AVES ISLAND. 417 



The version of the Venezuelan government is : 



That Colonel Dias, on the 13th of December, landed in Isla de Aves 

 without any opposition, either by words or deeds, on the part of the 

 American citizens there found ; that at their request and entreaty the 

 permit referred to was conceded ; and that by various attentions shown 

 the Venezuelans, did the Americans appear to be pleased and obliged 

 by the act of compliance of the Venezuelan commissioner. 



The claimants' s version, supported by the United States legation at 

 Caraccas, is: 



That they did verbally oppose the occupation of the island by Vene- 

 zuela ; that, in fact, they did not do it, although with a superior force 

 to that effect, with the view of avoiding extremities ; and that the two 

 agents for the Boston houses signed the document as well to prevent 

 the use of force, as because of their ignorance that the permit in Span- 

 ish contained the recognition of Venezuela's title over the Isla de Aves. 



The party for Shelton and associates has endeavored to prove his 

 allegation, summoning various witnesses connected with the two Isla 

 de Aves expeditions, some to declare before a justice of the peace in 

 Boston, and others before a notary public in New York. 



The government of Venezuela has repelled the false allegation by 

 declarations from the commanders and officers who occupied the island 

 on the 13th of December, 1854, all of which were taken at the office 

 of the secretary of war, in the presence of Mr. Sanford, Shelton's agent, 

 at Caraccas. 



Which of the two versions is the true one ? If the contending gov- 

 ernments recognized one superior judge to weigh the proofs adduced 

 by both parties, that of Venezuela would unquestionably be sustained 

 by the following reasons, which, being the principal ones, are drawn 

 from the whole of the testimony: 



There was no fraud, first, because Mr. Lang, one of the two Amer- 

 ican agents, is very well acquainted with the Spanish language ; sec- 

 ond, because the permit, before Mr. Gibbs, the other agent, had signed 

 it, was interpreted for him by Lang himself, and by Commander Co- 

 tarro, of the Venezuela navy. 



There was no violence, first, because the document was signed when 

 there were but three Venezuelan officers on shore ; second, because even 

 had the whole of the detachment and crew on board the schooner landed, 

 the numerical superiority on the filibuster's side made fear impossible, 

 even in men not so strong and resolute as they represented themselves 

 in their declarations ; and third, because these very invaders them- 

 selves, although obliged to prove such imaginary violence, have not ven- 

 tured to mention any act of compulsion, death, wounds, or even blows. 



The superior judge, supposed in the case, would have seen , as al- 

 ready stated, that fraud and violence are actions excluding each other 

 from their very nature ; that the very counduct of the American sign- 

 ers, such as is represented by their own declarations, before the act, 

 during the act, and after the act of the permit, compels common sense 

 to reject the allegation ; and he must finally have seen that the proof, 

 proceeding from a written document against the signers thereof, is 



Ex. Doc. 10 27 



