Thomas Berney

“ The moment that the mine was charged, the running of Trains must be altogether discontinued; and a panic among the English in France would inevitably at once ensue: and what British officer would, or should, or could dare, even if he might, to connect the firing wires in the Battery, with the assurance, urged in piteous terms, that the Channel Tunnel was filled with English Refugees? ”

“ The sides of the Tunnel will be mined: and there will be underground wires, over which the French could not possibly get command, leading to a Magazine!! So that settles the question!!!"
But the simple answer to this Enthusiast's theory is, that no Magazine or charge could with safety be so placed permanently in a mine within distance of the vibration caused by a passing train; very much less by the shock of one running into a truck of coals. And even if a loose charge might bear some vibration, yet even slight vibration oft repeated would gradually consolidate it! ”

“ At a word from the Colonel, the Noble young Ensign, waving the standard frantically, is just in time to save the next Train, with another Battalion of Guards, from rushing with like dire speed in medias res. Its gallant Colonel leaps from the Engine: and the whole Battalion, springing out, rush forward to the waving Colours, rifle in hand, each eager to be first; and then, as quickly piling arms, rush on to rescue the maimed and the dying, the scalded and the burnt, and to extinguish the rapidly spreading flames. ”

“ The Emperor Napoleon III. considered that he had avenged the loss of 500,000 French Troops, incurred by the First Napoleon's Expedition to Russia, by the like loss to the Russian Forces in crossing the Steppes en route to the Crimea: but a Railway brings the Military Steam-Hammer in Column, without loss of power, and with its initial velocity maintained, down upon the head of the nail!
In Great Britain we have, at present at least, an insular position. Poets picture "Our Sea-girt Isle!" It is Nature's Gift. ”

“ It is, therefore, manifest, that, the wires being in the hands of the French, and the Telegraph boy with a pistol held at his head, a body of the enemy, though previously undeclared, could during a night obtain possession of this mouth also of the Tunnel; so as to prevent the possibility of its being blown up by the British, or the mine being even charged: while a body of French Sappers and Riflemen, with their gabions, spades and rifles, could be thrown out ”

“ So that, as already foreseen, the charging of the mine with the Dynamite would be prevented; and the embrasures and portholes of Dover Castle and Fort, or of any other Forts that might be built instead of them, commanded, as shewn, by French Riflemen, engaged in picking off our few Artillerymen, commencing with the zealous superior officers! And this more quickly than might by some be supposed! The morning hour of changing Guard would be known. What if a single bullet were sent, at a given signal, into each casemate and battery of both Dover Castle and Fort at that time? ”

“ And, again, even if the mine were placed at only a quarter of the distance of the extreme range of such vibration, it would be very much too far off to produce the necessary effect; namely, to blow one hole to connect the Tunnel with the Deep Sea, equal to at least the whole section of the Tunnel, and incapable of being choked with masses of chalk. Anything very much less would simply provide a current that would carry the French back to Calais ”

“ One Company of Guards, however, seizing their rifles, has sent such a withering hail among them, as they came round to re-load, that many of them bite the earth, never to rise again: and the rest, the limping lot left, are limbering up in hot haste ”

“ They are impelled by Compound High-pressure and Condensing Engines and Boilers, all of extraordinary excellence of materials and construction; capable of being worked up to 200 pounds pressure upon the square inch ”