20 JULY

William Rufus Day,
Imperialist Asst. State Secretary

1898 - Five weeks after the Filipinos declared Philippine  independence during the Revolution against Spain, United States  Assistant Secretary of State William Rufus Day writes a letter supposedly  rebuking American Consul-General E. Spencer Pratt in Singapore  for "undiplomatically" allowing Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy to believe that the U.S. Government would recognize  the independence of the Southeast Asian archipelago after Spain  is defeated and on condition that the Filipinos help the US  in the Spanish-American War; truth is, days or weeks earlier, a  number of other American officials, including Gen. Thomas Anderson,  Consul General in Hong Kong Rounsevelle Wildman, and particularly Admiral George Dewey took turns deceiving Aguinaldo into thinking the US will honor Filipino independence  (only 16 days  earlier, Gen. Anderson Day wrote Aguinaldo to ask him to cooperate  with the United States in the war against Spain, categorically  stating that Americans are sympathetic  with the people of the  Philippine Islands); the apparent deception would lead Aguinaldo to stupidly order the Filipino forces "not to interfere" and freely allow the American forces to position themselves for the eventual US invasion of the Philippines; by February of the following year,  Bald Eagle President William McKinley will secretly instigate hostilities leading to the the bloody and protracted Filipino-American War (1989-1914).