The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-07-08
4 LAWSUIT OF NATIONS

spondence with Great Britain on the SUD-
ject, yet the case was only a minor incl,
dent 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 successor, President
| Cleveland
From the date of his employment as
counsel for Venezuela, something more
| than fifteen months ago, until the present,
| Gen. Harrison has given his entire time
| to the great case. His law office In In
| dianapolis has not been used by him, and
| he has worked at his home Scarcely
| day has passed on which he has not spent
! the usual business hours Of a lawyer,
| from 9 to o'clock, on this case. Con-
| sidering that he Is public man, with
| many urgent requests for use of his time
| in politics and ether business ana1rs, ne
| has led almost secluded life. His So
| iourn in the Adirondacks last summer was
| only a change of workshop, not vaca-
| ton.
In this boundary dispute the Venezue-
| lans and the British are the successors,
| respectively of the Spanish and the
| Dutch The controversy touches many
| points Of historic and romantic interest,
beginning with the times of the Spanish
| discovery and conquests in South Amer1-
ca. The disputed territory itself was the
much-sought El Dorado of the Spanish
| and English tyranny and inquisition at
tackled their enemy along these far away
coasts and cut off many Of the treasure
ships that carried to Spain the means OF
maintaining her long and cruel wars. 1t
was by settlement in territory claimed by
| Spain and while at war with that country
| that the Dutch got a foothold in Guinea.
| and by the treaty Of Munster In 164s
| after the Thirty Years War in Europe,
received a grant from Spain Of territorial
1 rights in Guiana What Is now British
Guiana was held for 1855 years by the
| px, freafv If
| finally coded to Great Britain in 1914
! The evidence submitted in this interna
tional lawsuit is particularly voluminous
| for the two and half centuries since the
treaty of 1e48, which gave no well-defined
boundary between Spanish and Dutch
| possessions, and thus started all the trou-
.ble There are Dutch documents, com.
plete and we'll connected, from The
| Hague; Spanish documents, incomplete,
scattered, gathered with great labor from
archives without index, at Seville. There
! WAS search also in the Vatican at Rome
amoag reports of the Spanish mission set
Elements in the disputed territory. Ma
kerial also, had naturally been gathering
| In the Venezuelan archives at Caracas.
| Then there were the English blue books.
| supplem In the research on Fenezue.
| las behalf by unofficial publications about
geographical subjects and travel not al
ways in harmony with the official docu-'
| nents.
| (, All the documents in foreign languages
| have been translated and the whole pro-
| ceedings are in English. All the evidence
lis in. Everything submitted has been
/ printed, and copies of the many volumes
| have been furnished to the five arbitratorsr
and the respective counsel. What is called
the case, or the opening statement of
! facts, for Great Britain, takes up one
i volume with seven volumes of appendices
Or exhibits. The case for Venezuela takes
l up one volume, with two volumes. of ap-
! pendices. Each side also submitted with
Its case an atlas of maps bearing on the
| controversy The cOunter-caSe of Great
| Britain takes up one volume and vol
| ume of appendices and the counter case
of Venezuela one volume, with two VOL
| dmas OF appendices Each side, with It's
counter-case, submitted another atlas!
Then came the printed argument, filing
two volumes, or about 800 pages, for
| Venezuela, and only one volume of about
Is pages for Great Britain. Thus far
| therefore, twenty-three printed volumes
have been submitted. Further proceed
ings are to be by oral argument, though
such things as the arbitrator may call
for will be submitted in printing and the
other side will have to print replies.
| ; Assisting Gen. Harrison as counsel for
Venezuela are Benjamin F. Tracy, who
was secretary of the navy In his cabinet;
| S. MaHet-Prevost and James Russell So
ley, all of New York. 8. Mallet-Prevost
was secretary of the United States COM
mission on this boundary dispute and had
d>1e much work for the commission in
placing evidence in shape. He was, there
| fore, familiar with the details OF the dis
i pute and was especially valuable in max
| ing up the Venezuelan case in the short
| time between January, 1898, and March
| 10 Of the same year, when the case was
| submitted. There Is no citizen of Ven
eZuela among the counsel for that cOun-
try, but ]. M Rojas of Venezuela is agent
for his country in the litigation. Gen.
| Harrison, engaged in case for a Spanish
| speaking country and one in which douc-
ments translated from foreign languages
| are numerous, is familiar only with the
English language Heis, further, making
his first trip to Europe in going to Paris
to plead for Venezuela in this case.
The territory in dispute. between Ven
ezuela and British Guiana covers over
6O,OOO square miles, and Is greater than
the combined areas Of the States of New
/ York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Venezuela contends that all the territory
j west Of the EsseQuibo river belongs to
the republic. Lord Salisbury, in CORE ,
spondence with Mr.. Olney opposing the
submission of the dispute about certain
parts OF this territory to arbitration,
spoke impressively of titles that had
4 been unquestioned for generations" In
/ the mastery printed argument Of Gen.
4 Harrison and hts associates, these pre-
I tensions are submit ed to rigid analysis
puted title could not be shown for even
one generation. Before the discoveries OF
gold, beginning less than twenty years
3 ago, the territory west Of the Essequibo
Izriver was practically unsettled except for
4 Venezuelan settlements near the Orinpce.
When the gold movement begantthe Brit
z ish simply went in and took charge of
things, settling up their own government,
and now after heavy mining investments
are reluctant to give UP control
Il Venezuela's title is based on the rights
acquired by Spain, of which country the
present republic was; up to 1910, de-
1 pendercy. Spain, it Is commended, by dis.
/ covery ard settlement in the sixteenth
4 century gained title to the whole of the
country from the Orinoco to the Amazon;
i rivers. For the Spanish title are demand
ed the broad rights and liberal construc-
ton accorded by international law to the
discovering nation. The Dutch, as Sec
Iond corners or intruders within this ter
ritcry, are held by Venezuelan COUNSEL
4 to be bound by narrower rules and to-
have prescribed title to such territoryI
only as is settled by them or can clearly.
be; shown to have been under their con-
troll. The treaty Of arbitration between|
Great Britain and Venezuela provides as
l a special rule that adverse holding dur
Ing period Of fifty years shall make
good title. The arbitrators may DEEM
exclusive political control OF a district.
las well as actual settlement thereof, suf-i
hcient to constitute adverse holding or
i 70 make title by prescription
By the treaty of 1913 Spain granted to;
i the Netherlands the territory then held
/ BY the Dutch In Guiana, without defining;
what this territory was, and this started
all the trouble It Is commended that the|