Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/324

286 the defenders were placed in a position to drive the invaders into the sea. Thus it is evident that railways have revolutionised the conditions of modern warfare, much as they have revolutionised everything else that existed before their advent. In the days before the era of railways a kingdom might be lost or won, or the fate of a dynasty decided, before a single army corps could make its way by forced marches from the north of England to the south coast.

Of course, in the event of this country being engaged in warfare on the continent of Europe, or elsewhere abroad, either independently or in conjunction with some other power, the advantages which in a war of defence would be derived from the perfection of our railway system would no longer be available, or if they existed, they might be used against us. For instance, when the Germans invested Paris in the war of 1870-1, not only did they avail themselves of the railways around the city, but they took possession of the extensive locomotive works of the Northern of France Railway, and were thus enabled to repair the rolling stock and plant required to work the railways of which they were in possession, even seeking out and impressing into their service many of the artizans employed in the works, although it must be said to their credit that they honourably paid these men for their labour. Mention of this fact recalls a somewhat amusing incident related to the writer by M. Banderali, the able Locomotive Superintendent of the Northern of France Railway, and which was a striking proof of the extent to which the courtesies of nations are sometimes displayed in modern warfare. M. Banderali occupied a comfortable and well-furnished residence at St. Denis, and when, on the approach of the