AVES ISLAND. 209 



signed is now fortunately enabled in the most effectual manner to 

 remove. He presents with this note a long extract from the deposi- 

 tion of Captain N. P. Grihbs, one of the signers of the alleged "agree- 

 ment," and invokes to it the especial attention of the government of 

 Venezuela, Its minuteness of detail,- its frank admissions, and its 

 temperate yet firm tone, all stamp it as a trustworthy paper, while its 

 clearness of statement shows it plainly to he the testimony of an in- 

 telligent witness. The Hon. Mr. Gutierrez will observe that the 

 witness swears distinctly that the so-called "agreement" was fraudu- 

 lently interpreted to him; that he would not have signed "anything" 

 except to avoid violence and bloodshed ; that he yielded only to the 

 command and force of a government 'recognized by his own; and that 

 had the contents of the paper been truly interpreted to him he would 

 have refused his signature to at it all hazards. 



Now, the Hon. Mr. Grutierrez will also observe that in the testimony 

 of these witnesses there is no possible chance of mistake. Two of them, 

 chief actors in the transaction, swear positively to their own motives 

 in signing the paper ; the others swear to what they personally knew 

 of those motives as eye and ear witnesses of the transaction, and as 

 participants in it by consultation. There being no possibility of mis- 

 take on their part, the government of Venezuela must either receive 

 their testimony on this point as true, or it must take the position that 

 they all willfully commit wholesale perjury. This last position the 

 government of Venezuela assuredly will never assume ; for the pro- 

 fessed purpose of the Venezuelan expedition was to occupy the island 

 and eject these men from its possession. That possession they had law- 

 fully, in their judgment, and in the judgment of their government, estab^ 

 lished at great expense and were sedulously and profitably maintaining. 

 It is against all reason — it is against every principle of human nature, 

 to suppose that they could possibly be so ejected from such a possession 

 without the employment of force or fraud, or both. The Venezuelan 

 expedition was provided with guns and bayonets^ and powder and ball, 

 and does not appear to have been provided with any other arguments 

 to accomplish its purpose. Here were the means of force. The com- 

 mander of the expedition understood the Spanish language, which one 

 of the two chief agents did not understand at all, and the other, if at 

 all, very imperfectly. Here was a ready method of fraud. The paper 

 was drawn and signed only in Spanish, and not, as would have been 

 natural, both in English and Spanish. Here was a badge of fraud. 

 The paper now urged by Venezuela as an "agreement" or "conven- 

 tion" was presented to these agents as a "permit." Here was an 

 overt act of fraud. The purpose of the expedition plainly requiring 

 for its accomplishment the use of the means of force or fraud, which 

 were at hand, was accomplished. These witnesses swear that force 

 and fraud were used for its accomplishment. Their collective solemn 

 oaths, therefore, only confirm and establish the strongest possible ante- 

 cedent probability. Such testimony to such fact must command irre- 

 sistible credence. 



It is obvious to say that these facts were not known when this paper 

 was first presented to the undersigned ; that if they had been known 

 Ex. Doc. 10 14 



