7 JANUARY 1911, Page 21

GIBBON ON THE INVASION OF ENGLAND.

[To TIES EDITOR OF THZ " SPECTITOR."] SIR,—In view of the feeling, I think justified, and not infrequently expressed, that the British Channel Fleet should remain as England's bulwark near the Isle of Wight, I could not help noticing Gibbon's words in chap. 13 of "The Decline and Fall," where he describes how the Roman fleet circum- vented the ships of Alleetas under cover of a fog, and landed on the Western coast of England, thereby convincing the Britons "that a superiority of naval strength will not always protect their country from a foreign invasion." This was written by Gibbon over a century and a quarter ago, and seemed to me worthy just now of mention.—I am, Sir,

Oak Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. JOSEPH WELBY.