Waterbury Democrat., 1902-06-27
ADMIRAL DEWEY's STORY.
He Says That He Never Recognized
 the Filipino Flag.

ey was witness before the senate committee on the Philippines yester- day. He said that about a month be- fore he left Hong Kong for Manila he heard that a number of Filipinos living there were anxious to accompany his fleet. They were young men and ap- parently enthusiastic, but he did not attach much importance to them or to what they said. Then a day or two before he left Hong Kong he received telegram from Consul-General Pratt at Singapore that Aguinaldo was very anxious to see the admiral 'I replied All right; let him come on.' But at tached so little importance to Agulnal- do that I did not wait for him, and the young men I spoke of did not go. One of them said the reason he did not go was that he had no tooth brush.
 ''The governor-g general of Manila sur rendered to me on the first day of May. He fired a number of rife shots at my fleet and I sent word to him that if he fired another shot I would destroy the town. He replied that he would not fire if I did not. So while the Spanish flag was not actually hauled down, Manila was virtually surrendered to me on the first of May. 1 anchored my fleet right under the guns of the town within easy range. about 1000 yards. If we had had 5000 troops present right then we would have taken pos session and that would have been the end of it. The revenue cutter N1cCul- tough on it's return from Hong Kong brought Aguinaldo.
 "Ne1t day Aguinaldo came aboard and said he wanted to go back to II rrsx ;4 here' You see 1 wanted his help. He went ashore and began recruiting men within my lines. The following day I told him he had better go outside my lines to recruit and that we had better act independently. We had common enemy and furnished him with guns. When our troops were expected to ar rive I requested him to withdraw from Cavite. He demurred at first, but final ly withdrew. Then on July 15 Aguin- aldo issued a proclamation declaring the independence of the Philippines. That was the first had heard of their desiring independence. Aguina1do and 1 were always on most friendly terms. He considered me as his liberator and a friend because of having whipped the people who had tyrannized over the Filipinos for 300 years.
 q never recognized his government I have seen the statement that I sa- luted his flag. It is ridiculous. The German admiral asked me whether I was going to allow the Filipino boats plying around tue harbor to float what they called the Filipino flag. I replied it was noting but a piece of bunting and represented nothing. That was the end of that. never recognized his government in any way"
 What would have been the effect of allowing the Filipinos to enter Manila when our troops did?'' asked MT Lodge.
 ''Well. that is merely a matter of opinion. Soldiers are always given to footing. They were not allowed to en- ter''
 Admiral Dewey declared he had an arrangement with the governor general of Manila to receive his surrender but the governor requested that he should fire a few shots before the town was turned over. "I asked if he was ready to surrender why it was necessary to shoot. He replied that his army want ed it. So had to fire and kill q few people. But I sent word to the gov ernor that he must keep his word. If he fired shot that city would go down. And he did not fire This has never been printed. It is q part of the his tory that 1 was reserving to write my self.
 ''I expected to find a large force of Filipinos waiting to assist me when reached Manila. I had been told that at my first gun 30,000 Filinipos would rise. Well, they did not rise. There was no one under arms when L go there. nI fact, I gave Aguinaldo his first information that the Filipinos were beginning to assemble.''
 Under cross examination Admiral Dewe said that Auginaldo and the Fil- lpinos with him were constant bother to him. He had allowed Aguinaldo to come to Manila merely out of courtesy He did not want him and said: eff my foresight had been as good as my hindsight I would never have let him come"
 He was questioned closely about his reasons for encouraging the Filipinos to organize an army and invest Manila, when he already had an understanding With the governor of the city to sur. render it as soon as he had enough troops to take possession. The admiral replied that at that time the Filipinos and Americans were friendly, but it would be difficult for him to give the
  T was there, a long way from home meeting grave questions and deciding them as l thought best at the timeo
 "Yes, and we know how well you did it." interrupted MT Patterson
 "When the fighting occurred between the Filipino army and the Spaniards Aguinaldo had got beyond me and would not listen to me- said the am mira1.
 When the Filipinos first arrived, Ad- miral Detwev said it never entered his head that they wanted independence He did not believe they did at that time. Their main idea was to get rid of the Standards and then to accept the United States.
 ''I believe if we had had 5000 troops there on the first of May to take pos session of Manila these persons would have been our loyal friends. I do not know how long it would have lasted. but they would have been our friends then''
 So far as the Filipino army was con- cerned it was nracfically useless to the Americans. The latter could have taken the city without their aid at any time.
 Admiral Dewey gave it as his oDin- ion that after all the United States had