Mr. Dawson to Mr.
Hay.
Legation of the United States of America,
Petropolis, Brazil, February 6, 1902.
No. 396.]Sir: I have the honor to forward you herewith
the English and Portuguese texts of the arbitration treaty recently
negotiated in regard to the boundary between Brazil and British Guiana.
The Brazilian congress ratified it on December 27; January 28
ratifications were exchanged by the minister for foreign affairs and the
British chargé d’affaires here accredited, and the treaty was
immediately proclaimed.
It will be observed that the supplementary “declaration” annexed to the
treaty virtually settles the southern boundary of British Guiana. In
that region the Amazon-Essequibo watershed is agreed upon as the
dividing line.
The part of the line in dispute constitutes, roughly speaking, the
southern half of the western boundary of the colony, the northern half
being its Venezuelan frontier. The territory in question is about 300
miles long and 100 miles wide in its broadest place. Great Britain
claims the line to be the Takutu and Cotinga rivers, which unite to form
the Rio Branco, which in turn flows into the great Rio Negro. Her
success would therefore give British Guiana a navigable tributary of the
Amazon as a boundary. On the other hand Brazil claims the division to be
partly the watershed between the Amazon and Essequibo basins and partly
the Rupunumi, a navigable tributary of the Essequibo. The Takutu and
Rupunumi approach very near each other and there is no well-defined
watershed; the altitude above the sea is only about 350 feet; portage is
easy, and a railroad would be cheap. If Brazil’s claim is sustained she
will have the essential link of the proposed Georgetown-Manaos route all
within her own territory, the Essequibo will be an international stream,
and no European power will have a foothold anywhere in the Amazon
Valley.
If a sketch map would be useful to the Department, it can be
obtained.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
The President of the United States of Brazil and His Majesty the King
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of
India, being desirous to provide for an amicable settlement of the
question which has arisen between their respective governments
concerning the boundary between the United States of Brazil
[Page 104]
and the colony of British
Guiana, have resolved to submit to arbitration the question
involved, and, to the end of concluding a treaty for that purpose,
have appointed as their respective plenipotentiaries;
- The President of the United States of Brazil, Señor
Joaquin Aurelio Nabuco de Araujo, envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary of Brazil to His Britannic
Majesty;
- And His Majesty the King of Great Britain and Ireland,
Emperor of India, the Most Hon. Henry Charles Keith Petty
Fitz Maurice, Marquess of Lansdowne, Earl Wycombe, Viscount
Cain and Calnstone and Lord Wycombe, Baron of Chipping
Wycombe, Baron Nairne, Earl of Kerry and Earl of Shelburne,
Viscount Clanmaurice, and Fitzmaurice, Baron of Kerry,
Lixnaw, and Dunkerron, a peer of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, a member of His Britannic Majesty’s
most honorable privy council, a Knight of the Most Noble
Order of the Garter, etc., His Majesty’s principal secretary
of state for foreign affairs;
Who, having communicated to each other their respective full powers,
which were found to be in due and proper form, have agreed to and
concluded the following articles:
- Article I. The President of the
United States of Brazil and His Majesty the King of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of
India, agree to invite His Majesty the King of Italy to
decide, as arbitrator, the question as to the
above-mentioned boundary.
- Art. II. The territory in
dispute between the United States of Brazil and the colony
of British Guiana shall be taken to be the territory lying
between the Takutu and the Cotinga and a line drawn from the
source of the Cotinga eastward, following the watershed to a
point near Mount Ayangeanna; thence in a southeasterly
direction, still following the general direction of the
watershed as far as the hill called Annay; thence by the
nearest tributary to the Rupununi, up that river to its
source, and from that point crossing to the source of the
Takutu.
- Art. III. The arbitrator shall
be requested to investigate and ascertain the extent of the
territory which, whether the whole or a part of the zone
described in the preceding article, may lawfully be claimed
by either of the high contracting parties, and to determine
the boundary line between the United States of Brazil and
the colony of British Guiana.
- Art. IV. In deciding the
question submitted the arbitrator shall ascertain all facts
which he shall deem necessary to a decision of the
controversy, and shall be governed by such principles of
international law as he shall determine to be applicable to
the case.
- Art. V. The printed case of each
of the two parties, accompanied by the documents, the
official correspondence, and other evidence on which each
relies, shall be delivered in duplicate to the arbitrator
and to the Government of the other party within a period not
exceeding twelve months from the date of the exchange of the
ratifications of this treaty.
- Art. VI. Within six months after
the cases shall have been delivered in the manner provided
in the preceding article, either party may in like manner
deliver to the arbitrator and to the Government of the other
party a counter case and additional documents,
correspondence, and evidence in reply to the case,
documents, correspondence, and evidence as presented by the
other party.
- If in the case or counter case submitted to the arbitrator
either party shall have specified or alluded to any other
report or document in its own exclusive possession without
annexing a copy, such party shall be bound, if the other
party thinks proper to apply for it, to furnish that party
with a copy thereof; and either party may call upon the
other through the arbitrator to produce the originals or
certified copies of any papers adduced as evidence, giving
in each instance notice thereof within forty days after the
delivery of the case or counter case, and the original or
copy so requested shall be delivered as soon as may be
within a period not exceeding forty days after the receipt
of notice.
- Art. VII. Within four months
after the expiration of the time fixed for the delivery of
the counter case on both sides, each party shall deliver in
duplicate to the arbitrator and to the Government of the
other party a printed argument showing the points and
referring to the evidence upon which each Government relies;
and the arbitrator may, if he desires any further
elucidation in regard to any point in the argument of either
party, require a further written or printed statement or
argument upon it; but in such case the other party shall be
entitled to reply by means of a similar written or printed
statement or argument.
- Art. VIII. The arbitrator may,
for any cause deemed by him sufficient, extend the periods
fixed by Articles V, VI, or VII, or any of them, by the
allowance of thirty days additional.
- Art. IX. The high contracting
parties agree to request that the decision of the arbitrator
may, if possible, be made within six months of the delivery
of the argument on both sides.
- They further agree to request that the decision may be
made in writing, dated and signed, and that it may be in
duplicate, one copy to be handed to the representative of
the United States of Brazil for his Government and the other
copy to be handed to the representative of Great Britain for
his Government.
- Art. X. The high contracting
parties engage to accept the decision pronounced by the
arbitrator as a full, perfect, and final settlement of the
question referred to him.
- Art. XI. The high contracting
parties agree that the Indians and other persons living in
any portion of the disputed territory which may by the award
of the arbitrator be assigned either to the United States of
Brazil or to the colony of British Guiana shall, within
eighteen months of the date of the award, have the option of
removing into the territory of the colony or of Brazil, as
the case may be, themselves, their families, and their
movable property, and of freely disposing of their immovable
property, and the said high contracting parties reciprocally
undertake to grant every facility for the exercise of such
option.
- Art. XII. Each Government shall
provide for the expense of preparing its case. Any expenses
connected with the arbitral proceedings shall be defrayed by
the two parties in equal moieties.
- Art. XIII. The present treaty,
when duly ratified, shall come into force immediately after
the exchange of ratifications, which shall take place in the
city of Rio de Janeiro within four months of this date, or
sooner if possible.
In faith whereof we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed
this treaty and have hereunto affixed our seals.
Done in duplicate at
London, the 6th day of November,
1901.
- Lansdowne.
- Joaquin Nabuco.
declaration.
The plenipotentiaries on signing the foregoing treaty declare, as
part and complement of it and subject to the ratification of the
same, that the high contracting parties adopt as the frontier
between the United States of Brazil and the colony of British Guiana
the watershed line between the Amazon basin and the basins of the
Corentyne and the Essequibo from the source of the Corentyne to that
of the Rupunumi, or of the Takutu, or to a point between them,
according to the decision of the arbitrator.
- Lansdowne.
- Joaquin Nabuco.
