AS VENEZUELA COMMISSIONERr-1895-1896 123 



rolling in the trough of the sea and apparently about to 

 founder. 



Since that time his wisdom has, I think, been recog 

 nized; and I am now glad to acknowledge the fact that, 

 of all the many British statesmen who dealt with the 

 Venezuelan question, he was clearly the most just. The 

 line he drew seemed to me the fairest possible. He did not 

 attempt to grasp the mouth of the Orinoco, nor did he 

 meander about choice gold-fields or valuable strategic 

 points, seeking to include them. The Venezuelans them 

 selves had shown willingness to accept his proposal; but 

 alleged, as their reason for not doing so, that the British 

 government had preached to them regarding their internal 

 policy so offensively that self-respect forbade them to ac 

 quiesce in any part of it. 



Toward this Aberdeen line we tended more and more ; 

 and in the sequel we heard, with very great satisfaction, 

 that the Arbitration Tribunal at Paris had practically 

 adopted this line, which we of the commission had virtu 

 ally agreed upon. It need hardly be stated that, each side 

 having at the beginning of the arbitration claimed the 

 whole vast territory between the Orinoco and the Esse- 

 quibo, neither was quite satisfied with the award. But I 

 believe it to be thoroughly just, and that it forms a most 

 striking testimony to the value of international arbitra 

 tion in such questions, as a means, not only of preserving 

 international peace, but of arriving at substantial justice. 



Our deliberations and conclusions were, of course, kept 

 secret. It was of the utmost importance that nothing 

 should get out regarding them. Our sessions were de 

 layed and greatly prolonged, partly on account of the 

 amount of work to be done in studying the many ques 

 tions involved, and partly because we hoped that, more 

 and more, British opinion would tend to the submission 

 of the whole question to the judgment of a proper inter 

 national tribunal; and that Lord Salisbury, the prime 

 minister, who, in his rather cynical, &quot;Saturday-Review,&quot; 

 high-Tory way, had scouted the idea of arbitration, 



