A study of the strategic conditions of the Mediterranean, which have received ample illustration, will be an excellent prelude to a similar study of the Caribbean, which has comparatively little history.
The second remark bears upon the geographical position of the United States relatively to a Central-American canal.

If one be made, and 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.