Napoleon, you know, had promised that he'd keep his agreement with God
to himself. That's the reason why his companions and even his particular
friends--men like Duroc, Bessieres, and Lannes, who were strong as bars
of steel, but whom he molded to suit his purposes--all fell, like nuts
from a shaken tree, while he himself was never even hurt.
But that's not the only proof that he was the child of God and was
expressly created to be the father of soldiers. Did anybody ever see him
a lieutenant? Or a captain? Never! He was commander-in-chief from the
start. When he didn't look more than twenty-four years of age he was
already an old general--ever since the taking of Toulon, where he first
began to show the rest of them that they didn't know anything about the
handling of cannon.
Well, soon after that, down comes this stripling to us as
general-in-chief of the Army of Italy--an army that hadn't any
ammunition, or bread, or shoes, or coats; a wretched army--naked as a
worm.
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