400 AVES ISLAND. 



1857, March 31. — Mr, Eames insists, in an official communication 

 notable for its length. 



1857, April. — The President of Venezuela submits the matter to the 

 consideration of the government council. 



1857, May. — ^The government council orders that proof be taken to 

 refute the assertion of Shelton that his agent had signed the permit of 

 December 13, by means of fraud and violence. 



1857, May 29. — The legation of the United States addresses a note 

 to the government of Venezuela, charging it with undue delay in 

 acknowledging the justice of the indemnity demanded, and alleging 

 that such delay was calculated to place in imminent peril the friendly 

 relations betv^^een the two countries ! 



1857^ June. — The proof ordered by the government council was com- 

 pleted. Mr. Eames was invited to l3e present at the taking of the tes- 

 timony, but declined attending. 



1857, June 11. — Mr. Eames, having the permission of his govern- 

 ment to return to the United States, makes a formal demand for his 

 passports as the result of the pending question. 



1857, June 12. — The government of Venezuela sends Mr. Eames his 

 passports, informing him that the substantiation of the pending claim 

 was not yet concluded. It added, that both cabinets would come to a 

 direct understanding on the subject in the event of there being no min- 

 ister of the United States in Caraccas. 



1857, August 5. — Convention between Venezuela and Holland, sub- 

 mitting the question of Isla de Aves to arbitration. 



1857, October. — Mr. Eames returns to Caraccas. The government 

 of Venezuela victoriously refutes the claim in a note of the 31st of the 

 same month, remits the negotiation to Washington, and sends a special 

 minister plenipotentiary to this capital. 



Argument. 



Such are the facts connected with the Isla de Aves question, all of 

 which are most clearly proved by official acts. 



Among these facts there stands one which constitutes the actual 

 state of the controversy now pending between Venezuela and the Uni- 

 ted States, namely: 



The prohibition to export guano from Isla de Aves, imposed by 

 Venezuela on American citizens, who occupied it in December, 1854. 



The two contending parties agree upon this point, but differ in its 

 qualification. The government of the United States look upon it as 

 an act of violent encroachment upon rightful property. Venezuela 

 denies this qualification. It is, therefore, a case in which rhetoric and 

 law have jointly, and from the most remote antiquity, consecrated the 

 principle that : 



'^ It lies upon the accuser to approve what the other denies. In this 

 case, the state of the cause is taken from the indictment." 



Otherwise the advantages of the aggressor would become far greater. 

 Filibusters, for instance, could take possession of any uninhabited 



