How could a newspaper in the Britain report on something that happened in the Americas?
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Read [*The News from Waterloo*](https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Brian-Cathcart-News-from-Waterloo-9780571315260) to find out how it was in 1815. The battle ended by the evening of 18 June (a date once as well known as 6 June is today) but London wasn’t sure of the outcome until three days later when the official despatch arrived. As the crow flies, Waterloo to London is only 200 miles. Much of the delay was due to the fact that newspapers then almost never employed foreign correspondents.
There were optical telegraph chains used during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars but these were very expensive with very limited capacity and so restricted to official use only. The British had quickly dismantled their system following Napoleon’s first abdication so it wasn’t available during the Hundred Days and the Waterloo Campaign.
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