The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-09 00:00:00

THE GERMAN LEGION.

(From the Dublin, Evening Mail.)

Who shall deny that "it is a good thing to have a
friend at Court t The officers and soldiers of the British
German Legion, we are sure, will be the last to con-
trovert that sound axiom ; for the contrast of their
sunny prospects with the unfriended and outcast condi-
tion of the poor Italian Legionaries, discharged from the
same service, cannot fail to bring its value home to
their business and their bosoms. They have read in
the public, journals how the discharged soldiers of the
Italian baud have been laid hold upon, wherever Aus-
trian malevolence could set its vindictive claws upon
them, and handed over to the tender mercies of a court-
martial, for having presumed to serve the Queen of Eng-
land in the late war, and they should bless their stars
that a like fate does not await themselves. For, assur-
edly, had our Teutonic auxiliaries been sent adrift in the
same manner, they would have received similar treat-
men in Faderland. Whether they bent their steps to-
wards Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony; Baden, or Hanover it-
self, cool quarters and a hard dungeon floor would have
been their welcome home in all those regions. But their
services have been so sumptuously appreciated, that the
most meritorious and the most favoured veterans of
our own native troops will have cause to lament, to their
dying hour, that they were not born in Germany. An
asylum has been secured for them' at the public expense
far surpassing in liberality and provident care all that
was ever before done for any British colonists.
German auxiliaries—officers and men—if they elect to
become settlers at the Cape in preference to the articles
of capitulation under which they entered her Majesty'S
service, are to enjoy their fell pay and allowance up to
the day of embarkation for their new homes. - A free
passage will, of course, be given them, with a mess for
the officers and plentiful food for the men during the
voyage. They will take with them their arms,. aocou-
traatente, uniforms,and camp equipage, together with a
canvas suit to be worn on board ship. That. camp equi-
page, be it remembered, was originally supplied to them
free of charge, while the British regiments were obliged
to pay dearly for every article they were furnished withal ;
and the untoward occurrences at Nenagh makes it
unnecessary to point out how much more considerately
these foreigners have been used in the article of " uni-
form" than the unfortunate sans culotte poor relations
of Tipperary. Oh, surely it is a very fine thing to be
a cousin German I

Arrived in South Africa, these interesting emigrants
will not be turned out upon the shore, like English or
Irish free settlers, to forage for themselves, but rations
for one year, or, at their option, a commuted allowance
in money, will be served out, and from the day of their
setting foot on the dry land, pay at the following rates
per day will be granted them for three years :
Pay of colour serjeant
Serjeant .,.... Os. 11d.
Corporal
Private

Moreover, that they may have a full and immediate
enjoyment of the provisions generously granted by the
bounty of the State, an outfit of 51. per man is to be lent
them, for the purchase of cooking utensils and tools.
This advance they may repay during the second and third
years of service. And although at first, for the want of
ready-made houses, they must be content to abide i❑
their tents, yet they will soon be in a condition to change
that Government canvas to winnowing sheets and rick
covers ; for a farther allowance of 201. to Each non-com-
missioned officer, and of 181. to each private, will be dis-
bursed for the building of &cottage, which cottage, along
with the allotment of land on which it stands, bhall be
held rent free for seven years—should the tenant prove
conformable all the while, and not fraternise with the
Kafirs. After that probation it shall be "his and his
heirs' for ever." Nothing more is required of them, in
order to become owners in fee simple of houses and lands,
than that fora certain period they shall follow a peace-
ful and industrious course of life, endeavouring to avoid
those violent and dishonest practices by which alone they
have distinguished themselves since they took up arms
in the service of the British Crown.
Nor is this all. The wives and children of married
soldiers, whether now resident in theßritish dominions or
in Germany, shall be carried out and rationed, every frau
and every fraulein of them, at the cost and charges of the
British exchequer. Nay, to the unmarried soldier is
allowed the privilege of sending to Germany for "the girl
he left behind him," and if she is willing to go "the same
indulgence will be extended" in the way of a free passage
and rations, and right of inheritance to her likewise, and
to her future children, as to existing wives and to their
families.

Commissioned officers, who may feel disposed to ac-
company the men, will be provided for after the manner
detailed above, but of course on a higher scale—half-pay
being insured to them for three years after landing in
the colony, and tree grants of land of the value of 3001.,
2001., and 1001, being offered to the field-officers, cap-
tains, and subalterns, according to their several ranks.
Building allowances will also be made to them in nearly
the same proportions; 2001. being awarded to the supe-
rior officers, 1501. to the captain, and 1001. to the sub.
Their families likewise, with a female servant to each, if
required, will be conveyed to the settlement " free of
expense for passage or provisions."
E.,' not all things show, as we have said, what a mighty
fine thing it is to have a friend at Court.
Tho last review of the German Legion took place at
Wivenhoe on Wednesday week, when their commander,
Baron Von Stutterheim, pronounced an eloquent vale-
dictory address. The baron's name is an odd one for an
orator, nevertheless he "did not hesitate" to utter these
words :—" I consider it my duty to thank you for the
good behaviour you have exhibited from the first moment
of your arrival in this country down to the present time.
I thank you again from my heart for your good con-
duot, which has proved that yon are an honour to
your Fatherland I"
This, it must be confessed, is a very bold style of ora-
tory, unequalled, perhaps, on English ground since the
immortal Kirk took leave of his "Lambs." The rat-
tling tongue of saucy and audacious eloquence would be
hard pressed to go beyond-it.
The reader will not be surprised to learn that soldiers
of such admirable repute are in high request all over the
continent, and that King Bomba especially has already
bid so high as 50 dollars a piece to induce them to enter
his service. The fine spirit they displayed in attacking
the gallant 41st, after its return from the Crimea, has no
doubt inspired his Sulphuric Majesty with a lively con-
fidence in the zeal with which they would use their arms
against any other subject of Queen Victoria.
" At present (says a London paper) it is by no means
certain that any considerable number of them will accept
the terms, however liberal these may be, offered by the
Government to enable them to settle in British Kat%
fraria. It is rumoured that the agents of the King of
Naples, with a view to coming events, are already offer-
ing the men a bounty of 40 dollars a piece as an induce-
ment to enter his service. It is said, with perhaps more
certainty, that the Dutch are also holding out to them a
premium of Si. to emigrate to their colony of Batavia,
to recruit their military forces, now comparatively weak,
from deaths and other casualties. France, too, and the
Argentine Republic, it is suspected, have each an eye on
these soldiers of fortune, who are now, on the first flush
of peace, being disbanded by the English Government.
In addition to all this, some of the revolutionary class of
political refugees, both in this country and on the conti-
nent, counting on the men of the Legion being useful at
some time in carrying out their designs, are striving to
dissuade them from leaving Europe, alleging that the
British Government are only sending them out to the
Cape as food for Kafirs."