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which was likewise occupied. In front of the right centre and near the Nivelle road, we occupied the house and garden of Hougoumont, which covered the return of that flank; and in front of the left centre, we occupied the farm of La Haye Sainte. By our left we communicated with Marshal Prince Blucher, at Wavre, through Ohaim; and the Marshal had promised me, that in case we should be attacked, he would support me with one or more corps, as might be necessary.
The enemy collected his army, with the exception of the third corps, which had been sent to observe Marshal Blucher, on a range of heights in our front, in the course of the night of the 17th and yesterday morning: and at about ten o’clock he commenced a furious attack upon our post at Hougoumont. I had occupied that post with a detachment from General Byng’s brigade of Guards, which was in position in its rear; and it was for some time under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonel, and afterwards of Colonel Home: and I am happy to add, that it was maintained throughout the day with the utmost gallantry by these brave troops, notwithstanding the repeated efforts of large bodies of the enemy to obtain possession of it.
This attack upon the right of our centre was accompanied by a very heavy cannonade upon our whole line, which was destined to support the repeated attacks of cavalry and infantry occasionally mixed, but sometimes separate, which were made upon it. In one of these the enemy carried the farm house of La Haye Sainte, as the detachment of the light battalion of the legion which occupied it had expended all its ammunition, and the enemy occupied the only communication there was with them.
The enemy repeatedly charged our infantry with his cavalry, but these attacks were uniformly unsuccessful, and they afforded opportunities to our cavalry to charge, in one of which Lord E. Somerset’s brigade, consisting of the life guards, royal horse guards, and 1st dragoon guards, highly distinguished themselves, as did that of Major General Sir W. Ponsonby, having taken many prisoners and an eagle.
These attacks were repeated till about seven in the evening, when the enemy made a desperate effort with the cavalry and infantry supported by the fire of artillery, to force our left centre near the farm of La Haye Sainte, which after a severe contest was defeated, and having observed that the troops retired from this attack in great confusion, and that the march of General Bulow’s corps by Enschermont upon Planchenorie and La Belle Alliance had begun to take effect, and as I could perceive the fire of his cannon, and as Marshal Prince Blucher had joined in person, with a corps of his army to the left of our line by Ohaim, I determined to attack the enemy, and immediately advanced the whole line of infantry, supported by the cavalry and artillery.
After only nine months in exile, following his defeat and abdication the previous year, Napoleon slipped away from the Italian island of Elba and returned to Paris in triumph on 20 March 1815.
The other European powers began to mobilize once more, and to prevent them from uniting their forces, Napoleon marched rapidly North to give battle to the two that posed the most immediate danger. Quartered in what is now Belgium, these were the Prussians under Marshal Blücher and the Anglo-Allied army commanded by the Duke of Wellington.
Historians attribute the French defeat to a variety of causes, ranging from the rain the previous day that limited movement and favoured Wellington’s troops, which occupied defensive positions, to Napoleon’s worsening health. He suffered from haemorrhoids, which made it uncomfortable for him to sit for long on his horse and survey the battlefield.
Even so, Wellington admitted his victory, which was only secured as evening fell, had been the ‘nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life’. This report is taken from his official dispatch to the War Department, published by The Times the day after it reached London.
18 August 1819
We kept the press open until a late hour this morning, in the hope of receiving minute accounts of the circumstances which attended the reformist meeting held at Manchester on Monday. From the statements brought to us in the course of last night, and which appear to have been collected in the midst of a scene of extraordinary uproar and agitation, we learned that HUNT took the chair, according to advertisement, and harangued that portion of the multitude which more immediately surrounded him; that the mob altogether amounted to more than 40,000 persons – some accounts say 60,000 – collected from all the neighbouring districts; that the Riot Act was read, and the troops called upon by the Magistracy to enforce their orders that the crowd should at once disperse. HUNT himself was taken prisoner – and we add with unfeigned sorrow, that several lives were lost.
The troops that were employed were the Manchester, Macclesfield, and Chester Yeomanry. The 15th Light Dragoons were likewise in the field, but were not called into action. The local troops, it is said, behaved with great alacrity. The consternation and dismay which spread among the immense crowd collected cannot be conceived. The multitude was composed of a large proportion of females. The prancing of cavalry, and the active use of the sabre among them, created a dreadful scene of confusion, and we may add, of carnage. By the accounts received through the mail, no less than 80 or 100 persons are wounded, and 8 killed. The mob is said to have dispersed as quickly as they could. At 7 o’clock in the evening some of the Yeomanry are reported to have fired on a crowd that showed a disregard of the mandate to disperse. At night, and up to 2 o’clock yesterday morning, complete tranquillity prevailed, and the streets were as quiet as on ordinary occasions. The great number of wounded had been carried to the hospital. Hunt, Johnston, and others, who were on the scaffolding, were taken into custody, and lodged in the New Bailey.
No manufactory or private building was destroyed or materially damaged, though many windows were broken. We only notice this circumstance, because we had heard early in the evening, that a factory, which it is now unnecessary to name, had been levelled with the ground.
Such is the brief and general outline of occurrences which the lateness of the hour at which we write enables us to lay before our readers. What actual violence or outrages were perpetrated – what menaces were uttered, or symptoms exhibited, which induced the Magistrates to read the Riot Act, and to disperse the meeting by force of arms, we cannot yet positively state. That a large discretion undoubtedly belongs to persons charged with the preservation of public order, which justifies their interference where they see it directly and distinctly threatened by a multitude, who may, nevertheless, have met for purposes or with professions originally not inimical to the King’s peace, we are not disposed to question. But the discretion, though large, is not unlimited.
On 16 August 1819, more than 60,000 people gathered in an open space known as St Peter’s Field, now in the centre of Manchester. They were to be addressed by Henry Hunt, known for his stirring oratory and for his radical advocacy of universal suffrage.
The end of the Napoleonic wars marked the start of an economic downturn, the effect of which on the poor was exacerbated by the cost of bread being kept high by the Corn Laws. Many of those in the mercantile and propertied classes feared a revolution and in anticipation of trouble the authorities in Manchester called out regular troops and a local cavalry militia.
An attempt to arrest Hunt led to panic, which became in turn a massacre as the soldiers hacked at the crowd. Eighteen people were killed and several hundred wounded. The event was among the first attended by reporters from national newspapers, which dubbed the bloodshed ‘Peterloo’, in ironic reference to Waterloo. Hunt was subsequently jailed for two-and-a-half years for sedition, but his legacy was the growth of mass pressure for reform.
17 September 1830
From all that I can learn from eye-witnesses, the unfortunate event of which I am now going to give you the details, happened in the following manner: Mr. Huskisson was discoursing with Mr. Joseph Sandars, one of the principal originators and promoters of this railroad, and was congratulating