Gold in British Guiana. 301 
due appreciation of the value of that territory might 
have led to the removal of the difficulty, and given 
to British Guiana the possession of the right bank 
of the magnificent Orinoco as its western delimita- 
tion." When we read such confident assertions as, 
" it may be safely affirmed that had there ever been 
a real desire on the part of the Imperial Government to 
have the question definitely settled, abundant opportu- 
nities could have been found for so doing" the negle6lof 
such opportunities appears the more regrettable, as En- 
glish and American capital and labour, are largely repre- 
sented in the mining districts of Venezuela, and recent 
events have certainly not tended to promote the security of 
either life or property in that country. It is well-known 
that the Venezuelans rely greatly upon the friendly feeling 
of the United States in the matter of their dispute with 
Great Britain, but how far they have propitiated the 
people of that country lately may be gathered from recent 
utterances of prominent American newspapers which con- 
demn the disorder prevailing in Venezuela in unmeasured 
terms, while deploring the fa6l of " American citizens 
being left to the mercies of semi-barbarians." 
" So entirely are English countries now the mother- 
lands of energy and adventure throughout the world," 
remarks the author of ' Greater Britain/ " that no one who 
has watched what has happened in California, in British 
Columbia, and on the west coast of New Zealand, can 
doubt that the discovery of placer gold-fields in any sea- 
girt country in the world must now be followed by the 
speedy rise of an English government ; were gold for 
instance found in surface diggings in Japan, Japan 
would be English in five years." The explorer in British 
PP 
