In other words, he was holding off the calf as best he could pending the ratification of the treaty. From the text itself, however, of General Otis's report, it is clear enough, that even he was getting anxious to give the Filipinos a drubbing as soon as the treaty should be safely passed. Referring to a message from the President enjoining avoidance of a clash with the Filipinos he says (p. 80): The injunction of his Excellency the President of the United States to exert ourselves to preserve the peace had an excellent effect upon the command. Officers and men * * * were restless under the restraints * * * imposed, and * * * eager to avenge the insults received. Now they submit very quietly to the taunts and aggressive demonstrations of the insurgent army who continue to throng the streets of the business portion of the city. See the lamb kick the lion viciously in the face, and observe the lion as he first lifts his eyes heavenward and says meekly: "Thy will be done. This is Benevolent Assimilation"; and then turns them Senate-ward and murmurs: "I cannot stand this much longer, kind sirs. Say when!" The way war correspondent John F. Bass puts the situation about this time in a letter to his paper, Harper's Weekly, was this: Jimmie Green [180] bites his lip, hangs on to himself, and finds comfort in the idea that his time will come. After Aguinaldo's ultimatum of January 5th about fighting if we took Iloilo, General Otis refrained from taking Iloilo, and continued to communicate with the insurgent chieftain, appointing commissioners to meet commissioners appointed by him. These held divers and sundry sessions, whose only result was to kill time, or at least to mark time, while the Administration was getting the treaty through the Senate. The object of these meetings is thus set forth in the military order of January 9, 1899, appointing the Otis portion of the Joint High Parleying Board: To meet a commission of like number appointed by General Aguinaldo, and to confer with regard to the situation of affairs and to arrive at a mutual understanding of the intent, purposes, aim, and desires of the Filipino people and the people of the United States, that peace and harmonious relations between these respective peoples may be continued. [181] The minutes of the first meeting of this board, prepared by the Spanish-speaking clerk or recorder, recite the above declared purpose verbatim, in all its verbosity, and then go on to say that our side asked That the commissioners appointed by General Aguinaldo give their opinion as to what were the purposes, aspirations, aims, and desires of the people of the archipelago. The next paragraph is almost Pickwickian in its unconscious terseness: