AVES ISLAND. 227 



zuela ; presented in detail. The items composing tliis statement corre- 

 spond with those set forth in the memorandum furnished by Mr. San- 

 ford, and transmitted with the instruction of my predecessor to you 

 of the 3d February last. I need do no more than reiterate the views 

 therein ■ expressed. 



I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



LEWIS CASS. 



Charles Eames, Esq., dc. 



3Ir. Cass to 3Ir. Eames. 



No. 52.] Department or State, 



Washington, May 25, 1857. 



Sir : Not a little surprise was occasioned by the receipt on the 8th 

 instant, of your dispatch No. 36, of the 1st ultimo, acquainting the 

 department of the non-arrival of the instructions to you numbered 

 44, 45, and 46, although those numbered 47 and 48 had not failed to 

 reach you. Before undertaking to prepare duplicates of the missing 

 dispatches, which would have been in some respects impracticable, an 

 effort was made to discover whether your failure to receive them was 

 the result of neglect^ fraud, or accident. A letter received this morn- 

 ing from D. B. Taylor, dispatch agent at New York, discloses the fact 

 that it was owing to the gross and culpable neglect of Mr. J. A. Hill, 

 late dispatch agent in the same city. Mr. Taylor states, in his letter, 

 that he found the packet of dispatches among the books handed over 

 to him by his predecessor, and he has returned it to the department. 

 No time is lost in transmitting it once more en route to its destination. 



A more unfortunate and ill-timed mishap than the detention of this 

 packet of dispatches could scarcely have occurred ; referring princi- 

 pally to the claim of Mr. Philo S. Shelton, to promote and expedite 

 the adjustment of which, Mr. H. S. Sanford, as Mr. Shelton' s agent 

 and attorney, visited Venezuela, and covering very important evidence 

 and statements in support of that claim^ upon which Mr. Sanford 

 placed much reliance as aiding you in its complete development and 

 entire verification, as well as inclosing a duplicate of the missing 

 numbers 37 and 38, of August last, the former of which conveyed to 

 you the emphatic views of this government in regard to the same 

 claim ; the absence of these instructions must to a great extent have 

 embarrassed your official movements, as well as have, probably, 

 counterbalanced the benefits proposed by Mr. Sanford in repairing to 

 Caraccas. 



One of the dispatches contained the leave of absence granted by the 

 late executive, with an accompanying private letter from my prede- 

 cessor to you. From the post-mark on the original envelope, you will 

 observe that it was mailed in this city on the 7th February last. 



I have to express to you the high appreciation entertained by the 

 department of the ability, earnestness, and research displayed in your 

 note of the 31st March to the Venezuelan minister for foreign rela- 

 tions upon the subject of the Shelton claim; and its approval of the 



