[Inclosure 1 in No. 798.]
Mr. Bayard to Señor
Olavarria.
Department of State,
Washington, February 18,
1888.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your note of the 15th instant, in which you communicate to me
information furnished to you by the Venezuelan legation at Paris, to the
effect that the legislature of Demerara has recently asserted a claim to
British jurisdiction over the country along the Yuruari River; and that
by a decree of the governor of British Guiana dated December 31, 1887,
denial is made of the validity of a grant by the Venezuelan Government
for the construction of a railway from Ciudad Bolivar to Guacipati, a
city in the Caratal mining district, on the ground that the road in
question passes “in and over certain territories and lands within, and
forming part of, the colony of British Guiana.”
No other foundation for the statement made to you by the representative
of Venezuela, at Paris, appears than the article in the London Financier
of January 24, of which you give me a copy. If you have any further
information touching the railway grant mentioned, showing whether the
projected road runs only from Ciudad Bolivar to Guacipati, or branches
eastward from the latter point, it might aid in rightly understanding
the claim now put forth by the authorities of British Guiana.
[Page 703]
Meanwhile I have deemed it proper to send a confidential copy of your
note and its inclosure to the United States minister in London, in order
that, with fuller information, he might continue to urge an amicable
settlement and be better enabled to continue his disinterested
representations to secure abstinence from unjust or injurious
proceedings by the British Government against the interests or
jurisdiction of the Eepublic of Venezuela.
Accept, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
798.—Translation.]
Mr. Olavarria to
Mr. Bayard.
Legation of the United States of Venezuela,
Washington, February 20, 1888.
Excellency: I have had the honor to receive
your excellency’s note dated the 18th instant, in which, while
acknowledging the receipt of mine of the 15th of the same month, your
excellency is pleased to request of me any other information I may
possess touching the grant of the projected railway from Ciudad Bolivar
to Guacipati which may help to a better understanding of the objection
raised by the authorities of British Guiana.
I have likewise read with the greatest thankfulness—a sentiment which I
have the honor to express to your excellency in the name of my
Government as well as in my own—the information you are pleased to give
me that you have instructed his excellency the minister of the United
States in London in the sense that he is to endeavor to bring about a
friendly settlement, and to continue his disinterested offices to insure
the cessation of unjust and prejudicial proceedings on the part of the
British Government against the interests and the jurisdiction of the
Republic of Venezuela.
The grant for the railway from Ciudad Bolivar to Guacipati does not fix
in advance the line of transit, but it is enough to cast a glance at the
map of Venezuela to be immediately convinced that the natural line can
not embrace any part of the territory of British Guiana, even accepting
as legitimate the most advanced frontier line of the three which have
been claimed in succession by the British Government from 1840 to
1881.
The grant in question is one to private individuals, who will certainly
have no intention, in undertaking the work, to deviate from the most
direct and nearest line to the prejudice of their own interests, since
nothing else can enter into their calculations than the reduction, as
far as possible, of the distance and the cost of the work.
This is why attention is being drawn to the claim of invaded rights put
forth by the authorities of British Guiana, a claim that can spring from
no justified right, but rests solely on the very recent pretension of
extending their frontiers far enough to enable them to seize the rich
mining region of the Yuruari. All the steps and invasions of the usurper
lead to this end, and only thus can be explained the circumstances of
his attempting in advance to judge of a grant so far away from his
borders that the act can only be regarded as a confirmation of his new
usurpation. And thus will he continue, your excellency, to advance more
and more, day by day, ever claiming to be within his boundaries.
Disastrous and fatal consequences would ensue for the independence of
South America-if, under the pretext of a question of boundaries, Great
Britain should succeed in consummating the usurpation of a third part of
our territory and therewith a river so important as the Orinoco. Under
the pretext of a mere question of boundaries, which began on the banks
of the Essequibo, we now find ourselves on the verge of losing regions
lying more than five degrees away from that river; and under the same
pretext a stride has been made from Cape Nassau to the seizure of the
island of Barima at the mouth of the Orinoco.
I greatly rely on the friendly and disinterested offices of the
Government of the United States of but in the supposition that the
British Government will continue to regard the case as a simple question
of frontiers, and will keep on protesting that she is operating within
her territory, it occurs to me to respectfully suggest to your
excellency that the opportunity has come for the Government of the
United States, in view of the recent occurrences, to regard the question
under a different aspect which will allow of a speedy and definitive
settlement through the means of its effective intervention. I am sure
that its authoritative voice would be heard with respect.
With the assurance etc.,
