346 AVES ISLAND. 



Venezuela, lie considers as useless whatever evidence slie may bring 

 forward to make good her dominion over the island; or, in other words, 

 that his demand should he acceded to without any discussion, merely 

 because, in his judgment, there is nothing to justify it — a judgment 

 which he rests on this : that it is not pretended that Venezuela can 

 allege any title to Aves Island here spoken of on account of contiguity ; 

 that nowhere is there mention made, in print, of any title or of pre- 

 tense of a title to tlie island on the part of Venezuela; that there is 

 no reason to believe that there can be produced any unpublished docu- 

 ment written previous to the year 1854, and existing in the archives of 

 any government, in which the pretension even of such a title is alleged 

 on the part of Venezuela; that it is not pretended that she ever as- 

 serted jurisdiction over the "Aves," nor that she ever made, prior to 

 1854, any exhibition of title to it such as another government should 

 respect; that neither has it been proved, nor yet ascertained that prior 

 to 1854 any citizen of the republic of Venezuela had ever visited that 

 island either in a private or in an official capacity ; that the govern- 

 ment of Venezuela, acting through its commissioners thereto duly 

 authorized, announced to the world her official renunciation to all title 

 or ]3retension to Aves Island, by not mentioning it as a part of the 

 territory of the republic in her large map^ nor in Mr. Codazzi's geog- 

 raphy, an agent intrusted with the management of that extensive work, 

 in reference to which he goes into an extensive dissertation, for the pur- 

 pose of establishing the perfection of his labors, both from the assist- 

 ance and remuneration which were given to the author, and from the 

 estimation in which it was held in foreign countries, not to speak of 

 that of the government of Venezuela. 



The right of Venezuela to Aves Island cannot be rejected on the 

 score of contiguity, because, according to the law of nations, islands 

 adjacent to a continent are reputed to be natural dependencies of the 

 territory of the nation which possesses it, unless there be proof to the 

 contrary ; because to such a nation, infinitely more than to any other 

 nation, is the dominioA of such islands important for its security both 

 by land and by sea ; and because Aves Island has no continent more 

 immediate than that of Venezuela, since, although it be nearer to the 

 possessions of other nations, those possessions are mere colonies or 

 isles themselves, which up to a certain time also belonged to Spain. 



Without admitting the necessity of a previous declaration of right 

 to a territory, in order to secure its effective possession, we hold it to 

 be certain that what is found in print is not a mere mention, but con- 

 tains express declarations that the Aves Island under discussion be- 

 longed to Colombia, and belongs to Venezuela. Such are the declara- 

 tions contained in article sixth of the fundamental law of union of the 

 people of Colombia, and of the constitution of that republic, which in 

 the former says: ''The territory of the republic of Colombia shall be 

 that which is comprehended within the limits of the ancient captaincy 

 of Venezuela and the vice-royalty and the captaincy general of the 

 new kingdom of G-ranada; but the designation of its more precise 

 boundaries is reserved for a more opportune period. ' ' Whilst the second 

 says: "The territory of Colombia is the same that was comprehended 

 in the ancient vice-royalty of New Granada and the captaincy general 



