and deprecate, you have as yet offered us no proof of your
authority for such action, which, for all that we know, may have been
taken actually without the knowledge of those who are legitimately
entitled to regard themselves as the injured parties; therefore I think
you must acknowledge that it is not surprising if we and our Government
have been slow to recognise your claims. You may have been duly
accredited by Her Majesty the Queen of England to exact the reparation
which you demand; but, if so, I think you ought to have submitted your
credentials when you made your claim, and that claim, I venture to
suggest, should have been made in proper diplomatic form, instead of
being, as it was, a mere threat. But if you hold no credentials from
Her Majesty, and your authority is self-imposed, the conduct of which I
complain is quite comprehensible, and although it may be in the highest
degree irregular I am prepared to admit that it is not altogether
unjustifiable, since I understand that your own brother was, and indeed
still is, a sufferer from the attack upon Admiral Hawkins' fleet. Your
claim on his behalf I am willing to admit is not outrageously
unreasonable, and I deeply regret that it was not immediately _met_ and
promptly discharged. The most unfortunate feature of the whole affair
is of course the action which that misguided and over-zealous fool,
Rebiera, took during the early hours of this morning. That action
completely disarms us and perhaps--I only say _perhaps_--justifies you,
in a measure, in the stupendous demand which you are now making. For my
own part, I have no hesitation in expressing the opinion that, as
reparation only, your demands are excessive and far beyond all
reasonable bounds. But if they are intended--as I gather they are--to
be regarded also as a wholesome chastisement of our Government for an
act of treachery on the part of one of its officials, then I have
nothing further to say. You have the power to exact what terms you
please, and if you choose to exercise that power, we have not the means
to prevent you. For myself, all I can say is that I am very grateful to
you that you have been so fair-minded as to admit the innocence of
myself and my fellow hostages in connection with an affair over which we
have had no control, yet for which you might, had you so chosen, have
exacted our lives as a penalty." Having thus delivered himself, the old
Don bowed gravely and resumed his seat.