Page 120 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

The Isthmus and Sea Power. 101

noteworthy proportions. A weighty considera-
tion also is involved in the effect upon British
navigation of a war which should endanger its
use of the Suez Canal. The power of Great
Britain to control the long route from Gibral-
tar to the Red Sea is seriously doubted by a
large and thoughtful body of her statesmen
and seamen, who favor dependence, in war,
upon that by the Cape of Good Hope. By
Nicaragua, however, would be shorter than by
the Cape to many pans of the East ; and the
Caribbean can be safeguarded against distant
European states much more easily than the
line through the Mediterranean, which passes
close by their ports.
Under this increased importance of the Isth-
mus, we cannot safely anticipate for the future
the cheap acquiescence which, under very dif-
ferent circumstances, has been yielded in the
past to our demands. Already it is notorious
that European powers are betraying symptoms
of increased sensitiveness as to the value of
Caribbean positions, and are strengthening
their grip upon those they now hold. Moral
considerations undoubtedly count for more
than they did, and nations are more reluctant