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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, becauseI have served long enough under yourcommand to feel, why the Soldiers of theTenth Legion were attached to Cæsar.
W. F. P. NAPIER.
For six years the Peninsula was devastated by thewar of independence. The blood of France, Germany,England, Portugal, and Spain, was shed in the contest;and in each of those countries, authors, desirousof recording the sufferings, or celebrating the valourof their countrymen, have written largely touching thatfierce struggle. It may therefore happen that somewill demand, why I should again relate “a thrice-toldtale?” I answer, that two men observing the sameobject, will describe it diversely, following the pointof view from which either beholds it. That whichin the eyes of one is a fair prospect, to the other shallappear 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 manythan by few, lest, for want of seekers, amongst themists of prejudice and the false lights of interest, shebe lost altogether.
That much injustice has been done, and much justiceleft undone, by those authors who have hithertowritten concerning this war, I can assert from personalknowledge of the facts. That I have been ableto remedy this without falling into similar errors, ismore than I will venture to assume; but I have endeavouredto render as impartial an account of the...