. While struggling for in-shore and harbor privileges on the Northeast fishing coast, Amer icans assumed a different attitude in Bering Sea — where Canadians. by indiscriminate fur seal fishing after the opening of the Canadian Pacific Railway, threatened to deplete the seal herds of the north Pacific. American seizure of British vessels in 1886, in assertion of a claim to marine jurisdiction over Bering Sea, resulted in quarrelsome negotiations finally ter minating in a *sodas vivendi of 1891, and a special arbitration treaty of 1892 providing for a commission which in 1893 decided against the American claim to jurisdiction but made rec ommendation forpolice protection of seals,— a recommendation finally realized by treaty ar rangement of 1911 between the United States, Great Britain, Russia and Japan.
Meantime, after 1880, another, source of dispute arose in connection with the revival of American interest in the interoceanic canal problem and the assertion of a policy of American control over such a canal. Both Secretary Blaine and Secretary Frelinghuysen raised questions in regard to the Clayton-Bul wer Treaty, to which Lord Granville replied in a series of notes. The discussion closed with out result, but in December 1884 Frelinghuysen negotiated with Nicaragua a treaty providing for the construction of a rival canal under American auspices and American control treaty which was withdrawn by Cleveland who reverted to the American traditional policy of a canal under international guarantee.
The revival of interest in Nicaragua pre cipitated a new dispute. In 1894, Great Britain, by invitation of the Mosquitos and against the protests of the United States, landed marines at Bluefields; but later, probably recognizing that she was violating the treaty which she sought to uphold, she withdrew the marines, leaving the matter to be settled in 1895 by the sulunissioin of the Mosquitos to Nicaragua.
In the crisis of 1 in the Samoan Islands, precipitated by German decision to enter the colonial field, Great Britain stood with the United States. In 1891, the United States joined Great Britain in an arbitration fixing the compensation which Portugal should pay for taking possession of the Lourengo Marques Railroad. In accord with priority of American interests in Hawaii, Secretary Bay ard in 1888 refused to join with England and France in a joint guarantee of the Hawaiian government, and in 1892 the proposal for the annexation of the islands was largely deter mined by apprehension of circumstances and opportunity which might result in British occu pation or control.
The British-Venezuelan boundary contro versy, having its origin in the demarcation line of Alexander VI and in the early Dutch settle ments in western Guiana which was ceded to the British in 1814, first arising in 1841 and resulting in an appeal of Venezuela to the United States in 1876, became acute by 1894 inducing the American government in 1895, act ing under an extreme interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine, to intervene in favor of full arbitration. When Lord to admit the intervention of the United States, President Cleveland appointed an American commission to investigate the facts. Later, after further negotiations, an arbitration was arranged (2 Feb. 1897) between Great Britain and Venezuela, resulting in a tribunal which met at Paris in 1899 and rendered a decision largely favorable to Great Britain, but giving Venezuela control of the mouth of the Orinoco.
In 1898 and thereafter a great and note worthy change was indicated in Anglo-Ameri can relations—a change which was not due to any formal treaty, or to a change of policy on either side, but to a new understanding re suiting from a quickening of popular sentiment and a growth of mutual appreciation. In the Spanish-American War, although the English government was neutral, the British could not conceal their sympathy with the objects of the American government nor their satisfaction at the promptness and completeness of the result. Diplomatically in a position of °splendid iso lation, and facing international danger from the impending Boer War, she became unusually cordial to the United States and doubtless would have greeted with enthusiasm an alli ance either formal or informal.
Anglo-American diplomatic relations since 1898 have been characterized by a spirit of mutual accommodation and sincere friendli ness, shown in many ways. The British gov ernment promptly accepted the American pol icy of territorial integrity and open door in China enunciated after American acquisition of the Philippine Islands. In 1899 it retired from the Samoan Islands to facilitate adjustment of American and German interests there. In the negotiations for settlement of more difficult questions at issue—questions less critical, however, than those of earlier years — it con tinued a policy of graceful concession.