If now we compare the speech actually made
by Dr. Santos with Blount's version of it, we shall find that with
the exception of the words "eternal gratitude" the passages which
he encloses in quotation marks are not in the original at all. The
glories of independence are not alluded to, nor is there so much as
a suggestion that Aguinaldo had been enabled to arouse eight millions
of Filipinos to take up arms, which he certainly had not done.
Dr. Santos in his speech did resort to a stereotyped Filipino procedure
so very commonly employed that those of us who have dealt much with
his people have learned to meet it almost automatically. It consists
in referring to one's having said just exactly what one did not say,
and then if one fails to note the trap and avoid it, in claiming that
because one did not deny the allegation one has admitted its truth.
Aguinaldo himself later repeatedly resorted to this procedure in his
dealings with Dewey and others.
In the present instance Santos employed it rather cleverly when he
expressed the hope that the United States would "continue to support
the programme agreed upon in Singapore, between your Excellency and
General Aguinaldo, that is to say, the independence of the Philippine
Islands under an American protectorate.
Pages:
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61