THE SECOND BATTLE OF MANILA.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3836, 19 April 1899, Page 4

THE SECOND BATTLE OF MANILA.

\ 9 The second battle of Manila, which the Americans fought last month against their former allies, the Filipinos, was a much bigger affair than the engagement which gaye them possession of the city. Next to the battle of Omdurman, iit waa the cause of a greater loss of Ufa tfcairany battle of recent "years. There fell of the enemy, it u.jrtatg, not less than 10,000. We hare explained in previous issues the position in the Philippines at the beginning of the year — the Americans determined not to yield to the Filipino demands for autouomy, but willing to exhaust all possible diplomatic methods, short of yielding this point, before resorting to arms; $c Filipinos, rampantly truculent because they mistook the courtesy and. self -restraint of the Americans fc* weakness. They talked a great deal about driving the Americans oat of the islands, and having set dp a rebel Government at Maloloe, they got together a force of about 100,000 men, at least half of whom had Mauser rifles. Many of the latter, with some pieces of artillery and £ quantity of ammunition, had been given to them by the Americans, who had taken tnem from the conquered Spaniards. Then the rebels invested the City of Manila, throwing up trenches and forming what was known as the line, beyond they woald permit . no Spaniard or American tt> pass, the Americans retaliating by refusing to anynative to pass.into the city without being first disarmed. So matters were at the end of January, at wlpch date.it was *,evi4ent that hoetilities*wou]d not long be delayed. At last, on Saturday, $he 4tE of February, Aguinaldp began* the war. J£roin the descriptions given to tne Sydney papers by officials and passengers on the I steamerOhangsha, which happenejd to be lying in the harbour of Manila during -the .whoje engagement; it appears that the first shot was fired by the Filipinos, who numbered between 30,000 and 50,000, shprtl^befprQ 10 o'clock at Tm^hjfe, I^fgfl numbers^ of the American troops were on leave in the city when the alarm was, sounded, and it became known that the Filipinos were pressing in the American outputs, but it was nofe .many, minutes before, every man was at his post. * Some four or five hundred- were enjoying themselves at Bristol's Circus, which Md arrived that day from Singapore, when an officer dashed in with, a shout that the .? rebels had begun at last. The tent was empty, in, a minute, though not before bullets were falling- on the roof, and the Americans, mad wit£j impatience to get to their barra^fP^ were hauling the drivers ■:■**•«. SS^Jca, vehicles plying for J>»' f 'Jfiroin' the streets, and weirv^^Sre in the driving to the ■gfilpgpi"=-.*' &) many Jehus. j ~lne American firing wasaccurate and deadly, while the Filipinos mostly fired too high, in the air, which accounts for the American loss being but 120. The battle gradually extended from the spot where it first beg^rf until Manila was encircled, Except for. her sea front, by a. ring, of fire. From the very first the rebels began to lose heavily, and after about four hours' fighting they retired towards the bush, whence they had been drawn by the falling-in of the American outposts. But they soon found themselves •, in still worse plight. The American warships, under Admiral Dewey, turned on their searchlights, and began to' shell ther enemy, who were thus driven from; the bush towards the American Hne of fire. About nine. o'clock on the Sunday morning a train full of native reinforcements attracted the attention, of, the fleet. Every ship at once opened fire on it and literally blew Vit to matchwood. Thoughout the entire engagement the fleet was able to give great assistance to the American, land forces, and they wound up the day by following the rebels ,jaa they retreated along the coast, and still further demoralising them. Intermittently the battle went on until 3 o!clock in the. afternoon, but by that time the scattered force of the enemy had been driven; 13 miles back from Manilla, and it was decided to give them time to collect again before continuing operations. The Tennessee regiment, whose fighting proclivities had before the war broke out, often given the authorities reason to fear they woald begin hostilities on their own account, was, however, missing on Sunday I evening, and inquiries were made. 'oh,~4hpy're all right,' was the | repfo * they'll be back when their ammunition is all spent.' The incident does not suggest that the Americans were under any too -tringent discipline, but they were all volunteer troops, and they had all fought well against an enemy who had done all he could previously to provoke them, something must be forgiven them. Their method of fighting, by the way, was not tt all what the Filipinos expected, or what they were used to. Some of those who were taken prisoners complained that the Americans did not fight fairly. 'You Americans fire,' saidoneof th*>ni, 'then run and fire again, and then run up to us ngain and fire- Why do you not stand in the same place and fight V Their idea of fair fighting was for the opponents to stand and fire at each other until one side was wiped out or both got tired, and they bad not taken the yelling charges of the Americans into their calculations.

Amang the' many mysteries of bird migration is the fact that over-sea journeys are generally oonducted in the darkness, and invarially against a head wind.

The reliable Family Kemedy Woods' Great Peppermint Core for Coombs aud Golds, 1/6 *ud 2/6»