Page 98 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

The Isthmus and Sea Power. 79

might have been feasible. His idea, however,
remained prominent among the purposes of the
English people, as distinguished from their
rulers ; and in it, as has been said before, is to
be recognized the significance of the exploits of
the buccaneers, during the period of external
debility which characterized the reigns of the
second Charles and James. With William of
Orange the government again placed itself at
the head of the national aspirations, as their
natural leader; and the irregular operations
of the freebooters were merged in a settled
national policy. This, although for a moment
diverted from its course by temporary exigen-
cies, was clearly formulated in the avowed
objects with which, in 1702, the wise Dutch-
man entered upon the War of the Spanish
Succession, the last great act of his political
life. From the Peace of Utrecht, which closed
this war in 171 3, the same design was pursued
with ever-increasing intensity, but with steady
success, and with it was gradually associated
the idea of controlling also the communication
between the two oceans by way of the Isthmus.
The best known instance of this, because of its
connection with the great name of Nelson, was