Page 295 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. 2J3

nearly driven from that sea ; and but two per
cent of a trade that was increasing mightily all
the time was thence derived. How the Suez
Canal and the growth of the Eastern Question,
in its modern form, have changed all that, it is
needless to say. Yet, through all the period
of relative insignificance, the relations of the
Mediterranean to the East and to the West,
in the broad sense of those expressions, pre-
served to it a political importance to the world
at large which rendered it continuously a scene
of great political ambitions and military enter-
prise. Since Great Britain first actively inter-
vened in those waters, two centuries ago, she
at no time has surrendered willingly her pre-
tensions to be a leading Mediterranean Power,
although her possessions there are of purely
military, or rather naval, value.
The Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico,
taken together, form an inland sea and an
archipelago. They too have known those mu-
tabilities of fortune which receive illustration
alike in the history of countries and in the
lives of individuals. The first scene of dis-
covery and of conquest in the New World,
these twin sheets of water, with their islands
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