2o8 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute [vol. x 



tribunal of arbitration chosen from the general list of members of the 

 Permanent Court at the Hague, Article V. There were chosen George 

 Gray, of the Circuit Court of Appeals; Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, Chief 

 Justice of Canada; Dr. H. Lammasch, of the University of Vienna and an 

 Aulic Councillor, Jonkheer A. F. De Savornin Lohman, of the Netherlands, 

 and Dr. Luis Maria Drago of the Argentine Republic. They met at 

 the Hague in 1910 and made an award unanimous in all respects (except 

 that Dr. Drago dissented on one point.) 



The award gave complete satisfaction to both parties, so much so 

 that each nation claimed a victory. The fact is that both were weary 

 of the strife over the fisheries which had been going on for over a century, 

 and any settlement with a semblance of fairness would have been accep- 

 table. It should be remembered, too, that most of the international 

 hatred and contempt of some section of either nation for the other had 

 in great measure died out. 



There is another arbitration which was in fact, though not in form, 

 between the two English speaking peoples, aad has a claim to be men- 

 tioned here. 



In 1 8 14 Britain acquired from the Netherlands the Province of 

 Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice (British Guiana), and almost at once 

 got into a dispute with Venezuela as to the boundary between the 

 countries. Venezuela finally claimed to the Essequibo River, though 

 she had previously insisted on a more favourable line. In 1840 Britain 

 directed Sir Robert Schomburgk to lay out the boundaries, which he did, 

 taking in a large area claimed by Venezuela. Much controversy ensued. 

 Schomburgk's monuments were taken up by Britain, but in 1886 she 

 returned to her claim of the line of 1840. More controversy took place, 

 and in 1894 Venezuela took possession of the disputed territory by an 

 armed force. Next year British police removed the Venezuelan flag 

 and were arrested but subsequently released. Then the United States 

 interfered and the celebrated Cleveland Message was sent, December 

 17th, 1895. 



22. In the event, a Treaty was entered into, February 2nd, 1897, 

 between Great Britain and Venezuela to leave the dispute to four Com- 

 missioners named in the Treaty, and a fifth to be selected by these four, 

 and if they disagreed, by the King of Sweden and Norway, the fifth to be 

 President of the tribunal. The British Commissioners were Lord 

 Herschell, shortly before Lord Chancellor; and Sir Richard Henn Collins, 

 then a Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature and to be Master of the 

 Rolls. The Venezuelan, Chief Justice Fuller and Associate Justice 

 Brewer, of the Supreme Court of the United States. They chose M. de 

 Martens of St. Petersburg, a distinguished Russian jurist, professor of 

 International Law in the University of St. Petersburg, and an eminent 

 legal writer, as the fifth. 



