The wave motion on the charged surface of a viscous Newtonian liquid is solved as an initial-value problem. Both the leaky dielectric and perfect dielectric cases are considered. The amplitude of wave is assumed to be small. The electric field induced by surface charge is shown to have a generally destabilizing effect on surface wave. The neutral stability curve is drawn in the (G, N,e) plane (G: the gravitational bond number; Ne: the electrical Bond number). The Ohnesorge number, Taylor-Melcher number and permittivity ratio have little influence on the neutral stability curve. It is testified that the classical normal mode method cannot predict wave behaviour at small times.