8th June.
PurosopHErs have ling, since. nine up'their minds that the British Einp're nust in time go the way of the great world-empires that hive preceded it, in history. M cnulay's Zealander standing on, a broken arch of London B-idge and. contemplating: the. rains ut the "great city "which "now is this. world's Hugest" has become 2° proverb. Man grows up, téiches his, x6njth, gnd gradually sinks into deny, and therefore an empire mast follow the game course; an utterly false analogy,: for the youth of an empire is dail being, reviewed iuteroally, while the} ing. itself, by -the acquisition and a constantly riiewgrowth of its colonies. But London ~-and indeed the whole of England—is_thredrened by & much more is, thr si initial error Boghiccring" a, ete tal exaarina.
senile According to tion of. the coast of England proves thet an agency mightier than the ocean is working the destraction of the land, There are indubitable siges that the eastern counties are Beidg subjected to continual depression. That there has been such depression in recent g ological times is apparent from the fac' that submerged' forests are found on the coast of Liticolitshire. Sitnilir Jorests are found fu ibe Wash, off Hunstanton; and ihe fact that this forest is of recent date. is evidenced @ flint cel or axe having been finnd embedded by its ctitting eye for a depth of one alf inches in the trink fF one of trees. On the Cornisti coast, wever, the dan} and sea do not even maintain their relative positions. 'The land appears to be rising out of the sea, Hence the erosive' action of the sea is obli H Thus raised beaches are to fou in many places, slong the coast; and the fact that these raised beaches are of modern formation is establish imilar to those Tying on the ase they are fill led with wee tween igh and te Continuing, "Engineering says that "one must guard against any general assertion that while the east, coast had Always been sinking. the west coast has alwiiys been rising e out of the sea. Thus beds vf peary eu matter occur beneath. the. sea at many places on the west coast—eg.. at Holyhead arid elsewhere—showing that a distressing movenient has taken place here at semic not very distant geological age. If our surmise, that what appears to be the result of coast erosion 1s largely due to earth movement, is correct, it is impossible to suggest a remedy. revies miay'stave off the vil day for. time; but if a whole const is becoming depressed, the _groyries themselves must eventually disap-y.. Even assuming, however, that the relative elevation of land and sea retain cotistant, it does not seem to have been proved that groynés are a sovereign remedy against the ham-mesing of the sea, For, with every modern appliance at our disposal, we appear to be powerless to control or ern check thave geologivat forces which have dispersed water and dry land on the surface of the slob, A glance at the geological record shows that land and sea have been oon—stantly changing'places, To use the words of Tennyson "There rolls the deep where grew the tree; Oh, Earth, what clanges bast thou seen There where the long street-roars, hi hag been The stillness of the central sea "These beautiful fides are," adds "Engineeritig," " worthy of committal to memory by those who think that. the Government can legislate elfectuully fir the prevention of coast erosion."
That London, the capital of the world, which owes part of its s-curity to the fuct that while it is the greatest, it is the least self-assertive will be allowed to disappear without a struggle, is incredible, nay more, it is impossible, There are no signs of internal decay in London. Every exile from London Who "revisits 1b ater & longer or shorter absence finds that it is still growing, still improving in every way. Great schemes for its improvement nod embellishment, even to the building of great dam across the Thames, and turning the whole of the river above Gravesend into a vast. flock, are being constantly prosed and carried out. Even the to curry oh its work in various hited ndott County Council, srhich has buildings all over London, with great expense and inconvenience, has determined to provide itself with a home in which all its departments tity be brought together, architect urally worthy of the groutest e: ing city. We may rely upon it th: if London is really threatened with submersion by the gra tual. sinking of the eastern counties, there are engineers who will find means to save it. Long since the Dutch engineers saved their country from version y the dykes which have me 80 mous ju story, and London may be save in the same wi, a splendid work for the unemployed and the undesirable 'ellens, If, however, the rate of einkiig of the eastern counties of England increases 69 that London is seriously threatened and cannot be sived even by a system of dykes, where is its successor to be? Will Liverpool or Matichester take its plice? Hardly, for they, are on the wrong side of England,, as regards communication with the Continent of Europe. Will a new London be-built in Cornwall, where we are told the land is rising? But there is lio big river in Cornwall, like -the Thames, on whose banks a new London could be. built,.and. Providence we know, discourages the building of pig cities which have not. adequate water communication with the rest of the world. This is why Paris, or Berlin, or Vienna, or Rome cap never hope t be another London,, and St. Petersburg is too far-north.and too difficult of nooes, "If any. disaster appius to London to dethrone' it
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.