The history of so many attempts, proving so unexpectedly disastrous, supplies much curious and valuable information. From the Paterson colonization scheme to the unfortunate expedition of Lieut. Strain, one word will characterize every attempt. The first settlement of Vasco Nunez, in 1510, after eight years of calamitous trial, was abandoned. Paterson’s colony was remarkable in the causes which led to its inception; in the ability and statesman-like views of him who conceived a design so vast and benevolent; in the governments enlisted in its favor; in the sufferings of the colonists, and in its final abandonment. William Paterson, a Scottish clergyman, of fertile resources, and great political sagacity, the original designer of the Bank of England, conceived the magnificent design of establishing a colony upon the shores of Darien, based on principles of religious toleration and free trade, which, occupying the highway of commerce, “grasping the riches of both the Indies, and wresting the keys of commerce from Spain,” should build up, on the shores of two oceans, cities surpassing his own Edinburgh, and rivaling ancient Alexandria. With experience drawn from long study and patient observation, he organized his scheme upon liberal commercial principles, and an enlightened political policy. Scotland, Hamburg, and Holland, contributed the sum of $4,500,000. This large amount surprised London merchants, and spread panic in the board of the East India Company. The unfriendly feeling of this great corporation proved, in the end, fatal to the scheme. Aided by Spanish intrigue, and Dutch rivalry, and bringing their vast machinery to bear against the colonists, by argument and misrepresentation, they induced William III. to issue an edict, forbidding all English colonies in the West Indies from sending provisions, arms, or ammunition to the Scottish colony of Darien. Of 1,200 colonists, three hundred of whom represented the best blood of Scotland, thirty only returned to tell the story of their sufferings. Dissension, disease, and starvation, had accomplished the usual results. Thus, this design for the union of two great oceans failed; this effort to form a nucleus of a new system of beneficent wealth, and commerce, came to an untimely end. The Caledonia Bay was no longer frequented by the ships of England, Holland and Scotland, The gold mines of Cana, worked by one thousand men, under the Spanish domination, were destined to remain to the present day, unmolested. The north-western slopes, and the head waters of the Chuquanaqua, reverted to the undisputed possession of the Indians, while, between the lower part of this river and along the Savana, and the Bay of San Miguel, a mongrel population of 1,200 souls cultivate bananas, and impose upon strangers.