It may be convenient, for future reference, that you should be furnished
with the precise terms of those proposals and with an exact statement of
the grounds on which they are based.
I venture, therefore, to inclose a copy of the dispatch addressed to me
by Lord Salisbury on the subject, which, I trust, will facilitate your
consideration of the proposals of my Government.
[Inclosure.]
Lord Salisbury
to Sir Julian
Pauncefote.
Foreign Office, May
22, 1896.
No. 130.]Sir: I sent you in a dispatch under date of
the 18th instant some observations upon Mr. Olney’s communication to
you with regard to the subject of general arbitration.
[Page 248]
As it is possible, however, that we shall not see our way to surmount
the difficulties which still separate the views of the two
Governments in regard to the larger and more general question, I
propose in this dispatch to convey to you proposals for the
settlement of the Venezuelan dispute, which I should be glad if you
would submit to the Government of the United States, acting as the
friend of Venezuela in this matter. From the first our objection has
been to subject to the decision of an arbiter, who, in the last
resort, must, of necessity, be a foreigner, the rights of British
colonists who have settled in the territory which they had every
ground for believing to be British, and whose careers would be
broken, and their fortunes possibly ruined, by a decision that the
territory on which they have settled was subject to the Venezuelan
Republic. At the same time we are very conscious that the dispute
between ourselves and the Republic of Venezuela affects a very large
portion of land which is not under settlement, and which could be
disposed of without any injustice to any portion of the colonial
population. We are very willing that the territory which is
comprised within this definition should be subjected to the results
of an arbitration, even though some portion of it should be found to
fall within the Schomburgk line. With that end in view, we propose
the following basis of settlement of the Venezuelan boundary
dispute:
A commission to be created by agreement between Great Britain and the
United States, consisting of four members, namely, two British
subjects and two citizens of the United States; the above commission
to investigate and to report upon the facts which affect the rights
of the United Netherlands and of Spain, respectively, at the date of
the acquisition of British Guiana by Great Britain.
This commission will only examine into questions of fact, without
reference to the inferences that may be founded on them; but the
finding of a majority of the commission upon those questions shall
be binding upon both Governments.
Upon the report of the above commission being issued, the two
Governments of Great Britain and Venezuela, respectively, shall
endeavor to agree to a boundary line upon the basis of such report.
Failing agreement, the report, and every other matter concerning
this controversy on which either Government desire to insist, shall
be submitted to a tribunal of three, one nominated by Great Britain,
the other by Venezuela, and the third by the two so nominated; which
tribunal shall fix the boundary line upon the basis of such report,
and the line so fixed shall be binding upon Great Britain and
Venezuela. Provided, always, that in fixing such line the tribunal
shall not have power to include as the territory of Venezuela any
territory which was bona fide occupied by subjects of Great Britain
on the 1st of January, 1887, or as the territory of Great Britain
any territory bona fide occupied by Venezuelans at the same
date.
In respect to any territory with which, by this provision, the
tribunal is precluded from dealing, the tribunal may submit to the
two Powers any recommendations which seem to it calculated to
satisfy the equitable rights of the parties, and the two Powers will
take such recommendations into their consideration.
It will be evident from this proposal that we are prepared to accept
the finding of a commission voting as three to one upon all the
facts which are involved in the question of Dutch and Spanish rights
at the time of the cession of Guiana to Great Britain. We are also
prepared to accept the decision of an arbitral tribunal with regard
to the ownership of all portions of the disputed territory which are
not under settlement by British subjects or Venezuelan citizens. If
the decision of the
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commission shall affect any territory which is so settled, it will
be in the power of either Government to decline to accept the
decision so arrived at, so far as it affects the territory alleged
to be settled. But I need not point out to you that even upon that
question, although the decision of the arbitral tribunal will not
have a final effect, it will, unless it be manifestly unfair, offer
a presumption, against which the protesting Government will
practically find it difficult to contend.
