Evening star., 1901-03-28

archipelago, remaining away at the pleas
ure Of the Spanish government, and to use
their utmost influence to diSband and dis
arm all the insurgent forces.
Asuinaldo was to go to Hong Kong to re-
celVe the first installment Of the Spanish
money, and he was then to cable to Ar
tacho, who had surrendered to the Spanish
captain general as a hostage On receiv-
ing Aguinaldo's cable message that the
money had been paid Artacho was to dis
solve the insurgent organization, disband
the troops and give up their arms. This
part Of the program was carried out in De-
cember. 1897, and the early part of Janu-
ary. 1898.
The cash payment was divided among the
Junta, and Aguinaldo started for Paris
The purpose Of getting the money his ad-
herents have often stated was to store it
up for use in another revolt. BY some OF
Aguinaldo's enemies it was charged that
the money was bribe, though in the last
year or two little has been heard of this
accusation
Aguinaldo had gone no farther than Sing
apofe on his way to Paris. when the de-
structlon or the Maine In Havana harbor
brought on acute tension Of the relations
between the United States and Spain He
remained in Singapore to see whether the
f1llpinos might not profit by Spain's diff
culties.
Negotiations With Consul Pratt.
1t was then that there occurred the nego-
tiations with Consul Pratt, which, Agui-
naldo has maintained, Justify his assertion
that the United States made an alliance
with MIN by which he was to assist in ey-
peiiing the Spaniards from the Philippines
and In return the United States was to
recognize the independence of the Filipino
republic
He was taken to Manila from Hong Kong
on one OF Dewey's auxiliary vessels and
soon armed and equipped a large force.
rms force, as is well known co-operated
at first with the Americans.
ihen came doubt and distrust. The
treaty, of Paris ceding the Philippine Is
lands to the United States was concluded
The independence for his country, which
Aguinaldo had cherished as a dream was
not to be realized when he had hoped.
correspondence with American officials fol-
lowed, but Aguinaldo could not extract a
promise OF independence. He kept his army
together In the neighborhood of Manila.
Such were the conditions at Manila at
the beginning of February, 1899. The first
shot Of the new war was fired by Private
Grayson of the Nebraska regiment on the
evening of February 4, 1899. at $50 O clock
strict order, issued by General Otis was
In force to- the effect that no Filipinos
should be permitted to pass through the
American lines after nightfan.
First Shot of the War
On the night in question Filipino SOL
dier, followed by several Others came from
the lines and approached the American
pickets, falling to stop, it was charged,
after repeated orders to halt. Grayson fired
and killed the soldier, when the latter's
companions opened fire, which the Nebras-
kans promptly returned. Within an hour
there was firing along the entire line from
Tondo to Malate. During the three fol-
lowing days the Americans assumed the
offensive, drove the Filipinos from their
intrenchments and secured possession of all
the adjacent suburbs of Manila, including
the water works at Santolan.
The subsequent developments of the war
a ra fraS in ha fo1S Of
ers; how Aguinaldo at first attempted to
defend intrenched positions against the
American soldiers and how he finally aban-
doned this for guerrilla warfare. His sue
cessive capitals were captured after COM
bats which were exciting, if not always
marked by heavy loss of life.
. Aguinaldo is admitted to have great ex-
ecutive ability and Is an ardent student of
history. He is of the japanese type in ap-
pearance, having broad, square forehead,
rather large eyes, set wide apart and a
straight nose. His height is about feet
inches, and he carries himself erect. His
color is a light chocolate. He speaks and
writes Spanish and Tagalog, the native
language of the Island of Luzon, and un-
derstands English fairly WELL