The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1915-07-01
ENGLAND MAY HOLD SECRET.
Too Terrible Ever to Use Hereto
fore.


to use. In military circles it is spok-
en- of in whispers as "Dundonald
Destroyer, says the New York
World. A recent article has revived
interest in this almost forgotten ter
ror, although it is mentioned in the
encyclopedias, which. however, give
no hint as to its nature. They could
not. for the secret has been guarded
as no such secret has ever before
been kept.
The fact that England has this
weapon in reserve is no dream, no
busaboo: it is attested by official doc
uments and the official reports OF
committees of experts.
What is this extraordinary weap-
on? Only a few highly placed per-
sons know. They do not tell; they
have not told; the reason for their
silence being the horror of it.
Great Britain was on the point OF
using it against Napoleon and again
in the Crimean war, but in each case
her rulers drew back shudder;ng and
refused to shock humanity But,
if the worst should come to the worst,
she may draw it from its century-old
hiding place, and the most ghastly
horrors yet known in warfare Will
seem humane in comparison with the
effects of this engine of destruction.
1t was invented by Thomas Coch-
rane. tenth Earl of Dundonald. an
extraordinary man who had an en-
traordinary career. He offered it to
the British government, which twice
appointed a committee to pass upon
it. He disclosed his secret to them
and claimed for it that it was the
infallible means of securing at one
blow our maritime superiority and
s of thereafter maintaining it in per-
petuity-of at once commencing and
terminating a war by one conclusive
victory" And again, that mo pow
er on earth could stand against Its
attacks
The committees reported that his
claims were not exaggerated, that
his device was irresistible and in
fallible either on land or sea. This
much was indubitable and absolute
" certain. But they urged that it
be not adopted. 1t was too efhclent.
too destructive; its devastation
would be too inhuman.
In spite Of their recommendation
hat Dundonald's invention be kept
secret the British government
wanted to use part of 1t against
the French fleet at Toulon. Dundon-
aid refused to consent to this. and
the committee backed him up in his
refusal, on the ground that such par
tial use would reveal the secret to
the enemy and to the world, and en-
able other countries to make use or
it against England.
In order to demonstrate its power,
however, Dundonald offered to use II
against the French feet at Flushing,
when Napoleon was planning an in
vasion of England; but this only on
condition that he use it in all its ter
rible fullness. This the government
refused on the ground that it would
not be war; it would be annihilatlon.
The second committee was ap-
pointed in 1S46. 1t was as author
tive in its makeup as the 1rst nao
been. 1t was directed to ascertain
if the device was as efficient and as
dreadful in the then relatively ad-
vanced state of military science as 1t
had seemed in 35 years previously.
The committee reported in January
lS47, that there was not a shadow
of doubt that Dundonald's device
would not merely defeat, but actually
destroy, annihilate, sweep out OF ex-
istence, any hostile force against
which it might be directed. But it
was too awful to contemplate, and
it's first application would reveal the
simple secret to the world.
During the Crimean war, when
Sebastopol and Cronstadt seemed i'm
pregnable, Dundonald offered to re-
duce them in one hour. The British
government hesitated, and was still
discussing the matter with the in
ventor when the war ended.
Dundonald died in 1850. HIS
plans are still in the archives Of the
British war ofice-at least there is
no reason to suppose they had been
destroyed-and it is possible that.
should the war take a turn dlsas-
trous to Great Britain, they may be
brought out and made the final weap-
on in an Armageddon. This would
end the war, and it would end not
merely this war but ell war for all