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Show NAPOLEON'S MIRACULOUS ESCAPES. Be Seemed to 1.5 vein a Charmed Circle and Went About WitU No fc'ear. In reply to the question in what engagements en-gagements he considered himself to havo been in the greatest (fcvager of losing los-ing his life Napoleon onoe said, "In the commencement of my campaigns. " Indeed if further proof were demanded to show that he did not spare himself t Toulon it is only necessary to add eh at, during the 10 weeks of its siege, Napoleon, in addition to a bayonet wound in his thigh, had three horses shot under him, while at the siege of Acre during the expedition o Egypt he lost no fewer than four in the same manner. During the last days of his life, when captivity, disappointment and sickness had well nigh completed their work, it Is said that the agony of his fatal disease dis-ease drew from him on many occasions the pitiful cry of, "Why did the cannon balls spare me?" During his long military career Napoleon Na-poleon fought 60 battles, while Cscsar fought but 50. In the early part of his career he was utterly reckless of danger while on the battlefield, and this spirit of fearlessness contributed largely to the love and esteem in which he was held by his armies. There was a curious belief among the English in Napoleon's time that he had never been wounded, and indeed the report was current that he carefully, if not in a cowardly manner, man-ner, refrained from exposing himself. Nothing could be more contrary to the truth, for he was in reality several times severely wounded, but as he wished wish-ed to impress upon his troops the belief that good fortune never deserted him, and that, like Achilles, he was well uigh invulnerable he always made a secret of his many dangers. He therefore there-fore enjoined once for all upon the part of his immediate staff the most absolute silence regarding all circumstances of this nature, for it is almost impossible to calculate the confusion and disorder which would have resulted from the slightest report or the smallest doubt relative to his existence. Upon the single sin-gle thread of this man's life depended not only the fate and government of a great empire, but the whole policy and destiny of Europe as well. |