The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1894-08-04
OUR BRITISH GIRDLE.
ENGLAND'S THREATENING LINE
+" ALONG OUR COAST.

ehe West Indian Cable Lines Would Mean
a. a. S}Treat Deal in the Event of War
With Our English Cousins, as We Should
Discover.
'Here is the most sugg estive let
ter L ever received" said a. New
Yorker whose business takes him
frequently into the British possess
slons in America, to a Sun reporter.
''Ihere are half dozen lines in it
that any American might ponder
over for a week.
"Ihis is what the letter said:
1.-The Ireland island business is
the only exciting thing we have had
recently, and you may be sure that
stlrred us up hile it lasted. We
expected every i, mute that the pow
der> magazine .uld go and wipe
everything out But the old man
handled the business beautifully,
and for a few hours we kept the
wires red hot A novel methad of
managing a big fire, wasn't it?'
'.That sounds commonplace
enough" " the New Yorker continued,
''untll you know the circumstances
under which the letter was written.
ireland island is in Bermuda, and
the ireland island business means
the recent burning of several of the
BRITISH navy-yard buildings there.
Ihls letter was written IN Halifax
by naval officer, and the old man.
refers to the commander of the North
American and West Indian squad
ron, presumably the admiral. The
letter means that the minute the
ire broke out in the Bermuda dock
yard the admiral in Halifax 900
miles away. sat down at the end of
wire and directed every important
movement that was made for the
preservation of the property.
IL know just how the business was
done, for I have had experience with
those West Indian cable lines, some
times to my sorrow. The govern
ment subsidies them all, and re-
serves the right to take possession
OF them whenever occasion REQ uires.
When government dispatch comes
in all private business must stand
aside. They will stop private mes
sage in the middle Of a word, if neces-
sary, to send the official one. The
minute that fire broke out on Ireland
island the Halifax and Bermuda
cable was in the hands of the ad-
miral, and you could not have got a
private me 5sage over it to save your
life till he said he was done with it,
That gives some idea of the little
kingdom the British have set up
right off our Goa It.
- do not think our people in gen.
7efsaf understand that the British
have established a complete little
kingdom extending all along the
Atlantic coast, controlling not only
the ocean, but the great lakes and
the gulf of Mexico as we'll. I do not
know of a more formidable line of
defences in the world. 1t is made up
of only four points ts-Hallfax, Ber-
muda, Jamaica and St. Lucia Everv-
thing is concentrated upon them
''Bermuda is much like Halifax in
the fact that few Notifications are
visible to the visitor. Two forts can
be seen at St. Georges, at the east
end, but they are old-fashioned stone
constructions that do not look for
midable. You can drive all over the,
islands and not see more than these
forts. And you can stay there for
six months, small as the place is, and
see no more signs Of military occu-
patton than you see in New York.
But the Notifications are there, as
can be readily learned by sailing
around the islands in small boat or
going up into the Gibbs Hill light
house.
The north side is so we'll protected
b. coral reefs that no forts are
needed there beyond the two or
three that might be necessary to de-
stroy a vessel that attempted the
channel. It is on the south side of
Bermuda that forts are needed, be-
cause the reefs there are not so wide.
An enemy might come up within
three miles OF shore. You can drive
along the south shore. within 200 or
3O) feet of the beach, and not see a
sly IL VI d IOIG, UuU -Gdh0 d OOdU ana
sail along the beach and you will see
that it is almost continuous fortifi-
cation. One fort follows another so
fast that there is hardly room for
grass to grow between them And
they are ali connected by sunken
passageways, as can be seen from
the top of the Lighthouse.
'1f the British had made Bermuda
they could not have designed an
island better suited to their purposes.
The very things that make it inval-
liable to them woulo make 1t almost
useless to this country. We are in
no need of a coaling station and re-
pair shop within 700 miles of our
own coast, and that is precisely
what Bermuda is to the British. In
time of war Bermuda would be the
great coaling station on this side of
the Atlantic
cit is az a machine shop that
Bermuda is of the greatest impor-
tance. They can handle there the
largest ships adoat and make any re-
pairs that can be made anywhere.
| do not wonder that they were