Our neighbours are trembling for the fate
of the _entente cordiale_, which would speedily vanish with vanishing
England; but they have been assured by some of their savants that the
rate of erosion is only one kilometre in a thousand years, and that
the danger of total extinction is somewhat remote. Professor Stanislas
Meunier, however, declares that our "panic" is based on scientific
facts. He tells us that the cliffs of Brighton are now one kilometre
farther away from the French coast than in the days of Queen
Elizabeth, and that those of Kent are six kilometres farther away than
in the Roman period. He compares our island to a large piece of sugar
in water, but we may rest assured that before we disappear beneath the
waves the period which must elapse would be greater than the longest
civilizations known in history. So we may hope to be able to sing
"Rule Britannia" for many a long year.
Coast erosion is, however, a serious problem, and has caused the
destruction of many a fair town and noble forest that now lie beneath
the seas, and the crumbling cliffs on our eastern shore threaten to
destroy many a village church and smiling pasture. Fishermen tell you
that when storms rage and the waves swell they have heard the bells
chiming in the towers long covered by the seas, and nigh the
picturesque village of Bosham we were told of a stretch of sea that
was called the Park.
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