AVES ISLAND. 167 



in the name of the government of the United States in maintenance of 

 all the rights and claims of the present claimants, as to withdraw the 

 '• Aves'' from the primary and principal place which it held in the 

 Wallace contract, and to give to its specification in the Pickrell con- 

 tract an incidental and qualified form, exempting the Venezuelan 

 government from liability to Mr. Pickrell and those whom he repre- 

 sented, in case of the failure of the Venezuelan possession and alleged 

 title. But this modification could, of course, in no way diminish the 

 profits resulting to Venezuela by the working of the island under her 

 •authority. 



It thus appears, that in defeat of the claims of the claimants, and in 

 disregard of the prompt and continued interposition of the government 

 of the United States in their behalf, Venezuela, by a whole series of 

 acts, commencing in December, 1854, and constituting since a system- 

 atic policy, has forcibly occupied, and in various ways administered, 

 according to her own judgment, upon her own sole responsibility and for 

 her own advantage, the guano island of " Aves;" and the inference, in 

 the judgment of the undersigned, is obvious, that unless it be shown 

 affirmatively and clearly that Venezuela had a title to this guano when 

 she took it into her own hands, in December, 1854, better than the 

 title of these claimants, who had discovered it, taken formal possession 

 of it, and were lawfully and peaceably putting it to use when she found 

 them and expelled them, then, under the law of nations and upon 

 principles of justice, Venezuela is responsible to them, and to their gov- 

 ernment in their behalf, in a fair and reasonable indemnification for 

 the loss of their profits from the guano, the rightful possession of 

 which she thus wrested from them. The equitable estimate and com- 

 putation of those probable profits will properly form the subject of 

 future consideration. 



Deeply impressed with the importance of a satisfactory adjustment 

 of this claim with the least possible delay, and earnestly urging this 

 view of it upon the government of Venezuela through the honorable 

 Minister of Foreign Kelations, the undersigned is desirous to proceed 

 at once in the negotiation, and as a basis of such arrangement he will 

 undertake to entertain and transmit to his government for its con- 

 sideration a proposition by which the government of Venzuela shall 

 agree : 



First. Promptly to indemnify these claimants for all the actual 

 positive losses resulting to them from their expulsion from the Aves 

 in December, 1854, and forming the first branch of their claim as 

 already alluded to. 



Secondly. To indemnify these claimants in a reasonable amount as 

 compensation for their loss of probable profits in the guano which may 

 have been taken from the Aves under Venezuelan authority from the 

 day of its occupation by her forces up to the day wlien the adjustment 

 of this claim may be concluded between the two governments. 



Thirdly. To adjust the question of the rightful interest of these 

 claimants in the guano remaining upon the island at the time of such 

 settlement of their claim, either by the relinquishment of such guano 

 to them, or in other manner satisfactorv to the two o-overnments. 



