I am also emboldened to think that my “Voice from Waterloo” presents to the general reader all the leading facts of this eventful struggle, in so concise a manner, and at so moderate a cost, as to secure it a preference over every other narration of the battle.
Although not strictly belonging to “A Voice from Waterloo,” I have added, as a connecting link in the narrative, an outline map, and a sketch of the military operations of the campaign of 1815.
Most anxious to avoid the imputation of having employed the materials of others without acknowledgment, I beg to state that, besides various military periodicals, I have made use of captain Siborne’s History of the War in France and Belgium: The Military Life of the Duke of Wellington, by Major Basil Jackson and Captain Rochfort Scott; The Wellington Dispatches and General Orders, by Colonel Gurwood; Fall of Napoleon, by Colonel Mitchell; Political and Military Life of Napoleon, and The Art of War, by General Jomini; History of the King’s German Legion, by Major Beamish; Prussian History of the Campaign of 1815, by General Grollman, etc., etc.
As to the manner in which I have executed my task, I know I am open to criticism. No doubt many of my remarks will be considered too digressive. Some persons will think I am too hard upon Napoleon: my authorities in this are more frequently French than English. Others will judge me too partial to the immortal Wellington.
Waterloo was termed by Napoleon, “a concurrence of unexempled fatalities, a day not to be comprehended. Was there treason? or was there only misfortune?”
Wellington said, that “he had never before fought so hard a battle, nor won so great a victory.” If the reader derive the same impression from his attention to “A Voice from Waterloo,” I shall be satisfied, because I shall have succeeded.
Edward Cotton,
Waterloo Guide, and Describer of the Battle.
Mont-St.-Jean, February, 1849.
