Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-06-12

THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Active campaigning in Luzon
though difficult, is not impossible il
the rainy season.
That is what Gen. Lawton has de-
monstrated by his smarG advance upor
the Morong peninsula, and it is mil
itary fact of the first consequence
1t was a difficult country which was
selected for this experiment. A great
deal of it was alluvial territory about
the head of the Laguna de Bay. There
were mudfats to embarrass the boats
| and morasses to catch the marching
soldiers. When this marshy country
was passed there were mountains to
climb and everywhere was the tough,
matted Philippine jungle. The pre-
| liminary rains of the wet season had
already fallen. The heat was intense
and overpowering.
And yet in spite of all these extra
ordinary obstacles only precipitate
Fl light saved Pho del Pilar's army from
capture or destruction. From the
hills and church towers the American
advance could be plainly distinguish
ed miles away. Thus the Tagalogs
had ample warning, and the greater
part of them fed in furious panic
without firing gun. That renewed
aggressiveness which has been de-
scribed as charcteriz ing the Tagal op-
erations seems to have been confined
to few raids on slenderly- guarded
outp osts. Pho del THAR has been sup
posed to be perfect Hotspur, but
his forces made perhaps the most in
effective resistance which our troops
have yet met. First Santa, then
Taytay, and then Morong itself quick
ly fell.
Morong is the capital of the prov
ince of the same name. Tt lies thirty
eight miles eastward from Manila and
is considerable town with popula-
tion of about ten Thousand. Taytay,
thirteen miles from Morong, is some
what smaller. Morong province, as
whole, is mountainous region with
an area of 422 square miles and pop
ulation of forty or fifty thousand.
Because of it's relative inaccessibility
it was long stronghold of the in
surgents in their wars with the
Spaniards. But the American army
have swept the chief towns with
loss of less than half a dozen men.
The contrast between American and
Spanish military efficiency has never
been made more brilliantly conspicu
Gus than by this latest exploit of Gen.
Lawton.
Wherever the insurgents tried to
make a stand they were severely
punished by the rapid fire cannon of
the river glnboats or the rifles of the
Western marksmen. 1t is a pity that
these veteran volunteer troops must
now be withdrawn. The Oregon
regiment which formed Gen. HalPs
van is under orders to leave Manila
in a few days for Portland. Pho del
Pillar, though more of a fanatic than
soldier, could scarcely have been
blind to the strategic Importance of
the region which he occupied, and to
the terrible blow to the Tagal cause
which would ensue if a belt of terri
tory running right across Luzon
should fall into the possession of the
Americans. His failure to maintain
his position or even to offer any
check to the American attack is one
more convincing proof of the truth of
Prof. Worcester's statement that
'The war is kept up by a few leaders
and only with the utmost difficulty"
'sIt is great mistake" adds Prof.
Worcester, 'sto suppose that we are
fighting the Filipinos as whole. At
least eighty per cent. of the popula-
ton detest the war, and the only
serious trouble is in a few Tagal
provinces of Luzon." This statement
comes in a cable dispatch of June 4
from Manila, where Prof Worcester
is associated with DIR. Schurman as
one of the Philippine Commissioners.
Prof. Worcester, it may be remember
ed, is familiar with the Philippines by
long residence there, and has written |
perhaps the most authoritative vol
upon the archipelago which has yet |
been published