THE ADVENTURES OF ARCHIBALD FORBES.

Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 3894, 15 January 1878, Page 3

THE ADVENTURES OF ARCHIBALD FORBES.

("From "The World," October 31.] Mr Forbes holds that a war correspond ent should understand war practically and theoretically, should always be abreast of the latest systems and freshest ideas on his own peculiar subject, and moreover should hare an accurate knowledge of the communications between the scene of action and the office of the journal he represents. "Anybody can write," he tells us, "but a man must study to see with understanding, and to write so as earn the respect of soldiers." Probably this habit of mind has been acquired from his military education. Finding the purenit of liberal studies at the University of Aberdeen not sufficiently exciting, he enlisted in the Royal Dragoons, and at the end of five years' service obtained his discharge marked " good," an adjective which he attributes rather to the kindliness than the justice of his commanding officer. His career is a remarkable example of chstssez Iβ naturel il revient au galop. Aβ a scholar he burned to be a dragoon; as a dragoon, he could not forget his literary tastes. Beading in every leisure hour all the technical works he could find in the barracklibrary, he, like most men who write well, felt the neceseity of writing on hie own account. His early ventures to the " Cornhill Magazine," and then in the "St. Paul's Magazine," were mostly on military subjects, but his treatment of them was so successful as to bring occasional cheques to barracks, the effect of these visitations being generally the temporary demoralisation of the troop-room which he chanced to inhabit. Still working at professional subjects, he found his occasional 'papers bo well received by London editors that he finally determined on rejecting the sword for— crede liulner —the mightier weapon. No longer dragoon, non-commissioned officer, and rough rider, he found his way into the hard every-day work of metropolitan journalism, producing by turns almost every kind of hand-to-mouth composition. Editing for a while the "London Scotsman," he accepted the post of war correspondent of the " Morning Advertiser" during the early days of the FrancoGerman war. His letters therein attracted the notice of Mr J. R. Bobinson, the manager of the " Daily News," who with the quick eye of an accomplished journalist, recognised a fresh and strong hand. Accident soon brought him and hie future war correspondent together. Returning from Metz to re-assume the editorship of the "London Scotsman," Mr Forbes being possessed of muph accurate information respecting the position of the contending armies, endeavored to " place" a letter on the subject in a leading journal. The communication was discouraged, and he stood in Fleet etrcet hesitating which of the three daily newspapers in the immediate neighborhood to offer hie " copy" to. He decided, by toesing up, on the "Daily News," and on the following morning made his first appearance in the columns of the journal with which he has since been bo intimately associated. Next afternoon he called at the office to volunteer some f urtfoer articles on the war, and was not a little surprised to receive from Mr Bobinson marching orders at once. For a moment he hesitated. The " London Scotsman " and family ties demanded his presence at home ; .but Mr Robinson, more mo, suggested that»there was a train that evening, that the sinews of war were strung, and that Met* was the very place in which glory awaited him. Setting out that night he carried with him instructions which mark an epoch in the history of journalism. It was arranged that he should carry out the idea, common to Mr Robinson and himself, of sending complete letters by telegraph instead of telegrams containing merely the dry bones of events. Up to the date of the FrancoGerman war, the custom had been to send short telegrams, and supplement them by long letters, which arrived, of course, at a time when the main interest of an event had been discounted. In writing full descriptive letters, giving an accurate account of the events of the hour, and in speeding theseswiftly to the wires, the new correspondent of the "Daily Newe" displayed a peculiar genius for organisation. It is perhaps hardly so well known to the public as it deserves to be, that it is one thing to be present at a battle, yet another thing to choose the best spot for forming an accurate idea of what i* going on ; yet a third requisite to possess the nimble brain to comprehend and the rapid hand necessary to record it as itdcvelopes ; and yet another quite distinct gift to organise the Communications for getting the information swiftly from the battle-field to London. From the battle-field to the nearest telegraph office the ex-dragoon was well fitted to be hie own courier; and his great physical power of endurance enabled him to perform feats of an extraordinary kind. Capable of resisting the desire to eat and to sleep for a great length of time, he fairly electrified the public by the letters which he either contrived to get telegraphed or brought with hie own hand from the scene of action. Thie new style of war correspondence astonished and delighted the readers of the "Daily News," and the reputation of Mr Forbes wae finally established by his adroitness in being on the spot when the late Emperor of the French surrendtred his sword to the Emperor of Germany—an event commemorated by Mr Jones Barker, from information given by Mr Forbes, in a picture which now hangs in that gentleman's dining room. All this good work was eclipsed at the surrender of Paris. The correspondent of the "Daily News" was the first newepaper-man in Paris after that eventful day, and conveyed hie irnpreseions by means of a long concerted scheme. Hiding into Paris from the north side, he taw all that was to be Been, and after surmounting various difficulties, contrived to get out again, rode to Lagny, and travelled by train all the way to Carleruhe, whence he forwarded his letterlof three columns by telegraph to London, and then returned to Paris to find a couple of special correspondents there to laugh at his apparently tardy arrival, and tell him—all in a good-natured fashion—that at lest they had got the better of him, and left him " out in the cold." He did not reply. There is a Northern proverb to the effect that " It's a canny thing to say nowt;" and on this he acted until the "Daily News" arrived in. Paris, and hie friendly rivals were thunderstruck to find that they had been anticipated by three days. Throughout most of the jear 1871 he was conttantly passing and repaseirg the Channel, writing on the boat and in the railway-carriage, often passing an hour and a half or I wo hours in London, and 6h*a setting off again. Daring the affair o£ the Commune he contrived to be in Paris ab the critical momer.t, and was eating salad with General Domb>owßki on the afternoon of the eventful Sunday. This was an adteatorous time for a special rornspoi denb. While looking about Paris during the fighting, Mr Forbes was pounced upon by a party of Communists, and compelled to help m making a barricade in front of the Pahvie Royal; hot was released with honor, in consequence of an amusing incident. The Comaranists, who*c knowledge of military art waa nob equal to their courage, were making Uteir barricade, and had two field-guns to ana it, and bad forgotten the embrasures. Their captive, with insistence equal to that displayed by Captain Dugald Dalgetty concerning the *• sconce," pointed, out that guns without embrasures were not likely to prove very useful, and was at once acquitted, in confederation of hie military knowledge, of nft further participation in hand-labor. OncQ more daring the chaos he found himself in 'an awkward position, compelled, by the alternative of being shot where be stood, to go through th« fozm at least of parttcipatmg in the defence of a CommunUt position in »triangle upon -eAich three detachment* of °Veraailh*fc two** eon* verged Hβ Meaprd from them into a kouse; and ft day Jaier, whea Pen* wag iiaaing, be

determined en a desperate effort to carry his news away. He was not long in maturing his plan. Armed with one otEckl envelope directed to the Qaeen of England, he escaped from the burning city, and by means of soother dummy Utter addressed to Lord Qranviile, obtained precedence at the crowded ferry. Thence he rode to St. Denit, and writing bj the way, carse on to England by train and tbe mail-boat, on which ha was the solitary passenger. At Calais he telegraphed to the " Daily News" to keep space, and armed at the office, with hi> accoant of Paris in £amea, at 6 a.m. At eight appeared the special edition of the newspaper, and at a quarter to ten Mr Robinson found his correspondent asteep in his room with the "Post Office London Directory" for a pillow. As Mr Forbes's letter was the first intimation of tho state of Paris received in this country, the excitement in London was great. In the afternoon a question was asked of Mr Gladstone, in tbe House of Commons, whether the Government had any information of the condition of the French capital, as set forth in the " Daily News." He replied that he had no information, and sincerely hoped that the statements in that journal were exaggerated. Subsequent information proved that the account of Mr Forbes was rather under than ot«.* stated. In piping times of peace Mr Forbes occupied Mβ kisure with the Vienna Kxhibition, and in meeting Sir Samuel and Lady Baker on their return from Africa, when ho made the curious observation that Sir Samuel, who had lived on oatmeal and water for months, took exception to the style in which the first fried sole he had eaten for many years was cooked, and that Lady Baker who had worn a sack in Africa, could hardly find anything bright and beautiful enough in Mr Worth's ateli'r to deck herself withal, lie intercepted one of the crew with a bit of the ! plate of the Megrcra in his possession showing the condition of that unhappy 1 ship. The waifs from the La Plata also fell into his hands, and he may be said to have " invented" Mr Joseph Arch by first making him public. He also claims to have " invented" the Ashanti war, and congratulates himself very fairly on having prescribed the plan of campaign, which was actually followed successfully. India he visited, first to tell the story of the Bengal famine, gaining a new experience and a sunstroke ; and a second time to record the magnificent progress of the Prince of Wales. After three campaigns in Spain he found himself ognin on very serious duty in the Servian war of last year. After the battle of Djunis, which sealed the fate of the Servian war, he had 137 miles between him and his base of telegraphic communication with England. Starting just before sundown, he rode from Deligrad to Semendria —100 miles in fourteen hours—on Jordinary post-horses, riding "estafette," as it is called. He then secured a carriole, and drove himself on to Belgrade in time to cross to Seinlin and send off his telegram on tbe morning after the battle. During the present war he has almost lived in the saddle, riding all day in the field, and frequently riding all night with his news. Ascertaining that the first attack on Plevna was about to be made, he rode one hone for eighty miles to the field of battle, and rode him through the eventful day, till, after being hunted by Boshi-Bazouke, horse and rider lay down to reet together. So utterly ■wearied wae the horse that he stretched himself at full length by the eide of his master, laid his head on his knee, and slept without moving till the next alarm. In the morning came a ride of forty miles to Sistova, near the end of which the horse fell from skeer exhaustion, and the Indomitable war correspondent walked into Sistova with hie saddle on hie bead. From this point he reached Bucharest, and between Ploiesti and Cronstadt, in Transylvania, rode on relays of ponies until he handed in at the telegraph office of the latter place that brilliant, gTaphic, and critical description of the battle of Plevna which excited so much comment in England, where it arrived on the third day after tbe battle. After the battle in the Shipka Pase on the 24th August, Mr Forbes, having already laid relays of horses, rode without a halt to the imperial hoad-quartere, distancing handsomely the aides-de-camp charged with the duty of conveying intelligence to the Emperor and Grand Duke. Aβ he was the first bearer of news, he was conducted to the Emperor, and, after the delay occasioned by the interview, pushed on to Bucharest to forward his telegram, written, as telegrams from abroad must be, in a schoolboy roundhand, involving mnch physical toil to a man already overtaxed with work, and starved for rest and food. Perhaps the last has been one of the severest of all campaigns for a special correspondent. The distances to be traversed have been enormous, and the want of communications has taxed the ingenuity and vigour of the correspondent to the utmost. The excitement of battle, followed by long weary rides on dark nights, and heavy tramps through the sand without halt or food, are no insignificant trials in themselves ; but when they are coupled with the duty of writing a long letter, and so telegraphing it that it shall reach its destination, the work becomes so severe that it is no wonder that it proved fatal to many, and at last struck down Mr Forbes with a fever, from the effects of which we are happy to say he is rapidly recovering. As there is a growing belief that any gentleman who can ride across country and write a column of graphic prose has in him the material of a war correspondent, this sketch of the career of Mr Forbes may prove both instructive and deterrent. Nearly 2000 years ago Cicero, in his famous oration, Pro lege Maiiilid, enumerated the qualifications of a successful general. It h:is fallen to our humble lot to point out those of the eucceeful war correspondent, of whom the most brilliant type in our own day is Mr Archibald Forbes,