SUICIDES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5078, 21 January 1927, Page 1

SUICIDES.

FAMOUS CASES IN HISTORY. In fiction, writers, have employed suicide as a handy and satisfactory means of disposing elf the villain, in that respect fiction differs from history (says John o’ London’s Weekly). On searching .the pages of history, <;ne salient fact emerges: the'famous suicides have olmost invariably been beings of high intellectual powers Hannibal was undoubtedly a military genius. Napoleon classed him as one o'f the three greatest soldiers the world had known. Moreover, t<he genius of Hannibal was not confined to warfare ; after his Reman cajnpaigife'i he proved himself to be a singularly wise and powerful magistrate in Carthage. Yet the great mind that had conceived such victorybringing strategic in the past recoiled at the very thought of capture. Rather than surrender to his enemies he swallowed the poison, which, with characteristic foresight,, he had long carried in his ring. Cleopatra ranks among the world’s great beauties. But she was. more than a great beauty ; she was. a woman who by her genius succeeded in holding and wielding the sceptre of Egypt for over twenty years. Yet, in spite o't wealth and power, she. took her life for love of faithless Anthony. To pass from ancient to modern times, within little more than a century three military leaders o'f undisputed genius took their lives. Lord Clive, founder of our Indian Empire, gave early feigns that his was not'the nature to be content with the mere clerkship that his impoverished father obtained for him. We. are .told that at seven he was “out of measure addicted to' fighting,” whereas as a youth at the siege) o'f Pondicherry he was “tubulent with his equals.” His great victory at Ar.cot, and his glorious career in his country’s service, proved that he was a king among men ; his reward was an inquiry into his alleged corrupt practices, during which he exclaimed, “By God, Mr Chairman, I am astonished at my own moderation I” Notwithstanding the fact that, the committee of inquiry found that Clive had “rendered great and meritorious services to the State,” the lure of death was top strong 'for this man of genius. He died by his own hand when only forty-nine.

Marshal Berthier was the most trusted of Napoleon’s generals; he ■will stand for. all time as the greatest chief of staff in history. He had had a distinguished career as a Royalist staff officer before throwing in his lot, with the Revolution, and had reached the very pinnacis ctf military fame when the Napoleonic crash came. Napoleon once expressed astonishment at the unique friendly relationship between himself and Berthier. “Ahl” sneered Talleyrand, “He has faith in, you.’’ Berthier. lost ifaith, but his loyalty remained steadfast. When the Hundred Days dawned this great soldier was oin the herns, of a dilemma. His loyalty to France hade him oppose Napoleon; his loyalty to t,he Corsican hade him oppose what he believed to be the interests of France. Rather than be a traitor t c either, he took his life.

Poor Hector Macdonald rose from a humble post in a draper’s shop to be General “Fighting Mac,” the hero of the British Army. His military genius in India, Egypt, and S°irth Africa won him countless honours, and the thanks of Parliament. Recalled from the East to refute a charge pre'ferred against him, he shot himself in a Parisian hotel on the way home.