of men were present in uniform, and that the oath was administered by Gen. Pantaleon Garcia.  There is no reason for believing that this is a complete statement of sandatahan organized in Manila by the end of January, and yet this statement gives a force of at least 6330 men.  General Otis said that this force had been reported to him as being 10,000 men.  It is probably true that only a small number of them had rifles; but armed with long knives and daggers they could have inflicted much damage in a sudden night attack in the narrow and badly lighted streets of Manila.  On January 9, 1899, Aguinaldo wrote his instructions for the sandatahan of Manila.  Members of this body were to enter the houses of the American officers on the pretext of bringing them presents.  Once in they were to kill.  The sentinels at the gates of the barracks were to be approached by men dressed as women and killed.  The gates of the barracks held and as many officers as possible treacherously murdered, the sandatahan were to rise throughout the city, and by attacking in the rear the United States troops on the outer line were to aid in opening a way for Aguinaldo’s force.  To further increase the confusion and perhaps to punish the natives who had not joined them, the sandatahan were to fire the city.

* * * * *

“It is a fair deduction from Luna’s orders for an uprising in Manila, from Aguinaldo’s instructions for the sandatahan, from other documents among the papers of the insurgents and from what was done in Manila on February 22 that Aguinaldo and his advisers about the middle of January, 1899, drew up a plan of attack upon Manila which would, if carried out, have inflicted a severe blow upon the Americans.  It was not carried out, but that was not the fault of Aguinaldo or of Luna.

“It is true that the instructions were general; but that particular instructions were given by Aguinaldo himself for the murder of General Otis is shown by his note on the back of a document presented to him. [212]

“...  And then there was nothing abhorrent to Aguinaldo and the men about him in beginning a war by the murder of the commanding general on the other side.

* * * * *

“...  Aguinaldo and all his followers have declared that on February 4 the Americans attacked the unsuspecting Filipinos who were using their utmost efforts to avoid a war.  And yet here in Aguinaldo’s own handwriting is the record of the fact that on January 10, 1899, he ordered the murder of the American commander.

“The attack which Aguinaldo was preparing to deliver upon and in Manila was not to be a mere raid such as the bandits of Cavite were in the habit of making upon the defenceless towns.  The plan was a piece of calculated savagery in which murder and outrage were considered means to accomplish a purpose.  The servants were to kill their employers; organized bands, dressed in the dress of civilians, living in