Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/325

 GROVER CLEVELAND 273 Britain of any lands or the exercise of govern mental jurisdiction over any territory which, after investigation, we have determined of right to be long to Venezuela.&quot; This message caused great excitement both in this country and Great Britain, being regarded as equivalent to a threat of war. The president s course, however, was almost unanimously upheld by both parties in congress, which immediately authorized the appointment of a boundary com mission, and this commission was immediately con stituted by the appointment of Justice David J. Brewer, of the U. S. supreme court; Chief- Jus tice Alvey, of the court of appeals of the District of Columbia; Andrew D. White, of New York; Frederick R. Coudert, of New York; and Daniel C. Gilman, president of Johns Hopkins university. The commission began at once to take testimony and accumulated a vast amount of data, but be fore it was prepared to make its formal report, the excitement due to the message had subsided on both sides of the Atlantic, and an agreement was reached through diplomatic channels by which Great Brit ain bound herself to arbitrate her dispute with Ven ezuela, thus terminating the incident. The conclu sion of this controversy was widely regarded as the first formal acquiescence by a European power in the Monroe doctrine, or, at any rate, in the appli cation of that doctrine to warrant the exercise by