The herald., 1896-01-03

4
missis N will be at the state department
| body, with the exception or Commissioner
Whit, !. have sigLified their ability to be
here by that time. The latter will not
reach the city before Tuesday and there is
a pos Rbility that the first meeting may be
defer I'D until that day, although this is
not Ii kelly. There are u number of ques-
| tons arising in connection with the work
of tn body such as the selection of quar-
ters. etc., besides other preliminary mat
ters, not affecting vitality the questions at
ISSUE, that can be passed upon by the ma
jority' of the commissioners. The MEM
bers have not yet received their commits
sions end hence it is not positively known
who will be the chairman, although the pre-
sumption is that Justice Brewer, having
been The first named. will have that honor.
OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE
Lon DON, Jan. 3.-The special corre-
spond ent of the Chronicle telegraphs to
his pa per this morning the official CORE
spond ence, hitherto unpublished, between
the go vernnents of Great Britain and Ven-
ezuela during the period of November,
1910, when Sir Robert Schompurg was ap-
points d commissioner by the British gov
ernmt mt to survey the western territory of
Britis Guiana. and April, 1912, when
Engla nd finally removed the boundary
posts which he had set at various points in
that II rritory to form the so-called Schom-
burg u lne 1t appears from the correspond.
ence that on October 5, 1851, Senior
For,uo iue, Venezuelan minister in London,
wrote 10 Lord Aberdeen, secretary of state
for fU eign affairs. expressing surprise at
the ere ction of a British sentry box upon
Venezt lelan territory and urging the me-
cessity of entering upon treaty of bound-
ary as a previous step to the hxation of
limits. Lord Aberdeen replied to this on
Octobes - st, saying he had received Sir
Robert ~chOmburg's report,
Senof ForiuQue replied on November
18th. as serting that Mr.. Schombelg doubt
less ove stepped his instruc ions by plant
ing at a point at the mouth of the Orinoco
several ,osts bearing the queens initials,
and he b as raised the British flag at the
same PHI zee with show of armed force.
He also performed several other acts of
dominioa l and government
Lord berdeen broke the silence on De-
cember 11th, confirming the Schomberg
line as mere preliminary measure, and
objectipa to the removal of the posts,
which at ford the only tangible means by
which Gr ,at Bri ain is prepared to discuss
the bount larry"
regrets he is obliged to again insist upon
the remov al of the posts. and he predicts
that their non-removai will give rise to dis
orders. | Ie points to the example of
Venezuela and the United States of Colom-
bia, which first made a boundary treaty
The Oh ronicles correspondent then
quotes Lor Salisbury's dispatch to Secre-
tary Olney to the effect that these posts
were reno, ed on the distinct understand
ing that G reat Britain did not thereby
abandon he claims to that position, and
in this conn ection he gives two documents
from the go vernon of British Guiana, dated
Demarara, on March 10, 1912, and one
from Mr.. o Leary, British consul at Cara
cas-, dated Ilprl 8, 1912, both expressing
the hope tn at all ground of remon STRANGE
will be rem oved by Great Britain's con-
cession of the removal of the Scfomberg
land marks from Barima and elsewhere.
The CORE spondent says: "Obstrve that
there is no word indicating the coneition
asserted by Lord Salisbury. IF the fore
going docu ments are genuine, and their
source excludes any suspicion to the con-
trary. then the Schomberg line is proved
worthless as basis for any territorial
claims.
AGREED to ARBITRATE
NEW YORK, Jan. pa special from
Washington. D. c., quotes letter address,
ed by Lord Granville, the then British
foreign minister, to the repr esentative of
the Venezuelan government, acquiescing
that representative, for including
in pending treaty clause
providing for the ar bitration of
any and all differences bet ween the two
governments. This letter p foves the state
ment made by the London Chronicle today
which has already been ca'oled to the As
sociated Press to the effect that Earl Gran
vile had virtually concluded d a treaty with
Venezuela in 1885 containing an arbitra-
ton clause that covered The Venezuelan
boundary dispute. This letter, which is in
the possession of the state department,was
addressed to Guzman Blanco.
When Lord Salisbury came into power,
upon the overthrow of the Gladstone gov
ernment, he disavowed his predecessors
action in a note to Guzman Blanco dated
July 18th of the Same year, in which he
said: "Questions might arise, such as
those involving the title of the British
crown to territory or other sovereign
rights, which her majesty's government
could not pledge itself beforehand to refer
to arbitration"
1t will be seen that Lord Salisbury inter-
prets Earl Granville's IS agreement as cover
ing the arbitration Of the boundary dispute.
Lord Salisbury, in his reply to Secretary
Olney's letter on November 2Sth. denied
that such q treaty was practically agreed to.