304 VENEZUELA AND AFTER 



and the territory within this Schomburgk line 

 was declared to be the irreducible minimum of 

 the British possessions. Only what lay beyond 

 it could be made the subject of arbitration. 

 Against this attitude of the British Government 

 the Venezuelan Government entered solemn 

 protests, and made passionate appeals for inter 

 vention to the United States. 



Mr. Cleveland was at this time President, 

 and Mr. Bayard was ambassador of the United 

 States at London. All the influences expressive 

 of the national self-consciousness, as noticed 

 in the last chapter, were obtrusively active in 

 the American Republic. At the very beginning 

 of his term the President had antagonized the 

 whole chauvinistic spirit by a summary reversal 

 of his predecessor s policy looking to the annex 

 ation of the Hawaiian Islands, and by a disas 

 trous attempt to restore the native monarchy 

 which the American population of the islands 

 had recently overthrown. To the enemies of 

 the administration this somewhat humiliating 

 episode gave the cue for incessant iteration of 

 the charge that the President lacked the virile 

 spirit that would give the nation its proper 

 place among the powers. Various unimpor 

 tant incidents, which might have been magnified 



