g upon him. Major Bell had often met him, and introduced
me. The General was gratified that I had called, and waited for the
declaration of my business. He had been informed of my occupation;
the fact that I had recently been in Washington and expected soon
to be there again; was from Ohio, the President's state, a friend of
his, and had written a book on Cuba, a task which gave me, as I had
visited the Island of Cuba during the war, an acquaintance with the
Spanish system of governing colonies.

The interpreter was a man shorter than the General, but not quite so
slight. His hair was intensely black and he wore glasses. He is an
accomplished linguist, speaks English with facility and is acknowledged
by the priests to be the equal of any of them in reading and speaking
Latin. It is to be remarked that while Aguinaldo is not a man of
high education he has as associates in his labors for Philippine
independence a considerable number of scholarly men. It is related
that in a recent discussion between a priest and an insurgent, the
latter stated as a ground of rebellion that the Spaniards did nothing
for the education of the people, and was asked, "Where did you get
your education?" He had been taught by the Jesuits.

My first point in talking with Aguinaldo was that the people of
the Philippines ought to be strongly represented in Paris, and of
the reasons briefly presented, the foremost was that they sought
independence, and should be heard before the commission by which
their fate would be declared for the present, so far as it could
be, by a tribunal whose work was subject to revision. The general's
information was that the Paris conference would be opened September
15, an error of a fortnight, and his impression was that the terms
regarding the Philippines would be speedily settled, so that there
could not be time to send to Paris, but there had been a determination
reached to have a man in Washington.

It is to be taken into account that this interview was before anything
had been made known as to the mission which General Merritt undertook,
and that in a few days he set forth to perform, and that the terms
of the protocol had not been entirely published in Manila. I told
the general it was not possible that the Philippine problem could
speedily be solved, and made known to him that the transport China,
which holds the record of quick passage on the Pacific, was to sail
for San Francisco in three days, and he would