text:  In truth the attack in column formidable beyond measure if not met by valour and combated with skill is exposed to the most serious dangers if the line in its front is strong and resolute enough to withstand the impulse till its flanks are overlapped and enveloped by a cross fire from the enemies' lines converging inwards as Colborne and Maitland did at Waterloo on the flank of the Old Guard; and thence it is that the French attack in column so often victorious over the other troops in Europe has never succeeded against the close and destructive fire of the English infantry; guided by the admirable dispositions with which Wellington first repelled that formidable onset