River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-11-09
THE CHANNEL TUNNEL,
Opposition to the Plan of Connecting
England and France By TunneiiRg
the Channel

Opposition to the Plan of Connecting
England and France BY TunneliRg
the Channel.
The correspondence respecting the
proposed English channel has been is
sued in Blue book. The report of
the channel tunnel defense committee,
after giving the various means would
be necessary to perfect this country
from the danger of invasion through
the tunnel, adds that they can not disre-
gard the possibility that 8 long period
Of peace and uninterrupted tranquility
might engender carelessness, and might
lead to Notifications being so inefi-
GENTLY armed or insufficiently manned
as not to be secure against surprise.
They therefore record their opinion
that it would be presumptuous to place
7 absolute reliance upon even the most
comprehensive arrangements with a
view of rendering the tunnel absolutely
useless to an enemy in every imagin-
able contingency.
Sir ]. Adye. in memorandum, be-
lieves the committees recommends
ton, both as to defense and closure,
| will amply suffice for the objects in
view. Nothing is more obvious, he
says than the facility with which the
tunnel can be denied to an enemy by
means which no vigilance on his part
| could prevent or remove.
| Sir G. Wolsely in his memorandum,
says the reading of the committees re-
port strengthens his conviction that the
hour when the tunnel is sanctioned
will be q disastrous one for England,
observing that in the commercial aspect
even shadow of danger should be a
heavy balance against any possible adj
vantage. The gallant officer then. in a
very long paper, gives seriatim his
various objections to the tunnel.
The duke of Cambridge in his men,
orandum says: 'It appears to me that
the correspondence which took place
in the year 1865 has very little import
ance from the strategioal and military
aspects. / am convinced that the
| small amount of evidence which was
taken in regard to the military aspect
of the question does not at all fairly
represent the balance of military opin-
ion on this subject. There is, believe,
very nearly unanimity among those
officers on whose judgment | shall my
self be disposed to rely; but this large
concensus oil military opinion found
expression before the board only in the
evidence of the adjutsnt general, who
was one of the only three military
officers examined" The duke then re-
fers to the committees report, which
emphatically states that it is imperative
that the tuxnel should emerge in the
| immediate vicinity of first class
| fortress, in the modern acceptance of
/ the terms, fortress which could only
be reduced after a protracted siege by
land and sea. He then explains what
he understands by such q fortress:
"The scheme We are contemplating
would place us under continental con.
ditions, and in fixing the strength of
the garrison Of fortress so all import
ant as this would be it is necessary to
employ garrison at least equal 10
the great garrison of the continent.
In time of peace Metz has garrison
of 1878 Strasburg 8,945. May
ence, Konigsberg, Dantlig, Po-
sen, Cologne have all garrisons of over
| 1000 men. 1t must be remembered
| that this garrison could not be reduced
| for sudden emergency. It would be n
force which for the security of the
country it would be absolutely neces-
sary 10 abstract from the numbers to
| be held available for foreign service in
case of emergency, and for all the
ordinary military duties in peace and
in war at home. The pay and mainten-
ance of this garrison would be an alb
solute addition to the cost entailed upon
the country. With regard to the ques-
| ton whether under any circumstances
there is risk of our loosing the command
of the tunnel if it were made the COM
mander-in-chief says: at is true, no
doubt, that the committee propose also
that.there should be electrical communi.
cation with the mines from two very
distant points, such as London OF
Chatham. But it must be remembered
that the command of all these agencies
would be secured by the eaemy, who
having by surprise or treachery seized
the central work of the fortress itself
should adopt the ordinary military pre-
caution of cutting all the wires at some
point or other throughout their length.
At the least, long wires, such as those
referred to, require to be tested every
few hours, or they can not be depended
on as absolutely ready for action at the
moment they may be required. All
the precautions of the committee,
therefore. depend practically on
the security of single for
tress, and, according to their own
expressions, the adequacy of the
schemes they recommend depends up
on the element of time and Of ample
warning, upon the adoption of precau-
tionary measures when war is declared
or when there is q prospect of war.
Now, / would ask her majesty's gov
eminent to consider whether the time
when there was prospect of war, and
when our relations with q foreign gov
| eminent had reached strained condi-
| ton, would be the moment which the
| cabinet would choose for ordering even
the temporary stoppage of the tunnel,
an action which would be taken by the
| inhabitants of both countries as a sure
| indication of coming war. Moreover,
with the great freedom of our institu-
tons there are always peculiar dam
gers to which we, rather than other
countries, are exposed. When in addi-
ton to these risks [ consider the actual
experience of the French war of 1870,
where even after the was had been al
ready commenced the Volges tunnels
were left intact from an unwillingness
to destroy such splendid engineering
works: and when in consequence the
invading armies, despite all arrange
ments that had been made for destroy
ing those tunnels, were able freely to
use them, / feel it To be my solemn
duty to warn her msjesty's government
of the great risk and danger which will
| be entailed upon the country by per
hitting, under any circumstances, and
even though all precautions have been
taken, any tunnel to be constructed"