2834.] 
FALKLAND ISLANDS. 
481 
Buenos Ayres, soon after Mr. Baylies, the late charge d'aflfaires 
of the United States, left that country ; and his part of the cor- 
respondence, as well as that of the Consul Slacum, as yet, can be 
seen only -through the medium of two translations, first from the 
English into Spanish, and then from the Spanish into English. 
Of the instructions to Mr. Baylies, and his correspondence with 
his own government, we, of course, can have no knowledge ; and we 
have been obliged to rely on this foreign publication, and on infor- 
mation from sources which we believe to be accurate, for the 
following account of the negotiations. 
The attention of the public within a few years has been at- 
tracted to the Falkland Islands; and controversies have been 
revived, with a change of parties indeed, like those which once 
employed the pens of Junius and Johnson, and called out the 
eloquence of Lord Chatham ! One of the Hispano- American 
colonies has endeavoured to maintain, in its own behalf, those 
rights of sovereignty and jurisdiction once claimed by Spain ; 
and a new element has been infused into the existing controversy, 
which embraces the right of the people of the United States to a 
free fishery at those islands, and those adjacent. 
The steril soil and inhospitable climate of the Falkland 
Islands, have hitherto prevented their occupation ; they were un- 
inhabited when discovered, and, with the exception of occasional 
and transient residents, have so remained. Yet their position will 
always render them important in the estimation of commercial 
nations. 
This group, consisting of two large islands and many smaller 
ones, some of which are mere rocks, is situated for the most part 
between the fifty-first and fifty-second degrees of south latitude, 
and nearly opposite the southern extremity of Patagonia, which 
is the nearest land. The islands lie near the track of all the 
navigation which passes around Cape Horn, and at no inconve- 
nient distance from the Cape of Good Hope, the harbour of Rio 
Janeiro, and the Rio de la Plata. 
In the long voyages around Cape Horn, into the Pacific Ocean 
and back, ships are frequently in want of provisions : if a depot 
were established at the Falklands, supplies might be obtained 
without any great deviation from a direct course ; and this depot 
might sometimes be of service to the crews of vessels, when, 
