We have, &c., (Signed)
JOHN HOLKER.
HARDINGE S. GIFFARD. J. PARKER DEANE.
The Right Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury,
&co.
&o.
&c.
Foreign Office.
3113.
سلسياسا
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
CO. 885
12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
No. 220.
(TRINIDAD.)
LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.
MY LORD,
We are honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Sir Julian
Temple, 27th April 1880. Pauncefote's letter of the 4th February last, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us papers relative to a claim put forward by the Government of Venezuela to the Island of Patos, or Goose Island, a small islet situated in the channel between the Venezuelan coast and the British Colony of Trinidad.
That we should see from those papers that Her Majesty's Government contended that the Islet of Patos was a dependency of Trinidad; and that in support of that contention they relied upon a grant of that and two other islets by Don J. M. Chacon, Governor of Trinidad, to the municipality of Port of Spain, the chief town of that island, in the year 1791; the territory now belonging to Venezuela and the Island of Trinidad being, at that date, possessions of the Spanish Crown.
That the Island of Trinidad having been captured by the British forces in 1797, was formally ceded to the British Crown by Article IV. of the Treaty of Amiens of the 27th March 1802, and that Her Majesty's Government maintained that the cession included, as a matter of course, all the small adjacent islets, which had, up to that time, been considered as dependencies of Trinidad. (See Grant of Patos and other islets to Municipal Corporation of Trinidad. Print, p. 3. Copy of Capitulation of 18th February 1797. Treaty of Amiens.)
That the Venezuelan Government, on the other hand, dispute the validity of the grant made in 1791, on the ground that it was not ratified by the King of Spain.
That they further contended that the Island of Trinidad was the only one of those adjoining the territory now belonging to Venezuela which was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of 1802, and they therefore claimed that all the other islande so situated passed to Venezuela under the Treaty with Spain of the 30th March 1845.
That Her Majesty's Government did not admit the contentions of the Venezuelan Government, but that, apart from the question of the original validity of the British claim, they relied upon the fact that the Islet of Patos had been held and treated as a dependency of the British Colony of Trinidad, ever since the occupation of that island in 1797--that no question as to the right of Great Britain to sovereignty over that islet was raised until the year 1859, and that thus uninterrupted and undisputed possession for a period of sixty-two years conferred upon Great Britain a prescriptive right which could not now be called in question.
That on that point Sir Julian Pauncefote was to refer to the authorities on the subject of usucaption and prescription, as applicable to the title to national property. cited in Creasy on International Law (sections 250-255, pp. 249-255).
That Sir Julian Pauncefote was also to observe that Sir Arthur Gordon (then Governor of Trinidad) in his despatch of the 8th July 1867 (Print, p. 11). pointed out that if the principle contended for by Venezuela be correct, that the Act of Cession applied to Trinidad alone, the Islands of Morros, Huevos, and Chaccuchacaro would, equally with Patos, be excluded from its operation, and their loss, giving, as it would, the entire control of all the northern entrances to the Gulf of Paria to Venezuela, would be a serious injury to Trinidad.
That the situation of those islands was shown in the sketch map contained in Sir E. Hertelet's Memorandum, at p. 24 of the print.*
That the arguments of the Venezuelan Government in support of their claim to the Island of Patos were contained in the note from Señor Seijos to Mr. Fagan of the 15th February 1867 (Print, p. 6).
That the answer of Her Majesty's Government to the note was contained in Lord Stanley's despatch No. 31 of the 27th August 1867 (Print, p. 15). and Mr. Joel's communication thereof to Señor Gutierrez on the 9th November following (Print, p. 16).
▲ 12016-306. 25-12/84.
* No. 3149.
land of Patos. Venezuelan claim
of
or Goose Island,
to right
Bore-