The Washington herald., 1916-08-19
SEEN AND HEARD
BY GEORGE MINER

new YORK, Aug. I8-Probably tnefe 10 ho
one in the United States who knows more about
the titled families of England than does MT
Cunliffe Owen He is also very well informed
countries Nas we'll.
He comes from titled family himself and, in
addition to that, he was for many years in the
English diplomatic service That put him wise.
However, he now finds it more profitable and
pleasant to write articles for the papers. Natu-
rally his wide knowledge and mountaineering
are valuable to any paper and so his writings
are always in demand; so much in demand, IN
fact, that he keeps two secretaries, to whom he
dictates, busy all the time
He told me the other day bit of war news
that had not got into the cable dispatches on
account OF the strict censorship and was only
published as a brief official dispatch in the Lon
don Gazette. 1t seems that some months ago
the Turks made a very determined but unsuc-
cesstul attempt to seize the island of Perrin.
The attack was defeated by force of Sikh
pioneers under the command of Capt. A. c.
Hutchinson, that formed the garrison of the is
land
If the Turks had been successful" said Mr..
Owen, mo end of trouble would have resulted
theretrom. For Perrin commands the southern
entrance to the Red Sea and is strongly forti-
himself there in force he would have been able
to hold up all traffic from the Orient to Egypt
Italy, France and England via the Red Sea and
the Suez Canal 1t was a bold coup of the
Turks, and if successful would have been grea,
feather IN their cap and source of no end oi
trouble to England and her allies.
This island of Perrin has a most interesting
history. The English first took possession Of
Perrin during the occupation of Egypt by Ma
poleor, at the commencement of the nineteenth
century, and abandoned it after his return to
France.
"ln 1857, when Ferdinand de Lesseps secured
his concession for the construction of the Suez
Canal from Said Pasha of Egypt, Napoleon
III made up his mind to secure possession
of Perrin so as to be in a position to control
from one end to the other, the route from
Europe to the Orient via the canal and the
Red Sea
Accordingly he dispatched a cruiser around
for the purpose, it being impressed upon the
officers that their mission of confidential
character and that the utmost secrecy was to
be observed as to its object
"1n due time, the warshp arrived at Alden
where her officers were most Hospitality enter
tanned by the English governor at banque,
followed by dance. During the course of the
evening, of the French officers whose
tongue had presumably been loosened by good
cheer, happened to reveal the fact that on
sailing the next day they were bound for the
island of Perrin, which was about 100 miles
away.
THE news was quietly and quickly COM
municated to the governor, who acted with de-
cision and prompttude without waiting for in
structions from home. Long before daybreak
before even his French guests had left his
hosptable roof, couple of British gunboats
had quietly stolen out of the harbor and had
steamed off at top speed to Perrin
when the French cruiser arrived late on
the following afternoon, to hoist the French
flag the island its officers found the English
already in possession and the English co1ors
futtering from a mast which had hastily been
erected on the highest point of the island. The
English officers who blandly welcomed them
and invited them to partake of refreshments
were the very men with whom they had spent
the previous evening at Government House al
Alden.
Had it not been for the presence of mind
and decision of character Of the governor oi
Alden in 1857, France, instead of England
would today command the southern entrance to
the Red Sea, and Great Britain's control oi
Egypt and the Suez Canal, nay even her pos
session of Cyprus, Malta and Gibraltar would
be useless in far as the mastery of the
route to India is concerned. For the guns
and defenses of the island Of Perrin are Sc
powerful and the strait so narrow that no hos
tile craft get by in time of war"
1t took Cunliffe Owen to dig that item out
of that dreary official organ and see the rea
importance of the events behind it.