The Savannah morning news., 1904-11-27

ties, Gibraltar remained permanently
in the keeping of England might seem
to prove that British sentiment with
regard to it was from the first the
same as it is to-day. But this is far
from having been the cause For, al
though at the end of 200 years of our
possession OF the fortress. at a time
when the imperial instinct of English
men has become more consciously de-
veloped and more deeply ingrained
than ever before, and at the same time
more intelligently appreciative of the
true meaning of sea power and alive to
the strategical requirements of its
maintenance, the retention of the KEY
of the Mediterranean has become an
essential article of our political creed,
1t was a considerable time before the
immense value of the acquisition was
fully realized by British statesmen.
1t seems strange enough to us to
remember that King George 1 and his
ministers were ready to give up Gil
braltar merely to secure SPANS acuui-
essence in the arrangement by which
the quadruple alliance was anxious to
make some pettifogging notifications
in the shuttle of territories affected by
the Treaty of Utrecht, but it is still
more extraordinary that so clear sight
ed, patriotic and high spirited an en-
pire builder as Lord Chatham himself
should have made a similar offer as an
inducement to Spain to help us to re-
cover Minorca-and this, moreover. at
time when the fortress had been in
our hands for more than half a CEN
fury and its vital importance to orr
growing maritime supremacy had al
ready been abundantly proved in the
naval wars OF the period. Happily the
Spaniards were as blind as ourselves
to the supreme Importance of the no.
sition, commanding the road from the
Atlantic to the Mediterranean.
The truth is, as readers of Mahan
do not need to be reminded. that the
Importance of sea power and the ma
ture of the foundations on which II
Is based were very imperfectIy Crashed
even by England in the seventeenth
and the first half OF the eighteenth
century and scarcely at all by any
other European power. Occasionally
at intervals some statesmen like Col
bert, in France, or Alberoni, in Spain
had more than an inkling of the truth
but no nation except England made
deliberate and sustained efforts with
view to maritime DEVELOPMENT Even
England did so rather by instinct than
by insight.
OF the blindness to the true princl-
pies OF maritime policy the taking OF
Gibraltar and its history during the
following three-quarters of a century
afford a striking illustration. Just as
the vast importance of its ACQUISITION
was at the time moderated both by
England and Spain, so it's actual cap-
ture by the former was an after
thought and Qt may also be said) an
accident. It became a British possess
sion in the first instance because az
a time when we happened to be at
war with one of the rival claimants
TO the Spanish throne our admiral in
the Mediterranean happened TO have
no particular digestive in view and.
having failed In his only enterprise
Of that year. was unwilling to return
home with fine fleet that had done
nothing for the honor OF the flag. SO
he thought he might as well make an
attack on Gibraltar as do anything
else. Nevertheless. his action has 10
be reckoned among the notable deeds
that won the empire" and one that on
It's bi-centenary deserves TO be had In
rcmem brance.