74 8 Presidential Addresses 



who sought to make the engagements of the treaty 

 a reality, recognized them as the proper custodians 

 of the sovereignty of the Isthmus. 



This recognition was, in the second place, further 

 justified by the highest considerations of our national 

 interests and safety. In all the range of our inter- 

 national relations I do not hesitate to affirm that 

 there is nothing of greater or more pressing impor- 

 tance than the construction of an interoceanic canal. 

 Long acknowledged to be essential to our commer- 

 cial development, it has become, as the result of the 

 recent extension of our territorial dominion, more 

 than ever essential to our national self-defence. In 

 transmitting to the Senate the treaty of 1846, Presi- 

 dent Polk pointed out as the principal reason for its 

 ratification that the passage of the Isthmus, which it 

 was designed to secure, "would relieve us from a 

 long and dangerous navigation of more than 9,000 

 miles around Cape Horn, and render our communi- 

 cation with our own possessions on the northwest 

 coast of America comparatively easy and speedy." 

 The events of the past five years have given to this 

 consideration an importance immeasurably greater 

 than it possessed in 1846. In the light of our present 

 situation, the establishment of easy and speedy com- 

 munication by sea between the Atlantic and the Pa- 

 cific presents itself not simply as something to be 

 desired, but as an object to be positively and prompt- 

 ly attained. Reasons of convenience have been su- 

 perseded by reasons of vital necessity, which do not 

 admit of indefinite delays. 



