The Philippines: Past and Present Volume I Part 8

"_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." [99]

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.'" [100]

However, Dewey ultimately yielded to the pressure exercised on him by Pratt and Wildman, and allowed Aguinaldo and some of his a.s.sociates to be brought to Manila. Having them there he proposed to get a.s.sistance from them, not as allies, but as a friendly force attacking a common enemy, in its own way.

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 a.s.sistance 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 a.s.sisting us.

"_Senator Patterson_. Very well, they were to a.s.sist 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 a.s.sistance as you needed?

"_Admiral Dewey_. They were a.s.sisting 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 a.s.sisting 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 ill.u.s.tration 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 a.s.sisted 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 had had troops to occupy Manila on the 1st day of May before the insurrection got started; these people would have accepted us as their friends, and they would have been our loyal friends--I don't know for how long, but they would have been our friends then.

"_Senator Patterson_. You learned from Pratt, or Wildman, or Williams, very early, did you not, that the Filipinos wanted their own country and to rule their own country; that that is what they were expecting?

"_Admiral Dewey_. I heard from Williams that there was an insurrection there against the Spaniards. The Spaniards were very cruel to them, and I think they did not look much beyond getting rid of them. There was one, Dr. Rizal, who had the idea of independence, but I don't think that Aguinaldo had much idea of it.

"_Senator Carmack_. Then what useful purpose did the Filipino army serve; why did you want the Filipino army at all?

"_Admiral Dewey_. I did not want them.