The morning news., 1899-12-30
MODERN SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE.
Men Who Have Served Under More
Than One Flag i'm This Century.

In the Tranvaal to-day the soldier of
fortune is making his last stand. No
other country in the world is likely to Of
fer the aiken adventurer OF the future
the same positions and profit that have
hitherto been the portion of Schiel, Won
Albrecht and the other European mer-
oenaries of Krugerdom. And in this very
fact We may see the decline of the sol
dier of fortune, if We compare his gains
with the co.oSsal harvests OF his prede-
cessors in history. Perron, the wonderful
Frenchman who commanded the Mahratta
army, arrived In Hindustan a pennyiess
petty officer from a man-O'-war and in
nine years had amassed between one and
two millions sterling. Even more rapid
was the progress of Col Hannay who
had TO leave John Companys" service
TO avoid bailiffs. He entered the service
of the Nawab Wazir of Dude in IT'S, and
left il after three years with a fortune
of 100000. Many other French and Eng
lish adventurers We're nearly as lucky.
Al that time there was not the prejudice
against these mercenary swords which
the military ethics OF modern Europe have
fostered. Few foreigners have risen TO
eminence in the English service but large
numbers of aliens were recruited FOR us
IN the Napoleonic wars. Besides the fam
Gus Hessians, there were the French
Chasseurs Britannlque. three Swiss regi-
ments, the Corsican Rangers. and the
Greek Light Infantry. In the Crimeau
War German legion was recruited in
Hehgoland. but they never distinguished
themselves on the field and the precedent
is not likely to be followed.
In spite of the chilling effect of modern
ideas. the soldiers of fortune of the nine
teenth century form a picturesque gallery
heroes and rascals, Fenians and royal
lists. Some of them. like Lord Cochrane
and Hobart Pasha, have established them
selves on a higher plane than the mer-
cenary can usually hope to occupy. The
formers brilliant record with the Eng
lish, Gillian. Brazilian and Greek navies
in turn is probably, unique. though Paul
Jones may be set down as a bad second.
The eX-apprentice of a Whitehaven coll
lier, who was the most successful Ameri-
can naval officer in the war of independ-
ence, and held command thereafter in the
French, and then in the Russian navy, is
not the heroic figure which modern eulo-
gists in the United States like to picture.
but he was fine seaman and a gallant
fighter. In fact he was the typical sol
dier of fortune (for the accident that he
fought at sea does not rob him of his
place In that gallery.
The revolutionary wars of the continent
have naturally attracted many of these
adventurers. Count Ilinski was a Pole,
who fought the Russians in his native
land, and when all was lost took service
under Schamyl, Prince of Circassia. The
Hungarian war of independence in 1S4S
next employed his desperate valor, and a
Temeswar he had three horses killed un-
der him Finally, he became a colonel of
a Turkish cuirassier regiment, and was
known as Iskander Bey. In the Hunga-
rian revolt, Gen. Guyon, an Engllshman,
was a famous figure, and at Tymau he
held his ground until he had lost three
fourths of his battalion and the village
streets were teemng with blood. less
attractive personality is Gen. Cluseret.
who served as a captain in the French
army in Algeria then under Fremont in
the American Civil War; was next
Fenian general" and then war minister
under the Commune. Dombrowski, anoth-
er general" in the Commune, and far
abler and braVer man than the eX-Fe-
nian, had fought in Poland and under
Garibaldi. He was killed at the barri-
cades in 1871. Among continental forces OF
aliens one ought to mention the French
Foreign Legion, which still includes the
runaway aristocrats and broken men OF
half Europe, and the Irish Brigade which
fought for the Pope in 1860 under the
| command of Mai Myles OReilly, M. p.
An old soldier of the Papal Zouaves an
| other Irishman, is now Gen. Coppinger of
| the United States army. Garibaidt him
| self is of course, entitled to a niche in
this gallery of fame, and his son Ricciotu
has. since his italian campaigns, fought
for France in 1870 and for Greece in 1897
in both bravely fighting for lost cause
The New World offers us condottieri of
a new type like Walker the filibuster,
who became dictator of Nicaragua. and
might have ruled Honduras but for
British man-o' war. Gen. Caroll-Teviss,
who served in the Franco-Prussian war
nj q
giles, was Fenian hero. So was Capt.
John McAfferty, who served In the Mexi-
can War of 1856, and was then an officer in
fhe Confederate Army. He was in all the
Fenan plots Of 1S66-67. and was twice tried
| here for treason-felony. He was acquit-
ted at one. trial, and amnestied after the
second leniency which he repaid by re-
newed activity in the ranks of the Clan
na-Gael He was said to be the real mo.
1" behind the Phoenix Park murders
Egypt has employed many aliens Mu-
Finger Bey was a Swiss who had been
British consul at Massowah; Gesst Pasha,
an Italian who, after serving as interpre-
ter 10 the English army In the Crimea,
became Gordon's lieutenant in the Sou
dan, and smashed the slave-hunters revolt
I'm Darfur. Loring Pasha was an Ameri-
can soldier, Lupton Bey. governor of the
Bahr-el-Gazel, who died in the Mahdfs
dungeons, an Englishman. Slatin and
Etnin were both AustrlanS.
In more recent years we have had Gen.
Kohnes, an ex-major in the Germ an
Army. who landed cargo Of Mannlcher
rifles for the Chilian Congressionalisi $,
drilled their troops. and defeated Balma-
cedaa. Gen. Ronald McIver, a Scotsman.
who has served under fourteen flags
from the Confederate to the Carlist is an
other roaming Briton, like Kaid Maclean
! an ex-Heutenant In our service. who Is
now commander Of the army Of the Sui
| tan of Morocco. Gen Digby Willoughby.
who commanded lin blue and silver the
Hova army has since fought for the
| Chartered Company in Rhodesia, but has
! now turned to the arts OF peace.