1834.] 
PALKLANB ISLANDS. 
483 
The decree asserted the right of Buenos Ayres to the Falkland 
Islands and all the others, on the ground of having been formerly 
occupied by Spanish subjects, and of having been incorporated in 
the viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata, when under the Spanish 
monarchy, whose successors the government of Buenos Ayres 
claimed to be, by virtue of the revolution of the twenty-fifth of 
May, eighteen hundred and ten. 
It is proper to state here, that by this revolution the dominion 
of the Spanish nation was thrown off at Buenos Ayres, but not that 
of the Spanish king. Ferdinand VIL was acknowledged there 
until eighteen hundred and sixteen, and, in some parts of the vice- 
royalty, several years longer. 
This decree was never communicated to the government of the 
United States, nor to Mr. Forbes, our resident at Buenos Ayres, 
nor does it appear that he protested against it. Mr. Parish, the 
British resident, under instructions from his government, formally 
protested against it as early as the nineteenth of November, 
eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, on the ground that the Argen- 
tine Republic had assumed authority over the Falkland Islands 
incompatible with his Britannic majesty's rights of sovereignty^ 
which were founded on original discovery and occupation, and 
sanctioned by the King of Spain, who, on the requisition of the 
King of Great Britain, had foriAally restored them after a mihtary 
occupation ; and when they were abandoned by the British forces, 
in seventeen hundred and seventy-four, there was no intention of 
abandoning the sovereign jurisdiction, and therefore " the marks 
and signals of possession and property were left upon the islands," 
indicating an intention of resuming possession at a more con- 
venient period. 
Vernet had resided at the islands previous to his appointment. 
Soon afterward he issued a circular, which fell into the hands of 
some of the Americans who were in that region, in which all 
persons were required to desist from the use of the whale and 
seal-fisheries in the waters and on the coasts of the islands in- 
cluded in the decree. Considering these waters and' coasts as 
free to all nations, and the exclusive property of Jione, our country- 
men continued their fisheries as usual. 
Vernet did not commit any violences until after the death of 
Mr. Forbes, which happened on the fourteenth of June, eighteen 
H h 2 
