The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-09
GIBRALTAR NOT 1MrREGsABLE.
Its Possession May Weaken Great
Britain In the Event of War

Its Possession May Weaken Great
Britain in the Event of War.
Gibraltar Letter to Philadelphia Ledger.
II war breaks out Gibraltar is the cleo
trio bell of Europe. and the button will be
pressed in Downing street. Gibraltar is
a ganglion of imperial nerves. AT the
western confine of the inland sea its pos
session has long been held to be equiva-
lent to the command of the straits. Since
gunnery improved so as to diminish the
value of the rock as a fortress its i'm
portance as protection to the new harbor
and the British feet has been immensely
enhanced. Not hong ago, after the Span
ish-American war, the Spaniards, at the
instigation and cost of the French gov
eminent, commenced the preparation of
earthworks and the mounting of heavy
guns near the town of Algeciras and the
hill known as the Queen of SPANS Chair.
Our foreign Office was induced to protest
against these works and to accompany its
protest with a declaration that their con-
tinuance would be regarded by Her Maj
esty's government as AN unfriendly act,
a form of words found to be quite effica-
cious in the Fashoda difficulty. Their use
was found to be equally efiicacious in the
works were abandoned for a time; but
when Armageddon is announced by the
big guns above Europa points there is no
doubt that the Spaniards and the French
If allied, will make things uncommonly
hot for the garrison of Gibraltar and the
Mediterranean fleet. With only 5000 men
quartered here, the British could not seize
the salient points of the attack except by
dispatching men from England. In the
meantime France, occupying interior
lines, could dispatch 100000 men for the
purpose of holding the right positions
from which to lombard the British fleet.
This contingency renders the neutrality
of Spain most important consideration
for England. Wooed by two suitors, and
exhausted by her recent struggle with
America, Spain wants rest and peace,
but unhappily for England she is inclined
rather to favor France than to maintain
benevolent neutrality. In the first place
all Spaniards resent most keeniy Lord
Salisbury's recent quip about the dying
nations" Then again. Spain is the an
cestral home of a peculiarly intense form
OF ultramontanism and Roman Cath
Ole sntipithy to the chief Protestant
Power in Europe has grown by leaps and
bounds in these latter days. On the other
hand, France Is munching at the desert
side of Morocco, for the reversion of
which Spain has long nourshed ambi
tons. With France at the gates of Ceuta
and Tangiers, Spain would be even less
considerable than she now is Hence the
hesita ton of the Madrid authorities to
throw themselves into the arms of France,
for they are reminded that of old when
England was hostile to Spain she did i'll
when the two were allied or friendly
prosperity lowered over Aragon and Cas-
tile. Yes, it is highly important for Eng
land to keep friends with Spain. When
the inevitable war with France breaks
out, benevolent neutrality with Spain
would make all the difference whether the
fighting at sea was made easy for the
British or intolerably difficult. Our am
bassador at Madrid Sir Drummond Woolf,
is an able man, but an invalid. He is OF
Jewish extraction. and neither his energies
nor his diplomatic achievements are such
as to render retention of the present post
desirable in any interests, but those of
the French. 1t is of the utmost moment
that the British and American represen-
tatives al Madrid should be efficient and
capable diplomatists, if not distinguished
men.
The stable government of Gibraltar
proves inconveniently attractive to Span
ish subjects In time of war the
feeding of the 25,0O0 civilian Inhabitants
of the rock is likely to present a problem
bristling with difficulties.