The New York herald., 1879-08-06


as special correspondent and accepted. He went
| first down to the army of Bourbaki. and Joined it
to the defeat of the latter the Swiss
frontier. Thence he sent to the army of General
Chanzy and subsequently to Bordeaux where he re-
manned till the siege of Paris At the conclusion OF
the MacGahan started for Paris and got there at
daybreak The 18th March, 1871. at the time when
harricades were being constructed IN the neg hpor
hood the Place Pigae the chief forces or the
| Communists concentrated near the Quarter
! Montmartre. 1t was the memorable day OF the
attack on Montnartre. which led TO olooay
street fight and crowded streets join
| ing the "Boulevard's extereur. MacGahan stayed
among the Communists till the beginning OF june
that Is, the entrance OF the government army
in the capital. His letters to the NEW YORK HERALD
y ahparH he oatsn severely etcsed in them
the orders of the generals OF the Commune VINO
chiefly belonged to the class of ordinary citizens and
had u very dim idea OF the science of war. Mac
Gahan besides could very well syinpatinze WITH tne
principle OF the movement. that is 70 say Win .na
] which brought about the Commune; but no couid
not sympathize with the terror which mas proved III
| every land TO be the most terrible or desPotasms
lie could not sympathiZe with the fact that the Com
| mune was making civil war at the time when the
/ fatherland being crushed in the struggle with
| the Germans. And to his being well received py
| the Communists he could rot help it, His bright
and lively temper made him welcome wherever he
went.
| He had often his place ut the table OF General
Bergeret at the headqnarters ana Domorousky USED
to take hum with him almost every time when any
| thing serious was about to be done. And many
times during these excursions nc escaped death only
| by hairs breadth But he seldom recurred
| 20 the past dangers which he had experienced
| When the Versailles troops entered Paris. Mac
(iahan was arrested and put in prison, where he
manned awaiting every minute his sentence OF DEATH
This foretaste of the risks TO which the career
he had adopted exposed HIM being arrested in fact
became quite "a common and ordinary experience to
him in later times. Owing to the intervention OF
the American Envoy Macliahan finally set at
liberty Order being restored in France MacGahan
spent the summer in different parts OF Europe
sending letters to the NEW York HERALD In the
autumn OF 1871 he received orders to go to Russia
He first set foot our soil in October. going to
Odessa and thence to Yalta. in the Crimea. having
ir,kr haA
to the Court then staying at Livadia, the summer
residence of the Gar. 1t was quite accidental
then staying at Yalta. Had he happened to come
direct to st. Petersburg he would probably have
borne away quite different impression OF Russian
society.
coURTIERs.
But things were different in the Crirnea. Nobody
had anything to do there; the time passed slowly
and every seemed bored because OF the retired
life which the Court led. and it quite natural
that the appearance OF an American correspondent
should from the first to excite some interest
tor the stranger among the gentlemen belonging to
the suite. The stranger had, besides just witnessed
the dreadful struggles in Franco, the of
which followed with such intense interest by
Russian society. He spoke freely about his expert
cnce Paris and his Impressions regarding all he
had seen. and his lively. graphic manner OF nara
tion was well adapted to rouse the int,
rest Of the most phlegmatic listener. All
Of us at that time sympathized with France
The good feeling. existing between MacGahan
an accident which happened to him there. The
young aide-de-camp OF the Governor General
lean all the remarkable sites OF the beautiful coast
| and once took him over to the watershed. Climb
ing up the rocks MacGahan lost his equilibrium, fell
down and broke his foot and in conseq OF this
accident he was confined to his bed for almost three
| weeks. The young men. who had already taken
liking him. did not forsake him in his Illness and
| the sick chamber subsequently assumed the appear
ance of club room. where every man with nothing
| to dO-and OF those there were many-might be met
and where the most lively conversations took place.
At the end of November the Court returned to the
| capital and MacGahan went with the new frends he
! had
universe, favorite during the whole period Of his
| THE RIDE TO KHIvA.
The succeeding part of MacGahan's career pre-
sents but little interest to u.s. He spent the winter
of l811-72 at Petersburg vert in the spring to the
| Caucasus in order to meet General Sherman. then
came back to Petersburg. In the summer Of 1872 he
ordered to be present at the meeting of the
| ference ON the Alabama question. in Geneva. and
afterward led wandering life, going about Europe
! whittier events called him. When it
| nounced that Russia intended to send an expeui-
| ton against Khiva in the spring of 1873 there
| information to this campaign in the remote and
mysterious land. But the Russian authorities did
not deem fit to allow English correspondents to ac
company their army. Most of the journals. met by
this preliminary difficulty. abandoned the idea alto
gether; and the single English correspondent who
did persevere did not get any distance on his
journey. Very different was the action Of the
American correspondent. He laughed at prohibit
tions penetrated to point after point, pursued the
greater part OF the time by squadron of Cossacks
who had orders to bring him back. 1t is impossible
too Shy prlse n sna or hraa
whom he could not understand and who
aid not understand him, slightly armed
| and indifferently provisoned, he made the
march through the terrible desert. where at every
step death threatened him in the form of sunstroke
| thirst massacre. And the journey was darkened
by the daily increasing dread of complete failure.
Day after day he rode on his weary way without
finding himself closer to Kaufman. and it was not
till day of his pursuit that he
took the Russian General. Thus did this single man
i'll performing journey which several fully equipped
expeditions had failed to accomplish. The story Of
hIs adventures was told in one of the most
picturesque books of travel ever published, o
| work which has already passed through several
editions, and which, at the time of its appearance
| received with unbounded praise by the English
press. That work is the Campaigning the Oxus
| and the Fall OF Khiva." All of keenly
terested in MacGahan trip Central Asia. and you
will readily recollect how much admired the un-
abated courage and wonderful displayed
by him in that difficult time.
| sKoBELETT.
1t was during this expedition that Mac(iahan first
met skobelef, and then arose that mutual good feel
ing between the two men which developed itself i'll
true friendship in later times. There were few men
of whom MacGahan would talk with such delight
Skobelef lie would spend hours in relating the
feats of the daring general After the fashion of all
superior men MacGahan quite forgot his own feats
when speaking OF Skobelen. He admired him, was
frequently astonished at his desperate bravery. al
ways defended him warmly against host of
| opponents. and, indeed loved him more. perhaps.
than any other man besides his own relatives
Hearing his animated stories about Scobelen one
wcs compelled to believe in him.
| CARLIsT WAR.
AIacGahan returned from Khiva in October.
1873, and some three weeks afterward received
order to join the American squadron at
Nice and proceed thence to Cuba, where at
the time there had arisen some complications of
interest to America. He returned to London in
March. 1874. after having paid visit of several days
to his home in America. He hastencd to return to
Europe in order to write book about his trip to
Central Asia. He worked very hard for some
months over it. and always spoke Of that time
afterward Of the happiest time of his life.
For the meantime, civil war broke out in Spain. and
in july 1874. MacOahan, having received order
from the HERALD to join the army of Don Carlos.
went to Spain aud spont the ten following months in
the Pyrenees, almost continually in the saddle and
sleeping ut night in the open air. He fell ono day
into the hands of the republicans. and their being
uncvil toward him he committed the imprudence
OF telling thcm his mind in voley OF choice Span
| ish abuse wherefore he was Immediately taken and
! las he used to the Carlist bcrctt sent to
| colonel. The fare shared by his compan-
ion Mr. Buckland. They passed whole day and