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 294 THE CECILS

may be evil beasts, but the Powers are certainly slow bellies." 1

Meanwhile, England had been on the brink of war both with Germany and with the United States. The German Emperor's telegram to Kruger after the Jameson Raid excited extra- ordinary indignation in England, but the prompt mobilisation of a flying squadron, and other military and naval precautions, were sufficient to show that German intervention in South Africa would not be permitted, and the incident closed. It is probable that the mobilisation may have been ordered with a view to impressing the United States as well as Germany. A fort- night before the Jameson Raid (December I7th, 1895), President Cleveland had sent to Con- gress a preposterous message concerning the Venezuelan boundary question, in which he practically threatened England with war. The first shock of surprise was followed by such an exacerbation of feeling on both sides of the Atlantic, that for some days it seemed as though hostilities could not be avoided. Lord Salisbury, however, preserved an imperturbable attitude, the excitement died down, and eventually an international commission was appointed which decided the matter almost entirely in favour of Great Britain. Following upon this award, Lord Salisbury proposed a general treaty of arbitration with the United States, and this was actually

1 Sir Mountstuart Grant-Duff's Notes from a Diary, February 23rd, 1897-

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