The vital thing, and nothing else counts, is what Dewey said and did when he at last met Aguinaldo.

That, that, that, is the thing, all else is empty wind.
"Supposing that Pratt and Wildman had covered inches of paper with 'Clauses' and put on a ton of sealing wax as consular seals, what, pray, to any common sense mind would all that have been worth?
Nothing!! Nothing!! And yet, where is the agreement, where is the seal?
Where are there any signatures?
And if you had them--waste paper--believe me, that all this potter about Pratt and Wildman is energy misdirected.

The sole thing to have impressed upon the public in America would be the chaining of Dewey and Aguinaldo together as participants in common action; you surely comprehend this means! Think and think again; it means success as far as it is possible.

The other work is not only lost, but does not gain much sympathy, especially this criticism of the conduct of American troops; things may be true that are not expedient to say.

Sink everything into Dewey-Aguinaldo cooeperation, that was on both sides honest even if it did not imply any actual arrangement, which, of course, Dewey himself could not make.