118 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -XIV 



and had &quot;the honor to renew assurances of their most 

 distinguished consideration&quot; ; but all in vain. At last the 

 matter had been presented by Secretary Olney to the gov 

 ernment of Lord Salisbury; and now, to Mr. Olney s main 

 despatch on the subject, Lord Salisbury, after some 

 months delay, had returned an answer declining arbitra 

 tion, and adding that international law did not recognize 

 the Monroe Doctrine. This seemed even more than cool ; 

 for, when one remembered that the Monroe Doctrine was 

 at first laid down with the approval of Great Britain, that 

 it was glorified in Parliament and in the British press of 

 1823 and the years following, and that Great Britain had 

 laid down policies in various parts of the earth, espe 

 cially in the Mediterranean and in the far East, which she 

 insisted that all other powers should respect without 

 reference to any sanction by international law, this argu 

 ment seemed almost insulting. 



So it evidently seemed to Mr. Cleveland. Probably no 

 man less inclined to demagogism or to a policy of adven 

 ture ever existed; but as he looked over the case his 

 American instincts were evidently aroused. He saw then, 

 what is clear to everybody now, that it was the time of all 

 times for laying down, distinctly and decisively, the 

 American doctrine on the subject. He did so, and in a 

 message to Congress proposed that, since Great Britain 

 would not intrust the finding of a boundary to arbitration, 

 the United States should appoint commissioners to find 

 what the proper boundary was, and then, having ascer 

 tained it, should support its sister American republic in 

 maintaining it. 



Of course the President was attacked from all sides 

 most bitterly; even those called &quot;the better element&quot; in 

 the Republican and Democratic parties, who had been his 

 ardent supporters, now became his bitter enemies. He 

 was charged with &quot;demagogism&quot; and &quot;jingoism,&quot; but 

 he kept sturdily on. Congress, including the great body 

 of the Republicans, supported him; the people at large 

 stood by him ; and, as a result, a commission to determine 



