Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-03-11

|
TION AND RETURN TO THE
UNITED STATES
THAT HE WILL STAY TILL
THERE Is NO FURTHER NEED
! FOR HIM, OR HIS HEALTH DE-
MANDS A CHANGE-PROSPBC
THAT HIS WORK MAY SOON BE
FINISHED.
Washington, March 10-The state
ment can be repeated ON the authority
of the detail Office of the Navy Depart
ment that Admiral Dewey will not be
! relieved at Manila until he chooses to
make application for such relief. So
! lar he has not given any intinlation vi
purpose to apply for relief in the
| immediate future and from the few
| declarations he has let fall the Depart
ment has every reason to believe that
| he does not contemplate any such ac-
| ton. Consequently there is no founda-
! ton for the story that Admiral Schley
| or any other Admiral has been selected
| to take command of the Asiatic station.
| So far as the Navy Department is con-
cerned the directing officials are not
only willing but anxious that Dewey
| shall complete his task and they depre-
! cate the circulation of such stories as
those alleging that he is to be relieved,
for the reason that by constant reitera-
| ton the impression might be conveyed
to the Admiral that the Department
would like to relieve him. In the case
of man Of Dewey's punctillious feel
ing the mere suggestion, if he had the
| slightest reason to believe it had an
/ official foundation, would be sufficient
to induce him to apply Immediately for
! relief rather than to embarrass the De-
partment.
| AS Dewey himself fixed the limita-
! ton of his stay by the length of the
/ task before him, it may be matter of
/ interest to record the belief of many
naval officers that the end is almost
within sight.
!
! Manila, he has assisted in the taking of
Iloilo, he has sent forces to Cebu in
connection with the army, also to Ne
gros; the principal ports of the Phil
| ippines have all been taken over
INTO AMERICAN POSSESSION
! in large part through his cooperation
with the army There remains only
few ports of Importance, notably Fam
boango, on Mindanoa, and perhaps one
of the towns in the Sulu archipelago,
to be occupied. Expeditions are now
moving in these directions, and that
branch of the work will soon be
closed up.
There will remain only two more
phases of the campaign to require
Dewey's assistance. First, and near at
hand, is the driving Off of the Tagals
under Aguinaldo, near Manila. With
Lawton landing this morning at Manila
with his achievements, and the other
reinforcements expected soon, General
| Otis movement in force is near at hand.
The navy will aid in this. Ships can
| be placed in proper position on the
shores of the bay of Manila to COM
| mand the country for miles, and by CO.
operation with the army through the
agency of the signal corps the insur
gents can be shelled out of the jungles
many miles inland by the warships.
| The next and last feature of Deweys
task will be the establishment of close
blockade to prevent munitions of war or
supplies from reaching the insurgents.
| providing there are any insurgents re-
naming after Otis and Lawton have made
their forward move. When this has been
done, when there IS nothing further in
the way of fighting for the warships to
| do it is believed then that Dewey's task
| probably will be regarded as finished by
himself and it will be time for the navy
department to consider the question of a
successor to the command of the Asiatic
| station.
| MANILA, March TO- p. m.-The re-
mains of Col w. E. Smith. Major E. Nc
| Convine, Captain David S. Elliott and
( Second Lieutenant Eugene S. French, who
were killed in action, were shipped home
| to-day.
| Major General Lawton, who arrived here
| to-day on board the U. S. transport
! Grant from New York on January 10,
| landed and formally reported to Major
General Otis, after which he returned on
! board the Grant. The troops that reached
| here on board the Grant 0he Fourth in
fantry and battalion of the Seventeenth
infantry will be disembarked immedi-
ately.
| A battalion of the Twenty-second infant
ry has reinforced Gen. Wheaton's brigade.
| AT two o'clock this afternoon the tenn
| perature was eighty degrees and the
weather was showery