Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-12-20

as Can't. Mahan finely. calls it, from
which England oVerlookS TIE ROAD De-
tween the MediterraneaH ana the Atian-
tic The admiral was unWilnn5 10 re-
turn home with a record 50 unworthy OF
his country and his reputation IN Inns
MOOD he cast about for ways OF giving the
enemy, whether Don or trencnman, d
parting kick. Revolving ideas. he had the
wild suggestion OF attaching Gibraltar
itself
For generations the place had been
imprcgnabie in theory. WITH the most
ordinary care. it might have been made
so in fact. There were indeed hun
dred guns on the Rock: nothing Iad
been forgotten i'll the mater oil ARTERY
but the gunners. The "..pie garrison o.
the maSnlncent place - arms; winch
Spain few days lat'. would have
drained her blood anG su.-i. her revenue
to keen. numbered about ia Elcn. Inc
Japanv-e before Port A!ihGr must envy
the strange element I splendid luck
which has run through our imperial his
tory. Suddenly, on July y. the BRUSH
fleet bore down upon the prize a furious
bombard1nent was opened. In three Gays
the feeble resistance was beaten down.
ard Rookie had thrown all the shine OF
Nico silver into the shade by capturing
Tor England the colossal stronghold. cut
ting the seaboard of both the Bour9 t,
fh f5"re in f ha mnslst '9s
the junction of their Atlantic and
Mediterranean squadrons. separating
TOu!on from BreSt and Barcelona from
Cadiz as 1fectually as Corea separates
awoke with one cry OF grief and rage.
Armameuts were launched against the
lost fortress. They would have been
enough to hold it forever They c2uld
not tear it from the tenacious grasp that
held ii now. The epitaph OF lnefhciencS
was irrevocably writtcn-"Too late. too
late" Let US take warning with regard
to several departments OF our affairs
The question of caSuistry has peer
much and f:uitlessly debated. Nominal
ly We seized Gibraltar in the nam" OF tht
Austrian Archdukc whom we preierrtC
in solemn disregard of the passlon2!tc
protests of the Spanish people to c"nSi'!ei
| King of Spain. But the prompt and rep
| perry Rookie. taught by bitter experience
| Of the vital need for British naval base
in the Mediterranean. and quite learieSS
of responsibility, ran up the BRUSH nas
and kept it up. Only very Squea miSh
neiants will bemuse themselves with the
ethics of the matter We had tahef
Gibraltar by the right of war. We coulc
not have given it back to the Boulhons
in any case and as the Austrian Arch-
| duke never effectively reigned We hao
| every political justification to CONSIDER
| ourselves the next heirs. Let us END ms
story as novelis;s do by telling ;e what Ro be
| had a tragic end. Rookie. in the follow
| ing year. heing practically defeated by the
| ahlest French admiral. Tourvil'e. retired
under public censllre to his poor patri
| mOnv" where very presently ne dled
| still under sixty. His assistant. Admira
Clondesley shovel. was wrecked. viii
many men-of-war. and drowned in the
| greatest storm that ever strewed thf
| British coast. with shattered shipping
| The stra tegic value of Gibraltar. thougf
| still of the first Importance is no longer
unite vital. But its imaginat tive value
| that is what can never fade. The insplra,
ton of the place is worth an armament
| II It is no longer our tower OF strengt,
quite in the old sense. We sun 1eel Una
IL is tho taIisman of our fortune. The SUI
perstition of the man in the street, IS
rerhqns, not astray when it prompts MN
70 think in spite of all the calculations o,
the more materialistic school OF strate'
gists. that we shall never lose the ell
nire while we keep the Rock.