ACCIDENT IN HISTORY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 103, 21 October 1911, Page 10

ACCIDENT IN HISTORY.

In Ill's wonderful sketch of the Battle J lit' Waterloo, drawn with touches as bold , and masterful as the crayon strokes in ono of .Michael Audio's cartoons, Victor | tilled describes the fate of the world ;is hanging im the nod of a peasant. When Napoleon was examining the ground on which the English forces were awaiting his attack, he searched every spot carefully with his glass, hut failed to discover tin; sunken road of Ohain, which did not make so much a,s a ripple on the iiillside, so completely was it hidden from view. Turning to the guide, <t peasant of the neighborhood, lie asked if there, were any obstacle to the advance of cavalry. The guide shook his head. The cavalry was ordered to charge. They did so. and Hugo says that two thousand men were Iniried in the -unken road. This he declares to be the beginning of the 'long list of disasters which DETERMINED THE FATE OF NAPOLEON at Waterloo. Had the guide, nodded instead of shaking his head, the cavalry might hate been ordered forward by another route, and the fortune of the i French Emperor and the history of the world might have been changed. As though, however, to counterbalance this, I the same writer says that had the. little I cowboy who acted as guide to Blucher advised him to debouch from the forest j above Frischemont, rather than below Planehenoit, the shaping of the nineteenth century might have been different. Both incidents are probably apocryphal, for only one authority, and he, by hearsay, speaks of the Bluchcr cowboy and the existence of the sunken road of Ohain is disputed by several, who boldly assert that there was no road at the point indicated; but either incident is .significant, as showing by what trifles the course of history is deflected.

According to the testimony of at least two reliable historians of his own time, Attila's invasion of the Western Empire, an event that brought incalculable misery on half of Europe for several years, was brought about by the sheerest accident. From A.D. 445 to 449 Attila was engaged in continued hostilities with the Eastern Empire; but in the latter year, both sides being tired of war, an attempt was made to patch up a treaty. An embassy from the Court of Theodosius was sent to the camp of Attila, and in the party was a young man from Rome, who was of noble* birth and had a sweetheart in the persona of Honoria, a relative of the Roman Imperial family. As lovers have, been known to do, he carried on bis person

A MINIATURE OF HIS SWEETHEART and while the party was in the presence of the savage chief, he chanced to drop the picture out of his pocket. It fell unnoticed in the straw which covered the ground in Attila's tent, where, on the following day, it was found by an attendant and shown to the Hunnish monarch himself. Struck by the beauty of the face, the amorous king enquired in what part of the world such women were to be found, and when told, from the inscription on the back of the picture, that the counterfeit presentment was that of an Italian beauty, he at once made up his mind to go thither. So he started, in 450, with his hordes of Asiatics, ravaged the heart of Europe with fire and sword, marched through a part of Germany into France, and at Chalons encountered one of the most tremendous feats recorded in history. It is presumed that he forgot all about the Roman Honoria after this event, for he retired to Hungary, where he found another beauty, and while celebrating his marriage with her ho died, either by bursting a blood-vessel, as was given out, or by poison.

Thore is the testimony of the Book of Samuel to prove that the history of Israel was materially changed by

A CHANCE WALK TAKEN BY KING DAVID

on the roof of his palace. It was during this promenade that he saw the beautiful Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, the Hittitc ollieer. a mercenary in the royal army, but a faithful soldier; too faithful, it turned out, for his own good, since his bravery was finally utilised to secure his removal. The crime of his blood was, however, amply repaid by the long series of intrigues, revolts, murders and rebellions through which the son of Batshcba was finally established on the throne as David's successor.

An equally casual promenade had consequences quite as momentous for Italy during the second Punic war. Tt was after the great Hannibal had crossed the Alps and entered Italy. The Romans had been defeated at the Tieimis and Trebia. at Lake Thrasymenus, and. worst of all. at Canaan, and Hannibal had taken up winter quarters at Capua. Here he took possession of one of the best, houses in the city for his own use, and. while walking in'the garden, heard a female voice singing not far away. He could understand nothing of what was sung, but was STRUCTv By' THE PLAINTIVE .MELODY. In f he rough-and-ready way of those good old days he commanded the singer to be brought into his presence, and when this was done was so greatly impressed by her appearance that he at nnce took her into his own household, ridding himself of her husband by the simple but effective method of cutting off his head. During the remainder of the winter the time of the great Carthaginian was given up to pleasure; business and discipline were alike neglected, and before spring the Carthaginian army was so demoralised by dissipation and vice that it was never afterwards good for nnvUiinsr, and Hannibal's cause was lost. Jefferson was fond of telling a story which illustrates in a forcible manner the importance that absurdly insignificant matters may sometimes assume. When the deliberate body that gave the world THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE was in session, its proceedings were condueled in :i ha!! close to which was a livery stable. The weather was warm, and from the stable, came swarms of flies that lighted on the legs of the honorable members, and. biting through the tiling -ilk -tnekinps. (lieu in fashion, gave infinite annoyance. tt was no uncommon sight, said Jefferson, to see a member making a, speech with a large handkerchief in hand, and pausing at every moment to .thrash the flies from his thinly-protected calves. The opinion of the body was not unanimously in favor of the document, and. under other circumstances, discussion migiit have been protracted for days, if not weeks; but the Hies were intolerable. Efforts were made to find Another hall, free from the pests, but in vain. As the weather became warmer, the Hies grew worse, and the flapping of handkerchiefs was heard all over the hall as an accompaniment to (he voices of the speakers. Tn despair, at, last someone suggested that matters be hurried so that the body might adjourn ana get away from the flies. There were a. few mild protests, but no one heeded them, the immortal Declaration was hurriedly copied, and, with

I IIANDKEIiCIIIKFS IN HAND. FlliiiTlNU FLIES as they came, the members hastened up ! to the table to sign the authentic copy and leave the Hies" m the lurch. Had it 1 not been for the livery-stable and its ' inmates, there is no telling when the document would have been completed, but it certainly would not have been signed on "the fourth." Two historians of the time of Henry VIIF. of England are responsible for the statement that a lost horseshoe changed the religious and more than possibly the political history of this country. After the fall of Anne Boleyn, and when her death had been determined, the Papacy prepared terms of reconciliation so favorable in every particular to Henry, and so fluttering to the vanity nf which he possessed rather more than a due share, that it was impossible for him not to accept them. A delegate was despatched from Rome with the proposals, and rode post-haste across Europe with them. When only a day's journey from Calais, however, bis horse cast a shoe and fell lame. As the horse was a favorite animal, the Papal messenger determined to wait for a day rather than take another steed, which might not be go easy under the saddle. The next day the horse was well and the journey was resumed, Calais was reached, the Chan- | uel was crossed, and the delegate arrived I I in London only to find that on the day I of his arrival Henry had been married I j to Jane Seymour, a Protestant; that

ANNE HAD BEEN BEHEADED THE DAY BEFORE; and that all hope of a reconciliation was lost. He was a day too late. A lost horseshoe had changed the course of a nation's history. A similar mishap is said to have been responsible for the arrest and detention of Louis XVI. at Varennes. A guard of cavalry had been sent to meet him at the village and escort him in safety across the frontier. One of the horses drawing the royal carriage became lame from the loss of a shoe, and the royal party was detained. Meantime, the cavalry escort, fearful of attracting too much attention at the village, withdrew to a bridge a few hundred yards distant, and on the opposite side from which the king was expected, and there awaited his arrival. The delay and change were fatal. The King was recognised, the party was detained; the. cavalry, becom ing tired of waiting, and supposing that the King had taken some other route, rode off, and Louis went back to Paris and the scaffold.

History records one war that was caused by a glass of water which the English Ambassador procured for a celebrated French beauty at the Paris Court; and of a treaty, that of Utrecht, which was

BROUGHT ON BY A QUARREL between Queen Anne and the Duchess of Marlborough about a pair of gloves. Odder than either, however, was the cause of the great Hundred Years' War between England and France, which impoverished both. It was in this wise: Louis VII. was no saint, but, so far as the ladies were, concerned, had a weakness that was constantly securing for him penances of one kind or another at the hands of his confessor. Finally, he was guilty of some peccadilloes so very bad that the reverent -father ordered him to have his luxuriant beard shaved off and his flowing locks cropped short. This was done, and the change made in the personal appearance of his Majesty of France was so startling that when his Queen, the already not-too-faithful Eleanor, came into his presence, she laughed aloud at the spectacle. The poor king could not explain matters, for the explanation would have made a worse appearance than hia close-cropped poll, so he was forced in silence to endure her gibes. If she had stopped at ridicule, the matter might have ended, there and then and been forgotten when his beard and hair were grown; but he was rendered so contemptible In her sight that she openly kept company with the Count of Anjou, then a nobleman of the Court. The shaven King stood the disgrace as long as he could; but matters went from bad to worse, and finally he sent to the Pope the evidence in the case, and succeeded in having the MARRIAGE DECLARED INVALID. Eleanor, then, finding herself free, married her lover, who afterwards became Henry If. of England. When she came to the throne of Louis, however, she had brought as her dower the rich provinces nf Poitou and Guienne, and after her divorce from Louis sought to reclaim them. To this, however, Louis would by no means consent; he was glad enough to get rid of the Queen, but he was eager to keep her dowry. Henry pressed his wife's claims to the provinces, and then came on the series of war which not only lasted for a century, but left annniniosity not yet extinct. Everybody has heard of the chance which led Columbus to change his course in mid-ocean, and thus leave North America for the British to settle; but everybody has not heard of the game of chess which led the Spanish monarch to take an interest in the explorer and espouse his cause. It is a Spanish tradition that the fate of Columbus once hung upon a game of chess. For vears the schemer had HAUNTED THE SPANISH COURT,

trying to interest someone in bis cause; but at last, despairingly, he determined to leave and go to France. The night before his intended departure he sought an audience of the Queen, to communicate bis intention and to take his leave. The Queen asked him to wait while she left to speak with the King. She found Ferdinand engaged in a game of chess, and, disturbing him by her entrance, and thus causing him to lose a piece, he let fly a volley of oaths at seamen generally and at Columbus in particular, and then informed Isabella that the result of her petition would depend on the result of the game. It grew worse, and things looked blue, for the discoverer of America: but Isabella, overlooking the board, whispered to his Majesty a suggestion as to a move that, could be made. The King adopted the suggestion, and America was saved.

Tt is si queer story, but no stranger than the one told in Rome nt the time Hie divorce of Henry VTIT. was under discussion, that the negotiations were broken off by

THE EARL OE WILTSHIRE'S DOG. This unmannerly animal had followed bis master into the Court, and when the ponliir. jit the close of the audience, put out his foot to be kissed by the Earl, the dog bit it. and so angered the l'ope and horrified the Court that the negotiations were suspended. The story may be true or false, but in cither case is an excellent demonstration of the value of a. trifle, when the (rifle occurs in the life of an exalted personage, and gives point to the remark made by Paschal along the same line, that if tin' nose of Cleopatra h«d been an inch longer or shorter, the course of (lie world's history might have been materially changed.