The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-13
DEWEY THINKS IT CRITICAL
THE PRESENT SITUATION IN THE
 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS,

Understood at Manila That Rear Ad-
 miral Has Asked for Additional
 Cruiser and Battleship-Aguina
 Armed With Rifles and That Whole
 Population of Islands is Willing to
 Fight for Independence.
 Manila, Sept. 12.-Rear Admiral Dew ey says he considers the situation crit ical. It is understood he has asked for an additional cruiser and battle ship. The Spaniards assert that Ger many will take a coaling station here and that Spain will retain the remain der of the islands. The last Spanish garrison at Ilocos and Laguna have surrendered and the whole of the island of Luzon is in the hands of the in- surgents, except Manila and Cavite. Aguinaldo went to Malolos on Friday. He has announced his intention of converting an assembly of the Filipi- nos on September 15 in order to decide upon the policy to be adopted by the insurgents.
 The correspondent here of the Asso- ciated press has had an interview with Aguinaldo, who said there were 67,09O insurgents armed with rifles. He add ed he could raise 100000 men. Indeed, the insurgent leader pointed out, the whole population of the Philippine is- land was willing to fight for in- dependence. Continuing Aguinaldo said he had 5000 military prisoners, in- cluding 5000 in the vicinity of Manila, besides civil prisoners. Later he said the provincial government was now operating twenty-eight provinces. He asserted that on August 2 they elected delegates in numbers proportionate to the population. As to the Americans Aguinaldo remarked that he considered them as brothers and that "the two sovereign republics were allied against a common enemy When questioned as to whether the future Filipino poli- cy would be absolute independence he excused himself from replying and
 
 do. The correspondent being unable to answer this question Aguinaldo con- tinued: We have been fighting for in- dependence for long time. The na- tives who profess to favor annexation are insincere. It is merely an excuse to ascertain American views" Asked if the Filipinos would object to the re- tention of Manila, Aguinaldo declined to answer. Would the Filipinos object to America retaining coaling station if recognizing the independence of the islands or establishing a temporary protectorate over them. Aguinaldo again declined to answer.
 Pending the conclusion of the assem- bly, Aguinaldo said he was confident there would be no trouble between America and the Filipinos. The insur- gent leader denied having received request from General Otis and Rear Admiral Dewey to withdraw his troops to a prescribed distance from Manila and Cavite and he declined to discuss the effect of such a move. He further asserted that he had never conferred with the American authorities since the equalization of Manila, and that he had never authorized the insurgents to search or disarm Americans crossing the lines. The correspondent closely questioned him about last Saturdays incident when the Pennsylvania troops proceeded to establish new outpost The Filipinos objected and nearly pre- cipitated hostilities, ordering the Amer jeans to withdraw in twenty minutes. They issued ammunition and inter- cepted the American endorsements. Finally General Hale ordered all the Pennsylvanians to advance and the rebels withdrew.
 The local governor has explained that the incident was a complete mistake and has repudiated his subordinates action. Aguinaldo declared to this cor respondent that the Filipinos who made the trouble merely pretended to be an officer and is entirely unconnected with the insurgent army. Aguinaldo com- plained that the Spaniards were dis seminating false reports for the pur- pose of fomenting antagonism between the Filipinos and the Americans" The whole interview conveyed the impress sion that Aguinaldo desires absolute independence, regards the mission of the Americans here as achieved and ex- pects their withdrawal just as the French with Lafayette withdrew af- ter helping the Americans in the war of independence, a war of humanity. Just now Aguinaldo maintains the role
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