, 1894-12-19

tractIVe hight, aud as Great Britain 8 flgh
to it, bylcession from our Dutch predecessors,
could'not be legally disputed, We established
a Government Agency IN the river Barilna, at
"a point commanding theanioutn OF the Qrlnoco,
and now the whole district from Essequebo
north wards to tie OrinoCo, and inland to the
ScIiomburgk line, is of1iotrod by Government
officials. and spotted with British Guianese
goId-dfggers. So far the Fenezuelans have
not attempted any active Interference with
our possession in that direction; but in the
upper Cuyuni, which is to us a less accessible
portion Of the territory in dispute. they have
ventured upon a policy of deliberate aggres-
sion. A few years p,st, the Foreign Office
published in the London Official Gazette a
noticeIto the effectIthat as the land right up the
Cuyuni and it's tributaries, to the Venezuelan
town Of Guacipati, was British territory, in
vestOrs were cautioned about placing money
in a IA ilway that Venezuela was about to con
struct thereon. This al vertisement 50 far as
we have seen, has never been cancelled, but
it was regarded in this colony as q mistake.
and, a a matter of fact, when it, became ne
ceSSary uader Lord GormanSton's regime,
which began in 1859, to fix upon a boundary
line for practical purposes, gold-diggers from
GEORGETOWN being on the move all over the
higher regions Of our several rivers, it was
resolved that we should claim the Cuyunl on
the right bank right up. to its Junction with
the Uruan, and on the left bank to the AGRA
bisce Creek, which is considerably nearer
Georgetown than is Uruan. This boundary
line having been fixed, We built q Police
station at Uruan and sent o detachment OF
armed men in charge of d commissioned OIL
Ger to mark the fact that the territory belong
cd to us, and that all gold -diggers, shopkoep-
prs, u II owners, and others should pay license,
according to our revenue laws. Meantime
the Venezuelans planted a military station
directly across from ours, on the opposite or
left bank Of the river, and they began III
earnest to make a good road and easy COM
munication between Gaucipatl and this sta
ton, by means Of which they have ere now
rendered the journey possible to be doR6
easily in three or four days. For some time
the Vcnezuelans at this station remained
quiescent, recognising, as it seemed, the fact
that we had he right to send our local forces
into the opposite district to assert our owner
ship, but recently they determined to occupy
our land and defy our contingent to interfere
with them or in any way act rs If the land be-
longed TO tho British. In humble 10 they are
far in excess of our men, who are neither
authorised non in sufficient force to drive out
the invaders, and at the present moment we
have this small coutingento Of our forces, re-
siding by permission Of the Nenezuelans i'll
our own Station, and assured by the Vene-
zuelans that if they behave quietly and alb
stain from exercising any attempt at authorl-
ty they, the Nenezuelans, will not disturb them!
The Venezuelan soldiery, all armed with mo-
deru weapons, are now stationed on our bank
, of the Cuyuni, at a point below our mon, so
that the latter are completely under the con-
troll OF the much larger number of the inyad-
ers. We have two officers there at present,
Inspector Barnes andl Inspector Baker, the
latter having been despatched with some ad-
ditional men, seven or oight weeks ago, when
the first news Of the Venezuelan eneroach-
ment reached town; and it is possible that,
Notwithstanding the orders they have Teoeiv-
cd to avoid COLLISION 18th the Venezuelan
soldiery, a collision may AXE place, in which
case valuable lives will / lost. 1t is grossly
unfair to keep these Bfit4h officers and, men
in such a humiliating and fdegrading position
unless steps are now Hing takeH- to send
them adequate relief. If tn T9T;;bee Office IN
tends to take the ril .ing,slay in the face that
Venezuela has Just giveni il without retaliation,
our men should be withdrawn at o9ce,and tho
expense to the colony and the risk to the
men at once brought to an end; but it seems
impossible to suppose that Britain can be
driven from y position that it took up
deliberately, even by the very largest military
demonstration Venezuela can afford to make.
To go to war with such a small enemy