"divides the tributaries of the Branco and Caroni rivers. "This space would comprise 2,400 square leagues to be defended

66

against four conterminous nations, England, Holland, France, "and Brazil, each of which would lay pretensions to an unknown "territory trodden only by independent Indians."

This is no contradictory evidence impairing the right of Venezuela over the regions in question, but simply a conjecture that other states might raise contentions against its acknowledgment.

Finally it appears from Mr. Markham's opinion that, at the present time, England is still making discoveries in the territory of Guayana, forgetting that since 1823 the United States declared through President Monroe, that "the occasion has "been judged proper for asserting as a principal in which the "rights and interests of the United States are involved, that "the American continents, by the free and independent conditions "which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be "considered as subjects for future colonization by any European "powers."

.66

This is precisely the principle developed by Mr. Olney in 'his note of July 20th, 1895, in order to justify the intervention of the United States in favor of Venezuela, and which is connected with the other part of the doctrine of Monroe, for, as is declared by President Cleveland in his special message of December 17th, 1895, "If a European power, by an extension "of its boundaries takes possession of the territory of one of our neighboring Republics against its will and in derogation "of its rights, it is difficult to see why to that extent such "European power does not thereby attempt to extend its "system of government to that portion of this continent which "is thus taken. This is the precise action which President "Monroe declares to be dangerous to our peace and safety,' ❝and it can make no difference whether the European system "is extended by an advance of frontier or otherwise."

The jurisconsult, Mr. Emil Reich, already cited, is in accord with the foregoing conclusions when he writes at the end of his article:" If it be true, as it undoubtedly is, that the Dutch

66

"were the legitimate owners of the very territory west of the Essequibo descended from them to the English; and if it be "further true, as it undoubtedly is, that in pushing their colo"nization more westward still the English have, previous to "their acceptance of the general tenor of the Monroe doc"trine (1823), not violated any law whatever, no more than "had the Dutch in settling the country west of the Essequibo"river; if all this be true, as it undoubtedly is, the whole ques"tion is reduced to this-that any new colonizations and settle"ments established by the English after 1823 may imply a breach of their vague acceptance of the vague contents of the Monroe "doctrine. This, and this alone, can be a matter of discussion, "arbitration, or any other form of precedure.

Now, most of the British colonizations have been accomplished subsequently to 1823, and particularly those acknowledged by Lord Salisbury as having been established since 1844, date of Lord Aberdeen's offer, and those carried into effect after 1884 and 1886, ostentatiously and without the slightest concealment.

SPANISH MISSIONS.

It is said in the Blue Book, page 7, that "about 1664 the “Fathers Llauri and Vergara were sent to explore Guiana “with a view of seeing whether a Jesuit Mission should be "founded there. They reported the province abandoned by "the Spaniards, and nothing came of their expedition." Cassani's History of the Society of Jesus is cited and, without further specification, a note is added wherein it is stated that "the date sometimes erroneously assigned to this expedition "is 1576."

Padre José Gumilla writes on page 29, volume I., of his History of the Missions established on the river Orinoco that, " in 1579, when the Corsair Captain Jansen assaulted, sacked, "and burned St. Thomé de Guiana, he also sacked and destroyed the establishments founded by Padres Ignacio “Llauri and Julian de Vergara, where these fathers were do"mesticating and civilizing the Guianese nation and had "erected five churches."

66

Padre Caulin, in his "Historia de la Nueva Andalucia," page 8, chapter II, Book I, asserts the following:

"The first missionaries who undertook the conversion of "the Indians of this province of Guiana were the Reverend "Jesuit Fathers Ignacio Llauri and Julian de Vergara, about "1576, and they remained three years dedicated to the instructing and catechising of the Indians until the year 1579, "when, the province being invaded by Captain Jansen, a "Hollander, it was left in such a state of destitution that

66

nearly all of its inhabitants retired to the plains of Cumana, "where they perished, victims of famine and venomous insects, "and among them the venerable Padre Llauri; Padre Julian, "who remained alone, withdrew, by order of his Superior, "to the Missions of Casanare."

In his "Resumen de la Historia Antigua de Venezuela," Baralt says, page 253: "At the beginning, nevertheless, this "new method of conquest, introduced in 1576, did not pro"duce any favorable result, because the Dutch of Esequivo "and Demerari invaded Guiana in 1579, and, aided by the 'natives, they expelled from the province the Jesuits Ignacio "Llauri and Julian de Vergara, who had penetrated into it "with inexpressible sufferings and dangers."

66

The Annals of Guiana, by Rodway and Watt, Volume I, page 14, state as follows: "1576.-Two Jesuit fathers, "Ignacio Llauri and Julian de Vergara, proceeded up the "Orinoco and commenced a Mission, on the site, there is "reason to believe, of what was afterwards called Old St. "Thomé. The missionaries obtained a fair measure of suc"cess, but three years after the establishment of the mission, "it was destroyed by Captain Jansen (vide Alcedo).”

The Blue Book, on page 20, asserts as a fact: "That, "between 1724 and 1796 the Capuchin Missions were estab"lished south of the Orinoco, and gradually extended south"wards and eastwards towards the Dutch territory, the fur"thest point occupied by the Spaniards being the village of "Tumeremo, founded about 1788."

But others have observed upon reasonable grounds, that the inexactness of the asseveration is evidenced by the document published in the Blue Book itself, page 134. A communication is therein mentioned from Fray Buenaventura, Superior of the Missions in Guayana, to the Governor of that province, in which he remarks that there should not be any great objection to the foundation of the village of Tumeremo because this spot was very far from the Cuyuni, and the Governor's predecessors had found no difficulty in allowing a settlement to be found at Cura, which was less distant from the Cuyuni than Tumeremo, nor at the site of Curamo which was also less distant, although it was true that the Caribs, incited by the Dutch, had destroyed this last place and since then it had not been resettled.

The accuracy of the foregoing observation may be easily confirmed by examining any map whatever whereon the missions are marked, and it will be seen that Cura is very far from Tumeremo and very near the Cuyuni; but in Map A of the Blue Book, the difficulty is eluded simply by indicating the former and omitting the latter!

With reference to the Missions of the Orinoco and Rio Negro, Senor Ricardo S. Pereira, Secretary of Legation of Colombia, says: "The jurisdictional boundaries of these “missions were fixed by virtue of a compact or concord, as it "was called, among the missionaries themselves, as follows: "From Angostura of the Orinoco down the river as far as its "mouth, missions of the Capuchin Fathers; from the same "Angostura up the river as far as the mouth of the River "Cuchivero, missions of the Observant Franciscan Fathers; "and for the missions of the Jesuit Fathers, the territory ex"tending westward of the River Cuchivero, the southern boundary of all being the Amazon. Guiana and the lands "adjacent were thus divided into three parallel strips formed "by the meridians of Angostura and the mouth of the CuchiThe aforesaid concord was approved and ratified in "all its parts by the 'real Cédula' of September 16th, 1736.” It is signed at San Ildefonso by the King, and countersigned, as he ordered, by Don Juan Benturra Matturana.

66

❝ vero.

All well informed persons are acquainted with the beneficent results produced by the system of missions in the work of catechising and civilizing the Indians. For this reason the Spanish government interested itself in their increase. The above mentioned royal "cédula" authorized their establishment in nearly the whole territory of Guayana, so that they particularly comprised the Caroni and a great part of the Cuyuni district, and could extend as far as the Amazon, which, as has been seen, formed the southern limit of the province of Guayana.

This was recommended by Governor Diguja in 1763, especially on account of the service they were rendering by checking the advances of the Dutch, as appears in his report, pp. 46-47, volume I, of the documents translated into English and submitted to the Boundary Commission as follows:

"4. The growth of the Presidio and the fact that its estab"lishment has become day by day more permanent and im"portant, have permitted it to provide the missionaries with "such escort as they needed to continue their explorations "southwards, and found, among others, such villages as “El Nato, El Yuruario, and Ave Chica, the latter at about forty "or forty-five leagues from the Presidio, all of them on the "banks of rivers which empty into the Cuyuni, as can be seen "in the general map. By means of the missions, serving as "advance posts, the Dutch and their assistants, the Caribbean "Indians have been prevented, to a great extent, from reach"ing the interior of the country through the Cuyuni and the "Mazaroni rivers, committing acts of hostility, kidnapping Indians, not belonging to the Caribbean tribe, and starting "some settlements of their own in the center of this province. "Several expeditions, the last of which was organized in 1758, "have been fitted out, at diverse periods, to frustrate these "invasions. The expedition last mentioned succeeded, as "before stated, in possessing itself of the fortified place which "the invaders had built on the banks of the Cuyuni river, "which fact had been reported by the missionaries upon in"formation furnished them by the Indians inhabiting villages