Oh, dear Philippines! Blame your wealth, your beauty for the stupendous
disgrace that rests upon your faithful sons.

You have aroused the ambition of the Imperialists and Expansionists
of North America and both have placed their sharp claws upon your
entrails!

Loved mother, sweet mother, we are here to defend your liberty and
independence to the death! We do not want war; on the contrary, we
wish for peace; but honourable peace, which does not make you blush
nor stain your forehead with shame and confusion. And we swear to you
and promise that while America with all her power and wealth could
possibly vanquish us; killing all of us; but enslave us, never!!!

No; this humiliation is not the compact I celebrated in Singapore with
the American Consul Pratt. This was not the agreement stipulated for
with Mr. Wildman, American Consul in Hongkong. Finally, it was not
the subjection of my beloved country to a new alien yoke that Admiral
Dewey promised me.

It is certain that these three have abandoned me, forgetting that I
was sought for and taken from my exile and deportation; forgetting,
also, that neither of these three solicited my services in behalf
of American Sovereignty, they paying the expense of the Philippine
Revolution for which, manifestly, they sought me and brought me back
to your beloved bosom!

If there is, as I believe, one God, the root and fountain of all
justice and only eternal judge of international disputes, it will not