346 
DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. XXL—B. P. 
to common sense, and alike injurious to the interests 
of all concerned. 
The Monroe doctrine has been the fruitful source 
of all these troubles, a doctrine which is one of the 
most glaring anomalies of the nineteenth century, and 
doubly so when adopted by such smart people as the 
Americans, who surely when the lease of their Spanish 
American neighbours falls in, and that must take 
place before long, would prefer to come into the 
property in good order and in a prosperous condition, 
rather than find nine-tenths of it a virgin forest, the 
towns in ruins, and the people rapidly disappearing, a 
prey to anarchy, ignorance, bigotry, and vice, such as 
Bolivar declared would soon bring upon them the con¬ 
tempt of the world, and render their country not worth 
either conquest or annexation. 
Who can doubt the immense spur'to industry, com¬ 
mercial prosperity, and enlightenment which would 
arise from the opening of a transit from ocean to ocean 
through each of the following states ?—Mexico via 
Yera Cruz, Mexico City, and Acapulco, or Mazatlan; 
Guatemala via the Gulf of Dulce, Motagua, Guate¬ 
mala City, and San Jos4; Honduras via Omoa, Coma- 
yagua, and Gulf of Fonseca; Nicaragua via Pirn’s 
Bay, the Lake, and San Juan del Sur ; Costa Rica via 
Limon, Cartago, San Jose, and Punta Arenas. 
Yet every attempt to carry out either the one or 
the other of these schemes only seems to bring ruin 
and desolation instead of peace and plenty. And 
whence does this arise ? I answer, without fear of 
contradiction, from the fratricidal hand of the big 
