sions, in order that it might not form any exact or complete opinion
of the natural and proper limits of said problem. Ah! it was better,
in short, that the commission should leave defeated in not having
secured peace, and would blame me and the other Filipinos, when I and
the whole Filipino people anxiously desired that peace should have
been secured before rather than now, but an honourable and worthy
peace for the United States and for the Philippine Republic." [442]

These statements, made to deceive the public, make interesting reading
in the light of our present knowledge as to the purposes and plans
of Aguinaldo and his associates.

On our arrival at Yokohama we were promptly informed by a secretary
from the United States Legation that no less a personage than Marquis
Ito had been in frequent communication with the Filipinos since 1894,
that they had been looking to him for advice and support, and that
he had interested himself in the present situation sufficiently to
come to the American minister and offer to go to the Philippines,
not in any sense as an agent of the United States, but as a private
individual, and to use his influence in our behalf. His contention
was that the then existing conditions resulted from misunderstandings.

He said that Americans did not understand Asiatics, but he was an
Asiatic himself and did understand the Filipinos, and thought that he
eould settle the whole affair. The minister had cabled to Washington
for instructions. Naturally the offer was not accepted.

I was reminded, by this extraordinary incident, of a previous
occurrence. I spent the month of March, 1893, in Tokio when returning
from my second visit to the Philippines, and was kindly invited to
inspect the zooelogical work at the Imperial University. When I visited
the institution for that purpose, I was questioned very closely on
the islands, their people and their resources. The gentlemen who
interrogated me may have been connected with the university, but I
doubt it.

We reached Hongkong on February 22. Here I had an interview with
Dr. Apacible of the junta, while Mr. Schurman visited Canton. Apacible
told me that the Filipinos wanted an independent republic under an
American protectorate. Pressed for the details of their desires, he
said that "the function of a protector is to protect." Further than
that he could not go. I tried to convince him of the hopelessness
of the course the Filipinos were then pursuing