74 AVES ISLAND. 



nity of the United States of America, demand both indemnity and 

 concession on the part of Venezuela. 

 Very respectfully yours, 



B. B. FRENCH. 

 Hon. William L. Marcy, 



Secretary of State. 



To the honorable William L. Marcy, Secretary of State of the United 



States. 



The memorial of John H. B. Lang and William W. Delano, partners 

 under the firm of Lang & Delano, of Boston, Massachusetts: 



Your memorialists represent that they are native citizens of the 

 United States ; that having learned that a deposit of guano of great 

 value in commerce and agriculture existed on the island in the Carib- 

 bean sea known as ''Aves," or Bird Island, which lies in latitude 

 15° 39' and in longitude 63° 38' west, they fitted out the brig M. H. 

 Comery to obtain a cargo and secure such rights in the island as 

 might be proper. The Comery sailed from? Boston in June, 1854, and 

 arrived at said island and found it uninhabited and unoccupied. She 

 landed her party, who hoisted the 'American flag, and took formal 

 possession, and proceeded to inclose the island with a fence. 



On the day following, the brig Dow, from Boston, owned or char- 

 tered by Philo S. Shelton, arrived, and, by consent of Lang & Delano's 

 agent, occupied and inclosed a part of the island, and both vessels 

 loaded with guano. 



The Comery having completed her freight first, landed a party of 

 working men to retain possession, build houses, and make other 

 arrangements for procuring further supplies of guano, and left .the 

 island and arrived at Baltimore with the first cargo of guano ever 

 brought from the " Aves" to the United States. 



It being the hurricane season, but few vessels were sent during the 

 summer, but in the autumn your memorialists chartered many vessels 

 and made extensive arrangements to prosecute the business. 



That about the 12th of December a Venezuelan armed schooner 

 came to the island, landed a detachment of armed men, and took pos- 

 session of the island in the name of that government. There were, at 

 this time, upon the island seventy men, citizens of the United States. 

 Men-of-war of different nations had visited the island, and their com- 

 manders had uniformly expressed the opinion that the parties in 

 possession had the right of possession. 



There were, at the island, three American vessels taking in cargoes 

 of guano. The Venezuelans hoisted their colors upon the very flag- 

 staff which had been erected by us, and which had borne the American 

 flag. Having no*adequate force to repel the means there arrayed 

 against us, the Venezuelans having armed occupation of the island, 

 and asserting an exclusive title thereto, which we were unable to inves- 

 tigate or resist, no resistance was attempted, but we submitted to such 



