General
Merritt in San Francisco had received no copy of them on August 28,
three days after the departure of General Anderson, and what that
officer knew of them could only have been what General Merritt
remembered of the contents of an unsigned copy of them shown him
at the White House, but they were in accordance with the practice
of the United States Government in occupying conquered territory,
that practice General Anderson well knew, and his relations with
Aguinaldo were guided by it.

* * * * *

"It has been claimed that Aguinaldo and his followers received the
impression at this time from their conversation with American officers
that the United States would undoubtedly recognize the independence of
the Philippines, and that the cooperation of the insurgents was due to
this impression. There was no cooperation. That he attempted in vain to
secure the surrender of Manila to himself was not cooperation. That he
refrained from attacking the Americans and occasionally permitted them
to be furnished supplies, for which they paid, was not cooperation. The
fact that for a time their plans and his plans were parallel does
not mean cooperation. Aguinaldo was forced by the exigencies of
the situation, by the necessity of strengthening his hold upon the
people, by the necessities of his operations against the Spaniards,
to make Spaniards and natives alike believe that all that he did was
with the aid of the Americans by whom he would be supported in all
his acts. He needed their support, and if he could not obtain that
he needed the appearance of their support for the attainment of his
ends; and this he was forced to purchase by compliance, or apparent
compliance, with their demands. But his compliance with them, as
all American officers serving there well knew, was never willing,
was never complete, and was never given except under pressure. It
is true that writers upon the subject, speaking with the confidence
which is born of insufficient and incomplete information, assure
their readers that any government but that of the United States, any
colonial administrators but Americans, would have been able to obtain
the hearty cooperation of Aguinaldo and his followers by judicious
concessions to them at this time. The only concession which would have
obtained that hearty cooperation would have been the recognition of
the independence of the Philippines under a United States protectorate,
of Ag