[Inclosure.—Translation.]
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Caracas, December 16,
1889.
In the periodical called the Daily Chronicle, of Demerara, British
Guiana, is a decree by the colonial governor, Sir Charles Bruce dated
the 4th December, 1889, in which Barima, or the great mouth of the
Orinoco River, is declared to be an English colonial port, and the line
known as “the Shomburgk survey” is assumed to be the boundary between
British and Venezuelan Guiana.
Now, according to the declaration of Lord Aberdeen, made to Señor
Fortique, Venezuelan minister in London, Shomburgk was never authorized
to occupy any portion of our territory—not even that inhabited by tribes
of wild Indians; that the stakes and signals setup by him were intended
merely to indicate a line which should be the object of future
discussion and negotiation between the two nations; and that it was not
known that any stations or military posts had been established or that
the British flag had been raised over the disputed territory. This was
in 1841, and the Venezuelan Government soon procured the removal of the
marks and posts indicated.
Now, however, following up its system of former usurpations, the
Government of Demerara does not hesitate to declare Barima a colonial
port, to create a police station there, and to take possession of the
neighboring country; all without leave or license and in open contempt
of all those principles of justice which govern the international
relations of civilized nations.
Therefore, the Government of the United States of Venezuela is under the
necessity of protesting, and it does hereby formally and solemnly
protest, against the acts of the government of Demarara in declaring
Barima a colonial port; and it does this in the same manner and form
expressed in its protest of February 27, 1887, and of the 15th June and
29th October, 1888, against former usurpations of Venezuelan
territory.
[Page 777]
It protests, moreover, against the act of jurisdiction which the same
colonial government has recently pretended to exercise over the
territory of Venezuela by authorizing the construction of a road which
shall put Demerara in communication with the federal territory of
Yuruary. That territory belongs exclusively to the Republic and is under
its sole and exclusive jurisdiction, it having never been considered
disputed territory between Venezuela and Great Britain. Moreover, the
last-named power is prohibited from claiming or occupying it by the very
terms of the agreement which it itself proposed and entered into with
Venezuela in 1850 through Mr. Bedford Hinton Wilson, then chargé
d’affaires of Great Britain in this capital.
