The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1899-04-06
THE nARCH TO MALOLOS.

There Is Just cause Tor natlOnai
pride in the successive victories of
our brave little army under General
Otis in the daily conflicts since Friday
last. Our valiant soldiers have had
to contend not only against an enemy
who has revealed an unexpected
degree of stubbornness, courage and
contempt for death, but against the
exhaustive heat Of an equatorial sun
beating on their heads as they
pushed their victorious way through
marsh and jungle. The accounts
from Manila habituallv speak OF an
American army of little less than
$4,000 men in the march upon
Malolos; but in the fighting of the
last few days this gallant force has
been lessened by the loss of several
hundred soldiers in killed and wound
ed OF the much greater numbers
who have been Frustrated by the
heat there has as vet been no official
report.
1t may be confidently expected,
however. that the cable will soon
bring news of the capture Of Malolos
and Of the removal of Aguinaldo' 5
headquarters to more remote point
There is small reason. nevertheless.
for the easy predictions that with the
fall of their capital the resistance Of the
Filipinos will be broken and the war
brought to an end. The experience
of the past few days, in which every
step of our army has been obstinatelv
disputed. affords no warrant for the
opinion that after few more defeats
the natives will lay down their arms
and sue for peace. On the contrary,
there is in their fierce and fanatical
disposition. falsely impressed as it is
by profound distrust of the inten-
tons of this Government. too much
cause for the belief that they will not
surrender except with the eXpendl-
ture of the last round Of ammunition
and the loss of the last fighting man.
Even after the capture of Malolos
our troops will be in possession Of
only small portion of the Island OF
Luzon. and it will apparently be no
hard thing for Aguinaldo to retreat
farther into the mountain Businesses.
whence he can carry on guerrilla
warfare for an indefinite period. By
the latest accounts he has already
removed his capital and headquarters
from Malolos to San Fernando. This.
so far from arguing that he is pre-
pairing to abandon the conflict be
cause of the futility of further resist
ance, appears to be strategy en-
tirelv consistent with his position.
He is we'll aware that his brave but
undisci plined and unsteady Fiipinos
cannot deliver battle to our troops in
the open field with any prospect of
success. superior as his army doubt
less is in mere numbers. He there
fore confines himself to firing out our
army by taking advantage Of every
opportunity which the conditions of
the ground may offer for impeding
the advance of the American forces
and for intiicting on them the greatest
possible losses, with a powerful ally
in the sun of the equator. 1t is. in
fact, a repetition of the strategy en-
ploved with so much success for
years by the Cuban rebels against q
Spanish army of 10000 men. The
essential difference is that Aeui-
naldo and his Filipinos have to deal
with another enemy than the Span
iardS.
But with our absolute confidence
in the success Of American arms in
the Philippines is mingled the poig
nant reflection that it involves a
stupendous loss of blood and treasure
To this is joined the consideration
that wise and clearly defined policy
might have established so much of
the authority of this Government as
would have been necessary to protect
life and property in the archipelago
without any such sacrifice. The re-
fusal Of our military authorities in
| Manila. under official instructions
| from Washington. to treat with
| Aguinaldo and his adherents has
| borne its bloody fruits Instead of
comforting with our late allies to
learn their feelings and desires. they
were treated with pompous procla-
nations OF the good intentions OF
this Government. which to them were
only sad reminders of Spanish pronun-
ciamentoes of like character. 1t is a
bitter thought in connection with
this Manila campaign that in its
| evolution-or, rather. in the down
| ward trend of eventS-the allies who
hailed our,:fleet and army as deliverers
from an intolerable Spanish woke
| have been converted. in their ignor-