Page 86 - The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future

The Isthmus and Sea Power. 6 7

tre, towards which, if not thwarted by adverse
influences, the current of intercourse between
East and West inevitably must tend. Here
the direction of least resistance was indicated
clearly by nature; and a concurrence of cir-
cumstances, partly inherent in the general
character of the region, partly adventitious or
accidental, contributed at an early date, and
until very recently, to emphasize and enlarge
the importance consequent upon the geo-
graphical situation and physical conformation
of this narrow barrier between two great seas.
For centuries the West India Islands, circling
the Caribbean, and guarding the exterior ap-
proaches to the Isthmus, continued to be the
greatest single source of tropical products
which had become increasingly necessary to
the civilized nations of Europe. In them, and
in that portion of the continent which ex-
tended on either side of the Isthmus, known
under the vague appellation of the Spanish
Main, Great Britain, during her desperate
strife with the first Napoleon, — a strife for
very existence, — found the chief support of
the commercial strength and credit that alone
carried her to the triumphant end. The Isth-