Militarism in the Philippines:

7

WHAT WAS DONE BEFORE IS NOT FOR ME TO COMMENT ON.
I purposely did not recognise Aguinaldo nor his troops, nor did I use
them in any way. Aguinaldo did not ask to see me until ten days after
my arrival. After that I was too much occupied to see him. In
talking to the leading Filipinos I told them that the United States
had no promises to make, but that they might be assured that the
Government and people of the United States would treat them fairly.
This because the United States was in the habit of dealing fairly with
all struggling people, and not because I had been authorised to say
anything of'the kind. We purposely gave the insurgents no notice
of the attack on Manila, because we did not need their co-operation
and did not propose to have it. We were moved by the fear that
they might loot, plunder, and possibly murder. Aguinaldo's men
and subordinate leaders, in conversing with American officers, would
frequently say that they intended to cut the throats of all the
Spaniards in Manila. Aguinaldo hi nself wrote a letter complaining
that the Filipinos had been denied their share of the booty. Whatever he may have meant by that, I took no notice of this letter,
nor do I think the subject now raised in a matter for discussion
between Aguinaldo and any representative of the American
Government."
IV.
Sefor Agoncillo, the representative of the Filipino National
Government, answered General Merritt in the following terms:'*General Merritt does not deny the facts contained in the Filipino
appeal, but, on the contrary, it may be gathered that this appeal is
the natural outcome of his own policy, which is similar to that
observed towards the Filipinos by their late masters, the Spanish.
I think that no importance ought really to be attached to the
General's statements, because he confessed that he had not been
authorised to say anything as to promises, nor as to the form of
government to be established in the Pnilippines. General Merritt
said that it was impossible to recognise the insurgents, but he confessed that Admiral Dewey pursued the same course ONLY AFTER
General Merritt's arrival, which proves that recognition was made
before the fact of his declining to comment on it. The blame of
such recognition he puts on the shoulders of Admiral Dewey, and
nothing is forthcoming to show that President McKinley disap