AVES ISLAND. 85 



The same facilities will cheerfully be extended by the department to 

 :such an agent as were offered to Mr. Pickrell, the agent of the Phila- 

 delphia Guano Company , on the occasion of his recent visit to 

 Venezuela. 



I am, sir, &c., 



W. L. MARCY. 

 Henry S. Sanford, Esq., 



38 Clinton Place, New York. 



3Ir. Marcy to Mr. Sanford. 



DEPARTilENT OF StATE, 



Washington, January 9, 1856. 

 Sir : I have received your letter of the 5th instant, with the notice 

 from the l^^ew York Herald. 



I do not see wherein the notice could excite your surprise, or how it 

 has any relation to Mr. Shelton's claim. The notice relates to islands 

 under the jurisdiction of Venezuela. The ground of Mr. S.'s claim is 

 that Bird Island was not under the jurisdiction of Venezuela when he 

 had possession of it. I see nothing in the notice which can in any 

 way affect that question — nothing which shows [that] the instruc- 

 tions, or rather advice, from this department have been disregarded. 

 I am, sir, &c., 



W. L. MARCY. 

 H. S. Sanford, Esq. 



Mr. Sanford to Mr. 3Iarcy. 



38 Clinton Place, New York, 



January 12, 1856. 



Sir : Your brief note of the 9th, in reply to my communication of 

 the 5th, was received last evening. When I addressed you that com- 

 munication, it seemed to me that the facts referred to in it, and also in 

 my other recent letters to the President and yourself on the subject of 

 Mr. Shelton's claim, not only jiistified, but demanded, that the atten- 

 tion of the President and yourself should be called forthwith to the 

 notice I inclosed to you, and in the manner adopted by me, otherwise 

 that notice would probably have escaped your observation. I will 

 recapitulate the facts to which I allude, seriatim. You must pardon 

 me for their reiteration. It is done to save you the trouble of an 

 •examination of the past correspondence to ascertain them. 



1. The Philadelphia G-uano Company claim, and the Venezuelan 

 government agrees, that Shelton's Isle (miscalled '' Bird Island" in 

 ■your note) is included, and was expressly intended to be included, in 

 the contract between them definitively arranged under the auspices 



