In 1893 Scruggs was recruited by the Venezuelan Government to operate on its behalf in Washington, D.C., as a
lobbyist and legal attache. As a lobbyist, Scruggs published the pamphlet entitled
British Aggressions in Venezuela: The Monroe Doctrine on Trial. In the pamphlet, he attacked "British aggression" claiming that Venezuela was anxious to arbitrate over the Venezuela/
British Guiana border dispute of territory at west of
Essequibo River limited by
Schomburgk Line. Scruggs also claimed that British policies in the disputed territory violated the
Monroe Doctrine of 1823. The president Cleveland adopted a broad interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine that did not just simply forbid new European colonies but declared an American interest in any matter within the hemisphere. British prime minister
Lord Salisbury and British ambassador to the US
Lord Pauncefote both misjudged the importance the American government placed on the dispute. The key issue in the crisis became Britain's refusal to include the territory east of the Schomburgk Line in the proposed international arbitration. By December 17, 1895, President Cleveland delivered an address to the United States Congress which was perceived as direct threat of war with Great Britain if the British did not comply with Venezuelan demands (now openly championed by the United States). Almost immediately after Cleveland's statement to the United States Congress, the US military was put on combat alert for a potential war with Great Britain. Ultimately Britain backed down and tacitly accepted the US right to intervene under the Monroe Doctrine. This US intervention forced Britain to accept arbitration of the entire disputed territory. On December 18, 1895, Congress approved $100,000 for the United States Commission on the Boundary Between Venezuela and British Guiana. It was formally established on January 1, 1896. Jose Andrade, the Venezuelan Minister to Washington, on February 26, 1896, announced that Scruggs had been appointed by the Venezuelan President as his "agent charged with submitting information" to the United States
Venezuela Boundary Commission, and to present "reports relative to the titles and rights of Venezuela." However, by backing down in the face of a strong US declaration of a strong interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine, Britain tacitly accepted the Doctrine, and the crisis thus provided a basis for the expansion of US interventionism in the [Americas]. Leading British historian
Robert Arthur Humphreys later called the boundary crisis "one of the most momentous episodes in the history of Anglo-American relations in general and of Anglo-American rivalries in Latin America in particular." ==Later life==