The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-26

Venezuelas boundary claim was on the face
Of things we'll founded. That was, Of course,
an er pdrte proceeding, because Great Brit.
ain was not represented before the tribunal,
and no Judgment was rendered by the
commission for the reason that, before the
completion OF It's inquiry, Great Britain
consented to arbitration. Nevertheless,
the reports OF It's agents had been submit
ted, and they have been since published.
1t IL some OF the results reached by them
to whlch.we shall now refer A very largo
amount Of work was done by Mr.. GEORGE L..
| BURR, Professor Of History at Cornell Uni
versity and a recognized authority in anti
| quarian research, who examined multitude
| OF documents In London and Holland. Let us
note, first, the outcome OF his report on the
| meaning OF that clause In the Treaty Of M1n-
| ster which provided for the possession by
| the Spaniards and the Dutch respectively.
| not only OF such countries and places on
the coast of America as they then pos
| scssed, but also such forts and places as
the Portuguese had taken from the Hol-
landers since 1641, and such forts and
places as the Hollanders should chance to
acquire after Jan. 80, 164s, without in
fraction Of the present treaty" The i'm
portance Of this clause is obvious, since,
in 1914, Great Britain acquired by
treaty from Holland all the territorial
rights which the latter power then pos
sessed westward Of the strip retained In
that year by Holland, and now known as
Dutch Guiana After careful study OF the
subject, Prof. BURR announced the results
in the following terms: First, 1t Is I'm
probable that. in the intent Of its trainers
and its ratifiers, the Treaty Of Minister con-
coded to the Dutch right to win from the
natives lands claimed by Spain end sec-
ondly, it does not appear that it was ever
interpreted in this sense by either Spain or
the Dutch"
We come now to the evidence supplied
by the Dutch archives as to European oc-
cupation and claims in Western Guiana.
Prof. BURH's report on this subject occu-
pies 275 large octave pages. The concu-
sions at which he arrives will be found
summed up in the following paragraph:
The whole coast Of Guiana was from the
beginning OF the seventeenth century,
looked on by the Dutch as open to coloni-
zation but no exclusive claim to that
coast, as a whole, seems ever to have been
made by them. From 1921 to 1874 the
right to coonize that coast on behalf OF the
Dutch was vested in the Dutch West India
Company, which was empowered by its
charter to settle unoccupied districts
That company, while freely exercising
this right Of colonization, and granting
lands for it's exercise by others, has
left on record no definition Of the limits OF
its occupation in Guiana, and no claim as to
boundary on the side of the Spanish colo
MES. From 1874 new West India Com
pany, which had received by its charter no
other lands on the American Continent than
1.-THE places of EsseQuibo and Pomeroon,"
owned and governed the Dutch colonies in
western Guiana. The boundaries OF these
places" underlined by the charter, were
left underlined by the company, and Save
for certain claims put forth by the Zee
land Chamber when in schism with the rest
of the company remained underlined until
the year 1850. In 1853 the Governor Of
these Dutch colonies addressed to the Gov
ernor of Spanish Guiana a remonstrance
against Spanish aggressions, In which he
claimed for the Dutch the boundary laid
down on the map of D'ANvILLE. This claim
was made, however, without authority
from the West India Company or from the
States-General, and was not urged in the
remonstrance u759) addressed on this oc-
casion at the instance of the company by
the States-(ieneral to the Court OF Spain
But, in 1859, another remonstrance to the
Spanish Court drawn by the iceland Cham
Der OF the West India Company, urged by tho
Stakeholder. and adopted by the States-Gen-
eral, stated or implied definite claims as to
territorial boundary in Guiana. On the
coast the Dutch territory Is represented as
stretching to beyond the Waini, in the
interior. to point between the Dutch post
on the Cuyuni and the nearest Spanish
missions, This is the one document known
to the diplomatic correspondence of the
two countries which suggests the place Of
the boundary. In 1872 the Guiana colonies
reverted to the State, but no fresh claim
was made as to this boundary; and though
in 1SO1-1sO2 the Dutch Council OF the
Colonies conceived project for the delimi-
tation at the Congress of Amens OF the
Guiana boundary, fixing it, IL possible at
the Orinoco or the Barima, the project was
abandoned and remained secret.
At the same time when Prof. BURR was
examining the evidence OF the Dutch
archives rs to European occupation and
claims in western Guiana Mr.. JOHN
FRANKLIN JAMESON, Professor Of History
ut Brown University, was requested to in
v"stigate the history Of the Dutch and
Spanish settlements in the disputed terri
tory prior to 1913, including the Spanish
missions and the Dutch trading posts.
The results of his inquiry were briefly
set forth as follows in the concluding
paragraph of his report: Il find no
evidence OF any Spanish occupation
of the disputed territory in 1919, nor
of any but temporary occupation of any
portion of 1t before that time. | find no
certain evidence of any Dutch occupation
in 1913, northward or westward Of the
Essequibo and Kykoverral, unless one
thinks it proper to rely on the translation
of Document No. IL in the British Blue
Book, page 90. find no evidence Of occu-
patton OF Barima Point before 1913" At
the time when this report was made June
1 l. 1S06l Prof JAMESON had mot ranaiyod |