The sun., 1894-05-06

her commerce, he says, depends on free
Mediterranean waters. unless the canal
trade could without loss be diverted around
the Cape OF Good Hope. With German.
Danish. Swedish, and Norwegian ports,
which must include great traffic In the
Baltic, where the Russians are In strong
naval force. England has trade Of $420,-
100000. Hence. apart from the check which
France might In other respects give British
trade. nearly third Of this trade. according
TO Admiral CoLoMB, "hangs upon the power
to carry 1t on through the Mediterranean
and the Baltic Seas" The loss OF that
power. combined with other losses In war
against France and Russia. would reduce
British foreign commerce. he estimates,
from ss,575. 600. 900 to s2,455.OOO.ooO.
In addition to this disastrous loss. should
the British fleet be obliged to withdraw
from the Mediterranean Sea or the Baltic.
what guarantee" says Admiral CoLoMB.
"could we possibly have that we could
close the Straits of Gibraltar, the Sound.
and the Belts against the exit OF our
enemies ?" Gibraltar certainly gives facil-
tiles for blockading the Mediterranean. but
the passage IL much wider than the en-
trance to an ordinary port, and British
feet anchoring in Gibraltar Bay for the
purpose would be exposed to torpedo at
tack and might allow the enemy to slip out
on a dark night; while II stationed at eea It
might have to accept a pitched battle. In
the case of the Baltic. there exist no such
facilities as at Gibraltar for blockading
the entrance.
These points Admiral CoLoMB makes In
reply to the suggestion Of some critics that.
in case Of the supposed war. the simplest
policy would be to blow up the Suez Canal,
abandon the Mediterranean. and guard the
entrance. Not only. he says. would no ad-
vantage be gained by doing 30. but Malta
would be sacrificed. Egypt and India left un-
covered. and Italy and Austria subjected to
pressure to Join against England. The only
compensating advantage might be that
France could not use her coast-defence
vessels In pitched battle off the
mouth Of the Mediterranean. whereas she
could do 80 II tho battle were fought in the
neighborhood OF Toulon. But that Is a
small matter to put against the loss OF
s1.12O. 900. 900 In trade, already spoken Of.
To illustrate this latter disaster. Admiral
CoLoMB takes the case Of the cotton famine
during our civil war The climax OF the
check TO the import Of cotton was only "a
por cent. in 1869. and. as it applied to q
single row material, was nothing in the
general trade OF tho country; yet it pau
perized number OF persons. rising
from $4,000 In 1861 to $4,000 in 1863, and
1t forced into banishmont s65.0OO." Yet
everything else then fourished, and
England was at peace. Accordingly, Ad-
miral CoLoMB believes that the failure Of
England's Mediterranean and Baltic trade
from inability to hold those waters In war
would involve from seven to eleven times as
great loss. and would. on the basis Of
the above figures. pauperize two or three
millions OF persons and emigrate a like
number" or course this disaster would be
greatly aggravated by the ability OF the
Russian and French vessels to prey upon
English commerce beyond those two seas.
Since Admiral CoLoMB wrote his article
the English Government has come to con-
cluslon upon the problem before 1t. and has
decided to continue with vigor the building
up OF the navy. In such q solution lies Eng
lands hope OF maintaining her place among
the nations.