The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-07
great source of qualification to the

great source of qualification to the
! Venezuelan government.
The cause of this most notable law
! suit of modern times was Great Brit
aims persistent refusal TO submit to
arbitration the boundary line dispute
between British Guiana and Venezuela.
| The United States took no stand as to
what was the true boundary line be-
tween the countries, but only insisted
that Great Britain should submit to
the ar5iti alton so frequently urged by
Venezuela, in order that the true line
might be determined. On Great Brit
aims refusal, the memorable message
of President Cleveland was issued and
this country determined to find out for
itself, by thorough investigation, the
true line.
A commission. consisting of David ].
Brewer of the supreme court of the
United States. r. II. Alvey. F. r. Cou-
dert. Daniel C. Gilman and Andrew D.
White, was appointed by the United
States to determine the boundary. The
commission collected a great mass of
information, but il was not necessary
for it to complete it's work. Great
britain finally consented to arbitration
and agreed to plan, after a long cor
respundence between Lord Salisbury
and Richard Olney, secretary of state
of the United States. After that the
United States had no further official
interest in the question. A treaty was
arranged between Venezuela and Great
Britain, agreeing to take as final the
decision of a tribunal of arbitration
as to the disputed boundary.
First Case of Its Kind.
1t is pointed out by General Harrison
and his associate counsel that this
tribunal is more like the great courts
of justice than any other that has sat
in an international dispute. Tribunals
in such cases, they say, have been too
much the conferences of the represent
atives of the disputing nations, rather
than the consultations of judges to
whom the parties are quite Indifferent
Venezuela has no direct representative
upon the tribunal. 1t is made up of
Sir Charles Russell, lord chief Justice
of England succeeding Lord Herschel,
recently deceased), and Justice Rich
ard Hem Collins on the part of Great
Britain, Chief Justice Fuller and Jus
tice Brewer of the United States SUI
preme court on the part of Venezuela,
and Professor Martens of the Un:ver-
sity of st. Petersburg, selected by these |
four. 1t had been provided that should /
the four first-named members be I'M
able to choose a fifth within four |
King Oscar of Norway and |
Sweden was to elect the fifth, but the 1
use of this provision did not become /
necessary.
Though the treaty Of arbitration had |
been finally ratified in June 1897, il /
was not until January, 1898, that def |
mite measures were taken toward hav-
ing the case of Venezuela properly
presented before the tribunal. Then
General Harrison, man of prestige by /
reason of his having been president
Of the United States and a man of
thorough legal ability, was called to
New York and engaged as chief coun-
sci for Venezuela There was an inn
nense task before him The docu-
nentary evidence extends over four
centuries. General Harrison at the time
knew little more of the case than many
,ther readers of newspapers and per-
odicais. Though Venezuela had for
1 number of years appealed to the
United States for assistance in her
dispute with Great Britain, and
-hough Secretary Blaine. like other sec
'etarieS of state, had had some CORE
;pondence with Great Britain on the
subject. yet the case was only a minor
Incident in Harrison's administration.
and did not take on anything like that
acute form which it began to assume
Early in the administration of his sue
lessor, President Cleveland.
Harrison's Work on the Case.
From the date of his employment as
counsel for Venezuela, something over
fifteen months ago, until the present,
General Harrison has given his entire
line to this great case. His law office
n Indianapolis has not been used by
lin, and he has worked at his home.
scarcely a day has passed on which
lie has not spent the usual business
hours of a lawyer. from to o'clock.
m this case. Considering that he is
'ublic man. with many urgent re-
quests for use of his time in politics
nd ether business affairs, he has led
llmost a secluded life His sojourn
n the Adirondacks last summer was
My a change of workshop, not va
alton
In this boundary dispute the Ven I
zuelans and the British are the sue
essors, respectively, of the Spanish
nd the Dutch The controversy
ouches MANY points of historic and ,
omantic interest. beginning with the {
ines of the Spanish discovery and I