The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-01
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
IT sTRovE TO KEEP MADAGAs-
 CAR INDEPENDENT.
"Reminiscences of General IDigby Will loughby, Warrior, Treaty Max
 CT, Ambassador and Ad- venturer. @.

written by a military correspondent of that periodical:
 The death of Gen. Digby Willoughby at the comparatively early age oi 90, removes one of the most notaple soid- iers of fortune of modern times. The general" as he was affecuonateiy known, was a picturesque. and, witnaA, q humorous hgure, who has been every where and done everything. He had been in turn aucttoneer, war core spondent, irregular leaders. fancier. pIoneer and king. At least, once he was virtually a monarch. That is when we was in Madagascar at the time of the Franco Malagasy war. What took the general there I know not. beyond his natural love for fighting and will tnrness ever to succor beauty in dis tress. but he became either commander in chief or adjutant general to the Queen of the Hovas. The general rarely spoke of his relations with her black majesty, but one gathered that the moving history of Dido and Eneas had repeated itself. Be that as it may, the general did yeoman service. and Gen.. Duchesne and the French had cause to remember him.
 It was he who in his various capaci- sies of commander in chief. adjutant ke0GI8l. pIltlc AAAhctCAs 1AAADee-S~t ' plenipotentiary in chief, drew up the treaty between the French and Mala- rasy at the end of the war. Anent that treaty I remember a delightful in ctdent. The general had been spinning yarns-none could tell them better to me one afternoon when he said: .Now. my boy, am going to show you something worth looking at." From q dispatch box he produced a document which turned out to be the famous treaty. I glanced through it and strove to look impressed.
 Pay particular attention to that paragraph" said the general, laying his finger on one about two and a half lines in length. I paid particular attention to 1t, and though it seemed to me to be exces- sively unimportant, looked expectant- ly up at the general.
 My boy" he said. in his most i'm pressive toaes, ''the French offered me two and a half millions sterling to de- lete those two and a half lines. and with a supreme gesture-"I wouldn t do it,
 Then he offered to sell me pair of misfit riding boets for 30 shilhngs! Dear old general.
 Before he went to Madagascar the general had been in South Africa. where, during the Zulu war. he raised and commanded the renowned Will louRhby's Horse. Before that he had been, think. in the Prussian army Of the manner of his leaving Madagas- ear there are many tales, probably ApocryphaL This much is certain Sat he came to London and establish "a an embassy. There were fiunkeys b the gross, major-domos by the score and private secretaries and attaches by the dozen, and not to know his ex- cellency was to argue yourself un- known. The embassy came to an end. Why. is not exactly known. Some say that the ambassador was recalled and that on his return the Malagasy were unRrateful enough to thrust him into prison on a charge of high treason. or something of the kind. and to demand his. head. Then there Is hint Of weeping queen, a midnight visit, drug ged guards. an open boat. and the gen. eral is next heard of in. South Africa Certainly whether the foregoing be a pure fabrication, as 1t probably is. or not. the general returned to South Ar Iica after Madagascar. Naturally the Matabele war of 1896 found him to the front. as chief of the staf to Col. Ma pier till Gen. Darlington arrived on the srene.
 Things had not prospered with the xeneral-he had originally. gone up to Bulawayo in '93-aad at this time ne was in rather low water. But he soon got out of it. There was a certain auctfoneer in Bulawayo named Mad dox. who had a very fiourishing 6usi- ness. The general pestered Maddox 10 take him into partnership on the strength of his knowledge of the busi- ness. At last Maddox, wearied by his importuning, and knowing that the general was very hard up. said, haif in joke: Look here, general. l cant have you hanging around the office all day., You bring me thousand pounds and I'll take you into partnership. The general had not thousand pence at the time. but three days later he marched into Maddox office. planked down a bag, and said; Heres your thousand pounds. I'll trouble you TOT that partnership" Maddox was man of his word. and the firm. LII It came to grief, was Maddox & Wll- Ioughby. How was it done?
 tsThe story current in Bulawayo was that the general went to Cecil Rhodes and borrowed 800 pounds from him, on what grounds do not quite know. but I think Rhodes had a. sneaking. regard for the old adverturer. Then he went to Earl Grey, and so impressed his lordship. who was easily impressed at all times with a sense of the service he. WiIloughby. had rendered during the war that the noble earl found the other five hundred.
 The general never recovered from the effects of a bad accident he had at Bulawayo, where he was thrown from his trap. and sustaining injuries which would have done for most men alto Rether. In his prime he must have been an exceedingly handsome and at tractive man. He was tall. well built. with a fine, dignified carriage, aquiline features, piercing eyes. which. however softened readily on occasion, long, dropping mustache. black like his hair, mnd mesmeric tongue.
 N have his portrait in his uniform as general in the Malagasy army, and very fine picture 1t is. The uniform, which he designed himself, is a veri- AaoIe triumph of sartorial art and the ~eneraI's imagination. The short scar lei tunic is of the Hussar pattern. but the gold braiding, instead of being horizontal. is elegantly waved, and is at least three times as thick as that of a mere Hussar. The facings are white, but the whole garment is so smothered in solid lace that but little of the can he seen. Massive collar ornaments ana a richly gilt cartouche belt further adorn the tunic, on the left breast of which hangs a glittering cross, the order of the Madagascar Bath. I believe the Queen Of Madagascar solemn annual bath bein gthe pivot on which tba Malagasy constitution turned-and @u,o ar three medals, souvenir of many