Evening journal., 1896-07-21

Ef'ttN' a ArA4tls OlNllE AIku-
ments Against IsnsIand's ciai,s-Refutes
Statements OF the British B.ue Book.
WAsHINGToN, July 2l.-The first part
OF brief prepared by James j. Storrow
OF counsel for Venezuela in conjunction
with Mr.. Scruggs, the legal adviser of
that government, has just been completed
ana submitted for the consideration of the
venezuelan boundary commission. The
prlet Is framed as an answer TO the gem
eral summary Of the British case as set
out in the British blue book devoted TO
the Venezuelan dispute and, like that, is
an argument based upon tho evidence col
lected by the agents Of the government in
terested. The leading points Of the docu-
ment are the attack upon the integrity of
the Schomburgk line as it now appears
upon the British maps; the assertion OF
the priority Of settlement Of the disputed
territory by the Spanards the denial Of
the Jurisdiction of the Dutch beyond the
reach Of the guns OF their ships at any
time, and the claim Mat tho territory
which Ii is desired 10 throw into arbitra-
tion does not even today contain any set
Elements; so that Lord Salisburys solicit
tudsf for the welfare of tho British settlers
is IN founded.
The brlof begins with quotation from
Lord Salisbury in the British blue book
TO the effect that to admit Vonezuoa's s
claim TO the territory west of the Essi-
quibo river would involve the surrender
of province inhabited by 10000 British
subjects which had hoon possessed by
Great Britain and Holland for two centu
ries. Mr.. Storrow, whilo asserting that
the alleged uninterruption was but a con
tinuous wrong, says that bis object is to
a.
not involve the interruptions of any peace
able possession by any British subject nor
require a single one of Lord Salsbury's
40, 600 to change his allegiance to preserve
his home. Venezuela, he says, has offered
to relieve Lord Salisbury from the emhar-
rassment to which he refers. In 1890 ask
ing for arbitration, It proposed to recognize
in Great Britain a right to its settlements
on both banks Of the EssiquibO; to reserve
for itself the banks of the Orinoco, which
the treaty Of Araniuez had recognized as
Spanish and which every British ministry
except Lord Salisbury's had offered TO rec
oRnize and to arbitrate the rest, which
consisted entirely of territory where even
the English had no settlements but the
offer had been refused.
MIR. storrow's Admissions.
For the sake of argument Mr. Storrow
assumes TO recognize that England may
have a right to the territory where its peo-
pie had established homes even for a gen
eration, but he asserts that she can have
no title by occupation to 10000 square
miles in which during Lord Salsbury's
1.-TWO centuries" neither the Dutch nor
the English ever had a settlement.
Therefore he proposes TO show that the
Spaniards discovered Guiana in 1900 and
established themselves SO strongly that no
other power had ever been able TO pene-
trate inland beyond the reach Of It's ships
guns that the early Dutch attempts at
settlement came later and wero limited to
occasional touching, for trading, near tho
mouth of the Essiquibo, where the Span
ish already had fort, and certainly not
until 1921 was there a first attempt at set
Element. The Dutch settlements as wen as
those Of the English were confined to the
rich alluvial swamps on the tidewater and
along the river estuaries; they never had
any west Of the Pomaroon nor above the
cataracts on the Essiqulbo nor in the
Cuyuni and MazerunL Promising his al
legation with the statement that the Brit
ish claim rests entirely on occupation, Dir.
Storrow dovotes much OF his brief to an
attempt to combat what he regards as an
attempt to extend the claim beyond actual
OlCipdllouf outti apply llio itiN dAN Atfoio
as he finds them, he declares that they
give no support to the attempt, but are
specifically and atiirmahyely fatal 70 it.
He shows that the actual settlements OF
tho Dutch and Spaniards were separated
by l5o miles Of forest In which no white
man Lived and maintaining that the fact
that no attempt was made in a long series
of years to everstep this territory consti-
tuted it a tract inolosing line Of domar-
cation. which should properly be regarded
as an international boundary.
Early settlement Of the Dutch.
In answer to the British claim that the
early settlement Of the Dutch on the es-
tuarlos OF the Essiquiho and the Cuyuni
gave them title to the entire watersheds Of
those rivers Mr.. Storrow uses against
them the decision in the Oregon boundary
0ase, whore ths British claim was founded
on precisely the opposite contention, in
which they were sustained.
He asserts that itis settled law that
those whe own the watersheds and the
firm banks Of a river do also own and pos
sess the delta islands and shores below,
though these bo unfit for habitation and
have never been inhabited, and that Rs the
Spanish did SO own and occupy the upper
banks their title TO the lands below was
tion, Mr.. Storrow cites Lord Stowell with
reference to the Mississippi. He also cites
the treaty Of Aranjucz respecting the testi
mony Of runaway slaves TO show that it
was legally impossible for either Holland
or its successor in the face Of that treaty TO
claim that the controlling shore Of the
Orinoco was Dutch when the treaty was
drawn ia 1871.
Mr. storrow then turns his attention to
the Schomburgk line, against the running
of which Venezuela protested, and he says
that every British ministry except that OF
Lord Salisbury recognized that it was
monstrous and automatically inadmissi.
BILE, upon such limsy pretenses, to claim
what the English notes called tho " Dar.
danelles of the Orinoco" and offered to
agree to lines which they declared would
secure to Venezuela the undisturbed pos
session Of the mouths Of the Orinoco.
Lord Salisburys claim, however, says
Mr.. sStorrow, grew every time he recurrod
to the subject and DO then proceeds 10
mint ont IN great detail low nftor Schoo-