New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-07-21

AN ELABORATE BRIEF FILED WITH THE
BOUNDARY COMMISSION.
ENGIAND's PREMISES AS WELL AS THE ARGr-
MENTs BASED on THEM ATTACKED IN VIC
oRoCs MANNER-cHARGEs OF rAMPER-

washington, July ZU-NeneZuela'S brf6f, pre-
pared by Mr.. storrow and presented to the
Venezuelan Commission. well to the Brit
ish representative. to-day. Is the most important
paper that has so far appeared In the case. For
/ the first time what purports to be a true d.
visional line in accordance with the evidence
is laid down. and Lord Salisbury's contention az
settlements is declared be a diplo
matte bubble. utterly unsupported by law or
fact, and unworthy of any consideration by the
Commission. Mr.. Storrow holds thst there
never has been any British sovereignty In the
disputed territory; that the Dutch never gained
the slightest foothold in the Orinoco Basin. and.
therefore. never transferred what did not exist
to Great Britain. and caps his strong arguments
by declaring that the Schomburgk line, as held
by Lord Salisbury was forgery perpetrated
by the English Government twenty years after
Schomburgk's death
The brief opens with Lord Salisbury's state
ment Of January 10. 1880. that the boundary
claimed by Venezuela to the Essequbo River
would involve the surrender of a province In
habited by 10000 British subjects which had
been in the uninterrupted possession of Hol-
land and Great Britain successfully for two
centuries. and sweeps this away with the re-
iteration OF Venezuelas offer In asking for arbi-
tration in 1890. to recognize Great Britains
rights to it's settlements on both banks OF the
Esseauibo to reserve for Itself the banks OF the
Orinoco, which the treaty Of Aranjuez had recog-
nized Spanish. and which every English
Ministry except Lord Salisbury's had offered to
recognize and to arbitrate the rest. which con-
sisted entirely Of territory where. even then,
England had no settlements. The brief assumes.
for the sake Of argument. that England may
have a right by occupation to settlements on the
alluvial land at the mouth of the Essequibo,
but shows that the Spanish held possession OF
ali Guiana from the discovery In 1900 until
Venezuela succeeded to the territory. and that
Spain successfully resisted all efforts Of the
Dutch we'll as Of Sir Walter Raleigh and
other freebooters" TO effect a lodgment.
SPANISH SOVEREIGNTY MAINTAINED.
Mr.. Storrow says the British claim has con-
fessedly no basis except occupation. and the
rules OF law applied even to the facts alleged
not only give no support to the British attempt
TO extend the bounuary. but are specifically and
afrmatively fatal to it. He demonshes the
called temporary post In the Cuyuni Basin and
at Barima Point by showing that they
mere trading stations. quickly destroyed by the
Spanish. who maintained sovereignty over the
region, and proves that the actual settlements
OF the Dutch and Spanish were always sepa-
rated by 80 miles OF forest
Mr. Storrow then quotes authorities 70 support
the two rules OF law which designate where be-
tween these actual settlements. the boundary
line shall run. as follows:
First-When, either by nature or by the habits
OF the settlers. tract has been defined. the Iule
is that the first occupation OF a part Is In law an
entry upon and possession Of the whole. But the
entry OF a second claimant cannot dispace the
legal possession Of the first beyond the actual oc
cupatiOn OF that second.
hafur no tiar opfc ~ tuo
nations In country otherwise wild there
features which form a natural barrier or line OF
demarcation, and which In long series OF years
have not been overpassed nor attempted TO be
overpassed by the actual settlements Of either
party. the law makes that line the international
boundary
The brief holds that such a tract and line ex-
ist and says the Dutch and English settlements
never attempted to pass it until the invasion OF
the armed English force at the gold discovery
about dozen years ago. The historical evidence
of the Dutch and Spanish conflicts are then dis
cussed. to show that the Spanish were always in
actual occupation of the country up to the small
range Of mountains which the Cuyuni breaks
through to enter the Essequibo. These cataracts
effectually prevented access TO the Interior in the
time of the Dutch. as they do to-day in the case
OF the English. compelling the latter to seek in
gress from the mouth Of the Orinoco for which |
month when he arrested in Venezuelan terri |
tory The Spanards he contends always exer- |
cised dominion over this great unsettled tract by !
excluding other nations from It. and when the
Dutch sought TO take slaves from this sectloh |
with the help Of the Caribs. as the Dutch |
archives prove. the Spanish drove them out. de-
stroyed their stations on the upper Essequibo
and imprisoned the Dutchmen.
BRITISH ARGUMENTS USED
The Oregon boundary case which made much
law. is then applied 10 the existing
dispute and the British arguments in that cele-
brated case are turned squarey against Lord
present contentiors by showing that
while private occupation may in time give pr-
vate title. no occupation create sovereign do
mnion unless il be directly authorized or adopted
by his Government at the outset. and for the
nounced purpose Of acquiring sovereignty.
Evidence is then adduced to turn all Pro-
fessor Pollocks arguments Of law against his
ease. II is shown that Spain discovered the
and that the Dutch fort on that
river built on the foundations OF the older
Spanish one: that the real road TO the In
terror uyuni-Mazeruni Basin is by way OF the
Spanish settlements on the Orinoco. and that
{ was those settlements which barred the way OF
Raleigh and all other seekers after Ell Dorado.
When the English as they have done. con-
,eded that the Spaniards controlled the entire
Orinoco. they lost their last argument upon
which they could claim Barma. Mr. Storrow
quotes Lord Stowell. the highest English au-
hority. in the Of the Mississippi River, to
show that those who own the watershed there
~ possess the delta. islands and shores below.
hough these unfit for habitation and have
never been inhabited. The claim Of either the
Dutch or the English to hold the mouth of
he great Spanish river turns out to be utterly
and Mr.. Storrow says that every
English or Dutch historian who pretends to
erous consideration OF the matter re-echoed
Without showing 1t the judgment Of Lord ,