was going to Paris, and desired me
to render any aid in conveying information.

The General was troubled about the word "authorized," and instead of
saying so concluded that I must have a deep and possibly dark design
and so he could not give me the trouble to cable. The assurance that
it would not be troublesome did not remove the disquiet. I could not
be troubled, either, as a bearer of dispatches. The General could
not authorize a telegram without consulting. In truth, the General
had not made up his mind to be represented in Paris, holding that it
would be sufficient to have an envoy extraordinary in Washington.

Others, without full consideration, in my opinion, concur in
this view. I can imagine several situations at Paris in which a
representative Filipino would be of service to the United States,
simply by standing for the existence of a state of facts in the
disputed islands. I dropped the matter of being a mediator, having
planted the Paris idea in the mind of the Philippine leader, who is of
the persuasion that he is the dictator of his countrymen, for the sake
of his country, until he wishes to be evasive, and then he must consult
others who share the burdens of authority, and told him when taking
my leave I would like to possess a photograph with his autograph and
the Philippine flag. In a few minutes the articles were in my hands,
and passing out, there were the American priests in the ante-room,
the next callers to enter the General's apartment. Their business was
to urge him to permit the Catholic priests held as prisoners by the
insurgents--more than 100, perhaps nearly 200 in number--to go home.

When the news came that General Merritt had been ordered to Paris, and
would pass through the Red sea en route, taking the China to Hongkong
to catch a peninsular and oriental steamer, I telegraphed the fact to
General Aguinaldo over our military wires and his special wire, and
his commissioner, duly advised, became, with General Merritt's aid,
at Hongkong a passenger on the China.

He is well known to the world as Senor Filipe Agoncillo, who visited
Washington City, saw the President and proceeded to Paris.

CHAPTER V

The Philippine Mission.

Correspondence With Aguinaldo About It--Notes by Senor Felipe
Agoncillo--Relations Between Admiral Dewey and Senor Aguinaldo--Terms
of Peace Made by Spanish Governor-General with Insurgents, December,
1897--Law Suit Between Aguinaldo and Artacho--Aguinaldo's