RECENT WORKS ON TRADE AND FINANCE. I. Reciprocity, Bi-metallism, and Land-Tenure Reform. II. Free Trade and English Commerce. III. The Financial History of 388 407 417 RALPH WALDO EMERSON. By F. H. UNDERWOOD 462 479 499 THE MONROE DOCTRINE AND THE ISTHMIAN CANAL RECENT HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. I. History of the Nor- POPULAR FALLACIES ABOUT RUSSIA. By E. W. STOUGHTON 523 NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. No. CCLXXVIII. JANUARY, 1880. THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL. I. THIS is a question which, for a long time past, has justly occupied the attention of the commercial world. In proportion as the intercourse between nations has been enlarged, as commerce has taken on an incessantly increasing development, no longer confined, as it once was, to certain localities, but spread over the whole surface of the globe, the necessity has been more and more felt of rapid and easy ways of communication. Attention has, therefore, been directed to the American Isthmus, across which the construction of a canal would make it possible to avoid the long and difficult navigation around Cape Horn, which is such an obstacle to the commercial progress of the Pacific coasts of North and South America, and diverts from them the productions of Europe and of the Atlantic American States. The want of a maritime highway across the Isthmus has been more sensibly felt since the immense development of California, a development already beginning to be shared by other countries which border upon the Pacific Ocean, and which would be much more pronounced if there were a canal which would place them in easy communication with Europe and with the Eastern States of the great American Republic. The Government of the United States, realizing the full importance of such a canal, has accordingly taken active measures to set on foot exploring expeditions, under the direction of its most distinguished navigators and engineers, with a view to examining VOL. CXXX.-NO. 278. 1 |