New-York tribune., 1882-02-18

the Channel passage, they were inevitable anu
would remain so to the end of time.
When the awakening came another national
trait rs markedly characteristic as English con-
seryatism was illustrated. This was preternat-
ural anxiety There was a rapid transition from
utter Indifference to worrying trepdatlOn anu
cautious fussiness. The panic-mongers began
to chatter in the public prints, and the dangers
of the tunnel were exaggerated on every hand.
The idea that the other end of the bore would
be in another country burst upon the pubic
with the startling force of fresh discovery
Calais was in France and France was OH Ine
Continent-actually outside England! Ine
whole nation was thrown at once into a GILL
of apprehension. Let there be war between
France and England and whole army OF IN
vasion could be shot through the big bore as
easily as a cannon ball through gun. Let
there be war between Germany and England
and both ends of the tunnel might be taken
by surprise, and the scattered egiments OF
volunteers which passed muster at Wind
sOr last summer would be at tnc
mercy of a horde of soldiery advancing
on London with an impregnablc base OF sup
plies in the rear, which the iron-clad war
ships could not molest BritOns would become
slaves-and all for the accommodation of
pack of tourists whose biiiOusness would be
relieved by good shaking-up on the Channel
Popular anxiety reached its height when
Lord Dunsany contributed to The Nineteenth
Century an article on the military aspects OF
the tunnel, supporting his own views by quota
tions from authority occupying foremost
position III public estimatiOn-obvlOusy Sr
Garnet Woseley. This officer had taken pains
to find out whether Dover was n fortress hay
inganyreal strength beyond what nature gave it.
He succeeded in convincing himself that 1t was
a fortress defended by pop-glms which any
foreign iron-cad might knock "into a heap OF
rubbish from behind his own armor without the
loss of "A single life" This was the only for
tiication between Calais and London, and it
could be taken by surprise any dark night and
all England exposed to the horrors of foreign
invasion! The bare thought of such catas
trophe bred nghtshade in every well-ordered
British household. The public journals i'll a
grand chorus of crOaking, united in attacking
the tunnel scheme. The 81. JdmeS'S Gd:ette
cried out in shrill shrek that even
if the arguments were as 800 or 1000
in favor of the project and the argument
against it as one, it must not be built. The
Cabinet seem to have sustained this view,
only two members dissenting from it. Mr.
Gladstone himself has promised to reconsider
the concessions granted to the companies,
and we doubt not that, as the final result OF
this spasm of excitement and alarm, stag
gering blow will be given to the enter
prise. Englishmen will breathe more freely |
when thev are assured that the "Wet ditch " |
will continue to defend their island fortress |
and its ancient pop-guns. sense of msu-
lar security will compensate for an hour lost on
the Channel and a few qualms of sea-sckness.
Let the tunnel be built, and the dear, grand |
motherly old nation will be in a never-ending |
state of Gdget, ready to shake from head to
foot whenever any statesman on the Continent
snctZcS.