AN INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 194, 17 August 1932, Page 6

AN INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURER.

"Ignatius Trebitsch-Lincoln, now a Buddhist monk, is going to Europe, where he intends to found a Buddhist monastery. He has not decided in what country the monastery will be located," snys a cable message. Again the sinister figure of an arch-plotter creeps stealthily across the stage of world affairs. Born in Austria, he later became a Presbyterian missionary, an ordained Church of England curate, a member of the British House of Commons, an oil magnate, a convict, a monarchist revolutionary, an informer and spy, adviser to a famous Chinese war lord, and involved in conspiracies in three continents. There is sound reason for the uncertainty as to which country Trebitsch-Lincoln should select to found his Buddhist monastery. He decided after a varied and colourful career that Buddhism was the only antidote against "the grasping greed and gross materialism of Europeans and Americans," and twelve circular scars on his shaven head indicate that he has gone through the painful burning ceremony supposed to testify that a candidate for the Buddhist priesthood ie dead to all sensation.

His has been an amazing career, which must make Mr. Phillips Oppenhcim envious. His plausible eloquence and his ability in handling figures won his way into the political life of Britain and secured him a place as Hungarian censor in the Post Office at the outbreak of war. But hero ho abused the confidence placed in him and proved to bo an enemy agent. He fled to America, where he proceeded to vilify the country that had given him asylum till he : was deported and sentenced in Britain to three yeare for forging tho name of B. S. Rowntree, the cocoa manufacturer, for whom he acted as secretary. Thus he was rendered impotent .during the vital years of tho war. It was to be expected that Lincoln would turn to Germany when he attained his liberty, and he next figured prominently in the short-lived Kapp Government, and after unsavoury revelations of his associations with Ludendorff and Bauer he was again forced to flee. This time he went to Austria, bilt only again to follow a crooked path, resulting in his expulsion for alleged treasonable activities. Deported from America, exiled from Britain, and denaturalised, forced to flee from Germany, and expelled from Austria, Trebitsch-Lincoln can well claim world attention,

The Western world having rejected with ignominy a man proved to be an expert in intrigue, there was nothing left for TrebitschLincoln but to turn his eyes towards the East, where, in the Chinese imbroglio, he had hoped, no doubt, to find a fruitful field for his activities. Within a very short time he occupied a high position as military adviser to General Wu-pei-fu, the Chinese war lord. Shortly afterwards, disillusionment was once more his portion, for he found that wherever he looked he saw treachery and self-seeking amongst the generals, and in such an environment there was no niche for one more self-seeker. In disgust he retired to the seclusion of a Buddhist monastery in Ceylon, and now, once more, he turns his eyes to Europe. But in what eoiuitrv is he likely to be allowed to settle? —G.A.P.