Bridgeton pioneer., 1916-12-14

III >~-'C ceActht up Out VI lli0
sea the rock of Gibraltar
stands today as it has stood
two centuries in the grasp of
britain. Never ceasing in her vigi-
ence Britain's thin red line of soldiers
rs held this well-nigh impregnable
1rtress year in and year out. Wars
ye come and wars have gone, but no
wer for century has even threat
ned the looming, forbidding rock.
Rey say the central powers of Eu-
0ner to give. the frowning rock
70 Spain IL Spain will cast her
lth them. But before the gift
- made by the Austro- Germans it
nrst be won. You have to catch
rabbit. you know, before you can
it.
ia the meantime Great Britain
her never-ending watch over the
4 Of the Mediterranean.
ery moment, day and night, in
y of peace, as well as in times of
{, for upward of 100 years, line of
1ttsh sentinels has stood on the shore
side OF the rock watching out over
narxpw strip of low lying neutral
ground toward the shore of Spain to
lnrd against surprise. And every
nOment. for over 100 years, sentry
Aas stood upon the highest pinnacle of
he rock and gazed out over the sea.
SneratiOns of sentinels have lived and
Qked and been replaced by others;
|MAES have come and gone; no attack
Va ever been made or even threat
eQ against the rock, but the eternal
llance has never relaxed, not Tor
"a minute in the last 100 years.
me sieepless vigilance through the
tury may well be taken as typical
the bulldog temper of the British
1ple. They have salted this rock
Rn with their blood and bones. They
A&e given too many lives for it to
14eF give 1t up now so long as Brit
l4h soldier lives to fight for it. And so
hts preclpice of rock, looming out of
Ae sea. looking out across the strait
the shore of Africa. the mysterious,
sepS on brOoding there in grim 81
lences with it's thousands of guns
Sh0tted. always ready, ever watching
a1Q waiting through the centuries.
Honeycombed With Tunnels.
Britain has held the Rock of Gibral-
t1r for 200 years and has fortified
5k8O strongly that it has been known
6q century as 'impregnable Gil
IN 1tar." To capture it an attacking
ere would literally have to pound the
Il rock to dust. Gibraltar is honey
abed with tunnels and the muzzles
the greatest guns in the world
tile from a thousand openings in
face of the rock, like pins stuck
= paper. What would those guns be
Ing to fleet or land force that got
Rse enough to throw shells against
80 rock?
III is very well to state, as some mill
Hry men have said these past two
years, that modern guns which can
%hOot more than the 20 miles across
the narrow gap that divides Europe
rom Africa could render the place un.
kenable. but no power y~t has seen fit
o try it out. The odds are too great
md the prize too inconsiderable for
be price.
Fruitiess Siege Of Four Years.
The last time an attempt was made
take Gibraltar was 100 years ago
rance and Spain together undertook
capture Gibraltar from the British.
inside the rock, hidden in the tunnels
IKE ants In hill, were 5000 British
oldiers. Attacking them were 81 200
pf the best trained fighters in the
Norld and a fleet of AZ ships. For four
years the siege went on. 1t was one
FOf the greatest sieges in all history
and there were many deeds of daring,
but the 61,O00 had never a chance
against 6,00O safely hidden in their
rock cells. just the muzzles of their
guns thrust out and hurting red-hot
I1ron shot.
That was century ago. Ever since
then the human moles garrisoned there
have been boring and burrowing deep
er into the rock, storing food and am
munition In great chambered galleries,
even below the sea level; mounting
larger guns and making the rock as
nearly unconQuerable as possible. They
are never idle, those human moles.
They are always making the place
stronger.
Gibraltar has been the scene of Is
sieges and many battles. It's rocky
slopes have run red with blood. Early
armies rained their arrows against it
and their battering rams tried to pow
der its natural walls centuries before
the age of powder and iron balls. For
this Is one Of natures strongholds, this
western gate of the Mediterranean.
This cliff Of solid limestone was on
OF the Pillars of Hercules, beyond
which 1t was though anciently no man
might venture and live. ) Beyond was
Ultima Thule, the last island, the end