The arrangements made by Major-General the Hon. C. Colville for the attack by the 4th division were very judicious; and he led them to the attack in the most gallant manner. In consequence of the absence, on account of sickness, of Major-General Vandeleur, and of Colonel Beckwith, Lieut.-Colonel Barnard commanded the Light division in the assault, and distinguished himself not less by the manner in which he made the arrangements for that operation, than by his personal gallantry in its execution.
I have also to mention Brig.-General Harvey of the Portuguese service, commanding a brigade in the 4th division, and Brig.-General Champelmond, commanding the Portuguese brigade in the 3rd division, as highly distinguished. Brig.-General Harvey was wounded in the storm.
MURDER OF PERCEVAL (1812).
Source.—Diary of Lord Colchester, 1861. Vol. ii., p. 379.
[May] 11th.—The House of Commons being in Committee hearing evidence on the Orders in Council, at a few minutes after five, I was called down from my room into the House by a message that
Mr. Perceval was shot in the lobby.
As soon as I had taken the chair, the assassin, a bankrupt Liverpool merchant, John Bellingham, was forcibly brought to the bar. I detained him till a Magistrate was brought, who came almost instantly; and then the assassin was conducted to the prison room belonging to the Serjeant-at-Arms, where he was examined before Mr. White, a Westminster Justice; and Mr. Alderman Combe and Mr. Taylor, two Members who were also Justices, and thereupon committed to Newgate for murder.
Mr. Perceval’s body (for he fell lifeless after he had staggered a few paces into the lobby) was brought into my house, and remained in the first picture room till the family removed it (for privacy) at one o’clock in the morning to Downing Street.
12th.—I wrote to invite Ponsonby, Whitbread, Lord Castlereagh, Ryder, Canning, Master of the Rolls, Wilberforce, &c. &c., to meet here at three o’clock, and consult upon the proper course of recommending Perceval’s family to the protection of the Crown. There came also Elliott, Adair, Wellesley Pole, &c. &c.: and Lord Castlereagh stated the Regent’s intention to send a message on the subject; in answer to which Ponsonby, Whitbread, Canning, and Bankes fully and at length declared their unqualified assent. Finding Tierney not present, I wrote to him before I went into the House to excuse the omission, on the score of believing that through Ponsonby or Whitbread I should have seen him; and that the scenes and thoughts which for the preceding eighteen hours had surrounded me and occupied me must be my apology for this and, I feared, many other omissions.
I found afterwards that he had taken the omission heinously ill; but on Wednesday when he came into the House he appeared to be quite appeased by my letter.
In the House of Commons, by common consent, no other business was done. Lord Castlereagh presented the Message, and moved the Address. In most faces there was an agony of tears; and neither Lord Castlereagh, Ponsonby, Whitbread, nor Canning could give a dry utterance to their sentiments.