11 her colonies for self government. Others maintain that it would be better if Panama were in the hands of Colombia, and that the Canal will cause serious damage to Spanish America.
But such ideas are not sound. The world required the canal, and when Colombia refused to make any treaty with the United States, passions were running high in Colombia and led her to do wrong. The belt of land, whether purchased or presented, was a necessity for communication between the two oceans. The progress of the world could not brook prejudice through the folly of a people to whom the high destiny of humanity and the enterprise required by the nations for their material and spiritual existence were incomprehensible.
This civilization, clamorous, bewildering, and productive of change in all things, is inherent in our very selves, and grows with the land in which we had our birth. To civilization we are indebted for all that we are, and it is the criterion of high spirits and great minds.
Cuba lost nothing by accepting the generous hand which the American people extended to her in the hour of her birth into republican life. All beings and all nations must pass through a period of infancy during which they need wise, prudent and energetic direction. It is true that they might, of their own vitality, reach the stage of maturity, but this could be accomplished only by passing through a long period of sanguinary strife, as was the case with France, England, Italy, and as is now happening to the unfortunate states of Central America. Nations to day powerful, such as England, France, Germany and others, cannot throw the first stone at Central Amer