A CHANNEL TUNNEL.
Pro THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.")
Snt,—In your issue of November 4th you make the statement that you have changed your mind with regard to the Channel Tunnel project, and that you are now in favour of the building of that tunnel after the war. But is it not possible that, unsuspected by the British authorities, a tunnel from Belgium to England may be now, while the war is going on, actually under construction by the Germans? They can command hundreds of thousands of workers, and can dump the excavated materials into the North Sea, or make use of them in the construction of trenches and other defensive works. If such a tunnel were once completed (and it is always the unexpected that happens), the Germans would put a railway through it of such gauge that it could be forthwith connected with the existing railway system on the South or East Coast of England. With the command of the Channel for twelve hours they would have England at their
mercy. To achieve such a triumph they would gladly sacrifice their Fleet, and could then laugh the British Navy to scorn. It is invariably assumed by British politicians and newspapers that the invasion of England by Germany (if it comes) will be by an army brought from Germany on transports. But the Germans have for two years now been masters of the Belgian coast, and it is not impossible that a tunnel is under way. It is at any rate a possibility not to be overlooked. Much depends on the character of the rock that underlies the Channel and the North Sea. If a tunnel is actually in process of construction we may be sure the Germans will find means to shroud their work in absolute [We publish the above letter as a literary and historical curiosity. Its bona fides is above suspicion, but it is of course purely and absolutely illusory. Such a work could not be carried on in secret. It could not be accomplished in two years. If it were accomplished, the consequent invasion would be innocuous. Germany cannot spare half a million men, and nothing less would do. If she could spare them they would take more than a month to get through the hole, even if unmolested—which is all absurd. A new edition of the Trojan horse would he about as useful as the phantom conjured up by the imagination of our correspondent. —Ea. Spectator.]
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