The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-02

enraged me into making somewhat out spoken speeches, which never were for given by British officiadom. For, when at the opening of the last Ashanti cam paign I went to that country as war cor respondent on behalf of London paper, the order went forth from the war office that was to be given no facilities. All the power of a great government depart. ment put forth to ruin one man!"
 More than little disgusted by the ex, periences just told of, Lynch shook the dust of England from his feet and went to live in Paris, where he wrote more books, studied at the Hospital Beaujon and lived among celebrities, several of whom he introduced to each other. Inci- dentally, he wrote a lot for Le Journal and other newspapers, and when the South African war broke out, was ap-l pointed by the first mentioned journal aS it's correspondent with the Boers.
 'T went to South Africa, as I have said" Lynch went on, "without knowing a single soul and yet I knew them all by instinct. Had l not been born in 8 mining camp? And even before set out for Pretoria I felt inside myself, some how, that I should lead force in that war. How it was to happen 1 had no idea. and the realization of this feeling was something like a miracle, and yet 1t all happened quite simply A day or two after I arrived in the capital of the Boer republic, l met a man who was forming an Irish brigade to fight for the burghers. and offered him my assistance. Speaking French and German as did, soon en- listed plenty of recruits from the cosmo- politan crowd of adventurers who were then throngng to the country All the time, as it happened, the man who origin ally undertook the formation of the bri- gade was getting more funky about iead- ing, and finally retired altogether. Kruger and Joubert were at their wits end to know whom to appoint to the command, but finally, when several of us who had been concerned in the business at Johan- nesburg went up to Pretoria to report progress, Dom Paul asked. Who has or. ganized this force, anyway? The reply was that had. Then, said Kruger, you are man to lead it. Will you?' I replied that I would lead if the men would fol- low, which they unanimously agreed to do. True, knew nothing of war, though my first inclination had been to be a soldier, but I discovered the secret Of leadership by analysis of its elements, just as I learned psychology and to drive my taxicab."
 As a fact, comparatively few of the Second Irish brigade, as it was called were Irishmen, but to make up for this there were volunteers of almost every other nationality under the sun. America Australia, Cape Colony. the Transvaals the Orange Free State, france Germanys T Holland Italy, Austria, Greece, Russia and Bulgaria were represented, and tho corps even boasted the presence in its ranks for time of one solitary English man. They numbered about 200 all told. Never, probably, since the dawn of his- tory, has so cosmopolitan body of mensl taking into consideration it's size, been commanded by any one man.
 If was while the Boer war was in pro- gress or in 1901. that the colonel of tho Irish brigade was elected as member of Parliament for Galway City, Sir Hor-l ace Plunkett being the defeated candidate. Coming to England, in 1902 after peacel was declared in South Africa, to take| his seat in Parliament, Lynch was ar-| rested and charged with high treason for| fighting as a British citizen against thoI forces of the crown. The government sl action in bringing him to trial in London, he declares, was a breach of its own| treaty of Vereenigen. which set forth that ali prisoners should be tried in theiri own countries and his punishment IS stig :, ms tized by the Irish member as designed to ''gIut the. revenge of the populace," a, thing typical he asserts of justice" 1n' this country, instancing the treatment of, the militant suffra gettes, which he de-l clares is calculated neither to correct| tfem nor deter others, the avowed pur- pose of justice. G
 Since his release from prison, where E, : says he was most kindly treated by suS'.. of the warders as were old soldiers anos had served in the South African warj and where, by the way, he was the onlyI pris Ter permitted to have tooth powdeHI Lynch has intervened more than onoG| Jin European politics.