reimbursement of any losses I might sustain by quitting Chili so
abruptly, before the settlement of my affairs with that country. This
offer had been made on behalf of His Imperial Majesty, under the express
authority of the Prime Minister himself, as set forth in the Consul's
letters, and for this I held the Government responsible. But, at the
same time, I informed the Prime Minister that if he were disinclined to
fulfil his own voluntary obligations, I would at once free him from them
by declining the proffered command, and therefore begged of him to take
back his commission, about which I would hold no further parley."

This step was evidently unexpected, for, lowering his tone, Bonifacio
assured me that "good faith was the peculiar characteristic of the
Brazilian Administration;" and to prove this, he had to announce to me
that a Cabinet Council had that morning been held, at which it was
resolved that the newly created honour of "First Admiral of Brazil"
should be conferred upon me, with the pay and emoluments of Chili, as
stipulated through the Consul at Buenos Ayres. He then asked me if I was
content, to which I replied in the affirmative; pointing out, however,
how much better it would have been to have taken this course at first,
than to have caused such contention about a matter altogether
insignificant, as compared with the work in hand. He replied that, as
everything had been conceded, it was not worth while to reopen the
question; but to this view I demurred, telling him that _nothing
whatever had been conceded, the Government having only fulfilled its own
stipulations_, which were insignificant in comparison with obtaining the
services of an officer whom it believed competent to carry out alone,
what otherwise would entail great expense on the State. I further
assured him that it would afford me much satisfaction to prove to him of
how little importance was all that which had been the subject of
dispute, and that His Imperial Majesty's Government might rest assured