The evening times., 1899-12-22
FRIDAY. DECEMBER %. 1899.
Soldiers of Fortune.

There is not little cumulative evidence
that a great deal of recruiting for the
Boer army is and has been for some time
in progress in Holland, Germany and
Austria. and to less extent in the United
States. II is also doubtless true that the
Transvaal staff is well supplied with
foreign officers of scientific military
education and experience. 1t has
been a serious mistake on the part
of the British generals tc as
sumo that they had only the strategy and
tactics of farmers like Cronje. Schalkburg
er Duplessis, and so on, against which to
work their wits. As matter of fact. West
Point. St. Cyr, the Ecole Politechnique,
and the military schools OF Berlin. st.
Petersburg. and Vienna are known TO be
well represented in all branches OF Kru-
gers service and, when il comes to mod
ern warfare. they are not likely to suffer
in contrast with the alumnae of Sand
hurst and Woolwich.
AS far as the foreign officers are con-
cerned, the fact that SO many of them are
serving against Great Britain in South
Africa is largely the fault OF the British
themselves. They should have realized In
advance that sCch war as the one III
progress promised TO be, would afford re-
markable opportunities for the requirement
OF professional knowledge and experience,
and would naturally attract the brightest
of the younger generation OF soldiers from
all countries. That being a matter OF
course, one OF two policies Should have
been considered mandatory by the British
Government. Either Delagoa Bay should
have been seized and Boer communication
with the outside world severed, or ar
rangements should have been made TO en-
ploy competent foreign officers and soldiers
of fortune in connection with the colonial
forces.
Fer political reasons Great Britain did
not isolate the Transvaal as it might have
done. On less excusable grounds the who'e
idea OF colonial or irregular troops WAS
frowaed down by the self-suffcent ntlu-
eGce OF the Horse Guards, until within the
last week or so. In the meantime, as the
British service appeared hopelessly barred
10 the professionals and adventures, they
have flocked TO the other side.
Ii may be said with confidence that not
one out of hundred of the class of which
We are writing are affected by any particu-
lar sentiment in the matter. Certainly
the American contingent is not. II would
be exactly as easy for England TO benefit
BY the services of experienced officers from
this country as for her enemy TO do so.
And. as to recruits, it is probable that the
Western States would produce several regi-
ments of rough riders for the Queen if
the proper ways and means were provided;
while it is doubtless equally true that iden-
tically the same men would volunteer for
the Beers. if the latter could effect the
necessary arrangements. TIE romance of
the gold and diamond fields and the wild
frontier conditions of South Africa form
a strong attraction for the hardy young
sters of our far Western and Pacific Coast
States. and thousands of them would like
to try their luck in Griqualand. che Trans
vaal. Natal, and Rhodesia, at the end of
the war. Britannia is great but anything
rather than infallible One of the worst
military blunders of her career has been
made in leaving the temptation and the
way both open to the worlds soldiers of
fortune TO take arms against her-arms
which as easily might have been utilized |
for her own benefit, to a large extent at
least. if their bearers had been encouraged |
in that direction. |