The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1906-11-12

London. Nov. 4-Sir Frederick Lugard
who recently resigned his post as high
commissioner OF Northern Nigeria. on &C
count of his health. has been appropri-
ateIy described as a "fn de steele" Give.
Now only forty-eight years old. with
no one knows what great deeds still
before him. his career is one Of the
moot dramatic and romantic TO be found
In the list OF African empire-builders.
Tall. trained down TO nothing but skin
and bone and muscle, with bright. keen
gray eyes, strongly marked aquiline
features. tanned to the color Of a pigskin
cigar case, and a ferociously bushy mus
tache. he is the beau ideal Of a modern
soldier of fortune. He came OF military
stock. and his father was a chaplain
in the Indian army. but II was as an ad-
venturer. the spiritual descendant Of
Hawkins and Drake. bent on such an en-
terprise as singing the beard of the
King of Spain" that he found his chance
TO carve a name for himself ia the Dark
Continent
starts for Africa with $50.
With $50 il his belt and with practically
no outfit at all except an old 40 Express
rife. paid for in India, in the absence Of
funds by shooting a man-eating tiger
with a reward on its head, Lugard got on
tramp steamer bound for Naples and
Suez.
He had already won three medals in the
African. SCudan. and Burma wars. but he
was on haIf-Day leave. His money was
running short. and he was reduced to
strange shifts So ne took a deck passage
on a timber ship bound for MassOwah. and
slept among the cargo. He took his morn
ing bath among the sailors in the fore
castle. and his meal of broken yictuaIs
with the Italian cook in the galley along
side the engines and that in the Red Sea,
where the heat was enough 70 grill a
black stoker
An Italian bcatswain saw though Luz
CARDS disguise, told him he knew he was
a -gentilhomme." and astonished him one
evening by saying with a fervid lmpreca-
ton. I do anything for you. You want
shirt. Here is my other shirt: l give it
you, because you have good heart" Never
was present more acceptable. but the incl
dent throws a flood Of light on the per
sonal qualities which enabled this half
pay captain 10 save Uganda for the en-
pire, and 10 rise. in the space Of four
years, 10 the rank Of brigadier general
saves Empire TO England.
Re made his own opportunities. Hear
ing that trading post IN Nyassaland was
besieged by Arab slave traders as bit
Of recreation he organized a relief expedi-
ton and drove the Arabs of after sharp
fight. in which he was badly wounded.
The affair led 10 his entering the service
Of the East African Company. When Carl
Peters was trying to gain foothold in
Uganda for Germany. Lugard made a
dash for it with a handful OF black SOL
diers. two white comrades. and a Maxim
gun. He bluffed Mwanga into a treaty
which ended in annexation.
He played a big part in the early
stormy days of Uganda. He marched
against and defeated hadbarega. Of In
yoro. with a force largely composed Of
Ugandese. He led the Christian levies Of
Uganda when they fought and beat the
Mohammedan rebels. Then he passed 10
the other side OF Africa. where something
over six years ago he was appointed
high commissioner Of Nigeria. His seiz-
ure Of SOkOtO was accomplished SO rap
idly that the orders Of the colonial Office
was reporting the accomplished fact.
Had Lady Lugard been a man, she
would probably have rivaled her husband
as an empire builder Few women have
been such intrepid travellers or passed
through so many adventures. She has
had a finger I'm most OF the modern impe-
riai pies She was a confidante Of Cecil
Rhodes, and was mixed up in the III
starred jameson raid. That WIS when
she was still Miss Flora Shaw and the
colonial specialist of the London Times.
IN which capacity she visited most Of
the remote regions of the empire But
perhaps her most astonishing feat was
trgmping afOot through the KlOndyke.
SIR Frederick LugsTd met her during
one of his brief holiday trips home. He
saw that she was the one woman in the
world for him." and laid siege to her
with the same dash and audacity that
characterized hts military exploits. They
arc a vvelI-r1atchpd cOUplp