From 1888 to 1893
650. COLONIAL OFFICE TO FOREIGN OFFICE
Downing Street, February 9, 1888
Sir,
I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, for the information of the Marquess of Salisbury, a Proclamation as to the right of the Government of British Guiana to territory comprised in a concession made by President of Venezuela. . . .
(Signed) ROBERT G. W. HERBERT
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Inclosure: EXTRACT FROM THE OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF BRITISH GUIANA OF DECEMBER 31, 1887
Proclamation
BRITISH GUIANA
By his Excellency Charles Bruce, Esquire, Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-chief in and over the Colony of British Guiana, Vice-Admiral and Ordinary of the same, etc.
Whereas it has come to the knowledge of the Government of British Guiana that certain Concessions have been granted by the President, and by and with the sanction of the Government of the United States of Venezuela, purporting to give and grant certain rights and privileges for constructing a railway to Guacipati, and in and over certain territories and lands within, and forming part of, the Colony of British Guiana:
Now, therefore, I do hereby intimate to all whom it may concern that no alleged rights purporting to be claimed under any such Concession will be recognized within the said Colony of British Guiana, and. that all persons found trespassing on or occupying the lands of the Colony, without the authority of the Government of this Colony, will be dealt with as the law directs.
Given under my hand, and the public seal of the Colony, Georgetown, Demerara, this 31st day of December, 1887, and in the 51st year of Her Majesty’s reign.
God save the Queen!
By his Excellency's command.
(Signed) GEO. MELVILLE
Acting Government Secretary
651. COLONIAL OFFICE TO FOREIGN OFFICE
Downing Street, March 8, 1888
(Extract)
With reference to the letter from this Department of the 9th ultimo, forwarding a copy of a Proclamation issued by the Government of British Guiana respecting the Concession granted by the President of Venezuela for a railway over certain territory to Guacipati, I am directed by Lord Knutsford to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquess of Salisbury, a copy of a despatch from the Governor of British Guiana, inclosing a note addressed to him on the subject of that Proclamation by the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs.
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Inclosure 1: VISCOUNT GORMANSTON TO SIR H. HOLLAND
Government House, Georgetown, Demerara, February 14, 1888.
Sir,
Adverting to Mr. Bruce's despatch of the 31st December last, forwarding a copy of his Proclamation relative to the grant of a Concession for a railway to Guacipati made by the President of Venezuela, I have the honour to transmit to you a copy of a note addressed to me by the Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, with a translation of my reply. . . .
(Signed) GORMANSTON
*****
Inclosure 2: SEÑOR URBANEJA TO VISCOUNT GORMANSTON
(Translation — Original: Spanish)
Caracas, January 28, 1888
Sir,
In the Argosy and in the Demerara Daily Chronicle, periodicals of your Colony, of the 7th and 6th of this month respectively, the Government of the United States of Venezuela has seen a Notice published, invested with the official seal, by which your Excellency, in your character of Lieutenant-Governor, proclaims that —
"Whereas it has come to the knowledge of the Government that the President and Government of Venezuela have conceded privileges to construct a railway to Guacipati, in and over territories belonging to British Guiana, intimation is given that such privileges will not protect persons who may be found trafficking on lands belonging to the Colony from judicial proceedings."
As the undersigned Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic doubts the authenticity of such a document, which cannot be based on any reasonable precedent, since it refers to territory never disputed nor contested, inasmuch as we have constituted authorities with legal jurisdiction in the whole of the Yuruari Territory, he desires to see the Notice referred to, which is an attempt on the most legitimate interests of this nation, confirmed or disavowed.
Such is the object of this note; and at the same time, in view of the aggressive conduct of Great Britain, to inform you that we cannot allow now, as in 1858 we declared to the British representative in Caracas that we could not allow, this country to be entered otherwise than by the established posts, and that it did not at all suit us to open the line of our frontier with British Guiana, so as not to give a chance for unwarrantable and arbitrary violations of our rights.
We now solemnly confirm this prohibition, assisted by the justice of our cause, and by our duty to protect ourselves against the insult offered to our sovereignty by the mission of Special Agents of your Colony, without our permission or authorization, to carry on explorations in territory which was never before disputed us by any one, nor even by the tenacious and aggressive Power which seeks to invade us, careless as to its methods and scorning the rules upon which civilized nations base their proceedings and dealings with others.
In consequence of this declaration, we shall instruct our Consul in your city not to issue passports to British functionaries or subjects to enter our territory by the Essequibo frontier, or by places or ports not open to foreign commerce. . . .
(Signed) DIEGO URBANEJA
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Inclosure 3: VISCOUNT GORMANSTON TO SEÑOR URBANEJA
Government House, Georgetown, Demerara, February 14, 1888.
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's note of the 28th January last relative to the Territory of the Yuruari, and to inform you that I shall avail myself of the earliest opportunity to transmit a copy thereof to Her Britannic Majesty’s Government....
(Signed) GORMANSTON
652. MR. ANDRAL TO THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
Caracas, July 5, 1888
My Lord,
I have the honour to inclose to your Lordship translation of a Circular addressed to the Diplomatic Body in this city by the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs, under date of the 15th June, but which now appears in the Opinion Nacional of the 3rd instant, having reference to a Proclamation of the Governor of British Guiana, published in the official Gazette of that Colony on the 2nd June last, relative to the organization of a new district, to be called the "North-east district" [sic] which comprises, as stated in the Circular, the Venezuelan territory of Barima, against which usurpation solemn protest is recorded. . . .
(Signed) WM. A. ANDRAL
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Inclosure: CIRCULAR TO THE DIPLOMATIC BODY
(Translation — Original: Spanish)
Since the solemn protest of the 20th February of last year, issued by this Department, against the proceedings of Great Britain relative to the Guiana boundaries, its violation of our territory, and the decision in her favour of a question to which she is a party by declaring herself co-proprietor of the Orinoco, founding settlements, and subjecting to conditions the erection of a lighthouse at Barima, her incursions from the Essequibo to the Pomaroon, the Moroco, Guiaima, Barima, and Amacura, and finally refusing to accept arbitration to decide the controversy relative to limits, the Governor of Demerara proceeds anew with amazing insistence to decree the creation of a new Colonial district under the name of "North-east district," within the boundaries of which he comprises the Venezuelan Territory of Barima and appoints B. A. Day as Commissary, while the Legislative Assembly of the Colony assigns him 10,000 dollars to defray the expenses of a permanent occupation of that zone and therein collect contributions and hold it as under British jurisdiction. This happened on the 2nd of the present month, in derision of right and morality, for your Excellency must be reminded that at the time this takes place in Demerara our Representative seeks, by preliminary and confidential steps in Europe, to re-establish the matter on a diplomatic footing, and by taking into consideration the reciprocal rights of both nations, arrive at a friendly settlement and secure international harmony on a basis of equity and justice. But until this result is attained, the peremptory duty of my Government is to protect and defend its rights by protesting, as it in due form solemnly protests, in the same form and with the same force and reasoning that your Excellency has seen in the former protest of the 20th February, 1887, against this fresh usurpation on the part of the Government of Demerara.
Therefore, the Government of Venezuela renews on this occasion said protest in all its parts, and declares the Colonial Act of the 2nd of the present month a violation of its sovereignty and territory, and an encroachment upon its rights as an independent nation, on its district of Barima, rights that have never before been disputed, and also protests against any other action or act which tends to interrupt the exercise of its jurisdiction on national territory.
Hoping that your Excellency will take note of the facts that give rise to this protest, so as to inform your Government thereof, it is pleasurable to me to renew to your Excellency the testimony of my most distinguished consideration.
(Signed) A. YSTURIZ
653. CONSUL BOULTON TO THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
Caracas, November 6, 1888.
My Lord,
In Mr. Andral's despatch of the 5th July he transmitted translation of a Circular addressed to the Diplomatic Body in this city by the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs, protesting against the usurpation of Venezuelan territory in Guayana, and I have now the honour of inclosing translation of a further protest addressed to that body on the same subject. . . .
(Signed) H. L. BOULTON
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Inclosure: CIRCULAR TO THE DIPLOMATIC BODY AT CARACAS
(Translation — Original: Spanish)
Caracas, October 29, 1888.
Sir,
In June last the Government of the United States of Venezuela was compelled to protest against a measure of the Governor of Demerara, whereby he decreed the appointment of a Commissary for the district of Barima, the Legislative Body of the Colony voting a credit to meet the expense of a permanent station in that locality to collect contributions, and hold it as under British jurisdiction.
Now it learns that the English have constituted Barima a Fiscal Inspector’s station, named an Inspector, with a body of police, erected barracks for the same, and with a custom-house cutter. They do not permit our pilots to cut wood nor to anchor the pontoon, except at half a mile from the coast. They also occupy Amacura.
The time has therefore arrived to renew the protests made, by the Government of the Republic on the 20th February, 1887, and the 11th June of this year, which, in its name, I now renew, protesting anew formally and solemnly before the Governments of all civilized Powers and the world against the acts of spoliation that, in detriment of the rights of Venezuela, have been, and are being, consummated by that of Great Britain, and that at no time, and under no circumstance, will the Government of Venezuela recognize those acts as being capable of weakening, impairing, or lessening in the least degree the lawful rights of this nation to the territory unlawfully encroached upon by the authorities and colonists of Demerara, with or without the consent of the British Cabinet.
Requesting your Excellency to take note of this protest, and to make it known to the Government of __________, . . . .
(Signed) N. BORGES
[This was transmitted to the Diplomatic Body accredited to this Republic, and to their Excellencies the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics in friendly relations with Venezuela.]
654. SEÑOR URBANEJA TO THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
(Translation — Original: French)
Venezuelan Legation, Paris, January 10, 1890.
My Lord,
I have the honour to address your Lordship, with profound respect, in order to inform you that the Government of Venezuela, being desirous of renewing diplomatic relations, unfortunately interrupted, with Her Britannic Majesty, have empowered me to negotiate and sign, with any person or persons duly authorized by Her Majesty, a Treaty for the renewal of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
I inclose a certified copy of the document conferring the necessary power on me.
Being eager, on my part, to execute this important commission, I came to London at Christmas in order to furnish proof of the anxiety of the Venezuelan Government for the renewal of diplomatic relations with Her Majesty's Government; I found it impossible, however, during Christmas time, to address your Lordship, as I was compelled to return to Paris, where l hold the post of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Venezuela in France. I shall have to remain here for six or seven days longer, and shall then be able to come to London, where I can stay as long as may be necessary for the attainment of a successful result of the important mission intrusted to me by the Venezuelan Government. I venture to place confidence in the noble feelings of justice which animate the powerful Government of Great Britain.
Being desirous that your Lordship may be informed of the mission which has been intrusted to me, I have the honour to address this note to you, and to request you to take into consideration the power conferred on me, and to grant me an interview, at which I may be allowed to give expression at greater length to the anxiety of Venezuela to renew diplomatic relations with Her Majesty's Government, an anxiety which I trust is apparent from the terms of the present note. . . .
(Signed) MODESTO URBANEJA
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Inclosure: DOCUMENT OF FULL POWER
(Translation — Original: French)
Full Power
Dr. J. L Rojas Paul, Constitutional President of the United States of Venezuela.
To all who may see these presents, greeting:
Whereas it is desirable that diplomatic regions, now suspended, should be renewed between Venezuela and Her Britannic Majesty,
Accordingly I, with the consent of the Federal Council, grant full power to Dr. Modesto Urbaneja, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the French Republic, to negotiate and sign, with any person or persons duly authorized by Her Majesty's Government, a Treaty for the renewal of relations with Venezuela, in accordance with the instructions sent to that Minister, and on the understanding that his engagements shall have no validity until they have been approved by the Republic as laid down by the Constitution.
Given, signed by my hand, sealed with the Great Seal of the Republic, and countersigned by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, at Caracas, on the 12th November, 1889.
(Signed) S. P. ROJAS PAUL
(Countersigned) P. CASANOVA
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Treaty Department,
Caracas, November 21, 1889.
A true copy:
The Superintendent,
(Signed) R. V. SEIJAS
655. FOREIGN OFFICE TO SEÑOR URBANEJA
(Translation — Original: French)
Foreign Office, January 16, 1890.
M. le Ministre,
I am directed by the Marquess of Salisbury to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th instant, informing him of the wish of the Venezuelan Government for the renewal of diplomatic relations with Her Britannic Majesty, and inclosing a copy of the full power granted to you by the President of Venezuela empowering you to negotiate for that purpose with Her Majesty's Government.
Lord Salisbury desires me to say that as soon as his health is sufficiently re-established, he will be happy to take an early opportunity of arranging a time when he can have the honour of receiving you. . . .
(Signed) T. H. SANDERSON
656. FOREIGN OFFICE TO SEÑOR URBANEJA
(Translation — Original: French)
Foreign Office, February 10, 1890.
M. le Ministre,
In compliance with your request I have the honour, by Lord Salisbury's direction, to transmit to you herewith a statement of the conditions which Her Majesty's Government consider necessary for a satisfactory settlement of the questions pending between Venezuela and Great Britain. . . .
(Signed) T. H. SANDERSON
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Inclosure: PRO-MEMORIÁ
(Translation — Original: French)
Pro-memoriá
Her Majesty's Government have received with satisfaction the communication from Señor Urbaneja, that he has been empowered by the President of Venezuela to negotiate for a renewal of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which were interrupted in 1887 by the Venezuelan Government then in office. Her Majesty's Government have on their side always had every desire to cultivate friendly relations with the Republic of Venezuela.
In accordance with Señor Urbaneja's request, the following statement has been prepared of the conditions which Her Majesty's Government consider necessary for a satisfactory settlement of the questions pending between the two countries: —
1. As regards the frontier between Venezuela and the Colony of British Guiana, Her Majesty's Government could not accept as satisfactory any arrangement which did not admit the British title to the territory comprised within the line laid down by Sir R. Schomburgk in 1841. They would be ready to refer to arbitration the claim of Great Britain to certain territories to the west of that line.
2. Her Majesty's Government consider that they are entitled to expect that the differential duties now levied on imports from British Colonies in violation of Article IV of the Commercial Treaty of 1825 shall be repealed.
3. They would propose that all outstanding claims on the part of subjects of either country against the Government of the other should be referred to a Mixed Commission.
S.
657. SEÑOR URBANEJA TO FOREIGN OFFICE
(Translation — Original: French)
Venezuelan Legation, Paris, February 13, 1890
Sir,
I have had the honour to receive your note of the 10th, inclosing the pro-memoriá which you transmitted to me by direction of Lord Salisbury respecting the conditions which are held by Her Britannic Majesty's Government to be necessary in view of a solution of the questions pending between Great Britain and Venezuela.
Being desirous that those questions should be settled in a peaceful a friendly manner, which is the wish of the Venezuelan Government, I inclose a paper containing observations on the above-mentioned pro-memoriá, which may bring those questions to a friendly termination if taken into consideration by Her Majesty's Government with their noble appreciation of justice.
I offer you my particular thanks for your kind attention, and I beg you to use your influence in favour of the just observations which I thought I ought to make with regard to the pro-memoriá. . . .
(Signed) MODESTO URBANEJA
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Inclosure: OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRO-MEMORIÁ ADDRESSED TO ME BY SIR T. H. SANDERSON, UNDER DIRECTIONS FROM LORD SALISBURY, RESPECTING THE CONDITIONS WHICH ARE HELD BY HER MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT TO BE NECESSARY IN VIEW OF A SATISFACTORY SETTLEMENT OF THE QUESTIONS PENDING BETWEEN VENEZUELA AND GREAT BRITAIN.
(Translation — Original: French)
Venezuela possesses documents, historical data, Spanish and English maps, and information of all kinds relating to the past, showing that Venezuelan Guiana extends to the Essequibo, the natural frontier on the side of British Guiana, and in regard to Punta Barima, Her Britannic Majesty's Government has recognized that that point and the island belonging to it are part of the Venezuelan territory and possessions. The Venezuelan Government cannot, therefore, accept any single point on the arbitrary end capricious line laid down by Sir R. Schomburgk in 1841, which has been declared to be null and void even by the Government of Her Majesty. Neither is it possible for Venezuela to accept arbitration in respect to territory to the west of that line.
Notwithstanding her unquestionable rights Venezuela has proposed, and now proposes, an arbitration, which shall include all the territory from the Essequibo, and the evacuation of the invaded territory from the Pomaroon onward in the direction of the Orinoco.
With regard to this matter, the papers in the case show that the British Government has itself proposed, through the Right Honourable Lieutenant- General Sir Andrew Clarke and the Right Honourable Captain Lowther "to evacuate the invaded territory, and to submit the case to the arbitration of a friendly Power, provided Venezuela would declare diplomatic relations to be re-established between the two countries."
In this view, the Government of Venezuela has thought fit to appoint a Confidential Agent to conclude a Preliminary Agreement for the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the Government of Her Britannic Majesty. In these circumstances, it was observed with regret that the conditions required by Lord Salisbury in the above-mentioned pro-memoriá are more unfavourabe to Venezuela whose President, Dr. Rojas Paul, desires peace, and seeks to establish relations with Great Britain, than the proposals made to the former Confidential Agent, who when President of Venezuela, broke off diplomatic relations with Great Britain, which country may well have reason to complain of the conduct of the Magistrate so acting.
The present Government of Venezuela, a Constitutional, prudent, and pacific Government, which has given Great Britain no reason to complain, but which is, on the contrary, anxious to renew diplomatic relations with Her Britannic Majesty’s Government with that object would have been less onerous for Venezuela than those formerly offered to the Representative of the Government which broke off relations with the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, and against which the Queen’s Government might well have some reason to complain.
It is therefore necessary to repeat, and the present pro-memoriá from Lord Salisbury is much more unfavourable to Venezuela than the proposals made to my predecessor by Sir Andrew Clarke and Captain Lowther.
2. With reference to the differential duty levied on imports from the English Colonies and also from Colonies belonging to other countries, it should be remembered that the complaints made by Venezuela against the protection given by the authorities of Demerara to the clandestine introduction of merchandise into Venezuela are of long standing, and have been constant. But in no case can that differential duty be considered as a violation of Article IV of the Commercial Treaty of 1825.
This difficulty can be completely removed in the new Commercial Treaty which is to be concluded between Great Britain and Venezuela; for if the progress of civilization and commerce throughout the world, and the increased transactions of all kinds between the two countries of Great Britain and Venezuela be considered, the Treaty of 1825 must be held to have become obsolete.
3. Neither does any difficulty present itself with regard to the settlement of the respective claims of the two nations of Great Britain and Venezuela against each other, for in this matter Great Britain, which may be considered as one of the nations which have founded the universal principles of modern international law, will have no difficulty in applying those principles to Venezuela in order to come to an understanding, as other powerful nations have already done, that the claims in question shall be made in accordance with the principles of international law, now well known in the civilized world.
It is with the greatest respect, and while repeating an expression of the wish that diplomatic relations may be renewed between Venezuela and Great Britain, that these observations are submitted on the pro-memoriá, which Sir T. H. Sanderson, by direction of Lord Salisbury, transmitted to me, in view of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries in question.
It may be hoped that the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, guided by their own sentiments of justice, will modify the conditions laid down in their pro-memoriá in order that they may become compatible with the sovereignty and the rights of Venezuela, with the respect owed to public opinion, which is well informed in the matter, and with the duties imposed by the desire to preserve the internal peace of the Republic, and its friendly diplomatic relations with the Government of Her Britannic Majesty.
(Signed) MODESTO URBANEJA
Paris, February 13, 1890
658. FOREIGN OFFICE TO SEÑOR URBANEJA
(Translation: Original: French)
Foreign Office, February 19, 1890.
M. le Ministre,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th instant, and its inclosure, containing your observations on the Memorandum, forwarded with my letter of the 10th, respecting the questions at issue between Her Majesty's Government and that of Venezuela.
I have lost no time in laying your communication before the Marquess of Salisbury. . . .
(Signed) T. H. SANDERSON
659. FOREIGN OFFICE TO SEÑOR URBANEJA
(Translation: Original: French)
Foreign Office, February 19, 1890.
M. le Ministre,
With reference to my note of the 19th ultimo, I have now the honour to transmit to you, by Direction of the Marquess of Salisbury, the accompanying Memorandum containing the views of Her Majesty's Government on the paper inclosed in your note of the 13th ultimo relative to the conditions which are held by them to be necessary for a solution of the questions pending between Great Britain and Venezuela, and for the renewal of diplomatic relations between the two countries. . . .
(Signed) T. H. SANDERSON
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Inclosure: MEMORANDUM IN REPLY TO SEÑOR URBANEJA’S PRO-MEMORIÁ OF FEBRUARY 13, 1890
Her Majesty’s Government have given their careful attention to Señor Urbaneja’s Memorandum of the 13th February. The following observations are forwarded in reply: —
1. As regards the boundary of British Guiana, Her Majesty’s Government have carefully studied all the documents, historical data, maps and other information which have been communicated or referred to by the Venezuelan Government in the course of the discussions.
They have also recently made further investigations, which have resulted in the acquisition of much information of which they believe that the Venezuelan Government is not aware:
After examination of all this evidence, they can say without hesitation that the claim of the Venezuelan Government to the Essequibo is one which Spain never asserted, and which Her Majesty's Government must regard as absolutely untenable; the claim of Great Britain, on the other hand, to the whole basin of the Cuyuni and Yuruari is shown to be solidly founded, and the greater part of the district has been for three centuries under continuous settlement by the Dutch and by the British as their successors.
In these circumstances, Her Majesty’s Government must decline, as they have repeatedly declined before, to entertain any proposal for bringing into arbitration claims on the part of Venezuela which in their full extent involve the title of the larger half of the British Colony.
They cannot admit that there is any foundation for the assertion that any Government of Her Majesty ever recognised Point Barima as Venezuelan territory. Her Majesty’s Government have constantly maintained that of strict right they are entitled to the whole country within the line described in Lord Salisbury’s note to Señor Rojas of the 10th January, 1880, that is, as far as the high lands of Upata, if not up to the Orinoco itself, and that all settlements by Venezuela the east of that line are in the nature of encroachments on the rights of Great Britain, whose desire has been throughout to pursue a conciliatory course, and to effect a solution by means of friendly compromise and concession.
Her Majesty’s Government must repeat that they cannot admit any question as to their title to territory within the line surveyed by Sir R. Schomburgk in 1841, and laid down on Herbert’s Map, inclosed herewith. On the other hand, Her Majesty’s Government do not wish to insist on the extreme limit of their claim, as stated in the note to Señor Rojas referred to above. For the purpose of facilitating a settlement, and as an indicator of good-will towards Venezuela, they would be ready to abandon a portion of that claim; and as regards that part of the territory between the Schomburgk line and their extreme claim, which is indicated by a green line on the map marked (A) and attached hereto, they are prepared to submit their claims to the arbitration of a third party.
Her Majesty's Government have never in any way authorized either Sir Andrew Clarke or Captain Lowther to present any proposals to the Government of Venezuela, and they must now, while regretting that Señor Urbaneja should have been misled, state their entire inability to adopt such proposals as he mentions.
2. As regards the question of the differential duties, Her Majesty’s Government have the highest legal opinion in support of their view, that these duties are an infraction of the Treaty of 1825. They consider themselves, therefore, justified in claiming the repeal of the duties, quite apart from the question of a fresh Commercial Treaty.
Her Majesty's Government have, on their part, always endeavoured, to the best of their ability, to prevent all illicit traffic between Her Majesty’s Colonies and Venezuela, but it would not be reasonable to hold Great Britain or her Colonies responsible for the conduct of Venezuelan officials, or for the administration of law outside Her Majesty's colonial waters.
Her Majesty's Government do not doubt that if the other questions at issue between the two Governments were satisfactorily adjusted, means could be found for arranging on an equitable basis the claims of the two nations against each other on behalf of their respective subjects.
Her Majesty's Government cannot conclude this expression of their views without calling Señor Urbaneja's attention to the annexed notice, which appeared in the Opinion Nacional of Caracas of the 24th January last. A large part of the districts therein granted by Contract to M. Le Mye is within the Schomburgk line above alluded to, and, therefore, within British territory. The Contract cannot be recognized by Her Majesty's Government, and any attempt to put the Concession in force within that line would entail the risk of a collision with the British authorities.
Foreign Office, March 19, 1890
660. SEÑOR URBANEJA TO FOREIGN OFFICE
(Translation — Original: French)
Legation of Venezuela, Paris, March 28, 1890.
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th instant, in which, by direction of Lord Salisbury, you inclosed a Memorandum containing the views of Her Majesty’s Government in reply to my note of the 13th February last, with regard to the preliminary bases which should be fixed on the boundary question in order to facilitate the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of Venezuela.
At the same time I venture to request you to be good enough to furnish me with a copy of the "Sketch Map of the Territory in dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana by C. Alexander Harris, of the Colonial Office, April 1888," and a copy of the "Map of British Guiana constructed from the Survey and Routes of Captain Schomburgk, and other documents in the possession of the Colonial Department, by L. J. Herbert, of the Quartermaster-General’s Office, Horse Guards, April 1842. . . ."
(Signed) MODESTO URBANEJA
661. GOVERNOR VISCOUNT GORMANSTON TO LORD KNUTSFORD
Government House, Georgetown, Demerara, April 25, 1890.
My Lord,
I have to report that yesterday, at the request of M. Krogh, who has come here as Venezuelan Consul, but whose exequatur not having been received I have declined to recognize officially; I granted him a personal interview to introduce to me a M. B. F. Seijas, who informed me that he had come with a Commission from the President of the Republic of Venezuela to inspect the frontiers between this Colony and that State in some of the disputed districts, especially the Barima district and Amacura River, as well as part of the Cuyuni. I at once informed this gentleman that I had no power to receive any Commissioner from the Republic of Venezuela; that if the Government of that State wishes to enter into any arrangements with a view to settling the question of the territory in dispute, they should address themselves to Her Majesty's Government in London, and that all I could do was to forward any application he might make to your Lordship for your instructions, and, at the same time, I begged him to write to me officially, stating exactly his position and his requests.
I have received no communication from this gentleman, and cannot, therefore, state the precise nature of his demands. Should he renew his verbal application to visit the districts of the Colony mentioned to you, I shall refuse to grant it him pending instructions from your Lordship, which I may be obliged to ask for by telegraph. . . .
(Signed) GORMANSTON
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Inclosure 1: GOVERNOR VISCOUNT GORMANSTON TO LORD KNUTSFORD
British Guiana, April 25, 1890.
My Lord,
Since writing my former despatch of this day’s date, I received the inclosed two letters from M. Krogh, acting here unofficially as Venezuelan Consul.
I had to request M. Krogh to furnish me with a translation of M. Seijas’ letter, which he has done.
I purpose tomorrow to inform M. Seijas that I have no power to accede to his request without the special sanction of your Lordship, and that have written to your Lordship, inclosing his application to me, and asking, as I do now, for instructions how to act in this matter. . . .
(Signed) GORMANSTON
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Inclosure 2: SEÑOR KROGH TO GOVERNOR VISCOUNT GORMANSTON
(Translation — Original: Spanish)
Georgetown, Demerara, April 25, 1890
My Lord,
I have the honor to inclose herewith copy of an official note I have received from Dr. R. F. Seijas, in his character of Special Envoy of Venezuela to the disputed territory in Guiana.
In fulfilling this duty, I beg you to inform his Excellency the Governor of the contents of this communication. . . .
(Signed) G. A. KROGH
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Inclosure 3: DR. SEIJAS TO SEÑOR KROGH
(Translation: Original — Spanish)
Georgetown, Demerara, April 25, 1890
Sir,
Having been sent by the Government of Venezuela to fufil certain functions in the disputed territory of Guiana, I have come here to learn the real process of the invasion, as this Colony is the point whence expeditions, both public and private, start to establish themselves in districts of Venezuelan Guiana, and even in places never before claimed by Her Majesty's Government, on the strength of public Acts and of Concessions of lands and mines. As it appeared to me logical and reasonable that his Excellency the Governor, being so well acquainted with the wishes of the Imperial Government, must have authority to treat about the delimitation or to propose a modus vivendi until both nations arrive at a final settlement of the dispute, I spoke to him in this sense during the private visit which I had the honour of paying him yesterday.
His Excellency answered that he had no instructions to that effect, and at the same time expressed a wish to be informed by letter of the purpose and object of my mission. I hasten to satisfy him with that frankness, loyalty, and good faith with which the present Government of Venezuela, treat all their business, by stating that my object is to see, to examine, and investigate, on the ground itself, the real state of the question, to sift the exactness of the plans and maps drawn up, and the points where the English have fixed posts, so that my Government may be informed of all these details, and may be able to guide their conduct with safety.
I venture to hope that you will be so good as to send a copy of this communication to his Excellency the Governor of Demerara . . . .
(Signed) R. F. SEIJAS
662. GOVERNOR VISCOUNT GORMANSTON TO LORD KNUTSFORD
Government House, Georgetown, Demerara, May 9, 1890.
My Lord,
I have the honour to transmit, for your Lordship's information, translation of a further letter which I have received from M. Seijas, through M. Krogh, protesting, on behalf of the Venezuelan Republic, against the British usurpation of Venezuelan territory, together with a copy of the reply to M. Krogh acknowledging the receipt.
2. I may state that M. Seijas left for Trinidad on the 5th instant. . . .
(Signed) GORMANSTON
*****
Inclosure 1: DR. SEIJAS TO SEÑOR KROGH
(Translation — Original: Spanish)
Georgetown, Demerara, April 30, 1890
Sir,
Amongst the instructions which I have received from the Government of Venezuela, as shown to you on the day of my arrival in this Colony, there is one impressing upon me the duty of protesting against the British usurpation of our territory, should the facts frequently reported to the Government of Venezuela be true. And as the said facts are so well known here as to be beyond doubt, I think it now time to carry out my instructions; therefore, in the name of the Republic, I hereby solemnly and publicly protest:
1. Against, all official acts authorized by the Government of Demerara, with or without the sanction of Her Majesty’s Government, in any way seeming to encroach on the territory of Venezuela.
2. Against intrusion of authorities or other persons who (with the tolerance, permission, or order of the said authorities) enter the Venezuelan territory by the Essequibo River or by any other river within the territorial limits of the Republic, by which there is no authorization or permission to enter, nor is any exterior commerce of any kind whatever authorized or permitted.
3. Against all acts of the Government of Demerara intending to enlarge the limits of the Colony encroaching on the lands of Venezuela, which lands begin on the north of the mouth on the west and south of the River Essequibo.
4. Against all Concessions of lands, forest, mines, etc., which have been granted by the Government of Demerara north of the Essequibo River, which is the limit of the Colony, as only the Government of Venezuela has power to grant such Concessions.
5. Against the establishment of English settlements in the Cuyuni, Pomeroon, Barima, Amacura, or any other river, or part of the Venezuelan territory.
6. Against the British jurisdiction established, and of the civil authorities, be it police or any other, in territory of Republic.
7. Against the exploitation of the natural productions of the Venezuelan territory, and their exportation by ways unauthorized for foreign commerce; and without the previous permission and authorization of the Venezuelan Government.
8. Against the frequent intrusions on the territory of the Republic, no matter for what object.
9. Against all or any other establishment within the jurisdiction of the Government of Venezuela; also against any line or lines of steamers or sailing-vessels to ply on the sea-coast and rivers of the territory of the said Republic.
10. Against all or any British expeditions, official or private, either composed of British subjects or subjects and citizens of any other nation, who, leaving Demerara, enter the territory of Venezuela; or who, coming from abroad, land in the said territory with the tacit or expressed consent of the Government of the Colony.
11. Against the establishment of stations, either police, military, naval, or any other; buoys, light-ships, lighthouses, and the opening of roads of any kind in Venezuelan soil.
12. Against the destruction of any rapids which may obstruct the navigation of any river within the territory of Venezuela; against the catechizing of any aboriginal Indian or Indians within the jurisdiction of the Republic, and also against the establishment of Missions or any religious Order of any kind.
I further declare that the Government of the United States of Venezuela have already protested, and by these presents do protest against all and every act or acts which are known to the Government of the Republic, and named in the foregoing twelve Articles; that the said Government of Venezuela disowns the legality which may be imputed to such acts, which are, and will always be, null, void, and of no value whatever; and finally, reserving all rights, the Venezuelan Government will make them valid in due time and place. Now, I hereby ratify and confirm this the said protest of the Republic of Venezuela.
Please transmit this protest and declaration to his Excellency the Governor of Demerara (British Guiana), and kindly oblige me with an acknowledgment of its receipt. . . .
(Signed) R. F. SEIJAS
*****
Inclosure 2: MR. VILLIERS TO SEÑOR KROGH
Government Secretary's Office, Georgetown, Demerara, May 9, 1890.
Sir,
I have the honour, by direction of the Governor, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st instant, inclosing translation of a letter addressed to you by Dr. Seijas, which you forwarded to his Excellency at Dr. Seijas' request. . . .
(Signed) FRANCIS VILLIERS
Acting Government Secretary
663. GOVERNOR VISCOUNT GORMANSTON TO LORD KNUTSFORD
Government House, Georgetown, Demerara, June 20, 1890.
My Lord,
With reference to my despatch of the 6th instant, I have now the honour to transmit to your Lordship, for the information of Her Majesty’s Government, a copy of a letter from M. Krogh, transmitting what he describes as a translation of Protest and Declaration addressed to him by M. D. Briceño. . . .
(Signed) GORMANSTON
*****
Inclosure l: M. KROGH TO THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, GEORGETOWN
(Translation — Original: French)
Consulate of the United States of Venezuela in Demerara,
Georgetown, June 17, 1890.
Sir,
According to the instructions received from my Government, I have the honour to inclose herein a translation of a Protest and Declaration made by M. Daniel Briceño, and dated at Bartica Grove on the 30th of last month, which was not sent to you before, as I had to refer to Venezuela.
Please inform his Excellency the Governor of its contents, and kindly oblige me with an acknowledgment of its receipt. . . .
(Signed) G. A. KROGH
*****
Inclosure 2: GENERAL BRICEÑO TO M. KROGH
(Translation — Original: Spanish)
United States of Venezuela, Bartica Grove, May 30, 1890.
Sir,
Among the instructions which I have received from the Governor of the territory of Yuruari, as shown to you on the day of my arrival in the Colony, there is one impressing upon me the duty of protesting against the British usurpation of our territory, should the facts frequently reported to the Government of Venezuela be true. And as the said facts are so well known here, that I myself have seen them and touched them, I think it is now time to carry out my instructions; therefore, in the name of the Republic, I hereby solemnly and publicly protest —
1. Against, all official acts authorized by the Government of Demerara, with or without the sanction of Her Majesty’s Government, in any seeming to encroach on the territory of Venezuela.
2. Against intrusion of authorities or other persons who with the tolerance, permission, or order of the said authorities, have entered the Venezuelan territory by the Essequibo River or by any other river within the territorial limits of the Republic, which limits begin on the north of the mouth on the west and the south of the River Essequibo.
3. Against all Concessions of lands, forest, mines, etc., which have been granted by the Government, and which I have found to be north of the Essequibo River, as only the Government of Venezuela has power to grant such concessions. Against the establishment of British settlements in the Cuyuni, Essequibo (north), Mazaruni and its confluences, which I have visited myself, and against the exploitation of the natural productions of the Venezuelan territory, and their exportation by ways unauthorized for foreign commerce; and without the previous permission and authorization of the Venezuelan Government.
4. Against the British jurisdiction established, and of the civil authorities, be it police or any other, in territory of Republic.
5. Against the frequent intrusions on the territory of the Republic, no matter for what object; against any line or lines of steamers or sailing-vessels to ply on the rivers of the territory of the said Republic. Also against the establishment of stations, either police, military, naval, lightships, buoys, posts, lighthouses, telegraphs, etc., and against all or any British expeditions, official or private, who enter the territory of the Republic.
6. Against the destruction of any rapids which may obstruct the navigation of any river within the territory of Venezuela. Against the opening of roads of any kind, and also against the catechizing of any aboriginal Indians within the jurisdiction of the Republic, and also the establishment of Missions or any religious Order of any kind.
I further declare that the Government of Venezuela have already protested, and by these presents do protest, against all and every act or acts which are known to the Government of the Republic, named in the foregoing six Articles; that the said Government of Venezuela disowns the legality which may be imputed to such acts, which are and always will be, null, void, and of no value whatever; and finally, reserving all rights, the Venezuelan Government will make them valid in due time and place. Now, I hereby ratify and confirm this the said Protest of the Republic of Venezuela.
Please transmit this Protest and Declaration to his Excellency the Governor of the Colony of Demerara, notifying the Government of the Republic, and kindly oblige me with an acknowledgment of its receipt. . . .
(Signed) D. BRICEÑO
664. SEÑOR PULIDO TO FOREIGN OFFICE
Hotel Victoria, Northumberland Avenue, London, June 20, 1890.
Sir,
I have come to London with the character of Plenipotentiary ad hoc of the Republic of the United States of Venezuela to succeed M. Urbaneja, who remains as Minister Plenipotentiary of Venezuela in the French Republic.
I am duly authorized by my Government to give, on their behalf, to Her Britannic Majesty's Government the answer to the Memorandum addressed by you on the 19th March last to M. Urbaneja, and to continue, should it be so convenient, the negotiations already initiated.
I pray you in consequence kindly to appoint me a day and hour to have the honour to deliver personally to you, after previous verification of my official character, the answer of my Government to the said Memorandum. . . .
(Signed) LUCIO PULIDO
665. FOREIGN OFFICE TO SEÑOR PULIDO
Foreign Office, June 21, 1890.
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th instant, which I have submitted to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
It will give me much pleasure to receive you at the Foreign Office on Tuesday next, the 24th instant, at 3 o'clock . . . .
(Signed) T. H. SANDERSON
666. MEMORANDUM COMMUNICATED BY SEÑOR PULIDO, JUNE 24, 1890
The Government of the Unite States of Venezuela are very desirous to renew diplomatic relations with Her Britannic Majesty's Government, and wish to see the said relations re-established under cordial and durable basis. My Government has honoured me with full instructions to this effect, and, animated by the most conciliatory feelings, I shall be most happy if I arrive at a final arrangement with Her Majesty's Government.
My Government have seen with great regret the communications exchanged in the months of February and March last between M. Urbaneja, my predecessor, and yourself, as Under-Secretary at Her Majesty’s Foreign Office. And with particular regret have my Government received your last communication, dated the 19th March ultimo, addressed to M. Urbaneja, as in the said communication the conditions under which Her Majesty's Government would consent to a settlement of the questions pending with the United States of Venezuela are peremptorily defined. The emphatic statements therein contained in reference to the boundary question between Her Majesty's Colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela, which is, in fact, the only serious difference existing between both Governments, create now for my Government difficulties not formerly contemplated, which render impossible a just and honourable settlement. I am instructed by my Government to formally decline the consideration of said proposals.
I am, however, quite ready and most disposed to take part in an informal Conference, as suggested by the Honourable Mr. Blaine, Secretary of State of the United States of America, composed of the United States' Minister, a Representative of Great Britain, and myself, as Representative of the United States of Venezuela, to endeavour to reach, by cordially discussing the pending difficulties, a final settlement, which would permit the Governments of Venezuela and Great Britain to renew their friendly relations.
The pending difficulties referring to the additional duties imposed in Venezuela upon colonial imports, to the modification of the existing Treaty of Commerce, and to certain British claims of other natures against my Government, will be arranged as soon as the diplomatic relations between both Governments are re-established, and I do not hesitate to state that the instructions of my Government on these matters are of the most cordial and satisfactory character.
The only pending difficulty between the two Governments over which public opinion in Venezuela is exceedingly excited, and with regard to which my Government must act with the greatest prudence, is the one relating to the boundary between Her Majesty's Colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela. It is materially impossible to settle this question within a short time, but preliminary steps can at once be taken as basis for final settlement, which steps I have the honour to submit to the consideration of Her Majesty's Government in the present Memorandum.
I would suggest, for the renewal of diplomatic relations between the Government of the United States of Venezuela and Her Majesty's Government, that a preliminary Agreement be made between both Governments for the purpose of arriving at the final settlement of the boundary question under the following basis: —
1. The Government of the United States of Venezuela should formally declare that the River Essequibo, its banks, and the lands covering it, belong exclusively to British Guiana, and Her Majesty’s Government should formally declare that the Orinoco River, its banks, and the lands covering belong exclusively to the United States of Venezuela.
2. Considering that the region to the west and north-west of the Essequibo River towards the Orinoco River is not officially well known, and considering that the surveys made by the explorer, Mr. Schomburgk, cannot be invoked as a title of property against the United States of Venezuela in the same manner in which the surveys made by several Venezuelan explorers cannot be invoked as a title of property against Her Majesty's Colony of British Guiana, both Governments should at once agree to appoint a Mixed Commission, composed of two Chief Engineers and their respective staffs, to proceed to make without any delay, and in the course of one year, the chorographical, geographical, and hydrographical Maps and Charters of the said region, in order to officially determine the exact course of the rivers and streams, the precise position and situation of the mountains and hills, and all other valuable details which would permit both Governments to have a reliable official knowledge of the territory which is actually in dispute.
3. The official Maps and Charters of the region would permit both Governments to determine with a mutual feeling of friendship and goodwill a boundary with perfect knowledge of the case, and a natural boundary between British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela should in all cases be preferred and determined.
4. But if, in view of such official Maps and Charters, both Governments do not agree upon a friendly boundary, it should from the present moment be agreed that in such an event the final decision and settlement of the boundary question should be submitted to two Arbitrators, appointed one by each Government, and a third one elected by the two Arbiters for cases of discord, to decide the question, and in view of the original titles and documents which both Governments would then submit to justify their claims to the lands or territories in dispute, the said Arbitrators should be authorized to fix a boundary-line which, being in accordance with the respective rights and titles, should have the advantage of constituting as far as possible a natural boundary.
5. In order to arrive at this desirable result, and to prevent any chance of' international susceptibilities, both Governments should agree to withdraw or remove all posts and any other indications or signs of presumptive possession and dominion on the said region until the final boundary has been fixed in the manner aforesaid, and therefore neither Government shall exercise any jurisdiction upon the disputed region pending the final arrangement.
(Signed) LUCIO PULIDO
London, June 24, 1890
667. FOREIGN OFFICE TO SEÑOR PULIDO
Foreign Office, July 24, 1890
Sir,
I duly submitted to Lord Salisbury the Memorandum which you were good enough to leave with me on the 24th ultimo, containing proposals for the resumption of diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Venezuela, and for the settlement of the frontier between the Republic and the Colony of British Guiana.
I have now the honour, by direction of Lord Salisbury, to transmit to you a Memorandum containing the reply of Her Majesty's Government to those proposals.
The reply would not, as you will perceive, exclude further discussion on the special points connected with the frontier which you mentioned at our interview.
But Lord Salisbury has received with great surprise, during the last few days, the intelligence of the issue by the Government of Venezuela of two Decrees, of which copies are inclosed herewith, purporting to establish Venezuelan Administrations in the district between Point Barima and the River Pomaroon, and in the neighbourhood of the point where the Cuyuni debouches into the Essequibo. Such Notices can have no practical effect, and any attempt to put them into execution could only be regarded as an invasion of the Colony and dealt with accordingly.
But Lord Salisbury desires me to state that he cannot but regard the publication of the Decrees at the present moment as entirely inconsistent with the professed desire of the Venezuelan Government to come to a settlement of pending differences by means of friendly discussion.
Unless the Decrees are withdrawn, with satisfactory explanations, it appears to him that it will be useless to continue the present negotiations, and that, although he will regret their suspension, it will be necessary to defer them until the Venezuelan Government are prepared to treat the question in a more conciliatory spirit. . . .
(Signed) T. H. SANDERSON
*****
Inclosure: MEMORANDUM
Señor Pulido’s Memorandum of the 24th ultimo has received the careful consideration of Her Majesty's Government, who have been desirous of examining in the most friendly and impartial spirit, any proposals which the Venezuelan Government may wish to offer for the resumption of diplomatic relations and the settlement of pending differences.
In Señor Pulido's opinion, the only matter which presents real difficulties is the question of the frontier between Venezuela and British Guiana, upon which he states that public opinion in Venezuela is greatly excited. He thinks that it is materially impossible to settle this question in a short time, but as a step towards its final solution he proposes a preliminary Agreement to the following effect: —
Venezuela to recognize the title of British Guiana to the exclusive possession of the River Essequibo, with its banks and the lands covering it, while, Her majesty’s Government would similarly recognize the title of Venezuela, to the exclusive possession of the River Orinoco, its banks and the lands covering it. A Mixed Commission of Engineers, appointed by the two Governments, to survey in the course of a year the country to the west and north-west of the Essequibo River, and the two Governments then to proceed, with the information thus obtained, to lay down a frontier between their respective territories, giving the preference to a natural boundary. In case of their being unable to agree on a line, the decision of the boundary to be referred to two Arbitrators, to be appointed one by each Government, and, if they should disagree, to a third Arbitrator to be chosen by the other two. Pending these discussions, both Governments to withdraw all posts and signs of presumptive possession and dominion from the territory in dispute.
Her Majesty's Government regret that this proposal is not such as they would feel justified in accepting.
The proposed Declaration, if it be correctly understood, would recognize the right of Great Britain to the main stream only of the Essequibo and the land upon its banks, without including its tributaries, in exchange for a similar recognition of the right of Venezuela to the main stream of the Orinoco, and the land upon its banks and in the neighbourhood of its mouth, including Point Barima and the adjacent district, while the whole intervening country would remain subject to discussion, and, in last resort, to arbitration. Such a transaction is clearly inadmissible. For in this manner Venezuela would maintain her full claim, surrendering nothing to which she can hope to show any legitimate title, while Great Britain would not only admit the discussion of claims upon the part of Venezuela for which she has constantly maintained that there is no serious foundation, but would at once and unconditionally abandon a considerable portion of territory of which she is in actual occupation.
That territory, and by far the greater portion of the large tract of country which the Venezuelan Government seeks to put in question, accrued to the Netherlands under the Treaty of Munster of 1648 by right of previous occupation. It was constantly held and claimed by the States-General in succeeding years. It was publicly and effectively occupied by Great Britain during the wars at the close of the last century, and the formal transfer of the country so occupied was effected by the Treaty of Peace with the Netherlands of the 13th August, 1814, and was in no way questioned by Spain on the conclusion of peace with her in the same year.
Her Majesty's Government would have no object in joining in such a survey as is proposed by Señor Pulido, of country which is already sufficiently well known to them, and which has been scientifically surveyed by British engineers. For many years past British administration has been familiar with the greater part of the districts watered by the Cuyuni and Massaruni Rivers. There is, therefore, already at the disposal of the two Governments ample information for the purpose of settling a general line of frontier, although the decision of any minor points of detail might by properly left to the Commission of Delimitation.
Her Majesty’s Government have indicated in previous statements the extent of the full territorial claim which they believe themselves entitled to make. They have also defined the line within which they consider the British title to be unquestionable. In offering that certain portions of their claim beyond that line should be submitted to arbitration, they expressed their willingness to exclude from the proposed reference those valuable districts in the neighbourhood of Guacipati which, although falling within their claim, have for some time been in Venezuelan occupation, and in regard to which an arbitral decision adverse to Venezuela might have caused her considerable embarrassment and would have involved heavy pecuniary claims on the part of Great Britain on account of revenue received in past years.
They regret to see that this offer on their part does not appear to have been appreciated, or to have met with any response on the part of Venezuela. Her Majesty's Government would not object to receive for examination and possible discussion any suggestion for modification of their proposals in points where the Government of Venezuela consider that the interests of the Republic are seriously involved, but they are unable to depart from the general principle on which those proposals are based, or to accept an eventual reference to arbitration of a character so extensive as the method of procedure suggested by Señor Pulido would not improbably involve.
Her Majesty's Government have more than once explained that they cannot consent to submit to arbitration what they regard as their indisputable title to districts in the possession of the British Colony.
Every fresh investigation tends only to enforce and enlarge that title, and to make it more incumbent on them to maintain it as an act of justice to the rights and interests of the Colony.
668. SEÑOR PULIDO TO FOREIGN OFFICE
(Translation — Original: French)
London, August 4, 1890.
Sir,
I have received your note of the 24th ultimo, in which you are good enough to transmit, in the form of a Memorandum, the answer of Her Britannic Majesty's Government to what I had the honour of communicating to you on the 24th June, namely, the counter-proposals and answer of the Venezuelan Government to the proposals which you made to M. Urbaneja, my predecessor, in the communication of the 19th March, for the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Governments and the settlement of the questions pending.
In this note, you are good enough to state: "That Lord Salisbury has received with great surprise during the last few days the intelligence of the issue by the Government of Venezuela of two Decrees, of which copies are inclosed herewith, purporting to establish Venezuelan Administrations in the district between Point Barima and the River Pomaroon, and in the neighbourhood of the point where the Cuyuni debouches on to the Essequibo." And a little further on: "That unless the Decrees are withdrawn with satisfactory explanations, it appears to him that it will be useless to continue the present negotiations, and that although he will regret their suspension, it will be necessary to defer them until the Venezuelan Government are prepared to treat the question in a more conciliatory spirit."
I have no information from my Government about this fresh incident. But I think it proper to suggest that it proves the necessity of settling, in the manner customary among civilized nations, the frontiers between Venezuela and the British Colony of Guiana, as well as how much it is to be regretted at the same time that Her Britannic Majesty's Government persist, in their refusal to submit the question to the examination and decision of an Arbiter, as Venezuela has been proposing for ten years, and as the other nations who hold possessions in this same country (Guiana) are actually doing at present.
In fact, these frontiers, being more or less uncertain and undefined, from the point of view of the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, seeing that they have been constantly extending them on their own authority for the last fifty years, cannot but give rise to conflicts of dominion and territory. If the British Government occupied those territories in 1884, though they were declared disputable and neutral in 1850 by both Governments, and took measures to make a permanent establishment there, they cannot be astonished that the Venezuelan Government do not abandon their rights and their jurisdiction over them while the question is not settled in the usual manner, and when the districts are seized by force. This duty is imposed upon them, unfortunately, by an inexorable necessity.
I will communicate your note and Memorandum to my Government, and will answer it more fully as soon as I have received the necessary explanations and instructions. . . .
(Signed) LUCIO PULIDO
669. SEÑOR PALIDO TO FOREIGN OFFICE
(Translation — Original: French)
19, Rue Daru, Paris, September 30, 1890.
Sir,
As I had the honour to inform you at our last interview, I shall, with the permission of my Government, leave for Venezuela on the 8th proximo, with the intention of passing the winter at Caracas.
Señor Z. Pimentel, my Secretary, will, by order of the Venezuelan Government remain charged provisionally with the Special Mission to the Government of Her Britannic Majesty with which I was honoured, and I trust that you will be so good as to show to Señor Pimentel the same kind attention and confidence which you have shown to me.
I must take this opportunity to state that my Government has informed me in recent communications that they are considering your note of the 24th July, and the Memorandum inclosed therein, and that they will in due time make their decision known to you. The Government of Venezuela is anxious to discover an acceptable basis for the settlement of the question of the British Guiana frontier, and is inspired with the spirit of conciliation which is indispensable in any negotiation. Should Her Britannic Majesty's Government respond to these wishes and sentiments and do to Venezuela the share of justice to which she is entitled, I have no doubt that an agreement will be arrived at. But in the contrary case, I am instructed to state that Venezuela will not at any time recognize either the occupation of those parts of Guiana which were declared in 1850 to be in dispute and to be neutral, or the measure's taken for their permanent occupation by the Colonial authorities or by Her Britannic Majesty's Government, as Venezuela reserves to herself for all time the right to recover the territories in question. . . .
(Signed) LUCIO PULIDO
670. FOREIGN OFFICE TO SEÑOR PULIDO
Foreign Office, October 7, 1890
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of' your note of the 30th ultimo, informing me that you are about to leave for Caracas, and that, during your absence, your Secretary, Señor Pimentel, will remain provisionally charged with the Special Mission to the Government of Her Britannic Majesty with which you have been intrusted.
You also state that your Government is considering the note which, by direction of the Marquess of Salisbury, I had the honour of addressing you on the 24th July last in regard to the boundaries between Venezuela and British Guiana.
I have already had the honour of receiving Señor Pimentel, and Lord Salisbury desires me to assure you that any communication which he may make by Order of his Government will receive immediate attention. . . .
(Signed) T. H. SANDERSON
671. THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY TO SIR E. MALET
Foreign Office, February 15, 1892.
Sir,
The reports recently received from British Guiana give some cause for apprehending collisions between the officers of the Colony and those of the Venezuelan Government in the disputed frontier districts.
Detachments of the Colonial and Venezuelan police forces are face to face on either side of the Cuyuni River, and that an imprudence on the part of one or the other might produce serious results.
Her Majesty’s Government are desirous of making an intimation to the Venezuelan Government that while they do not recognize the title of Venezuela to the territory on the left bank of the Cuyuni, they have no intention of exercising jurisdiction beyond the limit of the frontier-line laid by Mr. Schomburgk, but that any aggressive action by Venezuelan officials on the right bank of the Cuyuni, and within that line, would lead to very grave complications. At the same time, Her Majesty's Government are ready to reopen the discussion of the boundary question with a duly accredited Representative of the Venezuelan Government empowered to make a reasonable proposal.
The German Government have kindly allowed the German Legation at Caracas to take charge of British interests during the interruption of diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Venezuela, and I have to request your Excellency to bring the present state of the question to their knowledge, and to inquire whether they would allow their Representative at Caracas to present to the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs, in the name of Her Majesty's Government, the Memorandum of which I inclose a draft. . . .
(Signed) SALISBURY
*****
Inclosure: DRAFT OF A MEMORANDUM TO BE HANDED TO THE VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT BY THE GERMAN REPRESENTATIVE AT CARACAS
Her Majesty's Government learn from the Governor of British Guiana that on the 9th November last General Briceño, a National Commissary of the Venezuelan Government, accompanied by a strong police force, came down the Uruan River to its junction with the Cuyuni, occupied a position on the left bank of the latter river, and demanded the withdrawal of a Magistrate of the Colony of British Guiana and a small body of Colonial police from a police station on the right bank of the Cuyuni, within the line laid down by Sir R. Schomburgk as the boundary between the Colony and Venezuela.
Her Majesty's Government do not recognize the title of Venezuela to the territory on the left bank of the Cuyuni, where General Briceño is stationed; but while the boundary question is pending, they do not propose that the Government of British Guiana should exercise any act of jurisdiction beyond the limits of the Schomburgk line.
On the other hand, any aggressive attempt by the Venezuelan officials to interfere with or to dislodge the officers or servants of the Colonial Government within that line would entail serious consequences, and Her Majesty's Government trust that the Venezuelan Government will give strict instructions to their officers to abstain from all acts of this nature.
Her Majesty's Government, however, would remind the Venezuelan Government that they have always been prepared to resume the diplomatic discussions of the boundary question, or of any other question, with the Venezuelan Government, whenever the latter send for the purpose a duly accredited Representative to this country.
672. SIR E. MALET TO THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
Berlin, February 27, 1892.
My Lord,
With reference to your Lordship’s despatch of the 15th instant, inclosing a draft Memorandum on the subject of the disputed frontier between British Guiana and the Republic of Venezuela, and desiring me to inquire whether the German Government should allow their Representative at Caracas to present it to the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs, I have the honour to inform your Lordship that Baron von Marschall informed me yesterday that he willingly agreed, and had already sent the Memorandum in question by post to Caracas. His Excellency also asked me whether he should telegraph to Caracas to apprise their Representative that a communication on the subject of the frontier dispute was on its way to him. I thanked Baron von Marschall and accepted his proposal, saying that I felt sure your Lordship would be grateful for his friendly disposition in the matter. . . .
(Signed) EDWARD B. MALET
673. THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY TO SIR E. MALET
Foreign Office, March 4, 1892.
Sir,
I have received your Excellency's despatch of the 27th ultimo, stating that the German Government will allow their Representative at Caracas to present the Memorandum respecting the British Guiana boundary question to the Venezuelan Government, and that a telegram had been sent to the German Representative to say that such a communication was on its way to him.
I have to request you to thank the Imperial Government for their good offices on this occasion. Your action in the matter is approved. . . .
(Signed) SALISBURY
674. SIR E. MALET TO THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
Berlin, March 21, 1892.
My Lord,
With reference to your Lordship's despatch of the 4th instant, I have the honour to inform your Lordship that I have received a note from Baron von Marscall stating that the Memorandum on the British Guiana boundary question, which was inclosed in your Lordship's despatch of the 15th ultimo, was handed to the Venezuelan Government by the Imperial Minister Resident at Caracas on the 18th instant. . . .
(Signed) EDWARD B. MALET
675. MR. TRENCH TO THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
Berlin, April 23, 1892.
My Lord,
With reference to Sir Edward Malet’s despatch of the 21st ultimo, I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship herewith translation of a note, and its inclosure, which I have received from the Imperial Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs respecting the British Guiana and Venezuela boundary question. . . .
(Signed) P. LE POER TRENCH
*****
Inclosure 1: BARON VON MARSCHALL TO SIR E. MALET
(Translation — Original: French)
Foreign Office, Berlin, April 22, 1892.
In continuation of this note of the 19th ultimo respecting the boundary question between British Guiana and Venezuela, the Undersigned has the honour to transmit herewith to his Excellency Sir Edward Malet a translation, received from the Imperial Minister resident at Caracas, of a note addressed to him by the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs on the 21st March, in which the latter replies provisionally to the Memorandum communicated to him through the intermediary of the Imperial Minister Resident.
Count Kleist has, meanwhile, been instructed to send home the original text of the Venezuelan note in question. . . .
(Signed) MARSCHALL
*****
lnclosure 2: SEÑOR URBANEJA TO COUNT VON KLEIST
(Translation — Original: French)
Caracas, March 21, 1892.
M. le Ministre,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 17th instant respecting the dangers connected with the establishment of Venezuelan and English police detachment stationed on the Cuyuni River, together with a copy of a Memorandum transmitted to you by the British Government, for communication to the Venezuelan Government, on the same subject.
In reply to the first part of your note, i.e., with regard to the danger of conflict between the Venezuelan authorities and English agents, I have to inform you that the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has already requested the Ministry of the Interior at once to instruct the Government Commissioner for those districts, General Daniel Briceño, that he must take steps to avoid any conflict or quarrel with the agents of the Colony of Demerara, and that it is desirable to adopt a moderate and pacific attitude, without, however, in the least degree sacrificing the national dignity.
With regard to the second point which is dwelt upon both in your note and in the above-mentioned Memorandum, l have the honour to inform you that it is the intention of the Venezuelan Government to discuss this question in one of the next sittings of the Ministerial Council, with a view to its detailed examination. . . .
(Signed) MANUEL CLEMENTE URBANEJA
676. THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY TO MR. TRENCH
Foreign Office, May 4, 1892.
Sir,
I have received your despatch of the 23rd ultimo, forwarding the reply of the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs to the representation which has been addressed to him through the German Legation at Caracas on the question of the frontier of British Guiana.
I request that you will thank the Imperial Government for the communication of this paper. . . .
(Signed) SALISBURY
677. SIR. E. MALET TO THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
Berlin, May 12, 1892.
My Lord,
With reference to Mr. Trench's despatch of the 23rd ultimo, I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship herewith translation of a further note, and its inclosure, which I have received from the Imperial Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs respecting the British Guiana and Venezuela boundary question.
(Signed) EDWARD B. MALET
*****
Inclosure 1: BARON VON MARSCHALL TO SIR E. MALET
(Translation — Original: French)
Foreign Office, Berlin, May 11, 1892.
In continuation of the note from this Office of the 22nd ultimo, respecting the British Guiana and Venezuela boundary question, the undersigned has the honour to forward herewith to his Excellency Sir Edward Malet a German translation of a further note, dated the 6th ultimo, from the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs, in reply to the Memorandum of Her Majesty’s Government which has been received through the Imperial Minister at Caracas.
The latter has been requested to forward the Spanish text of this note also. . . .
(Signed) MARSCHALL
*****
Inclosure 2: SEÑOR URBANEJA TO THE GERMAN MINISTER AT CARACAS
(Translation — Original: French)
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Caracas, April 6, 1892.
M. le Comte,
In accordance with the promise contained in the note from this office on the 21st March, I informed the President of the Republic and the Council of Ministers on the 4th instant of the point mentioned in the concluding paragraph of the Memorandum, copy of which was communicated to the Venezuelan Government by the Imperial Legation on the 17th ultimo, at the request of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government.
The Executive Power of the Republic, in view of the special nature of the question pending between Venezuela and Great Britain, and at same time animated by the desire to avoid placing any obstacle in the way of the solution of the difficulty by a suitable compromise, are making preparations to arrive at the best means of again entering into negotiations with England with regard to the matter in dispute and its equitable solution without sacrificing the dignity of Venezuela, or in any way relinquishing the rights claimed by the Republic in this important question.
As soon as the Venezuelan Government has been able decide upon a basis for formal negotiations with England, they will not omit to inform the other party interested of the result, in the hope that the desired agreement may be arrived at. . . .
(Signed) URBANEJA
678. SIR E. MALET TO THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
Berlin, June 28, 1892.
My Lord,
With reference to Sir le Poer Trench's despatch of the 23rd April last, l have the honour to transmit to your Lordship herewith translation of a further note, with its inclosures, which I have received from the Imperial Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs respecting the British Guiana and Venezuela boundary question. . . .
(Signed) EDWARD B. MALET
*****
Inclosure 1: BARON VAN MARSCHALL TO SIR E. MALET
(Translation — Original: French)
Foreign Office, Berlin, June 24, 1892.
In continuation of his notes of the 22nd April and the 11th May last respecting the boundary question between British Guiana and Venezuela, the Undersigned has the honour to transmit herewith to his Excellency Sir E. Malet copies of the Spanish text of the Venezuelan notes of the 21st March and 6th April last,* which have been received from the Imperial Minister at Caracas since the notes above referred to were written, as well as a copy of Count Kleist's note of the 17th March, in which he forwarded to the Venezuelan Minister the Memorandum of Her Britannic Majesty's Government. . . .
(Signed) MARSCHALL
* See Inclosure 2 in No. 675, and Inclosure 2 in No. 677.
*****
Inclosure 2: COUNT KLEIST TO SEÑOR URBANEJA
(Translation — Original: French)
Caracas, March 17, 1892.
The Undersigned has the honour to inform his Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in compliance with instructions received from his Government, that according to reports which have been recently received by the English Government from British Guiana, there is ground for apprehension that collisions may take place in the disputed territory between officials of the English Colony and those of the Venezuelan Government. It is stated that British and Venezuelan police detachments stand opposed to one another on the right and left bank of the Cuyuni respectively in such a manner that any imprudence on one or the other side might lead to serious consequences.
Her Britannic Majesty’s Government desire to bring to the knowledge of the Venezuelan Government that, on the one hand, although they cannot admit the claim of Venezuela to the territory on the left bank of the River Cuyuni, they do not intend, while the boundary dispute is still pending, to exercise jurisdiction beyond the frontier-line determined by Captain Schomburgk; but that, on the other hand, according to the view of Her Majesty's Government, any aggressive action of Venezuelan officials on the right bank of the Cuyuni and within Schomburgk's line must lead to serious complications. At the same time Her Majesty's Government is prepared to reopen the discussion of the boundary question in London with a regularly accredited Representative of the Venezuela Government.
The Undersigned has the honour to transmit to his Excellency herewith a copy of a Memorandum drawn up by Her Britannic Majesty's Government on this subject, and would be much obliged for an expression of the views of the Venezuelan Government in the matter. . . .
(Signed) KLEIST
679. THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY TO SIR E. MALET
Foreign Office, July 8, 1892.
Sir,
With reference to your Excellency's despatch of the 28th ultimo respecting the boundary question between British Guiana and Venezuela, I have to request you to thank Baron von Marschall for his courtesy in communicating to you Baron Kleist’s note of the 17th March, addressed to the Venezuelan Government. . . .
(Signed) SALISBURY
680. SEÑOR MICHELENA TO THE EARL OF ROSEBERY
(Translation — Original: French)
Hotel Previtali, Arundel Street, London, May 23, 1893.
My Lord,
The Government of the United States of Venezuela, being animated with the desire of arranging the difficulties pending with Her Majesty's Government and of re-establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries at present suspended, has been pleased to send me in the character of Confidential Agent, with full power ad hoc, for the purpose of entering into negotiations with the authorities of the Foreign Office on the subject of the means which may best conduce to effect the speediest realization of those ends.
I have therefore, in consequence, the honour to herewith transmit to your Lordship a copy of the full power with which I am invested for the purpose of treating of the said points, and in so doing I respectfully request your Lordship will be pleased to inform me when it will be convenient to your Lordship to receive me, or to indicate me the official with whom it is necessary to initiate the negotiations.
I profit by this first opportunity to offer to your Lordship the assurance of my distinguished consideration.
(Signed) TOMÁS MICHELENA
P.S. — I inclose a translation in English of the note and power ad hoc.
*****
Inclosure: SEÑOR MICHELENA'S FULL POWER
(Translation — Original: Spanish)
Joaquin Crespo, Chief of the Executive of the United States of Venezuela.
To all who may see these presents, greeting:
Whereas, since the month of February 1887, the diplomatic relations between the Government of Venezuela and that of Her Britannic Majesty have been suspended on account of differences which have arisen in respect of the limits of Guiana; and
Whereas, the Executive Power desires to re-establish these bonds of union by means which international usage indicates as the most just and equable:
Therefore, and having full confidence in the ability, patriotism, and discretion of Señor Tomás Michelena, I confer upon him the character of Plenipotentiary for the purpose of treating and negotiating with the person or persons of the same character who may be chosen for that purpose by Her Majesty’s Government, with the object of re-establishing diplomatic relations between the two nations, and in the understanding that the Convention ("Convenio") which he may sign in virtue of the powers conferred on him by this Commission will be submitted for the ratification of the Government of the Republic.
In testimony of which I do hereby grant these presents, signed by my hand, and sealed with the great national seal, and countersigned by the Minister of Foreign Relations, in the Federal Palace of the capital, Caracas, the 10th day of March, 1893.
(Signed) JOAQUIN CRESPO
Countersigned:
The Minister of Foreign Relations,
(Signed) P. EZEGUIEL ROJAS, (L.S.)
It is a true copy:
(Signed) ROJAS
681. SEÑOR MICHELENA TO THE EARL OF ROSEBERY
(Translation — Original: French)
Confidential Agency of the Venezuelan Republic
Previtali's Hotel, Arundel Street, London, May 26, 1893.
My Lord,
In view of meeting the wish expressed by your Excellency during the interview with which I was honoured yesterday, I now beg to inclose a pro-memoriá of the bases which, in the name of the Government of Venezuela, I submit to your Excellency’s consideration, as a means of arriving at an agreement on the differences between the two countries and to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations.
I trust that your Excellency will see in the bases contained in the pro-memoriá a sincere proof that the present Government of Venezuela wishes, in so far as its legal responsibility allows, to offer to the Government of Her Britannic Majesty means most friendly and most in agreement with international usage of ending a state of affairs which is an obstacle to the active and open relations which should exist between the two countries.
I was very pleased to hear your Excellency declare that Her Britannic Majesty's Government is inspired by the same wishes, and I think that the steps which have now been begun will not fail to lead to a fruitful result. . . .
(Signed) TOMÁS MICHELENA
*****
Inclosure: PRO-MEMORIÁ
(Translation — Original: French)
Bases for the conclusion of a Preliminary Convention between the Government of Her Britannic Majesty and that of the United States of Venezuela for the re-establishment of diplomatic relations and the friendly settlement of questions now pending: —
1. The Government of Great Britain claims certain territory in Guiana as successor in title of the Netherlands, and the Government of Venezuela claims the same territory as being the heir of Spain; both Governments being inspired by friendly intentions, and being desirous of putting an end to the differences which have arisen on this matter, and both Governments wishing to pay all deference to the titles alleged by either to prove its jurisdiction and proprietary rights over the territory in question, they agree and stipulate that as soon as official relations shall have been re-established between the two countries, and after the ratification of the present Preliminary Convention by both Governments, one or more Delegates shall be named by each Party with full power to conclude a Frontier Treaty founded on a conscientious and complete examination by the said Delegates of the documents, titles and data supporting the claims of either Party, it being agreed that the decision of doubtful points and the laying down of a frontier on the line of which the Delegates may be unable to agree shall be submitted to the final decision, from which there shall be no appeal, of a Juridical Arbiter, to be appointed, should the case arise, by common agreement between the two Governments.
2. In view of replacing relations with Her Britannic Majesty's Government on a more friendly footing, the Government of Venezuela will conclude a new Commercial Treaty, and will abolish the additional duty of 30 percent, a Treaty of finite duration, as proposed by Lord Granville in 1884, taking the place of the old Treaty.
3. Claims of subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, and claims of citizens of the Republic of Venezuela against the respective Governments, shall be examined by a Commission appointed ad hoc. Venezuela agrees to this course in the present special case, although the examination and decision of foreign claims is within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, in virtue of a Decree of the Republic: it shall therefore be stipulated that Great Britain shall accept the provision in question as regards future claims.
4. It shall be recorded in the Preliminary Convention that both Her Britannic Majesty’s Government and that of Venezuela acknowledge and declare that the status quo of the boundary question is that which existed in 1850, when Sir [Belford] Wilson, English Charge d'Affaires at Caracas, formally declared, in the name of, and under express instructions from, Her Britannic Majesty’s Government, that no portion of the territory in dispute should be occupied, and demanded and obtained a corresponding declaration from the Government of Venezuela. The status quo shall be maintained pending the conclusion of the Frontier Treaty, mentioned in 1.
5. The Convention drawn on the bases now proposed will be signed by the Confidential Agent of Venezuela in virtue of the powers conferred on him, and by the person duly authorized thereto by Her Britannic Majesty's Government, and shall be immediately submitted to the direct ratification of both Governments; on the exchange of the ratifications, diplomatic relations between the two countries shall, ipso facto, be re-established.
London, May 26, 1893.
682. THE EARL OF ROSEBERY TO SEÑOR MICHELENA
Foreign Office, May 31, 1893.
Sir,
I have had the honour to receive your note of the 26th instant, inclosing a Memorandum of the bases upon which the Government of Venezuela prepared to negotiate for a settlement of the differences existing between the two countries, and for the re-establishment of diplomatic relations.
I beg to assure you that these proposals shall receive the prompt and attentive consideration of Her Majesty's Government. . . .
(Signed) ROSEBERY
683. THE EARL OF ROSEBERY TO SEÑOR MICHELENA
Foreign Office, July 3, 1893.
Sir,
Her Majesty's Government have carefully examined the proposals set forth in your pro-memoriá of the 26th May for the settlement of the various questions which are at issue between the Government of Venezuela and that of Her Majesty.
The most important of those questions, in the opinion of Her Majesty's Government, is that of the boundary between Venezuela and the Colony of British Guiana, and it will, I think, tend to simplify the discussion if in this note I confine myself to that point, and refrain from offering for the present any observations on the proposals contained in clauses 2, 3 and 5 of the pro-memoriá. I must in the first place point out that, although the present proposal of the Venezuelan Government admits the possibility of settling the question of boundary by Treaty, the fact that it also involves reference to arbitration in case of difference between the Delegates of the two Governments charged with the negotiation of that Treaty practically reduces it to the form which has repeatedly been declined by Her Majesty’s Government, viz., the reference to arbitration of a claim advanced by Venezuela to a great portion of a long-established British Colony.
Her Majesty's Government therefore consider than clause 1 of the pro-memoriá can only be accepted by them under the conditions specific in the Memorandum communicated in Sir T. Sanderson's note to Señor Urbaneja of the 19th March, 1890. They would propose that the first clause of your pro-memoriá should be amended in the manner indicated by the additions marked in red ink* in the copy inclosed herewith.
With regard to clause 4 of the pro-memoriá in which it is proposed that both Her Majesty's Government and that of Venezuela shall acknowledge and declare that the status quo of the boundary question is that which existed in 1850, Her Majesty's Government consider that it is quite impossible that they should consent to revert to the status quo of 1850, and evacuate what has for some years constituted an integral portion of British Guiana. They regret, therefore, that they cannot entertain this proposition.
The Declaration made to the Venezuelan Government in the year 1850 by Sir Belford Wilson, the British Charge d'Affaires, was as follows: That "whilst on the one hand Great Britain had no intention to occupy or encroach on the disputed territory, it would not on the other hand view with indifference aggressions in that territory by Venezuela." The arrangement on this basis was disturbed by Venezuela on several successive occasions prior to any attempt on the part of Her Majesty's Government to exercise, jurisdiction in the districts in question. In the same year (1850) in which the Declaration was made, the Venezuelan Government began to establish new positions to the east of Tumeremo, and in 1858 they founded the town of Nueva Providencia, on the south side of the River Yuruari. Again, in 1876, licenses were granted by the Government of Venezuela to trade and cut wood in the district of Barima, and to the eastward of that district. In 1881, the Venezuelan Government made a grant of great part of the disputed territory to General Pulgar, and in 1884 it made concessions to the Manoa Company and others, which were followed by actual attempts to settle the territory.
In contrast to this action, the attitude of the British Government was marked by great forbearance and a strong desire to execute the arrangement in good faith. In proof of this disposition, it may be instanced that when applied to in 1881 to grant a Concession in the disputed territory to certain applicants they distinctly declined to entertain the proposal, on the ground that negotiations were proceeding with Venezuela, and it was not until the encroachments of the Manoa Company began to interfere seriously with the peace and good order of the Colony that Her Majesty's Government decided that an effective occupation of the territory could no longer be deferred, and steps were taken for publicly asserting what they believe to be the incontestable rights of Great Britain.
Those rights they are unable now to abandon, and they could not consent that any status quo except that now existing should remain in force during the progress of the negotiations.
I shall be glad to learn that you are able to accept these modifications of your proposals, as it would be a subject of sincere satisfaction to Her Majesty's Government to find that there is a prospect of a speedy re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. . . .
(Signed) ROSEBERY
* See words within brackets in Inclosure.
*****
Inclosure: AMENDED ARTICLE I
[Whereas] The Government of Great Britain claims certain territory in Guayana as successor in title of the Netherlands and [by right of conquest as against Spain, and whereas] the Government of Venezuela claims the same territory as being the heir of Spain; both Governments being inspired by friendly intentions, and being desirous of putting an end to the differences which have arisen on this matter, and both Governments wishing to pay all deference to the titles alleged by either to prove its jurisdiction and proprietary rights over the territory in question, they agree and stipulate that, as soon as official relations shall have been re-established between the two countries, and after the ratification of the present preliminary Convention by both Governments, one or more Delegates shall be named by each party with full power to conclude a frontier Treaty founded on a conscientious and complete examination by the said Delegates of the documents, titles, and passed events supporting the claims of either party, it being agreed [that the said territory in dispute lies to the west of the line laid down in the Map communicated to the Government of Venezuela on the 19th March, 1890, and to the east of a line to be marked on the same Map running from the source of the River Cumano down that stream and up the Aima, and so along the Sierra Usapamo, and] that the decision of doubtful points and the laying down of a frontier on the line of which the Delegates may be unable to agree shall be submitted to the final decision, from which there shall be no appeal, of a Judicial Arbiter, to be appointed, should the case arise, by common agreement between the two Governments.
684. SEÑOR MICHELENA TO THE EARL OF ROSEBERY
(Translation — Original: French)
Confidential Agency of the Republic of Venezuela in Great Britain,
London, July 7, 1893.
M. le Comte,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency’s note of the 3rd instant, in reply to mine of the 26th May last, proposing bases for the settlement of the questions pending between Venezuela and Great Britain.
Your Excellency's observations on certain portions of the Memorandum, as well as the modifications which you suggest on various points of the proposals which I presented to Her Majesty's Government in the name of the Government of Venezuela, will be taken into careful consideration, and the earliest possible reply will be sent. . . .
(Signed) TOMÁS MICHELENA
685. SEÑOR MICHELENA TO THE EARL OF ROSEBERY
(Translation — Original: French)
Confidential Agency of the Republic of Venezuela in Great Britain,
London, July 31, 1893.
My Lord,
Having considered attentively the opinions expressed by your Lordship in your note of the 3rd instant, in reply to the proposals made on the 26th May by the Undersigned as a basis for a Convention, this Agency, having powers sufficient for the purpose, proceed to make the observations suggested to them by the final declarations of that note, as well as by all which appears therein of the nature of charges made against the conduct of Venezuela in the disputed question of the frontiers between the Colony of Demerara and the Republic of Venezuela.
The Foreign Office begin by saying that "the most important of the questions which are at issue between the Governments of Venezuela and Great Britain is, in the opinion of Her Majesty's Government, that of the boundary between Venezuela and the Colony of British Guiana;" and they add, "that to simplify the discussion, they confine themselves exclusively to that point, and refrain from offering for the present any observations on the proposals contained in clauses 2, 3 and 5 of the Memorandum of the 26th May last."
This declaration means that even on the supposition that the observations relative to the boundaries should he considered admissible, they still could only be so by not considering the other clauses mentioned; further, that as the statements which relate to the frontiers destroy the bases of the Convention altogether, it does not seem useless for your Lordship to consider the character and tendency of those clauses; but not thus will the discussion be facilitated, in fact, quite the reverse is the case, for it amounts to abolishing all discussions whatever.
It was in virtue of a laudable purpose, and a sincere desire for conciliation, by arriving at an agreement about all the controverted points, and thus advancing the interests of both nations, that the Undersigned discarded the well-worn path of a discussion on the respective rights over the territory, and the interminable formulas hitherto followed in treating this affair; such considerations made him imagine the possibility of settling the question of boundary by a Treaty involving a reference to arbitration in case of differences or doubts on the part of the Delegates appointed to demarcate the frontier-line.
Your Lordship rejects this idea by calling it "a reference to arbitration of a claim made by Venezuela on a large portion of a British Colony which has been for many years established."
Your Lordship will allow me to express to you my astonishment at this assertion, which differs very much from historical truth and from the character of the discussion which this question has caused from the year 1841 up to the present time. What Venezuela claims is the fair and natural delimitation of frontiers, about which nothing definite in the way of rights has as yet been established, and with that object she desires that both sides should produce before an Arbitrator the title on which they base their claim, inasmuch as the claim on the part of Great Britain to consider the territory an integral portion of one of her Colonies is not recognized by Venezuela. If Her Britannic Majesty's Government consider that their dominion extends over territories which from ancient times have formed an integral part of the Republic of Venezuela, for which reason the latter dispute the claim, this fact alone does not justify them in refusing the intervention at an Arbitrator, who would judge and decide, according to titles and data, about the rights of each of the two nations over the territory on the north and west of the Rivers Moroco, Pomaroon, and Essequibo, and naturally without any arbitrary limitations laid down by the unjust pretensions of one of the parties. With equal right Venezuela might claim that the judgment of the Arbitrator should be confined in an opposite direction; but such is not the case, inasmuch as the Government of the Republic make no limitations, ask for nothing in an unjust manner, and are not holding any of the territory by an arbitrary occupation; on the contrary, they submit to a Judge the whole of their claims, and bind themselves to respect the decision which shall lay down what ought to belong to each country, the one as the heir of Spain, and the other as successor to the Netherlands.
The conditions laid down by your Lordship as modifications of the first clause, viz., "those specified in the Memorandum communicated by Sir T. Sanderson to Señor Urbaneja in his note of the 19th March, 1890," cannot be accepted on any account as they imply the recognition on the part of Venezuela of the pretensions of Great Britain over a large part of the territory which has been the subject of controversy for many years, and which is the very foundation of the discussion relative to the legitimate rights of each side; and the modification now suggested by your Lordship in the language quoted below also cannot be accepted for the same reason: —
"Her Majesty’s Government would propose that the first clause of your pro-memoriá should be amended in the manner indicated by the additions marked in red ink in the copy inclosed herewith; the additions being the following: "That the said territory in dispute lies to the west of the line laid down in the map communicated to the Government of Venezuela on the 19th March, 1890, and to the east of a line to be marked on the same map running from the source of the River Cumano down that stream and up the Aima, and so along the Sierra Usapamo."
In short, the only concession is on the subject of the extreme pretensions of the Government of Great Britain, as explained by Sir T. Sanderson in the name of the Marquess of Salisbury, and it only corrects in part the capricious line drawn by the explorer Schomburgk; all this being absolutely opposed to another demarcation proposed by your Lordship in 1886, which reduced the British pretensions to narrower limits.
The Foreign Office pass on to consider clause 4 of my Memorandum, and to impugn the idea of the status quo of 1850 by declaring "that it is impossible for Her Majesty’s Government to revert to the status quo of 1850, and evacuate what has for some years constituted an integral portion of British Guiana." They regret that they cannot entertain this proposition, and the Undersigned regrets it likewise, because by reverting to that modus vivendi Great Britain would have given a splendid proof of her love of justice, of her respect for the fulfilment of an agreement, and of her desire of conciliation, in order to renew political relations between the two countries, and thus put an end to all the questions at issue. They give in support of this lamentable decision reasons which cannot be declared sufficient, for they rest on a sophism, and are not applicable in treating of the territory which was declare neutral in 1850. In considering and recognizing the declaration made by Her Majesty’s Government through Sir Belford Wilson, the British Charge d'Affaires at Caracas, your Lordship adds "that the arrangement on this basis was disturbed by Venezuela on several successive occasions prior to any attempt on the part of Her Majesty's Government to exercise jurisdiction in the district in question; that in the same year (1850) in which the declaration was made, the Venezuelan Government began to establish new positions to the east of Tumereno, and in 1858 they founded the town of Nueva Providencia, on the south side of the River Yuruary; that again, in 1876, licences were granted by the Government of Venezuela to trade and cut wood in the district of Barima, and to the eastward of that district; that in 1881 the Venezuelan Government made a grant of great part of the disputed territory to General Pulgar; and that in 1884 it made concessions to the Manoa Company and others."
These previous incidents have served as a justification to the British Government, not only for proceeding as they have done in occupying a large extent of territory which Venezuela maintains belongs to her, but also for their conduct during the last few years, and as a basis for declaring now that these territories belong to the colony of Demerara, and that they cannot therefore evacuate them, or even submit their claims to the examination and judgment of an Arbitrator.
But it is advisable to establish what are the territories which were declared neutral and in dispute by the Agreement of 1850. Were they those which are within the capricious line of the explorer Schomburgk? Were they comprised in the arbitrary limits traced by the Marquess of Salisbury? Did they comprise all those which are called the extreme pretensions? On the contrary, those lines appeared much later, as themes for discussion, and it is natural to suppose that the line traced by Lord Aberdeen in 1841 would serve nine years later for the consideration of British rights in that year; it is all the more natural to suppose this as later on, in 1886, your Lordship indicated another line, which only differs from Lord Aberdeen’s in that it advances a little more towards the north. Neither the one nor the other line incloses the Yuruary and the bank upon which the city of Nueva Providencia was founded, nor the district of Barima, where licences were granted to trade and cut wood, as your Lordship has yourself pointed out. As for the concessions or privileges granted to General Pulgar, to the Manoa Company, and to others, they did not have effect, nor were they granted, over any territory except that of the Republic; the rights of the Colony of Demerara were respected, and consequently so the neutrality which it was agreed in 1850 should extend over a portion of the boundary over which Venezuela has always refrained from exercising any jurisdiction.
Your Lordship signifies, in a manner which appears final, that those rights, viz., those which Great Britain claims to possess over the territory she has occupied, and both that which corresponds with the territory mentioned in the modus vivendi of 1850, as well as that which is more to the north and west, cannot be abandoned, and that you could not consent that any status quo, except that now existing, should remain in force during the progress of the negotiations.
I am convinced that the theory that accomplished facts have the force of law cannot be applied to diplomatic negotiations which have for their object to arrive at a cordial and friendly agreement between two nations joined to one another from ancient times by the glory shared in a great war, and by commercial interest of importance; that theory cannot prevail when it is a question of avoiding serious dangers in the future, when it is attempted to protect and guarantee the extensive capital which Great Britain has invested in Venezuela, and when, the commercial affairs between the two countries being almost paralyzed, an attempt is being made to restore them to the same prosperous footing as that on which they were years ago, so as to prevent that the prolongation of the present state of the political relations between the two countries should produce a serious conflict.
Apart from the consideration that the institutions of Venezuela form an insuperable obstacle to the Governments of the country consenting to recognize tacitly by means of Treaties rights claimed by any other nation over territory which is considered an integral part of the Republic, which rights have never been proved or defined by any legal authority, or consented to or accepted according to international law, there is also the dignity of both countries which would be jeopardized — that of Venezuela by yielding to the force of a demand dishonourable to her, and that of Great Britain by her action in forcing it upon her by the mere fact of being a Great Power.
On the strength of all these reason, the Undersigned ventures to address to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs a further request for the acceptance of this settlement, the bases of which are so just and liberal that they ought not to meet with rejection. It is with these views that I continue to urge the consideration of a basis for a preliminary agreement, which would put aside all discussions about alleged territorial rights, and throw this important matter entirely upon the natural decision of an Arbitrating Judge, in the event of the Commission of Delegates appointed to draw the boundary line not being able to agree on all points.
The Undersigned hopes that your Lordship, being convinced by these reasons, may modify your views in accordance with the declarations made by Mr. Gladstone before Parliament, and in the name of Her Majesty's Government, relative to the question of arbitration, and that your Lordship will thus put an end finally to all the questions at issue with Venezuela, in which object your Lordship may with the greatest reliance count upon the best dispositions on the part of the Undersigned. . . .
(Signed) TOMÁS MICHELENA
686. SEÑOR MICHELENA TO THE EARL OF ROSEBERY
(Translation — Original: French)
Hotel de Bade, 32, Boulevard des Italiens, Paris, August 26, 1893.
M. le Comte,
The Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs writes to me as follows in a letter dated Caracas, the 4th instant: —
"The newspapers of certain British Colonies, especially those of the Island of Trinidad, have lately spoken of new acts of jurisdiction performed by the authorities of Demerara in the territories of Guiana, which Venezuela considers to be within her frontiers.
"This is happening at a time when the Republic, in conformity with her own desire to see the differences existing between herself and Great Britain settled in a manner consistent with international comity, is sending to London an Agent who is charged to negotiate with the Foreign Office for the re-establishment of political relations between the two Governments. The Venezuelan Executive is therefore much astonished at the statements made by certain colonial newspapers, and thinks it advisable that you should call the attention of Her Majesty's Secretary of State to this matter.
"The Port of Spain Gazette of the 25th July, after mentioning the favorable conditions obtaining in the district now called by the English 'north-west district,’ which extends to the mouth of the Orinoco, and which has been claimed by Venezuela on legal grounds since Lord Aberdeen's time, talks of great schemes for exploiting the territory in question, by raising capital and forming Companies in the Colony. The same paper says that under the direction of Dr. Chittenden, Secretary of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad, a ship was got ready a short time ago which was to convey a party of twenty-nine to the Upper Barima, and to expedite the work of the 'Dixon' Company.
"Acts of this kind, which hinder the progress of the negotiations which have been opened, cannot and must not be allowed to pass without notice; and it is therefore very necessary that the British Government should be informed of the feelings with which the Venezuelan Executive observes the tendency of the Colony of Demerara to place difficulties, by active measures, in the way of the conclusion of the agreement which is desired for the settlement of the pending dispute. . . .
(Signed) " P. EZEQUIEL ROJAS"
I have the honour to communicate the above to your Excellency for the purpose mentioned in the letter. . . .
(Signed) TOMÁS MICHELENA
687. THE EARL OF ROSEBERY TO SEÑOR MICHELENA
Foreign Office, September 12, 1893
Sir,
Her Majesty’s Government have carefully examined the arguments contained in the your note of the 31st July last for the settlement of the boundary question between the Republic of Venezuela and the Colony of British Guiana.
I regret to inform you that the contents of your note do not appear to Her Majesty's Government to afford any opening for arriving at an understanding on this question which they could accept.
They continue, however, to be desirous of arriving at a friendly settlement of the boundary between the possessions of the two countries, and they are willing to give their best consideration to any practical proposals for that object. . . .
(Signed) ROSEBERY
688. THE EARL OF ROSEBERY TO SEÑOR MICHELENA
Foreign Office, September 22, 1893.
Sir,
With reference to my note of the 2nd instant, I have the honour to inform you that Her Majesty's Government have given their careful attention to the representations contained in your note of the 26th ultimo complaining of acts on the part of the authorities of British Guiana which are considered by the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs to be in contravention of the rights of Venezuela.
Her Majesty's Government are desirous of showing all proper respect for the recognized rights of Venezuela, but the acts of jurisdiction to which you refer in your note do not appear to them to constitute any infraction of, or encroachment upon, those rights. They are, in fact, no more than part at the necessary administration of a territory, which Her Majesty's Government consider to be indisputably a portion of the Colony of British Guiana, and to which, as it has been their duty to state more than once, they can admit no claim on the part of Venezuela. . . .
(Signed) ROSEBERY
689. SEÑOR MICHELENA TO THE EARL OF ROSEBERY
(Translation — Original: French)
Confidential Agency of Venezuela in Great Britain,
Hotel de Bade, Boulevard des Italiens, Paris, September 29, 1893.
My Lord,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency’s note of the 12th instant, in which you inform me that Her Majesty’s Government has carefully considered the arguments contained in my note of the 31st July respecting the settlement of the question of the frontier between the Republic of Venezuela and the Colony of British Guiana, but regretted to have to inform me that the contents of my above-mentioned note offered no basis which could be accepted in view of settling that question.
In concluding your Excellency adds, nevertheless, that Her Britannic Majesty’s Government is still desirous of reaching a friendly settlement of the frontier between the two countries, and is prepared to consider any practicable proposal that may lead to such an end.
Your Excellency rejects completely the proposal which I made in my note of the 31st July, reproduced from that of the 26th May, to submit to the examination of a Commission of Delegates everything relating to the frontier question, with power to lay down a frontier-line between the possessions of the Colony of British Guiana and the territory of the Republic of Venezuela, and, as an ultimate course, to submit to Arbiters de jure any differences respecting the frontier-line which the Delegates might not be able to settle in common; furthermore, Her Britannic Majesty's Government passes in silence the arguments which I submitted in support of the most just refusal of the Venezuelan Government to accept, as, beyond dispute, the line proposed in your Excellency's note of the 3rd July last, which included a large part of the territory which Venezuela maintains is hers. The terms in which my proposal is rejected, and the fact that these arguments are passed over in silence, greatly weaken, if they do not entirely destroy, the confidence inspired by the concluding sentiment of the note to which I have the honour to reply, namely, the expression of the sentiment that Her Majesty's Government is, nevertheless, desirous of arriving at a friendly solution of the frontier question, and will give their best attention to any practicable proposal which may be made with that object.
The premise made by your Excellency's predecessor to his Excellency Dr. Lucius Pulido, former Agent of the Venezuelan Government, and the well-founded hope that Her Britannic Majesty's present Cabinet, and your Excellency in particular, who had in 1886 conducted the negotiations for a settlement in a spirit so much more conciliatory than that shown by Lord Salisbury, would accept, without imposing conditions which would amount to a dishonourable and unjustifiable submission on the part of Venezuela, proposals founded on a conscientious examination of the question by persons fully authorized thereto by Government, and empowered to fix a frontier-line in harmony with the titles to sovereignty put forward by either party, and on the understanding that whatever the Commission might be unable to settle in common and definitively should be examined and settled by a Court of Arbiters de jure; the Government of Venezuela relied on these hopes, I repeat, when they hastened to renew the negotiations interrupted in 1890, and charged me to continue them, and to submit, as I have done, to your Excellency the proposals already brought to your knowledge. These hopes were fortified by the replies which your Excellency gave to the London Chamber of Commerce, and to a Peace and Arbitration Society, when they asked that the question pending with Venezuela might be settled.
The course to which I refer, and which was proposed to your Excellency in my note of the 26th May last, can alone enable historical truth and the legitimate title-deeds of both parties to be brought fully to light, it alone promises a solution which shall not be destructive of that equality and respect which nations owe the one to the other, and which should all the more be preserved whenever it might possibly be feared that the employment of any vis major might unduly press on the rights of the weaker; it is, moreover, the only course shown to be easy and practicable by the special nature of this long-pending question by the many proposals for settlement made since it began, and by the divergence of the frontier-lines, each more advantageous than its predecessor, which have at successive epochs been proposed by Her Britannic Majesty's Government; the action of that Government in this respect has indeed justified an eminent statesman, the Secretary to the Foreign Department of the Republic of the United States in 1885, in saying in an official note, which has been published and which was addressed to the Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic in London, "that if it should appear that the British claim had no fixed limit, the friendly desire of the United States to assist in finding a solution would be predestined to failure, that a deep feeling of regret would take its place."
This question, which has unfortunately interrupted the old and very cordial diplomatic relations between the Governments of Great Britain and Venezuela, has been the subject of an expression of opinion on the part of all the Governments of America, thanks to the wide distribution of the publications recording its various incidents, and several of the Cabinets of those countries have expressed to the Venezuelan Government their readiness to interpose their friendly influence with the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, with a view to arriving at an honourable settlement.
The history of this question needs only to be briefly recounted to produce a deep conviction that when Venezuela showed herself ready to trust its final and unconditional settlement to arbitration, there as nothing chimerical in her wish so to deal with the situation of affairs which has recently been produced by acts of force which can bring about nothing but violence an disturbance; for arbitration is recognized as a means of settlement by all civilized nations, and was recently praised by the Prime Minister, Mr. Gladstone, in a solemn and much applauded speech in Parliament.
If the length of this note is a contrast to the laconic shortness of your Excellency’s, it is because of the necessity of showing, so far as I may be permitted to do so, that the refusal of Her Britannic Majesty's Government to view, as acceptable and practicable the proposal to submit the frontier question to a Commission of Delegates, and, as an ultimate step, unconditionally to the decision of Arbiters de jure, stands in entire contradiction with the wish which your Excellency assures me is felt by Her Majesty's Government, that a friendly settlement may be found, and with the assurance that they would consider any practicable proposal framed with such a view. The refusal to which I allude and the wish just mentioned are entirely incompatible; it will be well that I should here briefly describe the various phases presented by the frontier question, in order that it may be seen that the claims put forward in recent years by Her Britannic Majesty's Government regarding the frontier between the English Colony of Guiana and Venezuela differ so widely from those put forward when the question first arose, that if the Government of Venezuela were to submit to them unconditionally as the Government of Her Majesty desires, far from reaching an amicable settlement between the two countries, the result would be to reduce the Venezuelan nation to the condition of a conquered country.
The first frontier-line, that of 1841, was proposed by Lord Aberdeen when Dr. Alejo Fortique came to London as Charge d'Affaires of Venezuela; that line started at the River Moroco on the coast, and stretched towards the interior of the territory which Venezuela considered to be hers, and converted into British territory all the region of the left bank of the River Cuyuni. Dr. Fortique’s premature death interrupted these negotiations, which would certainly have terminated in manner satisfactory to the Governments of both countries, for Her Britannic Majesty’s Government gave reason to hope that their claims would be moderated, and the Venezuelan Government, with the approval of the Council of Government, was on the point of proposing an intermediate line.
In connection with these negotiations, the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, at the request of the Venezuelan Government, and through Sir Belford Wilson, then Charge d'Affaires at Caracas, declared solemnly and officially that both countries should consider the disputed zone as absolutely neutral until the conclusion of a definitive Delimitation Treaty, the zone in question being none other than that lying between the line proposed by Lord Aberdeen, which started from the coast at the River Moroco, and extended towards the interior along the left bank of the Cuyuni, and the line claimed as rightful by Venezuela, namely; the line of the Essequibo. The request of the Venezuelan Government was prompted, in part, by the arbitrary conduct of the engineer, Mr. R. Schomburgk, who, during his explorations, established himself in the Venezuelan territory, and put up posts and marks along a line which was quite new, and founded on caprice. Her Britannic Majesty's Government, acting on the express request of Dr. Fortique, Venezuelan Charge d’Affaires, ordered these posts and marks to be removed, and the Foreign Office declared that the posts and marks were no indication of rights, but merely of a desideratum. Schomburgk’s line, which was justly described at the time by the British Government as the line wised for, has nevertheless become the regular war-horse or weapon of the Foreign Office, used not as a line wished for, as was the case from 1841 to 1850, but as marking territory to be occupied, and as a pretext for declaring that this occupation is acknowledged by Venezuela as a title-deed of legitimate ownership, because the territory embraced by the line is, as said in the Decree of October 1886, in dispute.
In a note of September 1881 Señor José Maria Rojas, Minister accredited by Venezuela to the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, proposed to Lord Granville a frontier line which started from the coast 29 miles of longitude east of the left bank of the River Barima, and joined, in the interior, Lord Aberdeen’s line, thus including the region of the left bank of the River Cuyuni. Señor Rojas, the representative of Venezuela, had proposed a frontier line starting from the coast one mile north of the mouth of the Moroco (a point near Lord Aberdeen's line), and from that point following a meridian of longitude [sic] to its intersection with longitude [sic] 60º of Greenwich; from this last point the frontier would have run south, along the meridian of longitude, as far as the territories of both countries extended.
Five years later your Excellency, being then, as now, Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, proposed that the dispute territory should be held to be that between the line fixed by Señor Rojas on the 21st February, 1881, and that proposed by Lord Granville on the 15th September of the same year, both of which are referred to above, and that the frontier line should be drawn between the limits of this zone either by means of arbitration or by a Mixed Commission, so as to divide it equally between the two parties, taking into consideration whatever natural limits there might be. Your Excellency added that your Government laid special stress on the possession of the River Guayma and desired to stipulate that the line should meet the sea-shore westward of that river, and your Excellency offered to make at another point of the disputed territory compensation for this deviation from the principle of the equal division of the zone. Your Excellency also offered to consider, in connection with the frontier, the cession to Venezuela of the Island of Patos, and asked at the same time for complete freedom for the commerce and navigation of the Orinoco.
I must avail myself of this opportunity to bring into strong relief the significance of these bases of settlement which were proposed by your Excellency in 1886, and which differ so widely in their conciliatory and moderate spirit from the position which Her Britannic Majesty's Government has now thought it their duty to assume, when the question at issue is nothing less than the re-establishment of good diplomatic relations between the two countries, in view of repairing the serious ills which the present unfortunate state of affairs has, during recent years, occasioned to very considerable interests.
By making these proposals, your Excellency placed a limit on the extreme claim made by Lord Granville, namely, by offering to divide the disputed territory in equal parts, allowing consideration to any natural limits; your Excellency pointed to the nomination of a Mixed Commission, or to a recourse to arbitration, in order to lay down the frontier line, thus recognizing the undeniable suitability of such courses as means of settling the boundary question. Your Excellency put forward as a wish of Her Britannic Majesty's Government, and as an important desire, that it should be stipulated that the line should leave the sea-shore westward of the River Guayma, and offered to make, at another point of the territory in dispute, suitable compensation for this deviation from the principle of equality. Your Excellency will perceive how far removed are these bases of settlement from the unconditional and extreme proposal contained in your Excellency's note of the 3rd July last, which requires Venezuela to accept as incontrovertible the line which Schomburgk laid down by caprice, excluding from arbitration all the territory included by that line, the line which Great Britain had formerly looked upon as a desideratum, but not as a right, and which gives to the Colony of British Guiana jurisdiction over the Rivers Guayma and Barima, over the point of that name, and over the territories adjacent to those torrents from their source to their mouth, in the great channel of the Orinoco. This involves the abandonment by Venezuela of an amount of territory far larger than that sketched by Lord Aberdeen in 1841, and than that proposed by Lord Granville in 1881; twice as considerable as that proposed by your Excellency in 1886; and even more important than that looked forward to by Sir Thomas Sanderson, in the conference of the 31st July, 1890, with Dr. Lucius Pulido, when he proposed that England should abandon her pretensions to the mouth of the Orinoco, and should agree to laying down the frontier on that side "by means of a line which should start from Point Mocomoco, between Point Barima and the River Guayma, and should, on the south-west, touch the River Amacura."
In your note of the 3rd July last, replying to the proposals for a settlement presented by me in my Memorandum of the 26th May, your Excellency repeated the requirement that Venezuela should recognize as lying outside the range of discussion the line proposed by Sir Thomas Sanderson in his note of the 19th March, 1890, addressed to Dr. Modesto Urbaneja, inclosing a map showing the direction of the line, which goes beyond that originally laid down by Schomburgk, as well as Lord Aberdeen's original line, and that of Lord Granville. Your Excellency admitted the principle of arbitration proposed by my Government for that portion alone of the territory concerned which would lie on the left bank of the Cuyuni as far as the point where that artery cuts Schomburgk's line, near the mouth of the Acarabisi; that is, arbitration was admitted solely for a territory which had never at any previous time been in dispute, and which the Republic of Venezuela has quietly and peacefully possessed ever since its independence, that possession being founded on notoriously sufficient historical and admissible evidence.
Your Excellency can now realize the substantial differences between the various frontier lines proposed by Her Britannic Majesty's Government in 1841, 1881, 1886, 1890, and at the present time; your Excellency can also realize the persistent tendency to extend the borders of the Colony of British Guiana at the expense of Venezuela, as well as the obvious want of agreement existing between your Excellency's proposals of 1886 with the present requirement that Venezuela shall accept, without any sort of compensation, Schomburgk's extended line, which dispossesses her not only of the River Guayma — the Foreign Office's important desideratum in 1886 — but also of the River Barima and of the point of the same name, together with the adjacent territory.
It must there be asked, of what nature can the title-deed and documents be which can serve as foundation for frontier claims so various and so very different from that single and precise basis which can alone serve for the erection of the convincing evidence required to establish a claim of this nature. If title deed and documents exist, sufficient and convincing to the degree of those which the Foreign Office declares itself to hold, why are they not produced before an impartial Tribunal, which would be able to judge of their value and pronounce upon their legal efficacy? Can any solution be hoped for more practical, more amicable, more in harmony with the customs of all countries that respect the sacred rights of justice, and that asked for by Venezuela, namely, that this discussion, which has lasted more than fifty years, shall be confided for examination and judgment to a Mixed Commission of Arbitrators?
The only document cited by Sir Thomas Sanderson, in his reply to the Memorandum sent to the Foreign Office in 1890 by Dr. Lucius Pulido, was the Treaty of Munster of 1648, according to which, Sir Thomas Sanderson maintains, the territory in dispute belonged to Holland by right of first occupation, and argues that it was publicly and electively occupied by Great Britain during the wars at the end of the eighteenth century; that the formal transfer of the country thus occupied was carried out by the Treaty of Peace with the Netherlands of the 13th August, 1814; and that this transfer was not questioned by Spain when a Treaty of Peace was signed with her that same year.
But Sir Thomas Sanderson omitted to state that the Treaty of Munster did not specify the extent of the territory thus recognized by Spain as belonging to the Dutch; that the Spaniards remained in occupation of the whole territory from the Orinoco to the Essequibo, in the neighbourhood of which they had Missions, and had posts on the Cuyuni; that Spain made incessant efforts to keep the Dutch away from the Orinoco, and that the Treaty of Munster forbade the Dutch from even communicating with the Spanish Settlements; that when the English had by force possessed themselves of the Dutch Colonies, the same prohibition must needs apply to them; that acts of war committed by the Dutch, or by the Dutch and English, or by the English alone, in direct opposition to the precepts of the Treaty, and never legalized at any subsequent date by the assent of Spain, constitute no title to sovereignty; that the Treaty of the 13th August, 1814, by which the Netherlands ceded to England the Colonies of Essequibo, Berbice, and Demerara, merely specific them by name, without stating what was the extent of the territory of any one of them.
In the history of the Colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice, published in 1888 by the Dutch Captain, M. P. N. Nestchen, and derived from documents in the official archives of his country, it is seen that, in his opinion, the line shown on one of maps, starts on the Moroco, and runs in a south-westerly direction till it cuts the Cuyuni, and then runs straight south to the mountains of Roraima and Pacaraima. Moreover, the only document which shows in any direct manner the boundary between the Spanish Colonies and the Dutch Colonies of Guiana, namely, the Convention for the surrender of fugitive and deserter slaves of 1791, places the Spanish Colonies on the Orinoco and the Dutch Colonies on the Essequibo in Demerara, Berbice and Surinam. Thus Spain did not hold that the Dutch had any possessions north or north-east of the Essequibo; and when, 1814, she concluded a Treaty, not of. Peace, as Sir Thomas Sanderson says, but a Treaty of Alliance, she would have had no cause to complain that undue extension had been given to the territory of the Dutch Colonies at the expense of those of Spain. As to the Treaty not being a Treaty of Peace, it could not have been such a Treaty for peace had existed between the two countries since 1802, and their forces operated together in repelling the French invasion. Lastly, Sir Thomas Sanderson omitted to state that the list of the British Colonies, published in 1877 by the British Government, carried the frontier of Guiana nearly to the south of the mouth of the Amacura, to the union of the Rivers Cotinga and Fakutu, and that the list of 1887 gives a line with a southward extension following the Yuruary.
This narrative shows that, during the long period that the question has been in discussion, Great Britain has never produced any historical and valid title-deed, proving with the proper exactness, the true and legitimate origin of the many frontier lines which she has required Venezuela to accept as outside the range of discussion. Notwithstanding the absence of such title-deeds, and in violation of what was promised and stipulated by Sir Belford Wilson in 1850 — namely, that the territory then in dispute should be treated by both countries as neutral until the conclusion of a definitive Boundary Treaty — Great Britain has de facto proceeded to occupy the zone included by Schomburgk’s line, which, at an earlier stage, had been explicitly declared to be not a right, but a desideratum; as a contrast to these claims and proceedings, which are so little calculated, to maintain a good understanding between the two countries, and to lead to an equitable, lawful and amicable settlement of this long debated question, Venezuela offers and proposes to submit it to the award of a Commission of persons, properly authorized by both parties, who would analyze all the data of the subject, examine the title-deeds, documents and justificatory evidence on which each party founds its claims, and lay down the right frontier-line, any points in regard thereto which cannot be settled by common accord by the members of the Commission being referred, as a final recourse, to the examination and sentence of Arbiters de jure.
It cannot but be acknowledged that, in so acting, the Venezuelan Government gives most manifest proof of their love of justice, and of their decided wish to reconcile, as far as their legal duties allow, the defence of the Venezuelan territory, which they are charged to maintain intact, with the desire to settle this vexed question in the manner most friendly and satisfactory for both countries, in order that they may then proceed to re-establish good political relations with Great Britain. No greater guarantee for an effectual settlement, no greater degree of independence and impartiality, could be desired than is furnished by such a High Court constituted as a Tribunal of Arbitration, from whose decision there would be no appeal. How can Her Britannic Majesty's Government hold arbitration to be impracticable or unacceptable for settling a frontier question with Venezuela, when they have accepted arbitration for settling similar questions with other nations, and when they have so recently referred to arbitration the grave question of the Behring Sea fisheries, which had arisen with the Republic of the United States?
It will be with the deepest regret that I shall communicate to my Government the contents of your Excellency's note of the 12th instant rejecting the proposals which I had male under the instructions which I had received — proposals inspired by the earnest desire to put an honourable and lawful end to this much-discussed question of the frontier, and thus to renew diplomatic relations between the two countries.
I must now declare, in the most solemn mariner, and in the name of the Government of Venezuela, that it is with the greatest regret that that Government sees itself forced to leave the situation produced in the disputed territory by the events of recent years unsettled, and subject to the serious disturbances which acts of force cannot but produce, and to declare that Venezuela will never consent to proceedings of that nature being accepted as title-deeds to justify the arbitrary occupation of territory which is within their jurisdiction. . . .
(Signed) TOMÁS MICHELENA
690. SEÑOR MICHELENA TO THE EARL OF ROSEBERY
(Translation — Original: French)
Confidential Agency of Venezuela in Great Britain,
Hotel de Bade, Boulevard des ltaliens, Paris, October 6, 1893
My Lord,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's note of the 22nd ultimo, in which you inform me that Her Majesty's Government have considered the representations contained in my note, of the 26th August, complaining, on the part of the Government of Venezuela, of certain acts performed by the authorities of British Guiana in contravention of the territorial rights of the Republic, and you state that Her Majesty's Government are not of opinion that the acts referred to in my note are a violation of those rights, since, you add, the acts complained of are in reality only a part of the necessary administration of a territory which Her Majesty's Government consider to be unquestionably a portion of the Colony of British Guiana, and in regard to which, as it has been their duty to declare more than once, they cannot admit any claim on the part of Venezuela.
I shall not fail to communicate to my Government your Excellency’s note, which will, without doubt, produce a painful impressions, seeing that Her Majesty’s Government refuse to recognize the legitimate right of Venezuela to object to certain acts of the authorities of the Colony of British Guiana with regard to a territory which Venezuela considers exclusively her own, of which she has been in peaceful possession, and which the British Colony has only during the last few years invaded with acts of jurisdiction, which have called forth repeated energetic protests from the Government of the Republic.
It is in vain that the Government of Her Britannic Majesty consider the territory in question to be undoubtedly a part of the Colony of British Guiana, when the history of this boundary question for the last fifty years rises up against such a claim as an irrefutable proof of which the whole world has full knowledge. That history fully proves the doubtfulness of the rights claimed by the Colony of British Guiana, and before the supreme tribunal of public opinion Her Majesty's Government will not be able by a stroke of the pen to cancel the verdict condemning acts of force as wrong, and as being no proof of the existence of right.
I am only doing my duty in again protesting most solemnly, in the name of the Government of Venezuela, against the proceedings of the Colony of British Guiana, which constitute an invasion of the territory of the Republic, and against the statement made in your Excellency's note, that Her Majesty’s Government consider that part of the territory as a portion of British Guiana, and do not admit any claim to it on the part of Venezuela. In support of this protest, I repeat all the arguments contained in my note to your Excellency of the 29th September last, and all those forwarded by the Venezuelan Government on the various occasions on which they have made the same protest.
In conclusion, I cast upon Her Majesty's Government the entire responsibility for any events which may occur in future as a result of Venezuela being forced to resist, by all the means in her power, the seizure of a portion of her territory, seeing that her legitimate wish to see this strained situation put an to by arbitration is rendered nugatory, and that the painful duty of providing for her legitimate defence is forced upon her. . . .
(Signed) TOMÁS MICHELENA
691. THE EARL OF ROSEBERY TO SEÑOR MICHELENA
Foreign Office, October 12, 1893
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 6th instant referring to the complaint which the Venezuelan Government have bought against the authorities of British Guiana. . . .
(Signed) ROSEBERY