clined.

United States Civil Administration.

We entered Manila on the afternoon of August 13th. On the 14th the
capitulation was signed, and the same day General Merritt issued his
proclamation establishing a Military Government. On the 15th General
McArthur was appointed Military Commander of the walled city and
Provost Marshal General of the City of Manila and its suburbs, and on
the 17th I was appointed to take charge of the duties performed by the
intendente General de Hacienda, or Minister of Finance, and all fiscal
affairs. Representatives of the Postoffice Department had arrived on
the Steamship China in July and they immediately took charge of the
Manila Post-office, which was opened for business on the 16th. The
Custom House was opened on the 18th, with Lieutenant-Colonel Whittier
as Collector, and the Internal Revenue office, with Major Bement as
Collector on the 22nd. Captain Glass of the Navy was appointed Captain
of the Port, or Naval Officer, and took charge of the office on August
19th. The collections of customs during the first ten days exceeded
$100,000. The collection of internal revenue was small owing to the
difficulty and delay in ascertaining what persons had or had not
paid their taxes for the current year. The administration of Water
Works was put in charge of Lieutenant Connor, of the Engineers, on
August 25th, the Provost Court with Lieutenant-Colonel Jewett, Judge
Advocate United States Volunteers, sitting as Judge, was appointed
and held its first session on August 23rd.

The Provost Marshal General has charge of the Police, Fire, Health
and Street Cleaning Departments, and the issuing of licenses. The
Guardia Civil, or Gendarmerie of the City, proving indifferent and
inefficient, they were disarmed and disbanded; the 13th Minnesota
regiment was detailed for police duty, and one or more companies
stationed in each Police Station, from which patrolmen were sent out
on the streets to take the place of the sentries who had constantly
patrolled them from the hour of entering the city.

The shops were all closed when we entered on Saturday afternoon, the
13th; on Monday some of them opened, and by Wednesday the Banks had
resumed business, the newspapers were published, and the merchants were
ready to declare goods at the Custom House, the tram cars were running
and the retail shops were all open and doing a large business. There
was no disorder or pillage of any kind in the city. The condu