234 pp.. hbk., ills.
Published by Associated University Press. London at £30.00
Apart from the works covering his time on St. Helena, there has been little else published on the role of Lowe, one of the leading military figures of the Napoleonic Wars, so this addition to the literature on the period is most welcome, particularly as it is based extensivly on archive material, including Lowe's papers held in the Maunscript Department of the British Library in London.
Lowe's participation in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars included several rather exotic episodes. Recognised as an able young officer, he was placed in command of the Corsican Rangers and spent much of the war years employed in the Meditarranean. On returning to London in 1812 to sort out his personal affairs, he found himself ordered to undertake a secter mission to ascertain the military value of the Russo-German Legion. This task was in part diplomatic, and part military.
Lowe's personal abilities again came to the fore and it was fortunate indeed that he had left the Mediterranean when he did - it was becoming a backwater, and his career prospects would be bettered with a posting to Central Europe. Disappointed at not witnessing the Battle of Lutzen in May 1813, he wrote a glowing account of bravery of the Russian soldiery at Bautzen later that month. By October of that Lowe had become attached to the Prussian headquarters where he made a favourable impression with his allies. This relationship was to be the beginning of the decline of his career prospects, although it did not seem so at the time.
After the First Abdication, Lowe was appointed quartermaster general to the allied forces in the Netherlands, a position of some importance. Here, he kept a watchful eye on the young Prince of Orange, observed the hesitation of the new government of the Netherlands and renewed his friendship with Bulcher. In view of the rivalry between Britian and Prussia over certain issues at the Congress of Vienna, which almost resulted in the two powers going to war with each other, Lowe was clearly not the right man for the job.
On Napoleon's return to France from exile in Elba, the Duke of Wellington was placed in command of the allied forces in the Netherlands, and he sought Lowe's removal from his post. As Lowe was a man of not inconsiderable ability, and had a record of success in his military career, there was little basis in fact for which the Duke could criticise his deputy, so Wellington began a campaign of denigration against this fine officer.
Wellington got his way, with Lowe taking his transfer gracefully, at least superficially, along with a posting to Italy. It is a shame that a number of historians accept Wellington's unfounded criticism of Lowe without further thought. Lowe, as is evident from reading parts of his papers, bore a grudge against Wellington for this affair, and assembled copies of various documents the contents of which were most critical of the Duke's handling of certain aspects of the Waterloo Campaign. Gregory appeares to have overlooked this point in his researches, and one wonders if Lowe had not been posted to St. Helena and later to Ceylon, that he may have made efforts to bring these matters to public attention in Britain.
Having had his reputation sullied by the Duke of Wellington. Lowe found himself having to spend many a long year as Napoleon's jailer on St. Helena. His military career had, in effect, been sidelined, and his prisoner, still a man of considerable influence, did much to sully Lowe's reputation further.
As a substantial part of historical interpretations of this era are based on Bonapartist propaganda, then our view of certain individuals is often clouded. Thus Lowe's standing among the less well informed has suffered, and Gregory's attempt to put the record straight is most prasieworthy, particularly his criticsm of what he terms 'amateur historians' in his Introduction.
In all, despite one or two gaps, Gregory's work is a most significant and interesting addition to the historical literature covering this period.
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