218 AVES ISLAND. 



■wliich, appearing as antecedent to any sucli discussion, seem to tlie 

 undersigned to preclude its necessity. 



It is not pretended that Venezuela can claim any title to the Aves 

 Island in question by reason of a contiguity. No single authority of 

 any character whatever is alleged to have ever recognized in any man- 

 ner that island as a Venezuelan possession prior to 1854. On the 

 contrary, all the geographical authorities who have described the 

 islands in that vicinity, and among these Balbi Alcedo and the official 

 Derrotero de las Antillas, in speaking of these islands, have entirely 

 failed to mention any such pretension of title to the Aves Island in 

 question. It is not asserted that in any constitution, law, ordinance, 

 decree, or other State paper whatsoever, emanating from the authority 

 either of the captain-generalship of Venezuela, the republic of Colom- 

 bia, or the republic of Venezuela, has this island of Aves ever been 

 named, prior to 1854, as a possession, or claimed possession of either of 

 those governments. No proofs have been offered and no assertion has 

 been made that any pretension of title in Venezuela to the Aves prior 

 to 1854, has been even mentioned and much less countenanced by any 

 writer whatever. The undersigned maintains the firm conviction, 

 that up to the year 1854 no printed mention of such title or pretension 

 of title can any where be found. The undersigned has no reason to 

 believe that any unpublished document written before 1854, and exist- 

 ing in the archives of any government, can be produced, in which 

 such Venezuelan pretension of title is even alluded to. It is not pre- 

 tended that Venezuela ever established any such jurisdiction upon the 

 Aves, or ever made any such manifestation of title there prior to 1854, 

 as other governments are bound to respect; and, as already stated, it 

 has not been proved or, to the knowledge of the undersigned, any- 

 where asserted that prior to 1854 any citizen of the republic of 

 Venezuela, in any capacity, either private or public, ever visited that 

 island. 



In view of such undisputed facts existing antecedent to any dis- 

 cussion of the title now alleged by Venezuela prior to 1854, it would 

 certainly seem that no discussion on that point is now necessary. 



But there is another line of facts which have not, so far as the 

 undersigned is informed, been heretofore alluded to in this connection, 

 though undoubtedly of the most conclusive character. To these facts 

 the undersigned has now the honor to invoke especial attention of the 

 honorable Minister of Foreign Eelations. 



The undersigned confidently alleges that the government of Vene- 

 zuela itself, acting through its duly authorized commissioners, has at 

 a yet recent date announced to the world its official repudiation of all 

 title or pretension of title to the Island of Aves in question ; and that 

 in June, 1854, when these claimants took possession of that island, 

 that official repudiation of all Venezuelan title or claim to it stood un- 

 modified and in full force. 



As the exact demonstration of this proposition, while exploding all' 

 pretension of title in Venezuela to the Aves, must present, in the 

 strongest light, the extraordinary character of the outrage complained 

 of by these claimants, and the consequent signal obligation of Vene- 



