372 AVES ISLAND. 



Mr. Eamefi to Mr. Cass. 



No. 41.] Legation of the United States, 



Caraccas, November 3, 1857. 



Sir : Witli reference to my No. 40, of 31st ultimo, it is now with 

 great satisfaction that I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt^ at 

 ten o'clock of the evening of that day, (a few hours after sealing my 

 No. 40,) of your No. 56, of 6th ultimo, with its inclosures. It has 

 of course removed from my mind all douht of the propriety of the 

 course I adopted in suspending the reading of your No. 53 in my first 

 interview with Mr. Gutierrez ; and it gives me what I deem just the 

 necessary discretion as to my future course in the Aves case. 



Of course I have lost no time in taking my position in conformity 

 with the state of the case disclosed in the dispatch and its inclosures ; 

 and in taking that position, I have fortunately found myself aided 

 rather than embarrassed by the action I had already taken under your ' 

 No. 53. 



I inclose copy and translation of the note of Mr. Gutierrez, of yes- 

 terday's date, in reply to my request for a special audience, and copy 

 of my note of the same date waiving for a brief period that request. 

 Of my personal interview with the president, referred to in my note 

 of yesterday to Mr, Gutierrez, I have only to inform the department 

 that it was entirely courteous^ and I think even cordial on the part of 

 his excellency; and it is proper to add, that at the interview with Mr, 

 Gutierrez of yesterday morning, the form of his reply to my note re- 

 questing the audience was arranged, and also the general character of 

 my answer to it. This answer itself being somewhat full and explicit, 

 supercedes the necessity of any further account to the department in 

 this dispatch of the action I have taken since the receipt of its No. 56. 



It is gratifying to me that without the aid of that dispatch, I made 

 in my first interview with Mr. Gutierrez, in view of the information 

 which he then gave, the very points as to the position of my govern- 

 ment in the "Aves" case, which I perceive to have been made to Mr, 

 Kibas in your note to him of 11th of September last, doubtless upon 

 similar information. 



With reference to the first paragraph of your No. 56, in which I am 

 informed that it was expected and understood that I should again visit 

 "Washington before embarking for Caraccas, I have to express my great 

 regret that I was not aware of such expectation or understanding ; 

 because, in that case, I should at once and very gladly have acted upon 

 it by reason of my high sense of the importance to a diplomatic agent, 

 especially when charged with a question of any difficulty, of personal 

 communication with the Department of State. In fact, when I left 

 Washington, I was under the contrary impression that the department 

 desired me to reach Caraccas as soon as practicable, and I regulated 

 my movements accordingly, at some sacrifice of personal convenience. 



In great haste, I have the honor to be, with the highest respect and 

 consideration, your obedient servant, 



CHAELES EAMES. 



Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State. 



