After the inauguration of Walker on the 12th of July, his cabinet was
formed by the appointment of D. Fermin Ferrer as Minister of Relations,
D. Mateo Pineda as Minister of War, and D. Manuel Carrascosa as Minister
of Hacienda and Public Credit. The organization of the new government
was duly communicated to the American Minister; and on the 19th of July
Mr. Wheeler was received by the President at the government house in
Granada. The Minister opened his address to the Executive of Nicaragua,
saying: “I am directed by the President of the United States to notify
you that I am instructed to establish relations with this State.” Mr.
Wheeler thus showed himself far bolder and more decided than Mr. Pierce
had been at Washington. It is true the government at Washington had
instructed its minister “to establish relations” with the government of
Nicaragua; but at the time the order was given it was thought Rivas would
be in power at Granada. Mr. Marcy had also instructed Mr. Wheeler to ask
explanations concerning the revocation of the charter of the Accessory
Transit Company, and to request the discharge from the Nicaraguan army of
two or three boys—among them a son and nephew, I think, of Senator Bayard
of Delaware—who had run off from school and gone to Central America in
search of novelty and adventure. Of course the explanations of the decree
of revocation and the discharges of the boys could be obtained only from
Walker; and hence the minister had either to disregard the orders of Mr.
Marcy or to recognize the government of the lately-elected President.
The message Mr. Pierce sent to Congress, touching the reception of Father
Vigil, was strongly marked with the weakness and hesitation of American
diplomacy. The whole tone of the message was apologetic; and the American
President was throughout overcome by the false idea many people in the
United States had formed as to the Nicaraguan movement being one of
annexation to the Republic of the North. The representatives of France,
Spain, Brazil, and the Spanish American States, at Washington, seeing the
weakness of the United States, combined for the purpose of driving Father
Vigil from the country. So well did they succeed, that the Minister of
Nicaragua withdrew from the Federal Capital not many days after his
reception, and thus Mr. Marcy, aided by the intrigues of the foreign
representatives, might be able to take advantage of any opportunity
circumstances afforded to relieve the American cabinet from the awkward
position in which he fancied it had been placed. Hence the vexation of
the Secretary of State may be imagined when he heard Mr. Wheeler had, in
literally carrying out his instructions, recognized the government which
displaced that of Rivas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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