The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-09
DEWEY'S GREAT HEAD
HAVE TAKEN MANILA
MAY
HUMANITY AND AMER!CANISM

structiOn of Private Property
Would Certainly Have Ensued-
Germans and Austrinns Brought
to Time by American Admiral.
NEW YORK, Oct. 5.-In letter adj
dressed to Robert Leslie Moffett, of this
city, Lieut.. Beach, of the Baltimore,
describes the condition of affairs at
Manila after the battle, and gives his
impressions of men and things in the
Philippines after three months OBJ
servation. The letter is dated: United
States Steamer Baltimore, Manila, Phil
ippine Islands, July 80, 1888" 1t says
in part:
If, when our fight here of May l was
finished, at about 1870 o'clock a. M,
I had been asked as to when we would
take Manila, I probably and undoubt-
edly would have replied: after
luncheon OF course"
We drew off in the morning, after
we finished the fleet, and then destroy
ed the forts; why was it not natural
to think that after we had once more
filled our StOmachs we would complete
our work? So we ate luncheon heartily
and prepared for the afternoon fight,
which consisted of capturing and dis
abling the remaining forts held by
the Spaniards, in which the Spaniards
assisted u.s. Dewey had Informed the
Spanish governor general that the least
act of hostility on the part of any
Spaniards would be a signal for the
instant bOmbardment and destruction
Of Manila. The Spaniards expected to
surrender that day and We1e willing
and ready to; they wondered why the
surrender was not demanded, and have
wondered ever since why we have not
taken Manila, when it was so easy and
when We are at war with them, and
some of us have been just as much
surprised as have been the Spaniards.
1t has not been explained to them why
We have not, because the explanation
would be of a nature they could not
comprehend.
MANILA must have surrendered had
we demanded 1t. There is great wealth
in Manila, both of the church, which
has been wrung from the life Of the
natives, and of the Spanish residents,
which had the same source.
Had we taken Manila we could not
have landed a force sufficiently strong
to police or patrol it, and the greatest
loot of modern times was to have been
apprehended. Churches and buildings
would have been pillaged; murder, rob-
berry, fire and rapine would have held
full sway, and thousands upon thou
sands of dark Malay devils, spurred by
hatred born Of the constant wrongs of
300 years, would have made sad chaos
of Manila, and the nations of civliza-
ton would have been mortified and dis
gusted, and history for all time must
have recorded it as a foul blot on Amer
iCa's fair name. It is a tribute Of intel
ligenCe, humanity and A1nericanism
that Admiral Dewey should have re-
sisted the natural impulse Of making
our victory most complete by taking
Manila. 1 trust that history will give
him full credit for being able to see
clearly the conditions even when the
air was still full Of the smoke from
our guns. So the reason why we did
not take Manila is because of the loss
and destruction Of private property
that would naturally have ensued.
The Germans are here in force, and
we are not friendly with them; our
relations might even be called strain
ed. They openly sympathize and fra
ternize with the Spaniards and are
constantly doing things which the laws
Of international courtesy would dub
impolite. For instance, this is a block
AIDED port, and the foreign warshipS
are here by permission and courtesy Of
Admiral Dewey. A German gunboat
came steaming in last week by our
fleet, taking no notice Of us. She was
spoken to, and answered not, but
steamed on. She then had a. solid shot
dropped under bow, which was an in
timation that the next would be put
into her-a high-handed proceeding Of
course. She stopped then and got per-
mission to go in to the German anchor
age. You may imagine that the Ger
man admiral was furious. That night
he sent an officer to see Dewey, who
would not receive him, sending word to
inform the German admiral to choose
the daytime to transact business. He
(the Ofhcer) came over next day and
got short treatment from Dewey, who
every warship that came in and did
not so through the usual courtesies
would be similarly treated. He also
sent list Of acts of German ships
which he said must be stopped-such
as running about the harbOr at night
without lights, making peculiar signals
with searchlights to shore, ETC. A short
time after this small Austrian cor
vette, gunboat Of perhaps 1900 tons,
came in, went by the fleet, went to
foreign warship anchorage, saluted the
Spanish, French, English, Japs, etc,
and then anchored for g. comfortable
stay. He was not molested for a cou-
pie Of hours, when our admiral sent
over a lieutenant, asking why the sa-
lutte to the American flag was omitted,
also the usual and necessary formal
tiles and courteSies due to a blOckad-
ing squadron. The Austrian captain
coldly said it would have been incon-
N6ulSHC, anu UnOuBnC THIS closed the
conversation. But Dewey's lieutenant
said:
Admiral Dewey requires you to come
out to the American fleet (three miles
away and salute the American flag"
WhereUpon the Austrian asked that
his compliments be given to Admiral
Dewey, with the message that he could
not comply with his request, as his
ship was anchored, engines secured,
fires out, etc. Whereupon the Austrian
captain was Informed that, unless he
came out to our fleet and saluted before
morning, he would be towed out Of the
harbor that same morning, and would
be fcrcibly prevented from entering
again Harsh words, but he deserved
them.
There was a hurried consultation
with the German admiral, and then the