fulfil the hopes of its builders, the Caribbean will be changed from a
terminus, and place of local traffic, or at best a broken and
imperfect line of travel, as it now is, into one of the great highways
of the world. Along this path a great commerce will travel, bringing
the interests of the other great nations, the European nations, close
along our shores, as they have never been before. With this it will
not be so easy as heretofore to stand aloof from international
complications. The position of the United States with reference to
this route will resemble that of England to the Channel, and of the
Mediterranean countries to the Suez route. As regards influence and
control over it, depending upon geographical position, it is of course
plain that the centre of the national power, the permanent base, (1)
is much nearer than that of other great nations. The positions now or
hereafter occupied by them on island or mainland, however strong, will
be but outposts of their power; while in all the raw materials of
military strength no nation is superior to the United States. She is,
however, weak in a confessed unpreparedness for war; and her
geographical nearness to the point of contention loses some of its
value by the character of the Gulf coast, which is deficient in ports
combining security from an enemy with facility for repairing war-ships
of the first class, without which ships no country can pretend to
control any part of the sea. In case of a contest for supremacy in the
Caribbean, it seems evident from the depth of the South Pass of the
Mississippi, the nearness of New Orleans, and the advantages of the
Mississippi Valley for water transit, that the main effort of the
country must pour down that valley, and its permanent base of
operations be found there. The defence of the entrance to the
Mississippi, however, presents peculiar difficulties; while the only
two rival ports, Key West and Pensacola, have too little depth of
water, and are much less advantageously placed with reference to the