On 3 October 1899, the Arbitration Tribunal handed down its decision and immediately thereafter Mr. Severo Mallet-Prevost and General Harrison, the lawyers for Venezuela, made a statement to the Reuters correspondent, claiming ‘victory’ for the Venezuelans and that the British had lost every inch of land in its ‘extreme’ claim. According to them, the line drawn by the tribunal was one based on diplomatic compromise instead of legal principles and Venezuela had gained much but should have gained much more (Child, Clifton (1950) The Venezuela-British Guiana Boundary Arbitration of 1899. The American Journal of International Law, LX1V,4). It should, however, be remembered that the Venezuelan government was not disturbed when President Cleveland ordered his Boundary Commission to find a line based upon ‘convenience and expediency’ and not ‘right’.
On 10 January 1905, the formal agreement with regard to the mapping of the boundary was signed in Georgetown and on the completion of the process, the story should have ended and for all practical purposes it did for the next 60 years, until August 1962, when Venezuela declared