Although many schemes had been set on foot during the last three centuries, for re-opening the commerce of Central America, and, especially, of that portion of it which has its outlet into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea,—among these none being so conspicuous as the unfortunate Darien expedition—all attempts proved abortive until the latter half of the present century. Indeed, till the completion of the railway, none of these were worthy of any notice. So rapid, however, has been its increase since then, that the undertakings of more recent years have been attended with considerable success. Perhaps the most important of these is the line of steam navigation between Liverpool and the West Indies, and, thence, by the Isthmus of Panama, to the Pacific Ocean, originally due to Mr. Alfred Holt, of Liverpool, who about the year 1855, dispatched steamers to trade between that port and Colon (the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Railroad) and other ports on the Spanish Main. His first was a vessel of only 535 tons burden, but she was then more than sufficient for any surplus commerce, which the American boats, on the one hand and those of the West India Mail Packet Co., on the other, could not convey. The regularity, however, with which this additional service was performed, created increased sources of employment, so that within a very short time, Mr. Holt considered it desirable to establish a monthly line of steamers of increased size and power, and so rapid was the rise of trade that other steam-vessels were soon engaged in similar traffic. In 1863, Messrs Leach, Harrison, and Forwood of Liverpool, large importers of produce from the West Coast, found it necessary to establish a line of steamers in a great measure for their own requirements, and about the same time, Messrs Imrie and Tomlinson, in association with Messrs Duranty and Co., of Liverpool, who had long been engaged in the trade with Mexico and the West Indies, formed another line of steamers on the limited liability principle. The trade in its various ramifications had now become so large that, towards the close of that year, it was considered desirable to form a public company to amalgamate these three undertakings, and thus more thoroughly to conduct the rapidly increasing commercial intercourse between Liverpool, Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, and the Windward Islands. [Sidenote: West India and Pacific Steam Navigation Company.]