THE DEVIL'S OWN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 105, 27 January 1908, Page 9

THE DEVIL'S OWN.

' AUSTRALIAN SOIiDIKR -Of - FORTUNE, fiXTKAOItDINAEY FBENCHt REGIMENT. A grandspu of Peter Lalor, who led. the insurgent; diggers of Ballarat in their, fight with the military at tho Eureka Stockade 50 years ago, reeontly returned to - Melbourne B 2' Pr Tears' absence, to'see his father, - * as oil his deathbed, -When ho received the message announcing his father's serious: illness, he was ill of maliria in a military hospital in Algiwi, being a wirporal in tho "Legion Etraiigere," or "Regiment du Dioble," as the French army knows it. ;. . "The Foreign Legion," said Mr. Lalor, when interviewfid by the Melbourne "Argus," "is jike no other fereo on 'earth,:' It is made l up of, all sorts ; tj» prince should«r to shoulder with the anarchist; looking down the, ranks ono' seas Russians, Germans, irorichmcif,. Chinasvon. There were two of these in the Legion, and five ftnalifihiiwn. One/' of the Bnglislimen was a major in a swagger regiment, *ho had come to grief at Monte Carlo, I 'was his superior officOr. I was' a corperal; he ft 'He was a fine chap. : , ■ Peter;of Sorvia was' one of .the legion,oo was that French engineer who went out to the Boer war as engineor to Cronje. And tliera wns^ RiGcrman prince, h. : cousin to the Kaiser. Also there was the sonm of seven nations way of tho'larger crimes. It was considered bad fnrnv to aalc A fellow Tvhero li<s had litst come from iti thovLegion.' ••5 iw °??' m#7l who had been sentenced to doath for his shatoiin the Blaok Sea nnitinv vanot-her had killed his- man-'4ii s'-'dn«l' in' Ger--' many ; another said he had: killed his in South America,, but it's so cheap to kill yonr there .that it must havo been something Worse than; that. I know South America, hocanso I' helped a tevolutio'n thnro, atid'had 1 |- to bolt afterwards : 'to tho BritislvCohsul when, ! *" ln g» got to the shooting—agaihst, a wall— stage. ' i'esj as they. isay ; Bn.tishdrs havo a habit Of going' and raising Cain in a foreigner s country and then invoking the protection of the Union Jack.' "But to tho-Legion I It was fine, One's companions wore the best fellows on earth; and, while the pay was only id.' a '!av, you could buy wino hfc $d. ,a botfcie and tobfloco at 4}d. lb. And thoy were young men, for tho most part, of relihement and education. Moft who had fallen out in the thousand ways, open to man; sent .'down - from every big university in Europe. They were tho material for soldiers; hardly a man ef them had anything to live for. You see, they had to be .liko that-, bccausc $d. a day is not onoUgh t-o tempt an ordinary oriminaVtO hard All we had in tho criminal line wero tho bigger sorts, 1 1 . "Yes hard work. Besides our firing practicc wo marched between 100 and 125 kilometres a week—somewhere about' 70 'lc'lts— through the hot Algerian sunlight, with about, Sfllb. of kit on our backs. The discipline was, severe, and the routine as I hare described. And yet,' of course, with a force like that tho discipline was necessary. They used to tako a man to tho hospital prstt-y ivcll every Jiight. A would &ek a German, hat .about ATigt/srlita?' tko Clormaii would reply, 'What about Sedan?' Then tho trouble wctild' becin. It- would he . fought with anything liandy—from a bayonet to n fo«t- The French don't go in ltinch fisr slurp flings; their feet arc goal enough for them. Ihen, again, dualling. Ww jWirmil-Ud, ami at, the great majority of duels one, man went out. And the anniversary ef the tsking of tho Bastille lasted for a weak. ■ "And then the Legion has its honours, it- is ono of four French regiments which may wear the Legion ef Honour on its colours. Tlic names of its victories ranged from tho Crimen to • China, from tho Camorooits to Moxico, from Solforino to Dahon*. The Mexican exploit was tho greatest.. About 60 rnon. covered the .retreat of trtc Fronch beroro. 12,000 Mexicans for 24 hours. At the end of that time the, forco consisted of two wounded men and ono unpuncturod chummep. boy. The lattor went out with s. flan of truce, and arranged for the withdrawal of the garrison with all tho honours of War. So tho two ivoimded men and the bor msrchsd out. ' ,

"No, I didn't soo much fighting in Algeria. At RamasKiu—or Arumtlum, its the Arabs cali it—they get a little frivolous, and we had a tew skvrimshes hero and there last ye.ir. -Will Igo back? I don't know,' It's most extraordinary to he living ,i civilised life hero, with orderly little gnr'dens outside, and a neat little voom to sleep in. The Legion calls—how does it go? 'Once a morphia maniac always a morphia maniac.' Well, the Legion is like that. Onco a Legionairo always a Legtonairc. At present I am tied. But it s a grand life soldiering and a grand raiment the Legion Etrangorc —the Devil s Own."