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35 Committee, and the statements of the case put forward by that Officer had his Royal Highness's entire approval. In the Report of the Committee, the words used must be given their full force, and a first-class fortress, in the modern acceptation of the term, meant such a fortress as certainly could not be constructed for less than three millions sterling, and which would require a garrison equal to the great garrisons on the Continent. The whole of the money required 'for this as well as for the multiplication of methods, which the Committee considered it imperative to have for rendering the tunnel impassible, should be paid over to the Treasury before permission was given to begin the Tunnel at all.

"The report of the Committee amounted to an absolute condemnation of every existing proposal for a Channel Tunnel, and it was imperative that if any new or modified schemes were brought forward they should be submitted to the Committee.

"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. It was not only the possibility of a rupture with France that had to be considered. Any power at war with France, after taking possession of Belgium, might seize Calais. The only positive security against the danger of the Tunnel would be the maintenance of a vast army, entailing probably a compulsory system of universal military service. His Eoyal Highness's plain duty, on military grounds, was to protest most emphatically against the construction of the Tunnel."

I give the conclusion of these observations in His Royal Highness's own words:—"Only a few years ago Chester Castle was the object of an ill-organized, badly-managed Fenian attack. Who can guarantee us that such a seizure of Dover by persons