Dewey protects the insurgents.

Admiral Dewey sent the insurgent ship into a safe anchorage.  At 12 o’clock midnight the Raleigh and Concord quietly drew up their anchors and left the bay.  They proceeded at once to Subig bay, fired several times on the island, where the Spaniards were, and the latter promptly surrendered.  The Irene had disappeared when they arrived, although she had been in Subig bay for several days for the expressed purpose of protecting German interests.  The Concord then returned to report to Admiral Dewey and find out what should be done with the 600 Spaniards captured.  The Raleigh remained at Subig on guard.  During the 7th the insurgent leader, Mr. Seyba, came out to the flagship for permission to take the Filipinas and go to Subig for the purpose of capturing the island.  The admiral told him that it had already been done.  Seyba went aboard the Filipinas with a strong force of men and left the harbor.

The Concord, when she returned to report the matter to the admiral, bore a letter from Captain Coghlan of the Raleigh begging that the Spaniards captured be made American prisoners, and that they be not turned over to the insurgents, as Admiral Dewey’s original orders demanded.  The Concord was sent back with instructions to turn the prisoners over to Aguinaldo, but he exacted an ironclad promise that they should be well and carefully cared for.

Finally Admiral Dewey sent an officer to the German flagship with a request that Admiral Diederichs make a statement of the German attitude in the matter of the blockade of Manila.  The German admiral sent an immediate explanation.  Two days later, however, he sent a protest to Admiral Dewey against the action of American officers in boarding German ships coming to Manila from Marivles.  He cited the incident of the McCulloch and the Irene at Corregidor.

Admiral Dewey replied to this very courteously but very firmly.  He pointed out to the German admiral that international law gave to the commander of a blockading fleet authority to communicate with all ships entering a blockaded port.  As international law permitted warships to fly any flag they chose in order to deceive the enemy, the nationality of vessels entering the bay could not be absolutely determined without communicating with them.  For the German admiral’s further information Admiral Dewey told him that if Germany was at peace with the United States the German naval officers would have to change their methods, and that if Germany was at war with his nation he desired to know it at once in order that he might act accordingly.

The Philippine insurgents under Aguinaldo continued their savage attacks, and gradually closed in on the city of Manila.  They were working independently of the American forces under General Merritt, and it was apparent that they did not intend to recognize American authority.  The Spanish residents of Manila, fearing that the capture of the city by Aguinaldo would be followed by pillage and slaughter, appealed to the captain-general to surrender to the American forces, but that official was determined to resist, in the face of the fact that resistance could only delay defeat.