Part 1 (1/2)
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 ar is the most reuished-looking ray hair, an imperial of the fashi+on of Louis Napoleon, fierce blue eyes, and across his forehead a sabre cut
This is Henry Ronald Douglas MacIver, for son 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 ar Milan of Servia These are only a few of histhe 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 Christinia His las of that State; Ronald MacIver, his father, was a Scot, a Rossshi+re gentleer son of the chief of the Clan MacIver Until he was ten years old young MacIver played in Virginia at the hoht be educated, he was shi+pped to Edinburgh to an uncle, General Donald Graham After five years his uncle obtained for hin in the Honorable East India Co 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 ounded in the arainst the sun the boy had placed inside his helht 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 ht have satisfied some men, but in the very next war MacIver was a volunteer and wore the red shi+rt of Garibaldi He ren, and until within a few years there has been no can 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 Richreat war he was four times wounded
It was after the surrender of the Confederate army, that, with other Southern officers, he served under Maxiypt, and in France Whenever in any part of the world there was fighting, or the rueneral invariably was the same He would order hi there would offer to organize a foreign legion The coiven to hie He would soon show that he was fitted for a better command than a band of undisciplined volunteers, and would receive a coular army In almost every command in which he served that is the manner in which pro, sometimes he should have died several deaths, each of a nature er of a bullet is but a three hundred to one shot, while in the pack against the coeneral the unforeseen adventures are the ns 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 ithout food
Long before I met General MacIver I had read his book and had heard of him froed in as s Several of the older war correspondents knew hiraph_ was his friend, and E F Knight of the _Ti expedition which MacIver organized against New Guinea The late Colonel Ochiltree of Texas toldmen 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, as our _charge d'affaires_ then, was sent froot rid of the ex-consul, and later MacIver so endeared hied 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 roo-house, and overlooked his neighbor's back yard and a typical New York City suot he ithin a block of the Elevated, and roamed over all the world On his bed he would spread out wonderful parchreat 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: ”I 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 ht,” 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 Froraphs, 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 in back a crown
Once in a written docueneral did me the honor to appoint , 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 his,” and some of the ”foot-notes to history” which I have copied from his scrap-book This scrap-book is a wonderful volu to ”political” and other reasons, for the present, of the s 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 e
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 iination of the Soldier of Fortune, his Majesty's doht 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 Christ to join the first party must contribute one hundred pounds toward the company This subscription will include all expenses for passage ether 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 coentle out for one hundred others who haveWhen the company has been completed, its share-holders are to place theulations, sail in a body for New Guinea, and without asking anybody's leave, seize upon the island and at once, in soe profits If the idea does not suggest cons 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 squea paragraph:
”Toward the latter part of 1883 the Govern 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 Hoadier-General H R MacIver originated and organized the New Guinea Exploration and Colonization Co settlements on the island The company, presided over by General Beresford of the British Ar 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 gentle the board of directors, and the truly peaceful nature of the expedition, his Lordshi+p informed General MacIver that in the event of the latter's atte 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: