178 THE NICARAGUA CANAL. 
almost all the western hemisphere south of this country, 
to control a boundary canal, would soon result in the 
swallowing up of that feeble nation and of the canal 
control by some European power, strong and aggressive. 
Such joint possession as happens with a part of the St. 
Lawrence river, where another great nation owns the 
other bank, would not be practicable, if it were Nicar- 
agua or Costa Rica confronting us there. Were the Rio 
Grande a great channel of navigation, connecting our 
eastern and western states, instead of the unimportant 
stream it really is, we could not permit even our neigh- 
bor Mexico to have a part in its control. And what is 
true in this supposed case is the more so when, in reality, 
between us and the proposed canal there lie intervening 
countries, all of them feeble and lable to be easily 
dominated by an outside power. 
There is, in fact, no locality favorable to an inter- 
oceanic canal which could be any thing but a passage, a 
narrow thoroughfare, connecting two of our great di- 
visions, our Atlantic and Pacific states. 
Further, we are pledged by our traditions to protect 
thestates of Mexico and Central America from European 
aggression. It is plain that we must abandon those tra- 
ditions if we are not to control a great artificial channel 
penetrating the very heart of Central America, and 
passing from sea to sea. 
These reasons for our holding the canal would apply 
in the case of one along any practicable line, but much 
more in the case of a Nicaragua canal, for if that route 
be followed the construction of the canal at once estab- 
lishes in the lake, in addition to the water transit be- 
tween the oceans, a grand interior fresh-water harbor 
within a few hours of either ocean. As a base from 
which to dominate and control both coasts and the West 
Indies, the strategic value of such a harbor is beyond 
estimate. Absolutely sheltered and secure, its fresh 
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