Page 99 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

So The Isthmus and Sea Power.

the effort made by him, in conjunction with a
land force, in 1 780, when still a simple captain,
to take possession of the course of the San
Juan River, and so of the interoceanic route
through Lake Nicaragua. The attempt ended
disastrously, owing partly to the climate, and
partly to the strong series of works, numbering
no less than twelve, which the Spaniards, duly
sensible of the importance of the position, had
constructed between the lake and the sea.
Difficulties such as were encountered by
Nelson withstood Great Britain's advance
throughout this region. While neither blind
nor indifferent to the advantages conferred by
actual possession, through which she had prof-
ited elsewhere abundantly, the prior and long-
established occupation by Spain prevented
her obtaining by such means the control she
ardently coveted, and in great measure really
exercised. The ascendency which made her,
and still makes her, the dominant factor in the
political system of the West Indies and the
Isthmus resulted from her sea power, under-
stood in its broadest sense. She was the great
trader, source of supplies, and medium of inter-
course between the various colonies themselves,