"At the time of employing their armed coöperation, both the Commander
of the _Petrel_ and Captain Wood in Hongkong, before the declaration of
war, the American Consuls-General Mr. Pratt in Singapore, Mr. Wildman,
in Hongkong, and Mr. Williams in Cavite, acting as international
agents of the great American nation, at a moment of great anxiety
offered to recognize the independence of the Filipino nation, as soon
as triumph was obtained.

"Under the faith of such promises, an American man-of-war, the
_McCulloch_ was placed at the disposal of the said leaders and
which took them to their native shores; and Admiral Dewey himself,
by sending the man-of-war; by not denying to General Aguinaldo and
his companions the exacting of his promises, when they were presented
to him on board his flag-ship in the Bay of Manila; by receiving the
said General Aguinaldo before and after his victories and notable
deeds of arms, with the honours due the Commander-in-Chief of an
allied army, and chief of an independent state; by accepting the
efficacious coöperation of that Army and of those Generals; by
recognizing the Filipino flag, and permitting it to be hoisted on
sea and land, consenting that their ships should sail with the said
flag within the places which were blockaded; by receiving a solemn
notification of the formal proclamation of the Philippine nation,
without protesting against it, nor opposing in any way its existence;
by entering into relations with those Generals and with the national
Filipino authorities recently established, recognized without question
the corporated body and autonomous sovereignty of the people who had
just succeeded in breaking their fetters and freeing themselves by
the impulse of their own force." [70]