Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-11

Venezuela are Benjamin F. Tracy who
was Secretary of the Navy in his cabinet.
>. Mauet-PrevOst and James Russell SoIey
| all OF New York. S. Mallet-Prevost was
secretary of the United States commits
sion on this boundary dispute and had
dCne much work for the commission in
placing evidence in shape He was there
1cfe, familiar with the details of the dis
pute and was especially valuable in MAX
ing up the Venezuelan case in the short
| time between January, 1898, and March u
OF the same year, when the case was sub
mftted. There is no citizen of Venezuela
among the counsel for that country but
/ J. NJ. Rojas of Venezuela is agent for
his country in the litigation Gen Harri-
| son, engaged in a case for Spanish-speak-
! ing country and one in which documents
Translated from foreign languages are
numerous, is familiar only with the En-
ghsh language.
Territory in Dispute.
| The territory in dispute between Vene-
zuela and British Guiana covers over 60 600
square miles, and is greater than the COM
bined areas of the states of New York. Con-
necticut and Massachusetts. Venezuo1a
| contends that al. the territory west Of
the Essequibo river belongs to the republic
Lord Salisbury, in correspondence with Mr.
| olney opposing the submission of the dis
pute about certain parts of this territory
TO arbitration, spoke impressively of I'll
ties tnat had been unquestioned for genera
ucns. In the mastery printed argument
Oh Gen Harrison and his associates these
pFetenslons are submitted TO a rigid analy-
| sis which makes it appear that an undis-
| puled ute could not be shown for even
| one general ton. Before the discoveries of
! gold, beginning less than twenty wears ago
! the territory west of the EsSeuuibO river
was practically unsettled except for Vene-
Zuelan settlenio nts near the Orinoco When
| the gold movement began the British sim
of
ting up their own government, and now
after heavy mining investments, they are
| reluctant TO give up control.
Nenezuela'S claims are based on tba
| rights acquired by Spain, of which country
| the present republic was, up to 1910. a de-
tendency. Spain, 1t is commended by dis
/ coVery and settlement in the sixteenth CEN
| fury. gained title to the whole of the conn
| try from the Orinoco to the Amazon rivers.
| For the Spanish title is claimed the broad
rights and liberal construction accorded nv
International law to the discovering nation.
! The Dutch. as second corners or intruders
within this territory are held by Venezua
Ian counsel to be bounded by narrower
rules and to have preScriptiye title to sucb
territory onl y 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
special rule that adverse holding during a
period OF 1fty years Shall make a good
Title The arbitrator may deem exclusive
f'oAtlcai control of a district as well az
actual settlement thereof sufficient to con-
stltute adverse holding or to make title nv,
prescription N'' "S
HiNA1 COntentiOns
by the treaty of 1913 Spain granted to the
-N'tiei idhuS the territory then held by the
Dutch In Guiana without defining what
| thls territory was, and this started all tho
| Touble. 1t Is commended that the Dutch
/ theh heid no territory whatever west of the
| bssequlho, except a narrow strip along tho
coast 70 the Pomeroon. a river small on tho
MAP out important in this controvers,,
me Dutch. 1t Is held. in the 1866 wears he
! Iore brllsh control In 1914, never advanced
| farther unless it was about one mile to tha
| west to the Maruca another small ~
fnuch-!nentoned river. Spain treated anv
| pretensions the Dutch made bevon5 th;s
| as obviously baseless and drove them hani,
as intruders- Dipiomatic correspondence
| on the subject of the boundary had ceased
| between the Spanish and the Dutch So
enty-one years before 1S4l when constern,
| ton was created in Venezuela nv news nc d.
| a British flag was flying at Point Barima
an island commanding the mouth of the
| Orlhoco. protest was at once made nv
| venezuela, and the controversy so Ionor
| asleep was reawakened is
| schOmburgk's Line.
| The flying of the British flag was an.
to the claims for Great Britain by Herman,
| Schomburgk, a young German naturalist
| who had been travelling in Guiana and had
| proposed to the British government to sur.
vey a boundary line. He was an enthu-
| siast for Great Britain, and dwelt in his
| letters on the great military advantage OF
controlling the mouth of the Orinoco a
/ river which he said offered water transpor.
| tation for from 400 to 500 leagues and had
nearly 800 tributary streams of more OF