Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1896-01-24
COMMISSION AT WORK
ENGLAND AND VENEZUELA RECEIVE
NOTICE THROUGH oLNEY.

They Are Informed That the Court Il
Open and Invited TO Furnish Evidence
and he Represented by Counsel--Pre-
pairing Maps and Abstracts.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2i.-The Venezuelan
commission has invited the governments
Of Great Britain and OF Venezuela TO sub
| nit to it all of the evidence In their pos
session to further the cork - the commits
sion, to be represented before 1t by attor-
ncys, and all of this with the reservation
that such representation and appearance
shall not be deemed an abandonment OF
any rights or position heretofore assumed.
| IL has done this in order that the proceed
ings of the commission may not be said to
he OK parte, that the truth may appear and
that time may be saved in the Inquiry
with which the commission is charged.
The invitation goes in the shape OF let
ter to Secretary Olney, who has made re-
,ponsc, saying that he has transmitted n
copy of the commissions views TO the two
governments concerned These facts came
out after the meeting Of the commission,
although the letter was drawn up and sent
TO the secretary of state at its last meeting,
Wednesday, Jan 10. The full text OF the
letter is as follows:
"wAsHrNGToN, Jan. TO-
"The Honomble Secretary Of State:
"DEAR SrR-I have the honor to state
that the commission appointed by the pres
ident of the United states to investigate
and report upon the true divisional line
between the republic Of Venezuela and
British Guiana has organized by the cleo
tion of the honorable David j. Brewer as
its president and is entering upon the i'm
mediate discharge of its duties.
I'm so doing it has, after careful CON
sideration, concluded to address you on
the question Of securing, so far as possi-
bic, the friendly cooperation and aid OF
the two nations which are directly inter
ested in the now pending boundary differ
ences.
at must have suggested itself to you,
ms it no doubt has TO the president, that
this commission thus authorized to ascer-
tain and report the boundary line between
two foreign nations bears only remote
resemblance to those tribunals of an inter
national character, of which we have had
several examples in the past. They were
constituted by or with the consent of the
disputants themselves and were author
lied by the parties Immediately concerned
to pronounce u final Judgment. The ques-
tions at issue were presented by the advo-
Gates of the various interests, upon whose
diligence and skill the tribunal might
safely rely for all the data and the argu-
ments essential to the formation of an in
telligent judgment Their functions were
therefore confined to the exercise of judi
cial powers and they might fairly expect
to reach result satisfactory to their own
consciences, while it commanded the re
spect of those whose interests were direct
ly involved.
Duties of the Commission.
"The present commission, neither by
the mode of its appointment, nor by the
nature of its duties, may be said to belong
to tribunals of this character. It's duty
will be discharged if it shall diligently
and fairly seek to inform the executive OF
certain facts touching large extent OF
territory in which the United States have
no direct interest. Whatever may be the
conclusion reached, no territorial aggran-
dizement nor material gain in any form
can accrue to the United States. The sole
concern of our government is the peaceful
) solution of controversy between two
friendly powers, for the just and honOra
BILE settlement of the title to disputed ter
ritory and the protection of the United
States against any fresh acquisitions il
: our hemisphere on the part of any Euro
pean state.
at has seemed proper to the commits
sion, under these circumstances, to sug
gest to you the expediency of calling tht
attention of the governments of GrPa
Britain to the appointment of the commits
sion and explaining both its nature ant
object 1t may be that they will see a way
entirely consistent with their own sense o.
international propriety to give the com
mission the aid that it is no doubt il
their power to furnish in the way of docu
mentary proof, historical narrative, un
published archives or the like. 1t is scarce
ly necessary to say that IL either should
deem it appropriate to designate an agen
or attorney, whose duty it would be to Sc,
that no such proofs were omitted or over
looked, the commission would be gratefu
for such evidence of good will and for tn,
valuable results which would be likely Il
follow therefrom.
ANY act Of either government in tn,
direction here suggested might be accom-
panied by an express reservation as to he
claims and should not be deemed to b,
an abandonment or impairment of an,
position heretofore expressed. In othe
words, and in lawyers phrase, each nigh
be willing to act the part of an amicus Gu
rie and to throw light upon difficult ant
complex questions Of fact, which SHOULD
be examined as carefully as the magnitude
of the subject demands. The purposes o
the pending investigation are certainl.
hostile to none, nor can 1t be of advantag
to any that the machinery devised by tn
government Of the United States to secur
the desired information should fail in it
purpose.
81 have the honor to remain, your mos
obedient servant,
"DAvID ]. BREWER, president.
The secretary's Reply.
The secretary S reply was short and form
al, merely an acknowledgement Of the re
ceipt of the letter and statement that h
had caused copies of it to be sent to tn
: British and Venezuelan governments.
cannot be said that the commission is con
fident of a favorable response from bot
parties to the boundary controversy, al
though the courteous terms in which tn
suggestion is couched and the wide lati
tudc of reservation permitted each part
that may respond and the open spirit whic
charncterizes the invitation leads TO tn
natural hope that it will be accepted
Meanwhile the commission will procee
on the original line of inquiry, whic
promises to be a slow and difficult task
trusting to the abridgment of the proceed
ings later on by the production of evidenc
by both parties and the appearance Of al
tOrneys, when the proceedings may at one
take on the form Of a judicial trial an
the attainment of a conclusion be CORE
spondingly hastened.
The meeting took place for the frs
time in the new quarters Of the commits
sion in the Baltimore Sun building on
street. The first business was the selectio
of officers, and first of these chosen was s