The Insurgents promptly demanded their share in the “war booty,” and asked certain other extraordinary concessions as follows:—­

“(4) Our sacrifices in cooeperating in the siege and taking of Manila being well known, it is just that we should share in the war booty.

“(5) We demand for our use the palace of Malacanang and the Convents of Malate, Ermita and Paco or San Fernando de Dilao.

“(6) We demand that the civil offices of Manila be filled by North Americans and never by Spaniards; but if General Merritt should require some Filipinos we should be pleased if he will grant our President, Don Emilio Aguinaldo, the favour of recommending select and skilled Filipinos.  The jurisdiction of the authorities of Manila shall not be recognized beyond the municipal radius.

“(7) The American forces shall not approach nor penetrate our military positions without permission of the respective commanders thereof and shall evacuate all the positions which they occupy at the present time beyond the municipal radius; Spaniards who pass our lines without permission of the commander will be considered as spies.

* * * * *

“(10) Lastly we state clearly that our concessions and petitions do not signify on our part that we recognize the sovereignty of North America in these islands, as they are made necessary by the present war.” [163]

Under the instructions of the President these demands could not be acceded to.  Nor could they have been acceded to had there been no such instructions.  In this connection the following extract from General Jaudenes’s cablegram for June 8th to his home government is highly significant:—­

“Population of suburbs have taken refuge in walled city from fear of outrages of insurgents, preferring to run risks of bombardment, which has not yet begun.” [164]

It would seem that the population of the suburbs did not have a high idea of Insurgent discipline.

That their apprehensions were not groundless is shown by a passage in a letter sent the following day to Governor-General Augustin by Buencamino:—­

“Manila being surrounded by land and by sea, without hope of assistance from anywhere, and Senor Aguinaldo being disposed to make use of the fleet in order to bombard, if Your Excellency should prolong the struggle with tenacity, I do not know, frankly, what else to do other than to succumb dying, but Your Excellency knows that the entrance of 100,000 Indians, [165] inflamed with battle, drunk with triumph and with blood, will produce the hecatomb from which there will not be allowed to escape either women, children, or Peninsular friars,—­especially the friars; and, I believe that the rights of humanity, imperilled in such a serious way, should be well considered by Your Excellency, for however dear glory and military duty may be, although worth as much or more than existence itself there is no right by which they should be won at the cost of the rights of humanity, and the latter outweigh every consideration and all duty.” [166]