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Author's remarks.

Author's re

marks as to facts from history.

that leads to fortune' so also there is a moment in the din and uproar of battle which, taken advantage of, leads to victory. Yet, alas! how often has that auspicious moment passed unregarded? EMPIRES have declined in consequence of the oversight. From the 'golden mines of history' we have dug up a considerable quantity of the 'ore of facts' which we have melted down in the 'crucible of analysis,' and we now present the pure metal, devoid of dross, for the inspection of our readers. Napoleon said, 'In all battles a moment occurs when the bravest troops, after having made the greatest efforts, feel disposed to fly. That terror proceeds from a want of confidence in their own courage, and it only requires a slight opportunity,-a pretence,—to restore confidence to them. The great art is to give rise to the opportunity, and to invent the pretence.' The battle of Thus it was that he won the battle of Arcole

Napoleon on panic in battle.

Arcole.

Napoleon's remarks.

with only twenty-five horsemen; seizing that moment of lassitude in the two armies to charge down on the Austrians, who, perfectly astonished, cried out, 'Here are the French cavalry,' and fled! On this wonderful success Napoleon remarks: 'It is true the proper moment must be seized; one moment sooner or later, that attempt would have proved useless, even though I had sent 2,000 horse.' Both armies were tired, and

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the extra endurance on the part of the French, at the critical moment, finished the affair.

From this a lesson may be learnt by every A lesson to

soldiers to

make extra

ordinary efforts

at the last.

commander-one proved by all battles, more or less, viz. that after hard fighting that side is generally victorious whose extraordinary efforts are made at the last. Both sides being tired, nothing causes the fatigued infantry soldier greater despondency than to observe his enemy still stubbornly advancing, or holding his ground against attack. Napoleon was well aware of this and said that the British did not know when they were beaten.' His last effort at Waterloo was Napoleon's

last effort at

remarks.

made with the very object of causing this despond- Waterloo. ency, knowing that when it once sets in, men give way; though the plan failed against the British soldier. At Sedan, where the Emperor could not get 25,000 men for a final and desperate rush, the truth of the axiom was again painfully proved. Hence the necessity (as Colonel Col. Hamley's Hamley says) of bringing at a certain point of the battle-field a superior number of troops to bear upon the enemy,' viz., to have fresh men (even if less in number, we think) to dash at a tired and jaded foe. For this reason he urges the use of the Reserve at certain times. Napoleon always had his troops in selected and admirable positions, and ever ready to be hurled at

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