The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-12-26

1SSSA lin Nv iOASCA W GAAC ul5 AiShb unuSA ~
bushel" We are still in the dark; and though
Mr. Joseph L. White, the active diplomat Of
the Nicaragua Accessory Transit Company,
assures us that there is some explanation Of
this business in the Presidents annual Mes
sage, we must still remain in the dark while
this Message is kept under lock and key in de-
fault of an organization Of Congress. 1t is
quite possible that we may not have Speaker
of the House for month yet to come, in view
of the third party holding the balance of power
between the democracy and the black repub-
icans, and the obstnacy Of this third party
to it's original proposition-that the noun
tain must come to Mahomet. In this existing
state Of things we say, if there be a man OUT
side Of the Cabinet who knows exactly what
Mr.. Pierce is driving at in regard to Central
America, and what is the exact meaning, mo-
tive and object of this libel, pursuit, arrest and
detention of the steamship Northern Light,
plying between this port and the Nicaraguan
Isthmus in the California trade, let this wise
man come forth, and, pro bono publico, give in
his testimony.
In the absence, meantime, Of some such de-
sirable witness, we are thrown upon the field
Of conjecture, with nothing but the antece-
dents, proclamations, general instructions and
inconsistent acts of this scrupulous neutrality
administration as our landmarks. In the out
set, we find Mr.. Pierce reiterating in his in
augural the Monroe doctrine concerning Gen.
trail America, and appointing decided and
violent manifest destiny ambassador major
Borland) to carry it out Next, at the instance
of this ambassador, Greytown is bombarded
| and reduced to ashes; and, to crown the out
| rage, the unfortunate place is officially de-
| nounced "os camp of savages." Next, the
Presidents official organ puifs and glorifies the
| colonization scheme of Colonel Kinney; but,
alas while the Colonel is dreaming his golden
| visions of success under the favoring smiles Of
| our government, presto! he is denounced by the
same organ as filibuster-his ships are block
| AIDED in our East rfver--he and his associates
are arraigned, indicted and detained by legal
| prosecutions, until his original scheme of q
self-sustaining AngloSaxon colony Of a thou
sand men is reduced to twenty individuals
wrecked among the coral reefs Of the West In
dies. lie and this small party survive-are
carried to Greytown in British vessel-are
received by the inhabitants with hearty well
come, which is shortly followed by the cleo
ton Of the gallant Col. Kinney as their Cover
nor. His policy is exclusively conciliatory and
| pacific, and resting upon the doctrine of "popu
lar sovereignty" He advertises his Mosquito
| purchase as being open to settlers, and upon
the basis of liberal donations of the richest
lands in the world, he invites them in. Yet
he and his agents, and all concerned in his
| peaceful adventure, are watched by our admin
istration with an evil eye. Cushing, perhaps,
may consider this the ful6lment of the Monroe
doctrine; Marcy may regard it as his line of
duty under the ClaytonBulwer treaty but we
apprehend that it is as difficult for Mr.. Pierce
to reconcile it to the one thing or the other, as
to our Premier's original circulars prescribing
the cut and the cloth of our diplomatic coats
| and breeches to fancy court ball.
The next chapter in this Central American
| imbroglio is the daring and successful enter
| prise of Gen. William Walker. He sails from
the port Of San Francisco in an armed schoon-
er, with body of armed men on board, avow-
edly to wage war in a foreign country with
which we are at peace. Why was he not inter-
cepted? His departure from San Francisco
was the very crisis at which our government
should have acted to arrest him and defeat his
purpose. But he escaped to Manageable
succeeded in revolutionizing the government
and in establishing another--that which is now,
dc jape and dc .facto, the government of that
State He and his associates from our shores
have been outlawed--thcy are no longer citizens
of the United States. We must either deal
with them, then, as fllibusteros, or as officials
OF citizens OF Nicaragua, in which country
they are thus recognized and adopted. We
hold that the government of Walker is the
bona .fde government of Nicaragua, and that
we cannot go behind that fact and disown il
on the ground that Walker is an interloper and
usurper. 1t follows that that government
has the right to invite immigrants to its soil, to
give them donations of land, and to provide
for their shipment from New York or any other
quarter Of the world.
From q statement Of Mr.. White, it appears
that Walker has exacted of the Accessory
lsthmus Transit Company, upon his own terms
whatever they may be-the transportation
by the company's vessels Of emigrants to Nj
caragua. This may be construed into
violation of the rights and privileges of
the company under the Clay ton-Bulyer
treaty but as they have not complain
ed, we must rest this executive hostility to
Walkers emigrants, and the vessel engaged
in their transportation, upon some other plea
According to our special despatch from Wash.
gton-pubished yesterday--the real ground
upon which the administration has proceeded
in the detention Of the Northern Light is, that
Walker is a filibus.ero and his government an
imposition and fraud. But how, under the
circumstances, our Cabinet can act upon this
presumption, without assuming the right to
prescribe what shall be the government of the