236 



FALKLAND ISLANDS. 



drew this small garrison, and left the Falkland archipelago 

 uninhabited by man, I am not certain ; but it must have 

 been early in this century, because from 1810 to 18^0 there 

 was no person upon those islands who claimed even a shadow 

 of authority over any of them. 



In 1820, a ship of war was sent from Buenos Ay res to Port 

 Louis ; her captain, Jewitt, hoisted the Argentine flag, and 

 saluted it with twenty-one guns ; notifying, at the same time, 

 to the sealing and whaling vessels present, that he was " com- 

 missioned by the Supreme Government of the United Provinces 

 of South America to take possession of these islands in the 

 name of the country to which they naturally appertain." — 

 (Weddell, p. 103.) This act of the Buenos Ayrean Govern- 

 ment was scarcely known in Europe for many years ; and not 

 until 1829 was it noticed formally by Great Britain. 



After reading this short statement of facts, one may pause 

 to consider what nation is at this moment the legitimate owner 

 of the Falklands. Do the discovery, prior occupation, and 

 settlement of new and uninhabited countries give a right to 

 possession ? If so, Great Britain is the legal owner of those 

 islands. Davis first discovered them ; Hawkins first named 

 them ; Strong first landed on them ; and (excepting the 

 French), Byron first took formal possession of them ; and 

 (again excepting the French), Macbride first colonized them. 

 Respecting the French claim, depending only upon first settle- 

 ment, not discovering, naming, or landing ; whatever validity 

 any one may be disposed to allow it, that value must be 

 destroyed, when it is remembered that Spain asserted her 

 superior claim, and that France actually admitted it, resigning 

 for ever her pretensions to those islands. Whatever France 

 might have been induced to do for political reasons, of which 

 the most apparent now is the continuance of the trade she then 

 carried on with Chile and Peru, England never admitted 

 that the Spanisli claim was valid : and France having with- 

 drawn, the question is solely between Spain and Great Britain. 

 Spaniards neither discovered, landed upon, nor settled in the 

 Falklands before Englishmen ; and their only claim rests upon 



J 



