Mr. Hodgson Pratt, the President of the International Arbi- tration
and Peace Society, gave an account to the interviewer of the Daily Chronicle, printed in the impression of Thursday last, of his visit to Mr. Olney and President Cleveland on the subject of the arbitration proposals. He was very cordially received by both the Secretary of State and the Pre- sident. Of Mr. Olney he says, "He struck me as an extremely shrewd man, a man of much strength of will, and insight into affairs," which was very natural, as Mr. Pratt entirely agreed with him in relation to the Venezuelan frontier, which he thought had never been defined, and was, therefore, a matter of extreme doubt and difficulty. Mr. Pratt's own view is that there are not above three hundred actual British settlers in the debateable land, instead of forty thousand as some of our people declare. In fact, he appears to support, on the whole, the American view of the dispute. His most im- portant statement is that the American Administration are very anxious to get the Venezuelan dispute out of the way before dealing with the general arbitration question. And that is precisely what we expect in relation to all future questions with America. It will always be found that the particular dispute cannot very easily be dealt with under the general terms of any arbitration treaty.
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