Year 1887

631. THE EARL OF IDDESLEIGH TO MR. F. R. ST. JOHN

Foreign Office, January 12, 1887.

Sir,

Her Majesty’s Government have had under their consideration the despatch of the 7th ultimo, in which you report the circumstances under which President Guzman Blanco made to you the intimation, of which you informed me by telegraph on the same day, that the Venezuelan Government intended to erect at once a lighthouse at Barima Point; and that, should any opposition be made by Great Britain, the President would break off relations with Her Majesty's Government.

In the first, place, I have to acquaint you that the language which you inform me you held at your interview with General Guzman Blanco has the approval of Her Majesty's Government; they do not, however, wish you to say anything further concerning the pursuit of fugitives into the disputed territory by the Venezuelan police, as it is not desirable to encourage the Venezuelan Government to adopt such action; and I now proceed to give you their instructions as to the reply which you should make to the communication from the Government of Venezuela.

You will inform President Blanco that the request by the British Consul for the erection of such a lighthouse in 1886, to which his Excellency referred in conversation with you as justifying the intention which he announced, was unknown to, and unauthorized, by the British Government of the day; that an attempt to erect such a lighthouse without the consent of Her Majesty's Government would be a departure from the reciprocal engagement taken by the Governments of Venezuela and England in 1850 not to occupy or encroach upon the territory in dispute between the two countries; and that Her Majesty's Government would be justified in resisting such a proceeding as an act of aggression on the part of Venezuela. Nevertheless, as it appears that a light at Barima Point would render the navigation of the Orinoco River safer, and thus be of undoubted benefit to commerce generally, Her Majesty's Government do not desire unduly to insist on their rights, and I have to instruct you to inform President Blanco that they will give their consent to the erection of a light at Barima Point on condition that an arrangement shall be come to between the two Governments as to the quantity of land to be occupied for the purpose, and that the Venezuelan Government shall give a formal engagement in writing that the placing of the light will in no way be held as prejudicing the British claim to the territory in dispute, of which Barima Point forms a part, nor be construed hereafter as evidence of any right on the part of Venezuela to Barima Point, nor as an acquiescence by Great Britain in such an assumption.

On receiving such written assurances, Her Majesty's Government will be prepared to instruct the British local authorities not to offer any opposition to the erection of the proposed light, but you should warn the Venezuelan Government against the danger of their taking action in the matter without a previous understanding with this country. . . .

(Signed) IDDESLEIGH

632 MR. F. R. ST. JOHN TO SIR J. PAUNCEFOTE

Caracas, January 19, 1887.

Sir,

Referring to my despatch to the late Earl of Iddesleigh of the 10th December last, I have the honor to inclose, in translation, a further note addressed to me by the Venezuelan Government on the subject of the contemplated occupation of Barima Point.

If I am not mistaken, this note implies hesitation on the part of the President of Venezuela to carry out a threat which could only result in determining Her Majesty’s Government to withdraw their offer of surrendering the lower bank of the Orinoco River, in compliance with the wishes, not of those living on the spot, and directly concerned, but of the Venezuelan Government, and it attempts to effect a retreat from a difficult position by throwing all the blame on me for having failed to supply to the Venezuelan Government the explanations asked for, and for refusing to discuss the question without authority.

In the leading portion the phrase "his" (the President's) "proposal to send an engineer and new officials to Barima” is evidently intended to convey the idea, when published, that the Barima River is habitually occupied by Venezuelan officials, and there is therefore no departure from custom in the proposed measure. In a subsequent paragraph, though allusion is made to Lord Aberdeen’s note of 1844, which I had quoted in proof of what Great Britain claimed many years ago as British Guiana, it is endeavoured to show that the removal, at the request of the Venezuelan Representative, of the flags, posts, and marks placed by Sir Robert Schomburgk in 1841 was proof of our admission that the territory belonged to Venezuela; and in the concluding part it is affirmed, despite the explanations given by me, in my note of the 10th December, 1886 (see my despatch to Lord Iddesleigh of the 10th December); that my statement that Sir Robert Porter recommended to the Venezuelan Government the erection of a lighthouse at Barima Point without authority from Her Majesty's Government is unworthy of credit.

In order to avoid any possible doubt, as to what really passed at my interview of the 6th December with the President, I deemed it right, without entering into discussion or taking any further notice of the frivolous plea that Sir Robert Porter's suggestion of 1836 justifies the occupation of Barima Point by Venezuela, to place on record a brief account of my interview, firstly with the President; and then with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, already reported in my despatch to the Earl of Iddesleigh No. 106 of the 7th December last. . . .

(Signed) F. R. ST. JOHN

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Inclosure 1: SEÑOR URBANEJA TO MR. F. R. ST. JOHN

(Translation: Original — Spanish)

Caracas, January 8, 1887.

Your Excellency,

I have had the honour to receive your note, dated the 9th ultimo, in answer to the request of the Government for information from the Legation regarding certain proceedings on the part of British authorities.

The President of the Republic, to whom I read that answer, has directed me to state to you his regrets that the friendly spirit by which he was moved in imparting to you the information which he had received, and his proposal to send an engineer and new officials to Barima, Amacura, and other places, should have proved unavailing. You refuse to give the explanation which perhaps might have modified that intention either materially or as regards the time of its execution, for which reason his Excellency has commanded me to here point out that for all time the interview of the 6th initiated by him and the note from this Department, in which was summed up what passed thereat, will remain as proof of the loyal frankness and conciliatory wishes of the Head of the Government of Venezuela in this affair.

I should here conclude, had you not added two remarks notwithstanding your declaration to decline what was asked, and to discontinue the discussion, but those remarks call for some explanation.

In the first place, you deny my assertion touching the territory situated between the Rivers Barima and Amacura, alleging that it was already mentioned in Lord Aberdeen's note to Señor Fortique of the 30th March, 1844, as part of British Guiana.

Venezuela has never admitted, nor will ever admit, that Dutch Guiana bordered on the Orinoco; and it results from the note with which Señor Fortique commenced the negotiation of limits, as well as from preceding ones in which he called for the removal of flags, posts, and marks placed in 1841 by the Engineer Schomburgk at Barima and other places, and from the conference which took place on the subject with their Excellencies the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Colonies.

It was precisely the placing of such marks of foreign dominion in the places mentioned to which Great Britain holds no title, which give rise to such serious feeling in Venezuela, and led to the emission of MM. José Santiago Rodriguez and Juan José Romero to Demerara in the capacity of Commissioners to ask for explanations regarding these astounding acts. In a note of the 11th December, 1842, Lord Aberdeen wrote to Señor Fortique that the marks had been placed as a means of enabling his Government to discuss the question of limits with the Government of Venezuela, that they were placed for this very purpose, and not, as Venezuela seemed to fear, for the purpose of establishing dominion and authority on the part of Great Britain.

Lord Aberdeen added that he had learnt with pleasure that the two Commissioners sent by the Republic to British Guiana were enabled to convince themselves by the statements of the Governor of that Colony that Barima Point had not been occupied by British authorities.

The usurpations sanctioned by Spain by the Treaty of Munster were those concerning the Colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice, and Surinam, immediately confirmed by the Convention of Extradition concluded at Aranjuez, whence you will see that the Dutch Colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice, and Surinam, with Curaçoa and San Eustaquio, are specified in contradistinction to the Spanish Colonies of the Orinoco, Coro, and Puerto Rico. Of said Dutch Colonies, the Netherlands transferred to His Britannic Majesty, by the Treaty of London of the 13th August, 1814, those of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice. Whence comes, therefore, British right over the Spanish Colonies of the Orinoco?

Your second remark is to the effect that the British Agent in Caracas, namely, Sir Robert Ker Porter, in 1836 Charge d'Affaires of Great Britain in this Republic, proceeded to request its Government to place a lighthouse at Barima Point without the knowledge or authority of his Government, and you add, by quoting a note of the Legation of the 26th September, 1851, to this Department, that the doctrine that every act and word of a Diplomatic Agent binds his Government is inconsistent with international law, it being well known that not even a Treaty concluded by a Plenipotentiary is valid without it be ratified by his Government.

On these points the President commands me to declare it inconceivable (inadmissible) to the Government of Venezuela that during the long space of fifty years since the date of the communication of Sir Robert, the Government of Great Britain, informed by him or his successors of the step he had taken, should not have notified to Venezuela the fact of that want of authority of which, after fifty years, you now for the first time inform her, but which she had no ground for presuming. . . .

(Signed) DIEGO B. URBANEJA

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Inclosure 2: MR. F. R. ST. JOHN TO SEÑOR URBANEJA

Caracas, January 19, 1887

Señor Ministro,

P.S — Your Excellency mentions in the second paragraph of your note under acknowledgment the sending of new functionaries to Barima, etc; I shall be obliged if your Excellency will inform me when such functionaries were sent there on former occasions, and how long they remained.

F. R. ST. J.

633. COLONIAL OFFICE TO FOREIGN OFFICE

Downing Street, January 25, 1887.

Sir,

I am directed by Secretary Sir Henry Holland to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquess of Salisbury, copies of three despatches from the Governor of British Guiana relative to the arrival at Georgetown of the Venezuelan gun‑boat "Centenario”, with Commissioners from the Government of Venezuela, and the proceedings of the gun‑boat on the coasts claimed by the Colony, and of a letter addressed to the Admiralty on the 24th instant.

I am also to suggest that Her Majesty's Minister at Caracas should be instructed to inform the Venezuelan Government that Her Majesty's Government cannot permit any interference with British subjects in the territory claimed by Great Britain. . . .

(Signed) EDWARD WINGFIELD

*****

Inclosure 1: GOVERNOR SIR H. IRVING TO MR. STANHOPE

Government House, Georgetown, Demerara, January 7, 1887.

Sir,

I have the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a letter from the Acting Consul for Venezuela, reporting the arrival at Georgetown on the 31st ultimo of the Venezuelan gun‑boat "Centenario", and embodying an official note addressed to him by two gentlemen on board that vessel, Dr. Jesus Muñoz Tebar and Señor Santiago Rodil, who represent themselves to be Commissioners of the Venezuelan Government, and the object of whose mission is set forth in their official note.

2. I also inclose copy of my reply to the Acting Consul.

3. I further inclose copies of certain reports which have reached me relative to proceedings of the "Centenario" in the districts of the Amacura, Barima, and Waini Rivers.

4. The action taken by the Venezuelan Government, and the proceedings of the Commissioners, as exhibited in these papers, appear to be a direct challenge of he action of Her Majesty's Government, and in contravention of the terms of the Notice issued by their Authority under date the 21st October, 1886, and published in the London Gazette, and in this Colony.

5. It is manifestly impossible that the present position can be allowed to continue, in which the British subjects inhabiting districts declared by Her Majesty’s Government to be within the limits of British Guiana are required by the Venezuelan Government, with an exhibition of armed force, to render obedience to them.

6. Deeming it my duly to convey to you the earliest possible intimation of these proceedings, I yesterday addressed to you the telegram, of which copy is inclosed, giving an outline of the facts, and suggesting that the best mode of counteracting the action of the Venezuelan Government, and, I may add, of allaying excitement and alarm, would be the stationing for a time of one of Her Majesty’s ships of war in the neighbourhood.

7. The Admiral is now at Barbados, and is, I understand, to visit this Colony on the 22nd instant. . . .

.(Signed) HENRY T. IRVING

*****

Inclosure 2: SEÑOR ANDRADE TO GOVERNOR SIR H. IRVING

Consulate of the United States of Venezuela,

Georgetown, Demerara, January 5, 1887

Your Excellency,

I have the honour of informing you that on the 31st ultimo the Venezuelan gun‑boat "Centenario" arrived in the River Demerara, having on board the Commissioners Señores Dr. Jesus Muñoz Tebar and Santiago Rodil, who have been sent here on an important mission. In pursuance of the orders received from his Excellency the President of the United States of Venezuela on the 1st instant, the Commissioners handed in to me an official note, with instructions to transmit your Excellency a copy of it with all possible dispatch. This I would have immediately done, but unfortunately I have not yet received my exequatur, and only yesterday I obtained your Excellency’s authorization to act provisionally pending the receipt of my exequatur as Consul for the United States of Venezuela.

I now have the honour of transcribing here the official note of the said Commissioners, which, copied literally, is as follows: —

[Here follows the Spanish text.]

This is the full text of the original under reference; and with a view to render this document intelligible to your Excellency, and trusting the same will facilitate an early answer, I beg to append herewith a translation of the note under consideration. . . .

(Signed) MANUEL L. R. ANDRADE

Consul

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Inclosure 3: MM. TEBAR AND RODIL TO THE CONSUL OF VENEZUELA IN GEORGETOWN, DEMERARA

On board the Venezuelan gun‑boat "Centenario", anchored in the River Demerara, off Georgetown, January l, 1887.

The Undersigned, as you, have seen by the credentials presented to you, have been commissioned by the President of the United States of Venezuela to investigate with a view to deciding certain affairs which we here beg to lay before you.

Whereas it has become an urgent necessity for the safe navigation of the River Orinoco, now performed by numerous vessels, that a lighthouse be immediately erected at Barima Point, the President of the Republic has decided to erect the same, the selection and survey of a convenient spot and the construction of this lighthouse being one of the objects of the Commission.

However, as it has reached the notice of the Government of the Republic that on the Amacura, Barima, Guaima, and other river districts, there are at present several parties who it is said have been appointed Rural Constables by the British authorities of the Colony, the President of the Republic has also resolved that these facts be investigated, and that orders be given for the immediate reorganization of the parishes of the territory situated on the banks of the said rivers; this likewise is included in the instructions received by the Commissioners.

In virtue, therefore, of these instructions, and after the preliminary works of the erection of a lighthouse at Punta Barima had been made, we proceeded to survey the Amacura River, the Brazo Barima, the Mora passage, and the Barima, Aruca and Guaima Rivers; and in fact, Sir, we found in the neighbourhood of the Amacura a wooden house thatched with straw, said to have been built by orders of the authorities of this Colony, and two men who handed us their precepts as Rural Constables, signed by Michael McTurk, Stipendiary Magistrate. In the neighbourhood of Aruca we were informed there was another Rural Constable, whom, however, we were unable to see, as he had come down to town. ln Cuabana, on the banks of the Guaima River, a missionary, the Rev. Walter Heard, had some seven years ago built with public subscriptions a small house that is in actual use as a church and school-room, the salary of the schoolmaster being defrayed by some religious body; and in the register of marriages kept there it is stated that the village forms part of the county of Essequibo.

In all those places, and acting upon the instructions we received from the President of the Republic, we have protested in the name of Venezuela against such proceedings, and declared to the inhabitants that all those districts belong to Venezuela, and not to Her Britannic Majesty.

Allow us, Sir, to relate in as concise a form as possible the chief points of the question in litigation.

You are well aware of the fact that the boundaries between Venezuela and British Guiana have not yet been settled. Venezuela has always sustained as its boundary the left bank of the Essequibo, but since 1803, Great Britain, adducing the existence of Dutch forts beyond the Essequibo River, took possession of a considerable extent of land.

Since that time Venezuela has been protesting against such encroachments on her territory, and has been endeavouring to arrange a Treaty of Limits between the two countries.

In 1841 Schomburgk, the engineer who surveyed the country, fixed the most preposterous boundaries to the Colony, guiding himself not by any previous facts or documents whatsoever, but simply by geographical considerations. He even erected a look‑out, posts, and other marks of dominion on Barima Point. In consequence, however, at the prompt and just remonstrances of the Venezuelan Government, these pretensions were abandoned, and negotiations for a Treaty of Limits were entered into.

The Venezuelan Plenipotentiary proposed that the Essequibo should be the boundary of the two countries, and Lord Aberdeen that it should commence at the Moroco River. The death of the Venezuelan plenipotentiary, Dr. Fortique, unfortunately put a stop to these negotiations.

In 1881 Lord Granville rejected the longitudinal boundary of his predecessor, and urged that the line should be drawn more to the northward of the Moroco, at a spot 29 miles to the east of the right bank of the Barima River. Venezuela has never entertained such a proposal, but has urged that the matter be referred to a Court of Arbitration, is the most satisfactory, and rational manner of settling a question of frontiers between the two nations whose mutual relations of friendship have ever been and are still on the most cordial footing.

There exists a Convention proposed in November 1850, by the Honourable Mr. Wilson, British Chargé d'Affaires at Caracas, who in consequence of the question being raised of the erection of a fort at Barima Point, declared in the name of his Government that they had not the intention of occupying or usurping the lands in dispute, and that no order or sanction would be given to such acts of occupation or encroachment on the part of their authorities. The same declaration he solicited and obtained from the Government of Venezuela.

But it must be remarked, Sir, that Venezuela has never considered as territory in dispute the districts watered by the Rivers Amacura, Barima, and Guaima.

It is evident that England has never considered herself "Joint Suzerain” ("Condueña") with Venezuela of the mouths of the Orinoco, and the River Amacura discharges its waters some distance above the great mouth. Barima Point juts out into that magnificent river, and Brazo Barima with the Mora Guana passage are but channels of the same Orinoco River on its right bank in an easterly direction, as are likewise the Macareo, Pedermales, add other channels, which, flowing northward into the Gulf of Paria, form together the Great Delta of the Orinoco River, of which Venezuela has been the exclusive and sole mistress.

As one of the many proofs that this is a fact recognized by Great Britain, we beg to inclose copy of the official note of the 26th May, 1836, sent through the British Legation in Caracas, earnestly requesting the construction of a beacon at Barima Point.

Recent intelligence received by the Government of Venezuela is to the effect that gold is being dug in our territory situated between the Cuyuni, Massaruni, and Puruni Rivers, and that a large quantity of that precious metal has been exported through the custom‑house of this city.

One of the instructions of the Commission confided to the Undersigned is that in case the late invasion our territory be true, as it appears to be, we should repair to British Guiana, and there lay a formal statement of the matter before you, so that you may immediately transmit it to his Excellency the Governor of the Colony, requesting him to be pleased to send you an answer to these facts as herein presented to your consideration.

As soon as this answer is received, and we hope you will transmit us a copy of it at your earliest convenience, we return immediately to Venezuela.

Moreover, Sir, you will be kind enough to sent us a note stating all you know regarding the subject of this communication, and accompanying it with all the official documents you may obtain….

(Signed) JESUS MUÑOZ TEBAR

SANTIAGO RODIL

*****

Inclosure 4: SIR R. KER PORTER TO SEÑOR GALLEGOS, MAY 26, 1836

[See Inclosure 1 in No. 504, in “From 1842 to 1857"]

*****

Inclosure 5: MM TEBAR AND RODIL TO MM NUÑEZ AND GEFFRIE

(Translation: Original — Spanish)

United States of Venezuela, Amacura, December 24, 1886.

Gentlemen,

(Telegraphic)

January 29, 1887.

Frontier Commission returned. I am officially informed that evacuation by us of territory between Orinoco and Pomeroon is required, and if no satisfactory assurance is received by meeting of Congress, 20th February, relations will cease. Instruct me for this contingency.

(Received February 4, 8.00 a.m.)

635. MR. F. R. ST. JOHN TO HER MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE, FOREIGN OFFICE

Caracas, February 1, 1887

My Lord,

I had the honour on the 29th ultimo to report to Her Majesty’s Government, by telegraph, that unless an assurance were received by the Venezuelan Government before the 20th February that the territory lying between the Rivers Orinoco and Pomaroon would be evacuated by Great Britain, diplomatic relations should cease between the two countries.

I have now the honour to forward a translation of the communication from the Venezuelan Government in which this determination is officially conveyed to me.

The note in question commences by informing me that the Head of the Venezuelan Commission which was sent to the Guiana frontier had returned to Caracas and reported that they found two British Commissaries on the bank of the Amacura River, where, by depositions taken, it was proved that jurisdiction had been and is exercised by such Commissaries and others; that there exists there a building used as a public office and flying the British flag; that vessels clearing from Ciudad Bolivar are not allowed to trade in rum or ascend the River Barima without permission from the British authorities at Georgetown; further, that gold‑mines are worked on territory situated between the Rivers Cuyuni, Mazaruni, and Puruni, whence a great quantity of gold had been exported through the British Colonial Custom‑house. Lastly, that the Commission had proceeded to Georgetown and acquainted the Governor with this violation of alleged Venezuelan territory.

The Venezuelan note then proceeds to discuss at length the right of Great Britain thus to appropriate territory of which the ownership is still in dispute, and argues from the incident, mentioned in Lord Aberdeen's note of the 30th March, 1844, to the Venezuelan Representative, of an unsuccessful Spanish attack upon the Dutch at New Zealand in 1797, that the latter must have been in unlawful possession of the place.

It is further complained that by way of reply to the explanation of these acts demanded by General Guzman Blanco, then Venezuelan Representative in London, Her Majesty's Government published a notice in the London Gazette of the 28th July last that all territory within the delimitation of Sir Robert Schomburgk is British.

The note then affirms that Venezuela is still disposed to end the controversy by recourse to arbitration — the only mode of settlement consistent with her Constitution — and concludes by stating that for the reasons which are set forth the President of the Republic demands that the territory lying between the Orinoco and Pomaroon Rivers be evacuated by Great Britain, failing which the Government of Venezuela will, in the case of either no reply or of a refusal, break off diplomatic relations.

The despatch from the Earl of Iddesleigh of the 12th ultimo, of which I was directed to communicate the substance to the Venezuelan Government, having reached me immediately after I received the Venezuelan note of which the enclosed is a copy, I thought it the best reply l could give to a communication the receipt of which I did not otherwise acknowledge. . . .

(Signed) F. R. ST. JOHN

*****

Inclosure: SEÑOR URBANEJA TO MR. F. R. ST. JOHN

(Translation — Original: Spanish)

Caracas, January 26, 1887.

Sir,

In accordance with what was communicated to you by this Department on the 7th December last, the President of the Republic sent as Commissioners to Barima and other spots, with the object already explained, Engineer Dr. Jesus Muñoz Tebar and General Santiago Rodil.

The Head of the Commission has just returned here, and has informed the Government of its result.

Unfortunately, the grave reports which caused that step are confirmed.

Firstly, the Commission found in the neighbourhood of the right bank of the River Amacura two Commissaries, Messrs. Francis Stephen Neame and J. B. Jeffrey.

These produced their warrants as rural constables, sent by Mr, Michael McTurk, who styles himself as Her Majesty's Stipendiary Magistrate in and for the Colony of British Guiana. The warrants are dated the 1st March, 1885, and the 6th September, 1886, respectively.

In reply to a communication from the Commissioners, the Commissaries stated that they had not received instructions to prevent the Venezuelan authorities of the left bank from descending the Amacura, but that they were authorized to prevent any Venezuelan vessel from selling rum of spirituous liquors on British territory, and they added that any one selling rum without a licence to that effect issued by the Government (of Demerara) could be arrested at any time.

In the said village of Amacura the Commission took declarations on oath from the Venezuelan Commissary, Mr. Robert Wells, and Messrs. Aniceto Ramuñez and Alfonoso Figueredo.

Their depositions corroborated the capture and arrest of the first in that same place, his conveyance to Georgetown and confinement in the prison of that place for two months, his trial, and sentence to a fine of 20 dollars, and, moreover, established the fact of the existence of a wooden house with a tiled roof, which serves as a public office, flies the British flag, was built by order and at the expense of the Colonial Government, and was seen by the Commissioners. It was in the same manner also proved that an English revenue‑cutter, named "Transfer," had on various occasions made voyages to the Amacura, conveying the British Magistrate and armed police functionaries, with the object of inquiring into, judging, and deciding criminal and police cases; and that vessels legally dispatched from Ciudad Bolivar are registered in Amacura as well as Barima, and are prohibited from selling their goods and continuing their course on the Barima unless in ballast, requiring them, in order to trade, that they obtain permission in Georgetown.

The Commissioners proceeded to the right bank of the Amacura, where they put themselves in communication, written and verbal, with the said Commissaries. From thence they proceeded to the neighbourhood of Acura, where they were told there was a Commissary, named Harrington, who was at that time absent, and that a Judge of the Peace was there until three months previously on account of the assassination of a coolie, and that the culprit was arrested and conveyed to Georgetown for trial. He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

In Cuabana, a village situated on the right bank of the River Guainia, they found a shed which serves for a Protestant church and public school, built under the superintendence of the missionary, Walter Heard. In the register of marriages found there it is stated that the place pertains to the county of Essequibo. No Commissary was found in the place.

Moreover, according to information obtained from the schoolmaster, Mr. Jacob Inglis, the Colonial Government keeps one in the village of Guaramuri, on the bank of the River Moruca. The Commission also ascertained that gold‑mines are worked under English authority in our territory situated between the Rivers Cuyuni, Maiaruni, and Puruni, and that a great quantity of that mineral has been already exported through the English Custom‑house.

Lastly, the Commission proceeded to Georgetown, and, through the Venezuelan Consulate in that town, made the Governor of Demerara acquainted with the duty with which they were charged, what, by virtue of it, they had done, and with the (fact of the) proved violation of Venezuelan territory.

The Secretary of said British functionary confined himself to replying on the 6th of this month that he inclosed a Notice published in the London Gazette on the 21st October, 1886, of which he sent a copy, and he declared that the districts referred to in the official note of the Commission are within the limits indicated by the terms of the Notice, and form a part of the Colony of British Guiana.

In the Notice it is proclaimed and notified that the limits of British Guiana, being in dispute between the Government of Her Majesty and that of Venezuela, and it having come to the knowledge of Her Majesty that the Government of Venezuela has granted and intends to grant concessions of land within the territory claimed by the Government of Her Majesty, such titles will not be admitted nor recognized, and that all persons taking possession of such lands, or exercising in them any right on the strength of such titles, will be tried as trespassers.

In conclusion, it is stated that in the Library of the Colonial Office, Downing Street, or in the Secretariat of the Government in Georgetown, British Guiana, may be seen a map which indicates the limits between British Guiana and Venezuela as claimed by Her Majesty’s Government.

It is incomprehensible why in the said Notice these limits are not specified, and why they are left in a map separated from the Notice to which they relate.

Well, then, by what is seen there remains not the slightest doubt that an extensive territory in Venezuela and the great artery on the north of the Continent of South America, the Orinoco, are practically under the authority of Great Britain, on the specious ground that there exists a dispute of limits between the Republic and Her Britannic Majesty.

The logical conclusion from the existence of a difference respecting the proprietorship of land and water should be all the more reason for neutralizing by common accord the places in dispute, pending a decision of the same. But for one of the litigants to determine by himself, and without consideration of the rights of the other, upon the appropriation of the object in dispute, is by the light of all jurisprudence an unjustifiable violation of the most sacred law of nations, and is a mortal wound (inflicted) on the sovereignty of the Republic.

Great Britain has herself, in an analogous case, condemned the very act which she has now committed against Venezuela.

According to the Decree issued by the King of Spain in 1768 the Province of Guiana was bordered on the south by the Amazon and on the east by the Atlantic.

So that the acquisitions of other Powers within these limits were unlawful, except such as were afterwards recognized by that Monarchy. As regards the Netherlands, to whose rights Great Britain succeeded, all that was left in their power of the said territory were the establishments of Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice, and Surinam, of which the Dutch had taken possession during their long war with their former Suzerain, which ended with the Treaty of Munster of 1648.

That the Dutch then possessed no other Colonies than those mentioned is proved by the Convention of Extradition concluded in Aranjuez between Spain and the Netherlands at the end of the eighteenth century, on the 23rd June, 1791, in which only these are named.

And it is to be observed that the Dutch could not encroach upon the Spanish possessions, because Article VI of the Treaty of Munster forbade them to navigate and trade thither; notwithstanding this they continued to advance; but Spain, far from consenting to fresh usurpations, recalled them by force.

Lord Aberdeen himself mentions in his note of the 30th March, 1844, to M. Fortique, that in 1797 the attack by Spain of the fort of New Zealand, without attaching importance to its unfavourable result [sic].

What it is endeavoured to prove is not the superiority of her forces over the Dutch garrison, but the opposition made to the latter's' advances. Therefore, all beyond the Essequibo was outside the jurisdiction of Holland, who, on her side, only ceded to Great Britain in 1814 the establishments of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice.

In 1844 Lord Aberdeen proposed as limit the Moroco.

In 1851 Lord Granville suggested to Venezuela a line commencing 29 miles east of the eastern bank of the Barima.

In 1886 Lord Rosebery suggested a frontier which should start from the sea‑shore to the west of the River Guainia.

In 1868, the Governor of Demerara, in a Decree on land survey, fixed none more northerly than the Pomaroon.

It was on the 6th November, 1886, when on the repeal of that Decree, by order of Her Majesty's Government, that he ordered new surveys reaching the eastern bank of the Amacura.

It was also in 1885 and 1886 that he named Commissaries for the Amacura.

In 1841 the Engineer Schomburgk capriciously fixed the frontier claimed today by Her Majesty, placing posts and other marks.

The Republic, being alarmed by such acts, sent two Commissioners to Demerara to demand explanations, and ordered their Minister in London to request that the marks be removed.

The Governor of Demerara stated to the Commissioners that, as the frontier was undefined and a matter of question, the work of Mr. Schomburgk was not and could not have been made with the idea of taking possession of the line, but, as a simple indication of the line presumed on the part of British Guiana, and that in the meantime, while the frontier remained undetermined, the Government of Venezuela might rest assured that no fort should be ordered to be built on the territory referred to, nor should any troops or forces be sent there.

On his part Lord Aberdeen replied that the marks placed by Mr. Schomburgk, in various parts of the country which he had explored, were only a preliminary step subject to future discussion by the two Governments; that they were the only practicable means of preparing oneself for the discussion of the question of the frontier with the Government of Venezuela; and they were placed with this express object, and not as stated by the Venezuelan Government, with the intention of establishing the dominion and rule of Great Britain.

He added that he was pleased to learn, by a note from Señor Fortique, that the two Commissioners sent by this Government to British Guiana were able to convince themselves, from the statements of the Governor of that Colony, that Barima Point had not been occupied by British functionaries. This was written on the 11th December, 1841.

Soon after, on the 31st January, 1842, Lord Aberdeen ordered the marks to be removed, in order to put an end to the ill‑feeling which existed in Venezuela in consequence of the proceedings of Mr. Schomburgk, and in compliance with the renewed representations of Señor Fortique; how to reconcile, therefore, this proceeding, at a time when it was held that during dispute it was impossible to take possession of the territory, with the act of today, by which the British Government has arrogated to itself the dominion of that which it professes to claim, exceeds the understanding of Venezuela.

And I must here remark that the latter never understood that the proprietorship of the places situated on this side of the mouth of the Pomaroon was ever in dispute, but only those to be found between this river and the Essequibo, and it very clearly follows from the proposal of Lord Aberdeen that it was agreed that the mouth of the Moroco should constitute the western limit of the British possessions.

However, even admitting, by way of argument, that the territory in dispute was more extended, this would not have authorized Great Britain in occupying it, not only for the reason of the thing in itself, but because she bound herself not to do so.

I refer to the Convention concluded in November 1850 by exchange of notes with Mr. Wilson, Charge d'Affaires of Great Britain, at his request, and in pursuance of clear instructions from his Government. He declared the rumours then bruited about here, that Great Britain desired to claim Venezuelan Guiana, to be without foundation and the reverse of true. He followed up this statement by declaring that Great Britain would neither occupy nor usurp the territory in dispute, nor order such occupations or usurpations, nor authorize them on the part of her authorities, and she requested and obtained from Venezuela similar assurances.

Hence it is clear that Great Britain has violated the Agreement, which was her work; that she has penetrated into forbidden places, visited the Rivers Guainia, Morazuana, and Amacura, and Barima Creek, affixing Notices on the trees on the river banks that her laws were there enforced; that she named Commissaries; carrying off a Venezuelan Commissary on pretext that he had maltreated a Portuguese, even though within jurisdiction of the Republic, conveying him to Georgetown, imprisoning him, trying him, and inflicting on him the fine of 20 dollars; that she established in Amacura a public office, traversing the space lying between it and the Barima by means of the coastguard schooner “Transfer”; that she included those places within the district of the Governor of Demerara, sending thither a Magistrate in order to inquire into and decide police and criminal cases; that she authorized the working of mines on Venezuelan territory, and finally appropriated it on the ground, as alleged, that the dispute of limits was pending.

As Minister of the Republic, General Guzman Blanco claimed from the British Government, in a note of the 28th July last, the explanation which such acts demanded, and the reply has been to proclaim and publish, by a Notice in the London Gazette of the 1st October, 1886, that what is included in the delimitation of the Engineer Schomburgk belongs to her; that is to say, that Great Britain, by herself and for herself, with exclusion of Venezuela, has decided as hers the mouth of the Orinoco, the most important river of the Republic, of which the Barima and Morazuana are branches, and including Barima Point, which her Charge d'Affaires, Sir Robert Porter, spontaneously surrendered on the 26th May, 1836, as being under the sovereignty of Venezuela. Many times has the latter proposed that the question be submitted to the decision of an arbitrator of rights, and the Government of Her Majesty has declined, on the ground of being unable to apply such a method in a dispute of limits. She has persisted in her refusal, notwithstanding that by Conventions in 1827 and 1871 she referred to arbitration boundary disputes with the United States, the one respecting possessions in North America, and the other respecting the Haro Canal, with the circumstance that in the last case the proposal emanated as many as six times from herself.

Venezuela continues to be disposed to end the controversy by recourse to arbitration, which is the only way compatible with her existing Constitution.

On the grounds of what has been explained, the President of the Republic demands from Her Majesty the evacuation of Venezuelan territory from the mouth of the Orinoco to that of the Pomaroon, which she (Great Britain) has unjustly occupied with the understanding that if by the 20th February next, at the meeting of Congress, to whom the Government is bound to render an account of everything, no reply should be received, or should be negative, the diplomatic relations between the two countries shall be broken off….

(Signed) DIEGO B. URBANEJA

636. MR. F. R. ST. JOHN TO HER MAJESTY’S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE, FOREIGN OFFICE

Caracas, February 1, 1887

My Lord,

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the late Earl of Iddesleigh's despatch to me of the 12th of last month, directing me to inform the Venezuelan Government of the conditions on which Her Majesty's Government would not be indisposed to sanction the placing of a light at Barima Point, and I beg to inclose herewith a copy of the note which I, in consequence, addressed to this Government. . . .

(Signed) F. R. ST. JOHN

P.S. — I should mention that the communication above referred to was delivered by me personally to the Venezuelan Minister, and that in doing so I drew attention to the conciliatory sprit in which it was conceived, adding that I hoped it might be the means of avoiding a rupture.

F. R. ST. J.

*****

Inclosure: MR. F. R. ST. JOHN TO SEÑOR URBANEJA

(Translation — Original: Spanish)

Caracas, January 31, 1887.

Señor Ministro,