The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-30

what IS knOWn dS ScuIlSIeti ie1iii>SiS' young men of good family who either had not tine money or the ability to go through the military college at Sand hurst, and who enlisted i'll the ranks with the express intention of winning com mission. Commanding officers looked kindly on these men, and 1t was much easier for them to win their way up than for the genuine enlisted man. no he might be.
 ONLY PARALLEL CASE
 The only other case at all comparanle with Robertsons is that Of Gen. SIT 11ec- tor MacDonlad, that great soldier Wno literally fought his way up rom ti,7 ranks to a generalship and who was au- mittedly one of the most brilliant soiuiei of his time. Macdonald might have gone as far as Robertson had he lived, put if will be remembered he committed sul- eide in Paris while on his way noihe from Ceylon to face a court-martlal on grave charges affecting his private mor- ality The story goes that ms Irienus met him in his Paris hotel lalo revoiVei on the table and left the room, thls oelng a hint that there was only one way our for him However that may be, it seems to be pretty well established that Hector Macdonald was found dead in bed the next morning, although to this day there are thousands of people who declare that there was no corpse in the bed, and that the coffin which was brought nome 10 England a day or two later contalneo nothing but lead These people believe that Macdonald chose to disappear ana from time to time he has been identified in various forms by believers in the dis appearance myth During the Russo- Japanese war there were many people who were ready to swear that Geherai Noei was Macdonald in disguise. He was .'discovered also on the Russian slde III this war, and later he was salo to pe reorganizing the Chinese army. The Mac Donald partisans even have affected to find him in the present war on several occa sions. forgetful of the fact that ne would now. if alive, be almost past ac- tive command
 Robertson was a genuine ranker lie was the son of farm laborer Tn Llh- colnshire, where he was born % years ago. and his preliminary education was received at the village school. When ne left school he worked Tn the Ieios loi a time. and then he had great stroke os uck for one of such humble origin. He was received into one of the great houses in the neighborhood and trained as a footman, and as a footman ne con- tinued to serve until he~was Is years oio. At IS the military fervor seized him ana he enlisted. Ne chose crack regiment the Sixteenth Lancers, and he must nave made an ideal cavalryman. for even now ba is the beau ideal of a dashing soldier, tall well set up, and with an extraor- dinarjly firm chin and jaw. He had no one to help him along, and he served Tn the ranks for 10 years, but before long his ambition was reused and he prop- ably foresaw that in his case the SOL dier's knapsack really did contain the field marshars baton He began then the study of languages and of military history. both of which have stood him in such good stead in his subsequent career.
 BRILLIANT LINGUIST
 It is not necessarily surprising that this Ia horer's son should be esteemed the pos sessor of the most brilliant brain Tn the British army, for brains are not lnhef- ited but it is surprising that With ms lack of educational advantages he should be one of the most brilliant lingulsts Ills French in fact is said to be better than his English for in spite of his long asso- citation with men whose early opportunl- ties were better his English still smacks of the soil and the barrack room, and possesses a fullness and flavor that rather endear him to the private soldiei' and make him the terror of the shirker and incompetent among his officers, for Robertsons is not the temper that suffers fools gladly. An acquaintance who dlneo with him few days ago told me that another member sf the party. an officer , in the quartermaster generals depart ment. was complaining bitterly of the in- terference of a civilian official with the execution of some rush contracts for the army '"What would you advise to do' Robertson?' he asked.
 "Td " well clear the - -- - out. was Robertson's reply. and he would have said exactly the same thing if the civil ian official had been present.
 Robertson's French. however. is the purest French of the Academic, and French officers who confer with him all ways come away exclaimng on it's ex- cellence. and wondering where such a typical Briton acquired an accent of such purity. He also speaks German with easy fluency and has a good working knowl- edge of Russian and Italian. while there is hardly one of the scores of Indian da- lects in which he cannot make himself understood while in many of them he speaks like native When he was chief of staff to Sir John French in France during the earlier stages of the war. he used to delight in visiting the Indian lines and talking familiarity with the Se- poys and troopers about their homes. Many of them declared that there was no spot in Indian which Robertson Sahih