The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-13
4 TROUBLESOME INsURGENT.

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Aguinaido. the leader of the Philippine
insurgents. is proving himself TO he a very
! troublesome sort of a fellow. From his
standpoint probably he thinks he is doing
what is best for his people, but from the
standpoint of a dislnterested observer he
is only playing into the hands of the
Spaniards who are anxious to make all the
trouble they cen for our troops. Aguinaldo
may make 1t necessary for Gen. Otis 10 use
force TO compel the insurgents to respect
his authority.
The demands which Aguinaldo has MADE
are such that Gen. Obs could not for
moment entertain them. What these de-
mands are was stated in our dispatches
yesterday Aguinaldo wants to get his
forces into Manila. If he were permitted to
jointly occupy chat city with the Ameri-
cans he would proclaim himself the de-
stroyer of the Spanish authority in the
Philippines, doubtless, and proceed to set
up a government of his own He has con-
troll OF the whole Of the island of Luzon
outside of Manila, having continued the
conflict with Spain, Notwithstanding the
fact that he was notified Of the signing
Of a protocol by the United States and
Spain. His refusal to abide by the armis-
tice makes 1t clear that he is not an ally
of the Americans. At no future time can
he set up the plea that he was helping
Americans. If he ever had any claim on
them he has forfeited It,
Gen. Otis has given him until next
Thursday to retire from the suburbs of
there is likely to be trouble between our
forces and the insurgents. It is certain
that Gen Otis wigl make no concessions
10 the insurgents. He sees. from all ac-
counts the necessity for dealing firmly
with them. If he should yield to any of
their demands he would simply put him
self in the position of having TO yield to
other demands They have the idea that
they are the real conquerors of the Span
iards, though they did not take a single
one of the positions around Manila.
one gratifying thing in connection with
the attitude of the insurgents is that the
educated and fully civilized Philippines are
dropping away from Agunaldo. They do
not approve of the course that he is pur-
suing in respect to the Americans. They
understand that if the condition of the
Philippines is TO be bettered 1t must be
through the Americans. They know that
the natives of the islands are not fit for
self government. and that if they should
be given government of their own their
condition would be much worse than it is
under the Spaniards. They don't want any
experiment in self-government, and they
don't want TO remain under the Spanish
yoke. Their hope is that the islands will
become colonies of the United States.
Therefore they deprecate the course that
is being pursued by Aguinaldo.
1t may be that their influence will be
sufficient to induce the insurgent leader
to avoid a conflict with the American
forces. The great majority of the insur-
gents, however, are so ignorant as to be
easily mislead by Spanish Observation-Disclosures
and native demagogues. They actually be-
leve that the United States are a weak
Power-so weak that they themselves
could easily drive the American army out
of Manila. Aguinaldo of course knows bet
ter, and the dispatches say that he is be-
coming alarmed at the prospect of losing
the support of the influential Philippines
and the good viii of the United States. 1t
is certain that Gen. Otis will not try to
make term with Aguinaldo. He will insist
use force to bring him to terms