f the standpoint that he and his Directors meant to take in
the present crisis, which was, in effect, to remind themselves that they
were shareholders of the Anglo-French Submarine Channel Tunnel Railway
Company first--and Englishmen afterwards--(_thunders of applause, and loud
and prolonged cheering_);--and that, if called upon to shed their life's
blood, it would be solely in defence of that great engineering work, the
true monument of peace, in which their aspirations, their hopes, and, above
all, their capital, had been so fearlessly embarked and largely
invested.(_Renewed enthusiasm._)

A Shareholder here rose, and said, that if there really was, as the
Chairman seemed to imply, a probability that war with our friendly
neighbours might break out at any minute, would it not be advisable, in the
interests of the Company, to come to some amicable and therefore
satisfactory commercial arrangement for the transit of troops through the
Tunnel, which, no doubt, it would be their first object to
secure.(_Laughter._) There might possibly be some stupid attempt of our own
Government forces to seize upon and even damage, with a view to rendering
the Tunnel useless, the works commanding this end of it. Should not a
Volunteer Corps of Shareholders be at once organised--("_Hear!
hear!_")--for the purpose of keeping them until the French Military
Authorities came over in sufficient force to enable them to seize and
securely hold them against all comers? He trusted he was not wanting in a
well-balanced and legitimate patriotism--("_No! no!_")--but like their
respected Chairman, he felt that there was a higher claim, a louder call
than that addressed to an Englishman by his country, and that was the deep,
grim, stern and stirring appeal made to the Seventeen per Cent.
Debenture-holder by his Company.(_Roars of laughter._)

Considerable uproar here arose over the ejection from the meeting of a
protesting Shareholder, who injudiciously proposed an Amendment to the
Report to the effect that, "In the face of grave National danger, the
Company ought to be prepared, even if it involved serious financial loss,
to close their Tunnel, if such a step should be regarded as necessary to
the security of the country by the military advisers of the Government."
This proposition was howled down, and the Chairman was again about to
address the now somewhat quieted meeting, when a copy of an evening paper,
announcing the declaration of war, and the