APPENDIX. 



151 



Parish, the British ChargI d' Affaires, at Buenos Ayres, addressed, in 

 the name of his court, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the 

 RepubHc, on the 19th of November 1829, in consequence of the British 

 Government having been informed that the president of the United 

 Provinces of the Rio de la Plata had issued decrees, and had made 

 grants of land, in the nature of acts of sovereignty over the islands 

 in question. 



That protest made known to the government of the United Pro- 

 vinces of the Rio de la Plata : — 



1st. That the authority which that government had thus assumed^ 

 was considered by the British Government as incompatible with the 

 sovereign rights of Great Britain over the Falkland Islands. 



2dly. That those sovereign rights, which were founded upon the 

 original discovery and subsequent occupation of those islands, had 

 acquired an additional sanction from the fact, that his Catholic Majesty 

 had restored the British settlement, which had been forcibly taken 

 possession of by a Spanish force, in the year 1771. 



3dly. That the withdrawal of his Majesty's forces from the Falk- 

 land Islands, in 1774, could not invalidate the just rights of Great 

 Britain, because that withdrawal took place only in pursuance of the 

 system of retrenchment adopted at that time by his Majesty's Govern- 

 ment. 



4thly. That the marks and signals of possession and of property, 

 left upon the islands, the British flag still flying, and all the other 

 formalities observed upon the occasion of the departure of the gover- 

 nor, were calculated not only to assert the rights of ownership, but to 

 indicate the intention of resuming the occupation of the territory at 

 some future period. 



Upon these grounds Mr. Parish protested against the pretensions 

 set up on the part of the Argentine Republic, and against aU acts 

 done to the prejudice of the just rights of sovereignty heretofore 

 exercised by the crown of Great Britain. 



The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic acknowledged the 

 receipt of the British protest ; and acquainted Mr. Parish that his 

 government would give it their particular consideration, and that he 

 would communicate to him their decision upon the subject, so soon 

 as he should receive directions to that effect. 



No answer was, however, at any time returned, nor was any objec- 

 tion raised, on the part of the government of the United Provinces of 



