No. 171. ence concerning the matter of Cajoeny, he is obliged to send back my letter unopened; he adds that he has brought the matter to the notice of the King of Spain, and that he has no doubt that I, too, have informed their High Mightinesses of the same, and that, therefore, the case would have to be decided not by ourselves but by our respective Sovereigns. This matter is of very great importance to the Colony, because if the Spaniards remain in possession of Cajoeny, which is one of the arms of this river, and in which there were1 coffee and indigo plant ations belonging to your Lordships, as well as the estates of Old Duy nenburg (now allotted to private holders), there will be no safety at all in this Colony. A way for all evil-doers, deserters, and bankrupts will be quite open and free, and the Colony will be ruined immediately there is the least misunderstanding with Spain. Your Lordships will therefore see that this matter is fully deserving of your attention. The Spaniards continue to stay where they are, and to entrap and drive away all the Caraibans living there. The latter, on their part, are not taking matters quietly, but are beginning to make a vigorous resistance, and to do much mischief in Orinoco itself. Two well-armed boats have been kept cruising up and down the river, whereby the Spanish trade is at present wholly blocked.2 The second despatch is written by order of the Government, and signed by the Commandant and the Contadoor. I am informed in this that the measure providing for the apprehension and restitution to the owners (on payment of costs) of all fugitive negroes from this Colony and Berbices has been approved. From the Proceedings of the States-General, July 31, 1759. [Reprinted from U. S. Commission, Report, Vol. 2, pp. 383-386.] Read to the [States-General in] session the Remonstrance of the Directors of the West India Company in the Chamber of Zeeland, acting on account of the Company in general as having the special direction and care of the Colony of the river Essequibo and the rivers pertaining thereto, setting forth that they, in the aforesaid capacity, have been from time immemorial in undisturbed possession, not alone of the aforesaid river 1 Note by Prof. Burr.-For this word were the Blue Book has are. 2 Note by Prof. Burr.-For the words here italicized the Blue Book has and the Spanish commerce has suffered a good deal. Gravesande here means, of course, the illicit Essequibo Orinoco trade. No. 172. Essequibo, but also of all the branches and tributaries which flow into it, and especially of the northernmost arm of that river, named Cuyuni. That they, the Remonstrants, in virtue of that possession, have always considered the said river of Cuyuni as a domain of this State, and have, in consequence, built on its banks a so-called post, being a wooden habitation, which they have guarded, like several others in the Colony, by a postholder, an outrunner, with some slaves. That, accordingly, it is only with the most extreme astonishment that the Remonstrants have learned from the Director-General of the said Colony, Laurens Storm van's Gravesande, that a troop of Spaniards, reckoned at full a hundred men, had come from Orinoco toward the end of August of the last year, 1758, had attacked, overcome, and burned the said post, and, further, had carried off to Guayana as prisoners the postholder and the by-lier, as well as a creole man and woman with their children. That the said Director-General, Storm van's Gravesande, suspecting nothing else than the said outrage was committed by a wanton troop of people, without the knowledge or orders of the Spanish Government, addressed a letter, in the first instance, dated the last day of September, 1758, to Don Juan Valdez, Commandant of Guayana, requesting in language which, though earnest, was nevertheless considerate, reparation for the said outrage, as may be seen from the copy of the Director's letter which forms Inclosure No. 1 to the above-mentioned Remonstrance. But that he, the aforesaid Commandant of Guayana, instead of satisfying this altogether just demand, had on the contrary simply ordered to be written by one Nicolas de Castro at Cumaná an in every respect haughty and unsatisfactory dispatch, addressed curtly to the Dutch Commandant in Essequibo, as is shown by the copy of this letter which forms Inclosure No. 2 to the Remonstrance aforesaid. The Remonstrants therefore pray, for the reasons alleged, that their High Mightinesses may be pleased to cause such representations to be made to the Court of His Catholic Majesty, that reparation may be made for the said hostilities, and that the Remonstrants may be reinstated in the quiet possession of the said post on the river of Cuyuni, and also that through their High Mightinesses and the Court of Madrid a proper delimitation between the Colony of Essequibo and the river Orinoco may be laid down by authority, so as to prevent any future dispute. Whereupon, the above question being deliberated upon, and the Lords Deputies of the Province of Holland and West Friesland having taken copies of the aforesaid dispatches and addenda in order to become more conversant thereof, it is, without prejudice thereto, resolved as follows : That a copy of the said letter and the documents annexed shall be sent to Mr. van Wassenaar, Ambassador of their High Mightinesses to No. 172. the Court of Spain, and that he shall at the same time be instructed to make this incident known in such quarters as he shall judge useful, to represent the injustice of the aforesaid conduct of the Governor of Guayana on this occasion, and to insist on prompt reparation for these said hostilities and on the reinstatement of the said Directors in the undisturbed possession of the aforesaid post, as well as to demand that the necessary measures be taken to obviate such causes of complaint in the future." Extract of this their High Mightinesses' Resolution to be transmitted to Senor de la Quadra, His Catholic Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, with a request that he will be so good as to second to the best of his ability the representations of their High Mightinesses at his Court. No. 173. Letter from J. L. H. de Wassenaar, Ambassador of the States-General at Madrid, to the Spanish Secretary of State, (with Inclosure), August 26, 1759. [Reprinted from Blue Book, No. 1, pp. 102–103.] Before the undersigned Ambassador can set before your Excellency the acts which form the subject of the present communication, and with respect to which he is directed by his masters to demand due satisfaction of this Crown, he must first call your Excellency's attention to the fact that his masters have been from time immemorial in undisturbed possession of the River Essequibo, and all the little rivers which flow into it, and especially of the right arm of the said river, which flows northwards, and is called the Cuyuni; that, in virtue of the said possession, his masters have for a very long time considered the whole of the said river as a domain belonging to them, and have consequently caused to be constructed, as they have in many other places in the Colony, a wooden station, to serve as an outpost, as to which the Spanish Governors have never raised any objection, or made the least complaint, understanding that such outposts are absolutely necessary to us for the maintenance of the peace of the Colony against the raids of the savages, and are constructed with no other object. After this your Excellency will learn with surprise that a troop of Spaniards, numbering about 100 men, came down from the Orinoco towards the end of August, 1758, attacked the said station, and at once took and burned it, and carried off with them to Guiana the master of the said post, his second in command, and a creole man and woman with their children. Such an act of hostility appeared surprising to the Director-General of the Colony, and as it seemed to him impossible that it could have been No. 173. done by superior orders, he first gave notice of it by a letter (of which a copy is inclosed numbered 1) to Don Juan de Valdes, Commandant of Guiana; he was persuaded that as soon as the latter was informed he would obtain full reparation from him; but so far from that being the case, the said Commandant, instead of complying with the just demands of our Director, instructed a certain Dr. Nicolas de Castro at Cumaná to answer by the letter of which a translation is inclosed (No. 2). Therefore, Monsieur, since the said Commandant wishes to support, without any good reason, an invasion and hostilities committed upon territories properly belonging to my masters, and since their Director has not been able to obtain from the Spanish Commandant the reparation due for this act, and the demand for which is based not only on international law, but upon the good friendship and harmony reigning between my masters and His Catholic Majesty. They have directed the undersigned to communicate the above to your Excellency for the information of His Catholic Majesty, and they are confident of obtaining, from His Majesty's sense of justice and through your Excellency's good offices, satisfactory reparation for the past and orders for the future, so that they may see themselves in undisturbed possession as before of the said post on the river called Cuyuni. [For Enclosure No. 2, being letter from Don Nicholas de Castro, Governor of Cumana, to Storm van's Gravesande, Director-General in Essequibo, and dated November 10, 1758, see Doc uments from Spanish Sources, November 10, 1758.] No. 174. Extract from letter from the Netherlands' Ambassador at Madrid to the States-General, August 27, 1759. I had the honour to receive by last post your High Mightinesses' Resolution of the 31st July, and, pursuant to your August orders, I gave information orally of the matter to Señor Wall, and yesterday I repeated my complaint against the Commander of Guayana by a written Memorandum thereof, and pressed for prompt reparation for the hostilities complained of. I must now await reply to the said Memorandum, but think that, meanwhile, I have fulfilled your High Mightinesses' orders; and I shall, further, not neglect to keep the Minister alive to the matter, and thereby as soon as possible seek to obtain a satisfactory answer. No. 175. Extract from letter from Storm van's Gravesande, Director-General in Essequibo, to the West India Company, September 1, 1759. * [Reprinted from U. S. Commission, Report, Vol. 2, pp. 386–387.] * * * * * Time is too short for sending what you demand with respect to Cuyuni. I shall in this matter have to content myself with informing you that, Cuyuni being one of the three branches which form this river, and you having for many years had the coffee and indigo plantations in that river, and moreover the mining engineer with his folk having worked in it at the Blaauwenberg, without the least opposition, and moreover that river [being] so far on this side of Waini (which people claim to be the boundary, although I think it must be extended as far as Barima), the ownership thereof cannot be involved in the slightest question, and your right of ownership is indisputable and above all doubt. The post which, in a manner so at variance with the law of nations, has been surprised and ruined, was situated about fifteen hours above the place where Cuyuni unites with Mazaruni. But this can make little difference; even had it lain fifty hours higher, it was a matter with which the Spaniards had nothing to do, and just as they are masters to do on their territory what suits them, even so you also are masters on yours. And I once more have the honor to assure you that the entire security and quiet of this colony is dependent on the possession of that river, and that without it no one can have the slightest security of his property, and [that it is] therefore more than doubly worthy of the States General's and your attention. I impatiently expect your orders, whereby I shall exactly and to the letter regulate myself, and, aged and feeble though I may be, I shall quite well find means, if I am honored with your orders and only provided with some reinforcements, both in soldiers and in powder and arms, to procure proper satisfaction and to secure that place, even if it should cost my life, which I am ready cheerfully and with all my heart to sacrifice for the common good. The map of South America of Mr. d'Anville, to which I have appealed, was at my request sent to me last year per Essequebo Welvaeren by the Professor, at present Rector Magnificus, Allamand, at Leyden, and was at that time the latest by that man. The boundaries of the various nations on this coast of Guiana are distinctly marked there. I had received two copies of it, but for the second time I have sent one to Orinoco by the captain of the militia, Niels Andries Schutz, who has gone thither on a mission for the regulation of the restitution of the runaway slaves, as I had the honor to inform you in my preceding letter, |