| Show INVASION OF ENGLAND one of the principal subjects of editorial comment in the press of the country for the past week has been gen 9 declaration that given the money and the men he could invade england in twenty tour hours the new york sun believes that if history has transmitted any lesson to posterity the lesson Is that england Is of all islands the least inviolate and that if her war fleet could be diverted or held in check tor twenty four hours an invasion by the french or german army would have better chances of success today than wlliam the norman had when he found the bows of harolds veterans opposed to him at senlac anticipating that the english papers and military men will make light of the announcement the sun says we scarcely expect however that the warning will be taken seriously although almost all the military force at the disposal of the british government Is now employed in south africa or india we can but judge the present by the past and we know that for many and many a decade not only poes and journalists but even sober minded statesmen have been the victims of the delusion that england may fairly be described as the inviolate island of the sage and free looking to history to sustain it the sun comments when one considers the unique usefulness of history the ignorance of it everywhere exhibited la england is astounding the only island known to history which deserves to be called inviolate is the japanese island of nippon since it was first civilized never has it known the heel of invader it hurled back even the hosts of kublal khen the grandson of and the of the avalanche that smothered asia and eastern europe england Is less inviolate than which from the days of its conquest by a few norman gentlemen in the eleventh century was never successfully cess fully invaded until it tell a willing victim to Gari baldis one thousand we do not call the occupation of the island by charles of anjou in the second half of the thirteenth century successful because it was quickly terminated by the sicilian vespers but it Is easy to be shown that england has been repeatedly invaded with success not only before but since the landing of william the conqueror we believe there la ond man at the head of english affairs who Is not the victim of a false security and that man Is lord salisbury his speeches of late have been filled with veiled warnings of enemies without and of within of the english people the only explanation that can be given of this pessimism of salisbury Is that information of threatened attacks on england have reached the british officials and salisbury knows the extent of the weakness of the snug little island with the flower of the army in south africa |
