ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

The note of the minister illustrates the increasing gravity of this now historic dispute, the sincerity with which Venezuela seeks to secure the submission of the matter to arbitration, and the earnestness of her desire for the exercise of the good offices of the United States in that behalf.

I have, etc.,

[Inclosure in No. 36-Translation.]

SENECA HASELTON.

Señor Rojas to Mr. Haselton.

CARACAS, December 7, 1894. MOST EXCELLENT SIR: The question pending between Venezuela and Great Britain in reference to the limits between the Republic and the Demerara colony has occupied for several years, as your excellency knows, the attention of the civilized world, and has led the press of many European and American countries, including the United States, to point out the necessity of determining, once for all, whether the theoretic equality of States merits actual respect, or whether superior strength and greater material power can override the doctrines and principles of international law.

This question acquires day by day a more serious aspect on account of the proceedings taken by the agents of England, who, disregarding the conciliatory advances of Venezuela, have, especially since 1886, been extending the British jurisdiction into territory which the Republic considers as appertaining to her.

Within the eight years last past several efforts have been made for an adjustment equitable to both parties with a view to ending the conflict, as is shown by the sending of three commissioners to London for the purpose of treating upon the question directly with the Government of Her Britannic Majesty. The most recent was last year, and in that, as can be seen by your excellency in the Yellow Book presented to Congress in 1894, the Venezuelan Government showed a most evident desire to end the question without prejudice to any principle of law, but, on the contrary, by a legal arbitration such as England herself resorts to and recommends in analogous cases.

The persistency of the British Government in declining to submit to arbitration that part of the territory that it has occupied some years made useless the action of the last Venezuelan commissioner, and rendered inefficient the just proposals of the executive power of the Republic, and stimulated the ambition of certain agents of the colony who have ever in view the inviting prospects offered by a territory rich as are few others in natural products.

Some of them presented a motion in the legislative chamber of Demerara, on the 24th of October last, relative to the opening of a road that should connect the Upper Barima with the Cuyuní, or the Yuruán, which involves a new plan of usurpation, and tends to make more difficult the peaceful settlement of this controversy.

The secretary of the colony requested that the matter be deferred until he had consulted the ministry for the colonies, and, what is still more serious, until he should have obtained its approval of a petition forwarded to it, in order to secure the power to raise a large loan out of which might be taken the necessary amount for the opening of the projected road.

The Venezuelan Government, through its consul at Demerara, has already given notice to the governor of the colony that the carrying

FOREIGN RELATIONS.

out of the project (to wit, that relative to the road from Barima to Cuyuní) would produce, without doubt, a collision with the Venezuelan authorities in that region, and would be the cause of additional acritude in a controversy which it is important to both parties to carry on in a conciliatory manner.

As your excellency will understand, the conflict assumes already a threatening aspect, as the authorities of the colonies are disposed to extend still more their jurisdiction, under the pretext of uniting two points of the territory of Guayana, and thus to penetrate into regions where the Republic has already established regular stations.

In view of this, the Venezuelan Government, ever solicitous to exhaust all proper means of arriving at a friendly settlement, has resolved to inform your legation of the new danger which has arisen and to urge hereby the Government of the United States to exercise its efficient and direct intervention, a request which some time ago our minister plenipotentiary at Washington presented to the Department of State, and has since frequently reiterated.

The cooperation of your excellency would, without doubt, be productive of direct results, as it would rest on sound principles and emanate from one who, like your excellency, represents a Republic which rests its public acts upon grounds of justice and right. And, as moreover, the Government of the United States can not, without abandoning its dearest traditions, contemplate with indifference the disregard by a foreign power of the legitimate territorial rights of an American nation, it is to be hoped that its moral action be now as full and decisive in the matter as the magnitude and character of the threatened interests indicate, call for, and require.

The matter which I have explained to your excellency is almost as important to the United States as to Venezuela herself. The control by England of the entrance to the mouth of our great fluvial artery, and of some of its tributaries, would expose to constant peril the industry and commerce of a large portion of the New World, would, in fact, bring into ridicule the famous and salutary Monroe doctrine, and would establish abusive practices which in the end might make illusive for some American countries their own political entity as free and independent States.

I most sincerely ask that your excellency will be pleased to interpret the foregoing ideas to the Government of the United States.

I renew, etc.,

P. EZEQUIEL ROJAS.

INDEX.

A.

Page.

Abduction of Constance Madeleine His...

Acting consuls, judicial functions discharged by, in China.
Admeasurement of vessels, Austria-Hungary.

646

139

48

Belgium

France...

Sweden and Norway

52

215

636

Alexander III, death of....

Aga Jan Khan, murder of, Persia....

Aivazian, Mr., and Mrs. Toprahanian, cases of, Turkey.

Alien contract labor cases, Spain...

American cattle, prohibition of, Belgium..

citizens committing offenses in Turkey, case of Dr. Franklin...
in Bulgaria, good offices to, by British consular officers.

507

765

558

611

50

[blocks in formation]

domiciliary rights and religious persecution at Hamadan..
hog products, burdens on exportation, Germany.

interests in the Transvaal..

228

492

226

252

vessels

protection to Turkish subjects teaching in..

right to acquire real estate in Russia..

Apt, Siegfried, military duty, Germany.

physicians in Great Britain..

ports, discriminating tonnage and cargo dues imposed on Mexican

schools, impediments in the way of, Turkey.

schooner Henry Crosby, attack on, in Dominican Republic..

Americans, naturalized, of Turkish origin, status and treatment of, in Turkey.

Amnesty to political offenders, Chile....

Arbitration, Colombian and Venezuelan boundary

Argall, H., arrest of, Guatemala...

Argentine Republic, certificates of nationality (papeletas).

280

397

702

740

207

752

539

94

242

200

312

18

international copyright.

1

proposed tariff legislation...

3

Armenians, alleged cruelties committed upon, in Turkey..

714

Arms, alleged request of Armenians for, from United States Government.
Army service, United States citizens, Austria-Hungary.

alleged request of, for arms from United States Government..
reported organization of, in New York for military drill..

[blocks in formation]

Attack on American schooner Henry Crosby Dominican Republic.
Austria-Hungary, admeasurement of vessels....

207

48

claim of Ernst Oechsle against ex-Consular Agent Dunham.
collisions at sea...

[blocks in formation]

B.

Page.

418

391

302

228

52

50

36

783

54

200

180, 193

439

411

250, 803

477

73

513

85

Baldwin claim, Mexico....

Banco Vela discussion.

Barnharts and Imboden, arrest of, Honduras.

Beef, American corned, prohibition of, Germany.

Belgium, admeasurement of vessels..

Bolivar, steamer, detention of, and closing of the Macareo and other bayous of

[blocks in formation]

64

transportation of coolies to

Victorino Pereira elected Vice-President.

Brazilian citizens protected in Portugal

revolt

British consular representation in Bulgaria.

Guiana and Venezuela boundary.

136

85

513

275

247

250, 803

subjects, removal from Choctaw Reservation

249

Brück, Peter, military duty, Germany..

241

Bulgaria, British consular representation.

247

good offices to American citizens in, by British consular officers.

[blocks in formation]

Caroline Islands, return of missionaries and indemnity to.
Cattle, American, prohibition, Belgium..

590

50

Denmark.
Germany

free reentry into United States from Mexico..

strayed or stolen in Mexico, recovery.

Celebration of Fourth of July, Brazil..

Ceremonial announcements, Honduras.

Certificate naturalization, validity of, Austria-Hungary.

205

230

415

418

85

302

26

[blocks in formation]

friendly offices to Japanese in, by United States representatives.
imitation of trade-marks..

[blocks in formation]

China, suburban residence of missionaries.
transportation of coolies to Brazil

treaty with, regulating emigration.

Chinamen, prevention of escape in Oregon..

Chinese, friendly offices to, of United States representatives, Japan..
good offices of United States representatives in behalf of, Guatemala.
protection of, in Guatemala...
registration of, in United States...

Choctaw Reservation, removal of British subjects from..

Cholera, closure of Colombian ports.....

Cigar makers, Spanish, at Key West, attack upon.
Citizenship, American, Mexico, August Huguet..

certificates of, Haiti...

China....

of Fred Tschudy, Switzerland.

of Joseph Wingfield (a minor) Russia.
question, Mexico.

Civil suits in Japan, consular jurisdiction over, case of George W. Lake.
Claim, Baldwin, Mexico..

of Ernst Oechsle against ex-Consular Agent Dunham.
Oakes & Foster against Great Britain

William Webster against Great Britain

Claims assigned by Persian subjects to foreigners....

United States and Chilian.

Cleary, Reuben, exequatur refused, Brazil.

Closing of the Macareo and other bayous of the Orinoco River to foreign com-

merce and detention of steamer Bolivar

[blocks in formation]

Costa Rica, boundary

Great Britain, Sabanilla Bay.

Nicaragua, boundary between

France, convention regarding aliens, commerce, and navigation.

[blocks in formation]

Page.

141

136

176

257

372

331

175

160

249

197

617

411

346

138

683

561

411

376

418

27

287

287

484

87

83

783

197

242

739

[blocks in formation]

Consular jurisdiction over civil suits in Japan, case of George W. Lake..

officers, settlement of estates by, Italy.

representation in Bulgaria, British.

Consuls, acting, judicial functions discharged by, in China.

Constance Madeleine His, abduction

Contraband trade, Haiti

Contract labor cases alien, Spain.

Contributions, forced, Nicaragua..

Convention between France and Colombia regarding, aliens, commerce and

proposed naturalization and extradition, Italy.

trade-mark, Greece....

Cook, Dr. F. A., visit to Greenland..

Coolies, transportation of, to Brazil.

Copyright act, Greece and United States.

international, Argentine Republic

FR 9454

navigation..

Liberia...

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »