The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-08

except for Venezuela settlements near tho
Orinoco. When the gold movement began
the British simply went in and took
charge of things. setting up their own gov
eminent. and now after heavy mining in
vestments, they are reluctant to give up
control.
Nenezueas claims are based on the
rights acquired by Spain Of which coun-
try the present republic was. up TO 1910.
a dependency. Spain il is commended. by
discovery and settlement In the sixteenth
century gain title to the whole of the
country from the Orinoco to the Amazon
rivers. For the Spanish title is claimed
the broad rights and liberal construction
accorded by international law 20 the dis
covering nation. The Dutch, as second
corners or intruders within this terri
tory. are held by Venezuela counsel to be
bound by narrower rules and 20 have
prescriptive title TO such territory only
as is settled by them, or can clearly be
shown to have been under their control.
The treaty of arbitration between Great
Britain and Venezuela provides as a spc-
clal rule that adverse holding during
a period of fifty years shall make good
title. The arbitrators may deem exclu-
sive political control of a district. as well
as actual settlement thereof sufficient to
constitute adverse holding or 10 make
title by prescription"
by tnt treaty OF lbiS, spain granted TO
the Netherlands the territory then held
by the Dutch in Guiana, without defining
what this territory was, and this started
all the trouble. II is contended that the
Dutch then held no territory whatever
west of the Essequibo, except narrow
strip along the coast to the Pomeroon a
river small on the map but important in
this controversy. The Dutch, 1t is held,
In the 1866 years before British control in
about one mile TO the west TO the Maruca.
another small but much mentioned river.
Spain treated any pretensons the Dutch
made beyond this as obviously baseless
and drove them back as intruders. Diplo-
matte correspondence on the subject of
the boundary had ceased between the
Spanish and Dutch seventy-one years be-
fore 1871, when CONSERVATION was created
In Venezuela by news that a British flag
was flying at Point Barima, an island
commanding the mouth Of the Orinoco.
protest was az once made by Venezuela
and the controversy so long asleep, was
reawakened.
schOmburgIk's Line.
The flying of the British flag was dus
to the claims for Great Britain by Her
mann Schomburgk a young German nat
uralist, who had been travelling In Guiana
and had proposed to the British govern
ment to survey a boundary line. He was
an enthusiast for Great Britain, and dwell
in his letters on the great military adj
vantage OF controlling the mouth of the
Orinoco a river which he said offered
water transportation for from 400 to 500
leagues and had nearly 300 tributary
streams of more or less Importance. The
Orinoco flows into the ocean by many
channels of which that commanded by
Point Barima. on the Island of Barima,
is the southernmOst. Schomburgk called
attention to the fact that this channelCBoea
de Navios, or ships mouth was the only
one which admitted vessels of some
draught and was often referred to as the
Dardanelles of the Orinoco." He spoke
of the remains Of a fort having been
found at Point Barlma, and of this be-
ing evidence that the Dutch had control
led this point. Venezuelan counsel now
contend that there is no evidence In the
volumnous and complete Dutch records
of any forts ever occupying this poinI.
They refer to evidence that the French
traders once had a stronghold there, and
that IL the remains reported by Schom-
burgk were really found. they were prob
ably traces OF the French occupation
Under the protest of Venezuela at the
time, Great Britain receded from tho
claims made In 1871 and pulled up mark
ers of the Schomburgk line In 1912. Since
about, until the various lines proposed,
when put on the map In different colors.
look like strands of tangled yarn GU
rious fact In the case is that the Schom-
burgk line published on maps from 1S4z
was line first proposed by him before
he made survey. His actual survey was
of line taking in a respectable strip OF
territory to the west. map based ON
this survey was slowed away in secret
archives and not sprung on the world
until forty-four years later. In 1886.
The Cuyuni and Mazaruni rivers. two
large streams flowing into the Essequibo.
form the basis of contention i'm the inte-
rlor OF the disputed territory. While the
original Schomburgk line had in the in
terror, cut straight across the Cuyuni, the
larger OF the two rivers, the expanded line
bent TO the west so as to take In the en-
tire course of the river. Great Britain, IL
would seem, had at first been too modest
to make public claim 10 the territory be-
yond the original Schomburgk line, but
now the extreme claim" of the British
extends far beyond even the expanded
Schomburgk line" taking in all the trib-
utaries of the Cuyuni up to their source,
and 10 within dozen miles of the ORR
noco. Adolph Schmuck