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sion on the subject had become so acute as to 

 result soon in the rupture of diplomatic rela 

 tions between Venezuela and Great Britain, 

 Secretary Bayard made a formal tender of good 

 offices to the British Government, alluding in 

 his despatch to the Monroe Doctrine. The 

 tender was declined, with no overwhelming 

 manifestation of gratitude on the part of Lord 

 Salisbury, and with only the most vague and 

 general indication of the British position. A 

 year later, in 1888, upon a report that British 

 mining operators were beginning work in parts 

 of the disputed territory hitherto untouched, 

 Secretary Bayard made another offer of media 

 tion, but with no more success. Somewhat 

 later, with the active interest of the American 

 Government negotiations between Venezuela 

 and Great Britain were resumed, but in 1893 

 they came to a full stop again on account of the 

 old obstacle. Venezuela demanded arbitration 

 on the full claims of both parties; Great Britain 

 refused absolutely, as she had done since the 

 middle of the century, to submit to an arbiter 

 her title to certain regions that had long been 

 occupied by British settlements. These regions 

 were held to be sufficiently well determined by 

 a line run by a surveyor named Schomburgk, 



