On Saturday last the long-expected Blue-book on the Vene- zuelan
boundary dispute was presented to Parliament. The preliminary statement, drawn up by Sir Frederick Pollock, is an able piece of work, and puts the British case with great skill. It has, however, been assailed in one or two particulars by the Daily Chronicle, but till these allegations of misstate- ment have been answered it is best not to comment on them. The preliminary statement is followed by the documents in extenso. The most interesting and important of these are the reports by Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk. A propos of them it is worth while to mention that they do not in the least support the notion that Schombnrgk considered that the Dutch possession of Barima Point was doubtful, and that the poet erected by him there was merely placed for conveni- ence and as a suggestion for a boundary. The Barima post he clearly considered represented an ascertained boundary. The suggested and debatable post was one placed by him further up the estuary of the Orinoco at the mouth of the Amacura River, which river, he held, would form a con- venient frontier.
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