1570.] ALARMS AND PROHIBITIONS OF THE SPANIARDS. 71 



even during alliance between the two powers, until the last moment 

 of the existence of the Spanish authority in the American continent. 



Could Spain have so long retained the possession of her colonies 

 in America, if she had adopted any other system with regard to 

 them ? 



The Pacific was, for some years, preserved from the ravages of 

 these daring adventurers, by the dread of the difficulties and 

 dangers attending the passage of vessels into that ocean, from the 

 Atlantic, through the Strait of Magellan ; and the Spanish govern- 

 ment began to regard as bulwarks of defence those natural 

 obstacles to maritime intercourse between Europe and the 

 western side of America, to remove or counteract which so many 

 efforts had been previously made. Thenceforward, the expeditions 

 of the Spaniards, in search of new channels connecting the two 

 oceans, were undertaken only with the object of' securing the 

 passage, if it should be found, against the vessels of other 

 nations ; and the heaviest penalties were denounced against all 

 persons who should attempt, or even propose, to form artificial 

 communications by canals across the continent.* These circum- 

 stances, on the other hand, served to stimulate the enemies 

 of Spain in their endeavors to discover easier routes to the Pacific ; 

 to effect which, the Dutch and the English navigators perseveringly 

 labored, during the latter years of the sixteenth and the beginning 

 of the seventeenth centuries. 



In the mean time, the reports of the extent and value of the 

 Spanish commerce on the Pacific, and of the wealth accumulated 

 in the towns on the American coasts of that ocean, overcame all 

 the fears of the English, who at length spread their sails on its 

 waters, and carried terror and desolation along its coasts. 



* Alcedo, in his Geographical and Historical Dictionary of the West Indies, under 

 the head Isthmus, says, " In the time of Philip II., it was proposed to cut a canal 

 through the Isthmus of Panama, for the passage of ships from one ocean to the 

 other ; and two Flemish engineers were sent to examine the place, with that object. 

 They, however, found the obstacles insuperable ; and the Council of the Indies at 

 the same time represented to the king the injuries which such a canal would occasion 

 to the monarchy ; in consequence of which, his majesty decreed that no one should 

 in future attempt, or even propose, such an undertaking, under pain of death." 



The same author, speaking of the River Atrato, in New Granada, emptying into 

 the Atlantic, — between which and the San Juan, falling into the Pacific, it was also 

 proposed to make a canal, — says, "The Atrato is navigable for many leagues; but- 

 all persons are forbidden, under pain of death, from navigating it, in order to prevent 

 the injuries which New Grenada would sustain, from the facility thus afforded for 

 entering its territory." 



