THE SOLDIER'S IDOL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 6, 8 January 1900, Page 4

THE SOLDIER'S IDOL.

Sdtts Very interesting particulars | . leapeuling Colonel Hector Archibald! Maodonald, who has been appointed to | "the command of the Highland Brigade, I Lord Methuen, replacing General | Wauchope, killed in action, have been ' - tarnished by a Melbourne resident, j * who heard a good daal about tbe colonel dating his recent visit to Eop- _ land, and who had the privilege of attending the famous dinner given by the Highland societies of London early I in May last year in his honor. j Hector Macdonald is a " ranker," the j ■on of a farmer in Ross-shire, and be was pat by his father behind a draper's j counter in the village where he resided. | This uncongenial occupation lasted for a year. Youcg Macdonald took the Queen's Shilling in 1869, and he rapidly obtained promotion from the rank of a non-commissioned officer to which he had risen. . He is a man of great ambition and insensible to danger. It was in Afghanistan that he first attracted the attention of Lord Robert?, through the brilliant way in which he bandied bis men, and ftom that day his promotion f:was rapid. At Omdurman he did a thing which is reported only to have occurred three .times in modem warfare. His brigade and Lewis's brigade bcre the brunt of the fighting, and the manoeuvre Macdonald successfully carried out was instead of waiting for the dervish attack to suddenly change the position of his fighting line. The American Ambassador, wl o was present at the dinner nf. rted to, aßd who was an old compaigner, described this operation as putting ihe men Through the figure 8 in presence of the enemy. By thin means the brigade under MacDocald became tho attacking party, instead of the attacked, and cot oft the enemy from retreat to Khartoum. His career has bef-n extraordinary, and for a man who has risen from the ranks to become a G. 8.; to have obtained the D.5.0.; and to have been ppointed to the Queer, almost without a paiallel of late years. In figure Colonel Mac Donald pre■enta no striking features. In feet, be ia rather xound-shouldered. In Itaioje he is about sft Sin. His features show greit determination. \ffith a big chin and jaw and high •toeek boner, he is a typical Highlander. Sometimes his face is said to light up with a happy smile, changing altogether his general aspect, which is stern and forbidding. In speaking in public be showed much modesty, altogether disclaiming personal merit, and attributing hie suocess to the admirable discipline of the men under his command. In fact, the great public attention paid to hit work in Egypt seemed to bore him. Bis own wotds were: ' It is a shocking thing that a man cannot do his duty trithont obtaining public notoriety." Amongst the Highlanders Macdonald is loved as a fellow-clansman, and bis appointment to command the Highland under Lord Methuen Will bs applauded all through the army.