A serious disagreement arose in 1895 when the United States intervened in the stalled negotiations between Great Britain and Venezuela over the boundary of British Guiana. Britain adhered to the line draw by surveyor Robert Schomburgk in 1840, while Venezuela adhered to a line that enveloped almost all of British Guiana. Intermittent talks went on for years to no avail. When the British, frustrated by Venezuelan intransigence, claimed land beyond the Schomburgk line, where gold had recently been discovered, Venezuela in 1887 suspended diplomatic relations with Great Britain.
In 1894 American concern about the dispute intensified with the publication of a pamphlet, British Aggressions in Venezuela or the Monroe Doctrine on Trial, whose author, William L. Scruggs, a former American minister to Venezuela, depicted Britain’s position as a deliberate violation of the Monroe Doctrine. The essay prompted Congress to unanimously pass a resolution urging arbitration of the matter and convinced President Grover Cleveland of the need to forcefully address the issue. Secretary of State Richard Olney, an impatient, irascible railroad attorney from Boston, sent a letter to London, with Cleveland’s approval, claiming in a hyperbolic tone that “the United States is practically sovereign on this continent, and its fiat is law.” He also described the insidious nature of the British presence in Latin America and the need to arbitrate the dispute.
The British prime minister, Lord Salisbury, waited four months before responding that the Monroe Doctrine did not apply, since the British presence in Guiana antedated the Republic of Venezuela, and Britain continued to refuse to arbitrate. Outraged by both the delay and the response, Cleveland on December 17, 1895, answered Salisbury by asking Congress for funds for a commission to determine the boundary line and vowed that the United States would use “every means in its power” to uphold that line.
A brief war scare ensued, but tempers cooled after a few days. The British (feeling menaced by Germany and anxious for American friendship) backed off and showed a willingness to arbitrate. Olney also backed off and agreed that territory occupied by either side should not be subject to arbitration for 50 years. Utilizing the good offices of the United States, a treaty of arbitration between Britain and Venezuela was signed on February 2, 1897. On October 3, 1899, the arbitration panel—consisting of two Britons, two Americans, and one Russian—fixed the boundary roughly along the Schomburgk line, although Britain lost control of the mouth of the Orinoco River and 5,000 square miles of territory at the southern end of that line.
Despite the bluster of Cleveland and Olney that could have had disastrous consequences, the Venezuela boundary dispute turned out well for the United States. It forced Britain to recognize American hegemony in the Caribbean, strengthened the Monroe Doctrine, gave impetus to the arbitration of disputes, and ultimately improved Anglo-American relations.
Further reading: Gerald G. Eggert, Richard Olney: Evolution of a Statesman (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1974); Dexter Perkins, A History of the Monroe Doctrine (Boston: Little, Brown, 1955); Richard E. Welch, The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1988).
—Timothy E. Vislocky
World History
