egram should be sent immediately, to counteract
that sent by them." [64]

Probably Sandico did not know that on August 15, 1898, Agoncillo
had transmitted another telegram to President McKinley through
Consul-General Wildman, reading as follows:--

"Agoncillo, my Commissioner and Ambassador-Extraordinary, representing
the provisional government of the Philippine Islands, in its name
and the name of its President, Emilio Aguinaldo, congratulates you on
the successful termination of the war, and commends the occupancy of
Manila. I assure the United States of the allegiance and unquestioning
support of our people, and petition that we be granted one or more
representatives on the commission that is to decide the future of
our Islands." [65]

It would appear, therefore, that the President had more information
on this subject than was transmitted by General Anderson!

Not only did the latter passively refrain from recognizing Aguinaldo's
pretensions, but on July 22, 1898, he wrote to him as follows:--

"I observe that your Excellency has announced yourself Dictator and
proclaimed martial law. As I am here simply in a military capacity,
I have no authority to recognize such an assumption. I have no orders
from my government on the subject." [66]

The effort to keep Americans in ignorance of the true state of affairs
was kept up until further deception was useless. Consul Williams,
for instance, wrote on June 16, 1898:--

"For future advantage, I am maintaining cordial relations with General
Aguinaldo, having stipulated submissiveness to our forces when treating
for their return here. Last Sunday, 12th, they held a council to
form provisional government. I was urged to attend, but thought best
to decline. A form of government was adopted, but General Aguinaldo
told me today that his friends all hoped that the Philippines would
be held as a colony of the United States of America." [67]

Yet on Sunday, June 12, Aguinaldo had in reality proclaimed the
independence of the Philippines. Few Americans at this time knew any
Spanish and none understood Tagalog, so that it was comparatively
easy to deceive them. What Consul Williams reported was what Aguinaldo
considered it expedient to have him believe.

The following undated letter from Aguinaldo to Mabini, supposed to have
been sent at this time, is of especial interest in this connection:--

"My dear Brother: I do not want to go there [where the addressee is]
until after