The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-03-28

washington, March 27.-The third day
OF fighting north Of Manila brought lit
tie OF decisive character from which
war department officials could judge
what the final outcome of this move
ment would be- In all official quarters
the most intense interest prevails, but
there was no excitement and none of
that anxiety and tension shown during
| the memorable days of last summer.
When the decisive blows were being
struck at Santiago. Early in the day
General Otis cabled the war department.
! q Dr1ef but comprehensive dispatch,
summing up the situation. 1t disclosed
that severe fighting was going. on to-
| day, With our forces advanced as far
! north OF Mariola, while the insurgents.
under the command of Aguinaldo, were
| being driven back with considerable
slaughter. This and the press Dispatch
es satisfied the officials that the strate-
| gy movement of entrapping the insur-
| gents between our lines had not proved
as successful as designed, and that the
move has now shifted to a retreat by
Aguinaldo'S forces and a pursuit by
our troops.
The 1nsurgent retreat toward Malolos
was slow and clogged and advantage
was taken Of one after another of lines
of entrenchments, the burning of bridg-
eS and the interrupting of communities
tions. General Otis dispatch, although
received early today, was sent Monday
evening, Manila, time, and summed up
the work of the three days. That the
fighting would proceed into the fourth
day was shown by his closing sentence:
The column Will press on in the morn
ing"
This refers to Tuesday. The engage
-ment has now shaped itself so that it is
looked upon as more of a chase than
the execution of a. strategic movement
With the American base advanced to
Mariola and the insurgents base forced
back to MalOlOs, the main bodies of the
two opposing forces are about ten or
twelve miles apart. This could be quick
Iy covered in a forced march, under fair
conditions, but it is twelve miles Of
innumerable difficulties and obstacles
which our troops must cover before
they reach the insurgent stronghold. 1t
is expected that the engineers with
Macarthur are hastily repairing the
burned bridges. This will permit the
artillery to be taken forward, as we'll
as the infantry columns. 1t is expected
that every mile of the distance to Ma
loloS will be contested by the inSur-
gents, for General Otis reports that it
is a stretch Of country covered with
the entertainments thrown up during
the last three months. Our men. there
fore, must advance slowly, repairing the
roads as they go, and at the same time
they must fight their way through we'll
made rebel entertainments.
Serious as the work is, there is no
lack of confidence among officials here
as to the satisfactory outcome of the
campaign. Mal0lOS is the insurgent
capital, where the assembly has been
sitting and the inSurgent government
has been in operation. 1t represents
more to the insurgents than any other
place in the Philippines and little doubt
is entertained that they will make a.
desperate stand there. The tactics of
Aguinaldo are taking him gradually
beyond the range of Admiral DeWey'S
guns While the insurgents were at
Malabon. on Saturday they were with
in a mile of the water front and easily
within range of the fleet. But as they
have moved nOrthward they have grad
ually moved away from the bay. Ma
Iolos is about seven miles back from
the bay, although there are shallow es-
tuaries which would permit light
draught boats to get within a mile or
two.
REVIEW OF OPERATIONS.
Major Simpson. chief of the military
ln1OrTnatlOf DuIHdlIf w d S5cilll OliSy u
dav assembling the latest information
from the scene of battle, and so arrang-
ing it on the military map as to show
the progress of the engagement. It dis
closed a complete change in the move
ment since Saturday.
Then the essential feature of General
Otis plan was to enclose the insurgents
between two parallel lines or the Amer
ican forces and thus entrap them, to be
crushed or captured. Now this strate-
gfc movement has given way to a gen.
eral forward advance of the entire
American forces under Major General
Macarthur. The change of operations
was due to the escape of the insurgent
forces from Malabon, where the original
purpose was to take them in reverse
Macarthur has under his command
thn brigades of Wheaton. Hale anG
Harrison Gray Otis. They are sweeping
straight forward along the railway to-
ward Malolos There is no strategy or
s11rnrise in the movement, unless some
thing unexpected develops. 1t is simply
a. slow and logged retreat of the insur-
gents to MaloloS and the steady ad-
vance of the wall of American troops
toward the retreating insurgents.
The great changes wrought since Sat
11rdav are shown on the military map,
with its new arrangement of forces. In
two days the insurgents base, which
was at Malabon, about five miles north
of Manila. has fallen back to Malolos,
about twenty miles north of Manila
About the same time the Americans
have moved forward from Caloocan,
about four miles from Manila. until
General otis reports today that General
Macarthur holds Marilao, twelve miles
north of Manila. Thus the insurgent
retreat covers about fifteen miles and
the American advance covers about
eight miles. This advance, however,
has been circuitous, first eastward to-
ward Novaliches and then westward to
Marilao.
MANY STREAMS TO CROSS.
The army is now proceeding along
the line of the railroad, which is pre-
sr1nned to be a level stretch all the way
between the two opposing forces. There
are no less than ten small streams