ABSTRACT
On December 17, 1895, a special Message to Congress from President Cleveland was announced which sounded dangerously like an ultimatum to England. Dissatisfied with what was considered English bullying of Venezuela on the subject of the true limits of British Guiana, the American Government had been further provoked by two dispatches of November 26th from Lord Salisbury. Some of the unpalatable facts finally lay before the House by Labouchere, on June 5th, had been available on March 20th, the Sudanese adventure might have been entered upon less lightheartedly. It is characteristic of some of the unlovely aspects of Imperialism that Salisbury should have been driven publicly to assert Egypt’s pressing desire for a Sudan campaign and that Kitchener and his military should have tried to produce a "victory" before Labouchere’s motion came on June 5th. Radicals had, of course, long been acting as the self-appointed protectors of the rural population against its landlords.
