The herald., 1898-07-29


| Wildman. are at various places in the
Philippine archipelago. Among these YES
sells are three gunboats at San Miguel,
Luzon Island, and four at Port Royal,
Palawar Island Four merchantmen with
cargoes of tobacco are reported at Cagay-
an, Luzon. The same dispatch reports
| that English traders at the coal mines at
Batan Luzon Island, have been impris
oned and subjected to ill-treatment by the
| Spaniards there.
Condition of the City
MANILA, July q. via Hong Kong-The
Associated Press correspondent has been
granted the privilege by Admiral Dewey of
| investigating the political and sanitary
| conditions of Manila, which city consists
| Of an ancient wall citadel, large stray
| CLING business town, and wide fringe CT
! suburban residences. The town Is as poor
| " defended as can be ina gined for city
| Of It's size.
| Admiral Dewey's guns can render its
| defenses useless with absolutely no trouble
and the guns of the Spanish could hardly
| inture the American warships, even If they
carried far enough to touch them, but they
| are SO powerless and inaccurate that any
defense by the city forts would look ludi-
| crous in the face Of a fire from the modern
! guns Of the American squadron.
The town is as badly built as can be. The
houses are much too close together and the
streets are narrow. For the metropolis OF
| big country, for city Of a quarter of
million inhabitants, a rich and prosperous
market. a center of education and luxury,
| as the buildings in the walled city indicate,
| 1t is a disreputable, in-arranged and un-
slightly town. The principal business
| street, the Escolta, Is narrow. wretchedly
paved, crooked and filled with the most
| commonplace, mean-looking structures
| So are the other streets, but further from
| the center there are trees to hide the ugii-
ness.
| In excuse. the Manila people plead earth
| quakes, typhoons, thunderstorms and
| floods as their reason for not having q
| passably presentable town, but Manila is
not the only place with earthquakes and
all the rest Toxic is Infinitely worse, but
is handsome and the roads are better
paved. The Pasig is a river sixty or seven
ty yards wide and perhaps twelve feet
Deep yet the bridging of 1t has never gone
beyond primitive stages. There is one mar
row bridge. the Puento D'Espana, con-
| Meeting Binenbo with the city, but this
bridge Is far too narrow for the traffic
and would never be considered sufficient In
a civilized country. There is another
bridge near it, but it is seldom If ever used
for vehicle traits. and the Puenta D'Espana
| is constantly choked.
There are tramways running into outly-
ing parts Of the town, and a steam tram
| way to the northern suburb of Manila
There Is also railway from Manila TO
Sagibon, about 100 miles north, run by an
English company.
In the rural township of Santa Mesa,
| about three or four miles out, is a big
powder magazine, or "Polverin," close by
the right (north) bank of the river Pasig.
On the opposite side of the river is the VIII
lage of Santa Ana, a mile or two away
1t was about here that the first shots were
fired in the insurrection of 1896, and sew
eral English people having villas in these
parts had lively time.
Another "Polverin' Is at Malate on the
seashore on the south Of the walled CITY,
l understand that these two are the only
powder magazines the Spanlards have in
the immediate neighborhood of the city,
excluding, Of course, the forts own stores
Malate is reached from Binenbo by a
pretty drive outside the city walls. Along
the sea front or behind the city and be-
yond the city is the esplanade, called the
Tuneta, where the band plays every eve
ming in peace times.
| At the far end of the Tuneta is the bat
| terry Of two big guns which fired on the
| American ships when Admiral Dewey
| talked seriously Of replying.
A little beyond this battery Is the Eng
| lish club, surrounded by a number of
| pleasant residences, English, Spanish and
| others. Furtherest Of all, quite near the
fort and powder magazine, is the Eastern
Extension Telegraph Companys estab-
lishment CBritish). A little way back from
the sea is the Jesuit observatory, which
does excellent service and is indeed the
Jesuits' best answer to those who say they
do harm in the Philippines.
| Outside the populous suburban district
there are many rural and less settled dis
tricts dotted with handsome residences
scattered remotely among the rice fields
| and tropical woodlands, where a guerilla
warfare would be well nigh interminable
In such country. with hedge rows that
have in the course of ages grown into
respectable little thickets. with planta-
lions that are dark and almost impene-
trable patches Of somber greenery, a sta
tionary force might check an advancing
force with the greatest ease. There are
plenty Of open fields yet the country can
not be called open, for 1t is luxuriously
wooded between tho fields. Artillery
would be Of little use. with never mile of
clear space. nothing but diminishing I'M
der thick cover would be of any effect In
this kind Of ground, and the victory would
rest with the side best fitted for Jungle
warfare. Not that this is jungle; it is
simply fertile pastoral land with lot of
trees everywhere. But II Is the last place
in the world for plain peasant lads, newly
recruited and without any target practice,
to meet semi-savage woodsmen and that
| u what Spain Is depending on, for her sons
are raw recruits and her enemies are
trained forest rovers.
Aguinaldo's Proclanation
MANILA, June q. via Hong Kong, July
2s.-The following is a rough translation OF
the declaration of Independence issued by
Aguinaldo on June 18th:
To the district headmen and village head-
men Of the Province of Hulacan, from the
roittico-1 Military Governor Of this province,
ys~hose hsadqusrtsrs are now Transferred to