The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-03-08
ARBITRATION AT LAST.

For dozen years the boundary line
between Great Britain, rs the owner of
British Guiana, and the Republic OF Vene-
zuela has been in dispute. aud since the
gold discoveries in the Yuruari country the
dispute has been bitter. The Venezuelans
base their claims on documents which go
back to the Spanish conquest. The English
rest theirs on a survey which was made
fifty years ago by Sir Robert Schomberg,
About 1882. the Venezuelans offered to sub
init the controversy TO arbitration, and re-
newed the offer on various occasions since,
but the Cabinet of st. James always refused.
In the meantime, the English have kept
encroaching year by year on Venezuelan
territory and moving ths northwestern line
of their province further toward the gold
fields and the Orinoco, in spite of the pro-
tests of the Venezuelan auth orities. Col
lisions have occurred. British gunboats
patrol the mouth of the OrinocO, and haul
down the Venezuelan flag. Venezuelan
miners in the Yuruari country have been
arrested by British soldiers. On the other
hand, Englishmen mining within the Vene-
zuelan lines have been driven off. In March,
1891, an Englishman named Campbell was
attacked by Venezuelans. and was severely
wounded. Sharp diplomatic correspondence
ensued, Venezuela still adhering TO her de-
mand for arbitration, Great Britain still
refusing TO consent When Venezuela was
invited by Mr. Blaine to send represen-
tauves to the Pan-AInerican Congress, she
replied by a respectful request that the
United States should use its offices with
England to get her to yield the point Mr..
Lincoln was accordingly instructed to plead
the cause OF Venezuela with Lord Salisbury,
apparently without success Mr.. Gladstone
hos taF- 4 -
| dispatches now state that England is ready
to appoint an arbitrator, and that the dis
pute will ba referred to a commission Of
which lie is to be a member. The chances
are that au American iuTist will be named
as umpire.
England's object in evading a settlement
arose not so much from a desire to get
possession of the gold fields as from her
longing TO con troll the mouth OF the 0rlnoco.
That is one Of the great rivers of the
world, 1900 miles long, nAvigable for 500
miles from its mouth by large steamers,
and serving as an outlet for a country
$4,000 miles square. Like the Nile. it
oyeiflOws its banks every summer and
covers a country which is enormous in ex-
tent, with deposit rich in all the elements
Of fertility. This country is still wild and
uninhabted. But some day it will be as
productive as the valley of the Nile, and
probably moro pOpulous. With singular
kindness nature has supplied the valley of
the OrinOeO with a trade wind which drives
sailing vessels up the river as fast as the
current carries them down on the return
voyage, SO that whenever the valley is
cultivated transportation will be easy and
cheap.
Within a year the English have extended
their encroachments to Barima Point, at
the mouth OF the Orinoco. If they make
good their foOthold they will go far toward
controlling the river. There is a point of
| view IN which such a control would seem
to be a violation Of the Monroe doctrine.
! The occupation of the mouth of a river is
even more serious than the occupation of a
territory. Il is not only an excellent base
for operations in the INTERIOR but it is
! equivalent to the establishment OF long
military line. One Of the continents of the
| Onnoeo is navigable to within sixty miles
| of BOgoia del Fe, and the power which pa
trolled it with gunbOats would dominate the
whole eastern slope of the northern portion
| of South America. At the present time
that slope is substantially a desert. But
| the day will come when it will figure
among the important countries of the
world, and it might not be quite consistent
with our comfort to have it controlled by
| England
The natural southern boundary Of Vena-
zuela and the natural northern boundary OF
| British Guiana are the Essequibo. Whether
| the Arbitration Commission will decide
that that river is the boundary cannot now
be safely predicted. But it is satisfactory
| to know that there is to be a commission
and that the question of geography will
cease to be decided by British bayonets.