The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-03-04
BRITAIN CASE.
Sir Frederic Pollock's S SUM
mary of England's Ven
ezuelan Claims.
BASED ON DUTCH RECORDS
Spaniards Never Established
Themselves in Guiana In
vaded British Soil.
The St. James Gazette Prints a
Statement Which is to Be
Submitted to Par
lament.

LONDON, March 4. 1sss.-The '.st
James, Gazette under the caption THE
British Case Against Venezuela.' pub
fishes two columns of matter, which it
claims is summary of the report made
by Sir Frederick Pollock for submission
TO Parliament. The Gazette says that
besides having at his disposal documents
in possession of the British Colonial and
Foreign Offices, Sir Frederick Pollock
has drawn freely from information made
accessible TO the British Government by
the keepers of the archives of Spain and
Holland The material supplied by Hol-
land covers the period from the latter
part of the Sixteenth Century to the see
ond decade of the Nineteenth Century,
and the Spanish documents cover the Pc
ricd since the first ascent of the Amazon
by Orellana in 1872 and fran the first
ascent of the orinoeo by Juan Martinez
untii Venezuela, in 1880. assumed inde-
pendent existence The evidence includes
fhe particulars and circumstances in
which the British took possession of the
whole of the Dutch West India colonies
in 17S1. 1895 and 1903, and the treaties un-
der which these transferences were rati-
ned, the first one being concluded in 1914,
to which Spain was party.
The evidence also includes the story of
the correspondence and negotiation with
the various interested Governments by
Venezuela fromA1S down to the present
time.
The information supplied by the Colonial
Office comprises that collected by the
successive governors of the territory since
the administration of Colonel Nicholson in
1863 as regards the extent and character
OF the Dutch occupation and exploration
OF the interior, and also the details Of
the Venezuelan sncursions into British ter
ritory between the Orinoco and the
Cuyuai, the attempts of American con-
cessioaaIr Ires 10 establish themselves in
British Guiana the steps taken to main
tain British ownership ard the
work done by Great Britain
to ascertain the natural and geo.
graphic boundary without prejudice to
strict territorial rights beyond such
boundary. These documents. accompanied
by important maps bearing thereon, show
d British case OF overwhelming strength
against Venezuelan preIensions of owner
ship to the west bank OF the Essequibo.
Ine report SHOWS tnat the Dutch had
from the earliest times possession of The
coast Of Guiana as rar north as the
mouth Of the Orincco, such possession
implying the right OF ownership, of the
hinterlanG, q right exercised by the
Dutch who, in tne sixteenth century, had
coIee, cotton and sugar plantations far
up the rivers and proSpected fCr gold and
SILVER in the basin of the Cuyuni The
boundary starting from Barima Point and
taking u norIhwesJerly course inland
roughly parallel with the Orinoco 10 the
confluence of the Caroni and the Orinoco.
One of these maps, prepared for Louis
XIV. Of France by the Kings Geographer,
De Lisle,, and printed in Amsterdam in
10 the bull issued by Pope Alex
spder VT, alloting the whole of south
America west + the Amazon to Spain
east Of the Amazon to Portugal. To the
west of this is a large section extending
from the. Amazon to the mouth ef the
vided in TWO, the Dutch part extending
from BaPima to the River Mariwini and
the French part freln the Mariwini to
Cape Nerd on the delta Of the Amazon.
The Spanish settlement of st. Thorne,
on the Orlnoco, appears on this map,
hut the Dutch line IRON Barima is iden-
tical with the line representing the Brit
ish claim. The Essequibo IS expressly
taken out of the limits of the Spanish
ed, but by the words 'Essequibo aux
Holland"
Sir Frederick Pollock proves that the
Span.ards at no time established them
ssives in Guiana proper until they over.
ran part of the British territory to the
Ctypni n and since 1858. They got no
further than the Orinoeo. The fact that
St Thome is marked on the French map
as the extreme limit OF their stations is
borne out BY a Dutch map. which in
Maier Won Biouchearoeder This map
shows Rsra thai ae, e pgteh h9s frontier begins
is drawa inland with the words above
It, An'eien poste Holiandais sur les
nfes Thia lnap g wag p04s9a gsgnoe
statesmen; who wSre negotiating the
cession ct the Dutch colonies in South
Pollock gives details showing that it was
upon the basis cf this and similar maps
that the cessicn was erected.
Correspondence taken from the archives
show that when the Spanish showed
themselves in the Cuyuni Valley the
10 Spain against the encroachfnents Of
her Subjects upon Dutch territory. The
archives show that Spain did not answer
Certainly Spain did not assert her owner
ship of the region in question The
States General of Holland in 1853 and in
ard demanded reparaticn for Spanish
violation thereof The correspondence
shows that the Dutch asserted owner
Esseouibo and laid great stress upon
their rights to the Cuyuni upon the
upper reaches OF which stream they had
on terms ofsintercourse with the Indian
tribes there for 15o years in making
researches.
disposal of the Foreign Ofice shows that
Spain did not rebut the claim made by
the Dutch 70 the territory II mthroughcnt
however condemned pro-
posals made by the Governor OF Cumana,
9uSa Sas to p 2us e hs ronnd Dn1eh at 4a q es s
were too aud2cious in having attempted