AYES ISLAND. 449 



Legation of the United States, 

 ^ Caraccas, October 17, 1858. 



Sir: The undersigned, minister residemt of the United States, has 

 the honor, in obedience to the special instructions from his govern- 

 ment to that effect, now to bring to the renewed attention of the hon- 

 orable minister of foreign relations, and through him to that of his 

 government, the existing urgent attitude of the Aves Island reclama- 

 tion, with a view to that prompt and final settlement of the claim 

 which the government of the United States regards as imperatively 

 necessary. 



The note of Ist of July last, addressed to the predecessor of the 

 undersigned in this legation by the then honorable minister of foreign 

 relations, made known upon rendered reasons ^'the determination of' 

 the government of Venezuela to terminate by means of an equitable 

 adjustment the question pending in relation to the Aves Island" be- 

 tween the two governments; and added the assurance that " the set- 

 tlement of the claim" should, without delay, be the subject of special 

 and effectual attention. 



This prompt and frank acknowledgment by the new government of 

 the liability and of the purpose of Venezuela equitably to indemnify 

 the claimants in the Aves case, leaving, as it does, in the concurring 

 judgments of the two governments^ nothing more now to be done in 

 that case but to adjust the question of the amount and manner of such 

 equitable indemnification has, the undersigned is prepared to state, 

 produced a favorable impression upon the government of the United 

 States, and in consequence of that impression, and taking into view 

 the serious difiiculties with which the government of Venezuela has 

 for some time past been compelled to struggle, the government of the 

 United States has made special efforts to facilitate the prompt and final 

 adjustment of the claim upon principles of equity and in a spirit of 

 liberal compromise. 



The claim as at present presented before the government of the 

 United States, belongs to quite a number of different individuals. 

 The printed statement herewith inclosed shows that three of them — 

 Messrs. Shelton, Sampson, and Tappan— claim damages to the amount 

 of $650,000, United States currency, and they specify the items of 

 their claim. The claims of all the other claimants in the case, as 

 made known to the government of the United States, raise the total 

 amount up to $1,000,000. By the efforts of the government of the 

 United States, made in the motives referred to, these claimants have 

 been induced to unite all their claims in one entirety, and adopting 

 the principle of restricting their claims to the actual positive losses 

 inflicted upon them, excluding all hypothetical and consequential dam- 

 ages, they have, in a spirit of compromise, and as a basis of an 

 equitable settlement, offered to receive in full satisfaction for their 

 whole claim the sum of $200,000, United States currency, at such 

 times of payment and with such interest as may be stipulated between 

 the two governments. This great reduction by the claimants of their 

 demand down to one fifth part of its original amount upon the prin- 

 Ex. Doc. 10 29 



