at assistance laid in his power to make the
expedition in question a success.

On the 25th April the last conference was held in the United States
Consulate at Singapore. I was invited by the Consul to meet him on
this occasion and as soon as we met he said he had received a telegram
from the Admiral requesting him to ask me to proceed to Hongkong by
first steamer to join the Admiral who was then with his squadron in
Mir's Bay; a Chinese harbour close to Hongkong. I replied to this
proposal in the affirmative, and gave directions to my _aide-de-camp_
to at once procure passages for myself and companions, care being
taken that the tickets should bear the assumed names we had adopted
on the occasion of our journey from Hongkong to Singapore, it being
advisable that we should continue to travel _incognito_.

On the 26th April I called on Consul Pratt to bid him adieu on the eve
of my departure from Singapore by the steamship _Malacca_. The Consul,
after telling me that when I got near the port of Hongkong I would
be met by the Admiral's launch and taken from the _Malacca_ to the
American squadron (a precaution against news of my movements becoming
public property, of which I highly approved), then asked me to appoint
him Representative of the Philippines in the United States, there to
zealously advocate official recognition of our Independence. My answer
was, that I would propose him for the position of Representative of
the Philippines in the United States when the Philippine Government
was properly organized, though I thought it an insignificant reward
for his assistance, for, in the event of our Independence becoming
_un fait accompli_ I intended to offer him a high position in the
Customs Department, besides granting certain commercial advantages
and contributing towards the cost of the war whatever sum he might
consider due to his Government; because the Filipinos had already
decided such a policy was the natural outcome of the exigencies of
the situation and could be construed only as a right and proper token
of the nation's gratitude.

But to continue the statement of facts respecting my return to Hongkong
from Singapore: I left Singapore with my A.D. Cs., Sres Pilar and
Leyba, bound for Hongkong by the s.s. _Malacca_, arriving at Hongkong
at 2 a.m. on the 1st May, without seeing or hearing anything of the
launch which I had been led by Consul Pratt to expect to meet me near
the entrance of Hongkong harbour. In r