pretensions, but on July 22, 1898, he wrote to him as follows:--

"I observe that your Excellency has announced yourself Dictator and
proclaimed martial law. As I am here simply in a military capacity,
I have no authority to recognize such an assumption. I have no orders
from my government on the subject." [66]

The effort to keep Americans in ignorance of the true state of affairs
was kept up until further deception was useless. Consul Williams,
for instance, wrote on June 16, 1898:--

"For future advantage, I am maintaining cordial relations with General
Aguinaldo, having stipulated submissiveness to our forces when treating
for their return here. Last Sunday, 12th, they held a council to
form provisional government. I was urged to attend, but thought best
to decline. A form of government was adopted, but General Aguinaldo
told me today that his friends all hoped that the Philippines would
be held as a colony of the United States of America." [67]

Yet on Sunday, June 12, Aguinaldo had in reality proclaimed the
independence of the Philippines. Few Americans at this time knew any
Spanish and none understood Tagalog, so that it was comparatively
easy to deceive them. What Consul Williams reported was what Aguinaldo
considered it expedient to have him believe.

The following undated letter from Aguinaldo to Mabini, supposed to have
been sent at this time, is of especial interest in this connection:--

"My dear Brother: I do not want to go there [where the addressee is]
until after the visit of the American Consul, because I do not wish