The age-herald., 1900-01-07
SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE
: The South African War is the Last Par
 adise for Modern Adventures

From the London Pail Mall Gazette.
 In the TTansvaal today the soldier of for tune is making his last stand. No other country in the world is likely to offer the alien adventurer of the future the same po- sitions and profit that have hitherto been the portion of Schiel, Von Albrecht aud the other European mercenaries of Kru- gerdom. And in this very fact we may see the decline of the soldier or fortune, if we compare his gains with the colossal har- vests of his predecessors in history. Per ron, the wonderful Frenchnan who com manded the Mahratta army, arrived in Him. dustan penniless petty officer from a man-ofwar, and in nine years had amassed between one and two millions sterling Even more rapid was the progress of Col onel Hannay, who had TO leave "Jchn Company's' service to avoid the bailiffs. He entered the service of the Nawab Wazir of Dude in ITS, and left it after three years with a fortune of 900,c00 pounds. Many oth- CT French. and English adventures were nearly as lucky
 At that time there was not the prejudice against these mercenary swords which the military ethics of modern Europe have fos- tered. Few foreigners have risen to emil hence in the English service. but large numbers of aliens were recruited for us Tn the Napoleonic wars. Besides the famous Hessians, there were the French Chasseurs Brtannique. three Swiss regiments, the Corsican Rangers. and the Greek Light in fantry. In the Crimean war a German le- zion was recruited in Helgoland, but they never distinguished themselves on the field and the precedent is not likely to be follow cd
 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 royalsts, Poles, Engishmen and adventurers of no country. Some of them. like Lord Cochrane and Hobart Pasha. have established them selves on higher plane than the mereenary can usually hope to occupy. The formers brilliant record with the Engi;sh, Chilean, Brazilian and Greek navies in turn is prob ably unique, though Paul Jones may be set down as a bad second. The ex-appren- tfce of the Whisehaven collier, who was the mos successful American naval officer in the war of independence. and held eom- mai,d thereafter i1 the French and then in . the Russian navy Is not the heroic figure which modern eulogists in the United States like to picture, but he was sa me seaman and a gallant fighter. In fact, fe was the typical soldier of fortune for the accident that he fought at sea does not TOD 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 Wno fought the Russians in his native land and when all was lost took service under scharnyi Prince of Circassia. The Hunga- rian war of inderendence in 1s4S next em- ploy.d his desperate valor, and at Temes- war he had three horses killed, Under him. Finally he became colonel of Turkish cuirassicr regiment and was known as Iskander Ber Tn the Hungarian revolt, General Guyon, an Englishman, was la nous figure, and at Tyrnau he held his ground until he had lost three-fourths of his battalion and the village streets were streaming blood. A less attractive person. captain in the French army in Algeria then under Fremont, in the American civil war. was next Ferian general" and then war minister undo- the commune. Doubrowslli. another general" in the Commune. and far abler and braver man than the ex-Fcnian, had fought in Po- land and under Garhaldi. He was killed at inc barricades in 1871. Among conti- mental forces of aliens enc ought to men, tinn s.the French Foreign Legion, which still includes the runaway aristocrats and broken mon of half Europe. and tho Irish brigade which fought for the pope ir 1870 under the command of Major Myles O'Reil- iy, M p. An old soldier of the Papal Zou- ayes, Another Irishman, is now General Copp.ngcr Of the United States army. Gari- baldi himself is of course entitled to niche in this gallery of fame, and his son. R;cciotti. has since his Italian campaigns fought for France i1 1870 and for Greece