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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3029-0.txt b/3029-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c37261f --- /dev/null +++ b/3029-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4960 @@ +Project Gutenberg’s Real Soldiers of Fortune, by Richard Harding Davis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Real Soldiers of Fortune + +Author: Richard Harding Davis + +Posting Date: February 22, 2009 [EBook #3029] +Last Updated: September 26, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REAL SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE *** + + + + +Produced by David Reed, and Ronald J. Wilson + + + + + +REAL SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE + + +By Richard Harding Davis + + + + + +MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY RONALD DOUGLAS MACIVER + +ANY sunny afternoon, on Fifth Avenue, or at night in the _table d’hote_ +restaurants of University Place, you may meet the soldier of fortune who +of all his brothers in arms now living is the most remarkable. You may +have noticed him; a stiffly erect, distinguished-looking man, with gray +hair, an imperial of the fashion of Louis Napoleon, fierce blue eyes, +and across his forehead a sabre cut. + +This is Henry Ronald Douglas MacIver, for some time in India an ensign +in the Sepoy mutiny; in Italy, lieutenant under Garibaldi; in Spain, +captain under Don Carlos; in our Civil War, major in the Confederate +army; in Mexico, lieutenant-colonel under the Emperor Maximilian; +colonel under Napoleon III, inspector of cavalry for the Khedive of +Egypt, and chief of cavalry and general of brigade of the army of King +Milan of Servia. These are only a few of his military titles. In 1884 +was published a book giving the story of his life up to that year. It +was called “Under Fourteen Flags.” If to-day General MacIver were to +reprint the book, it would be called “Under Eighteen Flags.” + +MacIver was born on Christmas Day, 1841, at sea, a league off the shore +of Virginia. His mother was Miss Anna Douglas of that State; Ronald +MacIver, his father, was a Scot, a Rossshire gentleman, a younger son of +the chief of the Clan MacIver. Until he was ten years old young MacIver +played in Virginia at the home of his father. Then, in order that he +might be educated, he was shipped to Edinburgh to an uncle, General +Donald Graham. After five years his uncle obtained for him a commission +as ensign in the Honorable East India Company, and at sixteen, when +other boys are preparing for college, MacIver was in the Indian Mutiny, +fighting, not for a flag, nor a country, but as one fights a wild +animal, for his life. He was wounded in the arm, and, with a sword, cut +over the head. As a safeguard against the sun the boy had placed inside +his helmet a wet towel. This saved him to fight another day, but even +with that protection the sword sank through the helmet, the towel, and +into the skull. To-day you can see the scar. He was left in the road +for dead, and even after his wounds had healed, was six weeks in the +hospital. + +This tough handling at the very start might have satisfied some men, but +in the very next war MacIver was a volunteer and wore the red shirt of +Garibaldi. He remained at the front throughout that campaign, and until +within a few years there has been no campaign of consequence in which he +has not taken part. He served in the Ten Years’ War in Cuba, in +Brazil, in Argentina, in Crete, in Greece, twice in Spain in Carlist +revolutions, in Bosnia, and for four years in our Civil War under +Generals Jackson and Stuart around Richmond. In this great war he was +four times wounded. + +It was after the surrender of the Confederate army, that, with other +Southern officers, he served under Maximilian in Mexico; in Egypt, and +in France. Whenever in any part of the world there was fighting, or the +rumor of fighting, the procedure of the general invariably was the +same. He would order himself to instantly depart for the front, and on +arriving there would offer to organize a foreign legion. The command of +this organization always was given to him. But the foreign legion was +merely the entering wedge. He would soon show that he was fitted for +a better command than a band of undisciplined volunteers, and would +receive a commission in the regular army. In almost every command in +which he served that is the manner in which promotion came. Sometimes he +saw but little fighting, sometimes he should have died several deaths, +each of a nature more unpleasant than the others. For in war the obvious +danger of a bullet is but a three hundred to one shot, while in the pack +against the combatant the jokers are innumerable. And in the career of +the general the unforeseen adventures are the most interesting. A man +who in eighteen campaigns has played his part would seem to have +earned exemption from any other risks, but often it was outside the +battle-field that MacIver encountered the greatest danger. He fought +several duels, in two of which he killed his adversary; several attempts +were made to assassinate him, and while on his way to Mexico he was +captured by hostile Indians. On returning from an expedition in Cuba he +was cast adrift in an open boat and for days was without food. + +Long before I met General MacIver I had read his book and had heard of +him from many men who had met him in many different lands while +engaged in as many different undertakings. Several of the older war +correspondents knew him intimately; Bennett Burleigh of the _Telegraph_ +was his friend, and E. F. Knight of the _Times_ was one of those who +volunteered for a filibustering expedition which MacIver organized +against New Guinea. The late Colonel Ochiltree of Texas told me tales +of MacIver’s bravery, when as young men they were fellow officers in the +Southern army, and Stephen Bonsal had met him when MacIver was United +States Consul at Denia in Spain. When MacIver arrived at this post, the +ex-consul refused to vacate the Consulate, and MacIver wished to settle +the difficulty with duelling pistols. As Denia is a small place, the +inhabitants feared for their safety, and Bonsal, who was our _charge +d’affaires_ then, was sent from Madrid to adjust matters. Without +bloodshed he got rid of the ex-consul, and later MacIver so endeared +himself to the Denians that they begged the State Department to retain +him in that place for the remainder of his life. + +Before General MacIver was appointed to a high position at the St. Louis +Fair, I saw much of him in New York. His room was in a side street in +an old-fashioned boarding-house, and overlooked his neighbor’s back yard +and a typical New York City sumac tree; but when the general talked one +forgot he was within a block of the Elevated, and roamed over all +the world. On his bed he would spread out wonderful parchments, with +strange, heathenish inscriptions, with great seals, with faded ribbons. +These were signed by Sultans, Secretaries of War, Emperors, filibusters. +They were military commissions, titles of nobility, brevets for +decorations, instructions and commands from superior officers. +Translated the phrases ran: “Imposing special confidence in,” “we +appoint,” or “create,” or “declare,” or “In recognition of services +rendered to our person,” or “country,” or “cause,” or “For bravery on +the field of battle we bestow the Cross----” + +As must a soldier, the general travels “light,” and all his worldly +possessions were crowded ready for mobilization into a small compass. He +had his sword, his field blanket, his trunk, and the tin despatch +boxes that held his papers. From these, like a conjurer, he would draw +souvenirs of all the world. From the embrace of faded letters, he would +unfold old photographs, daguerrotypes, and miniatures of fair women and +adventurous men: women who now are queens in exile, men who, lifted on +waves of absinthe, still, across a _cafe_ table, tell how they will win +back a crown. + +Once in a written document the general did me the honor to appoint me +his literary executor, but as he is young, and as healthy as myself, it +never may be my lot to perform such an unwelcome duty. And to-day all +one can write of him is what the world can read in “Under Fourteen +Flags,” and some of the “foot-notes to history” which I have copied +from his scrap-book. This scrap-book is a wonderful volume, but owing +to “political” and other reasons, for the present, of the many clippings +from newspapers it contains there are only a few I am at liberty to +print. And from them it is difficult to make a choice. To sketch in a +few thousand words a career that had developed under Eighteen Flags is +in its very wealth embarrassing. + +Here is one story, as told by the scrap-book, of an expedition that +failed. That it failed was due to a British Cabinet Minister; for had +Lord Derby possessed the imagination of the Soldier of Fortune, his +Majesty’s dominions might now be the richer by many thousands of square +miles and many thousands of black subjects. + +On October 29, 1883, the following appeared in the London _Standard_: +“The New Guinea Exploration and Colonization Company is already +chartered, and the first expedition expects to leave before Christmas.” + “The prospectus states settlers intending to join the first party must +contribute one hundred pounds toward the company. This subscription will +include all expenses for passage money. Six months’ provisions will be +provided, together with tents and arms for protection. Each subscriber +of one hundred pounds is to obtain a certificate entitling him to one +thousand acres.” + +The view of the colonization scheme taken by the _Times_ of London, of +the same date, is less complaisant. “The latest commercial sensation is +a proposed company for the seizure of New Guinea. Certain adventurous +gentlemen are looking out for one hundred others who have money and +a taste for buccaneering. When the company has been completed, its +share-holders are to place themselves under military regulations, sail +in a body for New Guinea, and without asking anybody’s leave, seize +upon the island and at once, in some unspecified way, proceed to realize +large profits. If the idea does not suggest comparisons with the large +designs of Sir Francis Drake, it is at least not unworthy of Captain +Kidd.” + +When we remember the manner in which some of the colonies of Great +Britain were acquired, the _Times_ seems almost squeamish. + +In a Melbourne paper, June, 1884, is the following paragraph: + +“Toward the latter part of 1883 the Government of Queensland planted the +flag of Great Britain on the shores of New Guinea. When the news reached +England it created a sensation. The Earl of Derby, Secretary for the +Colonies, refused, however, to sanction the annexation of New +Guinea, and in so doing acted contrary to the sincere wish of every +right-thinking Anglo-Saxon under the Southern Cross. + +“While the subsequent correspondence between the Home and Queensland +governments was going on, Brigadier-General H. R. MacIver originated and +organized the New Guinea Exploration and Colonization Company in London, +with a view to establishing settlements on the island. The company, +presided over by General Beresford of the British Army, and having +an eminently representative and influential board of directors, had a +capital of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and placed the +supreme command of the expedition in the hands of General MacIver. +Notwithstanding the character of the gentlemen composing the board of +directors, and the truly peaceful nature of the expedition, his Lordship +informed General MacIver that in the event of the latter’s attempting to +land on New Guinea, instructions would be sent to the officer in command +of her Majesty’s fleet in the Western Pacific to fire upon the company’s +vessel. This meant that the expedition would be dealt with as a +filibustering one.” + +In _Judy_, September 21, 1887, appears: + +“We all recollect the treatment received by Brigadier-General MacI. in +the action he took with respect to the annexation of New Guinea. The +General, who is a sort of Pizarro, with a dash of D’Artagnan, was +treated in a most scurvy manner by Lord Derby. Had MacIver not been +thwarted in his enterprise, the whole of New Guinea would now have been +under the British flag, and we should not be cheek-by-jowl with the +Germans, as we are in too many places.” + +_Society_, September 3, 1887, says: + +“The New Guinea expedition proved abortive, owing to the blundering +shortsightedness of the then Government, for which Lord Derby was +chiefly responsible, but what little foothold we possess in New Guinea, +is certainly due to General MacIver’s gallant effort.” + +Copy of statement made by J. Rintoul Mitchell, June 2, 1887: + +“About the latter end of the year 1883, when I was editor-in-chief of +the _Englishman_ in Calcutta, I was told by Captain de Deaux, assistant +secretary in the Foreign Office of the Indian Government, that he +had received a telegram from Lord Derby to the effect that if General +MacIver ventured to land upon the coast of New Guinea it would become +the duty of Lord Ripon, Viceroy, to use the naval forces at his command +for the purpose of deporting General MacI. Sir Aucland Calvin can +certify to this, as it was discussed in the Viceregal Council.” + +Just after our Civil War MacIver was interested in another expedition +which also failed. Its members called themselves the Knights of Arabia, +and their object was to colonize an island much nearer to our shores +than New Guinea. MacIver, saying that his oath prevented, would never +tell me which island this was, but the reader can choose from +among Cuba, Haiti, and the Hawaiian group. To have taken Cuba, the +“colonizers” would have had to fight not only Spain, but the Cubans +themselves, on whose side they were soon fighting in the Ten Years’ War; +so Cuba may be eliminated. And as the expedition was to sail from the +Atlantic side, and not from San Francisco, the island would appear to be +the Black Republic. From the records of the times it would seem that the +greater number of the Knights of Arabia were veterans of the Confederate +army, and there is no question but that they intended to subjugate the +blacks of Haiti and form a republic for white men in which slavery would +be recognized. As one of the leaders of this filibustering expedition, +MacIver was arrested by General Phil Sheridan and for a short time cast +into jail. + +This chafed the general’s spirit, but he argued philosophically that +imprisonment for filibustering, while irksome, brought with it +no reproach. And, indeed, sometimes the only difference between a +filibuster and a government lies in the fact that the government fights +the gun-boats of only the enemy while a filibuster must dodge the boats +of the enemy and those of his own countrymen. When the United States +went to war with Spain there were many men in jail as filibusters, for +doing that which at the time the country secretly approved, and later +imitated. And because they attempted exactly the same thing for which +Dr. Jameson was imprisoned in Holloway Jail, two hundred thousand of his +countrymen are now wearing medals. + +The by-laws of the Knights of Arabia leave but little doubt as to its +object. + +By-law No. II reads: + +“We, as Knights of Arabia, pledge ourselves to aid, comfort, and protect +all Knights of Arabia, especially those who are wounded in obtaining our +grand object. + +“III--Great care must be taken that no unbeliever or outsider shall gain +any insight into the mysteries or secrets of the Order. + +“IV--The candidate will have to pay one hundred dollars cash to +the Captain of the Company, and the candidate will receive from the +Secretary a Knight of Arabia bond for one hundred dollars in gold, with +ten per cent interest, payable ninety days after the recognition of (The +Republic of----) by the United States, or any government. + +“V--All Knights of Arabia will be entitled to one hundred acres of +land, location of said land to be drawn for by lottery. The products are +coffee, sugar, tobacco, and cotton.” + +A local correspondent of the New York _Herald_ writes of the arrest of +MacIver as follows: + +“When MacIver will be tried is at present unknown, as his case has +assumed a complicated aspect. He claims British protection as a subject +of her British Majesty, and the English Consul has forwarded a statement +of his case to Sir Frederick Bruce at Washington, accompanied by a copy +of the by-laws. General Sheridan also has forwarded a statement to +the Secretary of War, accompanied not only by the by-laws, but very +important documents, including letters from Jefferson Davis, Benjamin, +the Secretary of State of the Confederate States, and other personages +prominent in the Rebellion, showing that MacIver enjoyed the highest +confidence of the Confederacy.” + +As to the last statement, an open letter I found in his scrap-book is an +excellent proof. It is as follows: “To officers and members of all camps +of United Confederate Veterans: It affords me the greatest pleasure to +say that the bearer of this letter, General Henry Ronald MacIver, was an +officer of great gallantry in the Confederate Army, serving on the staff +at various times of General Stonewall Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, and E. +Kirby Smith, and that his official record is one of which any man may be +proud. + +“Respectfully, MARCUS J. WRIGHT, “_Agent for the Collection of +Confederate Records_. + +“War Records office, War Department, Washington, July 8, 1895.” + +At the close of the war duels between officers of the two armies were +not infrequent. In the scrap-book there is the account of one of these +affairs sent from Vicksburg to a Northern paper by a correspondent who +was an eye-witness of the event. It tells how Major MacIver, accompanied +by Major Gillespie, met, just outside of Vicksburg, Captain Tomlin of +Vermont, of the United States Artillery Volunteers. The duel was with +swords. MacIver ran Tomlin through the body. The correspondent writes: + +“The Confederate officer wiped his sword on his handkerchief. In a few +seconds Captain Tomlin expired. One of Major MacIver’s seconds called to +him: ‘He is dead; you must go. These gentlemen will look after the body +of their friend.’ A negro boy brought up the horses, but before mounting +MacIver said to Captain Tomlin’s seconds: ‘My friends are in haste for +me to go. Is there anything I can do? I hope you consider that this +matter has been settled honorably?’ + +“There being no reply, the Confederates rode away.” + +In a newspaper of to-day so matter-of-fact an acceptance of an event so +tragic would make strange reading. + +From the South MacIver crossed through Texas to join the Royalist army +under the Emperor Maximilian. It was while making his way, with other +Confederate officers, from Galveston to El Paso, that MacIver was +captured by the Indians. He was not ill-treated by them, but for three +months was a prisoner, until one night, the Indians having camped near +the Rio Grande, he escaped into Mexico. There he offered his sword to +the Royalist commander, General Mejia, who placed him on his staff, and +showed him some few skirmishes. At Monterey MacIver saw big fighting, +and for his share in it received the title of Count, and the order of +Guadaloupe. In June, contrary to all rules of civilized war, Maximilian +was executed and the empire was at an end. MacIver escaped to the coast, +and from Tampico took a sailing vessel to Rio de Janeiro. Two months +later he was wearing the uniform of another emperor, Dom Pedro, and, +with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, was in command of the Foreign +Legion of the armies of Brazil and Argentina, which at that time as +allies were fighting against Paraguay. + +MacIver soon recruited seven hundred men, but only half of these ever +reached the front. In Buenos Ayres cholera broke out and thirty thousand +people died, among the number about half the Legion. MacIver was among +those who suffered, and before he recovered was six weeks in hospital. +During that period, under a junior officer, the Foreign Legion was sent +to the front, where it was disbanded. + +On his return to Glasgow, MacIver foregathered with an old friend, +Bennett Burleigh, whom he had known when Burleigh was a lieutenant +in the navy of the Confederate States. Although today known as a +distinguished war correspondent, in those days Burleigh was something of +a soldier of fortune himself, and was organizing an expedition to assist +the Cretan insurgents against the Turks. Between the two men it was +arranged that MacIver should precede the expedition to Crete and +prepare for its arrival. The Cretans received him gladly, and from the +provisional government he received a commission in which he was given +“full power to make war on land and sea against the enemies of Crete, +and particularly against the Sultan of Turkey and the Turkish forces, +and to burn, destroy, or capture any vessel bearing the Turkish flag.” + +This permission to destroy the Turkish navy single-handed strikes one +as more than generous, for the Cretans had no navy, and before one could +begin the destruction of a Turkish gun-boat it was first necessary to +catch it and tie it to a wharf. + +At the close of the Cretan insurrection MacIver crossed to Athens and +served against the brigands in Kisissia on the borders of Albania +and Thessaly as volunteer aide to Colonel Corroneus, who had been +commander-in-chief of the Cretans against the Turks. MacIver spent three +months potting at brigands, and for his services in the mountains was +recommended for the highest Greek decoration. + +From Greece it was only a step to New York, and almost immediately +MacIver appears as one of the Goicouria-Christo expedition to Cuba, +of which Goicouria was commander-in-chief, and two famous American +officers, Brigadier-General Samuel C. Williams was a general and Colonel +Wright Schumburg was chief of staff. + +In the scrap-book I find “General Order No. 11 of the Liberal Army of +the Republic of Cuba, issued at Cedar Keys, October 3, 1869.” In it +Colonel MacIver is spoken of as in charge of officers not attached to +any organized corps of the division. And again: + +“General Order No. V, Expeditionary Division, Republic of Cuba, on board +_Lilian_,” announces that the place to which the expedition is bound has +been changed, and that General Wright Schumburg, who now is in command, +orders “all officers not otherwise commissioned to join Colonel +MacIver’s ‘Corps of Officers.’” + +The _Lilian_ ran out of coal, and to obtain firewood put in at Cedar +Keys. For two weeks the patriots cut wood and drilled upon the beach, +when they were captured by a British gun-boat and taken to Nassau. +There they were set at liberty, but their arms, boat, and stores were +confiscated. + +In a sailing vessel MacIver finally reached Cuba, and under Goicouria, +who had made a successful landing, saw some “help yourself” fighting. +Goicouria’s force was finally scattered, and MacIver escaped from the +Spanish soldiery only by putting to sea in an open boat, in which he +endeavored to make Jamaica. + +On the third day out he was picked up by a steamer and again landed at +Nassau, from which place he returned to New York. + +At that time in this city there was a very interesting man named +Thaddeus P. Mott, who had been an officer in our army and later +had entered the service of Ismail Pasha. By the Khedive he had +been appointed a general of division and had received permission to +reorganize the Egyptian army. + +His object in coming to New York was to engage officers for that +service. He came at an opportune moment. At that time the city was +filled with men who, in the Rebellion, on one side or the other, had +held command, and many of these, unfitted by four years of soldiering +for any other calling, readily accepted the commissions which Mott had +authority to offer. New York was not large enough to keep MacIver and +Mott long apart, and they soon came to an understanding. The agreement +drawn up between them is a curious document. It is written in a neat +hand on sheets of foolscap tied together like a Commencement-day +address, with blue ribbon. In it MacIver agrees to serve as colonel of +cavalry in the service of the Khedive. With a few legal phrases omitted, +the document reads as follows: + +“Agreement entered into this 24th day of March, 1870, between the +Government of his Royal Highness and the Khedive of Egypt, represented +by General Thaddeus P. Mott of the first part, and H. R. H. MacIver of +New York City. + +“The party of the second part, being desirous of entering into the +service of party of the first part, in the military capacity of a +colonel of cavalry, promises to serve and obey party of the first part +faithfully and truly in his military capacity during the space of five +years from this date; that the party of the second part waives all +claims of protection usually afforded to Americans by consular and +diplomatic agents of the United States, and expressly obligates himself +to be subject to the orders of the party of the first part, and to make, +wage, and vigorously prosecute war against any and all the enemies of +party of the first part; that the party of the second part will not +under any event be governed, controlled by, or submit to, any order, +law, mandate, or proclamation issued by the Government of the United +States of America, forbidding party of the second part to serve party +of the first part to make war according to any of the provisions herein +contained, _it being, however, distinctly understood_ that nothing +herein contained shall be construed as obligating party of the second +part to bear arms or wage war against the United States of America. + +“Party of the first part promises to furnish party of the second part +with horses, rations, and pay him for his services the same salary now +paid to colonels of cavalry in United States army, and will furnish him +quarters suitable to his rank in army. Also promises, in the case of +illness caused by climate, that said party may resign his office and +shall receive his expenses to America and two months’ pay; that he +receives one-fifth of his regular pay during his active service, +together with all expenses of every nature attending such enterprise.” + +It also stipulates as to what sums shall be paid his family or children +in case of his death. + +To this MacIver signs this oath: + +“In the presence of the ever-living God, I swear that I will in all +things honestly, faithfully, and truly keep, observe, and perform the +obligations and promises above enumerated, and endeavor to conform to +the wishes and desires of the Government of his Royal Highness, the +Khedive of Egypt, in all things connected with the furtherance of his +prosperity, and the maintenance of his throne.” + +On arriving at Cairo, MacIver was appointed inspector-general of +cavalry, and furnished with a uniform, of which this is a description: +“It consisted of a blue tunic with gold spangles, embroidered in gold +up the sleeves and front, neat-fitting red trousers, and high +patent-leather boots, while the inevitable fez completed the gay +costume.” + +The climate of Cairo did not agree with MacIver, and, in spite of +his “gay costume,” after six months he left the Egyptian service. His +honorable discharge was signed by Stone Bey, who, in the favor of the +Khedive, had supplanted General Mott. + +It is a curious fact that, in spite of his ill health, immediately after +leaving Cairo, MacIver was sufficiently recovered to at once plunge into +the Franco-Prussian War. At the battle of Orleans, while on the staff +of General Chanzy, he was wounded. In this war his rank was that of a +colonel of cavalry of the auxiliary army. + +His next venture was in the Carlist uprising of 1873, when he formed a +Carlist League, and on several occasions acted as bearer of important +messages from the “King,” as Don Carlos was called, to the sympathizers +with his cause in France and England. + +MacIver was promised, if he carried out successfully a certain mission +upon which he was sent, and if Don Carlos became king, that he would be +made a marquis. As Don Carlos is still a pretender, MacIver is still a +general. Although in disposing of his sword MacIver never allowed his +personal predilections to weigh with him, he always treated himself to a +hearty dislike of the Turks, and we next find him fighting against them +in Herzegovina with the Montenegrins. And when the Servians declared +war against the same people, MacIver returned to London to organize a +cavalry brigade to fight with the Servian army. + +Of this brigade and of the rapid rise of MacIver to highest rank and +honors in Servia, the scrap-book is most eloquent. The cavalry brigade +was to be called the Knights of the Red Cross. + +In a letter to the editor of the _Hour_, the general himself speaks of +it in the following terms: + +“It may be interesting to many of your readers to learn that a select +corps of gentlemen is at present in course of organization under +the above title with the mission of proceeding to the Levant to +take measures in case of emergency for the defense of the Christian +population, and more especially of British subjects who are to a great +extent unprovided with adequate means of protection from the religious +furies of the Mussulmans. The lives of Christian women and children are +in hourly peril from fanatical hordes. The Knights will be carefully +chosen and kept within strict military control, and will be under +command of a practical soldier with large experience of the Eastern +countries. Templars and all other crusaders are invited to give aid and +sympathy.” + +Apparently MacIver was not successful in enlisting many Knights, for +a war correspondent at the capital of Servia, waiting for the war to +begin, writes as follows: + +“A Scotch soldier of fortune, Henry MacIver, a colonel by rank, has +arrived at Belgrade with a small contingent of military adventurers. +Five weeks ago I met him in Fleet Street, London, and had some talk +about his ‘expedition.’ He had received a commission from the Prince of +Servia to organize and command an independent cavalry brigade, and he +then was busily enrolling his volunteers into a body styled ‘The Knights +of the Red Cross.’ I am afraid some of his bold crusaders have earned +more distinction for their attacks on Fleet Street bars than they are +likely to earn on Servian battle-fields, but then I must not anticipate +history.” + +Another paper tells that at the end of the first week of his service as +a Servian officer, MacIver had enlisted ninety men, but that they were +scattered about the town, many without shelter and rations: + +“He assembled his men on the Rialto, and in spite of official +expostulation, the men were marched up to the Minister’s four +abreast--and they marched fairly well, making a good show. The War +Minister was taken by storm, and at once granted everything. It has +raised the English colonel’s popularity with his men to fever heat.” + +This from the _Times_, London: + +“Our Belgrade correspondent telegraphs last night: + +“‘There is here at present a gentleman named MacIver. He came from +England to offer himself and his sword to the Servians. The Servian +Minister of War gave him a colonel’s commission. This morning I saw him +drilling about one hundred and fifty remarkably fine-looking fellows, +all clad in a good serviceable cavalry uniform, and he has horses.”’ + +Later we find that: + +“Colonel MacIver’s Legion of Cavalry, organizing here, now numbers over +two hundred men.” + +And again: + +“Prince Nica, a Roumanian cousin of the Princess Natalie of Servia, has +joined Colonel MacIver’s cavalry corps.” + +Later, in the _Court Journal_, October 28, 1876, we read: + +“Colonel MacIver, who a few years ago was very well known in military +circles in Dublin, now is making his mark with the Servian army. In +the war against the Turks, he commands about one thousand Russo-Servian +cavalry.” + +He was next to receive the following honors: + +“Colonel MacIver has been appointed commander of the cavalry of the +Servian armies on the Morava and Timok, and has received the Cross of +the Takovo Order from General Tchemaieff for gallant conduct in the +field, and the gold medal for valor.” + +Later we learn from the _Daily News_: + +“Mr. Lewis Farley, Secretary of the ‘League in Aid of Christians of +Turkey,’ has received the following letter, dated Belgrade, October 10, +1876: + +“‘DEAR SIR: In reference to the embroidered banner so kindly worked by +an English lady and forwarded by the League to Colonel MacIver, I have +great pleasure in conveying to you the following particulars. On Sunday +morning, the flag having been previously consecrated by the archbishop, +was conducted by a guard of honor to the palace, and Colonel MacIver, +in the presence of Prince Milan and a numerous suite, in the name and +on behalf of yourself and the fair donor, delivered it into the hands +of the Princess Natalie. The gallant Colonel wore upon this occasion his +full uniform as brigade commander and chief of cavalry of the Servian +army, and bore upon his breast the ‘Gold Cross of Takovo’ which he +received after the battles of the 28th and 30th of September, in +recognition of the heroism and bravery he displayed upon these eventful +days. The beauty of the decoration was enhanced by the circumstances +of its bestowal, for on the evening of the battle of the 30th, General +Tchernaieff approached Colonel MacIver, and, unclasping the cross from +his own breast, placed it upon that of the Colonel. + +“‘(Signed.) HUGH JACKSON, + +“‘_Member of Council of the League_.” + +In Servia and in the Servian army MacIver reached what as yet is the +highest point of his career, and of his life the happiest period. + +He was _general de brigade_, which is not what we know as a brigade +general, but is one who commands a division, a major-general. He was a +great favorite both at the palace and with the people, the pay was good, +fighting plentiful, and Belgrade gay and amusing. Of all the places +he has visited and the countries he has served, it is of this Balkan +kingdom that the general seems to speak most fondly and with the +greatest feeling. Of Queen Natalie he was and is a most loyal and +chivalric admirer, and was ever ready, when he found any one who did +not as greatly respect the lady, to offer him the choice of swords or +pistols. Even for Milan he finds an extenuating word. + +After Servia the general raised more foreign legions, planned further +expeditions; in Central America reorganized the small armies of the +small republics, served as United States Consul, and offered his sword +to President McKinley for use against Spain. But with Servia the most +active portion of the life of the general ceased, and the rest has been +a repetition of what went before. At present his time is divided between +New York and Virginia, where he has been offered an executive position +in the approaching Jamestown Exposition. Both North and South he has +many friends, many admirers. But his life is, and, from the nature of +his profession, must always be, a lonely one. + +While other men remain planted in one spot, gathering about them a home, +sons and daughters, an income for old age, MacIver is a rolling stone, +a piece of floating sea-weed; as the present King of England called him +fondly, “that vagabond soldier.” + +To a man who has lived in the saddle and upon transports, “neighbor” + conveys nothing, and even “comrade” too often means one who is no longer +living. + +With the exception of the United States, of which he now is a +naturalized citizen, the general has fought for nearly every country in +the world, but if any of those for which he lost his health and blood, +and for which he risked his life, remembers him, it makes no sign. And +the general is too proud to ask to be remembered. To-day there is no +more interesting figure than this man who in years is still young enough +to lead an army corps, and who, for forty years, has been selling his +sword and risking his life for presidents, pretenders, charlatans, and +emperors. + +He finds some mighty changes: Cuba, which he fought to free, is free; +men of the South, with whom for four years he fought shoulder to +shoulder, are now wearing the blue; the empire of Mexico, for which he +fought, is a republic; the empire of France, for which he fought, is a +republic; the empire of Brazil, for which he fought is a republic; the +dynasty in Servia, to which he owes his greatest honors, has been wiped +out by murder. From none of the eighteen countries he has served has he +a pension, berth, or billet, and at sixty he finds himself at home in +every land, but with a home in none. + +Still he has his sword, his blanket, and in the event of war, to obtain +a commission he has only to open his tin boxes and show the commissions +already won. Indeed, any day, in a new uniform, and under the Nineteenth +Flag, the general may again be winning fresh victories and honors. + +And so, this brief sketch of him is left unfinished. We will mark +it--_To be continued_. + + + + +BARON JAMES HARDEN-HICKEY + +THIS is an attempt to tell the story of Baron Harden-Hickey, the Man Who +Made Himself King, the man who was born after his time. + +If the reader, knowing something of the strange career of Harden-Hickey, +wonders why one writes of him appreciatively rather than in amusement, +he is asked not to judge Harden-Hickey as one judges a contemporary. + +Harden-Hickey, in our day, was as incongruous a figure as was the +American at the Court of King Arthur; he was as unhappily out of the +picture as would be Cyrano de Bergerac on the floor of the Board +of Trade. Judged, as at the time he was judged, by writers of comic +paragraphs, by presidents of railroads, by amateur “statesmen” at +Washington, Harden-Hickey was a joke. To the vacant mind of the village +idiot, Rip Van Winkle returning to Falling Water also was a joke. The +people of our day had not the time to understand Harden-Hickey; they +thought him a charlatan, half a dangerous adventurer and half a fool; +and Harden-Hickey certainly did not under stand them. His last words, +addressed to his wife, showed this. They were: “I would rather die a +gentleman than live a blackguard like your father.” + +As a matter of fact, his father-in-law, although living under the +disadvantage of being a Standard Oil magnate, neither was, nor is, a +blackguard, and his son-in-law had been treated by him generously +and with patience. But for the duellist and soldier of fortune it was +impossible to sympathize with a man who took no greater risk in life +than to ride on one of his own railroads, and of the views the two men +held of each other, that of John H. Flagler was probably the fairer and +the more kindly. + +Harden-Hickey was one of the most picturesque, gallant, and pathetic +adventurers of our day; but Flagler also deserves our sympathy. + +For an unimaginative and hard-working Standard Oil king to have a +D’Artagnan thrust upon him as a son-in-law must be trying. + +James A. Harden-Hickey, James the First of Trinidad, Baron of the +Holy Roman Empire, was born on December 8, 1854. As to the date all +historians agree; as to where the important event took place they +differ. That he was born in France his friends are positive, but at the +time of his death in El Paso the San Francisco papers claimed him as a +native of California. All agree that his ancestors were Catholics and +Royalists who left Ireland with the Stuarts when they sought refuge in +France. The version which seems to be the most probable is that he was +born in San Francisco, where as one of the early settlers, his father, +E. C. Hickey, was well known, and that early in his life, in order to +educate him, the mother took him to Europe. + +There he was educated at the Jesuit College at Namur, then at Leipsic, +and later entered the Military College of St. Cyr. + +James the First was one of those boys who never had the misfortune to +grow up. To the moment of his death, in all he planned you can trace the +effects of his early teachings and environment; the influences of the +great Church that nursed him, and of the city of Paris, in which he +lived. Under the Second Empire, Paris was at her maddest, baddest, and +best. To-day under the republic, without a court, with a society kept in +funds by the self-expatriated wives and daughters of our business men, +she lacks the reasons for which Baron Haussmann bedecked her and made +her beautiful. The good Loubet, the worthy Fallieres, except that they +furnish the cartoonist with subjects for ridicule, do not add to the +gayety of Paris. But when Harden-Hickey was a boy, Paris was never so +carelessly gay, so brilliant, never so overcharged with life, color, and +adventure. + +In those days “the Emperor sat in his box that night,” and in the box +opposite sat Cora Pearl; veterans of the campaign of Italy, of Mexico, +from the desert fights of Algiers, sipped sugar and water in front of +Tortoni’s, the Cafe Durand, the Cafe Riche; the sidewalks rang with +their sabres, the boulevards were filled with the colors of the gorgeous +uniforms; all night of each night the Place Vendome shone with the +carriage lamps of the visiting pashas from Egypt, of nabobs from +India, of _rastaquoueres_ from the sister empire of Brazil; the state +carriages, with the outriders and postilions in the green and gold of +the Empress, swept through the Champs Elysees, and at the Bal Bulier, +and at Mabile the students and “grisettes” introduced the cancan. The +men of those days were Hugo, Thiers, Dumas, Daudet, Alfred de Musset; +the magnificent blackguard, the Duc de Morny, and the great, simple +Canrobert, the captain of barricades, who became a marshal of France. + +Over all was the mushroom Emperor, his anterooms crowded with the +titled charlatans of Europe, his court radiant with countesses created +overnight. And it was the Emperor, with his love of theatrical display, +of gorgeous ceremonies; with his restless reaching after military glory, +the weary, cynical adventurer, that the boy at St. Cyr took as his +model. + +Royalist as was Harden-Hickey by birth and tradition, and Royalist as +he always remained, it was the court at the Tuileries that filled his +imagination. The Bourbons, whom he served, hoped some day for a court; +at the Tuileries there was a court, glittering before his physical eyes. +The Bourbons were pleasant old gentlemen, who later willingly supported +him, and for whom always he was equally willing to fight, either with +his sword or his pen. But to the last, in his mind, he carried pictures +of the Second Empire as he, as a boy, had known it. + +Can you not imagine the future James the First, barelegged, in a +black-belted smock, halting with his nurse, or his priest, to gaze up in +awestruck delight at the great, red-breeched Zouaves lounging on guard +at the Tuileries? + +“When I grow up,” said little James to himself, not knowing that he +never would grow up, “I shall have Zouaves for _my_ palace guard.” + +And twenty years later, when he laid down the laws for his little +kingdom, you find that the officers of his court must wear the mustache, +“_a la_ Louis Napoleon,” and that the Zouave uniform will be worn by the +Palace Guards. + +In 1883, while he still was at the War College, his father died, and +when he graduated, which he did with honors, he found himself his own +master. His assets were a small income, a perfect knowledge of the +French language, and the reputation of being one of the most expert +swordsman in Paris. He chose not to enter the army, and instead became +a journalist, novelist, duellist, an _habitue_ of the Latin Quarter and +the boulevards. + +As a novelist the titles of his books suggest their quality. Among +them are: “Un Amour Vendeen,” “Lettres d’un Yankee,” “Un Amour dans +le Monde,” “Memoires d’un Gommeux,” “Merveilleuses Aventures de +Nabuchodonosor, Nosebreaker.” + +Of the Catholic Church he wrote seriously, apparently with deep +conviction, with high enthusiasm. In her service as a defender of the +faith he issued essays, pamphlets, “broadsides.” The opponents of the +Church in Paris he attacked relentlessly. + +As a reward for his championship he received the title of baron. + +In 1878, while only twenty-four, he married the Countess de Saint-Pery, +by whom he had two children, a boy and a girl, and three years later +he started _Triboulet_. It was this paper that made him famous to “all +Paris.” + +It was a Royalist sheet, subsidized by the Count de Chambord and +published in the interest of the Bourbons. Until 1888 Harden-Hickey was +its editor, and even by his enemies it must be said that he served his +employers with zeal. During the seven years in which the paper amused +Paris and annoyed the republican government, as its editor Harden-Hickey +was involved in forty-two lawsuits, for different editorial +indiscretions, fined three hundred thousand francs, and was a principal +in countless duels. + +To his brother editors his standing interrogation was: “Would you prefer +to meet me upon the editorial page, or in the Bois de Boulogne?” Among +those who met him in the Bois were Aurelien Scholl, H. Lavenbryon, M. +Taine, M. de Cyon, Philippe Du Bois, Jean Moreas. + +In 1888, either because, his patron the Count de Chambord having died, +there was no more money to pay the fines, or because the patience of +the government was exhausted, _Triboulet_ ceased to exist, and +Harden-Hickey, claiming the paper had been suppressed and he himself +exiled, crossed to London. + +From there he embarked upon a voyage around the world, which lasted two +years, and in the course of which he discovered the island kingdom of +which he was to be the first and last king. Previous to his departure, +having been divorced from the Countess de Saint-Pery, he placed his boy +and girl in the care of a fellow-journalist and very dear friend, the +Count de la Boissiere, of whom later we shall hear more. + +Harden-Hickey started around the world on the _Astoria_, a British +merchant vessel bound for India by way of Cape Horn, Captain Jackson +commanding. + +When off the coast of Brazil the ship touched at the uninhabited island +of Trinidad. Historians of James the First say that it was through +stress of weather that the _Astoria_ was driven to seek refuge there, +but as, for six months of the year, to make a landing on the island is +almost impossible, and as at any time, under stress of weather, Trinidad +would be a place to avoid, it is more likely Jackson put in to replenish +his water-casks, or to obtain a supply of turtle meat. + +Or it may have been that, having told Harden-Hickey of the derelict +island, the latter persuaded the captain to allow him to land and +explore it. Of this, at least, we are certain, a boat was sent ashore, +Harden-Hickey went ashore in it, and before he left the island, as a +piece of no man’s land, belonging to no country, he claimed it in his +own name, and upon the beach raised a flag of his own design. + +The island of Trinidad claimed by Harden-Hickey must not be confused +with the larger Trinidad belonging to Great Britain and lying off +Venezuela. + +The English Trinidad is a smiling, peaceful spot of great tropical +beauty; it is one of the fairest places in the West Indies. At every +hour of the year the harbor of Port of Spain holds open its arms to +vessels of every draught. A governor in a pith helmet, a cricket club, a +bishop in gaiters, and a botanical garden go to make it a prosperous +and contented colony. But the little derelict Trinidad, in latitude +20 degrees 30 minutes south, and longitude 29 degrees 22 minutes west, +seven hundred miles from the coast of Brazil, is but a spot upon the +ocean. On most maps it is not even a spot. Except by birds, turtles, and +hideous land-crabs, it is uninhabited; and against the advances of man +its shores are fortified with cruel ridges of coral, jagged limestone +rocks, and a tremendous towering surf which, even in a dead calm, beats +many feet high against the coast. + +In 1698 Dr. Halley visited the island, and says he found nothing living +but doves and land-crabs. “Saw many green turtles in sea, but by reason +of the great surf, could catch none.” + +After Halley’s visit, in 1700 the island was settled by a few Portuguese +from Brazil. The ruins of their stone huts are still in evidence. But +Amaro Delano, who called in 1803, makes no mention of the Portuguese; +and when, in 1822, Commodore Owen visited Trinidad, he found nothing +living there save cormorants, petrels, gannets, man-of-war birds, and +“turtles weighing from five hundred to seven hundred pounds.” + +In 1889 E. F. Knight, who in the Japanese-Russian War represented the +London _Morning Post_, visited Trinidad in his yacht in search of buried +treasure. + +Alexander Dalrymple, in his book entitled “Collection of Voages, chiefly +in the Southern Atlantick Ocean, 1775,” tells how, in 1700, he “took +possession of the island in his Majesty’s name as knowing it to be +granted by the King’s letter patent, leaving a Union Jack flying.” + +So it appears that before Harden-Hickey seized the island it already had +been claimed by Great Britain, and later, on account of the Portuguese +settlement, by Brazil. The answer Harden-Hickey made to these claims +was that the English never settled in Trinidad, and that the Portuguese +abandoned it, and, therefore, their claims lapsed. In his “prospectus” + of his island, Harden-Hickey himself describes it thus: + +“Trinidad is about five miles long and three miles wide. In spite of +its rugged and uninviting appearance, the inland plateaus are rich with +luxuriant vegetation. + +“Prominent among this is a peculiar species of bean, which is not only +edible, but extremely palatable. The surrounding seas swarm with fish, +which as yet are wholly unsuspicious of the hook. Dolphins, rock-cod, +pigfish, and blackfish may be caught as quickly as they can be hauled +out. I look to the sea birds and the turtles to afford our principal +source of revenue. Trinidad is the breeding-place of almost the entire +feathery population of the South Atlantic Ocean. The exportation of +guano alone should make my little country prosperous. Turtles visit the +island to deposit eggs, and at certain seasons the beach is literally +alive with them. The only drawback to my projected kingdom is the fact +that it has no good harbor and can be approached only when the sea is +calm.” + +As a matter of fact sometimes months pass before it is possible to +effect a landing. + +Another asset of the island held out by the prospectus was its great +store of buried treasure. Before Harden-Hickey seized the island, this +treasure had made it known. This is the legend. In 1821 a great store +of gold and silver plate plundered from Peruvian churches had been +concealed on the islands by pirates near Sugar Loaf Hill, on the shore +of what is known as the Southwest Bay. Much of this plate came from +the cathedral at Lima, having been carried from there during the war +of independence when the Spanish residents fled the country. In their +eagerness to escape they put to sea in any ship that offered, and these +unarmed and unseaworthy vessels fell an easy prey to pirates. One of +these pirates on his death-bed, in gratitude to his former captain, told +him the secret of the treasure. In 1892 this captain was still living, +in Newcastle, England, and although his story bears a family resemblance +to every other story of buried treasure, there were added to the tale of +the pirate some corroborative details. These, in twelve years, induced +five different expeditions to visit the island. The two most important +were that of E. F. Knight and one from the Tyne in the bark _Aurea_. + +In his “Cruise of the _Alerte_,” Knight gives a full description of the +island, and of his attempt to find the treasure. In this, a landslide +having covered the place where it was buried, he was unsuccessful. + +But Knight’s book is the only source of accurate information concerning +Trinidad, and in writing his prospectus it is evident that Harden-Hickey +was forced to borrow from it freely. Knight himself says that the most +minute and accurate description of Trinidad is to be found in the “Frank +Mildmay” of Captain Marryat. He found it so easy to identify each spot +mentioned in the novel that he believes the author of “Midshipman Easy” + himself touched there. + +After seizing Trinidad, Harden-Hickey rounded the Cape and made north to +Japan, China, and India. In India he became interested in Buddhism, and +remained for over a year questioning the priests of that religion and +studying its tenets and history. + +On his return to Paris, in 1890, he met Miss Annie Harper Flagler, +daughter of John H. Flagler. A year later, on St. Patrick’s Day, +1891, at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, Miss Flagler became the +Baroness Harden-Hickey. The Rev. John Hall married them. + +For the next two years Harden-Hickey lived in New York, but so quietly +that, except that he lived quietly, it is difficult to find out anything +concerning him. The man who, a few years before, had delighted Paris +with his daily feuilletons, with his duels, with his forty-two lawsuits, +who had been the master of revels in the Latin Quarter, in New York +lived almost as a recluse, writing a book on Buddhism. While he was in +New York I was a reporter on the _Evening Sun_, but I cannot recall ever +having read his name in the newspapers of that day, and I heard of him +only twice; once as giving an exhibition of his water-colors at the +American Art Galleries, and again as the author of a book I found in a +store in Twenty-second Street, just east of Broadway, then the home of +the Truth Seeker Publishing Company. + +It was a grewsome compilation and had just appeared in print. It was +called “Euthanasia, or the Ethics of Suicide.” This book was an apology +or plea for self-destruction. In it the baron laid down those occasions +when he considered suicide pardonable, and when obligatory. To support +his arguments and to show that suicide was a noble act, he quoted Plato, +Cicero, Shakespeare, and even misquoted the Bible. He gave a list of +poisons, and the amount of each necessary to kill a human being. To show +how one can depart from life with the least pain, he illustrated the +text with most unpleasant pictures, drawn by himself. + +The book showed how far Harden-Hickey had strayed from the teachings +of the Jesuit College at Namur, and of the Church that had made him +“noble.” + +All of these two years had not been spent only in New York. +Harden-Hickey made excursions to California, to Mexico, and to Texas, +and in each of these places bought cattle ranches and mines. The money +to pay for these investments came from his father-in-law. But not +directly. Whenever he wanted money he asked his wife, or De la +Boissiere, who was a friend also of Flagler, to obtain it for him. + +His attitude toward his father-in-law is difficult to explain. It is not +apparent that Flagler ever did anything which could justly offend him; +indeed, he always seems to have spoken of his son-in-law with tolerance, +and often with awe, as one would speak of a clever, wayward child. But +Harden-Hickey chose to regard Flagler as his enemy, as a sordid man +of business who could not understand the feelings and aspirations of a +genius and a gentleman. + +Before Harden-Hickey married, the misunderstanding between his wife’s +father and himself began. Because he thought Harden-Hickey was marrying +his daughter for her money, Flagler opposed the union. Consequently, +Harden-Hickey married Miss Flagler without “settlements,” and for the +first few years supported her without aid from her father. But his +wife had been accustomed to a manner of living beyond the means of the +soldier of fortune, and soon his income, and then even his capital, was +exhausted. From her mother the baroness inherited a fortune. This was +in the hands of her father as executor. When his own money was gone, +Harden-Hickey endeavored to have the money belonging to his wife placed +to her credit, or to his. To this, it is said, Flagler, on the ground +that Harden-Hickey was not a man of business, while he was, objected, +and urged that he was, and that if it remained in his hands the money +would be better invested and better expended. It was the refusal of +Flagler to intrust Harden-Hickey with the care of his wife’s money that +caused the breach between them. + +As I have said, you cannot judge Harden-Hickey as you would a +contemporary. With the people among whom he was thrown, his ideas were +entirely out of joint. He should have lived in the days of “The Three +Musketeers.” People who looked upon him as working for his own hand +entirely misunderstood him. He was absolutely honest, and as absolutely +without a sense of humor. To him, to pay taxes, to pay grocers’ bills, +to depend for protection upon a policeman, was intolerable. He lived +in a world of his own imagining. And one day, in order to make his +imaginings real, and to escape from his father-in-law’s unromantic world +of Standard Oil and Florida hotels, in a proclamation to the powers +he announced himself as King James the First of the Principality of +Trinidad. + +The proclamation failed to create a world crisis. Several of the powers +recognized his principality and his title; but, as a rule, people +laughed, wondered, and forgot. That the daughter of John Flagler was +to rule the new principality gave it a “news interest,” and for a few +Sundays in the supplements she was hailed as the “American Queen.” + +When upon the subject of the new kingdom Flagler himself was +interviewed, he showed an open mind. + +“My son-in-law is a very determined man,” he said; “he will carry out +any scheme in which he is interested. Had he consulted me about this, +I would have been glad to have aided him with money or advice. My +son-in-law is an extremely well-read, refined, well-bred man. He does +not court publicity. While he was staying in my house he spent nearly +all the time in the library translating an Indian book on Buddhism. My +daughter has no ambition to be a queen or anything else than what she +is--an American girl. But my son-in-law means to carry on this Trinidad +scheme, and--he will.” + +From his father-in-law, at least, Harden-Hickey could not complain that +he had met with lack of sympathy. + +The rest of America was amused; and after less than nine days, +indifferent. But Harden-Hickey, though unobtrusively, none the less +earnestly continued to play the part of king. His friend De la Boissiere +he appointed his Minister of Foreign Affairs, and established in a +Chancellery at 217 West Thirty-sixth Street, New York, and from there +was issued a sort of circular, or prospectus, written by the king, and +signed by “Le Grand Chancelier, Secretaire d’Etat pour les Affaires +Etrangeres, M. le Comte de la Boissiere.” + +The document, written in French, announced that the new state would +be governed by a military dictatorship, that the royal standard was a +yellow triangle on a red ground, and that the arms of the principality +were “d’Or chape de Gueules.” It pointed out naively that those who +first settled on the island would be naturally the oldest inhabitants, +and hence would form the aristocracy. But only those who at home enjoyed +social position and some private fortune would be admitted into this +select circle. + +For itself the state reserved a monopoly of the guano, of the turtles, +and of the buried treasure. And both to discover the treasure and to +encourage settlers to dig and so cultivate the soil, a percentage of the +treasure was promised to the one who found it. + +Any one purchasing ten $200 bonds was entitled to a free passage to the +island, and after a year, should he so desire it, a return trip. The +hard work was to be performed by Chinese coolies, the aristocracy +existing beautifully, and, according to the prospectus, to enjoy _“vie +d’un genre tout nouveau, et la recherche de sensations nouvelles.”_ + +To reward his subjects for prominence in literature, the arts, and the +sciences, his Majesty established an order of chivalry. The official +document creating this order reads: + + +“We, James, Prince of Trinidad, have resolved to commemorate our +accession to the throne of Trinidad by the institution of an Order of +Chivalry, destined to reward literature, industry, science, and the +human virtues, and by these presents have established and do institute, +with cross and crown, the Order of the Insignia of the Cross of +Trinidad, of which we and our heirs and successors shall be the +sovereigns. + +“Given in our Chancellery the Eighth of the month of December, one +thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, and of our reign, the First +Year. + +“JAMES.” + +There were four grades: Chevalier, Commander, Grand Officer, and Grand +Cross; and the name of each member of the order was inscribed in +“The Book of Gold.” A pension of one thousand francs was given to a +Chevalier, of two thousand francs to a Commander, and of three thousand +francs to a Grand Officer. Those of the grade of Grand Cross were +content with a plaque of eight diamond-studded rays, with, in the +centre, set in red enamel, the arms of Trinidad. The ribbon was red and +yellow. + +A rule of the order read: “The costume shall be identical with that of +the Chamberlains of the Court of Trinidad, save the buttons, which shall +bear the impress of the Crown of the Order.” + +For himself, King James commissioned a firm of jewelers to construct a +royal crown. In design it was similar to the one which surmounted the +cross of Trinidad. It is shown in the photograph of the insignia. Also, +the king issued a set of postage-stamps on which was a picture of +the island. They were of various colors and denominations, and among +stamp-collectors enjoyed a certain sale. + +To-day, as I found when I tried to procure one to use in this book, they +are worth many times their face value. + +For some time the affairs of the new kingdom progressed favorably. In +San Francisco, King James, in person, engaged four hundred coolies and +fitted out a schooner which he sent to Trinidad, where it made regular +trips between his principality and Brazil; an agent was established +on the island, and the construction of docks, wharves, and houses +was begun, while at the chancellery in West Thirty-sixth Street, the +Minister of Foreign Affairs was ready to furnish would-be settlers with +information. + +And then, out of a smiling sky, a sudden and unexpected blow was struck +at the independence of the little kingdom. It was a blow from which it +never recovered. + +In July of 1895, while constructing a cable to Brazil, Great Britain +found the Island of Trinidad lying in the direct line she wished to +follow, and, as a cable station, seized it. Objection to this was made +by Brazil, and at Bahia a mob with stones pelted the sign of the English +Consul-General. + +By right of Halley’s discovery, England claimed the island; as a +derelict from the main land, Brazil also claimed it. Between the rivals, +the world saw a chance for war, and the fact that the island really +belonged to our King James for a moment was forgotten. + +But the Minister of Foreign Affairs was at his post. With promptitude +and vigor he acted. He addressed a circular note to all the powers of +Europe, and to our State Department a protest. It read as follows: + + + “GRANDE CHANCELLERIE DE LA PRINCIPAUTE DE + TRINIDAD, + 27 WEST THIRTY-SIXTH STREET, + NEW YORK CITY, U. S. A., + +“NEW YORK, _July_ 30, 1895. + +_“To His Excellency Mr. the Secretary of State of the Republic of the +United States of North America, Washington, D. C.:_ + +“EXCELLENCY.--I have the honor to recall to your memory: + +“1. That in the course of the month of September, 1893, Baron +Harden-Hickey officially notified all the Powers of his taking +possession of the uninhabited island of Trinidad; and + +“2. That in course of January, 1894, he renewed to all these Powers the +official notification of the said taking of possession, and informed +them at the same time that from that date the land would be known +as ‘Principality of Trinidad’; that he took the title of ‘Prince of +Trinidad,’ and would reign under the name of James I. + +“In consequence of these official notifications several Powers have +recognized the new Principality and its Prince, and at all events none +thought it necessary at that epoch to raise objections or formulate +opposition. + +“The press of the entire world has, on the other hand, often acquainted +readers with these facts, thus giving to them all possible publicity. In +consequence of the accomplishment of these various formalities, and +as the law of nations prescribes that ‘derelict’ territories belong to +whoever will take possession of them, and as the island of Trinidad, +which has been abandoned for years, certainly belongs to the aforesaid +category, his Serene Highness Prince James I was authorized to regard +his rights on the said island as perfectly valid and indisputable. + +“Nevertheless, your Excellency knows that recently, in spite of all +the legitimate rights of my august sovereign, an English war-ship +has disembarked at Trinidad a detachment of armed troops and taken +possession of the island in the name of England. + +“Following this assumption of territory, the Brazilian Government, +invoking a right of ancient Portuguese occupation (long ago outlawed), +has notified the English Government to surrender the island to Brazil. + +“I beg of your Excellency to ask of the Government of the United +States of North America to recognize the Principality of Trinidad as +an independent State, and to come to an understanding with the other +American Powers in order to guarantee its neutrality. + +“Thus the Government of the United States of North America will once +more accord its powerful assistance to the cause of right and of +justice, misunderstood by England and Brazil, put an end to a situation +which threatens to disturb the peace, re-establish concord between two +great States ready to appeal to arms, and affirm itself, moreover, as +the faithful interpreter of the Monroe Doctrine. + +“In the expectation of your reply please accept, Excellency, the +expression of my elevated consideration. + +“The Grand Chancellor, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, + +“COMTE DE LA BOISSIERE.” + +At that time Richard Olney was Secretary of State, and in his treatment +of the protest, and of the gentleman who wrote it, he fully upheld the +reputation he made while in office of lack of good manners. Saying he +was unable to read the handwriting in which the protest was written, +he disposed of it in a way that would suggest itself naturally to a +statesman and a gentleman. As a “crank” letter he turned it over to the +Washington correspondents. You can imagine what they did with it. + +The day following the reporters in New York swept down upon the +chancellery and upon the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It was the “silly +season” in August, there was no real news in town, and the troubles of +De la Boissiere were allowed much space. + +They laughed at him and at his king, at his chancellery, at his broken +English, at his “grave and courtly manners,” even at his clothes. But in +spite of the ridicule, between the lines you could read that to the man +himself it all was terribly real. + +I had first heard of the island of Trinidad from two men I knew +who spent three months on it searching for the treasure, and when +Harden-Hickey proclaimed himself lord of the island, through the papers +I had carefully followed his fortunes. So, partly out of curiosity and +partly out of sympathy, I called at the chancellery. + +I found it in a brownstone house, in a dirty neighborhood just west of +Seventh Avenue, and of where now stands the York Hotel. Three weeks ago +I revisited it and found it unchanged. At the time of my first visit, +on the jamb of the front door was pasted a piece of paper on which +was written in the handwriting of De la Boissiere: “Chancellerie de la +Principaute de Trinidad.” + +The chancellery was not exactly in its proper setting. On its door-step +children of the tenements were playing dolls with clothes-pins; in the +street a huckster in raucous tones was offering wilted cabbages to women +in wrappers leaning from the fire escapes; the smells and the heat of +New York in midsummer rose from the asphalt. It was a far cry to the +wave-swept island off the coast of Brazil. + +De la Boissiere received me with distrust. The morning papers had made +him man-shy; but, after a few “Your Excellencies” and a respectful +inquiry regarding “His Royal Highness,” his confidence revived. In the +situation he saw nothing humorous, not even in an announcement on the +wall which read: “Sailings to Trinidad.” Of these there were _two_; on +March 1, and on October 1. On the table were many copies of the +royal proclamation, the postage-stamps of the new government, the +thousand-franc bonds, and, in pasteboard boxes, the gold and red +enamelled crosses of the Order of Trinidad. + +He talked to me frankly and fondly of Prince James. Indeed, I never +met any man who knew Harden-Hickey well who did not speak of him with +aggressive loyalty. If at his eccentricities they smiled, it was with +the smile of affection. It was easy to see De la Boissiere regarded him +not only with the affection of a friend, but with the devotion of a +true subject. In his manner he himself was courteous, gentle, and so +distinguished that I felt as though I were enjoying, on intimate terms, +an audience with one of the prime-ministers of Europe. + +And he, on his part, after the ridicule of the morning papers, to have +any one with outward seriousness accept his high office and his king, +was, I believe, not ungrateful. + +I told him I wished to visit Trinidad, and in that I was quite serious. +The story of an island filled with buried treasure, and governed by a +king, whose native subjects were turtles and seagulls, promised to make +interesting writing. + +The count was greatly pleased. I believe in me he saw his first +bona-fide settler, and when I rose to go he even lifted one of +the crosses of Trinidad and, before my envious eyes, regarded it +uncertainly. + +Perhaps, had he known that of all decorations it was the one I +most desired; had I only then and there booked my passage, or sworn +allegiance to King James, who knows but that to-day I might be a +chevalier, with my name in the “Book of Gold”? But instead of bending +the knee, I reached for my hat; the count replaced the cross in its +pasteboard box, and for me the psychological moment had passed. + +Others, more deserving of the honor, were more fortunate. Among my +fellow-reporters who, like myself, came to scoff, and remained to pray, +was Henri Pene du Bois, for some time, until his recent death, the +brilliant critic of art and music of the _American_. Then he was on +the _Times_, and Henry N. Cary, now of the _Morning Telegraph_, was his +managing editor. + +When Du Bois reported to Cary on his assignment, he said: “There is +nothing funny in that story. It’s pathetic. Both those men are in +earnest. They are convinced they are being robbed of their rights. Their +only fault is that they have imagination, and that the rest of us lack +it. That’s the way it struck me, and that’s the way the story ought to +be written.” + +“Write it that way,” said Cary. + +So, of all the New York papers, the _Times_, for a brief period, became +the official organ of the Government of James the First, and in time +Cary and Du Bois were created Chevaliers of the Order of Trinidad, and +entitled to wear uniforms “Similar to those of the Chamberlains of the +Court, save that the buttons bear the impress of the Royal Crown.” + +The attack made by Great Britain and Brazil upon the independence of the +principality, while it left Harden-Hickey in the position of a king in +exile, brought him at once another crown, which, by those who offered +it to him, was described as of incomparably greater value than that of +Trinidad. + +In the first instance the man had sought the throne; in this case the +throne sought the man. + +In 1893 in San Francisco, Ralston J. Markowe, a lawyer and a one-time +officer of artillery in the United States army, gained renown as one +of the Morrow filibustering expedition which attempted to overthrow the +Dole government in the Hawaiian Isles and restore to the throne Queen +Liliuokalani. In San Francisco Markowe was nicknamed the “Prince of +Honolulu,” as it was understood, should Liliuokalani regain her +crown, he would be rewarded with some high office. But in the star +of Liliuokalani, Markowe apparently lost faith, and thought he saw +in Harden-Hickey timber more suitable for king-making. Accordingly, +twenty-four days after the “protest” was sent to our State Department, +Markowe switched his allegiance to Harden-Hickey, and to him addressed +the following letter: + +“SAN FRANCISCO, August 26, 1895. + +BARON HARDEN-HICKEY, LOS ANGELES, CAL.: + +“Monseigneur--Your favor of August 16 has been received. + +“1. I am the duly authorized agent of the Royalist party in so far as +it is possible for any one to occupy that position under existing +circumstances. With the Queen in prison and absolutely cut off from +all communication with her friends, it is out of the question for me to +carry anything like formal credentials. + +“2. Alienating any part of the territory cannot give rise to any +constitutional questions, for the reason that the constitutions, like +the land tenures, are in a state of such utter confusion that only a +strong hand can unravel them, and the restoration will result in the +establishment of a strong military government. If I go down with the +expedition I have organized I shall be in full control of the situation +and in a position to carry out all my contracts. + +“3. It is the island of Kauai on which I propose to establish you as an +independent sovereign. + +“4. My plan is to successively occupy all the islands, leaving the +capital to the last. When the others have fallen, the capital, being cut +off from all its resources, will be easily taken, and may very likely +fall without effort. I don’t expect in any case to have to fortify +myself or to take the defensive, or to have to issue a call to arms, as +I shall have an overwhelming force to join me at once, in addition to +those who go with me, who by themselves will be sufficient to carry +everything before them without active cooperation from the people there. + +“5. The Government forces consist of about 160 men and boys, with very +imperfect military training, and of whom about forty are officers. They +are organized as infantry. There are also about 600 citizens enrolled +as a reserve guard, who may be called upon in case of an emergency, +and about 150 police. We can fully rely upon the assistance of all the +police and from one-quarter to one-half of the other troops. And of the +remainder many will under no circumstances engage in a sharp fight in +defense of the present government. There are now on the island plenty +of men and arms to accomplish our purpose, and if my expedition does +not get off very soon the people there will be organized to do the work +without other assistance from here than the direction of a few leaders, +of which they stand more in need than anything else. + +“6. The tonnage of the vessel is 146. She at present has berth-room for +twenty men, but bunks can be arranged in the hold for 256 more, with +provision for ample ventilation. She has one complete set of sails and +two extra spars. The remaining information in regard to her I will have +to obtain and send you to-morrow. I think it must be clear to you that +the opportunity now offered you will be of incomparably greater value +at once than Trinidad would ever be. Still hoping that I may have an +interview with you at an early date, respectfully yours, + +“RALSTON J. MARKOWE.” + +What Harden-Hickey thought of this is not known, but as two weeks before +he received it he had written Markowe, asking him by what authority he +represented the Royalists of Honolulu, it seems evident that when the +crown of Hawaii was first proffered him he did not at once spurn it. + +He now was in the peculiar position of being a deposed king of an island +in the South Atlantic, which had been taken from him, and king-elect of +an island in the Pacific, which was his if he could take it. + +This was in August of 1895. For the two years following, Harden-Hickey +was a soldier of misfortunes. Having lost his island kingdom, he could +no longer occupy himself with plans for its improvement. It had been +his toy. They had taken it from him, and the loss and the ridicule which +followed hurt him bitterly. + +And for the lands he really owned in Mexico and California, and which, +if he were to live in comfort, it was necessary he should sell, he +could find no purchaser; and, moreover, having quarrelled with his +father-in-law, he had cut off his former supply of money. The need of it +pinched him cruelly. + +The advertised cause of this quarrel was sufficiently characteristic +to be the real one. Moved by the attack of Great Britain upon his +principality, Harden-Hickey decided upon reprisals. It must be +remembered that always he was more Irish than French. On paper +he organized an invasion of England from Ireland, the home of his +ancestors. It was because Flagler refused to give him money for this +adventure that he broke with him. His friends say this was the real +reason of the quarrel, which was a quarrel on the side of Harden-Hickey +alone. + +And there were other, more intimate troubles. While not separated from +his wife, he now was seldom in her company. When the Baroness was in +Paris, Harden-Hickey was in San Francisco; when she returned to San +Francisco, he was in Mexico. The fault seems to have been his. He was +greatly admired by pretty women. His daughter by his first wife, now a +very beautiful girl of sixteen, spent much time with her stepmother; +and when not on his father’s ranch in Mexico, his son also, for months +together, was at her side. The husband approved of this, but he himself +saw his wife infrequently. Nevertheless, early in the spring of 1898, +the Baroness leased a house in Brockton Square, in Riverside, Cal., +where it was understood by herself and by her friends her husband would +join her. At that time in Mexico he was trying to dispose of a large +tract of land. Had he been able to sell it, the money for a time would +have kept one even of his extravagances contentedly rich. At least, +he would have been independent of his wife and of her father. Up to +February of 1898 his obtaining this money seemed probable. + +Early in that month the last prospective purchaser decided not to buy. + +There is no doubt that had Harden-Hickey then turned to his +father-in-law, that gentleman, as he had done before, would have opened +an account for him. + +But the Prince of Trinidad felt he could no longer beg, even for the +money belonging to his wife, from the man he had insulted. He could no +longer ask his wife to intercede for him. He was without money of his +own, with out the means of obtaining it; from his wife he had ceased to +expect even sympathy, and from the world he knew, the fact that he was +a self-made king caused him always to be pointed out with ridicule as a +charlatan, as a jest. + +The soldier of varying fortunes, the duellist and dreamer, the devout +Catholic and devout Buddhist, saw the forty-third year of his life only +as the meeting-place of many fiascos. + +His mind was tormented with imaginary wrongs, imaginary slights, +imaginary failures. + +This young man, who could paint pictures, write books, organize colonies +oversea, and with a sword pick the buttons from a waistcoat, forgot the +twenty good years still before him; forgot that men loved him for the +mistakes he had made; that in parts of the great city of Paris his name +was still spoken fondly, still was famous and familiar. + +In his book on the “Ethics of Suicide,” for certain hard places in life +he had laid down an inevitable rule of conduct. + +As he saw it he had come to one of those hard places, and he would not +ask of others what he himself would not perform. + +From Mexico he set out for California, but not to the house his wife had +prepared for him. + +Instead, on February 9, 1898, at El Paso, he left the train and +registered at a hotel. + +At 7.30 in the evening he went to his room, and when, on the following +morning, they kicked in the door, they found him stretched rigidly upon +the bed, like one lying in state, with, near his hand, a half-emptied +bottle of poison. + +On a chair was pinned this letter to his wife: + +“My DEAREST,--No news from you, although you have had plenty of time to +write. Harvey has written me that he has no one in view at present to +buy my land. Well, I shall have tasted the cup of bitterness to the very +dregs, but I do not complain. Good-by. I forgive you your conduct toward +me and trust you will be able to forgive yourself. I prefer to be a dead +gentleman to a living blackguard like your father.” + + +And when they searched his open trunk for something that might identify +the body on the bed, they found the crown of Trinidad. + +You can imagine it: the mean hotel bedroom, the military figure with +its white face and mustache, “_a la_ Louis Napoleon,” at rest upon the +pillow, the startled drummers and chambermaids peering in from the hall, +and the landlord, or coroner, or doctor, with a bewildered countenance, +lifting to view the royal crown of gilt and velvet. + +The other actors in this, as Harold Frederic called it, “Opera Bouffe +Monarchy,” are still living. + +The Baroness Harden-Hickey makes her home in this country. + +The Count de la Boissiere, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, is still a +leader of the French colony in New York, and a prosperous commission +merchant with a suite of offices on Fifty-fourth Street. By the will of +Harden-Hickey he is executor of his estate, guardian of his children, +and what, for the purpose of this article, is of more importance, in +his hands lies the future of the kingdom of Trinidad. When Harden-Hickey +killed himself the title to the island was in dispute. Should young +Harden-Hickey wish to claim it, it still would be in dispute. Meanwhile, +by the will of the First James, De la Boissiere is appointed perpetual +regent, a sort of “receiver,” and executor of the principality. + +To him has been left a royal decree signed and sealed, but blank. In the +will the power to fill in this blank with a statement showing the final +disposition of the island has been bestowed upon De la Boissiere. + +So, some day, he may proclaim the accession of a new king, and give a +new lease of life to the kingdom of which Harden-Hickey dreamed. + +But unless his son, or wife, or daughter should assert his or her +rights, which is not likely to happen, so ends the dynasty of James the +First of Trinidad, Baron of the Holy Roman Empire. + +To the wise ones in America he was a fool, and they laughed at him; to +the wiser ones, he was a clever rascal who had evolved a new real-estate +scheme and was out to rob the people--and they respected him. To my +mind, of them all, Harden-Hickey was the wisest. + +Granted one could be serious, what could be more delightful than to be +your own king on your own island? + +The comic paragraphers, the business men of “hard, common sense,” the +captains of industry who laughed at him and his national resources +of buried treasure, turtles’ eggs, and guano, with his body-guard of +Zouaves and his Grand Cross of Trinidad, certainly possessed many things +that Harden-Hickey lacked. But they in turn lacked the things that made +him happy; the power to “make believe,” the love of romance, the touch +of adventure that plucked him by the sleeve. + +When, as boys, we used to say: “Let’s pretend we’re pirates,” as a man, +Harden-Hickey begged: “Let’s pretend I’m a king.” + +But the trouble was, the other boys had grown up and would not pretend. + +For some reason his end always reminds me of the closing line of +Pinero’s play, when the adventuress, Mrs. Tanqueray, kills herself, and +her virtuous stepchild says: “If we had only been kinder!” + + + + +WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL + +IN the strict sense of the phrase, a soldier of fortune is a man who for +pay, or for the love of adventure, fights under the flag of any country. + +In the bigger sense he is the kind of man who in any walk of life makes +his own fortune, who, when he sees it coming, leaps to meet it, and +turns it to his advantage. + +Than Winston Spencer Churchill to-day there are few young men--and he is +a very young man--who have met more varying fortunes, and none who has +more frequently bent them to his own advancement. To him it has been +indifferent whether, at the moment, the fortune seemed good or evil, in +the end always it was good. + +As a boy officer, when other subalterns were playing polo, and at the +Gaiety Theatre attending night school, he ran away to Cuba and fought +with the Spaniards. For such a breach of military discipline, any other +officer would have been court-martialled. Even his friends feared that +by his foolishness his career in the army was at an end. Instead, his +escapade was made a question in the House of Commons, and the fact +brought him such publicity that the _Daily Graphic_ paid him handsomely +to write on the Cuban Revolution, and the Spanish Government rewarded +him with the Order of Military Merit. + +At the very outbreak of the Boer war he was taken prisoner. It seemed +a climax of misfortune. With his brother officers he had hoped in that +campaign to acquit himself with credit, and that he should lie inactive +in Pretoria appeared a terrible calamity. To the others who, through +many heart-breaking months, suffered imprisonment, it continued to be +a calamity. But within six weeks of his capture Churchill escaped, and, +after many adventures, rejoined his own army to find that the calamity +had made him a hero. + +When after the battle of Omdurman, in his book on “The River War,” he +attacked Lord Kitchener, those who did not like him, and they were many, +said: “That’s the end of Winston in the army. He’ll never get another +chance to criticise K. of K.” + +But only two years later the chance came, when, no longer a subaltern, +but as a member of the House of Commons, he patronized Kitchener by +defending him from the attacks of others. + +Later, when his assaults upon the leaders of his own party closed to +him, even in his own constituency, the Conservative debating clubs, +again his ill-wishers said: “This _is_ the end. He has ridiculed those +who sit in high places. He has offended his cousin and patron, the Duke +of Marlborough. Without political friends, without the influence and +money of the Marlborough family he is a political nonentity.” That was +eighteen months ago. To-day, at the age of thirty-two, he is one of the +leaders of the Government party, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, and +with the Liberals the most popular young man in public life. + +Only last Christmas, at a banquet, Sir Edward Grey, the new Foreign +Secretary, said of him: “Mr. Winston Churchill has achieved distinction +in at least five different careers--as a soldier, a war correspondent, +a lecturer, an author, and last, but not least, as a politician. I +have understated it even now, for he has achieved two careers as a +politician--one on each side of the House. His first career on the +Government side was a really distinguished career. I trust the second +will be even more distinguished--and more prolonged. The remarkable +thing is that he has done all this when, unless appearances very much +belie him, he has not reached the age of sixty-four, which is the +minimum age at which the politician ceases to be young.” + +Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born thirty-two years ago, in +November, 1874. By birth he is half-American. His father was Lord +Randolph Churchill, and his mother was Jennie Jerome, of New York. +On the father’s side he is the grandchild of the seventh Duke of +Marlborough, on the distaff side, of Leonard Jerome. + +To a student of heredity it would be interesting to try and discover +from which of these ancestors Churchill drew those qualities which in +him are most prominent, and which have led to his success. + +What he owes to his father and mother it is difficult to overestimate, +almost as difficult as to overestimate what he has accomplished by his +own efforts. + +He was not a child born a full-grown genius of commonplace parents. +Rather his fate threatened that he should always be known as the son +of his father. And certainly it was asking much of a boy that he should +live up to a father who was one of the most conspicuous, clever, and +erratic statesmen of the later Victorian era, and a mother who is as +brilliant as she is beautiful. + +For at no time was the American wife content to be merely ornamental. +Throughout the political career of her husband she was his helpmate, and +as an officer of the Primrose League, as an editor of the _Anglo-Saxon +Review_, as, for many hot, weary months in Durban Harbor, the head +of the hospital ship _Maine_, she has shown an acute mind and real +executive power. At the polls many votes that would not respond to the +arguments of the husband, and later of the son, were gained over to the +cause by the charm and wit of the American woman. + +In his earlier days, if one can have days any earlier than those he now +enjoys, Churchill was entirely influenced by two things: the tremendous +admiration he felt for his father, which filled him with ambition to +follow in his orbit, and the camaraderie of his mother, who treated him +less like a mother than a sister and companion. + +Indeed, Churchill was always so precocious that I cannot recall the time +when he was young enough to be Lady Randolph’s son; certainly, I cannot +recall the time when she was old enough to be his mother. + +When first I knew him he had passed through Harrow and Sandhurst and was +a second lieutenant in the Queen’s Own Hussars. He was just of age, but +appeared much younger. + +He was below medium height, a slight, delicate-looking boy; although, as +a matter of fact, extremely strong, with blue eyes, many freckles, and +hair which threatened to be a decided red, but which now has lost its +fierceness. When he spoke it was with a lisp, which also has changed, +and which now appears to be merely an intentional hesitation. + +His manner of speaking was nervous, eager, explosive. He used many +gestures, some of which were strongly reminiscent of his father, of +whom he, unlike most English lads, who shy at mentioning a distinguished +parent, constantly spoke. + +He even copied his father in his little tricks of manner. Standing with +hands shoved under the frock-coat and one resting on each hip as though +squeezing in the waist line; when seated, resting the elbows on the arms +of the chair and nervously locking and unclasping fingers, are tricks +common to both. + +He then had and still has a most embarrassing habit of asking many +questions; embarrassing, sometimes, because the questions are so frank, +and sometimes because they lay bare the wide expanse of one’s own +ignorance. + +At that time, although in his twenty-first year, this lad twice had been +made a question in the House of Commons. + +That in itself had rendered him conspicuous. When you consider out of +Great Britain’s four hundred million subjects how many live, die, and +are buried without at any age having drawn down upon themselves the +anger of the House of Commons, to have done so twice, before one has +passed his twenty-first year, seems to promise a lurid future. + +The first time Churchill disturbed the august assemblage in which so +soon he was to become a leader was when he “ragged” a brother subaltern +named Bruce and cut up his saddle and accoutrements. The second time was +when he ran away to Cuba to fight with the Spaniards. + +After this campaign, on the first night of his arrival in London, he +made his maiden speech. He delivered it in a place of less dignity +than the House of Commons, but one, throughout Great Britain and her +colonies, as widely known and as well supported. This was the Empire +Music Hall. + +At the time Mrs. Ormiston Chant had raised objections to the presence in +the Music Hall of certain young women, and had threatened, unless they +ceased to frequent its promenade, to have the license of the Music Hall +revoked. As a compromise, the management ceased selling liquor, and +on the night Churchill visited the place the bar in the promenade was +barricaded with scantling and linen sheets. With the thirst of tropical +Cuba still upon him, Churchill asked for a drink, which was denied him, +and the crusade, which in his absence had been progressing fiercely, +was explained. Any one else would have taken no for his answer, and +have sought elsewhere for his drink. Not so Churchill. What he did is +interesting, because it was so extremely characteristic. Now he would +not do it; then he was twenty-one. + +He scrambled to the velvet-covered top of the railing which divides +the auditorium from the promenade, and made a speech. It was a plea in +behalf of his “Sisters, the Ladies of the Empire Promenade.” + +“Where,” he asked of the ladies themselves and of their escorts crowded +below him in the promenade, “does the Englishman in London always find a +welcome? Where does he first go when, battle-scarred and travel-worn, +he reaches home? Who is always there to greet him with a smile, and +join him in a drink? Who is ever faithful, ever true--the Ladies of the +Empire Promenade.” + +The laughter and cheers that greeted this, and the tears of the ladies +themselves, naturally brought the performance on the stage to a stop, +and the vast audience turned in the seats and boxes. + +They saw a little red-haired boy in evening clothes, balancing himself +on the rail of the balcony, and around him a great crowd, cheering, +shouting, and bidding him “Go on!” + +Churchill turned with delight to the larger audience, and repeated his +appeal. The house shook with laughter and applause. + +The commissionaires and police tried to reach him and a good-tempered +but very determined mob of well-dressed gentlemen and cheering girls +fought them back. In triumph Churchill ended his speech by begging his +hearers to give “fair play” to the women, and to follow him in a charge +upon the barricades. + +The charge was instantly made, the barricades were torn down, and the +terrified management ordered that drink be served to its victorious +patrons. + +Shortly after striking this blow for the liberty of others, Churchill +organized a dinner which illustrated the direction in which at that age +his mind was working, and showed that his ambition was already abnormal. +The dinner was given to those of his friends and acquaintances who “were +under twenty-one years of age, and who in twenty years would control the +destinies of the British Empire.” + +As one over the age limit, or because he did not consider me an +empire-controlling force, on this great occasion, I was permitted to +be present. But except that the number of incipient empire-builders was +very great, that they were very happy, and that save the host himself +none of them took his idea seriously, I would not call it an evening of +historical interest. But the fact is interesting that of all the +boys present, as yet, the host seems to be the only one who to any +conspicuous extent is disturbing the destinies of Great Britain. +However, the others can reply that ten of the twenty years have not yet +passed. + +When he was twenty-three Churchill obtained leave of absence from his +regiment, and as there was no other way open to him to see fighting, as +a correspondent he joined the Malakand Field Force in India. + +It may be truthfully said that by his presence in that frontier war he +made it and himself famous. His book on that campaign is his best piece +of war reporting. To the civilian reader it has all the delight of one +of Kipling’s Indian stories, and to writers on military subjects it is +a model. But it is a model very few can follow, and which Churchill +himself was unable to follow, for the reason that only once is it given +a man to be twenty-three years of age. + +The picturesque hand-to-hand fighting, the night attacks, the charges up +precipitous hills, the retreats made carrying the wounded under constant +fire, which he witnessed and in which he bore his part, he never +again can see with the same fresh and enthusiastic eyes. Then it was +absolutely new, and the charm of the book and the value of the book are +that with the intolerance of youth he attacks in the service evils that +older men prefer to let lie, and that with the ingenuousness of youth he +tells of things which to the veteran have become unimportant, or which +through usage he is no longer even able to see. + +In his three later war books, the wonder of it, the horror of it, the +quick admiration for brave deeds and daring men, give place, in “The +River War,” to the critical point of view of the military expert, and +in his two books on the Boer war to the rapid impressions of the +journalist. In these latter books he tells you of battles he has seen, +in the first one he made you see them. + +For his services with the Malakand Field Force he received the campaign +medal with clasp, and, “in despatches,” Brigadier-General Jeffreys +praises “the courage and resolution of Lieutenant W. L. S. Churchill, +Fourth Hussars, with the force as correspondent of the _Pioneer_.” + +From the operations around Malakand, he at once joined Sir William +Lockhart as orderly officer, and with the Tirah Expedition went through +that campaign. + +For this his Indian medal gained a second clasp. + +This was in the early part of 1898. In spite of the time taken up as +an officer and as a correspondent, he finished his book on the Malakand +Expedition and then, as it was evident Kitchener would soon attack +Khartum, he jumped across to Egypt and again as a correspondent took +part in the advance upon that city. + +Thus, in one year, he had seen service in three campaigns. + +On the day of the battle his luck followed him. Kitchener had attached +him to the Twenty-first Lancers, and it will be remembered the event of +the battle was the charge made by that squadron. It was no canter, no +easy “pig-sticking”; it was a fight to get in and a fight to get out, +with frenzied followers of the Khalifa hanging to the bridle reins, +hacking at the horses’ hamstrings, and slashing and firing point-blank +at the troopers. Churchill was in that charge. He received the medal +with clasp. + +Then he returned home and wrote “The River War.” This book is the last +word on the campaigns up the Nile. From the death of Gordon in Khartum +to the capture of the city by Kitchener, it tells the story of the many +gallant fights, the wearying failures, the many expeditions into the +hot, boundless desert, the long, slow progress toward the final winning +of the Sudan. + +The book made a distinct sensation. It was a work that one would expect +from a lieutenant-general, when, after years of service in Egypt, he +laid down his sword to pen the story of his life’s work. From a Second +Lieutenant, who had been on the Nile hardly long enough to gain the +desert tan, it was a revelation. As a contribution to military history +it was so valuable that for the author it made many admirers, but on +account of his criticisms of his superior officers it gained him even +more enemies. + +This is a specimen of the kind of thing that caused the retired army +officer to sit up and choke with apoplexy: + +“General Kitchener, who never spares himself, cares little for others. +He treated all men like machines, from the private soldiers, whose +salutes he disdained, to the superior officers, whom he rigidly +controlled. The comrade who had served with him and under him for many +years, in peace and peril, was flung aside as soon as he ceased to be of +use. The wounded Egyptian and even the wounded British soldier did not +excite his interest.” + +When in the service clubs they read that, the veterans asked each other +their favorite question of what is the army coming to, and to their +own satisfaction answered it by pointing out that when a lieutenant of +twenty-four can reprimand the commanding general the army is going to +the dogs. + +To the newspapers, hundreds of them, over their own signatures, on +the service club stationery, wrote violent, furious letters, and the +newspapers themselves, besides the ordinary reviews, gave to the book +editorial praise and editorial condemnation. + +Equally disgusted were the younger officers of the service. They +nicknamed his book “A Subaltern’s Advice to Generals,” and called +Churchill himself a “Medal Snatcher.” A medal snatcher is an officer +who, whenever there is a rumor of war, leaves his men to the care of +any one, and through influence in high places and for the sake of the +campaign medal has himself attached to the expeditionary force. But +Churchill never was a medal hunter. The routine of barrack life irked +him, and in foreign parts he served his country far better than by +remaining at home and inspecting awkward squads and attending guard +mount. Indeed, the War Office could cover with medals the man who wrote +“The Story of the Malakand Field Force” and “The River War” and still be +in his debt. + +In October, 1898, a month after the battle of Omdurman, Churchill +made his debut as a political speaker at minor meetings in Dover and +Rotherhithe. History does not record that these first speeches set fire +to the Channel. During the winter he finished and published his “River +War,” and in the August of the following summer, 1899, at a by-election, +offered himself as Member of Parliament for Oldham. + +In the _Daily Telegraph_ his letters from the three campaigns in India +and Egypt had made his name known, and there was a general desire to +hear him and to see him. In one who had attacked Kitchener of Khartum, +the men of Oldham expected to find a stalwart veteran, bearded, and with +a voice of command. When they were introduced to a small red-haired boy +with a lisp, they refused to take him seriously. In England youth is an +unpardonable thing. Lately, Curzon, Churchill, Edward Grey, Hugh Cecil, +and others have made it less reprehensible. But, in spite of a vigorous +campaign, in which Lady Randolph took an active part, Oldham decided +it was not ready to accept young Churchill for a member. Later he was +Oldham’s only claim to fame. + +A week after he was defeated he sailed for South Africa, where war with +the Boers was imminent. He had resigned from his regiment and went south +as war correspondent for the _Morning Post_. + +Later in the war he held a commission as Lieutenant in the South African +Light Horse, a regiment of irregular cavalry, and on the staffs +of different generals acted as galloper and aide-de-camp. To this +combination of duties, which was in direct violation of a rule of the +War Office, his brother officers and his fellow correspondents objected; +but, as in each of his other campaigns he had played this dual role, the +press censors considered it a traditional privilege, and winked at it. +As a matter of record, Churchill’s soldiering never seemed to interfere +with his writing, nor, in a fight, did his duty to his paper ever +prevent him from mixing in as a belligerent. + +War was declared October 9th, and only a month later, while scouting in +the armored train along the railroad line between Pietermaritzburg and +Colenso, the cars were derailed and Churchill was taken prisoner. + +The train was made up of three flat cars, two armored cars, and between +them the engine, with three cars coupled to the cow-catcher and two to +the tender. + +On the outward trip the Boers did not show themselves, but as soon as +the English passed Frere station they rolled a rock on the track at a +point where it was hidden by a curve. On the return trip, as the English +approached this curve the Boers opened fire with artillery and pompoms. +The engineer, in his eagerness to escape, rounded the curve at full +speed, and, as the Boers had expected, hit the rock. The three forward +cars were derailed, and one of them was thrown across the track, thus +preventing the escape of the engine and the two rear cars. From these +Captain Haldane, who was in command, with a detachment of the Dublins, +kept up a steady fire on the enemy, while Churchill worked to clear the +track. To assist him he had a company of Natal volunteers, and those who +had not run away of the train hands and break-down crew. + +“We were not long left in the comparative safety of a railroad +accident,” Churchill writes to his paper. “The Boers’ guns, swiftly +changing their position, reopened fire from a distance of thirteen +hundred yards before any one had got out of the stage of exclamations. +The tapping rifle-fire spread along the hills, until it encircled the +wreckage on three sides, and from some high ground on the opposite side +of the line a third field-gun came into action.” + +For Boer marksmen with Mausers and pompoms, a wrecked railroad train +at thirteen hundred yards was as easy a bull’s-eye as the hands of the +first baseman to the pitcher, and while the engine butted and snorted +and the men with their bare bands tore at the massive beams of the +freight-car, the bullets and shells beat about them. + +“I have had in the last four years many strange and varied experiences,” + continues young Churchill, “but nothing was so thrilling as this; to +wait and struggle among these clanging, rending iron boxes, with the +repeated explosions of the shells, the noise of the projectiles striking +the cars, the hiss as they passed in the air, the grunting and puffing +of the engine--poor, tortured thing, hammered by at least a dozen +shells, any one of which, by penetrating the boiler, might have made an +end of all--the expectation of destruction as a matter of course, the +realization of powerlessness--all this for seventy minutes by the clock, +with only four inches of twisted iron between danger, captivity, and +shame on one side--and freedom on the other.” + +The “protected” train had proved a deathtrap, and by the time the line +was clear every fourth man was killed or wounded. Only the engine, +with the more severely wounded heaped in the cab and clinging to its +cow-catcher and foot-rails, made good its escape. Among those left +behind, a Tommy, without authority, raised a handkerchief on his rifle, +and the Boers instantly ceased firing and came galloping forward to +accept surrender. There was a general stampede to escape. Seeing that +Lieutenant Franklin was gallantly trying to hold his men, Churchill, +who was safe on the engine, jumped from it and ran to his assistance. Of +what followed, this is his own account: + +“Scarcely had the locomotive left me than I found myself alone in a +shallow cutting, and none of our soldiers, who had all surrendered, +to be seen. Then suddenly there appeared on the line at the end of the +cutting two men not in uniform. ‘Plate-layers,’ I said to myself, and +then, with a surge of realization, ‘Boers.’ My mind retains a momentary +impression of these tall figures, full of animated movement, clad in +dark flapping clothes, with slouch, storm-driven hats, posing their +rifles hardly a hundred yards away. I turned and ran between the +rails of the track, and the only thought I achieved was this: ‘Boer +marksmanship.’ + +“Two bullets passed, both within a foot, one on either side. I flung +myself against the banks of the cutting. But they gave no cover. Another +glance at the figures; one was now kneeling to aim. Again I darted +forward. Again two soft kisses sucked in the air, but nothing struck me. +I must get out of the cutting--that damnable corridor. I scrambled up +the bank. The earth sprang up beside me, and a bullet touched my hand, +but outside the cutting was a tiny depression. I crouched in this, +struggling to get my wind. On the other side of the railway a horseman +galloped up, shouting to me and waving his hand. He was scarcely forty +yards off. With a rifle I could have killed him easily. I knew nothing +of the white flag, and the bullets had made me savage. I reached down +for my Mauser pistol. I had left it in the cab of the engine. Between me +and the horseman there was a wire fence. Should I continue to fly? +The idea of another shot at such a short range decided me. Death stood +before me, grim and sullen; Death without his light-hearted companion, +Chance. So I held up my hand, and like Mr. Jorrock’s foxes, cried +‘Capivy!’ Then I was herded with the other prisoners in a miserable +group, and about the same time I noticed that my hand was bleeding, and +it began to pour with rain. + +“Two days before I had written to an officer at home: ‘There has been a +great deal too much surrendering in this war, and I hope people who do +so will not be encouraged.’” + +With other officers, Churchill was imprisoned in the State Model +Schools, situated in the heart of Pretoria. It was distinctly +characteristic that on the very day of his arrival he began to plan to +escape. + +Toward this end his first step was to lose his campaign hat, which he +recognized was too obviously the hat of an English officer. The burgher +to whom he gave money to purchase him another innocently brought him a +Boer sombrero. + +Before his chance to escape came a month elapsed, and the opportunity +that then offered was less an opportunity to escape than to get himself +shot. + +The State Model Schools were surrounded by the children’s playgrounds, +penned in by a high wall, and at night, while they were used as a +prison, brilliantly lighted by electric lights. After many nights of +observation, Churchill discovered that while the sentries were pacing +their beats there was a moment when to them a certain portion of the +wall was in darkness. This was due to cross-shadows cast by the electric +lights. On the other side of this wall there was a private house set in +a garden filled with bushes. Beyond this was the open street. + +To scale the wall was not difficult; the real danger lay in the fact +that at no time were the sentries farther away than fifteen yards, and +the chance of being shot by one or both of them was excellent. To a +brother officer Churchill confided his purpose, and together they agreed +that some night when the sentries had turned from the dark spot on the +wall they would scale it and drop among the bushes in the garden. After +they reached the garden, should they reach it alive, what they were to +do they did not know. How they were to proceed through the streets +and out of the city, how they were to pass unchallenged under its many +electric lights and before the illuminated shop windows, how to dodge +patrols, and how to find their way through two hundred and eighty +miles of a South African wilderness, through an utterly unfamiliar, +unfriendly, and sparsely settled country into Portuguese territory and +the coast, they left to chance. But with luck they hoped to cover the +distance in a fortnight, begging corn at the Kaffir kraals, sleeping by +day, and marching under cover of the darkness. + +They agreed to make the attempt on the 11th of December, but on that +night the sentries did not move from the only part of the wall that was +in shadow. On the night following, at the last moment, something delayed +Churchill’s companion, and he essayed the adventure alone. He writes: + +“Tuesday, the 12th! Anything was better than further suspense. Again +night came. Again the dinner bell sounded. Choosing my opportunity, +I strolled across the quadrangle and secreted myself in one of the +offices. Through a chink I watched the sentries. For half an hour they +remained stolid and obstructive. Then suddenly one turned and walked up +to his comrade and they began to talk. Their backs were turned. + +“I darted out of my hiding-place and ran to the wall, seized the top with +my hands and drew myself up. Twice I let myself down again in sickly +hesitation, and then with a third resolve scrambled up. The top was +flat. Lying on it, I had one parting glimpse of the sentries, still +talking, still with their backs turned, but, I repeat, still fifteen +yards away. Then I lowered myself into the adjoining garden and crouched +among the shrubs. I was free. The first step had been taken, and it was +irrevocable.” + +Churchill discovered that the house into the garden of which he had so +unceremoniously introduced himself was brilliantly lighted, and that the +owner was giving a party. At one time two of the guests walked into the +garden and stood, smoking and chatting, in the path within a few yards +of him. + +Thinking his companion might yet join him, for an hour he crouched in +the bushes, until from the other side of the wall he heard the voices of +his friend and of another officer. + +“It’s all up!” his friend whispered. Churchill coughed tentatively. +The two voices drew nearer. To confuse the sentries, should they be +listening, the one officer talked nonsense, laughed loudly, and quoted +Latin phrases, while the other, in a low and distinct voice, said: +“I cannot get out. The sentry suspects. It’s all up. Can you get back +again?” + +To go back was impossible. Churchill now felt that in any case he was +sure to be recaptured, and decided he would, as he expresses it, at +least have a run for his money. + +“I shall go on alone,” he whispered. + +He heard the footsteps of his two friends move away from him across the +play yard. At the same moment he stepped boldly out into the garden and, +passing the open windows of the house, walked down the gravel path to +the street. Not five yards from the gate stood a sentry. Most of those +guarding the school-house knew him by sight, but Churchill did not turn +his head, and whether the sentry recognized him or not, he could not +tell. + +For a hundred feet he walked as though on ice, inwardly shrinking as he +waited for the sharp challenge, and the rattle of the Mauser thrown to +the “Ready.” His nerves were leaping, his heart in his throat, his spine +of water. And then, as he continued to advance, and still no tumult +pursued him, he quickened his pace and turned into one of the main +streets of Pretoria. The sidewalks were crowded with burghers, but no +one noticed him. This was due probably to the fact that the Boers wore +no distinctive uniform, and that with them in their commandoes were many +English Colonials who wore khaki riding breeches, and many Americans, +French, Germans, and Russians, in every fashion of semi-uniform. + +If observed, Churchill was mistaken for one of these, and the very +openness of his movements saved him from suspicion. + +Straight through the town he walked until he reached the suburbs, the +open veldt, and a railroad track. As he had no map or compass he knew +this must be his only guide, but he knew also that two railroads left +Pretoria, the one along which he had been captured, to Pietermaritzburg, +and the other, the one leading to the coast and freedom. Which of the +two this one was he had no idea, but he took his chance, and a hundred +yards beyond a station waited for the first outgoing train. About +midnight, a freight stopped at the station, and after it had left it and +before it had again gathered headway, Churchill swung himself up upon +it, and stretched out upon a pile of coal. Throughout the night the +train continued steadily toward the east, and so told him that it was +the one he wanted, and that he was on his way to the neutral territory +of Portugal. + +Fearing the daylight, just before the sun rose, as the train was pulling +up a steep grade, he leaped off into some bushes. All that day he lay +hidden, and the next night he walked. He made but little headway. As all +stations and bridges were guarded, he had to make long detours, and the +tropical moonlight prevented him from crossing in the open. In this way, +sleeping by day, walking by night, begging food from the Kaffirs, five +days passed. + +Meanwhile, his absence had been at once discovered, and, by the +Boers, every effort was being made to retake him. Telegrams giving his +description were sent along both railways, three thousand photographs +of him were distributed, each car of every train was searched, and +in different parts of the Transvaal men who resembled him were being +arrested. It was said he had escaped dressed as a woman; in the uniform +of a Transvaal policeman whom he had bribed; that he had never left +Pretoria, and that in the disguise of a waiter he was concealed in the +house of a British sympathizer. On the strength of this rumor the houses +of all suspected persons were searched. + +In the Volksstem it was pointed out as a significant fact that a week +before his escape Churchill had drawn from the library Mill’s “Essay on +Liberty.” + +In England and over all British South Africa the escape created as much +interest as it did in Pretoria. Because the attempt showed pluck, and +because he had outwitted the enemy, Churchill for the time became a sort +of popular hero, and to his countrymen his escape gave as much pleasure +as it was a cause of chagrin to the Boers. + +But as days passed and nothing was heard of him, it was feared he +had lost himself in the Machadodorp Mountains, or had succumbed +to starvation, or, in the jungle toward the coast, to fever, and +congratulations gave way to anxiety. + +The anxiety was justified, for at this time Churchill was in a very bad +way. During the month in prison he had obtained but little exercise. The +lack of food and of water, the cold by night and the terrific heat by +day, the long stumbling marches in the darkness, the mental effect upon +an extremely nervous, high-strung organization of being hunted, and of +having to hide from his fellow men, had worn him down to a condition +almost of collapse. + +Even though it were neutral soil, in so exhausted a state he dared not +venture into the swamps and waste places of the Portuguese territory; +and, sick at heart as well as sick in body, he saw no choice left him +save to give himself up. + +But before doing so he carefully prepared a tale which, although most +improbable, he hoped might still conceal his identity and aid him to +escape by train across the border. + +One night after days of wandering he found himself on the outskirts of +a little village near the boundary line of the Transvaal and Portuguese +territory. Utterly unable to proceed further, he crawled to the nearest +zinc-roofed shack, and, fully prepared to surrender, knocked at the +door. It was opened by a rough-looking, bearded giant, the first white +man to whom in many days Churchill had dared address himself. + +To him, without hope, he feebly stammered forth the speech he had +rehearsed. The man listened with every outward mark of disbelief. At +Churchill himself he stared with open suspicion. Suddenly he seized the +boy by the shoulder, drew him inside the hut, and barred the door. + +“You needn’t lie to me,” he said. “You are Winston Churchill, and I--am +the only Englishman in this village.” + +The rest of the adventure was comparatively easy. The next night his +friend in need, an engineer named Howard, smuggled Churchill Into a +freight-car, and hid him under sacks of some soft merchandise. + +At Komatie-Poort, the station on the border, for eighteen hours the car +in which Churchill lay concealed was left in the sun on a siding, and +before it again started it was searched, but the man who was conducting +the search lifted only the top layer of sacks, and a few minutes later +Churchill heard the hollow roar of the car as it passed over the bridge, +and knew that he was across the border. + +Even then he took no chances, and for two days more lay hidden at the +bottom of the car. + +When at last he arrived in Lorenzo Marques he at once sought out the +English Consul, who, after first mistaking him for a stoker from one of +the ships in the harbor, gave him a drink, a bath, and a dinner. + +As good luck would have it, the _Induna_ was leaving that night for +Durban, and, escorted by a body-guard of English residents armed with +revolvers, and who were taking no chances of his recapture by the Boer +agents, he was placed safely on board. Two days later he arrived at +Durban, where he was received by the Mayor, the populace, and a brass +band playing: “Britons Never, Never, Never shall be Slaves!” + +For the next month Churchill was bombarded by letters and telegrams +from every part of the globe, some invited him to command filibustering +expeditions, others sent him woollen comforters, some forwarded +photographs of himself to be signed, others photographs of themselves, +possibly to be admired, others sent poems, and some bottles of whiskey. + +One admirer wrote: “My congratulations on your wonderful and glorious +deeds, which will send such a thrill of pride and enthusiasm through +Great Britain and the United States of America, that the Anglo-Saxon +race will be irresistible.” + +Lest so large an order as making the Anglo-Saxon race irresistible might +turn the head of a subaltern, an antiseptic cablegram was also sent him, +from London, reading: + +“Best friends here hope you won’t go making further ass of yourself. + +“McNEILL.” + +One day in camp we counted up the price per word of this cablegram, and +Churchill was delighted to find that it must have cost the man who sent +it five pounds. + +On the day of his arrival in Durban, with the cheers still in the air, +Churchill took the first train to “the front,” then at Colenso. Another +man might have lingered. After a month’s imprisonment and the hardships +of the escape, he might have been excused for delaying twenty-four hours +to taste the sweets of popularity and the flesh-pots of the Queen Hotel. +But if the reader has followed this brief biography he will know that +to have done so would have been out of the part. This characteristic of +Churchill’s to get on to the next thing explains his success. He has no +time to waste on postmortems, he takes none to rest on his laurels. + +As a war correspondent and officer he continued with Buller until the +relief of Ladysmith, and with Roberts until the fall of Pretoria. He +was in many actions, in all the big engagements, and came out of the war +with another medal and clasps for six battles. + +On his return to London he spent the summer finishing his second book on +the war, and in October at the general election as a “khaki” candidate, +as those were called who favored the war, again stood for Oldham. This +time, with his war record to help him, he wrested from the Liberals one +of Oldham’s two seats. He had been defeated by thirteen hundred votes; +he was elected by a majority of two hundred and twenty-seven. + +The few months that intervened between his election and the opening of +the new Parliament were snatched by Churchill for a lecturing tour at +home, and in the United States and Canada. His subject was the war and +his escape from Pretoria. + +When he came to this country half of the people here were in sympathy +with the Boers, and did not care to listen to what they supposed would +be a strictly British version of the war. His manager, without asking +permission of those whose names he advertised, organized for Churchill’s +first appearance in various cities, different reception committees. + +Some of those whose names, without their consent, were used for these +committees, wrote indignantly to the papers, saying that while for +Churchill, personally, they held every respect, they objected to being +used to advertise an anti-Boer demonstration. + +While this was no fault of Churchill’s, who, until he reached this +country knew nothing of it, it was neither for him nor for the success +of his tour the best kind of advance work. + +During the fighting to relieve Ladysmith, with General Buller’s force, +Churchill and I had again been together, and later when I joined the +Boer army, at the Zand River Battle, the army with which he was a +correspondent had chased the army with which I was a correspondent, +forty miles. I had been one of those who refused to act on his reception +committee, and he had come to this country with a commission from twenty +brother officers to shoot me on sight. But in his lecture he was using +the photographs I had taken of the scene of his escape, and which I had +sent him from Pretoria as a souvenir, and when he arrived I was at the +hotel to welcome him, and that same evening three hours after midnight +he came, in a blizzard, pounding at our door for food and drink. What is +a little thing like a war between friends? + +During his “tour,” except of hotels, parlor-cars, and “Lyceums,” he saw +very little of this country or of its people, and they saw very little +of him. On the trip, which lasted about two months, he cleared ten +thousand dollars. This, to a young man almost entirely dependent for an +income upon his newspaper work and the sale of his books, nearly repaid +him for the two months of “one night stands.” On his return to London he +took his seat in the new Parliament. + +It was a coincidence that he entered Parliament at the same age as +did his father. With two other members, one born six days earlier than +himself, he enjoyed the distinction of being among the three youngest +members of the new House. + +The fact did not seem to appall him. In the House it is a tradition that +young and ambitious members sit “below” the gangway; the more modest +and less assured are content to place themselves “above” it, at a point +farthest removed from the leaders. + +On the day he was sworn in there was much curiosity to see where +Churchill would elect to sit. In his own mind there was apparently no +doubt. After he had taken the oath, signed his name, and shaken the hand +of the Speaker, without hesitation he seated himself on the bench next +to the Ministry. Ten minutes later, so a newspaper of the day describes +it, he had cocked his hat over his eyes, shoved his hands into his +trousers pockets, and was lolling back eying the veterans of the House +with critical disapproval. + +His maiden speech was delivered in May, 1901, in reply to David Lloyd +George, who had attacked the conduct of British soldiers in South +Africa. Churchill defended them, and in a manner that from all sides +gained him honest admiration. In the course of the debate he produced +and read a strangely apropos letter which, fifteen years before, had +been written by his father to Lord Salisbury. His adroit use of +this filled H. W. Massingham, the editor of the _Daily News_, with +enthusiasm. Nothing in parliamentary tactics, he declared, since Mr. +Gladstone died, had been so clever. He proclaimed that Churchill would +be Premier. John Dillon, the Nationalist leader, said he never before +had seen a young man, by means of his maiden effort, spring into the +front rank of parliamentary speakers. He promised that the Irish members +would ungrudgingly testify to his ability and honesty of purpose. Among +others to at once recognize the rising star was T. P. O’Connor, himself +for many years of the parliamentary firmament one of the brightest +stars. In _M. A. P._ he wrote: “I am inclined to think that the dash of +American blood which he has from his mother has been an improvement on +the original stock, and that Mr. Winston Churchill may turn out to be a +stronger and abler politician than his father.” + +It was all a part of Churchill’s “luck” that when he entered Parliament +the subject in debate was the conduct of the war. + +Even in those first days of his career in the House, in debates where +angels feared to tread, he did not hesitate to rush in, but this subject +was one on which he spoke with knowledge. Over the older men who were +forced to quote from hearsay or from what they had read, Churchill had +the tremendous advantage of being able to protest: “You only read of +that. I was there. I saw it.” + +In the House he became at once one of the conspicuous and picturesque +figures, one dear to the heart of the caricaturist, and one from the +strangers’ gallery most frequently pointed out. He was called “the +spoiled child of the House,” and there were several distinguished +gentlemen who regretted they were forced to spare the rod. Broderick, +the Secretary for War, was one of these. Of him and of his recruits in +South Africa, Churchill spoke with the awful frankness of the _enfant +terrible_. And although he addressed them more with sorrow than with +anger, to Balfour and Chamberlain he daily administered advice and +reproof, while mere generals and field-marshals, like Kitchener and +Roberts, blushing under new titles, were held up for public reproof and +briefly but severely chastened. Nor, when he saw Lord Salisbury going +astray, did he hesitate in his duty to the country, but took the Prime +Minister by the hand and gently instructed him in the way he should go. + +This did not tend to make him popular, but in spite of his unpopularity, +in his speeches against national extravagancies he made so good a fight +that he forced the Government, unwillingly, to appoint a committee to +investigate the need of economy. For a beginner this was a distinct +triumph. + +With Lord Hugh Cecil, Lord Percy, Ian Malcolm, and other clever young +men, he formed inside the Conservative Party a little group that in its +obstructive and independent methods was not unlike the Fourth Party of +his father. From its leader and its filibustering, guerilla-like tactics +the men who composed it were nicknamed the “Hughligans.” The Hughligans +were the most active critics of the Ministry and of all in their own +party, and as members of the Free Food League they bitterly attacked +the fiscal proposals of Mr. Chamberlain. When Balfour made Chamberlain’s +fight for fair trade, or for what virtually was protection, a measure +of the Conservatives, the lines of party began to break, and men were no +longer Conservatives or Liberals, but Protectionists or Free Traders. + +Against this Churchill daily protested, against Chamberlain, against his +plan, against that plan being adopted by the Tory Party. By tradition, +by inheritance, by instinct, Churchill was a Tory. + +“I am a Tory,” he said, “and I have as much right in the party as has +anybody else, certainly as much as certain people from Birmingham. They +can’t turn us out, and we, the Tory Free Traders, have as much right +to dictate the policy of the Conservative Party as have any reactionary +Fair Traders.” In 1904 the Conservative Party already recognized +Churchill as one working outside the breastworks. Just before the Easter +vacation of that year, when he rose to speak a remarkable demonstration +was made against him by his Unionist colleagues, all of them rising and +leaving the House. + +To the Liberals who remained to hear him he stated that if to his +constituents his opinions were obnoxious, he was ready to resign his +seat. It then was evident he would go over to the Liberal Party. Some +thought he foresaw which way the tidal wave was coming, and to being +slapped down on the beach and buried in the sand, he preferred to be +swept forward on its crest. Others believed he left the Conservatives +because he could not honestly stomach the taxed food offered by Mr. +Chamberlain. + +In any event, if he were to be blamed for changing from one party to +the other, he was only following the distinguished example set him by +Gladstone, Disraeli, Harcourt, and his own father. + +It was at the time of this change that he was called “the best hated +man in England,” but the Liberals welcomed him gladly, and the National +Liberal Club paid him the rare compliment of giving in his honor a +banquet. There were present two hundred members. Up to that time this +dinner was the most marked testimony to his importance in the political +world. It was about then, a year since, that he prophesied: “Within +nine months there will come such a tide and deluge as will sweep through +England and Scotland, and completely wash out and effect a much-needed +spring cleaning in Downing Street.” + +When the deluge came, at Manchester, Mr. Balfour was defeated, and +Churchill was victorious, and when the new Government was formed the +tidal wave landed Churchill in the office of Under-Secretary for the +Colonies. + +While this is being written the English papers say that within a +month he again will be promoted. For this young man of thirty the only +promotion remaining is a position in the Cabinet, in which august body +men of fifty are considered young. + +His is a picturesque career. Of any man of his few years speaking our +language, his career is probably the most picturesque. And that he is +half an American gives all of us an excuse to pretend we share in his +successes. + + + + +CAPTAIN PHILO NORTON McGIFFIN + +IN the Chinese-Japanese War the battle of the Yalu was the first battle +fought between warships of modern make, and, except on paper, neither +the men who made them nor the men who fought them knew what the ships +could do, or what they might not do. For years every naval power had +been building these new engines of war, and in the battle which was to +test them the whole world was interested. But in this battle Americans +had a special interest, a human, family interest, for the reason that +one of the Chinese squadron, which was matched against some of the same +vessels of Japan which lately swept those of Russia from the sea, was +commanded by a young graduate of the American Naval Academy. This young +man, who, at the time of the battle of the Yalu, was thirty-three years +old, was Captain Philo Norton McGiffin. So it appears that five years +before our fleet sailed to victory in Manila Bay another graduate of +Annapolis, and one twenty years younger than in 1898 was Admiral Dewey, +had commanded in action a modern battleship, which, in tonnage, in +armament, and in the number of the ships’ company, far outclassed +Dewey’s _Olympia_. + +McGiffin, who was born on December 13, 1860, came of fighting stock. +Back in Scotland the family is descended from the Clan MacGregor and the +Clan MacAlpine. + +“These are Clan-Alpine’s warriors true, And, Saxon--I am Roderick Dhu.” + +McGiffin’s great-grandfather, born in Scotland, emigrated to this +country and settled in “Little Washington,” near Pittsburg, Pa. In the +Revolutionary War he was a soldier. Other relatives fought in the War of +1812, one of them holding a commission as major. McGiffin’s own father +was Colonel Norton McGiffin, who served in the Mexican War, and in +the Civil War was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania +Volunteers. So McGiffin inherited his love for arms. + +In Washington he went to the high school and at the Washington Jefferson +College had passed through his freshman year. But the honors that might +accrue to him if he continued to live on in the quiet and pretty old +town of Washington did not tempt him. To escape into the world he +wrote his Congressman, begging him to obtain for him an appointment to +Annapolis. The Congressman liked the letter, and wrote Colonel McGiffin +to ask if the application of his son had his approval. Colonel McGiffin +was willing, and in 1877 his son received his commission as cadet +midshipman. I knew McGiffin only as a boy with whom in vacation time I +went coon hunting in the woods outside of Washington. For his age he was +a very tall boy, and in his midshipman undress uniform, to my youthful +eyes, appeared a most bold and adventurous spirit. + +At Annapolis his record seems to show he was pretty much like other +boys. According to his classmates, with all of whom I find he was very +popular, he stood high in the practical studies, such as seamanship, +gunnery, navigation, and steam engineering, but in all else he was near +the foot of the class, and in whatever escapade was risky and reckless +he was always one of the leaders. To him discipline was extremely +irksome. He could maintain it among others, but when it applied to +himself it bored him. On the floor of the Academy building on which was +his room there was a pyramid of cannon balls--relics of the War of 1812. +They stood at the head of the stairs, and one warm night, when he could +not sleep, he decided that no one else should do so, and, one by one, +rolled the cannon balls down the stairs. They tore away the banisters +and bumped through the wooden steps and leaped off into the lower halls. +For any one who might think of ascending to discover the motive power +back of the bombardment they were extremely dangerous. But an officer +approached McGiffin in the rear, and, having been caught in the act, he +was sent to the prison ship. There he made good friends with his jailer, +an old man-of-warsman named “Mike.” He will be remembered by many naval +officers who as midshipmen served on the _Santee_. McGiffin so won +over Mike that when he left the ship he carried with him six charges of +gunpowder. These he loaded into the six big guns captured in the Mexican +War, which lay on the grass in the centre of the Academy grounds, and at +midnight on the eve of July 1st he fired a salute. It aroused the entire +garrison, and for a week the empty window frames kept the glaziers busy. + +About 1878 or 1879 there was a famine in Ireland. The people of New York +City contributed provisions for the sufferers, and to carry the supplies +to Ireland the Government authorized the use of the old _Constellation_. +At the time the voyage was to begin each cadet was instructed to +consider himself as having been placed in command of the _Constellation_ +and to write a report on the preparations made for the voyage, on the +loading of the vessel, and on the distribution of the stores. This +exercise was intended for the instruction of the cadets; first in the +matter of seamanship and navigation, and second in making official +reports. At that time it was a very difficult operation to get a gun out +of the port of a vessel where the gun was on a covered deck. To do this +the necessary tackles had to be rigged from the yard-arm and the yard +and mast properly braced and stayed, and then the lower block of the +tackle carried in through the gun port, which, of course, gave the fall +a very bad reeve. The first part of McGiffin’s report dealt with a new +method of dismounting the guns and carrying them through the gun ports, +and so admirable was his plan, so simple and ingenious, that it was +used whenever it became necessary to dismount a gun from one of the +old sailing ships. Having, however, offered this piece of good work, +McGiffin’s report proceeded to tell of the division of the ship into +compartments that were filled with a miscellaneous assortment of stores, +which included the old “fifteen puzzles,” at that particular time very +popular. The report terminated with a description of the joy of the +famished Irish as they received the puzzle-boxes. At another time the +cadets were required to write a report telling of the suppression of the +insurrection on the Isthmus of Panama. McGiffin won great praise for +the military arrangements and disposition of his men, but, in the same +report, he went on to describe how he armed them with a new gun known as +Baines’s Rhetoric and told of the havoc he wrought in the enemy’s +ranks when he fired these guns loaded with similes and metaphors and +hyperboles. + +Of course, after each exhibition of this sort he was sent to the +_Santee_ and given an opportunity to meditate. + +On another occasion, when one of the instructors lectured to the cadets, +he required them to submit a written statement embodying all that they +could recall of what had been said at the lecture. One of the rules +concerning this report provided that there should be no erasures or +interlineations, but that when mistakes were made the objectionable or +incorrect expressions should be included within parentheses; and that +the matter so enclosed within parentheses would not be considered a part +of the report. McGiffin wrote an excellent _resume_ of the lecture, +but he interspersed through it in parentheses such words as “applause,” + “cheers,” “cat-calls,” and “groans,” and as these words were enclosed +within parentheses he insisted that they did not count, and made a very +fair plea that he ought not to be punished for words which slipped in +by mistake, and which he had officially obliterated by what he called +oblivion marks. + +He was not always on mischief bent. On one occasion, when the house of a +professor caught fire, McGiffin ran into the flames and carried out two +children, for which act he was commended by the Secretary of the Navy. + +It was an act of Congress that determined that the career of McGiffin +should be that of a soldier of fortune. This was a most unjust act, +which provided that only as many midshipmen should receive commissions +as on the warships there were actual vacancies. In those days, in 1884, +our navy was very small. To-day there is hardly a ship having her full +complement of officers, and the difficulty is not to get rid of those we +have educated, but to get officers to educate. To the many boys who, on +the promise that they would be officers of the navy, had worked for +four years at the Academy and served two years at sea, the act was most +unfair. Out of a class of about ninety, only the first twelve were given +commissions and the remaining eighty turned adrift upon the uncertain +seas of civil life. As a sop, each was given one thousand dollars. + +McGiffin was not one of the chosen twelve. In the final examinations on +the list he was well toward the tail. But without having studied +many things, and without remembering the greater part of them, no +one graduates from Annapolis, even last on the list; and with his one +thousand dollars in cash, McGiffin had also this six years of education +at what was then the best naval college in the world. This was his only +asset--his education--and as in his own country it was impossible to +dispose of it, for possible purchasers he looked abroad. + +At that time the Tong King war was on between France and China, and he +decided, before it grew rusty, to offer his knowledge to the followers +of the Yellow Dragon. In those days that was a hazard of new fortunes +that meant much more than it does now. To-day the East is as near as San +Francisco; the Japanese-Russian War, our occupation of the Philippines, +the part played by our troops in the Boxer trouble, have made the +affairs of China part of the daily reading of every one. Now, one can +step into a brass bed at Forty-second Street and in four days at the +Coast get into another brass bed, and in twelve more be spinning down +the Bund of Yokohama in a rickshaw. People go to Japan for the winter +months as they used to go to Cairo. + +But in 1885 it was no such light undertaking, certainly not for a young +man who had been brought up in the quiet atmosphere of an inland +town, where generations of his family and other families had lived and +intermarried, content with their surroundings. + +With very few of his thousand dollars left him, McGiffin arrived in +February, 1885, in San Francisco. From there his letters to his family +give one the picture of a healthy, warm-hearted youth, chiefly anxious +lest his mother and sister should “worry.” In our country nearly every +family knows that domestic tragedy when the son and heir “breaks home +ties,” and starts out to earn a living; and if all the world loves a +lover, it at least sympathizes with the boy who is “looking for a job.” + The boy who is looking for the job may not think so, but each of those +who has passed through the same hard place gives him, if nothing else, +his good wishes. McGiffin’s letters at this period gain for him from +those who have had the privilege to read them the warmest good feeling. + +They are filled with the same cheery optimism, the same slurring over +of his troubles, the same homely jokes, the same assurances that he is +feeling “bully,” and that it all will come out right, that every boy, +when he starts out in the world, sends back to his mother. + +“I am in first-rate health and spirits, so I don’t want you to fuss +about me. I am big enough and ugly enough to scratch along somehow, and +I will not starve.” + +To his mother he proudly sends his name written in Chinese characters, +as he had been taught to write it by the Chinese Consul-General in San +Francisco, and a pen-picture of two elephants. “I am going to bring you +home _two_ of these,” he writes, not knowing that in the strange and +wonderful country to which he is going elephants are as infrequent as +they are in Pittsburg. + +He reached China in April, and from Nagasaki on his way to Shanghai +the steamer that carried him was chased by two French gunboats. But, +apparently much to his disappointment, she soon ran out of range of +their guns. Though he did not know it then, with the enemy he had +travelled so far to fight this was his first and last hostile meeting; +for already peace was in the air. + +Of that and of how, in spite of peace, he obtained the “job” he wanted, +he must tell you himself in a letter home: + +TIEN-TSIN, CHINA, April 13, 1885. + +“MY DEAR MOTHER--I have not felt much in the humor for writing, for +I did not know what was going to happen. I spent a good deal of money +coming out, and when I got here, I knew, unless something turned up, +I was a gone coon. We got off Taku forts Sunday evening and the next +morning we went inside; the channel is very narrow and sown with +torpedoes. We struck one--an electric one--in coming up, but it didn’t +go off. We were until 10.30 P.M. in coming up to Tien-Tsin--thirty miles +in a straight line, but nearly seventy by the river, which is only about +one hundred feet wide--and we grounded ten times. + +“Well--at last we moored and went ashore. Brace Girdle, an engineer, and +I went to the hotel, and the first thing we heard was--that _peace was +declared!_ I went back on board ship, and I didn’t sleep much--I never +was so blue in my life. I knew if they didn’t want me that I might as +well give up the ghost, for I could never get away from China. Well--I +worried around all night without sleep, and in the morning I felt as +if I had been drawn through a knot-hole. I must have lost ten pounds. I +went around about 10 A.M. and gave my letters to Pethick, an American +U. S. Vice-Consul and interpreter to Li Hung Chang. He said he would fix +them for me. Then I went back to the ship, and as our captain was going +up to see Li Hung Chang, I went along out of desperation. We got in, +and after a while were taken in through corridor after corridor of the +Viceroy’s palace until we got into the great Li, when we sat down and +had tea and tobacco and talked through an interpreter. When it came +my turn he asked: ‘Why did you come to China?’ I said: ‘To enter the +Chinese service for the war.’ ‘How do you expect to enter?’ ‘I expect +_you_ to give me a commission!’ ‘I have no place to offer you.’ ‘I think +you have--I have come all the way from America to get it.’ ‘What would +you like?’ ‘I would like to get the new torpedo-boat and go down the +Yang-tse-Kiang to the blockading squadron.’ ‘Will you do that?’ ‘Of +course.’ + +“He thought a little and said: ‘I will see what can be done. Will you +take $100 a month for a start?’ I said: ‘That depends.’ (Of course +I would take it.) Well, after parley, he said he would put me on the +flagship, and if I did well he would promote me. Then he looked at me +and said: ‘How old are you?’ When I told him I was twenty-four I thought +he would faint--for in China a man is a _boy_ until he is over thirty. +He said I would _never_ do--I was a child. I could not know anything at +all. I could not convince him, but at last he compromised--I was to pass +an examination at the Arsenal at the Naval College, in all branches, +and if they passed me I would have a show. So we parted. I reported for +examination next day, but was put off--same the next day. But to-day I +was told to come, and sat down to a stock of foolscap, and had a +pretty stiff exam. I am only just through. I had seamanship, gunnery, +navigation, nautical astronomy, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, conic +sections, curve tracing, differential and integral calculus. I had only +three questions out of five to answer in each branch, but in the first +three I answered all five. After that I only had time for three, but +at the end he said I need not finish, he was perfectly satisfied. I had +done remarkably well, and he would report to the Viceroy to-morrow. He +examined my first papers--seamanship--said I was _perfect_ in it, so I +will get _along_, you need not fear. I told the Consul--he was very well +pleased--he is a nice man. + +“I feel pretty well now--have had dinner and am smoking a good Manila +cheroot. I wrote hard all day, wrote fifteen sheets of foolscap and made +about a dozen drawings--got pretty tired. + +“I have had a hard scramble for the service and only got in by the +skin of my teeth. I guess I will go to bed--I will sleep well +to-night--Thursday. + +“I did not hear from the Naval Secretary, Tuesday, so yesterday morning +I went up to the Admiralty and sent in my card. He came out and received +me very well--said I had passed a ‘very splendid examination’; had been +recommended very strongly to the Viceroy, who was very much pleased; +that the Director of the Naval College over at the Arsenal had wanted me +and would I go over at once? I _would_. It was about five miles. We (a +friend, who is a great rider here) went on steeplechase ponies--we were +ferried across the Pei Ho in a small scow and then had a long ride. +There _is_ a path--but Pritchard insisted on taking all the ditches, +and as my pony jumped like a cat, it wasn’t nice at first, but I didn’t +squeal and kept my seat and got the swing of it at last and rather liked +it. I think I will keep a horse here--you can hire one and a servant +together for $7 a month; that is $5.60 of our money, and pony and man +found in everything. + +“Well--at last we got to the Arsenal--a place about four miles around, +fortified, where all sorts of arms--cartridges, shot and shell, engines, +and _everything_--are made. The Naval College is inside surrounded by +a moat and wall. I thought to myself, if the cadet here is like to the +thing I used to be at the U. S. N. A. _that_ won’t keep him in. I went +through a lot of yards till I was ushered into a room finished in black +ebony and was greeted very warmly by the Director. We took seats on a +raised platform--Chinese style and pretty soon an interpreter came, one +of the Chinese professors, who was educated abroad, and we talked and +drank tea. He said I had done well, that he had the authority of the +Viceroy to take me there as ‘Professor’ of seamanship and gunnery; in +addition I might be required to teach navigation or nautical astronomy, +or drill the cadets in infantry, artillery, and fencing. For this I was +to receive what would be in our money $1,800 per annum, as near as we +can compare it, paid in gold each month. Besides, I will have a house +furnished for my use, and it is their intention, as soon as I _show_ +that I _know_ something, to considerably increase my pay. They asked +the Viceroy to give me 130 T per month (about $186) and house, but the +Viceroy said I was _but a boy_; that I had seen no years and had only +come here a week ago with no one to vouch for me, and that I might turn +out an impostor. But he would risk 100 T on me anyhow, and as soon as +I was reported favorably on by the college I would be raised--the +agreement is to be for three years. For a few months I am to command +a training ship--an ironclad that is in dry dock at present, until a +captain in the English Navy comes out, who has been sent for to command +her. + +“_So Here I am_--twenty-four years old and captain of a man-of-war--a +better one than any in our own navy--only for a short time, of course, +but I would be a pretty long time before I would command one at home. +Well--I accepted and will enter on my duties in a week, as soon as my +house is put in order. I saw it--it has a long veranda, very broad; with +flower garden, apricot trees, etc., just covered with blossoms; a wide +hall on the front, a room about 18x15, with a 13-foot ceiling; then back +another rather larger, with a cupola skylight in the centre, where I +am going to put a shelf with flowers. The Government is to furnish the +house with bed, tables, chairs, sideboards, lounges, stove for kitchen. +I have grates (American) in the room, but I don’t need them. We have +snow, and a good deal of ice in winter, but the thermometer never gets +below zero. I have to supply my own crockery. I will have two servants +and cook; I will only get one and the cook first--they only cost $4 +to $5.50 per month, and their board amounts to very little. I can get +along, don’t you think so? Now I want you to get Jim to pack up all +my professional works on gunnery, surveying, seamanship, mathematics, +astronomy, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, conic sections, calculus, +mechanics, and _every_ book of that description I own, including those +paperbound ‘Naval Institute’ papers, and put them in a box, together +with any photos, etc., you think I would like--I have none of you or Pa +or the family (including Carrie)--and send to me. + +“I just got in in time--didn’t I? Another week would have been too late. +My funds were getting low; I would not have had _anything_ before long. +The U. S. Consul, General Bromley, is much pleased. The interpreter says +it was all in the way I did with the Viceroy in the interview. + +“I will have a chance to go to Peking and later to a tiger hunt in +Mongolia, but for the present I am going to study, work, and _stroke_ +these mandarins till I get a raise. I am the only instructor in both +seamanship and gunnery, and I must know _everything_, both practically +and theoretically. But it will be good for me and the only thing is, +that if I were put back into the Navy I would be in a dilemma. I think +I will get my ‘influence’ to work, and I want you people at home to +look out, and in case I _am_--if it were represented to the Sec. that +my position here was giving me an immense lot of practical knowledge +professionally--more than I could get on a ship at sea--I think he would +give me two years’ leave on half or quarter pay. Or, I would be willing +to do without pay--only to be kept on the register in my rank. + +“I will write more about this. Love to all.” + + +It is characteristic of McGiffin that in the very same letter in which +he announces he has entered foreign service he plans to return to +that of his own country. This hope never left him. You find the same +homesickness for the quarterdeck of an American man-of-war all through +his later letters. At one time a bill to reinstate the midshipmen who +had been cheated of their commissions was introduced into Congress. Of +this McGiffin writes frequently as “our bill.” “It may pass,” he writes, +“but I am tired hoping. I have hoped so long. And if it should,” he adds +anxiously, “there may be a time limit set in which a man must rejoin, or +lose his chance, so do not fail to let me know as quickly as you can.” + But the bill did not pass, and McGiffin never returned to the navy that +had cut him adrift. He settled down at Tien-Tsin and taught the young +cadets how to shoot. Almost all of those who in the Chinese-Japanese War +served as officers were his pupils. As the navy grew, he grew with +it, and his position increased in importance. More Mexican dollars per +month, more servants, larger houses, and buttons of various honorable +colors were given him, and, in return, he established for China a modern +naval college patterned after our own. In those days throughout China +and Japan you could find many of these foreign advisers. Now, in Japan, +the Hon. W. H. Dennison of the Foreign Office, one of our own people, is +the only foreigner with whom the Japanese have not parted, and in China +there are none. Of all of those who have gone none served his employers +more faithfully than did McGiffin. At a time when every official +robbed the people and the Government, and when “squeeze” or “graft” + was recognized as a perquisite, McGiffin’s hands were clean. The shells +purchased for the Government by him were not loaded with black sand, +nor were the rifles fitted with barrels of iron pipe. Once a year he +celebrated the Thanksgiving Day of his own country by inviting to a +great dinner all the Chinese naval officers who had been at least in +part educated in America. It was a great occasion, and to enjoy +it officers used to come from as far as Port Arthur, Shanghai, and +Hong-Kong. So fully did some of them appreciate the efforts of their +host that previous to his annual dinner, for twenty-four hours, they +delicately starved themselves. + +During ten years McGiffin served as naval constructor and professor +of gunnery and seamanship, and on board ships at sea gave practical +demonstrations in the handling of the new cruisers. In 1894 he applied +for leave, which was granted, but before he had sailed for home war with +Japan was declared and he withdrew his application. He was placed +as second in command on board the _Chen Yuen_, a seven-thousand-ton +battleship, a sister ship to the _Ting Yuen_, the flagship of Admiral +Ting Ju Chang. On the memorable 17th of September, 1894, the battle of +the Yalu was fought, and so badly were the Chinese vessels hammered that +the Chinese navy, for the time being, was wiped out of existence. + +From the start the advantage was with the Japanese fleet. In heavy guns +the Chinese were the better armed, but in quick-firing guns the Japanese +were vastly superior, and while the Chinese battleships _Ting Yuen_ and +_Chen Yuen_, each of 7,430 tons, were superior to any of the Japanese +warships, the three largest of which were each of 4,277 tons, the gross +tonnage of the Japanese fleet was 36,000 to 21,000 of the Chinese. +During the progress of the battle the ships engaged on each side +numbered an even dozen, but at the very start, before a decisive shot +was fired by either contestant, the _Tsi Yuen_, 2,355 tons, and _Kwan +Chiae_, 1,300 tons, ran away, and before they had time to get into the +game the _Chao Yung_ and _Yang Wei_ were in flames and had fled to the +nearest land. So the battle was fought by eight Chinese ships against +twelve of the Japanese. Of the Chinese vessels, the flagship, commanded +by Admiral Ting, and her sister ship, which immediately after the +beginning of the fight was for four hours commanded by McGiffin, were +the two chief aggressors, and in consequence received the fire of the +entire Japanese squadron. Toward the end of the fight, which without +interruption lasted for five long hours, the Japanese did not even +consider the four smaller ships of the enemy, but, sailing around the +two ironclads in a circle, fired only at them. The Japanese themselves +testified that these two ships never lost their formation, and that +when her sister ironclad was closely pressed the _Chen Yuen_, by her +movements and gun practice, protected the _Ting Yuen_, and, in fact, +while she could not prevent the heavy loss the fleet encountered, +preserved it from annihilation. During the fight this ship was almost +continuously on fire, and was struck by every kind of projectile, from +the thirteen-inch Canet shells to a rifle bullet, four hundred times. +McGiffin himself was so badly wounded, so beaten about by concussions, +so burned, and so bruised by steel splinters, that his health and +eyesight were forever wrecked. But he brought the _Chen Yuen_ safely +into Port Arthur and the remnants of the fleet with her. + +On account of his lack of health he resigned from the Chinese service +and returned to America. For two years he lived in New York City, +suffering in body without cessation the most exquisite torture. During +that time his letters to his family show only tremendous courage. On the +splintered, gaping deck of the _Chen Yuen_, with the fires below it, +and the shells bursting upon it, he had shown to his Chinese crew the +courage of the white man who knew he was responsible for them and for +the honor of their country. But far greater and more difficult was the +courage he showed while alone in the dark sick-room, and in the private +wards of the hospitals. + +In the letters he dictates from there he still is concerned only lest +those at home shall “worry”; he reassures them with falsehoods, jokes +at their fears; of the people he can see from the window of the hospital +tells them foolish stories; for a little boy who has been kind he asks +them to send him his Chinese postage stamps; he plans a trip he will +take with them when he is stronger, knowing he never will be stronger. +The doctors had urged upon him a certain operation, and of it to a +friend he wrote: “I know that I will have to have a piece about three +inches square cut out of my skull, and this nerve cut off near the +middle of the brain, as well as my eye taken out (for a couple of hours +only, provided it is not mislaid, and can be found). Doctor ------ and +his crowd show a bad memory for failures. As a result of this operation +others have told me--I forget the percentage of deaths, which does not +matter, but--that a large percentage have become insane. And some lost +their sight.” + +While threatened with insanity and complete blindness, and hourly from +his wounds suffering a pain drugs could not master, he dictated for the +_Century Magazine_ the only complete account of the battle of the Yalu. +In a letter to Mr. Richard Watson Gilder he writes: “...my eyes are +troubling me. I cannot see even what I am writing now, and am getting +the article under difficulties. I yet hope to place it in your hands by +the 21st, still, if my eyes grow worse------” + +“Still, if my eyes grow worse------” + +The unfinished sentence was grimly prophetic. + +Unknown to his attendants at the hospital, among the papers in his +despatch-box he had secreted his service revolver. On the morning of the +11th of February, 1897, he asked for this box, and on some pretext sent +the nurse from the room. When the report of the pistol brought them +running to his bedside, they found the pain-driven body at peace, and +the tired eyes dark forever. + +In the article in the _Century_ on the battle of the Yalu, he had said: + +“Chief among those who have died for their country is Admiral Ting Ju +Chang, a gallant soldier and true gentleman. Betrayed by his countrymen, +fighting against odds, almost his last official act was to stipulate +for the lives of his officers and men. His own he scorned to save, well +knowing that his ungrateful country would prove less merciful than his +honorable foe. Bitter, indeed, must have been the reflections of the +old, wounded hero, in that midnight hour, as he drank the poisoned cup +that was to give him rest.” + +And bitter indeed must have been the reflections of the young wounded +American, robbed, by the parsimony of his country, of the right he had +earned to serve it, and who was driven out to give his best years and +his life for a strange people under a strange flag. + + + + +GENERAL WILLIAM WALKER, + +THE KING OF THE FILIBUSTERS + +IT is safe to say that to members of the younger generation the name of +William Walker conveys absolutely nothing. To them, as a name, “William +Walker” awakens no pride of race or country. It certainly does not +suggest poetry and adventure. To obtain a place in even this group +of Soldiers of Fortune, William Walker, the most distinguished of all +American Soldiers of Fortune, the one who but for his own countrymen +would have single-handed attained the most far-reaching results, had to +wait his turn behind adventurers of other lands and boy officers of +his own. And yet had this man with the plain name, the name that +to-day means nothing, accomplished what he adventured, he would on this +continent have solved the problem of slavery, have established an empire +in Mexico and in Central America, and, incidentally, have brought us +into war with all of Europe. That is all he would have accomplished. + +In the days of gold in San Francisco among the “Forty-niners” William +Walker was one of the most famous, most picturesque and popular figures. +Jack Oakhurst, gambler; Colonel Starbottle, duellist; Yuba Bill, +stage-coach driver, were his contemporaries. Bret Harte was one of his +keenest admirers, and in two of his stories, thinly disguised under a +more appealing name, Walker is the hero. When, later, Walker came to New +York City, in his honor Broadway from the Battery to Madison Square was +bedecked with flags and arches. “It was roses, roses all the way.” The +house-tops rocked and swayed. + +In New Orleans, where in a box at the opera he made his first +appearance, for ten minutes the performance came to a pause, while the +audience stood to salute him. + +This happened less than fifty years ago, and there are men who as boys +were out with “Walker of Nicaragua,” and who are still active in the +public life of San Francisco and New York. + +Walker was born in 1824, in Nashville, Tenn. He was the oldest son of +a Scotch banker, a man of a deeply religious mind, and interested in +a business which certainly is removed, as far as possible, from +the profession of arms. Indeed, few men better than William Walker +illustrate the fact that great generals are born, not trained. +Everything in Walker’s birth, family tradition, and education pointed +to his becoming a member of one of the “learned” professions. It was +the wish of his father that he should be a minister of the Presbyterian +Church, and as a child he was trained with that end in view. He himself +preferred to study medicine, and after graduating at the University of +Tennessee, at Edinburgh he followed a course of lectures, and for two +years travelled in Europe, visiting many of the great hospitals. + +Then having thoroughly equipped himself to practise as a physician, +after a brief return to his native city, and as short a stay in +Philadelphia, he took down his shingle forever, and proceeded to +New Orleans to study law. In two years he was admitted to the bar of +Louisiana. But because clients were few, or because the red tape of the +law chafed his spirit, within a year, as already he had abandoned +the Church and Medicine, he abandoned his law practice and became +an editorial writer on the New Orleans _Crescent_. A year later the +restlessness which had rebelled against the grave professions led him to +the gold fields of California, and San Francisco. There, in 1852, at +the age of only twenty-eight, as editor of the San Francisco _Herald_, +Walker began his real life which so soon was to end in both disaster and +glory. + +Up to his twenty-eighth year, except in his restlessness, nothing in his +life foreshadowed what was to follow. Nothing pointed to him as a man +for whom thousands of other men, from every capital of the world, would +give up their lives. + +Negatively, by abandoning three separate callings, and in making it +plain that a professional career did not appeal to him, Walker had +thrown a certain sidelight on his character; but actively he never had +given any hint that under the thoughtful brow of the young doctor and +lawyer there was a mind evolving schemes of empire, and an ambition +limited only by the two great oceans. + +Walker’s first adventure was undoubtedly inspired by and in imitation +of one which at the time of his arrival in San Francisco had just been +brought to a disastrous end. This was the De Boulbon expedition into +Mexico. The Count Gaston Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon was a young French +nobleman and Soldier of Fortune, a _chasseur d’Afrique_, a duellist, +journalist, dreamer, who came to California to dig gold. Baron +Harden-Hickey, who was born in San Francisco a few years after Boulbon +at the age of thirty was shot in Mexico, also was inspired to dreams of +conquest by this same gentleman adventurer. + +Boulbon was a young man of large ideas. In the rapid growth of +California he saw a threat to Mexico and proposed to that government, as +a “buffer” state between the two republics, to form a French colony +in the Mexican State of Sonora. Sonora is that part of Mexico which +directly joins on the south with our State of Arizona. The President of +Mexico gave Boulbon permission to attempt this, and in 1852 he landed at +Guaymas in the Gulf of California with two hundred and sixty well-armed +Frenchmen. The ostensible excuse of Boulbon for thus invading foreign +soil was his contract with the President under which his “emigrants” + were hired to protect other foreigners working in the “Restauradora” + mines from the attacks of Apache Indians from our own Arizona. But there +is evidence that back of Boulbon was the French Government, and that +he was attempting, in his small way, what later was attempted by +Maximilian, backed by a French army corps and Louis Napoleon, to +establish in Mexico an empire under French protection. For both the +filibuster and the emperor the end was the same; to be shot by the +fusillade against a church wall. + +In 1852, two years before Boulbon’s death, which was the finale to his +second filibustering expedition into Sonora, he wrote to a friend in +Paris: “Europeans are disturbed by the growth of the United States. And +rightly so. Unless she be dismembered; unless a powerful rival be built +up beside her (_i.e._, France in Mexico), America will become, through +her commerce, her trade, her population, her geographical position upon +two oceans, the inevitable mistress of the world. In ten years Europe +dare not fire a shot without her permission. As I write fifty Americans +prepare to sail for Mexico and go perhaps to victory. _Voila les +Etats-Unis_.” + +These fifty Americans who, in the eyes of Boulbon, threatened the peace +of Europe, were led by the ex-doctor, ex-lawyer, ex-editor, William +Walker, _aged twenty-eight years_. Walker had attempted but had failed +to obtain from the Mexican Government such a contract as the one it had +granted De Boulbon. He accordingly sailed without it, announcing that, +whether the Mexican Government asked him to do so or not, he would see +that the women and children on the border of Mexico and Arizona were +protected from massacre by the Indians. It will be remembered that when +Dr. Jameson raided the Transvaal he also went to protect “women and +children” from massacre by the Boers. Walker’s explanation of his +expedition, in his own words, is as follows. He writes in the third +person: “What Walker saw and heard satisfied him that a comparatively +small body of Americans might gain a position on the Sonora frontier +and protect the families on the border from the Indians, and such an +act would be one of humanity whether or not sanctioned by the Mexican +Government. The condition of the upper part of Sonora was at that time, +and still is [he was writing eight years later, in 1860], a disgrace to +the civilization of the continent...and the people of the United States +were more immediately responsible before the world for the Apache +outrages. Northern Sonora was in fact, more under the dominion of the +Apaches than under the laws of Mexico, and the contributions of the +Indians were collected with greater regularity and certainty than the +dues of the tax-gatherers. The state of this region furnished the best +defence for any American aiming to settle there without the formal +consent of Mexico; and, although political changes would certainly have +followed the establishment of a colony, they might be justified by the +plea that any social organization, no matter how secured, is preferable +to that in which individuals and families are altogether at the mercy of +savages.” + +While at the time of Jameson’s raid the women and children in danger of +massacre from the Boers were as many as there are snakes in Ireland, at +the time of Walker’s raid the women and children were in danger from the +Indians, who as enemies, as Walker soon discovered, were as cruel and as +greatly to be feared as he had described them. + +But it was not to save women and children that Walker sought to conquer +the State of Sonora. At the time of his expedition the great question of +slavery was acute; and if in the States next to be admitted to the Union +slavery was to be prohibited, the time had come, so it seemed to +this statesman of twenty-eight years, when the South must extend her +boundaries, and for her slaves find an outlet in fresh territory. +Sonora already joined Arizona. By conquest her territory could easily +be extended to meet Texas. As a matter of fact, strategically the spot +selected by William Walker for the purpose for which he desired it was +almost perfect. Throughout his brief career one must remember that the +spring of all his acts was this dream of an empire where slavery would +be recognized. His mother was a slave-holder. In Tennessee he had been +born and bred surrounded by slaves. His youth and manhood had been spent +in Nashville and New Orleans. He believed as honestly, as fanatically +in the right to hold slaves as did his father in the faith of the +Covenanters. To-day one reads his arguments in favor of slavery with the +most curious interest. His appeal to the humanity of his reader, to his +heart, to his sense of justice, to his fear of God, and to his belief +in the Holy Bible not to abolish slavery, but to continue it, to this +generation is as amusing as the topsy-turvyisms of Gilbert or Shaw. But +to the young man himself slavery was a sacred institution, intended for +the betterment of mankind, a God-given benefit to the black man and a +God-given right of his white master. + +White brothers in the South, with perhaps less exalted motives, +contributed funds to fit out Walker’s expedition, and in October, 1852, +with forty-five men, he landed at Cape St. Lucas, at the extreme point +of Lower California. Lower California, it must be remembered, in spite +of its name, is not a part of our California, but then was, and still +is, a part of Mexico. The fact that he was at last upon the soil of the +enemy caused Walker to throw off all pretence; and instead of hastening +to protect women and children, he sailed a few miles farther up the +coast to La Paz. With his forty-five followers he raided the town, made +the Governor a prisoner, and established a republic with himself as +President. In a proclamation he declared the people free of the tyranny +of Mexico. They had no desire to be free, but Walker was determined, +and, whether they liked it or not, they woke up to find themselves an +independent republic. A few weeks later, although he had not yet set +foot there, Walker annexed on paper the State of Sonora, and to both +States gave the name of the Republic of Sonora. + +As soon as word of this reached San Francisco, his friends busied +themselves in his behalf, and the danger-loving and adventurous of +all lands were enlisted as “emigrants” and shipped to him in the bark +_Anita_. + +Two months later, in November, 1852, three hundred of these joined +Walker. They were as desperate a band of scoundrels as ever robbed a +sluice, stoned a Chinaman, or shot a “Greaser.” When they found that to +command them there was only a boy, they plotted to blow up the +magazine in which the powder was stored, rob the camp, and march north, +supporting themselves by looting the ranches. Walker learned of their +plot, tried the ringleaders by court-martial, and shot them. With a +force as absolutely undisciplined as was his, the act required the most +complete personal courage. That was a quality the men with him could +fully appreciate. They saw they had as a leader one who could fight, +and one who would punish. The majority did not want a leader who would +punish so when Walker called upon those who would follow him to Sonora +to show their hands, only the original forty-five and about forty of +the later recruits remained with him. With less than one hundred men +he started to march up the Peninsula through Lower California, and so +around the Gulf to Sonora. + +From the very start the filibusters were overwhelmed with disaster. The +Mexicans, with Indian allies, skulked on the flanks and rear. Men who +in the almost daily encounters were killed fell into the hands of the +Indians, and their bodies were mutilated. Stragglers and deserters were +run to earth and tortured. Those of the filibusters who were wounded +died from lack of medical care. The only instruments they possessed with +which to extract the arrow-heads were probes made from ramrods filed to +a point. Their only food was the cattle they killed on the march. The +army was barefoot, the Cabinet in rags, the President of Sonora wore one +boot and one shoe. + +Unable to proceed farther, Walker fell back upon San Vincente, where he +had left the arms and ammunition of the deserters and a rear-guard of +eighteen men. He found not one of these to welcome him. A dozen had +deserted, and the Mexicans had surprised the rest, lassoing them and +torturing them until they died. Walker now had but thirty-five men. To +wait for further re-enforcements from San Francisco, even were he sure +that re-enforcements would come, was impossible. He determined by forced +marches to fight his way to the boundary line of California. Between him +and safety were the Mexican soldiers holding the passes, and the Indians +hiding on his flanks. When within three miles of the boundary line, at +San Diego, Colonel Melendrez, who commanded the Mexican forces, sent in +a flag of truce, and offered, if they would surrender, a safe-conduct to +all of the survivors of the expedition except the chief. But the men who +for one year had fought and starved for Walker, would not, within three +miles of home, abandon him. + +Melendrez then begged the commander of the United States troops to order +Walker to surrender. Major McKinstry, who was in command of the United +States Army Post at San Diego, refused. For him to cross the line would +be a violation of neutral territory. On Mexican soil he would neither +embarrass the ex-President of Sonora nor aid him; but he saw to it that +if the filibusters reached American soil, no Mexican or Indian should +follow them. + +Accordingly, on the imaginary boundary he drew up his troop, and like +an impartial umpire awaited the result. Hidden behind rocks and cactus, +across the hot, glaring plain, the filibusters could see the American +flag, and the gay, fluttering guidons of the cavalry. The sight gave +them heart for one last desperate spurt. Melendrez also appreciated +that for the final attack the moment had come. As he charged, Walker, +apparently routed, fled, but concealed in the rocks behind him he had +stationed a rear-guard of a dozen men. As Melendrez rode into this +ambush the dozen riflemen emptied as many saddles, and the Mexicans and +Indians stampeded. A half hour later, footsore and famished, the little +band that had set forth to found an empire of slaves, staggered across +the line and surrendered to the forces of the United States. + +Of this expedition James Jeffrey Roche says, in his “Byways of War,” + which is of all books published about Walker the most intensely and +fascinatingly interesting and complete: “Years afterward the peon +herdsman or prowling Cocupa Indian in the mountain by-paths stumbled +over the bleaching skeleton of some nameless one whose resting-place was +marked by no cross or cairn, but the Colts revolver resting beside +his bones spoke his country and his occupation--the only relic of the +would-be conquistadores of the nineteenth century.” + +Under parole to report to General Wood, commanding the Department of the +Pacific, the filibusters were sent by sailing vessel to San Francisco, +where their leader was tried for violating the neutrality laws of the +United States, and acquitted. + +Walker’s first expedition had ended in failure, but for him it had been +an opportunity of tremendous experience, as active service is the best +of all military academies, and for the kind of warfare he was to wage, +the best preparation. Nor was it inglorious, for his fellow survivors, +contrary to the usual practice, instead of in bar-rooms placing the +blame for failure upon their leader, stood ready to fight one and all +who doubted his ability or his courage. Later, after five years, many of +these same men, though ten to twenty years his senior, followed him to +death, and never questioned his judgment nor his right to command. + +At this time in Nicaragua there was the usual revolution. On the +south the sister republic of Costa Rica was taking sides, on the north +Honduras was landing arms and men. There was no law, no government. A +dozen political parties, a dozen commanding generals, and not one strong +man. + +In the editorial rooms of the San Francisco _Herald_, Walker, searching +the map for new worlds to conquer, rested his finger upon Nicaragua. + +In its confusion of authority he saw an opportunity to make himself +a power, and in its tropical wealth and beauty, in the laziness and +incompetence of its inhabitants, he beheld a greater, fairer, more kind +Sonora. On the Pacific side from San Francisco he could re-enforce his +army with men and arms; on the Caribbean side from New Orleans he could, +when the moment arrived, people his empire with slaves. + +The two parties at war in Nicaragua were the Legitimists and the +Democrats. Why they were at war it is not necessary to know. Probably +Walker did not know; it is not likely that they themselves knew. But +from the leader of the Democrats Walker obtained a contract to bring +to Nicaragua three hundred Americans, who were each to receive several +hundred acres of land, and who were described as “colonists liable to +military duty.” This contract Walker submitted to the Attorney-General +of the State and to General Wood, who once before had acquitted him of +filibustering; and neither of these Federal officers saw anything +which seemed to give them the right to interfere. But the rest of San +Francisco was less credulous, and the “colonists” who joined Walker +had a very distinct idea that they were not going to Nicaragua to plant +coffee or to pick bananas. + +In May, 1855, just a year after Walker and his thirty-three followers +had surrendered to the United States troops at San Diego, with fifty new +recruits and seven veterans of the former expedition he sailed from +San Francisco in the brig _Vesta_, and in five weeks, after a weary and +stormy voyage, landed at Realejo. There he was met by representatives of +the Provisional Director of the Democrats, who received the Californians +warmly. + +Walker was commissioned a colonel, Achilles Kewen, who had been fighting +under Lopez in Cuba, a lieutenant-colonel, and Timothy Crocker, who had +served under Walker in the Sonora expedition, a major. The corps +was organized as an independent command and was named “La Falange +Americana.” At this time the enemy held the route to the Caribbean, and +Walker’s first orders were to dislodge him. + +Accordingly, a week after landing with his fifty-seven Americans and one +hundred and fifty native troops, Walker sailed in the _Vesta_ for Brito, +from which port he marched upon Rivas, a city of eleven thousand people +and garrisoned by some twelve hundred of the enemy. + +The first fight ended in a complete and disastrous fiasco. The native +troops ran away, and the Americans surrounded by six hundred of the +Legitimists’ soldiers, after defending themselves for three hours behind +some adobe huts, charged the enemy and escaped into the jungle. Their +loss was heavy, and among the killed were the two men upon whom Walker +chiefly depended: Kewen and Crocker. The Legitimists placed the bodies +of the dead and wounded who were still living on a pile of logs and +burned them. After a painful night march, Walker, the next day, reached +San Juan on the coast, and, finding a Costa Rican schooner in port, +seized it for his use. At this moment, although Walker’s men were +defeated, bleeding, and in open flight, two “gringos” picked up on +the beach of San Juan, “the Texan Harry McLeod and the Irishman Peter +Burns,” asked to be permitted to join him. + +“It was encouraging,” Walker writes, “for the soldiers to find that +some besides themselves did not regard their fortunes as altogether +desperate, and small as was this addition to their number it gave +increased moral as well as material strength to the command.” + +Sometimes in reading history it would appear as though for success the +first requisite must be an utter lack of humor, and inability to look +upon what one is attempting except with absolute seriousness. With forty +men Walker was planning to conquer and rule Nicaragua, a country with a +population of two hundred and fifty thousand souls and as large as the +combined area of Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, +and Connecticut. And yet, even seven years later, he records without +a smile that two beach-combers gave his army “moral and material +strength.” And it is most characteristic of the man that at the +moment he was rejoicing over this addition to his forces, to maintain +discipline two Americans who had set fire to the houses of the enemy +he ordered to be shot. A weaker man would have repudiated the two +Americans, who, in fact, were not members of the Phalanx, and trusted +that their crimes would not be charged against him. But the success of +Walker lay greatly in his stern discipline. He tried the men, and they +confessed to their guilt. One got away; and, as it might appear that +Walker had connived at his escape, to the second man was shown no +mercy. When one reads how severe was Walker in his punishments, and +how frequently the death penalty was invoked by him against his own +few followers, the wonder grows that these men, as independent and as +unaccustomed to restraint as were those who first joined him, submitted +to his leadership. One can explain it only by the personal quality of +Walker himself. + +Among these reckless, fearless outlaws, who, despising their allies, +believed and proved that with his rifle one American could account for a +dozen Nicaraguans, Walker was the one man who did not boast or drink or +gamble, who did not even swear, who never looked at a woman, and who, in +money matters, was scrupulously honest and unself-seeking. In a fight, +his followers knew that for them he would risk being shot just as +unconcernedly as to maintain his authority he would shoot one of them. + +Treachery, cowardice, looting, any indignity to women, he punished with +death; but to the wounded, either of his own or of the enemy’s forces, +he was as gentle as a nursing sister and the brave and able he rewarded +with instant promotion and higher pay. In no one trait was he a +demagogue. One can find no effort on his part to ingratiate himself with +his men. Among the officers of his staff there were no favorites. He +messed alone, and at all times kept to himself. He spoke little, and +then with utter lack of self-consciousness. In the face of injustice, +perjury, or physical danger, he was always calm, firm, dispassionate. +But it is said that on those infrequent occasions when his anger +asserted itself, the steady steel-gray eyes flashed so menacingly that +those who faced them would as soon look down the barrel of his Colt. + +The impression one gets of him gathered from his recorded acts, from his +own writings, from the writings of those who fought with him, is of a +silent, student-like young man believing religiously in his “star of +destiny”; but, in all matters that did not concern himself, possessed of +a grim sense of fun. The sayings of his men that in his history of the +war he records, show a distinct appreciation of the Bret Harte school of +humor. As, for instance, when he tells how he wished to make one of them +a drummer boy and the Californian drawled: “No, thanks, colonel; I never +seen a picture of a battle yet that the first thing in it wasn’t a dead +drummer boy with a busted drum.” + +In Walker the personal vanity which is so characteristic of the soldier +of fortune was utterly lacking. In a land where a captain bedecks +himself like a field-marshal, Walker wore his trousers stuffed in his +boots, a civilian’s blue frock-coat, and the slouch hat of the period, +with, for his only ornament, the red ribbon of the Democrats. The +authority he wielded did not depend upon braid or buttons, and only when +going into battle did he wear his sword. In appearance he was slightly +built, rather below the medium height, smooth shaven, and with deep-set +gray eyes. These eyes apparently, as they gave him his nickname, were +his most marked feature. + +His followers called him, and later, when he was thirty-two years +old, he was known all over the United States as the “Gray-Eyed Man of +Destiny.” + +From the first Walker recognized that in order to establish himself in +Nicaragua he must keep in touch with all possible recruits arriving from +San Francisco and New York, and that to do this he must hold the line +of transit from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific. At this time the sea +routes to the gold-fields were three: by sailing vessel around the Cape, +one over the Isthmus of Panama, and one, which was the shortest, across +Nicaragua. By a charter from the Government of Nicaragua, the right to +transport passengers across this isthmus was controlled by the Accessory +Transit Company, of which the first Cornelius Vanderbilt was president. +His company owned a line of ocean steamers both on the Pacific side +and on the Atlantic side. Passengers _en route_ from New York to the +gold-fields were landed by these latter steamers at Greytown on the west +coast of Nicaragua, and sent by boats of light draught up the San Juan +River to Lake Nicaragua. There they were met by larger lake steamers and +conveyed across the lake to Virgin Bay. From that point, in carriages +and on mule back, they were carried twelve miles overland to the port of +San Juan del Sud on the Pacific Coast, where they boarded the company’s +steamers to San Francisco. + +During the year of Walker’s occupation the number of passengers crossing +Nicaragua was an average of about two thousand a month. + +It was to control this route that immediately after his first defeat +Walker returned to San Juan del Sud, and in a smart skirmish defeated +the enemy and secured possession of Virgin Bay, the halting place for +the passengers going east or west. In this fight Walker was outnumbered +five to one, but his losses were only three natives killed and a few +Americans wounded. The Legitimists lost sixty killed and a hundred +wounded. This proportion of losses shows how fatally effective was the +rifle and revolver fire of the Californians. Indeed, so wonderful was it +that when some years ago I visited the towns and cities captured by the +filibusters, I found that the marksmanship of Walker’s Phalanx was still +a tradition. Indeed, thanks to the filibusters, to-day in any part of +Central America a man from the States, if in trouble, has only to show +his gun. No native will wait for him to fire it. + +After the fight at Virgin Bay, Walker received from California fifty +recruits--a very welcome addition to his force, and as he now commanded +about one hundred and twenty Americans, three hundred Nicaraguans, under +a friendly native, General Valle, and two brass cannon, he decided to +again attack Rivas. Rivas is on the lake just above Virgin Bay; still +further up is Granada, which was the head-quarters of the Legitimists. + +Fearing Walker’s attack upon Rivas, the Legitimist troops were hurried +south from Granada to that city, leaving Granada but slightly protected. + +Through intercepted letters Walker learned of this and determined to +strike at Granada. By night, in one of the lake steamers, he skirted the +shore, and just before daybreak, with fires banked and all lights out, +drew up to a point near the city. The day previous the Legitimists had +gained a victory, and, as good luck or Walker’s “destiny” would have +it, the night before Granada had been celebrating the event. Much joyous +dancing and much drinking of aguardiente had buried the inhabitants in a +drugged slumber. The garrison slept, the sentries slept, the city slept. +But when the convent bells called for early mass, the air was shaken +with sharp reports that to the ears of the Legitimists were unfamiliar +and disquieting. They were not the loud explosions of their own muskets +nor of the smooth bores of the Democrats. The sounds were sharp and +cruel like the crack of a whip. The sentries flying from their posts +disclosed the terrifying truth. “The Filibusteros!” they cried. +Following them at a gallop came Walker and Valle and behind them the men +of the awful Phalanx, whom already the natives had learned to fear: the +bearded giants in red flannel shirts who at Rivas on foot had charged +the artillery with revolvers, who at Virgin Bay when wounded had drawn +from their boots glittering bowie knives and hurled them like arrows, +who at all times shot with the accuracy of the hawk falling upon a +squawking hen. + +There was a brief terrified stand in the Plaza, and then a complete +rout. As was their custom, the native Democrats began at once to loot +the city. But Walker put his sword into the first one of these he met, +and ordered the Americans to arrest all others found stealing, and to +return the goods already stolen. Over a hundred political prisoners in +the cartel were released by Walker, and the ball and chain to which each +was fastened stricken off. More than two-thirds of them at once enlisted +under Walker’s banner. + +He now was in a position to dictate to the enemy his own terms of peace, +but a fatal blunder on the part of Parker H. French, a lieutenant of +Walker’s, postponed peace for several weeks, and led to unfortunate +reprisals. French had made an unauthorized and unsuccessful assault +on San Carlos at the eastern end of the lake, and the Legitimists +retaliated at Virgin Bay by killing half a dozen peaceful passengers, +and at San Carlos by firing at a transit steamer. For this the excuse of +the Legitimists was, that now that Walker was using the lake steamers +as transports it was impossible for them to know whether the boats were +occupied by his men or neutral passengers. As he could not reach the +guilty ones, Walker held responsible for their acts their secretary +of state, who at the taking of Granada was among the prisoners. He was +tried by court-martial and shot, “a victim of the new interpretation of +the principles of constitutional government.” While this act of Walker’s +was certainly stretching the theory of responsibility to the breaking +point, its immediate effect was to bring about a hasty surrender and a +meeting between the generals of the two political parties. Thus, four +months after Walker and his fifty-seven followers landed in Nicaragua, +a suspension of hostilities was arranged, and the side for which the +Americans had fought was in power. Walker was made commander-in-chief +of an army of twelve hundred men with salary of six thousand dollars a +year. A man named Rivas was appointed temporary president. + +To Walker this pause in the fight was most welcome. It gave him an +opportunity to enlist recruits and to organize his men for the better +accomplishment of what was the real object of his going to Nicaragua. He +now had under him a remarkable force, one of the most effective known +to military history. For although six months had not yet passed, +the organization he now commanded was as unlike the Phalanx of +the fifty-eight adventurers who were driven back at Rivas, as were +Falstaff’s followers from the regiment of picked men commanded by +Colonel Roosevelt. Instead of the undisciplined and lawless now being +in the majority, the ranks were filled with the pick of the California +mining camps, with veterans of the Mexican War, with young Southerners +of birth and spirit, and with soldiers of fortune from all of the great +armies of Europe. + +In the Civil War, which so soon followed, and later in the service of +the Khedive of Egypt, were several of Walker’s officers, and for years +after his death there was no war in which one of the men trained by him +in the jungles of Nicaragua did not distinguish himself. In his memoirs, +the Englishman, General Charles Frederic Henningsen, writes that though +he had taken part in some of the greatest battles of the Civil War he +would pit a thousand men of Walker’s command against any five thousand +Confederate or Union soldiers. And General Henningsen was one who spoke +with authority. Before he joined Walker he had served in Spain under Don +Carlos, in Hungary under Kossuth, and in Bulgaria. + +Of Walker’s men, a regiment of which he commanded, he writes: “I often +have seen them march with a broken or compound fractured arm in +splints, and using the other to fire the rifle or revolver. Those with a +fractured thigh or wounds which rendered them incapable of removal, shot +themselves. Such men do not turn up in the average of everyday life, nor +do I ever expect to see their like again. All military science failed +on a suddenly given field before such assailants, who came at a run +to close with their revolvers and who thought little of charging a gun +battery, pistol in hand.” + +Another graduate of Walker’s army was Captain Fred Townsend Ward, a +native of Salem, Mass., who after the death of Walker organized and +led the ever victorious army that put down the Tai-Ping rebellion, +and performed the many feats of martial glory for which Chinese Gordon +received the credit. In Shanghai, to the memory of the filibuster, there +are to-day two temples in his honor. + +Joaquin Miller, the poet, miner, and soldier, who but recently was a +picturesque figure on the hotel porch at Saratoga Springs, was one of +the young Californians who was “out with Walker,” and who later in +his career by his verse helped to preserve the name of his beloved +commander. I. C. Jamison, living to-day in Guthrie, Oklahoma, was a +captain under Walker. When war again came, as it did within four months, +these were the men who made Walker President of Nicaragua. + +During the four months in all but title he had been president, and as +such he was recognized and feared. It was against him, not Rivas, that +in February, 1856, the neighboring republic of Costa Rica declared war. +For three months this war continued with varying fortunes until the +Costa Ricans were driven across the border. + +In June of the same year Rivas called a general election for president, +announcing himself as the candidate of the Democrats. Two other +Democrats also presented themselves, Salazar and Ferrer. The +Legitimists, recognizing in their former enemy the real ruler of the +country, nominated Walker. By an overwhelming majority he was elected, +receiving 15,835 votes to 867 cast for Rivas. Salazar received 2,087; +Ferrer, 4,447. + +Walker now was the legal as well as the actual ruler of the country, +and at no time in its history, as during Walker’s administration, was +Nicaragua governed so justly, so wisely, and so well. But in his success +the neighboring republics saw a menace to their own independence. To the +four other republics of Central America the five-pointed blood-red star +on the flag of the filibusters bore a sinister motto: “Five or None.” + The meaning was only too unpleasantly obvious. At once, Costa Rica on +the south, and Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras from the north, with +the malcontents of Nicaragua, declared war against the foreign invader. +Again Walker was in the field with opposed to him 21,000 of the allies. +The strength of his own force varied. On his election as president the +backbone of his army was a magnificently trained body of veterans to the +number of 2,000. This was later increased to 3,500, but it is doubtful +if at any one time it ever exceeded that number. His muster and hospital +rolls show that during his entire occupation of Nicaragua there were +enlisted, at one time or another, under his banner 10,000 men. While in +his service, of this number, by hostile shots or fever, 5,000 died. + +To describe the battles with the allies would be interminable and +wearying. In every particular they are much alike: the long silent +night march, the rush at daybreak, the fight to gain strategic +positions either of the barracks, or of the Cathedral in the Plaza, +the hand-to-hand fighting from behind barricades and adobe walls. The +out-come of these fights sometimes varied, but the final result was +never in doubt, and had no outside influences intervened, in time each +republic in Central America would have come under the five-pointed star. + +In Costa Rica there is a marble statue showing that republic represented +as a young woman with her foot upon the neck of Walker. Some night a +truth-loving American will place a can of dynamite at the foot of that +statue, and walk hurriedly away. Unaided, neither Costa Rica nor any +other Central American republic could have driven Walker from her soil. +His downfall came through his own people, and through an act of his +which provoked them. + +When Walker was elected president he found that the Accessory Transit +Company had not lived up to the terms of its concession with the +Nicaraguan Government. His efforts to hold it to the terms of its +concession led to his overthrow. By its charter the Transit Company +agreed to pay to Nicaragua ten thousand dollars annually and ten per +cent. of the net profits; but the company, whose history the United +States Minister, Squire, characterized as “an infamous career of +deception and fraud,” manipulated its books in such a fashion as to +show that there never were any profits. Doubting this, Walker sent a +commission to New York to investigate. The commission discovered the +fraud and demanded in back payments two hundred and fifty thousand +dollars. When the company refused to pay this, as security for the +debt Walker seized its steamers, wharves, and storehouses, revoked its +charter, and gave a new charter to two of its directors, Morgan and +Garrison, who, in San Francisco, were working against Vanderbilt. In +doing this, while he was legally in the right, he committed a fatal +error. He had made a powerful enemy of Vanderbilt, and he had shut off +his only lines of communication with the United States. For, enraged +at the presumption of the filibuster president, Vanderbilt withdrew his +ocean steamers, thus leaving Walker without men or ammunition, and as +isolated as though upon a deserted island. He possessed Vanderbilt’s +boats upon the San Juan River and Nicaragua Lake, but they were of use +to him only locally. + +His position was that of a man holding the centre span of a bridge of +which every span on either side of him has been destroyed. + +Vanderbilt did not rest at withdrawing his steamers, but by supporting +the Costa Ricans with money and men, carried the war into Central +America. From Washington he fought Walker through Secretary of State +Marcy, who proved a willing tool. + +Spencer and Webster, and the other soldiers of fortune employed by +Vanderbilt, closed the route on the Caribbean side, and the man-of-war +_St. Marys_, commanded by Captain Davis, was ordered to San Juan on the +Pacific side. The instructions given to Captain Davis were to aid the +allies in forcing Walker out of Nicaragua. Walker claims that these +orders were given to Marcy by Vanderbilt and by Marcy to Commodore +Mervin, who was Marcy’s personal friend and who issued them to Davis. +Davis claims that he acted only in the interest of humanity to save +Walker in spite of himself. In any event, the result was the same. +Walker, his force cut down by hostile shot and fever and desertion, took +refuge in Rivas, where he was besieged by the allied armies. There was +no bread in the city. The men were living on horse and mule meat. There +was no salt. The hospital was filled with wounded and those stricken +with fever. + +Captain Davis, in the name of humanity, demanded Walker’s surrender to +the United States. Walker told him he would not surrender, but that +if the time came when he found he must fly, he would do so in his own +little schooner of war, the _Granada_, which constituted his entire +navy, and in her, as a free man, take his forces where he pleased. Then +Davis informed Walker that the force Walker had sent to recapture the +Greytown route had been defeated by the janizaries of Vanderbilt; that +the steamers from San Francisco, on which Walker now counted to bring +him re-enforcements, had also been taken off the line, and finally +that it was his “unalterable and deliberate intention” to seize the +_Granada_. On this point his orders left him no choice. The _Granada_ +was the last means of transportation still left to Walker. He had hoped +to make a sortie and on board her to escape from the country. But with +his ship taken from him and no longer able to sustain the siege of +the allies, he surrendered to the forces of the United States. In the +agreement drawn up by him and Davis, Walker provided for the care, by +Davis, of the sick and wounded, for the protection after his departure +of the natives who had fought with him, and for the transportation of +himself and officers to the United States. + +On his arrival in New York he received a welcome such as later was +extended to Kossuth, and, in our own day, to Admiral Dewey. The city +was decorated with flags and arches; and banquets, fetes, and public +meetings were everywhere held in his honor. Walker received these +demonstrations modestly, and on every public occasion announced his +determination to return to the country of which he was the president, +and from which by force he had been driven. At Washington, where he +went to present his claims, he received scant encouragement. His protest +against Captain Davis was referred to Congress, where it was allowed to +die. + +Within a month Walker organized an expedition with which to regain his +rights in Nicaragua, and as, in his new constitution for that country, +he had annulled the old law abolishing slavery, among the slave-holders +of the South he found enough money and recruits to enable him to at once +leave the United States. With one hundred and fifty men he sailed from +New Orleans and landed at San del Norte on the Caribbean side. While he +formed a camp on the harbor of San Juan, one of his officers, with fifty +men, proceeded up the river and, capturing the town of Castillo Viejo +and four of the Transit steamers, was in a fair way to obtain possession +of the entire route. At this moment upon the scene arrived the United +States frigate _Wabash_ and Hiram Paulding, who landed a force of three +hundred and fifty blue-jackets with howitzers, and turned the guns of +his frigate upon the camp of the President of Nicaragua. Captain Engel, +who presented the terms of surrender to Walker, said to him: “General, +I am sorry to see you here. A man like you is worthy to command better +men.” To which Walker replied grimly: “If I had a third the number you +have brought against me, I would show you which of us two commands the +better men.” + +For the third time in his history Walker surrendered to the armed forces +of his own country. + +On his arrival in the United States, in fulfilment of his parole to +Paulding, Walker at once presented himself at Washington a prisoner +of war. But President Buchanan, although Paulding had acted exactly as +Davis had done, refused to support him, and in a message to Congress +declared that that officer had committed a grave error and established +an unsafe precedent. + +On the strength of this Walker demanded of the United States Government +indemnity for his losses, and that it should furnish him and his +followers transportation even to the very camp from which its +representatives had torn him. This demand, as Walker foresaw, was not +considered seriously, and with a force of about one hundred men, among +whom were many of his veterans, he again set sail from New Orleans. +Owing to the fact that, to prevent his return, there now were on each +side of the Isthmus both American and British men-of-war, Walker, with +the idea of reaching Nicaragua by land, stopped off at Honduras. In his +war with the allies the Honduranians had been as savage in their attacks +upon his men as even the Costa Ricans, and finding his old enemies +now engaged in a local revolution, on landing, Walker declared for the +weaker side and captured the important seaport of Trujillo. He no sooner +had taken it than the British warship _Icarus_ anchored in the harbor, +and her commanding officer, Captain Salmon, notified Walker that the +British Government held a mortgage on the revenues of the port, and that +to protect the interests of his Government he intended to take the town. +Walker answered that he had made Trujillo a free port, and that Great +Britain’s claims no longer existed. + +The British officer replied that if Walker surrendered himself and his +men he would carry them as prisoners to the United States, and that if +he did not, he would bombard the town. At this moment General Alvarez, +with seven hundred Honduranians, from the land side surrounded Trujillo, +and prepared to attack. Against such odds by sea and land Walker was +helpless, and he determined to fly. That night, with seventy men, +he left the town and proceeded down the coast toward Nicaragua. The +_Icarus_, having taken on board Alvarez, started in pursuit. The +President of Nicaragua was found in a little Indian fishing village, and +Salmon sent in his shore-boats and demanded his surrender. On leaving +Trujillo, Walker had been forced to abandon all his ammunition save +thirty rounds a man, and all of his food supplies excepting two barrels +of bread. On the coast of this continent there is no spot more unhealthy +than Honduras, and when the Englishmen entered the fishing village they +found Walker’s seventy men lying in the palm huts helpless with fever, +and with no stomach to fight British blue-jackets with whom they had no +quarrel. Walker inquired of Salmon if he were asking him to surrender to +the British or to the Honduranian forces, and twice Salmon assured him, +“distinctly and specifically,” that he was surrendering to the forces of +her Majesty. With this understanding Walker and his men laid down their +arms and were conveyed to the _Icarus_. But on arriving at Trujillo, +in spite of their protests and demands for trial by a British tribunal, +Salmon turned over his prisoners to the Honduranian general. What excuse +for this is now given by his descendants in the Salmon family I do not +know. + +Probably it is a subject they avoid, and, in history, Salmon’s version +has never been given, which for him, perhaps, is an injustice. But the +fact remains that he turned over his white brothers to the mercies of +half-Indian, half-negro, savages, who were not allies of Great Britain, +and in whose quarrels she had no interest. And Salmon did this, knowing +there could be but one end. If he did not know it, his stupidity +equalled what now appears to be heartless indifference. So far as to +secure pardon for all except the leader and one faithful follower, +Colonel Rudler of the famous Phalanx, Salmon did use his authority, and +he offered, if Walker would ask as an American citizen, to intercede for +him. But Walker, with a distinct sense of loyalty to the country he had +conquered, and whose people had honored him with their votes, refused to +accept life from the country of his birth, the country that had injured +and repudiated him. + +Even in his extremity, abandoned and alone on a strip of glaring coral +and noisome swamp land, surrounded only by his enemies, he remained true +to his ideal. + +At thirty-seven life is very sweet, many things still seem possible, and +before him, could his life be spared, Walker beheld greater conquests, +more power, a new South controlling a Nicaragua canal, a network of +busy railroads, great squadrons of merchant vessels, himself emperor of +Central America. On the gunboat the gold-braided youth had but to raise +his hand, and Walker again would be a free man. But the gold-braided one +would render this service only on the condition that Walker would appeal +to him as an American; it was not enough that Walker was a human being. +The condition Walker could not grant. + +“The President of Nicaragua,” he said, “is a citizen of Nicaragua.” + +They led him out at sunrise to a level piece of sand along the beach, +and as the priest held the crucifix in front of him he spoke to his +executioners in Spanish, simply and gravely: “I die a Roman Catholic. +In making war upon you at the invitation of the people of Ruatan I +was wrong. Of your people I ask pardon. I accept my punishment with +resignation. I would like to think my death will be for the good of +society.” + +From a distance of twenty feet three soldiers fired at him, but, +although each shot took effect, Walker was not dead. So, a sergeant +stooped, and with a pistol killed the man who would have made him one of +an empire of slaves. + +Had Walker lived four years longer to exhibit upon the great board of +the Civil War his ability as a general, he would, I believe, to-day be +ranked as one of America’s greatest fighting men. + +And because the people of his own day destroyed him is no reason that we +should withhold from this American, the greatest of all filibusters, the +recognition of his genius. + + + + +MAJOR BURNHAM, CHIEF OF SCOUTS + +AMONG the Soldiers of Fortune whose stories have been told in this book +were men who are no longer living, men who, to the United States, are +strangers, and men who were of interest chiefly because in what they +attempted they failed. + +The subject of this article is none of these. His adventures are as +remarkable as any that ever led a small boy to dig behind the barn for +buried treasure, or stalk Indians in the orchard. But entirely apart +from his adventures he obtains our interest because in what he has +attempted he has not failed, because he is one of our own people, one of +the earliest and best types of American, and because, so far from being +dead and buried, he is at this moment very much alive, and engaged in +Mexico in searching for a buried city. For exercise, he is alternately +chasing, or being chased by, Yaqui Indians. + +In his home in Pasadena, Cal., where sometimes he rests quietly for +almost a week at a time, the neighbors know him as “Fred” Burnham. In +England the newspapers crowned him “The King of Scouts.” Later, when he +won an official title, they called him “Major Frederick Russell Burnham, +D. S. O.” + +Some men are born scouts, others by training become scouts. From his +father Burnham inherited his instinct for wood-craft, and to this +instinct, which in him is as keen as in a wild deer or a mountain lion, +he has added, in the jungle and on the prairie and mountain ranges, +years of the hardest, most relentless schooling. In those years he has +trained himself to endure the most appalling fatigues, hunger, thirst, +and wounds; has subdued the brain to infinite patience, has learned to +force every nerve in his body to absolute obedience, to still even the +beating of his heart. Indeed, than Burnham no man of my acquaintance to +my knowledge has devoted himself to his life’s work more earnestly, more +honestly, and with such single-mindedness of purpose. To him scouting +is as exact a study as is the piano to Paderewski, with the result that +to-day what the Pole is to other pianists, the American is to all other +“trackers,” woodmen, and scouts. He reads “the face of Nature” as you +read your morning paper. To him a movement of his horse’s ears is as +plain a warning as the “Go SLOW” of an automobile sign; and he so saves +from ambush an entire troop. In the glitter of a piece of quartz in the +firelight he discovers King Solomon’s mines. Like the horned cattle, he +can tell by the smell of it in the air the near presence of water, +and where, glaring in the sun, you can see only a bare kopje, he +distinguishes the muzzle of a pompom, the crown of a Boer sombrero, +the levelled barrel of a Mauser. He is the Sherlock Holmes of all +out-of-doors. + +Besides being a scout, he is soldier, hunter, mining expert, and +explorer. Within the last ten years the educated instinct that as a +younger man taught him to follow the trail of an Indian, or the “spoor” + of the Kaffir and the trek wagon, now leads him as a mining expert to +the hiding-places of copper, silver, and gold, and, as he advises, great +and wealthy syndicates buy or refuse tracts of land in Africa and Mexico +as large as the State of New York. As an explorer in the last few years +in the course of his expeditions into undiscovered lands, he has added +to this little world many thousands of square miles. + +Personally, Burnham is as unlike the scout of fiction, and of the Wild +West Show, as it is possible for a man to be. He possesses no flowing +locks, his talk is not of “greasers,” “grizzly b’ars,” or “pesky +redskins.” In fact, because he is more widely and more thoroughly +informed, he is much better educated than many who have passed through +one of the “Big Three” universities, and his English is as conventional +as though he had been brought up on the borders of Boston Common, rather +than on the borders of civilization. + +In appearance he is slight, muscular, bronzed; with a finely formed +square jaw, and remarkable light blue eyes. These eyes apparently never +leave yours, but in reality they see everything behind you and about +you, above and below you. They tell of him that one day, while out with +a patrol on the veldt, he said he had lost the trail and, dismounting, +began moving about on his hands and knees, nosing the ground like a +bloodhound, and pointing out a trail that led back over the way the +force had just marched. When the commanding officer rode up, Burnham +said: + +“Don’t raise your head, sit. On that kopje to the right there is a +commando of Boers.” + +“When did you see them?” asked the officer. + +“I see them now,” Burnham answered. + +“But I thought you were looking for a lost trail?” + +“That’s what the Boers on the kopje think,” said Burnham. + +In his eyes, possibly, owing to the uses to which they have been +trained, the pupils, as in the eyes of animals that see in the dark, +are extremely small. Even in the photographs that accompany this article +this feature of his eyes is obvious, and that he can see in the dark +the Kaffirs of South Africa firmly believe. In manner he is quiet, +courteous, talking slowly but well, and, while without any of that +shyness that comes from self-consciousness, extremely modest. Indeed, +there could be no better proof of his modesty than the difficulties I +have encountered in gathering material for this article, which I have +been five years in collecting. And even now, as he reads it by his +camp-fire, I can see him squirm with embarrassment. + +Burnham’s father was a pioneer missionary in a frontier hamlet called +Tivoli on the edge of the Indian reserve of Minnesota. He was a stern, +severely religious man, born in Kentucky, but educated in New York, +where he graduated from the Union Theological Seminary. He was +wonderfully skilled in wood-craft. Burnham’s mother was a Miss Rebecca +Russell of a well-known family in Iowa. She was a woman of great +courage, which, in those days on that skirmish line of civilization, +was a very necessary virtue; and she was possessed of a most gentle and +sweet disposition. That was her gift to her son Fred, who was born on +May 11, 1861. + +His education as a child consisted in memorizing many verses of the +Bible, the “Three R’s,” and wood-craft. His childhood was strenuous. In +his mother’s arms he saw the burning of the town of New Ulm, which was +the funeral pyre for the women and children of that place when they were +massacred by Red Cloud and his braves. + +On another occasion Fred’s mother fled for her life from the Indians, +carrying the boy with her. He was a husky lad, and knowing that if she +tried to carry him farther they both would be overtaken, she hid him +under a shock of corn. There, the next morning, the Indians having been +driven off, she found her son sleeping as soundly as a night watchman. +In these Indian wars, and the Civil War which followed, of the families +of Burnham and Russell, twenty-two of the men were killed. There is no +question that Burnham comes of fighting stock. + +In 1870, when Fred was nine years old, his father moved to Los Angeles, +Cal., where two years later he died; and for a time for both mother and +boy there was poverty, hard and grinding. To relieve this young Burnham +acted as a mounted messenger. Often he was in the saddle from twelve to +fifteen hours, and even in a land where every one rode well, he gained +local fame as a hard rider. In a few years a kind uncle offered to Mrs. +Burnham and a younger brother a home in the East, but at the last moment +Fred refused to go with them, and chose to make his own way. He was then +thirteen years old, and he had determined to be a scout. + +At that particular age many boys have set forth determined to be scouts, +and are generally brought home the next morning by a policeman. But +Burnham, having turned his back on the cities, did not repent. He +wandered over Mexico, Arizona, California. He met Indians, bandits, +prospectors, hunters of all kinds of big game; and finally a scout who, +under General Taylor, had served in the Mexican War. This man took a +liking to the boy; and his influence upon him was marked and for his +good. He was an educated man, and had carried into the wilderness a few +books. In the cabin of this man Burnham read “The Conquest of Mexico +and Peru” by Prescott, the lives of Hannibal and Cyrus the Great, of +Livingstone the explorer, which first set his thoughts toward Africa, +and many technical works on the strategy and tactics of war. He had no +experience of military operations on a large scale, but, with the aid of +the veteran of the Mexican War, with corn-cobs in the sand in front of +the cabin door, he constructed forts and made trenches, redoubts, +and traverses. In Burnham’s life this seems to have been a very happy +period. The big game he hunted and killed he sold for a few dollars to +the men of Nadean’s freight outfits, which in those days hauled bullion +from Cerro Gordo for the man who is now Senator Jones of Nevada. + +At nineteen Burnham decided that there were things in this world he +should know that could not be gleaned from the earth, trees, and sky; +and with the few dollars he had saved he came East. The visit apparently +was not a success. The atmosphere of the town in which he went to school +was strictly Puritanical, and the townspeople much given to religious +discussion. The son of the pioneer missionary found himself unable to +subscribe to the formulas which to the others seemed so essential, and +he returned to the West with the most bitter feelings, which lasted +until he was twenty-one. + +“It seems strange now,” he once said to me, “but in those times +religious questions were as much a part of our daily life as to-day are +automobiles, the Standard Oil, and the insurance scandals, and when I +went West I was in an unhappy, doubting frame of mind. The trouble was +I had no moral anchors; the old ones father had given me were gone, and +the time for acquiring new ones had not arrived.” This bitterness of +heart, or this disappointment, or whatever the state of mind was that +the dogmas of the New England town had inspired in the boy from the +prairie, made him reckless. For the life he was to lead this was not a +handicap. Even as a lad, in a land-grant war in California, he had been +under gunfire, and for the next fifteen years he led a life of danger +and of daring; and studied in a school of experience than which, for a +scout, if his life be spared, there can be none better. Burnham came +out of it a quiet, manly, gentleman. In those fifteen years he roved the +West from the Great Divide to Mexico. He fought the Apache Indians for +the possession of waterholes, he guarded bullion on stage-coaches, for +days rode in pursuit of Mexican bandits and American horse thieves, +took part in county-seat fights, in rustler wars, in cattle wars; he was +cowboy, miner, deputy-sheriff, and in time throughout the the name of +“Fred” Burnham became significant and familiar. + +During this period Burnham was true to his boyhood ideal of becoming a +scout. It was not enough that by merely living the life around him he +was being educated for it. He daily practised and rehearsed those things +which some day might mean to himself and others the difference between +life and death. To improve his sense of smell he gave up smoking, of +which he was extremely fond, nor, for the same reason, does he to this +day use tobacco. He accustomed himself also to go with little sleep, and +to subsist on the least possible quantity of food. As a deputy-sheriff +this educated faculty of not requiring sleep aided him in many important +captures. Sometimes he would not strike the trail of the bandit or “bad +man” until the other had several days the start of him. But the end +was the same; for, while the murderer snatched a few hours’ rest by the +trail, Burnham, awake and in the saddle, would be closing up the miles +between them. + +That he is a good marksman goes without telling. At the age of eight his +father gave him a rifle of his own, and at twelve, with either a “gun” + or a Winchester, he was an expert. He taught himself to use a weapon +either in his left or right hand and to shoot, Indian fashion, hanging +by one leg from his pony and using it as a cover, and to turn in the +saddle and shoot behind him. I once asked him if he really could shoot +to the rear with a galloping horse under him and hit a man. + +“Well,” he said, “maybe not to hit him, but I can come near enough to +him to make him decide my pony’s so much faster than his that it really +isn’t worth while to follow me.” + +Besides perfecting himself in what he tolerantly calls “tricks” of +horsemanship and marksmanship, he studied the signs of the trail, forest +and prairie, as a sailing-master studies the waves and clouds. The +knowledge he gathers from inanimate objects and dumb animals seems +little less than miraculous. And when you ask him how he knows these +things he always gives you a reason founded on some fact or habit of +nature that shows him to be a naturalist, mineralogist, geologist, and +botanist, and not merely a seventh son of a seventh son. + +In South Africa he would say to the officers: “There are a dozen Boers +five miles ahead of us riding Basuto ponies at a trot, and leading five +others. If we hurry we should be able to sight them in an hour.” At +first the officers would smile, but not after a half-hour’s gallop, when +they would see ahead of them a dozen Boers leading five ponies. In the +early days of Salem, Burnham would have been burned as a witch. + +When twenty-three years of age he married Miss Blanche Blick, of Iowa. +They had known each other from childhood, and her brothers-in-law have +been Burnham’s aids and companions in every part of Africa and the West. +Neither at the time of their marriage nor since did Mrs. Burnham “lay +a hand on the bridle rein,” as is witnessed by the fact that for nine +years after his marriage Burnham continued his career as sheriff, scout, +mining prospector. And in 1893, when Burnham and his brother-in-law, +Ingram, started for South Africa, Mrs. Burnham went with them, and +in every part of South Africa shared her husband’s life of travel and +danger. + +In making this move across the sea, Burnham’s original idea was to look +for gold in the territory owned by the German East African Company. But +as in Rhodesia the first Matabele uprising had broken out, he continued +on down the coast, and volunteered for that campaign. This was the real +beginning of his fortunes. The “war” was not unlike the Indian fighting +of his early days, and although the country was new to him, with +the kind of warfare then being waged between the Kaffirs under King +Lobengula and the white settlers of the British South Africa Company, +the chartered company of Cecil Rhodes, he was intimately familiar. + +It does not take big men long to recognize other big men, and Burnham’s +remarkable work as a scout at once brought him to the notice of Rhodes +and Dr. Jameson, who was personally conducting the campaign. The war was +their own private war, and to them, at such a crisis in the history of +their settlement, a man like Burnham was invaluable. + +The chief incident of this campaign, the fame of which rang over all +Great Britain and her colonies, was the gallant but hopeless stand made +by Major Alan Wilson and his patrol of thirty-four men. It was Burnham’s +attempt to save these men that made him known from Buluwayo to Cape +Town. + +King Lobengula and his warriors were halted on one bank of the Shangani +River, and on the other Major Forbes, with a picked force of three +hundred men, was coming up in pursuit. Although at the moment he did +not know it, he also was being pursued by a force of Matabeles, who were +gradually surrounding him. At nightfall Major Wilson and a patrol of +twelve men, with Burnham and his brother-in-law, Ingram, acting as +scouts, were ordered to make a dash into the camp of Lobengula and, if +possible, in the confusion of their sudden attack, and under cover of a +terrific thunder-storm that was raging, bring him back a prisoner. + +With the king in their hands the white men believed the rebellion would +collapse. To the number of three thousand the Matabeles were sleeping in +a succession of camps, through which the fourteen men rode at a gallop. +But in the darkness it was difficult to distinguish the trek wagon of +the king, and by the time they found his laager the Matabeles from the +other camps through which they had ridden had given the alarm. Through +the underbrush from every side the enemy, armed with assegai and +elephant guns, charged toward them and spread out to cut off their +retreat. + +At a distance of about seven hundred yards from the camps there was +a giant ant-hill, and the patrol rode toward it. By the aid of the +lightning flashes they made their way through a dripping wood and over +soil which the rain had turned into thick black mud. When the party +drew rein at the ant-hill it was found that of the fourteen three were +missing. As the official scout of the patrol and the only one who could +see in the dark, Wilson ordered Burnham back to find them. Burnham said +he could do so only by feeling the hoof-prints in the mud and that he +would like some one with him to lead his pony. Wilson said he would lead +it. With his fingers Burnham followed the trail of the eleven horses to +where, at right angles, the hoof-prints of the three others separated +from it, and so came upon the three men. Still, with nothing but the mud +of the jungle to guide him, he brought them back to their comrades. It +was this feat that established his reputation among British, Boers, and +black men in South Africa. + +Throughout the night the men of the patrol lay in the mud holding the +reins of their horses. In the jungle about them, they could hear the +enemy splashing through the mud, and the swishing sound of the branches +as they swept back into place. It was still raining. Just before +the dawn there came the sounds of voices and the welcome clatter of +accoutrements. The men of the patrol, believing the column had joined +them, sprang up rejoicing, but it was only a second patrol, under +Captain Borrow, who had been sent forward with twenty men as +re-enforcements. They had come in time to share in a glorious +immortality. No sooner had these men joined than the Kaffirs began the +attack; and the white men at once learned that they were trapped in a +complete circle of the enemy. Hidden by the trees, the Kaffirs fired +point-blank, and in a very little time half of Wilson’s force was +killed or wounded. As the horses were shot down the men used them for +breastworks. There was no other shelter. Wilson called Burnham to him +and told him he must try and get through the lines of the enemy to +Forbes. + +“Tell him to come up at once,” he said; “we are nearly finished.” He +detailed a trooper named Gooding and Ingram to accompany Burnham. +“One of you may get through,” he said. Gooding was but lately out from +London, and knew nothing of scouting, so Burnham and Ingram warned him, +whether he saw the reason for it or not, to act exactly as they did. +The three men had barely left the others before the enemy sprang at them +with their spears. In five minutes they were being fired at from every +bush. Then followed a remarkable ride, in which Burnham called to his +aid all he had learned in thirty years of border warfare. As the enemy +rushed after them, the three doubled on their tracks, rode in triple +loops, hid in dongas to breathe their horses; and to scatter their +pursuers, separated, joined again, and again separated. The enemy +followed them to the very bank of the river, where, finding the “drift” + covered with the swollen waters, they were forced to swim. They reached +the other bank only to find Forbes hotly engaged with another force of +the Matabeles. + +“I have been sent for re-enforcements,” Burnham said to Forbes, “but I +believe we are the only survivors of that party.” Forbes himself was too +hard pressed to give help to Wilson, and Burnham, his errand over, took +his place in the column, and began firing upon the new enemy. + +Six weeks later the bodies of Wilson’s patrol were found lying in a +circle. Each of them had been shot many times. A son of Lobengula, who +witnessed their extermination, and who in Buluwayo had often heard the +Englishmen sing their national anthem, told how the five men who were +the last to die stood up and, swinging their hats defiantly, sang “God +Save the Queen.” The incident will long be recorded in song and story; +and in London was reproduced in two theatres, in each of which the +man who played “Burnham, the American Scout,” as he rode off for +re-enforcements, was as loudly cheered by those in the audience as by +those on the stage. + +Hensman, in his “History of Rhodesia,” says: “One hardly knows which to +most admire, the men who went on this dangerous errand, through brush +swarming with natives, or those who remained behind battling against +overwhelming odds.” + +For his help in this war the Chartered Company presented Burnham with +the campaign medal, a gold watch engraved with words of appreciation; +and at the suggestion of Cecil Rhodes gave him, Ingram, and the Hon. +Maurice Clifford, jointly, a tract of land of three hundred square +acres. + +After this campaign Burnham led an expedition of ten white men and +seventy Kaffirs north of the Zambesi River to explore Barotzeland +and other regions to the north of Mashonaland, and to establish the +boundaries of the concession given him, Ingram, and Clifford. + +In order to protect Burnham on the march the Chartered Company signed +a treaty with the native king of the country through which he wished +to travel, by which the king gave him permission to pass freely and +guaranteed him against attack. + +But Latea, the son of the king, refused to recognize the treaty and sent +his young men in great numbers to surround Burnham’s camp. Burnham had +been instructed to avoid a fight, and was torn between his desire to +obey the Chartered Company and to prevent a massacre. He decided to make +it a sacrifice either of himself or of Latea. As soon as night fell, +with only three companions and a missionary to act as a witness of what +occurred, he slipped through the lines of Latea’s men, and, kicking +down the fence around the prince’s hut, suddenly appeared before him and +covered him with his rifle. + +“Is it peace or war?” Burnham asked. “I have the king your father’s +guarantee of protection, but your men surround us. I have told my people +if they hear shots to open fire. We may all be killed, but you will be +the first to die.” + +The missionary also spoke urging Latea to abide by the treaty. Burnham +says the prince seemed much more impressed by the arguments of the +missionary than by the fact that he still was covered by Burnham’s +rifle. Whichever argument moved him, he called off his warriors. On +this expedition Burnham discovered the ruins of great granite structures +fifteen feet wide, and made entirely without mortar. They were of a +period dating before the Phoenicians. He also sought out the ruins +described to him by F. C. Selous, the famous hunter, and by Rider +Haggard as King Solomon’s Mines. Much to the delight of Mr. Haggard, +he brought back for him from the mines of his imagination real gold +ornaments and a real gold bar. + +On this same expedition, which lasted five months, Burnham endured one +of the severest hardships of his life. Alone with ten Kaffir boys, he +started on a week’s journey across the dried-up basin of what once had +been a great lake. Water was carried in goat-skins on the heads of the +bearers. The boys, finding the bags an unwieldy burden, and believing, +with the happy optimism of their race, that Burnham’s warnings were +needless, and that at a stream they soon could refill the bags, emptied +the water on the ground. + +The tortures that followed this wanton waste were terrible. Five of +the boys died, and after several days, when Burnham found water in +abundance, the tongues of the others were so swollen that their jaws +could not meet. + +On this trip Burnham passed through a region ravaged by the “sleeping +sickness,” where his nostrils were never free from the stench of dead +bodies, where in some of the villages, as he expressed it, “the hyenas +were mangy with overeating, and the buzzards so gorged they could +not move out of our way.” From this expedition he brought back many +ornaments of gold manufactured before the Christian era, and made +several valuable maps of hitherto uncharted regions. It was in +recognition of the information gathered by him on this trip that he was +elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. + +He returned to Rhodesia in time to take part in the second Matabele +rebellion. This was in 1896. By now Burnham was a very prominent +member of the “vortrekers” and pioneers at Buluwayo, and Sir Frederick +Carrington, who was in command of the forces, attached him to his staff. +This second outbreak was a more serious uprising than the one of 1893, +and as it was evident the forces of the Chartered Company could not +handle it, imperial troops were sent to assist them. But with even their +aid the war dragged on until it threatened to last to the rainy season, +when the troops must have gone into winter quarters. Had they done so, +the cost of keeping them would have fallen on the Chartered Company, +already a sufferer in pocket from the ravages of the rinderpest and the +expenses of the investigation which followed the Jameson raid. + +Accordingly, Carrington looked about for some measure by which he could +bring the war to an immediate end. + +It was suggested to him by a young Colonial, named Armstrong, the +Commissioner of the district, that this could be done by destroying +the “god,” or high priest, Umlimo, who was the chief inspiration of the +rebellion. + +This high priest had incited the rebels to a general massacre of women +and children, and had given them confidence by promising to strike the +white soldiers blind and to turn their bullets into water. Armstrong +had discovered the secret hiding-place of Umlimo, and Carrington ordered +Burnham to penetrate the enemy’s lines, find the god, capture him, and +if that were not possible to destroy him. + +The adventure was a most desperate one. Umlimo was secreted in a cave +on the top of a huge kopje. At the base of this was a village where were +gathered two regiments, of a thousand men each, of his fighting men. + +For miles around this village the country was patrolled by roving bands +of the enemy. + +Against a white man reaching the cave and returning, the chances were a +hundred to one, and the difficulties of the journey are illustrated by +the fact that Burnham and Armstrong were unable to move faster than at +the rate of a mile an hour. In making the last mile they consumed three +hours. When they reached the base of the kopje in which Umlimo was +hiding, they concealed their ponies in a clump of bushes, and on hands +and knees began the ascent. + +Directly below them lay the village, so close that they could smell the +odors of cooking from the huts, and hear, rising drowsily on the hot, +noonday air, voices of the warriors. For minutes at a time they lay as +motionless as the granite bowlders around or squirmed and crawled over +loose stones which a miss of hand or knee would have dislodged and sent +clattering into the village. After an hour of this tortuous climbing +the cave suddenly opened before them, and they beheld Umlimo. +Burnham recognized that to take him alive from his stronghold was an +impossibility, and that even they themselves would leave the place was +equally doubtful. So, obeying orders, he fired, killing the man who had +boasted he would turn the bullets of his enemies into water. The echo of +the shot aroused the village as would a stone hurled into an ant-heap. +In an instant the veldt below was black with running men, and as, +concealment being no longer possible, the white men rose to fly a great +shout of anger told them they were discovered. At the same moment two +women, returning from a stream where they had gone for water, saw the +ponies, and ran screaming to give the alarm. The race that followed +lasted two hours, for so quickly did the Kaffirs spread out on every +side that it was impossible for Burnham to gain ground in any one +direction, and he was forced to dodge, turn, and double. At one time +the white men were driven back to the very kopje from which the race had +started. + +But in the end they evaded assegai and gunfire, and in safety reached +Buluwayo. This exploit was one of the chief factors in bringing the war +to a close. The Matabeles, finding their leader was only a mortal like +themselves, and so could not, as he had promised, bring miracles to +their aid, lost heart, and when Cecil Rhodes in person made overtures of +peace, his terms were accepted. During the hard days of the siege, when +rations were few and bad, Burnham’s little girl, who had been the first +white child born in Buluwayo, died of fever and lack of proper +food. This with other causes led him to leave Rhodesia and return to +California. It is possible he then thought he had forever turned +his back on South Africa, but, though he himself had departed, the +impression he had made there remained behind him. + +Burnham did not rest long in California. In Alaska the hunt for gold had +just begun, and, the old restlessness seizing him, he left Pasadena and +her blue skies, tropical plants, and trolley-car strikes for the new raw +land of the Klondike. With Burnham it has always been the place that is +being made, not the place in being, that attracts. He has helped to make +straight the ways of several great communities--Arizona, California, +Rhodesia, Alaska, and Uganda. As he once said: “It is the constructive +side of frontier life that most appeals to me, the building up of a +country, where you see the persistent drive and force of the white man; +when the place is finally settled I don’t seem to enjoy it very long.” + +In Alaska he did much prospecting, and, with a sled and only two dogs, +for twenty-four days made one long fight against snow and ice, covering +six hundred miles. In mining in Alaska he succeeded well, but against +the country he holds a constant grudge, because it kept him out of the +fight with Spain. When war was declared he was in the wilds and knew +nothing of it, and though on his return to civilization he telegraphed +Colonel Roosevelt volunteering for the Rough Riders, and at once started +south, by the time he had reached Seattle the war was over. + +Several times has he spoken to me of how bitterly he regretted missing +this chance to officially fight for his country. That he had twice +served with English forces made him the more keen to show his loyalty to +his own people. + +That he would have been given a commission in the Rough Riders seems +evident from the opinion President Roosevelt has publicly expressed of +him. + +“I know Burnham,” the President wrote in 1901. “He is a scout and a +hunter of courage and ability, a man totally without fear, a sure shot, +and a fighter. He is the ideal scout, and when enlisted in the military +service of any country he is bound to be of the greatest benefit.” + +The truth of this Burnham was soon to prove. + +In 1899 he had returned to the Klondike, and in January of 1900 had been +six months in Skagway. In that same month Lord Roberts sailed for +Cape Town to take command of the army, and with him on his staff was +Burnham’s former commander, Sir Frederick, now Lord, Carrington. One +night as the ship was in the Bay of Biscay, Carrington was talking of +Burnham and giving instances of his marvellous powers as a “tracker.” + +“He is the best scout we ever had in South Africa!” Carrington declared. + +“Then why don’t we get him back there?” said Roberts. + +What followed is well known. + +From Gibraltar a cable was sent to Skagway, offering Burnham the +position, created especially for him, of chief of scouts of the British +army in the field. + +Probably never before in the history of wars has one nation paid so +pleasant a tribute to the abilities of a man of another nation. + +The sequel is interesting. The cablegram reached Skagway by the steamer +_City of Seattle_. The purser left it at the post-office, and until two +hours and a half before the steamer was listed to start on her return +trip, there it lay. Then Burnham, in asking for his mail, received it. +In two hours and a half he had his family, himself, and his belongings +on board the steamer, and had started on his half-around-the-world +journey from Alaska to Cape Town. + +A Skagway paper of January 5, 1900, published the day after Burnham +sailed, throws a side light on his character. After telling of his hasty +departure the day before, and of the high compliment that had been paid +to “a prominent Skagwayan,” it adds: “Although Mr. Burnham has lived in +Skagway since last August, and has been North for many months, he has +said little of his past, and few have known that he is the man famous +over the world as ‘the American scout’ of the Matabele wars.” + +Many a man who went to the Klondike did not, for reasons best known to +himself, talk about his past. But it is characteristic of Burnham that, +though he lived there two years, his associates did not know, until the +British Government snatched him from among them, that he had not always +been a prospector like themselves. + +I was on the same ship that carried Burnham the latter half of his +journey, from Southampton to Cape Town, and every night for seventeen +nights was one of a group of men who shot questions at him. And it was +interesting to see a fellow-countryman one had heard praised so highly +so completely make good. It was not as though he had a credulous +audience of commercial tourists. Among the officers who each evening +gathered around him were Colonel Gallilet of the Egyptian cavalry, +Captain Frazer commanding the Scotch Gillies, Captain Mackie of Lord +Roberts’s staff, each of whom was later killed in action; Colonel Sir +Charles Hunter of the Royal Rifles, Major Bagot, Major Lord Dudley, and +Captain Lord Valentia. Each of these had either held command in border +fights in India or the Sudan or had hunted big game, and the questions +each asked were the outcome of his own experience and observation. + +Not for a single evening could a faker have submitted to the midnight +examination through which they put Burnham and not have exposed his +ignorance. They wanted to know what difference there is in a column of +dust raised by cavalry and by trek wagons, how to tell whether a horse +that has passed was going at a trot or a gallop, the way to throw a +diamond hitch, how to make a fire without at the same time making a +target of yourself, how--why--what--and how? + +And what made us most admire Burnham was that when he did not know he at +once said so. + +Within two nights he had us so absolutely at his mercy that we would +have followed him anywhere; anything he chose to tell us, we would have +accepted. We were ready to believe in flying foxes, flying squirrels, +that wild turkeys dance quadrilles--even that you must never sleep in +the moonlight. Had he demanded: “Do you believe in vampires?” we would +have shouted “Yes.” To ask that a scout should on an ocean steamer prove +his ability was certainly placing him under a severe handicap. + +As one of the British officers said: “It’s about as fair a game as +though we planted the captain of this ship in the Sahara Desert, and +told him to prove he could run a ten-thousand-ton liner.” + +Burnham continued with Lord Roberts to the fall of Pretoria, when he was +invalided home. + +During the advance north he was a hundred times inside the Boer laagers, +keeping Headquarters Staff daily informed of the enemy’s movements; was +twice captured and twice escaped. + +He was first captured while trying to warn the British from the fatal +drift at Thaba’nchu. When reconnoitring alone in the morning mist he +came upon the Boers hiding on the banks of the river, toward which the +English were even then advancing. The Boers were moving all about him, +and cut him off from his own side. He had to choose between abandoning +the English to the trap or signalling to them, and so exposing himself +to capture. With the red kerchief the scouts carried for that purpose he +wigwagged to the approaching soldiers to turn back, that the enemy were +awaiting them. But the column, which was without an advance guard, paid +no attention to his signals and plodded steadily on into the ambush, +while Burnham was at once made prisoner. In the fight that followed he +pretended to receive a wound in the knee and bound it so elaborately +that not even a surgeon would have disturbed the carefully arranged +bandages. Limping heavily and groaning with pain, he was placed in +a trek wagon with the officers who really were wounded, and who, in +consequence, were not closely guarded. Burnham told them who he was and, +as he intended to escape, offered to take back to head-quarters their +names or any messages they might wish to send to their people. As +twenty yards behind the wagon in which they lay was a mounted guard, the +officers told him escape was impossible. He proved otherwise. The trek +wagon was drawn by sixteen oxen and driven by a Kaffir boy. Later in the +evening, but while it still was moonlight, the boy descended from his +seat and ran forward to belabor the first spans of oxen. This was the +opportunity for which Burnham had been waiting. + +Slipping quickly over the driver’s seat, he dropped between the two +“wheelers” to the disselboom, or tongue, of the trek wagon. From this he +lowered himself and fell between the legs of the oxen on his back in the +road. In an instant the body of the wagon had passed over him, and while +the dust still hung above the trail he rolled rapidly over into the +ditch at the side of the road and lay motionless. + +It was four days before he was able to re-enter the British lines, +during which time he had been lying in the open veldt, and had subsisted +on one biscuit and two handfuls of “mealies,” or what we call Indian +corn. + +Another time when out scouting he and his Kaffir boy while on foot were +“jumped” by a Boer commando and forced to hide in two great ant-hills. +The Boers went into camp on every side of them, and for two days, +unknown to themselves, held Burnham a prisoner. Only at night did he and +the Cape boy dare to crawl out to breathe fresh air and to eat the food +tablets they carried in their pockets. On five occasions was Burnham +sent into the Boer lines with dynamite cartridges to blow up the +railroad over which the enemy was receiving supplies and ammunition. One +of these expeditions nearly ended his life. + +On June 2, 1901, while trying by night to blow up the line between +Pretoria and Delagoa Bay, he was surrounded by a party of Boers and +could save himself only by instant flight. He threw himself Indian +fashion along the back of his pony, and had all but got away when a +bullet caught the horse and, without even faltering in its stride, it +crashed to the ground dead, crushing Burnham beneath it and knocking him +senseless. He continued unconscious for twenty-four hours, and when he +came to, both friends and foes had departed. Bent upon carrying out his +orders, although suffering the most acute agony, he crept back to the +railroad and destroyed it. Knowing the explosion would soon bring the +Boers, on his hands and knees he crept to an empty kraal, where for +two days and nights he lay insensible. At the end of that time he +appreciated that he was sinking and that unless he found aid he would +die. + +Accordingly, still on his hands and knees, he set forth toward the sound +of distant firing. He was indifferent as to whether it came from the +enemy or his own people, but, as it chanced, he was picked up by a +patrol of General Dickson’s Brigade, who carried him to Pretoria. There +the surgeons discovered that in his fall he had torn apart the muscles +of the stomach and burst a blood-vessel. That his life was saved, so +they informed him, was due only to the fact that for three days he had +been without food. Had he attempted to digest the least particle of the +“staff of life” he would have surely died. His injuries were so serious +that he was ordered home. + +On leaving the army he was given such hearty thanks and generous rewards +as no other American ever received from the British War Office. He was +promoted to the rank of major, presented with a large sum of money, and +from Lord Roberts received a personal letter of thanks and appreciation. + +In part the Field-Marshal wrote: “I doubt if any other man in the force +could have successfully carried out the thrilling enterprises in which +from time to time you have been engaged, demanding as they did the +training of a lifetime, combined with exceptional courage, caution, and +powers of endurance.” On his arrival in England he was commanded to dine +with the Queen and spend the night at Osborne, and a few months later, +after her death, King Edward created him a member of the Distinguished +Service Order, and personally presented him with the South African +medal with five bars, and the cross of the D. S. O. While recovering +his health Burnham, with Mrs. Burnham, was “passed on” by friends he had +made in the army from country house to country house; he was made the +guest of honor at city banquets, with the Duke of Rutland rode after the +Belvoir hounds, and in Scotland made mild excursions after grouse. But +after six months of convalescence he was off again, this time to the +hinterland of Ashanti, on the west coast of Africa, where he went in the +interests of a syndicate to investigate a concession for working gold +mines. + +With his brother-in-law, J. C. Blick, he marched and rowed twelve +hundred miles, and explored the Volta River, at that date so little +visited that in one day’s journey they counted eleven hippopotamuses. In +July, 1901, he returned from Ashanti, and a few months later an unknown +but enthusiastic admirer asked in the House of Commons if it were +true Major Burnham had applied for the post of Instructor of Scouts at +Aldershot. There is no such post, and Burnham had not applied for +any other post. To the Timer he wrote: “I never have thought myself +competent to teach Britons how to fight, or to act as an instructor +with officers who have fought in every corner of the world. The question +asked in Parliament was entirely without my knowledge, and I deeply +regret that it was asked.” A few months later, with Mrs. Burnham and his +younger son, Bruce, he journeyed to East Africa as director of the East +African Syndicate. + +During his stay there the _African Review_ said of him: “Should East +Africa ever become a possession for England to be proud of, she will owe +much of her prosperity to the brave little band that has faced hardships +and dangers in discovering her hidden resources. Major Burnham has +chosen men from England, Ireland, the United States, and South Africa +for sterling qualities, and they have justified his choice. Not the +least like a hero is the retiring, diffident little major himself, +though a finer man for a friend or a better man to serve under would not +be found in the five continents.” + +Burnham explored a tract of land larger than Germany, penetrating a +thousand miles through a country, never before visited by white men, +to the borders of the Congo Basin. With him he had twenty white men and +five hundred natives. The most interesting result of the expedition +was the discovery of a lake forty-nine miles square, composed almost +entirely of pure carbonate of soda, forming a snowlike crust so thick +that on it the men could cross the lake. + +It is the largest, and when the railroad is built--the Uganda Railroad +is now only eighty-eight miles distant--it will be the most valuable +deposit of carbonate of soda ever found. + +A year ago, in the interests of John Hays Hammond, the distinguished +mining engineer of South Africa and this country, Burnham went to +Sonora, Mexico, to find a buried city and to open up mines of copper and +silver. + +Besides seeking for mines, Hammond and Burnham, with Gardner Williams, +another American who also made his fortune in South Africa, are working +together on a scheme to import to this country at their own expense many +species of South African deer. + +The South African deer is a hardy animal and can live where the American +deer cannot, and the idea in importing him is to prevent big game in +this country from passing away. They have asked Congress to set aside +for these animals a portion of the forest reserve. Already Congress has +voted toward the plan $15,000, and President Roosevelt is one of its +most enthusiastic supporters. + +We cannot leave Burnham in better hands than those of Hammond and +Gardner Williams. Than these three men the United States has not sent to +British Africa any Americans of whom she has better reason to be proud. +Such men abroad do for those at home untold good. They are the real +ambassadors of their country. + +The last I learned of Burnham is told in the snapshot of him which +accompanies this article, and which shows him, barefoot, in the Yaqui +River, where he has gone, perhaps, to conceal his trail from the +Indians. It came a month ago in a letter which said briefly that when +the picture was snapped the expedition was “trying to cool off.” There +his narrative ended. Promising as it does adventures still to come, it +seems a good place in which to leave him. + +Meanwhile, you may think of Mrs. Burnham after a year in Mexico keeping +the house open for her husband’s return to Pasadena, and of their first +son, Roderick, studying woodcraft with his father, forestry with Gifford +Pinchot, and playing right guard on the freshman team at the University +of California. + +But Burnham himself we will leave “cooling off” in the Yaqui River, +maybe, with Indians hunting for him along the banks. And we need not +worry about him. We know they will not catch him. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s Real Soldiers of Fortune, by Richard Harding Davis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REAL SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE *** + +***** This file should be named 3029-0.txt or 3029-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3029/ + +Produced by David Reed, and Ronald J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Real Soldiers of Fortune + +Author: Richard Harding Davis + +Release Date: February 22, 2009 [EBook #3029] +Last Updated: September 26, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REAL SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE *** + + + + +Produced by David Reed, Ronald J. Wilson, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + REAL SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Richard Harding Davis + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Contents + </h3> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY RONALD DOUGLAS MACIVER + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> BARON JAMES HARDEN-HICKEY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> CAPTAIN PHILO NORTON McGIFFIN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> GENERAL WILLIAM WALKER, </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> MAJOR BURNHAM, CHIEF OF SCOUTS </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY RONALD DOUGLAS MACIVER + </h2> + <p> + ANY sunny afternoon, on Fifth Avenue, or at night in the <i>table d’hote</i> + restaurants of University Place, you may meet the soldier of fortune who + of all his brothers in arms now living is the most remarkable. You may + have noticed him; a stiffly erect, distinguished-looking man, with gray + hair, an imperial of the fashion of Louis Napoleon, fierce blue eyes, and + across his forehead a sabre cut. + </p> + <p> + This is Henry Ronald Douglas MacIver, for some time in India an ensign in + the Sepoy mutiny; in Italy, lieutenant under Garibaldi; in Spain, captain + under Don Carlos; in our Civil War, major in the Confederate army; in + Mexico, lieutenant-colonel under the Emperor Maximilian; colonel under + Napoleon III, inspector of cavalry for the Khedive of Egypt, and chief of + cavalry and general of brigade of the army of King Milan of Servia. These + are only a few of his military titles. In 1884 was published a book giving + the story of his life up to that year. It was called “Under Fourteen + Flags.” If to-day General MacIver were to reprint the book, it would be + called “Under Eighteen Flags.” + </p> + <p> + MacIver was born on Christmas Day, 1841, at sea, a league off the shore of + Virginia. His mother was Miss Anna Douglas of that State; Ronald MacIver, + his father, was a Scot, a Rossshire gentleman, a younger son of the chief + of the Clan MacIver. Until he was ten years old young MacIver played in + Virginia at the home of his father. Then, in order that he might be + educated, he was shipped to Edinburgh to an uncle, General Donald Graham. + After five years his uncle obtained for him a commission as ensign in the + Honorable East India Company, and at sixteen, when other boys are + preparing for college, MacIver was in the Indian Mutiny, fighting, not for + a flag, nor a country, but as one fights a wild animal, for his life. He + was wounded in the arm, and, with a sword, cut over the head. As a + safeguard against the sun the boy had placed inside his helmet a wet + towel. This saved him to fight another day, but even with that protection + the sword sank through the helmet, the towel, and into the skull. To-day + you can see the scar. He was left in the road for dead, and even after his + wounds had healed, was six weeks in the hospital. + </p> + <p> + This tough handling at the very start might have satisfied some men, but + in the very next war MacIver was a volunteer and wore the red shirt of + Garibaldi. He remained at the front throughout that campaign, and until + within a few years there has been no campaign of consequence in which he + has not taken part. He served in the Ten Years’ War in Cuba, in Brazil, in + Argentina, in Crete, in Greece, twice in Spain in Carlist revolutions, in + Bosnia, and for four years in our Civil War under Generals Jackson and + Stuart around Richmond. In this great war he was four times wounded. + </p> + <p> + It was after the surrender of the Confederate army, that, with other + Southern officers, he served under Maximilian in Mexico; in Egypt, and in + France. Whenever in any part of the world there was fighting, or the rumor + of fighting, the procedure of the general invariably was the same. He + would order himself to instantly depart for the front, and on arriving + there would offer to organize a foreign legion. The command of this + organization always was given to him. But the foreign legion was merely + the entering wedge. He would soon show that he was fitted for a better + command than a band of undisciplined volunteers, and would receive a + commission in the regular army. In almost every command in which he served + that is the manner in which promotion came. Sometimes he saw but little + fighting, sometimes he should have died several deaths, each of a nature + more unpleasant than the others. For in war the obvious danger of a bullet + is but a three hundred to one shot, while in the pack against the + combatant the jokers are innumerable. And in the career of the general the + unforeseen adventures are the most interesting. A man who in eighteen + campaigns has played his part would seem to have earned exemption from any + other risks, but often it was outside the battle-field that MacIver + encountered the greatest danger. He fought several duels, in two of which + he killed his adversary; several attempts were made to assassinate him, + and while on his way to Mexico he was captured by hostile Indians. On + returning from an expedition in Cuba he was cast adrift in an open boat + and for days was without food. + </p> + <p> + Long before I met General MacIver I had read his book and had heard of him + from many men who had met him in many different lands while engaged in as + many different undertakings. Several of the older war correspondents knew + him intimately; Bennett Burleigh of the <i>Telegraph</i> was his friend, + and E. F. Knight of the <i>Times</i> was one of those who volunteered for + a filibustering expedition which MacIver organized against New Guinea. The + late Colonel Ochiltree of Texas told me tales of MacIver’s bravery, when + as young men they were fellow officers in the Southern army, and Stephen + Bonsal had met him when MacIver was United States Consul at Denia in + Spain. When MacIver arrived at this post, the ex-consul refused to vacate + the Consulate, and MacIver wished to settle the difficulty with duelling + pistols. As Denia is a small place, the inhabitants feared for their + safety, and Bonsal, who was our <i>charge d’affaires</i> then, was sent + from Madrid to adjust matters. Without bloodshed he got rid of the + ex-consul, and later MacIver so endeared himself to the Denians that they + begged the State Department to retain him in that place for the remainder + of his life. + </p> + <p> + Before General MacIver was appointed to a high position at the St. Louis + Fair, I saw much of him in New York. His room was in a side street in an + old-fashioned boarding-house, and overlooked his neighbor’s back yard and + a typical New York City sumac tree; but when the general talked one forgot + he was within a block of the Elevated, and roamed over all the world. On + his bed he would spread out wonderful parchments, with strange, heathenish + inscriptions, with great seals, with faded ribbons. These were signed by + Sultans, Secretaries of War, Emperors, filibusters. They were military + commissions, titles of nobility, brevets for decorations, instructions and + commands from superior officers. Translated the phrases ran: “Imposing + special confidence in,” “we appoint,” or “create,” or “declare,” or “In + recognition of services rendered to our person,” or “country,” or “cause,” + or “For bravery on the field of battle we bestow the Cross——” + </p> + <p> + As must a soldier, the general travels “light,” and all his worldly + possessions were crowded ready for mobilization into a small compass. He + had his sword, his field blanket, his trunk, and the tin despatch boxes + that held his papers. From these, like a conjurer, he would draw souvenirs + of all the world. From the embrace of faded letters, he would unfold old + photographs, daguerrotypes, and miniatures of fair women and adventurous + men: women who now are queens in exile, men who, lifted on waves of + absinthe, still, across a <i>cafe</i> table, tell how they will win back a + crown. + </p> + <p> + Once in a written document the general did me the honor to appoint me his + literary executor, but as he is young, and as healthy as myself, it never + may be my lot to perform such an unwelcome duty. And to-day all one can + write of him is what the world can read in “Under Fourteen Flags,” and + some of the “foot-notes to history” which I have copied from his + scrap-book. This scrap-book is a wonderful volume, but owing to + “political” and other reasons, for the present, of the many clippings from + newspapers it contains there are only a few I am at liberty to print. And + from them it is difficult to make a choice. To sketch in a few thousand + words a career that had developed under Eighteen Flags is in its very + wealth embarrassing. + </p> + <p> + Here is one story, as told by the scrap-book, of an expedition that + failed. That it failed was due to a British Cabinet Minister; for had Lord + Derby possessed the imagination of the Soldier of Fortune, his Majesty’s + dominions might now be the richer by many thousands of square miles and + many thousands of black subjects. + </p> + <p> + On October 29, 1883, the following appeared in the London <i>Standard</i>: + “The New Guinea Exploration and Colonization Company is already chartered, + and the first expedition expects to leave before Christmas.” “The + prospectus states settlers intending to join the first party must + contribute one hundred pounds toward the company. This subscription will + include all expenses for passage money. Six months’ provisions will be + provided, together with tents and arms for protection. Each subscriber of + one hundred pounds is to obtain a certificate entitling him to one + thousand acres.” + </p> + <p> + The view of the colonization scheme taken by the <i>Times</i> of London, + of the same date, is less complaisant. “The latest commercial sensation is + a proposed company for the seizure of New Guinea. Certain adventurous + gentlemen are looking out for one hundred others who have money and a + taste for buccaneering. When the company has been completed, its + share-holders are to place themselves under military regulations, sail in + a body for New Guinea, and without asking anybody’s leave, seize upon the + island and at once, in some unspecified way, proceed to realize large + profits. If the idea does not suggest comparisons with the large designs + of Sir Francis Drake, it is at least not unworthy of Captain Kidd.” + </p> + <p> + When we remember the manner in which some of the colonies of Great Britain + were acquired, the <i>Times</i> seems almost squeamish. + </p> + <p> + In a Melbourne paper, June, 1884, is the following paragraph: + </p> + <p> + “Toward the latter part of 1883 the Government of Queensland planted the + flag of Great Britain on the shores of New Guinea. When the news reached + England it created a sensation. The Earl of Derby, Secretary for the + Colonies, refused, however, to sanction the annexation of New Guinea, and + in so doing acted contrary to the sincere wish of every right-thinking + Anglo-Saxon under the Southern Cross. + </p> + <p> + “While the subsequent correspondence between the Home and Queensland + governments was going on, Brigadier-General H. R. MacIver originated and + organized the New Guinea Exploration and Colonization Company in London, + with a view to establishing settlements on the island. The company, + presided over by General Beresford of the British Army, and having an + eminently representative and influential board of directors, had a capital + of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and placed the supreme command + of the expedition in the hands of General MacIver. Notwithstanding the + character of the gentlemen composing the board of directors, and the truly + peaceful nature of the expedition, his Lordship informed General MacIver + that in the event of the latter’s attempting to land on New Guinea, + instructions would be sent to the officer in command of her Majesty’s + fleet in the Western Pacific to fire upon the company’s vessel. This meant + that the expedition would be dealt with as a filibustering one.” + </p> + <p> + In <i>Judy</i>, September 21, 1887, appears: + </p> + <p> + “We all recollect the treatment received by Brigadier-General MacI. in the + action he took with respect to the annexation of New Guinea. The General, + who is a sort of Pizarro, with a dash of D’Artagnan, was treated in a most + scurvy manner by Lord Derby. Had MacIver not been thwarted in his + enterprise, the whole of New Guinea would now have been under the British + flag, and we should not be cheek-by-jowl with the Germans, as we are in + too many places.” + </p> + <p> + <i>Society</i>, September 3, 1887, says: + </p> + <p> + “The New Guinea expedition proved abortive, owing to the blundering + shortsightedness of the then Government, for which Lord Derby was chiefly + responsible, but what little foothold we possess in New Guinea, is + certainly due to General MacIver’s gallant effort.” + </p> + <p> + Copy of statement made by J. Rintoul Mitchell, June 2, 1887: + </p> + <p> + “About the latter end of the year 1883, when I was editor-in-chief of the + <i>Englishman</i> in Calcutta, I was told by Captain de Deaux, assistant + secretary in the Foreign Office of the Indian Government, that he had + received a telegram from Lord Derby to the effect that if General MacIver + ventured to land upon the coast of New Guinea it would become the duty of + Lord Ripon, Viceroy, to use the naval forces at his command for the + purpose of deporting General MacI. Sir Aucland Calvin can certify to this, + as it was discussed in the Viceregal Council.” + </p> + <p> + Just after our Civil War MacIver was interested in another expedition + which also failed. Its members called themselves the Knights of Arabia, + and their object was to colonize an island much nearer to our shores than + New Guinea. MacIver, saying that his oath prevented, would never tell me + which island this was, but the reader can choose from among Cuba, Haiti, + and the Hawaiian group. To have taken Cuba, the “colonizers” would have + had to fight not only Spain, but the Cubans themselves, on whose side they + were soon fighting in the Ten Years’ War; so Cuba may be eliminated. And + as the expedition was to sail from the Atlantic side, and not from San + Francisco, the island would appear to be the Black Republic. From the + records of the times it would seem that the greater number of the Knights + of Arabia were veterans of the Confederate army, and there is no question + but that they intended to subjugate the blacks of Haiti and form a + republic for white men in which slavery would be recognized. As one of the + leaders of this filibustering expedition, MacIver was arrested by General + Phil Sheridan and for a short time cast into jail. + </p> + <p> + This chafed the general’s spirit, but he argued philosophically that + imprisonment for filibustering, while irksome, brought with it no + reproach. And, indeed, sometimes the only difference between a filibuster + and a government lies in the fact that the government fights the gun-boats + of only the enemy while a filibuster must dodge the boats of the enemy and + those of his own countrymen. When the United States went to war with Spain + there were many men in jail as filibusters, for doing that which at the + time the country secretly approved, and later imitated. And because they + attempted exactly the same thing for which Dr. Jameson was imprisoned in + Holloway Jail, two hundred thousand of his countrymen are now wearing + medals. + </p> + <p> + The by-laws of the Knights of Arabia leave but little doubt as to its + object. + </p> + <p> + By-law No. II reads: + </p> + <p> + “We, as Knights of Arabia, pledge ourselves to aid, comfort, and protect + all Knights of Arabia, especially those who are wounded in obtaining our + grand object. + </p> + <p> + “III—Great care must be taken that no unbeliever or outsider shall + gain any insight into the mysteries or secrets of the Order. + </p> + <p> + “IV—The candidate will have to pay one hundred dollars cash to the + Captain of the Company, and the candidate will receive from the Secretary + a Knight of Arabia bond for one hundred dollars in gold, with ten per cent + interest, payable ninety days after the recognition of (The Republic of——) + by the United States, or any government. + </p> + <p> + “V—All Knights of Arabia will be entitled to one hundred acres of + land, location of said land to be drawn for by lottery. The products are + coffee, sugar, tobacco, and cotton.” + </p> + <p> + A local correspondent of the New York <i>Herald</i> writes of the arrest + of MacIver as follows: + </p> + <p> + “When MacIver will be tried is at present unknown, as his case has assumed + a complicated aspect. He claims British protection as a subject of her + British Majesty, and the English Consul has forwarded a statement of his + case to Sir Frederick Bruce at Washington, accompanied by a copy of the + by-laws. General Sheridan also has forwarded a statement to the Secretary + of War, accompanied not only by the by-laws, but very important documents, + including letters from Jefferson Davis, Benjamin, the Secretary of State + of the Confederate States, and other personages prominent in the + Rebellion, showing that MacIver enjoyed the highest confidence of the + Confederacy.” + </p> + <p> + As to the last statement, an open letter I found in his scrap-book is an + excellent proof. It is as follows: “To officers and members of all camps + of United Confederate Veterans: It affords me the greatest pleasure to say + that the bearer of this letter, General Henry Ronald MacIver, was an + officer of great gallantry in the Confederate Army, serving on the staff + at various times of General Stonewall Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, and E. + Kirby Smith, and that his official record is one of which any man may be + proud. + </p> + <p> + “Respectfully, MARCUS J. WRIGHT, “<i>Agent for the Collection of + Confederate Records</i>. + </p> + <p> + “War Records office, War Department, Washington, July 8, 1895.” + </p> + <p> + At the close of the war duels between officers of the two armies were not + infrequent. In the scrap-book there is the account of one of these affairs + sent from Vicksburg to a Northern paper by a correspondent who was an + eye-witness of the event. It tells how Major MacIver, accompanied by Major + Gillespie, met, just outside of Vicksburg, Captain Tomlin of Vermont, of + the United States Artillery Volunteers. The duel was with swords. MacIver + ran Tomlin through the body. The correspondent writes: + </p> + <p> + “The Confederate officer wiped his sword on his handkerchief. In a few + seconds Captain Tomlin expired. One of Major MacIver’s seconds called to + him: ‘He is dead; you must go. These gentlemen will look after the body of + their friend.’ A negro boy brought up the horses, but before mounting + MacIver said to Captain Tomlin’s seconds: ‘My friends are in haste for me + to go. Is there anything I can do? I hope you consider that this matter + has been settled honorably?’ + </p> + <p> + “There being no reply, the Confederates rode away.” + </p> + <p> + In a newspaper of to-day so matter-of-fact an acceptance of an event so + tragic would make strange reading. + </p> + <p> + From the South MacIver crossed through Texas to join the Royalist army + under the Emperor Maximilian. It was while making his way, with other + Confederate officers, from Galveston to El Paso, that MacIver was captured + by the Indians. He was not ill-treated by them, but for three months was a + prisoner, until one night, the Indians having camped near the Rio Grande, + he escaped into Mexico. There he offered his sword to the Royalist + commander, General Mejia, who placed him on his staff, and showed him some + few skirmishes. At Monterey MacIver saw big fighting, and for his share in + it received the title of Count, and the order of Guadaloupe. In June, + contrary to all rules of civilized war, Maximilian was executed and the + empire was at an end. MacIver escaped to the coast, and from Tampico took + a sailing vessel to Rio de Janeiro. Two months later he was wearing the + uniform of another emperor, Dom Pedro, and, with the rank of + lieutenant-colonel, was in command of the Foreign Legion of the armies of + Brazil and Argentina, which at that time as allies were fighting against + Paraguay. + </p> + <p> + MacIver soon recruited seven hundred men, but only half of these ever + reached the front. In Buenos Ayres cholera broke out and thirty thousand + people died, among the number about half the Legion. MacIver was among + those who suffered, and before he recovered was six weeks in hospital. + During that period, under a junior officer, the Foreign Legion was sent to + the front, where it was disbanded. + </p> + <p> + On his return to Glasgow, MacIver foregathered with an old friend, Bennett + Burleigh, whom he had known when Burleigh was a lieutenant in the navy of + the Confederate States. Although today known as a distinguished war + correspondent, in those days Burleigh was something of a soldier of + fortune himself, and was organizing an expedition to assist the Cretan + insurgents against the Turks. Between the two men it was arranged that + MacIver should precede the expedition to Crete and prepare for its + arrival. The Cretans received him gladly, and from the provisional + government he received a commission in which he was given “full power to + make war on land and sea against the enemies of Crete, and particularly + against the Sultan of Turkey and the Turkish forces, and to burn, destroy, + or capture any vessel bearing the Turkish flag.” + </p> + <p> + This permission to destroy the Turkish navy single-handed strikes one as + more than generous, for the Cretans had no navy, and before one could + begin the destruction of a Turkish gun-boat it was first necessary to + catch it and tie it to a wharf. + </p> + <p> + At the close of the Cretan insurrection MacIver crossed to Athens and + served against the brigands in Kisissia on the borders of Albania and + Thessaly as volunteer aide to Colonel Corroneus, who had been + commander-in-chief of the Cretans against the Turks. MacIver spent three + months potting at brigands, and for his services in the mountains was + recommended for the highest Greek decoration. + </p> + <p> + From Greece it was only a step to New York, and almost immediately MacIver + appears as one of the Goicouria-Christo expedition to Cuba, of which + Goicouria was commander-in-chief, and two famous American officers, + Brigadier-General Samuel C. Williams was a general and Colonel Wright + Schumburg was chief of staff. + </p> + <p> + In the scrap-book I find “General Order No. 11 of the Liberal Army of the + Republic of Cuba, issued at Cedar Keys, October 3, 1869.” In it Colonel + MacIver is spoken of as in charge of officers not attached to any + organized corps of the division. And again: + </p> + <p> + “General Order No. V, Expeditionary Division, Republic of Cuba, on board + <i>Lilian</i>,” announces that the place to which the expedition is bound + has been changed, and that General Wright Schumburg, who now is in + command, orders “all officers not otherwise commissioned to join Colonel + MacIver’s ‘Corps of Officers.’” + </p> + <p> + The <i>Lilian</i> ran out of coal, and to obtain firewood put in at Cedar + Keys. For two weeks the patriots cut wood and drilled upon the beach, when + they were captured by a British gun-boat and taken to Nassau. There they + were set at liberty, but their arms, boat, and stores were confiscated. + </p> + <p> + In a sailing vessel MacIver finally reached Cuba, and under Goicouria, who + had made a successful landing, saw some “help yourself” fighting. + Goicouria’s force was finally scattered, and MacIver escaped from the + Spanish soldiery only by putting to sea in an open boat, in which he + endeavored to make Jamaica. + </p> + <p> + On the third day out he was picked up by a steamer and again landed at + Nassau, from which place he returned to New York. + </p> + <p> + At that time in this city there was a very interesting man named Thaddeus + P. Mott, who had been an officer in our army and later had entered the + service of Ismail Pasha. By the Khedive he had been appointed a general of + division and had received permission to reorganize the Egyptian army. + </p> + <p> + His object in coming to New York was to engage officers for that service. + He came at an opportune moment. At that time the city was filled with men + who, in the Rebellion, on one side or the other, had held command, and + many of these, unfitted by four years of soldiering for any other calling, + readily accepted the commissions which Mott had authority to offer. New + York was not large enough to keep MacIver and Mott long apart, and they + soon came to an understanding. The agreement drawn up between them is a + curious document. It is written in a neat hand on sheets of foolscap tied + together like a Commencement-day address, with blue ribbon. In it MacIver + agrees to serve as colonel of cavalry in the service of the Khedive. With + a few legal phrases omitted, the document reads as follows: + </p> + <p> + “Agreement entered into this 24th day of March, 1870, between the + Government of his Royal Highness and the Khedive of Egypt, represented by + General Thaddeus P. Mott of the first part, and H. R. H. MacIver of New + York City. + </p> + <p> + “The party of the second part, being desirous of entering into the service + of party of the first part, in the military capacity of a colonel of + cavalry, promises to serve and obey party of the first part faithfully and + truly in his military capacity during the space of five years from this + date; that the party of the second part waives all claims of protection + usually afforded to Americans by consular and diplomatic agents of the + United States, and expressly obligates himself to be subject to the orders + of the party of the first part, and to make, wage, and vigorously + prosecute war against any and all the enemies of party of the first part; + that the party of the second part will not under any event be governed, + controlled by, or submit to, any order, law, mandate, or proclamation + issued by the Government of the United States of America, forbidding party + of the second part to serve party of the first part to make war according + to any of the provisions herein contained, <i>it being, however, + distinctly understood</i> that nothing herein contained shall be construed + as obligating party of the second part to bear arms or wage war against + the United States of America. + </p> + <p> + “Party of the first part promises to furnish party of the second part with + horses, rations, and pay him for his services the same salary now paid to + colonels of cavalry in United States army, and will furnish him quarters + suitable to his rank in army. Also promises, in the case of illness caused + by climate, that said party may resign his office and shall receive his + expenses to America and two months’ pay; that he receives one-fifth of his + regular pay during his active service, together with all expenses of every + nature attending such enterprise.” + </p> + <p> + It also stipulates as to what sums shall be paid his family or children in + case of his death. + </p> + <p> + To this MacIver signs this oath: + </p> + <p> + “In the presence of the ever-living God, I swear that I will in all things + honestly, faithfully, and truly keep, observe, and perform the obligations + and promises above enumerated, and endeavor to conform to the wishes and + desires of the Government of his Royal Highness, the Khedive of Egypt, in + all things connected with the furtherance of his prosperity, and the + maintenance of his throne.” + </p> + <p> + On arriving at Cairo, MacIver was appointed inspector-general of cavalry, + and furnished with a uniform, of which this is a description: “It + consisted of a blue tunic with gold spangles, embroidered in gold up the + sleeves and front, neat-fitting red trousers, and high patent-leather + boots, while the inevitable fez completed the gay costume.” + </p> + <p> + The climate of Cairo did not agree with MacIver, and, in spite of his “gay + costume,” after six months he left the Egyptian service. His honorable + discharge was signed by Stone Bey, who, in the favor of the Khedive, had + supplanted General Mott. + </p> + <p> + It is a curious fact that, in spite of his ill health, immediately after + leaving Cairo, MacIver was sufficiently recovered to at once plunge into + the Franco-Prussian War. At the battle of Orleans, while on the staff of + General Chanzy, he was wounded. In this war his rank was that of a colonel + of cavalry of the auxiliary army. + </p> + <p> + His next venture was in the Carlist uprising of 1873, when he formed a + Carlist League, and on several occasions acted as bearer of important + messages from the “King,” as Don Carlos was called, to the sympathizers + with his cause in France and England. + </p> + <p> + MacIver was promised, if he carried out successfully a certain mission + upon which he was sent, and if Don Carlos became king, that he would be + made a marquis. As Don Carlos is still a pretender, MacIver is still a + general. Although in disposing of his sword MacIver never allowed his + personal predilections to weigh with him, he always treated himself to a + hearty dislike of the Turks, and we next find him fighting against them in + Herzegovina with the Montenegrins. And when the Servians declared war + against the same people, MacIver returned to London to organize a cavalry + brigade to fight with the Servian army. + </p> + <p> + Of this brigade and of the rapid rise of MacIver to highest rank and + honors in Servia, the scrap-book is most eloquent. The cavalry brigade was + to be called the Knights of the Red Cross. + </p> + <p> + In a letter to the editor of the <i>Hour</i>, the general himself speaks + of it in the following terms: + </p> + <p> + “It may be interesting to many of your readers to learn that a select + corps of gentlemen is at present in course of organization under the above + title with the mission of proceeding to the Levant to take measures in + case of emergency for the defense of the Christian population, and more + especially of British subjects who are to a great extent unprovided with + adequate means of protection from the religious furies of the Mussulmans. + The lives of Christian women and children are in hourly peril from + fanatical hordes. The Knights will be carefully chosen and kept within + strict military control, and will be under command of a practical soldier + with large experience of the Eastern countries. Templars and all other + crusaders are invited to give aid and sympathy.” + </p> + <p> + Apparently MacIver was not successful in enlisting many Knights, for a war + correspondent at the capital of Servia, waiting for the war to begin, + writes as follows: + </p> + <p> + “A Scotch soldier of fortune, Henry MacIver, a colonel by rank, has + arrived at Belgrade with a small contingent of military adventurers. Five + weeks ago I met him in Fleet Street, London, and had some talk about his + ‘expedition.’ He had received a commission from the Prince of Servia to + organize and command an independent cavalry brigade, and he then was + busily enrolling his volunteers into a body styled ‘The Knights of the Red + Cross.’ I am afraid some of his bold crusaders have earned more + distinction for their attacks on Fleet Street bars than they are likely to + earn on Servian battle-fields, but then I must not anticipate history.” + </p> + <p> + Another paper tells that at the end of the first week of his service as a + Servian officer, MacIver had enlisted ninety men, but that they were + scattered about the town, many without shelter and rations: + </p> + <p> + “He assembled his men on the Rialto, and in spite of official + expostulation, the men were marched up to the Minister’s four abreast—and + they marched fairly well, making a good show. The War Minister was taken + by storm, and at once granted everything. It has raised the English + colonel’s popularity with his men to fever heat.” + </p> + <p> + This from the <i>Times</i>, London: + </p> + <p> + “Our Belgrade correspondent telegraphs last night: + </p> + <p> + “‘There is here at present a gentleman named MacIver. He came from England + to offer himself and his sword to the Servians. The Servian Minister of + War gave him a colonel’s commission. This morning I saw him drilling about + one hundred and fifty remarkably fine-looking fellows, all clad in a good + serviceable cavalry uniform, and he has horses.”’ + </p> + <p> + Later we find that: + </p> + <p> + “Colonel MacIver’s Legion of Cavalry, organizing here, now numbers over + two hundred men.” + </p> + <p> + And again: + </p> + <p> + “Prince Nica, a Roumanian cousin of the Princess Natalie of Servia, has + joined Colonel MacIver’s cavalry corps.” + </p> + <p> + Later, in the <i>Court Journal</i>, October 28, 1876, we read: + </p> + <p> + “Colonel MacIver, who a few years ago was very well known in military + circles in Dublin, now is making his mark with the Servian army. In the + war against the Turks, he commands about one thousand Russo-Servian + cavalry.” + </p> + <p> + He was next to receive the following honors: + </p> + <p> + “Colonel MacIver has been appointed commander of the cavalry of the + Servian armies on the Morava and Timok, and has received the Cross of the + Takovo Order from General Tchemaieff for gallant conduct in the field, and + the gold medal for valor.” + </p> + <p> + Later we learn from the <i>Daily News</i>: + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Lewis Farley, Secretary of the ‘League in Aid of Christians of + Turkey,’ has received the following letter, dated Belgrade, October 10, + 1876: + </p> + <p> + “‘DEAR SIR: In reference to the embroidered banner so kindly worked by an + English lady and forwarded by the League to Colonel MacIver, I have great + pleasure in conveying to you the following particulars. On Sunday morning, + the flag having been previously consecrated by the archbishop, was + conducted by a guard of honor to the palace, and Colonel MacIver, in the + presence of Prince Milan and a numerous suite, in the name and on behalf + of yourself and the fair donor, delivered it into the hands of the + Princess Natalie. The gallant Colonel wore upon this occasion his full + uniform as brigade commander and chief of cavalry of the Servian army, and + bore upon his breast the ‘Gold Cross of Takovo’ which he received after + the battles of the 28th and 30th of September, in recognition of the + heroism and bravery he displayed upon these eventful days. The beauty of + the decoration was enhanced by the circumstances of its bestowal, for on + the evening of the battle of the 30th, General Tchernaieff approached + Colonel MacIver, and, unclasping the cross from his own breast, placed it + upon that of the Colonel. + </p> + <p> + “‘(Signed.) HUGH JACKSON, + </p> + <p> + “‘<i>Member of Council of the League</i>.” + </p> + <p> + In Servia and in the Servian army MacIver reached what as yet is the + highest point of his career, and of his life the happiest period. + </p> + <p> + He was <i>general de brigade</i>, which is not what we know as a brigade + general, but is one who commands a division, a major-general. He was a + great favorite both at the palace and with the people, the pay was good, + fighting plentiful, and Belgrade gay and amusing. Of all the places he has + visited and the countries he has served, it is of this Balkan kingdom that + the general seems to speak most fondly and with the greatest feeling. Of + Queen Natalie he was and is a most loyal and chivalric admirer, and was + ever ready, when he found any one who did not as greatly respect the lady, + to offer him the choice of swords or pistols. Even for Milan he finds an + extenuating word. + </p> + <p> + After Servia the general raised more foreign legions, planned further + expeditions; in Central America reorganized the small armies of the small + republics, served as United States Consul, and offered his sword to + President McKinley for use against Spain. But with Servia the most active + portion of the life of the general ceased, and the rest has been a + repetition of what went before. At present his time is divided between New + York and Virginia, where he has been offered an executive position in the + approaching Jamestown Exposition. Both North and South he has many + friends, many admirers. But his life is, and, from the nature of his + profession, must always be, a lonely one. + </p> + <p> + While other men remain planted in one spot, gathering about them a home, + sons and daughters, an income for old age, MacIver is a rolling stone, a + piece of floating sea-weed; as the present King of England called him + fondly, “that vagabond soldier.” + </p> + <p> + To a man who has lived in the saddle and upon transports, “neighbor” + conveys nothing, and even “comrade” too often means one who is no longer + living. + </p> + <p> + With the exception of the United States, of which he now is a naturalized + citizen, the general has fought for nearly every country in the world, but + if any of those for which he lost his health and blood, and for which he + risked his life, remembers him, it makes no sign. And the general is too + proud to ask to be remembered. To-day there is no more interesting figure + than this man who in years is still young enough to lead an army corps, + and who, for forty years, has been selling his sword and risking his life + for presidents, pretenders, charlatans, and emperors. + </p> + <p> + He finds some mighty changes: Cuba, which he fought to free, is free; men + of the South, with whom for four years he fought shoulder to shoulder, are + now wearing the blue; the empire of Mexico, for which he fought, is a + republic; the empire of France, for which he fought, is a republic; the + empire of Brazil, for which he fought is a republic; the dynasty in + Servia, to which he owes his greatest honors, has been wiped out by + murder. From none of the eighteen countries he has served has he a + pension, berth, or billet, and at sixty he finds himself at home in every + land, but with a home in none. + </p> + <p> + Still he has his sword, his blanket, and in the event of war, to obtain a + commission he has only to open his tin boxes and show the commissions + already won. Indeed, any day, in a new uniform, and under the Nineteenth + Flag, the general may again be winning fresh victories and honors. + </p> + <p> + And so, this brief sketch of him is left unfinished. We will mark it—<i>To + be continued</i>. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BARON JAMES HARDEN-HICKEY + </h2> + <p> + THIS is an attempt to tell the story of Baron Harden-Hickey, the Man Who + Made Himself King, the man who was born after his time. + </p> + <p> + If the reader, knowing something of the strange career of Harden-Hickey, + wonders why one writes of him appreciatively rather than in amusement, he + is asked not to judge Harden-Hickey as one judges a contemporary. + </p> + <p> + Harden-Hickey, in our day, was as incongruous a figure as was the American + at the Court of King Arthur; he was as unhappily out of the picture as + would be Cyrano de Bergerac on the floor of the Board of Trade. Judged, as + at the time he was judged, by writers of comic paragraphs, by presidents + of railroads, by amateur “statesmen” at Washington, Harden-Hickey was a + joke. To the vacant mind of the village idiot, Rip Van Winkle returning to + Falling Water also was a joke. The people of our day had not the time to + understand Harden-Hickey; they thought him a charlatan, half a dangerous + adventurer and half a fool; and Harden-Hickey certainly did not under + stand them. His last words, addressed to his wife, showed this. They were: + “I would rather die a gentleman than live a blackguard like your father.” + </p> + <p> + As a matter of fact, his father-in-law, although living under the + disadvantage of being a Standard Oil magnate, neither was, nor is, a + blackguard, and his son-in-law had been treated by him generously and with + patience. But for the duellist and soldier of fortune it was impossible to + sympathize with a man who took no greater risk in life than to ride on one + of his own railroads, and of the views the two men held of each other, + that of John H. Flagler was probably the fairer and the more kindly. + </p> + <p> + Harden-Hickey was one of the most picturesque, gallant, and pathetic + adventurers of our day; but Flagler also deserves our sympathy. + </p> + <p> + For an unimaginative and hard-working Standard Oil king to have a + D’Artagnan thrust upon him as a son-in-law must be trying. + </p> + <p> + James A. Harden-Hickey, James the First of Trinidad, Baron of the Holy + Roman Empire, was born on December 8, 1854. As to the date all historians + agree; as to where the important event took place they differ. That he was + born in France his friends are positive, but at the time of his death in + El Paso the San Francisco papers claimed him as a native of California. + All agree that his ancestors were Catholics and Royalists who left Ireland + with the Stuarts when they sought refuge in France. The version which + seems to be the most probable is that he was born in San Francisco, where + as one of the early settlers, his father, E. C. Hickey, was well known, + and that early in his life, in order to educate him, the mother took him + to Europe. + </p> + <p> + There he was educated at the Jesuit College at Namur, then at Leipsic, and + later entered the Military College of St. Cyr. + </p> + <p> + James the First was one of those boys who never had the misfortune to grow + up. To the moment of his death, in all he planned you can trace the + effects of his early teachings and environment; the influences of the + great Church that nursed him, and of the city of Paris, in which he lived. + Under the Second Empire, Paris was at her maddest, baddest, and best. + To-day under the republic, without a court, with a society kept in funds + by the self-expatriated wives and daughters of our business men, she lacks + the reasons for which Baron Haussmann bedecked her and made her beautiful. + The good Loubet, the worthy Fallieres, except that they furnish the + cartoonist with subjects for ridicule, do not add to the gayety of Paris. + But when Harden-Hickey was a boy, Paris was never so carelessly gay, so + brilliant, never so overcharged with life, color, and adventure. + </p> + <p> + In those days “the Emperor sat in his box that night,” and in the box + opposite sat Cora Pearl; veterans of the campaign of Italy, of Mexico, + from the desert fights of Algiers, sipped sugar and water in front of + Tortoni’s, the Cafe Durand, the Cafe Riche; the sidewalks rang with their + sabres, the boulevards were filled with the colors of the gorgeous + uniforms; all night of each night the Place Vendome shone with the + carriage lamps of the visiting pashas from Egypt, of nabobs from India, of + <i>rastaquoueres</i> from the sister empire of Brazil; the state + carriages, with the outriders and postilions in the green and gold of the + Empress, swept through the Champs Elysees, and at the Bal Bulier, and at + Mabile the students and “grisettes” introduced the cancan. The men of + those days were Hugo, Thiers, Dumas, Daudet, Alfred de Musset; the + magnificent blackguard, the Duc de Morny, and the great, simple Canrobert, + the captain of barricades, who became a marshal of France. + </p> + <p> + Over all was the mushroom Emperor, his anterooms crowded with the titled + charlatans of Europe, his court radiant with countesses created overnight. + And it was the Emperor, with his love of theatrical display, of gorgeous + ceremonies; with his restless reaching after military glory, the weary, + cynical adventurer, that the boy at St. Cyr took as his model. + </p> + <p> + Royalist as was Harden-Hickey by birth and tradition, and Royalist as he + always remained, it was the court at the Tuileries that filled his + imagination. The Bourbons, whom he served, hoped some day for a court; at + the Tuileries there was a court, glittering before his physical eyes. The + Bourbons were pleasant old gentlemen, who later willingly supported him, + and for whom always he was equally willing to fight, either with his sword + or his pen. But to the last, in his mind, he carried pictures of the + Second Empire as he, as a boy, had known it. + </p> + <p> + Can you not imagine the future James the First, barelegged, in a + black-belted smock, halting with his nurse, or his priest, to gaze up in + awestruck delight at the great, red-breeched Zouaves lounging on guard at + the Tuileries? + </p> + <p> + “When I grow up,” said little James to himself, not knowing that he never + would grow up, “I shall have Zouaves for <i>my</i> palace guard.” + </p> + <p> + And twenty years later, when he laid down the laws for his little kingdom, + you find that the officers of his court must wear the mustache, “<i>a la</i> + Louis Napoleon,” and that the Zouave uniform will be worn by the Palace + Guards. + </p> + <p> + In 1883, while he still was at the War College, his father died, and when + he graduated, which he did with honors, he found himself his own master. + His assets were a small income, a perfect knowledge of the French + language, and the reputation of being one of the most expert swordsman in + Paris. He chose not to enter the army, and instead became a journalist, + novelist, duellist, an <i>habitue</i> of the Latin Quarter and the + boulevards. + </p> + <p> + As a novelist the titles of his books suggest their quality. Among them + are: “Un Amour Vendeen,” “Lettres d’un Yankee,” “Un Amour dans le Monde,” + “Memoires d’un Gommeux,” “Merveilleuses Aventures de Nabuchodonosor, + Nosebreaker.” + </p> + <p> + Of the Catholic Church he wrote seriously, apparently with deep + conviction, with high enthusiasm. In her service as a defender of the + faith he issued essays, pamphlets, “broadsides.” The opponents of the + Church in Paris he attacked relentlessly. + </p> + <p> + As a reward for his championship he received the title of baron. + </p> + <p> + In 1878, while only twenty-four, he married the Countess de Saint-Pery, by + whom he had two children, a boy and a girl, and three years later he + started <i>Triboulet</i>. It was this paper that made him famous to “all + Paris.” + </p> + <p> + It was a Royalist sheet, subsidized by the Count de Chambord and published + in the interest of the Bourbons. Until 1888 Harden-Hickey was its editor, + and even by his enemies it must be said that he served his employers with + zeal. During the seven years in which the paper amused Paris and annoyed + the republican government, as its editor Harden-Hickey was involved in + forty-two lawsuits, for different editorial indiscretions, fined three + hundred thousand francs, and was a principal in countless duels. + </p> + <p> + To his brother editors his standing interrogation was: “Would you prefer + to meet me upon the editorial page, or in the Bois de Boulogne?” Among + those who met him in the Bois were Aurelien Scholl, H. Lavenbryon, M. + Taine, M. de Cyon, Philippe Du Bois, Jean Moreas. + </p> + <p> + In 1888, either because, his patron the Count de Chambord having died, + there was no more money to pay the fines, or because the patience of the + government was exhausted, <i>Triboulet</i> ceased to exist, and + Harden-Hickey, claiming the paper had been suppressed and he himself + exiled, crossed to London. + </p> + <p> + From there he embarked upon a voyage around the world, which lasted two + years, and in the course of which he discovered the island kingdom of + which he was to be the first and last king. Previous to his departure, + having been divorced from the Countess de Saint-Pery, he placed his boy + and girl in the care of a fellow-journalist and very dear friend, the + Count de la Boissiere, of whom later we shall hear more. + </p> + <p> + Harden-Hickey started around the world on the <i>Astoria</i>, a British + merchant vessel bound for India by way of Cape Horn, Captain Jackson + commanding. + </p> + <p> + When off the coast of Brazil the ship touched at the uninhabited island of + Trinidad. Historians of James the First say that it was through stress of + weather that the <i>Astoria</i> was driven to seek refuge there, but as, + for six months of the year, to make a landing on the island is almost + impossible, and as at any time, under stress of weather, Trinidad would be + a place to avoid, it is more likely Jackson put in to replenish his + water-casks, or to obtain a supply of turtle meat. + </p> + <p> + Or it may have been that, having told Harden-Hickey of the derelict + island, the latter persuaded the captain to allow him to land and explore + it. Of this, at least, we are certain, a boat was sent ashore, + Harden-Hickey went ashore in it, and before he left the island, as a piece + of no man’s land, belonging to no country, he claimed it in his own name, + and upon the beach raised a flag of his own design. + </p> + <p> + The island of Trinidad claimed by Harden-Hickey must not be confused with + the larger Trinidad belonging to Great Britain and lying off Venezuela. + </p> + <p> + The English Trinidad is a smiling, peaceful spot of great tropical beauty; + it is one of the fairest places in the West Indies. At every hour of the + year the harbor of Port of Spain holds open its arms to vessels of every + draught. A governor in a pith helmet, a cricket club, a bishop in gaiters, + and a botanical garden go to make it a prosperous and contented colony. + But the little derelict Trinidad, in latitude 20 degrees 30 minutes south, + and longitude 29 degrees 22 minutes west, seven hundred miles from the + coast of Brazil, is but a spot upon the ocean. On most maps it is not even + a spot. Except by birds, turtles, and hideous land-crabs, it is + uninhabited; and against the advances of man its shores are fortified with + cruel ridges of coral, jagged limestone rocks, and a tremendous towering + surf which, even in a dead calm, beats many feet high against the coast. + </p> + <p> + In 1698 Dr. Halley visited the island, and says he found nothing living + but doves and land-crabs. “Saw many green turtles in sea, but by reason of + the great surf, could catch none.” + </p> + <p> + After Halley’s visit, in 1700 the island was settled by a few Portuguese + from Brazil. The ruins of their stone huts are still in evidence. But + Amaro Delano, who called in 1803, makes no mention of the Portuguese; and + when, in 1822, Commodore Owen visited Trinidad, he found nothing living + there save cormorants, petrels, gannets, man-of-war birds, and “turtles + weighing from five hundred to seven hundred pounds.” + </p> + <p> + In 1889 E. F. Knight, who in the Japanese-Russian War represented the + London <i>Morning Post</i>, visited Trinidad in his yacht in search of + buried treasure. + </p> + <p> + Alexander Dalrymple, in his book entitled “Collection of Voages, chiefly + in the Southern Atlantick Ocean, 1775,” tells how, in 1700, he “took + possession of the island in his Majesty’s name as knowing it to be granted + by the King’s letter patent, leaving a Union Jack flying.” + </p> + <p> + So it appears that before Harden-Hickey seized the island it already had + been claimed by Great Britain, and later, on account of the Portuguese + settlement, by Brazil. The answer Harden-Hickey made to these claims was + that the English never settled in Trinidad, and that the Portuguese + abandoned it, and, therefore, their claims lapsed. In his “prospectus” of + his island, Harden-Hickey himself describes it thus: + </p> + <p> + “Trinidad is about five miles long and three miles wide. In spite of its + rugged and uninviting appearance, the inland plateaus are rich with + luxuriant vegetation. + </p> + <p> + “Prominent among this is a peculiar species of bean, which is not only + edible, but extremely palatable. The surrounding seas swarm with fish, + which as yet are wholly unsuspicious of the hook. Dolphins, rock-cod, + pigfish, and blackfish may be caught as quickly as they can be hauled out. + I look to the sea birds and the turtles to afford our principal source of + revenue. Trinidad is the breeding-place of almost the entire feathery + population of the South Atlantic Ocean. The exportation of guano alone + should make my little country prosperous. Turtles visit the island to + deposit eggs, and at certain seasons the beach is literally alive with + them. The only drawback to my projected kingdom is the fact that it has no + good harbor and can be approached only when the sea is calm.” + </p> + <p> + As a matter of fact sometimes months pass before it is possible to effect + a landing. + </p> + <p> + Another asset of the island held out by the prospectus was its great store + of buried treasure. Before Harden-Hickey seized the island, this treasure + had made it known. This is the legend. In 1821 a great store of gold and + silver plate plundered from Peruvian churches had been concealed on the + islands by pirates near Sugar Loaf Hill, on the shore of what is known as + the Southwest Bay. Much of this plate came from the cathedral at Lima, + having been carried from there during the war of independence when the + Spanish residents fled the country. In their eagerness to escape they put + to sea in any ship that offered, and these unarmed and unseaworthy vessels + fell an easy prey to pirates. One of these pirates on his death-bed, in + gratitude to his former captain, told him the secret of the treasure. In + 1892 this captain was still living, in Newcastle, England, and although + his story bears a family resemblance to every other story of buried + treasure, there were added to the tale of the pirate some corroborative + details. These, in twelve years, induced five different expeditions to + visit the island. The two most important were that of E. F. Knight and one + from the Tyne in the bark <i>Aurea</i>. + </p> + <p> + In his “Cruise of the <i>Alerte</i>,” Knight gives a full description of + the island, and of his attempt to find the treasure. In this, a landslide + having covered the place where it was buried, he was unsuccessful. + </p> + <p> + But Knight’s book is the only source of accurate information concerning + Trinidad, and in writing his prospectus it is evident that Harden-Hickey + was forced to borrow from it freely. Knight himself says that the most + minute and accurate description of Trinidad is to be found in the “Frank + Mildmay” of Captain Marryat. He found it so easy to identify each spot + mentioned in the novel that he believes the author of “Midshipman Easy” + himself touched there. + </p> + <p> + After seizing Trinidad, Harden-Hickey rounded the Cape and made north to + Japan, China, and India. In India he became interested in Buddhism, and + remained for over a year questioning the priests of that religion and + studying its tenets and history. + </p> + <p> + On his return to Paris, in 1890, he met Miss Annie Harper Flagler, + daughter of John H. Flagler. A year later, on St. Patrick’s Day, 1891, at + the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, Miss Flagler became the Baroness + Harden-Hickey. The Rev. John Hall married them. + </p> + <p> + For the next two years Harden-Hickey lived in New York, but so quietly + that, except that he lived quietly, it is difficult to find out anything + concerning him. The man who, a few years before, had delighted Paris with + his daily feuilletons, with his duels, with his forty-two lawsuits, who + had been the master of revels in the Latin Quarter, in New York lived + almost as a recluse, writing a book on Buddhism. While he was in New York + I was a reporter on the <i>Evening Sun</i>, but I cannot recall ever + having read his name in the newspapers of that day, and I heard of him + only twice; once as giving an exhibition of his water-colors at the + American Art Galleries, and again as the author of a book I found in a + store in Twenty-second Street, just east of Broadway, then the home of the + Truth Seeker Publishing Company. + </p> + <p> + It was a grewsome compilation and had just appeared in print. It was + called “Euthanasia, or the Ethics of Suicide.” This book was an apology or + plea for self-destruction. In it the baron laid down those occasions when + he considered suicide pardonable, and when obligatory. To support his + arguments and to show that suicide was a noble act, he quoted Plato, + Cicero, Shakespeare, and even misquoted the Bible. He gave a list of + poisons, and the amount of each necessary to kill a human being. To show + how one can depart from life with the least pain, he illustrated the text + with most unpleasant pictures, drawn by himself. + </p> + <p> + The book showed how far Harden-Hickey had strayed from the teachings of + the Jesuit College at Namur, and of the Church that had made him “noble.” + </p> + <p> + All of these two years had not been spent only in New York. Harden-Hickey + made excursions to California, to Mexico, and to Texas, and in each of + these places bought cattle ranches and mines. The money to pay for these + investments came from his father-in-law. But not directly. Whenever he + wanted money he asked his wife, or De la Boissiere, who was a friend also + of Flagler, to obtain it for him. + </p> + <p> + His attitude toward his father-in-law is difficult to explain. It is not + apparent that Flagler ever did anything which could justly offend him; + indeed, he always seems to have spoken of his son-in-law with tolerance, + and often with awe, as one would speak of a clever, wayward child. But + Harden-Hickey chose to regard Flagler as his enemy, as a sordid man of + business who could not understand the feelings and aspirations of a genius + and a gentleman. + </p> + <p> + Before Harden-Hickey married, the misunderstanding between his wife’s + father and himself began. Because he thought Harden-Hickey was marrying + his daughter for her money, Flagler opposed the union. Consequently, + Harden-Hickey married Miss Flagler without “settlements,” and for the + first few years supported her without aid from her father. But his wife + had been accustomed to a manner of living beyond the means of the soldier + of fortune, and soon his income, and then even his capital, was exhausted. + From her mother the baroness inherited a fortune. This was in the hands of + her father as executor. When his own money was gone, Harden-Hickey + endeavored to have the money belonging to his wife placed to her credit, + or to his. To this, it is said, Flagler, on the ground that Harden-Hickey + was not a man of business, while he was, objected, and urged that he was, + and that if it remained in his hands the money would be better invested + and better expended. It was the refusal of Flagler to intrust + Harden-Hickey with the care of his wife’s money that caused the breach + between them. + </p> + <p> + As I have said, you cannot judge Harden-Hickey as you would a + contemporary. With the people among whom he was thrown, his ideas were + entirely out of joint. He should have lived in the days of “The Three + Musketeers.” People who looked upon him as working for his own hand + entirely misunderstood him. He was absolutely honest, and as absolutely + without a sense of humor. To him, to pay taxes, to pay grocers’ bills, to + depend for protection upon a policeman, was intolerable. He lived in a + world of his own imagining. And one day, in order to make his imaginings + real, and to escape from his father-in-law’s unromantic world of Standard + Oil and Florida hotels, in a proclamation to the powers he announced + himself as King James the First of the Principality of Trinidad. + </p> + <p> + The proclamation failed to create a world crisis. Several of the powers + recognized his principality and his title; but, as a rule, people laughed, + wondered, and forgot. That the daughter of John Flagler was to rule the + new principality gave it a “news interest,” and for a few Sundays in the + supplements she was hailed as the “American Queen.” + </p> + <p> + When upon the subject of the new kingdom Flagler himself was interviewed, + he showed an open mind. + </p> + <p> + “My son-in-law is a very determined man,” he said; “he will carry out any + scheme in which he is interested. Had he consulted me about this, I would + have been glad to have aided him with money or advice. My son-in-law is an + extremely well-read, refined, well-bred man. He does not court publicity. + While he was staying in my house he spent nearly all the time in the + library translating an Indian book on Buddhism. My daughter has no + ambition to be a queen or anything else than what she is—an American + girl. But my son-in-law means to carry on this Trinidad scheme, and—he + will.” + </p> + <p> + From his father-in-law, at least, Harden-Hickey could not complain that he + had met with lack of sympathy. + </p> + <p> + The rest of America was amused; and after less than nine days, + indifferent. But Harden-Hickey, though unobtrusively, none the less + earnestly continued to play the part of king. His friend De la Boissiere + he appointed his Minister of Foreign Affairs, and established in a + Chancellery at 217 West Thirty-sixth Street, New York, and from there was + issued a sort of circular, or prospectus, written by the king, and signed + by “Le Grand Chancelier, Secretaire d’Etat pour les Affaires Etrangeres, + M. le Comte de la Boissiere.” + </p> + <p> + The document, written in French, announced that the new state would be + governed by a military dictatorship, that the royal standard was a yellow + triangle on a red ground, and that the arms of the principality were “d’Or + chape de Gueules.” It pointed out naively that those who first settled on + the island would be naturally the oldest inhabitants, and hence would form + the aristocracy. But only those who at home enjoyed social position and + some private fortune would be admitted into this select circle. + </p> + <p> + For itself the state reserved a monopoly of the guano, of the turtles, and + of the buried treasure. And both to discover the treasure and to encourage + settlers to dig and so cultivate the soil, a percentage of the treasure + was promised to the one who found it. + </p> + <p> + Any one purchasing ten $200 bonds was entitled to a free passage to the + island, and after a year, should he so desire it, a return trip. The hard + work was to be performed by Chinese coolies, the aristocracy existing + beautifully, and, according to the prospectus, to enjoy <i>“vie d’un genre + tout nouveau, et la recherche de sensations nouvelles.”</i> + </p> + <p> + To reward his subjects for prominence in literature, the arts, and the + sciences, his Majesty established an order of chivalry. The official + document creating this order reads: + </p> + <p> + “We, James, Prince of Trinidad, have resolved to commemorate our accession + to the throne of Trinidad by the institution of an Order of Chivalry, + destined to reward literature, industry, science, and the human virtues, + and by these presents have established and do institute, with cross and + crown, the Order of the Insignia of the Cross of Trinidad, of which we and + our heirs and successors shall be the sovereigns. + </p> + <p> + “Given in our Chancellery the Eighth of the month of December, one + thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, and of our reign, the First Year. + </p> + <p> + “JAMES.” + </p> + <p> + There were four grades: Chevalier, Commander, Grand Officer, and Grand + Cross; and the name of each member of the order was inscribed in “The Book + of Gold.” A pension of one thousand francs was given to a Chevalier, of + two thousand francs to a Commander, and of three thousand francs to a + Grand Officer. Those of the grade of Grand Cross were content with a + plaque of eight diamond-studded rays, with, in the centre, set in red + enamel, the arms of Trinidad. The ribbon was red and yellow. + </p> + <p> + A rule of the order read: “The costume shall be identical with that of the + Chamberlains of the Court of Trinidad, save the buttons, which shall bear + the impress of the Crown of the Order.” + </p> + <p> + For himself, King James commissioned a firm of jewelers to construct a + royal crown. In design it was similar to the one which surmounted the + cross of Trinidad. It is shown in the photograph of the insignia. Also, + the king issued a set of postage-stamps on which was a picture of the + island. They were of various colors and denominations, and among + stamp-collectors enjoyed a certain sale. + </p> + <p> + To-day, as I found when I tried to procure one to use in this book, they + are worth many times their face value. + </p> + <p> + For some time the affairs of the new kingdom progressed favorably. In San + Francisco, King James, in person, engaged four hundred coolies and fitted + out a schooner which he sent to Trinidad, where it made regular trips + between his principality and Brazil; an agent was established on the + island, and the construction of docks, wharves, and houses was begun, + while at the chancellery in West Thirty-sixth Street, the Minister of + Foreign Affairs was ready to furnish would-be settlers with information. + </p> + <p> + And then, out of a smiling sky, a sudden and unexpected blow was struck at + the independence of the little kingdom. It was a blow from which it never + recovered. + </p> + <p> + In July of 1895, while constructing a cable to Brazil, Great Britain found + the Island of Trinidad lying in the direct line she wished to follow, and, + as a cable station, seized it. Objection to this was made by Brazil, and + at Bahia a mob with stones pelted the sign of the English Consul-General. + </p> + <p> + By right of Halley’s discovery, England claimed the island; as a derelict + from the main land, Brazil also claimed it. Between the rivals, the world + saw a chance for war, and the fact that the island really belonged to our + King James for a moment was forgotten. + </p> + <p> + But the Minister of Foreign Affairs was at his post. With promptitude and + vigor he acted. He addressed a circular note to all the powers of Europe, + and to our State Department a protest. It read as follows: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “GRANDE CHANCELLERIE DE LA PRINCIPAUTE DE + TRINIDAD, + 27 WEST THIRTY-SIXTH STREET, + NEW YORK CITY, U. S. A., +</pre> + <p> + “NEW YORK, <i>July</i> 30, 1895. + </p> + <p> + <i>“To His Excellency Mr. the Secretary of State of the Republic of the + United States of North America, Washington, D. C.:</i> + </p> + <p> + “EXCELLENCY.—I have the honor to recall to your memory: + </p> + <p> + “1. That in the course of the month of September, 1893, Baron + Harden-Hickey officially notified all the Powers of his taking possession + of the uninhabited island of Trinidad; and + </p> + <p> + “2. That in course of January, 1894, he renewed to all these Powers the + official notification of the said taking of possession, and informed them + at the same time that from that date the land would be known as + ‘Principality of Trinidad’; that he took the title of ‘Prince of + Trinidad,’ and would reign under the name of James I. + </p> + <p> + “In consequence of these official notifications several Powers have + recognized the new Principality and its Prince, and at all events none + thought it necessary at that epoch to raise objections or formulate + opposition. + </p> + <p> + “The press of the entire world has, on the other hand, often acquainted + readers with these facts, thus giving to them all possible publicity. In + consequence of the accomplishment of these various formalities, and as the + law of nations prescribes that ‘derelict’ territories belong to whoever + will take possession of them, and as the island of Trinidad, which has + been abandoned for years, certainly belongs to the aforesaid category, his + Serene Highness Prince James I was authorized to regard his rights on the + said island as perfectly valid and indisputable. + </p> + <p> + “Nevertheless, your Excellency knows that recently, in spite of all the + legitimate rights of my august sovereign, an English war-ship has + disembarked at Trinidad a detachment of armed troops and taken possession + of the island in the name of England. + </p> + <p> + “Following this assumption of territory, the Brazilian Government, + invoking a right of ancient Portuguese occupation (long ago outlawed), has + notified the English Government to surrender the island to Brazil. + </p> + <p> + “I beg of your Excellency to ask of the Government of the United States of + North America to recognize the Principality of Trinidad as an independent + State, and to come to an understanding with the other American Powers in + order to guarantee its neutrality. + </p> + <p> + “Thus the Government of the United States of North America will once more + accord its powerful assistance to the cause of right and of justice, + misunderstood by England and Brazil, put an end to a situation which + threatens to disturb the peace, re-establish concord between two great + States ready to appeal to arms, and affirm itself, moreover, as the + faithful interpreter of the Monroe Doctrine. + </p> + <p> + “In the expectation of your reply please accept, Excellency, the + expression of my elevated consideration. + </p> + <p> + “The Grand Chancellor, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, + </p> + <p> + “COMTE DE LA BOISSIERE.” + </p> + <p> + At that time Richard Olney was Secretary of State, and in his treatment of + the protest, and of the gentleman who wrote it, he fully upheld the + reputation he made while in office of lack of good manners. Saying he was + unable to read the handwriting in which the protest was written, he + disposed of it in a way that would suggest itself naturally to a statesman + and a gentleman. As a “crank” letter he turned it over to the Washington + correspondents. You can imagine what they did with it. + </p> + <p> + The day following the reporters in New York swept down upon the + chancellery and upon the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It was the “silly + season” in August, there was no real news in town, and the troubles of De + la Boissiere were allowed much space. + </p> + <p> + They laughed at him and at his king, at his chancellery, at his broken + English, at his “grave and courtly manners,” even at his clothes. But in + spite of the ridicule, between the lines you could read that to the man + himself it all was terribly real. + </p> + <p> + I had first heard of the island of Trinidad from two men I knew who spent + three months on it searching for the treasure, and when Harden-Hickey + proclaimed himself lord of the island, through the papers I had carefully + followed his fortunes. So, partly out of curiosity and partly out of + sympathy, I called at the chancellery. + </p> + <p> + I found it in a brownstone house, in a dirty neighborhood just west of + Seventh Avenue, and of where now stands the York Hotel. Three weeks ago I + revisited it and found it unchanged. At the time of my first visit, on the + jamb of the front door was pasted a piece of paper on which was written in + the handwriting of De la Boissiere: “Chancellerie de la Principaute de + Trinidad.” + </p> + <p> + The chancellery was not exactly in its proper setting. On its door-step + children of the tenements were playing dolls with clothes-pins; in the + street a huckster in raucous tones was offering wilted cabbages to women + in wrappers leaning from the fire escapes; the smells and the heat of New + York in midsummer rose from the asphalt. It was a far cry to the + wave-swept island off the coast of Brazil. + </p> + <p> + De la Boissiere received me with distrust. The morning papers had made him + man-shy; but, after a few “Your Excellencies” and a respectful inquiry + regarding “His Royal Highness,” his confidence revived. In the situation + he saw nothing humorous, not even in an announcement on the wall which + read: “Sailings to Trinidad.” Of these there were <i>two</i>; on March 1, + and on October 1. On the table were many copies of the royal proclamation, + the postage-stamps of the new government, the thousand-franc bonds, and, + in pasteboard boxes, the gold and red enamelled crosses of the Order of + Trinidad. + </p> + <p> + He talked to me frankly and fondly of Prince James. Indeed, I never met + any man who knew Harden-Hickey well who did not speak of him with + aggressive loyalty. If at his eccentricities they smiled, it was with the + smile of affection. It was easy to see De la Boissiere regarded him not + only with the affection of a friend, but with the devotion of a true + subject. In his manner he himself was courteous, gentle, and so + distinguished that I felt as though I were enjoying, on intimate terms, an + audience with one of the prime-ministers of Europe. + </p> + <p> + And he, on his part, after the ridicule of the morning papers, to have any + one with outward seriousness accept his high office and his king, was, I + believe, not ungrateful. + </p> + <p> + I told him I wished to visit Trinidad, and in that I was quite serious. + The story of an island filled with buried treasure, and governed by a + king, whose native subjects were turtles and seagulls, promised to make + interesting writing. + </p> + <p> + The count was greatly pleased. I believe in me he saw his first bona-fide + settler, and when I rose to go he even lifted one of the crosses of + Trinidad and, before my envious eyes, regarded it uncertainly. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps, had he known that of all decorations it was the one I most + desired; had I only then and there booked my passage, or sworn allegiance + to King James, who knows but that to-day I might be a chevalier, with my + name in the “Book of Gold”? But instead of bending the knee, I reached for + my hat; the count replaced the cross in its pasteboard box, and for me the + psychological moment had passed. + </p> + <p> + Others, more deserving of the honor, were more fortunate. Among my + fellow-reporters who, like myself, came to scoff, and remained to pray, + was Henri Pene du Bois, for some time, until his recent death, the + brilliant critic of art and music of the <i>American</i>. Then he was on + the <i>Times</i>, and Henry N. Cary, now of the <i>Morning Telegraph</i>, + was his managing editor. + </p> + <p> + When Du Bois reported to Cary on his assignment, he said: “There is + nothing funny in that story. It’s pathetic. Both those men are in earnest. + They are convinced they are being robbed of their rights. Their only fault + is that they have imagination, and that the rest of us lack it. That’s the + way it struck me, and that’s the way the story ought to be written.” + </p> + <p> + “Write it that way,” said Cary. + </p> + <p> + So, of all the New York papers, the <i>Times</i>, for a brief period, + became the official organ of the Government of James the First, and in + time Cary and Du Bois were created Chevaliers of the Order of Trinidad, + and entitled to wear uniforms “Similar to those of the Chamberlains of the + Court, save that the buttons bear the impress of the Royal Crown.” + </p> + <p> + The attack made by Great Britain and Brazil upon the independence of the + principality, while it left Harden-Hickey in the position of a king in + exile, brought him at once another crown, which, by those who offered it + to him, was described as of incomparably greater value than that of + Trinidad. + </p> + <p> + In the first instance the man had sought the throne; in this case the + throne sought the man. + </p> + <p> + In 1893 in San Francisco, Ralston J. Markowe, a lawyer and a one-time + officer of artillery in the United States army, gained renown as one of + the Morrow filibustering expedition which attempted to overthrow the Dole + government in the Hawaiian Isles and restore to the throne Queen + Liliuokalani. In San Francisco Markowe was nicknamed the “Prince of + Honolulu,” as it was understood, should Liliuokalani regain her crown, he + would be rewarded with some high office. But in the star of Liliuokalani, + Markowe apparently lost faith, and thought he saw in Harden-Hickey timber + more suitable for king-making. Accordingly, twenty-four days after the + “protest” was sent to our State Department, Markowe switched his + allegiance to Harden-Hickey, and to him addressed the following letter: + </p> + <p> + “SAN FRANCISCO, August 26, 1895. + </p> + <p> + BARON HARDEN-HICKEY, LOS ANGELES, CAL.: + </p> + <p> + “Monseigneur—Your favor of August 16 has been received. + </p> + <p> + “1. I am the duly authorized agent of the Royalist party in so far as it + is possible for any one to occupy that position under existing + circumstances. With the Queen in prison and absolutely cut off from all + communication with her friends, it is out of the question for me to carry + anything like formal credentials. + </p> + <p> + “2. Alienating any part of the territory cannot give rise to any + constitutional questions, for the reason that the constitutions, like the + land tenures, are in a state of such utter confusion that only a strong + hand can unravel them, and the restoration will result in the + establishment of a strong military government. If I go down with the + expedition I have organized I shall be in full control of the situation + and in a position to carry out all my contracts. + </p> + <p> + “3. It is the island of Kauai on which I propose to establish you as an + independent sovereign. + </p> + <p> + “4. My plan is to successively occupy all the islands, leaving the capital + to the last. When the others have fallen, the capital, being cut off from + all its resources, will be easily taken, and may very likely fall without + effort. I don’t expect in any case to have to fortify myself or to take + the defensive, or to have to issue a call to arms, as I shall have an + overwhelming force to join me at once, in addition to those who go with + me, who by themselves will be sufficient to carry everything before them + without active cooperation from the people there. + </p> + <p> + “5. The Government forces consist of about 160 men and boys, with very + imperfect military training, and of whom about forty are officers. They + are organized as infantry. There are also about 600 citizens enrolled as a + reserve guard, who may be called upon in case of an emergency, and about + 150 police. We can fully rely upon the assistance of all the police and + from one-quarter to one-half of the other troops. And of the remainder + many will under no circumstances engage in a sharp fight in defense of the + present government. There are now on the island plenty of men and arms to + accomplish our purpose, and if my expedition does not get off very soon + the people there will be organized to do the work without other assistance + from here than the direction of a few leaders, of which they stand more in + need than anything else. + </p> + <p> + “6. The tonnage of the vessel is 146. She at present has berth-room for + twenty men, but bunks can be arranged in the hold for 256 more, with + provision for ample ventilation. She has one complete set of sails and two + extra spars. The remaining information in regard to her I will have to + obtain and send you to-morrow. I think it must be clear to you that the + opportunity now offered you will be of incomparably greater value at once + than Trinidad would ever be. Still hoping that I may have an interview + with you at an early date, respectfully yours, + </p> + <p> + “RALSTON J. MARKOWE.” + </p> + <p> + What Harden-Hickey thought of this is not known, but as two weeks before + he received it he had written Markowe, asking him by what authority he + represented the Royalists of Honolulu, it seems evident that when the + crown of Hawaii was first proffered him he did not at once spurn it. + </p> + <p> + He now was in the peculiar position of being a deposed king of an island + in the South Atlantic, which had been taken from him, and king-elect of an + island in the Pacific, which was his if he could take it. + </p> + <p> + This was in August of 1895. For the two years following, Harden-Hickey was + a soldier of misfortunes. Having lost his island kingdom, he could no + longer occupy himself with plans for its improvement. It had been his toy. + They had taken it from him, and the loss and the ridicule which followed + hurt him bitterly. + </p> + <p> + And for the lands he really owned in Mexico and California, and which, if + he were to live in comfort, it was necessary he should sell, he could find + no purchaser; and, moreover, having quarrelled with his father-in-law, he + had cut off his former supply of money. The need of it pinched him + cruelly. + </p> + <p> + The advertised cause of this quarrel was sufficiently characteristic to be + the real one. Moved by the attack of Great Britain upon his principality, + Harden-Hickey decided upon reprisals. It must be remembered that always he + was more Irish than French. On paper he organized an invasion of England + from Ireland, the home of his ancestors. It was because Flagler refused to + give him money for this adventure that he broke with him. His friends say + this was the real reason of the quarrel, which was a quarrel on the side + of Harden-Hickey alone. + </p> + <p> + And there were other, more intimate troubles. While not separated from his + wife, he now was seldom in her company. When the Baroness was in Paris, + Harden-Hickey was in San Francisco; when she returned to San Francisco, he + was in Mexico. The fault seems to have been his. He was greatly admired by + pretty women. His daughter by his first wife, now a very beautiful girl of + sixteen, spent much time with her stepmother; and when not on his father’s + ranch in Mexico, his son also, for months together, was at her side. The + husband approved of this, but he himself saw his wife infrequently. + Nevertheless, early in the spring of 1898, the Baroness leased a house in + Brockton Square, in Riverside, Cal., where it was understood by herself + and by her friends her husband would join her. At that time in Mexico he + was trying to dispose of a large tract of land. Had he been able to sell + it, the money for a time would have kept one even of his extravagances + contentedly rich. At least, he would have been independent of his wife and + of her father. Up to February of 1898 his obtaining this money seemed + probable. + </p> + <p> + Early in that month the last prospective purchaser decided not to buy. + </p> + <p> + There is no doubt that had Harden-Hickey then turned to his father-in-law, + that gentleman, as he had done before, would have opened an account for + him. + </p> + <p> + But the Prince of Trinidad felt he could no longer beg, even for the money + belonging to his wife, from the man he had insulted. He could no longer + ask his wife to intercede for him. He was without money of his own, with + out the means of obtaining it; from his wife he had ceased to expect even + sympathy, and from the world he knew, the fact that he was a self-made + king caused him always to be pointed out with ridicule as a charlatan, as + a jest. + </p> + <p> + The soldier of varying fortunes, the duellist and dreamer, the devout + Catholic and devout Buddhist, saw the forty-third year of his life only as + the meeting-place of many fiascos. + </p> + <p> + His mind was tormented with imaginary wrongs, imaginary slights, imaginary + failures. + </p> + <p> + This young man, who could paint pictures, write books, organize colonies + oversea, and with a sword pick the buttons from a waistcoat, forgot the + twenty good years still before him; forgot that men loved him for the + mistakes he had made; that in parts of the great city of Paris his name + was still spoken fondly, still was famous and familiar. + </p> + <p> + In his book on the “Ethics of Suicide,” for certain hard places in life he + had laid down an inevitable rule of conduct. + </p> + <p> + As he saw it he had come to one of those hard places, and he would not ask + of others what he himself would not perform. + </p> + <p> + From Mexico he set out for California, but not to the house his wife had + prepared for him. + </p> + <p> + Instead, on February 9, 1898, at El Paso, he left the train and registered + at a hotel. + </p> + <p> + At 7.30 in the evening he went to his room, and when, on the following + morning, they kicked in the door, they found him stretched rigidly upon + the bed, like one lying in state, with, near his hand, a half-emptied + bottle of poison. + </p> + <p> + On a chair was pinned this letter to his wife: + </p> + <p> + “My DEAREST,—No news from you, although you have had plenty of time + to write. Harvey has written me that he has no one in view at present to + buy my land. Well, I shall have tasted the cup of bitterness to the very + dregs, but I do not complain. Good-by. I forgive you your conduct toward + me and trust you will be able to forgive yourself. I prefer to be a dead + gentleman to a living blackguard like your father.” + </p> + <p> + And when they searched his open trunk for something that might identify + the body on the bed, they found the crown of Trinidad. + </p> + <p> + You can imagine it: the mean hotel bedroom, the military figure with its + white face and mustache, “<i>a la</i> Louis Napoleon,” at rest upon the + pillow, the startled drummers and chambermaids peering in from the hall, + and the landlord, or coroner, or doctor, with a bewildered countenance, + lifting to view the royal crown of gilt and velvet. + </p> + <p> + The other actors in this, as Harold Frederic called it, “Opera Bouffe + Monarchy,” are still living. + </p> + <p> + The Baroness Harden-Hickey makes her home in this country. + </p> + <p> + The Count de la Boissiere, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, is still a + leader of the French colony in New York, and a prosperous commission + merchant with a suite of offices on Fifty-fourth Street. By the will of + Harden-Hickey he is executor of his estate, guardian of his children, and + what, for the purpose of this article, is of more importance, in his hands + lies the future of the kingdom of Trinidad. When Harden-Hickey killed + himself the title to the island was in dispute. Should young Harden-Hickey + wish to claim it, it still would be in dispute. Meanwhile, by the will of + the First James, De la Boissiere is appointed perpetual regent, a sort of + “receiver,” and executor of the principality. + </p> + <p> + To him has been left a royal decree signed and sealed, but blank. In the + will the power to fill in this blank with a statement showing the final + disposition of the island has been bestowed upon De la Boissiere. + </p> + <p> + So, some day, he may proclaim the accession of a new king, and give a new + lease of life to the kingdom of which Harden-Hickey dreamed. + </p> + <p> + But unless his son, or wife, or daughter should assert his or her rights, + which is not likely to happen, so ends the dynasty of James the First of + Trinidad, Baron of the Holy Roman Empire. + </p> + <p> + To the wise ones in America he was a fool, and they laughed at him; to the + wiser ones, he was a clever rascal who had evolved a new real-estate + scheme and was out to rob the people—and they respected him. To my + mind, of them all, Harden-Hickey was the wisest. + </p> + <p> + Granted one could be serious, what could be more delightful than to be + your own king on your own island? + </p> + <p> + The comic paragraphers, the business men of “hard, common sense,” the + captains of industry who laughed at him and his national resources of + buried treasure, turtles’ eggs, and guano, with his body-guard of Zouaves + and his Grand Cross of Trinidad, certainly possessed many things that + Harden-Hickey lacked. But they in turn lacked the things that made him + happy; the power to “make believe,” the love of romance, the touch of + adventure that plucked him by the sleeve. + </p> + <p> + When, as boys, we used to say: “Let’s pretend we’re pirates,” as a man, + Harden-Hickey begged: “Let’s pretend I’m a king.” + </p> + <p> + But the trouble was, the other boys had grown up and would not pretend. + </p> + <p> + For some reason his end always reminds me of the closing line of Pinero’s + play, when the adventuress, Mrs. Tanqueray, kills herself, and her + virtuous stepchild says: “If we had only been kinder!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL + </h2> + <p> + IN the strict sense of the phrase, a soldier of fortune is a man who for + pay, or for the love of adventure, fights under the flag of any country. + </p> + <p> + In the bigger sense he is the kind of man who in any walk of life makes + his own fortune, who, when he sees it coming, leaps to meet it, and turns + it to his advantage. + </p> + <p> + Than Winston Spencer Churchill to-day there are few young men—and he + is a very young man—who have met more varying fortunes, and none who + has more frequently bent them to his own advancement. To him it has been + indifferent whether, at the moment, the fortune seemed good or evil, in + the end always it was good. + </p> + <p> + As a boy officer, when other subalterns were playing polo, and at the + Gaiety Theatre attending night school, he ran away to Cuba and fought with + the Spaniards. For such a breach of military discipline, any other officer + would have been court-martialled. Even his friends feared that by his + foolishness his career in the army was at an end. Instead, his escapade + was made a question in the House of Commons, and the fact brought him such + publicity that the <i>Daily Graphic</i> paid him handsomely to write on + the Cuban Revolution, and the Spanish Government rewarded him with the + Order of Military Merit. + </p> + <p> + At the very outbreak of the Boer war he was taken prisoner. It seemed a + climax of misfortune. With his brother officers he had hoped in that + campaign to acquit himself with credit, and that he should lie inactive in + Pretoria appeared a terrible calamity. To the others who, through many + heart-breaking months, suffered imprisonment, it continued to be a + calamity. But within six weeks of his capture Churchill escaped, and, + after many adventures, rejoined his own army to find that the calamity had + made him a hero. + </p> + <p> + When after the battle of Omdurman, in his book on “The River War,” he + attacked Lord Kitchener, those who did not like him, and they were many, + said: “That’s the end of Winston in the army. He’ll never get another + chance to criticise K. of K.” + </p> + <p> + But only two years later the chance came, when, no longer a subaltern, but + as a member of the House of Commons, he patronized Kitchener by defending + him from the attacks of others. + </p> + <p> + Later, when his assaults upon the leaders of his own party closed to him, + even in his own constituency, the Conservative debating clubs, again his + ill-wishers said: “This <i>is</i> the end. He has ridiculed those who sit + in high places. He has offended his cousin and patron, the Duke of + Marlborough. Without political friends, without the influence and money of + the Marlborough family he is a political nonentity.” That was eighteen + months ago. To-day, at the age of thirty-two, he is one of the leaders of + the Government party, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, and with the + Liberals the most popular young man in public life. + </p> + <p> + Only last Christmas, at a banquet, Sir Edward Grey, the new Foreign + Secretary, said of him: “Mr. Winston Churchill has achieved distinction in + at least five different careers—as a soldier, a war correspondent, a + lecturer, an author, and last, but not least, as a politician. I have + understated it even now, for he has achieved two careers as a politician—one + on each side of the House. His first career on the Government side was a + really distinguished career. I trust the second will be even more + distinguished—and more prolonged. The remarkable thing is that he + has done all this when, unless appearances very much belie him, he has not + reached the age of sixty-four, which is the minimum age at which the + politician ceases to be young.” + </p> + <p> + Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born thirty-two years ago, in + November, 1874. By birth he is half-American. His father was Lord Randolph + Churchill, and his mother was Jennie Jerome, of New York. On the father’s + side he is the grandchild of the seventh Duke of Marlborough, on the + distaff side, of Leonard Jerome. + </p> + <p> + To a student of heredity it would be interesting to try and discover from + which of these ancestors Churchill drew those qualities which in him are + most prominent, and which have led to his success. + </p> + <p> + What he owes to his father and mother it is difficult to overestimate, + almost as difficult as to overestimate what he has accomplished by his own + efforts. + </p> + <p> + He was not a child born a full-grown genius of commonplace parents. Rather + his fate threatened that he should always be known as the son of his + father. And certainly it was asking much of a boy that he should live up + to a father who was one of the most conspicuous, clever, and erratic + statesmen of the later Victorian era, and a mother who is as brilliant as + she is beautiful. + </p> + <p> + For at no time was the American wife content to be merely ornamental. + Throughout the political career of her husband she was his helpmate, and + as an officer of the Primrose League, as an editor of the <i>Anglo-Saxon + Review</i>, as, for many hot, weary months in Durban Harbor, the head of + the hospital ship <i>Maine</i>, she has shown an acute mind and real + executive power. At the polls many votes that would not respond to the + arguments of the husband, and later of the son, were gained over to the + cause by the charm and wit of the American woman. + </p> + <p> + In his earlier days, if one can have days any earlier than those he now + enjoys, Churchill was entirely influenced by two things: the tremendous + admiration he felt for his father, which filled him with ambition to + follow in his orbit, and the camaraderie of his mother, who treated him + less like a mother than a sister and companion. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, Churchill was always so precocious that I cannot recall the time + when he was young enough to be Lady Randolph’s son; certainly, I cannot + recall the time when she was old enough to be his mother. + </p> + <p> + When first I knew him he had passed through Harrow and Sandhurst and was a + second lieutenant in the Queen’s Own Hussars. He was just of age, but + appeared much younger. + </p> + <p> + He was below medium height, a slight, delicate-looking boy; although, as a + matter of fact, extremely strong, with blue eyes, many freckles, and hair + which threatened to be a decided red, but which now has lost its + fierceness. When he spoke it was with a lisp, which also has changed, and + which now appears to be merely an intentional hesitation. + </p> + <p> + His manner of speaking was nervous, eager, explosive. He used many + gestures, some of which were strongly reminiscent of his father, of whom + he, unlike most English lads, who shy at mentioning a distinguished + parent, constantly spoke. + </p> + <p> + He even copied his father in his little tricks of manner. Standing with + hands shoved under the frock-coat and one resting on each hip as though + squeezing in the waist line; when seated, resting the elbows on the arms + of the chair and nervously locking and unclasping fingers, are tricks + common to both. + </p> + <p> + He then had and still has a most embarrassing habit of asking many + questions; embarrassing, sometimes, because the questions are so frank, + and sometimes because they lay bare the wide expanse of one’s own + ignorance. + </p> + <p> + At that time, although in his twenty-first year, this lad twice had been + made a question in the House of Commons. + </p> + <p> + That in itself had rendered him conspicuous. When you consider out of + Great Britain’s four hundred million subjects how many live, die, and are + buried without at any age having drawn down upon themselves the anger of + the House of Commons, to have done so twice, before one has passed his + twenty-first year, seems to promise a lurid future. + </p> + <p> + The first time Churchill disturbed the august assemblage in which so soon + he was to become a leader was when he “ragged” a brother subaltern named + Bruce and cut up his saddle and accoutrements. The second time was when he + ran away to Cuba to fight with the Spaniards. + </p> + <p> + After this campaign, on the first night of his arrival in London, he made + his maiden speech. He delivered it in a place of less dignity than the + House of Commons, but one, throughout Great Britain and her colonies, as + widely known and as well supported. This was the Empire Music Hall. + </p> + <p> + At the time Mrs. Ormiston Chant had raised objections to the presence in + the Music Hall of certain young women, and had threatened, unless they + ceased to frequent its promenade, to have the license of the Music Hall + revoked. As a compromise, the management ceased selling liquor, and on the + night Churchill visited the place the bar in the promenade was barricaded + with scantling and linen sheets. With the thirst of tropical Cuba still + upon him, Churchill asked for a drink, which was denied him, and the + crusade, which in his absence had been progressing fiercely, was + explained. Any one else would have taken no for his answer, and have + sought elsewhere for his drink. Not so Churchill. What he did is + interesting, because it was so extremely characteristic. Now he would not + do it; then he was twenty-one. + </p> + <p> + He scrambled to the velvet-covered top of the railing which divides the + auditorium from the promenade, and made a speech. It was a plea in behalf + of his “Sisters, the Ladies of the Empire Promenade.” + </p> + <p> + “Where,” he asked of the ladies themselves and of their escorts crowded + below him in the promenade, “does the Englishman in London always find a + welcome? Where does he first go when, battle-scarred and travel-worn, he + reaches home? Who is always there to greet him with a smile, and join him + in a drink? Who is ever faithful, ever true—the Ladies of the Empire + Promenade.” + </p> + <p> + The laughter and cheers that greeted this, and the tears of the ladies + themselves, naturally brought the performance on the stage to a stop, and + the vast audience turned in the seats and boxes. + </p> + <p> + They saw a little red-haired boy in evening clothes, balancing himself on + the rail of the balcony, and around him a great crowd, cheering, shouting, + and bidding him “Go on!” + </p> + <p> + Churchill turned with delight to the larger audience, and repeated his + appeal. The house shook with laughter and applause. + </p> + <p> + The commissionaires and police tried to reach him and a good-tempered but + very determined mob of well-dressed gentlemen and cheering girls fought + them back. In triumph Churchill ended his speech by begging his hearers to + give “fair play” to the women, and to follow him in a charge upon the + barricades. + </p> + <p> + The charge was instantly made, the barricades were torn down, and the + terrified management ordered that drink be served to its victorious + patrons. + </p> + <p> + Shortly after striking this blow for the liberty of others, Churchill + organized a dinner which illustrated the direction in which at that age + his mind was working, and showed that his ambition was already abnormal. + The dinner was given to those of his friends and acquaintances who “were + under twenty-one years of age, and who in twenty years would control the + destinies of the British Empire.” + </p> + <p> + As one over the age limit, or because he did not consider me an + empire-controlling force, on this great occasion, I was permitted to be + present. But except that the number of incipient empire-builders was very + great, that they were very happy, and that save the host himself none of + them took his idea seriously, I would not call it an evening of historical + interest. But the fact is interesting that of all the boys present, as + yet, the host seems to be the only one who to any conspicuous extent is + disturbing the destinies of Great Britain. However, the others can reply + that ten of the twenty years have not yet passed. + </p> + <p> + When he was twenty-three Churchill obtained leave of absence from his + regiment, and as there was no other way open to him to see fighting, as a + correspondent he joined the Malakand Field Force in India. + </p> + <p> + It may be truthfully said that by his presence in that frontier war he + made it and himself famous. His book on that campaign is his best piece of + war reporting. To the civilian reader it has all the delight of one of + Kipling’s Indian stories, and to writers on military subjects it is a + model. But it is a model very few can follow, and which Churchill himself + was unable to follow, for the reason that only once is it given a man to + be twenty-three years of age. + </p> + <p> + The picturesque hand-to-hand fighting, the night attacks, the charges up + precipitous hills, the retreats made carrying the wounded under constant + fire, which he witnessed and in which he bore his part, he never again can + see with the same fresh and enthusiastic eyes. Then it was absolutely new, + and the charm of the book and the value of the book are that with the + intolerance of youth he attacks in the service evils that older men prefer + to let lie, and that with the ingenuousness of youth he tells of things + which to the veteran have become unimportant, or which through usage he is + no longer even able to see. + </p> + <p> + In his three later war books, the wonder of it, the horror of it, the + quick admiration for brave deeds and daring men, give place, in “The River + War,” to the critical point of view of the military expert, and in his two + books on the Boer war to the rapid impressions of the journalist. In these + latter books he tells you of battles he has seen, in the first one he made + you see them. + </p> + <p> + For his services with the Malakand Field Force he received the campaign + medal with clasp, and, “in despatches,” Brigadier-General Jeffreys praises + “the courage and resolution of Lieutenant W. L. S. Churchill, Fourth + Hussars, with the force as correspondent of the <i>Pioneer</i>.” + </p> + <p> + From the operations around Malakand, he at once joined Sir William + Lockhart as orderly officer, and with the Tirah Expedition went through + that campaign. + </p> + <p> + For this his Indian medal gained a second clasp. + </p> + <p> + This was in the early part of 1898. In spite of the time taken up as an + officer and as a correspondent, he finished his book on the Malakand + Expedition and then, as it was evident Kitchener would soon attack + Khartum, he jumped across to Egypt and again as a correspondent took part + in the advance upon that city. + </p> + <p> + Thus, in one year, he had seen service in three campaigns. + </p> + <p> + On the day of the battle his luck followed him. Kitchener had attached him + to the Twenty-first Lancers, and it will be remembered the event of the + battle was the charge made by that squadron. It was no canter, no easy + “pig-sticking”; it was a fight to get in and a fight to get out, with + frenzied followers of the Khalifa hanging to the bridle reins, hacking at + the horses’ hamstrings, and slashing and firing point-blank at the + troopers. Churchill was in that charge. He received the medal with clasp. + </p> + <p> + Then he returned home and wrote “The River War.” This book is the last + word on the campaigns up the Nile. From the death of Gordon in Khartum to + the capture of the city by Kitchener, it tells the story of the many + gallant fights, the wearying failures, the many expeditions into the hot, + boundless desert, the long, slow progress toward the final winning of the + Sudan. + </p> + <p> + The book made a distinct sensation. It was a work that one would expect + from a lieutenant-general, when, after years of service in Egypt, he laid + down his sword to pen the story of his life’s work. From a Second + Lieutenant, who had been on the Nile hardly long enough to gain the desert + tan, it was a revelation. As a contribution to military history it was so + valuable that for the author it made many admirers, but on account of his + criticisms of his superior officers it gained him even more enemies. + </p> + <p> + This is a specimen of the kind of thing that caused the retired army + officer to sit up and choke with apoplexy: + </p> + <p> + “General Kitchener, who never spares himself, cares little for others. He + treated all men like machines, from the private soldiers, whose salutes he + disdained, to the superior officers, whom he rigidly controlled. The + comrade who had served with him and under him for many years, in peace and + peril, was flung aside as soon as he ceased to be of use. The wounded + Egyptian and even the wounded British soldier did not excite his + interest.” + </p> + <p> + When in the service clubs they read that, the veterans asked each other + their favorite question of what is the army coming to, and to their own + satisfaction answered it by pointing out that when a lieutenant of + twenty-four can reprimand the commanding general the army is going to the + dogs. + </p> + <p> + To the newspapers, hundreds of them, over their own signatures, on the + service club stationery, wrote violent, furious letters, and the + newspapers themselves, besides the ordinary reviews, gave to the book + editorial praise and editorial condemnation. + </p> + <p> + Equally disgusted were the younger officers of the service. They nicknamed + his book “A Subaltern’s Advice to Generals,” and called Churchill himself + a “Medal Snatcher.” A medal snatcher is an officer who, whenever there is + a rumor of war, leaves his men to the care of any one, and through + influence in high places and for the sake of the campaign medal has + himself attached to the expeditionary force. But Churchill never was a + medal hunter. The routine of barrack life irked him, and in foreign parts + he served his country far better than by remaining at home and inspecting + awkward squads and attending guard mount. Indeed, the War Office could + cover with medals the man who wrote “The Story of the Malakand Field + Force” and “The River War” and still be in his debt. + </p> + <p> + In October, 1898, a month after the battle of Omdurman, Churchill made his + debut as a political speaker at minor meetings in Dover and Rotherhithe. + History does not record that these first speeches set fire to the Channel. + During the winter he finished and published his “River War,” and in the + August of the following summer, 1899, at a by-election, offered himself as + Member of Parliament for Oldham. + </p> + <p> + In the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> his letters from the three campaigns in + India and Egypt had made his name known, and there was a general desire to + hear him and to see him. In one who had attacked Kitchener of Khartum, the + men of Oldham expected to find a stalwart veteran, bearded, and with a + voice of command. When they were introduced to a small red-haired boy with + a lisp, they refused to take him seriously. In England youth is an + unpardonable thing. Lately, Curzon, Churchill, Edward Grey, Hugh Cecil, + and others have made it less reprehensible. But, in spite of a vigorous + campaign, in which Lady Randolph took an active part, Oldham decided it + was not ready to accept young Churchill for a member. Later he was + Oldham’s only claim to fame. + </p> + <p> + A week after he was defeated he sailed for South Africa, where war with + the Boers was imminent. He had resigned from his regiment and went south + as war correspondent for the <i>Morning Post</i>. + </p> + <p> + Later in the war he held a commission as Lieutenant in the South African + Light Horse, a regiment of irregular cavalry, and on the staffs of + different generals acted as galloper and aide-de-camp. To this combination + of duties, which was in direct violation of a rule of the War Office, his + brother officers and his fellow correspondents objected; but, as in each + of his other campaigns he had played this dual role, the press censors + considered it a traditional privilege, and winked at it. As a matter of + record, Churchill’s soldiering never seemed to interfere with his writing, + nor, in a fight, did his duty to his paper ever prevent him from mixing in + as a belligerent. + </p> + <p> + War was declared October 9th, and only a month later, while scouting in + the armored train along the railroad line between Pietermaritzburg and + Colenso, the cars were derailed and Churchill was taken prisoner. + </p> + <p> + The train was made up of three flat cars, two armored cars, and between + them the engine, with three cars coupled to the cow-catcher and two to the + tender. + </p> + <p> + On the outward trip the Boers did not show themselves, but as soon as the + English passed Frere station they rolled a rock on the track at a point + where it was hidden by a curve. On the return trip, as the English + approached this curve the Boers opened fire with artillery and pompoms. + The engineer, in his eagerness to escape, rounded the curve at full speed, + and, as the Boers had expected, hit the rock. The three forward cars were + derailed, and one of them was thrown across the track, thus preventing the + escape of the engine and the two rear cars. From these Captain Haldane, + who was in command, with a detachment of the Dublins, kept up a steady + fire on the enemy, while Churchill worked to clear the track. To assist + him he had a company of Natal volunteers, and those who had not run away + of the train hands and break-down crew. + </p> + <p> + “We were not long left in the comparative safety of a railroad accident,” + Churchill writes to his paper. “The Boers’ guns, swiftly changing their + position, reopened fire from a distance of thirteen hundred yards before + any one had got out of the stage of exclamations. The tapping rifle-fire + spread along the hills, until it encircled the wreckage on three sides, + and from some high ground on the opposite side of the line a third + field-gun came into action.” + </p> + <p> + For Boer marksmen with Mausers and pompoms, a wrecked railroad train at + thirteen hundred yards was as easy a bull’s-eye as the hands of the first + baseman to the pitcher, and while the engine butted and snorted and the + men with their bare bands tore at the massive beams of the freight-car, + the bullets and shells beat about them. + </p> + <p> + “I have had in the last four years many strange and varied experiences,” + continues young Churchill, “but nothing was so thrilling as this; to wait + and struggle among these clanging, rending iron boxes, with the repeated + explosions of the shells, the noise of the projectiles striking the cars, + the hiss as they passed in the air, the grunting and puffing of the engine—poor, + tortured thing, hammered by at least a dozen shells, any one of which, by + penetrating the boiler, might have made an end of all—the + expectation of destruction as a matter of course, the realization of + powerlessness—all this for seventy minutes by the clock, with only + four inches of twisted iron between danger, captivity, and shame on one + side—and freedom on the other.” + </p> + <p> + The “protected” train had proved a deathtrap, and by the time the line was + clear every fourth man was killed or wounded. Only the engine, with the + more severely wounded heaped in the cab and clinging to its cow-catcher + and foot-rails, made good its escape. Among those left behind, a Tommy, + without authority, raised a handkerchief on his rifle, and the Boers + instantly ceased firing and came galloping forward to accept surrender. + There was a general stampede to escape. Seeing that Lieutenant Franklin + was gallantly trying to hold his men, Churchill, who was safe on the + engine, jumped from it and ran to his assistance. Of what followed, this + is his own account: + </p> + <p> + “Scarcely had the locomotive left me than I found myself alone in a + shallow cutting, and none of our soldiers, who had all surrendered, to be + seen. Then suddenly there appeared on the line at the end of the cutting + two men not in uniform. ‘Plate-layers,’ I said to myself, and then, with a + surge of realization, ‘Boers.’ My mind retains a momentary impression of + these tall figures, full of animated movement, clad in dark flapping + clothes, with slouch, storm-driven hats, posing their rifles hardly a + hundred yards away. I turned and ran between the rails of the track, and + the only thought I achieved was this: ‘Boer marksmanship.’ + </p> + <p> + “Two bullets passed, both within a foot, one on either side. I flung + myself against the banks of the cutting. But they gave no cover. Another + glance at the figures; one was now kneeling to aim. Again I darted + forward. Again two soft kisses sucked in the air, but nothing struck me. I + must get out of the cutting—that damnable corridor. I scrambled up + the bank. The earth sprang up beside me, and a bullet touched my hand, but + outside the cutting was a tiny depression. I crouched in this, struggling + to get my wind. On the other side of the railway a horseman galloped up, + shouting to me and waving his hand. He was scarcely forty yards off. With + a rifle I could have killed him easily. I knew nothing of the white flag, + and the bullets had made me savage. I reached down for my Mauser pistol. I + had left it in the cab of the engine. Between me and the horseman there + was a wire fence. Should I continue to fly? The idea of another shot at + such a short range decided me. Death stood before me, grim and sullen; + Death without his light-hearted companion, Chance. So I held up my hand, + and like Mr. Jorrock’s foxes, cried ‘Capivy!’ Then I was herded with the + other prisoners in a miserable group, and about the same time I noticed + that my hand was bleeding, and it began to pour with rain. + </p> + <p> + “Two days before I had written to an officer at home: ‘There has been a + great deal too much surrendering in this war, and I hope people who do so + will not be encouraged.’” + </p> + <p> + With other officers, Churchill was imprisoned in the State Model Schools, + situated in the heart of Pretoria. It was distinctly characteristic that + on the very day of his arrival he began to plan to escape. + </p> + <p> + Toward this end his first step was to lose his campaign hat, which he + recognized was too obviously the hat of an English officer. The burgher to + whom he gave money to purchase him another innocently brought him a Boer + sombrero. + </p> + <p> + Before his chance to escape came a month elapsed, and the opportunity that + then offered was less an opportunity to escape than to get himself shot. + </p> + <p> + The State Model Schools were surrounded by the children’s playgrounds, + penned in by a high wall, and at night, while they were used as a prison, + brilliantly lighted by electric lights. After many nights of observation, + Churchill discovered that while the sentries were pacing their beats there + was a moment when to them a certain portion of the wall was in darkness. + This was due to cross-shadows cast by the electric lights. On the other + side of this wall there was a private house set in a garden filled with + bushes. Beyond this was the open street. + </p> + <p> + To scale the wall was not difficult; the real danger lay in the fact that + at no time were the sentries farther away than fifteen yards, and the + chance of being shot by one or both of them was excellent. To a brother + officer Churchill confided his purpose, and together they agreed that some + night when the sentries had turned from the dark spot on the wall they + would scale it and drop among the bushes in the garden. After they reached + the garden, should they reach it alive, what they were to do they did not + know. How they were to proceed through the streets and out of the city, + how they were to pass unchallenged under its many electric lights and + before the illuminated shop windows, how to dodge patrols, and how to find + their way through two hundred and eighty miles of a South African + wilderness, through an utterly unfamiliar, unfriendly, and sparsely + settled country into Portuguese territory and the coast, they left to + chance. But with luck they hoped to cover the distance in a fortnight, + begging corn at the Kaffir kraals, sleeping by day, and marching under + cover of the darkness. + </p> + <p> + They agreed to make the attempt on the 11th of December, but on that night + the sentries did not move from the only part of the wall that was in + shadow. On the night following, at the last moment, something delayed + Churchill’s companion, and he essayed the adventure alone. He writes: + </p> + <p> + “Tuesday, the 12th! Anything was better than further suspense. Again night + came. Again the dinner bell sounded. Choosing my opportunity, I strolled + across the quadrangle and secreted myself in one of the offices. Through a + chink I watched the sentries. For half an hour they remained stolid and + obstructive. Then suddenly one turned and walked up to his comrade and + they began to talk. Their backs were turned. + </p> + <p> + “I darted out of my hiding-place and ran to the wall, seized the top with + my hands and drew myself up. Twice I let myself down again in sickly + hesitation, and then with a third resolve scrambled up. The top was flat. + Lying on it, I had one parting glimpse of the sentries, still talking, + still with their backs turned, but, I repeat, still fifteen yards away. + Then I lowered myself into the adjoining garden and crouched among the + shrubs. I was free. The first step had been taken, and it was + irrevocable.” + </p> + <p> + Churchill discovered that the house into the garden of which he had so + unceremoniously introduced himself was brilliantly lighted, and that the + owner was giving a party. At one time two of the guests walked into the + garden and stood, smoking and chatting, in the path within a few yards of + him. + </p> + <p> + Thinking his companion might yet join him, for an hour he crouched in the + bushes, until from the other side of the wall he heard the voices of his + friend and of another officer. + </p> + <p> + “It’s all up!” his friend whispered. Churchill coughed tentatively. The + two voices drew nearer. To confuse the sentries, should they be listening, + the one officer talked nonsense, laughed loudly, and quoted Latin phrases, + while the other, in a low and distinct voice, said: “I cannot get out. The + sentry suspects. It’s all up. Can you get back again?” + </p> + <p> + To go back was impossible. Churchill now felt that in any case he was sure + to be recaptured, and decided he would, as he expresses it, at least have + a run for his money. + </p> + <p> + “I shall go on alone,” he whispered. + </p> + <p> + He heard the footsteps of his two friends move away from him across the + play yard. At the same moment he stepped boldly out into the garden and, + passing the open windows of the house, walked down the gravel path to the + street. Not five yards from the gate stood a sentry. Most of those + guarding the school-house knew him by sight, but Churchill did not turn + his head, and whether the sentry recognized him or not, he could not tell. + </p> + <p> + For a hundred feet he walked as though on ice, inwardly shrinking as he + waited for the sharp challenge, and the rattle of the Mauser thrown to the + “Ready.” His nerves were leaping, his heart in his throat, his spine of + water. And then, as he continued to advance, and still no tumult pursued + him, he quickened his pace and turned into one of the main streets of + Pretoria. The sidewalks were crowded with burghers, but no one noticed + him. This was due probably to the fact that the Boers wore no distinctive + uniform, and that with them in their commandoes were many English + Colonials who wore khaki riding breeches, and many Americans, French, + Germans, and Russians, in every fashion of semi-uniform. + </p> + <p> + If observed, Churchill was mistaken for one of these, and the very + openness of his movements saved him from suspicion. + </p> + <p> + Straight through the town he walked until he reached the suburbs, the open + veldt, and a railroad track. As he had no map or compass he knew this must + be his only guide, but he knew also that two railroads left Pretoria, the + one along which he had been captured, to Pietermaritzburg, and the other, + the one leading to the coast and freedom. Which of the two this one was he + had no idea, but he took his chance, and a hundred yards beyond a station + waited for the first outgoing train. About midnight, a freight stopped at + the station, and after it had left it and before it had again gathered + headway, Churchill swung himself up upon it, and stretched out upon a pile + of coal. Throughout the night the train continued steadily toward the + east, and so told him that it was the one he wanted, and that he was on + his way to the neutral territory of Portugal. + </p> + <p> + Fearing the daylight, just before the sun rose, as the train was pulling + up a steep grade, he leaped off into some bushes. All that day he lay + hidden, and the next night he walked. He made but little headway. As all + stations and bridges were guarded, he had to make long detours, and the + tropical moonlight prevented him from crossing in the open. In this way, + sleeping by day, walking by night, begging food from the Kaffirs, five + days passed. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, his absence had been at once discovered, and, by the Boers, + every effort was being made to retake him. Telegrams giving his + description were sent along both railways, three thousand photographs of + him were distributed, each car of every train was searched, and in + different parts of the Transvaal men who resembled him were being + arrested. It was said he had escaped dressed as a woman; in the uniform of + a Transvaal policeman whom he had bribed; that he had never left Pretoria, + and that in the disguise of a waiter he was concealed in the house of a + British sympathizer. On the strength of this rumor the houses of all + suspected persons were searched. + </p> + <p> + In the Volksstem it was pointed out as a significant fact that a week + before his escape Churchill had drawn from the library Mill’s “Essay on + Liberty.” + </p> + <p> + In England and over all British South Africa the escape created as much + interest as it did in Pretoria. Because the attempt showed pluck, and + because he had outwitted the enemy, Churchill for the time became a sort + of popular hero, and to his countrymen his escape gave as much pleasure as + it was a cause of chagrin to the Boers. + </p> + <p> + But as days passed and nothing was heard of him, it was feared he had lost + himself in the Machadodorp Mountains, or had succumbed to starvation, or, + in the jungle toward the coast, to fever, and congratulations gave way to + anxiety. + </p> + <p> + The anxiety was justified, for at this time Churchill was in a very bad + way. During the month in prison he had obtained but little exercise. The + lack of food and of water, the cold by night and the terrific heat by day, + the long stumbling marches in the darkness, the mental effect upon an + extremely nervous, high-strung organization of being hunted, and of having + to hide from his fellow men, had worn him down to a condition almost of + collapse. + </p> + <p> + Even though it were neutral soil, in so exhausted a state he dared not + venture into the swamps and waste places of the Portuguese territory; and, + sick at heart as well as sick in body, he saw no choice left him save to + give himself up. + </p> + <p> + But before doing so he carefully prepared a tale which, although most + improbable, he hoped might still conceal his identity and aid him to + escape by train across the border. + </p> + <p> + One night after days of wandering he found himself on the outskirts of a + little village near the boundary line of the Transvaal and Portuguese + territory. Utterly unable to proceed further, he crawled to the nearest + zinc-roofed shack, and, fully prepared to surrender, knocked at the door. + It was opened by a rough-looking, bearded giant, the first white man to + whom in many days Churchill had dared address himself. + </p> + <p> + To him, without hope, he feebly stammered forth the speech he had + rehearsed. The man listened with every outward mark of disbelief. At + Churchill himself he stared with open suspicion. Suddenly he seized the + boy by the shoulder, drew him inside the hut, and barred the door. + </p> + <p> + “You needn’t lie to me,” he said. “You are Winston Churchill, and I—am + the only Englishman in this village.” + </p> + <p> + The rest of the adventure was comparatively easy. The next night his + friend in need, an engineer named Howard, smuggled Churchill Into a + freight-car, and hid him under sacks of some soft merchandise. + </p> + <p> + At Komatie-Poort, the station on the border, for eighteen hours the car in + which Churchill lay concealed was left in the sun on a siding, and before + it again started it was searched, but the man who was conducting the + search lifted only the top layer of sacks, and a few minutes later + Churchill heard the hollow roar of the car as it passed over the bridge, + and knew that he was across the border. + </p> + <p> + Even then he took no chances, and for two days more lay hidden at the + bottom of the car. + </p> + <p> + When at last he arrived in Lorenzo Marques he at once sought out the + English Consul, who, after first mistaking him for a stoker from one of + the ships in the harbor, gave him a drink, a bath, and a dinner. + </p> + <p> + As good luck would have it, the <i>Induna</i> was leaving that night for + Durban, and, escorted by a body-guard of English residents armed with + revolvers, and who were taking no chances of his recapture by the Boer + agents, he was placed safely on board. Two days later he arrived at + Durban, where he was received by the Mayor, the populace, and a brass band + playing: “Britons Never, Never, Never shall be Slaves!” + </p> + <p> + For the next month Churchill was bombarded by letters and telegrams from + every part of the globe, some invited him to command filibustering + expeditions, others sent him woollen comforters, some forwarded + photographs of himself to be signed, others photographs of themselves, + possibly to be admired, others sent poems, and some bottles of whiskey. + </p> + <p> + One admirer wrote: “My congratulations on your wonderful and glorious + deeds, which will send such a thrill of pride and enthusiasm through Great + Britain and the United States of America, that the Anglo-Saxon race will + be irresistible.” + </p> + <p> + Lest so large an order as making the Anglo-Saxon race irresistible might + turn the head of a subaltern, an antiseptic cablegram was also sent him, + from London, reading: + </p> + <p> + “Best friends here hope you won’t go making further ass of yourself. + </p> + <p> + “McNEILL.” + </p> + <p> + One day in camp we counted up the price per word of this cablegram, and + Churchill was delighted to find that it must have cost the man who sent it + five pounds. + </p> + <p> + On the day of his arrival in Durban, with the cheers still in the air, + Churchill took the first train to “the front,” then at Colenso. Another + man might have lingered. After a month’s imprisonment and the hardships of + the escape, he might have been excused for delaying twenty-four hours to + taste the sweets of popularity and the flesh-pots of the Queen Hotel. But + if the reader has followed this brief biography he will know that to have + done so would have been out of the part. This characteristic of + Churchill’s to get on to the next thing explains his success. He has no + time to waste on postmortems, he takes none to rest on his laurels. + </p> + <p> + As a war correspondent and officer he continued with Buller until the + relief of Ladysmith, and with Roberts until the fall of Pretoria. He was + in many actions, in all the big engagements, and came out of the war with + another medal and clasps for six battles. + </p> + <p> + On his return to London he spent the summer finishing his second book on + the war, and in October at the general election as a “khaki” candidate, as + those were called who favored the war, again stood for Oldham. This time, + with his war record to help him, he wrested from the Liberals one of + Oldham’s two seats. He had been defeated by thirteen hundred votes; he was + elected by a majority of two hundred and twenty-seven. + </p> + <p> + The few months that intervened between his election and the opening of the + new Parliament were snatched by Churchill for a lecturing tour at home, + and in the United States and Canada. His subject was the war and his + escape from Pretoria. + </p> + <p> + When he came to this country half of the people here were in sympathy with + the Boers, and did not care to listen to what they supposed would be a + strictly British version of the war. His manager, without asking + permission of those whose names he advertised, organized for Churchill’s + first appearance in various cities, different reception committees. + </p> + <p> + Some of those whose names, without their consent, were used for these + committees, wrote indignantly to the papers, saying that while for + Churchill, personally, they held every respect, they objected to being + used to advertise an anti-Boer demonstration. + </p> + <p> + While this was no fault of Churchill’s, who, until he reached this country + knew nothing of it, it was neither for him nor for the success of his tour + the best kind of advance work. + </p> + <p> + During the fighting to relieve Ladysmith, with General Buller’s force, + Churchill and I had again been together, and later when I joined the Boer + army, at the Zand River Battle, the army with which he was a correspondent + had chased the army with which I was a correspondent, forty miles. I had + been one of those who refused to act on his reception committee, and he + had come to this country with a commission from twenty brother officers to + shoot me on sight. But in his lecture he was using the photographs I had + taken of the scene of his escape, and which I had sent him from Pretoria + as a souvenir, and when he arrived I was at the hotel to welcome him, and + that same evening three hours after midnight he came, in a blizzard, + pounding at our door for food and drink. What is a little thing like a war + between friends? + </p> + <p> + During his “tour,” except of hotels, parlor-cars, and “Lyceums,” he saw + very little of this country or of its people, and they saw very little of + him. On the trip, which lasted about two months, he cleared ten thousand + dollars. This, to a young man almost entirely dependent for an income upon + his newspaper work and the sale of his books, nearly repaid him for the + two months of “one night stands.” On his return to London he took his seat + in the new Parliament. + </p> + <p> + It was a coincidence that he entered Parliament at the same age as did his + father. With two other members, one born six days earlier than himself, he + enjoyed the distinction of being among the three youngest members of the + new House. + </p> + <p> + The fact did not seem to appall him. In the House it is a tradition that + young and ambitious members sit “below” the gangway; the more modest and + less assured are content to place themselves “above” it, at a point + farthest removed from the leaders. + </p> + <p> + On the day he was sworn in there was much curiosity to see where Churchill + would elect to sit. In his own mind there was apparently no doubt. After + he had taken the oath, signed his name, and shaken the hand of the + Speaker, without hesitation he seated himself on the bench next to the + Ministry. Ten minutes later, so a newspaper of the day describes it, he + had cocked his hat over his eyes, shoved his hands into his trousers + pockets, and was lolling back eying the veterans of the House with + critical disapproval. + </p> + <p> + His maiden speech was delivered in May, 1901, in reply to David Lloyd + George, who had attacked the conduct of British soldiers in South Africa. + Churchill defended them, and in a manner that from all sides gained him + honest admiration. In the course of the debate he produced and read a + strangely apropos letter which, fifteen years before, had been written by + his father to Lord Salisbury. His adroit use of this filled H. W. + Massingham, the editor of the <i>Daily News</i>, with enthusiasm. Nothing + in parliamentary tactics, he declared, since Mr. Gladstone died, had been + so clever. He proclaimed that Churchill would be Premier. John Dillon, the + Nationalist leader, said he never before had seen a young man, by means of + his maiden effort, spring into the front rank of parliamentary speakers. + He promised that the Irish members would ungrudgingly testify to his + ability and honesty of purpose. Among others to at once recognize the + rising star was T. P. O’Connor, himself for many years of the + parliamentary firmament one of the brightest stars. In <i>M. A. P.</i> he + wrote: “I am inclined to think that the dash of American blood which he + has from his mother has been an improvement on the original stock, and + that Mr. Winston Churchill may turn out to be a stronger and abler + politician than his father.” + </p> + <p> + It was all a part of Churchill’s “luck” that when he entered Parliament + the subject in debate was the conduct of the war. + </p> + <p> + Even in those first days of his career in the House, in debates where + angels feared to tread, he did not hesitate to rush in, but this subject + was one on which he spoke with knowledge. Over the older men who were + forced to quote from hearsay or from what they had read, Churchill had the + tremendous advantage of being able to protest: “You only read of that. I + was there. I saw it.” + </p> + <p> + In the House he became at once one of the conspicuous and picturesque + figures, one dear to the heart of the caricaturist, and one from the + strangers’ gallery most frequently pointed out. He was called “the spoiled + child of the House,” and there were several distinguished gentlemen who + regretted they were forced to spare the rod. Broderick, the Secretary for + War, was one of these. Of him and of his recruits in South Africa, + Churchill spoke with the awful frankness of the <i>enfant terrible</i>. + And although he addressed them more with sorrow than with anger, to + Balfour and Chamberlain he daily administered advice and reproof, while + mere generals and field-marshals, like Kitchener and Roberts, blushing + under new titles, were held up for public reproof and briefly but severely + chastened. Nor, when he saw Lord Salisbury going astray, did he hesitate + in his duty to the country, but took the Prime Minister by the hand and + gently instructed him in the way he should go. + </p> + <p> + This did not tend to make him popular, but in spite of his unpopularity, + in his speeches against national extravagancies he made so good a fight + that he forced the Government, unwillingly, to appoint a committee to + investigate the need of economy. For a beginner this was a distinct + triumph. + </p> + <p> + With Lord Hugh Cecil, Lord Percy, Ian Malcolm, and other clever young men, + he formed inside the Conservative Party a little group that in its + obstructive and independent methods was not unlike the Fourth Party of his + father. From its leader and its filibustering, guerilla-like tactics the + men who composed it were nicknamed the “Hughligans.” The Hughligans were + the most active critics of the Ministry and of all in their own party, and + as members of the Free Food League they bitterly attacked the fiscal + proposals of Mr. Chamberlain. When Balfour made Chamberlain’s fight for + fair trade, or for what virtually was protection, a measure of the + Conservatives, the lines of party began to break, and men were no longer + Conservatives or Liberals, but Protectionists or Free Traders. + </p> + <p> + Against this Churchill daily protested, against Chamberlain, against his + plan, against that plan being adopted by the Tory Party. By tradition, by + inheritance, by instinct, Churchill was a Tory. + </p> + <p> + “I am a Tory,” he said, “and I have as much right in the party as has + anybody else, certainly as much as certain people from Birmingham. They + can’t turn us out, and we, the Tory Free Traders, have as much right to + dictate the policy of the Conservative Party as have any reactionary Fair + Traders.” In 1904 the Conservative Party already recognized Churchill as + one working outside the breastworks. Just before the Easter vacation of + that year, when he rose to speak a remarkable demonstration was made + against him by his Unionist colleagues, all of them rising and leaving the + House. + </p> + <p> + To the Liberals who remained to hear him he stated that if to his + constituents his opinions were obnoxious, he was ready to resign his seat. + It then was evident he would go over to the Liberal Party. Some thought he + foresaw which way the tidal wave was coming, and to being slapped down on + the beach and buried in the sand, he preferred to be swept forward on its + crest. Others believed he left the Conservatives because he could not + honestly stomach the taxed food offered by Mr. Chamberlain. + </p> + <p> + In any event, if he were to be blamed for changing from one party to the + other, he was only following the distinguished example set him by + Gladstone, Disraeli, Harcourt, and his own father. + </p> + <p> + It was at the time of this change that he was called “the best hated man + in England,” but the Liberals welcomed him gladly, and the National + Liberal Club paid him the rare compliment of giving in his honor a + banquet. There were present two hundred members. Up to that time this + dinner was the most marked testimony to his importance in the political + world. It was about then, a year since, that he prophesied: “Within nine + months there will come such a tide and deluge as will sweep through + England and Scotland, and completely wash out and effect a much-needed + spring cleaning in Downing Street.” + </p> + <p> + When the deluge came, at Manchester, Mr. Balfour was defeated, and + Churchill was victorious, and when the new Government was formed the tidal + wave landed Churchill in the office of Under-Secretary for the Colonies. + </p> + <p> + While this is being written the English papers say that within a month he + again will be promoted. For this young man of thirty the only promotion + remaining is a position in the Cabinet, in which august body men of fifty + are considered young. + </p> + <p> + His is a picturesque career. Of any man of his few years speaking our + language, his career is probably the most picturesque. And that he is half + an American gives all of us an excuse to pretend we share in his + successes. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CAPTAIN PHILO NORTON McGIFFIN + </h2> + <p> + IN the Chinese-Japanese War the battle of the Yalu was the first battle + fought between warships of modern make, and, except on paper, neither the + men who made them nor the men who fought them knew what the ships could + do, or what they might not do. For years every naval power had been + building these new engines of war, and in the battle which was to test + them the whole world was interested. But in this battle Americans had a + special interest, a human, family interest, for the reason that one of the + Chinese squadron, which was matched against some of the same vessels of + Japan which lately swept those of Russia from the sea, was commanded by a + young graduate of the American Naval Academy. This young man, who, at the + time of the battle of the Yalu, was thirty-three years old, was Captain + Philo Norton McGiffin. So it appears that five years before our fleet + sailed to victory in Manila Bay another graduate of Annapolis, and one + twenty years younger than in 1898 was Admiral Dewey, had commanded in + action a modern battleship, which, in tonnage, in armament, and in the + number of the ships’ company, far outclassed Dewey’s <i>Olympia</i>. + </p> + <p> + McGiffin, who was born on December 13, 1860, came of fighting stock. Back + in Scotland the family is descended from the Clan MacGregor and the Clan + MacAlpine. + </p> + <p> + “These are Clan-Alpine’s warriors true, And, Saxon—I am Roderick + Dhu.” + </p> + <p> + McGiffin’s great-grandfather, born in Scotland, emigrated to this country + and settled in “Little Washington,” near Pittsburg, Pa. In the + Revolutionary War he was a soldier. Other relatives fought in the War of + 1812, one of them holding a commission as major. McGiffin’s own father was + Colonel Norton McGiffin, who served in the Mexican War, and in the Civil + War was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers. So + McGiffin inherited his love for arms. + </p> + <p> + In Washington he went to the high school and at the Washington Jefferson + College had passed through his freshman year. But the honors that might + accrue to him if he continued to live on in the quiet and pretty old town + of Washington did not tempt him. To escape into the world he wrote his + Congressman, begging him to obtain for him an appointment to Annapolis. + The Congressman liked the letter, and wrote Colonel McGiffin to ask if the + application of his son had his approval. Colonel McGiffin was willing, and + in 1877 his son received his commission as cadet midshipman. I knew + McGiffin only as a boy with whom in vacation time I went coon hunting in + the woods outside of Washington. For his age he was a very tall boy, and + in his midshipman undress uniform, to my youthful eyes, appeared a most + bold and adventurous spirit. + </p> + <p> + At Annapolis his record seems to show he was pretty much like other boys. + According to his classmates, with all of whom I find he was very popular, + he stood high in the practical studies, such as seamanship, gunnery, + navigation, and steam engineering, but in all else he was near the foot of + the class, and in whatever escapade was risky and reckless he was always + one of the leaders. To him discipline was extremely irksome. He could + maintain it among others, but when it applied to himself it bored him. On + the floor of the Academy building on which was his room there was a + pyramid of cannon balls—relics of the War of 1812. They stood at the + head of the stairs, and one warm night, when he could not sleep, he + decided that no one else should do so, and, one by one, rolled the cannon + balls down the stairs. They tore away the banisters and bumped through the + wooden steps and leaped off into the lower halls. For any one who might + think of ascending to discover the motive power back of the bombardment + they were extremely dangerous. But an officer approached McGiffin in the + rear, and, having been caught in the act, he was sent to the prison ship. + There he made good friends with his jailer, an old man-of-warsman named + “Mike.” He will be remembered by many naval officers who as midshipmen + served on the <i>Santee</i>. McGiffin so won over Mike that when he left + the ship he carried with him six charges of gunpowder. These he loaded + into the six big guns captured in the Mexican War, which lay on the grass + in the centre of the Academy grounds, and at midnight on the eve of July + 1st he fired a salute. It aroused the entire garrison, and for a week the + empty window frames kept the glaziers busy. + </p> + <p> + About 1878 or 1879 there was a famine in Ireland. The people of New York + City contributed provisions for the sufferers, and to carry the supplies + to Ireland the Government authorized the use of the old <i>Constellation</i>. + At the time the voyage was to begin each cadet was instructed to consider + himself as having been placed in command of the <i>Constellation</i> and + to write a report on the preparations made for the voyage, on the loading + of the vessel, and on the distribution of the stores. This exercise was + intended for the instruction of the cadets; first in the matter of + seamanship and navigation, and second in making official reports. At that + time it was a very difficult operation to get a gun out of the port of a + vessel where the gun was on a covered deck. To do this the necessary + tackles had to be rigged from the yard-arm and the yard and mast properly + braced and stayed, and then the lower block of the tackle carried in + through the gun port, which, of course, gave the fall a very bad reeve. + The first part of McGiffin’s report dealt with a new method of dismounting + the guns and carrying them through the gun ports, and so admirable was his + plan, so simple and ingenious, that it was used whenever it became + necessary to dismount a gun from one of the old sailing ships. Having, + however, offered this piece of good work, McGiffin’s report proceeded to + tell of the division of the ship into compartments that were filled with a + miscellaneous assortment of stores, which included the old “fifteen + puzzles,” at that particular time very popular. The report terminated with + a description of the joy of the famished Irish as they received the + puzzle-boxes. At another time the cadets were required to write a report + telling of the suppression of the insurrection on the Isthmus of Panama. + McGiffin won great praise for the military arrangements and disposition of + his men, but, in the same report, he went on to describe how he armed them + with a new gun known as Baines’s Rhetoric and told of the havoc he wrought + in the enemy’s ranks when he fired these guns loaded with similes and + metaphors and hyperboles. + </p> + <p> + Of course, after each exhibition of this sort he was sent to the <i>Santee</i> + and given an opportunity to meditate. + </p> + <p> + On another occasion, when one of the instructors lectured to the cadets, + he required them to submit a written statement embodying all that they + could recall of what had been said at the lecture. One of the rules + concerning this report provided that there should be no erasures or + interlineations, but that when mistakes were made the objectionable or + incorrect expressions should be included within parentheses; and that the + matter so enclosed within parentheses would not be considered a part of + the report. McGiffin wrote an excellent <i>resume</i> of the lecture, but + he interspersed through it in parentheses such words as “applause,” + “cheers,” “cat-calls,” and “groans,” and as these words were enclosed + within parentheses he insisted that they did not count, and made a very + fair plea that he ought not to be punished for words which slipped in by + mistake, and which he had officially obliterated by what he called + oblivion marks. + </p> + <p> + He was not always on mischief bent. On one occasion, when the house of a + professor caught fire, McGiffin ran into the flames and carried out two + children, for which act he was commended by the Secretary of the Navy. + </p> + <p> + It was an act of Congress that determined that the career of McGiffin + should be that of a soldier of fortune. This was a most unjust act, which + provided that only as many midshipmen should receive commissions as on the + warships there were actual vacancies. In those days, in 1884, our navy was + very small. To-day there is hardly a ship having her full complement of + officers, and the difficulty is not to get rid of those we have educated, + but to get officers to educate. To the many boys who, on the promise that + they would be officers of the navy, had worked for four years at the + Academy and served two years at sea, the act was most unfair. Out of a + class of about ninety, only the first twelve were given commissions and + the remaining eighty turned adrift upon the uncertain seas of civil life. + As a sop, each was given one thousand dollars. + </p> + <p> + McGiffin was not one of the chosen twelve. In the final examinations on + the list he was well toward the tail. But without having studied many + things, and without remembering the greater part of them, no one graduates + from Annapolis, even last on the list; and with his one thousand dollars + in cash, McGiffin had also this six years of education at what was then + the best naval college in the world. This was his only asset—his + education—and as in his own country it was impossible to dispose of + it, for possible purchasers he looked abroad. + </p> + <p> + At that time the Tong King war was on between France and China, and he + decided, before it grew rusty, to offer his knowledge to the followers of + the Yellow Dragon. In those days that was a hazard of new fortunes that + meant much more than it does now. To-day the East is as near as San + Francisco; the Japanese-Russian War, our occupation of the Philippines, + the part played by our troops in the Boxer trouble, have made the affairs + of China part of the daily reading of every one. Now, one can step into a + brass bed at Forty-second Street and in four days at the Coast get into + another brass bed, and in twelve more be spinning down the Bund of + Yokohama in a rickshaw. People go to Japan for the winter months as they + used to go to Cairo. + </p> + <p> + But in 1885 it was no such light undertaking, certainly not for a young + man who had been brought up in the quiet atmosphere of an inland town, + where generations of his family and other families had lived and + intermarried, content with their surroundings. + </p> + <p> + With very few of his thousand dollars left him, McGiffin arrived in + February, 1885, in San Francisco. From there his letters to his family + give one the picture of a healthy, warm-hearted youth, chiefly anxious + lest his mother and sister should “worry.” In our country nearly every + family knows that domestic tragedy when the son and heir “breaks home + ties,” and starts out to earn a living; and if all the world loves a + lover, it at least sympathizes with the boy who is “looking for a job.” + The boy who is looking for the job may not think so, but each of those who + has passed through the same hard place gives him, if nothing else, his + good wishes. McGiffin’s letters at this period gain for him from those who + have had the privilege to read them the warmest good feeling. + </p> + <p> + They are filled with the same cheery optimism, the same slurring over of + his troubles, the same homely jokes, the same assurances that he is + feeling “bully,” and that it all will come out right, that every boy, when + he starts out in the world, sends back to his mother. + </p> + <p> + “I am in first-rate health and spirits, so I don’t want you to fuss about + me. I am big enough and ugly enough to scratch along somehow, and I will + not starve.” + </p> + <p> + To his mother he proudly sends his name written in Chinese characters, as + he had been taught to write it by the Chinese Consul-General in San + Francisco, and a pen-picture of two elephants. “I am going to bring you + home <i>two</i> of these,” he writes, not knowing that in the strange and + wonderful country to which he is going elephants are as infrequent as they + are in Pittsburg. + </p> + <p> + He reached China in April, and from Nagasaki on his way to Shanghai the + steamer that carried him was chased by two French gunboats. But, + apparently much to his disappointment, she soon ran out of range of their + guns. Though he did not know it then, with the enemy he had travelled so + far to fight this was his first and last hostile meeting; for already + peace was in the air. + </p> + <p> + Of that and of how, in spite of peace, he obtained the “job” he wanted, he + must tell you himself in a letter home: + </p> + <p> + TIEN-TSIN, CHINA, April 13, 1885. + </p> + <p> + “MY DEAR MOTHER—I have not felt much in the humor for writing, for I + did not know what was going to happen. I spent a good deal of money coming + out, and when I got here, I knew, unless something turned up, I was a gone + coon. We got off Taku forts Sunday evening and the next morning we went + inside; the channel is very narrow and sown with torpedoes. We struck one—an + electric one—in coming up, but it didn’t go off. We were until 10.30 + P.M. in coming up to Tien-Tsin—thirty miles in a straight line, but + nearly seventy by the river, which is only about one hundred feet wide—and + we grounded ten times. + </p> + <p> + “Well—at last we moored and went ashore. Brace Girdle, an engineer, + and I went to the hotel, and the first thing we heard was—that <i>peace + was declared!</i> I went back on board ship, and I didn’t sleep much—I + never was so blue in my life. I knew if they didn’t want me that I might + as well give up the ghost, for I could never get away from China. Well—I + worried around all night without sleep, and in the morning I felt as if I + had been drawn through a knot-hole. I must have lost ten pounds. I went + around about 10 A.M. and gave my letters to Pethick, an American U. S. + Vice-Consul and interpreter to Li Hung Chang. He said he would fix them + for me. Then I went back to the ship, and as our captain was going up to + see Li Hung Chang, I went along out of desperation. We got in, and after a + while were taken in through corridor after corridor of the Viceroy’s + palace until we got into the great Li, when we sat down and had tea and + tobacco and talked through an interpreter. When it came my turn he asked: + ‘Why did you come to China?’ I said: ‘To enter the Chinese service for the + war.’ ‘How do you expect to enter?’ ‘I expect <i>you</i> to give me a + commission!’ ‘I have no place to offer you.’ ‘I think you have—I + have come all the way from America to get it.’ ‘What would you like?’ ‘I + would like to get the new torpedo-boat and go down the Yang-tse-Kiang to + the blockading squadron.’ ‘Will you do that?’ ‘Of course.’ + </p> + <p> + “He thought a little and said: ‘I will see what can be done. Will you take + $100 a month for a start?’ I said: ‘That depends.’ (Of course I would take + it.) Well, after parley, he said he would put me on the flagship, and if I + did well he would promote me. Then he looked at me and said: ‘How old are + you?’ When I told him I was twenty-four I thought he would faint—for + in China a man is a <i>boy</i> until he is over thirty. He said I would <i>never</i> + do—I was a child. I could not know anything at all. I could not + convince him, but at last he compromised—I was to pass an + examination at the Arsenal at the Naval College, in all branches, and if + they passed me I would have a show. So we parted. I reported for + examination next day, but was put off—same the next day. But to-day + I was told to come, and sat down to a stock of foolscap, and had a pretty + stiff exam. I am only just through. I had seamanship, gunnery, navigation, + nautical astronomy, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, conic sections, curve + tracing, differential and integral calculus. I had only three questions + out of five to answer in each branch, but in the first three I answered + all five. After that I only had time for three, but at the end he said I + need not finish, he was perfectly satisfied. I had done remarkably well, + and he would report to the Viceroy to-morrow. He examined my first papers—seamanship—said + I was <i>perfect</i> in it, so I will get <i>along</i>, you need not fear. + I told the Consul—he was very well pleased—he is a nice man. + </p> + <p> + “I feel pretty well now—have had dinner and am smoking a good Manila + cheroot. I wrote hard all day, wrote fifteen sheets of foolscap and made + about a dozen drawings—got pretty tired. + </p> + <p> + “I have had a hard scramble for the service and only got in by the skin of + my teeth. I guess I will go to bed—I will sleep well to-night—Thursday. + </p> + <p> + “I did not hear from the Naval Secretary, Tuesday, so yesterday morning I + went up to the Admiralty and sent in my card. He came out and received me + very well—said I had passed a ‘very splendid examination’; had been + recommended very strongly to the Viceroy, who was very much pleased; that + the Director of the Naval College over at the Arsenal had wanted me and + would I go over at once? I <i>would</i>. It was about five miles. We (a + friend, who is a great rider here) went on steeplechase ponies—we + were ferried across the Pei Ho in a small scow and then had a long ride. + There <i>is</i> a path—but Pritchard insisted on taking all the + ditches, and as my pony jumped like a cat, it wasn’t nice at first, but I + didn’t squeal and kept my seat and got the swing of it at last and rather + liked it. I think I will keep a horse here—you can hire one and a + servant together for $7 a month; that is $5.60 of our money, and pony and + man found in everything. + </p> + <p> + “Well—at last we got to the Arsenal—a place about four miles + around, fortified, where all sorts of arms—cartridges, shot and + shell, engines, and <i>everything</i>—are made. The Naval College is + inside surrounded by a moat and wall. I thought to myself, if the cadet + here is like to the thing I used to be at the U. S. N. A. <i>that</i> + won’t keep him in. I went through a lot of yards till I was ushered into a + room finished in black ebony and was greeted very warmly by the Director. + We took seats on a raised platform—Chinese style and pretty soon an + interpreter came, one of the Chinese professors, who was educated abroad, + and we talked and drank tea. He said I had done well, that he had the + authority of the Viceroy to take me there as ‘Professor’ of seamanship and + gunnery; in addition I might be required to teach navigation or nautical + astronomy, or drill the cadets in infantry, artillery, and fencing. For + this I was to receive what would be in our money $1,800 per annum, as near + as we can compare it, paid in gold each month. Besides, I will have a + house furnished for my use, and it is their intention, as soon as I <i>show</i> + that I <i>know</i> something, to considerably increase my pay. They asked + the Viceroy to give me 130 T per month (about $186) and house, but the + Viceroy said I was <i>but a boy</i>; that I had seen no years and had only + come here a week ago with no one to vouch for me, and that I might turn + out an impostor. But he would risk 100 T on me anyhow, and as soon as I + was reported favorably on by the college I would be raised—the + agreement is to be for three years. For a few months I am to command a + training ship—an ironclad that is in dry dock at present, until a + captain in the English Navy comes out, who has been sent for to command + her. + </p> + <p> + “<i>So Here I am</i>—twenty-four years old and captain of a + man-of-war—a better one than any in our own navy—only for a + short time, of course, but I would be a pretty long time before I would + command one at home. Well—I accepted and will enter on my duties in + a week, as soon as my house is put in order. I saw it—it has a long + veranda, very broad; with flower garden, apricot trees, etc., just covered + with blossoms; a wide hall on the front, a room about 18x15, with a + 13-foot ceiling; then back another rather larger, with a cupola skylight + in the centre, where I am going to put a shelf with flowers. The + Government is to furnish the house with bed, tables, chairs, sideboards, + lounges, stove for kitchen. I have grates (American) in the room, but I + don’t need them. We have snow, and a good deal of ice in winter, but the + thermometer never gets below zero. I have to supply my own crockery. I + will have two servants and cook; I will only get one and the cook first—they + only cost $4 to $5.50 per month, and their board amounts to very little. I + can get along, don’t you think so? Now I want you to get Jim to pack up + all my professional works on gunnery, surveying, seamanship, mathematics, + astronomy, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, conic sections, calculus, + mechanics, and <i>every</i> book of that description I own, including + those paperbound ‘Naval Institute’ papers, and put them in a box, together + with any photos, etc., you think I would like—I have none of you or + Pa or the family (including Carrie)—and send to me. + </p> + <p> + “I just got in in time—didn’t I? Another week would have been too + late. My funds were getting low; I would not have had <i>anything</i> + before long. The U. S. Consul, General Bromley, is much pleased. The + interpreter says it was all in the way I did with the Viceroy in the + interview. + </p> + <p> + “I will have a chance to go to Peking and later to a tiger hunt in + Mongolia, but for the present I am going to study, work, and <i>stroke</i> + these mandarins till I get a raise. I am the only instructor in both + seamanship and gunnery, and I must know <i>everything</i>, both + practically and theoretically. But it will be good for me and the only + thing is, that if I were put back into the Navy I would be in a dilemma. I + think I will get my ‘influence’ to work, and I want you people at home to + look out, and in case I <i>am</i>—if it were represented to the Sec. + that my position here was giving me an immense lot of practical knowledge + professionally—more than I could get on a ship at sea—I think + he would give me two years’ leave on half or quarter pay. Or, I would be + willing to do without pay—only to be kept on the register in my + rank. + </p> + <p> + “I will write more about this. Love to all.” + </p> + <p> + It is characteristic of McGiffin that in the very same letter in which he + announces he has entered foreign service he plans to return to that of his + own country. This hope never left him. You find the same homesickness for + the quarterdeck of an American man-of-war all through his later letters. + At one time a bill to reinstate the midshipmen who had been cheated of + their commissions was introduced into Congress. Of this McGiffin writes + frequently as “our bill.” “It may pass,” he writes, “but I am tired + hoping. I have hoped so long. And if it should,” he adds anxiously, “there + may be a time limit set in which a man must rejoin, or lose his chance, so + do not fail to let me know as quickly as you can.” But the bill did not + pass, and McGiffin never returned to the navy that had cut him adrift. He + settled down at Tien-Tsin and taught the young cadets how to shoot. Almost + all of those who in the Chinese-Japanese War served as officers were his + pupils. As the navy grew, he grew with it, and his position increased in + importance. More Mexican dollars per month, more servants, larger houses, + and buttons of various honorable colors were given him, and, in return, he + established for China a modern naval college patterned after our own. In + those days throughout China and Japan you could find many of these foreign + advisers. Now, in Japan, the Hon. W. H. Dennison of the Foreign Office, + one of our own people, is the only foreigner with whom the Japanese have + not parted, and in China there are none. Of all of those who have gone + none served his employers more faithfully than did McGiffin. At a time + when every official robbed the people and the Government, and when + “squeeze” or “graft” was recognized as a perquisite, McGiffin’s hands were + clean. The shells purchased for the Government by him were not loaded with + black sand, nor were the rifles fitted with barrels of iron pipe. Once a + year he celebrated the Thanksgiving Day of his own country by inviting to + a great dinner all the Chinese naval officers who had been at least in + part educated in America. It was a great occasion, and to enjoy it + officers used to come from as far as Port Arthur, Shanghai, and Hong-Kong. + So fully did some of them appreciate the efforts of their host that + previous to his annual dinner, for twenty-four hours, they delicately + starved themselves. + </p> + <p> + During ten years McGiffin served as naval constructor and professor of + gunnery and seamanship, and on board ships at sea gave practical + demonstrations in the handling of the new cruisers. In 1894 he applied for + leave, which was granted, but before he had sailed for home war with Japan + was declared and he withdrew his application. He was placed as second in + command on board the <i>Chen Yuen</i>, a seven-thousand-ton battleship, a + sister ship to the <i>Ting Yuen</i>, the flagship of Admiral Ting Ju + Chang. On the memorable 17th of September, 1894, the battle of the Yalu + was fought, and so badly were the Chinese vessels hammered that the + Chinese navy, for the time being, was wiped out of existence. + </p> + <p> + From the start the advantage was with the Japanese fleet. In heavy guns + the Chinese were the better armed, but in quick-firing guns the Japanese + were vastly superior, and while the Chinese battleships <i>Ting Yuen</i> + and <i>Chen Yuen</i>, each of 7,430 tons, were superior to any of the + Japanese warships, the three largest of which were each of 4,277 tons, the + gross tonnage of the Japanese fleet was 36,000 to 21,000 of the Chinese. + During the progress of the battle the ships engaged on each side numbered + an even dozen, but at the very start, before a decisive shot was fired by + either contestant, the <i>Tsi Yuen</i>, 2,355 tons, and <i>Kwan Chiae</i>, + 1,300 tons, ran away, and before they had time to get into the game the <i>Chao + Yung</i> and <i>Yang Wei</i> were in flames and had fled to the nearest + land. So the battle was fought by eight Chinese ships against twelve of + the Japanese. Of the Chinese vessels, the flagship, commanded by Admiral + Ting, and her sister ship, which immediately after the beginning of the + fight was for four hours commanded by McGiffin, were the two chief + aggressors, and in consequence received the fire of the entire Japanese + squadron. Toward the end of the fight, which without interruption lasted + for five long hours, the Japanese did not even consider the four smaller + ships of the enemy, but, sailing around the two ironclads in a circle, + fired only at them. The Japanese themselves testified that these two ships + never lost their formation, and that when her sister ironclad was closely + pressed the <i>Chen Yuen</i>, by her movements and gun practice, protected + the <i>Ting Yuen</i>, and, in fact, while she could not prevent the heavy + loss the fleet encountered, preserved it from annihilation. During the + fight this ship was almost continuously on fire, and was struck by every + kind of projectile, from the thirteen-inch Canet shells to a rifle bullet, + four hundred times. McGiffin himself was so badly wounded, so beaten about + by concussions, so burned, and so bruised by steel splinters, that his + health and eyesight were forever wrecked. But he brought the <i>Chen Yuen</i> + safely into Port Arthur and the remnants of the fleet with her. + </p> + <p> + On account of his lack of health he resigned from the Chinese service and + returned to America. For two years he lived in New York City, suffering in + body without cessation the most exquisite torture. During that time his + letters to his family show only tremendous courage. On the splintered, + gaping deck of the <i>Chen Yuen</i>, with the fires below it, and the + shells bursting upon it, he had shown to his Chinese crew the courage of + the white man who knew he was responsible for them and for the honor of + their country. But far greater and more difficult was the courage he + showed while alone in the dark sick-room, and in the private wards of the + hospitals. + </p> + <p> + In the letters he dictates from there he still is concerned only lest + those at home shall “worry”; he reassures them with falsehoods, jokes at + their fears; of the people he can see from the window of the hospital + tells them foolish stories; for a little boy who has been kind he asks + them to send him his Chinese postage stamps; he plans a trip he will take + with them when he is stronger, knowing he never will be stronger. The + doctors had urged upon him a certain operation, and of it to a friend he + wrote: “I know that I will have to have a piece about three inches square + cut out of my skull, and this nerve cut off near the middle of the brain, + as well as my eye taken out (for a couple of hours only, provided it is + not mislaid, and can be found). Doctor ——— and his crowd + show a bad memory for failures. As a result of this operation others have + told me—I forget the percentage of deaths, which does not matter, + but—that a large percentage have become insane. And some lost their + sight.” + </p> + <p> + While threatened with insanity and complete blindness, and hourly from his + wounds suffering a pain drugs could not master, he dictated for the <i>Century + Magazine</i> the only complete account of the battle of the Yalu. In a + letter to Mr. Richard Watson Gilder he writes: “...my eyes are troubling + me. I cannot see even what I am writing now, and am getting the article + under difficulties. I yet hope to place it in your hands by the 21st, + still, if my eyes grow worse———” + </p> + <p> + “Still, if my eyes grow worse———” + </p> + <p> + The unfinished sentence was grimly prophetic. + </p> + <p> + Unknown to his attendants at the hospital, among the papers in his + despatch-box he had secreted his service revolver. On the morning of the + 11th of February, 1897, he asked for this box, and on some pretext sent + the nurse from the room. When the report of the pistol brought them + running to his bedside, they found the pain-driven body at peace, and the + tired eyes dark forever. + </p> + <p> + In the article in the <i>Century</i> on the battle of the Yalu, he had + said: + </p> + <p> + “Chief among those who have died for their country is Admiral Ting Ju + Chang, a gallant soldier and true gentleman. Betrayed by his countrymen, + fighting against odds, almost his last official act was to stipulate for + the lives of his officers and men. His own he scorned to save, well + knowing that his ungrateful country would prove less merciful than his + honorable foe. Bitter, indeed, must have been the reflections of the old, + wounded hero, in that midnight hour, as he drank the poisoned cup that was + to give him rest.” + </p> + <p> + And bitter indeed must have been the reflections of the young wounded + American, robbed, by the parsimony of his country, of the right he had + earned to serve it, and who was driven out to give his best years and his + life for a strange people under a strange flag. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + GENERAL WILLIAM WALKER, + </h2> + <h3> + THE KING OF THE FILIBUSTERS + </h3> + <p> + IT is safe to say that to members of the younger generation the name of + William Walker conveys absolutely nothing. To them, as a name, “William + Walker” awakens no pride of race or country. It certainly does not suggest + poetry and adventure. To obtain a place in even this group of Soldiers of + Fortune, William Walker, the most distinguished of all American Soldiers + of Fortune, the one who but for his own countrymen would have + single-handed attained the most far-reaching results, had to wait his turn + behind adventurers of other lands and boy officers of his own. And yet had + this man with the plain name, the name that to-day means nothing, + accomplished what he adventured, he would on this continent have solved + the problem of slavery, have established an empire in Mexico and in + Central America, and, incidentally, have brought us into war with all of + Europe. That is all he would have accomplished. + </p> + <p> + In the days of gold in San Francisco among the “Forty-niners” William + Walker was one of the most famous, most picturesque and popular figures. + Jack Oakhurst, gambler; Colonel Starbottle, duellist; Yuba Bill, + stage-coach driver, were his contemporaries. Bret Harte was one of his + keenest admirers, and in two of his stories, thinly disguised under a more + appealing name, Walker is the hero. When, later, Walker came to New York + City, in his honor Broadway from the Battery to Madison Square was + bedecked with flags and arches. “It was roses, roses all the way.” The + house-tops rocked and swayed. + </p> + <p> + In New Orleans, where in a box at the opera he made his first appearance, + for ten minutes the performance came to a pause, while the audience stood + to salute him. + </p> + <p> + This happened less than fifty years ago, and there are men who as boys + were out with “Walker of Nicaragua,” and who are still active in the + public life of San Francisco and New York. + </p> + <p> + Walker was born in 1824, in Nashville, Tenn. He was the oldest son of a + Scotch banker, a man of a deeply religious mind, and interested in a + business which certainly is removed, as far as possible, from the + profession of arms. Indeed, few men better than William Walker illustrate + the fact that great generals are born, not trained. Everything in Walker’s + birth, family tradition, and education pointed to his becoming a member of + one of the “learned” professions. It was the wish of his father that he + should be a minister of the Presbyterian Church, and as a child he was + trained with that end in view. He himself preferred to study medicine, and + after graduating at the University of Tennessee, at Edinburgh he followed + a course of lectures, and for two years travelled in Europe, visiting many + of the great hospitals. + </p> + <p> + Then having thoroughly equipped himself to practise as a physician, after + a brief return to his native city, and as short a stay in Philadelphia, he + took down his shingle forever, and proceeded to New Orleans to study law. + In two years he was admitted to the bar of Louisiana. But because clients + were few, or because the red tape of the law chafed his spirit, within a + year, as already he had abandoned the Church and Medicine, he abandoned + his law practice and became an editorial writer on the New Orleans <i>Crescent</i>. + A year later the restlessness which had rebelled against the grave + professions led him to the gold fields of California, and San Francisco. + There, in 1852, at the age of only twenty-eight, as editor of the San + Francisco <i>Herald</i>, Walker began his real life which so soon was to + end in both disaster and glory. + </p> + <p> + Up to his twenty-eighth year, except in his restlessness, nothing in his + life foreshadowed what was to follow. Nothing pointed to him as a man for + whom thousands of other men, from every capital of the world, would give + up their lives. + </p> + <p> + Negatively, by abandoning three separate callings, and in making it plain + that a professional career did not appeal to him, Walker had thrown a + certain sidelight on his character; but actively he never had given any + hint that under the thoughtful brow of the young doctor and lawyer there + was a mind evolving schemes of empire, and an ambition limited only by the + two great oceans. + </p> + <p> + Walker’s first adventure was undoubtedly inspired by and in imitation of + one which at the time of his arrival in San Francisco had just been + brought to a disastrous end. This was the De Boulbon expedition into + Mexico. The Count Gaston Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon was a young French + nobleman and Soldier of Fortune, a <i>chasseur d’Afrique</i>, a duellist, + journalist, dreamer, who came to California to dig gold. Baron + Harden-Hickey, who was born in San Francisco a few years after Boulbon at + the age of thirty was shot in Mexico, also was inspired to dreams of + conquest by this same gentleman adventurer. + </p> + <p> + Boulbon was a young man of large ideas. In the rapid growth of California + he saw a threat to Mexico and proposed to that government, as a “buffer” + state between the two republics, to form a French colony in the Mexican + State of Sonora. Sonora is that part of Mexico which directly joins on the + south with our State of Arizona. The President of Mexico gave Boulbon + permission to attempt this, and in 1852 he landed at Guaymas in the Gulf + of California with two hundred and sixty well-armed Frenchmen. The + ostensible excuse of Boulbon for thus invading foreign soil was his + contract with the President under which his “emigrants” were hired to + protect other foreigners working in the “Restauradora” mines from the + attacks of Apache Indians from our own Arizona. But there is evidence that + back of Boulbon was the French Government, and that he was attempting, in + his small way, what later was attempted by Maximilian, backed by a French + army corps and Louis Napoleon, to establish in Mexico an empire under + French protection. For both the filibuster and the emperor the end was the + same; to be shot by the fusillade against a church wall. + </p> + <p> + In 1852, two years before Boulbon’s death, which was the finale to his + second filibustering expedition into Sonora, he wrote to a friend in + Paris: “Europeans are disturbed by the growth of the United States. And + rightly so. Unless she be dismembered; unless a powerful rival be built up + beside her (<i>i.e.</i>, France in Mexico), America will become, through + her commerce, her trade, her population, her geographical position upon + two oceans, the inevitable mistress of the world. In ten years Europe dare + not fire a shot without her permission. As I write fifty Americans prepare + to sail for Mexico and go perhaps to victory. <i>Voila les Etats-Unis</i>.” + </p> + <p> + These fifty Americans who, in the eyes of Boulbon, threatened the peace of + Europe, were led by the ex-doctor, ex-lawyer, ex-editor, William Walker, + <i>aged twenty-eight years</i>. Walker had attempted but had failed to + obtain from the Mexican Government such a contract as the one it had + granted De Boulbon. He accordingly sailed without it, announcing that, + whether the Mexican Government asked him to do so or not, he would see + that the women and children on the border of Mexico and Arizona were + protected from massacre by the Indians. It will be remembered that when + Dr. Jameson raided the Transvaal he also went to protect “women and + children” from massacre by the Boers. Walker’s explanation of his + expedition, in his own words, is as follows. He writes in the third + person: “What Walker saw and heard satisfied him that a comparatively + small body of Americans might gain a position on the Sonora frontier and + protect the families on the border from the Indians, and such an act would + be one of humanity whether or not sanctioned by the Mexican Government. + The condition of the upper part of Sonora was at that time, and still is + [he was writing eight years later, in 1860], a disgrace to the + civilization of the continent...and the people of the United States were + more immediately responsible before the world for the Apache outrages. + Northern Sonora was in fact, more under the dominion of the Apaches than + under the laws of Mexico, and the contributions of the Indians were + collected with greater regularity and certainty than the dues of the + tax-gatherers. The state of this region furnished the best defence for any + American aiming to settle there without the formal consent of Mexico; and, + although political changes would certainly have followed the establishment + of a colony, they might be justified by the plea that any social + organization, no matter how secured, is preferable to that in which + individuals and families are altogether at the mercy of savages.” + </p> + <p> + While at the time of Jameson’s raid the women and children in danger of + massacre from the Boers were as many as there are snakes in Ireland, at + the time of Walker’s raid the women and children were in danger from the + Indians, who as enemies, as Walker soon discovered, were as cruel and as + greatly to be feared as he had described them. + </p> + <p> + But it was not to save women and children that Walker sought to conquer + the State of Sonora. At the time of his expedition the great question of + slavery was acute; and if in the States next to be admitted to the Union + slavery was to be prohibited, the time had come, so it seemed to this + statesman of twenty-eight years, when the South must extend her + boundaries, and for her slaves find an outlet in fresh territory. Sonora + already joined Arizona. By conquest her territory could easily be extended + to meet Texas. As a matter of fact, strategically the spot selected by + William Walker for the purpose for which he desired it was almost perfect. + Throughout his brief career one must remember that the spring of all his + acts was this dream of an empire where slavery would be recognized. His + mother was a slave-holder. In Tennessee he had been born and bred + surrounded by slaves. His youth and manhood had been spent in Nashville + and New Orleans. He believed as honestly, as fanatically in the right to + hold slaves as did his father in the faith of the Covenanters. To-day one + reads his arguments in favor of slavery with the most curious interest. + His appeal to the humanity of his reader, to his heart, to his sense of + justice, to his fear of God, and to his belief in the Holy Bible not to + abolish slavery, but to continue it, to this generation is as amusing as + the topsy-turvyisms of Gilbert or Shaw. But to the young man himself + slavery was a sacred institution, intended for the betterment of mankind, + a God-given benefit to the black man and a God-given right of his white + master. + </p> + <p> + White brothers in the South, with perhaps less exalted motives, + contributed funds to fit out Walker’s expedition, and in October, 1852, + with forty-five men, he landed at Cape St. Lucas, at the extreme point of + Lower California. Lower California, it must be remembered, in spite of its + name, is not a part of our California, but then was, and still is, a part + of Mexico. The fact that he was at last upon the soil of the enemy caused + Walker to throw off all pretence; and instead of hastening to protect + women and children, he sailed a few miles farther up the coast to La Paz. + With his forty-five followers he raided the town, made the Governor a + prisoner, and established a republic with himself as President. In a + proclamation he declared the people free of the tyranny of Mexico. They + had no desire to be free, but Walker was determined, and, whether they + liked it or not, they woke up to find themselves an independent republic. + A few weeks later, although he had not yet set foot there, Walker annexed + on paper the State of Sonora, and to both States gave the name of the + Republic of Sonora. + </p> + <p> + As soon as word of this reached San Francisco, his friends busied + themselves in his behalf, and the danger-loving and adventurous of all + lands were enlisted as “emigrants” and shipped to him in the bark <i>Anita</i>. + </p> + <p> + Two months later, in November, 1852, three hundred of these joined Walker. + They were as desperate a band of scoundrels as ever robbed a sluice, + stoned a Chinaman, or shot a “Greaser.” When they found that to command + them there was only a boy, they plotted to blow up the magazine in which + the powder was stored, rob the camp, and march north, supporting + themselves by looting the ranches. Walker learned of their plot, tried the + ringleaders by court-martial, and shot them. With a force as absolutely + undisciplined as was his, the act required the most complete personal + courage. That was a quality the men with him could fully appreciate. They + saw they had as a leader one who could fight, and one who would punish. + The majority did not want a leader who would punish so when Walker called + upon those who would follow him to Sonora to show their hands, only the + original forty-five and about forty of the later recruits remained with + him. With less than one hundred men he started to march up the Peninsula + through Lower California, and so around the Gulf to Sonora. + </p> + <p> + From the very start the filibusters were overwhelmed with disaster. The + Mexicans, with Indian allies, skulked on the flanks and rear. Men who in + the almost daily encounters were killed fell into the hands of the + Indians, and their bodies were mutilated. Stragglers and deserters were + run to earth and tortured. Those of the filibusters who were wounded died + from lack of medical care. The only instruments they possessed with which + to extract the arrow-heads were probes made from ramrods filed to a point. + Their only food was the cattle they killed on the march. The army was + barefoot, the Cabinet in rags, the President of Sonora wore one boot and + one shoe. + </p> + <p> + Unable to proceed farther, Walker fell back upon San Vincente, where he + had left the arms and ammunition of the deserters and a rear-guard of + eighteen men. He found not one of these to welcome him. A dozen had + deserted, and the Mexicans had surprised the rest, lassoing them and + torturing them until they died. Walker now had but thirty-five men. To + wait for further re-enforcements from San Francisco, even were he sure + that re-enforcements would come, was impossible. He determined by forced + marches to fight his way to the boundary line of California. Between him + and safety were the Mexican soldiers holding the passes, and the Indians + hiding on his flanks. When within three miles of the boundary line, at San + Diego, Colonel Melendrez, who commanded the Mexican forces, sent in a flag + of truce, and offered, if they would surrender, a safe-conduct to all of + the survivors of the expedition except the chief. But the men who for one + year had fought and starved for Walker, would not, within three miles of + home, abandon him. + </p> + <p> + Melendrez then begged the commander of the United States troops to order + Walker to surrender. Major McKinstry, who was in command of the United + States Army Post at San Diego, refused. For him to cross the line would be + a violation of neutral territory. On Mexican soil he would neither + embarrass the ex-President of Sonora nor aid him; but he saw to it that if + the filibusters reached American soil, no Mexican or Indian should follow + them. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly, on the imaginary boundary he drew up his troop, and like an + impartial umpire awaited the result. Hidden behind rocks and cactus, + across the hot, glaring plain, the filibusters could see the American + flag, and the gay, fluttering guidons of the cavalry. The sight gave them + heart for one last desperate spurt. Melendrez also appreciated that for + the final attack the moment had come. As he charged, Walker, apparently + routed, fled, but concealed in the rocks behind him he had stationed a + rear-guard of a dozen men. As Melendrez rode into this ambush the dozen + riflemen emptied as many saddles, and the Mexicans and Indians stampeded. + A half hour later, footsore and famished, the little band that had set + forth to found an empire of slaves, staggered across the line and + surrendered to the forces of the United States. + </p> + <p> + Of this expedition James Jeffrey Roche says, in his “Byways of War,” which + is of all books published about Walker the most intensely and + fascinatingly interesting and complete: “Years afterward the peon herdsman + or prowling Cocupa Indian in the mountain by-paths stumbled over the + bleaching skeleton of some nameless one whose resting-place was marked by + no cross or cairn, but the Colts revolver resting beside his bones spoke + his country and his occupation—the only relic of the would-be + conquistadores of the nineteenth century.” + </p> + <p> + Under parole to report to General Wood, commanding the Department of the + Pacific, the filibusters were sent by sailing vessel to San Francisco, + where their leader was tried for violating the neutrality laws of the + United States, and acquitted. + </p> + <p> + Walker’s first expedition had ended in failure, but for him it had been an + opportunity of tremendous experience, as active service is the best of all + military academies, and for the kind of warfare he was to wage, the best + preparation. Nor was it inglorious, for his fellow survivors, contrary to + the usual practice, instead of in bar-rooms placing the blame for failure + upon their leader, stood ready to fight one and all who doubted his + ability or his courage. Later, after five years, many of these same men, + though ten to twenty years his senior, followed him to death, and never + questioned his judgment nor his right to command. + </p> + <p> + At this time in Nicaragua there was the usual revolution. On the south the + sister republic of Costa Rica was taking sides, on the north Honduras was + landing arms and men. There was no law, no government. A dozen political + parties, a dozen commanding generals, and not one strong man. + </p> + <p> + In the editorial rooms of the San Francisco <i>Herald</i>, Walker, + searching the map for new worlds to conquer, rested his finger upon + Nicaragua. + </p> + <p> + In its confusion of authority he saw an opportunity to make himself a + power, and in its tropical wealth and beauty, in the laziness and + incompetence of its inhabitants, he beheld a greater, fairer, more kind + Sonora. On the Pacific side from San Francisco he could re-enforce his + army with men and arms; on the Caribbean side from New Orleans he could, + when the moment arrived, people his empire with slaves. + </p> + <p> + The two parties at war in Nicaragua were the Legitimists and the + Democrats. Why they were at war it is not necessary to know. Probably + Walker did not know; it is not likely that they themselves knew. But from + the leader of the Democrats Walker obtained a contract to bring to + Nicaragua three hundred Americans, who were each to receive several + hundred acres of land, and who were described as “colonists liable to + military duty.” This contract Walker submitted to the Attorney-General of + the State and to General Wood, who once before had acquitted him of + filibustering; and neither of these Federal officers saw anything which + seemed to give them the right to interfere. But the rest of San Francisco + was less credulous, and the “colonists” who joined Walker had a very + distinct idea that they were not going to Nicaragua to plant coffee or to + pick bananas. + </p> + <p> + In May, 1855, just a year after Walker and his thirty-three followers had + surrendered to the United States troops at San Diego, with fifty new + recruits and seven veterans of the former expedition he sailed from San + Francisco in the brig <i>Vesta</i>, and in five weeks, after a weary and + stormy voyage, landed at Realejo. There he was met by representatives of + the Provisional Director of the Democrats, who received the Californians + warmly. + </p> + <p> + Walker was commissioned a colonel, Achilles Kewen, who had been fighting + under Lopez in Cuba, a lieutenant-colonel, and Timothy Crocker, who had + served under Walker in the Sonora expedition, a major. The corps was + organized as an independent command and was named “La Falange Americana.” + At this time the enemy held the route to the Caribbean, and Walker’s first + orders were to dislodge him. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly, a week after landing with his fifty-seven Americans and one + hundred and fifty native troops, Walker sailed in the <i>Vesta</i> for + Brito, from which port he marched upon Rivas, a city of eleven thousand + people and garrisoned by some twelve hundred of the enemy. + </p> + <p> + The first fight ended in a complete and disastrous fiasco. The native + troops ran away, and the Americans surrounded by six hundred of the + Legitimists’ soldiers, after defending themselves for three hours behind + some adobe huts, charged the enemy and escaped into the jungle. Their loss + was heavy, and among the killed were the two men upon whom Walker chiefly + depended: Kewen and Crocker. The Legitimists placed the bodies of the dead + and wounded who were still living on a pile of logs and burned them. After + a painful night march, Walker, the next day, reached San Juan on the + coast, and, finding a Costa Rican schooner in port, seized it for his use. + At this moment, although Walker’s men were defeated, bleeding, and in open + flight, two “gringos” picked up on the beach of San Juan, “the Texan Harry + McLeod and the Irishman Peter Burns,” asked to be permitted to join him. + </p> + <p> + “It was encouraging,” Walker writes, “for the soldiers to find that some + besides themselves did not regard their fortunes as altogether desperate, + and small as was this addition to their number it gave increased moral as + well as material strength to the command.” + </p> + <p> + Sometimes in reading history it would appear as though for success the + first requisite must be an utter lack of humor, and inability to look upon + what one is attempting except with absolute seriousness. With forty men + Walker was planning to conquer and rule Nicaragua, a country with a + population of two hundred and fifty thousand souls and as large as the + combined area of Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and + Connecticut. And yet, even seven years later, he records without a smile + that two beach-combers gave his army “moral and material strength.” And it + is most characteristic of the man that at the moment he was rejoicing over + this addition to his forces, to maintain discipline two Americans who had + set fire to the houses of the enemy he ordered to be shot. A weaker man + would have repudiated the two Americans, who, in fact, were not members of + the Phalanx, and trusted that their crimes would not be charged against + him. But the success of Walker lay greatly in his stern discipline. He + tried the men, and they confessed to their guilt. One got away; and, as it + might appear that Walker had connived at his escape, to the second man was + shown no mercy. When one reads how severe was Walker in his punishments, + and how frequently the death penalty was invoked by him against his own + few followers, the wonder grows that these men, as independent and as + unaccustomed to restraint as were those who first joined him, submitted to + his leadership. One can explain it only by the personal quality of Walker + himself. + </p> + <p> + Among these reckless, fearless outlaws, who, despising their allies, + believed and proved that with his rifle one American could account for a + dozen Nicaraguans, Walker was the one man who did not boast or drink or + gamble, who did not even swear, who never looked at a woman, and who, in + money matters, was scrupulously honest and unself-seeking. In a fight, his + followers knew that for them he would risk being shot just as + unconcernedly as to maintain his authority he would shoot one of them. + </p> + <p> + Treachery, cowardice, looting, any indignity to women, he punished with + death; but to the wounded, either of his own or of the enemy’s forces, he + was as gentle as a nursing sister and the brave and able he rewarded with + instant promotion and higher pay. In no one trait was he a demagogue. One + can find no effort on his part to ingratiate himself with his men. Among + the officers of his staff there were no favorites. He messed alone, and at + all times kept to himself. He spoke little, and then with utter lack of + self-consciousness. In the face of injustice, perjury, or physical danger, + he was always calm, firm, dispassionate. But it is said that on those + infrequent occasions when his anger asserted itself, the steady steel-gray + eyes flashed so menacingly that those who faced them would as soon look + down the barrel of his Colt. + </p> + <p> + The impression one gets of him gathered from his recorded acts, from his + own writings, from the writings of those who fought with him, is of a + silent, student-like young man believing religiously in his “star of + destiny”; but, in all matters that did not concern himself, possessed of a + grim sense of fun. The sayings of his men that in his history of the war + he records, show a distinct appreciation of the Bret Harte school of + humor. As, for instance, when he tells how he wished to make one of them a + drummer boy and the Californian drawled: “No, thanks, colonel; I never + seen a picture of a battle yet that the first thing in it wasn’t a dead + drummer boy with a busted drum.” + </p> + <p> + In Walker the personal vanity which is so characteristic of the soldier of + fortune was utterly lacking. In a land where a captain bedecks himself + like a field-marshal, Walker wore his trousers stuffed in his boots, a + civilian’s blue frock-coat, and the slouch hat of the period, with, for + his only ornament, the red ribbon of the Democrats. The authority he + wielded did not depend upon braid or buttons, and only when going into + battle did he wear his sword. In appearance he was slightly built, rather + below the medium height, smooth shaven, and with deep-set gray eyes. These + eyes apparently, as they gave him his nickname, were his most marked + feature. + </p> + <p> + His followers called him, and later, when he was thirty-two years old, he + was known all over the United States as the “Gray-Eyed Man of Destiny.” + </p> + <p> + From the first Walker recognized that in order to establish himself in + Nicaragua he must keep in touch with all possible recruits arriving from + San Francisco and New York, and that to do this he must hold the line of + transit from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific. At this time the sea routes + to the gold-fields were three: by sailing vessel around the Cape, one over + the Isthmus of Panama, and one, which was the shortest, across Nicaragua. + By a charter from the Government of Nicaragua, the right to transport + passengers across this isthmus was controlled by the Accessory Transit + Company, of which the first Cornelius Vanderbilt was president. His + company owned a line of ocean steamers both on the Pacific side and on the + Atlantic side. Passengers <i>en route</i> from New York to the gold-fields + were landed by these latter steamers at Greytown on the west coast of + Nicaragua, and sent by boats of light draught up the San Juan River to + Lake Nicaragua. There they were met by larger lake steamers and conveyed + across the lake to Virgin Bay. From that point, in carriages and on mule + back, they were carried twelve miles overland to the port of San Juan del + Sud on the Pacific Coast, where they boarded the company’s steamers to San + Francisco. + </p> + <p> + During the year of Walker’s occupation the number of passengers crossing + Nicaragua was an average of about two thousand a month. + </p> + <p> + It was to control this route that immediately after his first defeat + Walker returned to San Juan del Sud, and in a smart skirmish defeated the + enemy and secured possession of Virgin Bay, the halting place for the + passengers going east or west. In this fight Walker was outnumbered five + to one, but his losses were only three natives killed and a few Americans + wounded. The Legitimists lost sixty killed and a hundred wounded. This + proportion of losses shows how fatally effective was the rifle and + revolver fire of the Californians. Indeed, so wonderful was it that when + some years ago I visited the towns and cities captured by the filibusters, + I found that the marksmanship of Walker’s Phalanx was still a tradition. + Indeed, thanks to the filibusters, to-day in any part of Central America a + man from the States, if in trouble, has only to show his gun. No native + will wait for him to fire it. + </p> + <p> + After the fight at Virgin Bay, Walker received from California fifty + recruits—a very welcome addition to his force, and as he now + commanded about one hundred and twenty Americans, three hundred + Nicaraguans, under a friendly native, General Valle, and two brass cannon, + he decided to again attack Rivas. Rivas is on the lake just above Virgin + Bay; still further up is Granada, which was the head-quarters of the + Legitimists. + </p> + <p> + Fearing Walker’s attack upon Rivas, the Legitimist troops were hurried + south from Granada to that city, leaving Granada but slightly protected. + </p> + <p> + Through intercepted letters Walker learned of this and determined to + strike at Granada. By night, in one of the lake steamers, he skirted the + shore, and just before daybreak, with fires banked and all lights out, + drew up to a point near the city. The day previous the Legitimists had + gained a victory, and, as good luck or Walker’s “destiny” would have it, + the night before Granada had been celebrating the event. Much joyous + dancing and much drinking of aguardiente had buried the inhabitants in a + drugged slumber. The garrison slept, the sentries slept, the city slept. + But when the convent bells called for early mass, the air was shaken with + sharp reports that to the ears of the Legitimists were unfamiliar and + disquieting. They were not the loud explosions of their own muskets nor of + the smooth bores of the Democrats. The sounds were sharp and cruel like + the crack of a whip. The sentries flying from their posts disclosed the + terrifying truth. “The Filibusteros!” they cried. Following them at a + gallop came Walker and Valle and behind them the men of the awful Phalanx, + whom already the natives had learned to fear: the bearded giants in red + flannel shirts who at Rivas on foot had charged the artillery with + revolvers, who at Virgin Bay when wounded had drawn from their boots + glittering bowie knives and hurled them like arrows, who at all times shot + with the accuracy of the hawk falling upon a squawking hen. + </p> + <p> + There was a brief terrified stand in the Plaza, and then a complete rout. + As was their custom, the native Democrats began at once to loot the city. + But Walker put his sword into the first one of these he met, and ordered + the Americans to arrest all others found stealing, and to return the goods + already stolen. Over a hundred political prisoners in the cartel were + released by Walker, and the ball and chain to which each was fastened + stricken off. More than two-thirds of them at once enlisted under Walker’s + banner. + </p> + <p> + He now was in a position to dictate to the enemy his own terms of peace, + but a fatal blunder on the part of Parker H. French, a lieutenant of + Walker’s, postponed peace for several weeks, and led to unfortunate + reprisals. French had made an unauthorized and unsuccessful assault on San + Carlos at the eastern end of the lake, and the Legitimists retaliated at + Virgin Bay by killing half a dozen peaceful passengers, and at San Carlos + by firing at a transit steamer. For this the excuse of the Legitimists + was, that now that Walker was using the lake steamers as transports it was + impossible for them to know whether the boats were occupied by his men or + neutral passengers. As he could not reach the guilty ones, Walker held + responsible for their acts their secretary of state, who at the taking of + Granada was among the prisoners. He was tried by court-martial and shot, + “a victim of the new interpretation of the principles of constitutional + government.” While this act of Walker’s was certainly stretching the + theory of responsibility to the breaking point, its immediate effect was + to bring about a hasty surrender and a meeting between the generals of the + two political parties. Thus, four months after Walker and his fifty-seven + followers landed in Nicaragua, a suspension of hostilities was arranged, + and the side for which the Americans had fought was in power. Walker was + made commander-in-chief of an army of twelve hundred men with salary of + six thousand dollars a year. A man named Rivas was appointed temporary + president. + </p> + <p> + To Walker this pause in the fight was most welcome. It gave him an + opportunity to enlist recruits and to organize his men for the better + accomplishment of what was the real object of his going to Nicaragua. He + now had under him a remarkable force, one of the most effective known to + military history. For although six months had not yet passed, the + organization he now commanded was as unlike the Phalanx of the fifty-eight + adventurers who were driven back at Rivas, as were Falstaff’s followers + from the regiment of picked men commanded by Colonel Roosevelt. Instead of + the undisciplined and lawless now being in the majority, the ranks were + filled with the pick of the California mining camps, with veterans of the + Mexican War, with young Southerners of birth and spirit, and with soldiers + of fortune from all of the great armies of Europe. + </p> + <p> + In the Civil War, which so soon followed, and later in the service of the + Khedive of Egypt, were several of Walker’s officers, and for years after + his death there was no war in which one of the men trained by him in the + jungles of Nicaragua did not distinguish himself. In his memoirs, the + Englishman, General Charles Frederic Henningsen, writes that though he had + taken part in some of the greatest battles of the Civil War he would pit a + thousand men of Walker’s command against any five thousand Confederate or + Union soldiers. And General Henningsen was one who spoke with authority. + Before he joined Walker he had served in Spain under Don Carlos, in + Hungary under Kossuth, and in Bulgaria. + </p> + <p> + Of Walker’s men, a regiment of which he commanded, he writes: “I often + have seen them march with a broken or compound fractured arm in splints, + and using the other to fire the rifle or revolver. Those with a fractured + thigh or wounds which rendered them incapable of removal, shot themselves. + Such men do not turn up in the average of everyday life, nor do I ever + expect to see their like again. All military science failed on a suddenly + given field before such assailants, who came at a run to close with their + revolvers and who thought little of charging a gun battery, pistol in + hand.” + </p> + <p> + Another graduate of Walker’s army was Captain Fred Townsend Ward, a native + of Salem, Mass., who after the death of Walker organized and led the ever + victorious army that put down the Tai-Ping rebellion, and performed the + many feats of martial glory for which Chinese Gordon received the credit. + In Shanghai, to the memory of the filibuster, there are to-day two temples + in his honor. + </p> + <p> + Joaquin Miller, the poet, miner, and soldier, who but recently was a + picturesque figure on the hotel porch at Saratoga Springs, was one of the + young Californians who was “out with Walker,” and who later in his career + by his verse helped to preserve the name of his beloved commander. I. C. + Jamison, living to-day in Guthrie, Oklahoma, was a captain under Walker. + When war again came, as it did within four months, these were the men who + made Walker President of Nicaragua. + </p> + <p> + During the four months in all but title he had been president, and as such + he was recognized and feared. It was against him, not Rivas, that in + February, 1856, the neighboring republic of Costa Rica declared war. For + three months this war continued with varying fortunes until the Costa + Ricans were driven across the border. + </p> + <p> + In June of the same year Rivas called a general election for president, + announcing himself as the candidate of the Democrats. Two other Democrats + also presented themselves, Salazar and Ferrer. The Legitimists, + recognizing in their former enemy the real ruler of the country, nominated + Walker. By an overwhelming majority he was elected, receiving 15,835 votes + to 867 cast for Rivas. Salazar received 2,087; Ferrer, 4,447. + </p> + <p> + Walker now was the legal as well as the actual ruler of the country, and + at no time in its history, as during Walker’s administration, was + Nicaragua governed so justly, so wisely, and so well. But in his success + the neighboring republics saw a menace to their own independence. To the + four other republics of Central America the five-pointed blood-red star on + the flag of the filibusters bore a sinister motto: “Five or None.” The + meaning was only too unpleasantly obvious. At once, Costa Rica on the + south, and Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras from the north, with the + malcontents of Nicaragua, declared war against the foreign invader. Again + Walker was in the field with opposed to him 21,000 of the allies. The + strength of his own force varied. On his election as president the + backbone of his army was a magnificently trained body of veterans to the + number of 2,000. This was later increased to 3,500, but it is doubtful if + at any one time it ever exceeded that number. His muster and hospital + rolls show that during his entire occupation of Nicaragua there were + enlisted, at one time or another, under his banner 10,000 men. While in + his service, of this number, by hostile shots or fever, 5,000 died. + </p> + <p> + To describe the battles with the allies would be interminable and + wearying. In every particular they are much alike: the long silent night + march, the rush at daybreak, the fight to gain strategic positions either + of the barracks, or of the Cathedral in the Plaza, the hand-to-hand + fighting from behind barricades and adobe walls. The out-come of these + fights sometimes varied, but the final result was never in doubt, and had + no outside influences intervened, in time each republic in Central America + would have come under the five-pointed star. + </p> + <p> + In Costa Rica there is a marble statue showing that republic represented + as a young woman with her foot upon the neck of Walker. Some night a + truth-loving American will place a can of dynamite at the foot of that + statue, and walk hurriedly away. Unaided, neither Costa Rica nor any other + Central American republic could have driven Walker from her soil. His + downfall came through his own people, and through an act of his which + provoked them. + </p> + <p> + When Walker was elected president he found that the Accessory Transit + Company had not lived up to the terms of its concession with the + Nicaraguan Government. His efforts to hold it to the terms of its + concession led to his overthrow. By its charter the Transit Company agreed + to pay to Nicaragua ten thousand dollars annually and ten per cent. of the + net profits; but the company, whose history the United States Minister, + Squire, characterized as “an infamous career of deception and fraud,” + manipulated its books in such a fashion as to show that there never were + any profits. Doubting this, Walker sent a commission to New York to + investigate. The commission discovered the fraud and demanded in back + payments two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. When the company refused + to pay this, as security for the debt Walker seized its steamers, wharves, + and storehouses, revoked its charter, and gave a new charter to two of its + directors, Morgan and Garrison, who, in San Francisco, were working + against Vanderbilt. In doing this, while he was legally in the right, he + committed a fatal error. He had made a powerful enemy of Vanderbilt, and + he had shut off his only lines of communication with the United States. + For, enraged at the presumption of the filibuster president, Vanderbilt + withdrew his ocean steamers, thus leaving Walker without men or + ammunition, and as isolated as though upon a deserted island. He possessed + Vanderbilt’s boats upon the San Juan River and Nicaragua Lake, but they + were of use to him only locally. + </p> + <p> + His position was that of a man holding the centre span of a bridge of + which every span on either side of him has been destroyed. + </p> + <p> + Vanderbilt did not rest at withdrawing his steamers, but by supporting the + Costa Ricans with money and men, carried the war into Central America. + From Washington he fought Walker through Secretary of State Marcy, who + proved a willing tool. + </p> + <p> + Spencer and Webster, and the other soldiers of fortune employed by + Vanderbilt, closed the route on the Caribbean side, and the man-of-war <i>St. + Marys</i>, commanded by Captain Davis, was ordered to San Juan on the + Pacific side. The instructions given to Captain Davis were to aid the + allies in forcing Walker out of Nicaragua. Walker claims that these orders + were given to Marcy by Vanderbilt and by Marcy to Commodore Mervin, who + was Marcy’s personal friend and who issued them to Davis. Davis claims + that he acted only in the interest of humanity to save Walker in spite of + himself. In any event, the result was the same. Walker, his force cut down + by hostile shot and fever and desertion, took refuge in Rivas, where he + was besieged by the allied armies. There was no bread in the city. The men + were living on horse and mule meat. There was no salt. The hospital was + filled with wounded and those stricken with fever. + </p> + <p> + Captain Davis, in the name of humanity, demanded Walker’s surrender to the + United States. Walker told him he would not surrender, but that if the + time came when he found he must fly, he would do so in his own little + schooner of war, the <i>Granada</i>, which constituted his entire navy, + and in her, as a free man, take his forces where he pleased. Then Davis + informed Walker that the force Walker had sent to recapture the Greytown + route had been defeated by the janizaries of Vanderbilt; that the steamers + from San Francisco, on which Walker now counted to bring him + re-enforcements, had also been taken off the line, and finally that it was + his “unalterable and deliberate intention” to seize the <i>Granada</i>. On + this point his orders left him no choice. The <i>Granada</i> was the last + means of transportation still left to Walker. He had hoped to make a + sortie and on board her to escape from the country. But with his ship + taken from him and no longer able to sustain the siege of the allies, he + surrendered to the forces of the United States. In the agreement drawn up + by him and Davis, Walker provided for the care, by Davis, of the sick and + wounded, for the protection after his departure of the natives who had + fought with him, and for the transportation of himself and officers to the + United States. + </p> + <p> + On his arrival in New York he received a welcome such as later was + extended to Kossuth, and, in our own day, to Admiral Dewey. The city was + decorated with flags and arches; and banquets, fetes, and public meetings + were everywhere held in his honor. Walker received these demonstrations + modestly, and on every public occasion announced his determination to + return to the country of which he was the president, and from which by + force he had been driven. At Washington, where he went to present his + claims, he received scant encouragement. His protest against Captain Davis + was referred to Congress, where it was allowed to die. + </p> + <p> + Within a month Walker organized an expedition with which to regain his + rights in Nicaragua, and as, in his new constitution for that country, he + had annulled the old law abolishing slavery, among the slave-holders of + the South he found enough money and recruits to enable him to at once + leave the United States. With one hundred and fifty men he sailed from New + Orleans and landed at San del Norte on the Caribbean side. While he formed + a camp on the harbor of San Juan, one of his officers, with fifty men, + proceeded up the river and, capturing the town of Castillo Viejo and four + of the Transit steamers, was in a fair way to obtain possession of the + entire route. At this moment upon the scene arrived the United States + frigate <i>Wabash</i> and Hiram Paulding, who landed a force of three + hundred and fifty blue-jackets with howitzers, and turned the guns of his + frigate upon the camp of the President of Nicaragua. Captain Engel, who + presented the terms of surrender to Walker, said to him: “General, I am + sorry to see you here. A man like you is worthy to command better men.” To + which Walker replied grimly: “If I had a third the number you have brought + against me, I would show you which of us two commands the better men.” + </p> + <p> + For the third time in his history Walker surrendered to the armed forces + of his own country. + </p> + <p> + On his arrival in the United States, in fulfilment of his parole to + Paulding, Walker at once presented himself at Washington a prisoner of + war. But President Buchanan, although Paulding had acted exactly as Davis + had done, refused to support him, and in a message to Congress declared + that that officer had committed a grave error and established an unsafe + precedent. + </p> + <p> + On the strength of this Walker demanded of the United States Government + indemnity for his losses, and that it should furnish him and his followers + transportation even to the very camp from which its representatives had + torn him. This demand, as Walker foresaw, was not considered seriously, + and with a force of about one hundred men, among whom were many of his + veterans, he again set sail from New Orleans. Owing to the fact that, to + prevent his return, there now were on each side of the Isthmus both + American and British men-of-war, Walker, with the idea of reaching + Nicaragua by land, stopped off at Honduras. In his war with the allies the + Honduranians had been as savage in their attacks upon his men as even the + Costa Ricans, and finding his old enemies now engaged in a local + revolution, on landing, Walker declared for the weaker side and captured + the important seaport of Trujillo. He no sooner had taken it than the + British warship <i>Icarus</i> anchored in the harbor, and her commanding + officer, Captain Salmon, notified Walker that the British Government held + a mortgage on the revenues of the port, and that to protect the interests + of his Government he intended to take the town. Walker answered that he + had made Trujillo a free port, and that Great Britain’s claims no longer + existed. + </p> + <p> + The British officer replied that if Walker surrendered himself and his men + he would carry them as prisoners to the United States, and that if he did + not, he would bombard the town. At this moment General Alvarez, with seven + hundred Honduranians, from the land side surrounded Trujillo, and prepared + to attack. Against such odds by sea and land Walker was helpless, and he + determined to fly. That night, with seventy men, he left the town and + proceeded down the coast toward Nicaragua. The <i>Icarus</i>, having taken + on board Alvarez, started in pursuit. The President of Nicaragua was found + in a little Indian fishing village, and Salmon sent in his shore-boats and + demanded his surrender. On leaving Trujillo, Walker had been forced to + abandon all his ammunition save thirty rounds a man, and all of his food + supplies excepting two barrels of bread. On the coast of this continent + there is no spot more unhealthy than Honduras, and when the Englishmen + entered the fishing village they found Walker’s seventy men lying in the + palm huts helpless with fever, and with no stomach to fight British + blue-jackets with whom they had no quarrel. Walker inquired of Salmon if + he were asking him to surrender to the British or to the Honduranian + forces, and twice Salmon assured him, “distinctly and specifically,” that + he was surrendering to the forces of her Majesty. With this understanding + Walker and his men laid down their arms and were conveyed to the <i>Icarus</i>. + But on arriving at Trujillo, in spite of their protests and demands for + trial by a British tribunal, Salmon turned over his prisoners to the + Honduranian general. What excuse for this is now given by his descendants + in the Salmon family I do not know. + </p> + <p> + Probably it is a subject they avoid, and, in history, Salmon’s version has + never been given, which for him, perhaps, is an injustice. But the fact + remains that he turned over his white brothers to the mercies of + half-Indian, half-negro, savages, who were not allies of Great Britain, + and in whose quarrels she had no interest. And Salmon did this, knowing + there could be but one end. If he did not know it, his stupidity equalled + what now appears to be heartless indifference. So far as to secure pardon + for all except the leader and one faithful follower, Colonel Rudler of the + famous Phalanx, Salmon did use his authority, and he offered, if Walker + would ask as an American citizen, to intercede for him. But Walker, with a + distinct sense of loyalty to the country he had conquered, and whose + people had honored him with their votes, refused to accept life from the + country of his birth, the country that had injured and repudiated him. + </p> + <p> + Even in his extremity, abandoned and alone on a strip of glaring coral and + noisome swamp land, surrounded only by his enemies, he remained true to + his ideal. + </p> + <p> + At thirty-seven life is very sweet, many things still seem possible, and + before him, could his life be spared, Walker beheld greater conquests, + more power, a new South controlling a Nicaragua canal, a network of busy + railroads, great squadrons of merchant vessels, himself emperor of Central + America. On the gunboat the gold-braided youth had but to raise his hand, + and Walker again would be a free man. But the gold-braided one would + render this service only on the condition that Walker would appeal to him + as an American; it was not enough that Walker was a human being. The + condition Walker could not grant. + </p> + <p> + “The President of Nicaragua,” he said, “is a citizen of Nicaragua.” + </p> + <p> + They led him out at sunrise to a level piece of sand along the beach, and + as the priest held the crucifix in front of him he spoke to his + executioners in Spanish, simply and gravely: “I die a Roman Catholic. In + making war upon you at the invitation of the people of Ruatan I was wrong. + Of your people I ask pardon. I accept my punishment with resignation. I + would like to think my death will be for the good of society.” + </p> + <p> + From a distance of twenty feet three soldiers fired at him, but, although + each shot took effect, Walker was not dead. So, a sergeant stooped, and + with a pistol killed the man who would have made him one of an empire of + slaves. + </p> + <p> + Had Walker lived four years longer to exhibit upon the great board of the + Civil War his ability as a general, he would, I believe, to-day be ranked + as one of America’s greatest fighting men. + </p> + <p> + And because the people of his own day destroyed him is no reason that we + should withhold from this American, the greatest of all filibusters, the + recognition of his genius. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + MAJOR BURNHAM, CHIEF OF SCOUTS + </h2> + <p> + AMONG the Soldiers of Fortune whose stories have been told in this book + were men who are no longer living, men who, to the United States, are + strangers, and men who were of interest chiefly because in what they + attempted they failed. + </p> + <p> + The subject of this article is none of these. His adventures are as + remarkable as any that ever led a small boy to dig behind the barn for + buried treasure, or stalk Indians in the orchard. But entirely apart from + his adventures he obtains our interest because in what he has attempted he + has not failed, because he is one of our own people, one of the earliest + and best types of American, and because, so far from being dead and + buried, he is at this moment very much alive, and engaged in Mexico in + searching for a buried city. For exercise, he is alternately chasing, or + being chased by, Yaqui Indians. + </p> + <p> + In his home in Pasadena, Cal., where sometimes he rests quietly for almost + a week at a time, the neighbors know him as “Fred” Burnham. In England the + newspapers crowned him “The King of Scouts.” Later, when he won an + official title, they called him “Major Frederick Russell Burnham, D. S. + O.” + </p> + <p> + Some men are born scouts, others by training become scouts. From his + father Burnham inherited his instinct for wood-craft, and to this + instinct, which in him is as keen as in a wild deer or a mountain lion, he + has added, in the jungle and on the prairie and mountain ranges, years of + the hardest, most relentless schooling. In those years he has trained + himself to endure the most appalling fatigues, hunger, thirst, and wounds; + has subdued the brain to infinite patience, has learned to force every + nerve in his body to absolute obedience, to still even the beating of his + heart. Indeed, than Burnham no man of my acquaintance to my knowledge has + devoted himself to his life’s work more earnestly, more honestly, and with + such single-mindedness of purpose. To him scouting is as exact a study as + is the piano to Paderewski, with the result that to-day what the Pole is + to other pianists, the American is to all other “trackers,” woodmen, and + scouts. He reads “the face of Nature” as you read your morning paper. To + him a movement of his horse’s ears is as plain a warning as the “Go SLOW” + of an automobile sign; and he so saves from ambush an entire troop. In the + glitter of a piece of quartz in the firelight he discovers King Solomon’s + mines. Like the horned cattle, he can tell by the smell of it in the air + the near presence of water, and where, glaring in the sun, you can see + only a bare kopje, he distinguishes the muzzle of a pompom, the crown of a + Boer sombrero, the levelled barrel of a Mauser. He is the Sherlock Holmes + of all out-of-doors. + </p> + <p> + Besides being a scout, he is soldier, hunter, mining expert, and explorer. + Within the last ten years the educated instinct that as a younger man + taught him to follow the trail of an Indian, or the “spoor” of the Kaffir + and the trek wagon, now leads him as a mining expert to the hiding-places + of copper, silver, and gold, and, as he advises, great and wealthy + syndicates buy or refuse tracts of land in Africa and Mexico as large as + the State of New York. As an explorer in the last few years in the course + of his expeditions into undiscovered lands, he has added to this little + world many thousands of square miles. + </p> + <p> + Personally, Burnham is as unlike the scout of fiction, and of the Wild + West Show, as it is possible for a man to be. He possesses no flowing + locks, his talk is not of “greasers,” “grizzly b’ars,” or “pesky + redskins.” In fact, because he is more widely and more thoroughly + informed, he is much better educated than many who have passed through one + of the “Big Three” universities, and his English is as conventional as + though he had been brought up on the borders of Boston Common, rather than + on the borders of civilization. + </p> + <p> + In appearance he is slight, muscular, bronzed; with a finely formed square + jaw, and remarkable light blue eyes. These eyes apparently never leave + yours, but in reality they see everything behind you and about you, above + and below you. They tell of him that one day, while out with a patrol on + the veldt, he said he had lost the trail and, dismounting, began moving + about on his hands and knees, nosing the ground like a bloodhound, and + pointing out a trail that led back over the way the force had just + marched. When the commanding officer rode up, Burnham said: + </p> + <p> + “Don’t raise your head, sit. On that kopje to the right there is a + commando of Boers.” + </p> + <p> + “When did you see them?” asked the officer. + </p> + <p> + “I see them now,” Burnham answered. + </p> + <p> + “But I thought you were looking for a lost trail?” + </p> + <p> + “That’s what the Boers on the kopje think,” said Burnham. + </p> + <p> + In his eyes, possibly, owing to the uses to which they have been trained, + the pupils, as in the eyes of animals that see in the dark, are extremely + small. Even in the photographs that accompany this article this feature of + his eyes is obvious, and that he can see in the dark the Kaffirs of South + Africa firmly believe. In manner he is quiet, courteous, talking slowly + but well, and, while without any of that shyness that comes from + self-consciousness, extremely modest. Indeed, there could be no better + proof of his modesty than the difficulties I have encountered in gathering + material for this article, which I have been five years in collecting. And + even now, as he reads it by his camp-fire, I can see him squirm with + embarrassment. + </p> + <p> + Burnham’s father was a pioneer missionary in a frontier hamlet called + Tivoli on the edge of the Indian reserve of Minnesota. He was a stern, + severely religious man, born in Kentucky, but educated in New York, where + he graduated from the Union Theological Seminary. He was wonderfully + skilled in wood-craft. Burnham’s mother was a Miss Rebecca Russell of a + well-known family in Iowa. She was a woman of great courage, which, in + those days on that skirmish line of civilization, was a very necessary + virtue; and she was possessed of a most gentle and sweet disposition. That + was her gift to her son Fred, who was born on May 11, 1861. + </p> + <p> + His education as a child consisted in memorizing many verses of the Bible, + the “Three R’s,” and wood-craft. His childhood was strenuous. In his + mother’s arms he saw the burning of the town of New Ulm, which was the + funeral pyre for the women and children of that place when they were + massacred by Red Cloud and his braves. + </p> + <p> + On another occasion Fred’s mother fled for her life from the Indians, + carrying the boy with her. He was a husky lad, and knowing that if she + tried to carry him farther they both would be overtaken, she hid him under + a shock of corn. There, the next morning, the Indians having been driven + off, she found her son sleeping as soundly as a night watchman. In these + Indian wars, and the Civil War which followed, of the families of Burnham + and Russell, twenty-two of the men were killed. There is no question that + Burnham comes of fighting stock. + </p> + <p> + In 1870, when Fred was nine years old, his father moved to Los Angeles, + Cal., where two years later he died; and for a time for both mother and + boy there was poverty, hard and grinding. To relieve this young Burnham + acted as a mounted messenger. Often he was in the saddle from twelve to + fifteen hours, and even in a land where every one rode well, he gained + local fame as a hard rider. In a few years a kind uncle offered to Mrs. + Burnham and a younger brother a home in the East, but at the last moment + Fred refused to go with them, and chose to make his own way. He was then + thirteen years old, and he had determined to be a scout. + </p> + <p> + At that particular age many boys have set forth determined to be scouts, + and are generally brought home the next morning by a policeman. But + Burnham, having turned his back on the cities, did not repent. He wandered + over Mexico, Arizona, California. He met Indians, bandits, prospectors, + hunters of all kinds of big game; and finally a scout who, under General + Taylor, had served in the Mexican War. This man took a liking to the boy; + and his influence upon him was marked and for his good. He was an educated + man, and had carried into the wilderness a few books. In the cabin of this + man Burnham read “The Conquest of Mexico and Peru” by Prescott, the lives + of Hannibal and Cyrus the Great, of Livingstone the explorer, which first + set his thoughts toward Africa, and many technical works on the strategy + and tactics of war. He had no experience of military operations on a large + scale, but, with the aid of the veteran of the Mexican War, with corn-cobs + in the sand in front of the cabin door, he constructed forts and made + trenches, redoubts, and traverses. In Burnham’s life this seems to have + been a very happy period. The big game he hunted and killed he sold for a + few dollars to the men of Nadean’s freight outfits, which in those days + hauled bullion from Cerro Gordo for the man who is now Senator Jones of + Nevada. + </p> + <p> + At nineteen Burnham decided that there were things in this world he should + know that could not be gleaned from the earth, trees, and sky; and with + the few dollars he had saved he came East. The visit apparently was not a + success. The atmosphere of the town in which he went to school was + strictly Puritanical, and the townspeople much given to religious + discussion. The son of the pioneer missionary found himself unable to + subscribe to the formulas which to the others seemed so essential, and he + returned to the West with the most bitter feelings, which lasted until he + was twenty-one. + </p> + <p> + “It seems strange now,” he once said to me, “but in those times religious + questions were as much a part of our daily life as to-day are automobiles, + the Standard Oil, and the insurance scandals, and when I went West I was + in an unhappy, doubting frame of mind. The trouble was I had no moral + anchors; the old ones father had given me were gone, and the time for + acquiring new ones had not arrived.” This bitterness of heart, or this + disappointment, or whatever the state of mind was that the dogmas of the + New England town had inspired in the boy from the prairie, made him + reckless. For the life he was to lead this was not a handicap. Even as a + lad, in a land-grant war in California, he had been under gunfire, and for + the next fifteen years he led a life of danger and of daring; and studied + in a school of experience than which, for a scout, if his life be spared, + there can be none better. Burnham came out of it a quiet, manly, + gentleman. In those fifteen years he roved the West from the Great Divide + to Mexico. He fought the Apache Indians for the possession of waterholes, + he guarded bullion on stage-coaches, for days rode in pursuit of Mexican + bandits and American horse thieves, took part in county-seat fights, in + rustler wars, in cattle wars; he was cowboy, miner, deputy-sheriff, and in + time throughout the the name of “Fred” Burnham became significant and + familiar. + </p> + <p> + During this period Burnham was true to his boyhood ideal of becoming a + scout. It was not enough that by merely living the life around him he was + being educated for it. He daily practised and rehearsed those things which + some day might mean to himself and others the difference between life and + death. To improve his sense of smell he gave up smoking, of which he was + extremely fond, nor, for the same reason, does he to this day use tobacco. + He accustomed himself also to go with little sleep, and to subsist on the + least possible quantity of food. As a deputy-sheriff this educated faculty + of not requiring sleep aided him in many important captures. Sometimes he + would not strike the trail of the bandit or “bad man” until the other had + several days the start of him. But the end was the same; for, while the + murderer snatched a few hours’ rest by the trail, Burnham, awake and in + the saddle, would be closing up the miles between them. + </p> + <p> + That he is a good marksman goes without telling. At the age of eight his + father gave him a rifle of his own, and at twelve, with either a “gun” or + a Winchester, he was an expert. He taught himself to use a weapon either + in his left or right hand and to shoot, Indian fashion, hanging by one leg + from his pony and using it as a cover, and to turn in the saddle and shoot + behind him. I once asked him if he really could shoot to the rear with a + galloping horse under him and hit a man. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he said, “maybe not to hit him, but I can come near enough to him + to make him decide my pony’s so much faster than his that it really isn’t + worth while to follow me.” + </p> + <p> + Besides perfecting himself in what he tolerantly calls “tricks” of + horsemanship and marksmanship, he studied the signs of the trail, forest + and prairie, as a sailing-master studies the waves and clouds. The + knowledge he gathers from inanimate objects and dumb animals seems little + less than miraculous. And when you ask him how he knows these things he + always gives you a reason founded on some fact or habit of nature that + shows him to be a naturalist, mineralogist, geologist, and botanist, and + not merely a seventh son of a seventh son. + </p> + <p> + In South Africa he would say to the officers: “There are a dozen Boers + five miles ahead of us riding Basuto ponies at a trot, and leading five + others. If we hurry we should be able to sight them in an hour.” At first + the officers would smile, but not after a half-hour’s gallop, when they + would see ahead of them a dozen Boers leading five ponies. In the early + days of Salem, Burnham would have been burned as a witch. + </p> + <p> + When twenty-three years of age he married Miss Blanche Blick, of Iowa. + They had known each other from childhood, and her brothers-in-law have + been Burnham’s aids and companions in every part of Africa and the West. + Neither at the time of their marriage nor since did Mrs. Burnham “lay a + hand on the bridle rein,” as is witnessed by the fact that for nine years + after his marriage Burnham continued his career as sheriff, scout, mining + prospector. And in 1893, when Burnham and his brother-in-law, Ingram, + started for South Africa, Mrs. Burnham went with them, and in every part + of South Africa shared her husband’s life of travel and danger. + </p> + <p> + In making this move across the sea, Burnham’s original idea was to look + for gold in the territory owned by the German East African Company. But as + in Rhodesia the first Matabele uprising had broken out, he continued on + down the coast, and volunteered for that campaign. This was the real + beginning of his fortunes. The “war” was not unlike the Indian fighting of + his early days, and although the country was new to him, with the kind of + warfare then being waged between the Kaffirs under King Lobengula and the + white settlers of the British South Africa Company, the chartered company + of Cecil Rhodes, he was intimately familiar. + </p> + <p> + It does not take big men long to recognize other big men, and Burnham’s + remarkable work as a scout at once brought him to the notice of Rhodes and + Dr. Jameson, who was personally conducting the campaign. The war was their + own private war, and to them, at such a crisis in the history of their + settlement, a man like Burnham was invaluable. + </p> + <p> + The chief incident of this campaign, the fame of which rang over all Great + Britain and her colonies, was the gallant but hopeless stand made by Major + Alan Wilson and his patrol of thirty-four men. It was Burnham’s attempt to + save these men that made him known from Buluwayo to Cape Town. + </p> + <p> + King Lobengula and his warriors were halted on one bank of the Shangani + River, and on the other Major Forbes, with a picked force of three hundred + men, was coming up in pursuit. Although at the moment he did not know it, + he also was being pursued by a force of Matabeles, who were gradually + surrounding him. At nightfall Major Wilson and a patrol of twelve men, + with Burnham and his brother-in-law, Ingram, acting as scouts, were + ordered to make a dash into the camp of Lobengula and, if possible, in the + confusion of their sudden attack, and under cover of a terrific + thunder-storm that was raging, bring him back a prisoner. + </p> + <p> + With the king in their hands the white men believed the rebellion would + collapse. To the number of three thousand the Matabeles were sleeping in a + succession of camps, through which the fourteen men rode at a gallop. But + in the darkness it was difficult to distinguish the trek wagon of the + king, and by the time they found his laager the Matabeles from the other + camps through which they had ridden had given the alarm. Through the + underbrush from every side the enemy, armed with assegai and elephant + guns, charged toward them and spread out to cut off their retreat. + </p> + <p> + At a distance of about seven hundred yards from the camps there was a + giant ant-hill, and the patrol rode toward it. By the aid of the lightning + flashes they made their way through a dripping wood and over soil which + the rain had turned into thick black mud. When the party drew rein at the + ant-hill it was found that of the fourteen three were missing. As the + official scout of the patrol and the only one who could see in the dark, + Wilson ordered Burnham back to find them. Burnham said he could do so only + by feeling the hoof-prints in the mud and that he would like some one with + him to lead his pony. Wilson said he would lead it. With his fingers + Burnham followed the trail of the eleven horses to where, at right angles, + the hoof-prints of the three others separated from it, and so came upon + the three men. Still, with nothing but the mud of the jungle to guide him, + he brought them back to their comrades. It was this feat that established + his reputation among British, Boers, and black men in South Africa. + </p> + <p> + Throughout the night the men of the patrol lay in the mud holding the + reins of their horses. In the jungle about them, they could hear the enemy + splashing through the mud, and the swishing sound of the branches as they + swept back into place. It was still raining. Just before the dawn there + came the sounds of voices and the welcome clatter of accoutrements. The + men of the patrol, believing the column had joined them, sprang up + rejoicing, but it was only a second patrol, under Captain Borrow, who had + been sent forward with twenty men as re-enforcements. They had come in + time to share in a glorious immortality. No sooner had these men joined + than the Kaffirs began the attack; and the white men at once learned that + they were trapped in a complete circle of the enemy. Hidden by the trees, + the Kaffirs fired point-blank, and in a very little time half of Wilson’s + force was killed or wounded. As the horses were shot down the men used + them for breastworks. There was no other shelter. Wilson called Burnham to + him and told him he must try and get through the lines of the enemy to + Forbes. + </p> + <p> + “Tell him to come up at once,” he said; “we are nearly finished.” He + detailed a trooper named Gooding and Ingram to accompany Burnham. “One of + you may get through,” he said. Gooding was but lately out from London, and + knew nothing of scouting, so Burnham and Ingram warned him, whether he saw + the reason for it or not, to act exactly as they did. The three men had + barely left the others before the enemy sprang at them with their spears. + In five minutes they were being fired at from every bush. Then followed a + remarkable ride, in which Burnham called to his aid all he had learned in + thirty years of border warfare. As the enemy rushed after them, the three + doubled on their tracks, rode in triple loops, hid in dongas to breathe + their horses; and to scatter their pursuers, separated, joined again, and + again separated. The enemy followed them to the very bank of the river, + where, finding the “drift” covered with the swollen waters, they were + forced to swim. They reached the other bank only to find Forbes hotly + engaged with another force of the Matabeles. + </p> + <p> + “I have been sent for re-enforcements,” Burnham said to Forbes, “but I + believe we are the only survivors of that party.” Forbes himself was too + hard pressed to give help to Wilson, and Burnham, his errand over, took + his place in the column, and began firing upon the new enemy. + </p> + <p> + Six weeks later the bodies of Wilson’s patrol were found lying in a + circle. Each of them had been shot many times. A son of Lobengula, who + witnessed their extermination, and who in Buluwayo had often heard the + Englishmen sing their national anthem, told how the five men who were the + last to die stood up and, swinging their hats defiantly, sang “God Save + the Queen.” The incident will long be recorded in song and story; and in + London was reproduced in two theatres, in each of which the man who played + “Burnham, the American Scout,” as he rode off for re-enforcements, was as + loudly cheered by those in the audience as by those on the stage. + </p> + <p> + Hensman, in his “History of Rhodesia,” says: “One hardly knows which to + most admire, the men who went on this dangerous errand, through brush + swarming with natives, or those who remained behind battling against + overwhelming odds.” + </p> + <p> + For his help in this war the Chartered Company presented Burnham with the + campaign medal, a gold watch engraved with words of appreciation; and at + the suggestion of Cecil Rhodes gave him, Ingram, and the Hon. Maurice + Clifford, jointly, a tract of land of three hundred square acres. + </p> + <p> + After this campaign Burnham led an expedition of ten white men and seventy + Kaffirs north of the Zambesi River to explore Barotzeland and other + regions to the north of Mashonaland, and to establish the boundaries of + the concession given him, Ingram, and Clifford. + </p> + <p> + In order to protect Burnham on the march the Chartered Company signed a + treaty with the native king of the country through which he wished to + travel, by which the king gave him permission to pass freely and + guaranteed him against attack. + </p> + <p> + But Latea, the son of the king, refused to recognize the treaty and sent + his young men in great numbers to surround Burnham’s camp. Burnham had + been instructed to avoid a fight, and was torn between his desire to obey + the Chartered Company and to prevent a massacre. He decided to make it a + sacrifice either of himself or of Latea. As soon as night fell, with only + three companions and a missionary to act as a witness of what occurred, he + slipped through the lines of Latea’s men, and, kicking down the fence + around the prince’s hut, suddenly appeared before him and covered him with + his rifle. + </p> + <p> + “Is it peace or war?” Burnham asked. “I have the king your father’s + guarantee of protection, but your men surround us. I have told my people + if they hear shots to open fire. We may all be killed, but you will be the + first to die.” + </p> + <p> + The missionary also spoke urging Latea to abide by the treaty. Burnham + says the prince seemed much more impressed by the arguments of the + missionary than by the fact that he still was covered by Burnham’s rifle. + Whichever argument moved him, he called off his warriors. On this + expedition Burnham discovered the ruins of great granite structures + fifteen feet wide, and made entirely without mortar. They were of a period + dating before the Phoenicians. He also sought out the ruins described to + him by F. C. Selous, the famous hunter, and by Rider Haggard as King + Solomon’s Mines. Much to the delight of Mr. Haggard, he brought back for + him from the mines of his imagination real gold ornaments and a real gold + bar. + </p> + <p> + On this same expedition, which lasted five months, Burnham endured one of + the severest hardships of his life. Alone with ten Kaffir boys, he started + on a week’s journey across the dried-up basin of what once had been a + great lake. Water was carried in goat-skins on the heads of the bearers. + The boys, finding the bags an unwieldy burden, and believing, with the + happy optimism of their race, that Burnham’s warnings were needless, and + that at a stream they soon could refill the bags, emptied the water on the + ground. + </p> + <p> + The tortures that followed this wanton waste were terrible. Five of the + boys died, and after several days, when Burnham found water in abundance, + the tongues of the others were so swollen that their jaws could not meet. + </p> + <p> + On this trip Burnham passed through a region ravaged by the “sleeping + sickness,” where his nostrils were never free from the stench of dead + bodies, where in some of the villages, as he expressed it, “the hyenas + were mangy with overeating, and the buzzards so gorged they could not move + out of our way.” From this expedition he brought back many ornaments of + gold manufactured before the Christian era, and made several valuable maps + of hitherto uncharted regions. It was in recognition of the information + gathered by him on this trip that he was elected a Fellow of the Royal + Geographical Society. + </p> + <p> + He returned to Rhodesia in time to take part in the second Matabele + rebellion. This was in 1896. By now Burnham was a very prominent member of + the “vortrekers” and pioneers at Buluwayo, and Sir Frederick Carrington, + who was in command of the forces, attached him to his staff. This second + outbreak was a more serious uprising than the one of 1893, and as it was + evident the forces of the Chartered Company could not handle it, imperial + troops were sent to assist them. But with even their aid the war dragged + on until it threatened to last to the rainy season, when the troops must + have gone into winter quarters. Had they done so, the cost of keeping them + would have fallen on the Chartered Company, already a sufferer in pocket + from the ravages of the rinderpest and the expenses of the investigation + which followed the Jameson raid. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly, Carrington looked about for some measure by which he could + bring the war to an immediate end. + </p> + <p> + It was suggested to him by a young Colonial, named Armstrong, the + Commissioner of the district, that this could be done by destroying the + “god,” or high priest, Umlimo, who was the chief inspiration of the + rebellion. + </p> + <p> + This high priest had incited the rebels to a general massacre of women and + children, and had given them confidence by promising to strike the white + soldiers blind and to turn their bullets into water. Armstrong had + discovered the secret hiding-place of Umlimo, and Carrington ordered + Burnham to penetrate the enemy’s lines, find the god, capture him, and if + that were not possible to destroy him. + </p> + <p> + The adventure was a most desperate one. Umlimo was secreted in a cave on + the top of a huge kopje. At the base of this was a village where were + gathered two regiments, of a thousand men each, of his fighting men. + </p> + <p> + For miles around this village the country was patrolled by roving bands of + the enemy. + </p> + <p> + Against a white man reaching the cave and returning, the chances were a + hundred to one, and the difficulties of the journey are illustrated by the + fact that Burnham and Armstrong were unable to move faster than at the + rate of a mile an hour. In making the last mile they consumed three hours. + When they reached the base of the kopje in which Umlimo was hiding, they + concealed their ponies in a clump of bushes, and on hands and knees began + the ascent. + </p> + <p> + Directly below them lay the village, so close that they could smell the + odors of cooking from the huts, and hear, rising drowsily on the hot, + noonday air, voices of the warriors. For minutes at a time they lay as + motionless as the granite bowlders around or squirmed and crawled over + loose stones which a miss of hand or knee would have dislodged and sent + clattering into the village. After an hour of this tortuous climbing the + cave suddenly opened before them, and they beheld Umlimo. Burnham + recognized that to take him alive from his stronghold was an + impossibility, and that even they themselves would leave the place was + equally doubtful. So, obeying orders, he fired, killing the man who had + boasted he would turn the bullets of his enemies into water. The echo of + the shot aroused the village as would a stone hurled into an ant-heap. In + an instant the veldt below was black with running men, and as, concealment + being no longer possible, the white men rose to fly a great shout of anger + told them they were discovered. At the same moment two women, returning + from a stream where they had gone for water, saw the ponies, and ran + screaming to give the alarm. The race that followed lasted two hours, for + so quickly did the Kaffirs spread out on every side that it was impossible + for Burnham to gain ground in any one direction, and he was forced to + dodge, turn, and double. At one time the white men were driven back to the + very kopje from which the race had started. + </p> + <p> + But in the end they evaded assegai and gunfire, and in safety reached + Buluwayo. This exploit was one of the chief factors in bringing the war to + a close. The Matabeles, finding their leader was only a mortal like + themselves, and so could not, as he had promised, bring miracles to their + aid, lost heart, and when Cecil Rhodes in person made overtures of peace, + his terms were accepted. During the hard days of the siege, when rations + were few and bad, Burnham’s little girl, who had been the first white + child born in Buluwayo, died of fever and lack of proper food. This with + other causes led him to leave Rhodesia and return to California. It is + possible he then thought he had forever turned his back on South Africa, + but, though he himself had departed, the impression he had made there + remained behind him. + </p> + <p> + Burnham did not rest long in California. In Alaska the hunt for gold had + just begun, and, the old restlessness seizing him, he left Pasadena and + her blue skies, tropical plants, and trolley-car strikes for the new raw + land of the Klondike. With Burnham it has always been the place that is + being made, not the place in being, that attracts. He has helped to make + straight the ways of several great communities—Arizona, California, + Rhodesia, Alaska, and Uganda. As he once said: “It is the constructive + side of frontier life that most appeals to me, the building up of a + country, where you see the persistent drive and force of the white man; + when the place is finally settled I don’t seem to enjoy it very long.” + </p> + <p> + In Alaska he did much prospecting, and, with a sled and only two dogs, for + twenty-four days made one long fight against snow and ice, covering six + hundred miles. In mining in Alaska he succeeded well, but against the + country he holds a constant grudge, because it kept him out of the fight + with Spain. When war was declared he was in the wilds and knew nothing of + it, and though on his return to civilization he telegraphed Colonel + Roosevelt volunteering for the Rough Riders, and at once started south, by + the time he had reached Seattle the war was over. + </p> + <p> + Several times has he spoken to me of how bitterly he regretted missing + this chance to officially fight for his country. That he had twice served + with English forces made him the more keen to show his loyalty to his own + people. + </p> + <p> + That he would have been given a commission in the Rough Riders seems + evident from the opinion President Roosevelt has publicly expressed of + him. + </p> + <p> + “I know Burnham,” the President wrote in 1901. “He is a scout and a hunter + of courage and ability, a man totally without fear, a sure shot, and a + fighter. He is the ideal scout, and when enlisted in the military service + of any country he is bound to be of the greatest benefit.” + </p> + <p> + The truth of this Burnham was soon to prove. + </p> + <p> + In 1899 he had returned to the Klondike, and in January of 1900 had been + six months in Skagway. In that same month Lord Roberts sailed for Cape + Town to take command of the army, and with him on his staff was Burnham’s + former commander, Sir Frederick, now Lord, Carrington. One night as the + ship was in the Bay of Biscay, Carrington was talking of Burnham and + giving instances of his marvellous powers as a “tracker.” + </p> + <p> + “He is the best scout we ever had in South Africa!” Carrington declared. + </p> + <p> + “Then why don’t we get him back there?” said Roberts. + </p> + <p> + What followed is well known. + </p> + <p> + From Gibraltar a cable was sent to Skagway, offering Burnham the position, + created especially for him, of chief of scouts of the British army in the + field. + </p> + <p> + Probably never before in the history of wars has one nation paid so + pleasant a tribute to the abilities of a man of another nation. + </p> + <p> + The sequel is interesting. The cablegram reached Skagway by the steamer <i>City + of Seattle</i>. The purser left it at the post-office, and until two hours + and a half before the steamer was listed to start on her return trip, + there it lay. Then Burnham, in asking for his mail, received it. In two + hours and a half he had his family, himself, and his belongings on board + the steamer, and had started on his half-around-the-world journey from + Alaska to Cape Town. + </p> + <p> + A Skagway paper of January 5, 1900, published the day after Burnham + sailed, throws a side light on his character. After telling of his hasty + departure the day before, and of the high compliment that had been paid to + “a prominent Skagwayan,” it adds: “Although Mr. Burnham has lived in + Skagway since last August, and has been North for many months, he has said + little of his past, and few have known that he is the man famous over the + world as ‘the American scout’ of the Matabele wars.” + </p> + <p> + Many a man who went to the Klondike did not, for reasons best known to + himself, talk about his past. But it is characteristic of Burnham that, + though he lived there two years, his associates did not know, until the + British Government snatched him from among them, that he had not always + been a prospector like themselves. + </p> + <p> + I was on the same ship that carried Burnham the latter half of his + journey, from Southampton to Cape Town, and every night for seventeen + nights was one of a group of men who shot questions at him. And it was + interesting to see a fellow-countryman one had heard praised so highly so + completely make good. It was not as though he had a credulous audience of + commercial tourists. Among the officers who each evening gathered around + him were Colonel Gallilet of the Egyptian cavalry, Captain Frazer + commanding the Scotch Gillies, Captain Mackie of Lord Roberts’s staff, + each of whom was later killed in action; Colonel Sir Charles Hunter of the + Royal Rifles, Major Bagot, Major Lord Dudley, and Captain Lord Valentia. + Each of these had either held command in border fights in India or the + Sudan or had hunted big game, and the questions each asked were the + outcome of his own experience and observation. + </p> + <p> + Not for a single evening could a faker have submitted to the midnight + examination through which they put Burnham and not have exposed his + ignorance. They wanted to know what difference there is in a column of + dust raised by cavalry and by trek wagons, how to tell whether a horse + that has passed was going at a trot or a gallop, the way to throw a + diamond hitch, how to make a fire without at the same time making a target + of yourself, how—why—what—and how? + </p> + <p> + And what made us most admire Burnham was that when he did not know he at + once said so. + </p> + <p> + Within two nights he had us so absolutely at his mercy that we would have + followed him anywhere; anything he chose to tell us, we would have + accepted. We were ready to believe in flying foxes, flying squirrels, that + wild turkeys dance quadrilles—even that you must never sleep in the + moonlight. Had he demanded: “Do you believe in vampires?” we would have + shouted “Yes.” To ask that a scout should on an ocean steamer prove his + ability was certainly placing him under a severe handicap. + </p> + <p> + As one of the British officers said: “It’s about as fair a game as though + we planted the captain of this ship in the Sahara Desert, and told him to + prove he could run a ten-thousand-ton liner.” + </p> + <p> + Burnham continued with Lord Roberts to the fall of Pretoria, when he was + invalided home. + </p> + <p> + During the advance north he was a hundred times inside the Boer laagers, + keeping Headquarters Staff daily informed of the enemy’s movements; was + twice captured and twice escaped. + </p> + <p> + He was first captured while trying to warn the British from the fatal + drift at Thaba’nchu. When reconnoitring alone in the morning mist he came + upon the Boers hiding on the banks of the river, toward which the English + were even then advancing. The Boers were moving all about him, and cut him + off from his own side. He had to choose between abandoning the English to + the trap or signalling to them, and so exposing himself to capture. With + the red kerchief the scouts carried for that purpose he wigwagged to the + approaching soldiers to turn back, that the enemy were awaiting them. But + the column, which was without an advance guard, paid no attention to his + signals and plodded steadily on into the ambush, while Burnham was at once + made prisoner. In the fight that followed he pretended to receive a wound + in the knee and bound it so elaborately that not even a surgeon would have + disturbed the carefully arranged bandages. Limping heavily and groaning + with pain, he was placed in a trek wagon with the officers who really were + wounded, and who, in consequence, were not closely guarded. Burnham told + them who he was and, as he intended to escape, offered to take back to + head-quarters their names or any messages they might wish to send to their + people. As twenty yards behind the wagon in which they lay was a mounted + guard, the officers told him escape was impossible. He proved otherwise. + The trek wagon was drawn by sixteen oxen and driven by a Kaffir boy. Later + in the evening, but while it still was moonlight, the boy descended from + his seat and ran forward to belabor the first spans of oxen. This was the + opportunity for which Burnham had been waiting. + </p> + <p> + Slipping quickly over the driver’s seat, he dropped between the two + “wheelers” to the disselboom, or tongue, of the trek wagon. From this he + lowered himself and fell between the legs of the oxen on his back in the + road. In an instant the body of the wagon had passed over him, and while + the dust still hung above the trail he rolled rapidly over into the ditch + at the side of the road and lay motionless. + </p> + <p> + It was four days before he was able to re-enter the British lines, during + which time he had been lying in the open veldt, and had subsisted on one + biscuit and two handfuls of “mealies,” or what we call Indian corn. + </p> + <p> + Another time when out scouting he and his Kaffir boy while on foot were + “jumped” by a Boer commando and forced to hide in two great ant-hills. The + Boers went into camp on every side of them, and for two days, unknown to + themselves, held Burnham a prisoner. Only at night did he and the Cape boy + dare to crawl out to breathe fresh air and to eat the food tablets they + carried in their pockets. On five occasions was Burnham sent into the Boer + lines with dynamite cartridges to blow up the railroad over which the + enemy was receiving supplies and ammunition. One of these expeditions + nearly ended his life. + </p> + <p> + On June 2, 1901, while trying by night to blow up the line between + Pretoria and Delagoa Bay, he was surrounded by a party of Boers and could + save himself only by instant flight. He threw himself Indian fashion along + the back of his pony, and had all but got away when a bullet caught the + horse and, without even faltering in its stride, it crashed to the ground + dead, crushing Burnham beneath it and knocking him senseless. He continued + unconscious for twenty-four hours, and when he came to, both friends and + foes had departed. Bent upon carrying out his orders, although suffering + the most acute agony, he crept back to the railroad and destroyed it. + Knowing the explosion would soon bring the Boers, on his hands and knees + he crept to an empty kraal, where for two days and nights he lay + insensible. At the end of that time he appreciated that he was sinking and + that unless he found aid he would die. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly, still on his hands and knees, he set forth toward the sound + of distant firing. He was indifferent as to whether it came from the enemy + or his own people, but, as it chanced, he was picked up by a patrol of + General Dickson’s Brigade, who carried him to Pretoria. There the surgeons + discovered that in his fall he had torn apart the muscles of the stomach + and burst a blood-vessel. That his life was saved, so they informed him, + was due only to the fact that for three days he had been without food. Had + he attempted to digest the least particle of the “staff of life” he would + have surely died. His injuries were so serious that he was ordered home. + </p> + <p> + On leaving the army he was given such hearty thanks and generous rewards + as no other American ever received from the British War Office. He was + promoted to the rank of major, presented with a large sum of money, and + from Lord Roberts received a personal letter of thanks and appreciation. + </p> + <p> + In part the Field-Marshal wrote: “I doubt if any other man in the force + could have successfully carried out the thrilling enterprises in which + from time to time you have been engaged, demanding as they did the + training of a lifetime, combined with exceptional courage, caution, and + powers of endurance.” On his arrival in England he was commanded to dine + with the Queen and spend the night at Osborne, and a few months later, + after her death, King Edward created him a member of the Distinguished + Service Order, and personally presented him with the South African medal + with five bars, and the cross of the D. S. O. While recovering his health + Burnham, with Mrs. Burnham, was “passed on” by friends he had made in the + army from country house to country house; he was made the guest of honor + at city banquets, with the Duke of Rutland rode after the Belvoir hounds, + and in Scotland made mild excursions after grouse. But after six months of + convalescence he was off again, this time to the hinterland of Ashanti, on + the west coast of Africa, where he went in the interests of a syndicate to + investigate a concession for working gold mines. + </p> + <p> + With his brother-in-law, J. C. Blick, he marched and rowed twelve hundred + miles, and explored the Volta River, at that date so little visited that + in one day’s journey they counted eleven hippopotamuses. In July, 1901, he + returned from Ashanti, and a few months later an unknown but enthusiastic + admirer asked in the House of Commons if it were true Major Burnham had + applied for the post of Instructor of Scouts at Aldershot. There is no + such post, and Burnham had not applied for any other post. To the Timer he + wrote: “I never have thought myself competent to teach Britons how to + fight, or to act as an instructor with officers who have fought in every + corner of the world. The question asked in Parliament was entirely without + my knowledge, and I deeply regret that it was asked.” A few months later, + with Mrs. Burnham and his younger son, Bruce, he journeyed to East Africa + as director of the East African Syndicate. + </p> + <p> + During his stay there the <i>African Review</i> said of him: “Should East + Africa ever become a possession for England to be proud of, she will owe + much of her prosperity to the brave little band that has faced hardships + and dangers in discovering her hidden resources. Major Burnham has chosen + men from England, Ireland, the United States, and South Africa for + sterling qualities, and they have justified his choice. Not the least like + a hero is the retiring, diffident little major himself, though a finer man + for a friend or a better man to serve under would not be found in the five + continents.” + </p> + <p> + Burnham explored a tract of land larger than Germany, penetrating a + thousand miles through a country, never before visited by white men, to + the borders of the Congo Basin. With him he had twenty white men and five + hundred natives. The most interesting result of the expedition was the + discovery of a lake forty-nine miles square, composed almost entirely of + pure carbonate of soda, forming a snowlike crust so thick that on it the + men could cross the lake. + </p> + <p> + It is the largest, and when the railroad is built—the Uganda + Railroad is now only eighty-eight miles distant—it will be the most + valuable deposit of carbonate of soda ever found. + </p> + <p> + A year ago, in the interests of John Hays Hammond, the distinguished + mining engineer of South Africa and this country, Burnham went to Sonora, + Mexico, to find a buried city and to open up mines of copper and silver. + </p> + <p> + Besides seeking for mines, Hammond and Burnham, with Gardner Williams, + another American who also made his fortune in South Africa, are working + together on a scheme to import to this country at their own expense many + species of South African deer. + </p> + <p> + The South African deer is a hardy animal and can live where the American + deer cannot, and the idea in importing him is to prevent big game in this + country from passing away. They have asked Congress to set aside for these + animals a portion of the forest reserve. Already Congress has voted toward + the plan $15,000, and President Roosevelt is one of its most enthusiastic + supporters. + </p> + <p> + We cannot leave Burnham in better hands than those of Hammond and Gardner + Williams. Than these three men the United States has not sent to British + Africa any Americans of whom she has better reason to be proud. Such men + abroad do for those at home untold good. They are the real ambassadors of + their country. + </p> + <p> + The last I learned of Burnham is told in the snapshot of him which + accompanies this article, and which shows him, barefoot, in the Yaqui + River, where he has gone, perhaps, to conceal his trail from the Indians. + It came a month ago in a letter which said briefly that when the picture + was snapped the expedition was “trying to cool off.” There his narrative + ended. Promising as it does adventures still to come, it seems a good + place in which to leave him. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, you may think of Mrs. Burnham after a year in Mexico keeping + the house open for her husband’s return to Pasadena, and of their first + son, Roderick, studying woodcraft with his father, forestry with Gifford + Pinchot, and playing right guard on the freshman team at the University of + California. + </p> + <p> + But Burnham himself we will leave “cooling off” in the Yaqui River, maybe, + with Indians hunting for him along the banks. And we need not worry about + him. We know they will not catch him. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s Real Soldiers of Fortune, by Richard Harding Davis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REAL SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE *** + +***** This file should be named 3029-h.htm or 3029-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3029/ + +Produced by David Reed, Ronald J. Wilson, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Real Soldiers of Fortune + +Author: Richard Harding Davis + +Posting Date: February 22, 2009 [EBook #3029] +Release Date: January, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REAL SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE *** + + + + +Produced by David Reed, and Ronald J. Wilson + + + + + +REAL SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE + + +By Richard Harding Davis + + + + + +MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY RONALD DOUGLAS MACIVER + +ANY sunny afternoon, on Fifth Avenue, or at night in the _table d'hote_ +restaurants of University Place, you may meet the soldier of fortune who +of all his brothers in arms now living is the most remarkable. You may +have noticed him; a stiffly erect, distinguished-looking man, with gray +hair, an imperial of the fashion of Louis Napoleon, fierce blue eyes, +and across his forehead a sabre cut. + +This is Henry Ronald Douglas MacIver, for some time in India an ensign +in the Sepoy mutiny; in Italy, lieutenant under Garibaldi; in Spain, +captain under Don Carlos; in our Civil War, major in the Confederate +army; in Mexico, lieutenant-colonel under the Emperor Maximilian; +colonel under Napoleon III, inspector of cavalry for the Khedive of +Egypt, and chief of cavalry and general of brigade of the army of King +Milan of Servia. These are only a few of his military titles. In 1884 +was published a book giving the story of his life up to that year. It +was called "Under Fourteen Flags." If to-day General MacIver were to +reprint the book, it would be called "Under Eighteen Flags." + +MacIver was born on Christmas Day, 1841, at sea, a league off the shore +of Virginia. His mother was Miss Anna Douglas of that State; Ronald +MacIver, his father, was a Scot, a Rossshire gentleman, a younger son of +the chief of the Clan MacIver. Until he was ten years old young MacIver +played in Virginia at the home of his father. Then, in order that he +might be educated, he was shipped to Edinburgh to an uncle, General +Donald Graham. After five years his uncle obtained for him a commission +as ensign in the Honorable East India Company, and at sixteen, when +other boys are preparing for college, MacIver was in the Indian Mutiny, +fighting, not for a flag, nor a country, but as one fights a wild +animal, for his life. He was wounded in the arm, and, with a sword, cut +over the head. As a safeguard against the sun the boy had placed inside +his helmet a wet towel. This saved him to fight another day, but even +with that protection the sword sank through the helmet, the towel, and +into the skull. To-day you can see the scar. He was left in the road +for dead, and even after his wounds had healed, was six weeks in the +hospital. + +This tough handling at the very start might have satisfied some men, but +in the very next war MacIver was a volunteer and wore the red shirt of +Garibaldi. He remained at the front throughout that campaign, and until +within a few years there has been no campaign of consequence in which he +has not taken part. He served in the Ten Years' War in Cuba, in +Brazil, in Argentina, in Crete, in Greece, twice in Spain in Carlist +revolutions, in Bosnia, and for four years in our Civil War under +Generals Jackson and Stuart around Richmond. In this great war he was +four times wounded. + +It was after the surrender of the Confederate army, that, with other +Southern officers, he served under Maximilian in Mexico; in Egypt, and +in France. Whenever in any part of the world there was fighting, or the +rumor of fighting, the procedure of the general invariably was the +same. He would order himself to instantly depart for the front, and on +arriving there would offer to organize a foreign legion. The command of +this organization always was given to him. But the foreign legion was +merely the entering wedge. He would soon show that he was fitted for +a better command than a band of undisciplined volunteers, and would +receive a commission in the regular army. In almost every command in +which he served that is the manner in which promotion came. Sometimes he +saw but little fighting, sometimes he should have died several deaths, +each of a nature more unpleasant than the others. For in war the obvious +danger of a bullet is but a three hundred to one shot, while in the pack +against the combatant the jokers are innumerable. And in the career of +the general the unforeseen adventures are the most interesting. A man +who in eighteen campaigns has played his part would seem to have +earned exemption from any other risks, but often it was outside the +battle-field that MacIver encountered the greatest danger. He fought +several duels, in two of which he killed his adversary; several attempts +were made to assassinate him, and while on his way to Mexico he was +captured by hostile Indians. On returning from an expedition in Cuba he +was cast adrift in an open boat and for days was without food. + +Long before I met General MacIver I had read his book and had heard of +him from many men who had met him in many different lands while +engaged in as many different undertakings. Several of the older war +correspondents knew him intimately; Bennett Burleigh of the _Telegraph_ +was his friend, and E. F. Knight of the _Times_ was one of those who +volunteered for a filibustering expedition which MacIver organized +against New Guinea. The late Colonel Ochiltree of Texas told me tales +of MacIver's bravery, when as young men they were fellow officers in the +Southern army, and Stephen Bonsal had met him when MacIver was United +States Consul at Denia in Spain. When MacIver arrived at this post, the +ex-consul refused to vacate the Consulate, and MacIver wished to settle +the difficulty with duelling pistols. As Denia is a small place, the +inhabitants feared for their safety, and Bonsal, who was our _charge +d'affaires_ then, was sent from Madrid to adjust matters. Without +bloodshed he got rid of the ex-consul, and later MacIver so endeared +himself to the Denians that they begged the State Department to retain +him in that place for the remainder of his life. + +Before General MacIver was appointed to a high position at the St. Louis +Fair, I saw much of him in New York. His room was in a side street in +an old-fashioned boarding-house, and overlooked his neighbor's back yard +and a typical New York City sumac tree; but when the general talked one +forgot he was within a block of the Elevated, and roamed over all +the world. On his bed he would spread out wonderful parchments, with +strange, heathenish inscriptions, with great seals, with faded ribbons. +These were signed by Sultans, Secretaries of War, Emperors, filibusters. +They were military commissions, titles of nobility, brevets for +decorations, instructions and commands from superior officers. +Translated the phrases ran: "Imposing special confidence in," "we +appoint," or "create," or "declare," or "In recognition of services +rendered to our person," or "country," or "cause," or "For bravery on +the field of battle we bestow the Cross----" + +As must a soldier, the general travels "light," and all his worldly +possessions were crowded ready for mobilization into a small compass. He +had his sword, his field blanket, his trunk, and the tin despatch +boxes that held his papers. From these, like a conjurer, he would draw +souvenirs of all the world. From the embrace of faded letters, he would +unfold old photographs, daguerrotypes, and miniatures of fair women and +adventurous men: women who now are queens in exile, men who, lifted on +waves of absinthe, still, across a _cafe_ table, tell how they will win +back a crown. + +Once in a written document the general did me the honor to appoint me +his literary executor, but as he is young, and as healthy as myself, it +never may be my lot to perform such an unwelcome duty. And to-day all +one can write of him is what the world can read in "Under Fourteen +Flags," and some of the "foot-notes to history" which I have copied +from his scrap-book. This scrap-book is a wonderful volume, but owing +to "political" and other reasons, for the present, of the many clippings +from newspapers it contains there are only a few I am at liberty to +print. And from them it is difficult to make a choice. To sketch in a +few thousand words a career that had developed under Eighteen Flags is +in its very wealth embarrassing. + +Here is one story, as told by the scrap-book, of an expedition that +failed. That it failed was due to a British Cabinet Minister; for had +Lord Derby possessed the imagination of the Soldier of Fortune, his +Majesty's dominions might now be the richer by many thousands of square +miles and many thousands of black subjects. + +On October 29, 1883, the following appeared in the London _Standard_: +"The New Guinea Exploration and Colonization Company is already +chartered, and the first expedition expects to leave before Christmas." +"The prospectus states settlers intending to join the first party must +contribute one hundred pounds toward the company. This subscription will +include all expenses for passage money. Six months' provisions will be +provided, together with tents and arms for protection. Each subscriber +of one hundred pounds is to obtain a certificate entitling him to one +thousand acres." + +The view of the colonization scheme taken by the _Times_ of London, of +the same date, is less complaisant. "The latest commercial sensation is +a proposed company for the seizure of New Guinea. Certain adventurous +gentlemen are looking out for one hundred others who have money and +a taste for buccaneering. When the company has been completed, its +share-holders are to place themselves under military regulations, sail +in a body for New Guinea, and without asking anybody's leave, seize +upon the island and at once, in some unspecified way, proceed to realize +large profits. If the idea does not suggest comparisons with the large +designs of Sir Francis Drake, it is at least not unworthy of Captain +Kidd." + +When we remember the manner in which some of the colonies of Great +Britain were acquired, the _Times_ seems almost squeamish. + +In a Melbourne paper, June, 1884, is the following paragraph: + +"Toward the latter part of 1883 the Government of Queensland planted the +flag of Great Britain on the shores of New Guinea. When the news reached +England it created a sensation. The Earl of Derby, Secretary for the +Colonies, refused, however, to sanction the annexation of New +Guinea, and in so doing acted contrary to the sincere wish of every +right-thinking Anglo-Saxon under the Southern Cross. + +"While the subsequent correspondence between the Home and Queensland +governments was going on, Brigadier-General H. R. MacIver originated and +organized the New Guinea Exploration and Colonization Company in London, +with a view to establishing settlements on the island. The company, +presided over by General Beresford of the British Army, and having +an eminently representative and influential board of directors, had a +capital of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and placed the +supreme command of the expedition in the hands of General MacIver. +Notwithstanding the character of the gentlemen composing the board of +directors, and the truly peaceful nature of the expedition, his Lordship +informed General MacIver that in the event of the latter's attempting to +land on New Guinea, instructions would be sent to the officer in command +of her Majesty's fleet in the Western Pacific to fire upon the company's +vessel. This meant that the expedition would be dealt with as a +filibustering one." + +In _Judy_, September 21, 1887, appears: + +"We all recollect the treatment received by Brigadier-General MacI. in +the action he took with respect to the annexation of New Guinea. The +General, who is a sort of Pizarro, with a dash of D'Artagnan, was +treated in a most scurvy manner by Lord Derby. Had MacIver not been +thwarted in his enterprise, the whole of New Guinea would now have been +under the British flag, and we should not be cheek-by-jowl with the +Germans, as we are in too many places." + +_Society_, September 3, 1887, says: + +"The New Guinea expedition proved abortive, owing to the blundering +shortsightedness of the then Government, for which Lord Derby was +chiefly responsible, but what little foothold we possess in New Guinea, +is certainly due to General MacIver's gallant effort." + +Copy of statement made by J. Rintoul Mitchell, June 2, 1887: + +"About the latter end of the year 1883, when I was editor-in-chief of +the _Englishman_ in Calcutta, I was told by Captain de Deaux, assistant +secretary in the Foreign Office of the Indian Government, that he +had received a telegram from Lord Derby to the effect that if General +MacIver ventured to land upon the coast of New Guinea it would become +the duty of Lord Ripon, Viceroy, to use the naval forces at his command +for the purpose of deporting General MacI. Sir Aucland Calvin can +certify to this, as it was discussed in the Viceregal Council." + +Just after our Civil War MacIver was interested in another expedition +which also failed. Its members called themselves the Knights of Arabia, +and their object was to colonize an island much nearer to our shores +than New Guinea. MacIver, saying that his oath prevented, would never +tell me which island this was, but the reader can choose from +among Cuba, Haiti, and the Hawaiian group. To have taken Cuba, the +"colonizers" would have had to fight not only Spain, but the Cubans +themselves, on whose side they were soon fighting in the Ten Years' War; +so Cuba may be eliminated. And as the expedition was to sail from the +Atlantic side, and not from San Francisco, the island would appear to be +the Black Republic. From the records of the times it would seem that the +greater number of the Knights of Arabia were veterans of the Confederate +army, and there is no question but that they intended to subjugate the +blacks of Haiti and form a republic for white men in which slavery would +be recognized. As one of the leaders of this filibustering expedition, +MacIver was arrested by General Phil Sheridan and for a short time cast +into jail. + +This chafed the general's spirit, but he argued philosophically that +imprisonment for filibustering, while irksome, brought with it +no reproach. And, indeed, sometimes the only difference between a +filibuster and a government lies in the fact that the government fights +the gun-boats of only the enemy while a filibuster must dodge the boats +of the enemy and those of his own countrymen. When the United States +went to war with Spain there were many men in jail as filibusters, for +doing that which at the time the country secretly approved, and later +imitated. And because they attempted exactly the same thing for which +Dr. Jameson was imprisoned in Holloway Jail, two hundred thousand of his +countrymen are now wearing medals. + +The by-laws of the Knights of Arabia leave but little doubt as to its +object. + +By-law No. II reads: + +"We, as Knights of Arabia, pledge ourselves to aid, comfort, and protect +all Knights of Arabia, especially those who are wounded in obtaining our +grand object. + +"III--Great care must be taken that no unbeliever or outsider shall gain +any insight into the mysteries or secrets of the Order. + +"IV--The candidate will have to pay one hundred dollars cash to +the Captain of the Company, and the candidate will receive from the +Secretary a Knight of Arabia bond for one hundred dollars in gold, with +ten per cent interest, payable ninety days after the recognition of (The +Republic of----) by the United States, or any government. + +"V--All Knights of Arabia will be entitled to one hundred acres of +land, location of said land to be drawn for by lottery. The products are +coffee, sugar, tobacco, and cotton." + +A local correspondent of the New York _Herald_ writes of the arrest of +MacIver as follows: + +"When MacIver will be tried is at present unknown, as his case has +assumed a complicated aspect. He claims British protection as a subject +of her British Majesty, and the English Consul has forwarded a statement +of his case to Sir Frederick Bruce at Washington, accompanied by a copy +of the by-laws. General Sheridan also has forwarded a statement to +the Secretary of War, accompanied not only by the by-laws, but very +important documents, including letters from Jefferson Davis, Benjamin, +the Secretary of State of the Confederate States, and other personages +prominent in the Rebellion, showing that MacIver enjoyed the highest +confidence of the Confederacy." + +As to the last statement, an open letter I found in his scrap-book is an +excellent proof. It is as follows: "To officers and members of all camps +of United Confederate Veterans: It affords me the greatest pleasure to +say that the bearer of this letter, General Henry Ronald MacIver, was an +officer of great gallantry in the Confederate Army, serving on the staff +at various times of General Stonewall Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, and E. +Kirby Smith, and that his official record is one of which any man may be +proud. + +"Respectfully, MARCUS J. WRIGHT, "_Agent for the Collection of +Confederate Records_. + +"War Records office, War Department, Washington, July 8, 1895." + +At the close of the war duels between officers of the two armies were +not infrequent. In the scrap-book there is the account of one of these +affairs sent from Vicksburg to a Northern paper by a correspondent who +was an eye-witness of the event. It tells how Major MacIver, accompanied +by Major Gillespie, met, just outside of Vicksburg, Captain Tomlin of +Vermont, of the United States Artillery Volunteers. The duel was with +swords. MacIver ran Tomlin through the body. The correspondent writes: + +"The Confederate officer wiped his sword on his handkerchief. In a few +seconds Captain Tomlin expired. One of Major MacIver's seconds called to +him: 'He is dead; you must go. These gentlemen will look after the body +of their friend.' A negro boy brought up the horses, but before mounting +MacIver said to Captain Tomlin's seconds: 'My friends are in haste for +me to go. Is there anything I can do? I hope you consider that this +matter has been settled honorably?' + +"There being no reply, the Confederates rode away." + +In a newspaper of to-day so matter-of-fact an acceptance of an event so +tragic would make strange reading. + +From the South MacIver crossed through Texas to join the Royalist army +under the Emperor Maximilian. It was while making his way, with other +Confederate officers, from Galveston to El Paso, that MacIver was +captured by the Indians. He was not ill-treated by them, but for three +months was a prisoner, until one night, the Indians having camped near +the Rio Grande, he escaped into Mexico. There he offered his sword to +the Royalist commander, General Mejia, who placed him on his staff, and +showed him some few skirmishes. At Monterey MacIver saw big fighting, +and for his share in it received the title of Count, and the order of +Guadaloupe. In June, contrary to all rules of civilized war, Maximilian +was executed and the empire was at an end. MacIver escaped to the coast, +and from Tampico took a sailing vessel to Rio de Janeiro. Two months +later he was wearing the uniform of another emperor, Dom Pedro, and, +with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, was in command of the Foreign +Legion of the armies of Brazil and Argentina, which at that time as +allies were fighting against Paraguay. + +MacIver soon recruited seven hundred men, but only half of these ever +reached the front. In Buenos Ayres cholera broke out and thirty thousand +people died, among the number about half the Legion. MacIver was among +those who suffered, and before he recovered was six weeks in hospital. +During that period, under a junior officer, the Foreign Legion was sent +to the front, where it was disbanded. + +On his return to Glasgow, MacIver foregathered with an old friend, +Bennett Burleigh, whom he had known when Burleigh was a lieutenant +in the navy of the Confederate States. Although today known as a +distinguished war correspondent, in those days Burleigh was something of +a soldier of fortune himself, and was organizing an expedition to assist +the Cretan insurgents against the Turks. Between the two men it was +arranged that MacIver should precede the expedition to Crete and +prepare for its arrival. The Cretans received him gladly, and from the +provisional government he received a commission in which he was given +"full power to make war on land and sea against the enemies of Crete, +and particularly against the Sultan of Turkey and the Turkish forces, +and to burn, destroy, or capture any vessel bearing the Turkish flag." + +This permission to destroy the Turkish navy single-handed strikes one +as more than generous, for the Cretans had no navy, and before one could +begin the destruction of a Turkish gun-boat it was first necessary to +catch it and tie it to a wharf. + +At the close of the Cretan insurrection MacIver crossed to Athens and +served against the brigands in Kisissia on the borders of Albania +and Thessaly as volunteer aide to Colonel Corroneus, who had been +commander-in-chief of the Cretans against the Turks. MacIver spent three +months potting at brigands, and for his services in the mountains was +recommended for the highest Greek decoration. + +From Greece it was only a step to New York, and almost immediately +MacIver appears as one of the Goicouria-Christo expedition to Cuba, +of which Goicouria was commander-in-chief, and two famous American +officers, Brigadier-General Samuel C. Williams was a general and Colonel +Wright Schumburg was chief of staff. + +In the scrap-book I find "General Order No. 11 of the Liberal Army of +the Republic of Cuba, issued at Cedar Keys, October 3, 1869." In it +Colonel MacIver is spoken of as in charge of officers not attached to +any organized corps of the division. And again: + +"General Order No. V, Expeditionary Division, Republic of Cuba, on board +_Lilian_," announces that the place to which the expedition is bound has +been changed, and that General Wright Schumburg, who now is in command, +orders "all officers not otherwise commissioned to join Colonel +MacIver's 'Corps of Officers.'" + +The _Lilian_ ran out of coal, and to obtain firewood put in at Cedar +Keys. For two weeks the patriots cut wood and drilled upon the beach, +when they were captured by a British gun-boat and taken to Nassau. +There they were set at liberty, but their arms, boat, and stores were +confiscated. + +In a sailing vessel MacIver finally reached Cuba, and under Goicouria, +who had made a successful landing, saw some "help yourself" fighting. +Goicouria's force was finally scattered, and MacIver escaped from the +Spanish soldiery only by putting to sea in an open boat, in which he +endeavored to make Jamaica. + +On the third day out he was picked up by a steamer and again landed at +Nassau, from which place he returned to New York. + +At that time in this city there was a very interesting man named +Thaddeus P. Mott, who had been an officer in our army and later +had entered the service of Ismail Pasha. By the Khedive he had +been appointed a general of division and had received permission to +reorganize the Egyptian army. + +His object in coming to New York was to engage officers for that +service. He came at an opportune moment. At that time the city was +filled with men who, in the Rebellion, on one side or the other, had +held command, and many of these, unfitted by four years of soldiering +for any other calling, readily accepted the commissions which Mott had +authority to offer. New York was not large enough to keep MacIver and +Mott long apart, and they soon came to an understanding. The agreement +drawn up between them is a curious document. It is written in a neat +hand on sheets of foolscap tied together like a Commencement-day +address, with blue ribbon. In it MacIver agrees to serve as colonel of +cavalry in the service of the Khedive. With a few legal phrases omitted, +the document reads as follows: + +"Agreement entered into this 24th day of March, 1870, between the +Government of his Royal Highness and the Khedive of Egypt, represented +by General Thaddeus P. Mott of the first part, and H. R. H. MacIver of +New York City. + +"The party of the second part, being desirous of entering into the +service of party of the first part, in the military capacity of a +colonel of cavalry, promises to serve and obey party of the first part +faithfully and truly in his military capacity during the space of five +years from this date; that the party of the second part waives all +claims of protection usually afforded to Americans by consular and +diplomatic agents of the United States, and expressly obligates himself +to be subject to the orders of the party of the first part, and to make, +wage, and vigorously prosecute war against any and all the enemies of +party of the first part; that the party of the second part will not +under any event be governed, controlled by, or submit to, any order, +law, mandate, or proclamation issued by the Government of the United +States of America, forbidding party of the second part to serve party +of the first part to make war according to any of the provisions herein +contained, _it being, however, distinctly understood_ that nothing +herein contained shall be construed as obligating party of the second +part to bear arms or wage war against the United States of America. + +"Party of the first part promises to furnish party of the second part +with horses, rations, and pay him for his services the same salary now +paid to colonels of cavalry in United States army, and will furnish him +quarters suitable to his rank in army. Also promises, in the case of +illness caused by climate, that said party may resign his office and +shall receive his expenses to America and two months' pay; that he +receives one-fifth of his regular pay during his active service, +together with all expenses of every nature attending such enterprise." + +It also stipulates as to what sums shall be paid his family or children +in case of his death. + +To this MacIver signs this oath: + +"In the presence of the ever-living God, I swear that I will in all +things honestly, faithfully, and truly keep, observe, and perform the +obligations and promises above enumerated, and endeavor to conform to +the wishes and desires of the Government of his Royal Highness, the +Khedive of Egypt, in all things connected with the furtherance of his +prosperity, and the maintenance of his throne." + +On arriving at Cairo, MacIver was appointed inspector-general of +cavalry, and furnished with a uniform, of which this is a description: +"It consisted of a blue tunic with gold spangles, embroidered in gold +up the sleeves and front, neat-fitting red trousers, and high +patent-leather boots, while the inevitable fez completed the gay +costume." + +The climate of Cairo did not agree with MacIver, and, in spite of +his "gay costume," after six months he left the Egyptian service. His +honorable discharge was signed by Stone Bey, who, in the favor of the +Khedive, had supplanted General Mott. + +It is a curious fact that, in spite of his ill health, immediately after +leaving Cairo, MacIver was sufficiently recovered to at once plunge into +the Franco-Prussian War. At the battle of Orleans, while on the staff +of General Chanzy, he was wounded. In this war his rank was that of a +colonel of cavalry of the auxiliary army. + +His next venture was in the Carlist uprising of 1873, when he formed a +Carlist League, and on several occasions acted as bearer of important +messages from the "King," as Don Carlos was called, to the sympathizers +with his cause in France and England. + +MacIver was promised, if he carried out successfully a certain mission +upon which he was sent, and if Don Carlos became king, that he would be +made a marquis. As Don Carlos is still a pretender, MacIver is still a +general. Although in disposing of his sword MacIver never allowed his +personal predilections to weigh with him, he always treated himself to a +hearty dislike of the Turks, and we next find him fighting against them +in Herzegovina with the Montenegrins. And when the Servians declared +war against the same people, MacIver returned to London to organize a +cavalry brigade to fight with the Servian army. + +Of this brigade and of the rapid rise of MacIver to highest rank and +honors in Servia, the scrap-book is most eloquent. The cavalry brigade +was to be called the Knights of the Red Cross. + +In a letter to the editor of the _Hour_, the general himself speaks of +it in the following terms: + +"It may be interesting to many of your readers to learn that a select +corps of gentlemen is at present in course of organization under +the above title with the mission of proceeding to the Levant to +take measures in case of emergency for the defense of the Christian +population, and more especially of British subjects who are to a great +extent unprovided with adequate means of protection from the religious +furies of the Mussulmans. The lives of Christian women and children are +in hourly peril from fanatical hordes. The Knights will be carefully +chosen and kept within strict military control, and will be under +command of a practical soldier with large experience of the Eastern +countries. Templars and all other crusaders are invited to give aid and +sympathy." + +Apparently MacIver was not successful in enlisting many Knights, for +a war correspondent at the capital of Servia, waiting for the war to +begin, writes as follows: + +"A Scotch soldier of fortune, Henry MacIver, a colonel by rank, has +arrived at Belgrade with a small contingent of military adventurers. +Five weeks ago I met him in Fleet Street, London, and had some talk +about his 'expedition.' He had received a commission from the Prince of +Servia to organize and command an independent cavalry brigade, and he +then was busily enrolling his volunteers into a body styled 'The Knights +of the Red Cross.' I am afraid some of his bold crusaders have earned +more distinction for their attacks on Fleet Street bars than they are +likely to earn on Servian battle-fields, but then I must not anticipate +history." + +Another paper tells that at the end of the first week of his service as +a Servian officer, MacIver had enlisted ninety men, but that they were +scattered about the town, many without shelter and rations: + +"He assembled his men on the Rialto, and in spite of official +expostulation, the men were marched up to the Minister's four +abreast--and they marched fairly well, making a good show. The War +Minister was taken by storm, and at once granted everything. It has +raised the English colonel's popularity with his men to fever heat." + +This from the _Times_, London: + +"Our Belgrade correspondent telegraphs last night: + +"'There is here at present a gentleman named MacIver. He came from +England to offer himself and his sword to the Servians. The Servian +Minister of War gave him a colonel's commission. This morning I saw him +drilling about one hundred and fifty remarkably fine-looking fellows, +all clad in a good serviceable cavalry uniform, and he has horses."' + +Later we find that: + +"Colonel MacIver's Legion of Cavalry, organizing here, now numbers over +two hundred men." + +And again: + +"Prince Nica, a Roumanian cousin of the Princess Natalie of Servia, has +joined Colonel MacIver's cavalry corps." + +Later, in the _Court Journal_, October 28, 1876, we read: + +"Colonel MacIver, who a few years ago was very well known in military +circles in Dublin, now is making his mark with the Servian army. In +the war against the Turks, he commands about one thousand Russo-Servian +cavalry." + +He was next to receive the following honors: + +"Colonel MacIver has been appointed commander of the cavalry of the +Servian armies on the Morava and Timok, and has received the Cross of +the Takovo Order from General Tchemaieff for gallant conduct in the +field, and the gold medal for valor." + +Later we learn from the _Daily News_: + +"Mr. Lewis Farley, Secretary of the 'League in Aid of Christians of +Turkey,' has received the following letter, dated Belgrade, October 10, +1876: + +"'DEAR SIR: In reference to the embroidered banner so kindly worked by +an English lady and forwarded by the League to Colonel MacIver, I have +great pleasure in conveying to you the following particulars. On Sunday +morning, the flag having been previously consecrated by the archbishop, +was conducted by a guard of honor to the palace, and Colonel MacIver, +in the presence of Prince Milan and a numerous suite, in the name and +on behalf of yourself and the fair donor, delivered it into the hands +of the Princess Natalie. The gallant Colonel wore upon this occasion his +full uniform as brigade commander and chief of cavalry of the Servian +army, and bore upon his breast the 'Gold Cross of Takovo' which he +received after the battles of the 28th and 30th of September, in +recognition of the heroism and bravery he displayed upon these eventful +days. The beauty of the decoration was enhanced by the circumstances +of its bestowal, for on the evening of the battle of the 30th, General +Tchernaieff approached Colonel MacIver, and, unclasping the cross from +his own breast, placed it upon that of the Colonel. + +"'(Signed.) HUGH JACKSON, + +"'_Member of Council of the League_." + +In Servia and in the Servian army MacIver reached what as yet is the +highest point of his career, and of his life the happiest period. + +He was _general de brigade_, which is not what we know as a brigade +general, but is one who commands a division, a major-general. He was a +great favorite both at the palace and with the people, the pay was good, +fighting plentiful, and Belgrade gay and amusing. Of all the places +he has visited and the countries he has served, it is of this Balkan +kingdom that the general seems to speak most fondly and with the +greatest feeling. Of Queen Natalie he was and is a most loyal and +chivalric admirer, and was ever ready, when he found any one who did +not as greatly respect the lady, to offer him the choice of swords or +pistols. Even for Milan he finds an extenuating word. + +After Servia the general raised more foreign legions, planned further +expeditions; in Central America reorganized the small armies of the +small republics, served as United States Consul, and offered his sword +to President McKinley for use against Spain. But with Servia the most +active portion of the life of the general ceased, and the rest has been +a repetition of what went before. At present his time is divided between +New York and Virginia, where he has been offered an executive position +in the approaching Jamestown Exposition. Both North and South he has +many friends, many admirers. But his life is, and, from the nature of +his profession, must always be, a lonely one. + +While other men remain planted in one spot, gathering about them a home, +sons and daughters, an income for old age, MacIver is a rolling stone, +a piece of floating sea-weed; as the present King of England called him +fondly, "that vagabond soldier." + +To a man who has lived in the saddle and upon transports, "neighbor" +conveys nothing, and even "comrade" too often means one who is no longer +living. + +With the exception of the United States, of which he now is a +naturalized citizen, the general has fought for nearly every country in +the world, but if any of those for which he lost his health and blood, +and for which he risked his life, remembers him, it makes no sign. And +the general is too proud to ask to be remembered. To-day there is no +more interesting figure than this man who in years is still young enough +to lead an army corps, and who, for forty years, has been selling his +sword and risking his life for presidents, pretenders, charlatans, and +emperors. + +He finds some mighty changes: Cuba, which he fought to free, is free; +men of the South, with whom for four years he fought shoulder to +shoulder, are now wearing the blue; the empire of Mexico, for which he +fought, is a republic; the empire of France, for which he fought, is a +republic; the empire of Brazil, for which he fought is a republic; the +dynasty in Servia, to which he owes his greatest honors, has been wiped +out by murder. From none of the eighteen countries he has served has he +a pension, berth, or billet, and at sixty he finds himself at home in +every land, but with a home in none. + +Still he has his sword, his blanket, and in the event of war, to obtain +a commission he has only to open his tin boxes and show the commissions +already won. Indeed, any day, in a new uniform, and under the Nineteenth +Flag, the general may again be winning fresh victories and honors. + +And so, this brief sketch of him is left unfinished. We will mark +it--_To be continued_. + + + + +BARON JAMES HARDEN-HICKEY + +THIS is an attempt to tell the story of Baron Harden-Hickey, the Man Who +Made Himself King, the man who was born after his time. + +If the reader, knowing something of the strange career of Harden-Hickey, +wonders why one writes of him appreciatively rather than in amusement, +he is asked not to judge Harden-Hickey as one judges a contemporary. + +Harden-Hickey, in our day, was as incongruous a figure as was the +American at the Court of King Arthur; he was as unhappily out of the +picture as would be Cyrano de Bergerac on the floor of the Board +of Trade. Judged, as at the time he was judged, by writers of comic +paragraphs, by presidents of railroads, by amateur "statesmen" at +Washington, Harden-Hickey was a joke. To the vacant mind of the village +idiot, Rip Van Winkle returning to Falling Water also was a joke. The +people of our day had not the time to understand Harden-Hickey; they +thought him a charlatan, half a dangerous adventurer and half a fool; +and Harden-Hickey certainly did not under stand them. His last words, +addressed to his wife, showed this. They were: "I would rather die a +gentleman than live a blackguard like your father." + +As a matter of fact, his father-in-law, although living under the +disadvantage of being a Standard Oil magnate, neither was, nor is, a +blackguard, and his son-in-law had been treated by him generously +and with patience. But for the duellist and soldier of fortune it was +impossible to sympathize with a man who took no greater risk in life +than to ride on one of his own railroads, and of the views the two men +held of each other, that of John H. Flagler was probably the fairer and +the more kindly. + +Harden-Hickey was one of the most picturesque, gallant, and pathetic +adventurers of our day; but Flagler also deserves our sympathy. + +For an unimaginative and hard-working Standard Oil king to have a +D'Artagnan thrust upon him as a son-in-law must be trying. + +James A. Harden-Hickey, James the First of Trinidad, Baron of the +Holy Roman Empire, was born on December 8, 1854. As to the date all +historians agree; as to where the important event took place they +differ. That he was born in France his friends are positive, but at the +time of his death in El Paso the San Francisco papers claimed him as a +native of California. All agree that his ancestors were Catholics and +Royalists who left Ireland with the Stuarts when they sought refuge in +France. The version which seems to be the most probable is that he was +born in San Francisco, where as one of the early settlers, his father, +E. C. Hickey, was well known, and that early in his life, in order to +educate him, the mother took him to Europe. + +There he was educated at the Jesuit College at Namur, then at Leipsic, +and later entered the Military College of St. Cyr. + +James the First was one of those boys who never had the misfortune to +grow up. To the moment of his death, in all he planned you can trace the +effects of his early teachings and environment; the influences of the +great Church that nursed him, and of the city of Paris, in which he +lived. Under the Second Empire, Paris was at her maddest, baddest, and +best. To-day under the republic, without a court, with a society kept in +funds by the self-expatriated wives and daughters of our business men, +she lacks the reasons for which Baron Haussmann bedecked her and made +her beautiful. The good Loubet, the worthy Fallieres, except that they +furnish the cartoonist with subjects for ridicule, do not add to the +gayety of Paris. But when Harden-Hickey was a boy, Paris was never so +carelessly gay, so brilliant, never so overcharged with life, color, and +adventure. + +In those days "the Emperor sat in his box that night," and in the box +opposite sat Cora Pearl; veterans of the campaign of Italy, of Mexico, +from the desert fights of Algiers, sipped sugar and water in front of +Tortoni's, the Cafe Durand, the Cafe Riche; the sidewalks rang with +their sabres, the boulevards were filled with the colors of the gorgeous +uniforms; all night of each night the Place Vendome shone with the +carriage lamps of the visiting pashas from Egypt, of nabobs from +India, of _rastaquoueres_ from the sister empire of Brazil; the state +carriages, with the outriders and postilions in the green and gold of +the Empress, swept through the Champs Elysees, and at the Bal Bulier, +and at Mabile the students and "grisettes" introduced the cancan. The +men of those days were Hugo, Thiers, Dumas, Daudet, Alfred de Musset; +the magnificent blackguard, the Duc de Morny, and the great, simple +Canrobert, the captain of barricades, who became a marshal of France. + +Over all was the mushroom Emperor, his anterooms crowded with the +titled charlatans of Europe, his court radiant with countesses created +overnight. And it was the Emperor, with his love of theatrical display, +of gorgeous ceremonies; with his restless reaching after military glory, +the weary, cynical adventurer, that the boy at St. Cyr took as his +model. + +Royalist as was Harden-Hickey by birth and tradition, and Royalist as +he always remained, it was the court at the Tuileries that filled his +imagination. The Bourbons, whom he served, hoped some day for a court; +at the Tuileries there was a court, glittering before his physical eyes. +The Bourbons were pleasant old gentlemen, who later willingly supported +him, and for whom always he was equally willing to fight, either with +his sword or his pen. But to the last, in his mind, he carried pictures +of the Second Empire as he, as a boy, had known it. + +Can you not imagine the future James the First, barelegged, in a +black-belted smock, halting with his nurse, or his priest, to gaze up in +awestruck delight at the great, red-breeched Zouaves lounging on guard +at the Tuileries? + +"When I grow up," said little James to himself, not knowing that he +never would grow up, "I shall have Zouaves for _my_ palace guard." + +And twenty years later, when he laid down the laws for his little +kingdom, you find that the officers of his court must wear the mustache, +"_a la_ Louis Napoleon," and that the Zouave uniform will be worn by the +Palace Guards. + +In 1883, while he still was at the War College, his father died, and +when he graduated, which he did with honors, he found himself his own +master. His assets were a small income, a perfect knowledge of the +French language, and the reputation of being one of the most expert +swordsman in Paris. He chose not to enter the army, and instead became +a journalist, novelist, duellist, an _habitue_ of the Latin Quarter and +the boulevards. + +As a novelist the titles of his books suggest their quality. Among +them are: "Un Amour Vendeen," "Lettres d'un Yankee," "Un Amour dans +le Monde," "Memoires d'un Gommeux," "Merveilleuses Aventures de +Nabuchodonosor, Nosebreaker." + +Of the Catholic Church he wrote seriously, apparently with deep +conviction, with high enthusiasm. In her service as a defender of the +faith he issued essays, pamphlets, "broadsides." The opponents of the +Church in Paris he attacked relentlessly. + +As a reward for his championship he received the title of baron. + +In 1878, while only twenty-four, he married the Countess de Saint-Pery, +by whom he had two children, a boy and a girl, and three years later +he started _Triboulet_. It was this paper that made him famous to "all +Paris." + +It was a Royalist sheet, subsidized by the Count de Chambord and +published in the interest of the Bourbons. Until 1888 Harden-Hickey was +its editor, and even by his enemies it must be said that he served his +employers with zeal. During the seven years in which the paper amused +Paris and annoyed the republican government, as its editor Harden-Hickey +was involved in forty-two lawsuits, for different editorial +indiscretions, fined three hundred thousand francs, and was a principal +in countless duels. + +To his brother editors his standing interrogation was: "Would you prefer +to meet me upon the editorial page, or in the Bois de Boulogne?" Among +those who met him in the Bois were Aurelien Scholl, H. Lavenbryon, M. +Taine, M. de Cyon, Philippe Du Bois, Jean Moreas. + +In 1888, either because, his patron the Count de Chambord having died, +there was no more money to pay the fines, or because the patience of +the government was exhausted, _Triboulet_ ceased to exist, and +Harden-Hickey, claiming the paper had been suppressed and he himself +exiled, crossed to London. + +From there he embarked upon a voyage around the world, which lasted two +years, and in the course of which he discovered the island kingdom of +which he was to be the first and last king. Previous to his departure, +having been divorced from the Countess de Saint-Pery, he placed his boy +and girl in the care of a fellow-journalist and very dear friend, the +Count de la Boissiere, of whom later we shall hear more. + +Harden-Hickey started around the world on the _Astoria_, a British +merchant vessel bound for India by way of Cape Horn, Captain Jackson +commanding. + +When off the coast of Brazil the ship touched at the uninhabited island +of Trinidad. Historians of James the First say that it was through +stress of weather that the _Astoria_ was driven to seek refuge there, +but as, for six months of the year, to make a landing on the island is +almost impossible, and as at any time, under stress of weather, Trinidad +would be a place to avoid, it is more likely Jackson put in to replenish +his water-casks, or to obtain a supply of turtle meat. + +Or it may have been that, having told Harden-Hickey of the derelict +island, the latter persuaded the captain to allow him to land and +explore it. Of this, at least, we are certain, a boat was sent ashore, +Harden-Hickey went ashore in it, and before he left the island, as a +piece of no man's land, belonging to no country, he claimed it in his +own name, and upon the beach raised a flag of his own design. + +The island of Trinidad claimed by Harden-Hickey must not be confused +with the larger Trinidad belonging to Great Britain and lying off +Venezuela. + +The English Trinidad is a smiling, peaceful spot of great tropical +beauty; it is one of the fairest places in the West Indies. At every +hour of the year the harbor of Port of Spain holds open its arms to +vessels of every draught. A governor in a pith helmet, a cricket club, a +bishop in gaiters, and a botanical garden go to make it a prosperous +and contented colony. But the little derelict Trinidad, in latitude +20 degrees 30 minutes south, and longitude 29 degrees 22 minutes west, +seven hundred miles from the coast of Brazil, is but a spot upon the +ocean. On most maps it is not even a spot. Except by birds, turtles, and +hideous land-crabs, it is uninhabited; and against the advances of man +its shores are fortified with cruel ridges of coral, jagged limestone +rocks, and a tremendous towering surf which, even in a dead calm, beats +many feet high against the coast. + +In 1698 Dr. Halley visited the island, and says he found nothing living +but doves and land-crabs. "Saw many green turtles in sea, but by reason +of the great surf, could catch none." + +After Halley's visit, in 1700 the island was settled by a few Portuguese +from Brazil. The ruins of their stone huts are still in evidence. But +Amaro Delano, who called in 1803, makes no mention of the Portuguese; +and when, in 1822, Commodore Owen visited Trinidad, he found nothing +living there save cormorants, petrels, gannets, man-of-war birds, and +"turtles weighing from five hundred to seven hundred pounds." + +In 1889 E. F. Knight, who in the Japanese-Russian War represented the +London _Morning Post_, visited Trinidad in his yacht in search of buried +treasure. + +Alexander Dalrymple, in his book entitled "Collection of Voages, chiefly +in the Southern Atlantick Ocean, 1775," tells how, in 1700, he "took +possession of the island in his Majesty's name as knowing it to be +granted by the King's letter patent, leaving a Union Jack flying." + +So it appears that before Harden-Hickey seized the island it already had +been claimed by Great Britain, and later, on account of the Portuguese +settlement, by Brazil. The answer Harden-Hickey made to these claims +was that the English never settled in Trinidad, and that the Portuguese +abandoned it, and, therefore, their claims lapsed. In his "prospectus" +of his island, Harden-Hickey himself describes it thus: + +"Trinidad is about five miles long and three miles wide. In spite of +its rugged and uninviting appearance, the inland plateaus are rich with +luxuriant vegetation. + +"Prominent among this is a peculiar species of bean, which is not only +edible, but extremely palatable. The surrounding seas swarm with fish, +which as yet are wholly unsuspicious of the hook. Dolphins, rock-cod, +pigfish, and blackfish may be caught as quickly as they can be hauled +out. I look to the sea birds and the turtles to afford our principal +source of revenue. Trinidad is the breeding-place of almost the entire +feathery population of the South Atlantic Ocean. The exportation of +guano alone should make my little country prosperous. Turtles visit the +island to deposit eggs, and at certain seasons the beach is literally +alive with them. The only drawback to my projected kingdom is the fact +that it has no good harbor and can be approached only when the sea is +calm." + +As a matter of fact sometimes months pass before it is possible to +effect a landing. + +Another asset of the island held out by the prospectus was its great +store of buried treasure. Before Harden-Hickey seized the island, this +treasure had made it known. This is the legend. In 1821 a great store +of gold and silver plate plundered from Peruvian churches had been +concealed on the islands by pirates near Sugar Loaf Hill, on the shore +of what is known as the Southwest Bay. Much of this plate came from +the cathedral at Lima, having been carried from there during the war +of independence when the Spanish residents fled the country. In their +eagerness to escape they put to sea in any ship that offered, and these +unarmed and unseaworthy vessels fell an easy prey to pirates. One of +these pirates on his death-bed, in gratitude to his former captain, told +him the secret of the treasure. In 1892 this captain was still living, +in Newcastle, England, and although his story bears a family resemblance +to every other story of buried treasure, there were added to the tale of +the pirate some corroborative details. These, in twelve years, induced +five different expeditions to visit the island. The two most important +were that of E. F. Knight and one from the Tyne in the bark _Aurea_. + +In his "Cruise of the _Alerte_," Knight gives a full description of the +island, and of his attempt to find the treasure. In this, a landslide +having covered the place where it was buried, he was unsuccessful. + +But Knight's book is the only source of accurate information concerning +Trinidad, and in writing his prospectus it is evident that Harden-Hickey +was forced to borrow from it freely. Knight himself says that the most +minute and accurate description of Trinidad is to be found in the "Frank +Mildmay" of Captain Marryat. He found it so easy to identify each spot +mentioned in the novel that he believes the author of "Midshipman Easy" +himself touched there. + +After seizing Trinidad, Harden-Hickey rounded the Cape and made north to +Japan, China, and India. In India he became interested in Buddhism, and +remained for over a year questioning the priests of that religion and +studying its tenets and history. + +On his return to Paris, in 1890, he met Miss Annie Harper Flagler, +daughter of John H. Flagler. A year later, on St. Patrick's Day, +1891, at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, Miss Flagler became the +Baroness Harden-Hickey. The Rev. John Hall married them. + +For the next two years Harden-Hickey lived in New York, but so quietly +that, except that he lived quietly, it is difficult to find out anything +concerning him. The man who, a few years before, had delighted Paris +with his daily feuilletons, with his duels, with his forty-two lawsuits, +who had been the master of revels in the Latin Quarter, in New York +lived almost as a recluse, writing a book on Buddhism. While he was in +New York I was a reporter on the _Evening Sun_, but I cannot recall ever +having read his name in the newspapers of that day, and I heard of him +only twice; once as giving an exhibition of his water-colors at the +American Art Galleries, and again as the author of a book I found in a +store in Twenty-second Street, just east of Broadway, then the home of +the Truth Seeker Publishing Company. + +It was a grewsome compilation and had just appeared in print. It was +called "Euthanasia, or the Ethics of Suicide." This book was an apology +or plea for self-destruction. In it the baron laid down those occasions +when he considered suicide pardonable, and when obligatory. To support +his arguments and to show that suicide was a noble act, he quoted Plato, +Cicero, Shakespeare, and even misquoted the Bible. He gave a list of +poisons, and the amount of each necessary to kill a human being. To show +how one can depart from life with the least pain, he illustrated the +text with most unpleasant pictures, drawn by himself. + +The book showed how far Harden-Hickey had strayed from the teachings +of the Jesuit College at Namur, and of the Church that had made him +"noble." + +All of these two years had not been spent only in New York. +Harden-Hickey made excursions to California, to Mexico, and to Texas, +and in each of these places bought cattle ranches and mines. The money +to pay for these investments came from his father-in-law. But not +directly. Whenever he wanted money he asked his wife, or De la +Boissiere, who was a friend also of Flagler, to obtain it for him. + +His attitude toward his father-in-law is difficult to explain. It is not +apparent that Flagler ever did anything which could justly offend him; +indeed, he always seems to have spoken of his son-in-law with tolerance, +and often with awe, as one would speak of a clever, wayward child. But +Harden-Hickey chose to regard Flagler as his enemy, as a sordid man +of business who could not understand the feelings and aspirations of a +genius and a gentleman. + +Before Harden-Hickey married, the misunderstanding between his wife's +father and himself began. Because he thought Harden-Hickey was marrying +his daughter for her money, Flagler opposed the union. Consequently, +Harden-Hickey married Miss Flagler without "settlements," and for the +first few years supported her without aid from her father. But his +wife had been accustomed to a manner of living beyond the means of the +soldier of fortune, and soon his income, and then even his capital, was +exhausted. From her mother the baroness inherited a fortune. This was +in the hands of her father as executor. When his own money was gone, +Harden-Hickey endeavored to have the money belonging to his wife placed +to her credit, or to his. To this, it is said, Flagler, on the ground +that Harden-Hickey was not a man of business, while he was, objected, +and urged that he was, and that if it remained in his hands the money +would be better invested and better expended. It was the refusal of +Flagler to intrust Harden-Hickey with the care of his wife's money that +caused the breach between them. + +As I have said, you cannot judge Harden-Hickey as you would a +contemporary. With the people among whom he was thrown, his ideas were +entirely out of joint. He should have lived in the days of "The Three +Musketeers." People who looked upon him as working for his own hand +entirely misunderstood him. He was absolutely honest, and as absolutely +without a sense of humor. To him, to pay taxes, to pay grocers' bills, +to depend for protection upon a policeman, was intolerable. He lived +in a world of his own imagining. And one day, in order to make his +imaginings real, and to escape from his father-in-law's unromantic world +of Standard Oil and Florida hotels, in a proclamation to the powers +he announced himself as King James the First of the Principality of +Trinidad. + +The proclamation failed to create a world crisis. Several of the powers +recognized his principality and his title; but, as a rule, people +laughed, wondered, and forgot. That the daughter of John Flagler was +to rule the new principality gave it a "news interest," and for a few +Sundays in the supplements she was hailed as the "American Queen." + +When upon the subject of the new kingdom Flagler himself was +interviewed, he showed an open mind. + +"My son-in-law is a very determined man," he said; "he will carry out +any scheme in which he is interested. Had he consulted me about this, +I would have been glad to have aided him with money or advice. My +son-in-law is an extremely well-read, refined, well-bred man. He does +not court publicity. While he was staying in my house he spent nearly +all the time in the library translating an Indian book on Buddhism. My +daughter has no ambition to be a queen or anything else than what she +is--an American girl. But my son-in-law means to carry on this Trinidad +scheme, and--he will." + +From his father-in-law, at least, Harden-Hickey could not complain that +he had met with lack of sympathy. + +The rest of America was amused; and after less than nine days, +indifferent. But Harden-Hickey, though unobtrusively, none the less +earnestly continued to play the part of king. His friend De la Boissiere +he appointed his Minister of Foreign Affairs, and established in a +Chancellery at 217 West Thirty-sixth Street, New York, and from there +was issued a sort of circular, or prospectus, written by the king, and +signed by "Le Grand Chancelier, Secretaire d'Etat pour les Affaires +Etrangeres, M. le Comte de la Boissiere." + +The document, written in French, announced that the new state would +be governed by a military dictatorship, that the royal standard was a +yellow triangle on a red ground, and that the arms of the principality +were "d'Or chape de Gueules." It pointed out naively that those who +first settled on the island would be naturally the oldest inhabitants, +and hence would form the aristocracy. But only those who at home enjoyed +social position and some private fortune would be admitted into this +select circle. + +For itself the state reserved a monopoly of the guano, of the turtles, +and of the buried treasure. And both to discover the treasure and to +encourage settlers to dig and so cultivate the soil, a percentage of the +treasure was promised to the one who found it. + +Any one purchasing ten $200 bonds was entitled to a free passage to the +island, and after a year, should he so desire it, a return trip. The +hard work was to be performed by Chinese coolies, the aristocracy +existing beautifully, and, according to the prospectus, to enjoy _"vie +d'un genre tout nouveau, et la recherche de sensations nouvelles."_ + +To reward his subjects for prominence in literature, the arts, and the +sciences, his Majesty established an order of chivalry. The official +document creating this order reads: + + +"We, James, Prince of Trinidad, have resolved to commemorate our +accession to the throne of Trinidad by the institution of an Order of +Chivalry, destined to reward literature, industry, science, and the +human virtues, and by these presents have established and do institute, +with cross and crown, the Order of the Insignia of the Cross of +Trinidad, of which we and our heirs and successors shall be the +sovereigns. + +"Given in our Chancellery the Eighth of the month of December, one +thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, and of our reign, the First +Year. + +"JAMES." + +There were four grades: Chevalier, Commander, Grand Officer, and Grand +Cross; and the name of each member of the order was inscribed in +"The Book of Gold." A pension of one thousand francs was given to a +Chevalier, of two thousand francs to a Commander, and of three thousand +francs to a Grand Officer. Those of the grade of Grand Cross were +content with a plaque of eight diamond-studded rays, with, in the +centre, set in red enamel, the arms of Trinidad. The ribbon was red and +yellow. + +A rule of the order read: "The costume shall be identical with that of +the Chamberlains of the Court of Trinidad, save the buttons, which shall +bear the impress of the Crown of the Order." + +For himself, King James commissioned a firm of jewelers to construct a +royal crown. In design it was similar to the one which surmounted the +cross of Trinidad. It is shown in the photograph of the insignia. Also, +the king issued a set of postage-stamps on which was a picture of +the island. They were of various colors and denominations, and among +stamp-collectors enjoyed a certain sale. + +To-day, as I found when I tried to procure one to use in this book, they +are worth many times their face value. + +For some time the affairs of the new kingdom progressed favorably. In +San Francisco, King James, in person, engaged four hundred coolies and +fitted out a schooner which he sent to Trinidad, where it made regular +trips between his principality and Brazil; an agent was established +on the island, and the construction of docks, wharves, and houses +was begun, while at the chancellery in West Thirty-sixth Street, the +Minister of Foreign Affairs was ready to furnish would-be settlers with +information. + +And then, out of a smiling sky, a sudden and unexpected blow was struck +at the independence of the little kingdom. It was a blow from which it +never recovered. + +In July of 1895, while constructing a cable to Brazil, Great Britain +found the Island of Trinidad lying in the direct line she wished to +follow, and, as a cable station, seized it. Objection to this was made +by Brazil, and at Bahia a mob with stones pelted the sign of the English +Consul-General. + +By right of Halley's discovery, England claimed the island; as a +derelict from the main land, Brazil also claimed it. Between the rivals, +the world saw a chance for war, and the fact that the island really +belonged to our King James for a moment was forgotten. + +But the Minister of Foreign Affairs was at his post. With promptitude +and vigor he acted. He addressed a circular note to all the powers of +Europe, and to our State Department a protest. It read as follows: + + + "GRANDE CHANCELLERIE DE LA PRINCIPAUTE DE + TRINIDAD, + 27 WEST THIRTY-SIXTH STREET, + NEW YORK CITY, U. S. A., + +"NEW YORK, _July_ 30, 1895. + +_"To His Excellency Mr. the Secretary of State of the Republic of the +United States of North America, Washington, D. C.:_ + +"EXCELLENCY.--I have the honor to recall to your memory: + +"1. That in the course of the month of September, 1893, Baron +Harden-Hickey officially notified all the Powers of his taking +possession of the uninhabited island of Trinidad; and + +"2. That in course of January, 1894, he renewed to all these Powers the +official notification of the said taking of possession, and informed +them at the same time that from that date the land would be known +as 'Principality of Trinidad'; that he took the title of 'Prince of +Trinidad,' and would reign under the name of James I. + +"In consequence of these official notifications several Powers have +recognized the new Principality and its Prince, and at all events none +thought it necessary at that epoch to raise objections or formulate +opposition. + +"The press of the entire world has, on the other hand, often acquainted +readers with these facts, thus giving to them all possible publicity. In +consequence of the accomplishment of these various formalities, and +as the law of nations prescribes that 'derelict' territories belong to +whoever will take possession of them, and as the island of Trinidad, +which has been abandoned for years, certainly belongs to the aforesaid +category, his Serene Highness Prince James I was authorized to regard +his rights on the said island as perfectly valid and indisputable. + +"Nevertheless, your Excellency knows that recently, in spite of all +the legitimate rights of my august sovereign, an English war-ship +has disembarked at Trinidad a detachment of armed troops and taken +possession of the island in the name of England. + +"Following this assumption of territory, the Brazilian Government, +invoking a right of ancient Portuguese occupation (long ago outlawed), +has notified the English Government to surrender the island to Brazil. + +"I beg of your Excellency to ask of the Government of the United +States of North America to recognize the Principality of Trinidad as +an independent State, and to come to an understanding with the other +American Powers in order to guarantee its neutrality. + +"Thus the Government of the United States of North America will once +more accord its powerful assistance to the cause of right and of +justice, misunderstood by England and Brazil, put an end to a situation +which threatens to disturb the peace, re-establish concord between two +great States ready to appeal to arms, and affirm itself, moreover, as +the faithful interpreter of the Monroe Doctrine. + +"In the expectation of your reply please accept, Excellency, the +expression of my elevated consideration. + +"The Grand Chancellor, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, + +"COMTE DE LA BOISSIERE." + +At that time Richard Olney was Secretary of State, and in his treatment +of the protest, and of the gentleman who wrote it, he fully upheld the +reputation he made while in office of lack of good manners. Saying he +was unable to read the handwriting in which the protest was written, +he disposed of it in a way that would suggest itself naturally to a +statesman and a gentleman. As a "crank" letter he turned it over to the +Washington correspondents. You can imagine what they did with it. + +The day following the reporters in New York swept down upon the +chancellery and upon the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It was the "silly +season" in August, there was no real news in town, and the troubles of +De la Boissiere were allowed much space. + +They laughed at him and at his king, at his chancellery, at his broken +English, at his "grave and courtly manners," even at his clothes. But in +spite of the ridicule, between the lines you could read that to the man +himself it all was terribly real. + +I had first heard of the island of Trinidad from two men I knew +who spent three months on it searching for the treasure, and when +Harden-Hickey proclaimed himself lord of the island, through the papers +I had carefully followed his fortunes. So, partly out of curiosity and +partly out of sympathy, I called at the chancellery. + +I found it in a brownstone house, in a dirty neighborhood just west of +Seventh Avenue, and of where now stands the York Hotel. Three weeks ago +I revisited it and found it unchanged. At the time of my first visit, +on the jamb of the front door was pasted a piece of paper on which +was written in the handwriting of De la Boissiere: "Chancellerie de la +Principaute de Trinidad." + +The chancellery was not exactly in its proper setting. On its door-step +children of the tenements were playing dolls with clothes-pins; in the +street a huckster in raucous tones was offering wilted cabbages to women +in wrappers leaning from the fire escapes; the smells and the heat of +New York in midsummer rose from the asphalt. It was a far cry to the +wave-swept island off the coast of Brazil. + +De la Boissiere received me with distrust. The morning papers had made +him man-shy; but, after a few "Your Excellencies" and a respectful +inquiry regarding "His Royal Highness," his confidence revived. In the +situation he saw nothing humorous, not even in an announcement on the +wall which read: "Sailings to Trinidad." Of these there were _two_; on +March 1, and on October 1. On the table were many copies of the +royal proclamation, the postage-stamps of the new government, the +thousand-franc bonds, and, in pasteboard boxes, the gold and red +enamelled crosses of the Order of Trinidad. + +He talked to me frankly and fondly of Prince James. Indeed, I never +met any man who knew Harden-Hickey well who did not speak of him with +aggressive loyalty. If at his eccentricities they smiled, it was with +the smile of affection. It was easy to see De la Boissiere regarded him +not only with the affection of a friend, but with the devotion of a +true subject. In his manner he himself was courteous, gentle, and so +distinguished that I felt as though I were enjoying, on intimate terms, +an audience with one of the prime-ministers of Europe. + +And he, on his part, after the ridicule of the morning papers, to have +any one with outward seriousness accept his high office and his king, +was, I believe, not ungrateful. + +I told him I wished to visit Trinidad, and in that I was quite serious. +The story of an island filled with buried treasure, and governed by a +king, whose native subjects were turtles and seagulls, promised to make +interesting writing. + +The count was greatly pleased. I believe in me he saw his first +bona-fide settler, and when I rose to go he even lifted one of +the crosses of Trinidad and, before my envious eyes, regarded it +uncertainly. + +Perhaps, had he known that of all decorations it was the one I +most desired; had I only then and there booked my passage, or sworn +allegiance to King James, who knows but that to-day I might be a +chevalier, with my name in the "Book of Gold"? But instead of bending +the knee, I reached for my hat; the count replaced the cross in its +pasteboard box, and for me the psychological moment had passed. + +Others, more deserving of the honor, were more fortunate. Among my +fellow-reporters who, like myself, came to scoff, and remained to pray, +was Henri Pene du Bois, for some time, until his recent death, the +brilliant critic of art and music of the _American_. Then he was on +the _Times_, and Henry N. Cary, now of the _Morning Telegraph_, was his +managing editor. + +When Du Bois reported to Cary on his assignment, he said: "There is +nothing funny in that story. It's pathetic. Both those men are in +earnest. They are convinced they are being robbed of their rights. Their +only fault is that they have imagination, and that the rest of us lack +it. That's the way it struck me, and that's the way the story ought to +be written." + +"Write it that way," said Cary. + +So, of all the New York papers, the _Times_, for a brief period, became +the official organ of the Government of James the First, and in time +Cary and Du Bois were created Chevaliers of the Order of Trinidad, and +entitled to wear uniforms "Similar to those of the Chamberlains of the +Court, save that the buttons bear the impress of the Royal Crown." + +The attack made by Great Britain and Brazil upon the independence of the +principality, while it left Harden-Hickey in the position of a king in +exile, brought him at once another crown, which, by those who offered +it to him, was described as of incomparably greater value than that of +Trinidad. + +In the first instance the man had sought the throne; in this case the +throne sought the man. + +In 1893 in San Francisco, Ralston J. Markowe, a lawyer and a one-time +officer of artillery in the United States army, gained renown as one +of the Morrow filibustering expedition which attempted to overthrow the +Dole government in the Hawaiian Isles and restore to the throne Queen +Liliuokalani. In San Francisco Markowe was nicknamed the "Prince of +Honolulu," as it was understood, should Liliuokalani regain her +crown, he would be rewarded with some high office. But in the star +of Liliuokalani, Markowe apparently lost faith, and thought he saw +in Harden-Hickey timber more suitable for king-making. Accordingly, +twenty-four days after the "protest" was sent to our State Department, +Markowe switched his allegiance to Harden-Hickey, and to him addressed +the following letter: + +"SAN FRANCISCO, August 26, 1895. + +BARON HARDEN-HICKEY, LOS ANGELES, CAL.: + +"Monseigneur--Your favor of August 16 has been received. + +"1. I am the duly authorized agent of the Royalist party in so far as +it is possible for any one to occupy that position under existing +circumstances. With the Queen in prison and absolutely cut off from +all communication with her friends, it is out of the question for me to +carry anything like formal credentials. + +"2. Alienating any part of the territory cannot give rise to any +constitutional questions, for the reason that the constitutions, like +the land tenures, are in a state of such utter confusion that only a +strong hand can unravel them, and the restoration will result in the +establishment of a strong military government. If I go down with the +expedition I have organized I shall be in full control of the situation +and in a position to carry out all my contracts. + +"3. It is the island of Kauai on which I propose to establish you as an +independent sovereign. + +"4. My plan is to successively occupy all the islands, leaving the +capital to the last. When the others have fallen, the capital, being cut +off from all its resources, will be easily taken, and may very likely +fall without effort. I don't expect in any case to have to fortify +myself or to take the defensive, or to have to issue a call to arms, as +I shall have an overwhelming force to join me at once, in addition to +those who go with me, who by themselves will be sufficient to carry +everything before them without active cooperation from the people there. + +"5. The Government forces consist of about 160 men and boys, with very +imperfect military training, and of whom about forty are officers. They +are organized as infantry. There are also about 600 citizens enrolled +as a reserve guard, who may be called upon in case of an emergency, +and about 150 police. We can fully rely upon the assistance of all the +police and from one-quarter to one-half of the other troops. And of the +remainder many will under no circumstances engage in a sharp fight in +defense of the present government. There are now on the island plenty +of men and arms to accomplish our purpose, and if my expedition does +not get off very soon the people there will be organized to do the work +without other assistance from here than the direction of a few leaders, +of which they stand more in need than anything else. + +"6. The tonnage of the vessel is 146. She at present has berth-room for +twenty men, but bunks can be arranged in the hold for 256 more, with +provision for ample ventilation. She has one complete set of sails and +two extra spars. The remaining information in regard to her I will have +to obtain and send you to-morrow. I think it must be clear to you that +the opportunity now offered you will be of incomparably greater value +at once than Trinidad would ever be. Still hoping that I may have an +interview with you at an early date, respectfully yours, + +"RALSTON J. MARKOWE." + +What Harden-Hickey thought of this is not known, but as two weeks before +he received it he had written Markowe, asking him by what authority he +represented the Royalists of Honolulu, it seems evident that when the +crown of Hawaii was first proffered him he did not at once spurn it. + +He now was in the peculiar position of being a deposed king of an island +in the South Atlantic, which had been taken from him, and king-elect of +an island in the Pacific, which was his if he could take it. + +This was in August of 1895. For the two years following, Harden-Hickey +was a soldier of misfortunes. Having lost his island kingdom, he could +no longer occupy himself with plans for its improvement. It had been +his toy. They had taken it from him, and the loss and the ridicule which +followed hurt him bitterly. + +And for the lands he really owned in Mexico and California, and which, +if he were to live in comfort, it was necessary he should sell, he +could find no purchaser; and, moreover, having quarrelled with his +father-in-law, he had cut off his former supply of money. The need of it +pinched him cruelly. + +The advertised cause of this quarrel was sufficiently characteristic +to be the real one. Moved by the attack of Great Britain upon his +principality, Harden-Hickey decided upon reprisals. It must be +remembered that always he was more Irish than French. On paper +he organized an invasion of England from Ireland, the home of his +ancestors. It was because Flagler refused to give him money for this +adventure that he broke with him. His friends say this was the real +reason of the quarrel, which was a quarrel on the side of Harden-Hickey +alone. + +And there were other, more intimate troubles. While not separated from +his wife, he now was seldom in her company. When the Baroness was in +Paris, Harden-Hickey was in San Francisco; when she returned to San +Francisco, he was in Mexico. The fault seems to have been his. He was +greatly admired by pretty women. His daughter by his first wife, now a +very beautiful girl of sixteen, spent much time with her stepmother; +and when not on his father's ranch in Mexico, his son also, for months +together, was at her side. The husband approved of this, but he himself +saw his wife infrequently. Nevertheless, early in the spring of 1898, +the Baroness leased a house in Brockton Square, in Riverside, Cal., +where it was understood by herself and by her friends her husband would +join her. At that time in Mexico he was trying to dispose of a large +tract of land. Had he been able to sell it, the money for a time would +have kept one even of his extravagances contentedly rich. At least, +he would have been independent of his wife and of her father. Up to +February of 1898 his obtaining this money seemed probable. + +Early in that month the last prospective purchaser decided not to buy. + +There is no doubt that had Harden-Hickey then turned to his +father-in-law, that gentleman, as he had done before, would have opened +an account for him. + +But the Prince of Trinidad felt he could no longer beg, even for the +money belonging to his wife, from the man he had insulted. He could no +longer ask his wife to intercede for him. He was without money of his +own, with out the means of obtaining it; from his wife he had ceased to +expect even sympathy, and from the world he knew, the fact that he was +a self-made king caused him always to be pointed out with ridicule as a +charlatan, as a jest. + +The soldier of varying fortunes, the duellist and dreamer, the devout +Catholic and devout Buddhist, saw the forty-third year of his life only +as the meeting-place of many fiascos. + +His mind was tormented with imaginary wrongs, imaginary slights, +imaginary failures. + +This young man, who could paint pictures, write books, organize colonies +oversea, and with a sword pick the buttons from a waistcoat, forgot the +twenty good years still before him; forgot that men loved him for the +mistakes he had made; that in parts of the great city of Paris his name +was still spoken fondly, still was famous and familiar. + +In his book on the "Ethics of Suicide," for certain hard places in life +he had laid down an inevitable rule of conduct. + +As he saw it he had come to one of those hard places, and he would not +ask of others what he himself would not perform. + +From Mexico he set out for California, but not to the house his wife had +prepared for him. + +Instead, on February 9, 1898, at El Paso, he left the train and +registered at a hotel. + +At 7.30 in the evening he went to his room, and when, on the following +morning, they kicked in the door, they found him stretched rigidly upon +the bed, like one lying in state, with, near his hand, a half-emptied +bottle of poison. + +On a chair was pinned this letter to his wife: + +"My DEAREST,--No news from you, although you have had plenty of time to +write. Harvey has written me that he has no one in view at present to +buy my land. Well, I shall have tasted the cup of bitterness to the very +dregs, but I do not complain. Good-by. I forgive you your conduct toward +me and trust you will be able to forgive yourself. I prefer to be a dead +gentleman to a living blackguard like your father." + + +And when they searched his open trunk for something that might identify +the body on the bed, they found the crown of Trinidad. + +You can imagine it: the mean hotel bedroom, the military figure with +its white face and mustache, "_a la_ Louis Napoleon," at rest upon the +pillow, the startled drummers and chambermaids peering in from the hall, +and the landlord, or coroner, or doctor, with a bewildered countenance, +lifting to view the royal crown of gilt and velvet. + +The other actors in this, as Harold Frederic called it, "Opera Bouffe +Monarchy," are still living. + +The Baroness Harden-Hickey makes her home in this country. + +The Count de la Boissiere, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, is still a +leader of the French colony in New York, and a prosperous commission +merchant with a suite of offices on Fifty-fourth Street. By the will of +Harden-Hickey he is executor of his estate, guardian of his children, +and what, for the purpose of this article, is of more importance, in +his hands lies the future of the kingdom of Trinidad. When Harden-Hickey +killed himself the title to the island was in dispute. Should young +Harden-Hickey wish to claim it, it still would be in dispute. Meanwhile, +by the will of the First James, De la Boissiere is appointed perpetual +regent, a sort of "receiver," and executor of the principality. + +To him has been left a royal decree signed and sealed, but blank. In the +will the power to fill in this blank with a statement showing the final +disposition of the island has been bestowed upon De la Boissiere. + +So, some day, he may proclaim the accession of a new king, and give a +new lease of life to the kingdom of which Harden-Hickey dreamed. + +But unless his son, or wife, or daughter should assert his or her +rights, which is not likely to happen, so ends the dynasty of James the +First of Trinidad, Baron of the Holy Roman Empire. + +To the wise ones in America he was a fool, and they laughed at him; to +the wiser ones, he was a clever rascal who had evolved a new real-estate +scheme and was out to rob the people--and they respected him. To my +mind, of them all, Harden-Hickey was the wisest. + +Granted one could be serious, what could be more delightful than to be +your own king on your own island? + +The comic paragraphers, the business men of "hard, common sense," the +captains of industry who laughed at him and his national resources +of buried treasure, turtles' eggs, and guano, with his body-guard of +Zouaves and his Grand Cross of Trinidad, certainly possessed many things +that Harden-Hickey lacked. But they in turn lacked the things that made +him happy; the power to "make believe," the love of romance, the touch +of adventure that plucked him by the sleeve. + +When, as boys, we used to say: "Let's pretend we're pirates," as a man, +Harden-Hickey begged: "Let's pretend I'm a king." + +But the trouble was, the other boys had grown up and would not pretend. + +For some reason his end always reminds me of the closing line of +Pinero's play, when the adventuress, Mrs. Tanqueray, kills herself, and +her virtuous stepchild says: "If we had only been kinder!" + + + + +WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL + +IN the strict sense of the phrase, a soldier of fortune is a man who for +pay, or for the love of adventure, fights under the flag of any country. + +In the bigger sense he is the kind of man who in any walk of life makes +his own fortune, who, when he sees it coming, leaps to meet it, and +turns it to his advantage. + +Than Winston Spencer Churchill to-day there are few young men--and he is +a very young man--who have met more varying fortunes, and none who has +more frequently bent them to his own advancement. To him it has been +indifferent whether, at the moment, the fortune seemed good or evil, in +the end always it was good. + +As a boy officer, when other subalterns were playing polo, and at the +Gaiety Theatre attending night school, he ran away to Cuba and fought +with the Spaniards. For such a breach of military discipline, any other +officer would have been court-martialled. Even his friends feared that +by his foolishness his career in the army was at an end. Instead, his +escapade was made a question in the House of Commons, and the fact +brought him such publicity that the _Daily Graphic_ paid him handsomely +to write on the Cuban Revolution, and the Spanish Government rewarded +him with the Order of Military Merit. + +At the very outbreak of the Boer war he was taken prisoner. It seemed +a climax of misfortune. With his brother officers he had hoped in that +campaign to acquit himself with credit, and that he should lie inactive +in Pretoria appeared a terrible calamity. To the others who, through +many heart-breaking months, suffered imprisonment, it continued to be +a calamity. But within six weeks of his capture Churchill escaped, and, +after many adventures, rejoined his own army to find that the calamity +had made him a hero. + +When after the battle of Omdurman, in his book on "The River War," he +attacked Lord Kitchener, those who did not like him, and they were many, +said: "That's the end of Winston in the army. He'll never get another +chance to criticise K. of K." + +But only two years later the chance came, when, no longer a subaltern, +but as a member of the House of Commons, he patronized Kitchener by +defending him from the attacks of others. + +Later, when his assaults upon the leaders of his own party closed to +him, even in his own constituency, the Conservative debating clubs, +again his ill-wishers said: "This _is_ the end. He has ridiculed those +who sit in high places. He has offended his cousin and patron, the Duke +of Marlborough. Without political friends, without the influence and +money of the Marlborough family he is a political nonentity." That was +eighteen months ago. To-day, at the age of thirty-two, he is one of the +leaders of the Government party, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, and +with the Liberals the most popular young man in public life. + +Only last Christmas, at a banquet, Sir Edward Grey, the new Foreign +Secretary, said of him: "Mr. Winston Churchill has achieved distinction +in at least five different careers--as a soldier, a war correspondent, +a lecturer, an author, and last, but not least, as a politician. I +have understated it even now, for he has achieved two careers as a +politician--one on each side of the House. His first career on the +Government side was a really distinguished career. I trust the second +will be even more distinguished--and more prolonged. The remarkable +thing is that he has done all this when, unless appearances very much +belie him, he has not reached the age of sixty-four, which is the +minimum age at which the politician ceases to be young." + +Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born thirty-two years ago, in +November, 1874. By birth he is half-American. His father was Lord +Randolph Churchill, and his mother was Jennie Jerome, of New York. +On the father's side he is the grandchild of the seventh Duke of +Marlborough, on the distaff side, of Leonard Jerome. + +To a student of heredity it would be interesting to try and discover +from which of these ancestors Churchill drew those qualities which in +him are most prominent, and which have led to his success. + +What he owes to his father and mother it is difficult to overestimate, +almost as difficult as to overestimate what he has accomplished by his +own efforts. + +He was not a child born a full-grown genius of commonplace parents. +Rather his fate threatened that he should always be known as the son +of his father. And certainly it was asking much of a boy that he should +live up to a father who was one of the most conspicuous, clever, and +erratic statesmen of the later Victorian era, and a mother who is as +brilliant as she is beautiful. + +For at no time was the American wife content to be merely ornamental. +Throughout the political career of her husband she was his helpmate, and +as an officer of the Primrose League, as an editor of the _Anglo-Saxon +Review_, as, for many hot, weary months in Durban Harbor, the head +of the hospital ship _Maine_, she has shown an acute mind and real +executive power. At the polls many votes that would not respond to the +arguments of the husband, and later of the son, were gained over to the +cause by the charm and wit of the American woman. + +In his earlier days, if one can have days any earlier than those he now +enjoys, Churchill was entirely influenced by two things: the tremendous +admiration he felt for his father, which filled him with ambition to +follow in his orbit, and the camaraderie of his mother, who treated him +less like a mother than a sister and companion. + +Indeed, Churchill was always so precocious that I cannot recall the time +when he was young enough to be Lady Randolph's son; certainly, I cannot +recall the time when she was old enough to be his mother. + +When first I knew him he had passed through Harrow and Sandhurst and was +a second lieutenant in the Queen's Own Hussars. He was just of age, but +appeared much younger. + +He was below medium height, a slight, delicate-looking boy; although, as +a matter of fact, extremely strong, with blue eyes, many freckles, and +hair which threatened to be a decided red, but which now has lost its +fierceness. When he spoke it was with a lisp, which also has changed, +and which now appears to be merely an intentional hesitation. + +His manner of speaking was nervous, eager, explosive. He used many +gestures, some of which were strongly reminiscent of his father, of +whom he, unlike most English lads, who shy at mentioning a distinguished +parent, constantly spoke. + +He even copied his father in his little tricks of manner. Standing with +hands shoved under the frock-coat and one resting on each hip as though +squeezing in the waist line; when seated, resting the elbows on the arms +of the chair and nervously locking and unclasping fingers, are tricks +common to both. + +He then had and still has a most embarrassing habit of asking many +questions; embarrassing, sometimes, because the questions are so frank, +and sometimes because they lay bare the wide expanse of one's own +ignorance. + +At that time, although in his twenty-first year, this lad twice had been +made a question in the House of Commons. + +That in itself had rendered him conspicuous. When you consider out of +Great Britain's four hundred million subjects how many live, die, and +are buried without at any age having drawn down upon themselves the +anger of the House of Commons, to have done so twice, before one has +passed his twenty-first year, seems to promise a lurid future. + +The first time Churchill disturbed the august assemblage in which so +soon he was to become a leader was when he "ragged" a brother subaltern +named Bruce and cut up his saddle and accoutrements. The second time was +when he ran away to Cuba to fight with the Spaniards. + +After this campaign, on the first night of his arrival in London, he +made his maiden speech. He delivered it in a place of less dignity +than the House of Commons, but one, throughout Great Britain and her +colonies, as widely known and as well supported. This was the Empire +Music Hall. + +At the time Mrs. Ormiston Chant had raised objections to the presence in +the Music Hall of certain young women, and had threatened, unless they +ceased to frequent its promenade, to have the license of the Music Hall +revoked. As a compromise, the management ceased selling liquor, and +on the night Churchill visited the place the bar in the promenade was +barricaded with scantling and linen sheets. With the thirst of tropical +Cuba still upon him, Churchill asked for a drink, which was denied him, +and the crusade, which in his absence had been progressing fiercely, +was explained. Any one else would have taken no for his answer, and +have sought elsewhere for his drink. Not so Churchill. What he did is +interesting, because it was so extremely characteristic. Now he would +not do it; then he was twenty-one. + +He scrambled to the velvet-covered top of the railing which divides +the auditorium from the promenade, and made a speech. It was a plea in +behalf of his "Sisters, the Ladies of the Empire Promenade." + +"Where," he asked of the ladies themselves and of their escorts crowded +below him in the promenade, "does the Englishman in London always find a +welcome? Where does he first go when, battle-scarred and travel-worn, +he reaches home? Who is always there to greet him with a smile, and +join him in a drink? Who is ever faithful, ever true--the Ladies of the +Empire Promenade." + +The laughter and cheers that greeted this, and the tears of the ladies +themselves, naturally brought the performance on the stage to a stop, +and the vast audience turned in the seats and boxes. + +They saw a little red-haired boy in evening clothes, balancing himself +on the rail of the balcony, and around him a great crowd, cheering, +shouting, and bidding him "Go on!" + +Churchill turned with delight to the larger audience, and repeated his +appeal. The house shook with laughter and applause. + +The commissionaires and police tried to reach him and a good-tempered +but very determined mob of well-dressed gentlemen and cheering girls +fought them back. In triumph Churchill ended his speech by begging his +hearers to give "fair play" to the women, and to follow him in a charge +upon the barricades. + +The charge was instantly made, the barricades were torn down, and the +terrified management ordered that drink be served to its victorious +patrons. + +Shortly after striking this blow for the liberty of others, Churchill +organized a dinner which illustrated the direction in which at that age +his mind was working, and showed that his ambition was already abnormal. +The dinner was given to those of his friends and acquaintances who "were +under twenty-one years of age, and who in twenty years would control the +destinies of the British Empire." + +As one over the age limit, or because he did not consider me an +empire-controlling force, on this great occasion, I was permitted to +be present. But except that the number of incipient empire-builders was +very great, that they were very happy, and that save the host himself +none of them took his idea seriously, I would not call it an evening of +historical interest. But the fact is interesting that of all the +boys present, as yet, the host seems to be the only one who to any +conspicuous extent is disturbing the destinies of Great Britain. +However, the others can reply that ten of the twenty years have not yet +passed. + +When he was twenty-three Churchill obtained leave of absence from his +regiment, and as there was no other way open to him to see fighting, as +a correspondent he joined the Malakand Field Force in India. + +It may be truthfully said that by his presence in that frontier war he +made it and himself famous. His book on that campaign is his best piece +of war reporting. To the civilian reader it has all the delight of one +of Kipling's Indian stories, and to writers on military subjects it is +a model. But it is a model very few can follow, and which Churchill +himself was unable to follow, for the reason that only once is it given +a man to be twenty-three years of age. + +The picturesque hand-to-hand fighting, the night attacks, the charges up +precipitous hills, the retreats made carrying the wounded under constant +fire, which he witnessed and in which he bore his part, he never +again can see with the same fresh and enthusiastic eyes. Then it was +absolutely new, and the charm of the book and the value of the book are +that with the intolerance of youth he attacks in the service evils that +older men prefer to let lie, and that with the ingenuousness of youth he +tells of things which to the veteran have become unimportant, or which +through usage he is no longer even able to see. + +In his three later war books, the wonder of it, the horror of it, the +quick admiration for brave deeds and daring men, give place, in "The +River War," to the critical point of view of the military expert, and +in his two books on the Boer war to the rapid impressions of the +journalist. In these latter books he tells you of battles he has seen, +in the first one he made you see them. + +For his services with the Malakand Field Force he received the campaign +medal with clasp, and, "in despatches," Brigadier-General Jeffreys +praises "the courage and resolution of Lieutenant W. L. S. Churchill, +Fourth Hussars, with the force as correspondent of the _Pioneer_." + +From the operations around Malakand, he at once joined Sir William +Lockhart as orderly officer, and with the Tirah Expedition went through +that campaign. + +For this his Indian medal gained a second clasp. + +This was in the early part of 1898. In spite of the time taken up as +an officer and as a correspondent, he finished his book on the Malakand +Expedition and then, as it was evident Kitchener would soon attack +Khartum, he jumped across to Egypt and again as a correspondent took +part in the advance upon that city. + +Thus, in one year, he had seen service in three campaigns. + +On the day of the battle his luck followed him. Kitchener had attached +him to the Twenty-first Lancers, and it will be remembered the event of +the battle was the charge made by that squadron. It was no canter, no +easy "pig-sticking"; it was a fight to get in and a fight to get out, +with frenzied followers of the Khalifa hanging to the bridle reins, +hacking at the horses' hamstrings, and slashing and firing point-blank +at the troopers. Churchill was in that charge. He received the medal +with clasp. + +Then he returned home and wrote "The River War." This book is the last +word on the campaigns up the Nile. From the death of Gordon in Khartum +to the capture of the city by Kitchener, it tells the story of the many +gallant fights, the wearying failures, the many expeditions into the +hot, boundless desert, the long, slow progress toward the final winning +of the Sudan. + +The book made a distinct sensation. It was a work that one would expect +from a lieutenant-general, when, after years of service in Egypt, he +laid down his sword to pen the story of his life's work. From a Second +Lieutenant, who had been on the Nile hardly long enough to gain the +desert tan, it was a revelation. As a contribution to military history +it was so valuable that for the author it made many admirers, but on +account of his criticisms of his superior officers it gained him even +more enemies. + +This is a specimen of the kind of thing that caused the retired army +officer to sit up and choke with apoplexy: + +"General Kitchener, who never spares himself, cares little for others. +He treated all men like machines, from the private soldiers, whose +salutes he disdained, to the superior officers, whom he rigidly +controlled. The comrade who had served with him and under him for many +years, in peace and peril, was flung aside as soon as he ceased to be of +use. The wounded Egyptian and even the wounded British soldier did not +excite his interest." + +When in the service clubs they read that, the veterans asked each other +their favorite question of what is the army coming to, and to their +own satisfaction answered it by pointing out that when a lieutenant of +twenty-four can reprimand the commanding general the army is going to +the dogs. + +To the newspapers, hundreds of them, over their own signatures, on +the service club stationery, wrote violent, furious letters, and the +newspapers themselves, besides the ordinary reviews, gave to the book +editorial praise and editorial condemnation. + +Equally disgusted were the younger officers of the service. They +nicknamed his book "A Subaltern's Advice to Generals," and called +Churchill himself a "Medal Snatcher." A medal snatcher is an officer +who, whenever there is a rumor of war, leaves his men to the care of +any one, and through influence in high places and for the sake of the +campaign medal has himself attached to the expeditionary force. But +Churchill never was a medal hunter. The routine of barrack life irked +him, and in foreign parts he served his country far better than by +remaining at home and inspecting awkward squads and attending guard +mount. Indeed, the War Office could cover with medals the man who wrote +"The Story of the Malakand Field Force" and "The River War" and still be +in his debt. + +In October, 1898, a month after the battle of Omdurman, Churchill +made his debut as a political speaker at minor meetings in Dover and +Rotherhithe. History does not record that these first speeches set fire +to the Channel. During the winter he finished and published his "River +War," and in the August of the following summer, 1899, at a by-election, +offered himself as Member of Parliament for Oldham. + +In the _Daily Telegraph_ his letters from the three campaigns in India +and Egypt had made his name known, and there was a general desire to +hear him and to see him. In one who had attacked Kitchener of Khartum, +the men of Oldham expected to find a stalwart veteran, bearded, and with +a voice of command. When they were introduced to a small red-haired boy +with a lisp, they refused to take him seriously. In England youth is an +unpardonable thing. Lately, Curzon, Churchill, Edward Grey, Hugh Cecil, +and others have made it less reprehensible. But, in spite of a vigorous +campaign, in which Lady Randolph took an active part, Oldham decided +it was not ready to accept young Churchill for a member. Later he was +Oldham's only claim to fame. + +A week after he was defeated he sailed for South Africa, where war with +the Boers was imminent. He had resigned from his regiment and went south +as war correspondent for the _Morning Post_. + +Later in the war he held a commission as Lieutenant in the South African +Light Horse, a regiment of irregular cavalry, and on the staffs +of different generals acted as galloper and aide-de-camp. To this +combination of duties, which was in direct violation of a rule of the +War Office, his brother officers and his fellow correspondents objected; +but, as in each of his other campaigns he had played this dual role, the +press censors considered it a traditional privilege, and winked at it. +As a matter of record, Churchill's soldiering never seemed to interfere +with his writing, nor, in a fight, did his duty to his paper ever +prevent him from mixing in as a belligerent. + +War was declared October 9th, and only a month later, while scouting in +the armored train along the railroad line between Pietermaritzburg and +Colenso, the cars were derailed and Churchill was taken prisoner. + +The train was made up of three flat cars, two armored cars, and between +them the engine, with three cars coupled to the cow-catcher and two to +the tender. + +On the outward trip the Boers did not show themselves, but as soon as +the English passed Frere station they rolled a rock on the track at a +point where it was hidden by a curve. On the return trip, as the English +approached this curve the Boers opened fire with artillery and pompoms. +The engineer, in his eagerness to escape, rounded the curve at full +speed, and, as the Boers had expected, hit the rock. The three forward +cars were derailed, and one of them was thrown across the track, thus +preventing the escape of the engine and the two rear cars. From these +Captain Haldane, who was in command, with a detachment of the Dublins, +kept up a steady fire on the enemy, while Churchill worked to clear the +track. To assist him he had a company of Natal volunteers, and those who +had not run away of the train hands and break-down crew. + +"We were not long left in the comparative safety of a railroad +accident," Churchill writes to his paper. "The Boers' guns, swiftly +changing their position, reopened fire from a distance of thirteen +hundred yards before any one had got out of the stage of exclamations. +The tapping rifle-fire spread along the hills, until it encircled the +wreckage on three sides, and from some high ground on the opposite side +of the line a third field-gun came into action." + +For Boer marksmen with Mausers and pompoms, a wrecked railroad train +at thirteen hundred yards was as easy a bull's-eye as the hands of the +first baseman to the pitcher, and while the engine butted and snorted +and the men with their bare bands tore at the massive beams of the +freight-car, the bullets and shells beat about them. + +"I have had in the last four years many strange and varied experiences," +continues young Churchill, "but nothing was so thrilling as this; to +wait and struggle among these clanging, rending iron boxes, with the +repeated explosions of the shells, the noise of the projectiles striking +the cars, the hiss as they passed in the air, the grunting and puffing +of the engine--poor, tortured thing, hammered by at least a dozen +shells, any one of which, by penetrating the boiler, might have made an +end of all--the expectation of destruction as a matter of course, the +realization of powerlessness--all this for seventy minutes by the clock, +with only four inches of twisted iron between danger, captivity, and +shame on one side--and freedom on the other." + +The "protected" train had proved a deathtrap, and by the time the line +was clear every fourth man was killed or wounded. Only the engine, +with the more severely wounded heaped in the cab and clinging to its +cow-catcher and foot-rails, made good its escape. Among those left +behind, a Tommy, without authority, raised a handkerchief on his rifle, +and the Boers instantly ceased firing and came galloping forward to +accept surrender. There was a general stampede to escape. Seeing that +Lieutenant Franklin was gallantly trying to hold his men, Churchill, +who was safe on the engine, jumped from it and ran to his assistance. Of +what followed, this is his own account: + +"Scarcely had the locomotive left me than I found myself alone in a +shallow cutting, and none of our soldiers, who had all surrendered, +to be seen. Then suddenly there appeared on the line at the end of the +cutting two men not in uniform. 'Plate-layers,' I said to myself, and +then, with a surge of realization, 'Boers.' My mind retains a momentary +impression of these tall figures, full of animated movement, clad in +dark flapping clothes, with slouch, storm-driven hats, posing their +rifles hardly a hundred yards away. I turned and ran between the +rails of the track, and the only thought I achieved was this: 'Boer +marksmanship.' + +"Two bullets passed, both within a foot, one on either side. I flung +myself against the banks of the cutting. But they gave no cover. Another +glance at the figures; one was now kneeling to aim. Again I darted +forward. Again two soft kisses sucked in the air, but nothing struck me. +I must get out of the cutting--that damnable corridor. I scrambled up +the bank. The earth sprang up beside me, and a bullet touched my hand, +but outside the cutting was a tiny depression. I crouched in this, +struggling to get my wind. On the other side of the railway a horseman +galloped up, shouting to me and waving his hand. He was scarcely forty +yards off. With a rifle I could have killed him easily. I knew nothing +of the white flag, and the bullets had made me savage. I reached down +for my Mauser pistol. I had left it in the cab of the engine. Between me +and the horseman there was a wire fence. Should I continue to fly? +The idea of another shot at such a short range decided me. Death stood +before me, grim and sullen; Death without his light-hearted companion, +Chance. So I held up my hand, and like Mr. Jorrock's foxes, cried +'Capivy!' Then I was herded with the other prisoners in a miserable +group, and about the same time I noticed that my hand was bleeding, and +it began to pour with rain. + +"Two days before I had written to an officer at home: 'There has been a +great deal too much surrendering in this war, and I hope people who do +so will not be encouraged.'" + +With other officers, Churchill was imprisoned in the State Model +Schools, situated in the heart of Pretoria. It was distinctly +characteristic that on the very day of his arrival he began to plan to +escape. + +Toward this end his first step was to lose his campaign hat, which he +recognized was too obviously the hat of an English officer. The burgher +to whom he gave money to purchase him another innocently brought him a +Boer sombrero. + +Before his chance to escape came a month elapsed, and the opportunity +that then offered was less an opportunity to escape than to get himself +shot. + +The State Model Schools were surrounded by the children's playgrounds, +penned in by a high wall, and at night, while they were used as a +prison, brilliantly lighted by electric lights. After many nights of +observation, Churchill discovered that while the sentries were pacing +their beats there was a moment when to them a certain portion of the +wall was in darkness. This was due to cross-shadows cast by the electric +lights. On the other side of this wall there was a private house set in +a garden filled with bushes. Beyond this was the open street. + +To scale the wall was not difficult; the real danger lay in the fact +that at no time were the sentries farther away than fifteen yards, and +the chance of being shot by one or both of them was excellent. To a +brother officer Churchill confided his purpose, and together they agreed +that some night when the sentries had turned from the dark spot on the +wall they would scale it and drop among the bushes in the garden. After +they reached the garden, should they reach it alive, what they were to +do they did not know. How they were to proceed through the streets +and out of the city, how they were to pass unchallenged under its many +electric lights and before the illuminated shop windows, how to dodge +patrols, and how to find their way through two hundred and eighty +miles of a South African wilderness, through an utterly unfamiliar, +unfriendly, and sparsely settled country into Portuguese territory and +the coast, they left to chance. But with luck they hoped to cover the +distance in a fortnight, begging corn at the Kaffir kraals, sleeping by +day, and marching under cover of the darkness. + +They agreed to make the attempt on the 11th of December, but on that +night the sentries did not move from the only part of the wall that was +in shadow. On the night following, at the last moment, something delayed +Churchill's companion, and he essayed the adventure alone. He writes: + +"Tuesday, the 12th! Anything was better than further suspense. Again +night came. Again the dinner bell sounded. Choosing my opportunity, +I strolled across the quadrangle and secreted myself in one of the +offices. Through a chink I watched the sentries. For half an hour they +remained stolid and obstructive. Then suddenly one turned and walked up +to his comrade and they began to talk. Their backs were turned. + +"I darted out of my hiding-place and ran to the wall, seized the top with +my hands and drew myself up. Twice I let myself down again in sickly +hesitation, and then with a third resolve scrambled up. The top was +flat. Lying on it, I had one parting glimpse of the sentries, still +talking, still with their backs turned, but, I repeat, still fifteen +yards away. Then I lowered myself into the adjoining garden and crouched +among the shrubs. I was free. The first step had been taken, and it was +irrevocable." + +Churchill discovered that the house into the garden of which he had so +unceremoniously introduced himself was brilliantly lighted, and that the +owner was giving a party. At one time two of the guests walked into the +garden and stood, smoking and chatting, in the path within a few yards +of him. + +Thinking his companion might yet join him, for an hour he crouched in +the bushes, until from the other side of the wall he heard the voices of +his friend and of another officer. + +"It's all up!" his friend whispered. Churchill coughed tentatively. +The two voices drew nearer. To confuse the sentries, should they be +listening, the one officer talked nonsense, laughed loudly, and quoted +Latin phrases, while the other, in a low and distinct voice, said: +"I cannot get out. The sentry suspects. It's all up. Can you get back +again?" + +To go back was impossible. Churchill now felt that in any case he was +sure to be recaptured, and decided he would, as he expresses it, at +least have a run for his money. + +"I shall go on alone," he whispered. + +He heard the footsteps of his two friends move away from him across the +play yard. At the same moment he stepped boldly out into the garden and, +passing the open windows of the house, walked down the gravel path to +the street. Not five yards from the gate stood a sentry. Most of those +guarding the school-house knew him by sight, but Churchill did not turn +his head, and whether the sentry recognized him or not, he could not +tell. + +For a hundred feet he walked as though on ice, inwardly shrinking as he +waited for the sharp challenge, and the rattle of the Mauser thrown to +the "Ready." His nerves were leaping, his heart in his throat, his spine +of water. And then, as he continued to advance, and still no tumult +pursued him, he quickened his pace and turned into one of the main +streets of Pretoria. The sidewalks were crowded with burghers, but no +one noticed him. This was due probably to the fact that the Boers wore +no distinctive uniform, and that with them in their commandoes were many +English Colonials who wore khaki riding breeches, and many Americans, +French, Germans, and Russians, in every fashion of semi-uniform. + +If observed, Churchill was mistaken for one of these, and the very +openness of his movements saved him from suspicion. + +Straight through the town he walked until he reached the suburbs, the +open veldt, and a railroad track. As he had no map or compass he knew +this must be his only guide, but he knew also that two railroads left +Pretoria, the one along which he had been captured, to Pietermaritzburg, +and the other, the one leading to the coast and freedom. Which of the +two this one was he had no idea, but he took his chance, and a hundred +yards beyond a station waited for the first outgoing train. About +midnight, a freight stopped at the station, and after it had left it and +before it had again gathered headway, Churchill swung himself up upon +it, and stretched out upon a pile of coal. Throughout the night the +train continued steadily toward the east, and so told him that it was +the one he wanted, and that he was on his way to the neutral territory +of Portugal. + +Fearing the daylight, just before the sun rose, as the train was pulling +up a steep grade, he leaped off into some bushes. All that day he lay +hidden, and the next night he walked. He made but little headway. As all +stations and bridges were guarded, he had to make long detours, and the +tropical moonlight prevented him from crossing in the open. In this way, +sleeping by day, walking by night, begging food from the Kaffirs, five +days passed. + +Meanwhile, his absence had been at once discovered, and, by the +Boers, every effort was being made to retake him. Telegrams giving his +description were sent along both railways, three thousand photographs +of him were distributed, each car of every train was searched, and +in different parts of the Transvaal men who resembled him were being +arrested. It was said he had escaped dressed as a woman; in the uniform +of a Transvaal policeman whom he had bribed; that he had never left +Pretoria, and that in the disguise of a waiter he was concealed in the +house of a British sympathizer. On the strength of this rumor the houses +of all suspected persons were searched. + +In the Volksstem it was pointed out as a significant fact that a week +before his escape Churchill had drawn from the library Mill's "Essay on +Liberty." + +In England and over all British South Africa the escape created as much +interest as it did in Pretoria. Because the attempt showed pluck, and +because he had outwitted the enemy, Churchill for the time became a sort +of popular hero, and to his countrymen his escape gave as much pleasure +as it was a cause of chagrin to the Boers. + +But as days passed and nothing was heard of him, it was feared he +had lost himself in the Machadodorp Mountains, or had succumbed +to starvation, or, in the jungle toward the coast, to fever, and +congratulations gave way to anxiety. + +The anxiety was justified, for at this time Churchill was in a very bad +way. During the month in prison he had obtained but little exercise. The +lack of food and of water, the cold by night and the terrific heat by +day, the long stumbling marches in the darkness, the mental effect upon +an extremely nervous, high-strung organization of being hunted, and of +having to hide from his fellow men, had worn him down to a condition +almost of collapse. + +Even though it were neutral soil, in so exhausted a state he dared not +venture into the swamps and waste places of the Portuguese territory; +and, sick at heart as well as sick in body, he saw no choice left him +save to give himself up. + +But before doing so he carefully prepared a tale which, although most +improbable, he hoped might still conceal his identity and aid him to +escape by train across the border. + +One night after days of wandering he found himself on the outskirts of +a little village near the boundary line of the Transvaal and Portuguese +territory. Utterly unable to proceed further, he crawled to the nearest +zinc-roofed shack, and, fully prepared to surrender, knocked at the +door. It was opened by a rough-looking, bearded giant, the first white +man to whom in many days Churchill had dared address himself. + +To him, without hope, he feebly stammered forth the speech he had +rehearsed. The man listened with every outward mark of disbelief. At +Churchill himself he stared with open suspicion. Suddenly he seized the +boy by the shoulder, drew him inside the hut, and barred the door. + +"You needn't lie to me," he said. "You are Winston Churchill, and I--am +the only Englishman in this village." + +The rest of the adventure was comparatively easy. The next night his +friend in need, an engineer named Howard, smuggled Churchill Into a +freight-car, and hid him under sacks of some soft merchandise. + +At Komatie-Poort, the station on the border, for eighteen hours the car +in which Churchill lay concealed was left in the sun on a siding, and +before it again started it was searched, but the man who was conducting +the search lifted only the top layer of sacks, and a few minutes later +Churchill heard the hollow roar of the car as it passed over the bridge, +and knew that he was across the border. + +Even then he took no chances, and for two days more lay hidden at the +bottom of the car. + +When at last he arrived in Lorenzo Marques he at once sought out the +English Consul, who, after first mistaking him for a stoker from one of +the ships in the harbor, gave him a drink, a bath, and a dinner. + +As good luck would have it, the _Induna_ was leaving that night for +Durban, and, escorted by a body-guard of English residents armed with +revolvers, and who were taking no chances of his recapture by the Boer +agents, he was placed safely on board. Two days later he arrived at +Durban, where he was received by the Mayor, the populace, and a brass +band playing: "Britons Never, Never, Never shall be Slaves!" + +For the next month Churchill was bombarded by letters and telegrams +from every part of the globe, some invited him to command filibustering +expeditions, others sent him woollen comforters, some forwarded +photographs of himself to be signed, others photographs of themselves, +possibly to be admired, others sent poems, and some bottles of whiskey. + +One admirer wrote: "My congratulations on your wonderful and glorious +deeds, which will send such a thrill of pride and enthusiasm through +Great Britain and the United States of America, that the Anglo-Saxon +race will be irresistible." + +Lest so large an order as making the Anglo-Saxon race irresistible might +turn the head of a subaltern, an antiseptic cablegram was also sent him, +from London, reading: + +"Best friends here hope you won't go making further ass of yourself. + +"McNEILL." + +One day in camp we counted up the price per word of this cablegram, and +Churchill was delighted to find that it must have cost the man who sent +it five pounds. + +On the day of his arrival in Durban, with the cheers still in the air, +Churchill took the first train to "the front," then at Colenso. Another +man might have lingered. After a month's imprisonment and the hardships +of the escape, he might have been excused for delaying twenty-four hours +to taste the sweets of popularity and the flesh-pots of the Queen Hotel. +But if the reader has followed this brief biography he will know that +to have done so would have been out of the part. This characteristic of +Churchill's to get on to the next thing explains his success. He has no +time to waste on postmortems, he takes none to rest on his laurels. + +As a war correspondent and officer he continued with Buller until the +relief of Ladysmith, and with Roberts until the fall of Pretoria. He +was in many actions, in all the big engagements, and came out of the war +with another medal and clasps for six battles. + +On his return to London he spent the summer finishing his second book on +the war, and in October at the general election as a "khaki" candidate, +as those were called who favored the war, again stood for Oldham. This +time, with his war record to help him, he wrested from the Liberals one +of Oldham's two seats. He had been defeated by thirteen hundred votes; +he was elected by a majority of two hundred and twenty-seven. + +The few months that intervened between his election and the opening of +the new Parliament were snatched by Churchill for a lecturing tour at +home, and in the United States and Canada. His subject was the war and +his escape from Pretoria. + +When he came to this country half of the people here were in sympathy +with the Boers, and did not care to listen to what they supposed would +be a strictly British version of the war. His manager, without asking +permission of those whose names he advertised, organized for Churchill's +first appearance in various cities, different reception committees. + +Some of those whose names, without their consent, were used for these +committees, wrote indignantly to the papers, saying that while for +Churchill, personally, they held every respect, they objected to being +used to advertise an anti-Boer demonstration. + +While this was no fault of Churchill's, who, until he reached this +country knew nothing of it, it was neither for him nor for the success +of his tour the best kind of advance work. + +During the fighting to relieve Ladysmith, with General Buller's force, +Churchill and I had again been together, and later when I joined the +Boer army, at the Zand River Battle, the army with which he was a +correspondent had chased the army with which I was a correspondent, +forty miles. I had been one of those who refused to act on his reception +committee, and he had come to this country with a commission from twenty +brother officers to shoot me on sight. But in his lecture he was using +the photographs I had taken of the scene of his escape, and which I had +sent him from Pretoria as a souvenir, and when he arrived I was at the +hotel to welcome him, and that same evening three hours after midnight +he came, in a blizzard, pounding at our door for food and drink. What is +a little thing like a war between friends? + +During his "tour," except of hotels, parlor-cars, and "Lyceums," he saw +very little of this country or of its people, and they saw very little +of him. On the trip, which lasted about two months, he cleared ten +thousand dollars. This, to a young man almost entirely dependent for an +income upon his newspaper work and the sale of his books, nearly repaid +him for the two months of "one night stands." On his return to London he +took his seat in the new Parliament. + +It was a coincidence that he entered Parliament at the same age as +did his father. With two other members, one born six days earlier than +himself, he enjoyed the distinction of being among the three youngest +members of the new House. + +The fact did not seem to appall him. In the House it is a tradition that +young and ambitious members sit "below" the gangway; the more modest +and less assured are content to place themselves "above" it, at a point +farthest removed from the leaders. + +On the day he was sworn in there was much curiosity to see where +Churchill would elect to sit. In his own mind there was apparently no +doubt. After he had taken the oath, signed his name, and shaken the hand +of the Speaker, without hesitation he seated himself on the bench next +to the Ministry. Ten minutes later, so a newspaper of the day describes +it, he had cocked his hat over his eyes, shoved his hands into his +trousers pockets, and was lolling back eying the veterans of the House +with critical disapproval. + +His maiden speech was delivered in May, 1901, in reply to David Lloyd +George, who had attacked the conduct of British soldiers in South +Africa. Churchill defended them, and in a manner that from all sides +gained him honest admiration. In the course of the debate he produced +and read a strangely apropos letter which, fifteen years before, had +been written by his father to Lord Salisbury. His adroit use of +this filled H. W. Massingham, the editor of the _Daily News_, with +enthusiasm. Nothing in parliamentary tactics, he declared, since Mr. +Gladstone died, had been so clever. He proclaimed that Churchill would +be Premier. John Dillon, the Nationalist leader, said he never before +had seen a young man, by means of his maiden effort, spring into the +front rank of parliamentary speakers. He promised that the Irish members +would ungrudgingly testify to his ability and honesty of purpose. Among +others to at once recognize the rising star was T. P. O'Connor, himself +for many years of the parliamentary firmament one of the brightest +stars. In _M. A. P._ he wrote: "I am inclined to think that the dash of +American blood which he has from his mother has been an improvement on +the original stock, and that Mr. Winston Churchill may turn out to be a +stronger and abler politician than his father." + +It was all a part of Churchill's "luck" that when he entered Parliament +the subject in debate was the conduct of the war. + +Even in those first days of his career in the House, in debates where +angels feared to tread, he did not hesitate to rush in, but this subject +was one on which he spoke with knowledge. Over the older men who were +forced to quote from hearsay or from what they had read, Churchill had +the tremendous advantage of being able to protest: "You only read of +that. I was there. I saw it." + +In the House he became at once one of the conspicuous and picturesque +figures, one dear to the heart of the caricaturist, and one from the +strangers' gallery most frequently pointed out. He was called "the +spoiled child of the House," and there were several distinguished +gentlemen who regretted they were forced to spare the rod. Broderick, +the Secretary for War, was one of these. Of him and of his recruits in +South Africa, Churchill spoke with the awful frankness of the _enfant +terrible_. And although he addressed them more with sorrow than with +anger, to Balfour and Chamberlain he daily administered advice and +reproof, while mere generals and field-marshals, like Kitchener and +Roberts, blushing under new titles, were held up for public reproof and +briefly but severely chastened. Nor, when he saw Lord Salisbury going +astray, did he hesitate in his duty to the country, but took the Prime +Minister by the hand and gently instructed him in the way he should go. + +This did not tend to make him popular, but in spite of his unpopularity, +in his speeches against national extravagancies he made so good a fight +that he forced the Government, unwillingly, to appoint a committee to +investigate the need of economy. For a beginner this was a distinct +triumph. + +With Lord Hugh Cecil, Lord Percy, Ian Malcolm, and other clever young +men, he formed inside the Conservative Party a little group that in its +obstructive and independent methods was not unlike the Fourth Party of +his father. From its leader and its filibustering, guerilla-like tactics +the men who composed it were nicknamed the "Hughligans." The Hughligans +were the most active critics of the Ministry and of all in their own +party, and as members of the Free Food League they bitterly attacked +the fiscal proposals of Mr. Chamberlain. When Balfour made Chamberlain's +fight for fair trade, or for what virtually was protection, a measure +of the Conservatives, the lines of party began to break, and men were no +longer Conservatives or Liberals, but Protectionists or Free Traders. + +Against this Churchill daily protested, against Chamberlain, against his +plan, against that plan being adopted by the Tory Party. By tradition, +by inheritance, by instinct, Churchill was a Tory. + +"I am a Tory," he said, "and I have as much right in the party as has +anybody else, certainly as much as certain people from Birmingham. They +can't turn us out, and we, the Tory Free Traders, have as much right +to dictate the policy of the Conservative Party as have any reactionary +Fair Traders." In 1904 the Conservative Party already recognized +Churchill as one working outside the breastworks. Just before the Easter +vacation of that year, when he rose to speak a remarkable demonstration +was made against him by his Unionist colleagues, all of them rising and +leaving the House. + +To the Liberals who remained to hear him he stated that if to his +constituents his opinions were obnoxious, he was ready to resign his +seat. It then was evident he would go over to the Liberal Party. Some +thought he foresaw which way the tidal wave was coming, and to being +slapped down on the beach and buried in the sand, he preferred to be +swept forward on its crest. Others believed he left the Conservatives +because he could not honestly stomach the taxed food offered by Mr. +Chamberlain. + +In any event, if he were to be blamed for changing from one party to +the other, he was only following the distinguished example set him by +Gladstone, Disraeli, Harcourt, and his own father. + +It was at the time of this change that he was called "the best hated +man in England," but the Liberals welcomed him gladly, and the National +Liberal Club paid him the rare compliment of giving in his honor a +banquet. There were present two hundred members. Up to that time this +dinner was the most marked testimony to his importance in the political +world. It was about then, a year since, that he prophesied: "Within +nine months there will come such a tide and deluge as will sweep through +England and Scotland, and completely wash out and effect a much-needed +spring cleaning in Downing Street." + +When the deluge came, at Manchester, Mr. Balfour was defeated, and +Churchill was victorious, and when the new Government was formed the +tidal wave landed Churchill in the office of Under-Secretary for the +Colonies. + +While this is being written the English papers say that within a +month he again will be promoted. For this young man of thirty the only +promotion remaining is a position in the Cabinet, in which august body +men of fifty are considered young. + +His is a picturesque career. Of any man of his few years speaking our +language, his career is probably the most picturesque. And that he is +half an American gives all of us an excuse to pretend we share in his +successes. + + + + +CAPTAIN PHILO NORTON McGIFFIN + +IN the Chinese-Japanese War the battle of the Yalu was the first battle +fought between warships of modern make, and, except on paper, neither +the men who made them nor the men who fought them knew what the ships +could do, or what they might not do. For years every naval power had +been building these new engines of war, and in the battle which was to +test them the whole world was interested. But in this battle Americans +had a special interest, a human, family interest, for the reason that +one of the Chinese squadron, which was matched against some of the same +vessels of Japan which lately swept those of Russia from the sea, was +commanded by a young graduate of the American Naval Academy. This young +man, who, at the time of the battle of the Yalu, was thirty-three years +old, was Captain Philo Norton McGiffin. So it appears that five years +before our fleet sailed to victory in Manila Bay another graduate of +Annapolis, and one twenty years younger than in 1898 was Admiral Dewey, +had commanded in action a modern battleship, which, in tonnage, in +armament, and in the number of the ships' company, far outclassed +Dewey's _Olympia_. + +McGiffin, who was born on December 13, 1860, came of fighting stock. +Back in Scotland the family is descended from the Clan MacGregor and the +Clan MacAlpine. + +"These are Clan-Alpine's warriors true, And, Saxon--I am Roderick Dhu." + +McGiffin's great-grandfather, born in Scotland, emigrated to this +country and settled in "Little Washington," near Pittsburg, Pa. In the +Revolutionary War he was a soldier. Other relatives fought in the War of +1812, one of them holding a commission as major. McGiffin's own father +was Colonel Norton McGiffin, who served in the Mexican War, and in +the Civil War was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania +Volunteers. So McGiffin inherited his love for arms. + +In Washington he went to the high school and at the Washington Jefferson +College had passed through his freshman year. But the honors that might +accrue to him if he continued to live on in the quiet and pretty old +town of Washington did not tempt him. To escape into the world he +wrote his Congressman, begging him to obtain for him an appointment to +Annapolis. The Congressman liked the letter, and wrote Colonel McGiffin +to ask if the application of his son had his approval. Colonel McGiffin +was willing, and in 1877 his son received his commission as cadet +midshipman. I knew McGiffin only as a boy with whom in vacation time I +went coon hunting in the woods outside of Washington. For his age he was +a very tall boy, and in his midshipman undress uniform, to my youthful +eyes, appeared a most bold and adventurous spirit. + +At Annapolis his record seems to show he was pretty much like other +boys. According to his classmates, with all of whom I find he was very +popular, he stood high in the practical studies, such as seamanship, +gunnery, navigation, and steam engineering, but in all else he was near +the foot of the class, and in whatever escapade was risky and reckless +he was always one of the leaders. To him discipline was extremely +irksome. He could maintain it among others, but when it applied to +himself it bored him. On the floor of the Academy building on which was +his room there was a pyramid of cannon balls--relics of the War of 1812. +They stood at the head of the stairs, and one warm night, when he could +not sleep, he decided that no one else should do so, and, one by one, +rolled the cannon balls down the stairs. They tore away the banisters +and bumped through the wooden steps and leaped off into the lower halls. +For any one who might think of ascending to discover the motive power +back of the bombardment they were extremely dangerous. But an officer +approached McGiffin in the rear, and, having been caught in the act, he +was sent to the prison ship. There he made good friends with his jailer, +an old man-of-warsman named "Mike." He will be remembered by many naval +officers who as midshipmen served on the _Santee_. McGiffin so won +over Mike that when he left the ship he carried with him six charges of +gunpowder. These he loaded into the six big guns captured in the Mexican +War, which lay on the grass in the centre of the Academy grounds, and at +midnight on the eve of July 1st he fired a salute. It aroused the entire +garrison, and for a week the empty window frames kept the glaziers busy. + +About 1878 or 1879 there was a famine in Ireland. The people of New York +City contributed provisions for the sufferers, and to carry the supplies +to Ireland the Government authorized the use of the old _Constellation_. +At the time the voyage was to begin each cadet was instructed to +consider himself as having been placed in command of the _Constellation_ +and to write a report on the preparations made for the voyage, on the +loading of the vessel, and on the distribution of the stores. This +exercise was intended for the instruction of the cadets; first in the +matter of seamanship and navigation, and second in making official +reports. At that time it was a very difficult operation to get a gun out +of the port of a vessel where the gun was on a covered deck. To do this +the necessary tackles had to be rigged from the yard-arm and the yard +and mast properly braced and stayed, and then the lower block of the +tackle carried in through the gun port, which, of course, gave the fall +a very bad reeve. The first part of McGiffin's report dealt with a new +method of dismounting the guns and carrying them through the gun ports, +and so admirable was his plan, so simple and ingenious, that it was +used whenever it became necessary to dismount a gun from one of the +old sailing ships. Having, however, offered this piece of good work, +McGiffin's report proceeded to tell of the division of the ship into +compartments that were filled with a miscellaneous assortment of stores, +which included the old "fifteen puzzles," at that particular time very +popular. The report terminated with a description of the joy of the +famished Irish as they received the puzzle-boxes. At another time the +cadets were required to write a report telling of the suppression of the +insurrection on the Isthmus of Panama. McGiffin won great praise for +the military arrangements and disposition of his men, but, in the same +report, he went on to describe how he armed them with a new gun known as +Baines's Rhetoric and told of the havoc he wrought in the enemy's +ranks when he fired these guns loaded with similes and metaphors and +hyperboles. + +Of course, after each exhibition of this sort he was sent to the +_Santee_ and given an opportunity to meditate. + +On another occasion, when one of the instructors lectured to the cadets, +he required them to submit a written statement embodying all that they +could recall of what had been said at the lecture. One of the rules +concerning this report provided that there should be no erasures or +interlineations, but that when mistakes were made the objectionable or +incorrect expressions should be included within parentheses; and that +the matter so enclosed within parentheses would not be considered a part +of the report. McGiffin wrote an excellent _resume_ of the lecture, +but he interspersed through it in parentheses such words as "applause," +"cheers," "cat-calls," and "groans," and as these words were enclosed +within parentheses he insisted that they did not count, and made a very +fair plea that he ought not to be punished for words which slipped in +by mistake, and which he had officially obliterated by what he called +oblivion marks. + +He was not always on mischief bent. On one occasion, when the house of a +professor caught fire, McGiffin ran into the flames and carried out two +children, for which act he was commended by the Secretary of the Navy. + +It was an act of Congress that determined that the career of McGiffin +should be that of a soldier of fortune. This was a most unjust act, +which provided that only as many midshipmen should receive commissions +as on the warships there were actual vacancies. In those days, in 1884, +our navy was very small. To-day there is hardly a ship having her full +complement of officers, and the difficulty is not to get rid of those we +have educated, but to get officers to educate. To the many boys who, on +the promise that they would be officers of the navy, had worked for +four years at the Academy and served two years at sea, the act was most +unfair. Out of a class of about ninety, only the first twelve were given +commissions and the remaining eighty turned adrift upon the uncertain +seas of civil life. As a sop, each was given one thousand dollars. + +McGiffin was not one of the chosen twelve. In the final examinations on +the list he was well toward the tail. But without having studied +many things, and without remembering the greater part of them, no +one graduates from Annapolis, even last on the list; and with his one +thousand dollars in cash, McGiffin had also this six years of education +at what was then the best naval college in the world. This was his only +asset--his education--and as in his own country it was impossible to +dispose of it, for possible purchasers he looked abroad. + +At that time the Tong King war was on between France and China, and he +decided, before it grew rusty, to offer his knowledge to the followers +of the Yellow Dragon. In those days that was a hazard of new fortunes +that meant much more than it does now. To-day the East is as near as San +Francisco; the Japanese-Russian War, our occupation of the Philippines, +the part played by our troops in the Boxer trouble, have made the +affairs of China part of the daily reading of every one. Now, one can +step into a brass bed at Forty-second Street and in four days at the +Coast get into another brass bed, and in twelve more be spinning down +the Bund of Yokohama in a rickshaw. People go to Japan for the winter +months as they used to go to Cairo. + +But in 1885 it was no such light undertaking, certainly not for a young +man who had been brought up in the quiet atmosphere of an inland +town, where generations of his family and other families had lived and +intermarried, content with their surroundings. + +With very few of his thousand dollars left him, McGiffin arrived in +February, 1885, in San Francisco. From there his letters to his family +give one the picture of a healthy, warm-hearted youth, chiefly anxious +lest his mother and sister should "worry." In our country nearly every +family knows that domestic tragedy when the son and heir "breaks home +ties," and starts out to earn a living; and if all the world loves a +lover, it at least sympathizes with the boy who is "looking for a job." +The boy who is looking for the job may not think so, but each of those +who has passed through the same hard place gives him, if nothing else, +his good wishes. McGiffin's letters at this period gain for him from +those who have had the privilege to read them the warmest good feeling. + +They are filled with the same cheery optimism, the same slurring over +of his troubles, the same homely jokes, the same assurances that he is +feeling "bully," and that it all will come out right, that every boy, +when he starts out in the world, sends back to his mother. + +"I am in first-rate health and spirits, so I don't want you to fuss +about me. I am big enough and ugly enough to scratch along somehow, and +I will not starve." + +To his mother he proudly sends his name written in Chinese characters, +as he had been taught to write it by the Chinese Consul-General in San +Francisco, and a pen-picture of two elephants. "I am going to bring you +home _two_ of these," he writes, not knowing that in the strange and +wonderful country to which he is going elephants are as infrequent as +they are in Pittsburg. + +He reached China in April, and from Nagasaki on his way to Shanghai +the steamer that carried him was chased by two French gunboats. But, +apparently much to his disappointment, she soon ran out of range of +their guns. Though he did not know it then, with the enemy he had +travelled so far to fight this was his first and last hostile meeting; +for already peace was in the air. + +Of that and of how, in spite of peace, he obtained the "job" he wanted, +he must tell you himself in a letter home: + +TIEN-TSIN, CHINA, April 13, 1885. + +"MY DEAR MOTHER--I have not felt much in the humor for writing, for +I did not know what was going to happen. I spent a good deal of money +coming out, and when I got here, I knew, unless something turned up, +I was a gone coon. We got off Taku forts Sunday evening and the next +morning we went inside; the channel is very narrow and sown with +torpedoes. We struck one--an electric one--in coming up, but it didn't +go off. We were until 10.30 P.M. in coming up to Tien-Tsin--thirty miles +in a straight line, but nearly seventy by the river, which is only about +one hundred feet wide--and we grounded ten times. + +"Well--at last we moored and went ashore. Brace Girdle, an engineer, and +I went to the hotel, and the first thing we heard was--that _peace was +declared!_ I went back on board ship, and I didn't sleep much--I never +was so blue in my life. I knew if they didn't want me that I might as +well give up the ghost, for I could never get away from China. Well--I +worried around all night without sleep, and in the morning I felt as +if I had been drawn through a knot-hole. I must have lost ten pounds. I +went around about 10 A.M. and gave my letters to Pethick, an American +U. S. Vice-Consul and interpreter to Li Hung Chang. He said he would fix +them for me. Then I went back to the ship, and as our captain was going +up to see Li Hung Chang, I went along out of desperation. We got in, +and after a while were taken in through corridor after corridor of the +Viceroy's palace until we got into the great Li, when we sat down and +had tea and tobacco and talked through an interpreter. When it came +my turn he asked: 'Why did you come to China?' I said: 'To enter the +Chinese service for the war.' 'How do you expect to enter?' 'I expect +_you_ to give me a commission!' 'I have no place to offer you.' 'I think +you have--I have come all the way from America to get it.' 'What would +you like?' 'I would like to get the new torpedo-boat and go down the +Yang-tse-Kiang to the blockading squadron.' 'Will you do that?' 'Of +course.' + +"He thought a little and said: 'I will see what can be done. Will you +take $100 a month for a start?' I said: 'That depends.' (Of course +I would take it.) Well, after parley, he said he would put me on the +flagship, and if I did well he would promote me. Then he looked at me +and said: 'How old are you?' When I told him I was twenty-four I thought +he would faint--for in China a man is a _boy_ until he is over thirty. +He said I would _never_ do--I was a child. I could not know anything at +all. I could not convince him, but at last he compromised--I was to pass +an examination at the Arsenal at the Naval College, in all branches, +and if they passed me I would have a show. So we parted. I reported for +examination next day, but was put off--same the next day. But to-day I +was told to come, and sat down to a stock of foolscap, and had a +pretty stiff exam. I am only just through. I had seamanship, gunnery, +navigation, nautical astronomy, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, conic +sections, curve tracing, differential and integral calculus. I had only +three questions out of five to answer in each branch, but in the first +three I answered all five. After that I only had time for three, but +at the end he said I need not finish, he was perfectly satisfied. I had +done remarkably well, and he would report to the Viceroy to-morrow. He +examined my first papers--seamanship--said I was _perfect_ in it, so I +will get _along_, you need not fear. I told the Consul--he was very well +pleased--he is a nice man. + +"I feel pretty well now--have had dinner and am smoking a good Manila +cheroot. I wrote hard all day, wrote fifteen sheets of foolscap and made +about a dozen drawings--got pretty tired. + +"I have had a hard scramble for the service and only got in by the +skin of my teeth. I guess I will go to bed--I will sleep well +to-night--Thursday. + +"I did not hear from the Naval Secretary, Tuesday, so yesterday morning +I went up to the Admiralty and sent in my card. He came out and received +me very well--said I had passed a 'very splendid examination'; had been +recommended very strongly to the Viceroy, who was very much pleased; +that the Director of the Naval College over at the Arsenal had wanted me +and would I go over at once? I _would_. It was about five miles. We (a +friend, who is a great rider here) went on steeplechase ponies--we were +ferried across the Pei Ho in a small scow and then had a long ride. +There _is_ a path--but Pritchard insisted on taking all the ditches, +and as my pony jumped like a cat, it wasn't nice at first, but I didn't +squeal and kept my seat and got the swing of it at last and rather liked +it. I think I will keep a horse here--you can hire one and a servant +together for $7 a month; that is $5.60 of our money, and pony and man +found in everything. + +"Well--at last we got to the Arsenal--a place about four miles around, +fortified, where all sorts of arms--cartridges, shot and shell, engines, +and _everything_--are made. The Naval College is inside surrounded by +a moat and wall. I thought to myself, if the cadet here is like to the +thing I used to be at the U. S. N. A. _that_ won't keep him in. I went +through a lot of yards till I was ushered into a room finished in black +ebony and was greeted very warmly by the Director. We took seats on a +raised platform--Chinese style and pretty soon an interpreter came, one +of the Chinese professors, who was educated abroad, and we talked and +drank tea. He said I had done well, that he had the authority of the +Viceroy to take me there as 'Professor' of seamanship and gunnery; in +addition I might be required to teach navigation or nautical astronomy, +or drill the cadets in infantry, artillery, and fencing. For this I was +to receive what would be in our money $1,800 per annum, as near as we +can compare it, paid in gold each month. Besides, I will have a house +furnished for my use, and it is their intention, as soon as I _show_ +that I _know_ something, to considerably increase my pay. They asked +the Viceroy to give me 130 T per month (about $186) and house, but the +Viceroy said I was _but a boy_; that I had seen no years and had only +come here a week ago with no one to vouch for me, and that I might turn +out an impostor. But he would risk 100 T on me anyhow, and as soon as +I was reported favorably on by the college I would be raised--the +agreement is to be for three years. For a few months I am to command +a training ship--an ironclad that is in dry dock at present, until a +captain in the English Navy comes out, who has been sent for to command +her. + +"_So Here I am_--twenty-four years old and captain of a man-of-war--a +better one than any in our own navy--only for a short time, of course, +but I would be a pretty long time before I would command one at home. +Well--I accepted and will enter on my duties in a week, as soon as my +house is put in order. I saw it--it has a long veranda, very broad; with +flower garden, apricot trees, etc., just covered with blossoms; a wide +hall on the front, a room about 18x15, with a 13-foot ceiling; then back +another rather larger, with a cupola skylight in the centre, where I +am going to put a shelf with flowers. The Government is to furnish the +house with bed, tables, chairs, sideboards, lounges, stove for kitchen. +I have grates (American) in the room, but I don't need them. We have +snow, and a good deal of ice in winter, but the thermometer never gets +below zero. I have to supply my own crockery. I will have two servants +and cook; I will only get one and the cook first--they only cost $4 +to $5.50 per month, and their board amounts to very little. I can get +along, don't you think so? Now I want you to get Jim to pack up all +my professional works on gunnery, surveying, seamanship, mathematics, +astronomy, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, conic sections, calculus, +mechanics, and _every_ book of that description I own, including those +paperbound 'Naval Institute' papers, and put them in a box, together +with any photos, etc., you think I would like--I have none of you or Pa +or the family (including Carrie)--and send to me. + +"I just got in in time--didn't I? Another week would have been too late. +My funds were getting low; I would not have had _anything_ before long. +The U. S. Consul, General Bromley, is much pleased. The interpreter says +it was all in the way I did with the Viceroy in the interview. + +"I will have a chance to go to Peking and later to a tiger hunt in +Mongolia, but for the present I am going to study, work, and _stroke_ +these mandarins till I get a raise. I am the only instructor in both +seamanship and gunnery, and I must know _everything_, both practically +and theoretically. But it will be good for me and the only thing is, +that if I were put back into the Navy I would be in a dilemma. I think +I will get my 'influence' to work, and I want you people at home to +look out, and in case I _am_--if it were represented to the Sec. that +my position here was giving me an immense lot of practical knowledge +professionally--more than I could get on a ship at sea--I think he would +give me two years' leave on half or quarter pay. Or, I would be willing +to do without pay--only to be kept on the register in my rank. + +"I will write more about this. Love to all." + + +It is characteristic of McGiffin that in the very same letter in which +he announces he has entered foreign service he plans to return to +that of his own country. This hope never left him. You find the same +homesickness for the quarterdeck of an American man-of-war all through +his later letters. At one time a bill to reinstate the midshipmen who +had been cheated of their commissions was introduced into Congress. Of +this McGiffin writes frequently as "our bill." "It may pass," he writes, +"but I am tired hoping. I have hoped so long. And if it should," he adds +anxiously, "there may be a time limit set in which a man must rejoin, or +lose his chance, so do not fail to let me know as quickly as you can." +But the bill did not pass, and McGiffin never returned to the navy that +had cut him adrift. He settled down at Tien-Tsin and taught the young +cadets how to shoot. Almost all of those who in the Chinese-Japanese War +served as officers were his pupils. As the navy grew, he grew with +it, and his position increased in importance. More Mexican dollars per +month, more servants, larger houses, and buttons of various honorable +colors were given him, and, in return, he established for China a modern +naval college patterned after our own. In those days throughout China +and Japan you could find many of these foreign advisers. Now, in Japan, +the Hon. W. H. Dennison of the Foreign Office, one of our own people, is +the only foreigner with whom the Japanese have not parted, and in China +there are none. Of all of those who have gone none served his employers +more faithfully than did McGiffin. At a time when every official +robbed the people and the Government, and when "squeeze" or "graft" +was recognized as a perquisite, McGiffin's hands were clean. The shells +purchased for the Government by him were not loaded with black sand, +nor were the rifles fitted with barrels of iron pipe. Once a year he +celebrated the Thanksgiving Day of his own country by inviting to a +great dinner all the Chinese naval officers who had been at least in +part educated in America. It was a great occasion, and to enjoy +it officers used to come from as far as Port Arthur, Shanghai, and +Hong-Kong. So fully did some of them appreciate the efforts of their +host that previous to his annual dinner, for twenty-four hours, they +delicately starved themselves. + +During ten years McGiffin served as naval constructor and professor +of gunnery and seamanship, and on board ships at sea gave practical +demonstrations in the handling of the new cruisers. In 1894 he applied +for leave, which was granted, but before he had sailed for home war with +Japan was declared and he withdrew his application. He was placed +as second in command on board the _Chen Yuen_, a seven-thousand-ton +battleship, a sister ship to the _Ting Yuen_, the flagship of Admiral +Ting Ju Chang. On the memorable 17th of September, 1894, the battle of +the Yalu was fought, and so badly were the Chinese vessels hammered that +the Chinese navy, for the time being, was wiped out of existence. + +From the start the advantage was with the Japanese fleet. In heavy guns +the Chinese were the better armed, but in quick-firing guns the Japanese +were vastly superior, and while the Chinese battleships _Ting Yuen_ and +_Chen Yuen_, each of 7,430 tons, were superior to any of the Japanese +warships, the three largest of which were each of 4,277 tons, the gross +tonnage of the Japanese fleet was 36,000 to 21,000 of the Chinese. +During the progress of the battle the ships engaged on each side +numbered an even dozen, but at the very start, before a decisive shot +was fired by either contestant, the _Tsi Yuen_, 2,355 tons, and _Kwan +Chiae_, 1,300 tons, ran away, and before they had time to get into the +game the _Chao Yung_ and _Yang Wei_ were in flames and had fled to the +nearest land. So the battle was fought by eight Chinese ships against +twelve of the Japanese. Of the Chinese vessels, the flagship, commanded +by Admiral Ting, and her sister ship, which immediately after the +beginning of the fight was for four hours commanded by McGiffin, were +the two chief aggressors, and in consequence received the fire of the +entire Japanese squadron. Toward the end of the fight, which without +interruption lasted for five long hours, the Japanese did not even +consider the four smaller ships of the enemy, but, sailing around the +two ironclads in a circle, fired only at them. The Japanese themselves +testified that these two ships never lost their formation, and that +when her sister ironclad was closely pressed the _Chen Yuen_, by her +movements and gun practice, protected the _Ting Yuen_, and, in fact, +while she could not prevent the heavy loss the fleet encountered, +preserved it from annihilation. During the fight this ship was almost +continuously on fire, and was struck by every kind of projectile, from +the thirteen-inch Canet shells to a rifle bullet, four hundred times. +McGiffin himself was so badly wounded, so beaten about by concussions, +so burned, and so bruised by steel splinters, that his health and +eyesight were forever wrecked. But he brought the _Chen Yuen_ safely +into Port Arthur and the remnants of the fleet with her. + +On account of his lack of health he resigned from the Chinese service +and returned to America. For two years he lived in New York City, +suffering in body without cessation the most exquisite torture. During +that time his letters to his family show only tremendous courage. On the +splintered, gaping deck of the _Chen Yuen_, with the fires below it, +and the shells bursting upon it, he had shown to his Chinese crew the +courage of the white man who knew he was responsible for them and for +the honor of their country. But far greater and more difficult was the +courage he showed while alone in the dark sick-room, and in the private +wards of the hospitals. + +In the letters he dictates from there he still is concerned only lest +those at home shall "worry"; he reassures them with falsehoods, jokes +at their fears; of the people he can see from the window of the hospital +tells them foolish stories; for a little boy who has been kind he asks +them to send him his Chinese postage stamps; he plans a trip he will +take with them when he is stronger, knowing he never will be stronger. +The doctors had urged upon him a certain operation, and of it to a +friend he wrote: "I know that I will have to have a piece about three +inches square cut out of my skull, and this nerve cut off near the +middle of the brain, as well as my eye taken out (for a couple of hours +only, provided it is not mislaid, and can be found). Doctor ------ and +his crowd show a bad memory for failures. As a result of this operation +others have told me--I forget the percentage of deaths, which does not +matter, but--that a large percentage have become insane. And some lost +their sight." + +While threatened with insanity and complete blindness, and hourly from +his wounds suffering a pain drugs could not master, he dictated for the +_Century Magazine_ the only complete account of the battle of the Yalu. +In a letter to Mr. Richard Watson Gilder he writes: "...my eyes are +troubling me. I cannot see even what I am writing now, and am getting +the article under difficulties. I yet hope to place it in your hands by +the 21st, still, if my eyes grow worse------" + +"Still, if my eyes grow worse------" + +The unfinished sentence was grimly prophetic. + +Unknown to his attendants at the hospital, among the papers in his +despatch-box he had secreted his service revolver. On the morning of the +11th of February, 1897, he asked for this box, and on some pretext sent +the nurse from the room. When the report of the pistol brought them +running to his bedside, they found the pain-driven body at peace, and +the tired eyes dark forever. + +In the article in the _Century_ on the battle of the Yalu, he had said: + +"Chief among those who have died for their country is Admiral Ting Ju +Chang, a gallant soldier and true gentleman. Betrayed by his countrymen, +fighting against odds, almost his last official act was to stipulate +for the lives of his officers and men. His own he scorned to save, well +knowing that his ungrateful country would prove less merciful than his +honorable foe. Bitter, indeed, must have been the reflections of the +old, wounded hero, in that midnight hour, as he drank the poisoned cup +that was to give him rest." + +And bitter indeed must have been the reflections of the young wounded +American, robbed, by the parsimony of his country, of the right he had +earned to serve it, and who was driven out to give his best years and +his life for a strange people under a strange flag. + + + + +GENERAL WILLIAM WALKER, + +THE KING OF THE FILIBUSTERS + +IT is safe to say that to members of the younger generation the name of +William Walker conveys absolutely nothing. To them, as a name, "William +Walker" awakens no pride of race or country. It certainly does not +suggest poetry and adventure. To obtain a place in even this group +of Soldiers of Fortune, William Walker, the most distinguished of all +American Soldiers of Fortune, the one who but for his own countrymen +would have single-handed attained the most far-reaching results, had to +wait his turn behind adventurers of other lands and boy officers of +his own. And yet had this man with the plain name, the name that +to-day means nothing, accomplished what he adventured, he would on this +continent have solved the problem of slavery, have established an empire +in Mexico and in Central America, and, incidentally, have brought us +into war with all of Europe. That is all he would have accomplished. + +In the days of gold in San Francisco among the "Forty-niners" William +Walker was one of the most famous, most picturesque and popular figures. +Jack Oakhurst, gambler; Colonel Starbottle, duellist; Yuba Bill, +stage-coach driver, were his contemporaries. Bret Harte was one of his +keenest admirers, and in two of his stories, thinly disguised under a +more appealing name, Walker is the hero. When, later, Walker came to New +York City, in his honor Broadway from the Battery to Madison Square was +bedecked with flags and arches. "It was roses, roses all the way." The +house-tops rocked and swayed. + +In New Orleans, where in a box at the opera he made his first +appearance, for ten minutes the performance came to a pause, while the +audience stood to salute him. + +This happened less than fifty years ago, and there are men who as boys +were out with "Walker of Nicaragua," and who are still active in the +public life of San Francisco and New York. + +Walker was born in 1824, in Nashville, Tenn. He was the oldest son of +a Scotch banker, a man of a deeply religious mind, and interested in +a business which certainly is removed, as far as possible, from +the profession of arms. Indeed, few men better than William Walker +illustrate the fact that great generals are born, not trained. +Everything in Walker's birth, family tradition, and education pointed +to his becoming a member of one of the "learned" professions. It was +the wish of his father that he should be a minister of the Presbyterian +Church, and as a child he was trained with that end in view. He himself +preferred to study medicine, and after graduating at the University of +Tennessee, at Edinburgh he followed a course of lectures, and for two +years travelled in Europe, visiting many of the great hospitals. + +Then having thoroughly equipped himself to practise as a physician, +after a brief return to his native city, and as short a stay in +Philadelphia, he took down his shingle forever, and proceeded to +New Orleans to study law. In two years he was admitted to the bar of +Louisiana. But because clients were few, or because the red tape of the +law chafed his spirit, within a year, as already he had abandoned +the Church and Medicine, he abandoned his law practice and became +an editorial writer on the New Orleans _Crescent_. A year later the +restlessness which had rebelled against the grave professions led him to +the gold fields of California, and San Francisco. There, in 1852, at +the age of only twenty-eight, as editor of the San Francisco _Herald_, +Walker began his real life which so soon was to end in both disaster and +glory. + +Up to his twenty-eighth year, except in his restlessness, nothing in his +life foreshadowed what was to follow. Nothing pointed to him as a man +for whom thousands of other men, from every capital of the world, would +give up their lives. + +Negatively, by abandoning three separate callings, and in making it +plain that a professional career did not appeal to him, Walker had +thrown a certain sidelight on his character; but actively he never had +given any hint that under the thoughtful brow of the young doctor and +lawyer there was a mind evolving schemes of empire, and an ambition +limited only by the two great oceans. + +Walker's first adventure was undoubtedly inspired by and in imitation +of one which at the time of his arrival in San Francisco had just been +brought to a disastrous end. This was the De Boulbon expedition into +Mexico. The Count Gaston Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon was a young French +nobleman and Soldier of Fortune, a _chasseur d'Afrique_, a duellist, +journalist, dreamer, who came to California to dig gold. Baron +Harden-Hickey, who was born in San Francisco a few years after Boulbon +at the age of thirty was shot in Mexico, also was inspired to dreams of +conquest by this same gentleman adventurer. + +Boulbon was a young man of large ideas. In the rapid growth of +California he saw a threat to Mexico and proposed to that government, as +a "buffer" state between the two republics, to form a French colony +in the Mexican State of Sonora. Sonora is that part of Mexico which +directly joins on the south with our State of Arizona. The President of +Mexico gave Boulbon permission to attempt this, and in 1852 he landed at +Guaymas in the Gulf of California with two hundred and sixty well-armed +Frenchmen. The ostensible excuse of Boulbon for thus invading foreign +soil was his contract with the President under which his "emigrants" +were hired to protect other foreigners working in the "Restauradora" +mines from the attacks of Apache Indians from our own Arizona. But there +is evidence that back of Boulbon was the French Government, and that +he was attempting, in his small way, what later was attempted by +Maximilian, backed by a French army corps and Louis Napoleon, to +establish in Mexico an empire under French protection. For both the +filibuster and the emperor the end was the same; to be shot by the +fusillade against a church wall. + +In 1852, two years before Boulbon's death, which was the finale to his +second filibustering expedition into Sonora, he wrote to a friend in +Paris: "Europeans are disturbed by the growth of the United States. And +rightly so. Unless she be dismembered; unless a powerful rival be built +up beside her (_i.e._, France in Mexico), America will become, through +her commerce, her trade, her population, her geographical position upon +two oceans, the inevitable mistress of the world. In ten years Europe +dare not fire a shot without her permission. As I write fifty Americans +prepare to sail for Mexico and go perhaps to victory. _Voila les +Etats-Unis_." + +These fifty Americans who, in the eyes of Boulbon, threatened the peace +of Europe, were led by the ex-doctor, ex-lawyer, ex-editor, William +Walker, _aged twenty-eight years_. Walker had attempted but had failed +to obtain from the Mexican Government such a contract as the one it had +granted De Boulbon. He accordingly sailed without it, announcing that, +whether the Mexican Government asked him to do so or not, he would see +that the women and children on the border of Mexico and Arizona were +protected from massacre by the Indians. It will be remembered that when +Dr. Jameson raided the Transvaal he also went to protect "women and +children" from massacre by the Boers. Walker's explanation of his +expedition, in his own words, is as follows. He writes in the third +person: "What Walker saw and heard satisfied him that a comparatively +small body of Americans might gain a position on the Sonora frontier +and protect the families on the border from the Indians, and such an +act would be one of humanity whether or not sanctioned by the Mexican +Government. The condition of the upper part of Sonora was at that time, +and still is [he was writing eight years later, in 1860], a disgrace to +the civilization of the continent...and the people of the United States +were more immediately responsible before the world for the Apache +outrages. Northern Sonora was in fact, more under the dominion of the +Apaches than under the laws of Mexico, and the contributions of the +Indians were collected with greater regularity and certainty than the +dues of the tax-gatherers. The state of this region furnished the best +defence for any American aiming to settle there without the formal +consent of Mexico; and, although political changes would certainly have +followed the establishment of a colony, they might be justified by the +plea that any social organization, no matter how secured, is preferable +to that in which individuals and families are altogether at the mercy of +savages." + +While at the time of Jameson's raid the women and children in danger of +massacre from the Boers were as many as there are snakes in Ireland, at +the time of Walker's raid the women and children were in danger from the +Indians, who as enemies, as Walker soon discovered, were as cruel and as +greatly to be feared as he had described them. + +But it was not to save women and children that Walker sought to conquer +the State of Sonora. At the time of his expedition the great question of +slavery was acute; and if in the States next to be admitted to the Union +slavery was to be prohibited, the time had come, so it seemed to +this statesman of twenty-eight years, when the South must extend her +boundaries, and for her slaves find an outlet in fresh territory. +Sonora already joined Arizona. By conquest her territory could easily +be extended to meet Texas. As a matter of fact, strategically the spot +selected by William Walker for the purpose for which he desired it was +almost perfect. Throughout his brief career one must remember that the +spring of all his acts was this dream of an empire where slavery would +be recognized. His mother was a slave-holder. In Tennessee he had been +born and bred surrounded by slaves. His youth and manhood had been spent +in Nashville and New Orleans. He believed as honestly, as fanatically +in the right to hold slaves as did his father in the faith of the +Covenanters. To-day one reads his arguments in favor of slavery with the +most curious interest. His appeal to the humanity of his reader, to his +heart, to his sense of justice, to his fear of God, and to his belief +in the Holy Bible not to abolish slavery, but to continue it, to this +generation is as amusing as the topsy-turvyisms of Gilbert or Shaw. But +to the young man himself slavery was a sacred institution, intended for +the betterment of mankind, a God-given benefit to the black man and a +God-given right of his white master. + +White brothers in the South, with perhaps less exalted motives, +contributed funds to fit out Walker's expedition, and in October, 1852, +with forty-five men, he landed at Cape St. Lucas, at the extreme point +of Lower California. Lower California, it must be remembered, in spite +of its name, is not a part of our California, but then was, and still +is, a part of Mexico. The fact that he was at last upon the soil of the +enemy caused Walker to throw off all pretence; and instead of hastening +to protect women and children, he sailed a few miles farther up the +coast to La Paz. With his forty-five followers he raided the town, made +the Governor a prisoner, and established a republic with himself as +President. In a proclamation he declared the people free of the tyranny +of Mexico. They had no desire to be free, but Walker was determined, +and, whether they liked it or not, they woke up to find themselves an +independent republic. A few weeks later, although he had not yet set +foot there, Walker annexed on paper the State of Sonora, and to both +States gave the name of the Republic of Sonora. + +As soon as word of this reached San Francisco, his friends busied +themselves in his behalf, and the danger-loving and adventurous of +all lands were enlisted as "emigrants" and shipped to him in the bark +_Anita_. + +Two months later, in November, 1852, three hundred of these joined +Walker. They were as desperate a band of scoundrels as ever robbed a +sluice, stoned a Chinaman, or shot a "Greaser." When they found that to +command them there was only a boy, they plotted to blow up the +magazine in which the powder was stored, rob the camp, and march north, +supporting themselves by looting the ranches. Walker learned of their +plot, tried the ringleaders by court-martial, and shot them. With a +force as absolutely undisciplined as was his, the act required the most +complete personal courage. That was a quality the men with him could +fully appreciate. They saw they had as a leader one who could fight, +and one who would punish. The majority did not want a leader who would +punish so when Walker called upon those who would follow him to Sonora +to show their hands, only the original forty-five and about forty of +the later recruits remained with him. With less than one hundred men +he started to march up the Peninsula through Lower California, and so +around the Gulf to Sonora. + +From the very start the filibusters were overwhelmed with disaster. The +Mexicans, with Indian allies, skulked on the flanks and rear. Men who +in the almost daily encounters were killed fell into the hands of the +Indians, and their bodies were mutilated. Stragglers and deserters were +run to earth and tortured. Those of the filibusters who were wounded +died from lack of medical care. The only instruments they possessed with +which to extract the arrow-heads were probes made from ramrods filed to +a point. Their only food was the cattle they killed on the march. The +army was barefoot, the Cabinet in rags, the President of Sonora wore one +boot and one shoe. + +Unable to proceed farther, Walker fell back upon San Vincente, where he +had left the arms and ammunition of the deserters and a rear-guard of +eighteen men. He found not one of these to welcome him. A dozen had +deserted, and the Mexicans had surprised the rest, lassoing them and +torturing them until they died. Walker now had but thirty-five men. To +wait for further re-enforcements from San Francisco, even were he sure +that re-enforcements would come, was impossible. He determined by forced +marches to fight his way to the boundary line of California. Between him +and safety were the Mexican soldiers holding the passes, and the Indians +hiding on his flanks. When within three miles of the boundary line, at +San Diego, Colonel Melendrez, who commanded the Mexican forces, sent in +a flag of truce, and offered, if they would surrender, a safe-conduct to +all of the survivors of the expedition except the chief. But the men who +for one year had fought and starved for Walker, would not, within three +miles of home, abandon him. + +Melendrez then begged the commander of the United States troops to order +Walker to surrender. Major McKinstry, who was in command of the United +States Army Post at San Diego, refused. For him to cross the line would +be a violation of neutral territory. On Mexican soil he would neither +embarrass the ex-President of Sonora nor aid him; but he saw to it that +if the filibusters reached American soil, no Mexican or Indian should +follow them. + +Accordingly, on the imaginary boundary he drew up his troop, and like +an impartial umpire awaited the result. Hidden behind rocks and cactus, +across the hot, glaring plain, the filibusters could see the American +flag, and the gay, fluttering guidons of the cavalry. The sight gave +them heart for one last desperate spurt. Melendrez also appreciated +that for the final attack the moment had come. As he charged, Walker, +apparently routed, fled, but concealed in the rocks behind him he had +stationed a rear-guard of a dozen men. As Melendrez rode into this +ambush the dozen riflemen emptied as many saddles, and the Mexicans and +Indians stampeded. A half hour later, footsore and famished, the little +band that had set forth to found an empire of slaves, staggered across +the line and surrendered to the forces of the United States. + +Of this expedition James Jeffrey Roche says, in his "Byways of War," +which is of all books published about Walker the most intensely and +fascinatingly interesting and complete: "Years afterward the peon +herdsman or prowling Cocupa Indian in the mountain by-paths stumbled +over the bleaching skeleton of some nameless one whose resting-place was +marked by no cross or cairn, but the Colts revolver resting beside +his bones spoke his country and his occupation--the only relic of the +would-be conquistadores of the nineteenth century." + +Under parole to report to General Wood, commanding the Department of the +Pacific, the filibusters were sent by sailing vessel to San Francisco, +where their leader was tried for violating the neutrality laws of the +United States, and acquitted. + +Walker's first expedition had ended in failure, but for him it had been +an opportunity of tremendous experience, as active service is the best +of all military academies, and for the kind of warfare he was to wage, +the best preparation. Nor was it inglorious, for his fellow survivors, +contrary to the usual practice, instead of in bar-rooms placing the +blame for failure upon their leader, stood ready to fight one and all +who doubted his ability or his courage. Later, after five years, many of +these same men, though ten to twenty years his senior, followed him to +death, and never questioned his judgment nor his right to command. + +At this time in Nicaragua there was the usual revolution. On the +south the sister republic of Costa Rica was taking sides, on the north +Honduras was landing arms and men. There was no law, no government. A +dozen political parties, a dozen commanding generals, and not one strong +man. + +In the editorial rooms of the San Francisco _Herald_, Walker, searching +the map for new worlds to conquer, rested his finger upon Nicaragua. + +In its confusion of authority he saw an opportunity to make himself +a power, and in its tropical wealth and beauty, in the laziness and +incompetence of its inhabitants, he beheld a greater, fairer, more kind +Sonora. On the Pacific side from San Francisco he could re-enforce his +army with men and arms; on the Caribbean side from New Orleans he could, +when the moment arrived, people his empire with slaves. + +The two parties at war in Nicaragua were the Legitimists and the +Democrats. Why they were at war it is not necessary to know. Probably +Walker did not know; it is not likely that they themselves knew. But +from the leader of the Democrats Walker obtained a contract to bring +to Nicaragua three hundred Americans, who were each to receive several +hundred acres of land, and who were described as "colonists liable to +military duty." This contract Walker submitted to the Attorney-General +of the State and to General Wood, who once before had acquitted him of +filibustering; and neither of these Federal officers saw anything +which seemed to give them the right to interfere. But the rest of San +Francisco was less credulous, and the "colonists" who joined Walker +had a very distinct idea that they were not going to Nicaragua to plant +coffee or to pick bananas. + +In May, 1855, just a year after Walker and his thirty-three followers +had surrendered to the United States troops at San Diego, with fifty new +recruits and seven veterans of the former expedition he sailed from +San Francisco in the brig _Vesta_, and in five weeks, after a weary and +stormy voyage, landed at Realejo. There he was met by representatives of +the Provisional Director of the Democrats, who received the Californians +warmly. + +Walker was commissioned a colonel, Achilles Kewen, who had been fighting +under Lopez in Cuba, a lieutenant-colonel, and Timothy Crocker, who had +served under Walker in the Sonora expedition, a major. The corps +was organized as an independent command and was named "La Falange +Americana." At this time the enemy held the route to the Caribbean, and +Walker's first orders were to dislodge him. + +Accordingly, a week after landing with his fifty-seven Americans and one +hundred and fifty native troops, Walker sailed in the _Vesta_ for Brito, +from which port he marched upon Rivas, a city of eleven thousand people +and garrisoned by some twelve hundred of the enemy. + +The first fight ended in a complete and disastrous fiasco. The native +troops ran away, and the Americans surrounded by six hundred of the +Legitimists' soldiers, after defending themselves for three hours behind +some adobe huts, charged the enemy and escaped into the jungle. Their +loss was heavy, and among the killed were the two men upon whom Walker +chiefly depended: Kewen and Crocker. The Legitimists placed the bodies +of the dead and wounded who were still living on a pile of logs and +burned them. After a painful night march, Walker, the next day, reached +San Juan on the coast, and, finding a Costa Rican schooner in port, +seized it for his use. At this moment, although Walker's men were +defeated, bleeding, and in open flight, two "gringos" picked up on +the beach of San Juan, "the Texan Harry McLeod and the Irishman Peter +Burns," asked to be permitted to join him. + +"It was encouraging," Walker writes, "for the soldiers to find that +some besides themselves did not regard their fortunes as altogether +desperate, and small as was this addition to their number it gave +increased moral as well as material strength to the command." + +Sometimes in reading history it would appear as though for success the +first requisite must be an utter lack of humor, and inability to look +upon what one is attempting except with absolute seriousness. With forty +men Walker was planning to conquer and rule Nicaragua, a country with a +population of two hundred and fifty thousand souls and as large as the +combined area of Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, +and Connecticut. And yet, even seven years later, he records without +a smile that two beach-combers gave his army "moral and material +strength." And it is most characteristic of the man that at the +moment he was rejoicing over this addition to his forces, to maintain +discipline two Americans who had set fire to the houses of the enemy +he ordered to be shot. A weaker man would have repudiated the two +Americans, who, in fact, were not members of the Phalanx, and trusted +that their crimes would not be charged against him. But the success of +Walker lay greatly in his stern discipline. He tried the men, and they +confessed to their guilt. One got away; and, as it might appear that +Walker had connived at his escape, to the second man was shown no +mercy. When one reads how severe was Walker in his punishments, and +how frequently the death penalty was invoked by him against his own +few followers, the wonder grows that these men, as independent and as +unaccustomed to restraint as were those who first joined him, submitted +to his leadership. One can explain it only by the personal quality of +Walker himself. + +Among these reckless, fearless outlaws, who, despising their allies, +believed and proved that with his rifle one American could account for a +dozen Nicaraguans, Walker was the one man who did not boast or drink or +gamble, who did not even swear, who never looked at a woman, and who, in +money matters, was scrupulously honest and unself-seeking. In a fight, +his followers knew that for them he would risk being shot just as +unconcernedly as to maintain his authority he would shoot one of them. + +Treachery, cowardice, looting, any indignity to women, he punished with +death; but to the wounded, either of his own or of the enemy's forces, +he was as gentle as a nursing sister and the brave and able he rewarded +with instant promotion and higher pay. In no one trait was he a +demagogue. One can find no effort on his part to ingratiate himself with +his men. Among the officers of his staff there were no favorites. He +messed alone, and at all times kept to himself. He spoke little, and +then with utter lack of self-consciousness. In the face of injustice, +perjury, or physical danger, he was always calm, firm, dispassionate. +But it is said that on those infrequent occasions when his anger +asserted itself, the steady steel-gray eyes flashed so menacingly that +those who faced them would as soon look down the barrel of his Colt. + +The impression one gets of him gathered from his recorded acts, from his +own writings, from the writings of those who fought with him, is of a +silent, student-like young man believing religiously in his "star of +destiny"; but, in all matters that did not concern himself, possessed of +a grim sense of fun. The sayings of his men that in his history of the +war he records, show a distinct appreciation of the Bret Harte school of +humor. As, for instance, when he tells how he wished to make one of them +a drummer boy and the Californian drawled: "No, thanks, colonel; I never +seen a picture of a battle yet that the first thing in it wasn't a dead +drummer boy with a busted drum." + +In Walker the personal vanity which is so characteristic of the soldier +of fortune was utterly lacking. In a land where a captain bedecks +himself like a field-marshal, Walker wore his trousers stuffed in his +boots, a civilian's blue frock-coat, and the slouch hat of the period, +with, for his only ornament, the red ribbon of the Democrats. The +authority he wielded did not depend upon braid or buttons, and only when +going into battle did he wear his sword. In appearance he was slightly +built, rather below the medium height, smooth shaven, and with deep-set +gray eyes. These eyes apparently, as they gave him his nickname, were +his most marked feature. + +His followers called him, and later, when he was thirty-two years +old, he was known all over the United States as the "Gray-Eyed Man of +Destiny." + +From the first Walker recognized that in order to establish himself in +Nicaragua he must keep in touch with all possible recruits arriving from +San Francisco and New York, and that to do this he must hold the line +of transit from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific. At this time the sea +routes to the gold-fields were three: by sailing vessel around the Cape, +one over the Isthmus of Panama, and one, which was the shortest, across +Nicaragua. By a charter from the Government of Nicaragua, the right to +transport passengers across this isthmus was controlled by the Accessory +Transit Company, of which the first Cornelius Vanderbilt was president. +His company owned a line of ocean steamers both on the Pacific side +and on the Atlantic side. Passengers _en route_ from New York to the +gold-fields were landed by these latter steamers at Greytown on the west +coast of Nicaragua, and sent by boats of light draught up the San Juan +River to Lake Nicaragua. There they were met by larger lake steamers and +conveyed across the lake to Virgin Bay. From that point, in carriages +and on mule back, they were carried twelve miles overland to the port of +San Juan del Sud on the Pacific Coast, where they boarded the company's +steamers to San Francisco. + +During the year of Walker's occupation the number of passengers crossing +Nicaragua was an average of about two thousand a month. + +It was to control this route that immediately after his first defeat +Walker returned to San Juan del Sud, and in a smart skirmish defeated +the enemy and secured possession of Virgin Bay, the halting place for +the passengers going east or west. In this fight Walker was outnumbered +five to one, but his losses were only three natives killed and a few +Americans wounded. The Legitimists lost sixty killed and a hundred +wounded. This proportion of losses shows how fatally effective was the +rifle and revolver fire of the Californians. Indeed, so wonderful was it +that when some years ago I visited the towns and cities captured by the +filibusters, I found that the marksmanship of Walker's Phalanx was still +a tradition. Indeed, thanks to the filibusters, to-day in any part of +Central America a man from the States, if in trouble, has only to show +his gun. No native will wait for him to fire it. + +After the fight at Virgin Bay, Walker received from California fifty +recruits--a very welcome addition to his force, and as he now commanded +about one hundred and twenty Americans, three hundred Nicaraguans, under +a friendly native, General Valle, and two brass cannon, he decided to +again attack Rivas. Rivas is on the lake just above Virgin Bay; still +further up is Granada, which was the head-quarters of the Legitimists. + +Fearing Walker's attack upon Rivas, the Legitimist troops were hurried +south from Granada to that city, leaving Granada but slightly protected. + +Through intercepted letters Walker learned of this and determined to +strike at Granada. By night, in one of the lake steamers, he skirted the +shore, and just before daybreak, with fires banked and all lights out, +drew up to a point near the city. The day previous the Legitimists had +gained a victory, and, as good luck or Walker's "destiny" would have +it, the night before Granada had been celebrating the event. Much joyous +dancing and much drinking of aguardiente had buried the inhabitants in a +drugged slumber. The garrison slept, the sentries slept, the city slept. +But when the convent bells called for early mass, the air was shaken +with sharp reports that to the ears of the Legitimists were unfamiliar +and disquieting. They were not the loud explosions of their own muskets +nor of the smooth bores of the Democrats. The sounds were sharp and +cruel like the crack of a whip. The sentries flying from their posts +disclosed the terrifying truth. "The Filibusteros!" they cried. +Following them at a gallop came Walker and Valle and behind them the men +of the awful Phalanx, whom already the natives had learned to fear: the +bearded giants in red flannel shirts who at Rivas on foot had charged +the artillery with revolvers, who at Virgin Bay when wounded had drawn +from their boots glittering bowie knives and hurled them like arrows, +who at all times shot with the accuracy of the hawk falling upon a +squawking hen. + +There was a brief terrified stand in the Plaza, and then a complete +rout. As was their custom, the native Democrats began at once to loot +the city. But Walker put his sword into the first one of these he met, +and ordered the Americans to arrest all others found stealing, and to +return the goods already stolen. Over a hundred political prisoners in +the cartel were released by Walker, and the ball and chain to which each +was fastened stricken off. More than two-thirds of them at once enlisted +under Walker's banner. + +He now was in a position to dictate to the enemy his own terms of peace, +but a fatal blunder on the part of Parker H. French, a lieutenant of +Walker's, postponed peace for several weeks, and led to unfortunate +reprisals. French had made an unauthorized and unsuccessful assault +on San Carlos at the eastern end of the lake, and the Legitimists +retaliated at Virgin Bay by killing half a dozen peaceful passengers, +and at San Carlos by firing at a transit steamer. For this the excuse of +the Legitimists was, that now that Walker was using the lake steamers +as transports it was impossible for them to know whether the boats were +occupied by his men or neutral passengers. As he could not reach the +guilty ones, Walker held responsible for their acts their secretary +of state, who at the taking of Granada was among the prisoners. He was +tried by court-martial and shot, "a victim of the new interpretation of +the principles of constitutional government." While this act of Walker's +was certainly stretching the theory of responsibility to the breaking +point, its immediate effect was to bring about a hasty surrender and a +meeting between the generals of the two political parties. Thus, four +months after Walker and his fifty-seven followers landed in Nicaragua, +a suspension of hostilities was arranged, and the side for which the +Americans had fought was in power. Walker was made commander-in-chief +of an army of twelve hundred men with salary of six thousand dollars a +year. A man named Rivas was appointed temporary president. + +To Walker this pause in the fight was most welcome. It gave him an +opportunity to enlist recruits and to organize his men for the better +accomplishment of what was the real object of his going to Nicaragua. He +now had under him a remarkable force, one of the most effective known +to military history. For although six months had not yet passed, +the organization he now commanded was as unlike the Phalanx of +the fifty-eight adventurers who were driven back at Rivas, as were +Falstaff's followers from the regiment of picked men commanded by +Colonel Roosevelt. Instead of the undisciplined and lawless now being +in the majority, the ranks were filled with the pick of the California +mining camps, with veterans of the Mexican War, with young Southerners +of birth and spirit, and with soldiers of fortune from all of the great +armies of Europe. + +In the Civil War, which so soon followed, and later in the service of +the Khedive of Egypt, were several of Walker's officers, and for years +after his death there was no war in which one of the men trained by him +in the jungles of Nicaragua did not distinguish himself. In his memoirs, +the Englishman, General Charles Frederic Henningsen, writes that though +he had taken part in some of the greatest battles of the Civil War he +would pit a thousand men of Walker's command against any five thousand +Confederate or Union soldiers. And General Henningsen was one who spoke +with authority. Before he joined Walker he had served in Spain under Don +Carlos, in Hungary under Kossuth, and in Bulgaria. + +Of Walker's men, a regiment of which he commanded, he writes: "I often +have seen them march with a broken or compound fractured arm in +splints, and using the other to fire the rifle or revolver. Those with a +fractured thigh or wounds which rendered them incapable of removal, shot +themselves. Such men do not turn up in the average of everyday life, nor +do I ever expect to see their like again. All military science failed +on a suddenly given field before such assailants, who came at a run +to close with their revolvers and who thought little of charging a gun +battery, pistol in hand." + +Another graduate of Walker's army was Captain Fred Townsend Ward, a +native of Salem, Mass., who after the death of Walker organized and +led the ever victorious army that put down the Tai-Ping rebellion, +and performed the many feats of martial glory for which Chinese Gordon +received the credit. In Shanghai, to the memory of the filibuster, there +are to-day two temples in his honor. + +Joaquin Miller, the poet, miner, and soldier, who but recently was a +picturesque figure on the hotel porch at Saratoga Springs, was one of +the young Californians who was "out with Walker," and who later in +his career by his verse helped to preserve the name of his beloved +commander. I. C. Jamison, living to-day in Guthrie, Oklahoma, was a +captain under Walker. When war again came, as it did within four months, +these were the men who made Walker President of Nicaragua. + +During the four months in all but title he had been president, and as +such he was recognized and feared. It was against him, not Rivas, that +in February, 1856, the neighboring republic of Costa Rica declared war. +For three months this war continued with varying fortunes until the +Costa Ricans were driven across the border. + +In June of the same year Rivas called a general election for president, +announcing himself as the candidate of the Democrats. Two other +Democrats also presented themselves, Salazar and Ferrer. The +Legitimists, recognizing in their former enemy the real ruler of the +country, nominated Walker. By an overwhelming majority he was elected, +receiving 15,835 votes to 867 cast for Rivas. Salazar received 2,087; +Ferrer, 4,447. + +Walker now was the legal as well as the actual ruler of the country, +and at no time in its history, as during Walker's administration, was +Nicaragua governed so justly, so wisely, and so well. But in his success +the neighboring republics saw a menace to their own independence. To the +four other republics of Central America the five-pointed blood-red star +on the flag of the filibusters bore a sinister motto: "Five or None." +The meaning was only too unpleasantly obvious. At once, Costa Rica on +the south, and Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras from the north, with +the malcontents of Nicaragua, declared war against the foreign invader. +Again Walker was in the field with opposed to him 21,000 of the allies. +The strength of his own force varied. On his election as president the +backbone of his army was a magnificently trained body of veterans to the +number of 2,000. This was later increased to 3,500, but it is doubtful +if at any one time it ever exceeded that number. His muster and hospital +rolls show that during his entire occupation of Nicaragua there were +enlisted, at one time or another, under his banner 10,000 men. While in +his service, of this number, by hostile shots or fever, 5,000 died. + +To describe the battles with the allies would be interminable and +wearying. In every particular they are much alike: the long silent +night march, the rush at daybreak, the fight to gain strategic +positions either of the barracks, or of the Cathedral in the Plaza, +the hand-to-hand fighting from behind barricades and adobe walls. The +out-come of these fights sometimes varied, but the final result was +never in doubt, and had no outside influences intervened, in time each +republic in Central America would have come under the five-pointed star. + +In Costa Rica there is a marble statue showing that republic represented +as a young woman with her foot upon the neck of Walker. Some night a +truth-loving American will place a can of dynamite at the foot of that +statue, and walk hurriedly away. Unaided, neither Costa Rica nor any +other Central American republic could have driven Walker from her soil. +His downfall came through his own people, and through an act of his +which provoked them. + +When Walker was elected president he found that the Accessory Transit +Company had not lived up to the terms of its concession with the +Nicaraguan Government. His efforts to hold it to the terms of its +concession led to his overthrow. By its charter the Transit Company +agreed to pay to Nicaragua ten thousand dollars annually and ten per +cent. of the net profits; but the company, whose history the United +States Minister, Squire, characterized as "an infamous career of +deception and fraud," manipulated its books in such a fashion as to +show that there never were any profits. Doubting this, Walker sent a +commission to New York to investigate. The commission discovered the +fraud and demanded in back payments two hundred and fifty thousand +dollars. When the company refused to pay this, as security for the +debt Walker seized its steamers, wharves, and storehouses, revoked its +charter, and gave a new charter to two of its directors, Morgan and +Garrison, who, in San Francisco, were working against Vanderbilt. In +doing this, while he was legally in the right, he committed a fatal +error. He had made a powerful enemy of Vanderbilt, and he had shut off +his only lines of communication with the United States. For, enraged +at the presumption of the filibuster president, Vanderbilt withdrew his +ocean steamers, thus leaving Walker without men or ammunition, and as +isolated as though upon a deserted island. He possessed Vanderbilt's +boats upon the San Juan River and Nicaragua Lake, but they were of use +to him only locally. + +His position was that of a man holding the centre span of a bridge of +which every span on either side of him has been destroyed. + +Vanderbilt did not rest at withdrawing his steamers, but by supporting +the Costa Ricans with money and men, carried the war into Central +America. From Washington he fought Walker through Secretary of State +Marcy, who proved a willing tool. + +Spencer and Webster, and the other soldiers of fortune employed by +Vanderbilt, closed the route on the Caribbean side, and the man-of-war +_St. Marys_, commanded by Captain Davis, was ordered to San Juan on the +Pacific side. The instructions given to Captain Davis were to aid the +allies in forcing Walker out of Nicaragua. Walker claims that these +orders were given to Marcy by Vanderbilt and by Marcy to Commodore +Mervin, who was Marcy's personal friend and who issued them to Davis. +Davis claims that he acted only in the interest of humanity to save +Walker in spite of himself. In any event, the result was the same. +Walker, his force cut down by hostile shot and fever and desertion, took +refuge in Rivas, where he was besieged by the allied armies. There was +no bread in the city. The men were living on horse and mule meat. There +was no salt. The hospital was filled with wounded and those stricken +with fever. + +Captain Davis, in the name of humanity, demanded Walker's surrender to +the United States. Walker told him he would not surrender, but that +if the time came when he found he must fly, he would do so in his own +little schooner of war, the _Granada_, which constituted his entire +navy, and in her, as a free man, take his forces where he pleased. Then +Davis informed Walker that the force Walker had sent to recapture the +Greytown route had been defeated by the janizaries of Vanderbilt; that +the steamers from San Francisco, on which Walker now counted to bring +him re-enforcements, had also been taken off the line, and finally +that it was his "unalterable and deliberate intention" to seize the +_Granada_. On this point his orders left him no choice. The _Granada_ +was the last means of transportation still left to Walker. He had hoped +to make a sortie and on board her to escape from the country. But with +his ship taken from him and no longer able to sustain the siege of +the allies, he surrendered to the forces of the United States. In the +agreement drawn up by him and Davis, Walker provided for the care, by +Davis, of the sick and wounded, for the protection after his departure +of the natives who had fought with him, and for the transportation of +himself and officers to the United States. + +On his arrival in New York he received a welcome such as later was +extended to Kossuth, and, in our own day, to Admiral Dewey. The city +was decorated with flags and arches; and banquets, fetes, and public +meetings were everywhere held in his honor. Walker received these +demonstrations modestly, and on every public occasion announced his +determination to return to the country of which he was the president, +and from which by force he had been driven. At Washington, where he +went to present his claims, he received scant encouragement. His protest +against Captain Davis was referred to Congress, where it was allowed to +die. + +Within a month Walker organized an expedition with which to regain his +rights in Nicaragua, and as, in his new constitution for that country, +he had annulled the old law abolishing slavery, among the slave-holders +of the South he found enough money and recruits to enable him to at once +leave the United States. With one hundred and fifty men he sailed from +New Orleans and landed at San del Norte on the Caribbean side. While he +formed a camp on the harbor of San Juan, one of his officers, with fifty +men, proceeded up the river and, capturing the town of Castillo Viejo +and four of the Transit steamers, was in a fair way to obtain possession +of the entire route. At this moment upon the scene arrived the United +States frigate _Wabash_ and Hiram Paulding, who landed a force of three +hundred and fifty blue-jackets with howitzers, and turned the guns of +his frigate upon the camp of the President of Nicaragua. Captain Engel, +who presented the terms of surrender to Walker, said to him: "General, +I am sorry to see you here. A man like you is worthy to command better +men." To which Walker replied grimly: "If I had a third the number you +have brought against me, I would show you which of us two commands the +better men." + +For the third time in his history Walker surrendered to the armed forces +of his own country. + +On his arrival in the United States, in fulfilment of his parole to +Paulding, Walker at once presented himself at Washington a prisoner +of war. But President Buchanan, although Paulding had acted exactly as +Davis had done, refused to support him, and in a message to Congress +declared that that officer had committed a grave error and established +an unsafe precedent. + +On the strength of this Walker demanded of the United States Government +indemnity for his losses, and that it should furnish him and his +followers transportation even to the very camp from which its +representatives had torn him. This demand, as Walker foresaw, was not +considered seriously, and with a force of about one hundred men, among +whom were many of his veterans, he again set sail from New Orleans. +Owing to the fact that, to prevent his return, there now were on each +side of the Isthmus both American and British men-of-war, Walker, with +the idea of reaching Nicaragua by land, stopped off at Honduras. In his +war with the allies the Honduranians had been as savage in their attacks +upon his men as even the Costa Ricans, and finding his old enemies +now engaged in a local revolution, on landing, Walker declared for the +weaker side and captured the important seaport of Trujillo. He no sooner +had taken it than the British warship _Icarus_ anchored in the harbor, +and her commanding officer, Captain Salmon, notified Walker that the +British Government held a mortgage on the revenues of the port, and that +to protect the interests of his Government he intended to take the town. +Walker answered that he had made Trujillo a free port, and that Great +Britain's claims no longer existed. + +The British officer replied that if Walker surrendered himself and his +men he would carry them as prisoners to the United States, and that if +he did not, he would bombard the town. At this moment General Alvarez, +with seven hundred Honduranians, from the land side surrounded Trujillo, +and prepared to attack. Against such odds by sea and land Walker was +helpless, and he determined to fly. That night, with seventy men, +he left the town and proceeded down the coast toward Nicaragua. The +_Icarus_, having taken on board Alvarez, started in pursuit. The +President of Nicaragua was found in a little Indian fishing village, and +Salmon sent in his shore-boats and demanded his surrender. On leaving +Trujillo, Walker had been forced to abandon all his ammunition save +thirty rounds a man, and all of his food supplies excepting two barrels +of bread. On the coast of this continent there is no spot more unhealthy +than Honduras, and when the Englishmen entered the fishing village they +found Walker's seventy men lying in the palm huts helpless with fever, +and with no stomach to fight British blue-jackets with whom they had no +quarrel. Walker inquired of Salmon if he were asking him to surrender to +the British or to the Honduranian forces, and twice Salmon assured him, +"distinctly and specifically," that he was surrendering to the forces of +her Majesty. With this understanding Walker and his men laid down their +arms and were conveyed to the _Icarus_. But on arriving at Trujillo, +in spite of their protests and demands for trial by a British tribunal, +Salmon turned over his prisoners to the Honduranian general. What excuse +for this is now given by his descendants in the Salmon family I do not +know. + +Probably it is a subject they avoid, and, in history, Salmon's version +has never been given, which for him, perhaps, is an injustice. But the +fact remains that he turned over his white brothers to the mercies of +half-Indian, half-negro, savages, who were not allies of Great Britain, +and in whose quarrels she had no interest. And Salmon did this, knowing +there could be but one end. If he did not know it, his stupidity +equalled what now appears to be heartless indifference. So far as to +secure pardon for all except the leader and one faithful follower, +Colonel Rudler of the famous Phalanx, Salmon did use his authority, and +he offered, if Walker would ask as an American citizen, to intercede for +him. But Walker, with a distinct sense of loyalty to the country he had +conquered, and whose people had honored him with their votes, refused to +accept life from the country of his birth, the country that had injured +and repudiated him. + +Even in his extremity, abandoned and alone on a strip of glaring coral +and noisome swamp land, surrounded only by his enemies, he remained true +to his ideal. + +At thirty-seven life is very sweet, many things still seem possible, and +before him, could his life be spared, Walker beheld greater conquests, +more power, a new South controlling a Nicaragua canal, a network of +busy railroads, great squadrons of merchant vessels, himself emperor of +Central America. On the gunboat the gold-braided youth had but to raise +his hand, and Walker again would be a free man. But the gold-braided one +would render this service only on the condition that Walker would appeal +to him as an American; it was not enough that Walker was a human being. +The condition Walker could not grant. + +"The President of Nicaragua," he said, "is a citizen of Nicaragua." + +They led him out at sunrise to a level piece of sand along the beach, +and as the priest held the crucifix in front of him he spoke to his +executioners in Spanish, simply and gravely: "I die a Roman Catholic. +In making war upon you at the invitation of the people of Ruatan I +was wrong. Of your people I ask pardon. I accept my punishment with +resignation. I would like to think my death will be for the good of +society." + +From a distance of twenty feet three soldiers fired at him, but, +although each shot took effect, Walker was not dead. So, a sergeant +stooped, and with a pistol killed the man who would have made him one of +an empire of slaves. + +Had Walker lived four years longer to exhibit upon the great board of +the Civil War his ability as a general, he would, I believe, to-day be +ranked as one of America's greatest fighting men. + +And because the people of his own day destroyed him is no reason that we +should withhold from this American, the greatest of all filibusters, the +recognition of his genius. + + + + +MAJOR BURNHAM, CHIEF OF SCOUTS + +AMONG the Soldiers of Fortune whose stories have been told in this book +were men who are no longer living, men who, to the United States, are +strangers, and men who were of interest chiefly because in what they +attempted they failed. + +The subject of this article is none of these. His adventures are as +remarkable as any that ever led a small boy to dig behind the barn for +buried treasure, or stalk Indians in the orchard. But entirely apart +from his adventures he obtains our interest because in what he has +attempted he has not failed, because he is one of our own people, one of +the earliest and best types of American, and because, so far from being +dead and buried, he is at this moment very much alive, and engaged in +Mexico in searching for a buried city. For exercise, he is alternately +chasing, or being chased by, Yaqui Indians. + +In his home in Pasadena, Cal., where sometimes he rests quietly for +almost a week at a time, the neighbors know him as "Fred" Burnham. In +England the newspapers crowned him "The King of Scouts." Later, when he +won an official title, they called him "Major Frederick Russell Burnham, +D. S. O." + +Some men are born scouts, others by training become scouts. From his +father Burnham inherited his instinct for wood-craft, and to this +instinct, which in him is as keen as in a wild deer or a mountain lion, +he has added, in the jungle and on the prairie and mountain ranges, +years of the hardest, most relentless schooling. In those years he has +trained himself to endure the most appalling fatigues, hunger, thirst, +and wounds; has subdued the brain to infinite patience, has learned to +force every nerve in his body to absolute obedience, to still even the +beating of his heart. Indeed, than Burnham no man of my acquaintance to +my knowledge has devoted himself to his life's work more earnestly, more +honestly, and with such single-mindedness of purpose. To him scouting +is as exact a study as is the piano to Paderewski, with the result that +to-day what the Pole is to other pianists, the American is to all other +"trackers," woodmen, and scouts. He reads "the face of Nature" as you +read your morning paper. To him a movement of his horse's ears is as +plain a warning as the "Go SLOW" of an automobile sign; and he so saves +from ambush an entire troop. In the glitter of a piece of quartz in the +firelight he discovers King Solomon's mines. Like the horned cattle, he +can tell by the smell of it in the air the near presence of water, +and where, glaring in the sun, you can see only a bare kopje, he +distinguishes the muzzle of a pompom, the crown of a Boer sombrero, +the levelled barrel of a Mauser. He is the Sherlock Holmes of all +out-of-doors. + +Besides being a scout, he is soldier, hunter, mining expert, and +explorer. Within the last ten years the educated instinct that as a +younger man taught him to follow the trail of an Indian, or the "spoor" +of the Kaffir and the trek wagon, now leads him as a mining expert to +the hiding-places of copper, silver, and gold, and, as he advises, great +and wealthy syndicates buy or refuse tracts of land in Africa and Mexico +as large as the State of New York. As an explorer in the last few years +in the course of his expeditions into undiscovered lands, he has added +to this little world many thousands of square miles. + +Personally, Burnham is as unlike the scout of fiction, and of the Wild +West Show, as it is possible for a man to be. He possesses no flowing +locks, his talk is not of "greasers," "grizzly b'ars," or "pesky +redskins." In fact, because he is more widely and more thoroughly +informed, he is much better educated than many who have passed through +one of the "Big Three" universities, and his English is as conventional +as though he had been brought up on the borders of Boston Common, rather +than on the borders of civilization. + +In appearance he is slight, muscular, bronzed; with a finely formed +square jaw, and remarkable light blue eyes. These eyes apparently never +leave yours, but in reality they see everything behind you and about +you, above and below you. They tell of him that one day, while out with +a patrol on the veldt, he said he had lost the trail and, dismounting, +began moving about on his hands and knees, nosing the ground like a +bloodhound, and pointing out a trail that led back over the way the +force had just marched. When the commanding officer rode up, Burnham +said: + +"Don't raise your head, sit. On that kopje to the right there is a +commando of Boers." + +"When did you see them?" asked the officer. + +"I see them now," Burnham answered. + +"But I thought you were looking for a lost trail?" + +"That's what the Boers on the kopje think," said Burnham. + +In his eyes, possibly, owing to the uses to which they have been +trained, the pupils, as in the eyes of animals that see in the dark, +are extremely small. Even in the photographs that accompany this article +this feature of his eyes is obvious, and that he can see in the dark +the Kaffirs of South Africa firmly believe. In manner he is quiet, +courteous, talking slowly but well, and, while without any of that +shyness that comes from self-consciousness, extremely modest. Indeed, +there could be no better proof of his modesty than the difficulties I +have encountered in gathering material for this article, which I have +been five years in collecting. And even now, as he reads it by his +camp-fire, I can see him squirm with embarrassment. + +Burnham's father was a pioneer missionary in a frontier hamlet called +Tivoli on the edge of the Indian reserve of Minnesota. He was a stern, +severely religious man, born in Kentucky, but educated in New York, +where he graduated from the Union Theological Seminary. He was +wonderfully skilled in wood-craft. Burnham's mother was a Miss Rebecca +Russell of a well-known family in Iowa. She was a woman of great +courage, which, in those days on that skirmish line of civilization, +was a very necessary virtue; and she was possessed of a most gentle and +sweet disposition. That was her gift to her son Fred, who was born on +May 11, 1861. + +His education as a child consisted in memorizing many verses of the +Bible, the "Three R's," and wood-craft. His childhood was strenuous. In +his mother's arms he saw the burning of the town of New Ulm, which was +the funeral pyre for the women and children of that place when they were +massacred by Red Cloud and his braves. + +On another occasion Fred's mother fled for her life from the Indians, +carrying the boy with her. He was a husky lad, and knowing that if she +tried to carry him farther they both would be overtaken, she hid him +under a shock of corn. There, the next morning, the Indians having been +driven off, she found her son sleeping as soundly as a night watchman. +In these Indian wars, and the Civil War which followed, of the families +of Burnham and Russell, twenty-two of the men were killed. There is no +question that Burnham comes of fighting stock. + +In 1870, when Fred was nine years old, his father moved to Los Angeles, +Cal., where two years later he died; and for a time for both mother and +boy there was poverty, hard and grinding. To relieve this young Burnham +acted as a mounted messenger. Often he was in the saddle from twelve to +fifteen hours, and even in a land where every one rode well, he gained +local fame as a hard rider. In a few years a kind uncle offered to Mrs. +Burnham and a younger brother a home in the East, but at the last moment +Fred refused to go with them, and chose to make his own way. He was then +thirteen years old, and he had determined to be a scout. + +At that particular age many boys have set forth determined to be scouts, +and are generally brought home the next morning by a policeman. But +Burnham, having turned his back on the cities, did not repent. He +wandered over Mexico, Arizona, California. He met Indians, bandits, +prospectors, hunters of all kinds of big game; and finally a scout who, +under General Taylor, had served in the Mexican War. This man took a +liking to the boy; and his influence upon him was marked and for his +good. He was an educated man, and had carried into the wilderness a few +books. In the cabin of this man Burnham read "The Conquest of Mexico +and Peru" by Prescott, the lives of Hannibal and Cyrus the Great, of +Livingstone the explorer, which first set his thoughts toward Africa, +and many technical works on the strategy and tactics of war. He had no +experience of military operations on a large scale, but, with the aid of +the veteran of the Mexican War, with corn-cobs in the sand in front of +the cabin door, he constructed forts and made trenches, redoubts, +and traverses. In Burnham's life this seems to have been a very happy +period. The big game he hunted and killed he sold for a few dollars to +the men of Nadean's freight outfits, which in those days hauled bullion +from Cerro Gordo for the man who is now Senator Jones of Nevada. + +At nineteen Burnham decided that there were things in this world he +should know that could not be gleaned from the earth, trees, and sky; +and with the few dollars he had saved he came East. The visit apparently +was not a success. The atmosphere of the town in which he went to school +was strictly Puritanical, and the townspeople much given to religious +discussion. The son of the pioneer missionary found himself unable to +subscribe to the formulas which to the others seemed so essential, and +he returned to the West with the most bitter feelings, which lasted +until he was twenty-one. + +"It seems strange now," he once said to me, "but in those times +religious questions were as much a part of our daily life as to-day are +automobiles, the Standard Oil, and the insurance scandals, and when I +went West I was in an unhappy, doubting frame of mind. The trouble was +I had no moral anchors; the old ones father had given me were gone, and +the time for acquiring new ones had not arrived." This bitterness of +heart, or this disappointment, or whatever the state of mind was that +the dogmas of the New England town had inspired in the boy from the +prairie, made him reckless. For the life he was to lead this was not a +handicap. Even as a lad, in a land-grant war in California, he had been +under gunfire, and for the next fifteen years he led a life of danger +and of daring; and studied in a school of experience than which, for a +scout, if his life be spared, there can be none better. Burnham came +out of it a quiet, manly, gentleman. In those fifteen years he roved the +West from the Great Divide to Mexico. He fought the Apache Indians for +the possession of waterholes, he guarded bullion on stage-coaches, for +days rode in pursuit of Mexican bandits and American horse thieves, +took part in county-seat fights, in rustler wars, in cattle wars; he was +cowboy, miner, deputy-sheriff, and in time throughout the the name of +"Fred" Burnham became significant and familiar. + +During this period Burnham was true to his boyhood ideal of becoming a +scout. It was not enough that by merely living the life around him he +was being educated for it. He daily practised and rehearsed those things +which some day might mean to himself and others the difference between +life and death. To improve his sense of smell he gave up smoking, of +which he was extremely fond, nor, for the same reason, does he to this +day use tobacco. He accustomed himself also to go with little sleep, and +to subsist on the least possible quantity of food. As a deputy-sheriff +this educated faculty of not requiring sleep aided him in many important +captures. Sometimes he would not strike the trail of the bandit or "bad +man" until the other had several days the start of him. But the end +was the same; for, while the murderer snatched a few hours' rest by the +trail, Burnham, awake and in the saddle, would be closing up the miles +between them. + +That he is a good marksman goes without telling. At the age of eight his +father gave him a rifle of his own, and at twelve, with either a "gun" +or a Winchester, he was an expert. He taught himself to use a weapon +either in his left or right hand and to shoot, Indian fashion, hanging +by one leg from his pony and using it as a cover, and to turn in the +saddle and shoot behind him. I once asked him if he really could shoot +to the rear with a galloping horse under him and hit a man. + +"Well," he said, "maybe not to hit him, but I can come near enough to +him to make him decide my pony's so much faster than his that it really +isn't worth while to follow me." + +Besides perfecting himself in what he tolerantly calls "tricks" of +horsemanship and marksmanship, he studied the signs of the trail, forest +and prairie, as a sailing-master studies the waves and clouds. The +knowledge he gathers from inanimate objects and dumb animals seems +little less than miraculous. And when you ask him how he knows these +things he always gives you a reason founded on some fact or habit of +nature that shows him to be a naturalist, mineralogist, geologist, and +botanist, and not merely a seventh son of a seventh son. + +In South Africa he would say to the officers: "There are a dozen Boers +five miles ahead of us riding Basuto ponies at a trot, and leading five +others. If we hurry we should be able to sight them in an hour." At +first the officers would smile, but not after a half-hour's gallop, when +they would see ahead of them a dozen Boers leading five ponies. In the +early days of Salem, Burnham would have been burned as a witch. + +When twenty-three years of age he married Miss Blanche Blick, of Iowa. +They had known each other from childhood, and her brothers-in-law have +been Burnham's aids and companions in every part of Africa and the West. +Neither at the time of their marriage nor since did Mrs. Burnham "lay +a hand on the bridle rein," as is witnessed by the fact that for nine +years after his marriage Burnham continued his career as sheriff, scout, +mining prospector. And in 1893, when Burnham and his brother-in-law, +Ingram, started for South Africa, Mrs. Burnham went with them, and +in every part of South Africa shared her husband's life of travel and +danger. + +In making this move across the sea, Burnham's original idea was to look +for gold in the territory owned by the German East African Company. But +as in Rhodesia the first Matabele uprising had broken out, he continued +on down the coast, and volunteered for that campaign. This was the real +beginning of his fortunes. The "war" was not unlike the Indian fighting +of his early days, and although the country was new to him, with +the kind of warfare then being waged between the Kaffirs under King +Lobengula and the white settlers of the British South Africa Company, +the chartered company of Cecil Rhodes, he was intimately familiar. + +It does not take big men long to recognize other big men, and Burnham's +remarkable work as a scout at once brought him to the notice of Rhodes +and Dr. Jameson, who was personally conducting the campaign. The war was +their own private war, and to them, at such a crisis in the history of +their settlement, a man like Burnham was invaluable. + +The chief incident of this campaign, the fame of which rang over all +Great Britain and her colonies, was the gallant but hopeless stand made +by Major Alan Wilson and his patrol of thirty-four men. It was Burnham's +attempt to save these men that made him known from Buluwayo to Cape +Town. + +King Lobengula and his warriors were halted on one bank of the Shangani +River, and on the other Major Forbes, with a picked force of three +hundred men, was coming up in pursuit. Although at the moment he did +not know it, he also was being pursued by a force of Matabeles, who were +gradually surrounding him. At nightfall Major Wilson and a patrol of +twelve men, with Burnham and his brother-in-law, Ingram, acting as +scouts, were ordered to make a dash into the camp of Lobengula and, if +possible, in the confusion of their sudden attack, and under cover of a +terrific thunder-storm that was raging, bring him back a prisoner. + +With the king in their hands the white men believed the rebellion would +collapse. To the number of three thousand the Matabeles were sleeping in +a succession of camps, through which the fourteen men rode at a gallop. +But in the darkness it was difficult to distinguish the trek wagon of +the king, and by the time they found his laager the Matabeles from the +other camps through which they had ridden had given the alarm. Through +the underbrush from every side the enemy, armed with assegai and +elephant guns, charged toward them and spread out to cut off their +retreat. + +At a distance of about seven hundred yards from the camps there was +a giant ant-hill, and the patrol rode toward it. By the aid of the +lightning flashes they made their way through a dripping wood and over +soil which the rain had turned into thick black mud. When the party +drew rein at the ant-hill it was found that of the fourteen three were +missing. As the official scout of the patrol and the only one who could +see in the dark, Wilson ordered Burnham back to find them. Burnham said +he could do so only by feeling the hoof-prints in the mud and that he +would like some one with him to lead his pony. Wilson said he would lead +it. With his fingers Burnham followed the trail of the eleven horses to +where, at right angles, the hoof-prints of the three others separated +from it, and so came upon the three men. Still, with nothing but the mud +of the jungle to guide him, he brought them back to their comrades. It +was this feat that established his reputation among British, Boers, and +black men in South Africa. + +Throughout the night the men of the patrol lay in the mud holding the +reins of their horses. In the jungle about them, they could hear the +enemy splashing through the mud, and the swishing sound of the branches +as they swept back into place. It was still raining. Just before +the dawn there came the sounds of voices and the welcome clatter of +accoutrements. The men of the patrol, believing the column had joined +them, sprang up rejoicing, but it was only a second patrol, under +Captain Borrow, who had been sent forward with twenty men as +re-enforcements. They had come in time to share in a glorious +immortality. No sooner had these men joined than the Kaffirs began the +attack; and the white men at once learned that they were trapped in a +complete circle of the enemy. Hidden by the trees, the Kaffirs fired +point-blank, and in a very little time half of Wilson's force was +killed or wounded. As the horses were shot down the men used them for +breastworks. There was no other shelter. Wilson called Burnham to him +and told him he must try and get through the lines of the enemy to +Forbes. + +"Tell him to come up at once," he said; "we are nearly finished." He +detailed a trooper named Gooding and Ingram to accompany Burnham. +"One of you may get through," he said. Gooding was but lately out from +London, and knew nothing of scouting, so Burnham and Ingram warned him, +whether he saw the reason for it or not, to act exactly as they did. +The three men had barely left the others before the enemy sprang at them +with their spears. In five minutes they were being fired at from every +bush. Then followed a remarkable ride, in which Burnham called to his +aid all he had learned in thirty years of border warfare. As the enemy +rushed after them, the three doubled on their tracks, rode in triple +loops, hid in dongas to breathe their horses; and to scatter their +pursuers, separated, joined again, and again separated. The enemy +followed them to the very bank of the river, where, finding the "drift" +covered with the swollen waters, they were forced to swim. They reached +the other bank only to find Forbes hotly engaged with another force of +the Matabeles. + +"I have been sent for re-enforcements," Burnham said to Forbes, "but I +believe we are the only survivors of that party." Forbes himself was too +hard pressed to give help to Wilson, and Burnham, his errand over, took +his place in the column, and began firing upon the new enemy. + +Six weeks later the bodies of Wilson's patrol were found lying in a +circle. Each of them had been shot many times. A son of Lobengula, who +witnessed their extermination, and who in Buluwayo had often heard the +Englishmen sing their national anthem, told how the five men who were +the last to die stood up and, swinging their hats defiantly, sang "God +Save the Queen." The incident will long be recorded in song and story; +and in London was reproduced in two theatres, in each of which the +man who played "Burnham, the American Scout," as he rode off for +re-enforcements, was as loudly cheered by those in the audience as by +those on the stage. + +Hensman, in his "History of Rhodesia," says: "One hardly knows which to +most admire, the men who went on this dangerous errand, through brush +swarming with natives, or those who remained behind battling against +overwhelming odds." + +For his help in this war the Chartered Company presented Burnham with +the campaign medal, a gold watch engraved with words of appreciation; +and at the suggestion of Cecil Rhodes gave him, Ingram, and the Hon. +Maurice Clifford, jointly, a tract of land of three hundred square +acres. + +After this campaign Burnham led an expedition of ten white men and +seventy Kaffirs north of the Zambesi River to explore Barotzeland +and other regions to the north of Mashonaland, and to establish the +boundaries of the concession given him, Ingram, and Clifford. + +In order to protect Burnham on the march the Chartered Company signed +a treaty with the native king of the country through which he wished +to travel, by which the king gave him permission to pass freely and +guaranteed him against attack. + +But Latea, the son of the king, refused to recognize the treaty and sent +his young men in great numbers to surround Burnham's camp. Burnham had +been instructed to avoid a fight, and was torn between his desire to +obey the Chartered Company and to prevent a massacre. He decided to make +it a sacrifice either of himself or of Latea. As soon as night fell, +with only three companions and a missionary to act as a witness of what +occurred, he slipped through the lines of Latea's men, and, kicking +down the fence around the prince's hut, suddenly appeared before him and +covered him with his rifle. + +"Is it peace or war?" Burnham asked. "I have the king your father's +guarantee of protection, but your men surround us. I have told my people +if they hear shots to open fire. We may all be killed, but you will be +the first to die." + +The missionary also spoke urging Latea to abide by the treaty. Burnham +says the prince seemed much more impressed by the arguments of the +missionary than by the fact that he still was covered by Burnham's +rifle. Whichever argument moved him, he called off his warriors. On +this expedition Burnham discovered the ruins of great granite structures +fifteen feet wide, and made entirely without mortar. They were of a +period dating before the Phoenicians. He also sought out the ruins +described to him by F. C. Selous, the famous hunter, and by Rider +Haggard as King Solomon's Mines. Much to the delight of Mr. Haggard, +he brought back for him from the mines of his imagination real gold +ornaments and a real gold bar. + +On this same expedition, which lasted five months, Burnham endured one +of the severest hardships of his life. Alone with ten Kaffir boys, he +started on a week's journey across the dried-up basin of what once had +been a great lake. Water was carried in goat-skins on the heads of the +bearers. The boys, finding the bags an unwieldy burden, and believing, +with the happy optimism of their race, that Burnham's warnings were +needless, and that at a stream they soon could refill the bags, emptied +the water on the ground. + +The tortures that followed this wanton waste were terrible. Five of +the boys died, and after several days, when Burnham found water in +abundance, the tongues of the others were so swollen that their jaws +could not meet. + +On this trip Burnham passed through a region ravaged by the "sleeping +sickness," where his nostrils were never free from the stench of dead +bodies, where in some of the villages, as he expressed it, "the hyenas +were mangy with overeating, and the buzzards so gorged they could +not move out of our way." From this expedition he brought back many +ornaments of gold manufactured before the Christian era, and made +several valuable maps of hitherto uncharted regions. It was in +recognition of the information gathered by him on this trip that he was +elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. + +He returned to Rhodesia in time to take part in the second Matabele +rebellion. This was in 1896. By now Burnham was a very prominent +member of the "vortrekers" and pioneers at Buluwayo, and Sir Frederick +Carrington, who was in command of the forces, attached him to his staff. +This second outbreak was a more serious uprising than the one of 1893, +and as it was evident the forces of the Chartered Company could not +handle it, imperial troops were sent to assist them. But with even their +aid the war dragged on until it threatened to last to the rainy season, +when the troops must have gone into winter quarters. Had they done so, +the cost of keeping them would have fallen on the Chartered Company, +already a sufferer in pocket from the ravages of the rinderpest and the +expenses of the investigation which followed the Jameson raid. + +Accordingly, Carrington looked about for some measure by which he could +bring the war to an immediate end. + +It was suggested to him by a young Colonial, named Armstrong, the +Commissioner of the district, that this could be done by destroying +the "god," or high priest, Umlimo, who was the chief inspiration of the +rebellion. + +This high priest had incited the rebels to a general massacre of women +and children, and had given them confidence by promising to strike the +white soldiers blind and to turn their bullets into water. Armstrong +had discovered the secret hiding-place of Umlimo, and Carrington ordered +Burnham to penetrate the enemy's lines, find the god, capture him, and +if that were not possible to destroy him. + +The adventure was a most desperate one. Umlimo was secreted in a cave +on the top of a huge kopje. At the base of this was a village where were +gathered two regiments, of a thousand men each, of his fighting men. + +For miles around this village the country was patrolled by roving bands +of the enemy. + +Against a white man reaching the cave and returning, the chances were a +hundred to one, and the difficulties of the journey are illustrated by +the fact that Burnham and Armstrong were unable to move faster than at +the rate of a mile an hour. In making the last mile they consumed three +hours. When they reached the base of the kopje in which Umlimo was +hiding, they concealed their ponies in a clump of bushes, and on hands +and knees began the ascent. + +Directly below them lay the village, so close that they could smell the +odors of cooking from the huts, and hear, rising drowsily on the hot, +noonday air, voices of the warriors. For minutes at a time they lay as +motionless as the granite bowlders around or squirmed and crawled over +loose stones which a miss of hand or knee would have dislodged and sent +clattering into the village. After an hour of this tortuous climbing +the cave suddenly opened before them, and they beheld Umlimo. +Burnham recognized that to take him alive from his stronghold was an +impossibility, and that even they themselves would leave the place was +equally doubtful. So, obeying orders, he fired, killing the man who had +boasted he would turn the bullets of his enemies into water. The echo of +the shot aroused the village as would a stone hurled into an ant-heap. +In an instant the veldt below was black with running men, and as, +concealment being no longer possible, the white men rose to fly a great +shout of anger told them they were discovered. At the same moment two +women, returning from a stream where they had gone for water, saw the +ponies, and ran screaming to give the alarm. The race that followed +lasted two hours, for so quickly did the Kaffirs spread out on every +side that it was impossible for Burnham to gain ground in any one +direction, and he was forced to dodge, turn, and double. At one time +the white men were driven back to the very kopje from which the race had +started. + +But in the end they evaded assegai and gunfire, and in safety reached +Buluwayo. This exploit was one of the chief factors in bringing the war +to a close. The Matabeles, finding their leader was only a mortal like +themselves, and so could not, as he had promised, bring miracles to +their aid, lost heart, and when Cecil Rhodes in person made overtures of +peace, his terms were accepted. During the hard days of the siege, when +rations were few and bad, Burnham's little girl, who had been the first +white child born in Buluwayo, died of fever and lack of proper +food. This with other causes led him to leave Rhodesia and return to +California. It is possible he then thought he had forever turned +his back on South Africa, but, though he himself had departed, the +impression he had made there remained behind him. + +Burnham did not rest long in California. In Alaska the hunt for gold had +just begun, and, the old restlessness seizing him, he left Pasadena and +her blue skies, tropical plants, and trolley-car strikes for the new raw +land of the Klondike. With Burnham it has always been the place that is +being made, not the place in being, that attracts. He has helped to make +straight the ways of several great communities--Arizona, California, +Rhodesia, Alaska, and Uganda. As he once said: "It is the constructive +side of frontier life that most appeals to me, the building up of a +country, where you see the persistent drive and force of the white man; +when the place is finally settled I don't seem to enjoy it very long." + +In Alaska he did much prospecting, and, with a sled and only two dogs, +for twenty-four days made one long fight against snow and ice, covering +six hundred miles. In mining in Alaska he succeeded well, but against +the country he holds a constant grudge, because it kept him out of the +fight with Spain. When war was declared he was in the wilds and knew +nothing of it, and though on his return to civilization he telegraphed +Colonel Roosevelt volunteering for the Rough Riders, and at once started +south, by the time he had reached Seattle the war was over. + +Several times has he spoken to me of how bitterly he regretted missing +this chance to officially fight for his country. That he had twice +served with English forces made him the more keen to show his loyalty to +his own people. + +That he would have been given a commission in the Rough Riders seems +evident from the opinion President Roosevelt has publicly expressed of +him. + +"I know Burnham," the President wrote in 1901. "He is a scout and a +hunter of courage and ability, a man totally without fear, a sure shot, +and a fighter. He is the ideal scout, and when enlisted in the military +service of any country he is bound to be of the greatest benefit." + +The truth of this Burnham was soon to prove. + +In 1899 he had returned to the Klondike, and in January of 1900 had been +six months in Skagway. In that same month Lord Roberts sailed for +Cape Town to take command of the army, and with him on his staff was +Burnham's former commander, Sir Frederick, now Lord, Carrington. One +night as the ship was in the Bay of Biscay, Carrington was talking of +Burnham and giving instances of his marvellous powers as a "tracker." + +"He is the best scout we ever had in South Africa!" Carrington declared. + +"Then why don't we get him back there?" said Roberts. + +What followed is well known. + +From Gibraltar a cable was sent to Skagway, offering Burnham the +position, created especially for him, of chief of scouts of the British +army in the field. + +Probably never before in the history of wars has one nation paid so +pleasant a tribute to the abilities of a man of another nation. + +The sequel is interesting. The cablegram reached Skagway by the steamer +_City of Seattle_. The purser left it at the post-office, and until two +hours and a half before the steamer was listed to start on her return +trip, there it lay. Then Burnham, in asking for his mail, received it. +In two hours and a half he had his family, himself, and his belongings +on board the steamer, and had started on his half-around-the-world +journey from Alaska to Cape Town. + +A Skagway paper of January 5, 1900, published the day after Burnham +sailed, throws a side light on his character. After telling of his hasty +departure the day before, and of the high compliment that had been paid +to "a prominent Skagwayan," it adds: "Although Mr. Burnham has lived in +Skagway since last August, and has been North for many months, he has +said little of his past, and few have known that he is the man famous +over the world as 'the American scout' of the Matabele wars." + +Many a man who went to the Klondike did not, for reasons best known to +himself, talk about his past. But it is characteristic of Burnham that, +though he lived there two years, his associates did not know, until the +British Government snatched him from among them, that he had not always +been a prospector like themselves. + +I was on the same ship that carried Burnham the latter half of his +journey, from Southampton to Cape Town, and every night for seventeen +nights was one of a group of men who shot questions at him. And it was +interesting to see a fellow-countryman one had heard praised so highly +so completely make good. It was not as though he had a credulous +audience of commercial tourists. Among the officers who each evening +gathered around him were Colonel Gallilet of the Egyptian cavalry, +Captain Frazer commanding the Scotch Gillies, Captain Mackie of Lord +Roberts's staff, each of whom was later killed in action; Colonel Sir +Charles Hunter of the Royal Rifles, Major Bagot, Major Lord Dudley, and +Captain Lord Valentia. Each of these had either held command in border +fights in India or the Sudan or had hunted big game, and the questions +each asked were the outcome of his own experience and observation. + +Not for a single evening could a faker have submitted to the midnight +examination through which they put Burnham and not have exposed his +ignorance. They wanted to know what difference there is in a column of +dust raised by cavalry and by trek wagons, how to tell whether a horse +that has passed was going at a trot or a gallop, the way to throw a +diamond hitch, how to make a fire without at the same time making a +target of yourself, how--why--what--and how? + +And what made us most admire Burnham was that when he did not know he at +once said so. + +Within two nights he had us so absolutely at his mercy that we would +have followed him anywhere; anything he chose to tell us, we would have +accepted. We were ready to believe in flying foxes, flying squirrels, +that wild turkeys dance quadrilles--even that you must never sleep in +the moonlight. Had he demanded: "Do you believe in vampires?" we would +have shouted "Yes." To ask that a scout should on an ocean steamer prove +his ability was certainly placing him under a severe handicap. + +As one of the British officers said: "It's about as fair a game as +though we planted the captain of this ship in the Sahara Desert, and +told him to prove he could run a ten-thousand-ton liner." + +Burnham continued with Lord Roberts to the fall of Pretoria, when he was +invalided home. + +During the advance north he was a hundred times inside the Boer laagers, +keeping Headquarters Staff daily informed of the enemy's movements; was +twice captured and twice escaped. + +He was first captured while trying to warn the British from the fatal +drift at Thaba'nchu. When reconnoitring alone in the morning mist he +came upon the Boers hiding on the banks of the river, toward which the +English were even then advancing. The Boers were moving all about him, +and cut him off from his own side. He had to choose between abandoning +the English to the trap or signalling to them, and so exposing himself +to capture. With the red kerchief the scouts carried for that purpose he +wigwagged to the approaching soldiers to turn back, that the enemy were +awaiting them. But the column, which was without an advance guard, paid +no attention to his signals and plodded steadily on into the ambush, +while Burnham was at once made prisoner. In the fight that followed he +pretended to receive a wound in the knee and bound it so elaborately +that not even a surgeon would have disturbed the carefully arranged +bandages. Limping heavily and groaning with pain, he was placed in +a trek wagon with the officers who really were wounded, and who, in +consequence, were not closely guarded. Burnham told them who he was and, +as he intended to escape, offered to take back to head-quarters their +names or any messages they might wish to send to their people. As +twenty yards behind the wagon in which they lay was a mounted guard, the +officers told him escape was impossible. He proved otherwise. The trek +wagon was drawn by sixteen oxen and driven by a Kaffir boy. Later in the +evening, but while it still was moonlight, the boy descended from his +seat and ran forward to belabor the first spans of oxen. This was the +opportunity for which Burnham had been waiting. + +Slipping quickly over the driver's seat, he dropped between the two +"wheelers" to the disselboom, or tongue, of the trek wagon. From this he +lowered himself and fell between the legs of the oxen on his back in the +road. In an instant the body of the wagon had passed over him, and while +the dust still hung above the trail he rolled rapidly over into the +ditch at the side of the road and lay motionless. + +It was four days before he was able to re-enter the British lines, +during which time he had been lying in the open veldt, and had subsisted +on one biscuit and two handfuls of "mealies," or what we call Indian +corn. + +Another time when out scouting he and his Kaffir boy while on foot were +"jumped" by a Boer commando and forced to hide in two great ant-hills. +The Boers went into camp on every side of them, and for two days, +unknown to themselves, held Burnham a prisoner. Only at night did he and +the Cape boy dare to crawl out to breathe fresh air and to eat the food +tablets they carried in their pockets. On five occasions was Burnham +sent into the Boer lines with dynamite cartridges to blow up the +railroad over which the enemy was receiving supplies and ammunition. One +of these expeditions nearly ended his life. + +On June 2, 1901, while trying by night to blow up the line between +Pretoria and Delagoa Bay, he was surrounded by a party of Boers and +could save himself only by instant flight. He threw himself Indian +fashion along the back of his pony, and had all but got away when a +bullet caught the horse and, without even faltering in its stride, it +crashed to the ground dead, crushing Burnham beneath it and knocking him +senseless. He continued unconscious for twenty-four hours, and when he +came to, both friends and foes had departed. Bent upon carrying out his +orders, although suffering the most acute agony, he crept back to the +railroad and destroyed it. Knowing the explosion would soon bring the +Boers, on his hands and knees he crept to an empty kraal, where for +two days and nights he lay insensible. At the end of that time he +appreciated that he was sinking and that unless he found aid he would +die. + +Accordingly, still on his hands and knees, he set forth toward the sound +of distant firing. He was indifferent as to whether it came from the +enemy or his own people, but, as it chanced, he was picked up by a +patrol of General Dickson's Brigade, who carried him to Pretoria. There +the surgeons discovered that in his fall he had torn apart the muscles +of the stomach and burst a blood-vessel. That his life was saved, so +they informed him, was due only to the fact that for three days he had +been without food. Had he attempted to digest the least particle of the +"staff of life" he would have surely died. His injuries were so serious +that he was ordered home. + +On leaving the army he was given such hearty thanks and generous rewards +as no other American ever received from the British War Office. He was +promoted to the rank of major, presented with a large sum of money, and +from Lord Roberts received a personal letter of thanks and appreciation. + +In part the Field-Marshal wrote: "I doubt if any other man in the force +could have successfully carried out the thrilling enterprises in which +from time to time you have been engaged, demanding as they did the +training of a lifetime, combined with exceptional courage, caution, and +powers of endurance." On his arrival in England he was commanded to dine +with the Queen and spend the night at Osborne, and a few months later, +after her death, King Edward created him a member of the Distinguished +Service Order, and personally presented him with the South African +medal with five bars, and the cross of the D. S. O. While recovering +his health Burnham, with Mrs. Burnham, was "passed on" by friends he had +made in the army from country house to country house; he was made the +guest of honor at city banquets, with the Duke of Rutland rode after the +Belvoir hounds, and in Scotland made mild excursions after grouse. But +after six months of convalescence he was off again, this time to the +hinterland of Ashanti, on the west coast of Africa, where he went in the +interests of a syndicate to investigate a concession for working gold +mines. + +With his brother-in-law, J. C. Blick, he marched and rowed twelve +hundred miles, and explored the Volta River, at that date so little +visited that in one day's journey they counted eleven hippopotamuses. In +July, 1901, he returned from Ashanti, and a few months later an unknown +but enthusiastic admirer asked in the House of Commons if it were +true Major Burnham had applied for the post of Instructor of Scouts at +Aldershot. There is no such post, and Burnham had not applied for +any other post. To the Timer he wrote: "I never have thought myself +competent to teach Britons how to fight, or to act as an instructor +with officers who have fought in every corner of the world. The question +asked in Parliament was entirely without my knowledge, and I deeply +regret that it was asked." A few months later, with Mrs. Burnham and his +younger son, Bruce, he journeyed to East Africa as director of the East +African Syndicate. + +During his stay there the _African Review_ said of him: "Should East +Africa ever become a possession for England to be proud of, she will owe +much of her prosperity to the brave little band that has faced hardships +and dangers in discovering her hidden resources. Major Burnham has +chosen men from England, Ireland, the United States, and South Africa +for sterling qualities, and they have justified his choice. Not the +least like a hero is the retiring, diffident little major himself, +though a finer man for a friend or a better man to serve under would not +be found in the five continents." + +Burnham explored a tract of land larger than Germany, penetrating a +thousand miles through a country, never before visited by white men, +to the borders of the Congo Basin. With him he had twenty white men and +five hundred natives. The most interesting result of the expedition +was the discovery of a lake forty-nine miles square, composed almost +entirely of pure carbonate of soda, forming a snowlike crust so thick +that on it the men could cross the lake. + +It is the largest, and when the railroad is built--the Uganda Railroad +is now only eighty-eight miles distant--it will be the most valuable +deposit of carbonate of soda ever found. + +A year ago, in the interests of John Hays Hammond, the distinguished +mining engineer of South Africa and this country, Burnham went to +Sonora, Mexico, to find a buried city and to open up mines of copper and +silver. + +Besides seeking for mines, Hammond and Burnham, with Gardner Williams, +another American who also made his fortune in South Africa, are working +together on a scheme to import to this country at their own expense many +species of South African deer. + +The South African deer is a hardy animal and can live where the American +deer cannot, and the idea in importing him is to prevent big game in +this country from passing away. They have asked Congress to set aside +for these animals a portion of the forest reserve. Already Congress has +voted toward the plan $15,000, and President Roosevelt is one of its +most enthusiastic supporters. + +We cannot leave Burnham in better hands than those of Hammond and +Gardner Williams. Than these three men the United States has not sent to +British Africa any Americans of whom she has better reason to be proud. +Such men abroad do for those at home untold good. They are the real +ambassadors of their country. + +The last I learned of Burnham is told in the snapshot of him which +accompanies this article, and which shows him, barefoot, in the Yaqui +River, where he has gone, perhaps, to conceal his trail from the +Indians. It came a month ago in a letter which said briefly that when +the picture was snapped the expedition was "trying to cool off." There +his narrative ended. Promising as it does adventures still to come, it +seems a good place in which to leave him. + +Meanwhile, you may think of Mrs. Burnham after a year in Mexico keeping +the house open for her husband's return to Pasadena, and of their first +son, Roderick, studying woodcraft with his father, forestry with Gifford +Pinchot, and playing right guard on the freshman team at the University +of California. + +But Burnham himself we will leave "cooling off" in the Yaqui River, +maybe, with Indians hunting for him along the banks. And we need not +worry about him. We know they will not catch him. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Real Soldiers of Fortune, by Richard Harding Davis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REAL SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE *** + +***** This file should be named 3029.txt or 3029.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3029/ + +Produced by David Reed, and Ronald J. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + +Prepared by David Reed haradda@aol.com or davidr@inconnect.com + + +Real Soldiers of Fortune +by Richard Harding Davis + +MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY RONALD +DOUGLAS MACIVER + +ANY sunny afternoon, on Fifth Avenue, or at night in the _table +d'hote_ restaurants of University Place, you may meet the soldier +of fortune who of all his brothers in arms now living is the most +remarkable. You may have noticed him; a stiffly erect, +distinguished-looking man, with gray hair, an imperial of the +fashion of Louis Napoleon, fierce blue eyes, and across his +forehead a sabre cut. + +This is Henry Ronald Douglas MacIver, for some time in India an +ensign in the Sepoy mutiny; in Italy, lieutenant under Garibaldi; in +Spain, captain under Don Carlos; in our Civil War, major in the +Confederate army; in Mexico, lieutenant-colonel under the +Emperor Maximilian; colonel under Napoleon III, inspector of +cavalry for the Khedive of Egypt, and chief of cavalry and general +of brigade of the army of King Milan of Servia. These are only a +few of his military titles. In 1884 was published a book giving the +story of his life up to that year. It was called "Under Fourteen +Flags." If to-day General MacIver were to reprint the book, it +would be called "Under Eighteen Flags." + +MacIver was born on Christmas Day, 1841, at sea, a league off the +shore of Virginia. His mother was Miss Anna Douglas of that +State; Ronald MacIver, his father, was a Scot, a Rossshire +gentleman, a younger son of the chief of the Clan MacIver. Until +he was ten years old young MacIver played in Virginia at the home +of his father. Then, in order that he might be educated, he was +shipped to Edinburgh to an uncle, General Donald Graham. After +five years his uncle obtained for him a commission as ensign in the +Honorable East India Company, and at sixteen, when other boys +are preparing for college, MacIver was in the Indian Mutiny, +fighting, not for a flag, nor a country, but as one fights a wild +animal, for his life. He was wounded in the arm, and, with a +sword, cut over the head. As a safeguard against the sun the boy +had placed inside his helmet a wet towel. This saved him to fight +another day, but even with that protection the sword sank through +the helmet, the towel, and into the skull. To-day you can see the +scar. He was left in the road for dead, and even after his wounds +had healed, was six weeks in the hospital. + +This tough handling at the very start might have satisfied some +men, but in the very next war MacIver was a volunteer and wore +the red shirt of Garibaldi. He remained at the front throughout that +campaign, and until within a few years there has been no campaign +of consequence in which he has not taken part. He served in the +Ten Years' War in Cuba, in Brazil, in Argentina, in Crete, in +Greece, twice in Spain in Carlist revolutions, in Bosnia, and for +four years in our Civil War under Generals Jackson and Stuart +around Richmond. In this great war he was four times wounded. + +It was after the surrender of the Confederate army, that, with other +Southern officers, he served under Maximilian in Mexico; in +Egypt, and in France. Whenever in any part of the world there was +fighting, or the rumor of fighting, the procedure of the general +invariably was the same. He would order himself to instantly +depart for the front, and on arriving there would offer to organize a +foreign legion. The command of this organization always was +given to him. But the foreign legion was merely the entering +wedge. He would soon show that he was fitted for a better +command than a band of undisciplined volunteers, and would +receive a commission in the regular army. In almost every +command in which he served that is the manner in which +promotion came. Sometimes he saw but little fighting, sometimes +he should have died several deaths, each of a nature more +unpleasant than the others. For in war the obvious danger of a +bullet is but a three hundred to one shot, while in the pack against +the combatant the jokers are innumerable. And in the career of the +general the unforeseen adventures are the most interesting. A man +who in eighteen campaigns has played his part would seem to have +earned exemption from any other risks, but often it was outside the +battle-field that MacIver encountered the greatest danger. He +fought several duels, in two of which he killed his adversary; +several attempts were made to assassinate him, and while on his +way to Mexico he was captured by hostile Indians. On returning +from an expedition in Cuba he was cast adrift in an open boat and +for days was without food. + +Long before I met General MacIver I had read his book and had +heard of him from many men who had met him in many different +lands while engaged in as many different undertakings. Several of +the older war correspondents knew him intimately; Bennett +Burleigh of the _Telegraph_ was his friend, and E. F. Knight of the +_Times_ was one of those who volunteered for a filibustering +expedition which MacIver organized against New Guinea. The +late Colonel Ochiltree of Texas told me tales of MacIver's bravery, +when as young men they were fellow officers in the Southern +army, and Stephen Bonsal had met him when MacIver was United +States Consul at Denia in Spain. When MacIver arrived at this +post, the ex-consul refused to vacate the Consulate, and MacIver +wished to settle the difficulty with duelling pistols. As Denia is a +small place, the inhabitants feared for their safety, and Bonsal, +who was our _charge d'affaires_ then, was sent from Madrid to +adjust matters. Without bloodshed he got rid of the ex-consul, and +later MacIver so endeared himself to the Denians that they begged +the State Department to retain him in that place for the remainder +of his life. + +Before General MacIver was appointed to a high position at the St. +Louis Fair, I saw much of him in New York. His room was in a +side street in an old-fashioned boarding-house, and overlooked his +neighbor's back yard and a typical New York City sumac tree; but +when the general talked one forgot he was within a block of the +Elevated, and roamed over all the world. On his bed he would +spread out wonderful parchments, with strange, heathenish +inscriptions, with great seals, with faded ribbons. These were +signed by Sultans, Secretaries of War, Emperors, filibusters. They +were military commissions, titles of nobility, brevets for +decorations, instructions and commands from superior officers. +Translated the phrases ran: "Imposing special confidence in," "we +appoint," or "create," or "declare," or "In recognition of services +rendered to our person," or "country," or "cause," or "For bravery +on the field of battle we bestow the Cross----" + +As must a soldier, the general travels "light," and all his worldly +possessions were crowded ready for mobilization into a small +compass. He had his sword, his field blanket, his trunk, and the tin +despatch boxes that held his papers. From these, like a conjurer, he +would draw souvenirs of all the world. From the embrace of faded +letters, he would unfold old photographs, daguerrotypes, and +miniatures of fair women and adventurous men: women who now +are queens in exile, men who, lifted on waves of absinthe, still, +across a _cafe_ table, tell how they will win back a crown. + +Once in a written document the general did me the honor to +appoint me his literary executor, but as he is young, and as healthy +as myself, it never may be my lot to perform such an unwelcome +duty. And to-day all one can write of him is what the world can +read in "Under Fourteen Flags," and some of the "foot-notes to +history" which I have copied from his scrap-book. This scrap-book +is a wonderful volume, but owing to "political" and other reasons, +for the present, of the many clippings from newspapers it contains +there are only a few I am at liberty to print. And from them it is +difficult to make a choice. To sketch in a few thousand words a +career that had developed under Eighteen Flags is in its very +wealth embarrassing. + +Here is one story, as told by the scrap-book, of an expedition that +failed. That it failed was due to a British Cabinet Minister; for had +Lord Derby possessed the imagination of the Soldier of Fortune, +his Majesty's dominions might now be the richer by many +thousands of square miles and many thousands of black subjects. + +On October 29, 1883, the following appeared in the London +_Standard_: "The New Guinea Exploration and Colonization +Company is already chartered, and the first expedition expects to +leave before Christmas." "The prospectus states settlers intending +to join the first party must contribute one hundred pounds toward +the company. This subscription will include all expenses for +passage money. Six months' provisions will be provided, together +with tents and arms for protection. Each subscriber of one hundred +pounds is to obtain a certificate entitling him to one thousand +acres." + +The view of the colonization scheme taken by the _Times_ of +London, of the same date, is less complaisant. "The latest +commercial sensation is a proposed company for the seizure of +New Guinea. Certain adventurous gentlemen are looking out for +one hundred others who have money and a taste for buccaneering. +When the company has been completed, its share-holders are to +place themselves under military regulations, sail in a body for New +Guinea, and without asking anybody's leave, seize upon the island +and at once, in some unspecified way, proceed to realize large +profits. If the idea does not suggest comparisons with the large +designs of Sir Francis Drake, it is at least not unworthy of Captain +Kidd." + +When we remember the manner in which some of the colonies of +Great Britain were acquired, the _Times_ seems almost +squeamish. + +In a Melbourne paper, June, 1884, is the following paragraph: + +"Toward the latter part of 1883 the Government of Queensland +planted the flag of Great Britain on the shores of New Guinea. +When the news reached England it created a sensation. The Earl of +Derby, Secretary for the Colonies, refused, however, to sanction +the annexation of New Guinea, and in so doing acted contrary to +the sincere wish of every right-thinking Anglo-Saxon under the +Southern Cross. + +"While the subsequent correspondence between the Home and +Queensland governments was going on, Brigadier-General H. R. +MacIver originated and organized the New Guinea Exploration +and Colonization Company in London, with a view to establishing +settlements on the island. The company, presided over by General +Beresford of the British Army, and having an eminently +representative and influential board of directors, had a capital of +two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and placed the supreme +command of the expedition in the hands of General MacIver. +Notwithstanding the character of the gentlemen composing the +board of directors, and the truly peaceful nature of the expedition, +his Lordship informed General MacIver that in the event of the +latter's attempting to land on New Guinea, instructions would be +sent to the officer in command of her Majesty's fleet in the +Western Pacific to fire upon the company's vessel. This meant that +the expedition would be dealt with as a filibustering one. + +In _Judy_, September 21, 1887, appears: + +"We all recollect the treatment received by Brigadier-General +MacI. in the action he took with respect to the annexation of New +Guinea. The General, who is a sort of Pizarro, with a dash of +D'Artagnan, was treated in a most scurvy manner by Lord Derby. +Had MacIver not been thwarted in his enterprise, the whole of +New Guinea would now have been under the British flag, and we +should not be cheek-by-jowl with the Germans, as we are in too +many places." + +_Society_, September 3, 1887, says: + +"The New Guinea expedition proved abortive, owing to the +blundering shortsightedness of the then Government, for which +Lord Derby was chiefly responsible, but what little foothold we +possess in New Guinea, is certainly due to General MacIver's +gallant effort." + +Copy of statement made by J. Rintoul Mitchell, June 2, 1887: + +"About the latter end of the year 1883, when I was editor-in-chief +of the _Englishman_ in Calcutta, I was told by Captain de Deaux, +assistant secretary in the Foreign Office of the Indian Government, +that he had received a telegram from Lord Derby to the effect that +if General MacIver ventured to land upon the coast of New Guinea +it would become the duty of Lord Ripon, Viceroy, to use the naval +forces at his command for the purpose of deporting General MacI. +Sir Aucland Calvin can certify to this, as it was discussed in the +Viceregal Council." + +Just after our Civil War MacIver was interested in another +expedition which also failed. Its members called themselves the +Knights of Arabia, and their object was to colonize an island much +nearer to our shores than New Guinea. MacIver, saying that his +oath prevented, would never tell me which island this was, but the +reader can choose from among Cuba, Haiti, and the Hawaiian +group. To have taken Cuba, the "colonizers" would have had to +fight not only Spain, but the Cubans themselves, on whose side +they were soon fighting in the Ten Years' War; so Cuba may be +eliminated. And as the expedition was to sail from the Atlantic +side, and not from San Francisco, the island would appear to be the +Black Republic. From the records of the times it would seem that +the greater number of the Knights of Arabia were veterans of the +Confederate army, and there is no question but that they intended +to subjugate the blacks of Haiti and form a republic for white men +in which slavery would be recognized. As one of the leaders of this +filibustering expedition, MacIver was arrested by General Phil +Sheridan and for a short time cast into jail. + +This chafed the general's spirit, but he argued philosophically that +imprisonment for filibustering, while irksome, brought with it no +reproach. And, indeed, sometimes the only difference between a +filibuster and a government lies in the fact that the government +fights the gun-boats of only the enemy while a filibuster must +dodge the boats of the enemy and those of his own countrymen. +When the United States went to war with Spain there were many +men in jail as filibusters, for doing that which at the time the +country secretly approved, and later imitated. And because they +attempted exactly the same thing for which Dr. Jameson was +imprisoned in Holloway Jail, two hundred thousand of his +countrymen are now wearing medals. + +The by-laws of the Knights of Arabia leave but little doubt as to its +object. + +By-law No. II reads: + +"We, as Knights of Arabia, pledge ourselves to aid, comfort, and +protect all Knights of Arabia, especially those who are wounded in +obtaining our grand object. + +"III--Great care must be taken that no unbeliever or outsider shall +gain any insight into the mysteries or secrets of the Order. + +"IV--The candidate will have to pay one hundred dollars cash to +the Captain of the Company, and the candidate will receive from +the Secretary a Knight of Arabia bond for one hundred dollars in +gold, with ten per cent interest, payable ninety days after the +recognition of (The Republic of----) by the United States, or any +government. + +"V--All Knights of Arabia will be entitled to one hundred acres of +land, location of said land to be drawn for by lottery. The products +are coffee, sugar, tobacco, and cotton." + +A local correspondent of the New York _Herald_ writes of the +arrest of MacIver as follows: + +"When MacIver will be tried is at present unknown, as his case has +assumed a complicated aspect. He claims British protection as a +subject of her British Majesty, and the English Consul has +forwarded a statement of his case to Sir Frederick Bruce at +Washington, accompanied by a copy of the by-laws. General +Sheridan also has forwarded a statement to the Secretary of War, +accompanied not only by the by-laws, but very important +documents, including letters from Jefferson Davis, Benjamin, the +Secretary of State of the Confederate States, and other personages +prominent in the Rebellion, showing that MacIver enjoyed the +highest confidence of the Confederacy." + +As to the last statement, an open letter I found in his scrap-book is +an excellent proof. It is as follows: "To officers and members of all +camps of United Confederate Veterans: It affords me the greatest +pleasure to say that the bearer of this letter, General Henry Ronald +MacIver, was an officer of great gallantry in the Confederate +Army, serving on the staff at various times of General Stonewall +Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, and E. Kirby Smith, and that his official +record is one of which any man may be proud. + +"Respectfully, MARCUS J. WRIGHT, +"_Agent for the Collection of Confederate Records_. + +"War Records office, War Department, Washington, July 8, 1895." + +At the close of the war duels between officers of the two armies +were not infrequent. In the scrap-book there is the account of one +of these affairs sent from Vicksburg to a Northern paper by a +correspondent who was an eye-witness of the event. It tells how +Major MacIver, accompanied by Major Gillespie, met, just outside +of Vicksburg, Captain Tomlin of Vermont, of the United States +Artillery Volunteers. The duel was with swords. MacIver ran +Tomlin through the body. The correspondent writes: + +"The Confederate officer wiped his sword on his handkerchief. In +a few seconds Captain Tomlin expired. One of Major MacIver's +seconds called to him: 'He is dead; you must go. These gentlemen +will look after the body of their friend.' A negro boy brought up the +horses, but before mounting MacIver said to Captain Tomlin's +seconds: 'My friends are in haste for me to go. Is there anything I +can do? I hope you consider that this matter has been settled +honorably?' + +"There being no reply, the Confederates rode away." + +In a newspaper of to-day so matter-of-fact an acceptance of an +event so tragic would make strange reading. + +From the South MacIver crossed through Texas to join the Royalist +army under the Emperor Maximilian. It was while making his way, +with other Confederate officers, from Galveston to El Paso, that +MacIver was captured by the Indians. He was not ill-treated by +them, but for three months was a prisoner, until one night, the +Indians having camped near the Rio Grande, he escaped into +Mexico. There he offered his sword to the Royalist commander, +General Mejia, who placed him on his staff, and showed him some +few skirmishes. At Monterey MacIver saw big fighting, and for his +share in it received the title of Count, and the order of Guadaloupe. +In June, contrary to all rules of civilized war, Maximilian was +executed and the empire was at an end. MacIver escaped to the +coast, and from Tampico took a sailing vessel to Rio de Janeiro. +Two months later he was wearing the uniform of another emperor, +Dom Pedro, and, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, was in +command of the Foreign Legion of the armies of Brazil and +Argentina, which at that time as allies were fighting against +Paraguay. + +MacIver soon recruited seven hundred men, but only half of these +ever reached the front. In Buenos Ayres cholera broke out and +thirty thousand people died, among the number about half the +Legion. MacIver was among those who suffered, and before he +recovered was six weeks in hospital. During that period, under a +junior officer, the Foreign Legion was sent to the front, where it +was disbanded. + +On his return to Glasgow, MacIver foregathered with an old friend, +Bennett Burleigh, whom he had known when Burleigh was a +lieutenant in the navy of the Confederate States. Although today +known as a distinguished war correspondent, in those days +Burleigh was something of a soldier of fortune himself, and was +organizing an expedition to assist the Cretan insurgents against the +Turks. Between the two men it was arranged that MacIver should +precede the expedition to Crete and prepare for its arrival. The +Cretans received him gladly, and from the provisional government +he received a commission in which he was given "full power to +make war on land and sea against the enemies of Crete, and +particularly against the Sultan of Turkey and the Turkish forces, +and to burn, destroy, or capture any vessel bearing the Turkish +flag." + +This permission to destroy the Turkish navy single-handed strikes +one as more than generous, for the Cretans had no navy, and +before one could begin the destruction of a Turkish gun-boat it was +first necessary to catch it and tie it to a wharf. + +At the close of the Cretan insurrection MacIver crossed to Athens +and served against the brigands in Kisissia on the borders of +Albania and Thessaly as volunteer aide to Colonel Corroneus, who +had been commander-in-chief of the Cretans against the Turks. +MacIver spent three months potting at brigands, and for his +services in the mountains was recommended for the highest Greek +decoration. + +From Greece it was only a step to New York, and almost +immediately MacIver appears as one of the Goicouria-Christo +expedition to Cuba, of which Goicouria was commander-in-chief, +and two famous American officers, Brigadier-General Samuel C. +Williams was a general and Colonel Wright Schumburg was chief +of staff. + +In the scrap-book I find "General Order No. 11 of the Liberal Army +of the Republic of Cuba, issued at Cedar Keys, October 3, 1869." +In it Colonel MacIver is spoken of as in charge of officers not +attached to any organized corps of the division. And again: + +"General Order No. V, Expeditionary Division, Republic of Cuba, +on board _Lilian_," announces that the place to which the +expedition is bound has been changed, and that General Wright +Schumburg, who now is in command, orders "all officers not +otherwise commissioned to join Colonel MacIver's 'Corps of +Officers.'" + +The _Lilian_ ran out of coal, and to obtain firewood put in at +Cedar Keys. For two weeks the patriots cut wood and drilled upon +the beach, when they were captured by a British gun-boat and +taken to Nassau. There they were set at liberty, but their arms, +boat, and stores were confiscated. + +In a sailing vessel MacIver finally reached Cuba, and under +Goicouria, who had made a successful landing, saw some "help +yourself" fighting. Goicouria's force was finally scattered, and +MacIver escaped from the Spanish soldiery only by putting to sea +in an open boat, in which he endeavored to make Jamaica. + +On the third day out he was picked up by a steamer and again +landed at Nassau, from which place he returned to New York. + +At that time in this city there was a very interesting man named +Thaddeus P. Mott, who had been an officer in our army and later +had entered the service of Ismail Pasha. By the Khedive he had +been appointed a general of division and had received permission +to reorganize the Egyptian army. + +His object in coming to New York was to engage officers for that +service. He came at an opportune moment. At that time the city +was filled with men who, in the Rebellion, on one side or the +other, had held command, and many of these, unfitted by four +years of soldiering for any other calling, readily accepted the +commissions which Mott had authority to offer. New York was not +large enough to keep MacIver and Mott long apart, and they soon +came to an understanding. The agreement drawn up between them +is a curious document. It is written in a neat hand on sheets of +foolscap tied together like a Commencement-day address, with +blue ribbon. In it MacIver agrees to serve as colonel of cavalry in +the service of the Khedive. With a few legal phrases omitted, the +document reads as follows: + +"Agreement entered into this 24th day of March, 1870, between +the Government of his Royal Highness and the Khedive of Egypt, +represented by General Thaddeus P. Mott of the first part, and H. +R. H. MacIver of New York City. + +"The party of the second part, being desirous of entering into the +service of party of the first part, in the military capacity of a +colonel of cavalry, promises to serve and obey party of the first +part faithfully and truly in his military capacity during the space of +five years from this date; that the party of the second part waives +all claims of protection usually afforded to Americans by consular +and diplomatic agents of the United States, and expressly obligates +himself to be subject to the orders of the party of the first part, and +to make, wage, and vigorously prosecute war against any and all +the enemies of party of the first part; that the party of the second +part will not under any event be governed, controlled by, or submit +to, any order, law, mandate, or proclamation issued by the +Government of the United States of America, forbidding party of +the second part to serve party of the first part to make war +according to any of the provisions herein contained, _it being, +however, distinctly understood_ that nothing herein contained +shall be construed as obligating party of the second part to bear +arms or wage war against the United States of America. + +"Party of the first part promises to furnish party of the second part +with horses, rations, and pay him for his services the same salary +now paid to colonels of cavalry in United States army, and will +furnish him quarters suitable to his rank in army. Also promises, in +the case of illness caused by climate, that said party may resign his +office and shall receive his expenses to America and two months' +pay; that he receives one-fifth of his regular pay during his active +service, together with all expenses of every nature attending such +enterprise." + +It also stipulates as to what sums shall be paid his family or +children in case of his death. + +To this MacIver signs this oath: + +"In the presence of the ever-living God, I swear that I will in all +things honestly, faithfully, and truly keep, observe, and perform +the obligations and promises above enumerated, and endeavor to +conform to the wishes and desires of the Government of his Royal +Highness, the Khedive of Egypt, in all things connected with the +furtherance of his prosperity, and the maintenance of his throne." + +On arriving at Cairo, MacIver was appointed inspector-general of +cavalry, and furnished with a uniform, of which this is a +description: "It consisted of a blue tunic with gold spangles, +embroidered in gold up the sleeves and front, neat-fitting red +trousers, and high patent-leather boots, while the inevitable fez +completed the gay costume." + +The climate of Cairo did not agree with MacIver, and, in spite of +his "gay costume," after six months he left the Egyptian service. +His honorable discharge was signed by Stone Bey, who, in the +favor of the Khedive, had supplanted General Mott. + +It is a curious fact that, in spite of his ill health, immediately after +leaving Cairo, MacIver was sufficiently recovered to at once +plunge into the Franco-Prussian War. At the battle of Orleans, +while on the staff of General Chanzy, he was wounded. In this war +his rank was that of a colonel of cavalry of the auxiliary army. + +His next venture was in the Carlist uprising of 1873, when he +formed a Carlist League, and on several occasions acted as bearer +of important messages from the "King," as Don Carlos was called, +to the sympathizers with his cause in France and England. + +MacIver was promised, if he carried out successfully a certain +mission upon which he was sent, and if Don Carlos became king, +that he would be made a marquis. As Don Carlos is still a +pretender, MacIver is still a general. +Although in disposing of his sword MacIver never allowed his +personal predilections to weigh with him, he always treated +himself to a hearty dislike of the Turks, and we next find him +fighting against them in Herzegovina with the Montenegrins. And +when the Servians declared war against the same people, MacIver +returned to London to organize a cavalry brigade to fight with the +Servian army. + +Of this brigade and of the rapid rise of MacIver to highest rank and +honors in Servia, the scrap-book is most eloquent. The cavalry +brigade was to be called the Knights of the Red Cross. + +In a letter to the editor of the _Hour_, the general himself speaks +of it in the following terms: + +"It may be interesting to many of your readers to learn that a select +corps of gentlemen is at present in course of organization under +the above title with the mission of proceeding to the Levant to take +measures in case of emergency for the defense of the Christian +population, and more especially of British subjects who are to a +great extent unprovided with adequate means of protection from +the religious furies of the Mussulmans. The lives of Christian +women and children are in hourly peril from fanatical hordes. The +Knights will be carefully chosen and kept within strict military +control, and will be under command of a practical soldier with +large experience of the Eastern countries. Templars and all other +crusaders are invited to give aid and sympathy." + +Apparently MacIver was not successful in enlisting many Knights, +for a war correspondent at the capital of Servia, waiting for the +war to begin, writes as follows: + +"A Scotch soldier of fortune, Henry MacIver, a colonel by rank, +has arrived at Belgrade with a small contingent of military +adventurers. Five weeks ago I met him in Fleet Street, London, and +had some talk about his 'expedition.' He had received a +commission from the Prince of Servia to organize and command +an independent cavalry brigade, and he then was busily enrolling +his volunteers into a body styled 'The Knights of the Red Cross.' I +am afraid some of his bold crusaders have earned more distinction +for their attacks on Fleet Street bars than they are likely to earn on +Servian battle-fields, but then I must not anticipate history." + +Another paper tells that at the end of the first week of his service +as a Servian officer, MacIver had enlisted ninety men, but that they +were scattered about the town, many without shelter and rations: + +"He assembled his men on the Rialto, and in spite of official +expostulation, the men were marched up to the Minister's four +abreast--and they marched fairly well, making a good show. The +War Minister was taken by storm, and at once granted everything. +It has raised the English colonel's popularity with his men to fever +heat." + +This from the _Times_, London: + +"Our Belgrade correspondent telegraphs last night: + +"'There is here at present a gentleman named MacIver. He came +from England to offer himself and his sword to the Servians. The +Servian Minister of War gave him a colonel's commission. This +morning I saw him drilling about one hundred and fifty remarkably +fine-looking fellows, all clad in a good serviceable cavalry +uniform, and he has horses."' + +Later we find that: + +"Colonel MacIver's Legion of Cavalry, organizing here, now +numbers over two hundred men." + +And again: + +"Prince Nica, a Roumanian cousin of the Princess Natalie of +Servia, has joined Colonel MacIver's cavalry corps." + +Later, in the _Court Journal_, October 28, 1876, we read: + +"Colonel MacIver, who a few years ago was very well known in +military circles in Dublin, now is making his mark with the +Servian army. In the war against the Turks, he commands about +one thousand Russo-Servian cavalry." + +He was next to receive the following honors: + +"Colonel MacIver has been appointed commander of the cavalry of +the Servian armies on the Morava and Timok, and has received the +Cross of the Takovo Order from General Tchemaieff for gallant +conduct in the field, and the gold medal for valor." + +Later we learn from the _Daily News_: + +"Mr. Lewis Farley, Secretary of the 'League in Aid of Christians of +Turkey,' has received the following letter, dated Belgrade, October +10, 1876: + +"'DEAR SIR: In reference to the embroidered banner so kindly +worked by an English lady and forwarded by the League to +Colonel MacIver, I have great pleasure in conveying to you the +following particulars. On Sunday morning, the flag having been +previously consecrated by the archbishop, was conducted by a +guard of honor to the palace, and Colonel MacIver, in the presence +of Prince Milan and a numerous suite, in the name and on behalf +of yourself and the fair donor, delivered it into the hands of the +Princess Natalie. The gallant Colonel wore upon this occasion his +full uniform as brigade commander and chief of cavalry of the +Servian army, and bore upon his breast the 'Gold Cross of Takovo' +which he received after the battles of the 28th and 30th of +September, in recognition of the heroism and bravery he displayed +upon these eventful days. The beauty of the decoration was +enhanced by the circumstances of its bestowal, for on the evening +of the battle of the 30th, General Tchernaieff approached Colonel +MacIver, and, unclasping the cross from his own breast, placed it +upon that of the Colonel. + +"'(Signed.) HUGH JACKSON, +"'_Member of Council of the League_." + +In Servia and in the Servian army MacIver reached what as yet is +the highest point of his career, and of his life the happiest period. + +He was _general de brigade_, which is not what we know as a +brigade general, but is one who commands a division, a +major-general. He was a great favorite both at the palace and with +the people, the pay was good, fighting plentiful, and Belgrade gay +and amusing. Of all the places he has visited and the countries he +has served, it is of this Balkan kingdom that the general seems to +speak most fondly and with the greatest feeling. Of Queen Natalie +he was and is a most loyal and chivalric admirer, and was ever +ready, when he found any one who did not as greatly respect the +lady, to offer him the choice of swords or pistols. Even for Milan +he finds an extenuating word. + +After Servia the general raised more foreign legions, planned +further expeditions; in Central America reorganized the small +armies of the small republics, served as United States Consul, and +offered his sword to President McKinley for use against Spain. But +with Servia the most active portion of the life of the general +ceased, and the rest has been a repetition of what went before. At +present his time is divided between New York and Virginia, where +he has been offered an executive position in the approaching +Jamestown Exposition. Both North and South he has many friends, +many admirers. But his life is, and, from the nature of his +profession, must always be, a lonely one. + +While other men remain planted in one spot, gathering about them +a home, sons and daughters, an income for old age, MacIver is a +rolling stone, a piece of floating sea-weed; as the present King of +England called him fondly, "that vagabond soldier." + +To a man who has lived in the saddle and upon transports, +"neighbor" conveys nothing, and even "comrade" too often means +one who is no longer living. + +With the exception of the United States, of which he now is a +naturalized citizen, the general has fought for nearly every country +in the world, but if any of those for which he lost his health and +blood, and for which he risked his life, remembers him, it makes +no sign. And the general is too proud to ask to be remembered. +To-day there is no more interesting figure than this man who in +years is still young enough to lead an army corps, and who, for +forty years, has been selling his sword and risking his life for +presidents, pretenders, charlatans, and emperors. + +He finds some mighty changes: Cuba, which he fought to free, is +free; men of the South, with whom for four years he fought +shoulder to shoulder, are now wearing the blue; the empire of +Mexico, for which he fought, is a republic; the empire of France, +for which he fought, is a republic; the empire of Brazil, for which +he fought is a republic; the dynasty in Servia, to which he owes his +greatest honors, has been wiped out by murder. From none of the +eighteen countries he has served has he a pension, berth, or billet, +and at sixty he finds himself at home in every land, but with a +home in none. + +Still he has his sword, his blanket, and in the event of war, to +obtain a commission he has only to open his tin boxes and show +the commissions already won. Indeed, any day, in a new uniform, +and under the Nineteenth Flag, the general may again be winning +fresh victories and honors. + +And so, this brief sketch of him is left unfinished. We will mark +it--_To be continued_. + +BARON JAMES HARDEN-HICKEY + +THIS is an attempt to tell the story of Baron Harden-Hickey, the +Man Who Made Himself King, the man who was born after his +time. + +If the reader, knowing something of the strange career of +Harden-Hickey, wonders why one writes of him appreciatively +rather than in amusement, he is asked not to judge Harden-Hickey +as one judges a contemporary. + +Harden-Hickey, in our day, was as incongruous a figure as was the +American at the Court of King Arthur; he was as unhappily out of +the picture as would be Cyrano de Bergerac on the floor of the +Board of Trade. Judged, as at the time he was judged, by writers of +comic paragraphs, by presidents of railroads, by amateur +"statesmen" at Washington, Harden-Hickey was a joke. To the +vacant mind of the village idiot, Rip Van Winkle returning to +Falling Water also was a joke. The people of our day had not the +time to understand Harden-Hickey; they thought him a charlatan, +half a dangerous adventurer and half a fool; and Harden-Hickey +certainly did not under stand them. His last words, addressed to his +wife, showed this. They were: "I would rather die a gentleman than +live a blackguard like your father." + +As a matter of fact, his father-in-law, although living under the +disadvantage of being a Standard Oil magnate, neither was, nor is, +a blackguard, and his son-in-law had been treated by him +generously and with patience. But for the duellist and soldier of +fortune it was impossible to sympathize with a man who took no +greater risk in life than to ride on one of his own railroads, and of +the views the two men held of each other, that of John H. Flagler +was probably the fairer and the more kindly. + +Harden-Hickey was one of the most picturesque, gallant, and +pathetic adventurers of our day; but Flagler also deserves our +sympathy. + +For an unimaginative and hard-working Standard Oil king to have +a D'Artagnan thrust upon him as a son-in-law must be trying. + +James A. Harden-Hickey, James the First of Trinidad, Baron of the +Holy Roman Empire, was born on December 8, 1854. As to the +date all historians agree; as to where the important event took +place they differ. That he was born in France his friends are +positive, but at the time of his death in El Paso the San Francisco +papers claimed him as a native of California. All agree that his +ancestors were Catholics and Royalists who left Ireland with the +Stuarts when they sought refuge in France. The version which +seems to be the most probable is that he was born in San +Francisco, where as one of the early settlers, his father, E. C. +Hickey, was well known, and that early in his life, in order to +educate him, the mother took him to Europe. + +There he was educated at the Jesuit College at Namur, then at +Leipsic, and later entered the Military College of St. Cyr. + +James the First was one of those boys who never had the +misfortune to grow up. To the moment of his death, in all he +planned you can trace the effects of his early teachings and +environment; the influences of the great Church that nursed him, +and of the city of Paris, in which he lived. Under the Second +Empire, Paris was at her maddest, baddest, and best. To-day under +the republic, without a court, with a society kept in funds by the +self-expatriated wives and daughters of our business men, she +lacks the reasons for which Baron Haussmann bedecked her and +made her beautiful. The good Loubet, the worthy Fallieres, except +that they furnish the cartoonist with subjects for ridicule, do not +add to the gayety of Paris. But when Harden-Hickey was a boy, +Paris was never so carelessly gay, so brilliant, never so +overcharged with life, color, and adventure. + +In those days "the Emperor sat in his box that night," and in the +box opposite sat Cora Pearl; veterans of the campaign of Italy, of +Mexico, from the desert fights of Algiers, sipped sugar and water +in front of Tortoni's, the Cafe Durand, the Cafe Riche; the +sidewalks rang with their sabres, the boulevards were filled with +the colors of the gorgeous uniforms; all night of each night the +Place Vendome shone with the carriage lamps of the visiting +pashas from Egypt, of nabobs from India, of _rastaquoueres_ from +the sister empire of Brazil; the state carriages, with the outriders +and postilions in the green and gold of the Empress, swept through +the Champs Elysees, and at the Bal Bulier, and at Mabile the +students and "grisettes" introduced the cancan. The men of those +days were Hugo, Thiers, Dumas, Daudet, Alfred de Musset; the +magnificent blackguard, the Duc de Morny, and the great, simple +Canrobert, the captain of barricades, who became a marshal of +France. + +Over all was the mushroom Emperor, his anterooms crowded with +the titled charlatans of Europe, his court radiant with countesses +created overnight. And it was the Emperor, with his love of +theatrical display, of gorgeous ceremonies; with his restless +reaching after military glory, the weary, cynical adventurer, that +the boy at St. Cyr took as his model. + +Royalist as was Harden-Hickey by birth and tradition, and Royalist +as he always remained, it was the court at the Tuileries that filled +his imagination. The Bourbons, whom he served, hoped some day +for a court; at the Tuileries there was a court, glittering before his +physical eyes. The Bourbons were pleasant old gentlemen, who +later willingly supported him, and for whom always he was equally +willing to fight, either with his sword or his pen. But to the last, in +his mind, he carried pictures of the Second Empire as he, as a boy, +had known it. + +Can you not imagine the future James the First, barelegged, in a +black-belted smock, halting with his nurse, or his priest, to gaze up +in awestruck delight at the great, red-breeched Zouaves lounging +on guard at the Tuileries? + +"When I grow up," said little James to himself, not knowing that +he never would grow up, "I shall have Zouaves for _my_ palace +guard." + +And twenty years later, when he laid down the laws for his little +kingdom, you find that the officers of his court must wear the +mustache, "_a la_ Louis Napoleon," and that the Zouave uniform +will be worn by the Palace Guards. + +In 1883, while he still was at the War College, his father died, and +when he graduated, which he did with honors, he found himself his +own master. His assets were a small income, a perfect knowledge +of the French language, and the reputation of being one of the most +expert swordsman in Paris. He chose not to enter the army, and +instead became a journalist, novelist, duellist, an _habitue_ of the +Latin Quarter and the boulevards. + +As a novelist the titles of his books suggest their quality. Among +them are: "Un Amour Vendeen," "Lettres d'un Yankee," "Un +Amour dans le Monde," "Memoires d'un Gommeux," +"Merveilleuses Aventures de Nabuchodonosor, Nosebreaker." + +Of the Catholic Church he wrote seriously, apparently with deep +conviction, with high enthusiasm. In her service as a defender of +the faith he issued essays, pamphlets, "broadsides." The opponents +of the Church in Paris he attacked relentlessly. + +As a reward for his championship he received the title of baron. + +In 1878, while only twenty-four, he married the Countess de +Saint-Pery, by whom he had two children, a boy and a girl, and +three years later he started _Triboulet_. It was this paper that made +him famous to "all Paris." + +It was a Royalist sheet, subsidized by the Count de Chambord and +published in the interest of the Bourbons. Until 1888 +Harden-Hickey was its editor, and even by his enemies it must be +said that he served his employers with zeal. During the seven years +in which the paper amused Paris and annoyed the republican +government, as its editor Harden-Hickey was involved in forty-two +lawsuits, for different editorial indiscretions, fined three hundred +thousand francs, and was a principal in countless duels. + +To his brother editors his standing interrogation was: "Would you +prefer to meet me upon the editorial page, or in the Bois de +Boulogne?" Among those who met him in the Bois were Aurelien +Scholl, H. Lavenbryon, M. Taine, M. de Cyon, Philippe Du Bois, +Jean Moreas. + +In 1888, either because, his patron the Count de Chambord having +died, there was no more money to pay the fines, or because the +patience of the government was exhausted, _Triboulet_ ceased to +exist, and Harden-Hickey, claiming the paper had been suppressed +and he himself exiled, crossed to London. + +From there he embarked upon a voyage around the world, which +lasted two years, and in the course of which he discovered the +island kingdom of which he was to be the first and last king. +Previous to his departure, having been divorced from the Countess +de Saint-Pery, he placed his boy and girl in the care of a +fellow-journalist and very dear friend, the Count de la Boissiere, of +whom later we shall hear more. + +Harden-Hickey started around the world on the _Astoria_, a British +merchant vessel bound for India by way of Cape Horn, Captain +Jackson commanding. + +When off the coast of Brazil the ship touched at the uninhabited +island of Trinidad. Historians of James the First say that it was +through stress of weather that the _Astoria_ was driven to seek +refuge there, but as, for six months of the year, to make a landing +on the island is almost impossible, and as at any time, under stress +of weather, Trinidad would be a place to avoid, it is more likely +Jackson put in to replenish his water-casks, or to obtain a supply of +turtle meat. + +Or it may have been that, having told Harden-Hickey of the +derelict island, the latter persuaded the captain to allow him to +land and explore it. Of this, at least, we are certain, a boat was sent +ashore, Harden-Hickey went ashore in it, and before he left the +island, as a piece of no man's land, belonging to no country, he +claimed it in his own name, and upon the beach raised a flag of his +own design. + +The island of Trinidad claimed by Harden-Hickey must not be +confused with the larger Trinidad belonging to Great Britain and +lying off Venezuela. + +The English Trinidad is a smiling, peaceful spot of great tropical +beauty; it is one of the fairest places in the West Indies. At every +hour of the year the harbor of Port of Spain holds open its arms to +vessels of every draught. A governor in a pith helmet, a cricket +club, a bishop in gaiters, and a botanical garden go to make it a +prosperous and contented colony. But the little derelict Trinidad, +in latitude 20 degrees 30 minutes south, and longitude 29 degrees +22 minutes west, seven hundred miles from the coast of Brazil, is +but a spot upon the ocean. On most maps it is not even a spot. +Except by birds, turtles, and hideous land-crabs, it is uninhabited; +and against the advances of man its shores are fortified with cruel +ridges of coral, jagged limestone rocks, and a tremendous towering +surf which, even in a dead calm, beats many feet high against the +coast. + +In 1698 Dr. Halley visited the island, and says he found nothing +living but doves and land-crabs. "Saw many green turtles in sea, +but by reason of the great surf, could catch none." + +After Halley's visit, in 1700 the island was settled by a few +Portuguese from Brazil. The ruins of their stone huts are still in +evidence. But Amaro Delano, who called in 1803, makes no +mention of the Portuguese; and when, in 1822, Commodore Owen +visited Trinidad, he found nothing living there save cormorants, +petrels, gannets, man-of-war birds, and "turtles weighing from five +hundred to seven hundred pounds." + +In 1889 E. F. Knight, who in the Japanese-Russian War +represented the London _Morning Post_, visited Trinidad in his +yacht in search of buried treasure. + +Alexander Dalrymple, in his book entitled "Collection of Voages, +chiefly in the Southern Atlantick Ocean, 1775," tells how, in 1700, +he "took possession of the island in his Majesty's name as knowing +it to be granted by the King's letter patent, leaving a Union Jack +flying." + +So it appears that before Harden-Hickey seized the island it +already had been claimed by Great Britain, and later, on account of +the Portuguese settlement, by Brazil. The answer Harden-Hickey +made to these claims was that the English never settled in +Trinidad, and that the Portuguese abandoned it, and, therefore, +their claims lapsed. In his "prospectus" of his island, +Harden-Hickey himself describes it thus: + +"Trinidad is about five miles long and three miles wide. In spite of +its rugged and uninviting appearance, the inland plateaus are rich +with luxuriant vegetation. + +"Prominent among this is a peculiar species of bean, which is not +only edible, but extremely palatable. The surrounding seas swarm +with fish, which as yet are wholly unsuspicious of the hook. +Dolphins, rock-cod, pigfish, and blackfish may be caught as +quickly as they can be hauled out. I look to the sea birds and the +turtles to afford our principal source of revenue. Trinidad is the +breeding-place of almost the entire feathery population of the +South Atlantic Ocean. The exportation of guano alone should +make my little country prosperous. Turtles visit the island to +deposit eggs, and at certain seasons the beach is literally alive with +them. The only drawback to my projected kingdom is the fact that +it has no good harbor and can be approached only when the sea is +calm." + +As a matter of fact sometimes months pass before it is possible to +effect a landing. + +Another asset of the island held out by the prospectus was its great +store of buried treasure. Before Harden-Hickey seized the island, +this treasure had made it known. This is the legend. In 1821 a great +store of gold and silver plate plundered from Peruvian churches +had been concealed on the islands by pirates near Sugar Loaf Hill, +on the shore of what is known as the Southwest Bay. Much of this +plate came from the cathedral at Lima, having been carried from +there during the war of independence when the Spanish residents +fled the country. In their eagerness to escape they put to sea in any +ship that offered, and these unarmed and unseaworthy vessels fell +an easy prey to pirates. One of these pirates on his death-bed, in +gratitude to his former captain, told him the secret of the treasure. +In 1892 this captain was still living, in Newcastle, England, and +although his story bears a family resemblance to every other story +of buried treasure, there were added to the tale of the pirate some +corroborative details. These, in twelve years, induced five different +expeditions to visit the island. The two most important were that +of E. F. Knight and one from the Tyne in the bark _Aurea_. + +In his "Cruise of the _Alerte_," Knight gives a full description of +the island, and of his attempt to find the treasure. In this, a +landslide having covered the place where it was buried, he was +unsuccessful. + +But Knight's book is the only source of accurate information +concerning Trinidad, and in writing his prospectus it is evident that +Harden-Hickey was forced to borrow from it freely. Knight +himself says that the most minute and accurate description of +Trinidad is to be found in the "Frank Mildmay" of Captain +Marryat. He found it so easy to identify each spot mentioned in the +novel that he believes the author of "Midshipman Easy" himself +touched there. + +After seizing Trinidad, Harden-Hickey rounded the Cape and made +north to Japan, China, and India. In India he became interested in +Buddhism, and remained for over a year questioning the priests of +that religion and studying its tenets and history. + +On his return to Paris, in 1890, he met Miss Annie Harper Flagler, +daughter of John H. Flagler. A year later, on St. Patrick's Day, +1891, at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, Miss Flagler +became the Baroness Harden-Hickey. The Rev. John Hall married +them. + +For the next two years Harden-Hickey lived in New York, but so +quietly that, except that he lived quietly, it is difficult to find out +anything concerning him. The man who, a few years before, had +delighted Paris with his daily feuilletons, with his duels, with his +forty-two lawsuits, who had been the master of revels in the Latin +Quarter, in New York lived almost as a recluse, writing a book on +Buddhism. While he was in New York I was a reporter on the +_Evening Sun_, but I cannot recall ever having read his name in +the newspapers of that day, and I heard of him only twice; once as +giving an exhibition of his water-colors at the American Art +Galleries, and again as the author of a book I found in a store in +Twenty-second Street, just east of Broadway, then the home of the +Truth Seeker Publishing Company. + +It was a grewsome compilation and had just appeared in print. It +was called "Euthanasia, or the Ethics of Suicide." This book was +an apology or plea for self-destruction. In it the baron laid down +those occasions when he considered suicide pardonable, and when +obligatory. To support his arguments and to show that suicide was +a noble act, he quoted Plato, Cicero, Shakespeare, and even +misquoted the Bible. He gave a list of poisons, and the amount of +each necessary to kill a human being. To show how one can depart +from life with the least pain, he illustrated the text with most +unpleasant pictures, drawn by himself. + +The book showed how far Harden-Hickey had strayed from the +teachings of the Jesuit College at Namur, and of the Church that +had made him "noble." + +All of these two years had not been spent only in New York. +Harden-Hickey made excursions to California, to Mexico, and to +Texas, and in each of these places bought cattle ranches and +mines. The money to pay for these investments came from his +father-in-law. But not directly. Whenever he wanted money he +asked his wife, or De la Boissiere, who was a friend also of +Flagler, to obtain it for him. + +His attitude toward his father-in-law is difficult to explain. It is not +apparent that Flagler ever did anything which could justly offend +him; indeed, he always seems to have spoken of his son-in-law +with tolerance, and often with awe, as one would speak of a clever, +wayward child. But Harden-Hickey chose to regard Flagler as his +enemy, as a sordid man of business who could not understand the +feelings and aspirations of a genius and a gentleman. + +Before Harden-Hickey married, the misunderstanding between his +wife's father and himself began. Because he thought +Harden-Hickey was marrying his daughter for her money, Flagler +opposed the union. Consequently, Harden-Hickey married Miss +Flagler without "settlements," and for the first few years supported +her without aid from her father. But his wife had been accustomed +to a manner of living beyond the means of the soldier of fortune, +and soon his income, and then even his capital, was exhausted. +From her mother the baroness inherited a fortune. This was in the +hands of her father as executor. When his own money was gone, +Harden-Hickey endeavored to have the money belonging to his +wife placed to her credit, or to his. To this, it is said, Flagler, on +the ground that Harden-Hickey was not a man of business, while +he was, objected, and urged that he was, and that if it remained in +his hands the money would be better invested and better expended. +It was the refusal of Flagler to intrust Harden-Hickey with the care +of his wife's money that caused the breach between them. + +As I have said, you cannot judge Harden-Hickey as you would a +contemporary. With the people among whom he was thrown, his +ideas were entirely out of joint. He should have lived in the days of +"The Three Musketeers." People who looked upon him as working +for his own hand entirely misunderstood him. He was absolutely +honest, and as absolutely without a sense of humor. To him, to pay +taxes, to pay grocers' bills, to depend for protection upon a +policeman, was intolerable. He lived in a world of his own +imagining. And one day, in order to make his imaginings real, and +to escape from his father-in-law's unromantic world of Standard +Oil and Florida hotels, in a proclamation to the powers he +announced himself as King James the First of the Principality of +Trinidad. + +The proclamation failed to create a world crisis. Several of the +powers recognized his principality and his title; but, as a rule, +people laughed, wondered, and forgot. That the daughter of John +Flagler was to rule the new principality gave it a "news interest," +and for a few Sundays in the supplements she was hailed as the +"American Queen." + +When upon the subject of the new kingdom Flagler himself was +interviewed, he showed an open mind. + +"My son-in-law is a very determined man," he said; "he will carry +out any scheme in which he is interested. Had he consulted me +about this, I would have been glad to have aided him with money +or advice. My son-in-law is an extremely well-read, refined, +well-bred man. He does not court publicity. While he was staying +in my house he spent nearly all the time in the library translating +an Indian book on Buddhism. My daughter has no ambition to be a +queen or anything else than what she is--an American girl. But my +son-in-law means to carry on this Trinidad scheme, and--he will." + +From his father-in-law, at least, Harden-Hickey could not complain +that he had met with lack of sympathy. + +The rest of America was amused; and after less than nine days, +indifferent. But Harden-Hickey, though unobtrusively, none the +less earnestly continued to play the part of king. His friend De la +Boissiere he appointed his Minister of Foreign Affairs, and +established in a Chancellery at 217 West Thirty-sixth Street, New +York, and from there was issued a sort of circular, or prospectus, +written by the king, and signed by "Le Grand Chancelier, +Secretaire d'Etat pour les Affaires Etrangeres, M. le Comte de la +Boissiere." + +The document, written in French, announced that the new state +would be governed by a military dictatorship, that the royal +standard was a yellow triangle on a red ground, and that the arms +of the principality were "d'Or chape de Gueules." It pointed out +naively that those who first settled on the island would be naturally +the oldest inhabitants, and hence would form the aristocracy. But +only those who at home enjoyed social position and some private +fortune would be admitted into this select circle. + +For itself the state reserved a monopoly of the guano, of the turtles, +and of the buried treasure. And both to discover the treasure and to +encourage settlers to dig and so cultivate the soil, a percentage of +the treasure was promised to the one who found it. + +Any one purchasing ten $200 bonds was entitled to a free passage +to the island, and after a year, should he so desire it, a return trip. +The hard work was to be performed by Chinese coolies, the +aristocracy existing beautifully, and, according to the prospectus, +to enjoy _"vie d'un genre tout nouveau, et la recherche de +sensations nouvelles."_ + +To reward his subjects for prominence in literature, the arts, and +the sciences, his Majesty established an order of chivalry. The +official document creating this order reads: + + +"We, James, Prince of Trinidad, have resolved to commemorate +our accession to the throne of Trinidad by the institution of an +Order of Chivalry, destined to reward literature, industry, science, +and the human virtues, and by these presents have established and +do institute, with cross and crown, the Order of the Insignia of the +Cross of Trinidad, of which we and our heirs and successors shall +be the sovereigns. + +"Given in our Chancellery the Eighth of the month of December, +one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, and of our reign, the +First Year. + +"JAMES." + +There were four grades: Chevalier, Commander, Grand Officer, +and Grand Cross; and the name of each member of the order was +inscribed in "The Book of Gold." A pension of one thousand francs +was given to a Chevalier, of two thousand francs to a Commander, +and of three thousand francs to a Grand Officer. Those of the grade +of Grand Cross were content with a plaque of eight +diamond-studded rays, with, in the centre, set in red enamel, the +arms of Trinidad. The ribbon was red and yellow. + +A rule of the order read: "The costume shall be identical with that +of the Chamberlains of the Court of Trinidad, save the buttons, +which shall bear the impress of the Crown of the Order." + +For himself, King James commissioned a firm of jewelers to +construct a royal crown. In design it was similar to the one which +surmounted the cross of Trinidad. It is shown in the photograph of +the insignia. Also, the king issued a set of postage-stamps on +which was a picture of the island. They were of various colors and +denominations, and among stamp-collectors enjoyed a certain sale. + +To-day, as I found when I tried to procure one to use in this book, +they are worth many times their face value. + +For some time the affairs of the new kingdom progressed +favorably. In San Francisco, King James, in person, engaged four +hundred coolies and fitted out a schooner which he sent to +Trinidad, where it made regular trips between his principality and +Brazil; an agent was established on the island, and the construction +of docks, wharves, and houses was begun, while at the chancellery +in West Thirty-sixth Street, the Minister of Foreign Affairs was +ready to furnish would-be settlers with information. + +And then, out of a smiling sky, a sudden and unexpected blow was +struck at the independence of the little kingdom. It was a blow +from which it never recovered. + +In July of 1895, while constructing a cable to Brazil, Great Britain +found the Island of Trinidad lying in the direct line she wished to +follow, and, as a cable station, seized it. Objection to this was +made by Brazil, and at Bahia a mob with stones pelted the sign of +the English Consul-General. + +By right of Halley's discovery, England claimed the island; as a +derelict from the main land, Brazil also claimed it. Between the +rivals, the world saw a chance for war, and the fact that the island +really belonged to our King James for a moment was forgotten. + +But the Minister of Foreign Affairs was at his post. With +promptitude and vigor he acted. He addressed a circular note to all +the powers of Europe, and to our State Department a protest. It +read as follows: + + +"GRANDE CHANCELLERIE DE LA PRINCIPAUTE DE +TRINIDAD, +27 WEST THIRTY-SIXTH STREET, +NEW YORK CITY, U. S. A., + +"NEW YORK, _July_ 30, 1895. + +_"To His Excellency Mr. the Secretary of State of +the Republic of the United States of North +America, Washington, D. C.:_ + +"EXCELLENCY.--I have the honor to recall to your memory: + +"1. That in the course of the month of September, 1893, Baron +Harden-Hickey officially notified all the Powers of his taking +possession of the uninhabited island of Trinidad; and + +"2. That in course of January, 1894, he renewed to all these Powers +the official notification of the said taking of possession, and +informed them at the same time that from that date the land would +be known as 'Principality of Trinidad'; that he took the title of +'Prince of Trinidad,' and would reign under the name of James I. + +"In consequence of these official notifications several Powers have +recognized the new Principality and its Prince, and at all events +none thought it necessary at that epoch to raise objections or +formulate opposition. + +"The press of the entire world has, on the other hand, often +acquainted readers with these facts, thus giving to them all +possible publicity. In consequence of the accomplishment of these +various formalities, and as the law of nations prescribes that +'derelict' territories belong to whoever will take possession of +them, and as the island of Trinidad, which has been abandoned for +years, certainly belongs to the aforesaid category, his Serene +Highness Prince James I was authorized to regard his rights on the +said island as perfectly valid and indisputable. + +"Nevertheless, your Excellency knows that recently, in spite of all +the legitimate rights of my august sovereign, an English war-ship +has disembarked at Trinidad a detachment of armed troops and +taken possession of the island in the name of England. + +"Following this assumption of territory, the Brazilian Government, +invoking a right of ancient Portuguese occupation (long ago +outlawed), has notified the English Government to surrender the +island to Brazil. + +"I beg of your Excellency to ask of the Government of the United +States of North America to recognize the Principality of Trinidad +as an independent State, and to come to an understanding with the +other American Powers in order to guarantee its neutrality. + +"Thus the Government of the United States of North America will +once more accord its powerful assistance to the cause of right and +of justice, misunderstood by England and Brazil, put an end to a +situation which threatens to disturb the peace, re-establish concord +between two great States ready to appeal to arms, and affirm itself, +moreover, as the faithful interpreter of the Monroe Doctrine. + +"In the expectation of your reply please accept, Excellency, the +expression of my elevated consideration. + +"The Grand Chancellor, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, + +"COMTE DE LA BOISSIERE." + +At that time Richard Olney was Secretary of State, and in his +treatment of the protest, and of the gentleman who wrote it, he +fully upheld the reputation he made while in office of lack of good +manners. Saying he was unable to read the handwriting in which +the protest was written, he disposed of it in a way that would +suggest itself naturally to a statesman and a gentleman. As a +"crank" letter he turned it over to the Washington correspondents. +You can imagine what they did with it. + +The day following the reporters in New York swept down upon the +chancellery and upon the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It was the +"silly season" in August, there was no real news in town, and the +troubles of De la Boissiere were allowed much space. + +They laughed at him and at his king, at his chancellery, at his +broken English, at his "grave and courtly manners," even at his +clothes. But in spite of the ridicule, between the lines you could +read that to the man himself it all was terribly real. + +I had first heard of the island of Trinidad from two men I knew +who spent three months on it searching for the treasure, and when +Harden-Hickey proclaimed himself lord of the island, through the +papers I had carefully followed his fortunes. So, partly out of +curiosity and partly out of sympathy, I called at the chancellery. + +I found it in a brownstone house, in a dirty neighborhood just west +of Seventh Avenue, and of where now stands the York Hotel. +Three weeks ago I revisited it and found it unchanged. At the time +of my first visit, on the jamb of the front door was pasted a piece +of paper on which was written in the handwriting of De la +Boissiere: "Chancellerie de la Principaute de Trinidad." + +The chancellery was not exactly in its proper setting. On its +door-step children of the tenements were playing dolls with +clothes-pins; in the street a huckster in raucous tones was offering +wilted cabbages to women in wrappers leaning from the fire +escapes; the smells and the heat of New York in midsummer rose +from the asphalt. It was a far cry to the wave-swept island off the +coast of Brazil. + +De la Boissiere received me with distrust. The morning papers had +made him man-shy; but, after a few "Your Excellencies" and a +respectful inquiry regarding "His Royal Highness," his confidence +revived. In the situation he saw nothing humorous, not even in an +announcement on the wall which read: "Sailings to Trinidad." Of +these there were _two_; on March 1, and on October 1. On the +table were many copies of the royal proclamation, the +postage-stamps of the new government, the thousand-franc bonds, +and, in pasteboard boxes, the gold and red enamelled crosses of +the Order of Trinidad. + +He talked to me frankly and fondly of Prince James. Indeed, I +never met any man who knew Harden-Hickey well who did not +speak of him with aggressive loyalty. If at his eccentricities they +smiled, it was with the smile of affection. It was easy to see De la +Boissiere regarded him not only with the affection of a friend, but +with the devotion of a true subject. In his manner he himself was +courteous, gentle, and so distinguished that I felt as though I were +enjoying, on intimate terms, an audience with one of the +prime-ministers of Europe. + +And he, on his part, after the ridicule of the morning papers, to +have any one with outward seriousness accept his high office and +his king, was, I believe, not ungrateful. + +I told him I wished to visit Trinidad, and in that I was quite +serious. The story of an island filled with buried treasure, and +governed by a king, whose native subjects were turtles and +seagulls, promised to make interesting writing. + +The count was greatly pleased. I believe in me he saw his first +bona-fide settler, and when I rose to go he even lifted one of the +crosses of Trinidad and, before my envious eyes, regarded it +uncertainly. + +Perhaps, had he known that of all decorations it was the one I most +desired; had I only then and there booked my passage, or sworn +allegiance to King James, who knows but that to-day I might be a +chevalier, with my name in the "Book of Gold"? But instead of +bending the knee, I reached for my hat; the count replaced the +cross in its pasteboard box, and for me the psychological moment +had passed. + +Others, more deserving of the honor, were more fortunate. Among +my fellow-reporters who, like myself, came to scoff, and remained +to pray, was Henri Pene du Bois, for some time, until his recent +death, the brilliant critic of art and music of the _American_. Then +he was on the _Times_, and Henry N. Cary, now of the _Morning +Telegraph_, was his managing editor. + +When Du Bois reported to Cary on his assignment, he said: "There +is nothing funny in that story. It's pathetic. Both those men are in +earnest. They are convinced they are being robbed of their rights. +Their only fault is that they have imagination, and that the rest of +us lack it. That's the way it struck me, and that's the way the story +ought to be written." + +"Write it that way," said Cary. + +So, of all the New York papers, the _Times_, for a brief period, +became the official organ of the Government of James the First, +and in time Cary and Du Bois were created Chevaliers of the +Order of Trinidad, and entitled to wear uniforms "Similar to those +of the Chamberlains of the Court, save that the buttons bear the +impress of the Royal Crown." + +The attack made by Great Britain and Brazil upon the +independence of the principality, while it left Harden-Hickey in +the position of a king in exile, brought him at once another crown, +which, by those who offered it to him, was described as of +incomparably greater value than that of Trinidad. + +In the first instance the man had sought the throne; in this case the +throne sought the man. + +In 1893 in San Francisco, Ralston J. Markowe, a lawyer and a +one-time officer of artillery in the United States army, gained +renown as one of the Morrow filibustering expedition which +attempted to overthrow the Dole government in the Hawaiian Isles +and restore to the throne Queen Liliuokalani. In San Francisco +Markowe was nicknamed the "Prince of Honolulu," as it was +understood, should Liliuokalani regain her crown, he would be +rewarded with some high office. But in the star of Liliuokalani, +Markowe apparently lost faith, and thought he saw in +Harden-Hickey timber more suitable for king-making. +Accordingly, twenty-four days after the "protest" was sent to our +State Department, Markowe switched his allegiance to +Harden-Hickey, and to him addressed the following letter: + +"SAN FRANCISCO, August 26, 1895. + +BARON HARDEN-HICKEY, LOS ANGELES, CAL.: + +"Monseigneur--Your favor of August 16 has been received. + +"1. I am the duly authorized agent of the Royalist party in so far as +it is possible for any one to occupy that position under existing +circumstances. With the Queen in prison and absolutely cut off +from all communication with her friends, it is out of the question +for me to carry anything like formal credentials. + +"2. Alienating any part of the territory cannot give rise to any +constitutional questions, for the reason that the constitutions, like +the land tenures, are in a state of such utter confusion that only a +strong hand can unravel them, and the restoration will result in the +establishment of a strong military government. If I go down with +the expedition I have organized I shall be in full control of the +situation and in a position to carry out all my contracts. + +"3. It is the island of Kauai on which I propose to establish you as +an independent sovereign. + +"4. My plan is to successively occupy all the islands, leaving the +capital to the last. When the others have fallen, the capital, being +cut off from all its resources, will be easily taken, and may very +likely fall without effort. I don't expect in any case to have to +fortify myself or to take the defensive, or to have to issue a call to +arms, as I shall have an overwhelming force to join me at once, in +addition to those who go with me, who by themselves will be +sufficient to carry everything before them without active +cooperation from the people there. + +"5. The Government forces consist of about 160 men and boys, +with very imperfect military training, and of whom about forty are +officers. They are organized as infantry. There are also about 600 +citizens enrolled as a reserve guard, who may be called upon in +case of an emergency, and about 150 police. We can fully rely +upon the assistance of all the police and from one-quarter to +one-half of the other troops. And of the remainder many will under +no circumstances engage in a sharp fight in defense of the present +government. There are now on the island plenty of men and arms +to accomplish our purpose, and if my expedition does not get off +very soon the people there will be organized to do the work +without other assistance from here than the direction of a few +leaders, of which they stand more in need than anything else. + +"6. The tonnage of the vessel is 146. She at present has berth-room +for twenty men, but bunks can be arranged in the hold for 256 +more, with provision for ample ventilation. She has one complete +set of sails and two extra spars. The remaining information in +regard to her I will have to obtain and send you to-morrow. I think +it must be clear to you that the opportunity now offered you will be +of incomparably greater value at once than Trinidad would ever +be. Still hoping that I may have an interview with you at an early +date, respectfully yours, + +"RALSTON J. MARKOWE." + +What Harden-Hickey thought of this is not known, but as two +weeks before he received it he had written Markowe, asking him +by what authority he represented the Royalists of Honolulu, it +seems evident that when the crown of Hawaii was first proffered +him he did not at once spurn it. + +He now was in the peculiar position of being a deposed king of an +island in the South Atlantic, which had been taken from him, and +king-elect of an island in the Pacific, which was his if he could +take it. + +This was in August of 1895. For the two years following, +Harden-Hickey was a soldier of misfortunes. Having lost his island +kingdom, he could no longer occupy himself with plans for its +improvement. It had been his toy. They had taken it from him, and +the loss and the ridicule which followed hurt him bitterly. + +And for the lands he really owned in Mexico and California, and +which, if he were to live in comfort, it was necessary he should +sell, he could find no purchaser; and, moreover, having quarrelled +with his father-in-law, he had cut off his former supply of money. +The need of it pinched him cruelly. + +The advertised cause of this quarrel was sufficiently characteristic +to be the real one. Moved by the attack of Great Britain upon his +principality, Harden-Hickey decided upon reprisals. It must be +remembered that always he was more Irish than French. On paper +he organized an invasion of England from Ireland, the home of his +ancestors. It was because Flagler refused to give him money for +this adventure that he broke with him. His friends say this was the +real reason of the quarrel, which was a quarrel on the side of +Harden-Hickey alone. + +And there were other, more intimate troubles. While not separated +from his wife, he now was seldom in her company. When the +Baroness was in Paris, Harden-Hickey was in San Francisco; when +she returned to San Francisco, he was in Mexico. The fault seems +to have been his. He was greatly admired by pretty women. His +daughter by his first wife, now a very beautiful girl of sixteen, +spent much time with her stepmother; and when not on his father's +ranch in Mexico, his son also, for months together, was at her side. +The husband approved of this, but he himself saw his wife +infrequently. Nevertheless, early in the spring of 1898, the +Baroness leased a house in Brockton Square, in Riverside, Cal., +where it was understood by herself and by her friends her husband +would join her. At that time in Mexico he was trying to dispose of +a large tract of land. Had he been able to sell it, the money for a +time would have kept one even of his extravagances contentedly +rich. At least, he would have been independent of his wife and of +her father. Up to February of 1898 his obtaining this money +seemed probable. + +Early in that month the last prospective purchaser decided not to +buy. + +There is no doubt that had Harden-Hickey then turned to his +father-in-law, that gentleman, as he had done before, would have +opened an account for him. + +But the Prince of Trinidad felt he could no longer beg, even for the +money belonging to his wife, from the man he had insulted. He +could no longer ask his wife to intercede for him. He was without +money of his own, with out the means of obtaining it; from his +wife he had ceased to expect even sympathy, and from the world +he knew, the fact that he was a self-made king caused him always +to be pointed out with ridicule as a charlatan, as a jest. + +The soldier of varying fortunes, the duellist and dreamer, the +devout Catholic and devout Buddhist, saw the forty-third year of +his life only as the meeting-place of many fiascos. + +His mind was tormented with imaginary wrongs, imaginary slights, +imaginary failures. + +This young man, who could paint pictures, write books, organize +colonies oversea, and with a sword pick the buttons from a +waistcoat, forgot the twenty good years still before him; forgot that +men loved him for the mistakes he had made; that in parts of the +great city of Paris his name was still spoken fondly, still was +famous and familiar. + +In his book on the "Ethics of Suicide," for certain hard places in +life he had laid down an inevitable rule of conduct. + +As he saw it he had come to one of those hard places, and he +would not ask of others what he himself would not perform. + +From Mexico he set out for California, but not to the house his +wife had prepared for him. + +Instead, on February 9, 1898, at El Paso, he left the train and +registered at a hotel. + +At 7.30 in the evening he went to his room, and when, on the +following morning, they kicked in the door, they found him +stretched rigidly upon the bed, like one lying in state, with, near +his hand, a half-emptied bottle of poison. + +On a chair was pinned this letter to his wife: + +"My DEAREST,--No news from you, although you have had +plenty of time to write. Harvey has written me that he has no one +in view at present to buy my land. Well, I shall have tasted the cup +of bitterness to the very dregs, but I do not complain. Good-by. I +forgive you your conduct toward me and trust you will be able to +forgive yourself. I prefer to be a dead gentleman to a living +blackguard like your father." + + +And when they searched his open trunk for something that might +identify the body on the bed, they found the crown of Trinidad. + +You can imagine it: the mean hotel bedroom, the military figure +with its white face and mustache, "_a la_ Louis Napoleon," at rest +upon the pillow, the startled drummers and chambermaids peering +in from the hall, and the landlord, or coroner, or doctor, with a +bewildered countenance, lifting to view the royal crown of gilt and +velvet. + +The other actors in this, as Harold Frederic called it, "Opera +Bouffe Monarchy," are still living. + +The Baroness Harden-Hickey makes her home in this country. + +The Count de la Boissiere, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, is still a +leader of the French colony in New York, and a prosperous +commission merchant with a suite of offices on Fifty-fourth Street. +By the will of Harden-Hickey he is executor of his estate, guardian +of his children, and what, for the purpose of this article, is of more +importance, in his hands lies the future of the kingdom of +Trinidad. When Harden-Hickey killed himself the title to the +island was in dispute. Should young Harden-Hickey wish to claim +it, it still would be in dispute. Meanwhile, by the will of the First +James, De la Boissiere is appointed perpetual regent, a sort of +"receiver," and executor of the principality. + +To him has been left a royal decree signed and sealed, but blank. +In the will the power to fill in this blank with a statement showing +the final disposition of the island has been bestowed upon De la +Boissiere. + +So, some day, he may proclaim the accession of a new king, and +give a new lease of life to the kingdom of which Harden-Hickey +dreamed. + +But unless his son, or wife, or daughter should assert his or her +rights, which is not likely to happen, so ends the dynasty of James +the First of Trinidad, Baron of the Holy Roman Empire. + +To the wise ones in America he was a fool, and they laughed at +him; to the wiser ones, he was a clever rascal who had evolved a +new real-estate scheme and was out to rob the people--and they +respected him. To my mind, of them all, Harden-Hickey was the +wisest. + +Granted one could be serious, what could be more delightful than +to be your own king on your own island? + +The comic paragraphers, the business men of "hard, common +sense," the captains of industry who laughed at him and his +national resources of buried treasure, turtles' eggs, and guano, with +his body-guard of Zouaves and his Grand Cross of Trinidad, +certainly possessed many things that Harden-Hickey lacked. But +they in turn lacked the things that made him happy; the power to +"make believe," the love of romance, the touch of adventure that +plucked him by the sleeve. + +When, as boys, we used to say: "Let's pretend we're pirates," as a +man, Harden-Hickey begged: "Let's pretend I'm a king." + +But the trouble was, the other boys had grown up and would not +pretend. + +For some reason his end always reminds me of the closing line of +Pinero's play, when the adventuress, Mrs. Tanqueray, kills herself, +and her virtuous stepchild says: "If we had only been kinder!" + +WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL + +IN the strict sense of the phrase, a soldier of fortune is a man who +for pay, or for the love of adventure, fights under the flag of any +country. + +In the bigger sense he is the kind of man who in any walk of life +makes his own fortune, who, when he sees it coming, leaps to +meet it, and turns it to his advantage. + +Than Winston Spencer Churchill to-day there are few young +men--and he is a very young man--who have met more varying +fortunes, and none who has more frequently bent them to his own +advancement. To him it has been indifferent whether, at the +moment, the fortune seemed good or evil, in the end always it was +good. + +As a boy officer, when other subalterns were playing polo, and at +the Gaiety Theatre attending night school, he ran away to Cuba +and fought with the Spaniards. For such a breach of military +discipline, any other officer would have been court-martialled. +Even his friends feared that by his foolishness his career in the +army was at an end. Instead, his escapade was made a question in +the House of Commons, and the fact brought him such publicity +that the _Daily Graphic_ paid him handsomely to write on the +Cuban Revolution, and the Spanish Government rewarded him +with the Order of Military Merit. + +At the very outbreak of the Boer war he was taken prisoner. It +seemed a climax of misfortune. With his brother officers he had +hoped in that campaign to acquit himself with credit, and that he +should lie inactive in Pretoria appeared a terrible calamity. To the +others who, through many heart-breaking months, suffered +imprisonment, it continued to be a calamity. But within six weeks +of his capture Churchill escaped, and, after many adventures, +rejoined his own army to find that the calamity had made him a +hero. + +When after the battle of Omdurman, in his book on "The River +War," he attacked Lord Kitchener, those who did not like him, and +they were many, said: "That's the end of Winston in the army. He'll +never get another chance to criticise K. of K." + +But only two years later the chance came, when, no longer a +subaltern, but as a member of the House of Commons, he +patronized Kitchener by defending him from the attacks of others. + +Later, when his assaults upon the leaders of his own party closed to +him, even in his own constituency, the Conservative debating +clubs, again his ill-wishers said: "This _is_ the end. He has +ridiculed those who sit in high places. He has offended his cousin +and patron, the Duke of Marlborough. Without political friends, +without the influence and money of the Marlborough family he is a +political nonentity." That was eighteen months ago. To-day, at the +age of thirty-two, he is one of the leaders of the Government party, +Under-Secretary for the Colonies, and with the Liberals the most +popular young man in public life. + +Only last Christmas, at a banquet, Sir Edward Grey, the new +Foreign Secretary, said of him: "Mr. Winston Churchill has +achieved distinction in at least five different careers--as a soldier, a +war correspondent, a lecturer, an author, and last, but not least, as +a politician. I have understated it even now, for he has achieved +two careers as a politician--one on each side of the House. His first +career on the Government side was a really distinguished career. I +trust the second will be even more distinguished--and more +prolonged. The remarkable thing is that he has done all this when, +unless appearances very much belie him, he has not reached the +age of sixty-four, which is the minimum age at which the +politician ceases to be young." + +Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born thirty-two years ago, +in November, 1874. By birth he is half-American. His father was +Lord Randolph Churchill, and his mother was Jennie Jerome, of +New York. On the father's side he is the grandchild of the seventh +Duke of Marlborough, on the distaff side, of Leonard Jerome. + +To a student of heredity it would be interesting to try and discover +from which of these ancestors Churchill drew those qualities +which in him are most prominent, and which have led to his +success. + +What he owes to his father and mother it is difficult to +overestimate, almost as difficult as to overestimate what he has +accomplished by his own efforts. + +He was not a child born a full-grown genius of commonplace +parents. Rather his fate threatened that he should always be known +as the son of his father. And certainly it was asking much of a boy +that he should live up to a father who was one of the most +conspicuous, clever, and erratic statesmen of the later Victorian +era, and a mother who is as brilliant as she is beautiful. + +For at no time was the American wife content to be merely +ornamental. Throughout the political career of her husband she +was his helpmate, and as an officer of the Primrose League, as an +editor of the _Anglo-Saxon Review_, as, for many hot, weary +months in Durban Harbor, the head of the hospital ship _Maine_, +she has shown an acute mind and real executive power. At the +polls many votes that would not respond to the arguments of the +husband, and later of the son, were gained over to the cause by the +charm and wit of the American woman. + +In his earlier days, if one can have days any earlier than those he +now enjoys, Churchill was entirely influenced by two things: the +tremendous admiration he felt for his father, which filled him with +ambition to follow in his orbit, and the camaraderie of his mother, +who treated him less like a mother than a sister and companion. + +Indeed, Churchill was always so precocious that I cannot recall the +time when he was young enough to be Lady Randolph's son; +certainly, I cannot recall the time when she was old enough to be +his mother. + +When first I knew him he had passed through Harrow and +Sandhurst and was a second lieutenant in the Queen's Own +Hussars. He was just of age, but appeared much younger. + +He was below medium height, a slight, delicate-looking boy; +although, as a matter of fact, extremely strong, with blue eyes, +many freckles, and hair which threatened to be a decided red, but +which now has lost its fierceness. When he spoke it was with a +lisp, which also has changed, and which now appears to be merely +an intentional hesitation. + +His manner of speaking was nervous, eager, explosive. He used +many gestures, some of which were strongly reminiscent of his +father, of whom he, unlike most English lads, who shy at +mentioning a distinguished parent, constantly spoke. + +He even copied his father in his little tricks of manner. Standing +with hands shoved under the frock-coat and one resting on each +hip as though squeezing in the waist line; when seated, resting the +elbows on the arms of the chair and nervously locking and +unclasping fingers, are tricks common to both. + +He then had and still has a most embarrassing habit of asking +many questions; embarrassing, sometimes, because the questions +are so frank, and sometimes because they lay bare the wide +expanse of one's own ignorance. + +At that time, although in his twenty-first year, this lad twice had +been made a question in the House of Commons. + +That in itself had rendered him conspicuous. When you consider +out of Great Britain's four hundred million subjects how many live, +die, and are buried without at any age having drawn down upon +themselves the anger of the House of Commons, to have done so +twice, before one has passed his twenty-first year, seems to +promise a lurid future. + +The first time Churchill disturbed the august assemblage in which +so soon he was to become a leader was when he "ragged" a brother +subaltern named Bruce and cut up his saddle and accoutrements. +The second time was when he ran away to Cuba to fight with the +Spaniards. + +After this campaign, on the first night of his arrival in London, he +made his maiden speech. He delivered it in a place of less dignity +than the House of Commons, but one, throughout Great Britain +and her colonies, as widely known and as well supported. This was +the Empire Music Hall. + +At the time Mrs. Ormiston Chant had raised objections to the +presence in the Music Hall of certain young women, and had +threatened, unless they ceased to frequent its promenade, to have +the license of the Music Hall revoked. As a compromise, the +management ceased selling liquor, and on the night Churchill +visited the place the bar in the promenade was barricaded with +scantling and linen sheets. With the thirst of tropical Cuba still +upon him, Churchill asked for a drink, which was denied him, and +the crusade, which in his absence had been progressing fiercely, +was explained. Any one else would have taken no for his answer, +and have sought elsewhere for his drink. Not so Churchill. What +he did is interesting, because it was so extremely characteristic. +Now he would not do it; then he was twenty-one. + +He scrambled to the velvet-covered top of the railing which +divides the auditorium from the promenade, and made a speech. It +was a plea in behalf of his "Sisters, the Ladies of the Empire +Promenade." + +"Where," he asked of the ladies themselves and of their escorts +crowded below him in the promenade, "does the Englishman in +London always find a welcome? Where does he first go when, +battle-scarred and travel-worn, he reaches home? Who is always +there to greet him with a smile, and join him in a drink? Who is +ever faithful, ever true--the Ladies of the Empire Promenade." + +The laughter and cheers that greeted this, and the tears of the +ladies themselves, naturally brought the performance on the stage +to a stop, and the vast audience turned in the seats and boxes. + +They saw a little red-haired boy in evening clothes, balancing +himself on the rail of the balcony, and around him a great crowd, +cheering, shouting, and bidding him "Go on!" + +Churchill turned with delight to the larger audience, and repeated +his appeal. The house shook with laughter and applause. + +The commissionaires and police tried to reach him and a +good-tempered but very determined mob of well-dressed +gentlemen and cheering girls fought them back. In triumph +Churchill ended his speech by begging his hearers to give "fair +play" to the women, and to follow him in a charge upon the +barricades. + +The charge was instantly made, the barricades were torn down, +and the terrified management ordered that drink be served to its +victorious patrons. + +Shortly after striking this blow for the liberty of others, Churchill +organized a dinner which illustrated the direction in which at that +age his mind was working, and showed that his ambition was +already abnormal. The dinner was given to those of his friends and +acquaintances who "were under twenty-one years of age, and who +in twenty years would control the destinies of the British Empire." + +As one over the age limit, or because he did not consider me an +empire-controlling force, on this great occasion, I was permitted to +be present. But except that the number of incipient empire-builders +was very great, that they were very happy, and that save the host +himself none of them took his idea seriously, I would not call it an +evening of historical interest. But the fact is interesting that of all +the boys present, as yet, the host seems to be the only one who to +any conspicuous extent is disturbing the destinies of Great Britain. +However, the others can reply that ten of the twenty years have not +yet passed. + +When he was twenty-three Churchill obtained leave of absence +from his regiment, and as there was no other way open to him to +see fighting, as a correspondent he joined the Malakand Field +Force in India. + +It may be truthfully said that by his presence in that frontier war he +made it and himself famous. His book on that campaign is his best +piece of war reporting. To the civilian reader it has all the delight +of one of Kipling's Indian stories, and to writers on military +subjects it is a model. But it is a model very few can follow, and +which Churchill himself was unable to follow, for the reason that +only once is it given a man to be twenty-three years of age. + +The picturesque hand-to-hand fighting, the night attacks, the +charges up precipitous hills, the retreats made carrying the +wounded under constant fire, which he witnessed and in which he +bore his part, he never again can see with the same fresh and +enthusiastic eyes. Then it was absolutely new, and the charm of the +book and the value of the book are that with the intolerance of +youth he attacks in the service evils that older men prefer to let lie, +and that with the ingenuousness of youth he tells of things which +to the veteran have become unimportant, or which through usage +he is no longer even able to see. + +In his three later war books, the wonder of it, the horror of it, the +quick admiration for brave deeds and daring men, give place, in +"The River War," to the critical point of view of the military +expert, and in his two books on the Boer war to the rapid +impressions of the journalist. In these latter books he tells you of +battles he has seen, in the first one he made you see them. + +For his services with the Malakand Field Force he received the +campaign medal with clasp, and, "in despatches," +Brigadier-General Jeffreys praises "the courage and resolution of +Lieutenant W. L. S. Churchill, Fourth Hussars, with the force as +correspondent of the _Pioneer_." + +From the operations around Malakand, he at once joined Sir +William Lockhart as orderly officer, and with the Tirah Expedition +went through that campaign. + +For this his Indian medal gained a second clasp. + +This was in the early part of 1898. In spite of the time taken up as +an officer and as a correspondent, he finished his book on the +Malakand Expedition and then, as it was evident Kitchener would +soon attack Khartum, he jumped across to Egypt and again as a +correspondent took part in the advance upon that city. + +Thus, in one year, he had seen service in three campaigns. + +On the day of the battle his luck followed him. Kitchener had +attached him to the Twenty-first Lancers, and it will be +remembered the event of the battle was the charge made by that +squadron. It was no canter, no easy "pig-sticking"; it was a fight to +get in and a fight to get out, with frenzied followers of the Khalifa +hanging to the bridle reins, hacking at the horses' hamstrings, and +slashing and firing point-blank at the troopers. Churchill was in +that charge. He received the medal with clasp. + +Then he returned home and wrote "The River War." This book is +the last word on the campaigns up the Nile. From the death of +Gordon in Khartum to the capture of the city by Kitchener, it tells +the story of the many gallant fights, the wearying failures, the +many expeditions into the hot, boundless desert, the long, slow +progress toward the final winning of the Sudan. + +The book made a distinct sensation. It was a work that one would +expect from a lieutenant-general, when, after years of service in +Egypt, he laid down his sword to pen the story of his life's work. +From a Second Lieutenant, who had been on the Nile hardly long +enough to gain the desert tan, it was a revelation. As a contribution +to military history it was so valuable that for the author it made +many admirers, but on account of his criticisms of his superior +officers it gained him even more enemies. + +This is a specimen of the kind of thing that caused the retired army +officer to sit up and choke with apoplexy: + +"General Kitchener, who never spares himself, cares little for +others. He treated all men like machines, from the private soldiers, +whose salutes he disdained, to the superior officers, whom he +rigidly controlled. The comrade who had served with him and +under him for many years, in peace and peril, was flung aside as +soon as he ceased to be of use. The wounded Egyptian and even +the wounded British soldier did not excite his interest." + +When in the service clubs they read that, the veterans asked each +other their favorite question of what is the army coming to, and to +their own satisfaction answered it by pointing out that when a +lieutenant of twenty-four can reprimand the commanding general +the army is going to the dogs. + +To the newspapers, hundreds of them, over their own signatures, +on the service club stationery, wrote violent, furious letters, and +the newspapers themselves, besides the ordinary reviews, gave to +the book editorial praise and editorial condemnation. + +Equally disgusted were the younger officers of the service. They +nicknamed his book "A Subaltern's Advice to Generals," and +called Churchill himself a "Medal Snatcher." A medal snatcher is +an officer who, whenever there is a rumor of war, leaves his men +to the care of any one, and through influence in high places and for +the sake of the campaign medal has himself attached to the +expeditionary force. But Churchill never was a medal hunter. The +routine of barrack life irked him, and in foreign parts he served his +country far better than by remaining at home and inspecting +awkward squads and attending guard mount. Indeed, the War +Office could cover with medals the man who wrote "The Story of +the Malakand Field Force" and "The River War" and still be in his +debt. + +In October, 1898, a month after the battle of Omdurman, Churchill +made his debut as a political speaker at minor meetings in Dover +and Rotherhithe. History does not record that these first speeches +set fire to the Channel. During the winter he finished and +published his "River War," and in the August of the following +summer, 1899, at a by-election, offered himself as Member of +Parliament for Oldham. + +In the _Daily Telegraph_ his letters from the three campaigns in +India and Egypt had made his name known, and there was a +general desire to hear him and to see him. In one who had attacked +Kitchener of Khartum, the men of Oldham expected to find a +stalwart veteran, bearded, and with a voice of command. When +they were introduced to a small red-haired boy with a lisp, they +refused to take him seriously. In England youth is an unpardonable +thing. Lately, Curzon, Churchill, Edward Grey, Hugh Cecil, and +others have made it less reprehensible. But, in spite of a vigorous +campaign, in which Lady Randolph took an active part, Oldham +decided it was not ready to accept young Churchill for a member. +Later he was Oldham's only claim to fame. + +A week after he was defeated he sailed for South Africa, where +war with the Boers was imminent. He had resigned from his +regiment and went south as war correspondent for the _Morning +Post_. + +Later in the war he held a commission as Lieutenant in the South +African Light Horse, a regiment of irregular cavalry, and on the +staffs of different generals acted as galloper and aide-de-camp. To +this combination of duties, which was in direct violation of a rule +of the War Office, his brother officers and his fellow +correspondents objected; but, as in each of his other campaigns he +had played this dual role, the press censors considered it a +traditional privilege, and winked at it. As a matter of record, +Churchill's soldiering never seemed to interfere with his writing, +nor, in a fight, did his duty to his paper ever prevent him from +mixing in as a belligerent. + +War was declared October 9th, and only a month later, while +scouting in the armored train along the railroad line between +Pietermaritzburg and Colenso, the cars were derailed and +Churchill was taken prisoner. + +The train was made up of three flat cars, two armored cars, and +between them the engine, with three cars coupled to the +cow-catcher and two to the tender. + +On the outward trip the Boers did not show themselves, but as +soon as the English passed Frere station they rolled a rock on the +track at a point where it was hidden by a curve. On the return trip, +as the English approached this curve the Boers opened fire with +artillery and pompoms. The engineer, in his eagerness to escape, +rounded the curve at full speed, and, as the Boers had expected, hit +the rock. The three forward cars were derailed, and one of them +was thrown across the track, thus preventing the escape of the +engine and the two rear cars. From these Captain Haldane, who +was in command, with a detachment of the Dublins, kept up a +steady fire on the enemy, while Churchill worked to clear the +track. To assist him he had a company of Natal volunteers, and +those who had not run away of the train hands and break-down +crew. + +"We were not long left in the comparative safety of a railroad +accident," Churchill writes to his paper. "The Boers' guns, swiftly +changing their position, reopened fire from a distance of thirteen +hundred yards before any one had got out of the stage of +exclamations. The tapping rifle-fire spread along the hills, until it +encircled the wreckage on three sides, and from some high ground +on the opposite side of the line a third field-gun came into action." + +For Boer marksmen with Mausers and pompoms, a wrecked +railroad train at thirteen hundred yards was as easy a bull's-eye as +the hands of the first baseman to the pitcher, and while the engine +butted and snorted and the men with their bare bands tore at the +massive beams of the freight-car, the bullets and shells beat about +them. + +"I have had in the last four years many strange and varied +experiences," continues young Churchill, "but nothing was so +thrilling as this; to wait and struggle among these clanging, +rending iron boxes, with the repeated explosions of the shells, the +noise of the projectiles striking the cars, the hiss as they passed in +the air, the grunting and puffing of the engine--poor, tortured +thing, hammered by at least a dozen shells, any one of which, by +penetrating the boiler, might have made an end of all--the +expectation of destruction as a matter of course, the realization of +powerlessness--all this for seventy minutes by the clock, with only +four inches of twisted iron between danger, captivity, and shame +on one side--and freedom on the other." + +The "protected" train had proved a deathtrap, and by the time the +line was clear every fourth man was killed or wounded. Only the +engine, with the more severely wounded heaped in the cab and +clinging to its cow-catcher and foot-rails, made good its escape. +Among those left behind, a Tommy, without authority, raised a +handkerchief on his rifle, and the Boers instantly ceased firing and +came galloping forward to accept surrender. There was a general +stampede to escape. Seeing that Lieutenant Franklin was gallantly +trying to hold his men, Churchill, who was safe on the engine, +jumped from it and ran to his assistance. Of what followed, this is +his own account: + +"Scarcely had the locomotive left me than I found myself alone in +a shallow cutting, and none of our soldiers, who had all +surrendered, to be seen. Then suddenly there appeared on the line +at the end of the cutting two men not in uniform. 'Plate-layers,' I +said to myself, and then, with a surge of realization, 'Boers.' My +mind retains a momentary impression of these tall figures, full of +animated movement, clad in dark flapping clothes, with slouch, +storm-driven hats, posing their rifles hardly a hundred yards away. +I turned and ran between the rails of the track, and the only +thought I achieved was this: 'Boer marksmanship.' + +"Two bullets passed, both within a foot, one on either side. I flung +myself against the banks of the cutting. But they gave no cover. +Another glance at the figures; one was now kneeling to aim. Again +I darted forward. Again two soft kisses sucked in the air, but +nothing struck me. I must get out of the cutting--that damnable +corridor. I scrambled up the bank. The earth sprang up beside me, +and a bullet touched my hand, but outside the cutting was a tiny +depression. I crouched in this, struggling to get my wind. On the +other side of the railway a horseman galloped up, shouting to me +and waving his hand. He was scarcely forty yards off. With a rifle I +could have killed him easily. I knew nothing of the white flag, and +the bullets had made me savage. I reached down for my Mauser +pistol. I had left it in the cab of the engine. Between me and the +horseman there was a wire fence. Should I continue to fly? The +idea of another shot at such a short range decided me. Death stood +before me, grim and sullen; Death without his light-hearted +companion, Chance. So I held up my hand, and like Mr. Jorrock's +foxes, cried 'Capivy!' Then I was herded with the other prisoners in +a miserable group, and about the same time I noticed that my hand +was bleeding, and it began to pour with rain. + +"Two days before I had written to an officer at home: 'There has +been a great deal too much surrendering in this war, and I hope +people who do so will not be encouraged.'" + +With other officers, Churchill was imprisoned in the State Model +Schools, situated in the heart of Pretoria. It was distinctly +characteristic that on the very day of his arrival he began to plan to +escape. + +Toward this end his first step was to lose his campaign hat, which +he recognized was too obviously the hat of an English officer. The +burgher to whom he gave money to purchase him another +innocently brought him a Boer sombrero. + +Before his chance to escape came a month elapsed, and the +opportunity that then offered was less an opportunity to escape +than to get himself shot. + +The State Model Schools were surrounded by the children's +playgrounds, penned in by a high wall, and at night, while they +were used as a prison, brilliantly lighted by electric lights. After +many nights of observation, Churchill discovered that while the +sentries were pacing their beats there was a moment when to them +a certain portion of the wall was in darkness. This was due to +cross-shadows cast by the electric lights. On the other side of this +wall there was a private house set in a garden filled with bushes. +Beyond this was the open street. + +To scale the wall was not difficult; the real danger lay in the fact +that at no time were the sentries farther away than fifteen yards, +and the chance of being shot by one or both of them was excellent. +To a brother officer Churchill confided his purpose, and together +they agreed that some night when the sentries had turned from the +dark spot on the wall they would scale it and drop among the +bushes in the garden. After they reached the garden, should they +reach it alive, what they were to do they did not know. How they +were to proceed through the streets and out of the city, how they +were to pass unchallenged under its many electric lights and before +the illuminated shop windows, how to dodge patrols, and how to +find their way through two hundred and eighty miles of a South +African wilderness, through an utterly unfamiliar, unfriendly, and +sparsely settled country into Portuguese territory and the coast, +they left to chance. But with luck they hoped to cover the distance +in a fortnight, begging corn at the Kaffir kraals, sleeping by day, +and marching under cover of the darkness. + +They agreed to make the attempt on the 11th of December, but on +that night the sentries did not move from the only part of the wall +that was in shadow. On the night following, at the last moment, +something delayed Churchill's companion, and he essayed the +adventure alone. He writes: "Tuesday, the 12th! Anything was +better than further suspense. Again night came. Again the dinner +bell sounded. Choosing my opportunity, I strolled across the +quadrangle and secreted myself in one of the offices. Through a +chink I watched the sentries. For half an hour they remained stolid +and obstructive. Then suddenly one turned and walked up to his +comrade and they began to talk. Their backs were turned. + +I darted out of my hiding-place and ran to the wall, seized the top +with my hands and drew myself up. Twice I let myself down again +in sickly hesitation, and then with a third resolve scrambled up. +The top was flat. Lying on it, I had one parting glimpse of the +sentries, still talking, still with their backs turned, but, I repeat, +still fifteen yards away. Then I lowered myself into the adjoining +garden and crouched among the shrubs. I was free. The first step +had been taken, and it was irrevocable." + +Churchill discovered that the house into the garden of which he +had so unceremoniously introduced himself was brilliantly lighted, +and that the owner was giving a party. At one time two of the +guests walked into the garden and stood, smoking and chatting, in +the path within a few yards of him. + +Thinking his companion might yet join him, for an hour he +crouched in the bushes, until from the other side of the wall he +heard the voices of his friend and of another officer. + +"It's all up!" his friend whispered. Churchill coughed tentatively. +The two voices drew nearer. To confuse the sentries, should they +be listening, the one officer talked nonsense, laughed loudly, and +quoted Latin phrases, while the other, in a low and distinct voice, +said: " I cannot get out. The sentry suspects. It's all up. Can you get +back again?" + +To go back was impossible. Churchill now felt that in any case he +was sure to be recaptured, and decided he would, as he expresses +it, at least have a run for his money. + +"I shall go on alone," he whispered. + +He heard the footsteps of his two friends move away from him +across the play yard. At the same moment he stepped boldly out +into the garden and, passing the open windows of the house, +walked down the gravel path to the street. Not five yards from the +gate stood a sentry. Most of those guarding the school-house knew +him by sight, but Churchill did not turn his head, and whether the +sentry recognized him or not, he could not tell. + +For a hundred feet he walked as though on ice, inwardly shrinking +as he waited for the sharp challenge, and the rattle of the Mauser +thrown to the "Ready." His nerves were leaping, his heart in his +throat, his spine of water. And then, as he continued to advance, +and still no tumult pursued him, he quickened his pace and turned +into one of the main streets of Pretoria. The sidewalks were +crowded with burghers, but no one noticed him. This was due +probably to the fact that the Boers wore no distinctive uniform, +and that with them in their commandoes were many English +Colonials who wore khaki riding breeches, and many Americans, +French, Germans, and Russians, in every fashion of semi-uniform. + +If observed, Churchill was mistaken for one of these, and the very +openness of his movements saved him from suspicion. + +Straight through the town he walked until he reached the suburbs, +the open veldt, and a railroad track. As he had no map or compass +he knew this must be his only guide, but he knew also that two +railroads left Pretoria, the one along which he had been captured, +to Pietermaritzburg, and the other, the one leading to the coast and +freedom. Which of the two this one was he had no idea, but he +took his chance, and a hundred yards beyond a station waited for +the first outgoing train. About midnight, a freight stopped at the +station, and after it had left it and before it had again gathered +headway, Churchill swung himself up upon it, and stretched out +upon a pile of coal. Throughout the night the train continued +steadily toward the east, and so told him that it was the one he +wanted, and that he was on his way to the neutral territory of +Portugal. + +Fearing the daylight, just before the sun rose, as the train was +pulling up a steep grade, he leaped off into some bushes. All that +day he lay hidden, and the next night he walked. He made but little +headway. As all stations and bridges were guarded, he had to make +long detours, and the tropical moonlight prevented him from +crossing in the open. In this way, sleeping by day, walking by +night, begging food from the Kaffirs, five days passed. + +Meanwhile, his absence had been at once discovered, and, by the +Boers, every effort was being made to retake him. Telegrams +giving his description were sent along both railways, three +thousand photographs of him were distributed, each car of every +train was searched, and in different parts of the Transvaal men +who resembled him were being arrested. It was said he had +escaped dressed as a woman; in the uniform of a Transvaal +policeman whom he had bribed; that he had never left Pretoria, +and that in the disguise of a waiter he was concealed in the house +of a British sympathizer. On the strength of this rumor the houses +of all suspected persons were searched. + +In the Volksstem it was pointed out as a significant fact that a +week before his escape Churchill had drawn from the library Mill's +"Essay on Liberty." + +In England and over all British South Africa the escape created as +much interest as it did in Pretoria. Because the attempt showed +pluck, and because he had outwitted the enemy, Churchill for the +time became a sort of popular hero, and to his countrymen his +escape gave as much pleasure as it was a cause of chagrin to the +Boers. + +But as days passed and nothing was heard of him, it was feared he +had lost himself in the Machadodorp Mountains, or had +succumbed to starvation, or, in the jungle toward the coast, to +fever, and congratulations gave way to anxiety. + +The anxiety was justified, for at this time Churchill was in a very +bad way. During the month in prison he had obtained but little +exercise. The lack of food and of water, the cold by night and the +terrific heat by day, the long stumbling marches in the darkness, +the mental effect upon an extremely nervous, high-strung +organization of being hunted, and of having to hide from his +fellow men, had worn him down to a condition almost of collapse. + +Even though it were neutral soil, in so exhausted a state he dared +not venture into the swamps and waste places of the Portuguese +territory; and, sick at heart as well as sick in body, he saw no +choice left him save to give himself up. + +But before doing so he carefully prepared a tale which, although +most improbable, he hoped might still conceal his identity and aid +him to escape by train across the border. + +One night after days of wandering he found himself on the +outskirts of a little village near the boundary line of the Transvaal +and Portuguese territory. Utterly unable to proceed further, he +crawled to the nearest zinc-roofed shack, and, fully prepared to +surrender, knocked at the door. It was opened by a rough-looking, +bearded giant, the first white man to whom in many days Churchill +had dared address himself. + +To him, without hope, he feebly stammered forth the speech he +had rehearsed. The man listened with every outward mark of +disbelief. At Churchill himself he stared with open suspicion. +Suddenly he seized the boy by the shoulder, drew him inside the +hut, and barred the door. + +"You needn't lie to me," he said. "You are Winston Churchill, and +I--am the only Englishman in this village." + +The rest of the adventure was comparatively easy. The next night +his friend in need, an engineer named Howard, smuggled Churchill + Into a freight-car, and hid him under sacks of some soft +merchandise. + +At Komatie-Poort, the station on the border, for eighteen hours the +car in which Churchill lay concealed was left in the sun on a +siding, and before it again started it was searched, but the man who +was conducting the search lifted only the top layer of sacks, and a +few minutes later Churchill heard the hollow roar of the car as it +passed over the bridge, and knew that he was across the border. + +Even then he took no chances, and for two days more lay hidden at +the bottom of the car. + +When at last he arrived in Lorenzo Marques he at once sought out +the English Consul, who, after first mistaking him for a stoker +from one of the ships in the harbor, gave him a drink, a bath, and a +dinner. + +As good luck would have it, the _Induna_ was leaving that night +for Durban, and, escorted by a body-guard of English residents +armed with revolvers, and who were taking no chances of his +recapture by the Boer agents, he was placed safely on board. Two +days later he arrived at Durban, where he was received by the +Mayor, the populace, and a brass band playing: "Britons Never, +Never, Never shall be Slaves!" + +For the next month Churchill was bombarded by letters and +telegrams from every part of the globe, some invited him to +command filibustering expeditions, others sent him woollen +comforters, some forwarded photographs of himself to be signed, +others photographs of themselves, possibly to be admired, others +sent poems, and some bottles of whiskey. + +One admirer wrote: "My congratulations on your wonderful and +glorious deeds, which will send such a thrill of pride and +enthusiasm through Great Britain and the United States of +America, that the Anglo-Saxon race will be irresistible." + +Lest so large an order as making the Anglo-Saxon race irresistible +might turn the head of a subaltern, an antiseptic cablegram was +also sent him, from London, reading: + +"Best friends here hope you won't go making further ass of +yourself. + +"McNEILL." + +One day in camp we counted up the price per word of this +cablegram, and Churchill was delighted to find that it must have +cost the man who sent it five pounds. + +On the day of his arrival in Durban, with the cheers still in the air, +Churchill took the first train to "the front," then at Colenso. +Another man might have lingered. After a month's imprisonment +and the hardships of the escape, he might have been excused for +delaying twenty-four hours to taste the sweets of popularity and the +flesh-pots of the Queen Hotel. But if the reader has followed this +brief biography he will know that to have done so would have been +out of the part. This characteristic of Churchill's to get on to the +next thing explains his success. He has no time to waste on +postmortems, he takes none to rest on his laurels. + +As a war correspondent and officer he continued with Buller until +the relief of Ladysmith, and with Roberts until the fall of Pretoria. +He was in many actions, in all the big engagements, and came out +of the war with another medal and clasps for six battles. + +On his return to London he spent the summer finishing his second +book on the war, and in October at the general election as a +"khaki" candidate, as those were called who favored the war, again +stood for Oldham. This time, with his war record to help him, he +wrested from the Liberals one of Oldham's two seats. He had been +defeated by thirteen hundred votes; he was elected by a majority of +two hundred and twenty-seven. + +The few months that intervened between his election and the +opening of the new Parliament were snatched by Churchill for a +lecturing tour at home, and in the United States and Canada. His +subject was the war and his escape from Pretoria. + +When he came to this country half of the people here were in +sympathy with the Boers, and did not care to listen to what they +supposed would be a strictly British version of the war. His +manager, without asking permission of those whose names he +advertised, organized for Churchill's first appearance in various +cities, different reception committees. + +Some of those whose names, without their consent, were used for +these committees, wrote indignantly to the papers, saying that +while for Churchill, personally, they held every respect, they +objected to being used to advertise an anti-Boer demonstration. + +While this was no fault of Churchill's, who, until he reached this +country knew nothing of it, it was neither for him nor for the +success of his tour the best kind of advance work. + +During the fighting to relieve Ladysmith, with General Buller's +force, Churchill and I had again been together, and later when I +joined the Boer army, at the Zand River Battle, the army with +which he was a correspondent had chased the army with which I +was a correspondent, forty miles. I had been one of those who +refused to act on his reception committee, and he had come to this +country with a commission from twenty brother officers to shoot +me on sight. But in his lecture he was using the photographs I had +taken of the scene of his escape, and which I had sent him from +Pretoria as a souvenir, and when he arrived I was at the hotel to +welcome him, and that same evening three hours after midnight he +came, in a blizzard, pounding at our door for food and drink. What +is a little thing like a war between friends? + +During his "tour," except of hotels, parlor-cars, and "Lyceums," he +saw very little of this country or of its people, and they saw very +little of him. On the trip, which lasted about two months, he +cleared ten thousand dollars. This, to a young man almost entirely +dependent for an income upon his newspaper work and the sale of +his books, nearly repaid him for the two months of "one night +stands." On his return to London he took his seat in the new +Parliament. + +It was a coincidence that he entered Parliament at the same age as +did his father. With two other members, one born six days earlier +than himself, he enjoyed the distinction of being among the three +youngest members of the new House. + +The fact did not seem to appall him. In the House it is a tradition +that young and ambitious members sit "below" the gangway; the +more modest and less assured are content to place themselves +"above" it, at a point farthest removed from the leaders. + +On the day he was sworn in there was much curiosity to see where +Churchill would elect to sit. In his own mind there was apparently +no doubt. After he had taken the oath, signed his name, and shaken +the hand of the Speaker, without hesitation he seated himself on +the bench next to the Ministry. Ten minutes later, so a newspaper +of the day describes it, he had cocked his hat over his eyes, shoved +his hands into his trousers pockets, and was lolling back eying the +veterans of the House with critical disapproval. + +His maiden speech was delivered in May, 1901, in reply to David +Lloyd George, who had attacked the conduct of British soldiers in +South Africa. Churchill defended them, and in a manner that from +all sides gained him honest admiration. In the course of the debate +he produced and read a strangely apropos letter which, fifteen +years before, had been written by his father to Lord Salisbury. His +adroit use of this filled H. W. Massingham, the editor of the _Daily +News_, with enthusiasm. Nothing in parliamentary tactics, he +declared, since Mr. Gladstone died, had been so clever. He +proclaimed that Churchill would be Premier. John Dillon, the +Nationalist leader, said he never before had seen a young man, by +means of his maiden effort, spring into the front rank of +parliamentary speakers. He promised that the Irish members would +ungrudgingly testify to his ability and honesty of purpose. Among +others to at once recognize the rising star was T. P. O'Connor, +himself for many years of the parliamentary firmament one of the +brightest stars. In _M. A. P._ he wrote: "I am inclined to think that +the dash of American blood which he has from his mother has +been an improvement on the original stock, and that Mr. Winston +Churchill may turn out to be a stronger and abler politician than +his father." + +It was all a part of Churchill's "luck" that when he entered +Parliament the subject in debate was the conduct of the war. + +Even in those first days of his career in the House, in debates +where angels feared to tread, he did not hesitate to rush in, but this +subject was one on which he spoke with knowledge. Over the +older men who were forced to quote from hearsay or from what +they had read, Churchill had the tremendous advantage of being +able to protest: "You only read of that. I was there. I saw it." + +In the House he became at once one of the conspicuous and +picturesque figures, one dear to the heart of the caricaturist, and +one from the strangers' gallery most frequently pointed out. He was +called "the spoiled child of the House," and there were several +distinguished gentlemen who regretted they were forced to spare +the rod. Broderick, the Secretary for War, was one of these. Of him +and of his recruits in South Africa, Churchill spoke with the awful +frankness of the _enfant terrible_. And although he addressed them +more with sorrow than with anger, to Balfour and Chamberlain he +daily administered advice and reproof, while mere generals and +field-marshals, like Kitchener and Roberts, blushing under new +titles, were held up for public reproof and briefly but severely +chastened. Nor, when he saw Lord Salisbury going astray, did he +hesitate in his duty to the country, but took the Prime Minister by +the hand and gently instructed him in the way he should go. + +This did not tend to make him popular, but in spite of his +unpopularity, in his speeches against national extravagancies he +made so good a fight that he forced the Government, unwillingly, +to appoint a committee to investigate the need of economy. For a +beginner this was a distinct triumph. + +With Lord Hugh Cecil, Lord Percy, Ian Malcolm, and other clever +young men, he formed inside the Conservative Party a little group +that in its obstructive and independent methods was not unlike the +Fourth Party of his father. From its leader and its filibustering, +guerilla-like tactics the men who composed it were nicknamed the +"Hughligans." The Hughligans were the most active critics of the +Ministry and of all in their own party, and as members of the Free +Food League they bitterly attacked the fiscal proposals of Mr. +Chamberlain. When Balfour made Chamberlain's fight for fair +trade, or for what virtually was protection, a measure of the +Conservatives, the lines of party began to break, and men were no +longer Conservatives or Liberals, but Protectionists or Free +Traders. + +Against this Churchill daily protested, against Chamberlain, +against his plan, against that plan being adopted by the Tory Party. +By tradition, by inheritance, by instinct, Churchill was a Tory. + +"I am a Tory," he said, "and I have as much right in the party as has +anybody else, certainly as much as certain people from +Birmingham. They can't turn us out, and we, the Tory Free +Traders, have as much right to dictate the policy of the +Conservative Party as have any reactionary Fair Traders." In 1904 +the Conservative Party already recognized Churchill as one +working outside the breastworks. Just before the Easter vacation of +that year, when he rose to speak a remarkable demonstration was +made against him by his Unionist colleagues, all of them rising +and leaving the House. + +To the Liberals who remained to hear him he stated that if to his +constituents his opinions were obnoxious, he was ready to resign +his seat. It then was evident he would go over to the Liberal Party. +Some thought he foresaw which way the tidal wave was coming, +and to being slapped down on the beach and buried in the sand, he +preferred to be swept forward on its crest. Others believed he left +the Conservatives because he could not honestly stomach the taxed +food offered by Mr. Chamberlain. + +In any event, if he were to be blamed for changing from one party +to the other, he was only following the distinguished example set +him by Gladstone, Disraeli, Harcourt, and his own father. + +It was at the time of this change that he was called "the best hated +man in England," but the Liberals welcomed him gladly, and the +National Liberal Club paid him the rare compliment of giving in +his honor a banquet. There were present two hundred members. +Up to that time this dinner was the most marked testimony to his +importance in the political world. It was about then, a year since, +that he prophesied: "Within nine months there will come such a +tide and deluge as will sweep through England and Scotland, and +completely wash out and effect a much-needed spring cleaning in +Downing Street." + +When the deluge came, at Manchester, Mr. Balfour was defeated, +and Churchill was victorious, and when the new Government was +formed the tidal wave landed Churchill in the office of +Under-Secretary for the Colonies. + +While this is being written the English papers say that within a +month he again will be promoted. For this young man of thirty the +only promotion remaining is a position in the Cabinet, in which +august body men of fifty are considered young. + +His is a picturesque career. Of any man of his few years speaking +our language, his career is probably the most picturesque. And that +he is half an American gives all of us an excuse to pretend we +share in his successes. + +CAPTAIN PHILO NORTON McGIFFIN + +IN the Chinese-Japanese War the battle of the Yalu was the first +battle fought between warships of modern make, and, except on +paper, neither the men who made them nor the men who fought +them knew what the ships could do, or what they might not do. For +years every naval power had been building these new engines of +war, and in the battle which was to test them the whole world was +interested. But in this battle Americans had a special interest, a +human, family interest, for the reason that one of the Chinese +squadron, which was matched against some of the same vessels of +Japan which lately swept those of Russia from the sea, was +commanded by a young graduate of the American Naval Academy. +This young man, who, at the time of the battle of the Yalu, was +thirty-three years old, was Captain Philo Norton McGiffin. So it +appears that five years before our fleet sailed to victory in Manila +Bay another graduate of Annapolis, and one twenty years younger +than in 1898 was Admiral Dewey, had commanded in action a +modern battleship, which, in tonnage, in armament, and in the +number of the ships' company, far outclassed Dewey's _Olympia_. + +McGiffin, who was born on December 13, 1860, came of fighting +stock. Back in Scotland the family is descended from the Clan +MacGregor and the Clan MacAlpine. + +"These are Clan-Alpine's warriors true, +And, Saxon--I am Roderick Dhu." + +McGiffin's great-grandfather, born in Scotland, emigrated to this +country and settled in "Little Washington," near Pittsburg, Pa. In +the Revolutionary War he was a soldier. Other relatives fought in +the War of 1812, one of them holding a commission as major. +McGiffin's own father was Colonel Norton McGiffin, who served +in the Mexican War, and in the Civil War was Lieutenant-Colonel +of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers. So McGiffin inherited +his love for arms. + +In Washington he went to the high school and at the Washington +Jefferson College had passed through his freshman year. But the +honors that might accrue to him if he continued to live on in the +quiet and pretty old town of Washington did not tempt him. To +escape into the world he wrote his Congressman, begging him to +obtain for him an appointment to Annapolis. The Congressman +liked the letter, and wrote Colonel McGiffin to ask if the +application of his son had his approval. Colonel McGiffin was +willing, and in 1877 his son received his commission as cadet +midshipman. I knew McGiffin only as a boy with whom in +vacation time I went coon hunting in the woods outside of +Washington. For his age he was a very tall boy, and in his +midshipman undress uniform, to my youthful eyes, appeared a +most bold and adventurous spirit. + +At Annapolis his record seems to show he was pretty much like +other boys. According to his classmates, with all of whom I find he +was very popular, he stood high in the practical studies, such as +seamanship, gunnery, navigation, and steam engineering, but in all +else he was near the foot of the class, and in whatever escapade +was risky and reckless he was always one of the leaders. To him +discipline was extremely irksome. He could maintain it among +others, but when it applied to himself it bored him. On the floor of +the Academy building on which was his room there was a pyramid +of cannon balls--relics of the War of 1812. They stood at the head +of the stairs, and one warm night, when he could not sleep, he +decided that no one else should do so, and, one by one, rolled the +cannon balls down the stairs. They tore away the banisters and +bumped through the wooden steps and leaped off into the lower +halls. For any one who might think of ascending to discover the +motive power back of the bombardment they were extremely +dangerous. But an officer approached McGiffin in the rear, and, +having been caught in the act, he was sent to the prison ship. There +he made good friends with his jailer, an old man-of-warsman +named "Mike." He will be remembered by many naval officers +who as midshipmen served on the _Santee_. McGiffin so won over +Mike that when he left the ship he carried with him six charges of +gunpowder. These he loaded into the six big guns captured in the +Mexican War, which lay on the grass in the centre of the Academy +grounds, and at midnight on the eve of July 1st he fired a salute. It +aroused the entire garrison, and for a week the empty window +frames kept the glaziers busy. + +About 1878 or 1879 there was a famine in Ireland. The people of +New York City contributed provisions for the sufferers, and to +carry the supplies to Ireland the Government authorized the use of +the old _Constellation_. At the time the voyage was to begin each +cadet was instructed to consider himself as having been placed in +command of the _Constellation_ and to write a report on the +preparations made for the voyage, on the loading of the vessel, and +on the distribution of the stores. This exercise was intended for the +instruction of the cadets; first in the matter of seamanship and +navigation, and second in making official reports. At that time it +was a very difficult operation to get a gun out of the port of a +vessel where the gun was on a covered deck. To do this the +necessary tackles had to be rigged from the yard-arm and the yard +and mast properly braced and stayed, and then the lower block of +the tackle carried in through the gun port, which, of course, gave +the fall a very bad reeve. The first part of McGiffin's report dealt +with a new method of dismounting the guns and carrying them +through the gun ports, and so admirable was his plan, so simple +and ingenious, that it was used whenever it became necessary to +dismount a gun from one of the old sailing ships. Having, +however, offered this piece of good work, McGiffin's report +proceeded to tell of the division of the ship into compartments that +were filled with a miscellaneous assortment of stores, which +included the old "fifteen puzzles," at that particular time very +popular. The report terminated with a description of the joy of the +famished Irish as they received the puzzle-boxes. At another time +the cadets were required to write a report telling of the suppression +of the insurrection on the Isthmus of Panama. McGiffin won great +praise for the military arrangements and disposition of his men, +but, in the same report, he went on to describe how he armed them +with a new gun known as Baines's Rhetoric and told of the havoc +he wrought in the enemy's ranks when he fired these guns loaded +with similes and metaphors and hyperboles. + +Of course, after each exhibition of this sort he was sent to the +_Santee_ and given an opportunity to meditate. + +On another occasion, when one of the instructors lectured to the +cadets, he required them to submit a written statement embodying +all that they could recall of what had been said at the lecture. One +of the rules concerning this report provided that there should be no +erasures or interlineations, but that when mistakes were made the +objectionable or incorrect expressions should be included within +parentheses; and that the matter so enclosed within parentheses +would not be considered a part of the report. McGiffin wrote an +excellent _resume_ of the lecture, but he interspersed through it in +parentheses such words as "applause," "cheers," "cat-calls," and +"groans," and as these words were enclosed within parentheses he +insisted that they did not count, and made a very fair plea that he +ought not to be punished for words which slipped in by mistake, +and which he had officially obliterated by what he called oblivion +marks. + +He was not always on mischief bent. On one occasion, when the +house of a professor caught fire, McGiffin ran into the flames and +carried out two children, for which act he was commended by the +Secretary of the Navy. + +It was an act of Congress that determined that the career of +McGiffin should be that of a soldier of fortune. This was a most +unjust act, which provided that only as many midshipmen should +receive commissions as on the warships there were actual +vacancies. In those days, in 1884, our navy was very small. To-day +there is hardly a ship having her full complement of officers, and +the difficulty is not to get rid of those we have educated, but to get +officers to educate. To the many boys who, on the promise that +they would be officers of the navy, had worked for four years at +the Academy and served two years at sea, the act was most unfair. +Out of a class of about ninety, only the first twelve were given +commissions and the remaining eighty turned adrift upon the +uncertain seas of civil life. As a sop, each was given one thousand +dollars. + +McGiffin was not one of the chosen twelve. In the final +examinations on the list he was well toward the tail. But without +having studied many things, and without remembering the greater +part of them, no one graduates from Annapolis, even last on the +list; and with his one thousand dollars in cash, McGiffin had also +this six years of education at what was then the best naval college +in the world. This was his only asset--his education--and as in his +own country it was impossible to dispose of it, for possible +purchasers he looked abroad. + +At that time the Tong King war was on between France and China, +and he decided, before it grew rusty, to offer his knowledge to the +followers of the Yellow Dragon. In those days that was a hazard of +new fortunes that meant much more than it does now. To-day the +East is as near as San Francisco; the Japanese-Russian War, our +occupation of the Philippines, the part played by our troops in the +Boxer trouble, have made the affairs of China part of the daily +reading of every one. Now, one can step into a brass bed at +Forty-second Street and in four days at the Coast get into another +brass bed, and in twelve more be spinning down the Bund of +Yokohama in a rickshaw. People go to Japan for the winter months +as they used to go to Cairo. + +But in 1885 it was no such light undertaking, certainly not for a +young man who had been brought up in the quiet atmosphere of an +inland town, where generations of his family and other families +had lived and intermarried, content with their surroundings. + +With very few of his thousand dollars left him, McGiffin arrived in +February, 1885, in San Francisco. From there his letters to his +family give one the picture of a healthy, warm-hearted youth, +chiefly anxious lest his mother and sister should "worry." In our +country nearly every family knows that domestic tragedy when the +son and heir "breaks home ties," and starts out to earn a living; and +if all the world loves a lover, it at least sympathizes with the boy +who is "looking for a job." The boy who is looking for the job may +not think so, but each of those who has passed through the same +hard place gives him, if nothing else, his good wishes. McGiffin's +letters at this period gain for him from those who have had the +privilege to read them the warmest good feeling. + +They are filled with the same cheery optimism, the same slurring +over of his troubles, the same homely jokes, the same assurances +that he is feeling "bully," and that it all will come out right, that +every boy, when he starts out in the world, sends back to his +mother. + +"I am in first-rate health and spirits, so I don't want you to fuss +about me. I am big enough and ugly enough to scratch along +somehow, and I will not starve." + +To his mother he proudly sends his name written in Chinese +characters, as he had been taught to write it by the Chinese +Consul-General in San Francisco, and a pen-picture of two +elephants. "I am going to bring you home _two_ of these," he +writes, not knowing that in the strange and wonderful country to +which he is going elephants are as infrequent as they are in +Pittsburg. + +He reached China in April, and from Nagasaki on his way to +Shanghai the steamer that carried him was chased by two French +gunboats. But, apparently much to his disappointment, she soon +ran out of range of their guns. Though he did not know it then, +with the enemy he had travelled so far to fight this was his first +and last hostile meeting; for already peace was in the air. + +Of that and of how, in spite of peace, he obtained the "job" he +wanted, he must tell you himself in a letter home: + +TIEN-TSIN, CHINA, April 13, 1885. + +"MY DEAR MOTHER--I have not felt much in the humor for +writing, for I did not know what was going to happen. I spent a +good deal of money coming out, and when I got here, I knew, +unless something turned up, I was a gone coon. We got off Taku +forts Sunday evening and the next morning we went inside; the +channel is very narrow and sown with torpedoes. We struck +one--an electric one--in coming up, but it didn't go off. We were +until 10.30 P.M. in coming up to Tien-Tsin--thirty miles in a +straight line, but nearly seventy by the river, which is only about +one hundred feet wide--and we grounded ten times. + +"Well--at last we moored and went ashore. Brace Girdle, an +engineer, and I went to the hotel, and the first thing we heard +was--that _peace was declared!_ I went back on board ship, and I +didn't sleep much--I never was so blue in my life. I knew if they +didn't want me that I might as well give up the ghost, for I could +never get away from China. Well--I worried around all night +without sleep, and in the morning I felt as if I had been drawn +through a knot-hole. I must have lost ten pounds. I went around +about 10 A.M. and gave my letters to Pethick, an American U. S. +Vice-Consul and interpreter to Li Hung Chang. He said he would +fix them for me. Then I went back to the ship, and as our captain +was going up to see Li Hung Chang, I went along out of +desperation. We got in, and after a while were taken in through +corridor after corridor of the Viceroy's palace until we got into the +great Li, when we sat down and had tea and tobacco and talked +through an interpreter. When it came my turn he asked: 'Why did +you come to China?' I said: 'To enter the Chinese service for the +war.' 'How do you expect to enter?' 'I expect _you_ to give me a +commission!' 'I have no place to offer you.' 'I think you have--I +have come all the way from America to get it.' 'What would you +like?' 'I would like to get the new torpedo-boat and go down the +Yang-tse-Kiang to the blockading squadron.' 'Will you do that?' 'Of +course.' + +"He thought a little and said: 'I will see what can be done. Will you +take $100 a month for a start?' I said: 'That depends.' (Of course I +would take it.) Well, after parley, he said he would put me on the +flagship, and if I did well he would promote me. Then he looked at +me and said: 'How old are you ?' When I told him I was +twenty-four I thought he would faint--for in China a man is a +_boy_ until he is over thirty. He said I would _never_ do--I was a +child. I could not know anything at all. I could not convince him, +but at last he compromised--I was to pass an examination at the +Arsenal at the Naval College, in all branches, and if they passed +me I would have a show. So we parted. I reported for examination +next day, but was put off--same the next day. But to-day I was told +to come, and sat down to a stock of foolscap, and had a pretty stiff +exam. I am only just through. I had seamanship, gunnery, +navigation, nautical astronomy, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, +conic sections, curve tracing, differential and integral calculus. I +had only three questions out of five to answer in each branch, but +in the first three I answered all five. After that I only had time for +three, but at the end he said I need not finish, he was perfectly +satisfied. I had done remarkably well, and he would report to the +Viceroy to-morrow. He examined my first +papers--seamanship--said I was _perfect_ in it, so I will get +_along_, you need not fear. I told the Consul--he was very well +pleased--he is a nice man. + +"I feel pretty well now--have had dinner and am smoking a good +Manila cheroot. I wrote hard all day, wrote fifteen sheets of +foolscap and made about a dozen drawings--got pretty tired. + +"I have had a hard scramble for the service and only got in by the +skin of my teeth. I guess I will go to bed--I will sleep well +to-night--Thursday. + +"I did not hear from the Naval Secretary, Tuesday, so yesterday +morning I went up to the Admiralty and sent in my card. He came +out and received me very well--said I had passed a 'very splendid +examination'; had been recommended very strongly to the Viceroy, +who was very much pleased; that the Director of the Naval College +over at the Arsenal had wanted me and would I go over at once? I +_would_. It was about five miles. We (a friend, who is a great rider +here) went on steeplechase ponies--we were ferried across the Pei +Ho in a small scow and then had a long ride. There _is_ a path--but +Pritchard insisted on taking all the ditches, and as my pony jumped +like a cat, it wasn't nice at first, but I didn't squeal and kept my seat +and got the swing of it at last and rather liked it. I think I will keep +a horse here--you can hire one and a servant together for $7 a +month; that is $5.60 of our money, and pony and man found in +everything. + +"Well--at last we got to the Arsenal--a place about four miles +around, fortified, where all sorts of arms--cartridges, shot and +shell, engines, and _everything_--are made. The Naval College is +inside surrounded by a moat and wall. I thought to myself, if the +cadet here is like to the thing I used to be at the U. S. N. A. _that_ +won't keep him in. I went through a lot of yards till I was ushered +into a room finished in black ebony and was greeted very warmly +by the Director. We took seats on a raised platform--Chinese style +and pretty soon an interpreter came, one of the Chinese professors, +who was educated abroad, and we talked and drank tea. He said I +had done well, that he had the authority of the Viceroy to take me +there as 'Professor' of seamanship and gunnery; in addition I might +be required to teach navigation or nautical astronomy, or drill the +cadets in infantry, artillery, and fencing. For this I was to receive +what would be in our money $1,800 per annum, as near as we can +compare it, paid in gold each month. Besides, I will have a house +furnished for my use, and it is their intention, as soon as I _show_ +that I _know_ something, to considerably increase my pay. They +asked the Viceroy to give me 130 T per month (about $186) and +house, but the Viceroy said I was _but a boy_; that I had seen no +years and had only come here a week ago with no one to vouch for +me, and that I might turn out an impostor. But he would risk 100 T +on me anyhow, and as soon as I was reported favorably on by the +college I would be raised--the agreement is to be for three years. +For a few months I am to command a training ship--an ironclad +that is in dry dock at present, until a captain in the English Navy +comes out, who has been sent for to command her. + +"_So Here I am_--twenty-four years old and captain of a +man-of-war--a better one than any in our own navy--only for a +short time, of course, but I would be a pretty long time before I +would command one at home. Well--I accepted and will enter on +my duties in a week, as soon as my house is put in order. I saw +it--it has a long veranda, very broad; with flower garden, apricot +trees, etc., just covered with blossoms; a wide hall on the front, a +room about 18x15, with a 13-foot ceiling; then back another rather +larger, with a cupola skylight in the centre, where I am going to +put a shelf with flowers. The Government is to furnish the house +with bed, tables, chairs, sideboards, lounges, stove for kitchen. I +have grates (American) in the room, but I don't need them. We +have snow, and a good deal of ice in winter, but the thermometer +never gets below zero. I have to supply my own crockery. I will +have two servants and cook; I will only get one and the cook +first--they only cost $4 to $5.50 per month, and their board +amounts to very little. I can get along, don't you think so? Now I +want you to get Jim to pack up all my professional works on +gunnery, surveying, seamanship, mathematics, astronomy, algebra, +geometry, trigonometry, conic sections, calculus, mechanics, and +_every_ book of that description I own, including those +paperbound 'Naval Institute' papers, and put them in a box, +together with any photos, etc., you think I would like--I have none +of you or Pa or the family (including Carrie)--and send to me. + +"I just got in in time--didn't I? Another week would have been too +late. My funds were getting low; I would not have had _anything_ +before long. The U. S. Consul, General Bromley, is much pleased. +The interpreter says it was all in the way I did with the Viceroy in +the interview. + +"I will have a chance to go to Peking and later to a tiger hunt in +Mongolia, but for the present I am going to study, work, and +_stroke_ these mandarins till I get a raise. I am the only instructor +in both seamanship and gunnery, and I must know _everything_, +both practically and theoretically. But it will be good for me and +the only thing is, that if I were put back into the Navy I would be +in a dilemma. I think I will get my 'influence' to work, and I want +you people at home to look out, and in case I _am_--if it were +represented to the Sec. that my position here was giving me an +immense lot of practical knowledge professionally--more than I +could get on a ship at sea--I think he would give me two years' +leave on half or quarter pay. Or, I would be willing to do without +pay--only to be kept on the register in my rank. + +"I will write more about this. Love to all." + + +It is characteristic of McGiffin that in the very same letter in which +he announces he has entered foreign service he plans to return to +that of his own country. This hope never left him. You find the +same homesickness for the quarterdeck of an American +man-of-war all through his later letters. At one time a bill to +reinstate the midshipmen who had been cheated of their +commissions was introduced into Congress. Of this McGiffin +writes frequently as "our bill." "It may pass," he writes, "but I am +tired hoping. I have hoped so long. And if it should," he adds +anxiously, "there may be a time limit set in which a man must +rejoin, or lose his chance, so do not fail to let me know as quickly +as you can." But the bill did not pass, and McGiffin never returned +to the navy that had cut him adrift. He settled down at Tien-Tsin +and taught the young cadets how to shoot. Almost all of those who +in the Chinese-Japanese War served as officers were his pupils. As +the navy grew, he grew with it, and his position increased in +importance. More Mexican dollars per month, more servants, +larger houses, and buttons of various honorable colors were given +him, and, in return, he established for China a modem naval +college patterned after our own. In those days throughout China +and Japan you could find many of these foreign advisers. Now, in +Japan, the Hon. W. H. Dennison of the Foreign Office, one of our +own people, is the only foreigner with whom the Japanese have +not parted, and in China there are none. Of all of those who have +gone none served his employers more faithfully than did McGiffin. +At a time when every official robbed the people and the +Government, and when "squeeze" or "graft" was recognized as a +perquisite, McGiffin's hands were clean. The shells purchased for +the Government by him were not loaded with black sand, nor were +the rifles fitted with barrels of iron pipe. Once a year he celebrated +the Thanksgiving Day of his own country by inviting to a great +dinner all the Chinese naval officers who had been at least in part +educated in America. It was a great occasion, and to enjoy it +officers used to come from as far as Port Arthur, Shanghai, and +Hong-Kong. So fully did some of them appreciate the efforts of +their host that previous to his annual dinner, for twenty-four hours, +they delicately starved themselves. + +During ten years McGiffin served as naval constructor and +professor of gunnery and seamanship, and on board ships at sea +gave practical demonstrations in the handling of the new cruisers. +In 1894 he applied for leave, which was granted, but before he had +sailed for home war with Japan was declared and he withdrew his +application. He was placed as second in command on board the +_Chen Yuen_, a seven-thousand-ton battleship, a sister ship to the +_Ting Yuen_, the flagship of Admiral Ting Ju Chang. On the +memorable 17th of September, 1894, the battle of the Yalu was +fought, and so badly were the Chinese vessels hammered that the +Chinese navy, for the time being, was wiped out of existence. + +From the start the advantage was with the Japanese fleet. In heavy +guns the Chinese were the better armed, but in quick-firing guns +the Japanese were vastly superior, and while the Chinese +battleships _Ting Yuen_ and _Chen Yuen_, each of 7,430 tons, +were superior to any of the Japanese warships, the three largest of +which were each of 4,277 tons, the gross tonnage of the Japanese +fleet was 36,000 to 21,000 of the Chinese. During the progress of +the battle the ships engaged on each side numbered an even dozen, +but at the very start, before a decisive shot was fired by either +contestant, the _Tsi Yuen_, 2,355 tons, and _Kwan Chiae_, 1,300 +tons, ran away, and before they had time to get into the game the +_Chao Yung_ and _Yang Wei_ were in flames and had fled to the +nearest land. So the battle was fought by eight Chinese ships +against twelve of the Japanese. Of the Chinese vessels, the +flagship, commanded by Admiral Ting, and her sister ship, which +immediately after the beginning of the fight was for four hours +commanded by McGiffin, were the two chief aggressors, and in +consequence received the fire of the entire Japanese squadron. +Toward the end of the fight, which without interruption lasted for +five long hours, the Japanese did not even consider the four +smaller ships of the enemy, but, sailing around the two ironclads in +a circle, fired only at them. The Japanese themselves testified that +these two ships never lost their +formation, and that when her sister ironclad was closely pressed +the _Chen Yuen_, by her movements and gun practice, protected +the _Ting Yuen_, and, in fact, while she could not prevent the +heavy loss the fleet encountered, preserved it from annihilation. +During the fight this ship was almost continuously on fire, and was +struck by every kind of projectile, from the thirteen-inch Canet +shells to a rifle bullet, four hundred times. McGiffin himself was +so badly wounded, so beaten about by concussions, so burned, and +so bruised by steel splinters, that his health and eyesight were +forever wrecked. But he brought the _Chen Yuen_ safely into Port +Arthur and the remnants of the fleet with her. + +On account of his lack of health he resigned from the Chinese +service and returned to America. For two years he lived in New +York City, suffering in body without cessation the most exquisite +torture. During that time his letters to his family show only +tremendous courage. On the splintered, gaping deck of the _Chen +Yuen_, with the fires below it, and the shells bursting upon it, he +had shown to his Chinese crew the courage of the white man who +knew he was responsible for them and for the honor of their +country. But far greater and more difficult was the courage he +showed while alone in the dark sick-room, and in the private wards +of the hospitals. + +In the letters he dictates from there he still is concerned only lest +those at home shall "worry"; he reassures them with falsehoods, +jokes at their fears; of the people he can see from the window of +the hospital tells them foolish stories; for a little boy who has been +kind he asks them to send him his Chinese postage stamps; he +plans a trip he will take with them when he is stronger, knowing he +never will be stronger. The doctors had urged upon him a certain +operation, and of it to a friend he wrote: "I know that I will have to +have a piece about three inches square cut out of my skull, and this +nerve cut off near the middle of the brain, as well as my eye taken +out (for a couple of hours only, provided it is not mislaid, and can +be found). Doctor ------ and his crowd show a bad memory for +failures. As a result of this operation others have told me--I forget +the percentage of deaths, which does not matter, but--that a large +percentage have become insane. And some lost their sight." + +While threatened with insanity and complete blindness, and hourly +from his wounds suffering a pain drugs could not master, he +dictated for the _Century Magazine_ the only complete account of +the battle of the Yalu. In a letter to Mr. Richard Watson Gilder he +writes: "...my eyes are troubling me. I cannot see even what I am +writing now, and am getting the article under difficulties. I yet +hope to place it in your hands by the 21st, still, if my eyes grow +worse------" + +"Still, if my eyes grow worse------" + +The unfinished sentence was grimly prophetic. + +Unknown to his attendants at the hospital, among the papers in his +despatch-box he had secreted his service revolver. On the morning +of the 11th of February, 1897, he asked for this box, and on some +pretext sent the nurse from the room. When the report of the pistol +brought them running to his bedside, they found the pain-driven +body at peace, and the tired eyes dark forever. + +In the article in the _Century_ on the battle of the Yalu, he had +said: + +"Chief among those who have died for their country is Admiral +Ting Ju Chang, a gallant soldier and true gentleman. Betrayed by +his countrymen, fighting against odds, almost his last official act +was to stipulate for the lives of his officers and men. His own he +scorned to save, well knowing that his ungrateful country would +prove less merciful than his honorable foe. Bitter, indeed, must +have been the reflections of the old, wounded hero, in that +midnight hour, as he drank the poisoned cup that was to give him +rest." + +And bitter indeed must have been the reflections of the young +wounded American, robbed, by the parsimony of his country, of +the right he had earned to serve it, and who was driven out to give +his best years and his life for a strange people under a strange flag. + +GENERAL WILLIAM WALKER, +THE KING OF THE FILIBUSTERS + +IT is safe to say that to members of the younger generation the +name of William Walker conveys absolutely nothing. To them, as +a name, "William Walker" awakens no pride of race or country. It +certainly does not suggest poetry and adventure. To obtain a place +in even this group of Soldiers of Fortune, William Walker, the +most distinguished of all American Soldiers of Fortune, the one +who but for his own countrymen would have single-handed +attained the most far-reaching results, had to wait his turn behind +adventurers of other lands and boy officers of his own. And yet +had this man with the plain name, the name that to-day means +nothing, accomplished what he adventured, he would on this +continent have solved the problem of slavery, have established an +empire in Mexico and in Central America, and, incidentally, have +brought us into war with all of Europe. That is all he would have +accomplished. + +In the days of gold in San Francisco among the "Forty-niners" +William Walker was one of the most famous, most picturesque +and popular figures. Jack Oakhurst, gambler; Colonel Starbottle, +duellist; Yuba Bill, stage-coach driver, were his contemporaries. +Bret Harte was one of his keenest admirers, and in two of his +stories, thinly disguised under a more appealing name, Walker is +the hero. When, later, Walker came to New York City, in his +honor Broadway from the Battery to Madison Square was +bedecked with flags and arches. "It was roses, roses all the way." +The house-tops rocked and swayed. + +In New Orleans, where in a box at the opera he made his first +appearance, for ten minutes the performance came to a pause, +while the audience stood to salute him. + +This happened less than fifty years ago, and there are men who as +boys were out with "Walker of Nicaragua," and who are still active +in the public life of San Francisco and New York. + +Walker was born in 1824, in Nashville, Tenn. He was the oldest +son of a Scotch banker, a man of a deeply religious mind, and +interested in a business which certainly is removed, as far as +possible, from the profession of arms. Indeed, few men better than +William Walker illustrate the fact that great generals are born, not +trained. Everything in Walker's birth, family tradition, and +education pointed to his becoming a member of one of the +"learned" professions. It was the wish of his father that he should +be a minister of the Presbyterian Church, and as a child he was +trained with that end in view. He himself preferred to study +medicine, and after graduating at the University of Tennessee, at +Edinburgh he followed a course of lectures, and for two years +travelled in Europe, visiting many of the great hospitals. + +Then having thoroughly equipped himself to practise as a +physician, after a brief return to his native city, and as short a stay +in Philadelphia, he took down his shingle forever, and proceeded +to New Orleans to study law. In two years he was admitted to the +bar of Louisiana. But because clients were few, or because the red +tape of the law chafed his spirit, within a year, as already he had +abandoned the Church and Medicine, he abandoned his law +practice and became an editorial writer on the New Orleans +_Crescent_. A year later the restlessness which had rebelled +against the grave professions led him to the gold fields of +California, and San Francisco. There, in 1852, at the age of only +twenty-eight, as editor of the San Francisco _Herald_, Walker +began his real life which so soon was to end in both disaster and +glory. + +Up to his twenty-eighth year, except in his restlessness, nothing in +his life foreshadowed what was to follow. Nothing pointed to him +as a man for whom thousands of other men, from every capital of +the world, would give up their lives. + +Negatively, by abandoning three separate callings, and in making it +plain that a professional career did not appeal to him, Walker had +thrown a certain sidelight on his character; but actively he never +had given any hint that under the thoughtful brow of the young +doctor and lawyer there was a mind evolving schemes of empire, +and an ambition limited only by the two great oceans. + +Walker's first adventure was undoubtedly inspired by and in +imitation of one which at the time of his arrival in San Francisco +had just been brought to a disastrous end. This was the De +Boulbon expedition into Mexico. The Count Gaston Raoulx de +Raousset-Boulbon was a young French nobleman and Soldier of +Fortune, a _chasseur d'Afrique_, a duellist, journalist, dreamer, +who came to California to dig gold. Baron Harden-Hickey, who +was born in San Francisco a few years after Boulbon at the age of +thirty was shot in Mexico, also was inspired to dreams of conquest +by this same gentleman adventurer. + +Boulbon was a young man of large ideas. In the rapid growth of +California he saw a threat to Mexico and proposed to that +government, as a "buffer" state between the two republics, to form +a French colony in the Mexican State of Sonora. Sonora is that part +of Mexico which directly joins on the south with our State of +Arizona. The President of Mexico gave Boulbon permission to +attempt this, and in 1852 he landed at Guaymas in the Gulf of +California with two hundred and sixty well-armed Frenchmen. The +ostensible excuse of Boulbon for thus invading foreign soil was his +contract with the President under which his "emigrants" were hired +to protect other foreigners working in the "Restauradora" mines +from the attacks of Apache Indians from our own Arizona. But +there is evidence that back of Boulbon was the French +Government, and that he was attempting, in his small way, what +later was attempted by Maximilian, backed by a French army corps +and Louis Napoleon, to establish in Mexico an empire under +French protection. For both the filibuster and the emperor the end +was the same; to be shot by the fusillade against a church wall. + +In 1852, two years before Boulbon's death, which was the finale to +his second filibustering expedition into Sonora, he wrote to a +friend in Paris: "Europeans are disturbed by the growth of the +United States. And rightly so. Unless she be dismembered; unless +a powerful rival be built up beside her (_i .e._, France in Mexico), +America will become, through her commerce, her trade, her +population, her geographical position upon two oceans, the +inevitable mistress of the world. In ten years Europe dare not fire a +shot without her permission. As I write fifty Americans prepare to +sail for Mexico and go perhaps to victory. _Voila les Etats-Unis_." + +These fifty Americans who, in the eyes of Boulbon, threatened the +peace of Europe, were led by the ex-doctor, ex-lawyer, ex-editor, +William Walker, _aged twenty-eight years_. Walker had attempted +but had failed to obtain from the Mexican Government such a +contract as the one it had granted De Boulbon. He accordingly +sailed without it, announcing that, whether the Mexican +Government asked him to do so or not, he would see that the +women and children on the border of Mexico and Arizona were +protected from massacre by the Indians. It will be remembered that +when Dr. Jameson raided the Transvaal he also went to protect +"women and children" from massacre by the Boers. Walker's +explanation of his expedition, in his own words, is as follows. He +writes in the third person: "What Walker saw and heard satisfied +him that a comparatively small body of Americans might gain a +position on the Sonora frontier and protect the families on the +border from the Indians, and such an act would be one of humanity +whether or not sanctioned by the Mexican Government. The +condition of the upper part of Sonora was at that time, and still is +[he was writing eight years later, in 1860], a disgrace to the +civilization of the continent...and the people of the United States +were more immediately responsible before the world for the +Apache outrages. Northern Sonora was in fact, more under the +dominion of the Apaches than under the laws of Mexico, and the +contributions of the Indians were collected with greater regularity +and certainty than the dues of the tax-gatherers. The state of this +region furnished the best defence for any American aiming to +settle there without the formal consent of Mexico; and, although +political changes would certainly have followed the establishment +of a colony, they might be justified by the plea that any social +organization, no matter how secured, is preferable to that in which +individuals and families are altogether at the mercy of savages." + +While at the time of Jameson's raid the women and children in +danger of massacre from the Boers were as many as there are +snakes in Ireland, at the time of Walker's raid the women and +children were in danger from the Indians, who as enemies, as +Walker soon discovered, were as cruel and as greatly to be feared +as he had described them. + +But it was not to save women and children that Walker sought to +conquer the State of Sonora. At the time of his expedition the great +question of slavery was acute; and if in the States next to be +admitted to the Union slavery was to be prohibited, the time had +come, so it seemed to this statesman of twenty-eight years, when +the South must extend her boundaries, and for her slaves find an +outlet in fresh territory. Sonora already joined Arizona. By +conquest her territory could easily be extended to meet Texas. As a +matter of fact, strategically the spot selected by William Walker +for the purpose for which he desired it was almost perfect. +Throughout his brief career one must remember that the spring of +all his acts was this dream of an empire where slavery would be +recognized. His mother was a slave-holder. In Tennessee he had +been born and bred surrounded by slaves. His youth and manhood +had been spent in Nashville and New Orleans. He believed as +honestly, as fanatically in the right to hold slaves as did his father +in the faith of the Covenanters. To-day one reads his arguments in +favor of slavery with the most curious interest. His appeal to the +humanity of his reader, to his heart, to his sense of justice, to his +fear of God, and to his belief in the Holy Bible not to abolish +slavery, but to continue it, to this generation is as amusing as the +topsy-turvyisms of Gilbert or Shaw. But to the young man himself +slavery was a sacred institution, intended for the betterment of +mankind, a God-given benefit to the black man and a God-given +right of his white master. + +White brothers in the South, with perhaps less exalted motives, +contributed funds to fit out Walker's expedition, and in October, +1852, with forty-five men, he landed at Cape St. Lucas, at the +extreme point of Lower California. Lower California, it must be +remembered, in spite of its name, is not a part of our California, +but then was, and still is, a part of Mexico. The fact that he was at +last upon the soil of the enemy caused Walker to throw off all +pretence; and instead of hastening to protect women and children, +he sailed a few miles farther up the coast to La Paz. With his +forty-five followers he raided the town, made the Governor a +prisoner, and established a republic with himself as President. In a +proclamation he declared the people free of the tyranny of Mexico. +They had no desire to be free, but Walker was determined, and, +whether they liked it or not, they woke up to find themselves an +independent republic. A few weeks later, although he had not yet +set foot there, Walker annexed on paper the State of Sonora, and to +both States gave the name of the Republic of Sonora. + +As soon as word of this reached San Francisco, his friends busied +themselves in his behalf, and the danger-loving and adventurous of +all lands were enlisted as "emigrants" and shipped to him in the +bark _Anita_. + +Two months later, in November, 1852, three hundred of these +joined Walker. They were as desperate a band of scoundrels as +ever robbed a sluice, stoned a Chinaman, or shot a "Greaser." +When they found that to command them there was only a boy, they +plotted to blow up the magazine in which the powder was stored, +rob the camp, and march north, supporting themselves by looting +the ranches. Walker learned of their plot, tried the ringleaders by +court-martial, and shot them. With a force as absolutely +undisciplined as was his, the act required the most complete +personal courage. That was a quality the men with him could fully +appreciate. They saw they had as a leader one who could fight, and +one who would punish. The majority did not want a leader who +would punish so when Walker called upon those who would +follow him to Sonora to show their hands, only the original +forty-five and about forty of the later recruits remained with him. +With less than one hundred men he started to march up the +Peninsula through Lower California, and so around the Gulf to +Sonora. + +From the very start the filibusters were overwhelmed with disaster. +The Mexicans, with Indian allies, skulked on the flanks and rear. +Men who in the almost daily encounters were killed fell into the +hands of the Indians, and their bodies were mutilated. Stragglers +and deserters were run to earth and tortured. Those of the +filibusters who were wounded died from lack of medical care. The +only instruments they possessed with which to extract the +arrow-heads were probes made from ramrods filed to a point. +Their only food was the cattle they killed on the march. The army +was barefoot, the Cabinet in rags, the President of Sonora wore +one boot and one shoe. + +Unable to proceed farther, Walker fell back upon San Vincente, +where he had left the arms and ammunition of the deserters and a +rear-guard of eighteen men. He found not one of these to welcome +him. A dozen had deserted, and the Mexicans had surprised the +rest, lassoing them and torturing them until they died. Walker now +had but thirty-five men. To wait for further re-enforcements from +San Francisco, even were he sure that re-enforcements would +come, was impossible. He determined by forced marches to fight +his way to the boundary line of California. Between him and safety +were the Mexican soldiers holding the passes, and the Indians +hiding on his flanks. When within three miles of the boundary line, +at San Diego, Colonel Melendrez, who commanded the Mexican +forces, sent in a flag of truce, and offered, if they would surrender, +a safe-conduct to all of the survivors of the expedition except the +chief. But the men who for one year had fought and starved for +Walker, would not, within three miles of home, abandon him. + +Melendrez then begged the commander of the United States troops +to order Walker to surrender. Major McKinstry, who was in +command of the United States Army Post at San Diego, refused. +For him to cross the line would be a violation of neutral territory. +On Mexican soil he would neither embarrass the ex-President of +Sonora nor aid him; but he saw to it that if the filibusters reached +American soil, no Mexican or Indian should follow them. + +Accordingly, on the imaginary boundary he drew up his troop, and +like an impartial umpire awaited the result. Hidden behind rocks +and cactus, across the hot, glaring plain, the filibusters could see +the American flag, and the gay, fluttering guidons of the cavalry. +The sight gave them heart for one last desperate spurt. Melendrez +also appreciated that for the final attack the moment had come. As +he charged, Walker, apparently routed, fled, but concealed in the +rocks behind him he had stationed a rear-guard of a dozen men. As +Melendrez rode into this ambush the dozen riflemen emptied as +many saddles, and the Mexicans and Indians stampeded. A half +hour later, footsore and famished, the little band that had set forth +to found an empire of slaves, staggered across the line and +surrendered to the forces of the United States. + +Of this expedition James Jeffrey Roche says, in his "Byways of +War," which is of all books published about Walker the most +intensely and fascinatingly interesting and complete: "Years +afterward the peon herdsman or prowling Cocupa Indian in the +mountain by-paths stumbled over the bleaching skeleton of some +nameless one whose resting-place was marked by no cross or +cairn, but the Colts revolver resting beside his bones spoke his +country and his occupation--the only relic of the would-be +conquistadores of the nineteenth century." + +Under parole to report to General Wood, commanding the +Department of the Pacific, the filibusters were sent by sailing +vessel to San Francisco, where their leader was tried for violating +the neutrality laws of the United States, and acquitted. + +Walker's first expedition had ended in failure, but for him it had +been an opportunity of tremendous experience, as active service is +the best of all military academies, and for the kind of warfare he +was to wage, the best preparation. Nor was it inglorious, for his +fellow survivors, contrary to the usual practice, instead of in +bar-rooms placing the blame for failure upon their leader, stood +ready to fight one and all who doubted his ability or his courage. +Later, after five years, many of these same men, though ten to +twenty years his senior, followed him to death, and never +questioned his judgment nor his right to command. + +At this time in Nicaragua there was the usual revolution. On the +south the sister republic of Costa Rica was taking sides, on the +north Honduras was landing arms and men. There was no law, no +government. A dozen political parties, a dozen commanding +generals, and not one strong man. + +In the editorial rooms of the San Francisco _Herald_, Walker, +searching the map for new worlds to conquer, rested his finger +upon Nicaragua. + +In its confusion of authority he saw an opportunity to make +himself a power, and in its tropical wealth and beauty, in the +laziness and incompetence of its inhabitants, he beheld a greater, +fairer, more kind Sonora. On the Pacific side from San Francisco +he could re-enforce his army with men and arms; on the Caribbean +side from New Orleans he could, when the moment arrived, people +his empire with slaves. + +The two parties at war in Nicaragua were the Legitimists and the +Democrats. Why they were at war it is not necessary to know. +Probably Walker did not know; it is not likely that they themselves +knew. But from the leader of the Democrats Walker obtained a +contract to bring to Nicaragua three hundred Americans, who were + each to receive several hundred acres of land, and who were +described as "colonists liable to military duty." This contract +Walker submitted to the Attorney-General of the State and to +General Wood, who once before had acquitted him of +filibustering; and neither of these Federal officers saw anything +which seemed to give them the right to interfere. But the rest of +San Francisco was less credulous, and the "colonists" who joined +Walker had a very distinct idea that they were not going to +Nicaragua to plant coffee or to pick bananas. + +In May, 1855, just a year after Walker and his thirty-three +followers had surrendered to the United States troops at San +Diego, with fifty new recruits and seven veterans of the former +expedition he sailed from San Francisco in the brig _Vesta_, and +in five weeks, after a weary and stormy voyage, landed at Realejo. +There he was met by representatives of the Provisional Director of +the Democrats, who received the Californians warmly. + +Walker was commissioned a colonel, Achilles Kewen, who had +been fighting under Lopez in Cuba, a lieutenant-colonel, and +Timothy Crocker, who had served under Walker in the Sonora +expedition, a major. The corps was organized as an independent +command and was named "La Falange Americana." At this time +the enemy held the route to the Caribbean, and Walker's first +orders were to dislodge him. + +Accordingly, a week after landing with his fifty-seven Americans +and one hundred and fifty native troops, Walker sailed in the +_Vesta_ for Brito, from which port he marched upon Rivas, a city +of eleven thousand people and garrisoned by some twelve hundred +of the enemy. + +The first fight ended in a complete and disastrous fiasco. The +native troops ran away, and the Americans surrounded by six +hundred of the Legitimists' soldiers, after defending themselves for +three hours behind some adobe huts, charged the enemy and +escaped into the jungle. Their loss was heavy, and among the +killed were the two men upon whom Walker chiefly depended: +Kewen and Crocker. The Legitimists placed the bodies of the dead +and wounded who were still living on a pile of logs and burned +them. After a painful night march, Walker, the next day, reached +San Juan on the coast, and, finding a Costa Rican schooner in port, +seized it for his use. At this moment, although Walker's men were +defeated, bleeding, and in open flight, two "gringos " picked up on +the beach of San Juan, "the Texan Harry McLeod and the Irishman +Peter Burns," asked to be permitted to join him. + +"It was encouraging," Walker writes, "for the soldiers to find that +some besides themselves did not regard their fortunes as altogether +desperate, and small as was this addition to their number it gave +increased moral as well as material strength to the command." + +Sometimes in reading history it would appear as though for +success the first requisite must be an utter lack of humor, and +inability to look upon what one is attempting except with absolute +seriousness. With forty men Walker was planning to conquer and +rule Nicaragua, a country with a population of two hundred and +fifty thousand souls and as large as the combined area of +Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and +Connecticut. And yet, even seven years later, he records without a +smile that two beach-combers gave his army "moral and material +strength." And it is most characteristic of the man that at the +moment he was rejoicing over this addition to his forces, to +maintain discipline two Americans who had set fire to the houses +of the enemy he ordered to be shot. A weaker man would have +repudiated the two Americans, who, in fact, were not members of +the Phalanx, and trusted that their crimes would not be charged +against him. But the success of Walker lay greatly in his stern +discipline. He tried the men, and they confessed to their guilt. One +got away; and, as it might appear that Walker had connived at his +escape, to the second man was shown no mercy. When one reads +how severe was Walker in his punishments, and how frequently +the death penalty was invoked by him against his own few +followers, the wonder grows that these men, as independent and as +unaccustomed to restraint as were those who first joined him, +submitted to his leadership. One can explain it only by the +personal quality of Walker himself. + +Among these reckless, fearless outlaws, who, despising their allies, +believed and proved that with his rifle one American could +account for a dozen Nicaraguans, Walker was the one man who +did not boast or drink or gamble, who did not even swear, who +never looked at a woman, and who, in money matters, was +scrupulously honest and unself-seeking. In a fight, his followers +knew that for them he would risk being shot just as unconcernedly +as to maintain his authority he would shoot one of them. + +Treachery, cowardice, looting, any indignity to women, he +punished with death; but to the wounded, either of his own or of +the enemy's forces, he was as gentle as a nursing sister and the +brave and able he rewarded with instant promotion and higher pay. +In no one trait was he a demagogue. One can find no effort on his +part to ingratiate himself with his men. Among the officers of his +staff there were no favorites. He messed alone, and at all times +kept to himself. He spoke little, and then with utter lack of +self-consciousness. In the face of injustice, perjury, or physical +danger, he was always calm, firm, dispassionate. But it is said that +on those infrequent occasions when his anger asserted itself, the +steady steel-gray eyes flashed so menacingly that those who faced +them would as soon look down the barrel of his Colt. + +The impression one gets of him gathered from his recorded acts, +from his own writings, from the writings of those who fought with +him, is of a silent, student-like young man believing religiously in +his "star of destiny"; but, in all matters that did not concern +himself, possessed of a grim sense of fun. The sayings of his men +that in his history of the war he records, show a distinct +appreciation of the Bret Harte school of humor. As, for instance, +when he tells how he wished to make one of them a drummer boy +and the Californian drawled: "No, thanks, colonel; I never seen a +picture of a battle yet that the first thing in it wasn't a dead +drummer boy with a busted drum." + +In Walker the personal vanity which is so characteristic of the +soldier of fortune was utterly lacking. In a land where a captain +bedecks himself like a field-marshal, Walker wore his trousers +stuffed in his boots, a civilian's blue frock-coat, and the slouch hat +of the period, with, for his only ornament, the red ribbon of the +Democrats. The authority he wielded did not depend upon braid or +buttons, and only when going into battle did he wear his sword. In +appearance he was slightly built, rather below the medium height, +smooth shaven, and with deep-set gray eyes. These eyes +apparently, as they gave him his nickname, were his most marked +feature. + +His followers called him, and later, when he was thirty-two years +old, he was known all over the United States as the "Gray-Eyed +Man of Destiny." + +From the first Walker recognized that in order to establish himself +in Nicaragua he must keep in touch with all possible recruits +arriving from San Francisco and New York, and that to do this he +must hold the line of transit from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific. +At this time the sea routes to the gold-fields were three: by sailing +vessel around the Cape, one over the Isthmus of Panama, and one, +which was the shortest, across Nicaragua. By a charter from the +Government of Nicaragua, the right to transport passengers across +this isthmus was controlled by the Accessory Transit Company, of +which the first Cornelius Vanderbilt was president. His company +owned a line of ocean steamers both on the Pacific side and on the +Atlantic side. Passengers _en route_ from New York to the +gold-fields were landed by these latter steamers at Greytown on +the west coast of Nicaragua, and sent by boats of light draught up +the San Juan River to Lake Nicaragua. There they were met by +larger lake steamers and conveyed across the lake to Virgin Bay. +From that point, in carriages and on mule back, they were carried +twelve miles overland to the port of San Juan del Sud on the +Pacific Coast, where they boarded the company's steamers to San +Francisco. + +During the year of Walker's occupation the number of passengers +crossing Nicaragua was an average of about two thousand a +month. + +It was to control this route that immediately after his first defeat +Walker returned to San Juan del Sud, and in a smart skirmish +defeated the enemy and secured possession of Virgin Bay, the +halting place for the passengers going east or west. In this fight +Walker was outnumbered five to one, but his losses were only +three natives killed and a few Americans wounded. The +Legitimists lost sixty killed and a hundred wounded. This +proportion of losses shows how fatally effective was the rifle and +revolver fire of the Californians. Indeed, so wonderful was it that +when some years ago I visited the towns and cities captured by the +filibusters, I found that the marksmanship of Walker's Phalanx was +still a tradition. Indeed, thanks to the filibusters, to-day in any part +of Central America a man from the States, if in trouble, has only to +show his gun. No native will wait for him to fire it. + +After the fight at Virgin Bay, Walker received from California fifty +recruits--a very welcome addition to his force, and as he now +commanded about one hundred and twenty Americans, three +hundred Nicaraguans, under a friendly native, General Valle, and +two brass cannon, he decided to again attack Rivas. Rivas is on the +lake just above Virgin Bay; still further up is Granada, which was +the head-quarters of the Legitimists. + +Fearing Walker's attack upon Rivas, the Legitimist troops were +hurried south from Granada to that city, leaving Granada but +slightly protected. + +Through intercepted letters Walker learned of this and determined +to strike at Granada. By night, in one of the lake steamers, he +skirted the shore, and just before daybreak, with fires banked and +all lights out, drew up to a point near the city. The day previous the +Legitimists had gained a victory, and, as good luck or Walker's +"destiny" would have it, the night before Granada had been +celebrating the event. Much joyous dancing and much drinking of +aguardiente had buried the inhabitants in a drugged slumber. The +garrison slept, the sentries slept, the city slept. But when the +convent bells called for early mass, the air was shaken with sharp +reports that to the ears of the Legitimists were unfamiliar and +disquieting. They were not the loud explosions of their own +muskets nor of the smooth bores of the Democrats. The sounds +were sharp and cruel like the crack of a whip. The sentries flying +from their posts disclosed the terrifying truth. "The Filibusteros!" +they cried. Following them at a gallop came Walker and Valle and +behind them the men of the awful Phalanx, whom already the +natives had learned to fear: the bearded giants in red flannel shirts +who at Rivas on foot had charged the artillery with revolvers, who +at Virgin Bay when wounded had drawn from their boots glittering +bowie knives and hurled them like arrows, who at all times shot +with the accuracy of the hawk falling upon a squawking hen. + +There was a brief terrified stand in the Plaza, and then a complete +rout. As was their custom, the native Democrats began at once to +loot the city. But Walker put his sword into the first one of these +he met, and ordered the Americans to arrest all others found +stealing, and to return the goods already stolen. Over a hundred +political prisoners in the cartel were released by Walker, and the +ball and chain to which each was fastened stricken off. More than +two-thirds of them at once enlisted under Walker's banner. + +He now was in a position to dictate to the enemy his own terms of +peace, but a fatal blunder on the part of Parker H. French, a +lieutenant of Walker's, postponed peace for several weeks, and led +to unfortunate reprisals. French had made an unauthorized and +unsuccessful assault on San Carlos at the eastern end of the lake, +and the Legitimists retaliated at Virgin Bay by killing half a dozen +peaceful passengers, and at San Carlos by firing at a transit +steamer. For this the excuse of the Legitimists was, that now that +Walker was using the lake steamers as transports it was impossible +for them to know whether the boats were occupied by his men or +neutral passengers. As he could not reach the guilty ones, Walker +held responsible for their acts their secretary of state, who at the +taking of Granada was among the prisoners. He was tried by +court-martial and shot, "a victim of the new interpretation of the +principles of constitutional government." While this act of +Walker's was certainly stretching the theory of responsibility to the +breaking point, its immediate effect was to bring about a hasty +surrender and a meeting between the generals of the two political +parties. Thus, four months after Walker and his fifty-seven +followers landed in Nicaragua, a suspension of hostilities was +arranged, and the side for which the Americans had fought was in +power. Walker was made commander-in-chief of an army of +twelve hundred men with salary of six thousand dollars a year. A +man named Rivas was appointed temporary president. + +To Walker this pause in the fight was most welcome. It gave him +an opportunity to enlist recruits and to organize his men for the +better accomplishment of what was the real object of his going to +Nicaragua. He now had under him a remarkable force, one of the +most effective known to military history. For although six months +had not yet passed, the organization he now commanded was as +unlike the Phalanx of the fifty-eight adventurers who were driven +back at Rivas, as were Falstaff's followers from the regiment of +picked men commanded by Colonel Roosevelt. Instead of the +undisciplined and lawless now being in the majority, the ranks +were filled with the pick of the California mining camps, with +veterans of the Mexican War, with young Southerners of birth and +spirit, and with soldiers of fortune from all of the great armies of +Europe. + +In the Civil War, which so soon followed, and later in the service +of the Khedive of Egypt, were several of Walker's officers, and for +years after his death there was no war in which one of the men +trained by him in the jungles of Nicaragua did not distinguish +himself. In his memoirs, the Englishman, General Charles Frederic +Henningsen, writes that though he had taken part in some of the +greatest battles of the Civil War he would pit a thousand men of +Walker's command against any five thousand Confederate or +Union soldiers. And General Henningsen was one who spoke with +authority. Before he joined Walker he had served in Spain under +Don Carlos, in Hungary under Kossuth, and in Bulgaria. + +Of Walker's men, a regiment of which he commanded, he writes: +"I often have seen them march with a broken or compound +fractured arm in splints, and using the other to fire the rifle or +revolver. Those with a fractured thigh or wounds which rendered +them incapable of removal, shot themselves. Such men do not turn +up in the average of everyday life, nor do I ever expect to see their +like again. All military science failed on a suddenly given field +before such assailants, who came at a run to close with their +revolvers and who thought little of charging a gun battery, pistol in +hand." + +Another graduate of Walker's army was Captain Fred Townsend +Ward, a native of Salem, Mass., who after the death of Walker +organized and led the ever victorious army that put down the +Tai-Ping rebellion, and performed the many feats of martial glory +for which Chinese Gordon received the credit. In Shanghai, to the +memory of the filibuster, there are to-day two temples in his honor. + +Joaquin Miller, the poet, miner, and soldier, who but recently was +a picturesque figure on the hotel porch at Saratoga Springs, was +one of the young Californians who was "out with Walker," and +who later in his career by his verse helped to preserve the name of +his beloved commander. I. C. Jamison, living to-day in Guthrie, +Oklahoma, was a captain under Walker. When war again came, as +it did within four months, these were the men who made Walker +President of Nicaragua. + +During the four months in all but title he had been president, and +as such he was recognized and feared. It was against him, not +Rivas, that in February, 1856, the neighboring republic of Costa +Rica declared war. For three months this war continued with +varying fortunes until the Costa Ricans were driven across the +border. + +In June of the same year Rivas called a general election for +president, announcing himself as the candidate of the Democrats. +Two other Democrats also presented themselves, Salazar and +Ferrer. The Legitimists, recognizing in their former enemy the real +ruler of the country, nominated Walker. By an overwhelming +majority he was elected, receiving 15,835 votes to 867 cast for +Rivas. Salazar received 2,087; Ferrer, 4,447. + +Walker now was the legal as well as the actual ruler of the country, +and at no time in its history, as during Walker's administration, +was Nicaragua governed so justly, so wisely, and so well. But in +his success the neighboring republics saw a menace to their own +independence. To the four other republics of Central America the +five-pointed blood-red star on the flag of the filibusters bore a +sinister motto: "Five or None." The meaning was only too +unpleasantly obvious. At once, Costa Rica on the south, and +Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras from the north, with the +malcontents of Nicaragua, declared war against the foreign +invader. Again Walker was in the field with opposed to him +21,000 of the allies. The strength of his own force varied. On his +election as president the backbone of his army was a magnificently +trained body of veterans to the number of 2,000. This was later +increased to 3,500, but it is doubtful if at any one time it ever +exceeded that number. His muster and hospital rolls show that +during his entire occupation of Nicaragua there were enlisted, at +one time or another, under his banner 10,000 men. While in his +service, of this number, by hostile shots or fever, 5,000 died. + +To describe the battles with the allies would be interminable and +wearying. In every particular they are much alike: the long silent +night march, the rush at daybreak, the fight to gain strategic +positions either of the barracks, or of the Cathedral in the Plaza, +the hand-to-hand fighting from behind barricades and adobe walls. +The out-come of these fights sometimes varied, but the final result +was never in doubt, and had no outside influences intervened, in +time each republic in Central America would have come under the +five-pointed star. + +In Costa Rica there is a marble statue showing that republic +represented as a young woman with her foot upon the neck of +Walker. Some night a truth-loving American will place a can of +dynamite at the foot of that statue, and walk hurriedly away. +Unaided, neither Costa Rica nor any other Central American +republic could have driven Walker from her soil. His downfall +came through his own people, and through an act of his which +provoked them. + +When Walker was elected president he found that the Accessory +Transit Company had not lived up to the terms of its concession +with the Nicaraguan Government. His efforts to hold it to the +terms of its concession led to his overthrow. By its charter the +Transit Company agreed to pay to Nicaragua ten thousand dollars +annually and ten per cent. of the net profits; but the company, +whose history the United States Minister, Squire, characterized as +"an infamous career of deception and fraud," manipulated its +books in such a fashion as to show that there never were any +profits. Doubting this, Walker sent a commission to New York to +investigate. The commission discovered the fraud and demanded +in back payments two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. When +the company refused to pay this, as security for the debt Walker +seized its steamers, wharves, and storehouses, revoked its charter, +and gave a new charter to two of its directors, Morgan and +Garrison, who, in San Francisco, were working against Vanderbilt. +In doing this, while he was legally in the right, he committed a +fatal error. He had made a powerful enemy of Vanderbilt, and he +had shut off his only lines of communication with the United +States. For, enraged at the presumption of the filibuster president, +Vanderbilt withdrew his ocean steamers, thus leaving Walker +without men or ammunition, and as isolated as though upon a +deserted island. He possessed Vanderbilt's boats upon the San Juan +River and Nicaragua Lake, but they were of use to him only +locally. + +His position was that of a man holding the centre span of a bridge +of which every span on either side of him has been destroyed. + +Vanderbilt did not rest at withdrawing his steamers, but by +supporting the Costa Ricans with money and men, carried the war +into Central America. From Washington he fought Walker through +Secretary of State Marcy, who proved a willing tool. + +Spencer and Webster, and the other soldiers of fortune employed +by Vanderbilt, closed the route on the Caribbean side, and the +man-of-war _St. Marys_, commanded by Captain Davis, was +ordered to San Juan on the Pacific side. The instructions given to +Captain Davis were to aid the allies in forcing Walker out of +Nicaragua. Walker claims that these orders were given to Marcy +by Vanderbilt and by Marcy to Commodore Mervin, who was +Marcy's personal friend and who issued them to Davis. Davis +claims that he acted only in the interest of humanity to save +Walker in spite of himself. In any event, the result was the same. +Walker, his force cut down by hostile shot and fever and desertion, +took refuge in Rivas, where he was besieged by the allied armies. +There was no bread in the city. The men were living on horse and +mule meat. There was no salt. The hospital was filled with +wounded and those stricken with fever. + +Captain Davis, in the name of humanity, demanded Walker's +surrender to the United States. Walker told him he would not +surrender, but that if the time came when he found he must fly, he +would do so in his own little schooner of war, the _Granada_, +which constituted his entire navy, and in her, as a free man, take +his forces where he pleased. Then Davis informed Walker that the +force Walker had sent to recapture the Greytown route had been +defeated by the janizaries of Vanderbilt; that the steamers from +San Francisco, on which Walker now counted to bring him +re-enforcements, had also been taken off the line, and finally that it +was his "unalterable and deliberate intention" to seize the +_Granada_. On this point his orders left him no choice. The +_Granada_ was the last means of transportation still left to Walker. +He had hoped to make a sortie and on board her to escape from the +country. But with his ship taken from him and no longer able to +sustain the siege of the allies, he surrendered to the forces of the +United States. In the agreement drawn up by him and Davis, +Walker provided for the care, by Davis, of the sick and wounded, +for the protection after his departure of the natives who had fought +with him, and for the transportation of himself and officers to the +United States. + +On his arrival in New York he received a welcome such as later +was extended to Kossuth, and, in our own day, to Admiral Dewey. +The city was decorated with flags and arches; and banquets, fetes, +and public meetings were everywhere held in his honor. Walker +received these demonstrations modestly, and on every public +occasion announced his determination to return to the country of +which he was the president, and from which by force he had been +driven. At Washington, where he went to present his claims, he +received scant encouragement. His protest against Captain Davis +was referred to Congress, where it was allowed to die. + +Within a month Walker organized an expedition with which to +regain his rights in Nicaragua, and as, in his new constitution for +that country, he had annulled the old law abolishing slavery, +among the slave-holders of the South he found enough money and +recruits to enable him to at once leave the United States. With one +hundred and fifty men he sailed from New Orleans and landed at +San del Norte on the Caribbean side. While he formed a camp on +the harbor of San Juan, one of his officers, with fifty men, +proceeded up the river and, capturing the town of Castillo Viejo +and four of the Transit steamers, was in a fair way to obtain +possession of the entire route. At this moment upon the scene +arrived the United States frigate _Wabash_ and Hiram Paulding, +who landed a force of three hundred and fifty blue-jackets with +howitzers, and turned the guns of his frigate upon the camp of the +President of Nicaragua. Captain Engel, who presented the terms of +surrender to Walker, said to him: "General, I am sorry to see you +here. A man like you is worthy to command better men." To which +Walker replied grimly: "If I had a third the number you have +brought against me, I would show you which of us two commands +the better men." + +For the third time in his history Walker surrendered to the armed +forces of his own country. + +On his arrival in the United States, in fulfilment of his parole to +Paulding, Walker at once presented himself at Washington a +prisoner of war. But President Buchanan, although Paulding had +acted exactly as Davis had done, refused to support him, and in a +message to Congress declared that that officer had committed a +grave error and established an unsafe precedent. + +On the strength of this Walker demanded of the United States +Government indemnity for his losses, and that it should furnish +him and his followers transportation even to the very camp from +which its representatives had torn him. This demand, as Walker +foresaw, was not considered seriously, and with a force of about +one hundred men, among whom were many of his veterans, he +again set sail from New Orleans. Owing to the fact that, to prevent +his return, there now were on each side of the Isthmus both +American and British men-of-war, Walker, with the idea of +reaching Nicaragua by land, stopped off at Honduras. In his war +with the allies the Honduranians had been as savage in their +attacks upon his men as even the Costa Ricans, and finding his old +enemies now engaged in a local revolution, on landing, Walker +declared for the weaker side and captured the important seaport of +Trujillo. He no sooner had taken it than the British warship +_Icarus_ anchored in the harbor, and her commanding officer, +Captain Salmon, notified Walker that the British Government held +a mortgage on the revenues of the port, and that to protect the +interests of his Government he intended to take the town. Walker +answered that he had made Trujillo a free port, and that Great +Britain's claims no longer existed. + +The British officer replied that if Walker surrendered himself and +his men he would carry them as prisoners to the United States, and +that if he did not, he would bombard the town. At this moment +General Alvarez, with seven hundred Honduranians, from the land +side surrounded Trujillo, and prepared to attack. Against such odds +by sea and land Walker was helpless, and he determined to fly. +That night, with seventy men, he left the town and proceeded +down the coast toward Nicaragua. The _Icarus_, having taken on +board Alvarez, started in pursuit. The President of Nicaragua was +found in a little Indian fishing village, and Salmon sent in his +shore-boats and demanded his surrender. On leaving Trujillo, +Walker had been forced to abandon all his ammunition save thirty +rounds a man, and all of his food supplies excepting two barrels of +bread. On the coast of this continent there is no spot more +unhealthy than Honduras, and when the Englishmen entered the +fishing village they found Walker's seventy men lying in the palm +huts helpless with fever, and with no stomach to fight British +blue-jackets with whom they had no quarrel. Walker inquired of +Salmon if he were asking him to surrender to the British or to the +Honduranian forces, and twice Salmon assured him, "distinctly +and specifically," that he was surrendering to the forces of her +Majesty. With this understanding Walker and his men laid down +their arms and were conveyed to the _Icarus_. But on arriving at +Trujillo, in spite of their protests and demands for trial by a British +tribunal, Salmon turned over his prisoners to the Honduranian +general. What excuse for this is now given by his descendants in +the Salmon family I do not know. + +Probably it is a subject they avoid, and, in history, Salmon's +version has never been given, which for him, perhaps, is an +injustice. But the fact remains that he turned over his white +brothers to the mercies of half-Indian, half-negro, savages, who +were not allies of Great Britain, and in whose quarrels she had no +interest. And Salmon did this, knowing there could be but one end. +If he did not know it, his stupidity equalled what now appears to +be heartless indifference. So far as to secure pardon for all except +the leader and one faithful follower, Colonel Rudler of the famous +Phalanx, Salmon did use his authority, and he offered, if Walker +would ask as an American citizen, to intercede for him. But +Walker, with a distinct sense of loyalty to the country he had +conquered, and whose people had honored him with their votes, +refused to accept life from the country of his birth, the country that +had injured and repudiated him. + +Even in his extremity, abandoned and alone on a strip of glaring +coral and noisome swamp land, surrounded only by his enemies, +he remained true to his ideal. + +At thirty-seven life is very sweet, many things still seem possible, +and before him, could his life be spared, Walker beheld greater +conquests, more power, a new South controlling a Nicaragua +canal, a network of busy railroads, great squadrons of merchant +vessels, himself emperor of Central America. On the gunboat the +gold-braided youth had but to raise his hand, and Walker again +would be a free man. But the gold-braided one would render this +service only on the condition that Walker would appeal to him as +an American; it was not enough that Walker was a human being. +The condition Walker could not grant. + +"The President of Nicaragua," he said, "is a citizen of Nicaragua." + +They led him out at sunrise to a level piece of sand along the +beach, and as the priest held the crucifix in front of him he spoke +to his executioners in Spanish, simply and gravely: "I die a Roman +Catholic. In making war upon you at the invitation of the people of +Ruatan I was wrong. Of your people I ask pardon. I accept my +punishment with resignation. I would like to think my death will +be for the good of society." + +From a distance of twenty feet three soldiers fired at him, but, +although each shot took effect, Walker was not dead. So, a +sergeant stooped, and with a pistol killed the man who would have +made him one of an empire of slaves. + +Had Walker lived four years longer to exhibit upon the great board +of the Civil War his ability as a general, he would, I believe, to-day +be ranked as one of America's greatest fighting men. + +And because the people of his own day destroyed him is no reason +that we should withhold from this American, the greatest of all +filibusters, the recognition of his genius. + +MAJOR BURNHAM, CHIEF OF SCOUTS + +AMONG the Soldiers of Fortune whose stories have been told in +this book were men who are no longer living, men who, to the +United States, are strangers, and men who were of interest chiefly +because in what they attempted they failed. + +The subject of this article is none of these. His adventures are as +remarkable as any that ever led a small boy to dig behind the barn +for buried treasure, or stalk Indians in the orchard. But entirely +apart from his adventures he obtains our interest because in what +he has attempted he has not failed, because he is one of our own +people, one of the earliest and best types of American, and +because, so far from being dead and buried, he is at this moment +very much alive, and engaged in Mexico in searching for a buried +city. For exercise, he is alternately chasing, or being chased by, +Yaqui Indians. + +In his home in Pasadena, Cal., where sometimes he rests quietly +for almost a week at a time, the neighbors know him as "Fred" +Burnham. In England the newspapers crowned him "The King of +Scouts." Later, when he won an official title, they called him +"Major Frederick Russell Burnham, D. S. O." + +Some men are born scouts, others by training become scouts. From +his father Burnham inherited his instinct for wood-craft, and to this +instinct, which in him is as keen as in a wild deer or a mountain +lion, he has added, in the jungle and on the prairie and mountain +ranges, years of the hardest, most relentless schooling. In those +years he has trained himself to endure the most appalling fatigues, +hunger, thirst, and wounds; has subdued the brain to infinite +patience, has learned to force every nerve in his body to absolute +obedience, to still even the beating of his heart. Indeed, than +Burnham no man of my acquaintance to my knowledge has +devoted himself to his life's work more earnestly, more honestly, +and with such single-mindedness of purpose. To him scouting is as +exact a study as is the piano to Paderewski, with the result that +to-day what the Pole is to other pianists, the American is to all +other "trackers," woodmen, and scouts. He reads "the face of +Nature" as you read your morning paper. To him a movement of +his horse's ears is as plain a warning as the "Go SLOW" of an +automobile sign; and he so saves from ambush an entire troop. In +the glitter of a piece of quartz in the firelight he discovers King +Solomon's mines. Like the horned cattle, he can tell by the smell of +it in the air the near presence of water, and where, glaring in the +sun, you can see only a bare kopje, he distinguishes the muzzle of +a pompom, the crown of a Boer sombrero, the levelled barrel of a +Mauser. He is the Sherlock Holmes of all out-of-doors. + +Besides being a scout, he is soldier, hunter, mining expert, and +explorer. Within the last ten years the educated instinct that as a +younger man taught him to follow the trail of an Indian, or the +"spoor" of the Kaffir and the trek wagon, now leads him as a +mining expert to the hiding-places of copper, silver, and gold, and, +as he advises, great and wealthy syndicates buy or refuse tracts of +land in Africa and Mexico as large as the State of New York. As +an explorer in the last few years in the course of his expeditions +into undiscovered lands, he has added to this little world many +thousands of square miles. + +Personally, Burnham is as unlike the scout of fiction, and of the +Wild West Show, as it is possible for a man to be. He possesses no +flowing locks, his talk is not of "greasers," "grizzly b'ars," or +"pesky redskins." In fact, because he is more widely and more +thoroughly informed, he is much better educated than many who +have passed through one of the "Big Three" universities, and his +English is as conventional as though he had been brought up on the +borders of Boston Common, rather than on the borders of +civilization. + +In appearance he is slight, muscular, bronzed; with a finely formed +square jaw, and remarkable light blue eyes. These eyes apparently +never leave yours, but in reality they see everything behind you +and about you, above and below you. They tell of him that one +day, while out with a patrol on the veldt, he said he had lost the +trail and, dismounting, began moving about on his hands and +knees, nosing the ground like a bloodhound, and pointing out a +trail that led back over the way the force had just marched. When +the commanding officer rode up, Burnham said: + +"Don't raise your head, sit. On that kopje to the right there is a +commando of Boers." + +"When did you see them?" asked the officer. + +"I see them now," Burnham answered. + +"But I thought you were looking for a lost trail?" + +"That's what the Boers on the kopje think," said Burnham. + +In his eyes, possibly, owing to the uses to which they have been +trained, the pupils, as in the eyes of animals that see in the dark, +are extremely small. Even in the photographs that accompany this +article this feature of his eyes is obvious, and that he can see in the +dark the Kaffirs of South Africa firmly believe. In manner he is +quiet, courteous, talking slowly but well, and, while without any of +that shyness that comes from self-consciousness, extremely +modest. Indeed, there could be no better proof of his modesty than +the difficulties I have encountered in gathering material for this +article, which I have been five years in collecting. And even now, +as he reads it by his camp-fire, I can see him squirm with +embarrassment. + +Burnham's father was a pioneer missionary in a frontier hamlet +called Tivoli on the edge of the Indian reserve of Minnesota. He +was a stern, severely religious man, born in Kentucky, but +educated in New York, where he graduated from the Union +Theological Seminary. He was wonderfully skilled in wood-craft. +Burnham's mother was a Miss Rebecca Russell of a well-known +family in Iowa. She was a woman of great courage, which, in those +days on that skirmish line of civilization, was a very necessary +virtue; and she was possessed of a most gentle and sweet +disposition. That was her gift to her son Fred, who was born on +May 11, 1861. + +His education as a child consisted in memorizing many verses of +the Bible, the "Three R's," and wood-craft. His childhood was +strenuous. In his mother's arms he saw the burning of the town of +New Ulm, which was the funeral pyre for the women and children +of that place when they were massacred by Red Cloud and his +braves. + +On another occasion Fred's mother fled for her life from the +Indians, carrying the boy with her. He was a husky lad, and +knowing that if she tried to carry him farther they both would be +overtaken, she hid him under a shock of corn. There, the next +morning, the Indians having been driven off, she found her son +sleeping as soundly as a night watchman. In these Indian wars, and +the Civil War which followed, of the families of Burnham and +Russell, twenty-two of the men were killed. There is no question +that Burnham comes of fighting stock. + +In 1870, when Fred was nine years old, his father moved to Los +Angeles, Cal., where two years later he died; and for a time for +both mother and boy there was poverty, hard and grinding. To +relieve this young Burnham acted as a mounted messenger. Often +he was in the saddle from twelve to fifteen hours, and even in a +land where every one rode well, he gained local fame as a hard +rider. In a few years a kind uncle offered to Mrs. Burnham and a +younger brother a home in the East, but at the last moment Fred +refused to go with them, and chose to make his own way. He was +then thirteen years old, and he had determined to be a scout. + +At that particular age many boys have set forth determined to be +scouts, and are generally brought home the next morning by a +policeman. But Burnham, having turned his back on the cities, did +not repent. He wandered over Mexico, Arizona, California. He met +Indians, bandits, prospectors, hunters of all kinds of big game; and +finally a scout who, under General Taylor, had served in the +Mexican War. This man took a liking to the boy; and his influence +upon him was marked and for his good. He was an educated man, +and had carried into the wilderness a few books. In the cabin of +this man Burnham read "The Conquest of Mexico and Peru" by +Prescott, the lives of Hannibal and Cyrus the Great, of Livingstone +the explorer, which first set his thoughts toward Africa, and many +technical works on the strategy and tactics of war. He had no +experience of military operations on a large scale, but, with the aid +of the veteran of the Mexican War, with corn-cobs in the sand in +front of the cabin door, he constructed forts and made trenches, +redoubts, and traverses. In Burnham's life this seems to have been +a very happy period. The big game he hunted and killed he sold for +a few dollars to the men of Nadean's freight outfits, which in those +days hauled bullion from Cerro Gordo for the man who is now +Senator Jones of Nevada. + +At nineteen Burnham decided that there were things in this world +he should know that could not be gleaned from the earth, trees, +and sky; and with the few dollars he had saved he came East. The +visit apparently was not a success. The atmosphere of the town in +which he went to school was strictly Puritanical, and the +townspeople much given to religious discussion. The son of the +pioneer missionary found himself unable to subscribe to the +formulas which to the others seemed so essential, and he returned +to the West with the most bitter feelings, which lasted until he was +twenty-one. + +"It seems strange now," he once said to me, "but in those times +religious questions were as much a part of our daily life as to-day +are automobiles, the Standard Oil, and the insurance scandals, and +when I went West I was in an unhappy, doubting frame of mind. +The trouble was I had no moral anchors; the old ones father had +given me were gone, and the time for acquiring new ones had not +arrived." This bitterness of heart, or this disappointment, or +whatever the state of mind was that the dogmas of the New +England town had inspired in the boy from the prairie, made him +reckless. For the life he was to lead this was not a handicap. Even +as a lad, in a land-grant war in California, he had been under +gunfire, and for the next fifteen years he led a life of danger and of +daring; and studied in a school of experience than which, for a +scout, if his life be spared, there can be none better. Burnham +came out of it a quiet, manly, gentleman. In those fifteen years he +roved the West from the Great Divide to Mexico. He fought the +Apache Indians for the possession of waterholes, he guarded +bullion on stage-coaches, for days rode in pursuit of Mexican +bandits and American horse thieves, took part in county-seat +fights, in rustler wars, in cattle wars; he was cowboy, miner, +deputy-sheriff, and in time throughout the the name of "Fred" +Burnham became significant and familiar. + +During this period Burnham was true to his boyhood ideal of +becoming a scout. It was not enough that by merely living the life +around him he was being educated for it. He daily practised and +rehearsed those things which some day might mean to himself and +others the difference between life and death. To improve his sense +of smell he gave up smoking, of which he was extremely fond, nor, +for the same reason, does he to this day use tobacco. He +accustomed himself also to go with little sleep, and to subsist on +the least possible quantity of food. As a deputy-sheriff this +educated faculty of not requiring sleep aided him in many +important captures. Sometimes he would not strike the trail of the +bandit or "bad man" until the other had several days the start of +him. But the end was the same; for, while the murderer snatched a +few hours' rest by the trail, Burnham, awake and in the saddle, +would be closing up the miles between them. + +That he is a good marksman goes without telling. At the age of +eight his father gave him a rifle of his own, and at twelve, with +either a "gun" or a Winchester, he was an expert. He taught +himself to use a weapon either in his left or right hand and to +shoot, Indian fashion, hanging by one leg from his pony and using +it as a cover, and to turn in the saddle and shoot behind him. I once +asked him if he really could shoot to the rear with a galloping +horse under him and hit a man. + +"Well," he said, "maybe not to hit him, but I can come near enough +to him to make him decide my pony's so much faster than his that +it really isn't worth while to follow me." + +Besides perfecting himself in what he tolerantly calls "tricks" of +horsemanship and marksmanship, he studied the signs of the trail, +forest and prairie, as a sailing-master studies the waves and clouds. +The knowledge he gathers from inanimate objects and dumb +animals seems little less than miraculous. And when you ask him +how he knows these things he always gives you a reason founded +on some fact or habit of nature that shows him to be a naturalist, +mineralogist, geologist, and botanist, and not merely a seventh son +of a seventh son. + +In South Africa he would say to the officers: "There are a dozen +Boers five miles ahead of us riding Basuto ponies at a trot, and +leading five others. If we hurry we should be able to sight them in +an hour." At first the officers would smile, but not after a +half-hour's gallop, when they would see ahead of them a dozen +Boers leading five ponies. In the early days of Salem, Burnham +would have been burned as a witch. + +When twenty-three years of age he married Miss Blanche Blick, of +Iowa. They had known each other from childhood, and her +brothers-in-law have been Burnham's aids and companions in +every part of Africa and the West. Neither at the time of their +marriage nor since did Mrs. Burnham "lay a hand on the bridle +rein," as is witnessed by the fact that for nine years after his +marriage Burnham continued his career as sheriff, scout, mining +prospector. And in 1893, when Burnham and his brother-in-law, +Ingram, started for South Africa, Mrs. Burnham went with them, +and in every part of South Africa shared her husband's life of travel +and danger. + +In making this move across the sea, Burnham's original idea was to +look for gold in the territory owned by the German East African +Company. But as in Rhodesia the first Matabele uprising had +broken out, he continued on down the coast, and volunteered for +that campaign. This was the real beginning of his fortunes. The +"war" was not unlike the Indian fighting of his early days, and +although the country was new to him, with the kind of warfare +then being waged between the Kaffirs under King Lobengula and +the white settlers of the British South Africa Company, the +chartered company of Cecil Rhodes, he was intimately familiar. + +It does not take big men long to recognize other big men, and +Burnham's remarkable work as a scout at once brought him to the +notice of Rhodes and Dr. Jameson, who was personally conducting +the campaign. The war was their own private war, and to them, at +such a crisis in the history of their settlement, a man like Burnham +was invaluable. + +The chief incident of this campaign, the fame of which rang over +all Great Britain and her colonies, was the gallant but hopeless +stand made by Major Alan Wilson and his patrol of thirty-four +men. It was Burnham's attempt to save these men that made him +known from Buluwayo to Cape Town. + +King Lobengula and his warriors were halted on one bank of the +Shangani River, and on the other Major Forbes, with a picked +force of three hundred men, was coming up in pursuit. Although at +the moment he did not know it, he also was being pursued by a +force of Matabeles, who were gradually surrounding him. At +nightfall Major Wilson and a patrol of twelve men, with Burnham +and his brother-in-law, Ingram, acting as scouts, were ordered to +make a dash into the camp of Lobengula and, if possible, in the +confusion of their sudden attack, and under cover of a terrific +thunder-storm that was raging, bring him back a prisoner. + +With the king in their hands the white men believed the rebellion +would collapse. To the number of three thousand the Matabeles +were sleeping in a succession of camps, through which the +fourteen men rode at a gallop. But in the darkness it was difficult +to distinguish the trek wagon of the king, and by the time they +found his laager the Matabeles from the other camps through +which they had ridden had given the alarm. Through the +underbrush from every side the enemy, armed with assegai and +elephant guns, charged toward them and spread out to cut off their +retreat. + +At a distance of about seven hundred yards from the camps there +was a giant ant-hill, and the patrol rode toward it. By the aid of the +lightning flashes they made their way through a dripping wood and +over soil which the rain had turned into thick black mud. When the +party drew rein at the ant-hill it was found that of the fourteen +three were missing. As the official scout of the patrol and the only +one who could see in the dark, Wilson ordered Burnham back to +find them. Burnham said he could do so only by feeling the +hoof-prints in the mud and that he would like some one with him +to lead his pony. Wilson said he would lead it. With his fingers +Burnham followed the trail of the eleven horses to where, at right +angles, the hoof-prints of the three others separated from it, and so +came upon the three men. Still, with nothing but the mud of the +jungle to guide him, he brought them back to their comrades. It +was this feat that established his reputation among British, Boers, +and black men in South Africa. + +Throughout the night the men of the patrol lay in the mud holding +the reins of their horses. In the jungle about them, they could hear +the enemy splashing through the mud, and the swishing sound of +the branches as they swept back into place. It was still raining. Just +before the dawn there came the sounds of voices and the welcome +clatter of accoutrements. The men of the patrol, believing the +column had joined them, sprang up rejoicing, but it was only a +second patrol, under Captain Borrow, who had been sent forward +with twenty men as re-enforcements. They had come in time to +share in a glorious immortality. No sooner had these men joined +than the Kaffirs began the attack; and the white men at once +learned that they were trapped in a complete circle of the enemy. +Hidden by the trees, the Kaffirs fired point-blank, and in a very +little time half of Wilson's force was killed or wounded. As the +horses were shot down the men used them for breastworks. There +was no other shelter. Wilson called Burnham to him and told him +he must try and get through the lines of the enemy to Forbes. + +"Tell him to come up at once," he said; "we are nearly finished." +He detailed a trooper named Gooding and Ingram to accompany +Burnham. "One of you may get through," he said. Gooding was but +lately out from London, and knew nothing of scouting, so +Burnham and Ingram warned him, whether he saw the reason for it +or not, to act exactly as they did. The three men had barely left the +others before the enemy sprang at them with their spears. In five +minutes they were being fired at from every bush. Then followed a +remarkable ride, in which Burnham called to his aid all he had +learned in thirty years of border warfare. As the enemy rushed +after them, the three doubled on their tracks, rode in triple loops, +hid in dongas to breathe their horses; and to scatter their pursuers, +separated, joined again, and again separated. The enemy followed +them to the very bank of the river, where, finding the "drift" +covered with the swollen waters, they were forced to swim. They +reached the other bank only to find Forbes hotly engaged with +another force of the Matabeles. + +"I have been sent for re-enforcements," Burnham said to Forbes, +"but I believe we are the only survivors of that party." Forbes +himself was too hard pressed to give help to Wilson, and Burnham, +his errand over, took his place in the column, and began firing +upon the new enemy. + +Six weeks later the bodies of Wilson's patrol were found lying in a +circle. Each of them had been shot many times. A son of +Lobengula, who witnessed their extermination, and who in +Buluwayo had often heard the Englishmen sing their national +anthem, told how the five men who were the last to die stood up +and, swinging their hats defiantly, sang "God Save the Queen." +The incident will long be recorded in song and story; and in +London was reproduced in two theatres, in each of which the man +who played "Burnham, the American Scout," as he rode off for +re-enforcements, was as loudly cheered by those in the audience as +by those on the stage. + +Hensman, in his "History of Rhodesia," says: "One hardly knows +which to most admire, the men who went on this dangerous +errand, through brush swarming with natives, or those who +remained behind battling against overwhelming odds." + +For his help in this war the Chartered Company presented +Burnham with the campaign medal, a gold watch engraved with +words of appreciation; and at the suggestion of Cecil Rhodes gave +him, Ingram, and the Hon. Maurice Clifford, jointly, a tract of land +of three hundred square acres. + +After this campaign Burnham led an expedition of ten white men +and seventy Kaffirs north of the Zambesi River to explore +Barotzeland and other regions to the north of Mashonaland, and to +establish the boundaries of the concession given him, Ingram, and +Clifford. + +In order to protect Burnham on the march the Chartered Company +signed a treaty with the native king of the country through which +he wished to travel, by which the king gave him permission to pass +freely and guaranteed him against attack. + +But Latea, the son of the king, refused to recognize the treaty and +sent his young men in great numbers to surround Burnham's camp. +Burnham had been instructed to avoid a fight, and was torn +between his desire to obey the Chartered Company and to prevent +a massacre. He decided to make it a sacrifice either of himself or +of Latea. As soon as night fell, with only three companions and a +missionary to act as a witness of what occurred, he slipped through +the lines of Latea's men, and, kicking down the fence around the +prince's hut, suddenly appeared before him and covered him with +his rifle. + +"Is it peace or war?" Burnham asked. "I have the king your father's +guarantee of protection, but your men surround us. I have told my +people if they hear shots to open fire. We may all be killed, but +you will be the first to die." + +The missionary also spoke urging Latea to abide by the treaty. +Burnham says the prince seemed much more impressed by the +arguments of the missionary than by the fact that he still was +covered by Burnham's rifle. Whichever argument moved him, he +called off his warriors. On this expedition Burnham discovered the +ruins of great granite structures fifteen feet wide, and made +entirely without mortar. They were of a period dating before the +Phoenicians. He also sought out the ruins described to him by F. C. +Selous, the famous hunter, and by Rider Haggard as King +Solomon's Mines. Much to the delight of Mr. Haggard, he brought +back for him from the mines of his imagination real gold +ornaments and a real gold bar. + +On this same expedition, which lasted five months, Burnham +endured one of the severest hardships of his life. Alone with ten +Kaffir boys, he started on a week's journey across the dried-up +basin of what once had been a great lake. Water was carried in +goat-skins on the heads of the bearers. The boys, finding the bags +an unwieldy burden, and believing, with the happy optimism of +their race, that Burnham's warnings were needless, and that at a +stream they soon could refill the bags, emptied the water on the +ground. + +The tortures that followed this wanton waste were terrible. Five of +the boys died, and after several days, when Burnham found water +in abundance, the tongues of the others were so swollen that their +jaws could not meet. + +On this trip Burnham passed through a region ravaged by the +"sleeping sickness," where his nostrils were never free from the +stench of dead bodies, where in some of the villages, as he +expressed it, "the hyenas were mangy with overeating, and the +buzzards so gorged they could not move out of our way." From this +expedition he brought back many ornaments of gold manufactured +before the Christian era, and made several valuable maps of +hitherto uncharted regions. It was in recognition of the information +gathered by him on this trip that he was elected a Fellow of the +Royal Geographical Society. + +He returned to Rhodesia in time to take part in the second +Matabele rebellion. This was in 1896. By now Burnham was a +very prominent member of the "vortrekers" and pioneers at +Buluwayo, and Sir Frederick Carrington, who was in command of +the forces, attached him to his staff. This second outbreak was a +more serious uprising than the one of 1893, and as it was evident +the forces of the Chartered Company could not handle it, imperial +troops were sent to assist them. But with even their aid the war +dragged on until it threatened to last to the rainy season, when the +troops must have gone into winter quarters. Had they done so, the +cost of keeping them would have fallen on the Chartered +Company, already a sufferer in pocket from the ravages of the +rinderpest and the expenses of the investigation which followed +the Jameson raid. + +Accordingly, Carrington looked about for some measure by which +he could bring the war to an immediate end. + +It was suggested to him by a young Colonial, named Armstrong, +the Commissioner of the district, that this could be done by +destroying the "god," or high priest, Umlimo, who was the chief +inspiration of the rebellion. + +This high priest had incited the rebels to a general massacre of +women and children, and had given them confidence by promising +to strike the white soldiers blind and to turn their bullets into +water. Armstrong had discovered the secret hiding-place of +Umlimo, and Carrington ordered Burnham to penetrate the +enemy's lines, find the god, capture him, and if that were not +possible to destroy him. + +The adventure was a most desperate one. Umlimo was secreted in +a cave on the top of a huge kopje. At the base of this was a village +where were gathered two regiments, of a thousand men each, of +his fighting men. + +For miles around this village the country was patrolled by roving +bands of the enemy. + +Against a white man reaching the cave and returning, the chances +were a hundred to one, and the difficulties of the journey are +illustrated by the fact that Burnham and Armstrong were unable to +move faster than at the rate of a mile an hour. In making the last +mile they consumed three hours. When they reached the base of +the kopje in which Umlimo was hiding, they concealed their +ponies in a clump of bushes, and on hands and knees began the +ascent. + +Directly below them lay the village, so close that they could smell +the odors of cooking from the huts, and hear, rising drowsily on +the hot, noonday air, voices of the warriors. For minutes at a time +they lay as motionless as the granite bowlders around or squirmed +and crawled over loose stones which a miss of hand or knee would +have dislodged and sent clattering into the village. After an hour of +this tortuous climbing the cave suddenly opened before them, and +they beheld Umlimo. Burnham recognized that to take him alive +from his stronghold was an impossibility, and that even they +themselves would leave the place was equally doubtful. So, +obeying orders, he fired, killing the man who had boasted he +would turn the bullets of his enemies into water. The echo of the +shot aroused the village as would a stone hurled into an ant-heap. +In an instant the veldt below was black with running men, and as, +concealment being no longer possible, the white men rose to fly a +great shout of anger told them they were discovered. At the same +moment two women, returning from a stream where they had gone +for water, saw the ponies, and ran screaming to give the alarm. +The race that followed lasted two hours, for so quickly did the +Kaffirs spread out on every side that it was impossible for +Burnham to gain ground in any one direction, and he was forced to +dodge, turn, and double. At one time the white men were driven +back to the very kopje from which the race had started. + +But in the end they evaded assegai and gunfire, and in safety +reached Buluwayo. This exploit was one of the chief factors in +bringing the war to a close. The Matabeles, finding their leader +was only a mortal like themselves, and so could not, as he had +promised, bring miracles to their aid, lost heart, and when Cecil +Rhodes in person made overtures of peace, his terms were +accepted. During the hard days of the siege, when rations were few +and bad, Burnham's little girl, who had been the first white child +born in Buluwayo, died of fever and lack of proper food. This with +other causes led him to leave Rhodesia and return to California. It +is possible he then thought he had forever turned his back on South +Africa, but, though he himself had departed, the impression he had +made there remained behind him. + +Burnham did not rest long in California. In Alaska the hunt for +gold had just begun, and, the old restlessness seizing him, he left +Pasadena and her blue skies, tropical plants, and trolley-car strikes +for the new raw land of the Klondike. With Burnham it has always +been the place that is being made, not the place in being, that +attracts. He has helped to make straight the ways of several great +communities--Arizona, California, Rhodesia, Alaska, and Uganda. +As he once said: "It is the constructive side of frontier life that +most appeals to me, the building up of a country, where you see +the persistent drive and force of the white man; when the place is +finally settled I don't seem to enjoy it very long." + +In Alaska he did much prospecting, and, with a sled and only two +dogs, for twenty-four days made one long fight against snow and +ice, covering six hundred miles. In mining in Alaska he succeeded +well, but against the country he holds a constant grudge, because it +kept him out of the fight with Spain. When war was declared he +was in the wilds and knew nothing of it, and though on his return +to civilization he telegraphed Colonel Roosevelt volunteering for +the Rough Riders, and at once started south, by the time he had +reached Seattle the war was over. + +Several times has he spoken to me of how bitterly he regretted +missing this chance to officially fight for his country. That he had +twice served with English forces made him the more keen to show +his loyalty to his own people. + +That he would have been given a commission in the Rough Riders +seems evident from the opinion President Roosevelt has publicly +expressed of him. + +"I know Burnham," the President wrote in 1901. "He is a scout and +a hunter of courage and ability, a man totally without fear, a sure +shot, and a fighter. He is the ideal scout, and when enlisted in the +military service of any country he is bound to be of the greatest +benefit." + +The truth of this Burnham was soon to prove. + +In 1899 he had returned to the Klondike, and in January of 1900 +had been six months in Skagway. In that same month Lord Roberts +sailed for Cape Town to take command of the army, and with him +on his staff was Burnham's former commander, Sir Frederick, now +Lord, Carrington. One night as the ship was in the Bay of Biscay, +Carrington was talking of Burnham and giving instances of his +marvellous powers as a "tracker." + +"He is the best scout we ever had in South Africa!" Carrington +declared. + +"Then why don't we get him back there?" said Roberts. + +What followed is well known. + +From Gibraltar a cable was sent to Skagway, offering Burnham the +position, created especially for him, of chief of scouts of the +British army in the field. + +Probably never before in the history of wars has one nation paid so +pleasant a tribute to the abilities of a man of another nation. + +The sequel is interesting. The cablegram reached Skagway by the +steamer _City of Seattle_. The purser left it at the post-office, and +until two hours and a half before the steamer was listed to start on +her return trip, there it lay. Then Burnham, in asking for his mail, +received it. In two hours and a half he had his family, himself, and +his belongings on board the steamer, and had started on his +half-around-the-world journey from Alaska to Cape Town. + +A Skagway paper of January 5, 1900, published the day after +Burnham sailed, throws a side light on his character. After telling +of his hasty departure the day before, and of the high compliment +that had been paid to "a prominent Skagwayan," it adds: "Although +Mr. Burnham has lived in Skagway since last August, and has been +North for many months, he has said little of his past, and few have +known that he is the man famous over the world as 'the American +scout' of the Matabele wars." + +Many a man who went to the Klondike did not, for reasons best +known to himself, talk about his past. But it is characteristic of +Burnham that, though he lived there two years, his associates did +not know, until the British Government snatched him from among +them, that he had not always been a prospector like themselves. + +I was on the same ship that carried Burnham the latter half of his +journey, from Southampton to Cape Town, and every night for +seventeen nights was one of a group of men who shot questions at +him. And it was interesting to see a fellow-countryman one had +heard praised so highly so completely make good. It was not as +though he had a credulous audience of commercial tourists. +Among the officers who each evening gathered around him were +Colonel Gallilet of the Egyptian cavalry, Captain Frazer +commanding the Scotch Gillies, Captain Mackie of Lord Roberts's +staff, each of whom was later killed in action; Colonel Sir Charles +Hunter of the Royal Rifles, Major Bagot, Major Lord Dudley, and +Captain Lord Valentia. Each of these had either held command in +border fights in India or the Sudan or had hunted big game, and the +questions each asked were the outcome of his own experience and +observation. + +Not for a single evening could a faker have submitted to the +midnight examination through which they put Burnham and not +have exposed his ignorance. They wanted to know what difference +there is in a column of dust raised by cavalry and by trek wagons, +how to tell whether a horse that has passed was going at a trot or a +gallop, the way to throw a diamond hitch, how to make a fire +without at the same time making a target of yourself, +how--why--what--and how? + +And what made us most admire Burnham was that when he did not +know he at once said so. + +Within two nights he had us so absolutely at his mercy that we +would have followed him anywhere; anything he chose to tell us, +we would have accepted. We were ready to believe in flying foxes, +flying squirrels, that wild turkeys dance quadrilles--even that you +must never sleep in the moonlight. Had he demanded: "Do you +believe in vampires?" we would have shouted "Yes." To ask that a +scout should on an ocean steamer prove his ability was certainly +placing him under a severe handicap. + +As one of the British officers said: "It's about as fair a game as +though we planted the captain of this ship in the Sahara Desert, +and told him to prove he could run a ten-thousand-ton liner." + +Burnham continued with Lord Roberts to the fall of Pretoria, when +he was invalided home. + +During the advance north he was a hundred times inside the Boer +laagers, keeping Headquarters Staff daily informed of the enemy's +movements; was twice captured and twice escaped. + +He was first captured while trying to warn the British from the +fatal drift at Thaba'nchu. When reconnoitring alone in the morning +mist he came upon the Boers hiding on the banks of the river, +toward which the English were even then advancing. The Boers +were moving all about him, and cut him off from his own side. He +had to choose between abandoning the English to the trap or +signalling to them, and so exposing himself to capture. With the +red kerchief the scouts carried for that purpose he wigwagged to +the approaching soldiers to turn back, that the enemy were +awaiting them. But the column, which was without an advance +guard, paid no attention to his signals and plodded steadily on into +the ambush, while Burnham was at once made prisoner. In the +fight that followed he pretended to receive a wound in the knee +and bound it so elaborately that not even a surgeon would have +disturbed the carefully arranged bandages. Limping heavily and +groaning with pain, he was placed in a trek wagon with the officers +who really were wounded, and who, in consequence, were not +closely guarded. Burnham told them who he was and, as he +intended to escape, offered to take back to head-quarters their +names or any messages they might wish to send to their people. As +twenty yards behind the wagon in which they lay was a mounted +guard, the officers told him escape was impossible. He proved +otherwise. The trek wagon was drawn by sixteen oxen and driven +by a Kaffir boy. Later in the evening, but while it still was +moonlight, the boy descended from his seat and ran forward to +belabor the first spans of oxen. This was the opportunity for which +Burnham had been waiting. + +Slipping quickly over the driver's seat, he dropped between the two +"wheelers" to the disselboom, or tongue, of the trek wagon. From +this he lowered himself and fell between the legs of the oxen on +his back in the road. In an instant the body of the wagon had +passed over him, and while the dust still hung above the trail he +rolled rapidly over into the ditch at the side of the road and lay +motionless. + +It was four days before he was able to re-enter the British lines, +during which time he had been lying in the open veldt, and had +subsisted on one biscuit and two handfuls of "mealies," or what we +call Indian corn. + +Another time when out scouting he and his Kaffir boy while on +foot were "jumped" by a Boer commando and forced to hide in +two great ant-hills. The Boers went into camp on every side of +them, and for two days, unknown to themselves, held Burnham a +prisoner. Only at night did he and the Cape boy dare to crawl out +to breathe fresh air and to eat the food tablets they carried in their +pockets. On five occasions was Burnham sent into the Boer lines +with dynamite cartridges to blow up the railroad over which the +enemy was receiving supplies and ammunition. One of these +expeditions nearly ended his life. + +On June 2, 1901, while trying by night to blow up the line between +Pretoria and Delagoa Bay, he was surrounded by a party of Boers +and could save himself only by instant flight. He threw himself +Indian fashion along the back of his pony, and had all but got away +when a bullet caught the horse and, without even faltering in its +stride, it crashed to the ground dead, crushing Burnham beneath it +and knocking him senseless. He continued unconscious for +twenty-four hours, and when he came to, both friends and foes had +departed. Bent upon carrying out his orders, although suffering the +most acute agony, he crept back to the railroad and destroyed it. +Knowing the explosion would soon bring the Boers, on his hands +and knees he crept to an empty kraal, where for two days and +nights he lay insensible. At the end of that time he appreciated that +he was sinking and that unless he found aid he would die. + +Accordingly, still on his hands and knees, he set forth toward the +sound of distant firing. He was indifferent as to whether it came +from the enemy or his own people, but, as it chanced, he was +picked up by a patrol of General Dickson's Brigade, who carried +him to Pretoria. There the surgeons discovered that in his fall he +had torn apart the muscles of the stomach and burst a blood-vessel. +That his life was saved, so they informed him, was due only to the +fact that for three days he had been without food. Had he +attempted to digest the least particle of the "staff of life " he would +have surely died. His injuries were so serious that he was ordered +home. + +On leaving the army he was given such hearty thanks and generous +rewards as no other American ever received from the British War +Office. He was promoted to the rank of major, presented with a +large sum of money, and from Lord Roberts received a personal +letter of thanks and appreciation. + +In part the Field-Marshal wrote: "I doubt if any other man in the +force could have successfully carried out the thrilling enterprises +in which from time to time you have been engaged, demanding as +they did the training of a lifetime, combined with exceptional +courage, caution, and powers of endurance." On his arrival in +England he was commanded to dine with the Queen and spend the +night at Osborne, and a few months later, after her death, King +Edward created him a member of the Distinguished Service Order, +and personally presented him with the South African medal with +five bars, and the cross of the D. S. 0. While recovering his health +Burnham, with Mrs. Burnham, was "passed on" by friends he had +made in the army from country house to country house; he was +made the guest of honor at city banquets, with the Duke of Rutland +rode after the Belvoir hounds, and in Scotland made mild +excursions after grouse. But after six months of convalescence he +was off again, this time to the hinterland of Ashanti, on the west +coast of Africa, where he went in the interests of a syndicate to +investigate a concession for working gold mines. + +With his brother-in-law, J. C. Blick, he marched and rowed twelve +hundred miles, and explored the Volta River, at that date so little +visited that in one day's journey they counted eleven +hippopotamuses. In July, 1901, he returned from Ashanti, and a +few months later an unknown but enthusiastic admirer asked in the +House of Commons if it were true Major Burnham had applied for +the post of Instructor of Scouts at Aldershot. There is no such post, +and Burnham had not applied for any other post. To the Timer he +wrote: "I never have thought myself competent to teach Britons +how to fight, or to act as an instructor with officers who have +fought in every corner of the world. The question asked in +Parliament was entirely without my knowledge, and I deeply regret +that it was asked." A few months later, with Mrs. Burnham and his +younger son, Bruce, he journeyed to East Africa as director of the +East African Syndicate. + +During his stay there the _African Review_ said of him: "Should +East Africa ever become a possession for England to be proud of, +she will owe much of her prosperity to the brave little band that +has faced hardships and dangers in discovering her hidden +resources. Major Burnham has chosen men from England, Ireland, +the United States, and South Africa for sterling qualities, and they +have justified his choice. Not the least like a hero is the retiring, +diffident little major himself, though a finer man for a friend or a +better man to serve under would not be found in the five +continents." + +Burnham explored a tract of land larger than Germany, penetrating +a thousand miles through a country, never before visited by white +men, to the borders of the Congo Basin. With him he had twenty +white men and five hundred natives. The most interesting result of +the expedition was the discovery of a lake forty-nine miles square, +composed almost entirely of pure carbonate of soda, forming a +snowlike crust so thick that on it the men could cross the lake. + +It is the largest, and when the railroad is built--the Uganda +Railroad is now only eighty-eight miles distant--it will be the most +valuable deposit of carbonate of soda ever found. + +A year ago, in the interests of John Hays Hammond, the +distinguished mining engineer of South Africa and this country, +Burnham went to Sonora, Mexico, to find a buried city and to open +up mines of copper and silver. + +Besides seeking for mines, Hammond and Burnham, with Gardner +Williams, another American who also made his fortune in South +Africa, are working together on a scheme to import to this country +at their own expense many species of South African deer. + +The South African deer is a hardy animal and can live where the +American deer cannot, and the idea in importing him is to prevent +big game in this country from passing away. They have asked +Congress to set aside for these animals a portion of the forest +reserve. Already Congress has voted toward the plan $15,000, and +President Roosevelt is one of its most enthusiastic supporters. + +We cannot leave Burnham in better hands than those of Hammond +and Gardner Williams. Than these three men the United States has +not sent to British Africa any Americans of whom she has better +reason to be proud. Such men abroad do for those at home untold +good. They are the real ambassadors of their country. + +The last I learned of Burnham is told in the snapshot of him which +accompanies this article, and which shows him, barefoot, in the +Yaqui River, where he has gone, perhaps, to conceal his trail from +the Indians. It came a month ago in a letter which said briefly that +when the picture was snapped the expedition was "trying to cool +off." There his narrative ended. Promising as it does adventures +still to come, it seems a good place in which to leave him. + +Meanwhile, you may think of Mrs. Burnham after a year in +Mexico keeping the house open for her husband's return to +Pasadena, and of their first son, Roderick, studying woodcraft with +his father, forestry with Gifford Pinchot, and playing right guard +on the freshman team at the University of California. + +But Burnham himself we will leave "cooling off " in the Yaqui +River, maybe, with Indians hunting for him along the banks. And +we need not worry about him. We know they will not catch him. + +End + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Real Soldiers of Fortune +by Richard Harding Davis + diff --git a/old/resof10.zip b/old/resof10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..21f31ce --- /dev/null +++ b/old/resof10.zip diff --git a/old/resof11.zip b/old/resof11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..85e8f41 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/resof11.zip |