The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-01-07
MODERN SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE
Ncn Who Have Served Under More
Than One Flag.

In the Transvaal today the soldier CT
4 fortune is making his last stand. No other
country in the world is likely TO offer the
alien adyenturer Of the future the same po-
| sitions and proft that have hitherto been
the portion of Schitl. Ven Albrccht. and
/ the other European mcrccnaries of Kruger
dom. And in this very fact we may see
| the decline Of the soldier of fortune. il
we compare his gains with the coloss al
/ haTvests OF his predecessors in history
! Perron. he wonderful Frenchman, who
| commanded the Mahatta army arrived in
! Hindustan pennyless petty officer from n
man war, and in inc years had amassed
] between one and two millions sterling.
! Even more rapid was the progress OF Colo
mel Hannay. who had to leave John Com
panys' service to avoid the bailiffs. He
| entered the service of the Nawab Wazir
Of Dude in 177S, and left it after three years
with a fortune of s500,000. Many other
French and English adyenturers were near
| ly 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 we're recruited for us In
the Napoleonic wars. Besides the famous
Hessians, there were the French Chasseurs
Britanique. three Swiss regiments. the
Corsican Rangers, and the Greek Light In
fantry. In the crimean war German le-
gion was recruited in Heligoland, but they
never distinguished themselves on the field,
and the precedent is not likely TO be fol-
lowed.
In spite of the chilling effect Of modern
ideas the soldiers of fortune of the nine
teenth century form picturesque gallery
heroes and rascals. Fenians and Royalists,
Poles. Englishmen, and adventurers of no
country Some of them. like Lord Coch
rane and Hobart Pasha. have established
themselves on a higher plane than the mer-
cenary can usually hope to occupy. The for
mer's brilliant record with the English.
Chilean. Brazilian. and Greek navies in
turn is probably unique, though Paul Jones
may be set down as a bad second. The
former apprentice of a Witchaven collier,
who was the most successful American ma
val officer of the War of Independence, and
held command thereafter in 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 a
fine seaman and gallant fighter. In fact.
he was the typical soldier 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 ad-
venturers. Count Illniski was Pole who
fought the Russians in his native land,
and when all was lost took service under
Schamyl, Prince of Circassia. The Hun
garian war of independence in 1913, next
employed his desperate valor, and at Te-
meswar he had three horses killed under
him. Finally. he becane colonel of
Turkish cuirassier regiment, and was
known as Islander Bey. In the Hungarian
revolt, General Guyon, an Englishman
was a famous figure and at Tydnan he
held his ground until he had lost three
fourths of his battalion. and the village
streets were streaming with blood. a less
attractive personality is General Cinscret,
who served as captain in the French
army in Algeria. Their under Fremont, In
the American civil wan; was next a Feni-
an general" and then War Minister I'M
der the Commune Dombrowski, another
general in the Commune. and far
abler and drawer man than the former Fe-
nian, had fought in Poland and under
Garibaldi. He was killed at the barbados !
In 1871.
Arong Continental forces of aliens one |
ought to mention the French Foreign Le- |
gion. which still includes the runaway Rris- |
tocrats and broken men of half Europe. 1
and tbs Irish Brigade which fought Tor the |
Pope in 1850 under the command of Major !
Myles o'Reilly. NJ. +. An old soldier Of |
The Papal Zouaves. another Iiishman. is |
now General Coppinger. of the United !
States Army. Garibal1' himself Is OF |
course entitled TO a niche in this gallery /
Of fame. and his son Ricc:otti has since his |
Italian campaign fought Tor France in 1870 /
and for Greece in 1897. in both bravsly /
lighting for a lost cause
The New York Void" offers us con-
iottieri Of a new type, like Walker, the
flibuster. who became Dictator OF Mica
aqua and might have ruled Honduras. but
,or British man-o'-war. General Carroll
reviss. who served in the Franco PrHssian
struggles, was a Fenian hero. So was
capt. John McAffert! who served in the
Mexican war of 1855. and was then an on
,er in the Confederate army. He was in
al the Fenian plots of 1S66-6T, and was
vice tried here for treason-felony He
vas acquitted az one trial. and amnestied
ifter the second. a leniency which he re-
1sid by renewed activity in the ranks OF
he Clan-na-Gael He was said to be the
'eal mo. l. behind the Phoenix Park
murders.
Egypt has employed many aliens. Mu-
niger Bey was a Swiss who had been Brit
sd consul at Massawah; Gessi Pasha an
Italian who. after serving as interpreter to
he English Army in the Soudan.
mashed the hunters revolt in OAR
". Loring Pasha was an American SOL
Ter: Lupton Bey governor OF the Bahr-el-
azel who died in the Mandi's dungeons,
II Englishman Slatin and Emin were
9th Austrians.
In more recent years We have had Cen .
raj Kohnes. an ex-major in the German !
rmy who landed a cargo of Mannilcher ri :
es fer the Chilean Congressionalists, drill .
d their troops. and defeated Balmaeeda. .
General Ronald Mclvcr, Scotsman who
as served under fourteen flags. from the :
Confederate TO the Carlist, is another
banning Briton. like Kaid Maclean. an ex-
lieutenant in our service, who is now COM .
lander of the army of the Sultan of Mo- :
occo. Gen. Digby Willoughby. who COM
handed lin blue and silver the Hova ar
~. has since fought for the Chartered .
ompsny in Rbodesia, but has now turned :
the arts OF peace.