AVES ISLAND. 87 



there is '^nothing in it which can in any way affect" Mr. Shelton's 

 claims, for as miicli as the ground of the claim is that the isle " was 

 not under the jurisdiction of Veneziiela when he had possession of it." 

 This is clearly a misconception of the notice. The jurisdiction referred 

 to in it is that claimed and exercised at the date of the notice, (De- 

 cember 19, 1855,) and not that at the time Mr. Shelton had possession 

 and was ousted by Venezuela, (December 13, 1854.) This notice 

 embraces all guano islands in the Caribbean sea " under the jurisdiction 

 of Venezuela" on the 19th December, 1855, excepting only Margaritta ; 

 and it makes no distinction between jurisdiction exercised dejure as 

 well as de facto, and jurisdiction de facto onlj , and where the question 

 of right was in controversy. The only exception the notice does con- 

 tain, is of one other named island, and it forbids the idea that Shel- 

 ton's Isle or Bird Island was not intended to be included. But if 

 desired by the department, proof dehors the notice, and sustaining the 

 allegation that it was expressly intended by the parties to it to in- 

 clude Shelton's Isle, will be procured. The purposes and objects of 

 the Venezuelan government and of the Philadelphia Guano Company, 

 in this regard, are susceptible of direct and positive proof. If Mr, 

 Shelton were now to send a vessel to Shelton's Isle for guano, and if 

 such vessel should touch at that isle without the permit of the Phila- 

 delphia Guano Company, she would be forthwith ^'■seized," according 

 to the notice, on the ground that the isle was ^^ under the jurisdiction 

 of Venezuela" when she so touched, and at the date of the notice, 

 December 19, 1855. The misapprehension of the department as to 

 the extent and application of the official notice, and under which it is 

 quite obvious the note to which this is an answer was written, was 

 occasioned by not adverting to the fact that since December 13, 1854, 

 Venezuela has exercised unmolested jurisdiction over the isle, and that 

 the notice refers to the Venezuelan jurisdiction in December, 185B, and 

 not that in December, 1854, when, to quote from your note, " the 

 island was not under the jurisdiction of Venezuela." 



From December 13, 1854, (when Mr. Shelton, after having had seve- 

 ral months peaceable occupation of the isle, was forcibly dispossessed by 

 Venezuela,) and up to the date of that notice, and at this time, 

 Venezuela has claimed the isle, has held possession of it by military 

 force, and has exercised such -z^wmoZes^ec^ jurisdiction over it. It is true 

 her possession was usurped and her exercise of jurisdiction wrongful, 

 because in violation of Mr. Shelton's rights and in defiance of those of 

 the United States, based upon his discovery and occupation. But the 

 fact that Venezuela has had, since the 13th December, 1854, and still 

 has and exercises, de facto, jurisdiction over the isle, cannot be ques- 

 tioned. It is as notorious in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Balti- 

 more, and every port of the United States into which guano is im- 

 ported from '■^ islands under the jurisdiction of Venezuela," as the fact 

 that Oregon is at this time under the jurisdiction of the United States. 

 The records of imports of guano in the custom-houses verify this fact, 

 for vessels laden with valuable cargoes of guano from Shelton's Isle, 

 have, since it has so been "under the jurisdiction of Venezuela," en- 

 tered as from a Venezuelan port. And this jurisdiction^ although so 

 acquired, has been so far respected by the United States that the ex- 



