Venezuela asked that the dispute might be submitted to arbitration, but
England would not agree, though the territory in question was greater in
extent than the State of New York. The United States was naturally
interested, for the "Monroe Doctrine" was involved, and in February,
1895, Congress passed a joint resolution, approving the suggestion of
the President that the question should be submitted to arbitration, but
England still refused. A lengthy correspondence took place between Great
Britain and this country, and, on December 17, 1895, in submitting it to
Congress, President Cleveland asked for authority from that body to
appoint a commission to determine the merits of the boundary dispute, as
a guide to the government in deciding its line of action, insisting
further that, if England maintained her unwarrantable course, the United
States should resist "by every means in its power, as a willful
aggression upon its rights and interests, the appropriation by Great
Britain of any lands, or the exercise of governmental jurisdiction over
any territory, which after investigation we have determined of right
belongs to Venezuela."

There was no mistaking the warlike tone of these words. The country and
Congress instantly fired up and the land resounded with war talk.
Congress immediately appropriated the sum of $100,000 for the expense of
the commission of inquiry, and two days later the Senate passed the bill
without a vote in opposition. The committee was named on the 1st of the
following January and promptly began its work.

But the sober second thought of wise men in both countries soon made
itself felt. Without prolonging the story, it may be said that the
dispute finally went to arbitration, February 2, 1897, where it should
have gone in the first place, and it was settled to the full
satisfaction of Great Britain, the United States, and Venezuela. Another
fact may as well be conceded, without any reflection upon our
patriotism: Had England accepted our challenge to war, for which she was
fully prepared with her invincible navy, and we were in a state of
unreadiness, the United States would have been taught a lesson that she
would have remembered for centuries to come. Thank God, the trial was
spared to us and in truth can never come, while common sense reigns.

[Illustration: COUDERT. WHITE. BREWER. ALVEY. GILMAN. VENEZUELAN
COMMISSION. Appointed by President Cleveland, January, 1896, to
determine the true bo