VENEZUELA AND AFTER 317 



United States and a recognition by Great Brit 

 ain of a far wider interest and authority be 

 yond her borders than was ever before definitely 

 maintained by the American Republic, whether 

 as Monroe Doctrine or otherwise. The giant 

 democracy took her place among the great 

 powers of the earth, whether for weal or for 

 woe, and the British motherland was the first 

 to accord recognition to the new position. 



More than this, however, gives importance 

 to the Venezuelan boundary controversy in 

 the history of the relations of English-speak 

 ing peoples. Here began a systematic and 

 comprehensive agitation for the definitive sup 

 planting of war by arbitration as the last resort 

 in the disputes among nations. The negotia 

 tion of the treaty by which the Venezuelan 

 boundary was settled was accompanied by the 

 framing of a general treaty of arbitration appli 

 cable for the future to controversies between 

 Great Britain and the United States. The 

 diplomats who in November and December of 

 1895 sent thrills of warlike feeling through a 

 hundred million English-speaking people, in 

 the spring of 1896 were meticulously intent 

 on devising the formulas that should render 

 war impossible. So far as this situation was a 



