Note 120 — Chapter XIII · THE PENINSULAR WAR

[Napier,b while admitting the harshness of Masséna’s deeds, blames the Portuguese peasantry for many atrocities, and says that at least one of the worst outrages blamed upon Masséna’s men—the pulling to pieces of João I’s body—was actually done by the British themselves. Many of the charges against the French he declares not only slanderous but impossible.]