§ MR. MAGUIREsaid, he rose to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the Government have received any information that Captain Tathain, of Her Majesty's ship Phaeton, has lately found the United States flag flying on the Island of Sombrero, and had caused it to be hauled down; and whether Her Majesty's Government have any objection to produce the Correspondence which has passed on the subject?
§ MR. LAYARDsaid, in reply, that it was a mistake to suppose that the Island of Sombrero was discovered ten years ago by an American. The island was well known, and had long formed part of the British possessions in the Caribbean Sea. It was surveyed in 1810 by Captain Hayes, a British officer, and again in 1850 by a British officer. In 1856 Captain Johns, of the United States, discovered upon the island some deposits of phosphate of lime, and since that time the mine had been worked, and people had settled upon the island. When Captain Tatham recently visited the island, he found the United States flag hoisted upon it. Being a British officer, he thought that by allowing the United States flag to remain hoisted while he was there it might be inferred that he thereby acknowledged the sovereignty of the United States. He requested that it should be hauled down, and, on refusal, 1056 he caused it to be pulled down. No correspondence, however, had passed on the subject.