Nelson Jarvis Waterbury O’Shaughnessy to William Jennings Bryan

I have the honor to inform the Department that the new Minister of his Britannic Majesty, Sir Lionel Carden, was received by the Provisional President and that he has assumed charge of the British Legation in this Capital. Sir Lionel was British Consul in Mexico City from 1885 until 1894. He speaks Spanish fluently and his entire Consular and Diplomatic experience has been in Latin America. Sir Lionel is one of those European diplomats who sees the gradual progress which American ideas and commerce are making in Spanish America and who has done his utmost at every place where he has been to oppose the interests of the United States and to magnify the supposed desire of the United States for territorial aggression. I regret that at this time when the settlement of this question lies with the United States, the representative of Great Britain should be a man entirely out of sympathy with the United States as the rulers of this country are very subservient to the advice and counsel of the Diplomatic representatives of great European powers. Personally, I esteem Sir Lionel and he has been in every way cordial and courteous to me upon the occasions that I have met him. His last Post was that of Minister resident in Guatemala. Lady Carden is an American.