The Savannah morning news., 1901-04-17
AGUINALDO PICTURED.
Impressions by an Englishman Who
Knew Him-The FilipinOs
Thought Him Divine.
From the London News.

l have spent no little time in studying
Emilio Aguinaldo. Arriving in Manila bay
with the first expedition to the Philip
pines in the spring of 1888, saw Aguinal-
do several times at Cavite and in front
of Manila as an ally of Uncle Sam. After
the fall of the latter city, on Aug. 49,
1886, until six or seven weeks before the
outbreak of the new Instruction, on Feb
4, 1899 l repeatedly visited Aguinaldo at
Bacoor and afterward at Malolos, where
he moved his government"
Personally, Aguinaldo made very poor
appearance. He certainly did not look like
man who had much brain power One
could md any number of Tagals in Ma
Mia whose faces portrayed more intelli-
gence than did that of the man they had
chosen as their leader. ! was surprised
to find that certain members of Agui-
naldo's cabinet spoke of the facial char
acteristits of their President in a most
disrespectful manner. In fact, it was
from a few casual remarks on such sub
tects that L obtained my first inkling of
what later became firmly convinced was
| the case-that Aguinaldo was merely a
| fgurehead a tool in the hands of clever
| men like Ma bini and tn eelder Palermo.
| Aguinaldo had learned from some source
'4iot d elollu SiIeuCS gave an impression
OF depth and keen perception. I have
been present at more than one interview
| IN which an attempt was made to draw
! MIN out, but generally with little or no
success. l am convinced that constant
| Intercourse with Aguinaldo was what
caused the bravest and most popular Of
MS generals to despise him thoroughly.
| Ih1s generals open statement regarding
! the poor opinion in which he held Agui-
naldo subsequently led that worthy to
| operate successfully a plot in which his
opstreperous subordinate was assassinat-
| eu. mat incident lost the insurgent
president many friends, but the true
story of the assassination was so manip-
ulated by Aguinaldo's supporters that few
| of the Filipino people ever knew the truth
regarding the matter.
l believe it was a general named Pic
del Pillar, who was captured near Manila
IN May of Fast year, who first started the
story of Aguinaldo's supernatural powers.
| Pillars following chiefly came from a
province called Cavite. which lay just
south of the city of Manila, and was the
| worst hotbed of insurrection in the island
OF Luzon. Pillar commenced to work on
the ignorance and superstition of the ma
yves OF Cavite province, which is peopled
Dy Iagalas the dominant race in the
| Phlhppines, by claiming familiarity with
the spirit world, and making prophecies
oased on revelations which had come 10
MIN in the form of dreams.
During the months Immediately prior to
the insurgent outbreak, when the insurg-
ents were straining every nerve to pre-
pare themselves for the struggle which
| Ihey had decided to make in the name of
| noerty, Pho del Pillar decided 10 strength
en- the cause of Agunaldo by proclaim
| ing MIN in league with the powers of the
ar or some kindred supernatural agency.
ct ria
the President had been seen at night. dur
ing fierce storm, riding his horse
through the skies in order that he might
visit the various parts of his army in the
| same night.
| remember talking with a native at
Tarlac, town in the province which af-
tetWard saw the last stand of the So
called government of the Republica Fill
PIMA, who told me of the following Incl
cent; During the first insurrection of the
| rlhplnoS against the Spaniards a battal-
ION OF insurgents were engaged in a mid
| night attack on a portion of the Spanish
line not far from Manila. The fierceness
OF the onslaught resulted in the retreat
or the enemy In the moment of victory
the little band suddenly discovered that
their front and both TANKS were covered
by an advancing Spanish brigade They
had commenced a retreat, which meant
| great loss, when they were rallied by no
less parsonage than Aguinaldo himself.
VINO bareheaded and with naked sword
In MS hand, led them toward the enemy.
instead of away from them, finally turn
ing apparent defeat into victory and caus
| ing the ignominous retreat of the Span
! lards. But the strangest part of the story
was that at the time Aguinaldo was seen
to rally the demoralized battalion and led
II in so successful an onslaught he was
known to be quietly sleeping in his own
tent. miles and miles away
Now, that native was rich man and
in many ways an intelligent one. He had
daughters who had received splendid mu-
steal educations in France and Germany.
ana sons who were graduates of the col
leges of Manila and Hong Kong. Yet it
was no more possible to shake his belief
IN the truth of that story than it was to
make him a white man. The wav in
which he chung to the belief in the semi
divinity of Aguinaldo was typical of the
hsht IN which most natives who were not
! blessed with sufficient education 40 wash
away their Unborn superstition looked up-
on "El Presidente.
So when in the fall of 1900. the armies
| OF Gems Macarthur and Iawton had
practically swept Northern Luzon clear
of insurgent bodies of any size. when The
Tarlac government had been relocated to
oblivion, when every member of Aguin-
aldo's old cabinet was either a prisoner
in Manila on parole, or dead; when the
| United States troops of the inval,Jahle
and tardily supplied cavalry were scour-
! ing the country for the insurgent leader.
| the most optimistic shook their heads and
! sighed.
Men were found who were willing to
| help the newcomers to catch lesser often
ders. but no native dared to even con-
! slider the possibility of planning for the
capture of Aguinaldo. In the very north
| ernmost province of the Island of Luzon.
at a time when Agunaldo was supposed
to be in the vicinity of the nearby noun
tains, ! interviewed few Filipinos who
had been particularly loyal to the Ameri-
cans and brought about the capture of
the insurgent leaders in that district.
They told me, what had heard from
one end of the island to another. that no
native dared to plot against Aguinaldo
for the reason that he was like a god
and could discover their plans by some
occult means of which they understood no
more than that they were greatly to be
feared.
Thus ii may be easily understood that
| TO many natives whose ideas of the mean
ing of such words as liberty" and ''in-
dependence" were most vague Aguin-
aldo represented the republic" With him
at large. the vagaries of the native mind
regarding the future were legion. with
l n Of bOp