FRENCH FOREIUN LEGION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1642, 8 January 1913, Page 7

FRENCH FOREIUN LEGION.

RECRUITING IN:.GERMANY;-,'/ .;;. ill VH) m «7il . FToiltfWln:)"'.'.' ' By TeleKranh—Press Aeioolatlon—OopjrUli ' (Rec, January 7, 9.40 plin.) t : . :: ''_ ' ' Berlin,' J January .7; , Five Frenchman have"been arrested ut Metz.' They were disguised as dealers, and wore offering Germans'.3so ■'. francs each if they would enlist in the' French Foreign Legion. ■•'.';' ■ / ■.'/: j/'' l ' THE SWEEPINGS'OF EUROPE: - : A STRANGE FIGHTINGiFORCE.' Tho last refuge of the reckless and miserable, the Foreign Legion of France; is composed of men of ,all nationalities. :Maiiy books have boon written on this extraordinary body of toen,- but the .account of his eipeneinces given by Erwin Rotcn in his book,' "In. / the Foreign Legion" is probably the! most Vividly vrritten^::,::■:•.;'■.■'/ •,':;_■:,',■■ '■•'/ . .■.- •: The* Foreign: Legion is a body that was formed by the French '80 "years .ago for hard fighting in foreign : countries.: .'The legionaries'.are not- allowed/, in ■.France. They are sent to Algeria, "Morocco, Tonkin, Madagascar—wherever the conditions; of life; are most intolerable, and the fighting most brutal 'and barbarous,, The pay is wretchedly small;,five centimes.a day, 0r.25 centimes for the. p'ay-r6ll ;period'of five days.' Twenty-five, centimes are almost exaotly:fivecentsin.American/.or 2Jd. in English ;money,.':Every/fifth .day, ; when the. men are 'poidy' ,is. humorously' called tlie'regiment's holiday..'Then the men'assemble," at the canteen, and 'enjoy ;themsolves'; in .'their .own, 'fashion, \ drinking,' singing,.yelling,'dancing;.', They, have what they-;consider a.good' tithe./: . l /Several/times a week' the' men moke practice marches, on', which,; they are interfered'with as. little as possible/as long as they get through 'the distance at the presbribed rate. The, object of this endless, marching/is to' make tho'legionaries the best marchers in thei. world..'. The Foreign Legion : is a body, of'cheap, sple'ni didly-trained : mercenaries/ with' whom the most 'daring military operations can be undertaken; without consideration of. the sacrifice of life involved. No nation, no Parliament, asks .for an account of the dead. The Legion marches, acts independentlyV. and dies' without Attracting 'attention.'. Everything is sacrificed to marching. The man may., bo, hungry, .thirsty, completely exhaiistcd,' hi 9 feet: may be bleedingi : or':the: soles burning,;but: his/maioh'. ing paco must riot slacken. It is a.merciless system,' remarks the author, but it produces wonderful 'soldiers. If a legionary fails on. the;march' he, may:fall into, the hands of the wild Arabs of the desert, The worst fate that can befall him is to be taken by the Arab,women, who'mutk late him and inflict horrible tortures on' tho wounded. Tho soldiers ofthe Legion, mod with the sight, and thirsting, for revenge, quarter to Arab; women, but Tetniiate in kind,' , : I'■ .if:'./ ;■ In the course of'thedobatd on the Military, Estimates" in February, 1911, the . . Prussian Minister for' War, General von Heeringen, expressed indignation at the practice indulged uiiby.certain German newspapors in lauding the French Foreign Legion. That Legion, says the eemi-offloial "Norddeutsche Allgemeine . Zeitung," is composed largely of German deserters, and, it adds not only tho Prussian War Minister but every honest German is in-. • dignant at such unpatriotic demeanour on ; the part of Gorman newspapers. Tho Berlin "Post," the organ of the Free Conservative party, considered.that tho Prus- ■ sian War Minister was perfectly justified in -warning Germans'against tho agents of tho Foreign Legion, who, .it declares, attract their victims to .French soil after ; the manner of white, slave merchants. It declared that France thus,violated international law in the most egregious manner, and that it was. a moot question whether the constitution'of the Foreign Legion should not bo inquired into by The Hague Court of Arbitration, The Foreign Legion, said the ."Post," was a disgrace to the French Nation rind absolutely unworthy of a civilised people, for it serves as a covert for criminals and deserters. The Prussian War Minister had, the newspaper asserted, no idea of insulting the honour of tho French arms; but, on the other hand, France herself dishonoured, her own arras by maintaining tho Foreign •Legion. ' "