The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-01-14
BAKER PASHA.
One Of the Greatest Cavalrymen Of
the Time.

One Of the Greatest Cavalrymen O,
the Time.
"Few know 50 many friends alive as dead. "
| The greatest cavalry soldier Of our time, In
the estimation of experts, writes a gentleman
to The New York Times, has gone to his rest,
after life at one time full of the highest prom
Use, then blasted BY momentary frailty, then
redeemed By heroic labor and exalted courage.
Valentine Baker, when first saw him, was al
the head OF cavalry brigade in the Long val'
ley at Aldefshot The inspector general Of
cavalry was away on a tour of inspection, and
camp. The brigade consisted of only nine
squadrons, but they were here, there and eve
rywhere-the eyes and tentacles of the force
to which he was attached. He drew on the
enemy by series of most sudacious displays
of files till he got them BY persistent harassing
to attack Eelmore hill, and then he had them
for not only id he then reveal q battalion
: and q couple or three light guns, but while
they we're engaging the infantry and artillery
he had swooped away far to the northwa I'd
and came down in theft rear like the wolf on
the fold When next I saw him he was In
charge Of the gendarmerie of Turkey. The
war had lasted little more than week, but
he was burning to be at the front As a gen.
darmerie officer he had, of course, no military
status, as by nationality a neutral he was
liable to be shot If captured doing military
work. But he got there all the same. Fer q
long time he was kept at his gendarmerie
work, in spite of the need OF his services on
the Danube, and he kept on hoping that En-
gland would interfere, and that he would thus
indirectly get back to the comma nd of British
troops serving with the Turks as indeed he
ultimately did at rokar near Suakim. But at
last he made up his mind that no help for the
the Ottoman empire was to be looked for from
the British government and once more pres
sing his suit for employment be was at length
sent to the front In the nominal capacity OF
legal adviser to Mehemet Ali on the LON.
Mehemet Ali, himself a Russian Pole by origin,
though cOnf0rmist to Islam but was willing
to utilize his services in the direct ton OF hand
ling the few and very inferior cavalry he pos
scssed. Baker at once called up number OF
the gendarmerie officers from ConstantinOple,
and they made the most of the force at their
disposal. Skobelef afterward admitted that he
was delayed two whole days in his advance,
In his belief that he had In front of him at
least division when Baker and Col. Norton
had not really got fifty spears-I forget
whether 1t was at Taskurgan or Tashkersen.
When next l saw him he was lieutenant
general commanding, under Ghazi Ahmed
Mouktar Pasha, and on an equal footing with
Reouf Pasha, a moity of the lines On the sec
ond line of defense of Constantinople, the
first having been given up by the treason Of
Safvet Pasha without a fight 1t can not be
denied that Moukhtor--a pure Turks q
good man, and that Reouf-a pure Circassian
lis also good man; but in energy Baker
outdid them both. Never were so many de-
fensive works designed and carried out in two
days as he executed, and although some Of
them, when inspected after the armistice,
were found to be full of technical faults, and
the KEY of them actually commanded by an
unfortified knoll, yet that Sdbreur should
have got them done in the time at his disposal
was one of the most remarkable feats of
very remarkable war. One evening during the
armlstice left Constantinople aud slept at
Therapia on the Bosphorus. Early the next
morning went up to the Black sea and pro-
ceeded down the neutral ground between the
Turkish and Russian fronts 80 as to get every
detail OF the terrain into my head. being con-
WINGED that England would never allow the
proposed conditions to be earricd out, aud
that there would be heavy fighting within a
week. There was no interference from either
the Russian or the Turkish outposts until
I got to a village called Pyrnaly Kedsche,
where the aqueduct Of Justinian crosses the
valley leading from Pyrgos to the Golden
Horn. There l was intercepted by some Turk-
ish gendarmes, whose officer quite properly,
wOnid listen to no explanations and hauled
me before Baker Pasha, who was at first very
severe, imputing to me that ], Of all men,
SHOULD not have violated Moukhtar Pasha's
orders that no one should go in front of the
outposts. As soon as l got word In edge
ways and referred him to Moukhtar, he tele-
graphed to the field marshal, and meanwhile
gave me a capital luncheon at Daoud Pasha
barracks. A few days later | hal the pleas
ure of Introducing Baker Pasha and Gen.
lnfF 70 In, Ia ait,ty,
of the Club Commercial and Maritime,-now
the Club de Constantinople, and never l
see two men take to one another at sight as
they did. When little later, Skobeleff did
me the honor to dine with me- Baker having
accepted an invitation, but being detained bv
Bakers unfortunate absence that poor Mac
Gahan, who could take liberties with Skobe-
left, as an old chum, SAID: "But you came
here to dine with our host. not with Baker
Pashap' Whenever they met afterward these
two great soldiers had plenty to say, and it
was essy to see that Skobeeff reckoned Baker
as at least upon his own level.
In the autumn of 1884, en- route to the Sou
dan, 1 had the pleasure OF travelling with Mrs.
Baker and her eldest daughter from Ply
mouth to Ismailia in an Orient steamer and
on to Cairo. / had known her slightly in
Constantinople six years before, and we had
much to say about old times and old friends.
But we were never in want of a subject when
when "the general. )" as she loved to call him
remained. A thoroughly devoted and wholly
reconcled wife, she had but one man to live
for, and when at Cairo | called to pay nv
adieus before going up the Nile, / could not
help thinking that never had seen couple
so completely imbued soul to soil as Baker
Pasha and his portlv but beautiful and grace
full wife. In the course of the winter the love-
ly girl whom Mrs. Baker had in September
brought out from England sickened in Cairo
with typhoid fever and diel. Her mother re-
fusing to leave Egypt, was sent up the Nile to
Assouan for change, in the hope that she
would learn to forget her bereavement. But
alas she, too. fell victim to typhoid and
died on the isle of Elephanta. The following
April I returned to Cairo on Good Friday
night and on the Saturday called on Baker.
He was awfully broken in frame and in spirit.
He could say little but "Ah, you knew her;
YOU knew iler!" The next day being Easter
dav went to the O'Clock early service at All
Saints, Cairo, and there saw kneeing, hum
BILE Christian soul at the alter steps, and re-
ceiving the 'Blest Memorial" Valentine
Baker. As we came out he looked twenty
years older than he had the previous fall, and,
though did not purpose to speak to him, he
pressed my hand warmly and repeated: "Ah,
you knew her; You knew herm Then, lean
ing on the arm of his only surviving daughter,
he entered his carriage and saw him never
more.
He. like his wife and daughter, has died of
fever, and it may be hoped he will be laid In
the beautiful little waled-iu British cemetery
at Tel ell Kebir, where he breathed his last,
and where exiled from the army he adorned,
he may at least sleep the sleep that knows no
waking among the British soldiers who adored