The End of Isolation
The Channel. Tunnel. By Humphrey Slater and Correlli Barnett. (Wingate, 2/s.) CHANNEL TUNNEL projects have been discussed since the French Revolution : indeed, the stories told in my prep school dormitory, rather later, were vivid enough to convince me that the Tunnel actually existed. At present the British Channel Tunnel and the Suez Canal Companies, reinforced by massive French and American interests, are preparing a full-scale survey which, with the advance of European Free Trade and the demand for United Europe, may produce direct action.
This book gives the history of the projects and seriously assesses the geological and technical problems. The nineteenth century wrestled with them untiringly. Victoria, Albert, Disraeli, Glad- stone, Brunel, Stephenson and, of course, the versatile Napoleon Ill were in favour. Opposed were Huxley, Palmerston, Tennyson, Browning (who considered that a Tunnel would rob the crossing of its romance) and the generals, though Foch was to say that a tunnel would have shortened his war by two years. Schemes were impressive, particularly Mathieu's (1802), with its international city on the Varne Bank, a submerged island in mid-Channel : also that of a tube with blazoned, turreted Gothic pavilions appearing at intervals above the water. These, with such varia- tions as dug tunnels with protruding chimneys, and grandiose over-water viaducts, proved abor- tive, presumably saving many unpleasant deaths, but the great de Gamond completed the first realistic geological and hydrographic survey, com- panies were formed in both countries and, after the setback of the Orsini Plot, a model of the Low- Brunlees-Gamond project, approved by the Tuileries and the Board of Trade, was shown at the 1867 Paris Exhibition. Sedan intervened, but by 1875 official companies were proclaiming plans in further detail. A first-class passenger was to pay 50 centimes a kilometre, a coffined corpse 1 franc 50 centimes. These companies,.in Britain especially, were alarmingly ahead of their govern- ments, and cut-throat quarrels between rival British engineers and financiers conducted with 'unbecoming relish' make cheerful reading, par- ticularly with the railway tycoon Edward Watkin campaigning with 'a powerful blend of dinners and unscrupulousness.' By 1880, 2,000-yard tun- nels were jutting from Dover and Sangatte. Then the generals objected, national hysteria rose, Vic- toria changed her mind, and the Board of Trade bowed before the National Petition, with its terror of Frenchmen pouring into the country and importing nihilism, atheism, conscription, tyranny and custom-free goods. 'Owing to the alarmists we have lost seventy years, and the Tunnel will cost about £100 million instead of £5 million.' Fashoda, Dreyfus, the Boer War further impeded matters. But, in a changed world there was re- newed agitation for the Tunnel, to carry troops, relieve unemployment, expand trade. Royal Com- mission approval, 1930, was vetoed by the generals, but since 1945 Parliamentary pressure has increased (both Churchill and Bevan approve) and national support should increase as the feasi- bility becomes more obvious. Field-Marshal Montgomery still opposes.
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This book is excellent on the technical side; the jauntiness of the historical passages is rather mechanical. 'There was a rather ridiculous nuisance called Suffragettes.' He pushed on his propaganda with all the fervour of a Haig plan- ning a massacre.' The dismal sound of bank- doors closing and multi-millionaires hitting the pavement.' But it becomes clear that the Tunnel, which may complete a modification of the national outlook begun by Bleriot, is now an
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