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1856-08-18

US Congress law treated unowned islands found by Americans as US property

Haitian

The Americans, relying on a law passed on 18 August 1856 by the Congress of the United States, which authorized the federal government to consider as its property any island or rock belonging to no one that had been discovered by an American, seized it toward the end of 1857 and exploit the guano that is abundant there. The government of Haiti has not succeeded since that time, despite its protests and its resolutions, in having the United States recognize its sovereignty over this island and in obtaining an indemnity for the enjoyment that the Americans have had of it by force. France, represented by M. Mellinet, and England, represented by M. Byron, stirred up troubles for Haiti in 1858, which was preparing an armed expedition to go and verify this illegal occupation.

Rouzier tells this under the entry NAVASE ( la ).

Source  ·  p. t. III, p. 309 Sémexant Rouzier, Dictionnaire géographique et administratif universel d'Haïti (t. III) (1927), p. t. III, p. 309