I read with great interest the US Dept. of Homeland Security's plan to build a fence the entire length of the US-Canadian border. Actually, it is more than a thousand miles...it is actually 8800 kilometers.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=3b415257-1b58-49a3-a388-faeffdd5f7d3&k=73673
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=1a4bd137-9e7c-4a78-8b7b-686959bf7c01&k=36856&p=1
Remarkable. It is particularly amazing since there once WAS such a wall. Well, actually a series of forts, the 1812 version of the "virtual" fence, the intention of which was to limit US aggression. Hard to imagine the mindset of the time...when the biggest danger to public peace was US funded Fenian Irish terrorists bound and determined to drive the British out of North America. Not to mention real honest to goodness regular troops! Hard to imagine now. Well, unless you are angling for that contract to build this five thousand mile fence! In which case, media and fear are your friends!
Top pic is of the top of the hill, looking over the St. Lawrence. Over t'other side of the big boat is where them pesky 'mericans live. Don't worry, they gots guns pointed this way too! Click on the image to see it full size.
Middle picture...the story accordin to Parks Canada. Musta been a good fight. I see the beautiful bronze plaque has been fouled by a no doubt 'merican sea gull. Went to t'other side a while back...the story on the much larger bronze plaque across the river differs in several major respects. Most notably, accordin' to the words etched in stone over thar, that they didn't get thar arses whupped, they just had to go home to be with their families. What----ever!
Bottom picture....the magnificent monument afirming the eternal peace between the two peoples since the unfortunate mis-understanding at Crysler's Farm back in 1813. In all that time, it is only just NOW that the Re-public-ans have decided that in response to the threat posed by Canada, and they are a gonna make a thousand mile fence. Well, we already gots the forts mate!
What else can I add to this. Oh, right. The history. The guns date from the time, and are naval cannons which are mounted on English "garrison" mounts. These have all been shot out, and were taken out of service to live out their lives as a sort of military statuary. The cast iron gun mounts would not stand up to more than three or four shots before it would crack, so during high alerts, they would make cannon mounts out of wooden beams, and keep the cast iron for the long periods between engagements. We know these are English because they have this cool 1-2-3 flat areas at the back which mirror the wood beams. The French ones don't use that style...they are much fancier...and the American gun mounts are very plain and no nonsense. Makes you seem like a guru when you look at a picture of the walls of (say) old Quebec and can identify the country of origin of cannons at a glance!
3 comments:
Fascinating. You'd think someone on Capitol Hill would know about this little piece of history and suggest that perhaps if a fence didn't work then, it won't work now. Ah, but we've got bigger guns this time!
"they didn't get thar arses whupped, they just had to go home to be with their families."
That's always the way it goes...
Gee, you think the sarcasm showed through?
Well, the problem is Jen, the wall was built, a series of forts which stretched from Nova Scotia to Detroit. But it wasn't bricks and mortar which did the job, it was thousands of people who decided "enough is enough" and drew a line and defended it. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. We lost most of Maine, Vermont and all of Washington State, but we re-drew the border to what it is now and gave the diplomats a chance. Then the people who did the fighting went away, and ordinary people came in to live, and they respected those lines drawn in the dirt with blood, and can't imagine any other way.
Terrorism won't be stopped by a line of forts...but by thousands of eagle eyed resolute individuals who are prepared to participate in the collective security. Sort of a Federal Level Neighbourhood Watch.
(lordy, I am eloquent today! I may just cut and past that into a post!)
:D
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