Venezuelan International Law. 55 



" Senora de la Concepcion" after having been perfectly 

 " well treated by the Governor General of Surinam 

 " were conveyed to Moroco, west of the Essequibo, as 

 " being Spanish territory, so that they could thence go, 

 " as on their own land, to the nearest Spanish American 

 " town. It was therefore acknowledged by the Dutch 

 " at that time, that the Moroco river was in territories 

 " belonging to Spain." One would like to see the original 

 document ; for it is hard to believe that, after the Dutch 

 had kept Moruca as a fortified post for many years 

 before, they should give away the place in 1794. Can it 

 be that the real fafls of the case are described in a 

 statement preserved among the Records of British 

 Guiana, as set forth in the note below ?* Dutch soldiers, 



* Extraft trom the Minutes of the Proceedings of the Ordinary 

 Meeting of the Court of Policy, held by His Excellency the Governor 

 General and Honourable Members of the Court at the Court House, 

 Stabroek, in Rio Demerary. 



(Translation, from the Dutch.) 



^Thursday, i August, 1793. 



" The Governor General communicated to the Court, that a certain 

 Captain commanding a schooner, which arrived in this river from 

 Surinam, had reported to him having on board the Captain, Mate, and 

 eight sailors, of a vessel which was captured by a French vessel and 

 taken to Cayenne ; these people having escaped from there to Surinam, 

 he had agreed to transport them to the Island of Trinidad for account 

 of the Surinam Government ; but having learnt from another passenger 

 on board, who understood the Spanish language, that, from the conver- 

 sation carried on among themselves, they are of intention to seize this 

 vessel ; in consequence of which the Captain considered it advisable to 

 put into this port, and to approach His Excellency with request for 

 assistance to proteft his vessel. 



His Excellency, therefore, considered it necessary to inform the Court 

 of this occurrence, in order that certain measures be adopted for the 

 purpose of frustrating the intention of these men, at the same time, to 

 send them on to the Island of Trinidad. 



