Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-01-16

Schomburgk was guided In setting up his
posts by the remains of an old Dutch fort
found at Point Barima. Whether such re-
mains were evidence of Dutch or of Span
lsh title depends upon historical facts, and
since Schomburgk took particular care
to fortify himself with the history OF the
case" he should have found in them strong
evidence against a British and Dutch
claim sufficiently extensive to include
them.
In the latter part of the 10th century the
Spaniards were established upon the
Orinoco and the Morocco and for that
matter upon the Essequibo as sufficiently
appears from the account of one of Sir
Walter Raleigh's voyages to Guiana, the
second believe. About the beginning of
the 18th century however, the Dutch made
an attempt to establish themselves near
the mouth of the Orinoco as well as at the
mouth of the Amazon. From the former
position they were driven away by the
Spaniards just as from the latter they
were dislodged by the Portuguese. John
Van Peere of Flushing, who attempted
TO establish a Dutch trading port on the
Orinoco was the same Van Peere, who,
abandoning that attempt in the face of
Spanish opposition, went several
degrees further to the east
and effected settlement on
the river Berbice. The Spanlards effect
lively guarded the region about the mouth
of the Orinoco as they we're well able to
do with an established town, St. Thomas,
up the river on the Guiana SIDE with a
settlement on Trinidad fronting the Delta
of the river. with their strong occupation
of the country to the westward and with
the active allegiance which there Is evil
dence that they had OF the MARROW Indi-
ans on both sides of the river.
{nc Of ntitqh fort n
Point Barma as Schomburgk found, and
the former existence of such remains Is
otherwise attested than by him, were
presumably the evidence of the defeated
attempt at occupation of Van Peere and
his associates II not they represent the
like result of some later and equally in
glorious attempt of his countrymen of
which no record Is known to exist. They
were the conclusive evidence to genera
tions that the Spanish claim to iurisdic-
ton In that region had been efficiently
asserted and that the conflicting claims OF
Spain and Holland to the control of that
region had been determined in favor of
the former by the arbitrament of force,
Just as the remains of two Dutch forts,
which once could be seen at the mouth OF
the Amazon were evidence of Portugese
and not of Dutch domination in the colonial
struggle at that point. The Spanish guar
dianship of the territory about the mouth
of Orinoco was. moreover, effectively con-
/ tinued to the date OF Venezuelan inde-
pendence. In 1927 the Dutch West India
company, then exercising practical sover-
aignty over the Dutch trade and settle
ments in the New World, enacted reso.
luton forbidding any one without author.
| ity from Van Peere or the company to
trade along the Guiana coast from the
Corentyn westward to the Pomeroon
No pretence was now made to the right
to the Orinoco trade or to the exercise OF
Jurisdiction over the coast in the vicinit,
of its mouth.
A few years after the treaty of Munste
which confirmed to the Dutch their exist
ing colonial establishments they undoubt
eddy occupied the Pomeroon river on whicl
they had previously attempted an estab
lishment and then or later established {
post on the east bank of the Morocco rive
near its mouth where It Is close to tn
Pomeroon but their frontier was carried
no further. That frontier as 1t existed
the time of the English occupation in 179
Is clearly evidenced by what occurred II
1891 In that year a party OF Spaniard
attacked the post on the Morocco. Feeling
their way at the extremities of the colon,
before they would venture to assault thu
more vital parts" / quote the Language
of an English writer long resident II
Guiana and thoroughly informed in IT.
history.
The Morocco 40 or 10 miles west of tn
Essequibo and not the Barima, distant IL
miles was then confessedly the extremit.
of the united colony Of Essequibo AM
Demarara as the British found 1t. what 1t
extent was at the time of its formal ces
sion In 1914 Is evidenced by its salary lis
for the first year of British occupation
under the treaty. On the principal river
of the colony at the extremity of the set
Elements II had long been the custom L
station postholders who, among othe
duties were to permit no one to go be
yond without exhibiting pass. The mos
westerly postholder In 1915 was stationed
with two assistants on the Morocco.
The ruins OF the '.old Duech fort" a
Point Barima remained not to invite Brit
ish aggression but as warning against II
Clearly Sir Robert Schomburgk in hi
study of the Indians and his inspection o
ruins, fortified as he was with the "histor
of the case" did not find any new evi
dence on which to base a claim that tn
British territory extended beyond or t
the Barina river. On the contrary 1t
quite clear that he recognized and appre
Grated the force of the evidence agains
such a claim. He saw the strategic advan
tage of a position on the Orinoco an
naturally felt that 1t could do no harm I
claim what he did as a basis for negotia
tons with Venezuela, which was all tina
his survey imported But he realized tina
the claim could not be maintained upo
its own merits In his report therefor
! to his government he recommended wha
he chose to regard as concessions in tn
interior sin return for the recognition b
, Venezuela of British jurisdiction beyon
Point Barma to the Amacuro. 1t Is
homely but pertinent saying that 1t take
! two to make a trade, and when Venezuel
firmly refused to enter into the suggeste
arrangement the British government by II
action simply reaffirmed the old opinio
that fair boundary line was to be foun
! somewhere between the Pomeroon rive
and the Barima river.
| Lord Aberdeen was obviously familia
! with the history Of the case and whe
: he suggested the Morocco river he wa
not making a concession to Venezuela bi
! to historic facts Lord Granville undel
: stood the facts. Vt was he VIII
in 1910, before he succeeded
) the peerage and when he signed
5 Leveson, In the capacity of under Sc
rotary of foreign affairs, wrote the recent
published letter explaining the view
: Lord Palmerston that the Schomburg
I survey was to be treated simply as col
J verient basis for negotiations. The Graz
y VILE line so-called was not in the natul
t of a concession to Venezuela but conce'
n sion to the views which British statesmt
r prior to 1910 had endorsed and aided in pr,
e mitigating. In the light of all the fac
Q above reviewed the several lines propose
g by English ministers from 1874 to is
e are seen to have been something very di
e ferent from compromise lines in the o
s binary sense of the phrase.
v The British right to the entire territoi
4 embraced within the Schomburgk liz