"I received your Excellency's orders to proceed with a respectable force to the legation of Her British Majesty, and request of the English representative the immediate surrender of the funds destined to pay the bondholders of the English debt, while observing to the representative that the sum was at this moment indispensable to your Excellency, in order to place the city in a posture of defense; moreover, I pledged your Excellency's word for the restitution of the sum, which must only be regarded as a loan for a few days, and: I also offered to arrange with your Excellency the mode of payment which would be most agreeable to him. To all my observations the English representative restricted himself to replying that the money did not belong to him, that he was only the responsible holder, and that it was impossible for him to surrender it. Perceiving that all my objections must fail in presence of an invincible resolution, after an hour spent in useless discussion, I at length determined to execute the last part of the orders I had received; I ordered my soldiers to break the official seals, and I removed all the money I found, being careful to have it counted twice in the presence of witnesses, in order to be sure of the amount of money which I appropriated, in order to restore it in full hereafter. I thus carried off one million four hundred thousand piastres (£240,000), which were immediately transported to the palace by my orders."
After this succinct narration, General Márquez bowed, like a man convinced that he has perfectly done his duty, and who expects complimenting.
"And what did the English representative do then?" the President asked.
"After protesting, he hauled down his flag, and, followed by the whole legation staff, left the city, declaring that he broke off all relations with your Excellency's government, and that in the face of the unjust act of spoliation to which he had been a victim—such are his own expressions—he should retire to Jalapa, and await fresh instructions from the British government."
"Very well, General, I thank you; I shall have the honour of conversing with you more fully in a moment."
The general bowed and retired.
"You see, my friend," the general remarked, "it is now too late to restore the money."
"Yes, the evil is irremediable, unhappily."
"What do you advise me?"
"General, you are at the bottom of an abyss; your rupture with England is the greatest misfortune which can happen to you under the present circumstances: you must conquer or die."