years, counted from the day of the exchange of the ratifications; and in case neither of the two Contracting Parties shall have given notice twelve months before the expiration of the said period of ten years of their intention of terminating the present Treaty, shall remain in force until the expiration of one year from the day on which either of the Contracting Parties shall have given such notice. Article XVIII. The present Treaty shall be ratified by His Excellency the President of the Republic of the United States of Venezuela, and by Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in London as soon as possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms. Done in London on the our Lord day of , in the year of General Guzmán Blanco to Earl Granville.-(Received June 25.) My Lord: 194 QUEEN'S GATE, LONDON, June 22, 1885. I have had the honour of receiving Your Excellency's despatch of the 18th, accompanying a copy in print of a draft Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation between the United States of Venezuela and Great Britain, with certain corrections to which Your Excellency asks me to expressmy consent, in order to avoid any misapprehension. I proceed accordingly to reply that I see no objections to adding to Article VI "every description of "; to Article XV "the award of the Arbitrators shall be carried out as speedily as possible in cases where such award does not specifically lay down a date"; and to Article XVI "India"; and to Article XVIII" of the United States of." But I am not allowed to retain in Article II the words "and unconditional," which I omitted on purpose for reasons explained in the correspondence. On the contrary, I must ask for the reinsertion of the following words of my Article XVII—“ which, from the date of the exchange of its ratifications, shall be substituted for the one concluded between Colombia and Great Britain on the 18th April, 1825, and renewed with Venezuela on the 29th October, 1834." I consider the re-establishment of that incident clause to be essential, for, if left out, a doubt at least would remain as to the repeal of the old Treaty, notwithstanding the differences between the same and the draft referred to. The two preceding suggestions being admitted, the conclusion of the Treaty may be proceeded with. I remain, &c. (Signed) GUZMÁN BLANCO. General Guzmán Blanco to Sir J. Pauncefote. The Venezuelan Minister presents his compliments to Sir Julian Pauncefote, and, with reference to the remarks made yesterday by the latter as to the draft Treaty between the two countries, has the honour to reply that Lord Granville, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in a note of the 15th May, 1885, wrote to this Legation as follows: "In reply, I have the honour to inform you that her Majesty's Government agree to the substitution of the phrase 'Power' to be chosen by the High Contracting Parties instead of Arbitrators' in the Article respecting arbitration'; and that they further agree that the undertaking to refer differences to arbitration shall include all differences which may arise between the High Contracting Parties, and not those only which arise on the interpretation of the Treaty." Let it be permitted to remember the words of Lord Salisbury, the present Prime Minister, and Her British Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in stating before the House of Lords, on the 6th instant, the policy of his Government :— "It is not our business now to enter on controversial ques-tions which may formerly have been raised. And still more, your Lordships will observe the very material restriction on our action and on our statements which arises from the fact that we have come into these matters right in the middle of them, and we are finishing or furnishing the end of that which others have begun. The consequence of that is that many pledges have been given, and the first duty of any Government, whether it is fresh or has lasted for a considerable time, or from whatever side of the House or party it is drawn, is to see that the pledges which the English Government have given, shall be observed." Her Majesty's Government have adopted on several occasions, for questions about territory, as the happiest solution of them, arbitration with the United States in 1827 and 1871, by Treaties in which two territorial disputes were referred respectively to the King of the Netherlands and to the Emperor of Germany. The judgment of the former produced no effect, the Arbitrator not having conformed to the terms of the com-promise, and the parties settled afterwards the difficulty in 1842 by friendly agreement. The award of the latter was pronounced on the 21st April, 1872, and accepted and acted upon by the two nations concerned. In the second case, the Memorial presented by the American Plenipotentiary, GeorgeBancroft, says: "Six times the United States had received the offer of arbitration on their northwestern boundary, and six times had refused to refer a point where the importance was so great and the right so clear." In regard to the other point mentioned by Sir Julian, General Guzmán Blanco repeats that he has proposed, as to the most-favored-nation clause, to suppress the word "unconditionally" only, for a new country like Venezuela needs to remain able to make particular concessions in exchange for those from other Powers, as a means of obtaining the advan tages required by her natural aspirations for progress, and which she could not acquire unless by paying equivalents. 194 Queen's Gate, London, July 22, 1885. The Marquis of Salisbury to General Guzmán Blanco. M. le Ministre: FOREIGN OFFICE, July 27, 1885. I have the honour to state that Her Majesty's Government have given their earnest consideration to the draft Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation, the terms of which were in process of negotiation at the time of their accession to office; they have also had under their consideration the note which you were so good as to address to Earl Granville on the 22d ultimo. I regret to have to inform you that Her Majesty's Government cannot meet your wishes with regard to the omission of the word "unconditionally" in the most-favored-nation clauses. They hold that those clauses have the same meaning, whether that word be inserted or not; but the present correspondence shows that the Venezuelan Government think otherwise and are of opinion that without it it would be competent for Venezuela to withhold from Great Britain any concession granted by the Republic to any third Power in consideration of some favour or concession received from it, unless Great Britain were to grant the like favour or concession to Venezuela. In his note of the 15th April, Earl Granville explained that it might not be in the power of Her Majesty's Government to grant the favour or concesssion granted by the third Power, and considering the freedom of trade, and the total absence of differential duties in this country, Her Majesty's Government consider that they are entitled to claim most-favoured-nation treatment from Venezuela. They are prepared, however, to consider whether it would be possible to consent to the exclusion from the most-favored-nation Articles of any particular favour which the Venezuelan Government might propose to except, as it may be found that they consist of local privileges of importance only to the States contiguous to Venezuela. Such exceptions would not materially interfere with the general principal of most-favoured-nation treatment from which Her Majesty's Government are unwilling to derogate. Her Majesty's Government are unable to concur in the assent given by their predecessors in office to the General Arbitration Article proposed by Venezuela, and they are unable to agree to the inclusion in it of matter other than those arising out of the interpretation or alleged violation of this particular Treaty. To engage to refer to arbitration all disputes and controversies whatsoever would be without precedent in the Treaties made by Great Britain. Questions might arise, such as those involving the title of the British Crown to territory or other sovereign rights which Her Majesty's Government could not pledge themselves beforehand to refer to arbitration. I have the honour to inclose a printed copy of the Treaty with the amendments considered to be essential by Her Majesty's Government. You will observe that some other but minor alterations have been made, but these are mostly matters of form, and call for no particular remark. I have, &c., Draft Treaty between Great Britain and Venezuela. The President of the United States of Venezuela and Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, being desirous of concluding a Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation, to be substituted for the Treaty between the Republic of Colombia and Great Britain of the 18th April, 1825, which Treaty was adopted and confirmed by the Treaty between Venezuela and Great Britain signed on the 29th October, 1834, have appointed as their respective Plenipotentiaries for that purpose, namely: The President of the United States of Venezuela, |