Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/276

 220 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS measure with a view to acquire the dominion and sovereignty over the peninsula. In April, 1847, the United States appointed a charge d affaires to Guatemala, and Mr. Buchanan instructed him to &quot;promote, by his counsel and advice, should suit able occasions offer, the reunion of the states that formed the federation of Central America ; to culti vate the most friendly relations with Guatemala and the other states of Central America; and to communicate to the state department all the in formation obtainable concerning the British en croachments upon the Mosquito kingdom.&quot; The new charge was prevented from reaching Guatemala until late in Mr. Folk s administration, and the plan wisely conceived by Mr. Buchanan was not carried out. In the meantime the British government seized upon the port of San Juan de Nicaragua, the only good harbor along the coast. Instead of carrying out the policy of President Polk and Mr. Buchanan, the administration of President Taylor, without consulting the states of Central America, entered in 1850 into the Clayton- Bulwer treaty, the ambiguous language of which soon gave rise to such complications and misunder standings between England and the United States that Mr. Buchanan was obliged to go, subse quently, as minister to London, to endeavor to unravel them. Instead of a simple provision re quiring Great Britain absolutely to recede from