The value of the tonnage which would take the Darien route is, according to the above table, $152,475,750, and the total value of exports and imports passing the same way is:
| England | $193,168,939 |
| United States | 190,649,584 |
| France | 67,210,609 |
| Total value of trade passing the Isthmus | $451,029,132 |
But the aggregate amount of British imports and exports from and to India and China is $378,587,122, giving the value of the trade which would pass through the Suez and Darien Canals $636,447,315, yearly.
The rapidly growing trade between Levantine ports and India would take the Suez route, but between the European ports and the Pacific coast of North and South America, and between the east and west coasts of these two continents, the American route would be exclusively employed.
In selecting a route to oriental ports it is evident, from the facts of physical geography, as stated by Lieut. Maury, Napoleon III, and the writer in the London Times, that the navigator seeking to make a rapid voyage would adopt the American route both going and returning, except, perhaps, between Levantine and Indian ports. Between French, English, Levantine, and Indian ports, the outward voyage by way of Darien, or Panama, and homeward by way of Suez would, in many cases, be favorable to the quickest trip.
The [Suez Canal] was built by French talent, French energy, French machinery, and French money. England and the Mediterranean States participate in the benefit. But the larger share of the profit belongs to France, by reason of her ports and industrial resources; and so far as France and the Levant enter into a direct trade with India, so far, it has been supposed, will the value of trade between Great Britain and India be impaired.
We have spoken of the piercement of the American Isthmus as an international work. It should rather be the work of American energy, American talent, and American money. It is part of the American continent. No foreign nation can have the same military control of it that Great Britain now has of the [Suez Canal]. The benefit of its construction, although shared by the maritime powers, will be most important to the Americas, and by reason of resources, organization, and position, especially to the United States. It deserves consideration as an American project.
CHAPTER III.
The Canal considered as an American Project exclusively—Currents and Winds—Resources of the Basins of the Rivers of the Gulf and Caribbean Sea—Their Productive Capacity compared with the Mediterranean Basins.