"337, .... Spaniard," administration. 3, lines 1-2....boundaries. Put in limitation to.. boundaries to. "3, line 6.... .(V. C. II, 99).. 66 66 5, line 2.... ....letter last quoted. " 1, lines 5-6.... which never went. 5, line 1.......adversary. 393, 4th line from last.. (pp. 394, par. 5, line 1.. (1).... 66 394, "395, 1... ... (2).. ). 413, (V. C., II, 117). CHAPTER I. GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE CONTROVERSY. The purpose of the Treaty by which this high Tribunal has been constituted is to make "a speedy and final settlement" of a boundary dispute of long standing, which arose in Guiana between the Kingdom of Spain and the Netherlands, and which was left unsettled by them at the time of the acquisition of their territories by their successors in title, Venezuela and Great Britain. Neither the Netherlands nor Spain is a party to the present controversy. The original title of Spain to Guiana, that is to say, the territory between the Orinoco and the Amazon, rested upon discovery and occupation. The mainland of South America was discovered by Columbus in 1498 in this very region. In the following years his lieutenants explored the coast between the Amazon and the Orinoco. During the first quarter of the sixteenth century, charters were granted and settlements established by Spain in various parts of South America, the city of Cumaná, a short distance to the west of the Orinoco, being one of the most ancient. In 1530, a grant of Guiana was made by the Spanish Crown to Diego de Ordaz. The charter defined the grant as including the coast from the Orinoco to the Amazon. In 1531, Ordaz, in command of an expedition, took possession under his charter, ascending the Orinoco for six hundred miles. In 1537, his lieutenant, Herrera, ascended the Orinoco still further. |