The Story of the Philippines: Natural Riches, Industrial Resources, Statistics of Productions, Commerce and Population; The Laws, Habits, Customs, Scenery and Conditions of the Cuba of the East Indies and the Thousand Islands of the Archipelagoes of India and Hawaii, With Episodes of Their Early History; The Eldorado of the Orient; Personal Character Sketches of and Interviews with Admiral Dewey, General Merritt, General Aguinaldo and the Archbishop of Manila; History and Romance, Tragedies and Halstead, Murat
History
The Story of the Philippines: Natural Riches, Industrial Resources, Statistics of Productions, Commerce and Population; The Laws, Habits, Customs, Scenery and Conditions of the Cuba of the East Indies and the Thousand Islands of the Archipelagoes of India and Hawaii, With Episodes of Their Early History; The Eldorado of the Orient; Personal Character Sketches of and Interviews with Admiral Dewey, General Merritt, General Aguinaldo and the Archbishop of Manila; History and Romance, Tragedies and
Halstead, Murat
Cuba -- History -- 1810-1899; Dewey, George, 1837-1917; Philippines -- Description and travel; Philippines -- History -- Revolution, 1896-1898; Philippines -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Puerto Rico -- History -- To 1898; Spanish-American War, 1898
false pretense of war with the Cubans. One day while I was on the fine
transport Peru, in the harbor of Manila, the American Admiral's ship
saluted an English ship-of-war coming in that had saluted his flag,
and also displayed American colors in recognition that the harbor of
Manila was an American port. That was the significance of the flashes
and thundering of the Admiral's guns and the white cloud that gathered
about his ship that has done enough for celebrity through centuries.
Admiral Dewey created the situation in the Philippines that the
President wisely chose by way of the Paris Conference to receive the
deliberate judgment of the Senate and people of the United States. Dewy
has been unceasingly deeply concerned about it. His naval victory
was but the beginning. He might have sailed away from Manila May 2d,
having fulfilled his orders; but he had the high and keen American
spirit in him, and clung. He needed a base of operations, a place upon
which to rest and obtain supplies. He had not the marines to spare
to garrison a fort save at Cavite, twelve miles from Manila; and he
needed chickens, eggs, fresh meat and vegetables; and it was important
that the Spanish Army should be occupied on shore. Hence, Aguinaldo,
who was in Singapore, and the concentration of insurgents that had
themselves to be restrained to make war on civilized lines. One of
the points of the most considerable interest touching the Filipinos is
that the smashing defeat of the fleet of Spain in Manila Bay heartened
them. They have become strong for themselves. The superiority of
the Americans over the Spaniards as fighting men is known throughout
the islands Spain oppressed; and the bonds of the tyrants have been
broken. It should not be out of mind that the first transports with
our troops did not reach Manila for six weeks, and that the army was
not in shape to take the offensive until after General Merritt's
arrival, late in July. All this time the American Admiral had to
hold on with the naval arm; and it was the obvious game of Spain,
if she meant to fight and could not cope with the Americans in the
West Indies, to send all her available ships and overwhelm us in
the East Indies. At the same time the German, French, Russian and
Japanese men-of-war represented the interest of the live nations of
the earth in the Philippines. As fast as possible Admiral Dewey was
re-enforced; but it was not until the two monitors, the Monterey and
Monadnock, arrived, the latter after the arrival of General Merritt,
that the Admiral felt that he was safely master of the harbor. He
had no heavily armored ships to assail the shore batteries within
their range, and might be crippled by the fire of the great Krupp
guns. It was vital that the health of the crews of his ships should
be maintained, and the fact that the men are and have been all summer
well and happy is not accidental. Admiral Dewey took the point of
danger, if there was one, into his personal keeping, by anchoring the
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