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Updated: June 22, 2025
Mabini thought that it was possible that the wording of the constitution might have been deliberately planned by members of the congress in favour of annexation to the United States, so that that country would be warned, would become more mistrustful, and would refuse to recognize Aguinaldo's government.
In view of the definite statement from one of his own officers that the soldier in question was killed by Filipino soldiers, Aguinaldo's instructions to say that he was killed by Americans are interesting as showing his methods.
The municipal governments which had been established in Luzón were in the hands of Aguinaldo's adherents, or of men who it was hoped would prove loyal to him. They were men of the Spanish-speaking group, which has always dominated the people of the islands. They were probably not as a rule men of means.
On the other hand, the chief advantages of the American forces lay in Aguinaldo's lack of arms and in the power of the American Navy, which confined the fighting for the most part to Luzon. In March, General MacArthur began to move to the north, and on the last day of that month he entered Malolos.
On the contrary, he promptly and indignantly denied that he was committed to anything, and sought to impose new conditions which were not acceded to. Meanwhile some one doubtless got hold of General Merritt and called his attention to the fact that in making this offer he had grossly exceeded his authority, for in his reply to Aguinaldo's protest General Merritt says:
Relative to this matter, Taylor says: "The defection of Buencamino and Pilar had opened the road to Aguinaldo, but at first the blockade was not effective. There were too many natives there with friends and relations in Aguinaldo's camp to make him desire to subject the city to the hardships of an effective siege.
One of Aguinaldo's followers, writing somewhat later, spoke with bitterness of the rich old men who went about calling their companions 'beggarly rebels, but these men were rich, and their names and their apparent adhesion to the cause represented by Aguinaldo would inspire confidence in him among men of property in the Philippines.
As for the thirty thousand men organized as a regular army, there may be a certain difference of opinion as to what constitutes a regular army; the men who saw Aguinaldo's force then, and who have read the papers of its leaders, must be of the opinion that that force was not a regular army. Probably only Manila Province had a provincial government on August 6.
Aguinaldo's reply, sent on August 17, 1898, shows that he had alreadymade up his mind to fight the Americans, for it contains the following significant words: "The conflict is coming sooner or later and we shall gain nothing by asking as favours of them what are really our rights."
"By the holy apostles! you're a gritty, young 'un!" growled the returning sergeant. "Who's the other chap?" "My brother he's dying," said the boy, his voice softening. "Holy Virgin, save him! For weeks, we've been in the hands of Aguinaldo's men. He's been so ill, all the time; have you a doctor?" "A surgeon will probably be with us before long," was the sergeant's evasive reply.
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