profited from such a result, but he refrained
from compromising his government and made no promises in its behalf.

Admiral Dewey never even discussed with Aguinaldo the possibility
of independence.

There is no reason to believe that any subordinate of the Admiral
ever discussed independence with any Filipino, much less made any
promise concerning it.

Neither Consul Wildman nor Consul Williams promised it, and both
were kept in ignorance of the fact that it was desired up to the last
possible moment.

It is not claimed that either General Anderson or General Merritt
made any promise concerning it.

The conclusion that no such promise was ever made by any of these
men is fully justified by well-established facts.

Aguinaldo himself carefully refrained at the outset from saying,
in any document which Americans could read, that independence
had been promised, and advanced this claim only when the growing
strength of his land force had given him confidence. He repeated it,
with increasing emphasis, as his army increased in size, ultimately
openly threatening war if his pretensions were not recognized. In
doing this, he was merely carrying out a carefully prearranged plan,
agreed upon by the Hongkong junta.

And now let us examine the claim that the insurgents were our "faithful
allies" and "cooeperated" with us in the taking of Manila. We shall
find that this subject richly repays investigation.

CHAPTER III

Insurgent "Cooeperation"

I have previously [72] called attention to the minutes of a session
of the Hongkong junta held on May 4, 1898, from which it indirectly
appears that the Filipino leaders at that time hoped to secure arms
at the expense of the Americans and purposed to attack them later if
it seemed advisable.

The treacherous policy then outlined was never departed from by
Aguinaldo and his associates, who sailed for Manila with their eyes
wide open, knowing full well that they had been promised nothing;
prepared to match their wits against those of Admiral Dewey, and
intent on deceiving him and on securing from him arms to be used
first against the Spaniards and later against the Americans, after
they had been employed to help bring about the downfall of Spain.

There exists a significant circular signed "J.M.B." [73] believed
to have been an outright forgery, both from its tenor and from the
fact that the signature "J.M.B." is not in the handwriting of Basa's
letter hereinbefore quote