tal terror lest this creature of
theirs should break out into St. Helena leprosy again and impose
further humiliation upon them. Lowe had talked of actions for libel
against Barry O'Meara, and in a whimsical, half-hearted way worried
his employers to give battle, and the law officers of the Crown stated
a case but advised against taking action, and so it was never brought,
though O'Meara kept telling them in so many words to come on. "I am
anxious that you should have the opportunity of defending the charges
I have brought against you. I am anxious too that the public should
know more than I have written." That in effect was the attitude of the
gallant doctor, who was the first to call serious attention to the
goings on in the "Abode of Darkness." Needless to say, no action was
ever taken, and, in face of all the incriminating facts, it was never
intended that any should be taken. Even High Toryism became alarmed at
the consequences. The Duke of Wellington, brave and gallant soldier
though he was, shrank from so impossible an ordeal. The best he could
say of him was, "He was a stupid man," "A bad choice," "and totally
unfit to take charge of Bonaparte."

Wellington may have been a brave and skilful general, but he did not
know how to be generous to an unfortunate enemy who was himself always
kind and considerate in the hour of victory. Wellington's expressions
about Lowe are more than significant, though his conduct towards the
poor cat's-paw is characteristic of a mean, flinty soul. But his
behaviour towards Napoleon would have put any French Jacobin to the
blush, and has belittled him for all time in the eyes of everybody who
has a spark of human feeling in him.

Meneval[22] says that Waterloo was won by the French in the middle of
the day of that fateful battle, but a caprice of fortune--the arrival
of Bulow's corps and Blucher's army, and the absence of Grouchy's
corps--snatched from Napoleon's hands the triumph which was within his
grasp. Wellington had even said to General Hill, who came to take his
orders at the most critical moment of the battle: "I have no orders to
give you. There is nothing left for us but to die here. Our retreat is
even cut off behind us."

Wellington's despairing words have been handed down in various forms.
Notably he is reported to have said, "Oh! for night or Bluecher." When
he heard the firing, "That is old Bluecher at last!" &c. That he was in
a tight place there is little doubt, a