TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example Oct^r or 26^{th}. When indicating an underline, a horizontal parenthesis symbol is denoted by several equal signs =====. Omitted text is indicated by three asterisks, * * *. Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of the book. All changes noted in the CORRIGENDA have been applied to the etext. With a few exceptions noted at the end of the book, variant spellings of place names have not been changed. The tables in this book are best viewed using a monospace font. The LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS was created by the transcriber and has been placed in the public domain. Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. HISTORY OF THE WAR IN THE PENINSULA AND IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE, FROM THE YEAR 1807 TO THE YEAR 1814. BY W. F. P. NAPIER, C. B. LT. COLONEL H. P. FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT. VOL. I. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. MDCCCXXVIII. TO FIELD-MARSHAL THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. This History I dedicate to your Grace, because I have served long enough under your command to feel, why the Soldiers of the Tenth Legion were attached to Cæsar. W. F. P. NAPIER. PREFACE. For six years the Peninsula was devastated by the war of independence. The blood of France, Germany, England, Portugal, and Spain, was shed in the contest; and in each of those countries, authors, desirous of recording the sufferings, or celebrating the valour of their countrymen, have written largely touching that fierce struggle. It may therefore happen that some will demand, why I should again relate “a thrice-told tale?” I answer, that two men observing the same object, will describe it diversely, following the point of view from which either beholds it. That which in the eyes of one is a fair prospect, to the other shall appear a barren waste, and yet neither may see aright! Wherefore, truth being the legitimate object of history, I hold it better that she should be sought for by many than by few, lest, for want of seekers, amongst the mists of prejudice and the false lights of interest, she be lost altogether. That much injustice has been done, and much justice left undone, by those authors who have hitherto written concerning this war, I can assert from personal knowledge of the facts. That I have been able to remedy this without falling into similar errors, is more than I will venture to assume; but I have endeavoured to render as impartial an account of the campaigns in the Peninsula as the feelings which must warp the judgment of a contemporary historian will permit.