XIII. HISTORY OF BRITISH OCCUPATION. 1803-1850. The British military occupation in Essequibo con Cession of "Demerara, Essequibo tinued from 1803 to 1814. In the latter year, on Au- and Berbice gust 13, the Dutch, by the Treaty of London, formally ceded to Great Britain "the establishments of Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice.”* On July 21, 1831, these three rivers were united into a single colony under the name of British Guiana.f In the meantime, Venezuela on July 5, 1811, declared its independence from Spain. In 1819 it became merged with New Granada, under the name of "Republic of Colombia." In 1830 it assumed a separate existence under the name of "Republic of Venezuela;” and finally, on March 30, 1845, its independence was formally rec ognized by Spain.‡ * His Britannic Majesty engages to restore to the Prince Sovereign of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, within the time which shall be specified herebelow, the colonies, factories and establishments of which Holland was in possession at the beginning of the late war, that is to say, on the 1st of January 1803, in the seas and continents of America, Africa and Asia, with the exception of the Cape of Good Hope and of the establishments of Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice, which the High Contracting Parties reserve the right to dispose of by a supplementary convention which shall be adjusted at once in conformity with the mutual interests of both parties. [Appendix to Case, iii, 44.] Appendix to Case, iii, 315; also Rodway (J.) History of British Guiana. 8°, Georgetown, 1893. ii, 284. “ARTICLE I. H. C. Majesty, making use of the power vested in her by decree of the Cortes Generales of the Kingdom, of 4th of December, 1836, renounces for herself, her heirs and successors the sovereignty, rights and action which she has upon the American territory known under the old name of Captaincy General of Venezuela, now Republic of Venezuela. “ARTICLE II. In consequence of this renunciation and cession H. M. recognizes the Republic of Venezuela as a free, sovereign and independent nation, composed of the provinces and territories mentioned in her Con Great Britain. to Union of the three. Venezuelan independence. British and Venezuelan titles. The British thus became vested with the rights of the Dutch; and Venezuela came to represent the title of Spain. The year 1850 marks the date of the first important gold discoveries. It will be convenient, therefore, to consider by itself the period from 1803 to 1850. For this period the facts pertinent to the present controversy may be grouped under two heads; 1st, Those which evidence the extent of British occupation; 2d, Those which relate to the general condition of the Essequibo settlement. Lt. Gov. Myers, 1804. 1st.-EXTENT OF BRITISH OCCUPATION. Under this general head, it will be further convenient to consider: 1st, the occupation of the coast region; and 2d, the occupation of the interior. 1ST. AS TO THE COAST. On September 30, 1804, Lieutenant-Governor Myers wrote to Earl Camden, enclosing a memorandum which he said was the "result of information obtained from several persons in those Colonies best entitled to give them." This memorandum contains the following state ment: Extent.-The distance from the Abari Creek on the east to the most distant military post at Morucco on the west is 123 miles. Division. It is intersected by the rivers Demerary, Esequibo, and Poumaron, and by several navigable creeks and canals. Cultivation. From the Abari Creek to the River Demerary the plantations are in cotton. In the River Demerary, and from it to the east side of Esequibo River, they are in coffee and sugar. In the islands of the Esequibo they are in sugar. stitution and other posterior laws, to wit: Margarita, Guayana, Cumana, Barcelona, Caracas, Carabobo, Barquisimeto, Barinas, Apure, Merida, Trujillo, Coro and Maracaibo and any other territories or islands which may belong to her. [Appendix to Case, iii, 48-49.] From the west side of Esequibo River to Cape Orange they are in coffee, sugar, and cotton; and from Cape Orange, alongst the Araibish or Tiger coast, as far as there are Settlements towards the post at Morucco, they are in cotton.* Lieut. Gov. My. ers, 1804. 1813. Lieutenant-Governor Codd, in a letter to Major-Gen- Lieut.-Gov. Codd, eral Murray, dated November 9, 1813, bears witness to the fact that, between the Arabian Coast and the Pomeroon, the region contained no settlers or plantations. He says: "I have also ordered the Post-holder Linau, at Moroco, to come up with selected Indians, and I intend making him scour the woods between the Arabian coast and the Pomeroon, with a view to dislodge any runaway negroes who may have established themselves there."t Certain regulations of the Court of Policy of June 5, 1817, regarding the militia of the colony, serve to define the actual limit of settlement at that time. These regu. lations assign two battalions to Essequibo; and make the following designation of territories from which those battalions were to be drawn: "In Essequibo, the first battalion shall consist of all the inhabitants from Borasira Creek upwards, as far as inhabited on the east side of the river, including the islands of Wakenaam, Leguan, Varken or Hog Island, Troolie Island, and all other islands in the river, except Tiger Island, and commencing on the west side of Schonhoven Creek, and upwards, as far as inhabited; the second battalion to consist of all the inhabitants from Schonhoven, including Tiger Island, with all the west seacoast, including Pomeroon River." It will be noticed that on the coast the Pomeroon is the westernmost point named; and that up the Essequibo on the west side, everything is included under the description, from "Schonhoven Creek, and upwards, as * Blue Book, 1, 156. + Blue Book, 1, 160. Appendix to Case, iii, 63. Military regulations of 1817. Military regulations of 1817. Lieut.-Gov. D'Urban, 1827. Division into parishes, 1832. Colonel St. Clair, 1834. far as inhabited." Schonhoven Creek is a small stream flowing into the very mouth of the Essequibo, opposite Hog Island. In a despatch from Lieutenant-Governor Sir B. D'Urban to Viscount Goderich, dated October 18, 1827, the Lieutenant-Governor transmits "An account of the extent and situation of the Crown lands" in the United Colony of Demerary and Essequebo; and, in the despatch states that, "the country possessed by individuals is a narrow border of the alluvial soil along the coasts and rivers' banks.”* Schomburgk, in his Description of British Guiana, published in 1849 (pp. 62-63), gives the division of Demerara and Essequibo into eleven parishes. Of these, only two, viz., St. John and Trinity, were on the west side of the Essequibo; the southernmost, St. John, extending as far south only as the Supinaam Creek. These two parishes, in the year 1832, contained only fortyseven plantations, all of them along the Arabian coast.† Colonel St. Clair, having spent some months in Guiana in the year 1834, published a work entitled A Residence in the West Indies and America, with a Narrative of the Expedition to the Island of Walcheren. In chap ter vii. of this work he thus speaks of the Colony of Essequibo: "The Colony of Essequibo adjoins to Demerara, being under the same governor, and is our most leeward possession in this country. The creek or river called Morocco is the boundary line between this colony and the Spanish main, which is not far from the Pomeroon creek." Whatever other value this statement may have, it is * Blue Book, 1, 167. † Appendix to Case, iii, 313–314; atlas, map 86. St. Clair (Lt. Col. J. S.) Residence in the West Indies, etc., 2 vols. at least good evidence as to the limits of actual оссираtion at the time. For the year 1838 we have a number of authorities: they are; (a) Sir Henry Light, the Governor; (b) Mr. J. Hadfield, Crown Surveyor; and (c) Mr. William Crichton, Superintendent of Rivers and Creeks. (a) Governor Light, in a despatch dated September 1, 1838, wrote: "The Pomaroon river, at the western extremity of Essequibo, may be taken as a limit to the country, though there is a mission supported by the colony on the Maracca river or creek, a short distance westward, where 500 Spanish Indians are collected in a settlement under a Roman-catholic priest, recommended from Trinidad for that purpose; he is reported to be effecting good."* Further on, speaking of the region "between the Pomeroon and Orinoco," he says of it that it is a "coast of 100 miles unoccupied by any person or under any authority.”+ (b) Mr. Hadfield's testimony is recorded in the shape of a map dated August 1, 1838, intended to show the "Parochial divisions, as well as the present extent of Cultivation of the Staple Productions, & the tracts of such that have been abandoned within the last 30 Yrs." According to this map, the settlements on the west of the Essequibo were, at that time, limited to the Arabian coast between Supenaam creek and the mouth of the Pomeroon. (c) Mr. Wm. Crichton, having explored the coast region west of the Pomeroon, made a report in which, referring to the rivers Waini, Barima, etc., he says: "Your reporter had communication with the Indian Captains of the various nations inhabiting that portion of the country, * Parliamentary Papers, 1839, Vol. 35, p. 278. † Blue Book, 1, 285. Appendix to Case, atlas, map 79. Colonel St. Clair, 1834. Governor Light, 1838. Hadfield, 1838. Crichton, 1838. |