The Portland daily press., 1868-04-21
DAILY PRESS.
CORTLAND.
Tuesday Morning, April q, 1853
NllO XelO,

let his case before the Senate 60 by defau
before he would undertake to wade throue
the mass OF papers. So they quarrelled. A
least that is what the correspondent of tn
Boston Post, or j. B. S. OF the New Yor
World, or some other we'll informed Wasf
ington correspondent thought, and the stor
is extremely probable. Why shouldn't tn
President quarrel with Black about guano
| What is there on sea or land which the Pres
ident would not quarrel about?
| The first notice of this claim was filed il
| the Department of State on the 10th OF July
1860, by the attorney of Patterson and Muir
| guieRdo, merchants, OF Baltimore. The doc
ument filed was the affidavit of Captain Kim
ball, commanding the schooner Boston, own
ed by the claimants, The Captain represent
ed that on the 23d of February, 1860, he hat
taken possession of an uninhabited island
named Alto Velo, about five leagues south o.
San Domingo, having discovered thereon a
deposit of guano, and had left there a written
notice in accordance with the provisions o
the guano act of 1856. This act authorizes
citizens of the United States who discover
these roosts, not within the jurisdiction mol
occupied by the subjects of any other govern
ment, to take peaceable possession on theil
own account. Captain Kimball proceeded to
say that he had returned to Alto Velo on the
23d OF March and thereupon engaged in ship
ping guano for his employers. Secretary
Black the was Secretary of State them ac'
knowledged the receipt of this paper.
From March until October it appears that
Captain Kimball went on quietly shipping
guano under the act of 1866. The island lies
nearly opposite the belt of desolate and unin
habited territory which marks the border Of
the hostile republics of Hayti and San Do
mingo, and is In point of fact not more than
fifteen miles from Cape Beata and only six
miles and quarter from the intervening is
land of Beata, belonging to the Dominican
republic. The Haytian authorities visited
Captain Kimball very soon after the begin
ming of his operations, but made no objection
to his occupation of the island. On the 23d
of October, however, the Dominican ship OF
war Merced appeared IN the offiDg, command
ed by certain peremptory Juan Evertz who
required the Adventures to leave that por-
ton of the Dominican territory at once and
politely sent fifty men ashore to facilitate
their preparations. These fifty men, it is said,
pulled down the American flag, overturned
the tents, and conducted themselves with the
general recklessness which characterizes the
behavior of railway officials in dealing with
the baggage of the travelling public The
Americans were carried by the Merced to St.
Domingo, where they were set at liberty, and
after an unsuccessful negotiation between
Kimball and the Dominican Foreign Minister
for the purchase of the guano irom the Do
minican government, the party returned TO
the United States.
This affair was reported to the Secretary OF
State on the 7th of January, 1861. On the
14th Mr.. Black replied, promising to protect
Patterson and Murguiendo in any rights they
might have legally acquired in Alto Velo
but proposing as a preliminary step to ascer-
tain on what ground the Dominican claim
was based. dispatch was accordingly ad
dressed to Mr.. Cazneau, the special agent OF
the Department of State at St. Domingo.
Mr.. Cazneau's reply was received on the
31st of March, 1861, after Mr.. Seward be-
came Secretary of State. Mr.. Cazneau
stated that Alto Velo was named in the law OF
1854 as a portion of the Dominican province
of Azua. Later investigations show that
the Dominican title is perfect 1t was named
Alto Veto, from its resemblance to lofty
H. NJ II, al
possession of the island for Spain. The re
public of st. Domingo exists under the con-
stitution of 1866, adopted in the twenty
third year of the independence and the
fourth year of the restoration of that re-
republic after its violent overthrow by Spain.
The constitution claims all the Spanish part
of st. Domingo and the adjacent islands,
and the laws of 1874 and 1854, defining the
provincial limits, both assign Alto Velo to
Azua, as Mr.. Cazneau states. The island is
in plain sight from Cape Beata.
Notwithstanding this convincing proof OF
the justice of the Dominican claim, Judge
Black when he ceased to be Secretary OF
State became the attorney OF Patterson and
Murguiendo, and in 1861, 1862, 1868, 1864
and 1865, frequently pestered the Department
of State about their claim. A portion Of
the United States was then in rebellion,
Spain was waging war OF invasion against
the Republic of st. Domingo, and Mexico
was theatre of armed European interven-
ton. By direction OF President Lincoln,
Mr.. Blacks clients were told to wait for a
more propitous season. In 1865 political re-
lations were for the first time established be-
tween the United States and the Republic of
st. Domingo. Mr.. Seward Immediately en-
terel into negotiations for the purchase OF
the peninsula OF Samana, and postponed the
claim of Patterson and Murguiendo for fear
of spelling his bargain. The bargain for
some reason unexplained was never COM
pleted, and in June last the claim was re-
ferred for examination to the Bureau OF
Claims.
On the 18th of June the examiner re-
ported that Patterson and MuIguiendo had
no case. On the 18th of July, at Cabinet
meeting, the President accepted the report.
The next day Black called on the President
to talk about Alto Velo, but elected no in
telligent response. Mr.. johnson evidently
knew nothing about it, and cared less. Some
time afterwards, having been notified by the
Secretary of State that the President had ac-
cepted the examiners report, Mr.. Black call
ed again and was assured emphatically that
the matter had never been presented to the
Presidential mind in such way as to make
any impression upon that rather unyielding
substance. Thereupon the persistent attor
ney urged the President to take the business
wholly out of Mr.. Seward's hands and send
an armed vessel to re-instate Messrs. Patter-
son and Murguiendo in Alto Velo. "This,''
said Mr.. Black, sis the short and simple way
of dealing with the business"
But here another difficulty arises. Not
only is the Dominican claim perfectly good,
which to men of Mr.. Blacks way of thinking
is no doubt a small matter, but it appears
that in 1866 Thomas r. Webster g. Co., of
New York, secured from the Dominican gov
ernment Tor a large sum of money the right
to remove suanO from Alto Velo, organized
guano company under the laws of the State
of New York, and are now actively engaged
in the transfer Of the euano to northern ports.
The conflict is no longer between Patterson
ct ais. and the Dominican government but be-
tween Patterson and Murguiendo and The
A14~ UoIo Cuapn Comuauy hath ,ort;o. II