VENEZUELA AND AFTER 315 



President was made known. The explosion of 

 British wrath over this incident drove Venezuela 

 and its boundary quite out of the range of pop 

 ular interest. Yankee interference in South 

 America excited mild regret; German inter 

 ference in South Africa roused the fiercest fight 

 ing passion. Yet the attitude of the United 

 States, however unimportant relatively, could 

 not be ignored by a prudent foreign minister 

 in the presence of threatening conditions nearer 

 home. For this reason, perhaps, among others, 

 Lord Salisbury met more than half-way the ad 

 vances of the Cleveland administration toward 

 further negotiation. 



In the middle of January the American com 

 mission applied through Secretary Olney for 

 documentary and other information on which 

 Great Britain based its views as to the true 

 divisional line between Guiana and Venezuela. 

 Lord Salisbury furnished with enthusiasm all 

 that his office possessed. At the opening of 

 Parliament in February both he and Mr. Bal- 

 four, leader of the Commons, admitted the 

 interest of the United States in the boundary 

 question, and intimated the hope that diplomacy 

 would achieve a settlement of the difficulty. 

 At the same time his Lordship indicated a much 



