AYES ISLAND. 293 



ceived that he exerted himself in exaggerating the proportions of 

 things. At one time he aggravates the conduct of Venezuela to the 

 highest pitch ; at another he lingers on the extent, which the diffi- 

 culties might reach if the application for a renewal of the contract 

 were set aside ; now he invests the question with an importance not 

 its own ; then he suggests that the relations of both countries depend 

 upon its settlement. In the sequel he represents the people and the 

 government of the United States advocating, with unparalleled zeal, 

 the cause of Wallace's transferees, and here he favors us with a 

 glimpse at a recourse to force should Pickrell's application not be 

 granted. Essaying then to enforce the expediency of yielding to it, 

 he adds that it would produce an excellent effect on the relations of 

 both governments, and would signally conduce to the settlement of 

 the other claim. Lastly, on that occasion, speaking with his excel- 

 lency, he goes even into the details of the contract which Pickrell in- 

 tended to make, as if an agreement had already gone that far, and as 

 it were to leave no doubt as to the character of his intervention. 



It is proper to observe that the note referred to, signed by Mr. 

 Eames, in which it was his object to record the passages of that con- 

 ference, is the only paper that issued from the legation touching 

 Pickrell's affair, and that there is absolutely nothing said in it about 

 not including Aves Island in the contract which might be made with 

 him. The contrary is shown by the tenor of his observations. If, 

 besides this, it be l3orne in mind that he alternatively demanded the 

 restoration of Wallace's contract, which included Aves Island, or the 

 conclusion of another similar one, it will easily be ascertained that 

 he did not combat the insertion of Aves in the Pickrell arrangement, 

 as he now pretends to have done. 



So far as concerns the note of the 8th of March, 1856, here follows 

 the showing made by the records in relation to it. Holland having 

 contested the right of Venezuela to Aves Island, the consul general of 

 the former presented to the government of the latter an ultimatum, by 

 which it demanded a recognition of its rights to and a withdrawal of 

 the Venezuelan troops from the Aves Island. This having been 

 bruited about, Mr. Eames applied to the department of foreign rela- 

 tions in writing, for the purpose of inquiring whether the statement 

 were correct. He was answered that, in fact, the recognition and 

 evacuation of Aves Island within three days had been required, and 

 that the government were considering the claim. Thus officially in- 

 formed of transpiring events, he wrote the communication mentioned 

 above, Avhich, in substance, amounted to his interjecting opposition to 

 a cession of Aves Island to Holland, on one part, for the claim which 

 was said to bo pending in relation to it between the United States and 

 Venezuela, and in favor of certain Americans, who had discovered the 

 guano and occupied the island, and on the other part, for the rights to 

 the island conferred upon Pickrell. It is true that he there alluded to a 

 pending claim, which existed nowhere, although it had afforded matter 

 for Mr. Eames's conversations with the secretary of foreign relations, 

 but circumstances prevented this assertion from being noticed and tri- 

 umphantly refuted. Even he himself did not consider that to be the 

 proper manner of setting up the claim; and that he never again 



