The record-union., 1892-02-13
Special Correspondence of the RECORD
UNION. Copyright, 1921
GIBRALTAR, january 20, 1892.

UNION. Copyright, 1921
GIBRALTAR, January 20, 1892.
1 believe that one of the greatest glories
Of intelligent Americanism lies in the
act that, as people, we are receptive of
reasonable and just ideas, and are sus-
ceptible of conversion from hereditary
prejudice and the mean and little spirit of
hatred and envy toward another nation
because of any superiority Of policy or
possession it may be great enough to pur-
sue or enjoy.
This conviction came to me more over
whelmingIy than ever before, as we
steamed away from the land of the
Moors and took our way across the strait
% the city and Rock of Gibraltar. Upon
his Northern Pillar of Hercules the Eng
lish flag has doated for l68 years. And I
am glad of it; glad that Sir George
Rookie, in the War of Succession, was
cunning and brave enough to take it
hat iron-hearted Elliott in the four
years siege was soldier enough to hold
{ against the combined efforts of France
and Spain; and that all the powers of
Latin and Musselman arms and diplo-
macy, with the cowardly Vaccinations Of
english traitors at home, have never
whole Levant to Spanish or other pos
session or retrOgression; because:
Just so long as England holds Gibraltar
The trade Of the Mediterranean and the
Last is peacefully open not only to Eng
and but every nation Of the earth with
spirit enough to compete for it; and
North America, whose Engiish-speaking
and thinking people now twice outnum-
Der those OF the motherland, in common
With Great Britain, in trade, in travel and
An all those things tending toward the
worlds enlightenment and progress, will
enjoy through England's dogged posses
sion of Gibraltar a common guarantee of
security and respect.
If, as / have done, you viii tramp
shrough the provinces of France: wander
2toot from Finisterre by Valladolid to
Madrid and thence across the Spanish ST.
3rraS to Barcelona and the sea; know
Portugal from Lisbon TO the Mediterra-
lean gates; idle among the peasants and
ahepherds Of Italy from the Pyrenees to
temotest Apulian shores; tramp from 81
sllian Catania over old Hltna to fair Pa
ermo; and then, in Algiers and Morocco,
come close enough to the people to know
lie repulSlye nature and life of the Arab
and Moor, you viii never have to learn
rom any other source this true thing
hat, at heart and as a whole, the Latin
races, whether in southern Europe or in
South America, possess as deep and last
ing hereditary hatred of all who own
and speak the English tongue as fade
-essly fires the Moslem heart in it's fanati-
al dream of sometime everywhere plant
ing the Crescent above the Cross.
Differ as grievously as Americans may
With Englishmen regarding the justice or
injustice Of this or that, on these large
Ines Of tremendous import we cannot
1ut remain one and indissoluble. Look
ing out OF the history of the centuries that
were, and from among the possibilities of
he centuries to come, the mighty rock
md its armament fades from Sight as a
mere stubbornly-he possession and
menace. It's mythic name, the Pillar of
Hercules, merges into the Pillar of Peace.
And Gibraltar in the possession of the
English-speaking and Christian-living
race VIII remain the hostage of Christian
civilization for all time to come.
All ones preconceived notions of Glib
raltar fall far short, think, u conveying
Is true grandeur and impressiveness.
rrom whatever direction you approach it
from the westward over the Atlantic,
rom the Mediterranean on the east, from
Iangier in Africa across the strait. or
rom the Spanish Sierras to the north-it
las always the seeming of a, majestic
mountain OF stone rising sheer out Of the
blue Of the sea. As we approached it,
some struggling clouds which had formed
lmong the peaks of the Spanish Sierras,
carried by northern winds, were stretched
II thin folds across its upper nights.
they gave the huge rock alternate bars of
ebony shadow and golden light, and,
shutting its top altogether from sight, en-
Dhasized the impression of mysterious
altitude.
Even when one has landed, the easiest
affair of its kind in all Europe,
rs Gibraltar is free port, this impression
5 not dispelled. The white city, a pile
Of huddled terraces at the water's edge. at
1he only spot on all Gibraltar where hab-
ltations could be patched like nests of
birds upon its ragged sides, is but thin
Inc OF human resort upon and above the
shore. Wherever the eye rests is sea be-
meath and rock above, not very DreciDi-
5ous on the city side, yet rising in escarped
1ight on hight until one feels certain
hat inaccessible nights are shut out from
sight beyond.
My own first impulse, as l believe must
oe that of all visitors here, was to mount
Is utmost crag and study its Topography
with my own eyes, while feasting upon
The matchless panorama thus afforded
In two hours time, including the digni-
ded delay required in the issuance of a
permit by the military secretary in Gun
aer's Lane, l stood alongside the signal
lower, FL Hacho, from which, it is said
with powerful glass, the Bay of Biscay
can be seen, while the valley in which is
Quilt the capital of Morocco, the city of
Fez, is plainly discerned.
lmpregnable Gibraltar, upon which one
low stands, is the Outiutting promontOrv
of long, narrow strip of land and rock,
corning peninsula on the eastern shore
)t the Bay Of Gibraltar or AIgeciras as
t Is sometimes called. The latter is
shaped like a horseshoe open to the
south, its western shore extremity terrni-
mating in Cabrita Point. This bay is per-
maps eight miles long from north to south,
and five miles broad from east to west
phe peninsula, terminating in the Rock
slopes gradually down from the Spanish
mountains to the Spanish lines, lust
north of the ruins of the old Spanish for
lifcationS, and between this and the Rock
5 what is known as Neutral Ground. a
lat, sandy reach, a mile and a half in
length. Upon this, close to the Rock, are
lhe English race-course, the drill i-ground
and the Jewish and the garrison ceme-
5eries. The narrow strip connecting
Gibraltar with the mainland has every APP
pearance of having been beneath the
waves at no remote date, and the English
nave rendered Gibraltar unassailable by
r land force, through engineering con-
sriVanceS by which the entire strip could
IN an instant be blown to powder and
covered by the sea.
At the southern end of this sand COW
cred bed of mines the rock rises almost
perpendicularly for over l 400 feet. MANY
fancy its contour resembles lion eou-
chant. Nsth its head reared aloft to the
nortn and towards Spain. 1t is grand
enough without the simiie; breaking
away in lessening crags to the south, and
again confronting Africa with a lesser
but none the less insurmountable wall of
stone, about whose base the sea cease
lessly roars and lashes, fiinging the
spume and spray to tremendous nights
among the erags at Europa Point. 1t is
nv ~f9
~ock to its seaward front of stone. The
..varaua width of the hloa nnnnnlith Is