Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-10-11
THE FOREIGN LEGION.
Interesting Story of Peculiar Organ
ization.

ization.
The dispatches which mention 'he
conspicuous bravery of the foreign ie-
gion in the fighting between the
French and the Moors around Casa
blanca will have the effect Of directing
attention to this peculiar organization
which is probably the last survival OF
the condottieri system. Many nations
raise native" corps for colonial SER
vice. The United States has the Por-
to Rico regiment and the Philippine
scout battalions, but the legion Is not
tc be confounded with organizations
os this character. So far from being
composed of French colonists or in
digenes," 1t is prerequisite OF enlist
ment that the recruit shall not have
been born in France or in the French
allegiance. If he is native of France
or any one Of the French possessions
positive denial is given his applica-
ton for enlistment, however short the
legion may be Of it's authorized
strength. Consequently the legion,
which is divided into two regiments
of four battalions each, is the most
polyglot corps that marches under the
banner of any power in the world. In
its ranks are found Austrians, Ger
mans, Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese,
Englishmen, wandering South Ameri-
cans and an occasional native Of the
United States. German deserters are
''railroaded" into the legion, the
French believing that q dog that will
fetch will carry.
Everything in France capable OF
historical treatment has its historian,
and the picturesque aspects of the le-
gion have not been neglected. A few
years ago M. Georges d'Esparbes, for
lack of a better, wrote most entertain
ingly of life in the corps. His book
was readable, but there was an ab-
sence Of certainty as to his basic CAL
culations, which was not unnatural
considering how many Of the legion
aries have good reason not to reveal
their antecedents. M. d'Esparbes, how
ever got at general truths accurately
enough and divided the legion into two
elements, one composed of men VINO
had failed and whose pride inspired
them to hide themselves from world
that had known them before their fail-
ure, and the other made up OF those
who had left their countries for their
IN o.
gion many with the accomplishments
Of educated men of the world and not
q few scholars. One legionary was
conversant with so many languages
that he was turning an honest penny
as an instructor in his few hours OF
leisure. Another was believed to be
an Italian tenor who once charmed
Paris. A corporal who died in the SER
vice was discovered by papers he left
to have once been an Austrian colonel
os engineers. The legion is pre-emi-
nently distinguished for three qualities
its courage, it's intelligence and its
dissipation Most of it's soldiers do not
want to remember. Liquor is cheap
in Algeria, where the legion has Its
headquarters, and is consumed In
enormous quantities by men who. like
Sir Walter Scott's outlaws, forget what
once they were nor think what they
are now.
The early history Of the legion Is
somewhat cloudy. but it's name seized
upon the imagination Of the world
when Mrs. Norton wrote her famous
poem. "The soldier of the Legion
must have died in Algiers early in the
French campaign Of conquest of thai
country which opened in 1880, but
which was wagered for seventeen
years. He came from Germany, from
Bingen on the Rhine, and was not the
first German by scores Of thousands
who had fallen under the Tricolor
Napoleon employed German soldiers
lin masses, and not. only Germans bu,
all foreigners on whom he could lay
his hands. Frenchmen were in such
minority in the army he led into Rus
sia that he boasted to Russian off,
Ger that he should lose. only one
Frenchman "and four pigs" for every
five Russians that fell. and therefore
had the advantage over the car. His
great rival England, was a most ener-
getic recruiter of foreign regiments
Not only was the kings German legior
distinguished in the Peninsula and al
Waterloo, but other foreigners drew
British pay. There was foreign reg
iment in the attack on Plattsburg ir
1914. from its name presumably Swiss
tThe Swiss "hired out" as soldiers al
most down to our time. The last con-
spicuous appearance of Swiss regi-
ments was less than fifty years ago
when those in the service of the Neap-
olitan BOurbons, pampered mercena'
res, mutinied and were suppressed
with great bloodshed. Save the Pope's
Swiss Guards, which are more for or
nament than use, the Swiss are nc
longer the mercenaries they once were
faithful. brave and detested by the
people among whom they were sta
toned as the unthinking agents OF
despotism.-Boston Transcript.
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