Rid of whom?
"_Admiral Dewey_.

Of Aguinaldo and the Filipinos.

They were bothering me.

I was very busy getting my squadron ready for battle, and these little men were coming on board my ship at Hongkong and taking a good deal of my time, and I did not attach the slightest importance to anything they could do, and they did nothing; that is, none of them went with me when I went to Mirs Bay.

There had been a good deal of talk, but when the time came they did not go.