eclaration of war against Great Britain. American securities
fell, the gold reserve dwindled. The President was, however, supported.
Congress was found ready to aid the Administration by passing any
measures necessary to preserve the national credit. In December, 1895,
it unanimously authorized the appointment of a commission to decide upon
the true boundary line between Venezuela and British Guiana, with the
purpose of giving its report the full sanction and support of the United
States. The dispute was finally submitted to a distinguished tribunal at
Paris, ex-President Harrison, among others, appearing on behalf of the
Venezuelan Republic. While Great Britain's claim was, in a measure,
vindicated, this proceeding established a new and potent precedent in
support both of the Monroe Doctrine and of international arbitration.

In 1894 a ten months' session of the famous Lexow legislative committee
in New York City uncovered voluminous evidence of corrupt municipal
government there. The police force habitually levied tribute for
protection not only upon legitimate trade and industry, but upon illicit
liquor-selling, gambling, prostitution, and crime. The chief credit for
the exposures was due to Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst, President of the New
York City Society for the Prevention of Crime. A fusion of anti-Tammany
elements carried the autumn elections of 1894 for a reform ticket
nominated by a committee of seventy citizens and headed by William L.
Strong as candidate for mayor. At the next election, however, the
Tammany candidate, Van Wyck, became the first mayor of the new
municipality known as Greater New York, in which had been merged as
boroughs the metropolis itself, Brooklyn, and other near cities. As was
revealed by the Mazet Committee, little change had occurred in Tammany's
predatory spirit. In 1901, therefore, through an alliance similar to
that which elected Mayor Strong, Greater New York chose as its mayor to
succeed Van Wyck, Seth Low, who resigned the Presidency of Columbia
University to become Fusion candidate for the position.

[Illustration: About fifty men standing in a Court room.]
The Lexow Investigation. The scene in the Court Room after
Creeden's confession, December 15, 1894.

[Illustration: Portrait.]
Charles H. Parkhurst.
Copyright by C. C. Langill.

A recrudescence of the old Know-Nothing spirit in a party known as the
"A. P. A.," or "American Protective Association," marked these years