On the 24th of July, 1890, Lord Salisbury declined to accept these suggestions of the Venezuelan representative, and declared: “Her Majesty’s Government have more than once explained that they cannot consent to submit to arbitration what they regard as their indisputable title to districts in the possession of the British Colony.” Is it uncharitable to see in this reference to “possession” a hint of the industrious manner in which Great Britain had attempted to improve her position by permitting colonization, and by other acts of possession, during the half-century since the boundary dispute began? Efforts to settle this controversy seem to have languished after this rebuff until March, 1893, when still another agent was appointed by Venezuela for the purpose of reëstablishing diplomatic relations with Great Britain, and settling, if possible, the boundary trouble and such other differences as might be pending between the two countries. As a means to that end, this agent, on the twenty-sixth day of May, 1893, presented a memorandum to the British Government containing suggestions for such settlement. The suggestion relating to the adjustment of the boundary question rested upon the idea of arbitration and did not materially differ from that made by this agent’s immediate predecessor in 1890, except as to the _status quo_, pending final adjustment, which it was proposed should be the same as that existing after the agreement of non-interference in the disputed territory made by the two governments in 1850. The plan thus suggested was declined by the Government of Great Britain, because, in the first place, it involved an arbitration, “which had been repeatedly declined by Her Majesty’s Government,” and, further, because it was, in the language of the British reply, “quite impossible that they should consent to revert to the _status quo_ of 1850 and evacuate what has for some years constituted an integral portion of British Guiana.” A further communication from the agent of Venezuela, offering additional arguments in support of his suggestions, brought forth a reply informing him that the contents of his note did not “appear to Her Majesty’s Government to afford any opening for arriving at an understanding on this question which they could accept.” Six months afterward, on the twenty-ninth day of September, 1893, a final communication was addressed by the representative of Venezuela to the British Government, reviewing the situation and the course of past efforts to arrive at a settlement, and concluding with the words: