"Perhaps.But why have we never consented to the Channel Tunnel being made? All military authorities, especially Wolseley, are absolutely opposed to opening a road so convenient for traffic and trade.They have always declared that England must remain an island, only accessible by sea.This is certainly the first and most essential condition of England's power.""Well, then," said Mr.Kennedy, "as England is still an island, and we have always adhered to the principle of keeping a fleet superior to that of the two strongest naval powers, where is the danger?""Danger? There is always a danger, when one has enemies," replied the General."I maintain that at the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was a toss up whether Napoleon crossed or not; and Idon't believe that we should have been a match for our great opponent, if he had once got a firm footing on our coast.""His plan was a visionary one and therefore impracticable.""His plan only failed because it was too complicated.If he had had modern telegraphic communication at his disposal, this would not have been the case.He could have directed the operations of his fleet by cable.If Admiral Villeneuve had sailed to Brest (instead of Cadiz) as he was ordered and joined Admiral Gantaume, he would have had fifty-six ships of the line to cover Napoleon's passage from Boulogne to the English coast.No, gentlemen, you must not think England's strategical position unassailable.I am as confident of the superiority of our naval forces as you are, but in these days of steam and electricity England is no longer as safe as she was when the movement of ships depended on the wind and orders had to be given by mounted messengers and signals.""So you really think, General, that Napoleon's plan would have been practicable?""Most certainly.Napoleon had no luck in this enterprise.In the first place, his greatest misfortune was the death of Admiral Latouche-Treville.If he had been in Villeneuve's place, he would most likely have proved a competent commander.He was the only French naval officer who could have opposed Nelson.But he died too soon for France, and his successor, Villeneuve, was his inferior in ability.But there are other special circumstances, more favourable to a landing in England than in Napoleon's day.
For instance--to say nothing of cable and steam--the fact that modern transports can carry an enormously larger number of troops.
Napoleon had to fit out 2,293 vessels to transport his army of 150,000 men and to protect the transports, had 1,204 gunboats and 135 other armed vessels at his disposal, in addition to the transports proper.As nearly all his ships were constructed to land men, horses, and guns on the level beach without the aid of boats, they wanted calm weather for crossing the Channel.They would have taken about ten hours, with a calm sea, to reach a point between Dover and Hastings.It is different now.The large French and German companies' steamers are at the disposal of their Admiralties.""And yet things are just the same as before," said Mr.Kennedy.
"Victory on the open sea turns the scale.No hostile fleet will be able to show itself in the Channel without being destroyed by ours.""Let us hope so!" said the General.
On the way to Aden the Caledonia only met a few ships--all English.
Several transports with troops on board and a few men-of-war passed her; as she travelled on the average twenty-two knots an hour, no vessel overtook her.On the morning of the sixth day the reddish brown rocks of Aden appeared, and the Caledonia cast anchor in the roadstead.A number of small vessels darted towards her.Naked, black Arab boys cried for money and showed their skill in diving, fishing up pieces of silver thrown from the ship.As the Caledonia had to coal, those passengers who were able to move went ashore in boats rowed by Arabs.
Heideck joined the Kennedy family.
When the boat reached the deeply indented harbour, which with its numerous bends between fortified heights afforded a safe shelter for a whole fleet, Heideck saw some twenty English men-of-war, and at least three times that number of French and German and a few Russian merchantmen, which had been captured by the English.
Several cruisers of the three Powers at war with England also lay in the harbour.They had been captured in the Indian Ocean at the outbreak of war by superior English naval forces.
As the party had the whole day at their disposal, Mr.Kennedy took a conveyance, and Heideck drove with the family to the town, which, invisible from the roadstead, lay embedded between high, peaked mountains.The road went past a large, open space, on which thousands of camels and donkeys were exposed for sale.Here Heideck had the opportunity of admiring, close at hand, the mighty fortifications which the English had constructed on the important corner of the mountain commanding the sea since the capture of Aden by them from the Turks on the 9th of January, 1839.They also inspected the remarkable tanks, those famous cisterns which supply Aden with water, some fifty basins said to hold 30,000,000 gallons of water, whose origin is lost in the hoary mist of antiquity.
They are said to have been constructed by the Persians.
About seven o'clock in the evening the passengers were again on board.While the Caledonia continued her journey, they were absorbed in the perusal of the English, French, and German newspapers which they had bought at Aden.The papers were ten days old, certainly, but contained much that was new to the travellers.
It was very hot in the Red Sea, and most of the first-class passengers slept on deck, as they had done just before they reached Aden.Part of the deck, over which a sail had been stretched, was specially reserved for ladies.
