Admiral Dewey, in the terms following:

"The Governor-General and Captain-General of the Philippines.

"Sir: The inevitable suffering in store for the wounded, sick, women,
and children, in the event that it becomes our duty to reduce the
defenses of the walled town in which they are gathered, will, we feel
assured, appeal successfully to the sympathies of a general capable of
making the determined and prolonged resistance which your excellency
has exhibited after the loss of your naval forces and without hope
of succor.

"We therefore, submit, without prejudice to the high sentiments of
honor and duty which your excellency entertains, that surrounded on
every side as you are by a constantly increasing force, with a powerful
fleet in your front and deprived of all prospect of reinforcement and
assistance, a most useless sacrifice of life would result in the event
of an attack, and therefore every consideration of humanity makes it
imperative that you should not subject your city to the horrors of
a bombardment. Accordingly, we demand the surrender of the city of
Manila and the Spanish forces under your command."

The Captain-General wanted time to hear from Madrid, and was refused.

The language of General Greene, in stating the fact that he took
possession of the intrenchments of the insurgents, is in these words:

"On the morning of July 29, in compliance with verbal instructions
received the previous day from the Adjutant-General of the Eighth
Army Corps, I occupied the insurgent trenches, from the beach to the
Calle Real, with one battalion Eighteenth United States Infantry,
one battalion First Colorado Infantry, and four guns--two from each
of the Utah batteries--these trenches being vacated at my request
by the insurgent forces under Brigadier-General Noriel. As these
trenches were badly located and insufficient in size and strength,
I ordered another line constructed about 100 yards in advance of
them, and this work was completed, mainly by the First Colorado,
during the night of July 29-30. The length of this line was only
270 yards, and on its right were a few barricades, not continuous,
occupied by the insurgents, extending over to the large rice swamp,
just east of the road from Pasay to Paco (shown on the accompanying
map). Facing these was a strong Spanish line, consisting of a stone
fort, San Antonio de Abad, near the beach, intrenchments of sandbags
and earth about seven feet high and 10 feet thic