Page 102 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

The Isthmus and Sea Power. 83

nated, the necessity for a settlement of the in-
tricate problems involved, in which the United
States, from its positions on the two seas, has the
predominant interest. But, though predomi-
nant, ours is not the sole interest ; though less
vital, those of other foreign states are great and
consequential ; and, accordingly, no settlement
can be considered to constitute an equilibrium,
much less a finality, which does not effect our
preponderating influence, and at the same time
insure the natural rights of other peoples. So
far as the logical distinction between commer-
cial and political will hold, it may be said that
our interest is both commercial and political,
that of other states almost wholly commercial.
The same national characteristics that of old
made Great Britain the chief contestant in all
questions of maritime importance— with the
Dutch in the Mediterranean, with France in
the East Indies, and with Spain in the West
— have made her also the exponent of foreign
opposition to our own asserted interest in the
Isthmus. The policy initiated by Cromwell,
of systematic aggression in the Caribbean, and
of naval expansion and organization, has re-
sulted in a combination of naval force with