es
the sky and each star represents a free and independent State; this
is America, and the Consul is desirous that we also should have so
glorious a history as hers and that it may be as brilliant as could
be wished, securing peace with respect, and may God be our help and
guide in securing liberty. Viva and with it our most sincere thanks
for so signal a courtesy.' Hereupon, to the surprise of everybody
as no one expected it, the Consul requested that some Filipino airs
be played which seemed to please him very much. Finally, about 6.15,
we left, very well satisfied with the reception accorded us and the
kindness of the Consul. Mr. Bray asked me for the text of my speech,
which I insert above and I secured from the Consul his French text,
which I enclose in my letter to Naning. Without anything further for
the present, awaiting your reply and your opinion as to the above,
as also orders and instructions for the future, I am,

"Yours, etc.

(Signed) "_Isidoro de los Santos_."

To this letter Major Taylor has appended the following note:--

"(_Note by Compiler._--In a letter written in Tagalog to Aguinaldo on
June 6 by Santos he describes the American consul general as having
cried out 'Hurrah for General Aguinaldo, hurrah for the Republic of
the Philippines' and then, having apparently taken several drinks,
he passed up and down the room waving the American flag before giving
it to the assembled Filipinos (P.I.R., 406.7).)" [24]

This final statement does not present the representative of the United
States government at Singapore in a very favourable light, but I take
the facts as I find them. If now we compare the speech actually made
by Dr. Santos with Blount's version of it, we shall find that with
the exception of the words "eternal gratitude" the passages which
he encloses in quotation marks are not in the original at all. The
glories of independence are not alluded to, nor is there so much as
a suggestion that Aguinaldo had been enabled to arouse eight millions
of Filipinos to take up arms, which he certainly had not done.

Dr. Santos in his speech did resort to a stereotyped Filipino procedure
so very commonly employed that those of us who have dealt much with
his people have learned to meet it almost automatically. It consists
in referring to one's having said just exactly what one did not say,
and then if one fails to note the trap and avoid it, in claiming that
because one did not deny the allegation on