Note 42 — Chapter XV · (continued 2)

The historian of Marshal Soult’s campaigns in 1809 states the loss of the French at 150 killed and 500 wounded. They were successful on all points, he says; the victory was decided, and if the action had begun earlier, and if the ground had permitted the cavalry to charge, c’en était fait de cette armée Anglaise. These are modest mis-statements in an author who asserts that, in the hope of impeding the French in their pursuit, the English conceived the horrible intention of blowing up the town of Betanzos, where the inhabitants had received them as allies; and that for this purpose they deposited six thousand weight of powder on the ground floor of the town-house and set fire to the four quarters of the town!!