changed in the centuries since, and the scale of the struggle faced by the abolitionists. The deferential tone of parliamentary reporting has also evolved.
THE ASSASSINATION OF SPENCER PERCEVAL
12 May 1812
About a quarter past five Mr. PERCEVAL [the Prime Minister] was entering the Lobby of the House of Commons, where a number of persons were standing, when a man, who had a short time previously placed himself in the recess of the door-way within the Lobby, drew out a small pistol, and shot Mr. PERCEVAL in the lower part of the left breast. The ball is supposed to have entered the heart. Mr PERCEVAL moved forwards a few faltering steps, nearly half way up the lobby, and was in the act of falling, when some persons stept forward and caught him. He was immediately carried to the room of the SPEAKER’S Secretary, to the left of the lobby, by Mr. W. SMITH, Mr. BRADSHAW and another gentleman. Mr. LYNN, the Surgeon, in Parliament-street, was immediately sent for; but on examining the wound, he considered the case utterly hopeless. All that escaped Mr. PERCEVAL’S lips previously to falling in the lobby, was “murder,” or “murdered.” He said no more afterwards. He expired in about ten or twelve minutes after receiving the fatal wound. Several Members of both Houses of Parliament went into the room while he was dying: among others, his brother, Lord ARDEN: all of them appeared greatly agitated. There was very little effusion of blood from the wound, externally. His body was subsequently removed into the SPEAKER’S House. Lord FRANCIS OSBORNE, Lord OSSULTON, and some others, were crossing the lobby at the moment of the assassination, and were very near to Mr. PERCEVAL. The deed was perpetrated so suddenly, that the man who fired the pistol was not instantly recognized by those in the lobby; but a person passing at the moment behind Mr. PERCEVAL, seized the pistol, (which was a very small one) from the hand of the assassin, who retired towards a bench to the left; he surrendered it without any resistance. Mr. GOODIFF an Officer of the House, took hold of him, and asked if he were the villain who shot the Minister. He replied “I am the unhappy man” but appeared quite undisturbed. It is said, that he added something about the want of redress of grievances from Ministers; but if he did say so, it was heard by very few. On searching him, a few pounds were found in his pockets, and some printed papers, copies of which he is said to have previously distributed among Members. He was taken to the bar of the House of Commons, and identified as the assassin. Another pistol, similar to that which he had fired was taken from his pocket in the House. All the doors of the House were then locked, and he was conveyed by the private passages up stairs to one of the apartments called the prison rooms, in the upper story, over the Committee rooms. Here he underwent an examination for some time, which was attended by Aldermen COMBE and CURTIS, and by Mr. READ, Mr. COLQUHOUN, Mr. FIELDING, and other Magistrates; and several Members of the House of Commons, Mr. WHITBREAD, Mr. WYNNE, Mr. STEPHEN, Lord CASTLEREAGH, Mr. Secretary RYDER, &c. After an examination of various witnesses, among whom were Lord OSSULTON and FRANCIS OSBORNE, General GASCOYNE, Mr. H. SUMNER, the Officers of the House, and several strangers, the man was fully committed to Newgate for trial. A hackney-coach was brought to the iron gates in Lower Palace yard; but the crowd, which was at first composed of decent people, had been gradually swelled by a concourse of pick-pockets and the lower orders, who mounted the coach, and were so exceedingly troublesome and even dangerous that it was not deemed advisable to send him to Newgate in the manner intended.
An evangelical Christian and abolitionist, Spencer Perceval came to politics from the law and remains the only Prime Minister to have been Attorney-General – and the only one to have been murdered. Although his reputation faded fast following his untimely demise, he had been regarded as one of the Tories’ few stars after the death of Pitt the Younger.
The main achievement of his government, which had been formed in 1809, was to keep the future Duke of Wellington’s army in the field in Portugal, a decision Perceval had taken when Chancellor. The cost of this, and of other measures needed for the war against Napoleon, led to his personal unpopularity and popular unrest. This was also stoked by Luddites opposed to the industrialisation of work.
It was first feared that Perceval’s murder heralded a revolution. In fact, his assassin John Bellingham had long nursed an obsessive grievance against the state and its representatives. This stemmed from his ruin following imprisonment in Russia for debt. He was hastily tried and executed and, like his victim, just as swiftly forgotten by history.
23 June 1815
The position which I [the Duke of Wellington] took up in front of Waterloo crossed the high roads from Charleroy and Nivelle, and had its right thrown back to a ravine near Merke Braine, which was occupied; and its left extended to a height above the hamlet Ter la Haye, 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
