THE PROBLEM ON LAND.
After the Spanish fleet had been destroyed and the forts surrendered,
Admiral Dewey demanded the surrender of the city of Manila with all its
fortifications and military stores. This the Governor-General refused.
The fleet could have bombarded the citadel and the fortifications, but
as no land force was at hand to garrison the place, and the foreign
consuls advised against it from fear of revengeful action of the
insurgents, the Admiral refrained. Instead, he established a strict
blockade of the port, while the Filipinos were besieging the city on
the land side. He destroyed six batteries at the entrance of the bay,
and occupied Cavité, where he established hospitals in which the sick
and wounded Spaniards were protected and cared for. As his proposal
that both sides use the telegraph cable unmolested was not accepted by
the Governor-General, he had it lifted and cut.
The possibility of a peaceful settlement of affairs in the island had
been destroyed by this same Governor, who in an official proclamation
had told the natives that the Americans had murdered all the original
inhabitants of North America, and that now they were coming to rob the
Filipinos of their lands, reduce many of them to slavery, and
substitute the Protestant religion for the Catholic. And the Archbishop
of Manila supplemented this with a pastoral letter in which he told the
natives that if the Americans were victorious their altars would be
desecrated, their churches turned into Protestant chapels, vice
inculcated instead of morality, and every effort made to lead their
children away from the true faith.
While affairs on shore were thus working toward a serious condition of
things for all concerned, there had been indications of unfriendliness
and a disposition to embarrass the operations of the Americans by some
of the commanders of foreign war ships. This was so marked on the part
of the Germans that there was serious danger of a rupture of the
friendly relations between the two countries; but the tact and firmness
of Dewey, who had been intrusted with full discretion by his
Government, prevented it. None the less anxiously he looked for the
arrival from the United States of a sufficient land force to capture
and hold Manila, and he was obliged to use all his skill in diplomacy
to restrain the Filipinos from attacking the city.
As soon as an expedition could be prepared, the Government sent one, in
three divisions. The first, under General Francis V. Greene, sailed
from San Francisco May 25th, and arrived at Manila June 30th; the
second, under General Thomas H. Anderson, sailed June 3d; and the
third, under General Arthur McArthur, arrived July 31st. The whole
number of troops was nearly twelve thousand. With the third section
went General Wesley Merritt, commander of the expedition, who also had
been appointed Military Governor of the Philippines; and with him went
General Elwell S. Otis, to whom was given the command of all the troops
in the Philippines, leaving General Merritt free to give his energies
to the administrative and political problems. On the 4th of August the
fleet was strengthened by the arrival of the monitor Monterey, which
had heavier ordnance than the ten-inch Krupp guns that the Spaniards
had mounted in the shore batteries.
The troops were landed at Cavité, and occupied the trenches on the
south side of the city, while the Filipino insurgents held those on the
east and north. The Spanish Governor-General resigned his authority to
the military commander, and, with the permission of Admiral Dewey, was
taken away on a German cruiser. On the 28th of July the Spaniards made
a determined assault on the American lines, but were driven back; and
on August 7th Admiral Dewey and General Merritt gave notice that in
forty-eight hours they would attack the defenses. Parleying ensued, and
the Americans extended the time nearly a week in order that General
Merritt might push his lines farther east and take possession of the
bridges, and thus be able to prevent the insurgents from entering the
city to loot it and massacre the Spaniards, which they were bent upon
doing. On the morning of August 13th the fleet bombarded the
fortifications of Malaté, setting fire to the stores and ammunition,
while the Utah battery played on the breastworks. Then the Colorado
regiment and the California troops stormed the works, drove out the
Spaniards, and fought them from house to house till they reached the
esplanade, when a white flag was displayed and the Spanish commander
surrendered and was accorded the honors of war. Bodies of insurgents
were found entering the city, and were driven back by General Greene's
troops.
General Merritt issued a proclamation in which he assured the
inhabitants of the islands that he had only come to protect them in
their homes, their occupations, and their personal and religious
rights; that the port of Manila would be open to the merchant ships of
all neutral nations; and that no person would be disturbed so long as
he preserved the peace. Additional troops were sent out, and General
Merritt returned home, leaving General Otis in command.
Meanwhile, the Spanish fleet on the coast of Cuba had been destroyed,
July 3d, by an American fleet under Acting Rear-Admiral William T.
Sampson, with Commodore Winfield S. Schley second in command; the
defenses of Santiago had been captured by the land forces under General
William R. Shafter; the island of Porto Rico was crossed and occupied
by an expedition under General Nelson A. Miles; and the French
Ambassador at Washington, in behalf of the Spanish Government, had
opened negotiations for peace. He and Secretary of State William R. Day
signed a protocol on August 12th. This provided for a cessation of
hostilities; that Spain should relinquish all claim to Cuba, and cede
Porto Rico to the United States; that the American forces should hold
the city and bay of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace,
which should determine what would be done with the Philippines; and
that peace commissioners should be appointed by both governments, to
meet in Paris not later than October 1, 1898. The commissioners on the
part of the United States were Secretary Day, Senator Cushman K. Davis,
Senator William P. Frye, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, and Senator George Gray.
The treaty of peace, as finally agreed to, November 28th, gave the
Philippines to the United States, with the stipulation that the
American Government should pay twenty million dollars to Spain for her
betterments in those islands. This treaty was promptly signed by
President McKinley, and after much delay was ratified by the Senate, in
spite of a determined attempt to defeat it. The opponents based their
objections mainly on what they considered the bad policy and dishonesty
of retaining the Philippines.
[Illustration: The Dewey Sword, the gift of the nation to Admiral
Dewey. (Tiffany & Co., New York, makers.)]