(c.) That the Dutch and British have continuously and in different ways occupied, settled, enjoyed, and controlled the territories or drainage areas through which these various rivers flow, and that the only intrusion or encroachment upon the 20 territory, which would otherwise have exclusively belonged to the Dutch and British, was the occupation by the Spanish Missions of the savannah country in the neighbourhood of the upper tributaries of the Cuyuni, an occupation 25 confined, as has already been stated, to that part of the territory which is west of a line drawn due north from the junction of the Rivers Uruan and Yuruari. CHAPTER V. POLITICAL CONTROL BY THE DUTCH AND BRITISH IT is necessary to make some observations upon 5 the relations of the Dutch and British with the Indians, the effect and purport of which has been apparently misunderstood by the framers of the Venezuelan Counter-Case. The British contention is that the fact that the 10 Indians of certain districts habitually looked to the Dutch and British for protection, and were protected and controlled by them, is strong evidence to show that, as between Spain and Venezuela on the one hand and the United 15 Netherlands and Great Britain on the other, these districts belonged to the Dutch and British. Although it is the fact that from local reasons the Indian tribes shifted their quarters from one part of a district to another, it is established that 20 they belonged to certain well known districts, generally connected with a river, and were constantly so spoken of in contemporary documents. Their change of abode in no way impairs the effect of their recognition of Dutch sovereignty. 25 It is in this connection, and for the purpose of these considerations, that it is desirable briefly to review the facts which the evidence establishes with reference to the relations between Dutch and British respectively and the native Indian 30 tribes. In the Charter of 1621 the Dutch contemplated British Case App., that the West India Company should make conI, p. 44. tracts and alliance with the natives of the lands within the limits of their Charter; and it was 35 well known as early as that year that this was the policy of the Dutch. This policy was throughout maintained, and, as is pointed out in Chapter V of the British Counter-Case, was expressly recognized by the 40 Treaty of Münster. That the Dutch did, in fact, to the knowledge British Case App., I, p. 52. British Counter- British Case App., I, p. 70. of the Spaniards, enter into such alliances is established by overwhelming testimony. They were referred to in the Report of the Marquis de Sofraga in 1631. That they had been British Case App., further extended is shown in the letter of the 5 1, p. 88. Corporation of Trinidad to the King in 1637; British Case App., and the Report of Escobar, cited in that letter, I, p. 101, describes how close an alliance had been established. Other Spanish documents of the years 1638 and 1662 confirm the fact. These alliances 10 continued through the whole of the eighteenth century. Records in 1739, 1752, and 1755 attest the goodwill existing between the Dutch and Caribs. British Case App., I, pp. 116, 124, 153, British Case App., British Counter- British Case App., British Case App., British Case App., British Case App., British Case App., British Case App., VI, pp. 2, 9, 12, 21. Alliance with the Caribs was a system recog- 15 nized by the Dutch for the express purpose of strengthening and protecting the Colony; and this fact is clearly established by the Reports of the Governor of Berbice in 1764 and of the DirectorGeneral of Essequibo in 1765 and 1769. 20 Formal assemblies of the Indians were periodically held during the latter part of the eighteenth century; and on these occasions the Indians undertook to be faithful and true to the Government and inhabitants of the Colony, and accepted 25 appointments from them. The Assemblies of Indians in 1778, 1784, and 1795, are instances which may be cited. Speaking of the whole period during which the Colony was in the possession of the Dutch, 30 at no date did the Dutch express the slightest apprehension of attack by the Caribs, to whom they were bound by the closest ties of friendship and alliance. Upon the other hand, many of the Spanish 35 Missions were destroyed by the Caribs, and they were constantly raided and attacked by them. There is no doubt that the Caribs were frequently prevented by the Dutch from attacking the Spanish Missions. 40 That the system of Indian control existed when the British took possession of the Colony is evident from the Acting Governor's letter to Lord Bathurst in 1813. The formal record kept of the Indians in the service of the Government, 45 according to their various districts, extending from the Barima to the Essequibo, establishes that the system was maintained by the British as a part of the organization of the Colony. The records for the years 1815, 1818, and 1821 50 are printed in the British Appendix. The Report of William Hilhouse, Quartermaster-General of the Indians in 1823, and other documents mentioned in the British Case, show that the system was not one of mere form, 5 but that there was actual government and control over the various Indian tribes residing in the territory now in dispute. The affidavits which are printed in the 7th volume of the British Appendix show the con10 tinuance of the system; and the affidavit of Sir Henry Barkly, speaking of the of the year 1849, shows that Indians dwelling to the west of the Schomburgk line owned allegiance to the British, and after that line was laid down moved to the east15 ward of it in order to reside on British territory. This control was rapidly consolidated under British administration, and, as is scen by reference to pp. 99-112 of the British Case, the Indians soon accepted their position as subjects 20 of the British Crown. Their Captains were appointed by the British Governor, the subsidies paid to them in earlier days were stopped, they regularly resorted to the appointed Courts, and they welcomed the missionaries who settled in 25 their raidst. British Case App., British Case App., British Case App., As to the north-west district, reference is made to the fourteenth Chapter of the British CounterCase, where particulars are given with reference to it. The whole of this country as far as the right bank of the Amakuru has been com- 20 pletely organized with all the machinery for civilized government. Justice is regularly administered, court-houses and police-stations have been established, post-offices have been set up, roads have been made, a regular service of 25 steamers to Morawhana, and thence up the Barima, has been organized, hospitals, hotels, and stores have been built, the agricultural industry as well as the mining has been developed, and the whole country is under complete political and 30 administrative control. Similarly the Moruka and Pomeroon Rivers are thickly inhabited by British subjects, and are completely administered. Police-stations, postoffices, with a daily post, hospitals, churches, 35 and missions, are there in existence. Some of the estates granted by the Dutch at the end of the last century are still in cultivation, and almost the whole of the rest of the land is now |