THE ANGLO- VENEZUELAN BO UNDAR Y DLSPUTE 133 



isted for 53 3'ears. After several extensions of its charter it finally 

 died in 1674, and a wholh'- new Dutch \^'est India Company was then 

 created, which lived for 117 3'ears, being finally dissolved in 1791. 



Under tlie original charter of 1621 the company, in or about the 

 year 1626, established a trading post some 50 miles up the Essequibo, 

 at the junction of the Cuyuni and Mazaruni rivers, on a small, rock}^ 

 islet, which they named Kykoveral, or See-over-all. Here lived a few 

 unmarried employes of the company and carried on with the natives 

 a trade for the dyes of the forest, balsam, hammocks, canoes, etc. 

 Tbere were no colonists, no cultivation, save possibly a bread garden, 

 and no industries, save, probably, fishing for the use of the post. It 

 was a trading post, and Avas,down to 1648, the sole Dutch occupation 

 of the disputed tract. Under these conditions the long war between 

 Spain and her rebellious subjects ended in 1648. By the treaty of 

 peace at Miinster in that 3^earthe Dutch achieved their independence. 

 At the same time and by the same treaty Spain agreed that the Dutch 

 should " remain in possession of and enjo}' such lordships, towns, 

 castles, fortresses, commerce, and countries of the . . . West 

 Indies . . . and America " as the}'^ then held and possessed. 



This, then, was the Dutch title, a title which remained Dutch for 

 one hundred and sixt3^-six 3^ears. In April, 1796, Great Britain and 

 the Netherlands being then at war, an English fleet ap])eared at 

 Demerara and took possession of that river and Essequibo. Posses- 

 sion was held by the English for six 3^ears. In 1802, b3' the peace of 

 Amiens, these possessions were restored to the Dutch. But war broke 

 out again the next 3'^ear, and Great Britain again took the possession 

 which has since remained unbroken. Tbe Avar, wliich broke out in 

 1803, was terminated b3^ the treaty of London, in 1814, whereby the 

 Netherlands ceded to Great Britain the Cape of Good Ho[)e, in Africa, 

 and the estaijlishments of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, in 

 America. 



Such is the Dutch-British title, which ma3^ be still more succinctl3' 

 stated as follows : The Dutcb, while subjects of S[)ain, revolt and squat 

 on Spanish land in America. When the war ends Spain confirms to 

 them the possession the3^ have taken. This possession is afterward, 

 in war, taken from the Dutch b3^ the British. The i)ossession taken 

 l)y the liritish is confirmed to them bv treat3% and such is the British 

 title. 



Sc/ioiiibii.r(/k and Ili-i Liiw. — Mut'h has l)een heard during this contro- 

 versy al)0Ut Schomburgk and his line. A few words, therefore, on 

 this theme. 



