a 
 satisfactory state, I thought it better to go to Hanover to consult 
 the principal physician there. I left Sottrum with great regret, 
 on the 12th of November. A curious fact was, that on reaching 
 Hanover and going to see Colonel Eeynett, I found that for some 
 little time I could not speak English properly. I had been talk-
 
 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PAEIS, NICE. 253 
 
 ing nothing but German for so long a time, that when first I 
 began to speak in English, I found myself disposed to construct 
 many of the sentences as I should have done in German. On 
 going to consult the court physician, (I forget his name, but he 
 was a most kind old man,) I found him sitting with his pipe in 
 a regular cloud of smoke. After hearing what I had to say, and 
 after my pressing him to let me know if he thought I was likely 
 to recover, all I could get out of him was, that I had better 
 return at once to my friends in England. I left Hanover for 
 Cuxhaven at the mouth of the Elbe about the 22nd of December. 
 I think the packet was detained two or three days by contrary 
 winds ; and these days I passed very wretchedly, as will appear 
 from the following note which was written at that time, and 
 which, as I am writing, I have just taken from an old writing- 
 desk. On the outside are written the following words : — 
 "To be opened on the 27th of November, 1820." 
 It is dated, " Eitzebiittel near Cuxhaven, 27th of November, 
 1819. 
 
 " My birth-day, 22 years old, here in this hiesscd [meaning 
 " miserable] place, waiting to go to England, with terrible pains 
 " in the breast, and difficulty of breathing. Convinced that my 
 " lungs are dangerously affected, I have little hope of reaching 
 "my 23rd birthday. This, however, is to be opened on the 27th 
 " of November, 1820. If I do not open it myself, some of my 
 " dear friends will do so. God bless them. Time will shew how 
 " things are to tui-n out. W. L." 
 
 The following memorandum is written on the same paper : — 
 "Eead this forty years afterwards, November 27th, 1859, 
 "having by God's mercy been so long spared, and having a 
 "humble expectation that, through the blood of Jesus, I sliall, 
 " whenever I am taken hence, go to be with Him in glory. 
 "When, forty years ago, the first part of this was written, I 
 " knew nothing aright of the things belonging to my everlasting 
 " peace, but I had determined to try and do right at all cost ; 
 " having been much struck at Sottrum with a paper, I think in 
 "'The Idler' or 'The Eambler,'* beginning about some one 
 
 * It is in the 2nd volume of " The Rambler," No. 65, and is well suited, by 
 God's blessing, to arrest the attention of any cai-eless young man.
 
 254! GERMANY, ENGLAND, PAEIS, NICE. 
 
 " having left the caravansary early in the morning, and forsaking the 
 " main road for a flowery path, &c. God bless my dear wife and 
 " nine children. Wm. Leeke." 
 
 My journal closes as follows : — ''Left Hanover about the 
 22nd, embarked at Ciixhaven on the 29th, and landed at Yar- 
 mouth on the 1st of December, 1819, very ill." 
 
 I made up my mind, before landing at Yarmouth, that I was 
 too ill to proceed to London in the coach, and that I would post 
 it ; but on looking at the money which I had left, I found that I 
 had not sufficient for my purpose. This led to a series of 
 ludicrous adventures, which were very annoying to me at the 
 time. As we were in the boat between the packet and the shore, 
 I mentioned my difficulty to the captain, and said I was afraid I 
 should have to remain at Yarmouth till I got a remittance from 
 London. He immediately replied that he would put his name 
 to a draft on my agents, and that I should find no difficulty in 
 getting it cashed when we landed. I told him I was very much 
 obliged to him, though I rather wondered, in my own mind, that 
 he should venture thus to accommodate one whom he had only 
 known for six-and-thirty hours. After landing, and getting my 
 things through the Custom-house, I met my friend, the captain 
 of the packet, in the passage of the hotel, when he said to me : — 
 " I have been thinking, Sir, that I shall not be doing right to put 
 " my name to your bill, for I don't know more about you than 
 " anybody else does." This was not very pleasant, but I felt it 
 was very natural that he should, on second thoughts, take this 
 view of the matter. On my asking him what I could do, as I 
 was very unwilling to be detained at Yarmouth, he said he 
 thought the landlord of the hotel could manage the thing for me. 
 On my speaking to the landlord he very readily undertook to 
 give me the ten pounds I required, and said he had often accom- 
 modated gentlemen with money under similar circumstances, but 
 that it was customary for them to leave some of their luggage as 
 a security for the repayment of the sum advanced. This, I told 
 him, I could do without any inconvenience, as I had one case 
 containing articles of value, which I should not want for some 
 little time. When I went to Germany I had been supplied with 
 letters of introduction for some of the ambassadors, and thought it
 
 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 255 
 
 desirable to take my 52nd court dress with me, which consisted of 
 a coat with epaulettes instead of wings, a waistcoat, breeches 
 ■with silver buckles, white silk stockings, and shoes with silver 
 buckles ; there were also a cocked hat, a dress-sword, and various 
 other articles. On my opening the case and shewing him the 
 various things which it contained, he observed, in a very off-hand 
 way, that he thought the whole lot of them w^as not worth five 
 pounds. So I closed the case, and had no more to say to the 
 landlord. As a last resource I went to one of the banks and 
 stated my difficulty, and who I was, and what I wanted. Here 
 I met with very great civility ; they had no doubt about my 
 being the gentleman I represented myseK to be, but it was not 
 at all consistent with their usual way of doing business, that 
 they should advance money on the draft of one who was quite a 
 stranger to them. I found that I had just money enough to pay 
 for a postchaise, &c., for two stages on the road to London, and 
 that by going so far I should only be detained one clear day on 
 the road, and could easily reach town the day after. So I ordered 
 a postchaise, having first written to Cox and Greenwood, to 
 request them to send me a letter of credit for twenty pounds, on 
 the banker of the town which I intended to reach that night. 
 On my arrival, I do Hot think I had a single shilling left, after 
 paying for the postchaise and driver. On the mornmg of the 
 next day but one, the letter of credit arrived, and on my inquir- 
 ing for the banker, I was directed to the house of, I think, a 
 large linen draper or mercer. He read my letter of credit from 
 Cox and Greenwood, and said it was quite correct, but that he 
 was not a banker, but only agent for a bank at the county town, 
 and he doubted whether he ought to cash my draft. However, 
 on my telling him how I had been annoyed, and asking him 
 what his bankers would say, if he refused to give me the money, 
 he consented to let me have it. 
 
 Shortly after my arrival in London my family joined me, and 
 we remained there for some time, that I might have the advan- 
 tage of "ettino; the best medical advice. All alonw I was treated 
 for an affection of the chest, and was a good deal lowered. After 
 a few weeks we went home ; on our journey into Hampshire we 
 saw, just as we passed out of town, that the Thames was com-
 
 25 G GERMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 
 
 pletely frozen over. We were very well acquainted witli some 
 of the near relatives of Admiral Sir Digby Dent, and I liave 
 often heard that when he first went into the navy, I think it was 
 in 1840, there was such a great frost, that his things were 
 wheeled on board the guard-ship, in Portsmouth harbour, in a 
 wheelbarrow. And this leads me to mention a singular fact 
 connected with my family, which I think I ought to record 
 somewhere in this work : — My grandfather, my mother's father, 
 who was an old naval oflicer, lived at Fareliam, in Hampshire. 
 It is about seven miles in a direct line from Spithead, and he 
 was in the habit of going on to the leads of his house every day, 
 when the weather was clear, to take a look with his glass at the 
 shipping in Portsmouth harbour and at Spithead. On looking 
 one day at the various ships, he saw no particular change 
 amongst them, and that the admiral's flag was flying at Spit- 
 head as usual. Before he left the top of the house he thought he 
 would take another look at Spithead, when to his surprise and 
 dismay, the flag ship was not to be seen. On going downstairs 
 he observed to sohie of his family that he thought that some- 
 thing strange had happened to the ship ; and in two or three 
 hours the melancholy intelligence arrived that the Eoyal 
 George had gone down at her moorings ; and that Admiral 
 Kempenfelt and eight hundred oflicers and men had perished. 
 
 After I returned home in January, 1820, I had a great deal 
 of time for reading, and amongst other books, which came in my 
 way, I was led to read Paley's "Theology," which interested me 
 much, and paved the way for my reading his "Evidences of 
 " Christianity," which I have no doubt was a great blessing to me, 
 inasmuch as it overturned all my sceptical ideas, and convinced 
 me that the Bible was the inspired Word of the Most High God. 
 Yet, strange to say, it was not till many months afterwards, that 
 I was led to see that it was my duty to read some portion of it 
 daily, with prayer that I might become acquainted with the will 
 of God, and endeavour to have my conduct conformed to it. At 
 this time I certainly began to try and pray from the heart to 
 God, but I had very confused ideas of religion. I remember that 
 about this time I was so ignorant, that on finding, in a prayer I 
 was using, a petition that the Holy Spirit might be given me, I
 
 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PAEIS, NICE. 257 
 
 asked my mother if she thought it was a proper petition for me 
 to offer up to God. On her telling me that it was, I continued 
 to use it, and certainly after some little time I had much in- 
 creased seriousness of feeling. About this time a kind friend 
 lent me Bowdler's " Eemains," which was also of much service to 
 me ; still I had no clear views of the leading truths of religion. 
 During the spring and summer of 1820, I was not at all well, 
 and probably the living upon a diet of milk and fruit, and vege- 
 tables without any meat, did not tend to increase my strength. 
 I had spitting of blood from time to time, but not in large 
 quantities. I took riding exercise to some extent, and I recol- 
 lect that one day my spirits were considerably raised by my 
 being caught in a smart shower, as it put me in mind of old 
 times. 
 
 On one occasion, some country races, I think, for farmers' 
 horses, were got up about five or six miles from our residence, to 
 which I subscribed, and to which we went in some force. I 
 rode to the ground, and then, for fear of overtaxing my strength, 
 joined the party in the carriage, lending my horse to my brother- 
 in-law. After some of the heats had been run, the steward of 
 the course, or some other persons, (they were strangers to me,) 
 wishing to prevent people from riding up and down the course, 
 passed a rope across it, about sixty or seventy yards from where 
 we were ; the consequence was, that a considerable number of 
 horsemen were brought up on each side of it, and as none of 
 them could exactly understand the necessity for tbeir being thus 
 prevented from passing, they were inclined to do so, if they 
 could, in some way or other. Seeing my relative trying to make 
 my horse leap over the rope, which was held by a number of 
 men at each end near the ropes of the course, and seeing that 
 the horse would not rise at the rope, I walked towards him for 
 the purpose of telling him that if he liked to risk his neck, I 
 was quite willing to risk the horse, if he chose to force him at it. 
 This nearly led several other gentlemen into a very disagreeable 
 row. On coming to the rope and seeing how matters stood, I 
 felt a very strong disposition to solve the difficulty, by cutting 
 the rope, which I did in sailor fashion, by giving three cuts on 
 the upper surface at intervals of about an inch from each other. 
 
 s
 
 258 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 
 
 I had no right to do this, and certainly richly deserved some 
 abuse, if not rough treatment, for my performance ; but the effect 
 of it was very magical — the rope gave way, and eight or ten 
 strong fellows at either end, who were pulling with all their 
 might, went down rather heavily over each other. The horse- 
 men, seeing that the rope had given way, pursued their respec- 
 tive courses, and scarcely anybody, besides two or three of my 
 friends who were near me, knew how the thing had been accom- 
 plished. But I was not to get off so quietly. In three or four 
 seconds a very tall elderly man rushed out from one side of the 
 course, exclaiming, " Where's the blackguard who cut the rope." 
 I did not feel inclined to sneak off, and therefore called out, 
 "I cut the rope ;" and then commenced a sort of row and alter- 
 cation, and I thought we should have had a regular mel(5e, when 
 another man, a yeoman, strode forth to our help, and called 
 upon our assailant for fair play, and that gentlemen should not 
 be so treated, when perhaps they had done nothing wrong. 
 Then there was some bandying of words between the other party 
 and my brother-in-law, our opponent inquiring what busi- 
 ness I had to cut the rope, which the subscribers to the races 
 had desired to be placed there ? He was told that I also was a 
 subscriber, and had as much right to cut the rope, as others had 
 to place it there to the annoyance of everybody. He knew my 
 brother-in-law, at least by name, and said, " I am surprised at 
 "you, Sir Edward," and received the following reply, "We all 
 " see it's after dinner with you, my friend," which raised a laugh 
 against him from everybody around, and he was glad to slink 
 away ; and thus we came off with flying colours, from an affair 
 which at one moment promised to be anything but pleasant. 
 
 It was arranged that I should spend the ensuing winter in 
 the south of France or Italy, and as I had already twice sent in 
 a sick certificate for three months' leave, and had been altogether 
 a twelvemonth absent from the regiment, I began to think it 
 was hardly fair to send in any more sick certificates, without 
 first proposing to go on half pay. I wrote to Colonel Charles 
 Kowan to this effect, and received a most kind reply, begging 
 that I would not think of leaving the 52nd, and saying how 
 glad they should be to see me back again with restored health.
 
 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 259 
 
 On the 16tli of August, 1820, I went to France with my 
 brother-in-law and sister. We were to remain together till we 
 reached Paris, when I was to go forward without them to Nice. 
 We went from Calais to Cassel, from which in clear weather no 
 less than seventeen fortresses may be counted, and then to Lille, 
 Enghieu, and Brussels. We visited the Field of Waterloo, and 
 then proceeded by Mons, Valenciennes, Ham, and Compiegne to 
 Paris. At Compiegne we saw the palace, with its superb furni- 
 ture. During my stay at Paris, two of the old Marshals of 
 France died, Lefebre, Duke of Dantzic ; and KeUerman, Duke 
 of Valmy. They both served at Waterloo, in command of 
 cavaliy divisions. Kellerman, just before his death, told his 
 brother-in-law to make known, in the proper quarter, his request 
 that his heart might be buried on the field of battle of Valmy, 
 and that a monument might be erected to the memory of the 
 "braves" who fell there on the 19th of September, 1792, when 
 he defeated the Duke of Brunswick. He was originally a 
 private hussar in the legion of Conflans. 
 
 At this time I became acquainted with a remarkably intelli- 
 gent Frenchman by the name of Cherval, with whom I had at 
 times a great deal of useful conversation. He was a devoted 
 admirer of the Bourbons, and a most enthusiastic defender of 
 the old system of government which obtained in France before 
 the revolution. He told us that in the commencement of the 
 revolution, he had travelled from Normandv to Franche Comt^ 
 in different disguises, and that some little time after his escape, 
 he read, to his great horror, in the Moniteur, that the mayor and 
 twelve or thirteen individuals of a certain villau'e, through which 
 he had passed, having suffered themselves to be corrupted by 
 the Queen's emissary, Monsieur Cherval, had been brought to 
 Paris, and had been guillotined. 
 
 The weather at Paris diuing the month of September in this 
 year was most beautiful, and the climate most suitable for per- 
 sons suffering from complaints of the chest. Towards the end 
 of the month I left Paris for the South of France, having first 
 provided myself with a chaise, de poste, and having engaged as a 
 servant a very nice fellow, who had served in Bonaparte's Horse 
 Grenadiers. I passed through Fontainbleau, Nevers, Moulins, 
 
 s 2
 
 260 GEEMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 
 
 and Eoanne to Lyons ; and from Lyons down the left bank of 
 the Ehone, by Vienne, Valence, Montelimart, and Orange to 
 Avignon, where I left the Ehone and proceeded by Aix and 
 Orgou to Marseilles, and from thence by Toulon, Frejus, and 
 Antibes to Nice, at which place I arrived on the 6th or 7th of 
 October. 
 
 The following extracts from my journal, of this eleven days' 
 journey from Paris to Mce, may not be without interest to 
 some of my readers : — 
 
 " My sleep was interrupted rather early this morning by the 
 drums of a French regiment which is on its march to Paris. 
 The getting up by candle-light, and the noise of drums and 
 bugles at the same time, made me think of old times, when I 
 was with my regiment, stout and strong. 
 
 " October 2nd. This evening was ushered in by the dreaded 
 north-east wind, the mistral; a person who had not seen it, 
 could not imagine the violence with which it blows. This wind 
 only commences below Valence, so I should think the Alps 
 must occasion it. It lasts generally three or four days, and 
 troubles the natives, on an average, three times a month. Num- 
 bers of the people we met on the road had fortified their eyes 
 against it with glasses fixed in crape. Travelled this day in 
 twelve hours more than eighty-five English miles ; pretty well 
 for French postboys and an invalid. 
 
 "Just before we entered Orange we saw a triumphal arch 
 erected in memory of the victory of Marius over the Cimbri, at 
 a place called Aquse Sextiee, near where the town of Aix now 
 stands. It is in high preservation, the middle arch is for car- 
 riages, the two outer ones are smaller. The mistral as we passed 
 was putting its strength to a severe test, and enveloping it in 
 clouds of dust. How many mistrals has this monument wit- 
 nessed ? How many generations from Marius to the present 
 day have fluttered for a time about the surface of the earth, and 
 then have passed away and shortly after fallen into oblivion, 
 making room for others to play the same butterfly game ? 
 
 "The coup d'ceil from the top of a hill three miles from 
 Marseilles is most delightful. On the right is the sea in a hand- 
 some bay, in the opening are two or three rocky islands ; on the
 
 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 261 
 
 left of the road are some hundreds of little country-houses 
 scattered amongst olive trees. The plain is bounded by a chain 
 of mountains to the south which form a curve, and under it to 
 the north is seen the town. The rain had prevented me 
 hitherto from seeing anything of the town, which seems all 
 alive ; what Portsmouth was in time of war. 
 
 "The country almost the whole way from Marseilles to 
 Toulon is covered with vines. The vintage has commenced. 
 In every house are to be seen presses, barrels, sieves, &c. ; and 
 in every direction we met donkeys with panniers of grapes. A 
 great many tread the grapes instead of using the press ; the see- 
 ing the dirty shoes and naked legs, shows one how useless it is 
 to be over nice with regard to what we eat and drink. The 
 people of this country do not pretend to give the pure juice of 
 the grape ; they showed me a dust which they mixed with the 
 wine, and which was of the same material as the plaster of the 
 walls of their houses ; they think it gives a flavour to the wine, 
 and some of them put it into tlie cask unmixed. • 
 
 " October 5th. I did not like to quit Toulon without seeing the 
 harbour. There are two harbours, the old and the new ; I only 
 saw the latter, which was constructed by Louis XIV, for ships 
 of war, of which I only saw two or three. It is a fine spacious 
 concern, bounded on three sides by broad wharfs. It has an 
 arsenal, and everything complete for building and fitting out 
 ships. The heights, from which the French bombarded the 
 town, almost hang over it, and completely command every part 
 of it. At Toulon, Bonaparte distinguished himself as an officer 
 of artillery, in the early part of the war of the revolution, when 
 it was retaken from the English ; here also at Frejus, in the 
 room in which I am writing, he slept in 1814, on his way to 
 Elba ; he was very ill, suffering from severe indigestion aft3r 
 eating crab ; this, together with the loss of his crown, must 
 have made him pass a deplorably uncomfortable night. I must 
 now to roost, in Napoleon's bed. 
 
 " Saw the place where Bonaparte landed on the 1st of 
 March, 1815, a league to the eastward of Cannes. He sent an 
 officer to that place to oitder rations to be provided for 6000 
 men; but his party at the utmost did not exceed 1100."
 
 2G2 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PAIilS, NICE. 
 
 I passed the Var into Piedmont from France, I tliinlc, on the 
 7th of October. I entered Nice, which is only a mile or two 
 from the frontier, during very heavy rain, which did not give me 
 a very favourable impression of the place. Here I remained 
 more than three months, and, although I thought several times 
 that I should probably die at Nice, it pleased God not only that 
 my illness should take a favourable turn before I left it, but that 
 the serious feelings, which I had already in some measure expe- 
 rienced, should be greatly deepened and strengthened during my 
 residence there. On looking back five-and-forty years, to the 
 time of my first becoming ill near Bremen, I wonder at the mercy 
 and goodness of God, who led me, step by step, to be prepared to 
 receive religious information and benefit from several friends 
 into who^ society He brought me at Nice. The propriety of 
 this observation will appear, when it is recollected, that, had I 
 been brought into contact with these same persons a twelve- 
 month earlier, I should most probably have avoided them at 
 once, as being too strict and too precise. Surely God leads us 
 in a way that we know not. 
 
 A physician whom I consi^lted at Paris, on hearing that I 
 thought of passing the winter at Nice, had given me a letter to a 
 friend of his, who was residing there. It is not pleasant to go 
 to a place for any time, and not to know a single person there ; I 
 was therefore glad to have this letter ; but, although this gentle- 
 man was exceedingly civil and kind to me, it will be seen that 
 he was not exactly the sort of person to be of service to me in a reli- 
 gious point of view; yet was he the instrument, without intending 
 it, indeed whilst he intended quite the reverse, of leading me to 
 become acquainted with those very persons who in God's provi- 
 dence were to be made religiously useful to me. He kindly 
 accompanied me in my search for lodgings, and on my pointing 
 out the Maison Ferdinand, in the Croix de Marbre, which he 
 was passing by, as a large pleasant-looking house, he said, it 
 would not at all suit me, as he knew an "infernal Methodist" 
 who had been there the winter before, and had gone up to 
 Switzerland for the summer months, had taken rooms there for 
 the ensuing season. This would »have been quite sufficient 
 twelve months before to decide me not to tliinlv of the house for
 
 GERilANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 263 
 
 one moment; but now the thought immediately occurred to me : — 
 Probably this man is only called a Methodist, because he 
 wishes to do what is right in the sight of God, and is more 
 strictly religious than most of those around him ! 
 
 I think I secured rooms in this house the very next day, and, 
 in the course of two or three days more, my fellow-lodger made 
 his appearance. We soon became acquainted, and, after a little 
 time, arranged to take our meals together. I found that he was 
 well acquainted with the Scriptures, and that in our conversations 
 on religious subjects, he always referred to them to prove the 
 truth of any opinion he advanced ; this I was unable to do. We 
 had other friends who frequently dined and spent the evening 
 with us, especially a Norwich clergyman by the name of Day, a 
 truly good man, and a nice young man, a Mr. Ward, who had 
 been in the army ; he was seriously disposed, but, like myself, 
 had only confused views of religion. I look back with feelings 
 of great thankfulness to God for having brought me into the 
 society of these good men, and also that He disposed me to con- 
 verse with them on religious subjects. I recollect on one occasion, 
 soon after we began to discuss religious questions, that I made 
 the following ignorant speech — " you will never make me believe 
 " that I shall not be saved if I do as well as I can !" I was 
 immediately shewn, from the Word of God, that this was an 
 unscriptural assertion. Such passages as the following were 
 pointed out to me : — Ephesians ii, 8 — 10 : " By grace are ye 
 " saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of 
 " God ; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are 
 "his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, 
 " which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them :" 
 and John iii, 16, 36 ; John i, 12, 13 ; Eomans iii, 20 — 31 ; Gal. 
 iii, 10 — 13 ; 2 Cor. v, 17. One important consequence of our 
 conversation on that evening was, that I made up my mind that 
 I would, with God's help, and with prayer for His teaching, read 
 some portion of His Word every day until I should have read it 
 through. This good practice has never been discontinued. A 
 feeling strongly impressed upon my mind about that time was, 
 that if the Bible was the Word of God, I coidd not possibly 
 expect to be happy, either here or hereafter, unless I took
 
 264) GERMANY, ENGLAND, PARIS, NICE. 
 
 it as the rule and guide of all my conduct : John v, 89 ; 
 1 Peter ii, 1—3. 
 
 I had several very agreeable acquaintances at Mce ; amongst 
 them were Captain and Mr. Felix, the latter of the 95th Kilies, 
 Colonel and Mrs. Vincent, Mr. and Mrs. Townsend, of Castle 
 Townsend, near Kinsale, and Colonel and Mrs. Campbell: he 
 was an old Peninsular officer, and, I think, in the light division. 
 I may here insert the following anecdote without fear of giving 
 the least annoyance to any one. Amongst my principal friends 
 were two who stuttered most terribly. They frequently came to 
 see us, and the effect of their conversing with each other was 
 generally too much for my gravity : it was an understood thing, 
 however, that I might laugh as much as I liked, but my friend 
 and fellow-lodger always greatly feared that the convulsive 
 laughter, which I sometimes could not avoid, might be very 
 dangerous to me as regarded my supposed ailment. On one 
 occasion we had the addition to our party of another friend, who 
 also hung fire very much when speaking ; and these three several 
 times conversed with each other. Probably such a singular case 
 has never occurred before, that in a party of five persons three 
 should be regular stammerers. At this time Queen Caroline's 
 trial was going on, and everybody was eager for the arrival of the 
 accounts of the proceedings, which we got in Galignani. 
 
 My expectation of recovery from my illness varied almost 
 from day to day. Some of the following entries were made in 
 my journal under the impression that I very probably should not 
 live to return to England, and that they would be read by my 
 relatives after my death ; they shew that, by degrees, my views 
 had become clearer, and my religious feelings stronger than they 
 had been. 
 
 "December 2nd, 1820. This morning I have expectorated a 
 little blood. I am thankful I am not at home, as I know my 
 dear mother would be much alarmed on my account ; if it were 
 not for that, how delighted I should be to be with her. The 
 Almighty visits us with these little afflictions for wise and good 
 purposes. Last night I prayed to Him for a return of health ; 
 it has pleased Him, however, not to grant my request — His will 
 be done ! Manifold are the ways of His providence ! Had I
 
 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PAPJS, NICE. 265 
 
 never been afflicted witli this spitting of blood, I should, most 
 likely, have been still pursuing a thoughtless course of life, re- 
 gardless of religion, and estranged from my God and Saviour. 
 He, of His infinite goodness, has brought me more than once into 
 the society of religious people, whose discourse has, as it were, 
 awakened me from my apathy, and laid open to my eyes the 
 precipice on the edge of which I have been straying. What 
 helpless, nothingless beings we are of ourselves ! Happy is 
 the man who feels his own weakness, and who, at the 
 same time, clings for support to the cross of his Eedeemer; 
 and blessed is the Almighty, who awakens in him this 
 feeling. 
 
 " December 3rd. This day is so fine, that I have been able to 
 sit with my windows open for tM^o hours ; there is a pear-tree 
 in blossom in the garden. How beautiful are the collect and 
 epistle for Advent Sunday ! How interesting, also, is the 14th 
 chapter of St. John ! 
 
 " December 10th. The tlioughts of leaving this world are only 
 painful when I think of the dear friends I must leave behind. 
 If ever this should meet the eyes of any of them, may it induce 
 them to think of the short, short time they may have.,to live. 
 The eye that reads this, as well as the hand which traces it, must, 
 ere many years, perhaps weeks, be closed and chilled by death. 
 We should always bear in mind how inevitable death is — a few 
 years, and the present generation will have passed away. The 
 thoughts of death, instead of being terrible, are grateful to the 
 person who looks forward to a better world, through the merits 
 of a gracious Eedeemer. I pray God that, in health and in sick- 
 ness, He will not withdraw His Holy Comforter from me. My 
 dear friends are what the world calls religious, but are they suffi- 
 ciently so, and have they proper ideas on the subject ? Are they 
 aware of the total insufficiency of the best of their own works 
 to save them ? I have received great pleasure and instruction 
 from Mr. Wilberforce's 'Treatise on Christianity,' and from 
 Serle's ' Christian Eemembrancer.' I humbly trust that I am a 
 partaker of the grace of the Almighty. I consider myself to-day 
 in a worse state of health than I have ever yet been in, but I do 
 not feel particularly annoyed at it ; the will of God be done, and
 
 266 GERMANY, ENGLAND, PAEIS, NICE. 
 
 may He ever give to me and mine, and to all poor sinners, tLe 
 same feeling. 
 
 " December 1 2th. Dr. B. found a vessel open in my throat. 
 
 "December 13th. Dr. B. and Dr. T. held a consultation, and 
 decided on the propriety of my getting farther away from the sea. 
 They discovered the vessel from which I had had the discharge 
 of blood, and the mucus formed on the wound. Dr. T. told me 
 my case was a straightforward one, if I was only careful. 
 Dec. 1 4th. Dr. B. was able to apply something to the wound in 
 my throat by means of a quill with a sponge at the end of it. 
 Dec. 24th. Gained strength at a great rate. Dec. 25th. Fine day, 
 but cold ; received the sacrament. Ate my Christmas dinner at 
 Colonel Vincent's, and met a Mr. and Mrs. Wills, of the County 
 Pioscommon." 
 
 Soon after I got to Nice, I met with the following adventure. 
 I had desired my servant to be always most particular in taking 
 care that there were no mosquitoes under the mosquito curtain, 
 when it was let down for the night. One night, however, after I 
 had been in bed for some time, I found, to my horror, that one 
 of these animals was under the curtain. I thought I would almost 
 as soon have heard the roar of a tiger, for there was very little 
 prospect of getting any sleep that night. After catching at it 
 for a long time, whenever I heard it buzzing near my face, I at 
 last thought I had killed it, as I heard nothing more of it ; in the 
 morning, however, whilst I was dressing, I was seized with a 
 most violent fit of coughing, which lasted for a good half-hour, 
 and I began to fear that it would end in death, or in my becoming 
 ^ most seriously ill, when, to my astonishment, I coughed up the 
 leg of a mosquito, and, by degrees, the other parts of the animal 
 made their appearance. The doctor thought I had had a very 
 narrow escape. 
 
 It is foreign to my purpose to lengthen out this work by 
 describing the beautiful scenery on all sides of Nice ; nor do I 
 wish to say much about the climate. From what I read and 
 observed on that subject, I came to the conclusion, that no place 
 close to the sea is a fit place of residence for an invalid at all 
 subject to spitting of blood ; and that, after the very beginning 
 of January, Nice is not a suitable place for any persons suffering
 
 GEEMANY, ENGLAIO), PAEIS, NICE. 2G7 
 
 from affection of the cliest. After Christmas, Pisa and Eome 
 are recommended, as being more inland. Sir James Clarke, 
 many years ago, wrote a very clever work on the " Climate and 
 " Diseases of the South of France and Italy," and, if I do not 
 mistake, he takes the above-mentioned view of the subject.
 
 268 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI 
 
 1821. 
 ITALY. 
 
 Proceed by water to Genoa — From Genoa to Pisa — Cross a portion of the 
 Apennines — Misunderstanding with a vetturino — Bridge over the Serchio 
 carried away — The leaning tower at Pisa, etc. — The death of a student — The 
 Carnival, etc. — Florence to Rome — Austrians bivouacked around Terni — 
 St. Peter's at Rome — Curious scene — From Rome to Naples — Appii Forum 
 — Cicero's villa and tomb — Naples — Portici, Pompeii — Go up Vesuvius — 
 English squadron — Sir Graham Moore — Return by Rome, Florence, Milan, 
 Turin, and Geneva to England — Dr, Malau at Geneva — Narrow escape 
 at the mortar-practice there. 
 
 I LEFT ISTice for Genoa about the second or third of January, 
 1821, in company with Mr. Ward, in the Italian mail felucca. 
 We had a not very disagreeable voyage of 120 miles. The 
 accommodations of the felucca were not " first class," as we 
 more particularly discovered when we had to turn in at night. 
 The views of the coast, and of the maritime Alps, were most 
 splendid. We did not remain long at Genoa, and my principal 
 recollection of it is, that the streets were remarkably narrow, 
 and the houses, or, rather palaces, very lofty and well built. 
 
 I find myself very much puzzled as to the inflicting, or not, 
 on my readers, an account of my travels to Pisa, Florence, 
 Rome, and Naples ; and my return to England by Pome, 
 Florence, Bologna, Milan, Turin, Geneva, and Paris. I am 
 unwilling to swell this work to too large a size ; and, on the 
 other hand, there are many things of considerable interest 
 which I think I ought not to omit. I wiU therefore, with the
 
 ITALY. 2G9 
 
 assistance of my journal, which was tolerably well kept at that 
 time, endeavour to give as concise an account as I can of 
 this period of about five months ; and I can cut it down, or leave 
 it out afterwards, if I find it necessary. I took with me into 
 Italy, Eustace's " Classical Tour," in four octavo volumes, and 
 four small volumes of Eeichard's " Guide des Voyageurs en 
 Europe." Both these works were very useful ; I should think 
 no traveller in Italy should be without Eustace, even in the 
 present day. And now I will begin with my journal : — 
 
 "1821. Made a bargain with a man to take us (Mr. Ward, 
 myself, and servant) from Genoa to Pisa, for thirteen napoleons, 
 and started on Saturday, the 6th of January, in a coach drawn by 
 three horses. The road runs along the coast as far as Eecco, 
 and the Apennines rise nearly perpendicularly from it on the 
 left. Sometimes we were separated from the sea by small 
 groves of olives and orange-trees, and as we looked down 
 upon it through them it had a most beautiful appearance. 
 The wildness of the Apennines was heightened by the rain, as 
 numerous cascades, rolling from the very top of them to the 
 bottom, added to the effect. We had bargained to go as far as 
 Sestri, but the badness of the weather prevented our getting 
 farther than Eapalo. A little beyond Eecco the postillion 
 pulled up, and told us we could not proceed, owing to the 
 swelling of a river ; however, by threatening that we would not 
 pay him, if he did not push on, we induced him to do so. We 
 passed the river on men's shoulders, and slept at a miserable 
 inn at Eapalo. The dashing of the sea against the house 
 under my window, prevented my sleeping very well. From my 
 room, in the morning, I had a very pretty view of the coast 
 of the gulf of Eapalo as far as Porto Fino, formerly Portus 
 Delphini. 
 
 " January 7th. From Eapalo to Chiavari the road is along the 
 seashore, and winds along the side of the mountains ; in some 
 places there are perpendicular precipices more than 500 feet deep. 
 In one place a part of the hill had given way, and the road was 
 almost blocked up. We were lucky in finding some men wlio 
 helped to clear the way for us. I thought the scenery for six or 
 seven miles on this side (the south) of Eapalo, most beautiful.
 
 270 ITALY. 
 
 The road runs tlirougli the rock in two places. Chiavari is situated 
 in a small plain almost surrounded on every side, except towards 
 the sea, by mountains. The cultivated laud around it looks 
 like a large garden divided into beds ; all along the coast is a 
 row of large aloes. The orange-trees at this place were looking 
 most beautiful ; in one little garden of about half an acre there 
 were at least 200 trees, and on an average there must have been 
 400 oranges on each. Last winter the orange-trees at Nice 
 were terribly cut up by the frost, but all along this coast they 
 appear in a most thriving condition. Half a mile before we 
 came to Sestri, we passed along a road formed nearly at the 
 bottom of the rock. The sea was high, and at times beat over 
 it, and we narrowly escaped a wave, which completely ducked, 
 and almost carried away, a man who was only three or four 
 yards behind the carriage. We stopped an hour or two at 
 Sestri, and then set forward to cross a ridge of the Apennines ; I 
 in a sedan chair, borne by six stout fellows, and the others 
 and the baggage on mules and horses. There was an Italian 
 merchant of Brescia in company. My bearers kept up pretty 
 well with the cavalcade, and at about four o'clock we arrived at 
 the post of Braco. Everybody wished to go on to the next 
 village, about eight miles forward, so I did not object, although 
 it was getting dark. It rained very hard at times, and I 
 thought the scene was really sublime when I saw the lightning 
 flashing horizontally below me. We got a light about five 
 o'clock at a solitary house, and proceeded on our mountain ex- 
 cursion. The road was very narrow, and in some places there 
 were frightful precipices, down which I was terribly afraid some 
 of the mules would slip. Ward's mule slipped only twice, 
 although the road was very steep at times, and in many places 
 lay over the naked rock ; he observed that the poor animal 
 trembled very much both times after it. When he was in front 
 it annoyed him every now and then, by turning round to 
 look at the light ; this was not very pleasant, considering the 
 narrowness of the path, and the precipice below. My men lost 
 the path once, and before they could find it again the candle 
 went out, and we were in a pretty predicament. They 
 hallooed to the party in front, who came to our aid. Three or
 
 ITALY. 271 
 
 four siilpliur boxes were produced, and, as the wind was high, 
 they were forced to light the matches in my chair ; it was a 
 long time before we could succeed in lighting the candle, and in 
 the meantime I was almost suffocated with brimstone. We 
 slept at a horrible place called Carrotta. There was no fire- 
 place in the village, and we were ushered into a small room 
 with a fire lighted on the floor, in the centre, the smoke escaping 
 out of the door. There w^ere benches fixed against the walls 
 round the fire, and all hands, to the amount of thirteen, set to 
 work to warm and dry themselves. I almost fancied myself in a 
 robber's cave, such was the appearance of the people and place. 
 We could get nothing to eat but bread and eggs. Ward and I 
 were accommodated with the bed of the host and hostess, on 
 which we lay down in our clothes ; there were only shutters, 
 and no windows, but I was so used to rough it, by that time, 
 that I had no apprehension of taking cold." 
 
 On the 8th we started from Carrotta about half-past seven. 
 The road was better, and my men tripped along at a famous 
 rate. We arrived at Spezia about two o'clock. I fancy I cut 
 rather an odd figure in my cloak and large brown nightcap, as 
 many people asked, if I were a Spagnuolo (Spaniard.) We got 
 away from Spezia about three o'clock, in a carriage. The Gulf 
 of Spezia looked very beautiful ; the English erected some forts 
 here in 1814. There is a fountain of fresh water rising in the 
 midst of the salt water, a long way out at sea. We passed part 
 of the ]Magra in a boat. I mounted a post-horse, which came 
 over with us, and, after fording the other part, rode to Sarzana, 
 where we lodged, at a very good inn, called the Aquila Nigra, 
 kept by a Frenchman. 
 
 "January 9th, At Sarzana we permitted our Genoese 
 conductor to hand us over to a vetturino ; his carriage, however, 
 was so bad that we wished to stop at Massa, to get another. 
 The road runs past the town, which he refused to enter, and, not- 
 withstanding all we could say, he persisted in driving on. ]\Iy 
 servant, Frederick, stopped him, and Ward and I went into the 
 town to see if we could not get redress by applying to the police. 
 I managed to express myself very tolerably in Italian, and the 
 head man sent a police- officer to bring the man to him ; but the
 
 272 ITALY. 
 
 bird had flown ; lie had followed us into the town, and, hearing 
 ine say I should go to the police, he returned to the carriage and 
 told Frederick that we wished him to proceed with the baggage, 
 and that we intended to follow in a post-carriage. The commissaire 
 gave us a letter, stating the case, to the commissaire at Pietra 
 Santa, and after eating a good dinner at the hotel, we followed in 
 a calechc, with post-horses. We obtained full redress at Pietra 
 Santa. This part of the business was managed very well by 
 Frederick, who took the letter to the police office. The man 
 narrowly escaped being put in prison, and was forced to pay all 
 the extra expenses we had incurred." 
 
 On the loth we left Pietra Santa, in a return Pisa carriage ; 
 the vetturini always hand people over to each other in this way 
 when they can, and we were not sorry to change. Both this day 
 and yesterday the country we passed through was much inun- 
 dated. The vines hang most beautifully in festoons from tree 
 to tree. The country looks like a large garden, and we passed 
 several large groves of olives. About four miles after passing 
 Viareggio, we were stopped for more than three hours, in conse- 
 quence of the bridge over the Serchio having given way. We 
 walked down to the place, and found that n(5t only the bridge, 
 but also part of the river bank had been washed away. The bridge 
 had been tottering all the morning, and about half an hour 
 before our arrival, not five seconds after the courier had passed, 
 a large tree carried it away. The country was inundated on all 
 sides, as far as the eye could reach. The people were striving to 
 pick up the planks and posts which were floating along, and 
 three or four fellows were swimming for the same purpose. After 
 quarrelling a great deal with the postillion about the payment, 
 we agreed to give him the whole fare to Pisa, provided he would 
 cross the water with us, proceed to Lucca, and bring us out a 
 carriage to the other bank of the river. We crossed in a boat, 
 making a round of about a mile among the trees, which were 
 beautifully festooned with long branches of the vine, hanging 
 from one to the other. When we were in the carriage on the 
 other side, the driver refused to go to Pisa, as he said the road 
 was dangerous from the inundations, but we induced him to pro- 
 ceed by threatening not to pay the other postillion if he did not.
 
 ITALY. 273 
 
 We passed througli some lanes full of water, mth a man before 
 to try the depth of it ; the horses were in some places up to 
 their bellies, but we soon gained the high road from Lucca. At 
 Eipafratta, a name suggestive of the breaking of the left bank 
 of the Serchio in former days, our passports were examined, on 
 our entrance into the Tuscan territory. The night was very fine, 
 and the moon shone in great splendour, and before entering Pisa 
 we had a distant view of the leaning tower ; its deviation from 
 the perpendicular was very visible at the distance of a mile by 
 moonlight. We were kept some time at the gate of Pisa, in con- 
 sequence of the people not being able to make out my name. 
 There is an order that no carriage is to be in the town at night 
 without a light, so they gave us a candle which we held up at 
 the window. We brought up at the hotel of "The Three Damsels." 
 
 As was to be expected, after the rather trying journey which 
 I had encountered, I did not feel quite so well on my arrival at 
 Pisa as I was when I left Nice. Mr. Pitzgibbon had kindly 
 given me a letter to Mr. Blizard, an eminent London surgeon 
 who was staying at Pisa, and he was most kind and attentive to 
 me. I gave him the whole history of my case, which he thought 
 very favourably of, but recommended me to be careful not to 
 expose myself again. He prescribed a ride to the baths of Pisa, 
 which are about four miles from the town, every forenoon when 
 the day was fine, to drmk the waters ; but I presume the giving 
 me daily riding exercise was his principal object. I found at 
 Pisa some old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Poore, and wlien the weather 
 was not fine enough for horse exercise I frequently went with 
 them in their carriage to the caschina, or cow park, of the Grand 
 Duke of Tuscany, where we could generally get a walk, well 
 sheltered from the wind. There we saw the descendants of 
 camels brought from the Holy Land in the time of the Crusades. 
 
 I remained at Pisa between six and seven weeks, and, during 
 that time, not only gained much strength from being enabled, 
 owing to the mildness of the climate, to ride and walk out almost 
 every day, but I managed also to pick up some considerable 
 knowledge of Italian and of Italian history. I will here again in- 
 troduce a few extracts from my journal. 
 
 " January 13th. Went to see the hanging tower, (which is the 
 
 T
 
 274 ITALY. 
 
 clock tower, hanging twenty-two feet over the perpendicular,) the 
 cathedral, the baptistery, and the campo santo, or burial-ground. 
 These four buildings stand rather separated from the town, but I 
 am inclined to differ with our friend Eustace, as I think it is the 
 green turf in front of them which is so peculiarly pleasing to the 
 Eno'lish eye, and not their isolated situation. I felt quite grati- 
 fied at the sight of the turf, for I think I have not seen any before 
 since I left Paris. In the south of France, in Piedmont, and in 
 Italy, every crook and corner is cultivated. 19th. Ptode out 
 towards the hills ; the peasants of the Val d'Arno seem not to be 
 so poor and wretched as those of Piedmont ; they are remarkably 
 civil ; some of them who were working in the fields, at least a 
 hundred yards from the road, I observed looking till they en- 
 gaged my attention in order to sliew the civility of taking off 
 their hats. A student died about a fortnight ago, and to-day he 
 was buried, aU the students attending ; they subscribed so much 
 each in order that they might have a splendid funeral. Out of 
 the six hundred students I did not see one who might be called 
 a fine young man. 25th. My Italian master, who is a student, 
 requested me to take some other book rather than Pignotti's 
 " Storia della Toscana," as he could not accompany me in reading 
 that, it having been forbidden to all Catholics by the Pope. 27th. 
 Eode on the Leghorn road. The poor people here seem to make 
 it a rule to attack every Englishman they see for money ; I gave 
 a lad two paoli (about a shilling) for the sake of making him 
 happy. He knelt down to thank me, and then went away jump- 
 ing and shouting, and fully as much gratified as I should have 
 been with a present of £500. It was at their return from the 
 Holy Land, in the time of the Crusades, that the Pisan gallies 
 brought cargoes of the famous earth, with which the campo is 
 fiUed ; it is said to have the property of destroying bodies buried 
 in it in a very short space of time ; now, however, it is not per- 
 mitted to bury there ; for the last thirty-five years there has been 
 a law in force which forbids the burial of people within the 
 walls of Pisa. 
 
 " January 30th. Visited the campo santo, the duomo (cathe- 
 dral) and baptistery for a few minutes. The duomo is most 
 splendid in the interior. I only took a peep at it, the air was so
 
 ITALY. 275 
 
 cold. There are many paintings by the first masters ; the granite 
 pillars are very fine. The cam'po santo requires more time than 
 I could venture to give it, considering its dampness. There are 
 numbers of tombs, monuments and sarcophagi. The monument 
 erected by Frederick the Great of Prussia, to Algorotti, attracted 
 my attention ; the inscription is " Algorotto Ovidii oemulo, New- 
 " tonii discipulo Friedericus magnus," underneath there is "Algo- 
 " rottus non omnis." The baptistery has some very fine sculpture 
 in it, particularly the pulpit ; on the outside on the top is the 
 figure of John the Baptist. Here is the only font in Pisa. 
 
 " February 1st. Ptead the Life of Colonel Gardiner, which 
 pleased me very much ; the latter part of his life seems to 
 have been passed in that fulness of happiness which only the 
 advanced Christian must expect. May such be the lot of many. 
 Those who place not their affections on the corruptible things of 
 this world, are certainly the people who pass through it with the 
 greatest comfort ; all the little ups and downs of life they look 
 upon as trifles, their great aim is heaven, and the confident hope 
 of enjoying a blessed eternity makes them, in a degree, callous to 
 what the world calls adversity." I have copied the above from 
 my journal to shew that there was an increasing religious 
 feeling at the time it was written. I should write it somewhat 
 differently now. 
 
 The next entry in my journal refers to the history of Italy, 
 and I should not introduce it here, but for the curious circum- 
 stance it relates : — " The new Pope Gregory was neither a Guelf 
 nor a Ghibelline ; he wished to reconcile these two parties. 
 Florence having opposed his desire, was excommunicated. Eather 
 an odd circumstance occurred on his return from the council of 
 Lyons in 1276 ; he wished to avoid Florence, but the Arno had 
 overflown its banks and prevented his passing by Pisa, therefore 
 he was forced to go by way of Florence. It would not have been 
 proper for him to have entered an accursed city, so he blessed it 
 on going in, and after he had passed through, turned round and 
 excommunicated it. He died on his journey at Arezzo. He had 
 made a law, that if the Pope should die away from Eome, his 
 successor should be chosen immediately on the spot. Innocent V 
 was elected in his stead." 
 
 T 2
 
 276 ITALY. 
 
 " February 4th. There is a young Englishman here who is 
 
 going to be married to a Miss , she is a tall girl and he 
 
 rather short ; they are constantly walking about together and 
 looking very loving. This being the first day of the Carnival, 
 on which masks have appeared on the Lung' Arno, two young 
 men, I fancy students, were dressed as an English gentleman 
 and lady ; the lady was tall, her companion a little man. I am 
 
 told they took off the lovers admirably. A Miss , going to 
 
 dine at the house of a friend on Saturday last, the day before 
 that appointed for the first appearance of the masks, had the 
 misfortune to walk up the Lung' Arno alone, in her English eve- 
 ning low dress ; she had a veil on, and, although the sun was 
 down, a parasol, for the purpose I suppose of hiding her face. 
 The people took her, or pretended to take her, for a masked cha- 
 racter, and numbers of them followed her ; indeed, some proposed 
 stopping her, as being out of order in appearing in such trim a 
 day too soon. The poor lady was in a sad fright, and took refuge 
 in a friend's house ; some say she was forced to appear on the 
 balcony before the people would go away. 
 
 "In almost all the towns of Italy there is a Societa della 
 misericordia, the members of which make it their business to 
 find out the poor and those in need of assistance, and to minister 
 to their necessities. The members of the society here belong, 
 some of them, to the first families in Pisa. If a poor man is 
 sick, they either attend him at his own house or carry him to 
 the hospital, as the case may be. They wear masks and black 
 cloaks, partly that they may not be known, and partly that there 
 may be no difference in the dress of the rich and poor members. 
 I met twelve or fourteen of them the other day, going out on 
 their work of mercy. I am told that any person who is unfor- 
 tunate is sure to meet with assistance from this society." 
 
 On the 27th of February I went from Pisa to Florence, on my 
 way to Ptome, much improved in health, but still being advised 
 to pass the winter and spring in Italy. I only remained in 
 Florence five or six days, during which I saw all that was par- 
 ticularly worth seeing, including the Palazzo Pitti, and the 
 famous Medicean gallery, with all its beautiful statues and paint- 
 ings, some of both of which had travelled many hundreds of
 
 ITALY. 277 
 
 miles since I had seen them at Paris in 1815. The museum at 
 Florence was chiefly remarkable for its wax anatomical speci- 
 meas, which were contained in nearly or quite thirty rooms. 
 
 I left Florence on the 5th of March and got to Eome on the 
 8th, having travelled by Arezzo, Perugia, Foligno, Spoleto, Terni, 
 Narni, and Civita Castellana. After leaving Spoleto, we drove 
 along the side of a torrent for some four or five miles between 
 high hiUs, and then ascended Monte Somma, the most elevated 
 mountain of that range of the Apennines; the mountain and 
 woody scenery were very beautiful. The ascent of the Somma, 
 on its eastern side, is rather more than a mile in length. The 
 road is excellent the whole way from Foligno to Eome, and par- 
 ticularly so over the Somma. We began to descend as it was 
 getting dark. We changed horses at the hamlet of Strettura, 
 about four miles down. The descent continues for six or seven 
 miles beyond Strettura, indeed almost as far as Terni. In one of 
 the darkest parts of the winding descent, where we were almost 
 entirely shut in by mountains, to add to the effect we saw a 
 squadron of Austrian dragoons, on their march towards Loretto. 
 We found about 18,000 men in bivouac around Terni. The 
 blaze of the fires among the olive groves, and the almost savage 
 appearance of the Hungarian and Austrian soldiers, made me 
 fancy the scene a very romantic one. I found Terni so full of 
 officers that I could get no accommodation there, and so, relin- 
 quishing my plan of visiting the waterfall, I proceeded to Narni 
 for the night. As we approached Ptome the next day we met 
 hundreds of carriages ; the people had come out to see the Ger- 
 mans, ten thousand of whom they heard were coming in. We 
 entered Eome by the Porta del Popolo, and drove to the Piazza 
 di Spagna, in which two or three of the hotels were quite full ; 
 but I at last found room at the Locanda di Parigi. 
 
 I must be understood as not professing to give any regular 
 account of the places I visited in Italy, or of the circumstances 
 in which I was placed ; I purpose only to select, from what I 
 recollect and from my journal, a very few points which perhaps 
 may interest the reader. 
 
 Part of the entry made in my journal the day after my arrival 
 at Eome is as follows : —
 
 278 ITALY. 
 
 " March 9th. I was ratlier disappointed with tlie outside of 
 St. Peter's, but highly delighted with the interior. On entering, 
 I was much amused at seeing two ladies kneeling before an altar 
 at the respectful distance of fifty yards from it, with two livery 
 servants kneeling behind them, at a considerable distance ; one 
 of the servants was just reaching over to give the other a pinch 
 of snuff. In one part of the church is a statue of St. Peter, the 
 toe of which it is the fashion to kiss ; I saw numbers of people 
 doing this, and also rubbing their eyes against it. As one young 
 man was kissing it, his companion pushed his head against it by 
 way of joke. When people of distinction kiss the saint's toe, it 
 is customary for a servant first of all to wipe it with a cambric 
 handkerchief. 
 
 " March 14th. Went last night to a party at Lady Ellen- 
 borough's, and was much gratified by hearing an improvisatore, 
 who, as far as I could judge, acquitted himself extremely well. 
 He was not at all aware of what the subjects would be until 
 they were given to him, when he immediately commenced. The 
 subjects were Dante, Eurydice and Orpheus, another which he 
 treated in verse, and the last was Alexander at the tomb of 
 Achilles, in prose. I conld not follow him in his poetry, but I 
 understood the whole of the prose." 
 
 The tomb of Cecilia Metella, about two miles out of Eome on 
 the Appian way, has its walls exceedingly thick, and is in a state 
 of good preservation ; there is, or was, a large space in the inside, 
 
 into which I rode. I found there, also on horseback, a Mr. , 
 
 who had known some of my family, and we soon became ac- 
 quainted. We returned to Eome together, and about a mile 
 from the city saw a large cavalcade , approaching. It was the 
 Pope, who was attended by a guard and a suite of several persons. 
 He had left his carriage, and was walking on the footpath. An 
 officer of the guard rode forward to us and said he should be 
 very much obliged if, just before we met the Pope, we would dis- 
 mount and take off our hats. Although there was at first some 
 disinclination on my part to go through this ceremony, yet a 
 moment's reflection shewed me that the customary mark of 
 respect should be rendered to the Pope as sovereign of the coun- 
 try. We dismounted and stood with our hats off as he passed.
 
 ITALY, 279 
 
 which much pleased the body-guard, who thanked us for our 
 courtesy. The Pope also aud all his suite saluted us. It was 
 amusing to see the common people throw down their burdens 
 and run across the road to kiss his foot. He seemed to treat 
 them with very great kindness, aud dispensed his blessings very 
 bountifully. 
 
 On the 30th of March, after being at Eome three weeks, I 
 decided on paying a short visit to Naples, with two friends. We 
 travelled in a carriage which I had purchased at Florence. We 
 passed along the Appian way and over the Pomptine Marshes, 
 so called from Pometium, an ancient town of the Volsci, and saw 
 the " Three Taverns " and Appii Forum, at which places the 
 Eoman Christians met St. Paul when he was journeying to Rome. 
 Terracina, the ancient Auxur, is about half-way between Eome 
 and Naples. It is prettily situated on the sea. 
 
 We arrived at Mola di Gaeta before nine o'clock. The 
 Locanda di Cicerone, situated on the ruins of Cicero's lower villa, 
 is a very excellent inn. In the morning I walked back a mile 
 on the road we came, in order to visit Cicero's tomb, which is 
 almost close to the road. He had a villa on the hill above, the 
 ruins of which I saw. It is supposed that he was murdered just 
 on the spot where his tomb is erected, which answers to the 
 description of the historian, who says he was murdered in a grove 
 between his villa and the sea. We had a fine view of the pro- 
 montory, town, and bay of Gaeta, rendered celebrated by Homer 
 and VirgiL The ancient town was founded by the Loestrygons, 
 and it took its name from the nurse of ^neas, who died on the 
 coast : — 
 
 " Tu quoque littoribus nostris, -^neia nutrix, 
 -^ternam, morieiis, famam Cajeta dedisti." 
 
 We left Mola about ten o'clock, and soon arrived at 
 " The rich fields that Liris laves, 
 Where silent roll his deep'ning waves." — 
 " Rura quae Liris quieta 
 Mordet aquu, taciturnus amnis." 
 
 This river was the southern boundary of Latium. Just before 
 we arrived at this river, now called the Garigliano, we saw the 
 ruins of the ancient Minturnoe. It was in the marshes to the 
 left of this, that Caius Marius hid himseK. He was discovered.
 
 280 ITALY. 
 
 dragged out, and imprisoned at Minturnoe. A Gaulish soldier 
 was sent to kill him, but the countenance of Marius disarmed 
 him ; the dagger fell from his hand. The people of Minturnoe 
 rose and rescued Marius. Close to this is the hill of Falemum, 
 so famous for its wine. We passed the Volturno and entered 
 Capua, which is one of the few fortified places of the kingdom of 
 Naples : it is a wretched poor place. Here we paid a barrier 
 duty on the carriage of two scudi. We arrived at Naples about 
 seven o'clock, and drove to the Grande Bretagna, where we 
 found General Frimont and a guard of eighty grenadiers. There 
 are three English ships here, the Eochfort, Iphigenia, and 
 Cambrian, the latter in quarantine. There are also seven or 
 eight sail of ships belonging to other powers. The guard turns 
 out at least every quarter of au hour ; we have had nothing but 
 drumming all day long ; it seems to be turned out to everybody 
 with an outrider. Went to the grotto of Pausilippo, which is 
 nearly half a mile long, about eighteen feet broad, and generally 
 about twenty- four feet high, though in some places more. It was 
 probably at first nothing more than a quarry, as close to it there 
 are many other excavations of that sort, made for the sake of the 
 sandstone. After passing through the grotto and returning, we 
 made a tour up and round the hill of about a mile, and came to 
 Virgil's tomb, which hangs directly over the entrance of the 
 grotto of Pausilippo. There was formerly a little urn in the 
 centre, supported by white pillars, but it has long been removed, 
 and is now lost. The following inscription was on it : — 
 
 " Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc 
 Partlienope, cecini pascua, rura, duces." 
 " At Mantua I first saw the day, 
 Calabrians snatched me away, 
 My bones lie now 'midst Naples' rocks, 
 I've sung of leaders, fields, and flocks." 
 
 The above spirited translation by Mr. Gage and Mr. Leeke ! ! ! 
 There is no laurel now growing spontaneously on Virgil's tomb. 
 Near it the Duchess of Devonshire has raised a monument in 
 memory of a favourite dog, and I think Her Grace has thereby 
 shewn a deplorable want of taste. 
 
 The Grande Bretagna has the royal garden and the sea before 
 it. In the garden is the famous Toro Farnese, supposed to be
 
 ITALY. 281 
 
 the best sculptured quadruped in existence, though I myself 
 could not discover anything very super-excellent in it, and in- 
 deed at first took it for a horse. 
 
 "April 3rd. AVent to the museum and saw numbers of copper 
 utensils which had been dug out of Pompeii and Herculaneum, 
 and various Greek vases discovered in tombs. It was often the 
 custom to put into the tombs whatever the dead person had 
 liked most when living, and I have heard that pots of rouge were 
 put into the tombs of some of the ladies. We saw the rolls of 
 papyrus extracted from Herculaneum, and were present whilst 
 part of one was unrolled : they use what we call goldbeater's 
 skin in this process. The papyrus very much resembles burnt 
 paper, and appears to have scarcely any more consistency ; the 
 characters are not plain, but it is possible to make them out. 
 The collection of pictures is not good ; there are plenty of medals 
 and some good models of temples. The Farnese Hercules is, to 
 my mind, too clumsy to be pleasing, but it is finely sculptured. 
 I was to have dined with Sir Graham Moore, but one of the mid- 
 shipmen was taken dangerously ill at his house, and they were 
 forced to postpone their party. 
 
 " The Gages and Mr. and Mrs. Wills went to the Grotto del 
 Cane, and saw a poor dog put to a temporary death ; in a few 
 seconds he became insensible, but this mephitic air had no effect 
 on some frogs they put in, which jumped about in it at a great 
 rate. 
 
 " April 4th. Went with the Gages and Mr. Wills to Pompeii, 
 which is about thirteen miles from Naples. The day was fine, 
 though at times hazy, and we had a good sight of Vesuvius. 
 Beyond Portici we saw a great deal of lava ; in some places it 
 was five or six feet deep. In the year 63 there was an earth- 
 quake which nearly overturned Pompeii, and in 79 it was com- 
 pletely covered by showers of ashes from Vesuvius. We saw 
 the walls of many buildings in a tolerable state of preservation. 
 The colours of the fresco were in very bright and good preserva- 
 tion. The little theatre is well presei'ved ; it would contain 
 about 1800 people. It is a great pity that all the cooking uten- 
 sils and articles of furniture have been removed from the places 
 where they were found, to the museums, to be stuck up in stupid
 
 282 IT.VLY. 
 
 rows. How pleasing it would have been to have seen the cook- 
 ing utensils, surgical instruments, &c., in the cooks' and surgeons' 
 shops. Some of the best paintings were found in the temple of 
 Isis, and were sawn off the walls with great trouble. 
 
 " The tomb of the gladiators, so called I fancy because there 
 was a representation of a show of gladiators on it, is in a good 
 state of preservation. This, and all the tombs, are outside the 
 town, and on either side of the road. There are two or three 
 little monuments raised to the Diomedes, and nearly opposite to 
 them was a large house, belonging to the same family. In the 
 cellar of this house, close to the doorway, were found seventeen 
 skeletons. We saw the mask of one of them against the wall ; 
 it is supposed that they took shelter there from the ashes. In 
 another part of the town were found, in what was supposed to be 
 a prison, two skeletons, with irons about the bones of the legs, 
 
 "The streets are very narrow, so much so that two of our modern 
 carriages could hardly pass each other in them ; the marks of the 
 wheels on the pavement are very visible. On either side are 
 footways, not quite a foot and a half in breadth, and about ten 
 inches above the level of the street. Almost all tlie rooms we 
 saw were very small — seven or eight feet square, but they were, 
 I conceive, mostly shops. On the outside they had their signs 
 painted on the wall. There was a goat with a full udder painted 
 on the outside of the shop of a milkman, where we saw a number 
 of earthen jars, in which it is supposed the milk was kept. On 
 the cooks' shops were painted game, hams, &c. There are still 
 more than three-fourths of the town unexcavated. 
 
 " April 5th. Mr. Wills, the Gages, and I, started about three 
 o'clock for Vesuvius. Portici is six or seven miles from Naples, 
 and about seven or eight from the summit of the mountain. On 
 our arrival here we were surrounded by some fifteen or twenty 
 men leading as many asses, each vehemently soliciting us to 
 favour him with the care of our carcasses to the top of Vesuvius. 
 They wanted a piastre for each ; however, we at last bargained 
 with them to take one guide and four donkies, paying two 
 piastres for the whole. We had not proceeded far out of the 
 town, when the other three fellows came and said they must 
 have more than three carlini for each of the steeds, so we dis-
 
 ITALY. 283 
 
 mounted and sent them back, rather angry with themselves, I 
 fancy, for ' quarrelling with their own bread and butter.' I rode 
 on the remaining donkey more than half way to the hermitage, 
 where we arrived in about an hour after leaving Portici : the 
 ascent is not very steep. There are a great many rooms at the 
 hermitage. The hermit was glad to see us, and produced four 
 bottles of Lachrymae Christi, which we got through pretty soon ; 
 thus fortified, we resumed our journey with fresh courage. After 
 going forward about half a mile we turned to the left and crossed 
 the lava which flowed in 1810 ; it was about eight or nine 
 hundred yards in breadth. After passing it, we came to some 
 which had only ceased to flow three days before ; it was quite 
 warm, and I observed it had furrowed up the sand in its course. 
 Hundreds of different forms and figures appear on all sides, 
 produced as the lava cooled in the act of running and bubbling. 
 Through the different clefts we had views of the fiery furnace 
 underneath. A few weeks ago a Frenchman threw himself into 
 the running lava, and was consumed immediately. We saw the 
 place where this happened ; it was close to the mouth of a small 
 crater at the bottom of the cone, from which lava has been flow- 
 ing since Christmas. From the mouth of the crater I broke off 
 some fine specimens of lava, covered with incrustations of salt- 
 petre, alum, &c. The cone did not appear very high, but' we 
 were more than an hour in ascending it ; by the time we got 
 half way up, it was nine o'clock and very dark. Our guide took 
 us to the leeward side of the crater, and the consequence was 
 that we were almost smothered. He was very unwilling to pro- 
 ceed to the mouth of it, but of course we could not go so far 
 without looking into it. Mr. Wills and I crawled on our hands 
 and knees, the guide having discovered, by throwing up cinders 
 till they did not return, that we were within a few feet of the 
 edge. We could not see, but succeeded in putting our heads 
 over it, and were nearly suffocated. We neither heard any 
 rumbling noises nor saw any flames. 
 
 " We came down the cone of Vesuvius much faster than we 
 had climbed up. The descent on the cinders took us about ten 
 minutes. We revisited the lava, and by descending into a hole 
 formed by the cooled lava, I had a famous view of the vast burn-
 
 284 ITALY. 
 
 ing furnace beneath. It was rather dangerous work walking on 
 the lava at night, but we escaped without hurting ourselves. 
 There was something very gratifying in walking on the hardened 
 part of it, and in being able to light a stick by thrusting it 
 through the fissures under our feet. We observed that our guide 
 walked with a pistol in his hand, and we found out that, since 
 the Neapolitan army had been disbanded, and since the Austrians 
 had entered the country, this mountain had been infested with 
 robbers. The hermit's wine and three other bottles the party 
 had got through when climbing, had made them very valiant, al- 
 though it was scarcely stronger than small beer. We regained 
 the hermitage in safety, that is to say, with some broken shins, 
 cut boots, and burnt trowsers. Another Englishman, with two 
 boys as guides, had gone up the cone with us. The whole party 
 got through four more bottles of the good father's wine, and hav- 
 ing written our names in liis album, which contains the effusions 
 of the genius of most of the visitants to Vesuvius, and having 
 paid him three piastres for his wine, eggs, and civility, we set out 
 to descend to Portici, where we arrived about eleven o'clock, and 
 returned in our carriage to Naples. 
 
 " April 6th. Went on board the Eochfort with Mr. Eden, 
 flag-lieutenant, Mr. and Mrs. Wills, and Mr. Gage. Walked in 
 the afternoon with Mr. Wills nearly as far as Portici. Dined 
 with Admiral Sir Graham Moore, who very kindly promised to 
 take me to Malta, if I liked to go, and, if possible, to get me a 
 passage home from thence in a man-of-war. He was Sir John 
 Moore's brother. Captain Schomberg dined there. Captain 
 Hamilton of the Cambrian, and Bacon of the 10th Hussars, 
 also a Swedish count doing duty on board the Iphigenia. 
 
 " April 7th. Went to the museum at Portici ; it contains 
 walls, painted al fresco, taken from Herculaneum, Pompeii, and 
 Strabia ; the colouring was very fresh, though the paintings are 
 clumsy, but we cannot suppose that the fresco paintings of the 
 ancients were their best performances. I mentioned before, that 
 on our visit to Pompeii, in a house outside the walls, we had seen 
 the mark of a person's figure against the wall. In the Portici 
 museum we saw a large crust of hardened ashes, in which was 
 the print of one of her breasts. Her scull is preserved here, and
 
 ITALY. 285 
 
 there is also one arm-bone, round wliicli was found a gold brace- 
 let. Mr. INIassey, son of Mr. Massey of Chester, dined with us. 
 
 " April 8th. Went with Mr. Wills on board the Eochfort, 
 to hear divine service. Lunched with the admiral. Went from 
 the Eochfort to the Cambrian, and called on Lord G. 
 Paulet. Mr. Hart of the Eochfort, brother to Hart of the 
 86th, formerly in the 52nd, dined with us. 
 
 " April 9. This being our last day at Naples, we very much 
 wished to go to Baise, but the weather being very wet in the 
 morning, we gave it up. Stephen Poyntz breakfasted and spent 
 the day with us. A Neapolitan frigate got on shore in the night, 
 and we drove about three miles on the Portici road to the place. 
 Our boats were all there getting her stores out, as it was found 
 impossible to save her. In the course of the afternoon one of the 
 Iphigenia's boats, which was riding at anchor about a himdred 
 yards from the shore, was swamped, and two men who were in 
 her were unfortunately drowned. Poyntz and I walked up to 
 the Fort of St. Elmo, but the Austrian commandant refused to 
 let us in. The view of Naples from this elevated spot is ex- 
 tremely magnificent. Poyntz and I paid a second visit to the 
 stranded frigate with Captain Schomberg, and after walking 
 through the arsenal, where we saw the remains of the seventy- 
 four burnt some time before, went and dined at a trattoria in 
 the Toledo. 
 
 " April 10. Left Naples a little after five in the morning, 
 and arrived at Terraciua about eight in the evening. Six of the 
 robbers had returned to their old pursuits in the mountains, but 
 their companions, to shew their earnest repentance, had pursued, 
 taken, and lodged them in the prison of Pondi. We started for 
 Eome at five o'clock on the 11th. Over the Pomptine marshes 
 we were driven at the rate of a post in thirty-five minutes : 
 almost all the postillions are mere boys. We breakfasted at 
 VeUetri about twelve o'clock, and got to Eome at four. Went 
 to a party at Mr. Vesey's. 12th. Went in the evening to Tor- 
 Ionia's. 13th. Saw the collection of pictures in the Palazzo 
 Borghese ; some of them are very good, particularly those of 
 Titian. I afterwards visited Thorwaldsen's studio, and was much 
 pleased with observing the artists at work. In the evening I
 
 286 ITALY. 
 
 went to a concert at the Palazzo Caferelli on the Campidoglio. 
 There were about thh-ty singers ; the music was sacred, and I was 
 delighted with it, notwithstanding our being bored by the noise 
 of one of our countrymen, who seemed to take no more delight 
 in it than a cow would have done. 
 
 "April 14tli. Eode with Hope, Hesketh, Levinge, and a 
 Polish count, to Prascati. Prom the hill there is an extensive 
 view of the Campagna, but the day was rather too hazy for it. 
 We proceeded, some walking and some on donkies, to Tusculum, 
 to see the remains of Cicero's villa. We fell in with the Prince 
 of Saxony and his daughter, and visited, en passant, a villa, where 
 we saw some fine water-works, and heard a horn sounded by the 
 statue of a centaur, by means of the running water. We saw a 
 few ruins lying here and there on the hill of Tusculum. On re- 
 turning to Prascati, Hope and I started off to see the Alban Lake. 
 At some distance before reaching the lake I thought the scenery 
 more beautiful than any scenery I had seen in Italy or Prance. 
 We almost fancied ourselves in an English wood on a summer's 
 day ! The lake is supposed to be in the crater of an ancient 
 volcano. In very early times a subterraneous passage, a mile in 
 length, was dug from it through the hill, to let off its waters and 
 to prevent sudden and dangerous swells, to which it was formerly 
 subject. This day I rode upwards of thirty miles, without being 
 the worse for it. The day was very hot and sultry. 
 
 "April 15th. This being Palm Sunday, the Pope performed 
 divine service, at his own chapel, at the Quirinal. We were too 
 late to see him officiate, but we saw him carried in procession 
 round the large hall, preceded by choristers, cardinals, &c. We 
 afterwards went into the chapel, where there were many English 
 ladies, and some English officers in uniform. Went to Sir 
 Walter Synot's, where I met the Veseys, and heard two good 
 sermons. 
 
 " Have been so engaged lately, that my journal has been 
 totally neglected. I regret not having kept it regularly during 
 the holy week, but that would have been almost impossible. 
 The Pope blessed, amongst others who were assembled in front 
 of St. Peter's on Easter Sunday, 10,000 Austrian soldiers ; I was 
 in uniform, and there were about sixty English officers in uniform
 
 ITALY. 287 
 
 there. Wlien the multitude knelt to receive the Pope's blessing, I 
 looked over the whole assembly, and saw that only two English 
 officers, besides myself, were standing. I could not have knelt, 
 but I think we should have kept away altogether. 
 
 "April 30th. Eode to Tivoli, where I joined Mr. and the 
 Misses Wolfe, and Mr. and Mrs. Wills. The gentlemen paid 
 three visits to the grotto of Neptune, and one to that of the sibyl. 
 In the morning of the 1st of May we visited Adrian's villa, which 
 I thought very pleasing ; the number and variety of the ruins, 
 the luxuriant evergreens growing on and about them in all 
 directions, the delightful season of the year, the solitary appear- 
 ance of the place — all united to make the effect delightful. We 
 afterwards went to the Solfatura, and then returned to Eome. 
 
 " May 3rd. Left Eome in the morning at half-past one, and 
 reached Eadicofani at nine at night. Left Eadicofani a little 
 before five, and arrived at Florence at midnight. Just as I was 
 about to start from Eome, about eight o'clock at night on the 
 2nd, I found I had forgotten to procure permission to take post- 
 horses. A friend, however, wrote to Baron Eeden, the Hano- 
 verian ambassador, who wrote to Cardinal Consalvi, and, after 
 midnight, I got the permission. May 8th. Just starting for 
 Milan. I suspect Florence is not a good spring climate, for all 
 my acquaintances here are looking much paler than when I last 
 saw them." 
 
 I left my carriage at Florence, with directions that it should 
 be sold, and started, in the afternoon of the 8th of May, 1821, 
 with the Milanese courier. The evening was fine, and tlie country 
 looking very beautiful. Near Pietramala, which is about half- 
 way between Florence and Bologna, at some distance to the right 
 of the road, there is a small volcano, which constantly throws 
 out fire ; its crater is about fifteen feet in circumference ; we were 
 all asleep, and did not see it. I walked up the road over the 
 Ciogo, which is five miles long ; it is the highest mountain of 
 the Apennines. From sitting down to rest myself, I caught a 
 violent cold. We arrived at Bologna about nine in the morningf. 
 The museum of the institute contains many interesting things ; 
 in a room containing anatomical specimens there is a complete 
 young Cyclops. We arrived at Modena about four in the after-
 
 288 ITALY. 
 
 noon, having left Bologna in the middle of the day. Some miles 
 before we came to Mantua, we passed the Po on a superb bridge 
 of boats, at least it looked very superb by moonlight, and after- 
 wards the Mincio. From the top of the Campanile of Cremona 
 I had a fine view of the adjacent country, and of the windings 
 of the Po ; opposite to Cremona there are some large islands, 
 apparently well cultivated. To the westward I saw Piacenza, and 
 beyond it the Apennines, and to the eastward I had a fine view 
 of the snowy Alps ; I could not see the Lago di Garda. They 
 have commenced hay-making here, although they have not done 
 so in Tuscany. 
 
 "May 10th. Pizzighitone is a small, but strong fortress, and 
 is washed by the Adda, which is a fine large river. Francis I 
 was conducted here when he was made a prisoner at Pavia. We 
 arrived at Lodi about ten o'clock at night, and I walked about a 
 mile to the bridge over the Adda, which Bonaparte forced in such 
 gallant style in 1795. The bridge is more than a quarter of a 
 mile long, and was defended by 10,000 Austrians, and lots of 
 artillery. The French must have lost a great many men, and it 
 must have been a gallant exploit, but I do not think it was a very 
 difficult one, for when once the French were on the bridge, their 
 best plan was to advance as rapidly as possible ; had they turned, 
 they must have experienced a much greater loss than they did in 
 advancing. We arrived at Milan at three o'clock on the morning 
 of the 11th, and I felt completely knocked up, and resolved never 
 again to travel two days and three nights without stopping, if I 
 can avoid it. 
 
 "Milan, May 11th. Went to the Scala; thought the opera 
 stupid, and the singing very bad. The ballet was got up in a 
 most splendid manner, and two or three of the performers danced 
 exceedingly well. In the evening of the 12th I went to Signer 
 Girolomo's puppet exhibition, and was much entertained. The 
 title of the piece was ' Samson and the Philistines,' and Sam- 
 son certainly knocked out the brains of four or five of his enemies 
 in very great style. The figure of Samson himself was very 
 good. All the speaking is by one person ; the action is uncom- 
 monly good ; the hands, feet, and head have strings fixed to them 
 from above. I went again to see this perJFormance ; the imitation
 
 ITALY. 289 
 
 of part of the ballet at the Scala is super-excellent; it only 
 astonishes me that it is possible to make the figures dance so 
 well." 
 
 Blencowe arrived from Florence, and we agreed to travel 
 together to Turin, where Sir E. and my sister, and Fitzgibbon, 
 had arranged to meet me from Nice. Having purchased an old 
 chaise de poste between us, we left Milan in the afternoon of the 
 17th of May. The following is written across my journal: — 
 
 " N. B. Tossed up for the chaise de poste at Turin, when I lost 
 it. Blencowe desires I will add this by way of postscript, so that 
 in case anything should happen to me, my friends may not accuse 
 him of stealing my share of the produce of the carriage." 
 
 About a mile beyond Bufalora, we passed the Ticino, which, 
 taking its rise in the Simplon, flows tlirough the Lago Maggiore, 
 and runs into the Po a mile or two below Pavia. We drank 
 coffee at Novara, and reached Vercelli about the middle of the 
 night ; the place is on the Sesia. During the night we saw im- 
 mense quantities of fireflies ; some of the meadows seemed to 
 be quite on fire with them. The morning was foggy ; as it 
 dawned, we descended from the upper plain into the lower one, 
 in which Turin is situated. We passed many rivers — the Dora 
 Baltea, the Oreo, Stura, and Dora ; over many of these are pon- 
 toon bridges, which must be highly necessary in the great floods, 
 but at present most of the boats are dry. We reached Turin 
 about half-past seven on the morning of the 19th. 
 
 I travelled from Turin, with my friend Fitzgibbon, through 
 Geneva and Paris to Havre de Grace, and arrived at Southampton 
 on the 17th of June. The having passed the winter and spring 
 in Italy had been of great service to my health ; and my religiou.s 
 feelings had been strengthened, and my view's of religion had 
 become clearer during this period. At Geneva I was introduced, 
 by my friend Pitzgibbon, to that good man. Dr. Ccesar Llalan, a 
 name since so well known in England, and we passed the greater 
 part of two clear days in his society. I do not now agree with 
 all his views of religion, but I have always since felt great respect 
 and veneration for him as a holy and devoted minister of the 
 gospel. My friend Pitzgibbon had been much concerned to find 
 that, with all my religious feeling, I could not see that it was 
 
 u
 
 290 ITALY. 
 
 wrong, for one who feared God, to go to the opera and theatre, 
 and to other places of amusement which he very much disap- 
 proved of He was not satisfied with my assurance that, whenever 
 I should see these things to be sinful and wrong in the sight of 
 God, I would have nothing more to do with them. I have often 
 been surprised, in after years, that I did not at once see the 
 vanity and sin of some of these things, especially of theatres, 
 which are generally attended by numbers of the worst characters 
 of both sexes, and where, in the representations, amongst many 
 other things which militate against religion and morality, it often 
 happens that the name of God is grievously profaned. 
 
 My friend was most anxious that I should converse with Dr. 
 Malan upon these matters, and I being not at all unwilling to do 
 so, we were left together, in one of our walks, for that purpose. 
 I knew that Dr. Malan was aware of our friend's object in leaving 
 us together, and I was rather expecting that he would introduce 
 the subject ; this, however, he did not do, so I told him that Mr. 
 ritzo-ibbon was very desirous that I should have some conversa- 
 tion with him upon the point of whether or not it was wrong, for 
 one who desired to do what was pleasing in the sight of God in 
 all thinfTS, to go to plays, and races, and balls ; that I could not 
 at present see the evil of them, but was prepared to renounce 
 them whenever I should be convinced that it was my duty to do 
 so. I was particularly struck with Dr. Malan's judicious conduct 
 on the occasion. Instead of entering into any argument with me, 
 or on any statement of his views on the subject, he merely replied 
 as follows : — " My dear Sir, if you really love our dear Saviour, 
 " you will very soon have no inclination for these amusements 
 " which you have been speaking of" 
 
 I believe it was on our return from this walk, tliat we had a 
 very narrow escape of being killed, or seriously wounded, whilst 
 we were looking on at some mortar-practice which was taking 
 place from the walls of Geneva. The mark they were firing at 
 was placed in the middle of a large open square, some hundreds 
 of yards from the town, and inclosed on each side by rows of 
 high trees, on the outside of which the spectators were standing. 
 The artillerymen were firing very badly, and I had just observed 
 that the barrel, I think it was, which they were firing at, was
 
 ITALY. 291 
 
 evidently the safest spot, when a shell came over the trees into 
 the midst of our party of five or six, who were all standing close 
 tou'ether. In cominir to the ground it knocked off the hat of one 
 of the party, and just grazed the arm of another, without doing 
 either of them the least injury : of course the shells were not 
 loaded. At his family prayers, that night, Dr. Malan offered up 
 praise and thanksgiving for our merciful deliverance. 
 
 u 2
 
 292 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 1821. 
 AT HOME, AND THEN KEJOIN THE 52nD AT DUBLIN. 
 
 Feelings of my relatives with regard to my religious views — Family prayers — 
 Testimony of some now gone— Sir John Colborne — Coronation of George 
 IV — Queen Caroline— Feelings of the people— Rejoin the 52iid at 
 Dublin— My altered feelings with regard to religion — Found Gawler a 
 religious man — Several incidents connected with his change — First intima- 
 tion to the other officers of my altered views — Attendance at mess — The 
 King's visit to Dublin — Incidents on his landing — Levee at the castle — A 
 judge awkwardly circumstanced — 43rd and 52nd reviewed by the King — In 
 command of McNair's company that day — A ramrod accidentally dis- 
 charged — Charge of cavalry, shewing that the horses would be willing to go 
 on to the bayonets — The King's visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral — Mr. 
 Guinness. 
 
 On my return liome for a short time before I rejoined my regi- 
 ment, my poor dear mother, who had been somewhat alarmed by 
 the earnestness and frequency of my observations on religion, 
 displayed in my letters from Italy, was quite delighted to find 
 me so changed for the better. My ideas about religion had 
 undergone an entire revolution since I had last been at home, and 
 I believe this was very apparent from my outward conduct. The 
 subject of religion was much discussed in the family, and I have 
 reason to know that, from that time, there was more anxious 
 inquiry about it than there had ever been before amongst us. 
 Family prayers, and reading of the Scriptures, which had only 
 been attended to in former times on the Sunday evening, were 
 now introduced, and afterwards were always regularly observed 
 on every morning and evening ; and this same observance was
 
 AT HOME, AND THEN REJOIN THE 5 2ND AT DUBLIN. 293 
 
 carried out, in succeeding years, in the families and households 
 of the children. Some, who are now gone, have often referred 
 to tliis period, and have told me how they thanked God that He 
 had led me to think about these things as He had done, and had 
 thus conferred such a benefit and blessing on the whole family. 
 
 Shortly after my return home, an important ball came off in 
 the neighbourhood, and although I pleaded great disinclination 
 to attend it, it was very fairly argued by some of the family that, 
 as I did not see any harm in balls, I was bound out of kindness 
 to my mother and sisters to accompany them on this occasion, 
 as they particularly wished it ; I accordingly went, and met at 
 the ball great numbers of my old friends ; I did not feel disposed 
 to dance, but had much conversation with two or three of them 
 on that subject which was uppermost in my mind. This, of 
 course, very much astonished those who had known me before 
 as quite a diiferent sort of person. I got very tired of the ball, 
 and went away, at the end of two hours, to the friend's house in 
 which we were to sleep : this was the last ball I ever attended. 
 In the course of this work I shall endeavour to state, as fully 
 and clearly as I can, the views which I gradually arrived at, with 
 regard to what is usually called " intercourse with the world." 
 
 My leave expired on the 24th of July, 1821 ; and on my way 
 to join the 52nd in Dublin, I spent some days in London, where 
 I called on Sir John and Lady Colborne ; he was there for the 
 coronation of George IV. He asked me if I would walk with him 
 to the Horse Guards, and said, as we were going along, " I have 
 " always made it a rule not to ask for anything for myself, but I 
 " have just heard that Sir Eobert Arbuthnot, on applying for the 
 " command at Guernsey, has been told by the Duke of York that 
 "he intended to offer it to Sir John Colborne, so I am just going 
 " to the Horse Guards to tell the Duke that I shall be very happy 
 " to accept it :" he added, " I do not consider this the same thing 
 " as making an application for it, which I should not do." I 
 have always, from that time, acted upon the same plan, and have 
 never asked for anything in the way of advancement for myself ; 
 I probably have not lost anything by adhering to it, but I have, 
 at aU events, thereby avoided much unpleasantness which the 
 meeting with refusals might have occasioned.
 
 294 AT HOME, AND THEN KEJOIN 
 
 Sir John Colborne was entitled, as King's aide-de-camp, to 
 tickets of admission for two friends, to see the ceremony of the 
 coronation, and, on hearing that I intended to see what I could 
 of it, said he was sorry his tickets had been given away before 
 he was aware of my being in town. I worked my way through 
 the immense crowd in Parliament Street, and, by paying a guinea, 
 obtained a seat which afforded me an excellent view of the pro- 
 cession. In Parliament street, whilst standing on a door-step, 1 
 saw poor Queen Caroline, attended by three gentlemen, proceeding 
 in an open barouche and four to Westminster Abbey. She soon 
 returned, looking extremely mortified. Both on going and re- 
 turning, she was tremendously cheered by the people. A few 
 soldiers, under the command of a corporal, who were making their 
 way along the pavement in single file, were greeted with hisses, 
 and cries of " God save the Queen" were dinned into their ears. 
 By way of taking their part, and keeping them in countenance, I 
 cried out, " God save the King," when a woman near me said to 
 me, very savagely, " You had better hold your tongue, young man, 
 " or you will get your nose slit." 
 
 There was something very formidable in going back to my 
 regiment, and to my brother-officers, after a long absence, with 
 my views on the subject of religion so changed, and with a de- 
 termination, with God's help, to give up my old careless and 
 sinful ways. No one in the regiment had any idea of what had 
 taken place in my mind. I had some considerable hope that I 
 might find one of my old companions to be of a congenial dispo- 
 sition with myself, for one of the officers, in \^T:iting to me about 
 a horse which I had left with him, had written the following 
 sentence : — " Gawler is making a great cake of himself, converting 
 " the men." And a few months after, in another letter, he wrote : — 
 " Gawler is about to be married to a lady as religious as himself" 
 When I saw Sir John Colborne in London, I thought I would 
 try and learn something more on this point, and asked, " Gawler 
 " has become very religious, has he not, Sir ?" But he was not 
 inclined to be very commvmicative on the subject, and all the 
 reply I received was, " Yes, I believe he has." 
 
 The following is extracted from my journal : — " I proceeded to 
 Dublin, via Liverpool, and joined my regiment at the Eichmond
 
 THE 52XD AT DUBLIX. 295 
 
 barracks on the 25tli of July, 1821. This was, of course, a season 
 of trial to me, when meeting my old companions, with whom I 
 had in former days entered into all kinds of folly and dissipation, 
 but an all-merciful God had shewn me the error and folly of my 
 former course of life, and now enabled me boldly to declare my 
 sentiments." 
 
 I think it was on the afternoon of the day of my arrival, that 
 Gawler, who was a married man, and living at some distance from 
 the barracks, rode into the barrack square, and thus I had at 
 once the opportunity of making known to him my religious sen- 
 timents. I feel it desirable, in relating this and several other 
 circumstances which occurred in my intercourse with my brother- 
 officers and others, to relate them in detail, and sometimes to 
 mention, as far as I can, the very words which were used ; I think 
 the doing so may, by God's mercy, be made useful to many 
 young persons who may read this work. There was something 
 very remarkable in the meeting of Gawler and myself on this 
 occasion. More than four years before this time he had gone on 
 leave from the regiment, when it was in cantonments in the 
 north of France, and, from ill health, had been unable to rejoin 
 us until the very evening before the day of my starting from 
 Chester, in 1819, to go into Germany. He was in time for mess 
 on that evening, and I recollect just speaking to him in the ante- 
 room before we went into dinner. I did not sit near him, and I 
 had no idea whatever that he had returned to the regiment quite 
 an altered man with regard to religion. He had been, as too 
 many were in those days, sceptical about the Christian religion, 
 and the truth of the Scriptures. His heavenly Father " led him 
 " in a way that he knew not." He was iU and confined to his 
 bed, for some considerable time, in a lodging in London. Whilst 
 he lay there, in his lonely chamber, he began to think over all 
 the arguments which he had read in Paley's " Evidences of Chris- 
 tianity," when he had been forced many years before to get up 
 that work for an examination at the junior department of the 
 Military College. His powerful and clear understanding,* and 
 
 • When I went, as a 52nd officer, ten years after Gawler's time, to study at the 
 senior department at Sandhurst, Colonel Butler, the lieutenant-governor, enquired 
 very earnestly after him, and spoke of him as the best man they had ever had there.
 
 296 AT HOME, AND THEN REJOIN 
 
 retentive memory, enabled him to succeed in this, and he became 
 most deeply convinced that the Bible was the inspired Word of 
 God. His eyesight very much failed him at that time, and he 
 paid a young man to come for a certain time to read to him every 
 day. He read principally to him out of the New Testament, 
 and when Gawler heard of the spotless character and holy pre- 
 cepts of the Lord Jesus Christ, one immediate effect upon his 
 mind was, that he came to the conclusion that there was not a 
 Christian man in the world ; another effect was, which shewed 
 his sincerity, that he determined he would try, from that time 
 forward, to be a true Christian, and to act up to all the commands 
 of his God. It was not until some considerable time had elapsed 
 that, from attending the house of God, and from becoming 
 acquainted with some serious Christian people, he learnt the 
 " way of God more perfectly," and discovered that it was not by 
 his own holiness, but through trusting in the meritorious death 
 of the Son of God that he was to be saved, his faith evidencing 
 itself to be a saving faith by the fruits of holiness which it pro- 
 duced. When, after the recovery of his health, he rejoined his 
 regiment, he was most anxious to be of service, in a religious 
 point of view, both to his brother-officers and to the men. He 
 had served in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, and was then hio-li 
 up in the list of lieutenants, and was considered a very intelligent 
 and good officer ;* yet, of course, his altered views and ways very 
 much astonished all his old friends, who were altofjether unac- 
 customed to such anxious and earnest feelings in matters of 
 religion. Almost all of us, I believe, thought very little about it, 
 
 * The following is extracted from the 52nd record, published in 1860 : — 
 " Colonel Gawler was essentially a 52nd officer. He served in this regiment only, 
 " and was a type of that steady, cool, and gallant set of company officers, whose 
 " attention to regimental duty, and experience in the field, so materially helped 
 " to place the 52nd amid the most distinguished in the service of Britain. En- 
 "tering the 52nd Light Infantry in November, 1811, Colonel Gawler served to 
 " the end of the Peninsular War, in 1814, and was present at the storming of 
 " Badajoz, (when he led the ladder party of the 52nd stormers,) at the battles of 
 " Vittoria, Vera, the Nivelle, the Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse, besides various 
 " minor afiairs. At Waterloo, he commanded the right company of the 52nd 
 '* after his captain (Diggle) was put hors de combat. He was wounded below the 
 " right knee at Badajoz, and in the neck at St. Munos, and has received the war- 
 " medal with seven clasps."
 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 297 
 
 and had very confused and sceptical notions on tlie subject, one 
 ignorant and prevailing idea being that, through the death of 
 Christ, there was a mitigation of the strictness of the requirements 
 of God's law, and there was a perversion of the truth that " God 
 " is not extreme to mark what is done amiss ;" the idea, in fact, 
 resolving itself into this, that people might follow their inclina- 
 tions, and do pretty much as they liked, and yet that a merciful 
 God woidd receive and bless them in the end. There was no 
 fear of God's anger against sin, no proper notion of the way of 
 pardon through trusting in the satisfaction made by the death of 
 Christ, or of the necessity of a change of heart, and of holiness 
 of life, as indicative of a true and saving faith. He met with 
 the greatest kindness from Sir John Colborne and Colonel Charles 
 Eowan, the commanding officers of that period. In the summer 
 of 1819, when the regiment was stationed at Weedon, North- 
 ampton, and Daventry, he obtained leave from Sir John Colborne 
 to march a very considerable number of the men, who appeared 
 to be seriously disposed, to receive the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper at Daventry, I think. At the risk of getting rather too 
 far away from the account of what happened to me on my arrival 
 in Dublin in 1821, 1 must not omit an anecdote which was after- 
 wards related to me by Gawler, and which helps to show that 
 God does not despise, but that, on the contrary. He often greatly 
 honours the humble and prayerful efforts of His servants, what- 
 ever their calling or profession may be, to do good to the souls 
 of their fellow-creatures. In the early part of 1820, he was 
 with some companies of the 52nd at Derby, and after he had 
 been there for some weeks, it occurred to him, one Sunday morn- 
 ing, that he had been some time in the town without having 
 made any attempt to direct the attention of some of his poor 
 ignorant fellow-sinners around him to those truths of Scripture 
 which, by the Holy Spirit's teaching, make men wise unto 
 salvation. With prayer to God for direction and a blessing, he 
 went out, in plain clothes, and turned out of one of the main 
 streets into a narrow street, evidently inhabited by very poor 
 people, and entered the first house he came to, in which he found 
 a woman sweeping the floor. On his speaking to her, she, 
 thinking he was the doctor, immediately said, " Oh, Sir, it's in the
 
 298 AT HOME, AND THEN REJOIN 
 
 next house that the woman lives, who is so ill I" He imme- 
 diately took the hint, and went into the next house, in which he 
 found a poor, wretched woman, extremely ill, lying on a dirty 
 bed, with everything around her denoting extreme destitution. 
 He discovered afterwards that she had been a woman of very 
 drunken habits. On his speaking to her seriously, and trying 
 to point out to her her danger on account of sin, and the love of 
 God in sending His Son into the world to save sinners, she became 
 very angry and outrageous, and told him that he was a sinner 
 himself, and called him a hypocrite. He bore all this quietly, 
 and told her he had indeed been a great sinner against God, but 
 that he had sought and had found pardon through the blood- 
 shedding of Christ. He did not lose sight of her, and she after- 
 wards became an altered character, and a truly religious woman : 
 she told Gawler that the thing which first touched her feelings 
 was, his saying that he himself had been a great sinner, and had 
 found mercy through the satisfaction made by the death of the 
 Son of God. Many years after this, I went to call upon this poor 
 woman, and found her well versed in the Scriptures, and having 
 clear views of religion. Although she could not read, she had become 
 well acquainted with the Word of God, and with portions of psalms 
 and hymns, by getting friends frequently to read to her ; she 
 was also quite a pattern of neatness, and was much respected by 
 all who knew her. She has now been dead for many years. 
 
 Before Gawler and I parted, on the first day of my arrival in 
 Dublin, we arranged to meet again the next day. He was much 
 astonished and pleased to hear of my change, but was almost 
 inclined at first to doubt the reality of it. I recollect, on his 
 leaving me, one of the officers who had been standing not very 
 far from us, said to me, "Leeke, are you become a 'New Light V" 
 I replied, " What do you mean by a ' New Light,' and what makes 
 " you think I am one ? " He said, " I heard you say to Gawler, 
 " that you thought your religious views and sentiments were very 
 " much the same as his ; he is a regular ' New Light,' and has 
 " been trying to convert the men." Nothing further happened 
 until after mess that day, when I went with my old captain, 
 McNair, and two other officers, to one of their barrack-rooms, to 
 talk over several matters, and, amongst other things, to arrange
 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 299 
 
 that McNair should go to Colonel Eowan, and request that I 
 might rejoin my old company, No. 9. And now came my first 
 trial with regard to my desire to do what I considered to be right 
 in the sight of God. After speaking for some little time on 
 various subjects, something was said by one of the party which 
 was decidedly sinful, and painful to me, and which I could not 
 listen to conscientiously. I felt it necessary at once to say to 
 them, " since I have been away from the regiment, I have learnt 
 " that many of these things which we used to think nothing of, 
 " are wrong in the sight of God, and, as I have determined to try 
 " and rule my conduct according to His Word, I must not stay here 
 " to listen to them." One of them rejjlied, at the same time pulling 
 me quietly into my chair, " Oh don't go aAvay, man, we won't 
 "speak in any way which is unpleasant to you;" so I remained 
 for some little time longer, till one of the party inadvertently 
 recurred to the same kind of conversation, when I got up, saying 
 again, " I cannot remain here to listen to this kind of thing, 
 " I must go away," which I at once did, although they were again 
 very kind about it, and wished to detain me. I have always, 
 whenever I have thought of that evening in after years, felt most 
 thankful to God that He enabled me thus decidedly to act upon 
 my religious convictions. I was never afterwards urged by any 
 of my brother-officers to do anything which I told them I thought 
 to be wrong. 
 
 An arrangement was made by Colonel Eowan, by which I was 
 appointed to McNair's company, in which I had been since I first 
 joined the regiment in 1815. I expected that my greatest trials 
 might possibly arise at the mess ; either from anything in the 
 shape of swearing, or of indelicate conversation taking place near 
 me; and I thought if anything really objectionable should occur, 
 at any time, that the right thing to do, would be quietly to say 
 something to stop it, and if the thing was persisted in, then to 
 get up and leave the room. I only recollect this sort of thing 
 happening once, when I think I said to the offender, " If I were 
 
 "you, , I would not speak in that way;" and he replied, 
 
 " Surely it's no business of yours," but the offensive conversation 
 ceased. I have often wondered at, and have been most thankful 
 for, all the kindness I met with from all those kind, noble- hearted
 
 300 AT HOME, AND THEN REJOIN 
 
 fellows, who must have been, many of them, more or less annoyed 
 by the unexpected change in my feelings, and in my way of going 
 on. Before I returned, I had prayed much that I might be the 
 means, under God, of leading them to forsake their careless and 
 sinful ways, and to lead a life of faith and holiness, and, in my 
 simplicity, I expected that, possibly, a large proportion of them 
 might be induced, by my history of my own change, to read their 
 Bibles, and to seek the true knowledge of God, and His salvation. 
 Perhaps I may think it well, before I close this work, to advert 
 to some cases in which I think real benefit arose to some from 
 their attention having been drawn so prominently to the subject 
 of religion. One thing I ought to mention, as it may be an en- 
 couragement to some who may read this, " in everything by 
 "prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to make their 
 " requests known unto God : " Philippians iv, 6, 7. I never, I think, 
 put my hand on the handle of the mess-room door without 
 offering up a short prayer, that God would bless me, and keep 
 me from that which was wrong and sinful, or calculated in any 
 way to discredit the cause of religion in the sight of others. 
 
 It had been arranged between Gawler and myself, that on the 
 day after that on which I arrived, I should drink tea with him 
 and his wife, and accompany them to a weekly evening service 
 and sermon which they were in the habit of attending at one of 
 the churches in Dublin. He told me, some time afterwards, that 
 he could scarcely feel assured at first that I had not been deceiving 
 myself, as to the reality of my religious convictions and feelings ; 
 and that he thought, if, instead of going to mess on that evening, 
 I preferred drinking tea quietly with them and accompanying 
 them to a religious service, it would be some proof that I was in 
 earnest. I am not sure whether it was on this occasion that I 
 was first led to see the propriety of saying grace, not only before 
 and after dinner, as is customary with most persons, but also at 
 the commencement of every meal. However, I determined from 
 that time forward to follow the example of our Lord and Master, 
 and to thank God and to pray to Him, at every meal, to give His 
 blessing with what He had graciously provided for me. 
 
 About three weeks after his coronation, and shortly after I had 
 returned to the regiment. King George IV visited Ireland, and
 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 301 
 
 there was much to enliven us in the shape of reviews, a procession 
 of the King's to St. Patrick's, and a lev^e which he held at the 
 castle ; I will endeavour to give some details of these, which may 
 be found interesting to the reader. The King, on landing, was 
 received by the Irish in a most enthusiastic manner, and many 
 droll things were mentioned at the time, as having occurred ; of 
 these I only recollect the two following : the people pressed on 
 the King as he landed, and one of them said " How do ye do, 
 "your majesty ?" The King answered, " How do you do, Pat ? " 
 at which the man was highly delighted, and exclaimed, " See ! 
 " he knows me ! " The King shook hands with many of the people 
 as he landed, and one of them much gratified by this act of kind- 
 ness and condescension, held up his hand and addressed it as 
 follows: "Well! you shall never be washed again as long as I live.'' 
 The streets of Dublin were lined by the troops as the King 
 passed through them to the castle, and he must liave been much 
 pleased at his reception by the citizens. The levee was of course 
 very much crowded, and I should presume that the pressure must 
 have been much worse than even anything of the sort which has 
 taken place in later years at St. James's. I well remember the 
 crush that there was the whole of the way up the staircase, and 
 indeed until each person to be presented was ushered into the 
 King's presence. There were dignitaries of the church, judges, 
 naval and military officers and civilians, all in one confused and 
 heated mass. On the stairs I found myself in very close contact 
 with one of the judges, who certainly was in a most ludicrous 
 and somewhat pitiable condition: I fear I shall scarcely succeed 
 in describing the sad plight in which he was: his wig was twisted 
 round, so that the part which shoidd have been on his ear was 
 brought round so that the edge of the wig came to the middle of 
 his forehead and passed down the bridge of his nose and over the 
 middle of his mouth, covering about one half of his face, whilst 
 down the other half large powdered drops of perspiration were 
 chasing each other in rather quick succession ; what made his case 
 the more distressing was, that he was utterly powerless to help him- 
 self and to place his wig in its proper position, liis arms and hands 
 being down, and fixed to his body by the pressure as closely as if 
 they had been firmly tied by ropes ; he must have remained in
 
 302 AT HOME, AND THEN REJOIN 
 
 this predicament for ten minutes at tlie least, for we proceeded 
 from one stair to another somewhat at the same rate at which 
 the devout Eomanists mount on their knees Pontius Pilate's 
 stairs at Kome. The judge was rather short than otherwise, 
 which made matters worse for him, for tall men have always a 
 great advantage in a dense mass of people, as I have frequently 
 experienced, especially in the swaying to and fro of the crowd. 
 On this occasion, as every person tried to make good his footing 
 on each stair, when he got carried forward to it, somebody, whether 
 the judge or not I forget, lost his temper and exclaimed, " Can 
 " these be gentlemen ? " This of course produced a general titter, 
 and some one said, " The best thing we can all do is to keep our 
 "tempers." In crossing the ante-room from one door to the other 
 there was a little " opening out " of the closely packed column, 
 and to our right we saw sundry proofs of the disasters which had 
 occurred to those who had preceded us, in the shape of stray 
 shoe-buckles and other articles forming part of a full-dress cos- 
 tume. As every man seemed bent on not losing his place, the 
 crushing and confusion were at their worst at the entrance of the 
 presentation room : as each person came to the doorway he had 
 to make a violent effort to disengage himself from those with 
 whom he was wedged in, and he was extremely fortunate if, after 
 getting himself into the room, he succeeded in taking after him 
 the skirts of his coat. I calculate that on that occasion about 
 eight persons kissed hands and passed on in each minute, which 
 would be at the rate of nearly five hundred in an hour. Directly the 
 person entered the room, the lord-in-waiting took his card and 
 read out his name, which name, as he knelt on one knee and 
 kissed hands, the King repeated, as he addressed him, adding, " I 
 " hope you are very well." On passing on through the room two 
 of us, who had kept pretty well together, got down by some other 
 stairs, and of course in vain tried to find the carriage in which 
 we had come to the levee ; indeed there was no getting out and 
 making our way through the castle yard and through the crowd 
 beyond it, so we made our way down into the basement story, 
 and passing through various passages by the side of the extensive 
 kitchens and offices, we got out into a narrow street at some 
 distance from the main entrance, and after passing through t wo
 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 303 
 
 or three streets succeeded in securing an inside Irish car, which 
 took us to the barracks, but we had not proceeded far before we 
 met with a trifling incident, which rather amused us : — A girl of 
 eleven or twelve years of age rushed after the car and succeeded 
 in getting a seat on the step behind, from which we told her to 
 get down ; in doing so she fell and rolled on the ground. We 
 desired the driver to pull up, thinking she might be hurt, which 
 was not the case ; this brought several women to their doors, and 
 one of them exclaimed, " You rascals ! I saw the wheel go over 
 "her." We drove on, leaving them to settle the matter amongstthem. 
 
 During his visit to Dublin the King reviewed the whole of 
 the garrison in the Phoenix Park, on August the 18th, and on a 
 subsequent day he reviewed, on the same ground, the 43rd and 
 and 52nd Eegiments of Light Infantry, which had formed, with 
 the old 95th Rifles and two battalions of Portuguese ca9adores, 
 the famous light division of the Peninsular War. The Kiu'^^ 
 wished to see the 43rd and 52nd by themselves, without any of 
 the rest of the garrison, except a squadron of hussars to help to 
 show off the movements of the two regiments. On this occasion 
 I commanded Captain McNair's company, and was the only 
 officer with it. The reader must kindly bear with my mentioning 
 this and other circumstances in the course of my narrative, which 
 may tend to show that I was considered a good and efficient 
 officer. It helps to prove that when a man becomes truly anxious 
 to serve his God, he is not thereby the less fitted for the life and 
 duties of a soldier. There was something peculiar in the circum- 
 stance of an ensign being left in command of a company on this 
 rather important occasion, for it was the regular custom, on field 
 days, for the adjutant to send one of the senior lieutenants from 
 some other company to supersede a rather junior officer in such 
 command, and there were plenty of subaltern officers with the 
 other companies. He would hardly have ventured to leave me 
 in command of No. 9 on that day, without there beino- some 
 special reason for it. 
 
 In the course of the day my company skirmished a good 
 deal, and on seeing the cavalry preparing to charge us, we formed 
 rallying square and opened fire upon them. On reloading I 
 heard a ramrod go from a musket close to me, doing the man no
 
 304 AT HOME, AND THEN REJOIN 
 
 injury, except that of stinging his fingers ; as the musket was 
 sloped outwards it carried the ramrod away in the direction of 
 the group around the King and the Commander-in-Chief. Very 
 shortly afterwards an aide-de-camp brought it back to the square, 
 and I was glad to find that it had not done any mischief. Whilst 
 No. 9 company was skirmishing, the 43rd and 52nd formed 
 squares in echelon, the right rear angle of the front square being 
 about twelve paces from the left and front angle of the other. 
 The cavalry were ordered to charge through the interval, and the 
 squares to open fire upon them ; I saw the charge very plainly, 
 there was no hesitation on the part of the horses, they galloped 
 fairly up to the bayonets in the face of the fire from the rear 
 face of the front square and of the left face of the rear one, and 
 the front of the cavalry being too long for the interval, the men on 
 each flank filed inwards, only diminishing their charging pace 
 sufficiently to enable them to do this. From what I saw on this 
 occasion, and from what I saw of the charges of the French 
 cuirassiers at Waterloo, and from the example of poor Howard 
 of the 10th hussars at Waterloo, I am perfectly convinced that 
 if cavalry do not charge home upon infantry in square, it is not 
 the fault of the horses. Still, from all that I have heard on the 
 subject, I believe that it is useless for cavalry alone, (*.e. unattended 
 by infantry or artillery,) however numerous they may be, to 
 attempt to make an impression on steady squares of infantry. 
 
 The only other event I recollect in connexion with the King's 
 sojourn at Dublin was his visit to St. Patrick's cathedral, when 
 the streets were lined witli troops, and we had a soaking day of 
 it. The inhabitants were very hospitable, and pressed us to take 
 refreshment in their houses. Colonel Kowan, in consideration of 
 my recent recovery from illness, would not allow me to remain 
 exposed to the pouring rain, and very kindly sent me off to the 
 barracks. The mention of St. Patrick's naturally leads me to 
 speak of the munificent gift, by Mr. Benjamin Guinness, of 
 £150,000 for the restoration, &c., of that magnificent building. 
 I recollect him very well, at the period I am writing about, and 
 his excellent father, Mr. Arthur Guinness, the governor of the bank 
 of Ireland, from whom and from other branches of the family, 
 I received much kind attention during our stay in Dublin.
 
 305 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 1821. 
 DUELLING. 
 
 Major Oliver of the artillery — Is sent to " Coventry" by the artillery officers of the 
 Dublin district — I become acquainted with him — Discussions on duelling, at 
 the 52nd mess — Colonel Rowan's opinion — Remarkable instance of apology — 
 Recent additions to the articles of war — Roman Cathohc officers of the 
 Prussian Guards removed for declaring they would not fight a duel — Severe 
 sentence on officers of the Russian Guards for fighting a duel — Belgian 
 Minister of War sentenced to imprisonment for engaging in a duel. 
 
 Just before I rejoined the 52nd at Dublin, the following circum- 
 stance had occurred in the garrison. The field-ofhcer of the day, 
 Major Oliver (afterwards General Oliver) of the artillery, on 
 going his rounds at night, found that a civilian had just been 
 handed over, most improperly, to a Serjeant's guard, by a mate 
 or officer of the navy, for some alleged offence. In his report to 
 the general, Major Oliver stated that there was some reason for 
 supposing that the naval officer was not sober. Some little time 
 after, the captain of the man-of-war met Major Oliver in one of 
 the streets, and told him he had heard that, in his report to the 
 genera], he had accused his officer of being drunk, and that it 
 
 was " a lie ! " This was also reported to the general, who 
 
 desired that Major Oliver would not call the naval captain to 
 account for the language which he had used; but he was, of 
 course, prevented from doing that by his religious principles. 
 The officers of the artillery of the Dublin district then addressed 
 the Duke of Wellington, as master-general of the ordnance, on 
 the subject, and agreed to send Major Oliver to " Coventry" for not 
 
 X
 
 306 DUELLING. 
 
 calling the man out who had insulted him. The Duke, in his 
 reply, refused to take notice of the matter. This was the state 
 of things when I arrived in Dublin, and when I first became 
 acquainted with Major Oliver, whom I met one morning at the 
 house of a mutual friend on whom we happened to call at the 
 same time. I was aware of most of the circumstances above 
 related before I saw him, though he gave me the whole account 
 of the affair some time afterwards. We left the house, at which 
 we were calling, together, and we had not proceeded far, when I 
 fancied that he thought it would be somewhat injurious to me to 
 be seen walking with so notorious a character as he was, and that 
 he was trying to leave me, for he said he wanted to call at one 
 of the houses which we were passing ; his friends, however, were 
 not at home, so we continued to walk together along Sackville 
 street, and met two of our 52nd captains, with whom I exchanged 
 nods. At mess that evening, one of them asked me, across the 
 table, if that was Major Oliver with whom he had seen me 
 walking in the morning. On my replying that it was Major 
 Oliver, he said, " you are a young man, so let me give you a piece 
 " of advice — don't you be seen walking with Major Oliver any 
 " more ; he is not well thought of in the garrison, and it will be a 
 " disadvantage to you to be seen with him." My reply was, and I 
 felt thankful that I was enabled to make it, " I know all about 
 " Major Oliver, and the affair to which you allude ; I consider that 
 " he has acted in it in accordance with the commands of his God, 
 " with the articles of war, and with the laws of his country ; I 
 " consider it an honour to be acquainted with Major Oliver, and 
 " I shall certainly not be ashamed to be seen walking with him, 
 " whenever I have the opportunity of doing so." Major Oliver's 
 conduct, and the whole subject of duelling, was frequently dis- 
 cussed at the mess of the 52nd, and I often declared that, 
 whatever might happen to me, I would never fight a duel ; and 
 this statement was received without its being ridiculed and 
 scouted. I recollect, on one occasion, Colonel Charles Eowan 
 left the mess-room at the same time that I did, and said, as we 
 were going out, " I believe, Leeke, you are quite right in the views 
 " you have been upholding, but," he added, " I think a man 
 " holding such views should not remain in the army." He would
 
 DUELLING. 307 
 
 not have added this last sentence at a later period of his life, 
 when it pleased God to lead him, as a poor sinner, to trust in the 
 atoning death of Christ for the pardon of his sins, and to walk, 
 Tinder the influence and guidance of the Spirit and Word of God, 
 in holiness and peace. I became very intimate with Major 
 Oliver, and often walked with him. He told me that some of 
 the artillery officers would take notice of him in passing, when 
 they were alone, but would not do so when walking with any 
 other person ; and that he just let them take their course, only 
 speaking to them when they wished it. By degrees the artillery 
 officers began to think themselves wrong, and to be ashamed of 
 the position which they had taken up. When Major Oliver, 
 some time afterwards, went over to Plymouth to give evidence 
 at the court-martial held on the naval officer, he was received and 
 treated with the most marked attention and kindness by the 
 artillery officers in that garrison, and subsequently was received 
 in the same way at Woolwich. The whole affair was a great 
 trial to Major Oliver at the time ; I have no doubt, however, 
 but it was one of the chief means, in the providence of God, of 
 leading people to see the folly and wickedness of the whole 
 system of duelling. 
 
 It may be well for me to mention the following case, which 
 occurred rather more than a year after Major Oliver's affair, and 
 with the particulars of which I was well acquainted : — A subal- 
 tern officer, of some years' standing, had some very offensive 
 expressions addressed to him after dinner in the mess-room by 
 the officer then in command of his regiment, before several other 
 officers. There had been scarcely a glass of wine drunk, and 
 nothing had been said calculated to give offence ; indeed, the 
 officer in question had remained after mess at the express request 
 of the commanding officer. I may mention, however, that the 
 latter had received a severe wound in the Peninsula, which was 
 supposed by some to have led to his unaccountable behaviour. 
 The officer insulted immediately left the mess-room, and of course 
 felt himself to be in a most unpleasant predicament. Expressions 
 had been used which he could not pass over, without rendering 
 himself liable to be brought to a court-martial for not having 
 taken proper notice of them. (Samuel, in his book on military 
 
 X 2
 
 308 DUELLING. 
 
 law, had mentioned the case of an officer who, under such ch^cum- 
 stances, had been cashiered.) He knew that his courage could 
 not he impugned, but he had long before made up his mind that 
 duelling was wrong, and that, whatever might occur, he would 
 never have recourse to it. The next morning one of the other 
 officers undertook to go to the commanding officer to mention 
 the expressions he had used, and to request that he would say 
 he was sorry he had used them. On his refusing to apologize, he 
 told him that, if he persisted in this, charges would be preferred 
 against him, in accordance with one of the articles of war, for 
 acting in an unofficerlike and ungentlemanly manner. The reply 
 was, that there would be no apology, and that the officer aggrieved 
 might do what he liked. On this being reported to him, the 
 officer requested his friend to have the kindness to go once more 
 to the commanding officer, and to say to him that he must know 
 
 that if positively stated he must prefer charges against 
 
 him unless he received an apology, he would most certainly do 
 what lie said. This second application was successful, and on 
 the officer's going, at his request, to his barrack-room, the com- 
 manding officer made a most handsome and kind apology to him, 
 saying, that he had behaved very ill to him on the previous 
 evening, and that he was very sorry for it, and also that he would 
 take an opportunity of stating as much to the officers who had 
 been present. 
 
 I have detailed the circumstances of both Major Oliver's 
 case and the other, in order that it may be seen in what diffi- 
 culties officers have at times been placed with regard to the course 
 they should take, when they have been subject to insult. In 
 almost every case in which differences have arisen between 
 officers, kind friends have managed to heal them, but it has not 
 been always so ; though I never recollect, in my time, to have 
 heard of a duel between two officers. 
 
 I copy the following from "The Cabinet Lawyer," which 
 shews that, in more recent days than those of which I have 
 written, very strenuous, and I think effectual, means have been 
 taken to put down duelling in the army, and also, consequently, 
 to discourage it amongst other classes : — 
 
 " Duelling in the aemy. — The practice of duellnig having
 
 DUELLING. 309 
 
 " ceased to be in accordance with the reason and humanity of the 
 " age, endeavoiu's have been made by the Commander of the 
 '•■ Forces to check the resort to arms for the settlement of quarrels. 
 '•'In 184^ the following three new articles of war were issued, 
 " with a view to the abatement of duelling in the army. 
 
 " ' 1 . Every officer who shall give or send a challenge, or who 
 " shall accept a challenge to fight a duel with another officer, or 
 " who, being privy to an intention to fight a duel, shall not take 
 "active measures to prevent such duel, or who shall upbraid 
 " another for refusing or for not giving a challenge, or who shall 
 " reject or advise the rejection of a reasonable proposition made 
 " for the honourable adjustment of a difference, shall be liable, if 
 " convicted before a general court-martial, to be cashiered, or suffer 
 " such other punishment as the court may award. 
 
 " ' 2. In the event of an officer being brought to a court-mar- 
 " tial for having acted as second in a duel, if it appear that such 
 " officer exerted himself strenuously to effect an honourable ad- 
 " justment of the difference, but failed through the unwillingness 
 " of the adverse parties, then such officer is to suffer such punish- 
 " ment as the court shall award. 
 
 " ' 3. Approbation is expressed of the conduct of those who, 
 "having had the misfortune to give offence to, or injure or insult 
 " others, shall frankly explain, apologise, or offer redress for the 
 " same, or who, having received offence, shall cordially accept frank 
 " explanation or apologies for the same ; or, if such apologies are 
 " refused to be made or accepted, shall submit the matter to the 
 "commanding officer: and, lastly, all officers and soldiers are 
 " acquitted of disgrace or disadvantage who, being willing to make 
 " or accept such redress, refuse to accept challenges, as they will 
 " only have acted as is suitable to the character of honourable 
 " men, and have done their duty as good soldiers who subject 
 "themselves to discipline.'" 
 
 The following extracts from the public journals, bearing upon 
 the subject of duelling, are very interesting. 
 
 " The Times' Correspondent" writes from Berlin, on the 2nd of 
 June, 1864, as follows : — 
 
 " Considerable sensation has been excited in the Catholic dis- 
 " tricts of Prussia, and especially on the Khine, by the dismissal
 
 310 DUELLING. 
 
 " from the army, on very peculiar grounds, of three brothers — the 
 "Counts of Schmising Kerffenbrock. In the year 1859 they 
 "joined the 1st Eegiment of Foot Guards as officers, and they 
 "have always passed among their comrades for spirited, joyous 
 " young men, very frank and honourable. Two or three months 
 " ago, it appears, the eldest of the three brothers had an unim- 
 " portant dispute, in which he was in no way to blame, with one 
 " of his comrades. The affair did not come to a challenge, nor 
 " was there any occasion that it should do so, consequently young 
 " Kerffenbrock could in no degree be charged with having declined 
 " a duel. Nevertheless he found it necessary to inform the officer 
 " who acted as go-between in the business, and who arranged it 
 "in a manner perfectly satisfactory for both parties, that the 
 " Catholic Church forbade duels and all participation in them, 
 " and denounced excommunication against those of its members 
 " who should violate this law, a law which he himself, he added, 
 " was fully determined, under all circumstances, to keep. The me- 
 " diator thereupon urged him to make the same declaration to the 
 " commander of the regiment, and declared that if he did not do so, 
 " he himself should feel bound to report what he had said. He pre- 
 " ferred the former course, informed his colonel of what had occurred, 
 " and at the same time urgently entreated that he might be 
 " allowed to join the army in Schleswig, in order to prove to his 
 " comrades that it was from no want of personal courage, but from 
 "Christian feeling and duty towards his Church, that he had 
 " made up his mind not to fight duels. His prayer was refused. 
 " After a time the commandincr officer of the regiment sent for 
 
 o o 
 
 " the two younger brothers, and informed them that he felt it his 
 " duty to ascertain positively whether they shared the views of 
 " their elder brother with respect to duelling, views which, how- 
 "ever respectable the motive might be, might sooner or later 
 " compromise the body of officers intrusted to his charge. The 
 " two brothers refused to answer the question, declaring that when 
 " circumstances arose which should place them, according to the 
 " views of the world, in the necessity of seeking or accepting a 
 " duel, it then would be time enough for them to show by their 
 " conduct whether they were more obedient to their religion, or 
 "to the laws established by men. They added that it was an
 
 DUELLING. 311 
 
 " especial duty for a Catholic to avoid whatever could lead to 
 " quarrels, and that they strove constantly to perform that duty. 
 " This did not satisfy the colonel, who laid his commands upon 
 "them to state their views with respect to duels. The three 
 " brothers then declared that their Church forbade duelling, and 
 " that they were firmly resolved to respect the prohibition. Some 
 " time afterwards they were again called before their colonel, and 
 " a Cabinet order was read to them, whereby, without any motive 
 "being assigned, they were dismissed the service. The above is 
 "the substance of the accounts of the affair published by the 
 " Cologne Gazette and other papers, and no contradiction of which 
 " has yet reached me." 
 
 The following paragraph has been subsequently extracted 
 from one of the • papers, and appears to refer to the above-men- 
 tioned circumstances : — 
 
 " The Prussian army and duelling. — A short time ago two 
 " brothers were dismissed the Prussian army, in which they were 
 " officers, for refusing, on account of their scruples as Eoman 
 " Catholics, to fight in a duel. All the Prussian bishops have 
 "just addressed a petition to the King on the matter. They ask 
 " if this is really the reason of dismissal, for they cannot believe 
 " that such a conflict exists between the undoubted law of the 
 " Church and the obligations of military service." 
 
 The following is from " The Times" of November 26th, 1864 :— 
 
 " Duelling in the Eussian army. — Since the return of the 
 " Emperor to St. Petersburg he has decided on the sentences to 
 " be passed on several officers of the Equestrian Guard who were 
 " concerned in a duel which cost the life of a brother-officer. The 
 " Emperor's anger was justly aroused, for, in opposition to his 
 "known wish to prevent duels, the officers of the regiment 
 " fomented the quarrel between the opponents, instead of endea- 
 " vouring to appease their mutual auger. The original sentence 
 " passed on the offenders by the court-martial was very severe. 
 " The principal and the two seconds were condemned to the loss 
 " of their rank, their orders and medals, and their civil rights. 
 " The principal, a colonel, was also sentenced to twelve years' 
 " forced labour in the mines ; and the seconds, a captain and a 
 "lieutenant, to be confined in a fortress for ten years. The
 
 o 
 
 ] 2 DUELLIXG. 
 
 "council of supervision approved these sentences, but, in con- 
 " sideration tliat the officers ' had acted under the inspiration of 
 " ' deep-rooted prejudices respecting military honour/ the grace 
 " of His Majesty was solicited, and it was recommended that the 
 " colonel should lose his rank and orders, and should serve as a 
 " private soldier, while the seconds should be confined in a fortress 
 " for three months. The Emperor was pleased to approve these 
 " milder sentences." 
 
 The next paper is from "The Daily News" of July — , 
 1865:— 
 
 " The late duel in Belgium. — It will be recollected that 
 " some few months ago a duel took place in Belgium between 
 " Baron Chazal, the Minister of War, and M. Delaet, a Member 
 "of the Chamber. Proceedings were taken against the combat- 
 " ants, and the case came before the Court of Cassation in Brussels 
 " on Wednesday. It was opened by the reading of a resolution 
 " of the Chamber authorizing the prosecution, this being necessary, 
 " as both of the accused were Members of Parliament. M. No- 
 "thomb, also a Member of Parliament, and who had acted as 
 " the second of M. Delaet, then gave evidence stating the circum- 
 " stances under which the hostile meeting had taken place. There 
 " had been two kinds of provocation, he said — one parliamentary, 
 " for which Baron Chazal was answerable ; the other, extra- 
 " parliamentary, the responsibility of which rested with M. Delaet. 
 "Another witness, M. Soudain de Niederwerth, deposed as 
 " follows : — 
 
 " ' In consequence of a difference between M. Delaet and the 
 " Minister of War a meeting between them was decided upon. 
 " M. Chazal left the choice of arms to his adversary. M. Delaet 
 "chose pistols. A riding school at St. Josseten-Noode was 
 " selected. The adversaries were placed at twenty paces. Both 
 " fired, and the Minister of War, who was slightly wounded, 
 " wished to continue the combat, and was supported in this desire 
 " by his seconds. Those of M. Delaet would not consent, on the 
 " ground that the duel had taken place under rigid conditions, 
 " and at a very short distance, and with liberty to take aim. 
 " They were, therefore, of opinion that honour was satisfied. The 
 " Minister of War assented, and declared that there was nothing
 
 DUELLING. . 313 
 
 '■■ more to be said. M. Delaet thereupon approaclied the General, 
 " and said to him, " General, I am haj)py to repeat to you what 
 " " my seconds said to you yesterday. I have no personal ani- 
 " " mosity against you. I have never doubted either your candour 
 " " or your honour. General, I esteem and honour you." ' 
 
 " When called upon for their defence, both the accused said 
 " they had none to offer. They had heard the depositions of the 
 " witnesses, threw themselves on the court, and had nothing to 
 " say. The court then retired in order to deliberate, and returned 
 " in half an hour with the following sentence : — M. Delaet, three 
 " months' imprisonment and three hundred francs fine ; Baron 
 " Chazal, two months' imprisonment and two hundred francs fine, 
 " the fine, however, in the latter case, to be commuted, in accord- 
 " ance with the provisions of the Military Code, into eight days' 
 " arrest. The Nord of yesterday comments upon this sentence 
 " in the following terms : — ' We do not think we exaggerate in 
 " saying that this sentence will produce a profound sensation far 
 "beyond the limits of Belgium, both on account of the excep- 
 " tional character of the accused, and the very remarkable spirit 
 " of independence which the honourable magistrates of the Court 
 " of Cassation have manifested in this matter. Long usage, and 
 "perhaps other and more important reasons, have caused the 
 "celebrated saying, "We have judges at Berlin!" to fall into 
 " desuetude. Henceforth it will be more original and quite as 
 " true to say, " We have judges at Brussels ! " ' "
 
 314 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1821, 1822. 
 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 
 
 Meeting of ^aval and military officers for reading the Scrii)tures — Lady Grey, 
 Mr. Mathias, Mr. Nixon — Scripture argument against balls — Village 
 dances — Refuse an invitation to a ball at Dublin — Difficulties and plan with 
 regard to intercourse with the families of any neighbourhood. 
 
 I HAD introductions to several persons in Dublin ; amongst others, 
 to the Commander-in-Chief, General Sir David Baird. Almost 
 all my acquaintances were religious persons. Some of the serious 
 officers of the garrison were in the habit of meeting together to 
 read the Scriptures, and to unite in prayer for God's blessing. I 
 thus became acquainted with Pringle of the artillery ; Frazer of 
 the engineers ; McGregor of the 78th, and some others. I also 
 knew at the same time Captain White of the 20th, who was 
 staying for some time at Dublin, and Captain Monck Mason of 
 the navy. The two last I became acquainted with through the 
 excellent Lady Grey, who, for so many years, was permitted to 
 exercise such a beneficial influence on the minds of numbers of 
 the officers, both of the army and navy, when she resided at 
 the dockyard at Portsmouth, of which the late Su^ George Grey 
 was the commissioner. I had also the great advantage of hear- 
 ing those excellent clergymen, Mr. Mxon and Mr. Mathias. In 
 a preceding chapter I have spoken of my short conversation with 
 Dr. Malan, of Geneva, on the subject of a religious person's 
 attending balls and plays, and of my going to my last ball imme- 
 diately after my arrival in England. As I observed before, I
 
 THE o2ND at DUBLIN. 315- 
 
 found Dr. Malan's prediction to be correct. I soon had no taste 
 for such things. There was no difficulty in arriving at the con- 
 clusion that it was right to avoid plays, races, and fairs, at which 
 gambling, profaneness, drunkenness, and other glai-ing evils 
 abound ; for anyone who wishes to do what is right in the sight 
 of God, must never be found, for purposes of amusement and 
 pleasure, as I have before stated, in any company or place where 
 God is dishonoured. There appeared, however, to be a great 
 distinction between a ball, which appeared to be an innocent 
 amusement, and these more gross amusements. It is often asked 
 — " What can be the harm of a ball ? " " How are young per- 
 " sons to become known to each other and to be married, if they 
 " never go to a ball ? " At first I merely had a disinclination for 
 balls, witliout seeing the harm of them ; then I recollected that 
 family prayers must almost necessarily be omitted or slurred 
 over in consequence of the lateness of the hours at which persons 
 returned from a ball, and I was satisfied with this one objection, 
 though I suspected there must be other grounds on which re- 
 ligious parents kept their children away from such amusements. 
 Although I had so much remaining sin to contend with, and 
 now almost daily offer up the first prayer in the Common Prayer 
 Book, that of the confession of sin, and that in Psalm li, 9 — 11, 
 yet I coidd not shut my eyes to the fact, that the great propor- 
 tion of those, whom one met in society in this Christian country, 
 were not really in earnest about the salvation of their souls ; were 
 not " seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and 
 were not truly desirous to walk in strict holiness of life. We are 
 warned in the 2nd Timothy iii, 1 — 5, that there would be such 
 persons in the latter days of the Christian dispensation, who 
 would fall into some of tlie grievous sins enumerated in that 
 passage. It is as follows : — " This know also, that in the last 
 " days perilous times shall come, Eor men shall be lovers of 
 " their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, dis- 
 " obedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affec- 
 " tion, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers 
 " of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of plea- 
 " sures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, hut 
 " denying the power thereof ; from such tiorn awai/.'" It seemed
 
 316 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 
 
 to be very clear to me, that those, who were spending their days 
 in vanity and pleasure, going one night to a ball, on another to a 
 rout, on a third to a play or to some other amusement, many of 
 the men spending their days in hunting, shooting, fishing, &c., 
 whilst they appeared to be, and often by their language and con- 
 duct shewed that they were, regardless of God's commands, were 
 the sort of persons of whom St. Paul spoke in the above-quoted 
 passage from his second epistle to Timothy. They were " lovers 
 " of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, 
 " but denying the power thereof." The apostle adds the decided 
 and strong injunction, " From such turn away." This passage I 
 consider not only justifies a religious person in abstaining from 
 worldly society, but requires that he should do so. There is also 
 another argument against balls, which I think calculated to have 
 some weight with all religiously-disposed persons. The dances 
 at the village public-houses, which are very much frequented by 
 young persons belonging to the working classes, are anything 
 but innocent amusements ; swearing, and drunkenness, and de- 
 bauchery, abound at them. Of such evil tendency are these 
 dances, that the clergyman of the parish, and all well-disposed 
 persons, do what they can to prevent persons from attending 
 them. It is, however, all the more difficult to persuade them of 
 the evil tendency of these dances, when they know that young 
 persons in the higher ranks of society are constantly in the habit 
 of frequenting balls. The telling them that these balls are scenes 
 of a very different character from the public-house dances may 
 have some weight with them, but what their friends say comes 
 with more power to their minds, when they can add that, on 
 religious grounds, neither they, nor those young persons who are 
 under their influence and controul, allow themselves to be mixed 
 up with these amusements. I was invited to one ball at Dublin, 
 but, of course, with my views and feelings, I did not go to it. 
 The whole subject of "mixing with the world" has been found, 
 by most religious persons, to be one of difficulty. The plan which 
 for many years I have adopted, is to consider God's providential 
 leadings in the matter. On going into a new parish and neigh- 
 hood, 1 have always been on friendly and visiting terms with 
 those who have been kind enough to call upon me, although they
 
 THE 52XD AT DUBLIN. 31? 
 
 might not all of them have held exactly the same religious views 
 which I do, and I have afterwards regulated my intercourse, 
 and that of my family, with them according to circumstances, 
 always desiring and praying that God's blessing may rest upon 
 it. I never go to any party except with that view. Sometimes 
 at a dinner party I have been satisfied that I was not out of the 
 path of duty, when, instead of forcing on general religious con- 
 versation, I have endeavoured, if only for some little time, to 
 speak to those sitting next to me on some useful subject. I 
 always endeavour to pray for the whole neighbourhood, and I 
 think that, in the course of time, I have, through God's mercy, 
 seen some little benefit arise from the adoption of this plan. 
 "With regard to new comers into one's neighbourhood, I seek their 
 acquaintance if I hear that they are persons who fear God, or if 
 I am requested to do so by some friend, or, possibly, after meet- 
 ing them at a friend's house. I should make a point of becoming 
 acquainted with those in my own parish, unless there were cir- 
 cumstances of a character to prevent my wishing to introduce 
 them to my family, when I should probably restrict my inter- 
 course with them to that which my duty as a minister required.
 
 818 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 1821, 1822. 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 
 
 The castle guard— The Montagus of the 7Ist and 52nd— Irritation of the King 
 about a sentry — Amusing order handed down by the sentries on the bridge 
 to the garden — Tracts and books for the men taken away by the captain of 
 the guard— Some reason to hope they were made useful to him— Several 
 anecdotes connected with that proceeding— Winterbottom and religious 
 tracts at the bank guard ; curious and important dialogue— Anecdote con- 
 nected with Winterbottom's wound at Waterloo— Mention of his services in 
 52nd record— Peculiarities of religious people— Definition of a Methodist — 
 A clergyman and his wife each considering the other to be free from sin— 
 "What a blessing that we have the first prayer of the liturgy — Expected 
 "Whiteboy attack on the barracks — On detachment at the Pigeon-house 
 Fort— Boldness and discomfiture of rats — Detached to Wicklow — Rudi- 
 ments of a savings' bank. 
 
 One of my strong recollections of Dublin is connected witli what 
 was called " the castle guard." It consisted of a captain, two 
 subalterns, and one hundred men, with the King's colour, which 
 was always attached to this guard, as the Lord Lieutenant was 
 the King's representative. There was also a subaltern's guard of 
 cavalry. It was my turn for this guard on one of the days of 
 the King's stay at the castle. The ofl&cers of the guard then 
 dined at the Board of Green Cloth, with three or four of the 
 officers attached to the King's suite, and a very kind set of 
 fellows I recoUect they were. The 52nd were generally relieved 
 at aU the guards by the 71st Highland Light Infantry, which 
 regiment had been in Adam's brigade with them at Waterloo. I 
 never think of the castle guard at Dublin, without the most
 
 THE 52XD AT DUBLIN. 319 
 
 vivid recollection of that nice fellow, Greorge Montagu, then an 
 ensign in the 71st. I believe he more than once was the ensign 
 of the guard when they were relieving us, and I think he was 
 there on the occasion of our mounting guard over the King. In 
 marching into the castle yard to take up their ground facing us, 
 directly he caught my eye, he felt it impossible to avoid laugh- 
 ing. Whilst the sentries were being relieved, the King came 
 down to his carriage, and was received by both the guards with 
 presented arms and the dropping of the colours. I recollect his 
 Majesty was very much annoyed and irritated in consequence of 
 a sentry having been placed on the stairs, contrary, I think, to 
 his orders. George Montagu, if he be still alive, will, I feel sure, 
 kindly excuse this mention of him. His brother, John Montagu, 
 was in the 52nd. He afterwards was Colonial Secretary at the 
 Cape, and died there. He was a good and spirited officer, but 
 did not remain long in the regiment. There are two anecdotes 
 related of him in the 52nd record, which everyone who was 
 with the o2nd in 1815 knows to be perfectly untrue; and how 
 the talented editor could have admitted them, is only lamely 
 accounted for by the explanation that they were pressed upon 
 him by a person who professed to have a knowledge of the cir- 
 cumstances, but must have had a sadly confused recollection of 
 them, and of the facts and circumstances connected with the 
 regiment at the period referred to. George Montagu exchanged, 
 after my days, as a captain into the 52nd, and, as I was assured 
 lately by an old soldier, was greatly beloved by the men of the 
 regiment, for his very great kindness towards them on all occasions. 
 I was always interested in the Montagus, from my family having, 
 from my childhood, been intimate with their uncle, Admiral Sir 
 George Montagu, and all his family. 
 
 There was an amusing order handed on to each sentry 
 stationed in turn on the bridge leading from the garden to the 
 castle, which was always mentioned to me in the same words by 
 the sentry at that particular spot, whenever, for months after- 
 wards, as subaltern of the guard, I enquired what his orders were. 
 It was in vain that I gave them the correct order again and 
 again ; the sentry on that spot always related it to me with the 
 same mistake which I had, from the first, corrected. The dialogue
 
 320 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 
 
 Avas as follows: — Officer: — "What are your orders, my man?" 
 Sentry : — " If anyone, not passing from the castle, wants to cross 
 " this bridge, Sir, I am to stop him ; and there is a tame hare in 
 " the garden, Sir : if it conies on to the bridge I am to fire at it, 
 " and drive it back. Sir." There were two sentries in the garden, 
 who had orders to fire at any persons attempting to get over the 
 high garden walls. 
 
 When I went on guard, I made a practice of taking a large 
 number of religious books and tracts of the " Eeligious Tract 
 " Society " for the use of the men, and they were allowed to take 
 them away with them when the guard was relieved. The com- 
 manding officer had before made the arrangement that any reli- 
 gious publications might be given to the men, which did not 
 contain anything contrary to the doctrines of the Church of 
 England. One day at the castle, soon after we had relieved the 
 other guard, the captain of the 52nd guard, on passing the men's 
 suard-room, saw the long table covered with little books and 
 tracts, and calling the serjeant, enquired what they were and 
 who had placed them there. On being told that my servant had 
 done so, he sent for him, and asked by whose authority he had 
 so acted ; and on his telling him that his master had ordered 
 him to do it, he had the tracts and books collected and brought 
 to him, and then came and requested me not again to distribute 
 tracts amongst the men of any guard which he commanded. I 
 reminded him that I was acting in strict accordance with the 
 permission of the commanding ofiicer, and that he had no ground 
 for complaint or interference. However, there the matter ended, 
 and I heard nothing more of my tracts for some weeks. I then 
 found out that they were still in existence, and in his possession, 
 by hearing him, at some distance from me at mess, say, that he 
 had fallen in with a turnpike-gate keeper, who was a greater 
 swearer than any person he had ever met with, and that he had 
 a great mind to "ive him one of Leeke's tracts. I often, in after 
 days, wondered whether God, whose ways are not as our ways, 
 had permitted him to display his natural dislike to, what he 
 would term, these methodistical proceedings, in order by means 
 of these very tracts, which he despised, and thouglit calculated 
 to make soldiers unsoldierlike — in order by them, to lead him
 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 32] 
 
 from darkness unto light, from sin to holiness, and from the 
 power of Satan unto God. I never heard any more of the tracts; 
 but as one of my chief objects in sending forth this publication 
 is to give some account of God's mercies to myself, and of my 
 poor attempts to lead others to receive His offered mercy in 
 Christ, I may as well speak of the few things which give me a 
 hope that this officer became, some years after, a very altered 
 man. He was the person to whom I had lent my horse when I 
 went into Germany, and who had been annoyed with Gawler for 
 trying to lead the men to fear and serve God. We were on very 
 good terms, notwithstanding my strange religious opinions, as he 
 would consider them. On some particular day we were in the 
 Phoenix Park, when I was sent as a subaltern to his company. In 
 an advance in line, I perceived, from the rear, that the centre of 
 the company was coming on a dkty place, about eight yards in 
 diameter, into which several sewers emptied themselves, and 
 called out to the men to " file round it," for they would have 
 covered their white trowsers with black dirt up to their knees. 
 Colonel C. Eowan, who saw some confusion in the company, but 
 could not see what had occasioned it, came thundering down, 
 exclaiming " Wliat is ISTo. 8 about ? " I called out, from the rear, 
 " / desired them to file round the obstacle, Sir." This barely 
 satisfied him, for he was vexed at the apparent confusion, and 
 the regiment was always very remarkable for the steadiness of 
 its advance line. The officer commanding the company after- 
 wards thanked me for taking upon myself the blame which was 
 intended for it. After we got to Clonmel, in the autumn of 1822, 
 one evening after mess I invited an officer, who had come in from 
 an out-quarter for the night, to come to my room and get some 
 tea, and I asked four or five others to join us. Amongst them 
 was the officer who had taken my tracts at the castle guard. 
 Just as we were about to begin tea, it occurred to me what an 
 awkward business it would be to say grace before a set of fellows, 
 who, perhaps, had never before heard of grace at tea. Although 
 I felt the awkwardness of the thing, I felt that it was not right 
 to omit it, and therefore merely said, " I always think it proper to 
 " say grace before all my meals;" upon Avhich they all gave their 
 attention, and I repeated the grace which I had framed for 
 
 Y
 
 322 THE 52nd at Dublin. 
 
 myself, and wliicli I have continued to use to this day:—" Lord, 
 " bless to us what we are about to partake of, and make us thank- 
 " ful, for Christ's sake." They all behaved very weU, and the 
 purloiner of my tracts, by way of getting over the awkward feel- 
 ing, said, " I must say, Leeke, you are a much better fellow than 
 " I am." I had made an arrangement with the principal book- 
 seller at Clonmel, to let me send to Dublin for a number of 
 sound religious books, on any of which he was to have a good 
 profit if they were sold, whilst I would take off his hands those 
 which might remain unsold. One of the officers, Gr. H. Love, 
 wlio had become very religiously disposed, and who knew of my 
 books, told me some time afterwards, that one day when he was 
 in the shop, the officer who had taken away my tracts came in, 
 and told the bookseller that he wanted some book which would 
 " enable him to understand the Bible," (I think that was his ex- 
 pression.) Love looked about, and found one of my books, called 
 " Bickersteth's Scripture Help," which he recommended to hhn, 
 and on his recommendation, he immediately purchased this very 
 valuable book, after which Love brought from the shelf " Bicker- 
 " steth on Prayer," another excellent book, and told him it was 
 generally looked upon as a companion to the " Scripture Help." 
 He bought this work also. I never, from that time, knew any- 
 thing of his state of feeling with regard to religion, until very 
 lately, when on mentioning some of the circumstances which I 
 have just related to a pious lady who had had a large military 
 acquaintance, being the widow of a field-officer in the artillery, 
 I observed that she and her daughter exchanged looks which led 
 
 me to ask, " Did you ever know Colonel ? " She replied, 
 
 " Yes, we knew him, and he gave my daughter that little Bible/' 
 pointing to a Bible on the table. She told me that they were 
 one day calling on him, when they were stationed abroad, (he 
 had been promoted into another regiment from the 52nd,) and on 
 her daughter admiring the Bible he begged that she would ac- 
 cept it, saying, " I have a larger Bible which I use for my own 
 " reading, but I have placed that smaller one on the table think- 
 " ing, perhaps, that when some of the young officers are sitting 
 " here waiting for me, they may take it up, and it, perhaps, may 
 " do them good." All that they could tell me about his religious
 
 THE 52XD AT DUBLIN. 323 
 
 state "beyond this was, that another colonel, who was a pious 
 man, made use of these words to them respecting him : — " Yes, 
 
 " is no doubt a good man." Colonel has now 
 
 been dead for many years. Whether the tracts so improperly 
 taken, or the books which he purchased at Clonmell, had any- 
 thing to do with this change or not, is of little consequence, but 
 it is a great pleasure and mercy to be able to hope and think 
 that he really did become a humble believer in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, for pardon and holiness, for comfort here and eternal life 
 hereafter. 
 
 When any of us were on the bank guard, we usually had 
 several of the officers of the regiment to call upon us. I think 
 it consisted of a subaltern, and six-and-thirty men. I well recol- 
 lect when I was one day on the bank guard, Winterbottom, who, 
 after being adjutant of the 52nd from 1808 to 1821, had lately 
 exchanged his position of senior or second lieutenant, I forget 
 which, for that of paymaster, came into the ojfficers' guard-room. 
 In order to reach it, he had to pass up rather a long flight 
 of steps fixed against the wall of the men's guard-room ; over 
 the rail of which he looked down upon it and saw some of my 
 tracts and books lying about, and many of the men sitting and 
 reading them. On reaching my guard-room, he threw himself 
 into a chair in a state of some excitement, exclaiming, " Why, 
 " Leeke, you are ruining the regiment." Now, Winterbottom 
 and I were great allies. I had always regarded him as one of 
 the best and most gallant soldiers that ever stept, and he had 
 always treated me with very great kindness from the time of my 
 joining the regiment as a mere boy. I recollect his telling me, 
 some time after the return of the army of occupation from France, 
 that, when on leave, he was one day telling his friends about the 
 Battle of Waterloo, and that he made his mother cry, when he 
 described the pitiable condition in which I appeared to be, on the 
 morning of that day, and told her that I had just before left my 
 mother, and how I had been lying out all night, and had been 
 drenched with rain, &c., &c. This helps to show that he had no 
 unkind feeling towards me, when he told me I was " ruining the 
 " regiment," and I really felt very sorry for him at the moment. 
 I could quite understand all that was passing in the mind of this 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 THE 52nd at Dublin. 
 
 fine, gallant soldier, for not so very long before, I should have had, 
 under similar circumstances, the feeling that the reading the 
 Bible, and tracts, and prayers, and " psalm-sinrjmg," as the being 
 religious was often termed, were calculated to interfere with, and 
 even destroy, that gallant spirit and bearing, so conspicuous in 
 the British soldier. The dialogue which took place between us, 
 under these feelings and circumstances, was nearly word for word 
 as follows: — 
 
 Winterhottom : — "Wliy, Leeke, you are ruining the regiment." 
 
 LeeJce : — " You mean that the leading them to read these books 
 "and to become religious, is likely to destroy their spirit as 
 " soldiers." 
 
 Winterhotlom ; — " Yes, I do think so," 
 
 Lecke : — " Now, Winterhottom, just reflect for a moment. If 
 " I should be the means of leading them to fear God, do you think 
 " they would be less orderly than they are at present ? " 
 
 Winterhottom : — " No, of course they would not." 
 
 Leeke : — " If they should give up drunkenness, would that do 
 " them any harm as soldiers ? " 
 
 Winterhottom : — " Of course not." 
 
 Leche : — " Since / have begun to try and do what is pleasing 
 " in the sight of God, do you think I am less attentive to my 
 " duties as an ofl&cer than I used to be ? " 
 
 Winterhottom : — " No, if anything, I think you are more at- 
 " tentive to them than you formerly were." 
 
 Leeke : — " If we should have any more campaigning, do 
 "you think I should be less fearless in danger than I have 
 " been ? " 
 
 Winterhottom : — " No." 
 
 LeeJce : — " If our men are led to seek the pardon of their sins 
 " through the atonement of their Saviour, and to become holy 
 " through the teaching of His Spirit and His Word ; and if, in 
 " addition, they believed their sins were pardoned, and that they 
 " should go to heaven when they died, do you think these feelings 
 "would be calculated to make them more afraid of danger 
 " and of death in battle, than they would have been without 
 " them ? " 
 
 Winterhottom : — " No. I think they would not."
 
 THE 52XD AT DUBLIN. 325 
 
 Leeke : — " "Well you see, then, that my books and tracts, and 
 " any endeavours we may make to lead the men to fear God and 
 " walk in His ways, will not " ruin the regiment." 
 
 I was surprised and thankful to find, that this little quiet 
 talk appeared entirely to allay the perturbed feeling with which 
 Winterbottom entered the guard- room. During the time that we 
 remained in Dublin, he and our kind old Scotch quartermaster, 
 John Campbell, went with me very frequently on the Sunday to hear 
 those good men, Mr. ]\Iathias and Mr. Nixon. Some of the other 
 officers went occasionally. Winterbottom and Campbell, although 
 so much my seniors, used to let me advise them and exhort them 
 on religious matters, as opportunity offered. One Sunday morn- 
 ing, when I was on duty as officer of the day, I was crossing the 
 barrack square with John Campbell, and whilst thinking of 
 something else, half whistled a tune in an under tone, when I 
 was very much amused by his taking the opportunity of good- 
 humouredly paying me off for all my past exhortations to him, by 
 saying to me, in rather broad Scotch, " If ye were in my country, 
 " my lad, they would put ye in the stocks for whistling on Sunday." 
 Winterbottom, with all his gallant bearing, was a very bashful 
 man, and would- sometimes blush, if anything drew attention 
 to him, up to the very roots of his hair. I recollect calling forth 
 one of his deepest blushes, by mentioning at the mess, some 
 years after it happened, the circumstance of my having, when as 
 a vohmteer I went from Ostend to Lessines, fallen into conver- 
 sation for a short time with one of the men, who, after speaking 
 of the daring conduct of Sir John Colborne in action, added "and 
 "Mr, Winterbottom is just like him. Sir." 
 
 With the names of Sir John Moore and Lord Seaton, that of 
 Winterbottom ought to be always remembered by his regiment 
 and country, as one of the most distinguished soldiers of his day. 
 As the 52nd record is likely only to be read by few persons, com- 
 paratively, I shall extract presently from it that portion which 
 mention's Winterbottom's services ; but before I do so I will 
 transcribe the following, from a letter which I have lately re- 
 ceived from an old New Brunswick friend, who is now one of the 
 highest judicial functionaries in that province : — " I heard the 
 " following anecdote from Mrs. Monius, the wife of Lieutenant-
 
 326 THE 52nd at Dublin. 
 
 " Colonel Monius * of the 69tli, when that regiment was here 
 " some years ago. She said tliat when Winterbottom was wounded 
 " in the head, (at Waterloo,) Monius bound up the wound with 
 "his own handkerchief. A considerable time after, when in 
 " England, Mrs. Monius was surprised by a visit from Winter- 
 " bottom, who announced his object by saying, that he called to 
 " return the handkerchief which Monius had so kindly lent him 
 " at Waterloo, at the same time presenting the lady with a very 
 " handsome shawl. Winterbottom married a Fredericton lady, a 
 " Miss Winslow, some of whose family reside at Woodstock, sixty 
 " miles above this, on the river St. John." 
 
 The following is an extract from the 52nd record : — 
 
 " On the 6th of November, 1838, the regiment disembarked 
 " at Barbadoes, and occupied the brick barracks, St. Anne's. 
 
 " About the middle of this month, the portion of the barracks 
 " allotted to the officers was visited by that fatal epidemic, the 
 " yellow fever, which continued its ravages for nearly six weeks, 
 "the sickness being confined alone to the officers' pavilion. Of 
 " fourteen officers present with the service companies, twelve 
 "were attacked, and three died, viz. — Paymaster John Winter- 
 " bottom. Lieutenant V. A. Surtees, and Ensign Edward Gough. 
 " The building was eventually condemned as unhealthy, and 
 " evacuated entirely, and no case of fever afterwards occurred. 
 " Paymaster John Winterbottom, who thus fell under the stroke 
 " of a pestilential disease, on the 26th of November in this year, 
 " was a veteran soldier, who had nobly borne his part in earning 
 " distinction for his regiment and for himself during nearly forty 
 "years of service. 
 
 "Born in the parish of Saddleworth, Yorkshire, in 1781, 
 " John Winterbottom was early obliged to help in the support of 
 " a very poor family, by cloth weaving. It was during a period 
 " of much distress among the operative weavers, that young 
 " Winterbottom enlisted into the 52nd, on the 17th of October, 1799. 
 
 " His first return to the home of his family was in 1814, dur- 
 
 * Eaton Monius was the youngest officer of the 52nd at Waterloo except my- 
 self. He was a good officer, and adjutant of the regiment for some time. He 
 rose eventually to the rank of major-general, and obtained the colonelcy of the 
 8th regiment.
 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 327 
 
 " ing tlie sliort peace which his exertions had helped to achieve, 
 and which put an end to the Peninsular War. On this occasion 
 " his fellow-parishioners presented to him, at a public dinner, a 
 "handsome gold snuff-box, together with expressions of their 
 " admiration of his worth and gallantry, such as drew from liim 
 " a reply only in sentences broken by his feelings, under the ex- 
 " citement of an honour so gratifying. His ability as an execu- 
 " tive officer, his sterling integrity, high sense of honour, always 
 " coupled with that of his regiment, and readiness to oblige and 
 " instruct in their duty the younger officers, conveying instruction 
 " in a manner to encourage and inspire rather than to annoy or 
 " disgust, were so fully appreciated, that on his death one hundred 
 " and forty-three officers, most of whom had served with him, 
 " either in the same regiment or in the same brigade, subscribed 
 " to erect to his memory a handsome monumental tablet, which 
 " is now in his parish church at Saddleworth, and bears the fol- 
 " lowing inscription : — 
 
 " ' John Winterbottom, Paymaster of the 52nd Light Infantry. 
 " Died at the Head-Quarters of the Eegiment, in the Island of 
 " Barbadoes, on the 26th of November, 1838. 
 
 "Born at Saddleworth, 17th of November, 1781. 
 
 "Private Soldier, 52nd, 17th of October, 1799. 
 
 " Corporal, April, 1801. 
 
 " Serjeant, December, 1803. 
 
 " Serjeant-Major, 11th of June, 1805. 
 
 "Ensign and Adjutant, 24th of November, 1808. 
 
 "Lieutenant and Adjutant, 28th of February, 1810. 
 
 " Paymaster, 31st of May, 1821.' 
 
 " He served with distinction at the following battles and 
 " sieges : — 
 
 "As a Private at Ferrol; as Serjeant-Major at Copenhagen 
 " and Vimiero ; as Adjutant at Corunna, the Coa, Busaco, Pombal, 
 "Ptedinha, Ciudad Ptodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, San Munoz, 
 " Vittoria, the heights of Vera, Nivelles, the Nive, Orthes, Tarbes, 
 " Toulouse, and AVaterloo, as well as in other actions of less note, in 
 " which the 52nd was engaged during the war ; and he was never 
 " absent from liis regiment except in consequence of wounds re- 
 " ceived at Ptedinha, Badajoz, and Waterloo."
 
 328 THE 52nd at Dublin, 
 
 There are, of course, many interesting events which I well 
 remember, but which I could not for various reasons record in 
 this work. I have endeavoured not to insert anything which 
 would be calculated in any way to give pain or annoyance to any 
 one. In my intercourse with my brother-officers and others, 
 especially when speaking on religious subjects, I always endea- 
 voured to avoid any peculiarity of look or expression which I knew, 
 from my own feelings, was calculated to raise a prejudice against 
 religious persons, in the minds of those who witnessed it. I 
 mention it here, because I consider it to be of very great import- 
 ance, that persons who are seriously disposed should be as natu- 
 ral as possible in their way of speaking and acting. I remember 
 one of my brother-officers, when launching out rather vehemently 
 against the ways of some religious men, whom he had met with, 
 said, " I never knew one of them yet, except yourself, who had 
 " not a ghastly smile on his countenance." I think it must have 
 been at the same time and from the same person that I recollect 
 the following somewhat clever reply. We were standing one day 
 with two or three other men in the mess-room, when, in inveigh- 
 ing against some persons of whom he was speaking, he applied 
 the term " Methodists " to them. By way of trying to stop him, 
 I interposed the question, "What is a Methodist?" which he 
 most quickly answered as follows : — " A Methodist ! it means a 
 " fellow who is always quoting St. Paul, as you and Gawler do." 
 
 I have always remembered the following circumstance, which 
 occurred when I was making a call one morning at the house of 
 a religious family. There happened to be several sets of callers, 
 and, amongst others, was a very nice, intelligent young person, 
 who lived about six or seven miles from Dublin. I had never 
 met her before, and did not hear her name, nor have I ever seen 
 or heard of her since. The conversation took a religious turn, 
 and the unscriptural doctrine of perfection, held by the Wesleyan 
 Methodists, was mentioned. This led the lady above-mentioned 
 to observe, " Our clergyman and his wife both hold the doctrine 
 "of perfection." I said, "Did any of you ever ask him if he 
 " considered himself perfect ? " " Yes," she replied, " and he says 
 " of himself ' that he is a poor sinful man, leaving undone, every 
 " ' day, what he should do, and doing what he should not do.' "
 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 329 
 
 "WTien asked if he had ever met with a perfect person, he answers, 
 " Yes, there is my wife, I consider her to he perfect in holiness." 
 We enquired whether his wife considered herself perfect, and the 
 lady said that she also spoke of herself in the same terms in 
 which her hushand described his feelings with regard to remaining 
 sin, and sin being mixed up with all his best thoughts, words, 
 and deeds. She added, that when the wife was asked if she had 
 ever seen a person perfectly free from sin, she replied, " Yes, 
 " there's my husband, I consider him to be perfectly free from 
 " sin." I have often mentioned this anecdote since I heard it, 
 and more especially for the benefit of married couples. Although 
 it does not establish the doctrine of perfection, it shews that this 
 clergyman and his wife must have led a most holy and happy 
 life together. I daily think what a great mercy it is that, in the 
 first prayer of the liturgy, we have the doctrine of remaining sin 
 in all the children of God so clearly set forth, and that the most 
 advanced Christians, as well as those who are just beginning to 
 seek pardon and holiness, are therein invited, and taught daily, 
 to humble themselves before God for the daily sins of their whole 
 lives, from their very early years, down to the moment at which 
 they are arrived. 
 
 An officer in barracks, and in such a place as Dublin, however 
 much he may wish to acquire professional and other knowledge, 
 meets with all kinds of hindrances in his attempts to improve 
 himself. I managed, however, to do something in this way whilst 
 I was there ; and I recollect, with pleasure, the expressions of 
 great approval with which a friend, much older than myself, greeted 
 me when he called upon me at the Richmond barracks, on his 
 return from Italy, and found my table covered with maps and 
 books of reference, indications that, on that morning at least, I 
 had not been idle. 
 
 The present Sir George Grey, our accomplished Home Secre- 
 tary, was for a short time in Dublin, as the guest of Admiral 
 Oliver ; I had known him before, both at his father's and at our 
 own house, but all I recollect of him in Dublin was that, on one 
 occasion, I rode with hira for some time in the Phcenix Park. 
 He was my junior by a year or two. 
 
 One evening, in consequence of some information that an
 
 330 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 
 
 attack was meditated, that night, on the Eichmond barracks, by- 
 some thousands of Whiteboys, who, I suppose, thought to take 
 us by surprise, suitable preparations were made for their recep- 
 tion ; men were told off to occupy the officers' barracks, in case 
 they should be wanted, and the sentries were doubled in some 
 places, and their muskets loaded, and the troops were ready to 
 turn out. These preparations could not have been made unless 
 there had been some ground for expecting an attack ; the night, 
 however, passed over without anything happening. 
 
 In January, 1822, 1 went on detachment to the Pigeon-house, 
 under the command of Captain Macpherson, of the 1 3th Eegiment. 
 He was a man of some reflexion, and we often spoke on religious 
 subjects, and went to Mr. Mathias's church together. I trust 
 our being together was profitable to both of us. A great portion 
 of the Pigeon-house was built on piles, consequently, it literally- 
 swarmed with rats, with which gentlemen I had a very amusing 
 encounter, which ended in their complete discomfiture. The 
 barrack-rooms of the two infantry officers were on the ground 
 floor, on either side of a passage, the six windows and door all 
 facing the street, and the quay beyond it ; the floor of my bed- 
 room was, in more places than one, accessible to rats, and, I 
 presume, to all the rats in the fort — no very pleasant idea ! On 
 the first niglit of our arrival, on going to bed, I put an extin- 
 guisher on a mould candle, which, together with the long candle- 
 stick, was about fourteen inches in height from the table on 
 which it was placed. I was just dropping off to sleep, when I 
 heard a noise which I supposed to proceed from mice or rats, and 
 I frightened them away, and had just got to sleep again, when I 
 was aroused by hearing my extinguisher fall to the ground ; 
 presently I heard it travelling along the floor on the opposite 
 side of my room. Recollecting that my boots were close to the 
 bed, I got hold of one of them, and immediately opened what I 
 considered a somewhat efl'ective fire on the enemy, at least, they 
 retired very quickly, and in some confusion, but leaving no killed 
 or wounded behind them. When, however, they considered the 
 danger over, they renewed the attack, which I again repulsed by 
 discharging the other boot at them. I heard scarcely anything 
 more of my enemy during the night, but in the morning I found
 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 331 
 
 that not only the extinguisher had disappeared, but also the thick 
 mould candle, on the top of which it had been fixed. I never 
 saw it again, but if some antiquarian subaltern, stationed at the 
 Pigeon-house, will take the trouble to search under the farthest 
 end from the window of that room of the four which is nearest 
 to Dublin, (supposing always those wretched rooms, and the still 
 more wretched floor, to be yet in existence,) no doubt he will be 
 amply rewarded for his trouble by finding, within a few feet of 
 the middle of that end of the floor, a plated extinguisher, which, 
 no doubt, the enemy left not far from their sally-port after they 
 had cleared out from it the large amount of provision which they 
 had captured at the same time. Their successful foraging expe- 
 dition rather astonished me ; for the sitting-room candlestick, in 
 which the candle was firmly fixed, was at least seven inches 
 high, and in getting the candle out they had not in the least 
 disturbed it, nor had they left any small pieces of tallow near it, 
 or along the floor. Here I must bring to a close the history of 
 my first campaign against the rats, in which I must acknowledge 
 that they came off victorious. 
 
 The second campaign I knew very well they would com- 
 mence the very next night, and as I did not intend to be demol- 
 ished by them, if I could help it, I reconnoitred the enemy's 
 intrenchments, and looked about to see what means of defence 
 or offence I could procure ; I haplessly came across some brick- 
 bats on the outside of the building, and determined to make use 
 of them, not with the view of firing away at the rats with them 
 when they had gained access to my quarters, for I knew, iu that 
 case, I should get the worst of it, but for the purpose of ham- 
 mering them into the holes, so as to prevent the possibility of 
 the rats getting into the room at all. I retired to rest, as I 
 thought, quite satisfied that I should not be intruded upon, as 
 had been the case the night before ; but I had only been in bed 
 a few minutes, when there commenced a regular gnawing, by I 
 know not what number of rats, at the edges of the flooring round 
 the brickbats. Notwithstanding all I could do to frighten them 
 away, this horrid noise continued till daylight came to my relief, 
 so that I had almost a sleepless night • thus I got worsted in the 
 second campaign.
 
 332 THE 52nd at Dublin. 
 
 The next day I ordered my servant to mix a quantity of 
 mustard in a basin, and, by means of a long feather, I managed 
 to saturate the wood around the brickbats with it, so that in no 
 direction could the rats gnaw it without getting a good taste of 
 the mustard. Soon after I had gone to bed, I heard, once or 
 twice, a little gnawing for a few seconds, and then it ceased. 
 This time I came off with flying colours, for I never saw or heard 
 a rat after that night during the four or five weeks that I was 
 quartered at the Pigeon-house. I wonder whether they forsook 
 the place altogether ! If they did, I might look upon myself as a 
 second tutelar saint of Ireland. 
 
 One day, as I was sitting in my room with one of the artillery 
 officers stationed at the fort, an officer passed the window, whom 
 I at once recognised as Major Oliver. My friend, somewhat 
 alarmed, said, " I think that's Major Oliver, I wonder what he is 
 " doing here !" I answered, that he very probably was come to 
 call upon me, as I was acquainted with him. He was anxious 
 to get away before Major Oliver found out my quarter, which he 
 was inquiring for, but said, as he was going, " I very much respect 
 "Major Oliver, but I was one of the unfortunate men who signed 
 "that paper." 
 
 I enjoyed very much the quiet and retirement of the Pigeon- 
 house, for very quiet it was, except occasionally when the Irish 
 were embarking for Liverpool. There were always a great many 
 women and children amongst the passengers, and there were 
 many friends who came to see them off. I had, consequently, 
 many opportunities of conversing with the people, and of shewing 
 them kindness in the way of relief, and of distributing useful 
 religious books and tracts amongst them. Some of my happiest 
 hours were spent there in reading and meditating on the Scrip- 
 tures, and on " Young's Night Thoughts," and in prayer, as I 
 walked on the extensive and beautifully paved sea-walls to the 
 eastward of the fort. 
 
 I returned to the Richmond barracks about the 2-ith of 
 February, 1822, and, towards the end of March, McNair's com- 
 pany was detached to Wicklow; Blois and I went with him. 
 My kind friend Fitzgibbon came to see me there, and remained 
 five or sLx days, and I went with him to the annual religious
 
 THE 52nd at DUBLIN. 333 
 
 meetinge at Dublin, wliere I met with Mr. Simeon, of Cambridge, 
 and Dr. Marsh, of Colchester. In the neighbourhood of Wicklow 
 we became acquainted with several nice families, and saw a great 
 deal of the beautiful scenery of that county. At Wicklow I 
 began to receive small sums of money from the men of the com- 
 pany to keep for them ; this led to the formation of a regimental 
 savings' bank a few months afterwards, and also, in 1824, to the 
 first establishment of a savings' bank in the province of New 
 Brunswick, in North America. 
 
 Being relieved by a company of the 86th, we returned from 
 Wicklow to Dublin about the 6th of May, and I took up my 
 quarters with the Gawlers, as there was no room for me in bar- 
 racks. I remained with them for three weeks, when the regiment 
 left Dublin for the south.
 
 334 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 1821, 1822. 
 
 dublin. interesting particulars relating to three 
 
 52nd soldiers. 
 
 Pat Kelly's proceedings in Spain and France — Remarkable visitation — Becomes 
 a religious man — One of the guard of honour to the King — Selected as a 
 trustworthy man — His suspicious death at the Pigeon-hoase — Dogherty — 
 Houghton's remarkable case — Benefit arising from the distribution of the 
 Scriptures — My visits to him in the hospital — He leaves the army — His 
 letter to me— Enters Trinity College, Dublin — Becomes a devoted minister 
 of the ChiU'ch of England — His death. 
 
 Amongst the religious men of the regiment there was one Pat 
 Kelly, whose case was most remarkable and interesting ; he had 
 served in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, hut was considered one 
 of the most troublesome and disorderly soldiers we had. At one 
 time, in the Peninsula, he got away from his regiment, and went 
 and attached himself to the Spanish army, which was besieging 
 the French in Saragossa, (this was usually called the second siege 
 of Saragossa.) Here he astonished his friends the Spaniards by 
 dancing on the parapets of one of the batteries, whilst the enemy 
 " blazed away" at him, and by other feats of daring. After the 
 siege was at an end he, with three or four other English soldiers, 
 set off to join the English army. As they went through the 
 country, they obtained supplies, for a short time, by giving out 
 that they were the advanced guard of several hundred men who 
 might be expected shortly to arrive, and for whom they ordered ra- 
 tions to be provided. This, of course, was not likely to last long, 
 and they were arrested by the mayor of one of the towns, and sent 
 up to the English army as deserters.
 
 PARTICULARS RELATING TO THREE 52ND SOLDIERS. 335 
 
 Kelly was to be tried for desertion, but, luckily for him, before 
 he could be tried, a general action came on ; he was a prisoner in 
 the ranks, and, when an opportunity offered, he obtained permis- 
 sion to take the firelock and accoutrements of one of the men 
 who had fallen: he behaved with considerable gallantry, and 
 when the action was over he was forgiven. I recollect his being 
 tried by a court-martial, and severely flogged, for breaking into a 
 house at the time that we formed part of the army of occupation 
 in France. I never knew anything more of him until some little 
 time after I arrived in Dublin, when I heard the following re- 
 markable story. Some months before, when he had been drinking, 
 one of the Serjeants did something which, if reported, was calcu- 
 lated to get him into trouble ; Kelly was quite aware of this, and 
 threatened that he would report him to one of the officers ; the 
 Serjeant, knowing that he was quite capable of doing so, tried to 
 pacify him, till Kelly ended by making use of the following 
 imprecation, " He wished God might strike his tongue dumb in 
 " his mouth, if he did not report him," though, as it afterwards 
 turned out, he had, all the time, no intention of doing so. At 
 night, when all the men in his room had retired to rest, and 
 when he was sobered, he lay awake for some time, and he recol- 
 lected the threat he had uttered, and the words he had used, and 
 thought within himself, " suppose God was to strike me dumb ?" 
 He became alarmed, and tried to speak, when, to his great horror, 
 he found that he was unable to utter a word. He made a moaning 
 noise, which awoke his comrade in the same bed with him, and 
 at last tlie whole room was aroused, and he was taken to the 
 hospital, and the surgeon, Mr. Gibson, was sent for. On his 
 arrival, he had some suspicion that Kelly, whom he knew to be 
 a man of bad character, was only pretending that he was speech- 
 less ; however, on examining his mouth, he found that his tongue 
 was paralysed, and that the tip of it was turned down in a most 
 extraordinary manner. He himself, and others who were present, 
 were unable to turn their tongues at all in the same manner, and 
 the most severe punishment which he could inflict, by applying 
 caustic to the tongue, had no effect in producing any alteration 
 in its state. They all looked upon it as having been inflicted by 
 God upon the man on account of his sins. Some time after I
 
 836 DUBLIN. INTEKESTING PAETICULAES 
 
 heard this, I spoke to Gibson about it, and he, who was not a 
 person at all likely to fall into any delusion in such a matter, 
 gave me the details of what he had observed of the case, just as 
 I have related them ; he told me he could only look upon what 
 had happened to Kelly as " a visitation from God." 
 
 Kelly remained in hospital, in a most wretched state of mind, 
 for several days, feeling sure that God had sent him this affliction 
 as a punishment for his wicked oath, and for all his numerous 
 sins. At length it occurred to him that only He who had inflicted 
 the punishment could restore him to the use of his speech, and 
 he set himself to pray most earnestly that God would have pity 
 on him, and take away this sore judgment from him. His own 
 account was, that about a week after the awful stroke came upon 
 him, whilst he was praying for relief, he found all at once, to his 
 great delight, that he could speak again. He became quite an 
 altered and religious man from that time. 
 
 From that time forth Kelly became an altered man in every 
 respect ; he had been a great drunkard, and so slovenly as a 
 soldier, that he was continually getting into disgrace. It was 
 some months after this change had occurred in him, that the 
 King visited Dublin ; and the change in his habits had then 
 become so well known, that, on the occasion of a fete taking 
 place in the Phoenix Park, Kelly was picked out as a clean, smart 
 soldier, to be one of the guard of honour ; and when, at the vice- . 
 regal lodge, the butler applied to the Serjeant of the guard for a 
 steady, sober man, to take charge of the ale which was provided 
 for the numerous servants of the assembled company, he was 
 selected as the most proper man for the purpose. When I first 
 began to know him in his altered character, he was a very 
 modest, unassuming man, apparently very anxious to do all that 
 was right, and to lead his comrades to fear and honour God. I 
 was told that, soon after the arrival of the regiment in Ireland, 
 and some time after his change, he got a furlough, and went to 
 see his friends in the north of Ireland. He was somewhat per- 
 secuted by them ; and when he returned to the regiment, he 
 mentioned to some of his friends, who took an interest in his 
 religious state, that on one occasion, during his absence, he had 
 been in liquor. It was considered by them that this sad faU
 
 RELATING TO THREE o2nD SOLDIERS. 837 
 
 back into the sin of drunkenness, when taken in connexion with 
 his sorrow for it, and his confession of it, when it was not likely 
 to be otherwise discovered, must not be considered as proving 
 that a real change of heart had not taken place in him. 
 
 The last time I saw Kelly, he had come up to Dublin on 
 leave, from the Pigeon-house fort ; and, on that occasion, he 
 requested me to give him a few useful and interesting books for 
 the children of one of the artillery officers. This was, I think, 
 about February, 1822. Either on that night, or on some subse- 
 quent night, poor Kelly lost his life as he was returning to the 
 Pigeon-house. His wife had given him some considerable 
 uneasiness with regard to another man, and, on the afternoon of 
 his death, they had all been sitting in a public-house near, for 
 the purpose of talking over their differences. It must be recol- 
 lected that soldiers had scarcely any other place to which they 
 could retire for such a purpose, so that his going there, on the 
 occasion referred to, need not lead to the supposition that, by so 
 doing, Kelly was giving way to temptation. His wife's account, 
 the next day, was, that they all drank together, and that Kelly 
 got regularly drunk, and, on their way to the Pigeon-house, be- 
 came very much excited, and drew his bayonet, and rushed down 
 from the causeway towards some stepping-stones over a channel 
 on the sands, through which the tide flowed for some time before 
 it overflowed the sands, and that they had lost sight of him. 
 When questioned as to where he had got his money to get drunk 
 with, she replied that it was with two shillings which it was 
 known he had borrowed on that day. She went off to England 
 about the second or third day after his death, declaring that she 
 knew he was drowned, and that there was no use in her remaining 
 in Ireland. On the night of Kelly's death, the other man returned 
 to the Eichmond barracks sober, just after the nine o'clock roll- 
 call. There was a rather strange circumstance occurred, which I 
 think it as well not to relate ; at the time it attracted my atten- 
 tion, but it was not until afterwards that I connected it at all 
 with his death. In about a month poor Kelly's body was found 
 under the walls of the Pigeon-house fort, so eaten by fishes, 
 that it was only known to be the body of a 52nd soldier by the 
 number being on his breastplate and buttons. The two shillings, 
 
 z
 
 338 DUBLIN. INTERESTING PAETICULAES 
 
 with whicli it was said he had got drunk, were found in his 
 trowsers' pocket. It was not until after an inquest had been 
 held, and a verdict returned, of " found drowned," or " accidental 
 " death," that those, who knew something of the above circum- 
 stances, heard that the body had been found. It was then 
 thought that, although there was some considerable grounds for 
 suspecting that Kelly had come by his death unfairly, yet there 
 was no proof of it. 
 
 Whilst the 52nd were at Dublin, the regiment was placed on 
 a reduced establishment, and it was necessary to discharge several 
 of the men. On this occasion I well remember a circumstance 
 occurring, which I always looked upon as a rather remarkable 
 answer to prayer. Amongst those selected to be discharged in 
 Captain McNair's company was a man by the name of Dogherty, 
 who had, I think, a wife and two children, and who was within 
 two years of making up a service of fourteen years, so that the 
 getting his discharge at that time was considered by him, and by 
 many others, as a great hardship about to be inflicted on him ; 
 there were, however, sorae other reasons for selecting him which 
 appeared to Colonel Charles Eowan to render it necessary, not- 
 withstanding the hardship, that he should not be retained. We 
 all felt very strongly about it, and we urged McNair to ask 
 Colonel Eowan to let Dogherty remain ; this he did, but Colonel 
 Eowan said he could not, for several reasons, alter the arrange- 
 ment. Afterwards Hall, the senior subaltern of the company, 
 who felt great pity for the man, went to Eowan to see what 
 he could do in the matter, but he met with the same answer. I 
 • think it was on the following day that I spoke to McNair again 
 about it, and said, the poor fellow must not, after all, be allowed 
 to go if it could in any way be avoided. He replied that both 
 he and Hall had been to Eowan, who was not at all convinced 
 by what they had said, that the man ought not to be discharged, 
 but he added, " you can go, if you like, and see what you can do 
 " with Eowan." I determined to do so, but first of all I com- 
 mitted the whole matter to God in prayer, and requested Him, if 
 it was according to His will, that the commanding officer might 
 see it in the same light in which we saw it. On going to him on 
 the subject, I told him that I had ventured to come to him about
 
 KELATING TO THREE 52ND SOLDIERS. 339 
 
 this poor fellow Dogherty ; that I knew McISTair and Hall had 
 spoken to him about his being discharged, and that I hardly felt 
 it right, after what he had told them, to bother him any more on 
 the subject, but that still I did not like to let the man be dis- 
 charged without making one more effort in his favour. Colonel 
 Eowan was not at all annoyed by my appeal to him, which one 
 might almost have expected he would be, but was most kind 
 about it, and, immediately that I had done speaking, said, " Leeke, 
 " the man shall remain !" People who read this may be inclined 
 to think that all this would happen very naturally, and that the 
 commanding officer merely allowed himself to be persuaded by 
 us to act in accordance with our wishes, but the more they 
 become acquainted with the Scriptures, the more will they see 
 that in everythinfj we may make our requests known unto God, 
 and that, in answer to our prayers. He often inclines the hearts 
 of others to do what we desire, and, in various ways in His 
 providence, brings about the most unlikely events and 
 results. 
 
 A very interesting case of the great benefit arising from the 
 practice of circulating the Scriptures amongst soldiers, occurred 
 very shortly after my return to the 52nd at Dublin. It was the 
 case of a man by the name of Houghton, who had been an attor- 
 ney's clerk, and who had enlisted when the regiment was at 
 Chester. In a little memoir of him, published several years 
 afterwards, by the Rev. Eoger Carus Wilson, this step is related 
 as follows : — " At this period the 52nd Regiment of Light Infantry, 
 " which had recently returned from France, was stationed at 
 " Chester. The youthful wanderer heard of the laurels which 
 " this regiment had won in the Peninsula campaigns, and at the 
 " Battle of Waterloo. He viewed with inconsiderate delight 
 " their smart appearance on parade. His imagination was at 
 " once captivated with the honour, the enterprise, and — the idle- 
 " ness of a military life ; and, accordingly, without reflecting on 
 " the pain he should thereby inflict on his family, he enlisted as 
 " a private soldier." 
 
 When he had been upwards of two years in the 52nd, he 
 began to be much troubled about his soul. The following pas- 
 sages from the memoir relate to this, and to some considerable 
 
 z 2
 
 340 DUBLIN. INTERESTING PARTICULARS 
 
 benefit and comfort which, by God's mercy, he derived from some 
 books lent or given to him by me : — 
 
 " During the mouth of September, and great part of October, 
 
 " 1821, he was laid up in the hospital, and he entertained but 
 
 "faint hopes of recovery. But it pleased God to bless to 
 
 " him, in a remarkable manner, this season of reflection, and to 
 
 " make even a visitation so heavily afflictive the greatest benefit. 
 
 " It proved the turning point of his life — the instrumental cause 
 
 " of his passing ' from darkness to light, from the power of Satan 
 
 " ' unto God.' One day he was most unexpectedly induced to 
 
 " read the Bible. He had asked for some book with which he 
 
 "might beguile a restless hour, and when the Bible had been 
 
 " given him, he had begged for some other book, adding, ' I can 
 
 " ' repeat all that :' but as no other was at hand, he was content 
 
 " to pore over the sacred pages ; and the study, thus casually 
 
 " begun, soon became deeply interesting, affecting, and salutary 
 
 " to his mind. He ' searched the Scriptures' at this time with 
 
 " great earnestness, and in after life he frequently referred, with 
 
 " grateful emotions, to the good which he now derived from them, 
 
 " He was also much indebted to ' Doddridge's Eise and Progress 
 
 "'of Religion in the Soul,' which an officer, who visited the 
 
 " hospital, kindly placed in his hands. A spiritual appetite was 
 
 " now created in him, through the divine mercy, and the proper 
 
 "nutriment was thus providentially supplied. Gradually the 
 
 "light of truth dawned upon his heart; the gospel of Jesus 
 
 " Christ became the support of his soul, and the heavenly origin 
 
 " of his new principles became apparent, in the holy and happy 
 
 " tenor of his new life." 
 
 In his journal, under the date of October 20th, 1821, is the 
 following entry, in which he refers to my books, and visits to the 
 hospital, &c. : — " I have much, very much to be thankful for this 
 " day ; much to be sorry for in myself, much to be thankful for to 
 
 " the Lord. In the morning I went to Mr. L , for the purpose 
 
 of purchasing, at his reduced prices, two copies of the ' Scripture 
 ' Help,' which I most sincerely hope to render useful to my 
 dear relations. Having expressed my desire, he, with the 
 utmost kindness, presented me with the large edition of the 
 " ' Scripture Help,' and an abridgment of the ' Treatise on Prayer '
 
 RELATING TO THREE 52nD SOLDIERS. 341 
 
 ** (7raf IS, pointed out to me the second chapter of St. Paul to the Gala- 
 " tians* as a standard of Christianity, and strongly recommended 
 " the diligent perusal of the whole epistle. If all gentlemen of 
 "fortune were like him, how essential would soon, by God's 
 " blessing, be the alteration in the manners of their dependants 
 " and inferiors. 
 
 " By God's blessing upon a severe fit of sickness, which he 
 
 " lately underwent, Mr. L is now an example of sobriety and 
 
 " seriousness, of piety and its fruits, to every officer in the regi- 
 " ment. He visits the hospital, supplies it with good books, and 
 " administers most excellent advice to every one whose sickness 
 "appears dangerous, and generally to all the patients. He 
 " supplies men in solitary confinement with sermons and religious 
 " tracts, in hopes of awakening them to a sense of their awful 
 " spiritual condition, and he freely distributes books to all who 
 " may be unable to purchase them at his reduced prices. What 
 " an example this to me ! that the Lord would be pleased to 
 " sanctify my illness with such a regeneration ; that He would 
 " incline and enable me to employ my small means to such pur- 
 " poses, and bless them fronl my hands ! Let me for a moment 
 " consider how good the Lord has shown Himself, and indulge the 
 " delightful hope of being able some time to make a complete 
 " dedication of my heart and soul to Him." 
 
 I could not very well omit to insert the above in such a work 
 as this, although I feel much humbled in doing so. It helps to 
 shew what some, at least, of the soldiers think of the poor, though 
 sincere and prayerful, efforts of their officers to lead them to fear 
 and honour God in seeking the salvation, and holiness, and comfort 
 of true religion. It will also, I trust, lead many, both officers 
 and civilians, who may read this work, to neglect no opportunity 
 which may offer itself, of striving to lead the careless, and igno- 
 rant, and wicked, to " seek the Lord while he may be found, &c. :" 
 Isaiah Iv, 6, 7. God certainly does, in a most wonderful manner, 
 acknowledge and bless the poor, unworthy eff'orts which He puts 
 it into the hearts of His poor, sinful servants to make for His 
 honour, and for the good of people's souls. How much unexpected 
 
 * It must have been the latter part of that chapter, or possibly the third 
 chapter.
 
 342 DUBLIN. INTERESTING PAETICULARS 
 
 encouragement also does He give to us to attend, at all times, with 
 prayer for His blessing, to the commands contained in the first 
 and sixth verses of the eleventh chapter of Ecclesiastes ; and 
 what a promise for our encouragement in this work He gives us 
 in Isaiah Iv, 10 — 13. 
 
 I did not know very much of Houghton, for almost immedi- 
 ately after he came out of hospital, towards the end of October, 
 he procured his discharge; either his friends purchased it for 
 him, or he was unfit for further service. I recollect he came to 
 take leave of me, and to thank me for my kindness to him ; and 
 that I then gave him some religious books and tracts for distri- 
 bution amongst his friends and neighbours. His subsequent 
 history was very interesting. He had been well educated in his 
 youth ; and after some time he resumed his studies, and went 
 through Trinity College, Dublin, and was eventually ordained a 
 clergyman of the Church of England. He was a most efficient 
 and devoted minister, but his health broke down, and he died 
 full of faith, and peace, and joy, in the year 1830, at the age of 
 twenty-eight. 
 
 I have lately found the following letter, which I received from 
 Houghton about six weeks after he left the 52nd : — 
 
 "Preston, Lancashire, Dec. 7th, 1821. 
 
 " Sir, — Having received your kind permission to address you 
 " on my arrival at home, I can no longer neglect the performance 
 " of a duty which, I assure you, Sir, affords me the greatest plea- 
 " sure, of expressing my gratitude to you as the means, through 
 " Christ, of awakening me to a knowledge of Himself when I was 
 " dead in infidelity and sin. Your example convinced me that 
 " religion is not, as I had foolishly imagined, confined to the bigot 
 "and enthusiast, and founded upon weakness and ignorance; 
 " and I pray God that your light may continue to shine before 
 " men, for it is impossible to conceive the good effects which the 
 " Almighty may produce by it. For men who have not had the 
 " advantages of a liberal education, of whom the mass of society 
 " IS composed, do conceive of it greater things than it really de- 
 " serves, and pay to persons endued with it a sort of involuntary 
 " respect and homage, by a close imitation of their manners, even 
 " when they are not conscious of doing so.
 
 RELATING TO THREE o2nD SOLDIERS. 343 
 
 " As you had the goodness to express a desire to hear of my 
 " prospects, I beg to inform yon that, with the advice of my 
 " friends, and my own decided inclination, I have re-commenced 
 "my classical studies, with the view of preparing myseK for the 
 " church, and if it should please the Lord to admit such an 
 " unworthy member, I will spend my last breath in His service, 
 " and declare that it was good for me that I was afflicted. The 
 " tracts which you were so kind as to give me I hope to make 
 " useful, as I have obtained leave from the superintendent of the 
 " Sunday school to lend them to the boys. Our church is blessed 
 " with two pious gospel ministers, and we were near obtaining 
 " the Eev. Richard Marks, (now vicar of Great Missenden, Bucks.,) 
 " author of ' The Retrospect,' who offered himself to the curacy 
 " some years ago. You wUl, I hope, Sir, pardon my troubling 
 " you thus far, and believe me, with the sincerest prayers for 
 '' your success in the Christian warfare, 
 
 " Your grateful, obedient servant, 
 
 "P. Houghton."
 
 S4>4 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 1822. 
 
 THE 52nd in the south of ikeland. 
 
 March from Dublin— Fair at Ballynahill — The county of Tipperary under the In- 
 surrection Act — Detached to New Birmingham — The Rev, John Galway — 
 Set up a school for the men — Two drunken men shot by sentry near Carrick 
 — Refuse invitation to dine out on Sunday — Extracts from journal — The 
 priest prohibits my tracts — Tracts given to beggars to sell — Benefit arising 
 from this — Interesting details— Introduced to a very clever nailer — Comes 
 to compare Roman Catholic catechism with Bible— Praying to angels- 
 Hopeful state of several persons — Joined at night by a stranger on the road 
 — The priest bums the tracts — Give Bibles and Douay Testaments— Instance 
 lately discovered of good done by the tracts given to the soldiers— Relieved 
 by Gawler — Clonmel, Ballynamult — Escort prisoners to Fermoy— On duty 
 to Dublin — Return to New Birmingham for a short time — Account in after 
 years of one of the New Birmingham converts — Converts become protestant 
 Scripture readers — Establishment of a regimental savings' bank — Compli- 
 ment to my efficiency — First epistle of St. Peter — Lord Seaton. 
 
 The 52nd marclied from Dublin, in two divisions, on the 27th 
 and 28th of May, 1822, for the county of Tipperary. I was with 
 that commanded by Colonel William Eowan,* which proceeded to 
 Cashel. The head-quarter division was stationed at Clonmel. 
 The night before we arrived at Cashel, we were at a place called 
 Ballynahill ; there was a fair there, and a regular row in the 
 evening amongst some of the people, in which a man's stall was 
 demolished, and he fired a shot at the mob, but did no mischief. 
 I was witness to a curious dialogue on the occasion between Mr. 
 Ilorne, a magistrate, and a very fine young man, who I suppose 
 was a somewhat troublesome youth, but who on this occasion 
 
 * Now General Sir Wm. Rowan, K.C.B., Colonel of the 52nd ; late Com- 
 mander-in-Chief in Canada.
 
 TUE 52nd in the south of IRELAND, 345 
 
 had taken the stall-owner's part, and had assisted in collecting 
 and in taking care of his scattered wares. Mr. Home was not 
 aware of this, and spoke very sharply to him about his trouble- 
 some ways, and wished him to enlist. He said to him before us, 
 " If these gentlemen will take you, and you will go with them, I 
 " will give you a guinea out of my own pocket." The young 
 fellow was very indignant about the proposal, and answered, "So 
 " nothing will suit ye, Mr. Horan, but that I should list. No, no, 
 " when I do go, I'll go daysent." The inhabitants of this part of 
 Ireland struck me as being a very fine race of people ; and this 
 young man was one of the finest of them, so I had an eye to 
 enlisting him, and on meeting him afterwards asked him if he 
 was really wishing to enlist; he said yes, but that he did not like 
 to go in that way. I told him to consider the matter, and that 
 if he liked it I thought he could get into our regiment. He pro- 
 mised to come and see us off in the morning, and to come away 
 with us provided another young man, who wished to enlist, 
 would come also. He walked with me some distance the next 
 morning, and said he would join us that night at Johnstown, or 
 on the morrow at Cashel ; we, however, saw no more of him. 
 
 The county of Tipperary was under the Insurrection Act, and 
 we sent out numerous detachments imder an officer to various 
 posts, both from Cashel and Clonmel. My detachment pro- 
 ceeded to the village of New Birmingham, about three miles 
 from Killenaule. The barracks for the officers and men were 
 under the same roof, and were formed out of two large adjoining 
 cottages. It was some time before we were supplied by the 
 barrack-master with all the various articles required by a detach- 
 ment. My principal window faced the bog of Allan, and on 
 very wet days I sometimes took a sort of pleasure, in my loneli- 
 ness, in seeing the showers chase each other without intermission 
 across the bog ; but the time, three months and a half, that I 
 spent at New Birmingham, although I sometimes felt lonely, was 
 a very profitable and interesting period of my life. I met with 
 very great kindness from the Eev. John Galway, the curate of 
 the parish, who resided in New Birmingham, though the church 
 was four miles away. Two of the neighbouring gentry were also 
 very kind. There was not much to do in the shape of military
 
 346 THE 52nd in the 
 
 duty. The following extracts from a rough journal I then kept 
 will give some idea of my manner of spending a portion of my 
 time, and of my poor attempts to do some good to those around 
 me, and will, perhaps, also shew that God did, in some good 
 measure, deal with me according to that gracious promise con- 
 tained in Proverbs xi, 25, " he that watereth shall be watered 
 "also himself." 
 
 " June 9. Mr. Galway was kind enough to read prayers to 
 the men. In the evening I read to them one of Burder's sermons 
 on the knowledge of Christ. 10th. I dined early, and Mr, 
 Galway and I took a long walk after dinner, and another a^ter 
 tea ; during the last we had a very pleasing conversation on re- 
 ligious subjects. I do trust my stay here may be blessed to both 
 of us ; I humbly pray it may. May the Lord Almighty enable me 
 to walk more and more closely with Him. I have indeed been 
 greatly privileged for the last three or foiir days, my feelings 
 having been very spiritual. Yesterday I had a very interesting 
 conversation with a poor Eoman Catholic farmer. I have pro- 
 mised to take him some books. 12th. Which I did to-day ; he 
 was very thankful for them ; they were 'The King's Visit,' 'The 
 ' Good Catholic,' and ' Short Pra^^ers for every day in the week.' 
 13th. Established a school in the detachment ; ten out of the 
 twenty-one attended twice to-day ; six of them read verse about 
 in the Testament, I now and then explaining a little, and four 
 others, two boys, and one of the women, were at their spelling 
 and alphabet; the reading party looked out several of Chalmers's 
 references. 
 
 " June 14th. My school goes on as well as I can wish. I 
 trust that God's blessing is on it ; if so, it will prosper ; without 
 His blessing it cannot. Besides reading twice a day with me, 
 four of the men write in Serjeant Whamond's room. I had a 
 visit from Sir John Tylden and Cosby on Wednesday. They 
 tell me I have the best detachment of any. Love is at Feathard, 
 Forbes at Mullinahone, Vivian at Scaw, near Carrick, and Camp- 
 bell at New Inn. An unfortunate business happened the other 
 night at Vivian's place. A man of his detachment was posted 
 in front of the guard-room door with orders to let no one pass ; 
 two drunken fellows, returning from Carrick fair, would not pull
 
 SOUTH OF IRELAND. 347 
 
 up, though he repeatedly called to them ; he fired, killed one and 
 severely wounded the other. They were both on the same horse. 
 The jury returned a verdict of 'Wilful murder,' and the man 
 was committed to Kilkenny gaol. His trial will not come on till 
 August. 15th. Received an invitation to dine with Mr. Langley 
 to-morrow; refused on the ground of its being Sunday." He after- 
 wards apologised for having invited me for that day. " 23rd. 
 Mr. Galwa.y read prayers for us in the barrack-room, and gave us 
 a faithful, but I cannot say a very awakening, sermon. In the 
 evening we walked together, and I read ' Newton on the Pro- 
 ' phecies.' How wonderfully are the prophecies concerning the 
 Jews fulfilled. ' Oh the depths of the wisdom, &c : ' Romans xi, 33. 
 24th. This day I have had great spiritual joy, and I am humbly 
 thankful for it. What are the pleasures of the world, when com- 
 pared with that joy which comes from above ? That heart alone 
 can feel it which looks on God as a reconciled father. May I 
 from this day forth increase in the love and knowledge of that 
 Saviour who died for me. May I love my God more and serve 
 Him better every day. I humbly trust He will guide me with 
 His Holy Spirit through life, and finally receive me to eternal 
 happiness. This day has been a day of real happiness on earth. 
 I have received great pleasure from an interesting conversation 
 with Mr. Galway. I gave him about a hundred tracts to form 
 a lending library for his Sunday school. A poor Roman Catholic, 
 with whom I have had several interesting conversations, and to 
 whom I have given some tracts, I hope much from. Watch and 
 pray. 
 
 " June 26th. One of the men whom I confined for being 
 drunk on parade, pretended to blow his brains out ; he dis- 
 charged his firelock with the top of the barrel close to his chin, 
 and burnt himself very much, but as the ball was not in, did 
 himself no further injury. Drank tea with Mr. Galway, and met 
 Mrs. and the Misses Langley. Mr. Langley was out all night in 
 search of Whiteboys. He took out Forbes's party, besides which 
 several other parties were out. He succeeded in discovering a 
 man supposed to be the original Captain Rock. He was admitted 
 to bail for a minor offence, but it is probable he will be hanged 
 yet for some of the crimes he has committed. A man, whom I
 
 3-18 THE 52nd in the 
 
 saw, had given information to Mr. Langley, and in consequence 
 of this the peasantry about Sliebneraan became frightened, and 
 gave up nearly two hundred stand of arms to different people. 
 
 "June 28th. Dined at Mr. Langley 's at Coalbrook, three 
 miles off. The whole family have some serious ideas ; I pro- 
 mised to lend them ' The Retrospect ' and ' Chalmers's Quarterly 
 
 * Papers.' Mr. Galway and I had a very pleasing conversation 
 as we returned. I was mentioning that it sometimes occurred to 
 me that I might be making myself too conspicuous as a strict 
 man with regard to religion. ' Oh no/ he said, ' do not think so 
 ' at all, but think of the good you may do in your situation. It 
 'must excite attention to these subjects when a young fellow, 
 
 * with a sword by his side, comes into a village, and, instead of 
 ' lounging about and making a fool of himself, is observed to be 
 
 * anxious to encourage religion and morality among his men. 
 ' You must observe that it has a beneficial influence even on the 
 ' clergyman.' Frail and sinful as I am, perhaps I may be the 
 means, if it be God's will, of stirring up a few of the people here- 
 abouts to think more seriously of an eternal world. 
 
 " June 30th. Sunday. Mr. Galway gave us a very faithful 
 sermon about praying for the Holy Spirit. In consequence of 
 having been out all last night patroling, I felt heavy and sleepy 
 in the middle of the day, and lay down for two or three hours. I 
 feared much my Sabbath would pass away in an almost unprofit- 
 able manner. After dinner I read the first four chapters of St. 
 John's Gospel with great pleasure, and I trust some benefit. I 
 walked for about an hour : on my return T told my servant I 
 would read a short sermon to him, and desired him to invite two 
 or three of the men to come up, indeed as many as liked it. I 
 went on my knees and prayed to God that He would put His 
 Spirit into their hearts and incline many to come. How truly 
 delightful it is to have one's prayers answered. I thought it 
 probable that two or three might come, but all the men in the 
 barracks and three women attended, about eighteen in all. My 
 detachment consists of twenty-one men and six women ; seven of 
 them are Eoman Catholics who did not come. I read Burder's 
 second sermon, * The broad and the narrow way.' May the 
 Almighty Being, who graciously heard one part of my prayer, as
 
 SOUTH OF IRELAND. 349 
 
 graciously answer the other, that the Holy Spirit may be poured 
 out on them, and that the sermon they have heard may be blest 
 to them. May everyone of them be brought by that Holy Spirit 
 into the narrow path that leads to eternal, bliss. This evening, 
 too, I have had sweet communion with my heavenly Father. I 
 
 have also to-day received a pleasing letter from and ; 
 
 its style shews evidently that they are beginning to think seri- 
 ously of eternal things. Oh! what cause have I for praise. 
 '0 heavenly Father, may I from this day forth strive to live 
 ' entirely to Thee, and may I seek Thy glory and the welfare of 
 ' my poor fellow-creatures in all I do. Amen.' The more we 
 seek our God in prayer the more blessed and happy we shall be. 
 " Sunday, July 7th. In the evening I talked to the men 
 about a penny-a-week subscription to the Church Missionary 
 Society, and told them that any who wished it might come to 
 my morning and evening prayers." About ten men and women 
 came the next morning. 
 
 "July 13th. Mr. Gal way took the prayers for me, and read 
 the thirteenth chapter of St. Luke ; seven or eight of the men 
 attended. Sunday, 14th. I have been trying to persuade the 
 men to pray by themselves individually. May the Almighty 
 pour His Holy Spirit on them and induce them to follow my 
 advice. July 16th. I find the priest formally prohibited my 
 little tracts last Sunday. Several have been brought back to me 
 in consequence. It is quite pitiable to see how completely the 
 priest has these poor fellows imder his thumb, when one is con- 
 vinced that he is leading them astray." 
 
 I see from my journal that I had at this time frequent in- 
 teresting conversations with Roman Catholics, and that I circu- 
 lated amongst them great numbers of tracts. One of my plans 
 was to give several tracts to the beggars tbat they might sell 
 them about the country ; this practice was accompanied by 
 prayer for God's blessing on them. One day, when I returned to 
 my quarter my servant told me that a man had been wishing to 
 see me very much, who had been there once before. In a day 
 or two he called again, and told me that he had bought five 
 tracts from a beggar woman to " whom I had given them to sell, 
 and that he was much struck with them : he told me also he was
 
 350 THE 52nd in the 
 
 sure he had been long astray. I was pointing out some passages 
 to him in my Bible relating to the new birth, and his anxiety to 
 turn to the references was quite delightful. I have promised to 
 try and get him a Bible with references, and lent him ' Andrew 
 ' D linn,' ' Short Prayers for every day,' and another tract or 
 two. I do hope and trust that this poor man will be brought to 
 a knowledge of vital religion." 
 
 Some little time after I had had this first conversation with 
 him I sent for him, that I might give him a Bible with references 
 exactly like my own. He was delighted with it, and read and 
 conversed with me for a long time on various points of religion. 
 When he was going away he begged to be allowed to take my 
 Bible with him, that he might copy out all the remarks which I 
 had made in many parts of it. I permitted him to do this, and 
 he returned my Bible in a few days. His name was Eawley, 
 and he was a weaver. 
 
 About this time I became acquainted with one or two other 
 interesting characters. As I was walking down the street of the 
 village one day with Mr. Galway, he said, " If you will come with 
 "me into this shop just below, I will shew you one of the most 
 " clever fellows, for his station in life, that you ever met with." 
 We accordingly entered the nailer's shop, and I was properly 
 introduced to James Whelan. A nailer's shop in Ireland was a 
 place in which several of the people assembled for the sake of a 
 talk with each other. Not very long after I was first there, I 
 turned into the shop one day for the purpose of trying to have 
 some religious conversation with Whelan. There were four or 
 five persons there. I forget now the exact turn which the conver- 
 sation took, but I well recollect that he attempted to prove some- 
 thing which he advanced by the Ptoman Catholic catechism, 
 when I observed that that was not in the Word of God. Hw 
 replied that it was in their catechism, and that the catechism 
 was taken from God's Word. I then addressed him very seri- 
 ously and said, " You know enough of me to be aware tliat I 
 " mean exactly what I say. Now, if you will come to my quarter 
 " to-morrow, and bring your catechism with you, and can con- 
 "vince me that what it contains is in accordance witli the Word 
 "of God, I promise you that I will become a lioman Catholic."
 
 SOUTH or Ireland. 351 
 
 This was too tempting an offer for him to refuse it, besides which 
 it was made in the presence of several of his neighbours, and it 
 would have appeared very strange to them, if the man, to whom 
 they had been accustomed to look up, had shewn himself afraid 
 or unwilling to accept my challenge. He accordingly came to my 
 quarter at the hour appointed, bringing his catechism with him. 
 Eawley was also present by my invitation. I took down my 
 Bible for the purpose of comparing the Eoman Catholic catechism 
 with it, when an unexpected difficulty arose. I told Whelan 
 that I always made it my practice to pray for God's teaching and 
 blessing whenever I read His Holy "Word. He immediately 
 objected, that he could not pray with a heretic. I told him tliat 
 I could not examine God's AYord without seeking His blessing 
 on what I was about to do. There appeared to be some danger 
 for a few seconds that our projected conference would come to 
 nothing. It was in vain that Eawley said to him, "I assure you, 
 " Jim, the gentleman's prayer is a very good one, and you will 
 " like it." He could not pray with a heretic. At last I suggested 
 that I and Eawley could offer up the prayer, and that he could 
 join in it or not as he liked. To this he assented. 
 
 The prayer was a very simple one which I had composed for 
 myself, and which I afterwards printed, that it might be placed 
 in some copies of the Scriptures which I had procured for the 
 people. I have one of the copies then printed lying before 
 me. It was as follows : — 
 
 " Now that we are about to read Thy Word, Almighty God, 
 " pour out Thy Holy Spirit into our hearts. Teach us the way 
 "of salvation, and Thy will concerning our conduct in this life. 
 " Grant this for our Saviour Christ's sake. Amen." 
 
 The very first point we turned to in his catechism was the 
 doctrine of the worshipping of angels. We looked out the refer- 
 ence given in the catechism to prove this doctrine, which was 
 the eighth verse of the last chapter of Eevelation, and read it as 
 follows : — " And I John saw these things, and heard them. And 
 " when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the 
 " feet of the angel, which shewed me these things." And here 
 ended the proof Whelan immediately exclaimed, that the verse 
 exactlv agreed with what the catechism stated. I beasied him
 
 Q 
 
 52 THE 52nd in the 
 
 to look at the next verse, and we read, " Then saith he nnto nie, 
 " See thou do it not : for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy 
 " brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of 
 " this book: worship God." On reading this the expression of his 
 countenance changed most remarkably, and I felt convinced that 
 T could read in it the very thoughts of his heart, which appeared 
 to be, " Is it possible that my church, that which I have always 
 " been taught to look upon as the true Church of God, is so 
 " deceitful and so dishonest as to have recourse, in order to prove 
 " a point, to such a remarkable suppression of the truth as this 
 " which I have thus seen proved against her ? " I do not recol- 
 lect anything more which passed between us on that occasion. 
 A short time afterwards I gave to Whelan a Bible with references, 
 similar to that which I had given to Eawley. I shall have to 
 mention these two men again a few pages farther on. 
 
 I have always considered the following case as a rather re- 
 markable one : — I had been employed all the forenoon, and during 
 part of it had had a long and interesting conversation on religion 
 with a Eoman Catholic near our barracks ; after which I went 
 for a walk up the side of the mountain immediately behind the 
 village ; after a time, I observed a man some two hundred yards 
 above me on the side of the mountain, but walking in the same 
 direction. I Mas tired with the walk and long discussion which 
 I had just had, and resolved to keep clear of this man, and to 
 enjoy a quiet walk by myself; but the thought occurred to me 
 that perhaps I should never again have an opportunity of speak- 
 ing to this poor ignorant Eoman Catholic, and I determined to 
 alter my course so as to come across his path. I always tried to 
 remember to ask for God's help and blessing on such occasions, 
 and I probably did so then. I found him to be a quiet, intelli- 
 gent man. His name was Noonan, and he lived in a village 
 about two miles away on the other side of the mountain. After 
 speaking to him for a short time, I gave him a few tracts, one of 
 which I remember was " Andrew Dunn," which he afterwards 
 told me had been eagerly read by a great many persons in his 
 village. I shall have to speak again of him hereafter, but I may 
 here say, that this meetmg with him, and giving him the tracts, 
 was the first step towards liis throwing aside the errors and
 
 SOUTH OF IRELAND. 353 
 
 trammels of popery, and becoming an enliglitened and pious 
 Protestant. 
 
 The following is from my journal : — 
 
 "August 11th. About three weeks ago, twelve of my detach- 
 ment, consisting of twenty-one, became subscribers of a penny a 
 week to the Church Missionary Society : to-morrow we are to 
 have a little missionary meeting. 12th. About fifteen of the 
 men attended the missionary meeting. I tried to explain to 
 them the object of the society, and read to them accounts of 
 wliat had been done. I ended by praying for the extension of 
 Christianity. The evening was very pleasing, and I trust profit- 
 able. September 5th. On the 2nd I received a fresh set of 
 men. About eight of them have attended school very regularly 
 as yet, and six or eight come up in the evening from eight to 
 nine, when I read them a tract, and we read the Bible together 
 and end with prayer, I do earnestly pray that the Almighty 
 will pour out His Spirit on us, and bless what we are doing to 
 the salvation of many of their souls. One young man, Ledgett, 
 appears to be very serious ; last night he arrived in the room 
 just as I had finished reading a tract to the others, when, quite 
 regardless of their being there, he knelt down in a corner of the 
 room and prayed, I suppose for a blessing on what we were 
 doing. I hope, from their not being surprised at it, that he is in 
 the habit of kneeling down to say his prayers in the barrack- 
 room. I have received great pleasure from knowing that the 
 tracts, which I have given away here, have been the means of 
 making four or five people very serious." 
 
 I think also that one family among the neighbouring gentry 
 began to feel the importance of religion, much more than they 
 had done before, in consequence of their intercourse with me, 
 and through reading the books which I lent to them. On my 
 return home from dining with them one night, as I was walking 
 along a lonely part of the road, a man suddenly joined me, as if 
 he had been waiting for me, and began to enter into conversation 
 with me. I only recollect two things which he said, and my re- 
 plies. He said he wondered I was not afraid to be on the road 
 alone at that hour. I replied, at the same time touching my 
 sword, " I have a trusty friend here in which I can place confi- 
 
 A A
 
 354 THE 52nd in the 
 
 " dence." This was a soldier's speecli, but I ought to have added, 
 " God has promised to protect those who put their trust in Him " 
 and I probably should have done so, had he not immediately 
 said, " I wonder, Sir, you take so much trouble to distribute 
 " such numbers of tracts amongst the people. You are not aware, 
 " perhaps, that the priest regularly collects and burns them." To 
 this I answered, " I don't care about his burning the tracts ; he 
 " does not get hold of them all, and I know you Irish people too 
 " well to believe that the greater part of those which the priest 
 " burns, are not read before they get into his hands." I never 
 saw the priest, as he lived in a distant part of the parish, but 
 after I had given the Bibles to Eawley and Whelan, he sent me 
 a message to say that, if I would get him some Douay Testa- 
 ments he would place them in the schools. I thought it better 
 that they should have these Testaments than not have the Scrip- 
 tures at all, although there were a few such translations as the 
 following : — " Except ye do penance," instead of our authorized 
 translation, " except ye repent." I therefore sent for two dozen 
 of these Testaments, some few of which the priest had, and the 
 rest were given to the people. After I had left New Birmingham, 
 Gawler informed me that they would be glad of some more, but 
 these I desired might be sold at sixpence each, as I thought the 
 people would probably value them all the more if they paid for 
 them. It will be seen, farther on, that this idea proved to be 
 correct, under rather remarkable circumstances. 
 
 This appears to be the proper place in which to record the 
 following, to me very interesting, account, as it is most probably 
 connected with my distribution of tracts amongst the men of the 
 regiment when it was stationed at Dublin : — A few months ago 
 a man not living far from this parish, who knew I had been in 
 the army but did not know in what regiment I had been, 
 accosted me as I was walking home in the evening, and said he 
 had long wished to consult me as to some money which he 
 thought was due to him on account of his father, Samuel Bald- 
 win, who belonged to the 52nd, and had died in 1826 in New 
 Brunswick. In the course of conversation he told me the only 
 thing he had which had belonged to his father was his military 
 Testament. I sent him for this, as his house was not far off ;
 
 SOUTH OF lEELAND. 355 
 
 and I found the son's name written in it, and that he was born 
 at Cashel, in 1822 ; but what interested me very much was to 
 find an entry almost in the following words, taken from a tract 
 which I well remember, and which I feel almost certain he must 
 have received from me, either at Cashel or New Birmingham : — 
 " How do I know that the Bible is the Word of God ? Bad men 
 " could not have written a book containing such holy precepts 
 " and commands. Good men would never have deceived man- 
 " kind by pretending that that was a revelation from God, which 
 " they knew had been fabricated by themselves." The tract was 
 written by a clergyman named Marks, who had been a lieutenant 
 in the navy. It is one of the Eeligious Tract Society's tracts, 
 and is called " Conversation in a Boat between two Seamen." 
 It contains some other short arguments proving the divine 
 origin of the Bible ; especially the fulfilment of the prophecies 
 respecting the Jews, and of the prophecies and types which refer 
 to Christ. 
 
 On the 25th of September I was relieved by Gawler in the 
 command of the detachment at New Birmingham, and proceeded 
 to Clonmel. I had much to be truly thankful for during my 
 stay at ISTew Birmingham. I was enabled not only to do some- 
 thing in the way of instructing our men and the Eoman Catholics 
 around me, but I had it in my power to befriend, to some extent, 
 many of the poor of the village at a time of great destitution in 
 that part of Ireland. My friend Gawler and Mrs. Gawler were 
 also most kind to them, so that the priest from the altar told the 
 people that they were bound to pray for Mr. Gawler and for 
 Mr. Leeke. 
 
 Shortly after my arrival at Clonmel I went to Fermoy, in 
 command of a large guard over a number of convicts, who were 
 conveyed in carts. It was a most fatiguing march of twenty-four 
 Irish miles, at the rate of not quite two mUes an hour. Towards 
 the middle of October, Kirwan Hill was taken ill at Ballynamult, 
 and I volunteered to relieve him, and to remain in his place 
 until the arrival of the other Hill from England. I remained 
 there ten days and then returned to Clonmel. The Ballynamult 
 barracks are capable of holding about 150 men, with a proportion of 
 officers ; they are situated in a very wild part of the county of 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 THE 52nd in the 
 
 Waterford, near the Knockmeleclown Mountains. There was not 
 a gentleman's house within seven Irish miles ; and it was a very- 
 solitary station, especially ^ for the officer of the detachment, 
 which, I think, consisted of forty men. I recollect many of 
 them availed themselves of my permission to attend my daily 
 Scripture reading and prayer. 
 
 At the end of November, 1822, I went to Dublin with a 
 party of twenty-five invalids, and fell in with many of my old 
 friends — Major Oliver, the Guinnesses, and Mr. and Mrs. 
 Mathias ; about three weeks or a month before, they had lost 
 their eldest daughter, a truly religious young person, at the age 
 of sixteen. Her mother, amongst other things which she 
 mentioned as to the great comfort they had with regard to her 
 state, told me that, a day or two before her death, she heard her 
 say, when the room was quite quiet and she thought no one was 
 in it, " my precious, precious Saviour." I spent the Sunday 
 with Mr. and Mrs. Mathias. I think it was the first time he 
 had preached since his daughter's death. The following is from 
 my journal : — " His sermon was very much calculated to touch 
 the hearts of his congregation ; he alluded in some degree to his 
 recent loss, and said there were two sets of parents in the world, 
 — those who were bringing up their children merely for this 
 world, and those who were educating them for eternity. He 
 said that death, when it made its appearance in a family, was an 
 awful visitor, but those who feared God had consolations of the 
 highest kind, which people of the world could not have. I felt 
 much affected, for the last time I had been in that church, I had 
 sat in that same pew with my poor young friend Annie." 
 
 I find the following entries in my journal : — " It was on the 
 4th and 5th of November that the row was about King William's 
 statue. ■ By order of the Lord-Lieutenant, the orangemen were 
 prevented from dressing it for the first time. This gave rise to 
 the disturbance at the theatre the other day, when the Lord- 
 Lieutenant went there. Some one threw a quart bottle from the 
 upper gallery, which, it was said, tore away some of the fringe 
 from one of the cushions in his box. On the 23rd of December 
 a party of us from Clonmel and Cashel went to Cahir, to dine 
 with the 10th Hussars. I proceeded to New Birmingham on
 
 SOUTH OF IKELAND. 357 
 
 tlie 2 6 til, to relieve Gawler, who -went with his wife to England ; 
 he came back on the 9th, when I returned to Clonmel. At New 
 Birminfrham I found that two of the Eoman Catholics to whom I 
 had spoken and given tracts, Kawley and Noonan, had been regular 
 attendants at Gawler's evening prayers for some time past, and 
 had thereby ' entirely ' offended the priest. I fancy they are both 
 quite 'convinced that the Eoman Catholic religion is full of error; 
 they seem also to be anxiously searching the Scriptures. I had 
 several arguments with Whelan, the nailer ; a very clever man 
 for his situation in life. I wanted him to read a little book of 
 mine, and by my desire he took it to the priest and requested 
 permission to read it. He was told by Father Meighan not to 
 be too curious. A poor woman, who had once been at Gawler's 
 family prayers, knelt two different Sundays at the chapel door, 
 whilst the congregation were passing, by way of doing penance 
 for that sin. The poor people at New Birmingham are still very 
 WTetched, although a great deal has been done for them. I gave 
 Eawley £5 to purchase wool with. With this he is to keep 
 thirteen women constantly employed in spinning. I supplied 
 eight of them with wheels, and I hope this will be the means of 
 adding a little to their support. I dined two or three times with 
 John Galway, and he once with me. Our conversations on the 
 subject of religion were very interesting, but I fear be does not yet 
 see the necessity of endeavouring to do everything to the glory 
 of God. I dined at Cashel on the 9th of January, 1823, and 
 drank tea with Mr. and Mrs. Holmes. The next day I break- 
 fasted with Cosby, at New Inn, and afterwards proceeded to 
 Clonmel." 
 
 Here my journal for that period ends, and it was only very 
 occasionally resumed in after times ; but I must say a little 
 more about my poor Eoman Catholic friends, Eawley, Noouan, 
 and Whelan, whom I never saw again, but whom I fully hope to 
 meet at the right hand of our great Judge and Saviour, on that 
 day when the trumpet shall sound, and those " who sleep in the 
 " dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and 
 " some to shame and everlasting contempt." 
 
 After I left New Birmingham I sent the second two dozen of 
 Douay Testaments, which wxre sold to the people. Gawler after
 
 358 THE 52nd in the 
 
 some time offended the priest by a handbill, which he found it 
 desirable to circulate in the village, and had the honour of being 
 denounced from the altar. The priest ordered the people to return 
 even the Douay Testaments, and singularly enough they brought to 
 Gawler all those which I had given them, but refused to obey the 
 priest's order with regard to those which they had purchased. 
 Amongst those who brought back books, was Whelan the nailer, to 
 whom I had given, as T have before mentioned, a Bible with references. 
 When he brought it to my friend Gawler, he told him he had 
 read from the beginning of the Bible to, I tliink, about the end 
 of the second book of Kings. He added " I am a poor man. Sir, 
 " but I do assure you I would rather give you ten pounds than 
 " give you that book." " Why then do you not keep it ? " re- 
 plied Gawler, " Because my priest has ordered me not to do so," 
 said Whelan. Gawler replied, " Your priest, who tells you not to 
 " read God's Word, is only a man, whereas God Himself com- 
 " mands you to search the Scriptures. Should you not obey God 
 " rather than man ? " Whelan, shrugging his shoulders in token 
 of his feeling of helplessness, quietly said, " I must obey my priest, 
 Sir." Some three or four years afterwards Eawley had an oppor- 
 tunity of sending a message to me, and a part of it was, I might 
 depend upon it that Whelan was a Protestant at heart, though 
 he was afraid to confess it openly. 
 
 Poor Ptawley, the man who had bought my tracts from the 
 beggar-woman, and to whom I had given a Bible, was a simple- 
 minded, straightforward man. He suffered some considerable 
 persecution from the Eoman Catholics, and was waylaid one 
 night and had his head injured by a blow with a spade. We 
 sent him for a time to Kilkenny, commending him to the care of 
 that excellent man, the Ptev. Peter Eoe, and afterwards I under- 
 stood he became a scripture reader on Lord Mountcashel's estate. 
 Some years after that, one of my sisters, who was married and 
 living in the county of Kilkenny, mentioned in one of her letters 
 that the clergj-man of their parish, on accidentally hearing her 
 maiden name, asked if she knew anything of a Mr. Leeke who 
 had been quartered in the county of Tipperary several years 
 before, and on learning that I was her brother, he told her that 
 some little time before he had been sent for to visit a dying man,
 
 SOUTH OF IRELAND. 359 
 
 and that on arriving at the house he found about two hundred 
 people assembled, and in a great state of excitement. They said 
 the dying man was a Eoman Catholic, and declared that he, Mr. 
 Darby, should not see him, and threatened him if he attempted 
 to go into the house. He said that they might do what they liked, 
 but that he should certainly see the man. In the middle of the 
 dispute, the priest arrived, and Mr. Darby and he arranged that 
 they should both go into the dying man's room, and that which- 
 ever the man preferred should remain. He declared he was a 
 Protestant, and wished the Protestant clergyman to remain with 
 him. In the course of conversation, he several times mentioned 
 the names of Mr. Gawler and Mr. Leeke, and how they had 
 exerted themselves at New Birmingham, to lead the people to 
 give up their sins and errors and to seek mercy through the 
 atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mr. Darby said that he 
 was not only a convert from popery, but a humble, penitent 
 believer in the Saviour of sinners. I understood from my sister's 
 letter that this was my poor friend Eawley. Some time after I 
 received this letter I feU in with Mr. Darby, and he gave me the 
 history of the case, as I have related it above, saying, however, 
 that my sister had made one mistake, and that the man who died 
 was not Eawley, but a convert of Eawley's. 
 
 Noonan was the man, from another village, whose path I 
 crossed on the side of the mountain, and to whom I gave the 
 tract called "Andrew Dunn." He attended Gawler's family 
 prayers, and became a convert from popery, and a good man. He 
 became a scripture reader on, I believe. Lord Cavan's estate, and 
 was the means of doing much good there. It was reported of 
 him, that he was held in all the greater estimation, " because he 
 " made the people cry." He went in after years to Australia. 
 
 In November, 1822, I obtained leave from Major McNair, 
 who was then in command of the regiment, to draw out rules for 
 the establishment of a regimental savings' bank, and he requested 
 me also to write the order on the subject for the orderly book, to 
 be signed by him. I have my rough copy of the rules, but not 
 of the order, now before me. The rules were duly lodged, 
 according to the 57th of George III, c. 105, with the proper 
 ofl&cer at ClonmeL I remember that the captains of the regiment
 
 360 THE 52nd in the 
 
 were appointed trustees, and Winterbottom, who had become 
 the paymaster, and I were the treasurers. On the first day 
 on which money was paid in, upwards of four hundred pounds 
 were received by us. I had heard of only one other savings' 
 bank in the army at that time, and that was either in the 78th 
 or 79th Highlanders. I was told, after my return from the 
 military college, on our way to North America, that Sir John 
 Tylden, some time after he came from leave and had assumed 
 the command of the regiment, wrote to the Horse Guards, men- 
 tioning the establishment of a savings' bank in the regiment, and 
 how acceptable it was to the men, and that he got a regular "rap 
 " over the knuckles " for having ventured to take a step of such 
 importance, without the permission of the Commander-in-Chief, 
 (not that he had taken it,) and desiring him immediately to put 
 a stop to the thing. When I rejoined the regiment from- Sand- 
 hurst, and whilst I remained in it, I never heard anything more 
 of a savings' bank. 
 
 I copy the following from the 52nd record : — " 184?3. Eegi- 
 " mental savings' banks had been established by Her Majesty's 
 "gracious warrant of the 11th of October, and the 52nd 
 "regimental savings' bank was begun by a regimental order, 
 " dated 30th of November." It is very singular that in my 
 rough draft of the " Eules for a 52nd Light Infantry Eegimeutal 
 Savings' Bank," it is stated to have been " established at Clonmel 
 on the SOtli of November, 1822," exactly, to a day, twenty-one 
 years before the establishment of the other. 
 
 I am not sure that I ought to mention the following circum- 
 stance which took place at Clonmel. I wiU, however, write it 
 down, and omit it in the publication of the work if on further 
 consideration I think it desirable do so. I shall probably, how- 
 ever, retain it, for I feel it to be important to the cause of religion, 
 as I have before stated, to shew that my religious views did not 
 at all interfere with my efficiency as an officer. The circumstance 
 was this : — One day the commanding officer ordered the company 
 which I commanded to skirmish, and to conform to the move- 
 ments of the battalion. He was so pleased with the manner in 
 which I had handled the skirmishers, that when the men were 
 dismissed, and most of the officers were standing around him in
 
 SOUTH OF IRELAND. 8G1 
 
 a group, lie spoke of me as " the best light infantry officer in 
 " the regiment." This was certainly an unusual thing for a com- 
 manding officer to do, but nevertheless the circumstance happened 
 as I have related it. I fear the mention of it must be set down 
 to the score of vanity, but that I cannot help. I suppose we are 
 all vain at times ; and I confess I was very proud of my regi- 
 ment, and consequently very proud of being called "the best 
 "light infantry officer" in the best light infantry regiment in the 
 world, in " a regiment never surpassed in arms since arms were 
 "first borne by men."* Of course I was aware that almost 
 every officer in the regiment could handle a body of skirmishers 
 as well as I could, and that most of them had much more ex- 
 perience than I had, still I have always remembered with grati- 
 fication the above measure of praise dealt out to me on the 
 parade-ground of the 52nd. 
 
 One other anecdote relating to my efficiency as an officer I 
 am bound also, for the before-mentioned reason, not to omit ; it 
 occurred at nearly the same time as that mentioned in the last 
 paragraph. The regiment was practising " street firing," both in 
 advancing and retiring, and one of the older officers in command 
 of a company made somewhat of a bungle of it, whilst I, with 
 the company I commanded, executed the several movements 
 with that precision and promptitude which they required. I 
 was told that several of the officers, in talking the thincf over 
 afterwards, had expressed their wonder at the slowness, &c., of 
 the older officer, and had particularly contrasted it with my 
 smartness on the occasion. My readers will very naturally say 
 of me, "His trumpeter has been long dead." 
 
 One of my pleasing recollections connected with Clonmel is 
 the having learnt by heart the beautiful first epistle of St. Peter, 
 during some of my quiet walks on the banks of the Suir. I think 
 I have consequently always known more of that book than of 
 any other portion of the Scriptures. I may here state also that 
 
 * If this work should ever fall into the hands of those who have served in the 
 43rd Light Infantry or in the old 95tli Rifles, (now the Rifle Brigade,) those 
 other fine and gallant regiments of the light division in Sj^ain, they will kindly 
 excuse this high-flown language, and set it down to that esprit de corps, which 
 is so frequently imbibed by young officers, and which is often cherished by them 
 to the latest day of their lives.
 
 362 THE 52nd in the south of IRELAND. 
 
 I do not recollect any commentary, or other religious book, that 
 I ever read with greater pleasure and benefit than Archbishop 
 Leighton's Commentary on this same first epistle of Peter. I should 
 be thankful if I could induce my readers to study it, with much 
 prayer to God that He would make it a blessing to them. Some 
 years after the time I write of it was a favourite book with the 
 great and good Lord Seaton,
 
 363 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 1823. 
 
 SANDHURST. 
 
 Senior department at Sandhurst— Determined to work hard — Religious duties — 
 Strict observance of tlie Lord's Day— Boerliave— Diggle's wound— Serjeant 
 Houseley met him wounded at Waterloo— Diggle's anecdote about a toast in 
 Sicily— My order to join 52nd, and to embark for America— Sir George 
 Murray, the governor, opposes it, but without success — Asks me to dine 
 with him on Sunday— Correspondence with the Horse Guards— Proceed to 
 Cork — Find 52nd embarking. 
 
 In May, 1822, whilst we were at Dublin, I applied to Colonel 
 Charles Eowan, who commanded the 52nd as senior major, to 
 get me leave to join the senior department of the military college 
 at Sandhurst, that I might pursue my studies in fortification and 
 military plan-drawing, which I had gained some knowledge of, 
 before I entered the army, as one of the private pupils of Captain 
 Malortie de Martemont, a French royalist, who was professor of 
 fortification at the Woolwich Academy. Eowan told me he 
 would readily do what I desired, but that I had much better 
 make my application through Colborue, who was a friend of 
 mine. This I did, and my name was forwarded by him to the 
 Horse Guards, and it was notified to me, in a few weeks, that I 
 should be admitted to study at the institution, taking my proper 
 turn after those candidates whose names stood before mine, when 
 a vacancy for me should occur. 
 
 I think I went to Sandhurst about the middle of February, 
 1823. Captain Lloyd of the 73rd Eegiment and I, joined in 
 hiring a small house exactly opposite to the large gates of the
 
 364 SANDHURST. 
 
 college, on the Bagsliot road, and my servant, who had come with 
 me from the regiment, and his wife, attended on us. Lloyd was 
 a religiously-disposed man, and we got on most comfortably to- 
 gether. We had our family prayers, with great regularity, at 
 seven in the morning, and at nine at night ; and we took some 
 considerable time also, every morning and evening, for prayer and 
 meditation on God's Word in private. I believe that all this, 
 and our strict observance of Sunday as a day on which we should 
 not only abstain from secular pursuits and studies, but also 
 endeavour to increase in the knowledge of God, and in holiness, 
 brought down the blessing of God, in a remarkable manner, upon 
 us, both as regarded our progress in religion, and in the military 
 studies of the college, to which we determined to devote all our 
 time and energies. At that time fifteen officers, from various 
 regiments, were studying at the senior department. Lloyd and 
 I worked hard each day, from eight o'clock in the morning till 
 nine at night, scarcely taking any time for our dinner ; and the 
 progress we consequently made was remarked by the professors 
 and others. 
 
 I rose at five each morning, and got to bed at eleven. This 
 plan left a considerable portion of time each day for private 
 prayer and reading of the Scripture, without at all interferiDg 
 with our secular studies. I think I never, at any other time of 
 my life, devoted so much of the morning and evening to religious 
 duties, nor did I ever, at any other time, get through , such an 
 amount of hard work and study as I did during the few months 
 that I remained at Sandhurst. I do not know that the following 
 paragraphs, which I extract from " Buck's Anecdotes," were the 
 means of my giving up so much time to religious duties, but the 
 blessing which accrued from the practice recalls them to my 
 mind : — 
 
 " The great Dr. Boerhave acknowledged that an hour spent 
 " every morning in private prayer and meditation gave him spirit 
 " and vigour for the business of the day, and kept his temper 
 "active, patient, and calm. 
 
 " The famous Dr. Boerhave was once asked by a friend who 
 " admired his patience imder provocations, whether he knew what 
 " it was to be angry, and by what means he had so entirely sup-
 
 SANDHURST. 3C5 
 
 "pressed that impetuous and ungovernable passion? He 
 '•'answered, with the utmost frankness and sincerity, that he 
 " was naturally quick of resentment, but that he had, by daily 
 " prayer and meditation, at length attained to this mastery over 
 " himself " 
 
 Lloyd and I were very anxious to observe the Lord's Day in 
 a proper manner, by " not doing our own ways, nor finding our 
 " own pleasure, nor speaking our own words," the meaning of 
 which command we understood to be, that we were not to be 
 engaged in our usual occupations, nor were we to spend any part 
 of the day in amusements, nor were we to engage unnecessarily 
 in worldly conversation : Isaiah Iviii, 13. We agreed to remind 
 each other that we were deviating from our rule, if one or the 
 other inadvertently introduced any worldly subject of conversa- 
 tion, being convinced that the day would be as much frittered 
 away, as regarded any religious advantage to be derived from it, 
 by such conversation, as it would be by engaging in our usual 
 employments, or in travelling or amusements. I recollect, on 
 one occasion, when walking in the wood behind our house, that 
 we found we had, through inadvertence, been imnecessarily talking 
 about worldly matters for a whole quarter of an hour. We always 
 felt, and acted upon it, that works of necessity, mercy, and piety, 
 not only might but ought to be done on that holy day. 
 
 A rather curious circumstance occurred at Sandhurst in con- 
 nexion with my early rising. My servant, who went to bed an 
 hour and a half earlier than I did, called me one morning, as I 
 supposed, at the usual hour, five o'clock ; I had gone to bed at 
 eleven, and, as I always did, got up directly I was called. I 
 happened, before I began to dress, to look at my watch, and found 
 to my surprise that he had mistaken the hour, and had called me 
 at twelve o'clock. I felt quite as much refreshed by my one 
 hour's sound sleep, as I should have done had I slept for six 
 hours. I was, however, not at all sorry to find that I might turn 
 in again for five hours more. 
 
 It was a great pleasure to me to find Major and Mrs. Diggle 
 at Sandhurst. He was a captain in the 52nd at Waterloo, and 
 commanded ISTo. 1, the right company of the regiment in that 
 action, and was desperately wounded in the head in the charge
 
 866 SANDHUEST. 
 
 on the Frencli Imperial Guard. He recovered, but his wound 
 was of such a nature, that he left the 52nd, and became captain 
 of one of the companies of gentlemen cadets at Sandhurst. I 
 was their guest for some time, till I had arranged about hiring 
 the house which I occupied with Captain Lloyd of the 73rd. 
 
 Diggle of late years was a major-general, and silver-stick in 
 waiting to the Queen. He was in the 52nd for several years, and 
 saw some good service. He wore a silver plate, with black silk 
 covering it, over his wound just above the left temple. I was 
 perfectly astonished at the depth and width of the hole in his 
 skull, when he took off the plate one day, at Sandhurst, to shew 
 it to me. On that occasion I doubled np my forefinger, not a 
 very small one, and laid it against the wound, and satisfied myself 
 that if it could have been cut off at the knuckle joint, and placed 
 on the skin over the brain at the bottom of the wound, I could 
 have covered it over so as to let the plate fit down close over it, 
 and lie evenly on the surrounding portion of the skull. He kept 
 the musket-ball, and about a dozen or fourteen small portions of 
 the skull in a box, the ball having been divided in two by the 
 force of the blow. One of our old Serjeants, (Houseley,) whom [ 
 shall speak of afterwards, told me a few weeks ago that at 
 Waterloo, when he was returning from conveying Corporal Hood, 
 whose heel was shot off, to the rear, which he was ordered to do 
 on our 52nd squares retiring np the position from the neighbour- 
 hood of Hougomont, he met Captain Diggle, who had just been 
 wounded, and, as he passed, heard him say to the men who were 
 with him, " What will my poor wife do ?" 
 
 Diggle was a very nice fellow, and was much liked by every- 
 body in the regiment. I recollect that one day, at Sandhurst, he 
 was observing that he often wondered how young officers got on 
 in the army without getting into more scrapes than they did, and 
 gave me the following account of a somewhat serious scrape 
 in which he found himself soon after he first joined the 52nd in 
 Sicily. There was a grand dinner given by the regiment to the 
 general and several other persons, and after dinner many toasts 
 were given, when Diggle, being somewhat excited, stood up and 
 said, " Mr. President, will you allow me to propose a toast ?" 
 Everybody was silent ; and the toast was proposed as follows :
 
 SANDHURST. 367 
 
 " Mr. President, here is confusion to all commanding officers !" 
 The whole of the party were horrified. He hardly knew how he ' 
 got out of the scrape ; he heard some of them say something 
 about his being put in arrest, but the thing was passed over 
 without any serious notice being taken of it. 
 
 The studies engaged in by the officers of the senior department 
 at Sandhurst were especially suited to my taste. Professor 
 Narien was an exceedingly pleasing man, and I think I had much 
 more to do with him than with any of the other masters or 
 professors. I believe there was one officer there, and only one, 
 who pursued his work on the Sunday ; it was said that he always 
 did his fortification plans on that day. It particularly struck me 
 that whilst Lloyd and I appeared to be especially prospered in 
 our work, it was just the reverse with this officer. It perhaps 
 may be thought that I say too much about myself, but Lloyd 
 and I certainly were very generally known and spoken of, as 
 setting an example in the way of diligence and progress, which 
 was thought to be beneficial to that part of the Sandhurst estab- 
 lishment to which we were attached. 
 
 The military sketching was perhaps the most pleasing part 
 of our work at Sandhurst. I weU remember the very great pleasure 
 I derived from finding, when I was just completing my first 
 sketch, that, after having paced a round of several miles, and 
 sketched the country bordering on my course, I found, on arriving 
 at a particular point, that my pacing, &c., had been so correct, 
 that it was impossible for it to have been more so. 
 
 One evening, I have some idea it was on a Sunday, the fine 
 young plantations behind our house were maliciously set on fire ; 
 the fire had not made very great progress when we discovered it, 
 and Lloyd and I, and my servant, with the help of another man, 
 who came to the rescue, were enabled to beat it out before it had 
 burnt more than half an acre of the wood. The proprietor sent 
 his son the next morning to thank us for the service we had ren- 
 dered him. 
 
 I knew scarcely any one in the neighbourhood of Sandhurst ; 
 but I once went to dine and sleep at General Orde's, who lived 
 about four miles off. I had met him in town, in 1821, at Admiral 
 Hawker's : he was a religious man, antl a good officer. I remember
 
 368 SANDHURST. 
 
 his telling me the following circumstance, which helps to 
 shew what a misunderstanding and fear there was at that time, 
 at the Horse Guards, of men who were known to be strict in 
 matters of religion. He told me that a little time before the 
 Battle of Waterloo he had been offered the command of a brigade 
 in our army in Flanders, to be composed of three of the finest 
 regiments in the service, just returning from America — the 7th 
 Fusiliers, the 29th Eegiment, and the 43rd Light Infantry, a light 
 division regiment — but he was required to promise something 
 tantamount to his keeping his religious views to himself as far as 
 his brigade was concerned. On these terms he felt that he could 
 not accept the offer, and was constrained to refuse it, much to 
 his mortification. 
 
 The ofiicers of the senior department were not in any way 
 mixed up with the cadets at Sandlmrst. We now and then met 
 some of them in their walks, and saw them in the college chapel 
 on the Sunday ; but I do not think I ever had an opportunity of 
 speaking to any of them, except on one occasion, when I saw 
 . two or three Serjeants of the establishment rather concealing 
 themselves, and watching four or five of the cadets who were on 
 what I knew to be the confines of their bounds. I then walked 
 across the road, and called out to them over the hedge, " I think 
 "you are not aware that some of your Serjeants are watching you 
 " at a very short distance from this." They immediately thanked 
 me, and, jumping over a fence into their bounds, took the road to 
 the college. 
 
 The officers of the senior department were not necessarily 
 much thrown together, but I think we generally did our fortifi- 
 cation plans in the same hall of study. I only recollect a few 
 of them by name now, and perhaps they have since passed away ; 
 they were very nice, agreeable fellows, but I have only come 
 across one of them since 'I left Sandhurst. One day, whilst we 
 were at our drawing or fortification, two or three of them came 
 to me and said they had observed that my way of going on was 
 in some measure different from theirs, and they thought I was 
 actuated by my views of religion ; and they asked me to explain 
 to them what those views were. I had never before had any 
 opportunity of speaking to any of them, except Lloyd, on religious
 
 SANDHURST. 369 
 
 subjects, and was not sorry that the opportunity had now arrived 
 for doing so. It is rather remarkable that, whilst I have a most 
 accurate memory with regard to most things, I have not the least 
 recollection of what I said to these men on that occasion, except 
 that I acceded to their wish, and that they were very kind and 
 civil about it. I think something must have occurred to prevent 
 our continuing the conversation for more than two or three 
 minutes. 
 
 In April, 1823, the 52nd received orders to hold themselves 
 in readiness to proceed to North America early in June, and I 
 received an order from the commanding officer, Sir John Tyldeu, 
 through the adjutant, to join the regiment, and accompany them 
 to America, and stating, that if I wished to remain at Sandhurst, 
 I could do so only by going on half-pay, and that he should apply 
 to the Horse Guards for a half-pay lieutenancy for me. This 
 letter I took at once to General Sir George Murray, who was 
 governor of Sandhurst. He was very kind, and told me that 
 commanding ofidcers would be commanding officers, but that the 
 commanding officer of the 52nd had nothing to do with ordering 
 me to leave Sandhurst, and join my regiment. He desired me 
 to write as civil a letter as I could in reply to the adjutant's 
 communication, and that he would write to the Horse Guards on 
 the subject. 
 
 Sir George Murray occasionally invited an officer or two of 
 the senior department to dine with him, and the day he usually 
 fixed on was Sunday. I had not yet received an invitation, but 
 when I had finished the above-mentioned conversation with him, 
 and was coming away, he said, " Mr. Leeke, you will dine with 
 " me on Sunday ?" This came very unexpectedly upon me, but 
 I immediately thanked him, and said that I made it a rule 
 never to dine out on Sundays. He was evidently somewhat 
 " taken aback," as we say, by my reply, and merely said, " Oh ! 
 " it's of no consequence." This made no difference in his kind- 
 ness to me during the few weeks that I remained at Sandhurst 
 after this, though he did not again ask me to dine with him. My 
 kind and good friend Admiral Hawker had been flag captain to 
 William IV, when, as Lord High Admiral, he hoisted his flag for 
 a time in the Britannia, at Plymouth. After he came to the 
 
 B B
 
 870 SANDHURST. 
 
 throne, Admiral Hawker was invited, or commanded, on one 
 occasion, to dine with the King on a Sunday. He stated that he 
 had conscientious scruples to doing this on the Lord's Day, and 
 the King took it very good-naturedly, and begged him to dine 
 with him on the following Thursday instead, which he did. 
 
 Sir George Murray wrote at once to the Horse Guards, and 
 by return of post received the following reply : — 
 
 " Horse Guards, 26th AprU, 1 823. 
 " My dear General, 
 
 "By the Commander-in-Chiefs desire, I have the honour to 
 " enclose, (in reference to your letter of yesterday,) for your inform- 
 " ation and guidance, the copy of an official communication which 
 " is to be made this day by me to the officer commanding the 
 " 52nd regiment, notifying that Ensign Leeke is to remain at the 
 " college to complete his studies. 
 
 " John Macdonald, D. A.G." 
 
 I naturally thought that this settled the matter, but two or 
 three weeks afterwards it occurred to me that, as a half-pay 
 lieutenancy had been applied for, I had better see Sir Herbert 
 Taylor, the Commander-in-Chief's military secretary, and tell him 
 I did not wish for such promotion. I accordingly went to town, 
 and attended his levee. After remaining there about an hour 
 amongst a large number of officers, one of the attendants came 
 to say that Sir Herbert Taylor would be obliged if I and two 
 other officers, whose names were called out, would go and see 
 Major Maling, the assistant-secretary. On entering his office, 
 he put the following letter into my hand, saying, "There, Sir, 
 " is a letter which, I think, will set your mind at rest : — " 
 
 "Horse Guards, 17th May, 1823. 
 
 " Sir, — I am directed by the Commander-in-Chief to acquaint 
 " you that, upon your lodging the sum of £250 in the hands of 
 "Messrs. Greenwood, Cox, and Co., His Eoyal Highness wiU 
 " submit your name to His Majesty for the purchase of a half-pay 
 " lieutenancy in the 49 th Eegiment. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c., 
 
 " Ensign Leeke, 52nd Eegiment. H. Taylor." 
 
 I told Major Maling that I had come for the very purpose of
 
 SANDHURST. 371 
 
 declining the purchase of a half-pay lieutenancy. He brought 
 me Tylden's original letter, with one corner of it turned down, on 
 which the Duke of York had written to the following effect ; I 
 am not sure of the exact words : — " This officer to have the pro- 
 " motion requested for him, or to join his regiment. — Frederick." 
 
 On my asking if I could have some little time to consult Sir 
 John Colborne on the subject, he said he thought I might take 
 about a week, the time I mentioned, for that purpose, and opening 
 a door into another office, he called out, " Ensign Leeke's promo- 
 " tion is not to appear in the Gazette to-night." 
 
 In about a week I received the following letter from Sir John 
 Colborne : — 
 
 " Guernsey, May 23rd, 1823. 
 "My dear Leeke, 
 
 " I have this moment received your letter, and scarcely know 
 " what advice to give, so much depends on whether you really 
 " are not a little disgusted or tired with your profession. I should 
 " rather be inclined, were the case my own, to join the regiment, 
 " and proceed to America. You must get a lieutenancy soon in 
 "the 52nd. The purchasing in another regiment would be 
 " throwing away money, with a chance of being sent to a colony 
 "more disagreeable than Nova Scotia. To retire to half-pay 
 " would be a very unsatisfactory measure, unless you make up 
 " your mind to bid adieu to a profession to which you owe nothing, 
 " and in which you have spent many years, without having gained 
 " any advantage, and without a prospect of obtaining that rank or 
 " remuneration which might induce you to sacrifice the best part 
 " of your life. However, in our very precarious profession, we 
 "are placed frequently in a situation from which it would be 
 " absurd to escape, unpromising as the prospect may appear. I 
 " am almost tempted to say, keep your money, and go to America ; 
 "you can always purchase half-pay, and you may not dislike 
 " Halifax for some years. Of all this you are the best judge ; 
 " but either remain in the 52nd, or accept the half-pay lieutenancy 
 " with the view of quitting the army. I believe Campbell has 
 " arranged an exchange. 
 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 "J. Colborne." 
 BB 2 
 
 ^o"-
 
 372 SANDHUKST. 
 
 On the receipt of this letter from Sir John Colborne, (after- 
 wards Lord Seaton,) I wrote as follows to Sir Herbert Taylor : — 
 "E. M. College, Sandhurst, May 27th, 1823. 
 
 " Sir, — In answer to your letter of the 17th, relating to the 
 "purchase of a half-pay lieutenancy in the 49th Eegiment, I 
 " have the honour to inform you that this promotion is not at all 
 " what I wish, and that the application for it was made entirely 
 "without my desiring it. Understanding from the adjutant of 
 " the 5 2nd that such an application had been made by the com- 
 " manding officer, I went to the Horse Guards on the 19th instant, 
 " with the intention of informing you that I should rather remain 
 " in my present regiment, when your letter was put into my hand 
 '• by Major Maling. I should have answered it immediately, had 
 " I not wished to consult Sir John Colborne previously to doing 
 " so. I have now been eight years in the 52 nd, and am much 
 " attached to it, and should prefer remaining till a lieutenancy 
 " becomes vacant in it, to the purchasing even a full-pay lieu- 
 " tenancy in another regiment, except with the prospect of further 
 "promotion, or immediate restoration to my old corps. I am 
 " aware that Sir John Tylden, in applying that I should either 
 "join my regiment, or be permitted to purchase half-pay promo- 
 " tion, mentioned the long period during which I was absent from 
 " my regimental duties some time ago. I think it right to state 
 " to you, for the information of His Eoyal Highness the Com- 
 "mander-in-Chief, that with the exception of three months' leave, 
 "which I had in 1816, 1 have not been absent from my regiment, 
 " except in consequence of a severe illness, and in order to acquire 
 " a knowledge of French and German. 
 
 " I much wish to remain at this college, and I trust I shall be 
 " allowed to do so ; at the same time, if it be necessary, I shall 
 " cheerfully return to my regimental duties. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c., 
 " Wm. Leeke, Ensign, 52nd Light Infantry." 
 
 To this letter I received the following reply from Sir Herbert 
 Taylor :— 
 
 " Horse Guards, May 29th, 1823. 
 
 " Sir, — I am directed to acquaint you, in reply to your letter 
 " of the 27th instant, that the Commander-in-Chief has no ob-
 
 SANDIIUEST. 873 
 
 ejection to cancel your promotion, the candidates for which are 
 " very numerous, but His Eoyal Highness cannot, under the 
 "representation made by your commanding officer, allow you to 
 " be any longer absent from your regimental duty. If, therefore, 
 " you choose to continue as an ensign in the 52nd Foot, you must 
 "join immediately, and proceed with them to Nova Scotia. An 
 " early answer is requested. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c., 
 
 "Herbert Taylor." 
 Sir George Murray felt very strongly, I have reason to think, 
 on the subject of my having the somewhat cruel alternative set 
 before me, of giving up the 52nd, or relinquishing my studies at 
 Sandhurst. He, as the Duke of Wellington's quartermaster- 
 general in Spain, knew the 52nd far better than the Duke of 
 York or Sir Herbert Taylor could know them ; and he knew 
 something of my conduct and progress at Sandhurst, and was 
 anxious that I should be differently treated. He consequently 
 wrote strongly to the Horse Guards, urging that I should be per- 
 mitted to remain at Sandhurst, and enclosing the correspondence 
 which had taken place between the adjutant and myself. To this 
 communication he received the following reply : — 
 
 " Horse Guards, 3rd June, 1823. 
 " My dear General, 
 
 " I have submitted your letter of the 31st ultimo, and its en- 
 " closures, herein returned, to the Commander-in-Chief, who orders 
 "me to say, that if the opportunity of recommending Ensign 
 " Leeke for the purchase of promotion had not offered, His Eoyal 
 " Highness would not have required him to join his corps, or to 
 " retire on half-pay as ensign. As it is, an alternative has been 
 " offered to him, of which there is scarcely an officer in the service 
 " who would not avail himself, and His Eoyal Highness, adverting 
 "to the manner in which he has endeavoured to consult that 
 " officer's wish to remain at the college, without losing sight of 
 " what is due to the efficiency of regiments, to which he attaches 
 "'also great importance, cannot but consider this holding out 
 " against such arrangement most unreasonable, and must therefore 
 " abide by what has been communicated in my letter of the 29th 
 " id.timo to Ensign Leeke.
 
 374 SANDHURST. 
 
 " His Eoyal Highness directs me further to observe that En- 
 "sign Leeke's application in May, 1822, for admission to the 
 " college, should have been made through the officer then com- 
 " manding the 52nd Eegiment, and not through Sir John Colborne, 
 " who, being on the staff at Guernsey, could have no concern with 
 " it, and His Eoyal Highnesss is not surprised at Sir J. Tylden's 
 " noticing with displeasure the style of Ensign Leeke's letter of 
 "the 25th of April. 
 
 " I remain, my dear general, sincerely yours, 
 
 " Ht. Tayloe. 
 "M. General Sir George Murray, G.C.B." 
 
 The Duke of York, in coming to this conclusion, must, I 
 think, have lost sight of the fact that I was the senior ensign of 
 my regiment, and that, although I had always been for purchase, 
 I had been upwards of eight years an ensign. 
 
 I was sketching at some little distance from the college, when 
 Sir George Murray sent me the above letter, in the middle of the 
 day, on the 5th of June, that I might act upon it. I immediately 
 packed up my things and took leave of my friends, and started 
 by the night mail for Bristol ; for I was afraid the 52nd would 
 start from Cork before I should reach them. Poor Mr. Narrien, 
 the principal professor at Sandhurst, when he took leave of me, 
 with tears in his eyes said, "we are losing our best hand."* 
 
 * Mr. Narrien was at Sandhurst for forty years as astronomer and professor. 
 After his death his bust was placed, I beUeve, in one of the halls of study, as a 
 memento of one who was very much respected and beloved by all who knew him. 
 I received the following letter from him many years after I left Sandhurst, in 
 reply to a letter of introduction to him which I had given to my friend the late 
 Sir Andrew Agnew, when his son was thinking of becoming a student at the 
 senior department of the military college : — 
 
 " Royal Military College, October 9th, 1841. 
 
 " My dear Sib, — It gave me great pleasure to receive from you the kind letter 
 " which Sir Andrew Agnew did me the favour to deliver, and though eighteen 
 " years have elapsed since I remembered you among my pupils, I have not for- 
 " gotten the regret which I felt at your departure, and the expression — ' you feared 
 " ' that we should meet no more in this world.' This anticipation may indeed 
 " be verified, inasmuch as I am confined to this spot, and you may not have any 
 " occasion to revisit the dark heaths and fir groves of Bagshot. Yet I know tiiat 
 " you feel, and I may be allowed to say that I also feel, that we are and were, 
 " even when separated by the Atlantic, under the protection of the same good 
 " Providence, like childi-en under one father. Therefore to us a separation by a
 
 SANDHURST. 375 
 
 Thus ended my studies at the senior department of the military 
 college, after a short stay there of rather less than four months. 
 How wonderfully does God, in His providential dealings with us, 
 make the most trifling circumstances subservient to affecting the 
 whole course of our future lives. The day after I left Sandhurst, 
 I addressed the following letter to Sir Herbert Taylor : — 
 
 "Bristol, June 6th, 1823. 
 " Sir, — I have the honour to inform you that, in consequence 
 " of your communication of the 4th ultimo to Sir George Murray, 
 " I thought it my duty to endeavour to join my regiment as soon 
 " as possible ; I am thus far on my road, and hope to join on the 
 " 8th or 9th. I am very sorry that His Eoyal Highness the Com- 
 " mander-in-Chief deems my conduct in this affair unreasonable. 
 " I had not the most distant idea that, in acting as I did, I was 
 " holding out against any arrangement made by His Eoyal High- 
 " ness. Had I been aware that His Eoyal Highness thought it 
 " expedient that I should purchase the half-pay lieutenancy, I 
 " should not have declined it. I really thought the offer of this 
 " step was made to me under the supposition that I had applied 
 " for it. I imagined I was doing what was right, and most con- 
 " suiting my interest, in desiring to remain in the 52nd. I hope 
 " this explanation will prevent me from suffering in the opinion 
 "of the Commander-in-Chief. I have only to add that I am 
 " ready at all times to be disposed of in any manner which His 
 
 " little land or water is of small moment, seeing that we hope for the advent of 
 
 " that day when all men shall be united in one family. Here is our consolation. 
 
 " But it is impertinent in me to dwell on this subject. I hope to have the gratifi- 
 
 " cation of seeing Captain Agnew in our hall of study next January ; and I have 
 
 " no doubt that I shall be able to inspire him with a taste for science, at least I 
 
 " will do my best to produce that effect, which will, I am confident, open for him 
 
 " a source of pleasure, both in the enjoyment wliich the world attaclies to the 
 
 " possession of knowledge, and in the consciousness of having fulfilled one end of 
 
 " our being, which is, that we cultivate the faculties given us by our Creator. 
 
 " A thousand thanks for your very flattering invitation, and I wish I could 
 
 " say that I thought it would be in my power to accept what would afford me the 
 
 " highest pleasure. This impossibility does not, however, diminish the grateful 
 
 " sense I entertain of your kindness, and wisliing that you may long enjoy every 
 
 " earthly blessing, 
 
 " I remain, my dear Sir, ever faithfully yours, 
 
 "John Narbien."
 
 376 SANDHURST. 
 
 " Eoyal Highness may deem beneficial to me, or conducive to tlie 
 "good of the service. 
 
 " I have the honour to remain, &c., 
 " Wm. Leeke, Ensign, 52nd Light Infantry," 
 
 Before I sailed from the Cove of Cork, I received the following 
 reply to the foregoing letter : — 
 
 "Horse Guards, 9th June, 1823. 
 " Sir, — I have submitted your letter of the 6th instant to the 
 " Commander-in-Chief, who orders me to say that he is perfectly 
 " satisfied with your statement. His Royal Highness had sanc- 
 " tioned your purchasing a half-pay lieutenancy in order to meet 
 " your wishes to remain at the college, and had you availed your- 
 " self of it, you would, at the expiration of your stay there, have 
 " been brought up on full-pay. The arrangement would there- 
 " fore have forwarded your general interests, without interrupting 
 " your studies, and without affecting the efficiency of your corps. 
 
 " I am, &c., 
 " Ensign Leeke, 52nd Eegiment. Ht. Taylor." 
 
 Thus ended for a time my correspondence with the Horse 
 Guards. 
 
 Immediately after this. Ensign Hill of the 52nd, nephew of 
 Lieutenant-General Lord Hill, afterwards Commander-in-Chief, 
 who was four years my junior in the regiment without including 
 the two years given by His Majesty for Waterloo, was allowed 
 to purchase the half-pay lieutenancy in the 49th, and to exchange 
 back into the 52nd, so that when I got my lieutenancy by pur- 
 chase in the 52nd in the following November I had, as my im- 
 mediate senior in the list of lieutenants, a man who had served 
 only four years, whilst I had served eight years as ensign in the 
 regiment. Hill was a very good fellow, and then and afterwards 
 was a good officer ; and there was nothing wrong in their letting 
 him purchase the lieutenancy in the 49th, but to allow him to do 
 so with the understanding that he should exchange back again 
 immediately into the 52nd, a boon which they had refused to 
 me, although I had stated that I should be glad to accept it, this, 
 and the placing him above one so much his senior, and refusing 
 afterwards to rectify it by placing me above him in the list of
 
 SANDHURST. 377 
 
 lieutenants of tlie regiment, on my obtaining my lieutenancy a 
 few months afterwards, I must always regard as a most cruel, 
 unjust, and tyrannical proceeding as ever they were guilty of at 
 the Horse Guards ; a proceeding quite sufficient to disgust any- 
 one with the service. It will be seen afterwards, that soon after 
 we were settled in New Brunswick, when I became aware of all 
 that had been done in this matter, I memorialized the Duke of 
 York on the subject.
 
 378 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 1823. 
 
 THE 52nd go to NEWFOUNDLAND AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 Explanation with Sir John Tylden— Proceed with three companies to Newfound- 
 land—Off Kinsale and Castle Townsend — Sea sickness— Calm — Visit 
 timber vessel— Sudden squall — Shark — A bonnet overboard — Cards — Bible 
 —Banks of Newfoundland— Fogs— Vessels— 74th at St. John's— Found an 
 order to proceed to New Brunswick— Naval officer — Rencontre — Frigate — 
 Go on board— Leave Newfoundland— Bay of Fundy— St. John's— Annapolis 
 — Proceed with one company to St. Andrew's— Barracks— Expel vermin — 
 Level a road— Prayer for the people— Snow-shoes— Frost-bites— Kindness 
 of the people— Many joined us in meeting to read the Scriptures— Party 
 kept up for many years. 
 
 On landing at the Cove of Cork from the Bristol packet, I found 
 that the first detachment of the 52nd had embarked, and that Sir 
 John Tylden was just going off to visit the transport ; so, as I 
 knew nothing about my exact destination, I went off with him 
 that he might enlighten me on the subject. In the first place 
 he told me that they were not at all expecting me from Sand- 
 hurst, and that the last they had heard of me was that I was to 
 remain there. In the course of conversation, something I said 
 led him to ask me, " Did you not then go to Sandhurst through 
 " Colborne's interest contrary to Eowan's wish, who was the com- 
 manding officer when your application was made ? " On my 
 telling him that I had applied first of all to Eowan, who told me 
 I had much better get Colborne to make the application for me, 
 Tylden said he had been altogether under a misapprehension 
 about it, and appeared to be sorry that his application had inter-
 
 THE 52nd go to NEWFOUNDLAND AND NEW BEUNSWICK. 379 
 
 fered with my plans. I have an idea that his mistake arose from 
 this, that McjSTair, the second major, who was the commanding 
 officer when I might expect on any day to receive my summons 
 to go to Sandhurst, tried hard to persuade me to give up the 
 going there altogether; but this, of course, I could not do. I 
 was on detachment at Ballynamult in the Knockmeledown 
 mountains, when the order arrived, and I received a letter from 
 the adjutant commencing, "Your order to go to Sandhurst has 
 "arrived. We are all in confusion, McNair is furious." I be- 
 lieve at that moment there was something calculated to make a 
 commanding officer very angry, for so many were the detach- 
 ments, and consequently so few were the officers at head quarters, 
 that it was very difficult to spare a subaltern from the regiment, 
 with anything in the shape of undisturbed feelings. 
 
 I found that six companies of the 52nd were going to New 
 Brunswick, three to Newfoundland, and one to Annapolis in 
 Nova Scotia. McNair commanded the Newfoundland party, and 
 Kirwan Hill, myself, W. Forbes, and Assistant-Surgeon Macartney 
 were the officers. Gawler was to join us afterwards. I think 
 we were the last portion of the regiment to sail. I recollect feel- 
 ing very melancholy just as we were casting off from the quay to 
 drop down to the mouth of the harbour ; but when I looked at 
 the men, and thought of their feelings at the prospect of being 
 away from their country for several years, whilst I might pro- 
 bably return at a less distant period, it helped to cheer me up. 
 
 As we ran along the southern coast of Ireland, some fisher- 
 men came on board to sell us some fish. When I found they 
 came from Kinsale I asked them if they knew Mr. Townsend of 
 Castle Townsend ; and on their saying that they did, I hastity 
 wrote their names and the date, and a line or two in the cover of 
 a small book, whilst the fishermen held on to the transport, and 
 committed it to their care. I heard, upwards of thirty years 
 afterwards, that it safely reached Mr. and Mrs. Townsend. They 
 were kind and valued friends whom I had known at Nice, in the 
 winter of 1820. 
 
 Our voyage to Newfoundland in the sailing transport, Loyal 
 Briton, appeared very tedious, and I do not recollect very many 
 incidents connected with it. One of our officers suffered for a
 
 380 THE 52nd go to Newfoundland 
 
 long time from sea-sickness ; and I believe we all felt so queer 
 in a gale of wind which we had, that we did not eat much for a 
 day or two. Our friend who had been so very sea-sick for a 
 week or ten days, suddenly became quite free from it one morn- 
 ing, and we often accused him afterwards of having devoured 
 two cold ducks at his breakfast on that day. 
 
 McNair had a small enclosed sleeping-place, which was 
 dignified by the appellation of " a state room ; " the other four 
 officers occupied open berths on each side of the cabin. I think 
 we were more than four weeks in reaching Newfoundland. We 
 were becalmed once or twice. On one of these occasions four of 
 us started in the ship's boat to cut off a timber vessel, on her 
 way to England, that we might put letters on board her. She 
 was six miles away when we started, and there was just enough 
 wind to make the sails flap, and to enable both ships to keep 
 their heads in the direction of the country each was bound to. 
 There was something grand and interesting to us landsmen in 
 pulling in a little boat over the long smooth swell of the Atlantic. 
 When down in the trough of the swell, both ships were hidden 
 from us. The kind old captain of the timber vessel was very- 
 glad to see us, and gave us some gin and water to drink, the 
 most detestable beverage I ever tasted. We ought to have 
 thought of taking him some little present. When we had spent 
 half an hour with him, the ships had neared each other so much, 
 that it was time for us to take leave of him and return to our 
 transport. 
 
 One night when we had been becalmed during the day, we 
 were aroused by a tremendous row and confusion on deck. By 
 the time I had slipped some things on and had run up, I found 
 the ship was going before the wind with all sails set, through a 
 smooth sea, at a most tremendous rate ; I should say at the rate 
 of upwards of twenty miles an hour. She had been cauglit in a 
 sudden and heavy squall, accompanied by thunder and lightning. 
 They said we had had a very narrow escape of being dismasted. 
 
 We were ten days or a fortnight at sea before we saw a 
 shark ; a hook and line were soon put over the stern for it, and 
 in a few seconds it was caught, but before it could be hauled out 
 of the water, it bit through the cord above the hook and escaped.
 
 AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 381 
 
 In a few minutes another hook was lowered, with a couple of 
 yards of chain between it and the rope, and in less than half a 
 minute the same shark was taken and brought on board, with 
 the first hook sticking in his jaws. It was a very young one. 
 
 We were told afterwards that some of the men and officers in 
 one of the other transports bound for Halifax, were bathing one 
 day, and that, a slight breeze springing up, they all got on board 
 as quickly as possible, one of the officers being the last and the 
 ship making some way through the water. He had scarcely got 
 on deck when a friendly shark made its appearance. It has 
 occurred to me, as I write this, that had he, poor fellow, been 
 caught by the shark, I should probably be now in the army ; 
 whereas I have been out of it forty years. I am very glad that 
 he escaped and is still, alive. But what a difference does a trifle 
 of time, or any other trifle, continually make in the whole future 
 course of a man's life. Surely the Scriptures and our own expe- 
 rience teach us that God over-rules and directs every little cir- 
 cumstance, as well as every more important circumstance, of our 
 lives. If God only directed the great events of our lives. He 
 would have very little to do with the life of each person ; for 
 what we consider great events occur very seldom ; whereas our 
 lives are chiefly made up of all the various little occurrences 
 which follow each other every minute and every second. And 
 does not God shew us that He directs and over-rules every event 
 of a man's life, when He tells us that, " one sparrow shall not 
 "fall to the ground without our heavenly Father," and "the 
 " very hairs of your head are all numbered ? " Matthew x, 29, 30. 
 
 I remember on one occasion, when we were going about six 
 knots an hour, a Serjeant's wife had the misfortune to lose a very 
 nice bonnet overboard ; and, as it drifted away in the wake of the 
 ship, we some of us proposed that the boat should be lowered to 
 pick it up, but McNair, very properly perhaps, would not permit 
 it ; thinking that we had no right to run the slightest risk of 
 delay or accident for a woman's bonnet. I won't say it was 
 heart-rending to see it for a good quarter of an hour still floating 
 in our wake till we lost sight of it ; but the loss of her best 
 bonnet, which it appeared to be, was no doubt considered a very 
 serious one by the poor woman.
 
 882 THE 52nd go to Newfoundland 
 
 On the banks of Newfoundland we met with the usual fogs, 
 which made a part of our voyage anything but agreeable. The 
 rigging, as it cuts the fog, brings down the moisture in the shape 
 of a continued drizzling rain ; added to this, the fog is so thick 
 that a vessel sailing at the rate of eight or nine knots an hour, is 
 in constant danger of running into some of the vessels at anchor 
 for the purpose of fishing. We kept a bugler at work, sounding 
 a few notes at short intervals ; sometimes the ship's bell was 
 sounded. In return we occasionally heard the sound of a drum 
 or bell. And these sounds were always sufficiently distinct to 
 enable us to judge how far the vessels at anchor were clear of 
 the direction in which we were sailing. We only saw two or 
 three of them ; they were chietly French. 
 
 The first time we cast the lead on the banks, it was accom- 
 panied by several well-baited hooks, and we brought up three 
 very fine fish. 
 
 I think it w^as when we were about half way between Ireland 
 and Newfoundland, that I one day saw what no other person on 
 board saw, and what, after making several enquiries, I found none 
 of those I spoke to had ever seen : — I saw, at a distance of two or 
 three miles from the ship, when there was half a gale of wind, 
 and the sea was rough, a large whale jump clean out of the 
 water, so that I could clearly see the horizon under it. Perhaps 
 this sort of thing may often have been seen at the whale fisheries. 
 
 We only saw one iceberg on our voyage to Newfoundland ; 
 the morning was very cold, although it was the middle of sum- 
 mer, and the coldness of the atmosphere w^as accounted for when 
 the iceberg hove in sight. We passed it at the distance of half 
 a mile ; the sun was shining on it, and it appeared very magnifi- 
 cent and beautiful as we observed it from our cabin windows 
 whilst we were dressing. 
 
 The having five officers constantly occupying the small cabin 
 of a transport, about twelve feet square, renders it very desirable 
 that all should be good-tempered fellows ; and I think we were 
 very fortunate in that respect. The having but one small table 
 to write at or to read by, created' a difficulty which will be readily 
 understood by my readers. When it became dark, or in wet 
 weather, we were generally all together below. For a long time
 
 AND NEW BKUNSWICK. 883 
 
 at first one of the five suffered so much from sea-sickness, that 
 he could not join the others at the table. All the remainder of 
 the party except myself wished to amuse themselves almost 
 every night, except Sunday, by playing at cards. This I could 
 not join them in, for reasons which I think I have before given, 
 and it was rather a curious sight to see my three friends occupy- 
 ing three sides of the table, and playing at whist with the cards 
 of the dummy spread out on the fourth side, a portion of which 
 I also occupied, that I might have the use of one of the candles 
 to read by. As they often played at cards for several hours, I 
 usually had to spend a portion of that time in my evening read- 
 ing of the Scriptures. It was not looked upon by the others as 
 a parading of my religion, but rather, if I must read the Bible, 
 as a case of necessity. Our occupations were in singular contrast, 
 but we got on very well together ; and I think the time thus 
 spent was not without its' blessing and benefit to me. Two or 
 three times at first one or another would grumble out, that it 
 was very ill-natured of me not to help them in their difficulty. 
 And then in return I would ask them, how they could so regu- 
 larly waste their time, and how they could expect a blessing 
 from God, if they so entirely neglected His holy Word and the 
 care of their souls. Then again they would tell me that I had 
 no right to interfere with them and their religion, and I replied 
 that neither had they any right to interfere with my religion and 
 my reading of the Scriptures. All this was said without any 
 acrimony or unkindness ; but just in the off-hand way in which 
 we had always been in the habit of talking to each other. I am 
 sorry to say that divine service was not performed on the Sunday, 
 during the whole time we were in the Loyal Briton, although I 
 requested it, and the weather generally was favourable for it. 
 Three or four years before I should have been equally careless 
 about it. 
 
 There was a thick fog as we were nearing the harbour of St. 
 John's, Newfoundland, and the captain of the transport deter- 
 mined to lie to when, according to his reckoning, we were within 
 six miles of it. Strange to say, he never thought of sending a 
 man aloft, until we begged him to do so. They told us after- 
 wards that the look-out men on shore had seen our top-masts
 
 384 THE 52nd go to Newfoundland 
 
 above the fog all the morniug. It seems strange again that no 
 arrangement existed for giving warning to a ship thus situated 
 that land and breakers were near. We got the master also to 
 get up a small cannon from the hold ; and immediately after it 
 was fired, the fog broke and dispersed, and We found ourselves 
 just in the position which the captain had reckoned on. 
 
 We soon entered the capacious harbour of St. John's, and 
 found there an English frigate, the Egeria, and three companies 
 of the 74th Eegiment, under the command of Major Mein, 
 brother of Mein of the 52nd. We were very much pleased to 
 find that an order had arrived before us from Halifax, that we 
 were to proceed to St. John's, New Brunswick, whither the rest 
 of the regiment had been sent from Halifax. The companies of 
 the 74tli were to remain at Newfoundland until they should be 
 relieved by three companies to be immediately raised, and to be 
 called the Eoyal Newfoundland Veteran Companies. We re- 
 mained at St. John's about three clear days, as some old stores 
 were to be sent to England in our transport. The harbour was 
 tolerably redolent of the smell of decayed fish, which we were 
 able to bear very manfully, knowing how soon we should escape 
 from it. I recollect we were disappointed not to meet with a 
 single specimen of a handsome dog. The more we saw of St. 
 John's the more pleased we were at the idea of escaping from it. 
 I only recollect landing once, and the leaving a large parcel of 
 tracts and books with a person who promised to see that they 
 were distributed. 
 
 I think it was on the second day that a party of sailors, 
 under the command of an officer of the Egeria, were employed in 
 transferring old stores from a lighter to the hold of the transport. 
 After the duty was over, the officer joined our dinner party. He 
 had known a near relative of one of our officers, and this led 
 to their sitting and talking hour after hour to a very late hour of 
 the night, and it became exceedingly tiresome to the rest of our 
 party, who were forced to be almost entirely on deck. In vain 
 did we send a message from time to time to say that the Egeria's 
 boat was alongside ; the reply always was, " Tell them to wait." 
 And our friends did not take the hint, when a cock was selected 
 from our poultry and let down through the skylight, to indicate
 
 AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 385 
 
 to them that the morning was approaching. They had both 
 taken too mucli wine, a thing the 52nd oflficer was never known, 
 to do at any other time. 
 
 Having had plenty of time for my prayers, &c., on deck, I 
 determined at last that I would go to bed, and, expecting, from 
 something which had already been said on the subject, that they 
 would manifest some opposition to my doing so, I prepared my- 
 self for it, so that I could, in a few seconds, divest myself of the 
 remainder of my things, and get into bed, before they were well 
 aware of what I was doing. When they found that I was in bed 
 they were very much affronted, said that it was a regular insult, 
 and that they would pull me out again. My berth was the 
 upper berth on the starboard side of the cabin, and the nearest 
 one to the stern windows : no one occupied the lower berth of 
 the two. I thought these two fellows would have some difficulty 
 in pulling me out of the berth, and lay on my back, with the 
 corner of a pillow twisted round my fingers, so that I could use 
 it with some considerable force. The sailor led the attack, and 
 came on in the direction of the middle of the berth, which en- 
 abled me, by raising myself a little on my left arm, to deal him 
 a blow with the pillow on his neck which sent him reeling away. 
 They then, very considerately for themselves, gave up the attack, 
 saying I was a very good fellow, and that they would let me 
 alone. The lieutenant of the Egeria soon after took his de- 
 parture. 
 
 I think it was the day after the above occurrence, and the 
 afternoon or evening before we left St. John's, Newfoundland, 
 that, as four of us were pulling in the ship's boat up the harbour, 
 they hailed us from the Egeria and begged us to come on board. 
 This we did in our shirt sleeves, for we had left our coats in the 
 transport. The officers invited us to go below and take a glass 
 of wine, which we consented to do ; but we were not expecting 
 to find a somewhat large party assembled. After some little 
 time some of them proposed that, as we were without our coats, 
 they should doff theirs also, out of respect to us. This the first 
 lieutenant resisted at first, as it was contrary to the etiquette of 
 the service that they should do so at their mess table, but at 
 last he consented, and was the first to throw off his own coat. 
 
 c c
 
 S86 THE 52nd go to Newfoundland 
 
 They gave several toasts, and the noise which was made must 
 have been heard over the whole harbour and town. When we 
 went on deck, the seamen sang several songs for our amusement. 
 
 Owing to contrary winds and calms, our voyage from New- 
 foundland to St. John's, New Brunswick, was nearly as long, in 
 point of time, as that from England to Newfoundland. We 
 passed within seven miles of Halifax, but did not see it or any 
 part of Nova Scotia, owing to the continued fogs. The currents 
 are very strong in the neighbourliood of Cape Sable, the southern 
 point of Nova Scotia, and also in the Bay of Fundy. When we 
 supposed ourselves to be six miles to the northward of Cape 
 Sable, we suddenly came across a ship in the fog, and they had 
 just time, before we lost sight of them, to chalk on a board for 
 our information, " Cape Sable north and by west, seven miles." 
 We soon stood up the Bay of Fundy and the fog cleared away, 
 giving us a pleasing view of the coast of the state of Maine, and 
 of the Island of Grand Manan. 
 
 We reached St. John's, New Brunswick, about the 20th of 
 August, 1823. All the regiment had now assembled in New 
 Brunswick, and had there been only the 52nd in the province. 
 Sir John Tylden, who commanded the regiment, would have been 
 the Commander-in-Chief and acting governor of New Brunswick, 
 but there happened to be a few artillerymen in the province, 
 and thus Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel William Ptowan, who was a 
 captain in the regiment, but a senior lieutenant-colonel in the 
 army to Tylden, took the command of all the troops in New 
 Brunswick, and proceeded also to Fredericton, the capital, as 
 acting governor, ordering Tylden to remain at St. John's with 
 three companies. This is one instance of the awkwardness of 
 the system of allowing brevet rank to exist in the army. 
 
 I was ordered to St. Andrew's, with the company I was com- 
 manding, and we embarked for that purpose in one of the other 
 transports, the Vibilia ; but first of all we went over to Annapolis, 
 in Nova Scotia, with Major Love's company,* which was to be 
 
 * On the very day on which this was written, the following notice appeared 
 in the obituary of the "Times :"— On the 13th instant, (January, 1866,) at 17, 
 Ovington Square, General Sir James Frederick Love, G.C.B., K.H., Colonel 43rd 
 Light Infantry.
 
 AND NEW BEUNSWICK. 887 
 
 stationed there. Sunday was the day on which we sailed, or the 
 day before, and finding myself the commanding officer on board, 
 I had a clmrch parade, and read part of the service and one of 
 Burder's village sermons to the men. As we entered the Bay of 
 Passamaquoddy, (an Indian name,) from the Bay of Fimdy, we 
 found the strongest tide running out which I have ever seen ; 
 we could scarcely make head against it with the help of a strong 
 breeze. 
 
 St. Andrew's is a small town on the northern coast of Passa- 
 maquoddy Bay, which separates it from the State of Maine, the 
 most northern state of the United States. Opposite to St. An- 
 drew's, the bay is about three miles across. Many of the princi- 
 pal inhabitants were the descendants of the royalists, who had 
 retired there at the close of the War of Independence, as the 
 Americans call it, in 1782. It contained, when we were there, 
 between two and three thousand inhabitants, and appeared to be 
 a thriving and increasing town, carrying on a good trade by 
 means of timber vessels and other smaller craft. 
 
 On disembarking from the transport, I found a company of 
 the 74th, under the command of Captain Jones. He had been 
 there some time, and had married a lady from the neighbourhood 
 of St. Andrew's. The 74th made our men as comfortable as they 
 could in the barracks for a couple of days, and then left us in 
 possession and embarked in the vessel in which we had arrived. 
 One thing which struck me, during the first few days of my 
 being at St. Andrew's, as very singular, was the habit in many of 
 the houses of leaving the outer doors unfastened at night. It 
 spoke well for the honesty and quiet behaviour of the inhabitants. 
 There being no rooms for officers in the barracks, I went into 
 lodgings, but I think I very soon, in the expectation that Gawler 
 and his wife, on their arrival, would like to join me in occupying 
 the same abode, engaged a furnished house in one of the main 
 streets of the place, in which they continued to reside long after 
 I left St. Andrew's. They had been detained a long time at 
 Liverpool, and did not arrive in New Brunswick until I had been 
 there several weeks. 
 
 I think I have mentioned before, that my plan with regard 
 to this work is to write down almost all the events I can recol- 
 
 cc 2
 
 388 THE 52nd go to Newfoundland 
 
 lect, wliich happened forty and fifty years ago, and wliicli I can 
 properly mention without occasioning annoyance to myself or 
 others ; and then, before I publish it, to cross out freely what- 
 ever, from any cause, I may feel had better be omitted. 
 
 My first trouble at St Andrew's was that the barracks were 
 reported to be full of bugs. The men could not sleep even on 
 the floors of the rooms without insulating their beds, by drawing 
 around each a cordon, if I may use the expression, of water. 
 When the floor got at all dry, the animals could pass over and 
 attack tlieir prey. It was so bad, and appeared to be so incur- 
 able, that I at once reported it to Sir John Tylden, who was at 
 St. John's, seventy or eighty miles to tlie northward of St. 
 Andrew's. He replied that he shortly intended to visit all the 
 stations of the regiment, accompanied by an engineer officer, and 
 that if our barracks were found to be as bad as I represented 
 them to be, they should be condemned. 
 
 I then set myself to work to devise some plan by which we 
 might possibly get rid of the bugs without putting the country 
 to the expense of erecting new barracks. I thought it possible 
 that they were not to any extent in the wood-work of the build- 
 ing, but had chiefly located themselves in the bedsteads. I 
 therefore determined to commence by having every joist of every 
 bedstead taken to pieces, and to superintend the operations my- 
 self. I had a bucket filled with a strong solution of vitriol, so 
 that when the different parts of the bedsteads were separated, the 
 ends might be well saturated with it. Every bedstead was 
 brought out and taken to pieces on the green in front of the 
 barracks, and everybody was perfectly astonished at the immense 
 quantities of bugs which we discovered. Even within those 
 joists, into which it would be hardly possible to insert the fine 
 point of a knife, large clusters of them were found ; some of the 
 clusters were as large as a good-sized walnut. They were well 
 dosed with the solution of vitriol, and, I believe, all were de- 
 stroyed. Some of the larger bugs which fell on the grass 
 attempted to walk off, but a drop of the solution,°'applied by 
 means of a pointed stick, in almost every case made them in- 
 stantly turn on their backs and die. Two or three sturdy fellows, 
 I observed, had to be touched two or three times before they were
 
 AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 389 
 
 settled. This account may possibly be useful to some persons, 
 whose furniture may be infested by these annoying insects. But 
 the upshot of the experiment was that no bug was seen again in 
 the barracks until about nine months after, and that was on the 
 [ very day before that on which I left St. Andrew's altogether. 
 
 The mention of the first bus; havino; been seen in the barracks 
 the day before I left St. Andrew's, reminds me that I learnt after- 
 wards that the first desertion took place the day after I left that 
 place. Desertions have always been common from the regiments 
 stationed near the frontier of the United States, many of them 
 arising from the fact that some of the men have had relations 
 living in the Northern States. I forget if the desertion I have 
 just mentioned was that of a man who was very cleverly re- 
 captured by Gawler at Eastport. He heard that the man was 
 there, and that he was fraternizing with some of the United States 
 soldiers. He went to Eastport by the packet in the morning, and 
 laid his plans so well that, just before it sailed for St. Andrew's 
 in the evening, the man was allured on board by one or two per- 
 sons to see the vessel, not knowing that it was the St. Andrew's 
 packet. When he had got on deck, they quietly pushed off and 
 left him. There was scarcely anybody on board besides Gawler, 
 who was in the cabin below ; the deserter went down into the 
 cabin, and on seeing Gawler, who had taken up a candle from the 
 table, rushed at him, and knocked the candle out of his hand. 
 A young New-Brunswicker, a passenger, immediately jumped 
 down, grappled with, and secured the man, who was brought back 
 a prisoner to St. Andrew's. 
 
 The barracks were, I should suppose, a quarter or a third of 
 a mile from that part of the town in which the Gawlers and I 
 resided. Before they came, as there was only one road to the 
 town, and that not a very good one, I employed the men at 
 times in levelling another piece of ground which had been fenced 
 off for a road, but had never been made. It afforded a much 
 nearer communication with one part of the town than the other 
 road did. I was informed that for some years it was called 
 Mr. Leeke's road, but I suppose it has long since had some other 
 more convenient appellation. 
 
 The barracks were on the top of a not very steep hill, along
 
 390 THE 52nd go to NEWFOUNDLAND 
 
 the base of wliich, and between it and the sea, ran the town. Of 
 course I visited the barracks very regularly, and the men were 
 paraded by Gawler or myself each day. Before he arrived I re- 
 member two things which rather amused me. In drilling the 
 company one morning, I sent them in skirmishing order along 
 the top of the hill, to the westward of the barracks, into a wood. 
 I was, perhaps, 150 or 200 yards from them, and was surprised 
 to see them, directly they got into the wood, striking in different 
 directions, at something or other, with the butt ends of their 
 muskets; but what it was I could not imagine, for the whole 
 company was at work, and could not have displayed greater energy 
 if they had found a company of their old antagonists, the Impe- 
 rial Guard, lying in ambush for them just within the boundary 
 of the wood. On my bugler sounding the retreat, I think they 
 were not at all disinclined to retire. I was informed afterwards 
 that their invasion of the wood had disturbed quite an army of 
 large snakes, which started off in all directions before them. 
 
 There were a large number of what we called snow-shoes in 
 the barrack store, almost a sufficient number to furnish the whole 
 company with a pair. The snow-shoe is very much like a racket 
 bat, but larger ; the foot is placed on the catgut in the centre, and 
 then the shoe is strapped tightly on. It is very difficult, till people 
 are accustomed to it, to walk on snow-shoes without their striking 
 against each other, or in the snow ; in walking they must be 
 kept clear of each other, and be placed flat on the top of the snow. 
 I think they were nearly a foot and a half in length, and rather 
 more than a foot in width : any carelessness in walking insures 
 a regular fall into the snow. 
 
 One morning, soon after there had been a heavy fall of snow, 
 so that the ground was well covered, the company paraded in 
 fatigue dress, without arms, and a pair of snow-shoes were served 
 out to each man. When the men were drawn up in a single 
 rank facing to the eastward, along the top of the hill, and it was 
 ascertained that all the shoes were properly tied on, I told them 
 we would see which of us could first reach the third fence from 
 us. The fences were of posts and rails, and I think the third 
 fence may have been 200 yards away. All started in great glee, 
 and before we reached the first fence, I think fully two-thirds of
 
 AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 891 
 
 OUT fine fellows were with tlieir faces in the snow, the usual way 
 of bringing up, or on their beam ends. Only three of us reached 
 the second fence. When we had cleared it, and were fairly off 
 for the goal, I began to think it would be a great feather in my 
 cap if, on this our first trial of walking on snow-shoes, I should 
 beat the whole of the company. The thought had no sooner 
 crossed my mind, than immediately the old adage, " pride shall 
 " have a fall," was fulfilled in my case, by my going head foremost 
 into the snow. Several weeks afterwards the same tiling hap- 
 pened to Gawler. I had been giving him an account of the above 
 race in snow-shoes, and he wished to try them, and we started 
 together to walk in them from the barracks to our house. The 
 road was rather uneven, notwithstanding the sijow, and sloped 
 down to the town. We got about half way along it very nicely, 
 when Gawler said, " I think I am getting on pretty well," and 
 the next moment pitched over with his face in the snow, the fall 
 being all the heavier by reason of its being forward on the slope. 
 
 The sleighing was a very pleasant mode of travelling, and the 
 complete upset and emptying of the sleigh of all its contents, 
 men, women, and children, cloaks, &c., was often very amusing, 
 and seldom attended with danger. By far the most interesting 
 sleighing to me was that on the river, where we could get along 
 as fast as the horses could lay legs to the ice, the shoes being 
 turned up so that they had secure footing on the ice. We found 
 that our feet were kept perfectly warm in the sleighs, and on 
 parade, when we wore the common Wellington boots, rather thin 
 than thick, with warm cloth boots over them, and when we had 
 started with warm feet. This was the case when the thermometer 
 was at ten below zero. We wore boots of light coloured thick 
 cloth, fastened with three or four silver regimental buttons. 
 When sitting in the house, or walking, I could keep myself per- 
 fectly warm with a flannel shirt next the skin, then a calico shirt, 
 and over that another good flannel shirt, and then the surtout 
 coat and waistcoat which people usually wear in England. 
 
 In walking in the woods, which I occasionally did, and in 
 which I never found the undrifted snow more than knee-deep, I 
 think I did not wear cloth boots over the others ; but when I 
 came to take them off afterwards, I almost always found that the
 
 o 
 
 92 THE 52nd go to NEWFOUNDLAND 
 
 effort (they being wet, and difficult to get off) produced severe 
 cramp in tlie calf of tlie leg. We wore fur over our ears. I 
 never, during the whole winter, got frost-bitten, nor do I recollect 
 more than one man belonging to our St. Andrew's party who 
 complained of it, and he got the fingers of his right hand frost- 
 bitten from trailing his musket too long, but they were soon set 
 to rights. I once met a man in whose cheek I saw the evident 
 mark of a frost-bite, a round, whitish spot, and rather astonished 
 him by saying, directly I came up to him, " You are a stranger 
 " in America, I think, and you are not aware that your face is 
 " frost-bitten ?" I then gave him directions how to proceed — on 
 no account to go near a fire, but to get the part well rubbed with 
 snow till the frost-bite should disappear. I think there was a 
 house at hand, and that it was not necessary that I should com- 
 mence operations on his face myself. He was very much obliged 
 to me for my kindness. 
 
 The cold was very severe at times during the winter of 1823, 
 although it was spoken of as a milder winter than usual. Our 
 house, as most of the houses were, was built of wood, and cer- 
 tainly the cold found its way into it, I well remember, one 
 morning, sitting at breakfast with my chair close to a good fire, 
 and that my cup, which was full of tea, was frozen to the saucer 
 on the table within a yard of the fire. 
 
 I read a good deal whilst I was at St. Andrew's, and generally 
 rose at five in the morning. As I had my bed-room fire laid 
 over night so that it would burn up and become a good fire im- 
 mediately on my lighting it, I was enabled to pursue this plan of 
 early rising notwithstanding that the cold was so intense that the 
 top of the sheet was stiffened by the breath from my mouth being 
 frozen on it. We had no coal at St. Andrew's, but a very plen- 
 tiful supply of fire-wood. 
 
 The principal families of the town were remarkably kind and 
 attentive to us. Before the arrival of the Gawlers I received 
 several invitations. It seemed rather curious, considering my 
 rank, that some of the notes addressed to me, were addressed to 
 " The Commandant of St. Andrew's." I forget on what occasion 
 it was, but I recollect being invited, as commandant, to a large 
 public dinner, and being treated with some considerable respect
 
 AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 893 
 
 there. Captains were rather plentiful at St. Andrew's, for every 
 master of the dozens of vessels at anchor in the port was a 
 " captain," but an ensign was a " rara avis in terrS,," (I cannot add 
 " nigroque simillima cygno,") and therefore he was made much 
 of. One of the first notes I received was from the race com- 
 mittee, requesting me to allow the only bugler we had (the others 
 were all at head quarters) to attend the races for the purpose of 
 starting the horses. This I could not permit, for several reasons, 
 and I was glad to find that the bugler himself had a very great 
 dislike to be so employed. 
 
 We found religion to be at a very low ebb in St. Andrew's ; 
 the only clergyman there was a good-natured man, but he had 
 some very confused ideas about religion. There was a respect 
 for it amongst the persons we were acquainted with, and amongst 
 the people generally, but there was scarcely any correct idea of 
 the way of salvation through Christ, and of the change of heart, 
 that true repentance, which always accompanies it ; nor did they 
 understand that the Word of God was to be read and meditated 
 on each day with prayer, that, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, 
 it might be for the continual nourishment and growth of the soul 
 in faith, and holiness, and comfort : 1 Peter ii, 2. Though it 
 may appear to many of the readers of this book to have been 
 a great piece of presumption on our part, yet we did really desire 
 to consider ourselves as a sort of missionaries sent, in the provi- 
 dence of God, to the kind people of this place ; and I have no 
 doubt that God did, in His great mercy, in answer to our prayers, 
 greatly bless our poor and feeble efforts for their religious benefit. 
 
 In relating God's goodness in this matter, I perhaps hardly 
 need disclaim any desire to make myself of any importance with 
 regard to it. If I know myself at all, my chief desire is that the 
 relation of what follows may be the means of doing good to others, 
 and especially that it may, with God's blessing, lead the officers 
 and others of our army and navy, who go forth to the various 
 portions of our extended empire, to consider their responsibilities 
 with regard to the people they may come in contact with ; that 
 they should endeavour to set them a holy, and not a vicious, ex- 
 ample, and to help forward the cause of God, and not of Satan, 
 amongst them. I trust, also, it may prove to be some encourage-
 
 394 THE 52nd go to Newfoundland/ 
 
 ment to those who desire to do good to the souls of their fellow- 
 creatures, to endeavour to do so in season, and even out of season, 
 looking up to God to bless every effort they make. I feel very 
 confident that no effort thus made shall be altogether useless. I 
 have many times seen that promise fulfilled, which we find in 
 Ecclesiastes xi, 1 : " Cast thy bread upon the waters, and thou 
 " shalt find it after many days :" see also Ecclesiastes xi, 6. At 
 all events, our prayers and endeavours will bring a blessing on 
 our own souls. It, perhaps, would not be good for us to hear 
 much of benefit accruing to the souls of others through our efforts, 
 but our heavenly Father does not altogether withhold this sort of 
 encouragement from us, but gives it in the measure which He 
 sees to be best for us. I think the effect of hearing of God having 
 sent any spiritual benefit to anyone, through me, has been great 
 pleasure and thankfulness, accompanied by a deep feeling of 
 humility, that He should have conferred such honour on such a 
 poor, unworthy sinner as I am. 
 
 I think the fact, that both the officers who were stationed at 
 St. Andrew's were religiously-disposed men, not only attracted 
 the attention of the people, but also made a great impression 
 upon them. It was generally necessary that I should spend an 
 hour or more at the barracks on the Sunday mornings before we 
 marched to church, and I well remember that I made it my 
 practice, as I walked up and down on the top of the hill, and 
 looked on the town below, to pray for the people in the words of 
 Isaiah xxxv, 1, that God would be pleased to make that "wilder- 
 " ness and solitary place to be glad," and that " desert to rejoice, 
 " and to blossom as the rose." 
 
 It will be necessary for me here to mention that we received 
 invitations from all the gentry of the town to dine or drink tea 
 with them, and that we accepted them all. On one or two occa- 
 sions cards were introduced, and we were solicited to play ; but 
 this, with our opinion of the evil frequently resulting from card- 
 playing, we of course could not do. At one of the parties I was 
 invited to mention what my objection to playing at cards arose 
 from, which I then freely did. Soon after we had visited most 
 of the families, it occurred to me that it would be a very desirable 
 and useful thing if we could get them to meet us for the purpose
 
 AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 305 
 
 of reading the Scriptures together. The Gawlers and I talked 
 the matter over, and the result was, that I imdertook to go to 
 each family and mention our wish to them. I told them I was 
 come to make a proposal to them ; that they and the other families 
 had been exceedingly kind to us in asking us to come and see 
 them ; that they would have observed that we had freely availed 
 ourselves of their invitations, although at some of the houses we 
 had excused ourselves from joining in some of the things which 
 were going forward ; and that, by way of making some return for 
 their kindness, we had to propose to them that they should do 
 us the favour of drinking tea with us on the following Wednes- 
 day evening, and that after tea we should read the Word of God 
 together ; and further, that we should afterwards meet at each 
 other's houses for the same purpose on the Wednesday in each 
 week. To our great surprise and pleasure the invitation was 
 everywhere received with all due respect and civility, and about 
 half the families accepted it. We had reason to believe that it 
 was of much real benefit to many, if not to all, who attended it. 
 I think it was in the autumn of 1824 that the Bishop of Nova 
 Scotia held a confirmation at St. Andrew's, and then, especially, 
 I understood that the meeting was evidently a great help and 
 comfort to many who were about to be confirmed. There had 
 not been a confirmation there for more than thirty years, and, on 
 the occasion just referred to, numbers of all ages were confirmed. 
 Some six or seven years ago one of the party, a truly religious 
 lady, in writing to Mrs. Gawler, said, " You will be pleased to 
 " hear that the Wednesday evening meeting for reading the Scrip- 
 " tures is still kept up." It was, of course, a great pleasure to us 
 to hear this, after the lapse of five-and-thirty years from its com- 
 mencement. One of the gentlemen I spoke to, who excused 
 hunself from joining the party, told me a few years afterwards, 
 in England, that he felt very angry when I made the proposal to 
 him, and thought we were taking a very great liberty by thus 
 interfering with hun and his religion, although he did not venture 
 to express that to me. He added that, some time afterwards, 
 when he came to reflect on all that the Gawlers and I had been 
 doing in the place, it was the means of leading him to very 
 serious thought and consideration about liis own religious state,
 
 396 THE 52nd go to NEWFOUNDLAND AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 and tliat it ended in liis becoming a very altered man : he is now 
 one of the principal persons in the colony of New Brunswick. 
 I must not exactly give the names of those in whose religious 
 state we were very much interested ; it might not be agreeable 
 to them. The Gawlers, in writing to me during the two years 
 that they remained at St. Andrew's after I left it, described what 
 they conceived to be their progress by a number of lines, varying 
 from one to six, drawn under each name. 
 
 After I left St. Andrew's, Captain and Mrs. Gawler established 
 a very flourishing Sunday school there, there having been none 
 before, which met with the approval and support of the governor. 
 Sir Howard Douglas. The only public establishment which I 
 think I was the principal author and promoter of, was a savings' 
 bank for Charlotte county, which was the county in which St. 
 Andrew's stood. This led to the establishment of savings' banks 
 throughout the colony.
 
 397 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 1823, 1824. 
 ST. ANDEEW'S, NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 Benefit of religious tracts— One lent in twenty-two houses— Man with cart — Tract 
 given to one man, the means of the conversion of another — Sermons — Mr. 
 Simeon — Description of a good minister — H.M.S. Sparrowhawk— Smuggled 
 provisions — Smuggled fowl for dinner — Meat preserved by becoming frozen — 
 Expedition into the uncleared woods — American General — Charlotte county 
 militia — Voyage to St. John's— Find half the town on fire— Of some use in 
 stopping the conflagration— Ai-mine Mountain. 
 
 My first attempt to do any good to the people by means of giving 
 them tracts was as follows: — I set off one morning on the St. John's 
 road and leaving it at a certain point I followed a road inclining 
 to the left. On coming to two or three small farm houses, I went 
 into one of them, offering up the prayer which our Saviour desired 
 His disciples to use when He sent them forth among the people, 
 " Peace be to this house." I found a woman sweeping the floor, 
 who told me she was housekeeper to the owner of the house, who 
 was then away. After trying to give her some good advice, I 
 left with her three small tracts, one of which was entitled " Con- 
 " versation in a Boat between two Seamen," one of the Eeligious 
 Tract Society's works. The man afterwards tried to find me at 
 home, at St. Andrew's, several times before he succeeded. He 
 informed me that he had been brought up religiously in Scotland, 
 when he was young; but that the kind of life he lived as a hawker, 
 since his arrival in New Brunswick, had led to his becoming 
 utterly careless about religion. And that this tract had been the 
 means, by God's blessing, of arousing him to a consideration of
 
 398 ST. ANDREW S, 
 
 his danger, and to a determination to try and lead a holy life for 
 the time to come. He had lent the little tract, above mentioned, 
 in a hamlet beyond him, and it had such an effect upon the inmates 
 of the twenty-two cottages, of which it consisted, that he came 
 to request me to purchase for them twenty-two Bibles and Testa- 
 ments, ,that each house might be supplied with a copy of the 
 Bible or Testament. He continued to go on very satisfactorily 
 afterwards. 
 
 I forget whether it was on my return from this man's house, 
 or on another occasion, that I met on the road a man driving a 
 cart and two horses. Thinking I might never have an opportu- 
 nity of seeing him or speaking to him again, and that my accosting 
 him would be taken kindly by him, I stopped him for two or 
 three minutes, and spoke to him, as seriously as I could, about 
 the state of his soul, and about his God and Saviour, and about 
 eternity. I never saw him again; but some few weeks afterwards 
 I recollect a very tall man called upon me, who told me that he 
 lived up in the woods about nine miles off, and that he had been 
 anxious to come and find me out, as the man whom I had met 
 with the cart had told him what I had said to him, and that it 
 had made him wish to speak to me about his own religious state. 
 He said the man whom I had met also told him that directly I 
 was out of sight he stopped his cart and horses again, and went 
 into the wood at the side of the road, and fell on his knees and 
 prayed earnestly to God to save his soul. 
 
 I never saw either of them afterwards, but it may not be 
 without its use that I should mention that the man who came 
 down from the woods spoke in what we should call a regular 
 canting tone, and also through his nose, so that his way of speaking 
 was most disagreeable. I was then struck with the gTeat impor- 
 tance of making great allowance for any peculiarity of manner 
 which might discover itself in persons, especially when they might 
 be speaking on religious subjects. We ourselves should of course 
 avoid, as much as possible, any peculiarity of manner, or of 
 speaking, which is calculated to annoy other people ; but the 
 consideration, that really good people do often fall into these 
 peculiarities, should lead us to bear with them, however trying 
 and annoying they may be to us. This man had all the appearance
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 399 
 
 of being sincere. Perhaps that which is spoken of the Saviour 
 in Isaiah xi, 2, 3, may be intended to teach us the above lesson, 
 as well as that of always endeavouring to put the best construc- 
 tion on every person's conduct, however much appearances may 
 be against him. 
 
 On the same road another interesting circumstance occurred. 
 One Sunday afternoon Gawler and I were taking a quiet walk, 
 when not far from the town we observed a man on crutches, who 
 had come through the belt of wood from his house and clearing 
 within it, and was standing on the road. I accosted the man 
 whilst Gawler walked quietly on ; I spoke to him on religious 
 subjects, and then gave him a hand-bill, about the size of a pound 
 note, on which was printed a short but very striking address on 
 eternity, issued by the Eeligious Tract Society. After saying a 
 few words to him and promising to call upon him, I proceeded to 
 overtake Gawler. I very well remember that as I walked up 
 the hill, before I overtook him, I prayed that the reading the 
 tract and what had been said to the man might be blessed to his 
 eternal welfare. On turning round after we had reached the top 
 of the rising ground, we saw that two men were reading the tract 
 together, another man having joined him from the house or wood. 
 I saw the man, who had broken his leg three or four times ; at 
 first he appeared to be seriously impressed, but as he got better 
 this seemed to pass off. Some time after I had returned to 
 England, in one of Gawler's letters was the following sentence : 
 
 " John , to whom you were made effectually useful by giving 
 
 " a tract to another man one Sunday afternoon, when you were 
 "walking with me on the St. John's road, desires to be kindly 
 "remembered to you." Thus in God's providence, this little 
 messenger, containing divine truth, came into this man's hands, 
 when it was not at all intended for him. I heard about him 
 several times from the Gawlers ; they had no doubt about his 
 being a truly good and religious man ; and he always attributed 
 his great change to this tract having fallen into his hands. I do 
 not distinctly recollect any other cases in which the circulating 
 of books and tracts at St. Andrew's was productive of benefit. 
 AVe set up a lending library there, principally consisting of useful 
 and simple religious books, and when I left St. Andrew's, our
 
 4Q0 ST. ANDEEW'S, 
 
 friends there intrusted to me a very sufficient sum which I was 
 to lay out in purchasing books for the purpose of increasing the 
 , library. Our friends were very kind to us and very grateful for 
 our poor attempts to do them good, and to sow that seed amongst 
 them which a gracious God, by His Almighty power, has made 
 effectual, as we believe, to the salvation of many souls. I know 
 not why I should not state it, though I hesitate to do so, that 
 one of these friends, writing about a year and a half ago to Mrs. 
 Gawler, expresses herself thus: — "The people seem to be 
 " awakening ; there are some really praying souls amongst us ; I 
 " think it is in answer to the prayers of your dear husband and 
 " Mr. Leeke, and other Christian friends, that mercies are vouch- 
 " safed to St. Andrew's. There is certainly more spiritual life 
 " among us. Continue your prayers for us, dear friends. God 
 " blessed your coming amongst us at first. How affectionately 
 " you are still remembered by many in this place." 
 
 More recently, the following passages occurred in other letters : 
 "The names of Colonel and Mrs. Gawler and Mr. Leeke are 
 " household words with us." " The photographs Mr. Leeke sent 
 " of his house and family are very much admired. It is a great 
 " pleasure to shew them to our friends. The house covered with 
 " ivy and the family in front of it is a beautiful picture." 
 
 I had not been long at St. Andrew's when one morning the 
 clergyman called upon me, and let out that he was intending to 
 preach a sermon, on the following Sunday, on the subject of the 
 Good Centurion, and that he should introduce something about 
 me in it. I of course laughed at the idea, and told him that it 
 would be most improper. It was with great reluctance, however, 
 that he gave up his project. His views were not at all clear upon 
 the doctrines of salvation by faith only, and of holy works as the 
 fruits of faith, and we had frequent discussions about his sermons, 
 which, although he must have been many years my senior, he 
 very kindly engaged in with me. He sometimes preached some 
 very excellent sermons. One Sunday morning he preached one 
 of these, and that very evening we read the same sermon, in the 
 work of an old author, at our family prayers. This sermon was 
 very clear upon the above-mentioned points ; and in our subse- 
 quent discussions I always referred to what he had stated in that
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 401 
 
 sermon ; and when he felt himself pressed, he said that was an 
 old sermon which had be^n written several years ago. He used 
 to give me his serm.ons to read, and that I might mark the passa- 
 ges which I thought erroneous, so that we might go over them 
 together afterwards. 
 
 I suppose that all ministers do occasionally, and perhaps some 
 frequently, preach sermons which they have not composed them- 
 selves ; all must be indebted for almost all the ideas they have to 
 those who have gone before them. There is an old saying too, 
 that it is better for a man to preach a good sermon of another 
 man's than a bad one of his own. An experienced man, when I 
 first took orders and had to prepare two sermons for each Sunday, 
 besides several lectures for evenings in the week, strongly advised 
 me only to compose one of the sermons, and to take the moat 
 suitable sermon for my people which I could find amongst the 
 published sermons of others. One friend recommended Simeon's 
 sermons as a study and pattern ; and certainly his twenty-one 
 volumes, comprising upwards of 2500 sermons on texts taken, I 
 believe, from every book of the Old and New Testaments, contain 
 a body of sound divinity for which the church at large, and all 
 ministers of the gospel, will have reason to be thankful to 
 Almighty God to the end of time and to all eternity. One special 
 beauty and excellence, and I may almost say peculiarity, in Mr. 
 Simeon's sermons is, that he keeps close to his text in each ser- 
 mon, and follows out the meaning of each portion so as to produce 
 that singular, beautiful, and pleasing variety for which his 
 sermons are so remarkable. The Eev. Charles Simeon was for 
 several years the Senior Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and 
 many of his sermons were preached before the university. 
 
 There are several dangers, if they may be so called, in preach- 
 ing the sermons of other ministers. The chief danger is that a 
 man may grow idle, and not give that time and attention to the 
 composition of sermons which is so calculated to increase his own 
 knowledge of the word of God, and to bring blessings to his own 
 soul, and also to make him a blessing to others. Another dan- 
 ger is, that if his hearers discover that he occasionally borrows 
 another person's sermon, they will be apt to think all his sermons 
 are borrowed, and not to give him credit for those sound and 
 
 D D
 
 402 ST. ANDKEW'S, 
 
 useful sermons wliicli may have been composed with much labour 
 and prayer. Everybody has heard of some curious troubles that 
 ministers have got into, when they have ventured to preach the 
 published sermons of others. Besides the instance mentioned 
 above, I only personally know of one other, much more awkward, 
 circumstance of the kind : — A veiy clever, and very hardworking 
 and over- worked professor, when the select preacher for the time, 
 preached a most clever and useful sermon in the university pulpit 
 at Cambridge, on two well-known passages which, apparently, 
 contradicted each other. The vice-chancellor was so well pleased 
 with the sermon, and thought it so calculated to do good to the 
 members of the university, that he requested the professor to 
 preach it over again on the following Sunday. This request he 
 could scarcely help complying with, and the sermon was preached 
 for the second time ; but the next morning it was buzzed about 
 that it was one of Romaine's sermons. It was rather a hazard- 
 ous thing for a man to venture upon before such a congregation, 
 but I do not know that he suffered for his temerity, for I had 
 some reason to think it possible that he never found out that his 
 " pious fraud " (I think we may so call it) had been discovered. 
 
 It has always appeared to me that ministers should get out 
 of the habit of using written sermons as soon as possible. Let 
 them study the Word of God with prayer, and become well 
 acquainted with the passage they are intending to preach upon, 
 and they will, after a little time, find that there is not so much 
 difficulty in what is called extempore preaching, as they had 
 anticipated. With regard to eloquence, I think they should give 
 themselves little trouble and less concern. Let them, in depend- 
 ence upon the help and strength of the Holy Spirit, and seeking 
 to have their hearts filled with love to God and to the souls of 
 men, endeavour humbly to unfold the truths of God's Word to 
 their people, and they shall not be without a blessing on their 
 work. We should not too much undervalue eloquence ; but I 
 think directly either the congregation or the minister himself 
 begins in any degree to trust to his eloquence, or to any other gift 
 he may possess, there is the greatest danger that it may interfere 
 with and prevent that blessing on the word preached, which min- 
 isters and people should invariably pray for and expect. I have
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 403 
 
 always been much pleased with the description given of a good 
 minister in the Pilgrim's Progress, " Christian saw the picture of 
 " a very" grave person hang up against the wall, [in the Interpreter's 
 " house,] and this was the fashion of it : — It had eyes lifted up to 
 "heaven, the best of books in its hand, the law of truth was 
 " written upon its lips, the world was behind its back ; it stood as 
 " if it pleaded with men, and a crown of gold did hang over its 
 " head." Let us pray that all bishops, priests, and deacons, and 
 all ministers of the gospel, may be of the character and spirit thus 
 so beautifully delineated. With regard to eloquence, if ministers 
 have it not, let them not be thereby cast down. St. Paul was not 
 an eloquent man, but who was more useful or more honoured of 
 God ? He says of himself, in 1st Corinthians, ii, 3, " I was with 
 " you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling ; and my 
 " speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's 
 " wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power ; that 
 " your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the 
 " power of God." St. Paul also says of himself and other minis- 
 ters, in 2 Corinthians iv, 7, "We have this treasure in earthen 
 " vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and 
 " not of us." 
 
 I fear I have greatly wandered from my recollections of St. 
 Andrew's, but I have felt constrained to follow out these other 
 subjects to a certain extent; and what I have written must remain 
 where it is, for I have not the time which will enable me to 
 arrange what I write in what might appear to be more correct 
 order. 
 
 One Sunday morning we were rather surprised by seeing 
 several naval officers at church, for we were not aware that the 
 Sparrowhawk, Captain Dundas, had looked in upon us, and was 
 in St. Andrew's harbour. The little child of the Gawlers was 
 just dead, so that the calling upon the commander devolved on me. 
 He was very kind, and gave me some luncheon ; but as they 
 sailed in a day or two, we saw nothing more of them. 
 
 There were several articles of consumption which might have 
 been passed from the United States into the province of New 
 Brunswick, and vice versa, to the benefit of both countries, but 
 they were, as appeared to us very foolishly, prohibited. Amongst 
 
 DD 2
 
 404 ST. Andrew's, 
 
 fhese were' meat and dead poultry. In North America, in the 
 winter, these things are frozen for the purpose of keeping them, 
 and they may in this way be kept for weeks and months. They 
 are unfrozen by being placed for a sufficient time in cold water, 
 and then they are as good and as fit for use as they would have 
 been if they had only been killed a few days. 
 
 Eather a singular circumstance occurred to me in connexion 
 with this prohibition to the entrance of dead poultry by the New 
 Brunswick custom-regulations. I was invited to take a family 
 dinner with some of our kind friends, the family consisting only 
 of the gentleman and his wife. Just before we sat down to 
 dinner, a very fine roast capon made its appearance, and very 
 tempting it looked to hungry people. I was just anticipating a 
 very pleasant attack upon it, when the master of the house 
 innocently observed, " We are indebted to our neighbours on the 
 " other side of the bay for this fine capon," which meant that it 
 had been smuggled. Had nothing been said about it, I should, 
 of course, have partaken of it. As it may be supposed, I was 
 very sorry for the disappointment of my host and hostess when 
 they found I did not think it right to eat of the principal article 
 of food which they had provided for my entertainment. But 
 there was no help for it, as I did not think it right to partake of 
 that which I knew to be smuggled. I think, as the party con- 
 sisted of only three persons, it is possible there was not any other 
 sort of meat at the table, which would make it all the more 
 annoying to my friends. 
 
 Gawler and I determined *one morning to make an exploring 
 expedition into the woods, and after going along the St. John's 
 road for some distance, we took a track to the left, and followed 
 it for some considerable distance, when, turning to the left again, 
 we soon found ourselves, to our heart's content, in the midst of a 
 wild, uncleared American forest. Trees of [every size had fallen 
 over each other in all kinds of directions. I think the part we 
 got into was called, "The Cedar Swamp." There was not so much 
 difficulty in getting on when we were careless about the direc- 
 tion we went in, but when we decided on returning home, and 
 arranged to separate and to make our several ways as well as we 
 could to a certain point which we were acquainted with, at which
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 405 
 
 two roads met, it was necessary that we sli(3uld proceed in a par- 
 ticular direction, and then began the difficulty of making pro- 
 gress. The tacking of a ship, with the wind right ahead, was 
 nothing to it. AVe had only the sun, seen through the tops of 
 the trees, to guide us, but that was quite sufficient. Whilst we 
 kept the direction which formed an angle mth the direction the 
 sun was in, to our right and rear of about 135 degrees, we knew 
 that we were not far wrong. Trees that had been lying there 
 for scores of years, in all imaginable stages of decay, and Ipug 
 over and under each other in all directions, seemed to oppose 
 almost insurmountable difficulties to our progress. But al- 
 though it was a tedious business, there was no real difficulty in 
 making our way. We could advance, perhaps, ten or fifteen feet 
 along a fallen tree, six feet from the ground, in the right direc- 
 tion, and then find our way barred by the trunk and branches of 
 another tree lying at right angles with it, and five or six feet 
 above it ; then, after climbing on to it and choosing whether we 
 would go to its root or top, we had to make our way along its 
 trunk, twenty or thirty, or more feet, till we could descend to 
 some other tree that promised either itself to give us a better 
 advance in the right direction, or to conduct us to one that 
 would. I know not whetlier this will give my readers anything 
 like an idea of what a walk in an uncleared American forest is, 
 but I have done my best to describe it. Another peculiarity 
 met with in these forests, sometimes at every few yards, is the 
 vast number of high dead trees which are standing, and which a 
 slight push will send to the ground. The first I met with was 
 on a rather steep descent in the wood ; it might be ten inches 
 in diameter and forty feet high. I was very much astonished 
 to find, on putting my hand against it to stop myself, that the 
 wdiole trunk went right away before me to the ground. I pushed 
 numbers of them down, but there was this danger attending the 
 doing so, which, however, could be easily avoided, that, when 
 the tree was pushed to the ground, in most cases, a portion of the 
 top came off, and came straight down, and was generally of suffi- 
 cient size and weight to seriously injure the person underneath, 
 if it happened to fall on his head. We were, I think, nearly a 
 mile from the point we arranged to make for when we separated,
 
 406 ST. Andrew's, 
 
 and we thought ourselves rather clever, when, without having 
 seen each other, we found we had struck the two roads, one of 
 us the one road and the other the other, both within eighty yards 
 of their point of junction. 
 
 They told us that bears seldom visited that part of New 
 Brunswick; but the foot-marks of two bears were discovered 
 that winter on the sand or snow, in a creek about two miles to 
 the northward of the town. I sometimes used to think they 
 would be " ugly customers" to meet with, unarmed as we always 
 were. However, I never heard of anyone who had seen them. 
 
 I used to read to those of our soldiers who liked to attend, on 
 the Sunday evening, and also on some evening in the week. At 
 one time I read " Robinson's Scripture Characters " to them. We 
 always had a prayer also, but whether I used some of the church 
 prayers or not I do not recollect. I knew of one man only who 
 thought he was first led to think seriously about the salvation of 
 his soul, by attending those reading parties. 
 
 We had very little intercourse with the state of Maine, on 
 the other side of the bay of Passamaquoddy. There was a com- 
 munication between Eastport, a small town about ten miles from 
 St. Andrew's, by means of a small decked vessel ; I am not sure 
 that it went there every day. There was also a large village 
 called Eobinstown, on the opposite side of the bay, through 
 which we got our letters from England. I once went over there 
 with Gawler, and we were somewhat amused to find, that the 
 landlord of the small inn, or large public-house, there, had been 
 a general officer in the United States service, and had com- 
 manded all that district for two hundred miles back as far as 
 the river Penobscot, and had also ceded it to the English general 
 Sir John Sherbrooke, in the late war ending in 1815. He was a 
 very pleasant and quiet person, and ordered a separate dinner for 
 us and himself and another person, which was intended as a 
 mark of attention to us. Whilst we were standing and talking 
 to him, a man came up and said to him, " General, I shall be 
 " glad if you will order my horse a feed of corn," which sounded 
 rather oddly in the ears of English officers. 
 
 Whilst I was at St. Andrew's, the Charlotte County Militia 
 assembled there for their annual training, and we looked forward
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 407 
 
 to it with some degree of interest. Several of the officers resided 
 at St. Andrew's. Some of them requested us not to come and 
 see them when they were assembled on parade, but we told 
 them it was too grand an affair for us to miss. They had, I 
 think, a grenadier and also a rifle company, and were a fine 
 body of men, but, as might be expected from the short time they 
 were assembled, and from the want of proper drilling, they 
 knew scarcely anything about marching, or the use of their fire- 
 locks. One day when Gawler and I and several of our men 
 were looking on, they accepted our offer to shew the rifle com- 
 pany, I think it was, how to move a little in skirmishing order, 
 and we made our men fall in and be intermingled with them. 
 The little drill they got in this way they appeared to be much 
 pleased with. But on our inviting them to assemble frequently 
 and place themselves under our instruction, with the promise 
 that if they did so, we would make them one of the best light 
 infantry companies in the world, (which we could have done in 
 the course of time,) they found there were difficulties in the way 
 of their assembling which precluded them from accepting the 
 invitation. I suppose most of the rifle company belonged to St. 
 Andrew's, for otherwise our proposal would have been useless. I 
 was quite grieved to see the state in which our militia were left, 
 until I went into the United States some time afterwards, and 
 found that their militia were, if possible, in a still more inefficient 
 state. I suppose in these days all these matters are properly 
 attended to. During the war I understood that the inliabitants, 
 on each side of the border, did not at all interfere with each 
 other ; and higher up the bay, and on the river above it towards 
 St. Stephen's, they were in much closer proximity than in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of St. Andrew's. This, perhaps, would 
 account in some measure for the carelessness which was mani- 
 fested when I was there, relative to the training of the miHtia. 
 
 St. Stephen's was a settlement up the river at some distance, 
 perhaps fifteen miles, from St. Andrew's. Dr. Thompson was a 
 good and pains-taking clergyman there ; his younger brother was 
 the good clergyman of Machidavie, (I forget how it is spelt,) a 
 settlement in another direction, north-east, I think, of St. An- 
 drew's. Dr. Thompson made, what I considered at the time, a
 
 408 ST, ANDREW'S, 
 
 very singular request of me, when I was about to leave New 
 Brunswick ; it was, that I would try and get a large tract, a 
 thousand acres, of the government reserved land for him ; he 
 considered he had a claim upon government in conseqvience of 
 services which he had rendered when residing in the north of 
 Ireland. I thought he might almost as well have asked me to 
 get him a peerage ; however, I received his papers containing the 
 particulars of the services rendered to the government, and had 
 not been long in England, when, on mentioning the subject to a 
 near relative, he offered to give me a letter to one of the chief 
 men in the Colonial Office, who was an intimate friend of his. 
 Armed with this important missive, I went to the Colonial Office, 
 and saw the under- secretary, or chief clerk, I forget which. He 
 promised to look into the papers, and let me hear from him in a 
 few days. The finale was, that my friend obtained the grant of 
 the thousand acres, which were all the more valuable to him, as 
 they were close to his own house and to a good road, which latter 
 advantage greatly enhances the value of grants of land in the 
 colonies. 
 
 I had occasion, before I returned to England, to go up to 
 St. John's for a few days. It was about seventy miles off, and I 
 went in the packet up the bay of Eundy. I recollect a curious 
 story which the captain or some other person on board the packet 
 told us. He knew the case of a small vessel, in consequence of 
 the wind being dead against them, having put into a small inlet, 
 which we were then passing, in which it anchored for the night ; 
 and that, in the middle of the night, the crew all at once found 
 the vessel dashing out of the inlet, and going to sea at the rate, 
 I think he said, of a hundred miles an hour. It was supposed 
 that a whale had got entangled in the cable, and had started off 
 with the vessel. It sounds like what is usually called an 
 " American story ;" at all events, according to an old 52nd saying, 
 " It's very like a whale." 
 
 "We neared Partridge Island and the harbour of St. John's in 
 the middle of the night, and, from some considerable distance, 
 saw that there was a large fire, which we could not account for, 
 either in or near St. John's. As we stood up the harbour, with 
 a good breeze from the southward, w"e soon perceived that nearly
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 409 
 
 half the town was on fire. We stood on past the town, and 
 landed beyond the fire. I immediately jumped on shore, and 
 running up to the fire, found that several of the lower streets 
 towards the harbour had been burnt for a very considerable dis- 
 tance. Tylden, I recollect, expressed his astonishment, in no 
 very measured terms, at seeing me make my appearance in the 
 midst of this terrible fire. I think I did some considerable ser- 
 vice there, for perceiving that the fire was increasing, and that 
 nothing effectual was done to stop it, and that it spread from 
 street to street by means of the dry palings which separated the 
 gardens between the streets, along which palings it was rapidly 
 carried up the hill by the southerly wind, I collected some twenty 
 of the soldiers, and extending them a few paces from each other, 
 we advanced in line against the palings, kicking one after another 
 of these slight fences flat down, and thus prevented the wind 
 from taking the fire along them, as it had done along the other 
 fences. I believe this had very much to do with stopping the 
 fire : indeed, but for this proceeding, the houses in the street 
 above (the houses were chiefly of wood) would certainly have 
 been burnt, for in several places the fire was already beginning 
 to rush along the partitions when we came to them. I fear my 
 services on the occasion were not known, and that it is now too 
 late for me to expect that the inhabitants of St. John's shall 
 acknowledge them by giving me a vote of thanks, or reward 
 them by getting the government to give me a grant of some 
 thousands of acres of their best reserved land. 
 
 Some new officers had joined the 52nd since their arrival in 
 New Brunswick, and I particularly recollect meeting Mountain 
 there, and being very much pleased with him during the few 
 days I remained at St. -John's. I remember that each day at 
 mess he made a point of asking me to take some wine with him, 
 and I have thought that perhaps it was for the purpose of shew- 
 ing that he valued that character which I had as a religious man, 
 and which others might possibly have spoken of in terms of 
 ridicule. Many years afterwards I met with him, when he had 
 himself come out openly as a man who feared God. His father 
 and brother were bishops of Quebec. I copy the following about 
 Armine Mountain from the 52nd record : —
 
 410 ST. Andrew's, 
 
 "Amongst the regimental changes this year (1825) was that 
 " of Lieut. A. H. S. Mountain, from the 52nd, to be captain un- 
 " attached, on the 26th of May. This officer afterwards rose to 
 " to be colonel and adjutant-general of H. M. forces in India, and 
 " his biographer thus writes : — 
 
 " ' The regret of the 52nd at losing young Mountain was ex- 
 " ' treme, and exertions were made by the officers to arrange some 
 " ' means by which he could procure a company in their corps, but 
 "'it could not be accomplished, and he never rejoined that regi- 
 " ' ment. He always, however, looked upon the time spent with 
 " ' the 52nd as the foundation of his military experience, and when, 
 " ' in the course of service, he obtained the command of a regiment, 
 "'his aim ever was to introduce the high feeling of honour, the 
 " ' cs2mt de corps, and gentlemanlike conduct, which had been fos- 
 " ' tered in that distinguished regiment.' " 
 
 It is a well-known fact that whenever regiments proceed to 
 any of the colonies where rum is cheap, some of the men will 
 drink of it till they bring themselves very rapidly to the grave. 
 The new rum which they purchase, and often that which is 
 supplied by the contractors, is particularly injurious ; some three 
 or four of our men lost their lives from drinking the new rum, 
 soon after our arrival in New Brunswick. Either on this occa- 
 sion, or when I first came to St. John's, I recollect seeing a crowd 
 of persons in the street, and a few soldiers amongst them. On 
 my coming up to them, I found a man, half mad with drink, 
 standing with his bayonet drawn, and setting at defiance a cor- 
 poral and a file of men, who had been sent to take him to the 
 guard-room. This is always a most painful and awkward position 
 for a non-commissioned officer to be placed in ; I once knew a 
 similar case which ended in the death of the man in custody. 
 On my coming to the crowd, I went up to the man, and merely 
 said "Hollo ! what is aU this about?" and he immediately returned 
 Ids bayonet to the scabbard, saying, " Now there is an officer, I 
 " will give in," and went off quietly with the men of the guard. 
 
 Trying circumstances, connected with my promotion and the 
 lialf-pay lieutenancy I had refused, which I will explain in a 
 sulisequent chapter, rendered it desirable that I should proceed 
 to England ; and this step, which had been long determined on.
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 411 
 
 in the event of my receiving an unfavourable reply to a memorial 
 I had forwarded to the Duke of York, was taken immediately 
 after my return from St. John's. I was very sorry to leave all 
 my kind friends at St. Andrew's, especially the Gawlers, but I 
 had great reason to be most thankful for all the mercy and good- 
 ness which God had been pleased to manifest to me during my 
 residence at that place, both as regarded my own religious state, 
 and the work which He had enabled me to participate in with 
 my dear friends the Gawlers, with a view to the religious benefit 
 of others. 
 
 It was a very considerable trial to me to leave Sandhurst ; 
 but I have been enabled to see clearly that the great Disposer 
 and Over-ruler of all events did, in His wisdom and loving-kind- 
 ness, send me to America ; and in many a mortification, and in 
 much more severe trials which have occurred to me since then, 
 I have constantly seen the same loving-kindness and wisdom in 
 aU His dispensations towards me. " It is not in man that walketh 
 " to direct his steps." 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 irOEWICH: PRINTED BT TLETCSEE AKD SOK.
 
 r4
 
 M>
 
 C(n THE LIBRARY 
 
 /.£/ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 _ / Santa Barbara 
 
 ^^ 
 
 y / THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 
 STAMPED BELOW. 
 
 Series 9482
 
 immmismmmtmmmmmgfxmmmmua