Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/353

 INTERCOLONIAL COMMERCE. SS7 that the neck of land which divides the two Ame- ricas, has been hitherto the bulwark of the inde- pendence of China and Japan. This opinion, I conclude, must relate to a direct attack from Europe, and is certainly not well founded. No European nation has ever yet been in a condi- tion to fit out a fleet and armament of such ma^ni- tude and efficiency of equipment, as, after a voyage, at the very shortest, of between three and four months, could accomplish so mighty and distant an enterprise as the conquest of Japan. A canal across the isthmus would facilitate the conquest of Japan, if attempted from America, by giving the western shore of that continent the advantages of the superior resources of the eastern shore ; but it would not facilitate the conquest if attempted from Europe, for it could not be navigated by the great ships necessary to transport troops across the At- lantic, and ultimately over the Pacific. This fleet must be constructed or collected on, the western coast of America, and that coast must be the ren- dezvous from which the expedition sails. Ame- rica may be looked upon as a stepping-stone to the any great changes be effected in the political state of East- ern Asia, for this neck of land, the barrier against the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, has been for many ages the bulwark of the independence of China and Japan." — Political Essai/ on Neiv Spain. VOL. III. T