em, as they were the scene of operations against the Spaniards. There
could not well have been nine thousand prisoners in his hands at this
time, as that was claimed later when a large additional number of
Spaniards had surrendered. 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. Its local presidentes met at
Cavite Viejo on August 3 and elected three members of congress from
the province, and also the members of the provincial government. The
election took place under the supervision of Colonel Teodoro Gonzales,
whom Aguinaldo had appointed governor of Manila Province on August
1. He remained governor after the election was held. Not until August
17 did the local presidentes of Bulacan assemble under the presidency
of the secretary of the interior and proceed to elect two members to
congress and the members of the provincial government. Not until August
20 was there an election for the members of the provincial government
of Cavite Province. This was held in the town of Cavite. Isaac Fernando
Rios, who was afterwards a member of the Filipino junta in Madrid,
was chosen a representative of the province; but as he wrote that he
was in favour of coming to some agreement with Spain which would permit
the development of the Philippines, without abandoning the sovereignty
of that country, Aguinaldo promptly disapproved his election [366]
and ordered a new one held for the office thus left vacant. On October
2, 1899, Aguinaldo approved the result of a new election held there
because four of the five high officials of the province had absented
themselves, while one of them had died. Of the men who had so absented
themselves one had gone abroad, while the other three had remained
in Manila or Cavite under the government of the United States. [367]

The people of the provinces obeyed the men who had arms in their
hands. It is not probable that many of them had any conviction
concerning the form of government which would be best for the
Philippines. There were no signs of a spontaneous desire for a
republic. Orders came from the group about Aguinaldo, and the people
accepted a dictator and a republic as they accepted a pre