VENEZUELA AND AFTER 319 



The provisions of this treaty proved to be 

 in advance of effective public opinion in the 

 United States. Distrust of Great Britain could 

 not be eliminated so expeditiously from the 

 popular as from the diplomatic mind. The fly 

 in the ointment of Mr. Cleveland s pacifist 

 method became now unpleasantly conspicuous; 

 for his suggestion that British policy in South 

 America might involve sinister designs on the 

 Monroe Doctrine became a fixed idea with 

 many sincere patriots. A treaty of general 

 arbitration might, they claimed, bring sooner 

 or later the obligation to submit the validity of 

 this doctrine to an arbitral tribunal a possi 

 bility that could not be contemplated save with 

 repulsion. An additional element, moreover, 

 in the popular prejudice against Great Britain 

 had received much development in the revolu 

 tionary electoral campaign of 1896 in the United 

 States. This was the year in which the move 

 ment for the free coinage of silver reached its 

 climax and obtained the support of the Demo 

 cratic Party. To the passionate propagandists 

 of the free-silver dogma the immovable attach 

 ment of Great Britain to gold monometallism was 

 an evidence of political depravity and reinforced 

 the suspicion of inveterate hostility to America. 



