circumscribed as to render them of little practical value." (Annuaire de l'Institut de Droit International, 1894, p. 146.)

So the use of the ten mile bays so constantly put into practice by Great Britain in its fishery treaties has its root and connection with the marginal belt of three miles for the territorial waters. So much so that the Tribunal having decided not to adjudicate in this case the ten miles entrance to the bays of the treaty of 1818, this will be the only one exception in which the ten miles of the bays do not follow as a consequence the strip of three miles of territorial waters, the historical bays and estuaries always excepted.

And it is for that reason that an usage so firmly and for so long a time established ought, in my opinion, be applied to the construction of the treaty under consideration, much more so, when custom, one of the recognized sources of law, international as well as municipal, is supported in this case by reason and by the acquiescence and the practice of many nations.

The Tribunal has decided that: "In case of bays the 3 miles (of the treaty) are to be measured from a straight line drawn across the body of water at the place where it ceases to have the configuration characteristic of a bay. At all other places the three miles are to be measured following the sinuosities of the coast." But no rule is laid out or general principle evolved for the parties to know what the nature of such configuration is or by what methods the points should be ascertained from which the bay should lose the characteristics of such. There lies the whole contention and the whole difficulty, not satisfactorily solved, to my mind, by simply recommending, without the scope of the award and as a system of procedure for resolving future contestations under Article IV of the Treaty of Arbitration, a series of lines, which practical as they may be supposed to be, cannot be adopted by the Parties without concluding a new treaty.

These are the reasons for my dissent, which I much regret, on Question Five.

Done at The Hague, September 7th, 1910.

LUIS M. DRAGO

VIII

UNITED STATES AND VENEZUELA

ORINOCO STEAMSHIP COMPANY

COMPROMIS, FEBRUARY 13, 1909

SESSIONS, SEPTEMBER 28, 1910 OCTOBER 19, 1910, THE HAGUE
AWARD, OCTOBER 25, 1910

ARBITRATORS, LAMMASCH, BEERNAERT, DE QUESADA

PROTOCOL OF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA FOR THE DECISION AND ADJUSTMENT OF CERTAIN CLAIMS, SIGNED AT CARACAS ON FEBRUARY 13, 1909

William I. Buchanan, High Commissioner, representing the President of the United States of America, and Doctor Francisco González Guinán, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the United States of Venezuela, duly authorized by General Juan Vicente Gómez, Vice-President of the United States of Venezuela, in charge of the Presidency of the Republic, having exhibited to each other and found in due form their respective powers, and animated by the spirit of sincere friendship that has always existed and should exist between the two nations they represent, having conferred during repeated and lengthy conferences concerning the manner of amicably and equitably adjusting the differences existing between their respective Governments with regard to the claims pending between them since neither the United States of America nor the United States of Venezuela aspires to anything other than sustaining that to which in justice and equity it is entitled; and as a result of these conferences have recognized the great importance of arbitration as a means toward maintaining the good understanding which should

exist and increase between their respective nations, and to the end of avoiding hereafter, so far as possible, differences between them, they believe it is from every point of view desirable that a treaty or arbitration shall be adjusted between their respective Govern

ments.

With respect to the claims that have been the subject of their long and friendly conferences, William I. Buchanan and Doctor Francisco González Guinán have found that the opinions and views concerning them sustained by their respective Governments have been, and are, so diametrically opposed and so different that they have found it difficult to adjust them by common accord; wherefore it is necessary to resort to the conciliatory means of arbitration, a measure to which the two nations they represent are mutually bound by their signatures to the treaties of the Second Peace Conference at The Hague in 1907, and one which is recognized by the entire civilized world as the only satisfactory means of terminating international disputes.

Being so convinced, and firm in their resolution not to permit, 'for any reason whatever, the cordiality that has always existed between their respective countries to be disturbed, the said William I. Buchanan and Doctor Francisco González Guinán, thereunto fully authorized, have adjusted, agreed to and signed the present Protocol for the settlement of the said claims against the United States of Venezuela, which are as follows:

1. The claim of the United States of America on behalf of the Orinoco Steamship Company;

2. The claim of the United States of America on behalf of the Orinoco Corporation and of its predecessors in interest, The Manoa Company Limited, The Orinoco Company and The Orinoco Company Limited; and,

3. The claim of the United States of America on behalf of the United States and Venezuela Company, also known as the Crichfield claim.

ARTICLE I

With respect to the first of these claims, that of the Orinoco Steamship Company, the United States of Venezuela has upheld