tary cooperation of Aguinaldo promised that the United States would aid him in establishing an independent government in the Philippines.

As presented by Agoncillo to the Peace Commission at Paris in December, 1898, the Filipino claim was that:

"At the time of imploring their armed cooperation, both the commander of the Petrel and Captain Wood in Hong Kong, before the declaration of war, the American consuls-general, Mr. Pratt in Singapore, Mr. Wildman in Hong Kong, and Mr. Williams in Cavite, acting as international agents of the great American nation, at a moment of great anxiety, offered to recognize the independence of the Philippine Nation as soon as triumph was obtained."

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In the Reseña Verídica which was published in September, 1899, long after his arrival at Cavite, Aguinaldo says that he was received with the honors of a general, and that after the greetings of courtesy he asked Admiral Dewey:

"if all the telegrams relative to myself which he had addressed to the consul at Singapore, Mr. Pratt, were true. He replied in the affirmative and added that 'the United States had come to the Philippines to protect the natives and free them from the yoke of Spain.' He said moreover, that 'America was rich in territory and money and needed no colonies,' concluding by assuring me 'to have no doubt whatever about the recognition of Philippine independence of the United States.' Thereupon he asked me if I could induce the people to rise against the Spaniards and carry on a rapid campaign. The Admiral replied that he was delighted at my sincerity and believed that both Filipinos and Americans should treat each other as allies and friends and added that 'so he had would recognize the inde

been informed, the United States pendence of the Filipino people, guaranteed by the word of honor of the Americans' advising me to form at once

48 Phil. Insurg. Recs., 102, I. See also the Proclamation of June 8, 1899. In the letter to President McKinley of October 3, 1898. Agoncillo did not claim that independence had been promised. For Agoncillo's statement given to General Greene on September 15, 1898, see Sen. Doc. 62, p. 429.

a Filipino national flag, offering in virtue thereof to recognize and protect it before the other nations, which were represented by the various squadrons then in the bay. I announced that I would take up my residence at the naval headquarters in the Cavite arsenal. In the same month of July the Admiral, accompanied by General Anderson, presented himself and said, 'Documents are not complied with when there is no honor, as has happened with your agreement with the Spaniards, who have failed in what was written and signed. Trust in my word, for I hold myself responsible, that the United States will recognize the independence of the country. But I recommend to you to keep everything that we have talked about and agreed upon with a great deal of secrecy at present.'

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All this would be important if true, but there is no longer any question but that Admiral Dewey was correct when he called Aguinaldo's story "a tissue of falsity." In the Reseña Verídica the original, modest claim of Aguinaldo was elaborated and dressed up by Buencamino and other leaders for the purpose of influencing public opinion in the United States and elsewhere outside of the Philippines.51

49 Taylor, 4 MG. E.

50 In a letter written by Aguinaldo to his brother on the day of this interview he said (Phil. Insurg. Recs., 12, 1): "I inform you that we arrived here in Cavite at eleven o'clock and disembarked at four o'clock in the afternoon after our conference with the American Admiral. Everything appears to be favorable for attaining our independence. I can not say more on that subject as it would take too long. I have no object in writing this except to ask you and your companions to meet at once and arrange the best way to entrap all the enemy in your town, employing deceit, for instance, etc. The hour has arrived for the Philippines to belong to her sons. step and we shall reach Independence."

Only one

51 The Reseña Verídica was dated September 23, 1899, and was probably written by Buencamino in collaboration with the other political leaders. An English translation is in the Cong. Rec., XXXV, Pt. 6, Appendix, pp. 440–445. On September 12, 1899, Buencamino wrote from the Philippines to Dr. Apacible at Hong Kong a letter which shows the way in which the Reseña Veridica was prepared and distributed. "This work is entitled Reseña Veridica de la Revolucion Filipina, in which Don Emilio relates in detail his acts with Admiral Dewey. It has been distributed to the consuls and you are ordered to reprint it there translated into English and send some copies to the United States, even though only a thousand, if you deem it advisable. Send copies also to Europe, Señor Agoncillo taking charge of the publication. This is an order of the Government." Phil Insurg. Recs., 391, 3. On the 30th of the same month he wrote, "We have not distributed them here in order that Otis may not counteract the effects that we desire to produce with this publication, through his usual machinations. Nor do we believe

It is easy to trace the growth of this myth of a promise of independence from its inception in the brain of "Aguinaldo's Englishman" to its maturity in the Reseña Verídica and the formal statement of Agoncillo at Paris. It was of slow but steady growth. Evidently Bray did not fully grasp the possibilities of an interview between parties ignorant of each other's language until several days after Aguinaldo had sailed from Singapore. The meetings with Pratt had been held secretly but it was to Bray's interest that his part in the transaction should be made public and he prepared an account of the interviews for publication in the Singapore Free Press. St. Clair, the editor of that paper, had been induced by Bray to favor the Filipino cause. Immediately after Aguinaldo arrived in Singapore he was taken by Bray to call on the editor and St. Clair says that he was thereafter fully informed of the progress of affairs.

The article in the Free Press, prepared very soon after the interviews, made no reference to any promise by Pratt. But Bray and Santos were soon claiming that not only had there been a promise but that it had been reduced to writing and duly signed by Pratt and Aguinaldo and approved by Dewey. It seems that this story was being circulated in Hong Kong after Aguinaldo had sailed for Manila. Mr. Albert G. Robinson, the correspondent of the New York Evening Post, was assured by the Filipino junta that there was a written agreement with fifteen clauses and that it was to be effective when ratified by Commodore Dewey and President McKinley. According to the story this remarkable document provided, among other things: it advisable to make this pamphlet public in those colonies before your arrival in the United States." Ibid.

On this letter in cipher is a postcript addressed to Aguinaldo's secretary (Pablo Ocampo):

"At last moment, Nota bene

"Don't deliver any copy of the Reseña Veridica to the consuls, even though it was so directed in the beginning of the letter. All except one, which is for you, will be sent to Hong Kong, Don Pedro de la Viña being bearer of the same, as also of other documents. The copy intended for you is neither to be divulged nor published, for strict reserve is required until these which are being sent arrive at their destination." Ibid., 461, 4.

Le Roy says (The Americans in the Philippines, I, p. 180): "The Reseña Verídica is so inaccurate and uncandid that it will not do to accept any statement resting on its authority."

"1. Philippine independence to be proclaimed.

"2. A federal republic to be established by vote of the rebels; pending the taking of this vote, Aguinaldo to appoint the members of that government.

"3. The federal republic to recognize a temporary intervention of American and European administrative commissioners to be appointed by Commodore Dewey.

"4. The American protectorate to be recognized in the same terms as those fixed in Cuba."

Robinson was informed that Aguinaldo, Bray, the editor of the Singapore Free Press, and all the other parties present at the interview except Pratt claimed that such a formal written agreement was entered into and he concluded therefore that the question was largely one of personal veracity between Mr. Pratt and these parties.52

Of course, the fact that no such writing was ever produced is conclusive evidence that it never existed. Aguinaldo himself effectually disposed of the claim. In the Reseña Verídica he tells why the agreement which he says was made was not reduced to writing. In a letter written about November, 1898, and addressed to "Señor McKinley, President of the Republic of the United States of North America," Aguinaldo wrote:

"The commander of the McCulloch telegraphed me also from Hong Kong offering in the name of Commodore Dewey to take me to Cavite in order to raise the Filipinos against Spain.

"Without any written treaty,-counting only upon the sacred word of American citizens, I went to Hong Kong, embarked on the McCulloch," etc.53

The editor of the Singapore Free Press was not, as Robinson understood, present at either of the interviews between Pratt and Aguinaldo. Nor had he ever agreed with Bray's claim. In an interesting letter to Bray, St. Clair wrote:5

.54

52 Robinson, The Philippines, the War, and the People (1901), p. 41. 53 Phil. Insurg. Recs., 441-2. Evidently this letter was not sent. The statement that the commander of the McCulloch telegraphed Aguinaldo is certainly untrue.

54 Phil. Insurg. Recs., 406, 5. Taylor, I, p. 272.

"I felt it my duty to let Pratt know that you still hold that you and Santos have evidence that will controvert his. Curiously you never mentioned to me anything of the agreement as having taken place then, nor in the paper you communicated to me was there any mention of one, nor did Pratt know of any. It is only more recently that the fiction took shape. I would like to urge you, from a practical point of view, to drop any such foolishness. The vital thing, and nothing else counts, is what Dewey said and did when he at last met Aguinaldo. That that is the thing; all else is empty wind. Sink everything into Dewey-Aguinaldo cooperation; that was on both sides honest. Even if it did not imply actual arrangement, which of course, Dewey, himself, could not make. That here you have the facts, undenied-incontrovertible. the 'key.""

Dewey is

On June 12, 1899, with this letter in his possession, Bray had the audacity to write the following letter to Aguinaldo:

"There is still a trump card to be played. Did you not say that the basis of any negotiation at Singapore was the independence of the Philippines under an American protectorate? This is what Consul Pratt telegraphed and to which Dewey and Washington agreed; as I figured up the price of the telegram, I know very well what occurred, and I am ready to state it and to swear to it when the proper time comes. There are five of us against one in the event of Consul Pratt receiving instructions to deny it. Furthermore Mr. St. Clair knows what happened and I am certain that he also would testify. St. Clair still has the rough draft as an historical relic, and St. Clair is a true and loyal friend of yours."55

On the same day Bray telegraphed to Senator George F. Hoar that:56

"As the man who introduced General Aguinaldo to the American Government, through the consul at Singapore, I frankly state that the conditions under which Aguinaldo promised to cooperate with Dewey were independence under a protectorate."

55 Phil. Insurg. Recs., 398, 9.

56 Phil. Insurg. Recs., 453-4. Taylor, I, 273.