While, however, Cleveland's action was based rather on a belief
in peace than on an expectation of war, it cannot be dismissed as
merely a bluff. Not only was he convinced that the principle
involved was worth establishing whatever the cost might be, but
he was certain that the method he employed was the only one which
could succeed, for in no other way was it possible to wake
England to a realization of the fact that the United States was
full-grown and imbued with a new consciousness of its strength.
So far was Cleveland's message from provoking war that it caused
the people of Great Britain vitally to realize for the first time
the importance of friendship with the United States. It marks a
change in their attitude toward things American which found
expression not only in diplomacy, but in various other ways, and
which strikingly revealed itself in the international politics of
the next few years. Not that hostility was converted into
affection, but a former condescension gave way to an appreciative
friendliness towards the people of the United States.

The reaction in America was somewhat different. Cleveland had
united the country upon a matter of foreign policy, not
completely, it is true, but to a greater degree than Blaine had
ever succeeded in doing. More important than this unity of
feeling throughout the land, however, was the development of a
spirit of inquiry among the people. Suddenly confronted by
changes of policy that might bring wealth or poverty, life or
death, the American people began to take the foreign relations of
the United States more seriously than they had since the days of
the Napoleonic wars. Yet it is not surprising that when the
Venezuela difficulty had been settled and Secretary Olney and Sir