Horace Courtenay Gammell Forbes

“ We alone, of all European nations, have hitherto escaped the necessity of arming and organizing the entire population, but if this tunnel be constructed, I wish to record my opinion—an opinion shared by the ablest of our officers—that our only positive security can be found in following the example of our neighbours by creating a vast army like theirs, an army which would probably entail the necessity of a compulsory system of universal military service. ”

“ Surely John Bull will not endanger his birth-right, his liberty, his property, in fact all that man can hold most dear, whether he be a patriot or merely a selfish cosmopolitan, and whether this subject be regarded from a sentimental or from a material point of view, simply in order that men and women may cross to and fro between England and France without running the risk of sea-sickness. Even now when protected by our 'silver streak' we suffer from periodical panics, which are as injurious to trade as they are undignified ”

“ It was asserted by many intelligent writers that if the tunnel were constructed there would be no more reason why a foreign power should find its advantage in seizing Dover than we should gain by seizing Calais. But Her Majesty's Government know well what is the difference in point of military preparation between England and all the continental states. They know well that if once the question of military superiority were brought to an issue between us, and any one of these great powers upon English soil, the end could only be our destruction as a free nation. ”

“ When once it is realised that if this tunnel were constructed we might, despite all our precautions, very possibly some day find an enemy in actual possession of both its ends, and able at pleasure to pour an army through it unopposed, I cannot believe that the people of this country would consent to accept this positive danger for any problematic amount of commercial profit. ”

“ Any such arguments as those implying that the opposers of the Tunnel show fear and distrust of their neighbours across the Channel, should be most scrupulously avoided as unfair and ungenerous. Treachery and insurrectionary principles, which lurk hidden and it may be almost unsuspected in the midst of a nation till some favourable opportunity occurs for their outward display, do not by any means involve the whole nation in a charge of holding revolutionary ideas or unneighbourly intentions. ”

“ Farrer's Committee.
"By the construction of a Tunnel between England and France you destroy the great defence of the country upon which we have hitherto depended, namely, you destroy the value of the channel. You join us on to the Continent and we must when so joined on to the Continent, sooner or later, if we wish to remain an independent people, become like the Continental nations a military power," involving military service and enormous expense (p. 220) . ”

“ Would not its existence tend to induce or promote the invasion or attempts to invade this country, when our Island has ceased to be, and we have joined ourselves on to the Continent? Such was the opinion of Lord Wolseley, who says (p. 226) , "I think that the existence of the Tunnel would be a great inducement to France to invade England". But in your own minds you are no doubt refuting these, perhaps you will say shallow reasonings, by thinking there are plenty of ways that we have of blocking the Tunnel and interrupting the communication. Don't be afraid. ”

“ They can measure these dangers, and knowing that we should be exposed to them, if in time of war, or even when there was any possibility of war, an enemy obtained possession of Dover and the tunnel by surprise, or by treachery, or if our mechanical contrivances for the destruction of the tunnel failed to work when required, I would most earnestly beg of Her Majesty's Ministers to pause ere they accepted for the nation, whose destinies are in their hands, a new element of danger that would threaten our very national existence. ”

“ The opposers of the Tunnel may well consider what additional opportunities its construction would give to disaffected persons on this side the channel, at some future time it might be, to coalesce with disaffected persons on the other side, without being accused of entertaining groundless fears, and without being charged with distrusting a whole nation. No indictment is made against a whole people, because precautions are taken against insurrectionary bands. ”

“ The improved harbours on the French coast would make a surprise more easy. Surprises during peace were the common-places of history. The Tunnel would directly tempt invasion—it would be the most unassailable line of communications in the world. The successful invasion of England, with the Tunnel in the enemy's hands, would be the permanent ruin of the country. Neither fortifications nor scientific agencies could be trusted. It would be impossible to keep secret any military arrangements connected with mines. ”

“ It is odd also that countries far more exposed than we are ... have not been jealous of the connection and of the obliteration of mountain barriers and barriers of different kinds. All I can say is, that I will undertake in half-a-dozen different ways, to enable you or the War Office, or anybody sitting at your desk, and touching a common button, to destroy a Tunnel or an enemy if you like. ”

“ The Committee admitted that the most elaborate scheme of defence would not give immunity from danger. No reliance could be placed on the electrical communication with distant points unless the wires were tested every few ^hours. All therefore, depended on the security of the great fortress and the adoption of precautionary measures when there was a prospect of war. But as the stoppage of the Tunnel would be taken as a sure indication of coming war, an English Cabinet would be unwilling to order it. The majority of wars had commenced before diplomatic relations had been broken off. ”

“ A very detailed discussion of the various means to be used was called for; the Committee were to consider and report what appliances, whether of destruction, of obstruction, of flooding, or of all combined, should be provided, including any works defending or commanding the exit, so that the use of the Tunnel in every imaginable contingency may be, beyond doubt, denied to an enemy. ”

“ But whilst all will, I think, acknowledge that danger is involved in the scheme, a large number will go further, and will assert that, whatever precautions be taken, and even if it be assumed that more money is spent on fortifications than any British Cabinet is ever likely, in time of peace, to ask from Parliament, it will be impossible completely to provide against the risk. You may, by a very great outlay, of money, in the first instance, and a considerable annual expenditure on the maintenance of fortifications and on other necessary precautions, do a great deal to mitigate the evil ”

“ All the sacrifices which Frenchmen and Germans make, year after year, in order that vast armies, which are now literally reckoned by the million, may be at the disposal of the State would indeed be senseless and absurd if, when once they can bring the question to fair trial on dry land, they were not, despite all the courage of our soldiers and the abilities of our officers, able to overpower the little army which we keep up. ”

“ The night does not follow the day more surely than will a vastly increased annual military expenditure follow upon the construction of the Tunnel. Are we to be taxed additionally for these new military establishments in order to save a certain number of travellers and tourists of all nations from sea-sickness?" Lord Wolseley then refers to an argument which had been used in favour of the Tunnel, called by the writer the best argument, that "It is impossible to base the arrangements of a great country like England upon the idea of wars and invasions. ”

“ The danger of the Tunnel would be an increasing one, because, as time went on, the precautions would be neglected. Why should a new danger be added to those which already existed? From the commercial aspect, even a shadow of danger would be a heavy balance against any possible advantages. The liabilities to panics would be increased," He says in conclusion:—"We hear much of the panic-monger in the writings of those who favour the construction of this Tunnel. ”

“ As a Civil Engineer my function would rather be to say what could be done, than what should be done. It would be practicable to place a fort within the ordnance ground, the guns of which would point into the mouth of the Tunnel. That will be obvious to you without any suggestion of mine. It would be quite practicable, as I have suggested on a previous occasion, to sink a shaft within the fort of Dover Castle down to the Tunnel, which shaft would be in the command of that fort, and could not be got at unless that fort were taken, and from that shaft the Tunnel could be easily stopped ”

“ The military force in Great Britain is not large enough to contend against the army which any of the great continental powers that had obtained possession of the tunnel could send into England through it. ”

“ But who is the real panic-monger? Is it he who would have us create a work that must be the prolific parent of panics, or is it the man who strives to warn his countrymen against such an error?" (p. 298) . ”

“ I think there are very few men in England who know what the general opinion of the public in England is better than I do, and there is not a man in a million, I believe, who entertains those ideas about the danger of having a Tunnel ”

“ It has been stated that it is not the intention of this Lecture to treat the matter from an engineering or scientific point of view, neither is it my purpose to enter upon any geological enquiry, as to when Great Britain became an Island. Doubtless the animal life in days gone by may have been very different from what it is amongst us at present, and we may at one time have been joined on to the Continent of Europe. ”

“ The Commissioners further agreed that each Government should have the right to suspend the working of the railway by damaging, destroying, or flooding the Tunnel, whenever such Government should in the interest of its own country, think necessary to do so, though the concession to the French Company only gives the French Government the right of stopping the traffic. ”

“ Nothing perhaps shows more clearly the extent to which our population, immersed in peaceful pursuits, remains unaware of the military condition of neighbouring states than the tone which was at first adopted on this question by many of the public. ”

“ The mechanical arrangements required for temporary obstruction should be capable of being controlled from different points within the fortifications, and the means of destroying the Tunnel should be controlled, not only from the central work of the fortress, but also from one or more distant places, which should have distinct communications with the mines, independent of those of the fortress. ”

“ Trouble, expense, and increase of troops to defend our Indian possessions are looming in the future, and it may be no distant future for us, so systematically is the Russian advance seen to be conducted, and we have I say enough on our hands without increasing our defences and our troops on our own shores. ”

“ Throwing chalk down the shaft w^ould speedily block the Tunnel. If necessary, provision could be made for admitting sea-water ... and so flooding the Tunnel sufficiently to prevent its use.
"To me it appears to be of great advantage that we, who are now isolated, should, as regards intercommunication for travelling purposes, at all events, be connected with the European system of railways. At present, I believe this Channel passage does prevent innumerable people from going at all. It prevents a vast number of people going, except when they cannot help it. ”

“ We have the much wider question to consider first of all, whether it would be expedient to do so, if we could, and this Parliament must decide for us, and meanwhile no grievance or hardship can reasonably be shown or proved, in not allowing any works in connection with or preparatory to a Tunnel to be carried on, till such decision has been obtained. ”

“ For about a year no further correspondence took place, but in March, 1870, the Anglo-French Committee of Promoters applied to the French Government for a perpetual sole concession for the construction of a submarine railway. ”

“ The Chairman, moreover referred to an understanding between himself and M. Raoul Duval, one of the original French promoters, to whom the concession of 1876 had been granted.
"The report of this meeting having attracted the attention of the Board of Trade, a suggestion was made to the War Office that a Departmental Committee should be appointed, the War Department, the Admiralty, and the Board of Trade being represented on the Committee (p. 182) . ”

“ Margaret at Cliffe, in the county of Kent, lying between Ness Point and Coney Burrow Point, and including the beach and foreshore abutting on the said lands". The village of St. Margaret at Cliffe is three miles, or three miles and a half, N.E. of Dover, a high situation on the chalk cliff, and not far from the South Foreland.
"The Joint Commission met at Paris from the 29th January, 1876, to the 5th February, 1876, and in London, from the 22nd to the 30th May, 1876 (p. 166) . ”