The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-04
CAUSE OF THE TROUBLE.
Spaniards Withdrew In Order to En-
barrass Americans.

Washington, Jan. General Otis.
commanding at Manila, has cabled the
war department that, in his opinion,
General Miller has the situation we'll in
/ hand al IlOilO, and that he fully under
stands the purpose of the president not
TO crowd the insurgents unduly. It Is
highly desirable that q hostile collision
between the American forces and the
insurgents be avoided at all hazards al
least pending the ratification of the
peace treaty, and as General Miller
understands now this purpose on the
part of the president, he may be relied
upon to resort to force only under absO-
lutte compulSiOn-
The officials here are now fully sat
isfied that the trouble at HOilO may be
traced directly back TO the Spanish
colonel, who was senior Spanish army
officer in the Philippines, and directly
in command of the Visayas group, in
Guiding the principal island Of Panay
and the city and garrison of IlOilO-
General Otis reports show that though
beSieged with his 500 soldiers in UOilo
by a superior force, the position of the
Spanish was thoroughly tenable- They
had repulsed every attempt of the in
surgents and had inflicted great loss
upon the latter, and altogether there
was no reason why they should not
have held out Indefinitely.
This was practically the case. in view
of the knowledge on the part of the
Spaniards that by the terms of the
treaty the United States government
had undertaken TO carry them back to
Spain. involving. of course. their re-
lease from the siege at the earliest
practicable moment 1t is significant
that Rios delayed the evacuation Of
IlOilo until he became informed that
the Americans We're coming, and there
is curiosity 10 learn how that import
ant information reached IloilO in adj
vance of the movements Of the Ameri-
can transports. and in the absence of
cable communication. Undoubtedly it
was conveyed bv a vessel. and there
may be a question raised as to the
legitimacy of the transmission of news
of the Americans movements in ad-
vance in this fashion.
AGUINALDO'S STRENGTH.
One feature of General Otis report
that has escaped mention so far. is his
notice of the approaching meeting Of
the so-called Filipino parliament. which
is to gather, presumably. at MalalOs.
about twenty miles from Manila. on the
island of LuZon, Thursday next. A good
deal Of interest is attached to this
meeting, as General Otis reports that
by the advices the strength of Agui-
naldos party can be gauged. That this
is waning rapidly is not doubted. and
General Otis feels that when the at
tempt is made TO convene the aarlia-
ment it will be found that Aguinaldo
has lost his control of the majority. and
cannot command even a working coali-
ton. Such a state of affairs would
tend to make easier the task of the
military authorities of the United
States of establishing peacefully a tenn
porary form of government for the
Philippines that will command the sup
port of the people, and receive the ap-
proval Of the civilized world.
General Otis has not yet published
the proclamation by President McKin-
ley, which was cabled from W2shins-
ton to him about a week ago Feeling
full confidence in his judgment. the OF
ficials here are not disposed 10 question
his Withholding the proclamation.
though it would seem the animatinz