The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1895-12-26

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THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE.
Tho important historical facts re :
lating to the boundary dispute be-
tween Great Britain and venezuels
may be briefly stated as follows:
The Province Of Guiana was origin
ally part Of tho Csptaincy General
OF Caracas, belonging to Spain, and
wss bounded on the east by the
Atlantic ocean and on the south BY
Amazon river. In 1848, after long
war between Spain and Holland, the
provinces known as Esequibo, Do.
mersrra, Berbice and surinam were
transferred TO the government of the
Netherlands by the treaty Of Nuns
ter. Esequibo was the westernmost
Of these provinces and its westsrn
boundary wss generally undsrstcod
y - ~ Kssquibo xivsr. The Datch
: q e iyis,sss
of the treaty Of Munster, but ware In
each case forcibly opposed by the
Spanish authorities. The English
claim that In 1857 the Dutch took
possession OF the mouth Of the Pom
sron river and erected two forts
there, and that In 1874 concession
was granted to . Dutch company to
trade on that river and on the
Esequibo. However this may be,
fact remains that In the cession Of
Guiana territory to Great Britain in
1914, Holland simply transferred her
colonies Of Esequibo, Demerara and
Berbice, without designating any
fxed boundary lines. In this cession
Great Britain succeeded to the rights
previously exercised by Holland and
no more, and that Holland under.
stood that she had no title west Of
the Esequibo is proven by the treaty
of Aranjuez, in 1891, which provided
for the mutual return Of slaves es-
Gaping from the possessions of one
country to the other, and clearly in
dicated that river as the dividing line.
In 1922 the republic Of Venezuela
succeeded to the title of Spain, and
has ever since opposed the encroach-
ments Of England west Of the Ese-
quibo. These encroachments began
. few years after 1914, when England
established colony at the mouth Of
the Pomaron. There was q remons-
STRANGE, but the infant republic was
not then In position to forcibly op-
pose the aggression. In 1841, how
ever, she made strong and formal
protest, ins ct ng that her territory
extended to the Esequibo. This
protest was ignored, but shortly
Afterwards Great Britain sent out
Sir Robert Schomberg "to survey
and mark out the boundaries Of
British Guiana" Venezuela was
notified, but her assent was not
asked. The result of this ones ded
survey is the now famous Schomburg
line. 1t took away from the terri
tory claimed by Venezula strip 100
miles wide and 500 miles long,
greAter In area than the state Of
New York. 80 strong was public
feeling in Venezuela against this in
vasion that the British government
ordered the obliteration Of the sur
vey marks, and three years later tho
Aberdeen government disclsimed
any intention to occupy the territory
included within the Schomberg line.
In 1850 . diplomatic agreement was
entered into which obligated each
party not to occupy any part OF the
''unoccupied territory in dispute"
until the question Of boundary should
be finally settled, but this unoccu-
pied territory was not clearly de-
fined, and this omission led to
numerous charges OF violation OF
agreement. So matters ran along
until 1875, whom Venezuela again
urged an immediate settlement oil
question. A reply came four years
later from Lord Salisbury. claiming
for his government al the country
between the mouths Of the Esequibo
and tho Orinoco, and in the interior
from Barima Point almost due south
ward to the Brazilian line, and stat
ing that inssmuch ~ Great Britain
already had 10000 subjects west Of
Esequilbo, that boundary could not
possibly be considered.
Again, In 1888, the British govern
ment submitted . scheme Of settle-
ment involving the remission BY
venexuela Of . 30 per cent tax on
imports from the British Antilles and
the acceptance Of . compromise
boundary line beginning west of the
Gusiama river. During the negotia-
ton Of the treaty the Venezuelan
representative obtained . written
promise OF the British government
that al questions between their res
psctive countries should be settled
by arbitration, and In lieu of bette,
boundary proposition yenezuela wss
disposed to accept the one offered,
But unhappily, just at this time .
change oocurree in the British min
istry before tho treaty was signed
and Granville's successor asserted
that Great Britain would not arbi.