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 commanded 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-handedly, 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 that this defeat was followed by the flight of the whole French army: why 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 contemplating, 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 interesting, 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 devoted more time than to anything else, and which 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 has been the setting 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 that one, merely for his own personal advantage. This system, I am thankful to say, now appears to be in a fiar 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 instruction 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 regard t the introducing particular names, or subjects, or letters, without runnning 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 reader will not fully understand till he had read will not fully understand till he 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 I think, as a matter of course, may myself open to the charge of vanity; but it must be allowed, in extenuation 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 intelligence, 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.

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 himself, 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 otherwise, 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, however, 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.

My military readers especially will admire the three plans of Waterloo, which very accurately represent the 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 Hougomont, where they were formed into two squares, and proceeded, with their gallant friends the 71st and 95th Rifles, 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 be seen, at 8.30, close to the Charleroi road and La Belle Alliance as far as the farm of Rosomme where they halted for the night at 9.15.

                                                          WILLIAM LEEKE

Holbrooke Hall, near Derby,
      November 27, 1866.