Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-03-04
GREAT RRJTAIN'S CASE
Summary Of Its Argument in the Vene-
suelan Disputs.
Old Maps That It is Claimed Support
the British ContentiOn-P0s.
sessions Of the Dutch.

LONDON, March 4.-The st. James Ca
zette this afternoon publishes a forecast Of
the British blue book upon the Venezuela
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-
oade of the nineteenth century, and
extracts from the archives of Spain
from Orellana's ascent of the river
Amazon. in 1912. ard Martinez's as
cent Of the Orinoco river 10 Diego de Ortiaz,
down to Venezuela's independence in 1850.
All the documents in this connection, 1t is
said, have been ransacked in order to es-
tablish the British case.
Against the Venezuelan claim for posses
sion Of the west bank of the Esscquibo are
items showing, it is said that the POSSES
sion of that bank is Great Britain's with
out doubt.
The statement Of Sir Frederick Pollock,
corpus professor of Jurisprudence Of Oxford
University, who has prepared the British
case, is described by the st. James Gazette
as being remarkable for mastery Of detail
and skill in collating evidence and for The
force ard clearance of his conclusions"
Continuing, the st. James Gazette says:
The 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
(Backcountry), which right, 1T is shown,
the Dutch exercised in the sixteenth century
The early Dutch maps give the northwest
boundary as starting from Barima Point
and going northward inland roughly par
allel to the Oriroco, to the confluence of
the Caroni and Orinoco.
According to the map which De Lislc
prepared for Louis XIV in 111f, the delim-
1tation of the district and the Dutch boun-
dary 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 terri
tory to the Cuyuni in 1855 Previously,
the extreme Spanish settlement was st.
1home. This is borne out by the Dutch
map of 1I3S, prepared for the assistance
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 shcw that the cession was effected
on this basis
AN impt rtant map printed in Venice in
Louis XIV Of 1714.
Sir Frederick Pollock establishes be-
yond question that Holland vigorously pro-
tested whe erever the Span.ards 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 in 1863,
demanded reparation for Spanish violation
OF the Dutch territory on the Cuyuni.
Dutch correspondence is cited asserting
ownership Of the entire watershed of the
Essequibo. laying great stress upon rights
to the Cuyuni. where the Dutch had gold
disgings and forts and with whose Indian
tribes they had intercourse for 15O years.
THE Spanish correspondence quoted
shows that the government rejected the ad-
vice of Gov. Cumana to push the Dutch out
or Cuyum. The government declared that
the proposals were too audacious, as they
attempted to show that Guiana was more
extensive 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 Brit
ish ownership of the Cuyuni basin, though
there Is no adducible evidence as to how
far the Dutch held the country between the
Schomburgk line and the Orinoco."