New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-12-15
GATHERING WAR NEWS.
MIR. FORBES TELLS HIS EXPERIENCES.


Ills PAPER on BULGARIA RECEIVING MARKED
ATTESrIoN-THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A WAR
CONGRATULATIONS AvowAL BY MIR.
FORBES THAT HR SERVED IN HE RANKS.
| lFRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUSEl
LONDON Dec. 1.-Close upon six feet tall square
| shouldered straight pine tree, soldier every
| inch of him, his bronzed and handsome face close
| shaved all but mOustache, once brown, now gray;
black coat, buttoned across his broad chest on
which row Of military decorations is neatly hung;
the red and white ribbon and cross of St. Stanslas
around his neck-that is Archibald Forbes, once Of
the ROYAL Dragons now war correspondent of The
Daily NeCs, and one Of the four five who have
won fame in the present war. lie is standing be-
| hind desk in the theatre of the Crystal Palace,
| facing a thousand people who have come down from
| London to hear him lecture the Personal EIpe
| rlences of War Correspondent. For once, the
anonymous in English journalism has been broken
| through Mr.. Forbes's name, without any effort OF
his own or any aid from the journal he serves, has
| become known all over England, the European Con-
| tInent ana the United States He has been at home
| for some weeks recruiting; recovering from fever,
in fact, and has been lionized as much a can
be who will not time his feyers and convalescences
| to the London season. The Queen sent for him to
! BalmOral. The Boulevard weekles interviewed
him and published fantastic biographies of him. His
night Mr.. Gladstone has replied in a long speech to
| his famous article in The Nineteenth Century. Mr..
Freeman has replied in long letter to The lines to
| the same article compliments enough to turn a
| mans head accompanying the criticisms bestowed
| on him. Mr.. Gladstone does not shrink from
saving that Mr. Forbes had perhaps sur
! passed every other writer in the brllllancy and
| fidelity of his military descriptions. 1t may, or
NAV not strike You as remarkable that such testl-
mony to the merits of journalist should be
faithfully reported in other journals than the one
! with which Mr.. Forbes is connected. But 1t Is
| thought remarkable here So keen are the rlvarles
between the London newspapers, 80 loftlly do they,
! AZ rule ignore each the existence Of the other,
that il may have cost them pang 10 spread before
their readers the praises OF correspondent on the
staff of what they generally call a contemporary.
! But they did it. The Times which has its moments
of generous impulse, did more. 1t describes Mr.
Forbes "a a gentleman who has won extraordinary
distinction / believe | said long ago that people had
| got into the habit Of asking not what is the news
! from the war but" What il the news from
Forbes 7, That was the common formula Of the streets
and the clubs. / was asked the other day
! i'm Paris, "Whcre ia Forbes nowN and on
| board the channel steamer ~ ! returned, !
! heard a fellow passenger complain that there
| had been no kilograms worth reading since
Forbes had been away He might have made an
exception IN favor of Mr. MacGahans account Of
the taking aud retakng of the Griyitza redOubts,
which was worthy of anybo1y's pen. But it is
| true that the absence Of Forbes from the bat
! lcield has much diminished the interest Of the
average Englishman in the military events in Bull
garia. With his usual Judgment he contr.yed to
fall i'll during a lull. No operations of the first mag
nitude have occurred since his departure and he
means 20 he back in season to see Plevna taken.
Meantime, London is making the most of him. !
heard a worthy Brton relate, in an awe-struck
whisper. how the great Duke of Sutherland had
como all the way from his Castle of Dunrobin, in
Scotland, to see Forbes
The Engllshmans tendency is to oyerdo his hero
worshippmg but in this instance it is not oyerdone
Few people indeed, have any adequate conception
Of Mr. Forbe;s real merits, or OF the qualities aud
capacities which have enabled him To accomplish
his great feats Those who heard his lecture may
understand the matter a little better. Beginning
with the remark that anybody may be war cor
| RESPONDENT he soon narrowed the scope OF that
| observation by enumerating the qualities any
| bodvV must possess The ideal correspondent must
know half dozen languages, understand the art OF
war. he ready to 20 under fire, and keep cool
when there. Mr. Forbes said he himself
had only smattering of two OF three
foreign tongues; had picked up what lie knew
of war from seeing il carried on, and was nervous
under fire that hc had to steady himself by taking
notes indu3trously. man who has made his way
all over the world proved his possession of singular
v clear military talents and received half-a-dozen
orders for gaantry in the field can afford to talk in
that way. He added that correspondent should
be able TO ride hundred miles at stretch, 90 with
out foodIhree days. and never know any slight sink
ingp and at the end of his journey be able TO write
ont five OF six columns at the rate of a column an
bour. in a fair round hand, such as a foreign
telegraph clerk could read and great Lon
don newspaper would think ht to print;
having done which, 1t would be his duty to return
at once to the scene of action That lssmpy an &C
count-though he did not expressly say SOL what
Mr. Forbes has himself done repeatedly during the
last six months He was the first European cOrrc-
spondent to discover that the secret OF getting your
dIspatch forward is to take 1t yourself His rides
from Pleyna to Bucharest, and from Shipka to Bn-
cbares are historical the latter not less SO from
the fact that Mr. Forbes dstanced not only all other
journalists, but the six staff officers whom the EN-
ncrorbad sent up to the Shipa Pass for news His in
teryiews with the Emperor and the Grand Duke have
been described before. He has however the faculty
Of retelling an old story with fresh details Sun
moned before the Emperor, he hesitated moment
an account of his appearance. His clothes, once
white had been worn a fortnight without washing,
and three days and nights without taking of, and
ver. caked with mud aud stained with the blood Of
General Dragimiroff who had been wounded by his
side lie had stubble beard of a weeks growth,
and had not washed face or hands for half that pc
rod. With a touch worthy of Artemus Ward, Mr..
Forbes added that he had not been brought up much
among Emperors but understood they were
narticular about dress-hCnce his hesitation