66 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



1561, sent his engineer to explore Nicaragua for the same 

 purpose. 



From the earliest days of Spanish discovery and settlement 

 in Central America, down to the present moment, canal 

 schemes have originated, flourished, and died. Although 

 never quite abandoned, they have at various times been laid 

 aside, as during the times of struggle between Spain and 

 the English freebooters in the West Indies, times when 

 pirates roamed the seas and infested the lagoons of the main- 

 land, and marauding expeditions laid waste the towns along 

 these coasts. But whenever a lull in hostilities occurred, 

 Spanish interest in the great canal was sure to spring up 

 anew, to be followed by further investigations and new pro- 

 jects. These earlier efforts, however, amounted to very 

 little, practically. 



With the decline of Spanish power and influence, other 

 nations became interested in this fascinating canal problem, 

 notably Holland, Belgium, France, England, and finally the 

 United States. Volumes of maps and descriptions of favored 

 routes have been filed away in government archives and v in 

 the records of private companies, among which are great 

 numbers of extravagant statements concerning the wonderful 

 topographical advantages offered by various favored sections, 

 along with astonishingly cheap calculations for canal con- 

 struction. 



It would be useless to the purpose of this review to ex- 

 amine all the numerous schemes for the building of isthmian 

 canals from the beginning of the sixteenth century. Suffice 

 it to say, they furnish a history of failure and blighted hopes. 

 It might not be uninteresting, however, before proceeding to 

 the political and diplomatic history of the United States in con- 

 nection with this canal problem, to make brief reference to some 

 of the more prominent isthmian canal schemes which have 

 been projected during the present century. 



No less than eight routes of supposed practicability have 

 claimed the attention and approval of engineers and those 

 interested in the construction of a waterway across Central 

 America. The six important ones are : 



