The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-08
A Triumph Of Democracy.

The Venezuelan boundary dispute has
been settled. The terms have been ar
ranged. and It only remains for the treaty
to be signed. 1t is announced that Pres
ident Crespo viii afix his signature to it
this week. In London and Caracas ar
rangements are i cling made for a resump-
ton of diplomatic relations between Great
Britain and Venezuela, which have been
suspended for some time because of the
misunderstanding.
Thus a quarrel of forty years standing,
and which has threatened a great war. has
been brought to a happy conclusion. And
the credit for the achievement belongs to
the democratic administration of Grover
Cleveland. When the treaty was passed
in the Venezuelan legislature, by unan-
nous vote. there was great cheering and
enthusiastic demonstrations of gratitude
to the United States"
The history of the trouble is pretty well
known to newspaper readers. Both Great
Britain and Venezuela claimed certain ter
ritory OF the Guiana frontier. They could
not come to an agreement between them
selves. Great Britain designated line,
and declared she would not consider any
Venezuelan proposition which did not rec
ognize British rights within that line. Her
claim covered territory which Venezuela
claimed upon strong grounds. The dis
pute waxed so hot that each country with
drew its diplomatic representatives from
the capital of the other country. Various
administrations at Washington made inef-
fectual efforts to bring about an adjust
ment, but none of them seems to have
known how to go about the matter; or, if
they knew how they failed to act upon
the knowledge
In 1894 Great Britain reached the 'uiti-
matum" stage of the proceedings. There
had been a clash between British and Ven
ezuelan subjects in the disputed territory,
and Great Britain demanded an apology
and a money indemnity. The news of
this action created a considerable sensa-
ton in the United States. Monroe doc
trine talk was powerfully revived. At
about this time President Cleveland de-
termined to bring the controversy to
focus, and end it. In July. 1895, the state
department at Washington sent the Brit
ISM government Il Strung anu vigorous
note on the subject, setting forth the fact
that the United States, following the line
of the Monroe doctrine was interested in
the matter, and pointedly asked the Brit
ish premier to state whether or not he
would agree to submit the boundary ques-
ton to arbitration Premier Sadsburys
bluff reply, in which he practically declar-
ed that the United States had no right to
interfere, denied the efficacy of the Mon
roe doctrine, and said Great Britain had
nothing to arbitrate. is well remembered.
Then came President Cleveland's ia
nous Venezuelan message to congress; and
for some days thereafter [he newspapers
were discussing gravely the fighting
strength of the British and American ma
vies. But the Cleveland war" message
had the effect of modifying the English
mans views to a considerable extent. He
came to think that there might, after all,
be something in the arbitration PROPOSE
ton. Subsequent events, including the
appointment of the Venezuelan commits
sion. are of too recent occurrence to need
to be recounted
Three months ago the arbitration treaty
was signed at Washington by the British
representative, and sent to Caracas,
where it has now been acted upon and is
to be signed tomorrow or the next day by
the Venezuelan president.