The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-10-12
THE GUANo QUESTION.

We publish IN dnother column tWo aiucies
from the London Examiner, which, in our
Judgment, are perfectly conclusive upon this
point. There never was more impudent
claim set up than that which is now put forth by
Peru to the Lobos Islands. In his letters to Mr..
Webster, Senior Osma, while he deals much in
assertion, brings no one fact to prove that
Peru ever dreamed of claiming the Lobos Is
land until the sagacity Ofother nations had de-
tected itsv alue. They were absolutely wild, had
never had any other tenant than the seal and
the birds, and would never have had any other
TO this day, had they not turned out to be va
liable. She had as we'll claim the Marquesas
Islands, or any other islands lying in the Paci-
tic ocean, thousand miles off, for the law Of
nations allows no nation to claim by vlcinage,
when the object is more than one league from
its coast, and after it gets beyond that, II mat
tiers little whether it be fifty miles or Eve thou
sand. In both cases prior possession, with
determination TO inhabit II, must be proved
| If Peru mean still to claim these islands, she
must prove her right. The dictionary OF AL
| cede, upon which Senior Osma relies, is, we take
il, no evidence at all in the case. Where do
this work, and others of an ancient date, get
their authority for saying that these isles be-
long to Perul Evidently, as has been limited
by the New York Express, from the bull
of Pope Alexander the vi, who, being him.
self Spaniard, took advantage OF his high
Office to give the entire new world TO Ferdinand
and Isabella. He drew line from pole TO pole,
of fha (nr
Western Islands) and gave every thing West
of that line to these soyereigns. His gilt, of
course, included not ouly the whole of Anne
RIGA, from Cape Horn to the North Pole, but all
the seas thereunto appertaining, and all the
islands West Of the continent, as far as the
1S0th degree of West longitude. This took in
at least halfof the Pacific ocean, and about the
same proportion of those innumerabe islands
comprehended in that division of the world,
known as Oceanica. Nobody, except the
Spaniards themselves, ever thought this bull
worth more than the paper it was written on
yet we venture to predict that this is the only
authority upon which the statement in the die
tionary of Alcedo is based, if, indeed, it con
tain any such statement.
But even if it were undoubtedly in the die
tonary of Alcedo, that amounts to nothing
Discovery is not sufficient TO give title. nor
is, even, the mere act of taking possession
There must be something more, and that some
thing is thus explained by Vattel (book l.
chap. 1Sth.)
The law of nations only authorizes the pro-
perty and sovereignty of nation over unin-
habited countries, of which they shall really,
and in fact, take possession, in which they shall
form settlements, or of which they shall make
actual use.
Now, it is not pretended that either the Span
ish or Peruvian governments ever thought of
forming settlements, or of making use of these
islands until these latter times, when the last
named was let into the secret of their value by
other nations. They could not form settlements,
for the islands were, and are, entirely uninha
bitable. There is no vegetation there, no wood
and no water. But here is what the Peruvian
Minister says with regard to occupation and
use.
We have occupie. and made use of the is
lands Lobos de Fuera and Lobos de Tiera be
cause we have, and do now, consider them as
bona tide ours. From time immemorial the
Peruvian Indians have been in the habit of fire.
quenting these shores for the purpose of fish
ing for seals killing birds, and gathering eggs,
carrying off in their canoes large quantities of
these objects to the city of Lamlayeque, and
other points on the coast. The islands are
described as 3" nothing more than barren rocks, |
now OF some Importance on account of the
gunno they contain
This, then, is the only occupation and pos
nph; oh 10 10,
had better title she would no doubt have put
it forth; as she has not done so, we take ii for
granted that this is her best. Now, ifthe visits of
the Peruvian Indians to take seals, kill birds
and rob their nests, establish right in Peru
arising out Of the act Of possession, our own
right, that of England, that of Holland, that
Of every maritime power in Europe, is as good
as hers for there is not one of these nations
that has not taken as many seals on the Isles
of Lobos as the Peruvian Indians, and for our
own countrymen, we venture to say they have
taken ten for one. They have been doing this,
| without being disturbed, ever since 1898, (54
years. as the records of the State Depart
ment will prove. No attempt was ever made
| to drive them away, prior to the year 1888, and
If the navi gators before that time had thought
proper to hsve carried off the guano, they
could have done so, in as large quantities as
they might have thought proper, without let
OR hindrance from the Peruvian government,
who knew not its value, and had never dis.
turbed themselves about what they considered
barren and worthless islands in the midst of
the ocean, fifty miles from their coast Senior
Osma relies much upon Engand's opinion be-
ing favorable. Peru owes England money,
and England is very willing that Peru should
tax commodity TO which she has no more
claim than she has to the tin mines of Corn
wall, provided she can, by that means, get pay
men of principal and interest.
We subloin the opinion Of Chief Justice