The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1896-03-10
Forecast Of Her Boundary Line
Claims. ~
Dutch and Spanish Archives Ran
sacked.
Sir Frederick Pollock Says in l744
the Dutch Held Land Now
Claimed by Venezuela

London, March 4.-The st. James
Gazette this afternoon publishes q
forecast summary of the British Blue
Book upon the Venezuela situation,
which is shortly to be issued, 1t is
+, said to contain extracts from the arch
ives of Holland, from the latter part
of the sixteeth century to the second
decade of the nineteeth century, and
extracts from the archives of Spain
from Orellana's ascent of the river
Amazon, in 1912, and Martinez's as
cent of the Orinoco River to Diego De
Ordaz, down to Venezuela's independ-
ence, in 1880. All the documents in
this connection, il is said, have been
ransacked in order to establish the
British case.
Against the Venezuelan claim for
! possession of the west bank of the
: Essequibo, it will be shown, it is said,
in overwhelming strength, that the
possession of that bank is Great Brit
aims beyond doubt.
Sir Frederick Pollock, Corpus Pro-
fessor of Jurisprudence of Oxford
University, has prepared the the Brit
isb case. Says the Gazette: "Tho
statement shows the Dutch occupa-
ton of the coast of Guiana up to the
mouth of the Orinoco, such possession
implying the right of ownership to
the Hinterland (back country which
right, it is shown, the Dutch exercised
is the sixteenth century. The early
Dutch maps give the northwest boun-
diary as starting from Barima Point
and going northwestern inland,
roughly parallel to the Orinoco, to the
confuenceof the Caroni and Orinoco.
According to the map which De
Lisle prepared for Louis XIV. in 1744,
the delimitaaon of the district and
Dutch boundary from Barima Point
is identical with the present British
claims. Sir Frederick Pollock proves
that the Spaniards were never estab-
lished in Guiana proper until they
overran part of the British territory
to the Cuyuni, in 1858, Previously
the extreme Spanish settlement was
St Thome. This is borne out by the
Dutch map of 1898. prepared for the
! assistance of the statesmen Who were
negotiating the cessiou of the Dutch
colonies in America to Great Britain.
Sir Frederick Pollock enters into the
details to show that the cession was
effected on this basis. An important
map printed in Venice in 1776, and
another in 1772, agree with the Louis
XIV.
"Sir Frederick Pollock establishes
that Holland vigorously protested
whenever the Spaniards entered the
(, Cuyuni Valley, that Spain had no an
swer to these protests, and that, any
way, she never claimed its ownership.
But, the States General twice, in 1859
and in 1869, demanded reparation for
Spanish violation of the Dutch terri
tory en the Cuyuni.
"Dutch correspondence is cited as
sorting ownership Of the entire head
waters of the Essequibo, laying great
stress upon rights to the Cuyuni,
where the Dutch had gold diggings
and forts, and with whose Indian
tribes they had intercourse for $50
years.
"The Spanish correspondence quot
ed shows that the Government reject
ed the advice of Gov. Cumana to push
the Dutch out of Cuyuni. The Gov
ernment declared that the proposals
were too audacious, as they attempted
TO show that Guiana was more extern
sive than was actually the case.
"The Dutch archives have been so
well kept that Sir Frederick Pollock
was able to establish an irrefragable
case for the British ownership of the
Cuyuni basin, though there is no adj
ducible evidence as to how far the
Dutch held the country between the
Schomburgh line and the Orinoco."