AVES ISLAND. ' - 399 



Venezuela. During this and the following months were detected at 

 Los Monjes, the American bark Corwin ; at the island of Pie, the 

 American schooner White Swan, and at Los Hermanos, another 

 American schooner that left eighty bags of guano in its flight. 



1855, September 2. — The American Guano Company, of Philadel- 

 phia, on being apprised of the canceling of the Wallace contract, 

 solicits the protection of the government of the United States, and 

 obtains it, to compel Venezuela to sustain them as the assignees of the 

 Wallace contract ; John Pickrell was, in consequence, dispatched as 

 its agent, in the American schooner White Swan, which arrived at 

 Isla de Aves on the above mentioned date. As was naturally to be 

 expected, she was prohibited from loading with guano ; he then entered 

 a protest, making the actual costs amount to $50,000, and the contin- 

 gent damages to $500,000. 



1855^ September. — Arrival of Pickrell at Caraccas. Sustained by 

 the legation of the United States, he demands the restoration of the 

 Wallace contract, the principal object of which was the working of the 

 guano on the Isla de Aves. 



1855, September 24. — Date of the memorandum of the conference 

 with the president of Venezuela, signed by Mr. Eames, minister resi- 

 dent of the United States in Caraccas, which shows, 1st, the impor- 

 tance attached by the American legation to the Pickrell claim ; 2d, the 

 first written mention of the other claim of Shelton, which he contem- 

 j)lated establishing by reason of the dispossession of American citizens 

 at Isla de Aves ; and 3d, of Mr. Eames declining the discussion of the 

 two conflicting claims at the same time. 



1855, Septemher 29. — The government of Venezuela, out of its regard 

 for the public peace, renews in favor of the Philadelphia company the 

 Wallace contract, with certain modifications in regard to the price of 

 the guano to be exported. 



1856, March. — Netherland vessels of war arrive at Laguayra with 

 an ultimatum, demanding the recognition of the Dutch right to the 

 Isla de Aves, and the withdrawal of troops stationed there. Mr. 

 Eames, on being made officially informed, at his own request, of the 

 matter, addressed a note, on the 8th of March, to the secretary of for- 

 eign relations of Venezuela, opposing the Dutch, demand for the sur- 

 render of the island, partly on account of the claim which it was his 

 intention to make in regard to that island in favor of the Americans 

 who had first discovered guauo thereon, and also in behalf of the rights 

 conferred on Pickrell in respect thereto. 



1856, April and May. — During these months, Shelton & Co., take 

 the last extrajudicial declarations, before a notary in New York, to 

 invalidate the permit of December 13. 



1856, December 20. — The minister of the United States addresses the 

 government of Venezuela, his first official note, holding it responsible 

 for the occupation of Isla de Aves, and demanding indemnity in favor 

 of citizens of the United States expelled therefrom, without stating 

 who they were. 



1857, Februarij 27. — The government of Venezuela repels the claim 

 in a judicious note. 



