The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-01-01
Continued Nert Week. }
THE VENEZUELAN DISPUTE.
How Britain Has Pushed Her Territorial
Claims Westward.

THE VENEZUELAN DISPUTE.
How Britain Has Pushed Her Territorial |
Claims Westward.
The Venezuelan controversy grows |
out of conditions that arose in 1901 when |
a treaty was signed between Spain and
the Dutch. which stipulated that the
orinoco colonies should belong to the
Spanish and the I.ssequibo colonies to
the Dutch. At the time when this treaty
was made the district which Ia now in
dispute was uninhabited. Later colo
nies and detached settlements located
here and there within the territory.
Settlements in British Guiana continued
to spread slowly to tho westward. The
Essequibo river runs northward to the
Atlantic; flowing into 1t from the West
are large tributaries, draining thousands
of square miles. Venezuela insisted, and
still insists, that what was meant by the
Essequibo colonies was the Dutch set
Elements on the Essequibo river, and it
has always insisted that the proposed
boundary was the east bank of that river.
The British government finally took the
position that what was meant by the
treaty was not the Bssequibo river itself,
but the entire watershed draining into it.
BY assuming this position Great Britain
pushed her possessions far TO the west
ward; but, even admitting her preten-
sions, the watershed of the EssequibO
river could not extend beyond the Marc
co river, which also flows northward and
into the Atlantic ocean, fifty miles TO the
westward of the ESsequibo. In 1871 the
Schomburgk line was run by Sir Robert
Schomburgk. The territory within this
line includes the larger part ofthe valleys
of Mazaruni and the Cuyuni river, and
extends far outside the watershed of the
EsSequibo and to the great mouth of the
Orinoco. For such line there appears TO
have been no authority of any kind, and
il is natural to conclude that the object
was to establish "A post at the mouth of
this great river and so dominate its com
merce. The opposition of Venezuela TO
this boundary WAS vigorous, and, finally,
in 1874, Lord Aberdeen, prime minister
of Great Britain, proposed compromise
line. The mouth Of the Orinoco was
abandoned, and the line, starting from
the mouth of the river Maroco, swept
westward, including the larger part of
the watershed of the Cuyuni river. Ven
eznela, meantime, had indicated her
willingness to consider the boundary as
beginning at the mouth of the Maroco
river granting England in this way full
sovereignty over disputed portions. The
controversy remained unsettled and a
source of friction. Lord Granville, III
| 1881. proposed a new line. Great Britain
claimed an additional stretch of territory
of great importance and value along the
| Atlantic coast beyond the Aberdeen
boundary, but did not push her posses
| sions as FAR as the OrinOco.
With the discovery of the Barima gold
| fields to the westward of the schomburgk
line, as well as the Yuruan gold mines,
the value of the territory became evident.
| England began to push her pretensions
to the westward. She gradually extend
| ed the sphere of her activity and intiu-
|
NOUS tract, much of it lying west of the
Schomburgk line. The gold mines have
been largely opened Icy British West
| Indian miners, who have fiocked there
| in considerable numbers. and who have
| taken with them their own methods Of
| government. Nevertheless, while Great
! Britain has claimed this territory she has
| indicated a willingness 10 arbitrate Is 10
her right to any territory west Of the
Schomburgk line, hut has absolutely de-
| cIined to refer 10 arbitration her rights To
any territory east of that line. If she
maintains this attitude she will be able
to keep her grip upon the mouth of the
Drinoco river. Well informed explorers
and mining engineers who have visited
the region claim that the gold fields eX-
tend for some five hundred miles from
the Orinoco river TO the Brazilian bound
ary, and look forward 10 their future de-
velopment on a scale equal in import
ance to that now going on in the mines OF
South Africa.
| \ brief description of Venezuela is as
follows: Area GoO,0OO square miles: pop
ulation, 2,4G0,Oo0; estimated revenue,
81. .50o.OOO, OF which two-thirds is from
custom duties; army in time of peace.
1000; army in time of war, $1,000: Nene-
zuela imports about sl3,000.000 worth OF
merchandise and exports about si6,m0.-
010 worth; the principal export is coffee
to the value OF SI5.OO0,O00, cocoa Sij0,eOC
| IL, Il. bar.
$4,000. rubber SJ0,0J0; Venezuela sells 10
Great Britain SJOO,OOO yearly; she buys
from Grsat Britian si,9a.eAI yearly, al
which more than one-half is cotton and
linen goods; the United States imported
from Venezuela in ls9l sl2.000,GO worth
the United States imported from Nene-
znela in 1891 S}.5oo,G19 worth; we sold to
Venezuela in 1891, Si,3J00oD; in 1894, 81
10000. We bought from Venezuela las;
year: Ninety-one thousand dollars worth
OF cocoa, s}S,0G0 worth Of rubber, Sl2,0o
worth of lockwood. S2,G90,OoO worth OF
coffee, 81, 900 worth Of copper and copper
ore, $1,000 worth OF feathers, Si92,0o
worth Of hides, skins &c, rs well as va
rious articles of smaller importance.
Venezuela has borrowed from Great
Britain 81 ,Oo0, 900 bolivares, which al tho
exchange of the day equals about SI0,O00,-
0)1. In France about 5,O10,000 bOlivares,
which at similar exchange equals about
sI50,Oe0.
She has borrowed about 100000 from
her own people in various forms of what
is called ''the internal debt.
The effect of sentiment upon business
is indicated in the small volume of bust
ness between Great Britain and Nenezue-
la. Owing 10 the controversy between
those two countries, diplomatic relations
have long been suspended and the feeling
among Venezuelan merchants against
England is bitter.
LET Us Cross Over the River