Something had been said about my cabling the President as to the Filipinos’ determination to send a representative to Paris, and I had tendered my good offices in bearing instructions to a commissioner from Hongkong to meet the China at Nagasaki, the Japanese railway station, where the American transports coal for their long voyage across the Pacific.  But that matter had been left in the air.  General Aguinaldo had said he would be obliged if I would telegraph the President, and I thought if the decision was that there was to be a Philippine representative hurried to Paris, it was something the President would be glad to know.  I was aware there might be a difficulty in getting permission for a special messenger to go on the China to Japan to meet the commissioners going from Hongkong, and I would be willing to make the connection, as I had offered the suggestion.  But it was necessary to be absolutely certain of General Aguinaldo’s decision before I could cable the President; therefore, as I was, of course, in an official sense wholly irresponsible, I could communicate with him without an abrasion of military or other etiquette.  It was the more needful, as it would be a personal proceeding, that I should be sure of the facts.  Therefore I asked the General, whose time I had occupied more than an hour, whether he authorized me to telegraph the President that a commission was going to Paris, and desired me to render any aid in conveying information.

The General was troubled about the word “authorized,” and instead of saying so concluded that I must have a deep and possibly dark design and so he could not give me the trouble to cable.  The assurance that it would not be troublesome did not remove the disquiet.  I could not be troubled, either, as a bearer of dispatches.  The General could not authorize a telegram without consulting.  In truth, the General had not made up his mind to be represented in Paris, holding that it would be sufficient to have an envoy extraordinary in Washington.

Others, without full consideration, in my opinion, concur in this view.  I can imagine several situations at Paris in which a representative Filipino would be of service to the United States, simply by standing for the existence of a state of facts in the disputed islands.  I dropped the matter of being a mediator, having planted the Paris idea in the mind of the Philippine leader, who is of the persuasion that he is the dictator of his countrymen, for the sake of his country, until he wishes to be evasive, and then he must consult others who share the burdens of authority, and told him when taking my leave I would like to possess a photograph with his autograph and the Philippine flag.  In a few minutes the articles were in my hands, and passing out, there were the American priests in the ante-room, the next callers to enter the General’s apartment.  Their business was to urge him to permit the Catholic priests held as prisoners by the insurgents—­more than 100, perhaps nearly 200 in number—­to go home.