88 AVES ISLAND. 



ecutive lias not granted the twice repeated application of Mr. Slielton 

 to be permitted to retake his possessions at his own expense, (which 

 course he could not pursue without such permission, except by viola- 

 tion of the neutrality acts,) and the executive has also refrained from 

 sending a vessel of the navy to the isle. 



And now^s to the effect of this notice upon Mr. Shelton's rights 

 :and interests. A reference to Mr. Shelton's statement, filed in the 

 department several months ago, will show that he claims the restitution 

 of Shelton's Isle to him and to the United States, status quo ante the 

 forcible and tortious eviction in December 1854, as just in respect to 

 his rights and due to the honor and dignity of the United States, and 

 he refers to precedents for such course, vide printed memoranda on file, 

 pp. 21-22. Such restoration he insists (upon the authority of those 

 precedents) is a just preliminary act to be done by Venezuela ; for 

 mark! that government during the six months Mr. Shelton occupied 

 the isle made no complaint thereof to the United States, but proceeded 

 at once to employ military force to effect his ejectment. As the rights 

 of the United States flow exclusively from him and his acts, and are 

 wholly founded upon his discovery and peaceable occupation of this isle, 

 (derelict till he took possession of it,) and as he is a citizen of the 

 United States and most directly interested, it is respectfully sub- 

 mitted that it was not unbecoming for him to urge the adoption of 

 such course. Indemnification for his actual losses and for his damages 

 is also there stated and claimed. He claims compensation for the de- 

 terioration in value of the isle between the time of the eviction and 

 such restoration, when made, whether by the abstraction of guano 

 therefrom or otherwise, and damages resulting from the continued 

 occupation and exercise of jurisdiction over the isle by Venezuela, and 

 the exclusion of Mr. Shelton's workmen therefrom and for his being 

 deprived of its use and of the profits of the guano thereon after his 

 having been driven off in December 1854, and also damages for the 

 seizure and detention of his personal property, indemnification for 

 losses by false freights, demurrage of vessels, obstruction to the labor 

 and employment of his workmen at the isle, transported thither from 

 the United States in June, 1854, and sustained there at great expense 

 in erecting houses and landing, &c., for expenses in obtaining redress 

 and interest and augmented damages caused by the long delay. The 

 account of his claim, filed in the department 15th January, 1855, 

 being at that time, in the aggregate $341,000, if scrutinized, will show 

 that the continued occupation and appropriation by Venezuela of Shel- 

 ton's Isle and her deprivation of Mr. Shelton of the use of it and her 

 exercise oi jurisdiction over it forms the largest item of his claim. 



Every communication addressed to the department urging the en- 

 forcement of his claim to the island and the guano on it, and for in- 

 demnity, or otherwise connected with it, refers as well to the continued 

 exercise of jurisdiction as to the first forcible and tortious assumption 

 -of jurisdiction by Venezuela over the island. In fact, part of his 

 claim, as before observed, is founded entirely on such continued exer- 

 cise of jurisdiction. 



I assure you it was not apprehended that the official notice of the 

 Venezuelan government and the Philadelphia Gruancr Company, pub- 



