Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-13
WAKEMAN'S TRAVELS.
Glowing Pen Pictures of Gibraltar
and Its Surroundings.
HOSTAGE OF CIVILIZATION.
PEACE Is APPARENT on EVERY HAND

OF the greatest glories of intelligent Ameri-
canism lies in the fact that, as a people, we
are receptive of reasonable and just ideas,
and are susceptible ofconversion from here,
ditary prejudice and the mean and little
spirit of hatred and envy toward another
nation because of any superiority ofpolicy
or possession it may be great enough to
pursue or enjoy.
This conviction came TO me more over
whelminglv than ever before, as We steamed
away from the land OF the Moors and took
our way across the Strait towards the city
and Rock OF Gibraltar Upon this
Northern Pillar of Hercules the English
flag has 1oated for 1SS years. And L am
glad of it; glad that Sir George Rookie, in
The War of Succession, was cunning and
brave enough TO take it; that iron-hearted
Elliott in the Four Years Siege was sol
der enough to hold it against the combined
efforts OF France and Spain; and that all the
powers of Latin and Musseiman arms and
diplomacy, with the cowardly Vaccinations
of English traitors at home, have never
avaiied 10 hand over this key of the whole
Levaut to Spanish or, other possession or
retrogressionS because:
Common Guarantee of Respect.
Just so long as England holds Gibraltar
the trade of the Mediterranean and the East
Is peacefully open not only to England but
10 every nation of the earth with spirit
enough to compete for it; and North America,
whose English-speaking and thinking peo-
pie now twice outnumber those Of the
motherland. in common with Great Britain,
in trade, in travel, and in all those things
tending toward the worlds enlightenment
and progress, will enjoy through England S
dogged possession OF Gibraltar, common
guarantee of security and respect.
If as | have done, you will tramp through
the provinces of France; wander afoot from
Finisterre bv Valladolid to Madrid and
thence across the Spanish serras to
Barcelona and the sea; know Portugal
from Lisbon to the Mediterranean
gates: idle among the peasants and
shepherds of Italy from the Pyranees to
remolest Apulian shores; tramp from ST.
Gillian Catania over old -Etna to fair Paler-
mo: and then, in Algiers and Morocco,
come close enough to the people to know
the repulsive nature and life of the Arab
and Moor: YOU viii never have TO learn
from any other source this true thing-that,
at heart and rs a whole, the Latin races
whether in Southern Europe or i'll South
America, possess as deep and lasting a
hereditary hatred of all who own and speak
the English tongue, as iadelessly fires the
Noslem heart in its fanatical dream of some
time everywhere planting the Crescent
above the Cross.
Now the Pillar of Peace.
Differ as grievously as Americans may
with Englishmen regarding the justice or
injustice OF this or that, on these large lines
OF tremendous import we cannot but remain
one and indissoluble. Looking out of the
history of the centuries that were, and from
among the possibilities of the centuries to
come, the mighty Rock and Its armament
fades from sight as a mere stubbornly held
possession and menace. Its mythic name,
the Pillar Of Hercules, merges into the Pill
lar of Peace. And Gibraltar in the possess
sion of the English speaking and Christian
living race will remain the hostage of
Christian civilization for all time to come.
All ones preconceived notions of Gibral-
tar fall far short, / think, of conveying its
true grandeur and impressiveness. From
whatever direction you approach it-from
the westward over the Atlantic. from the
Mediterranean on the east, from Tangier in
Africa across the strait, or from the Spanish
sierras to the north-it has always the SEEM
ing of a majestic mountain of stone rising
sheer out of the blue of the sea. As we ap-
proach it some struggling clouds which had
formed among the peaks of the Spanish
sierras, carried by northern winds, were
stretched in thin folds across its upper
heights They gave the huge rock alter
nate bars of ebony shadow and golden light,
and, shutting its top altogether from sight,
emphasized the impression of a mysterious
altitude.
A Matcllless Panorama.
Even when one has landed the easiest
affair of its kind in all Europe, as Gibraltar
is free port, this impression is not dis
PEELED The white city, pile of huddled
terraces at the waters edge at the only spot
on all Gibraltar where habitations could be
patched like nests of birds upon its ragged
sides, is but a thin line of human resort
upon and above the shore Wherever the
eve rests is sea beneath, and rock above;
not very PERCEPTIONS on the city side, yet
rising in escarped height on height, until
one feels certain that inaccessible heights
are shut from sight beyond.
My own first impulse, as / believe must
be that of all first visitors here, was to
mount its utmost crag and study its topo-
graphy with nv own ewes, while feasting
upon the matchless panorama thus af-
forded In two hours time, including the
dignifed delay required in the issuance of a
permit by the military secretary, in Gun
ner's lane, [ stood alongside the signal
with a powerful glass the BAY of Biscay
can be seen, while the valley in which is
built the capital of Morocco, the city of
FeZ, is plainly discerned.
lmpregnables Gibraltar upon whi ch one
now stands is the outiuttinC prOmon tory of
long, narrow strip of land and rock, form
ing peninsula on the eastern shore of the
Bay of Gibraltar, or Algeciras, as it is some
times called. The latter is shaped like
l.
shore extremity terminating in Cabrita
Point. This bay is perhaps eight miles long
from north TO south, and five miles broad
east to west
Up From Beneath the Waves.
The peninsula terminating in the rock,
slopes gradually down from the Spanish
mountains to the Spanish lines, Just north
of the ruins of the old Spanish fortifcations,
and between this and the Rock is what is
known as Neutral Ground, q fiat Sandy
reach, 4 mile and a half in length. Upon
this, close to the Rock, are the English
race course the drill ground and the Hebrew
and the garrison cemeteries. The narrow
strip connecting Gibraltar with the main
land has every appearance of having been
beneath the waves at no remote date, and
the English have rendered Gibraltar unas-
sailable by land force through engineer
ing contrivances 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 covered
he'd OF mines the Rock rises almost perpen-
dicularly for over 1,400 feet. Many fancy
its contour resembles lion couchant, with
its head reared aloft to the north and to-
ward Spain. 1t is grand enough without
the simile; breaking away in lessening crags
10 the south and again confronting Africa
with lesser but none the less insurmount-
able wall of stone about whose base the sea