Omaha daily bee., 1896-03-05
OUTLINE or ENCLAND'S CASE
Entire Doctme6t is Soon to Be Made
Public.
BLUE BOOK ,oN VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY
Sir Frederick Pollock Establishes a
Clear Title to the Territory In
Dispute by an Appeal to Old
Dutch Archives.

LONDON. March 4.--The st. James Ca
zotte this afternoon publishes a forecast sum.
mary of the British blue book upon the
| Venezuelan situation, which is shortly to be
issued. 1t is said TO contain extracts from
the archives of Holland, from the latter part
of the sixteenth century to the second de-
cade of the nineteenth century, and extracts
from the archives of Spain from Orellane's
ascent of the river Amazon, in 1912, and
Martnez's ascent of the Orinoco river to
Diego de Ordaz, down to Venezuela's inde-
pendence in 1880. All the documents in this
connection, 1t is said, have been ransacked
in order to establish the British case.
Against the Venezuelan claim for posses
sion Of the weet bank of the Essequibo, 1t
will be shown, 1t is said. in overwhelming
strength, that the possession Of that bank
is Great Britain's beyond doubt.
The statement of Sir Frederick Pollock,
professor of Jurisprudence of oxford univer-
sity, VINO has prepared the British case, is
described by the st. James Gazette as being
remarkable for mastery detail and skill
in collecting evidence. and for the force and
clearness Of his conclusions.
Continuing, the st. James Gazette says:
The statement shows the Dutch occupation
of the coast of Guiana up to the mouth of
the Orinoco, such possession implying the
right of ownership to- the Hinter-
is shown, the Dutch exercised in the
sixteenth century. The early Dutch maps
give the northwest boundary as starting from
Barima point and going northwestward, in
land. roughly parallel to the Orinoco, to the
confluence of the Caroni and Ornoco.
SUPPORTS GREAT BRITAIN'S CLAIM.
According to the map which De Lsle pre-
pared for Louis XIV in 1774 the delineation
Of the district and the Dutch boundary from
Barima point is identical with the present
British claims. Sir Frederick Pollock proves
that the Spaniards were never established in
Guiana proper until they overran a part of
the British territory to the Cuyuni, in 1853
Previously the extreme Spanish settlement
was st. Thome. This is borne out by the
Dutch map of 1898, prepared for the assist
ance of the statesmen who were negotiating
the cession of the Dutch colonies in America
to Great Britain.
Sir Frederick Pollock enters into the de-
tails to show that the cession was effected
on this basis An important map printed in
Venice in 1916 and another in 1872 agree
with the Louis XIV. map of IVA.
Sir Frederick Pollock establishes beyond
question that Holland vigorously protested
whenever the Spaniards entered the Cuyuni
valley, that Spain had no answer to these
protests, and that, anyway, she never claimed
its ownership. But the States General twice,
in 1859 and 1779, demanded reparation for
Spanish violation of the Dutch territory on
the Cuyuni. OIL,
Dutch correspondence is cited asserting
ownership ofy the. entire watershed of the
Essiquibo, laying great stress upon the rights
to the Cuyuni where the Dutch had gold
diggings, and for this and with whose Indian
tribes they had. intercourse for $50 years.
The Spanish correspondence quoted shows
that the government rejected the advice of
Governor Cumana to push the Dutch out of
Cuyuni. The government declared that the
proposals were too audacious, as they at
tempted,to shew that Guiana was more ex-
tensive than was actually the case
The Dutch archives have been so well
kept that Sir Frederick Pollock was able to
establish an ifrefragable case for the British
ownership of the Cuyuni basin, though there
is no adducble evidence as to how the Dutch
held the country between the Schomburgk
line and the Orinoco
The Chronicle says the government blue
book on Venezuela will reach Washington
on Saturday and will be distributed here on
the same day. There is reason to believe"
says the Chronicle, that the present state
of the matter is that Lord Salisbury and
Secretary Olney have both made proposals
and each has declined the others PROPOSE
ton"
SURPRISE TO BOTH PARTIES.
The Daily News, in forecast of the Vene-
zuelan blue book, says: "The results of
search through Spanish archives are likely
to surprise both the United States and Vene-
zuela, as showing that the date of the first
Spanish settlement of the Orinoco was as
late as 1896 and was made on the bank to
forestall the arrival of one Guaterral, who
had been surveying the region and had prom
ised to return and settle there. 1t is proved
that Guaterral was Sir Walter Raleigh.
"The greatest surprise for Venezuela, with
out doubt, will be the publication of the
secret papers exposing the intrigueS between
Spain and Portugal in 1850, for either ex-
pelling the Dutch from Guiana or hemming
them in on the seashore. If the Dutch were
not in possession, where was the necessity
to eXpel them?
"The British case sets up a claim by tho
conquest of both the Spanish and Dutch
colonies before Venezuela came into ex-
istence, and, although Holland, by the con-
venton OF 1874 cedef her possessions to
US, there was, according to the British case,
no real cession, because the colony was ours
already
"Upon this part of the casa very strong
one--the government mainly relies 1t d.
ninishes the importance of the long diplomatic
in 1S40 and shows Lord
occupies a strong historical posi-
tIn,b