in command of the American Army, wrote a letter to the commander of the
Filipinos (July 4, 1898) in which he said,--"I desire to have the most
amicable relations with you and to have you and your people cooperate
with us in military operations against the Spanish forces." During the
summer the American officers called upon the Filipinos for supplies and
information and accepted their cooperation. Aguinaldo, on his part,
treated the Americans as deliverers, and in his proclamations referred
to them as "liberators" and "redeemers."

The Filipinos, at the earliest possible moment, organized a government.
On June 18 a republic was proclaimed; on the 23rd the cabinet was
announced; on the 27th a decree was published providing for elections,
and on August 6th an address was issued to foreign governments,
announcing that the revolutionary government was in operation, and was
in control of fifteen provinces.

The real intent of the Americans was foreshadowed in the instructions
handed by President McKinley to General Wesley Merritt on May 19, 1898.
General Merritt was directed to inform the Filipinos that "we come not
to make war upon the people of the Philippines, nor upon any party or
faction among them, but to protect them in their homes, in their
employments, and in their personal and religious rights. Any persons
who, either by active aid or by honest submission, cooperate with the
United States in its effort to give effect to this beneficent purpose,
will receive the reward of its support and protection."

The Filipinos sent a delegation to Paris to lay their claims for
independence before the Peace Commission. Meeting with no success, they
visited Washington, with no different result. They were not to be free!

On September 8, 1898, General Otis, commander of the American forces in
the Philippines, notified Aguinaldo that unless he withdrew his forces
from Manila and its suburbs by the 15th "I shall be obliged to resort to
forcible action." On January 5, 1899, by Presidential Proclamation,
McKinley ordered that "The Military Government heretofore maintained by
the United States in the city, harbor, and bay of Manila is to be
extended with all possible dispatch to the whole of the ceded
territory." On February 4, 1899, General Otis reported "Firing upon the
Filipinos and the killing of one of them by the Americans, leading to
return fire." (Report up to April 6, 1899.) Then followed the Philippine
War during which 1,