18 AVES ISLAND. 



rary occupation, witliout the animus revertendi, cannot confer any 

 right. Discovery must be followed by occupation. And constructive 

 possession will not answer for a series of years, much less for a cen- 

 tury and a half, or two centuries after discovery ! It is not contended 

 that actual and uninterruptedly continued occupation or possession de 

 facto from the time of the first discovery is necessary, and it is conceded 

 that reasonable alloioance may be made. We insist, however, that the 

 law is, that positive possession, pedis possessio , or " actual occupation," 

 must be had at some period, and there must be some acts of ownership 

 exercised, or at least asserted, or ''continental claim" of ownership 

 and jurisdiction made, or a general acknowledgment of right by other 

 nations, in order to confer any right of dominion over a newly-discov- . 

 ered island upon the government of the/?^5^ discoverer. All the legal 

 authorities, we are told, show this to be the true principle. Our 

 counsel has furnished us with the following references, which you can 

 appreciate better than we, for we are no lawyers, though we can per- 

 ceive they are entirely consistent with common sense : Grotius, Jur. 

 Bel. ac Pac. L. 2., chap. 4. Puffendorff, Jur. Nat. et Gen. L. 4^., c. 

 12, and also page 413, and Jur. Nat., vol. 1, c. 1, § 51. Vattel, 

 Droit des gens, vol. 1, lib. 2, c. 11, and p. 99, c. 18, § 207 of transla- 

 tion. Kutherford, Int. Nat. Laio, vol. 1, c. 8, vol. 2, c. 9, § 3, 6. 

 Kliiber, § 126. Savigny, Das Reclit des Besitzes, § 1-9, &c. Dr. 

 Phillimore, Int. Law, vol. 1, pp. 213, 236, 237, 238, 242, 247, 263, 

 ut passim. 8 Wheat. Kep. S. C. U. S. 571, 605, Johnson vs. Mcintosh. 

 5 Robinson's ^c?. i^ep., (Lord Stowell,) p. 385 ; The Anna. Wheat., 

 Elm. Int. Law, c. 4, § 5, &c., p. 209, et seq. to 237, &c.* 



Admitting Spain, the antecessor of Venezuela, first discovered the 

 existence of Shelton's Isle, never having taken formal possession of it, 

 never having exercised any acts of ownership of any kind in relation 

 to it, the claim of title by Venezuela is preposterous. The idea of her 

 claiming it on the score of its being contiguous or appurtenant to her 

 shores, is simply ridiculous. Whilst it is conceded that it is not 

 necessary upon the discovery of land before unknown to the civilized 

 world, in order to acquire possession, that all parts of the newly dis- 

 covered region should be actually occupied, and that the occupation of 

 the principal and commanding or controlling points will suffice as to 



*In these authorities the jus usucapio is treated of fully. Possession by intervals signifies 

 nothing. Non-possession for a long time destroys right, though without any opposing ap- 

 propriation and occupation. So, if the thing is desei'ted. Must be actual corporeal retention 

 and intention to retain. Discovery gives inchoate title merely. Discovery and settlement are 

 necessary ingredients of a title by occupation. Original acquisition must be follovired by 

 possession — that is, use and settlement are essential ingredients of that occupation necessary 

 to constitute a valid title to national acquisitions. Islands formed by accretions near a river 

 belong to the country from which the river flows. Not to be called "no man's land," like 

 islands far in the sea, not possessing soil of sufficient consistency or in sufficient quantity to 

 support the purposes of life and uninhabited, and only resorted to for purposes of shooting 

 or fishing, or for taking bird's nests, and the like. If islands are near the coast ownership 

 may be claimed upon the principle of alluvium and increments, or upon the principle of 

 contiguity and being appurtenant and geographically dependent, and actual and continual 

 possession or occupation of such island is not necessary to give title. So the discovery, 

 conquest, and colonization or settlement, or long and uninterrupted possession gives title, 

 because of the natural utility tending to promote the general welfare of mankind. Heathen 

 barbarians were formerly held by popes and princes to be lawful prey and spoil of Christian 

 conquerors. Alexander VI, in 1493, allotted by a Bull all the Americas to Spain and 

 Portugal ; and Henry "VII, of England, by patent gave to Cabot a commission to discover, 



