24 AVES ISLAND. 



his soldiers, and our houses were taken from our workmen. The loss 

 sustained thereby amounts to many thousand dollars. We were pre- 

 vented from lading guano prepared to put on board our ship, and con- 

 strained, by military force, to abandon the isle with no cargoes for some 

 vessels and with but part cargoes for others. Our heavy contracts for 

 furnishing guano are by consequence unfulfilled, and heavy damages 

 incurred by us. The wages of our numerous Avorkmen, who were 

 rendered valueless to us by his illegal and unwarranted interference, 

 reach, in the aggregate, a large sum. Our whole outlay for the business 

 is a dead loss. We have had to pay for false freights and demurrage 

 and damage, and besides all this, the consequences directly resulting 

 to us from this outrage have been such as can readily be anticipated by 

 any commercial man. They are embarrassments, and well nigh ruin 

 unless redress is promptly afforded us. We solicit your consideration 

 of all this, and trust it may induce to immediate action in our behalf. ' 



How can Venezuela justify her course in the face of her acts, seeking 

 the Danish authorities of St. Thomas to interfere, thus admitting she 

 had no right? How can she have the face to do so since her relinquish- 

 ment of the isle to the Dutch? Suppose the Dutch have a title, or the 

 English, or French, or Spanish, or Portuguese; can she, a tortfeasor, 

 set up any title in them in defense of her tortious acts towards us? 



And now, sir, we trust you will not regard it as unreasonable for us 

 to ask that you will, besides sending a United States vessel of war to 

 Yenezuela, send another to convoy such vessels as we may desire to 

 dispatch to Shelton's Isle for guano, and resume the lawful possession 

 from which we were forcibly ousted; protect us in our rights there. 

 And we respectfully ask to be informed if this request can be accorded. 

 If it cannot be, we then ask whether the federal government will-allow 

 us, at our own expense, to fit out and arm vessels and man them with 

 sufficient force of armed men to enable us to recover our possession 

 against all who may contest it? The peremptory demand for redress 

 and its prompt enforcement we conceive, as American citizens, we are 

 entitled to. If any additional proofs are wanting of the facts Ave have 

 stated, we ask to be informed thereof at an early period, that we may 

 obtain them whilst the witnesses are at hand. And if the President 

 and yourself are of opinion that both convoy and protection and also 

 permission to fit out an armed expedition of ourselves as suggested 

 should be denied by our government, we respectfully request that you 

 will advise us thereof as soon as practicable, as we have reason to be- 

 lieve that we cannot make a profitable transfer of our right to the isle 

 and guano to some English and French merchants here and in New 

 York and Philadelphia who feel assured of the protection of their gov- 

 vernment. We are particularly solicitous that if the government of 

 the United States has the slightest desire to obtain a transfer from us, 

 loithout cost, (we reserving the guano of Shelton's Isle, &c.,) it should 

 be indicated to us as early as possible. The reasonableness of this re- 

 quest you can readily appreciate, as it regulates our decision upon the 

 disposition to foreigners to which we have referred, and in relation to 

 which we also particularly desire an answer from you. Unless speedy 

 action is had, the guano deposits on the Shelton's Isle, worth, if prop- 

 erly managed, hundreds of thousands of dollars, will be abstracted, 



