Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2- Appendix): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

APPENDIX. ' 151 Parish, the British Charg^ d' Affaires, at Buenos Ayres, addressed, in the name of his court, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic, on the 19th of November 1829, in consequence of the British Government having been informed that the president of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata had issued decrees, and had made grants of land, in the nature of acts of sovereignty over the islands in question. That protest made known to the government of the United Pro- vinces of the Rio de la Plata : 1st. That the authority which that government had thus assumed^ was considered by the British Government as incompatible with the sovereign rights of Great Britain over the Falkland Islands. 2dly. That those sovereign rights, which were founded upon the original discovery and subsequent occupation of those islands, had acquired an additional sanction from the fact, that his Catholic Majesty had restored the British settlement, which had been forcibly taken possession of by a Spanish force, in the year 1771. 3dly. That the withdrawal of his Majesty's forces from the Falk- land Islands, in 1774, could not invalidate the just rights of Great Britain, because that withdrawal took place only in pursuance of the system of retrenchment adopted at that time by his Majesty's Govern- ment. 4thly. That the marks and signals of possession and of property, left upon the islands, the British flag still fl}dng, and all the other formalities observed upon the occasion of the departure of the gover- nor, were calculated not only to assert the rights of ownership, but to indicate the intention of resuming the occupation of the territory at some future period. Upon these grounds Mr. Parish protested against the pretensions set up on the part of the Argentine Republic, and against all acts done to the prejudice of the just rights of sovereignty heretofore exercised by the crown of Great Britain. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic acknowledged the receipt of the British protest ; and acquainted Mr. Parish that his government would give it their particular consideration, and that he would communicate to him their decision upon the subject, so soon as he should receive directions to that effect. No answer was, however, at any time returned, nor was any objec- tion raised, on the part of the government of the United Provinces of