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Lot 419
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Battle of Waterloo Military Reflections of a Cavalry Officer in the Battle 10 Pages!
Battle of Waterloo Military Reflections of a Cavalry Officer in the Battle 10 Pages!
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Description:

Battle of Waterloo
Wimbledon, England, ca. 1835
Battle of Waterloo Military Reflections of a Cavalry Officer in the Battle 10 Pages!
Archive
[BATTLE OF WATERLOO].
- Henry Murray, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mr. Editor," February 8, 1835, n.p. 10 pp., 7.25" x 9.25". Re "System of Military Equitation."
- Henry Murray, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mr. Editor," October 11, 1835, Wimbledon, England. 4 pp., 7.875" x 12.75" Re promotion of officers from the ranks.
- Henry Murray, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Mr. Editor," November 21, 1835, n.p. 4 pp., 7.5" x 9.25". Re Major General Lord Robert Manners (1781-1835).

This trio of letters from Lt. Colonel Henry Murray, who led the 18th Hussars at the Battle of Waterloo, to Henry Colburn, the editor of The United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine, published in London, detail some of his mature military thinking, including proper military equitation (horsemanship), the challenges of promoting officers from among the ranks, and a tribute to Major General Lord Robert Manners.

Excerpts
[Equitation:]
"I hope you will allow me a little space to reply to a severe censure passed upon the Equitation of the British Cavalry in an article on that head in your number of the previous month. Your Journal has, & deserves to have, so extensive a Military circulation that opinions therein expressed may do much good in the Army or much harm." (p1)

"Since May 1800 I have had the honor of more or less belonging to the British Cavalry—& even before then frequent opportunities of seeing them. Taking them, not regimentally but as a body, there has been a great improvement in their horsemanship—they sit more firmly & neatly—manage their horses better, & can use their arms more efficiently." (p2)

"Manege riding is generally spoken of in this country as a frivolous refinement of horsesmanship which can answer no useful purpose, but if the fact be looked to it will be found that Manege riding was particularly brought to perfection when Tournaments were in vogue & these manege airs (useless as they may be now thought) were actually employed in the career of contending Knights, & are eulogized by the chivalrous Lord Herbert of Cherbury." (p6)

"Those rules of manege which influence action & obedience in horses by knowledge of their structure & disposition cannot become antiquated whilst the nature of horses continues the same, nor can those rules which relate to balance in the rider, because the principles of gravitation cannot change. The system of ordered equitation is in consonance to both, & so far at least not absurd but calculated to be useful for the purpose it is intended to effect." (p9)

[Promotion to Commissions:]
"In general it is better that our Service should leave that of every other country to arrange its own concerns without interference or comment, but an order lately issued by General Evans to the Auxiliary Army has not improperly attracted notice & animadversion here, & amongst others those of your journal." (p1)
General George de Lacy Evans (1787-1870) was an Irish officer in the British Army and a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars. From 1835 to 1837, he commanded the British Auxiliary Legion, a force of 10,000 men who volunteered to assist Queen Isabella II of Spain in the First Carlist War (1833-1840). Evans announced that merit would be his standard for promotion. He served as a Member of Parliament for both Rye and Westminster (1830-1841, 1846-1865) and opposed the system that allowed British officers to purchase their commissions, a practice finally abolished in 1871.

"Having established this namely that a single step of promotion requires a higher description of abilities to exercise its duties, so often as we advance a step we diminish proportionately the number from whom we can choose, & it may be remarked in proportion to the height in the scale of intellect required shall we find the difficulty of supplying those possessed of it increased—because the possession of high faculties is very rare—and this is the case not only in gift—nor only in science, but in every profession & in every trade, & even in every art." (p2-3)

"Why—many of these non-commissioned officers are excellent & most respectable men? I grant it with pleasure, & would promote their interest to the utmost point to which it could be pushed with propriety—but there is a proviso in the officering the British Army which cannot be relinquished & which has contributed more than any thing to the high honour & unblemished reputation of the British Army—& this is the invariable rule in our Service that he who holds His Majesty's Commission shall not only discharge his duties as an officer but observe the behaviour & conduct of a gentleman. To this a liberal education & some acquaintance with the habits of polished life are almost indispensable." (p3)

[Manners:]
"We are unacquainted with the precise period his Lordship joined the Army in the Peninsula, but we are apprized of his having served both in Spain & Portugal, in the capacity of Aide-de-Camp to the Duke of Wellington—and also at the Battle of Waterloo—and that for his services he was rewarded at the augmentation of the Order of the Bath with the honorable distinction of a Companion of the Order. His Lordship subsequently commanded the 3rd Light Dragoons to the period of the Brevet in 1830 when he attained the Rank of Major General." (p1)

"Of the Estimation in which Lord Robert Manners ever held in private Life, independent of the eminent social virtues that had especially endeared him to his more immediate circle, the subjoined Letter, from an old Companion in arms, will bear ample evidence and may appropriately close this imperfect sketch." (p2)

"The memoir which you will no doubt give of the services of the late M. General Lord Robert Manners will place him as an officer in the distinguished light he deserves. But there are other circumstances connected with his character which may not occur in that memoir & yet are worth remembrance—& these naturally present themselves to one who had known him since they were brother lieutenants." (p3)

"That succession of honor which tends to perpetuate a high sense of the obligation of duty to the sovereign & the state & consequently excites a nobler strain of exertion for them cannot entail injury on a free people.
"Here then I will close my slight tribute of regard to a character, which had equal claim to popularity & respect." (p4)

Historical Background
The Battle of Waterloo was the climax of Napoleon Bonaparte's Hundred Days resurgence after he escaped from exile on Elba. Fought on Sunday, June 18, 1815, the battle marked the end of Napoleon's return to power in France and the victory of two of the armies of the Seventh Coalition. An army led by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington consisted of forces from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick, and Nassau, and cooperated with a Prussian army led by Field Marshal von Blücher to defeat Napoleon's army near the village of Waterloo in Belgium.

Napoleon had divided his forces, sending a third of them after the Prussian army, the rear guard of which fought the French at the Battle of Wavre on June 18-19, but those French forces could not participate in the Battle of Waterloo. A small portion of the French army attacked the Allies at the Battle of Quatre Bras on June 16. Although the Allied army held its ground, the withdrawal of the Prussians led Wellington to withdraw to Waterloo. Learning that the Prussians could support him, Wellington took a stand near Waterloo. The allied army repelled repeated French assaults, and the arriving Prussians attacked the French right flank. In the evening, Napoleon committed his last reserves, the French Imperial Guard. As the Prussians continued their attack on the French flank, the Allied army under Wellington's command repulsed the Imperial Guard and routed the French army.

Four days later, Napoleon abdicated, and the forces of the Seventh Coalition entered Paris on July 7. This battle led to the end of decades of European wars and began a decades-long Pax Britannica. Louis XVIII returned to the French throne, and Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. The Treaty of Paris was signed on November 20, 1815.

Henry Murray (1784-1860) was born in England, the son of David Murray, 2nd Earl of Mansfield. He was commissioned a cornet in the 16th Dragoons in May 1800 and promoted through the ranks to captain by 1802. From 1805 to 1807, he served as an aide-de-camp for his uncle Lord Cathcart in Ireland and Egypt. In 1810, he joined the 18th Hussars as a major and remained with them through the end of the Napoleonic Wars, with a promotion to lieutenant colonel in 1812. At the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, he led the 18th Hussars as part of Sir Hussey Vivian's charge at the end of the battle. He lived at Wimbledon Lodge for the latter part of his life, becoming General Officer Commanding Western District in 1842. He was also a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

Henry Colburn (ca. 1784-1855) was well-educated and fluent in French. He became an apprentice printer in 1800 and began publishing his first books in 1806. He pioneered what became known as "silver fork novels," which allowed readers to peer into the lifestyles of rich and aristocratic families. He also founded several periodicals, including the New Monthly Magazine, and Universal Register (1814), the Literary Gazette (1817), the Court Journal (1828), and The United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine (1829). The last appealed to both a general audience and military and naval officers.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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