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skins which were taken by Vernet on the Harriet and which were recovered by Capt. Duncan. The court denied the claim, holding that an officer had no right, without the express orders of his government, to enter the jurisdiction of a country at peace with the United States and forcibly seize upon property found there and claimed by citizens of the United States, and that, as it was proved that Vernet was acting under a commission from Buenos Ayres, the seizure of the skins in question by Captain Duncan was unlawful. (Thompson, J., Davison v. Seal-skins, 2 Paine, 324.) See, however, Williams v. Suffolk Ins. Co., 13 Pet. 415.

Dispatches have this day been received from Mr. Slacum, our consul at Buenos Ayres, by which it appears that one of the vessels captured by Vernet, the Harriet, has arrived as a prize at that place. She was claimed by Mr. Slacum, with damages, but under pretence that the facts had not been examined into she was detained at the date of his last letter, the 9th of December.

"About the time of the arrival of the schooner, the United States sloop of war Lexington, Captain Duncan, put into Buenos Ayres, and after waiting some days for the answer of that Government, sailed, as we understand by advice from Montevideo, to the Falklands, with the purpose (avowed to the Government of Buenos Ayres) of protecting our commerce, and disarming the band whom Vernet had left with orders to seize all Americans who might be found there.

“Should this purpose be executed, you are to justify it not only on the general grounds in your instructions, but on the further facts disclosed in the protest of the captain of the Harriet, which show the lawless, and indeed piratical proceedings of Vernet and his band— imprisoning the crews; leaving part of them on desert islands; sending others to distant foreign ports; refusing them the liberty to come with their vessel to the port where he sends her for condemnation; forcing others into his service; encouraging desertion from our vessels; robbing those which he seized of their cargoes, and selling them for his own use, without any form of trial or show of authority from the Government of Buenos Ayres for such acts; and finally, robbing shipwrecked mariners of the United States, and forcing them by threats into his service. These facts, which are clearly stated in the protests, and the further characteristic of his settlement, that it is composed of deserters from our ships, and renegades from all nations, governed by no laws but the will of Vernet, show clearly that it is an establishment dangerous to our commerce, which it is necessary in self-defence that we should break up, whether the Government of Buenos Ayres have a title to the jurisdiction of the islands, or have not. If they have the jurisdiction, they have no right so to use it as in any way to interfere with our right of fishery, established by long usage; but above all to use it in the irregular manner stated in the

affidavits, which they do not repress; and whether the omission proceeds from the want of means, or of inclination, the obligation of our Government to protect its own citizens, in either alternative, is equally imperative.

"You are particularly further instructed to use all your endeavors to prevent this incident from becoming an obstacle to the formation of a commercial treaty, and, if no other expedient offers, you may insert an article declaring that, not being able to agree, the subject is referred for future negotiation, but, in the meantime, we shall enjoy the right to the fisheries, as now practiced. This, however, is not to be resorted to unless it is found impossible to procure a treaty on any other terms.

"The additional information just received renders your presence at the place of your destination more necessary. And the President therefore directs me to say that, the vessel for your conveyance being ready, he expects that you will embark without delay."

Mr. Livingston, Sec. of State, to Mr. Baylies, chargé d'affaires to Buenos
Ayres, Feb. 14, 1832, MS. Inst. Am. States, XIV. 247.

"I have to inform you that a demand of indemnification for the seizure of
those vessels [the Breakwater and Harriet] has been pending for some
time past, and that no opportunity for bringing it to a satisfactory
close shall be omitted by this Department." (Mr. Webster, Sec. of
State, to Mr. Hayward, Pres. Suffolk Ins. Co., Nov. 24, 1842, 32 MS.
Dom. Let. 473.)

See, as to the release of the vessels and crews by Captain Duncan, and
the dispersion of Vernet's colonists, supra, § 89, pp. 298–299.
The first reference in the public documents of the United States to the
case of the Falkland Islands may be found in President Jackson's
annual message of Dec. 6, 1831. In this message President Jackson
stated that the name of the Republic of Buenos Ayres had "been
used to cover with a show of authority acts injurious to our com-
merce and to the property and liberty of our fellow-citizens;” that
an American vessel engaged in the pursuit of a trade “which we have
always enjoyed without molestation, has been captured by a band
acting, as they pretend, under the authority of the Government of
Buenos Ayres;" that he had sent an armed vessel to those seas and
should send a minister to inquire into the matter, as well as into
the claim, if any, that was set up by Buenos Ayres to the islands.
Meanwhile, he submitted the matter to the consideration of Con-
gress, in order that he might be clothed with such means as might be
deemed necessary "for providing a force adequate to the complete
protection of cur fellow-citizens fishing and trading in those seas."
(Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, II. 553.)
When this message was sent to Congress, an important discussion was in
progress at Buenos Ayres. With regard to this discussion and to
subsequent events, the following facts may be stated:

June 10, 1829, the Government of Buenos Ayres issued a decree, claiming
as successor of Spain the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands, and an-
nouncing that a political and military governor would be appointed
to reside there and enforce the laws of the Republic, including the

regulations respecting the seal fishery. (20 Br. & For. State Papers, 314.) November 26, 1831, Mr. Slacum, United States consul at Buenos Ayres, protested against the seizure of the American sealing schooners Harriet, Superior, and Breakwater at the islands, by Mr. Luis Vernet, the governor. December 3, 1831, Mr. Anchorena, minister of foreign affairs, replied, justifying the seizure as being in accordance with law. (20 Br. & For. State Papers, 314–316.

On the same day Mr. Slacum communicated to Mr. Anchorena a letter from Captain Duncan, U. S. S. Lerington, of December 1, 1831, announcing that he intended to proceed to the islands for the proteetion of American citizens engaged in the fisheries. Captain Duncan referred to the seizure of American vessels and stated that seven Americans had been abandoned on one of the islands without the means of subsistence. He adverted to the fact that the captures were made under the assumed authority of the Government of Buenos Ayres. Mr. Anchorena referred the letter to the minister of war. The Government of Buenos Ayres suggested that Captain Duncan delay his departure pending efforts to arrange the matter; but Mr. Slacum, December 6, 1831, stated that his protest was made by authority of his Government, and that he could not consent to its rejection or withdrawal. (Id. 317.)

In a letter to Mr. Anchorena, of Dec. 7, 1831, Captain Duncan alleged that Vernet had plundered the Harriet of almost every article on board, and requested that he be delivered up to the United States on charges of piracy and robbery, or that he be arrested and punished by Buenos Ayres. (Id. 319.)

On the 9th of December Mr. Anchorena requested Mr. Slacum to notify Captain Davison, of the Harriet, in view of the pendency of legal proceedings against the schooner, not to leave the province without authorizing some one to act for him in the matter. On the same day Mr. Anchorena also replied to Mr. Slacum's note of December 6, protesting against the latter's course, and declaring that if Captain Duncan carried out his purpose of setting at naught the rights of the Republic the Government would address a formal complaint to the United States, in the belief that the United States would not despoil the Government of its possession of the islands. (20 Br. & For. State Papers, 320–322.) In acknowledging, on the 15th of December, Mr. Anchorena's two notes of the 9th, Mr. Slacum stated that Captain Duncan had weighed anchor several hours before their receipt; that the late chargé d'affaires of the United States had been instructed to remonstrate against any measures of the Government of Buenos Ayres which might be “calculated in the remotest degree to impose any restraints whatever upon the enterprise of the citizens of the United States engaged in the fisheries in question, or to impair their undoubted right to the freest use of them;" and that such a remonstrance was not made, probably because the instructions reached the chargé d'affaires only just before his death. (20 Br. & For. State Papers, 322-326.)

February 14, 1832, Mr. Garcia, who had succeeded Mr. Anchorena as minister of foreign affairs, notified Mr. Slacum that, in view of the "aberration of ideas" and "irregularity of language" in his notes, the Government had decided to suspend official intercourse with him and so to notify the United States; and on the same day the Govern

ment issued a proclamation stating that the commander of the Lexington had invaded the islands, destroying public property, and assaulted the colonists, some of whom had been driven or torn from their homes or deluded by deceitful artifices, and been brought away and cast upon the shores of Uruguay. It was declared that an appeal would be made to the Government at Washington. (Id. 326.) February 15, 1832, Mr. Slacum enclosed to the Government of Buenos Ayres a letter from Captain Duncan, dated off Montevideo, February 11, 1832, stating that he would deliver up or liberate the prisoners then on board the Lerington on an assurance from the Government that they had acted by its authority. Mr. Garcia immediately replied that Vernet was appointed military and political governor under the decree of June 10, 1829, and that he and those serving under him consequently could be answerable only to their own authorities. (20 Br. & For. State Papers, 328.)

June 20, 1832, Mr. Baylies, the new United States chargé d'affaires, having reached his post, addressed a note to Mr. Maza, then minister of foreign affairs, with reference to the seizure of the Harriet Superior, and Breakwater, and the imprisonment of their crews, and to the imprisonment of the crew of the American schooner Belville, wrecked on the coast of Tierra del Fuego. He complained that Vernet had seized a large number of seal skins and a quantity of whalebone, and obliged the American crews by threats to sign certain agreements; that Vernet had discriminated against American vessels, since he had not interfered with a British sealer, declaring that he could not take an English vessel with the same propriety as he could an American. Mr. Baylies further stated that he was instructed to say that the United States utterly denied the existence of any right on the part of Buenos Ayres to interfere with vessels or citizens of the United States "engaged in taking seals, or whales, or any species of fish or marine animals in any of the waters or on any shore or lands of any or either of the Falkland Islands, Tierra del Fuego, Cape Horn, or any of the adjacent islands in the Atlantic Ocean." He demanded full indemnity for what had been done. In support of this demand he addressed to the minister of foreign affairs, July 10, 1832, a long note, in which he examined the Argentine title to the islands, as well as the question of the fisheries, in the sense of his instructions. (20 Br. & For. State Papers, 330

336, 338-344, 345-346, 350-352.) August 8, 1832, Mr. Maza communicated to Mr. Baylies a long report from Vernet, defending his conduct as well as the Argentine title to the islands. The Argentine Government refused to give reparation for Vernet's acts, but on the contrary demanded reparation for the acts of Captain Duncan, and suggested the mediation or arbitration of a third power. Mr. Baylies, however, demanded his passports, which, after much insistence on his part, were at length sent to him. (20 Br. & For. State Papers, 358, 364–436. ) January 24, 1833, the Government of Buenos Ayres sent to its House of Representatives a message relating to the occupation of the Falkland Islands by Great Britain. The act of taking possession was performed by Captain Onslow, of the British ship of war Clio, January 3, 1833. (20 Br. & For. State Papers, 1194-1199.)

June 17, 1833, Mr. Moreno, minister of Buenos Ayres at London, addressed to Lord Palmerston a long protest, giving a full exposition of

the Argentine claim of title. Lord Palmerston's answer was made January 8, 1834. It maintained that Great Britain had unequivocally asserted her sovereignty in the discussions with Spain in 1770 and 1771, which ended in Spain's restoring the islands. (22 Br. & For. State Papers, 1366–1394.)

"The right of the Argentine Government to jurisdiction over it [the territory of the Falkland Islands], being contested by another power [Great Britain], and upon grounds of claim long antecedent to the acts of Captain Duncan which General Alvear details, it is conceived that the United States ought not, until the controversy upon the subject between those two Governments shall be settled, to give a final answer to General Alvear's note, involving, as that answer must, under existing circumstances, a departure from that which has hitherto been considered as the cardinal policy of this Government."

Mr. Webster, Sec. of State, to General Alvear, Dec. 4, 1841, quoted by Mr.
Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Quesada, Mar. 18, 1886, MS. Notes to
Arg. Rep. VI. 257.

In May, 1853, the British Government gave notice to the United States of an intention to send a force to the Falkland Islands, for the purpose of preventing the killing of wild cattle as well as other depredations there by persons landing from vessels of the United States; and a warning was issued by the Department of State to the masters of vessels and other citizens of the United States resorting to that quarter. In February, 1854, the American whaling ship Hudson and her tender, the schooner Washington, while lying at New Island, one of the Falkland group, were arrested on a charge of taking some pigs from one of the islands and were taken to Port Stanley, where they were restored, but not till it was too late to complete the season's voyage. Complaint was made to the British Government of this proceeding as unjustified by the circumstances, it being alleged that the crews of the vessels had killed only a few wild pigs, the progeny of hogs left by them on an uninhabited island for the purpose of breeding and furnishing food in future voyages. In a note to the British minister at Washington of July 1, 1854, Mr. Marcy, who was then Secretary of State, remarked that the warning issued by the Department of State "said nothing about the sovereignty" of the islands, and that "while it claimed no rights for the United States, it conceded none to Great Britain or any other power;" but that, "should the fact, however, be admitted that these islands were British territory," the treatment of the American ships must be considered as exceedingly hard. Mr. Marcy added: "A still graver matter of complaint is the pretension set up by these authorities to exclude our citizens from fishing and taking whale in the waters about these

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