Daily Globe

THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR.

Great Britain's possession of the rock of Gibraltar is a relic of a bygone age. It has for many generations been a monument of the least agreeable side of European politics. Gibraltar is by position a Spanish fortress, and its name is a synonym for impregnability. Why, then, should it be occupied by a foreign power? On no theory of fair play can the fact be accounted for, but not till recently has a British love of justice seen anything improper in it. Agitation for the recovery of the fortress is now in progress in Spain, and the English Radicals to a considerable extent sympathize with it. Sentimentalism, however, is not alone at the bottom of the talk of surrender. Modern modes of warfare are such that Gibraltar is not indispensable to British glory. Its harbor is poor and is commanded by the guns of other forts. No force could take Gibraltar, it is admitted, but that does not increase its importance to England, for at this day a rendezvous for the Mediterranean fleet of ironclads is of more importance than a land fort not connected with good anchorage ground for vessels of the class which compose the British navy. There is a harbor on the African coast suitable to receive the largest fleet of the largest men-of-war, well guarded by fortifications, and accessible to supplies from abroad. The changes in fifty years in the art of war would make this port equivalent for Gibraltar. It is not strange that the moving spirit of Spanish nationality mourns for the recovery of the historic fortress.