"'In arriving at this decision we have been actuated by the desire
to gain time for our arsenals to produce sufficient cartridges, if,
as would seem to be probable, they persist in not even recognizing
our belligerency, as means for furthering the recognition of our
independence.'" [446]
Arguelles, on his return, was instructed to ask Otis for a--
"general armistice and suspension of hostilities in all the archipelago
for the short space of three months, in order to enable it to consult
the opinion of the people concerning the government which would be the
most advantageous, and the intervention in it which should be given
to the North American Government, and to appoint an extraordinary
commission with full powers, to act in the name of the Philippine
people." [447]
General Otis naturally again declined to grant the request for a
suspension of hostilities.
Little came of the conference between Arguelles and the commission,
except that we really succeeded in convincing him of the good
intentions of our government, and this promptly got him into very
serious trouble, as we shall soon see. I took him to a tent hospital
on the First Reserve Hospital grounds where wounded Insurgents were
receiving the best of treatment at the hands of American surgeons,
and he was amazed.
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