"Although outnumbered by more than two to one in men, in ships, and in guns, I have sunk or captured the vessels of the great fleet with which you were to come to Maracaybo to destroy us.

So that you are no longer in case to carry out your boast, even when your reenforcements on the Santo Nino, reach you from La Guayra.

From what has occurred, you may judge of what must occur.

I should not trouble your excellency with this letter but that I am a humane man, abhorring bloodshed.

Therefore before proceeding to deal with your fort, which you may deem invincible, as I have dealt already with your fleet, which you deemed invincible, I make you, purely out of humanitarian considerations, this last offer of terms.