The Washington times., 1902-06-27
Ranking Officer of the
Navy Tel S of Victory
at Manila.
NEVER EXTENDED RECOGNITION
independence an After
thought on Part of the
Filipino Leader,
UNTOLD HISTORY RELATED
Manila Virtually Surrendered on May
Spanish Badly Demoralized - No
Natives in Arms at Time of Battle
Filipinos Bother.

Admiral Dewey, the commander of the
American feet that won the great naval
victory at Manila in the spring of 1898.
yesterday told the Senate Philippines
Committee the complete story Of the
battle and of all that led up to and fol-
lowed it. in which he took any part
Admiral Dewey was requested to ap-
pear before the committee several days
ago, at the suggestion of the Democratic
members of the committee.
Only three members of the committee
were present yesterday when the exam
ination of the senior officer OF the navy
began-Senators Lodge, Dietrich. and
Patterson. Senators Burrows, Carmack,
and others appeared later and took part
in the examination.
Admiral Dewey did not conclude his
testimony, and he will be heard again
today.
Admiral Dewey's Testimony.
Admiral Dewey said that about a
month before ne left Hongkong for Ma
Mia he heard that number of Filipinos
living there were anxious to accompany
his. fleet. They were young men and
apparently enthusiastic, but he did not
attach much Importance to them or to
what they said. Then a day or two be-
fore he left Hongkong he received a
telegram from Consul General Pratt at
Singapore stating that Aguinaldo was
very anxious to see the admiral.
81 replied, All right; let him come
But / attached SO little Importance to
Aguinaldo that l did not wait for him.
and the young men l spoke of did not
CO. One of them said the reason he did
not go was that he had no tooth brush.
ILaughter.l
THE governor general of Manila sur
rendered to me on the 1st day of May.
That is fact not generally known. He
fired number of rife shots at my fleet
and l sent word to him that if he fired
another shot would destroy the town.
He replied that he would not fire II l
did not.
so, while the Spanish flag was not
actually hauled down. Manila was yirtu-
ally surrendered to me on May l. l an
chored my fleet right under the guns OF
the town. within easy range. about
1000 yards. If we had had 5000 troops
present right then we would have taken
possession, and that would have been
the end of it.
To Act Independently.
1.-The revenue cutter McCulloch on Its
return from Hongkong brought Aguin-
aldo Next day Aguinaido came aboard
and said he wanted to go back to Japan.
/ said: Don't give It up. Don Emilio.
Stay here
You see wanted his help. He went
ashore and began recruiting men within
my lines. The following day told him
he had better go outside my lines to re-
cruit and that we had better act inde-
pendently. We had a common enemy
and ! furnished him with guns. etc.
when our troops were expected to
arrive requested him to withdraw from
Cayite. He demurred at first, but finally
withdrew. Then on July 10 Aguinaldo
issued 4 proclamation declaring the in
dependence of the Philippines. That
was the first had heard of their desir-
ing independence. Aguinaldo and were
always ca most friendly terms. He con-
sidered me as his liberator and friend
because Of having whipped the people |
who had tyrannized over the Filipinos
Tor 800 years.
Never Extended Recognition.
II never recognized his government. |
have seen the statement that l saIuted !
his flag. 1t is ridiculous. The German
admiral asked me whether / was going
to allow the Filipino boats plying
around the harbor TO float what they |
called the Filipino flag. replied it
was nothing but a piece of bunting |
which represented nothing. That was |
the end of that. never recognized his !
government in any way"
What would have been the effect of |
allowing the Filipinos TO enter Manila |
when our troops did?" asked Mr.. Lodge. |
Well, that is merely a matter of |
opinion. Soldiers are always given to |
looting. They were not allowed to en-
ter"
Admiral Dewey declared that he had
eral of Manila to receive his surrender,
but the governor requested that he |
should fire few shots before the town
was turned over. Continuing, Admiral
Dewey said:
Il asked If he was ready to surrender
why was it necessary for me to shoot.
He replied that his army wanted it, So
had to fire and kill a few reople But
sent word 10 the governor that he
must keep his word. II he fired n shot
that city would go down. And he did
not fire. This has never been printed.
It is part of the history that / was
reserving to write myself.
Il expected 10 find large force of
Filipinos waiting to assist me when /
reached Manila. / had been told that at
my first gun 10000 Filipinos would rise
Well. they did not rise. There was no
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