On the evening of 10 July 1822, crowds began to gather at the City of London Tavern in Bishopsgate. The occasion was a public dinner hosted by the Friends of South American Independence in honour of the visiting Colombian minister, Francisco Antonio Zea. So enthusiastic were people in London to attend the dinner that every seat in the tavern's great room was occupied by six o'clock. Towards the back of the tavern sat a reporter from The Times who despite being ‘at the extremity of one of the tables farthest removed from the speakers’ could still make out the figures of the distinguished guests in attendance. He had ‘never seen a more highly respectable company assembled on any public occasion’. At a quarter to seven, to a fanfare of ‘Hail Colombia!’ played by a local military band, Zea made his appearance flanked by a host of eminent British politicians. After toasts to the King, the Royal Family, the Army and the Navy, a number of speeches were delivered praising the Colombian Republic for establishing its independence, all of which incited further toasts and the loudest expressions of applause.

One of the speakers was Joseph Marryat, a prominent West India merchant, Chairman of the Committee of Lloyd's, and a Member of Parliament. He believed that there could be ‘no stronger proof’ of the interest people in Britain felt towards Spanish American independence than the number and respectability of the meeting which he had the honour of addressing.