The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-08-21
ForrIGx CTrTcF, Nay 10, 1851.

FaRFIGx OTrIcF, Nay 10, 1851.
Sn-I am directed by Viscount Palmerston
10 aeknow ledge the receipt Of your letter of
the 18th ult., stating that you have reason to
believe that considerable quantities Of guano
may be obtained from fhs uninhabited islands
o,,o.0s Afaara and Lobos de TERRA, situa
ted the one about fifty mi,cs and tho o'hef
about twenty one mile. from the coast OF Peru,
and req ue sting to be informed how far, in the
opinion of Her Majesty's Government, Great
Britain would be borne out in claiming, in
common with the other nations of the world
the right TO appropriate for agricultural pur
poses the guano which is to be found on those
islands.
ain to state to you, in reply, that Lord
faimerston cannot Jake upon himself TO say
whether the Islands OF Lobos Afuera and Lo-
Dos de TERRA belong of right TO Peru or are
claimed by Peru dependencies. His Lord
ship does not find in the Peruvian Constiu-
ton, published after Peru had separated itself
from Spain, any mention of those islands as
being dependencies of Peru but it appears TO
Lord Palmerston that their proximity to Peru
would give to that State prima facie claim to
them.
But be this as it NAV Lord Palmerston fears
that there is no ground upon which the British
Government would be justified in claiming for
British subjects the right TO appropriate at
their pleasure the guano to be found on those
islands. am, &C.,
(Signed) STANLEY OF ALDERLEY.
This is the opinion of u British Minister
In direct opposition we have the opinion OF the
American Secretary of State. Which is the
ADLER Statesman, the more profound lawyer,
the greater man! Is it Lord Stanley or Dam
iel Webster Is there any man in the world,
who will hesitate moment to decide Whose
opinion, then, is entitled to the most weight
Again we ask, can there be any doubt?
But the subjoined extract from the Express,
We think, cliuches the matter:
In 1915 Joris SpiIbergen Dutch Admiral
voyaging in the Pacific, discovered three Is
lands, and shortly after he gave the first &C
count Of them in a published narrative. In
1854 the Buccaneers, during their expeditions
against the Spanish settlements, made these
islands a place of resort, and description OF
them was written by Dampers, in 1850. Ad-
miral Woodes Rogers made them his station
while cruising against the Spanish, and he al
so wrote description of them. In l74l
Don Antonio de Ulloa, a Spanish Command
er, in his descripti of the Western Coast of
America, mentions the Lobos Islands. And
this was the first account ever given Of them
Sealers found it profitable to resort there in
pursuit of their business. In 1898 a party of
these SeaeIs were met by Captain MorrelI, in
a New York schooner who took u quantity of
the skins, visited the Islands, and first made
known, in his published narrative, the large
quantity OF guano deposits there. And this
we believe, was long before the government OF
Peru knew anything ofsuch deposit, for Mr.
Pocock, Captain of the first steamer on that
coast, states that he called the attention of the
Peruvian government to the existence of guano
there in the year 1874. La 1884 and '35 they
were used as station for contraband goods
designed TO evade the Peruvian revenue laws
and this of itselfwould seem to imply the non.
existence of Peruvian authority there, as
smugglers, in choosing a station, will, oil
course, select one beyond the jurisdiction OF
the country whose laws they violate. Neither
did Peru, when declaring the boundaries fher
Eewly formed Republic, include the Lobos
Islands within her boundaries; and it would
therefore, seem that if any other nation had a
better right TO trade there than The United
States, that hatnaton was rather Spain than
Peru, and particularly as Spain never acknow-
lodged the independence of Peru.
In 1898 Peru adopted her Constitution, and
the United States was among the foremost in
acknowledging her independence. Peru. at
mat time, laid no clai m to the Islands. The
law, as generally and correctly understood, is,
that a power once defining her boundaries.
cannot add to them, except by discovery, con.
quest, or purchase and as Peru did not define
uese Islands as within her territorial limits
anu mas not acquired them by conquest, pur-
chase or discovery, we need some better eyi,
dence than has yet been given that she has ex
elusive claim to them.