THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY 295
negotiated by Sir Julian Pauncefote and signed on January nth, 1897. The Senate, however, refused to ratify it, and the main result of the negotiations was to revive anti-British feeling in the States. In spite of this rebuff, Lord Salisbury exerted himself unremittingly to establish more cordial relations between the two countries. On the outbreak of the Spanish- American war, in 1898, it was his firm attitude which prevented European intervention ; and he gave further practical proof of friendship by resigning to the United States, in the Samoa Convention of 1899, certain Samoan islands, thus, in effect, making them a " free gift of the finest harbour in the Pacific." 1 Finally, the Hay- Pauncefote Treaty, signed in 1900, enabled the United States to build the Panama Canal, with the results which we all know. The outcome of his endeavours was undoubtedly to improve the official relations between London and Washington, and if he did not achieve all that he hoped, his efforts " will always rank brightly among the lofty strivings by which the whole of his long and fruitful career has been inspired."
Turning to events in the Far East, one cannot help feeling that Lord Salisbury felt less at home in this sphere, and that he probably took little interest in it. When Germany seized Kiao Chau, and Russia, in defiance of treaty rights and specific assurances, took possession of Port Arthur, he
1 H. Whates, The Third Salisbury Administration, p. 101.
2 Quarterly Review, October, 1902, p. 675.
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