determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government
and control of the island to its people.

Approved, April 20, 1898.

[Footnote 11: See pp. 139-150.]



EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 9, 1898_.

_To the Congress of the United States:_

On the 24th of April I directed the Secretary of the Navy to telegraph
orders to Commodore George Dewey, of the United States Navy, commanding
the Asiatic Squadron, then lying in the port of Hongkong, to proceed
forthwith to the Philippine Islands, there-to commence operations and
engage the assembled Spanish fleet.

Promptly obeying that order, the United States squadron, consisting of
the flagship _Olympia_, _Baltimore_, _Raleigh_, _Boston_, _Concord_, and
_Petrel_, with the revenue cutter _McCulloch_ as an auxiliary dispatch
boat, entered the harbor of Manila at daybreak on the 1st of May and
immediately engaged the entire Spanish fleet of eleven ships, which were
under the protection of the fire of the land forts. After a stubborn
fight, in which the enemy suffered great loss, these vessels were
destroyed or completely disabled and the water battery at Cavite
silenced. Of our brave officers and men not one was lost and only eight
injured, and those slightly. All of our ships escaped any serious
damage.