Rafael Perca, who was appointed by the Colonel, and who was formerly 2d Captain of the steamer Filipinas. After arriving and taking charge, having received numerous complaints against him, I had him arrested and I found that he had been guilty of robbery, unlawful use of insignia, illegal marriage, rape and attempted rape.  I hold him in custody only awaiting the arrival of the Colonel in order to convene a court-martial for his trial, in which the Colonel will act as President and I as Judge Advocate.

“With nothing more to communicate, I hope you will attend to my just claim and send a special delegate to investigate our acts and see the truth, for perhaps if a statement comes direct from me you will not believe it.

“I am your affectionate and faithful subordinate, who kisses your hand,

(Signed) “J.  N. Leyba.” [292]

Blount states that conditions existed “just like this, all over Luzon and the Visayan Islands.” [293] Unfortunately this was only too true!

The troops complained of by Leyba were made up of Aguinaldo’s fellow townsmen.  They never obeyed any one else, and left a trail of murder and rapine behind them.  Aguinaldo never punished them, and from the time when one of them tried to murder their commander until a guard composed of them murdered General Antonio Luna in June, 1899, they are mentioned only with fear and execration.

Blount describes with enthusiasm the establishment of civil government in Cagayan.

Perhaps Americans will be interested in knowing who was its head and how it worked.  The “elections” were held on December 9, 1898, and Dimas Guzman was chosen head of the province.  He was the man subsequently sentenced to life-imprisonment by Blount, for complicity in the murder of Lieutenant Piera.  In describing his method of conducting his government he says that the people doubted the legality of attempts to collect taxes; that the abuses of heads of towns caused rioting in the towns, in which only Ilocanos took part; and that he not only did not report these things but contrived to conceal them from foreigners in the province. [294]

His failure to report these troubles and disorders to his government is of interest, as Blount alleges [295] that differences between the local authorities were in a number of cases referred to the Malolos government for settlement.

Blount says [296] that General Otis’s reports were full of inexcusable blunders about the Tagalogs taking possession of provinces and making the people do things, and cites the relations between Villa and Dimas Guzman to illustrate the error of these allegations.

He has elsewhere [297] referred to Villa as the “arch-fiend” in the matter of torturing the unhappy Spaniards as well as the Filipinos who incurred his ill-will.  We have seen that Guzman proved an apt pupil and did credit to his instructor in connection with the torturing of Lieutenant Piera, but it nevertheless appears from Guzman’s own statements that his relations with the Insurgent officers and their subordinates involved some rather grave difficulties.  Of Major Canoy, for instance, he says:—­