on the 1st day of May before the insurrection got started; these
people would have accepted us as their friends, and they would have
been our loyal friends--I don't know for how long, but they would
have been our friends then.

"_Senator Patterson_. You learned from Pratt, or Wildman, or Williams,
very early, did you not, that the Filipinos wanted their own country
and to rule their own country; that that is what they were expecting?

"_Admiral Dewey_. I heard from Williams that there was an insurrection
there against the Spaniards. The Spaniards were very cruel to them,
and I think they did not look much beyond getting rid of them. There
was one, Dr. Rizal, who had the idea of independence, but I don't
think that Aguinaldo had much idea of it.

"_Senator Carmack_. Then what useful purpose did the Filipino army
serve; why did you want the Filipino army at all?

"_Admiral Dewey_. I did not want them.

"_Senator Carmack_. Did you not want the Filipino forces?

"_Admiral Dewey_. No, not really. It was their own idea coming over
there. We could have taken the city at any moment we had the troops
to occupy it."

Admiral Dewey has made the following statements relative to the
importance of Aguinaldo's military operations:--

"Then he began operations toward Manila, and he did wonderfully