164 AVES ISLAND. 



Nor, in tlie judgment of the undersigned, ig it probable that the 

 Venezuelan government will at this time see fit to insist upon any 

 title in Venezuela to the island in question prior to the occupation of 

 it by her naval forces in December, 1854 ; and if this be so, it is mani- 

 fest that, whatever possessory rights in the island Venezuela may have 

 since alleged or exercised, as resulting from her occupation of it, those 

 alleged rights must always be regarded, even by Venezuela herself, 

 and much more by the government of the United States, as arising 

 and existing, if at all, then only as subject to the paramount and pre- 

 vious right of the anterior American occupants of the island, to full 

 reparation and indemnification of all the loss, damage, and injury 

 brought upon them by the government of Venezuela in ejecting them 

 from that occupation, and taking possession herself of the island and 

 proceeding to hold 'and administer it for her own advantage and 

 profit. 



In this attitude stood the question of this claim when first presented, 

 and though its reception then by the government of Venezuela was, 

 in judgment of the undersigned, as he then stated, by no means in 

 conformity with the rights of the claimants, and the just expectations 

 of the government of the United States in their behalf, still the case 

 might probably, at that time, have presented no insuperable obstacles 

 to a prompt adjustment but for the appearance among the documents 

 pertaining to it and in the possession of the Venezuelan government of 

 a paper purporting to be the original of an " agreement" entered into 

 and signed at the ''Aves" Island on the 13th December, 1854, by 

 Commander Dias, of the Venezuelan navy, of the first part, and the 

 agents of the American occupants of the island of the second part, 

 by which the possession of the island would seem to be ceded to the 

 Venezuelan authorities by those agents upon certain terms and con- 

 siderations therein set forth. This paper the undersigned, whe|||)rop- 

 erly assured of its authenticity, deemed fit, as new matter in the case, 

 to be referred to his government in order that explanations of it by the 

 claimants might be received and considered. Those explanations, 

 showing that the alleged "agreement" was entered into and signed 

 by the agents of the claimants under duress and upon compulsion, 

 were considered by the government of the United States as sufficient 

 wholly to invalidate and void the instrument. 



The urgent aspect of the claim resulting from these facts was at 

 once presented to the honorable Minister of Foreign Kelations by the 

 undersigned, in personal interviews, and was also shortly after pressed 

 upon his immediate consideration in the note of the 8th of March last 

 already referred to. 



The papers which accompany this note, prove also the additional 

 fact that the alleged " agreement" with Commander Dias, being 

 written in a language not understood by the agents of the claimants, 

 and so requiring interpretation, was signed by them under an entire 

 misappiehension of its contents. 



The case being thus cleared of the embarrassment occasioned by this 

 alleged ''agreement," and the forcible expulsion of the claimants 

 from the island by Venezuelan forces, and its subsequent occupation 

 by Venezuela not being disputed, the undersigned is unable to perceive 



