Capitals Captured by British Soldiers.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXV, Issue I, 7 July 1900, Page 31

Capitals Captured by British Soldiers.

Well was it that recently si great British daily paper reminded thu whole world in general that there was only one first-rate capital in Europe that had not been overrun by an alien enemy, and that capital was London. And a reminder might, too, have been added that in every quarter of the globe our gallant soldiers from the tiny island have lolled at ease, resting after heroic fighting, in the greater number of the most important cities

of the world, be they ancient or modern. Above all, the French must have short memories indeed when they fail to remember that on two occasions during the present century, in 1814 and again in 1815, our men have clanked their spurs and grounded arms in the very heart or Paris. Till within very recent times there were many Britons still alive who perfectly well recollected their lodgment in Paris on each occupation, and even late on in the seventies there died one very remarkable British officer—General Berkely, who to the last at his club related the incident of 1815 in Paris that made him famous and that caused Charles Lever, the novelist, who gave

him another name, to utilise him for the central figure iu one of the most striking episodes that the Irish writer ever penned. General Berkely was a man of gigantic stature and strength, and when he, a Guardsman, was with our troops in Paris in 1815, he heard, like all his fellows, how French officers who were accomplished swordsmen ami duellists picked quarrells at coffee houses with our impetuous young officers, men' lads alyaws, and killed the latter in duels. The gigantic Guardsman saw the chief duelling offender pursuing his tactics, walked up to him. quicklyseized his nose with one hand and his

lower jaw with the other, forced open his mouth so as to break his jaw. and spat down his throat. Brutality was a necessity, and there was no more duelling with our lads.

In considering the theme of capitals we have occupied it becomes an embarrassment at once to even find the space for a mere dry-as-dust catalogue —not to speak of furnishing any details. All the mighty capital cities of India, with their teeming millions, cities that were the centres of separate States that dwarfed great. European nations in their spreading- boundaries, alone furnish a long list of names: ami of the older world, too. we come to cities that echoed our conquering soldiers’ footsteps in Cairo. Alexandria. Acre, Algiers, Malta. Khartoum. Pekin. Madrid, Salmanaea. Gibraltar, Turin, Lisbon and many another.

Most of the nations which have o’ late barked most aggrava.tingly at the heels of the lion would be absolutely non-existent but for our good offices, even Holland itself. Brussels forgets how it cringed to our armed squadrons in two centuries. Madrid blots out tho picture of the red coats who held it at their mercy and saved it from utter spoliation. Copenhagen cannot bear the mention of the marines that Nelson brought when he exacted almost his own terms. The newspapers of Lisbon ignore the fact that not one stone of their city- would have stood on another but for our splendid fellows who kept the invaders at bay when the average man of Portugal betook himself to religious consolation —the fines thing in the world in its way —and grovelled in the dust at the feet of alternate conquerors. From Bangkok in Burma to Bushire on the Persian Gulf, from Magdala in

Abyssinia to Coomassi in Ashanti, from savage Caimi ami I'lundi to sweltering Suakim and blood-reeking Benin, the cities of the world, savage ami civilised, have nearly all seen the magic and moving splashes made by the red tunic. The map of the world shows no considerable habitable area where a capital could exist wherein the word of com maud of the conquering British officer has not been heard. And who shall say that the world has not lieeti the better for it? Within the last few days in Bloemfontein the dense mass of the inhabitants have cheered and saluted the conqueror as a deliverer ami a friend rather than as a foe carrying tire and the sword, and iti is a glorious thought that this has gem-rally been the attitude of the people black. white, yellow and brown and especially the poor ami the oppressed amongst them. over whom we, the children of the small storm-beaten island have prevailed. But the hand that knows when to sheathe the sword as well as when to draw it may well be blessed and carryblessings with it.

In the Uniform of Commander-in-Chief of the Army. The Japanese Empire is of very ancient date: hut in the twelfth century the hereditary Mikado was deprived of the actual ruling power; which was exercised by the Shiogoon, head of the feudal nobility. Since 1868. the Shiogoon having been overthrown, the Mikado has been the ruling Sovereign. Mutsuhito was born in 1852, and succeeded his father in 1867.

The Manchu dynasty' of Tsing was established in 1644. The present sovereign. TsaiTien. who reigns under the name of Kwang-Su, is ninth Emperor of the Manchu dynasty. He was born in 1871, and is nephew to the Empress Regent, mother of the last Emperor, Tung Chih. In 1887, Tsai-Tien assumed the nominal reigning authority; in 1889 took the control of government.