National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-03-20
FOREIGN MISCELLANY.
THE ANaLorRENcH TUNNEL.

sl------ .
THE AyGLoLrRENCH TUNNEL.
The French Council Of State has sanctioned
. hill declaring the scheme ';prejset S'seaii'
pssblQss." This = moi moro empty complt
nent. When schsme b declared "d'xttltsl
psoliqSs" Il d empowered to purchase BY
means Of appropriation AL such lands - u
stands in need of. This bill has yet to b
passed BY the Assembly, but the assent Of thai
body 10 % much mere matter Of course thai
the preliminary drawings and surveys are being
actively proceeded With, and II may be sntict
pated that before long the work WIN psss from
the pen and ink and paper to the ptckax and
shovel stage. The idea Of tunnel under the
channel requires to burrow IN the bowels Of
the earth to depths hitherto unknown As ~
CARDS the channel this = mistake. For In
stance, there vin be far smaller distance BE-
tween the roof Of the submarine tunnel and
the surface of the water than there Il between
the roof Of the sub Alpine tunnel and the sum-
init of Mount Gems. Most Englishmen know
that the Straits of Dover arc all the more un-
pleasantly rough because they are % shallow.
But Freshmen, and especially Parisians, are
very much at sea about the sea, and fancy all
manner Of unpleasant things about II. In one
Of NJ. Michelet's books, ala Mer," he de-
Atlantic in gale, and getting frightened into
q fever at the pillows, that looked - If they
wanted to swallow him up. He winds up the
passage by thus addressing the sea; .Aonstre
que me se,sx tat" Well, most of his country
men agree with N. Michelet in this respect.
They are afraid of the sea, and dislike #; and
the idea of travelling at express rate under the
&c
thing appalling to our neighbors.
It 70 hardly necessary to say that the tunnel
must be excavated greatly below the bottom Of
the sea, 60 that the roof should be of such
thickness a. to be thoroughly impervious to
water. There is, indeed, something rather
awful In the idea that millions upon millions of
tons Of water will be weighing on the subter-
ranean gallery. But in point of fact It is an
idea and nothing more. The pressure of water
upon the tunnel will be absolutely NIL, and the
only pressure that will have to be provided
against will be the pressure of the superincum-
bent earth. Moreover, I: must not be forgot
ten that there are mines in England whose
works extend for two miles under the sea, and
in one of the Cornish mines the crust Of earth
between the workings and the water Is 90 thin
that the men can distinctly hear the rumbling
of the single - It is rolled backward and for
ward by the waves. The roof of the Anglo
cICuCu tuuucl3 ACWCNCI, Will IulCA CksOuku
to exclude all oceanic noises; upwards of $50
feet of chalk and clay will divide the tunnel
from the water. In addition, It Is hardly nee
ebsary to say that 1t viii be carefully bricked
up; in short, an earthquake itself could hardly
impair its safety.
It had been originally intended to construct
two enormous shafts close to the shore, through
which passengers and goods would have had to
be let down, shipped on board the submarine
Av.H khnv. Ix<,f~k ~A x1nfJ
been conveyed across. This plan has now been
abandoned. It has been determined to prolong
the tunnel far enough inland on both sides Of
the channel % q to enable the journey to be
effected without break. A gentle incline will
gradually lead the train from the continent to
the submarine PORTION Of the permanent way ;
an equally gentle aSeent will land It on the
shores Of Britain. At some future time shall
let you know the precise spot At which the tun.
all the practical difficulties in the execution Of
this astounding design may be considered as
good as overcome. The greatest Of all-yenti-
lation-has, I an told, been successfully dealt
with, and the execution of the tunnel now
remains merely matter of e s.d.-a question
which is certainly not insurmountable, and
which will be satisfactorily solved when capt.
talists become convinced that the undertaking
will pay.
GLADSTONE'S SUCCESSOR.
"There seems to be no doubt that, after de-
livering sort Of last dying speech and confess
sion in the debate on the address, Mr.. Glad
stone will retire for time into private life, or,
at least, will appear only occasionally in the
House Of Commons. For next session, there
fore, some one else will have to act as the
spokesman of the party. There can be no
question Of the sincerity of Mr.. Glsdstone's
present intentions, though how long he will
adhere to them is another matter. He is now
in his sixty-fifth year, and four years younger
than his rival, but without Mr.. Disraeli's elias
ITCHY Of temperament and philosophical equa-
nimity; and his defeat has had very prostrat-
ing effect. He had been Ill for some days be-
fore he took his fatal leap into the dissolution;
he made extraordinary exertions in addressing
his constituents in cold, wet weather at open
air meetings; and the shock of the disastrous
elections has told severely on his morbidly-
excitable temperament and enfeebled health.
Office for its own sake he never cared about,
and no man has ever been more consistently
superior to common ambitions. He wanted to
rule as prophet inspired directly from ON high,
and grew weary of the place when he found
that he was treated as an ordinary human be-
ing. He has got over all his illusions now,
and doubts whether there is anything worth
living for. This At of depression, however, may
wear of after time. 1t almost looks as If It
were q stroke Of revenge upon his party that,
at the very moment when he himself thinks OF
retiring, he should be the means of spiriting
away to the House Of Lords the only person
WHO is ft to succeed him-that is, Mr.. Cald-
well; sS.~
After Mr.. Gladstone, the natural head of the
next Liveral government-rather far-of fact,
perhaps-would, of course, be Lord Granville,
though he has fallen very much in public
esteem since he was in Office under Lord Palm
erston. But the difficulty viii be to find a
leader in the House of Commons. The Mar
quis of Harrington has been suggested. He is
comparatively young and inexperienced; is q
poor speaker, though he generally contrives to
knock the right nail on the bead !; and he never
made any impression on the public mind. Still
this choice is not improbable. The Marquis ia
the eldest son Of the Duke Of Devonshire, and
one Of these days will be Duke himself, and
one of the wealthiest men in the land. The
present Duke has found everything blossom up
gold for him. He is the principal owner of the
great steel works at Barrow. Rich hematite
ore has been found on his Lancashire property
Buxton, fatorite mineral spring, and East
bourne, fashionable watering place, have
prospered In his hands Keighley, few year,
ago village, has grown up into q successful
manufacturing toxn-this is his too. He has
ALEC large estates IN Ireland. All this will be
q good pedestal for bis Sbh, who, in the mean.
time, is proportiopate1y looked up to. There
is q rumor that had the Marquis chosen he
might have been son-in-law Of the Queen, but
he preferred political life, and dreaded the ef
Placement to which poor Lord Lorne has fallen
victim. Mr.. ForstsF would, in many respects
be the most eligible man for the leadership Of