The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-10-04
ANGLO-V VENEZUELAN AWARD
DECISION OF THE IRBIIR 4TION COMMISSION REID.

Miles of the GOD ,o0O Claimed by Ven. | czueln.
 Paris, Oct 3.-At the assembling at
 noon to-day of the Anglo-Venezuelan Boundary Arbitration commission, M.
 F. de Martens, the umpire, who has
 presided over the deliberations of the l tribunal, read his decision. The deci- | sion established the boundary lines ard | is considered in the nature of a com | promise rather than as favorlng Vene- zuela. Great Britain loses some of her claims in the interior and on the coast The award of the tribunal, briefly summarized, means that, of the 6OOOOO square miles claimed by Venezuela, the latter obtains only 100 formed part
 ly of the marsh-land near the river
 Barima and a portion of the interior;
 while Great Britain retains all the for
 est country
 When asked his opinion regarding
 the award Sir Richard Webster of the
 British counsel, said he was satisfied, MT, Harrison, replying to the same question, said: Tt might be worse" ;"
 Subsequently MT. Harrison and MT. Mallet-Provost, who were interviewed jointly pointed out that Great Brit ain up to the time of the intervention of the United States, distinctly refus- ed to arbitrate any portion of the ter ritory east of the Schomburgk line, al- laging that it's title was unassailable. This territory included the Atacuri and Point Barima, which is of the greatest value strategically and com mercially "The award" continued the counsel for Venezuela, gives Point Ba- rima with strip of land fifty miles long to Venezuela, which thereby ob- tains entire control of the River Orin- oco. Three thousand square miles in the interior are also awarded to Vene- zuea. Thus, by a decision in which the British arbitrators concurred, the position taken up by Great Britain in
 
 however, in no wise expresses the full extent of Venezuela victory. Great Britain having claimed 30,000 square miles of territory west of the Schom- burgk line and this she was disposed to arbitrate in 1890. Every foot of that section is now awarded to Venezuela"
 'The president of the tribunal in closing his address to-day" the Vene- zuelan counsel remarked, had com mented upon the unanimity of the present judgment and had referred to it as a proof of the success of the ar- bitration but in the opinion of counsel, it did not require much intelligence to penetrate behind this superficial state ment, and to see that the line drawn was a line of compromise and not a line of right If the British contention was right, the line should have been drawn further west, if it were wrong the line should have been drawn much farther east" There was nothing in the history of the controversy nor in the legal principles involved, counsel con- tended, which could adequately explain why the line should be drawn where it had been"
  say that. so long as arbitration was conducted on such principles it could not be regarded as success, at least by those who believe that arbitration should result in the admission of legal rights and not in compromises really in character. Venezuela had gained much, but was entitled to much more, and in the judgment of the joint counsel their failure to agree would have confirmed Great Britain in | the possession of even more territory
 One of the counsel for Great Britain | made the following statement to The | Associated Press. ''The award prac- | -ically endorses the judgment of Sir | Robert Schomburgk whose line it fol- ows except in few particulars Great l Britain acquires the whole of the River | Cuyuni, including site which Vene- .uea alleged to be fork at the june | ion of Curumu ahd the Cuyuni. The narshy Barima district has been awarded to Venezuela, possibly on the principle of national security, but with he cond~ion that the Orinocco shall | )e a free water way to all nations. This piece of land covers about thirty QudIG IlilFS. IL Ildu been OlI6loQ With much more land by every British for ign minister since the time of Lord Aberdeen.
 Great Britain has substantiated al- most all her extreme claim All the 'aluable plantations and goldfelde are low indisputably settled within British erritory."
 M. DeMartens was then interviewed The president of the tribunal repeated what he had said in his address to the ourt adding: T am of opinion that his tribunal of arbitration is of excep- | ional importance inasmuch as it is he first tribunal after the peace con- erence at The Hague. It is also i'm ortant because it is the first tribunal f the kind in which the rules of pro- edure have been laid down and com lunicated to counsel as obligatory, ules which have been adhered to These rules are the same S were proposed by the Russian gov rnment for the conference at The iague and approved there in July. As ley had been laid down by the arbi- 'ation tribunal in January they were pplied long before the convention at he Hague took them into considera- , on.
 Another point of great impor tance } that ever since 1873 all the awards