The Philippines - Past and Present (Vol. 1&2). Dean C. Worcester
Dewey. I didn’t want anybody. I would like to say now that Aguinaldo and his people were forced on me by Consul Pratt and Consul Wildman; I didn’t do anything—
“Senator Carmack. Did they have any power to force him upon you?
“Admiral Dewey. Yes; they had in a way. They had not the official power, but one will yield after a while to constant pressure. I did not expect anything of them; I did not think they would do anything. I would not have taken them; I did not want them; I did not believe in them; because, when I left Hongkong, I was led to suppose that the country was in a state of insurrection, and that at my first gun, as Mr. Williams put it, there would be a general uprising, and I thought these half dozen or dozen refugees at Hongkong would play a very small part in it.”28
The picture of the poor admiral, busy getting his fleet ready for battle, pestered by officious consuls on the one hand and by irresponsible Filipinos on the other, is pathetic; but it had its humorous features, which were not lost on the Admiral himself. I quote the following:—
“Senator Patterson. Was there any communication between you and Pratt in which the matter of a written pledge or agreement with Aguinaldo was discussed with reference to the Philippine Islands?
“Admiral Dewey. No.
“Senator Patterson. What became of the correspondence, Admiral, if you know?
“Admiral Dewey. It is all in the Navy Department. When I turned over my command my official correspondence was all sent to the Navy Department. “Senator Patterson. You retained all of your letters from any United States officials?
“Admiral Dewey. No; they went to the Department.
“Senator Patterson. I mean you did not destroy them.
“Admiral Dewey. No; I did not destroy them.
“Senator Patterson. And you turned them over to the Navy Department?
“Admiral Dewey. Yes; our regulations require that. I may say that for my own information I kept copies of certain telegrams and cablegrams. I don’t think I kept copies of Mr. Pratt’s letters, as I did not consider them of much value. He seemed to be a sort of busybody there and interfering in other people’s business and I don’t think his letters impressed me.
“Senator Patterson. He was the consul-general?
“Admiral Dewey. Yes; but he had nothing to do with the attack on Manila, you know.
“Senator Patterson. I understand that.
“Admiral Dewey. I received lots of advice, you understand, from many irresponsible people.
“Senator Patterson. But Pratt was the consul-general of the Government there?
“Admiral Dewey. Yes; he was consul-general.
“Senator Patterson. And he communicated with you, giving you such information as he thought you might be interested in, and among other information he gave you was this concerning Aguinaldo?
“Admiral Dewey. I don’t remember; no, I really don’t remember his telling me anything about Aguinaldo more than that cablegram there, and I said he might come. And you see how much importance I attached to him; I did not wait for him.
“Senator Patterson. What you said was: ‘Tell Aguinaldo to come as soon as possible.’
“Admiral Dewey. Yes; but I did not wait a moment for him.
“Senator Patterson. Yes; but there was a reason for that.
“Admiral Dewey. I think more to get rid of him than anything else.
“Senator Carmack. Rid of whom?
“Admiral Dewey. Of Aguinaldo and the Filipinos. They were bothering me. I was very busy getting my squadron ready for battle, and these little men were coming on board my ship at Hongkong and taking a good deal of my time, and I did not attach the slightest importance to anything they could do, and they did nothing; that is, none of them went with me when I went to Mirs Bay. There had been a good deal of talk, but when the time came they did not go. One of them didn’t go because he didn’t have any toothbrush.
“Senator Burrows. Did he give that as a reason?
“Admiral Dewey. Yes; he said, ‘I have no toothbrush.’ ”29
However, Dewey ultimately yielded to the pressure exercised on him by Pratt and Wildman, and allowed Aguinaldo and some of his associates to be brought to Manila. Having them there he proposed to get assistance from them, not as allies, but as a friendly force attacking a common enemy, in its own way.
The Return of Mr. Taft
This photograph, taken on the occasion of the return of Mr. Taft to the Philippines after his appointment as secretary of war, shows him in a stand on the Luneta reviewing the procession organized in his honor, in which thousands of Filipinos participated.
Let us continue with his testimony as to cooperation between Aguinaldo and the naval forces of the United States:—
“Senator Patterson. Then, Admiral, until you knew that they were going to send land forces to your assistance you thought there was a necessity to organize the Filipinos into land forces, did you?
“Admiral Dewey. No; not a necessity.
“Senator Patterson. You thought it might prove of value to you?
“Admiral Dewey. I testified here, I think, in a way that answers that. I said to Aguinaldo, ‘There is our enemy; now, you go your way and I will go mine; we had better act independently.’ That was the wisest thing I ever said.
“Senator Patterson. But you stated that you were using these people and they were permitted to organize, that you might use them.
“Admiral Dewey. They were assisting us.
“Senator Patterson. Very well, they were to assist you. Did you not either permit them or encourage them—I do not care which term you use—to organize into an army, such as it was, that they might render you such assistance as you needed?
“Admiral Dewey. They were assisting us, but incidentally they were fighting their enemy; they were fighting an enemy which had been their enemy for three hundred years. “Senator Patterson. I understand that, Admiral.
“Admiral Dewey. While assisting us they were fighting their own battles, too.
“The Chairman. You were encouraging insurrection against a common enemy with which you were at war?
“Admiral Dewey. I think so. I had in my mind an illustration furnished by the civil war. I was in the South in the civil war, and the only friends we had in the South were the negroes, and we made use of them; they assisted us on many occasions. I had that in mind; I said these people were our friends, and ‘we have come here and they will help us just exactly as the negroes helped us in the civil war.’
“Senator Patterson. The negroes were expecting their freedom—
“Admiral Dewey. The Filipinos were slaves, too.
“Senator Patterson. What were the Filipinos expecting?
“Admiral Dewey. They wanted to get rid of the Spaniards; I do not think they looked much beyond that. I cannot recall but I have in mind that the one thing they had in their minds was to get rid of the Spaniards and then to accept us, and that would have occurred—I have thought that many times—if we