occupation of Panay up to this writing. There have been occasional outpost skirmishes, but rather with the marauding class, who at all times have infested the country. There is a rebellious spirit in the island, but, up to this time, it has not broken out. Besides Iloilo the Americans have taken possession of the towns of Molo, Trinidad, San Juan, Arizalo, San Nicoias, Gagarman, Oton, Cagbran, San Diego, Butang, Mandurriao, San Roque, Jibadan, and other small places. The administration of civil affairs is proceeding with little friction.

OPERATIONS IN CEBU.

The instructions to Col. Miller were, after establishing American authority at Iloilo, to proceed immediately to Cebu and occupy that place. Pursuant to this instruction the Petrel was despatched to Cebu. Resistance was expected, but it was thought advisable to disclose to the native population the purposes of the government.

The situation in Cebu at that time, is disclosed in the following statement made by the German Consul to the writer:

Cebu was surrendered under protest by the influence of Majie and Llorente, the two ablest Filipinos in the island, on February 17, 1899. There was a stormy meeting of the townspeople upon hearing of the approach of the Americans. The young men advised the burning of the town and fighting to the bitter end, but the older men advised calmer councils. There was a second meeting at noon and the wiser heads prevailed. On the 21st of February, the U. S. Petrel was seen, and Llorente, Garardo, Qui and Chimaco, leaders in Cebu, went out to meet her. When told by Mr. Sidebottom, the English Consul, acting for the American government that the American Commander desired to treat, Majie said that "the people of Cebu, finding themselves abandoned by the Spaniards, have joined the Filipino Republic." The Commander of the Petrel gave them until eight o'clock on the 22d to surrender. A great many were in favor of burning the place, but at seven o'clock on the night of the 21st of February it was agreed to yield to superior force and to give up the town, protesting against doing so, and stating that they had no order from Aguinaldo to that effect. At 8:30 on the morning of the 22d they sent this word to the Commander of the Petrel. At 9:30, forty sailors were landed, and at 9:40 the Stars and Stripes were hoisted at Cebu.

On the 28th of February, the 1st Battalion of the 23d Inf., under Maj. Goodale, left Manila for Cebu to complete the American occupation. While the natives demurred to occupation, by the Americans, of territory outside the city of Cebu, the objections were overcome and the American occupation resulted in the establishment and maintenance of order under Col. Hamer of the Idaho Regiment, as Military Governor of the island, and for the period intended to be covered by this history there was peace in the island.

The writer, during that time, visited the island for the purpose of observing the local conditions, and there met Lieutenant-Colonel Bayless, of the Tennessee Regiment. He said:

There is a little trouble in Cebu, but it is not serious. Dissatisfaction exists in certain quarters. The Secretary of the Treasury for the Filipino government, Señor Majie, has been stabbed, and the murderers cannot be found, because the native police will not give them up. They have fled into the mountains to a place named Sudlon, which is surrounded by an amphitheater of hills. They have 150 stands of Mausers and Remingtons, and some old rifles, and 1000 bolos. There is only one road into this town. I can take it any time. The native policemen are unreliable, so I have to place night patrols of Americans.

Col. Hamer, the Military Governor, said to the writer that "Señor Flores, who was President of the island at first, was a weak and vacillating man, so the Americans put him on the retired list, and Llorente was elected. Llorente is not a very strong man, he is a Mestizo, half Spanish and half Visayan, and has been appointed by Gen. Otis one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of Manila." In regard to the future government of the islands, the Colonel remarked: What the conditions will be when the Governor has perfected his functions, I do not know. Some of these people are still for Aguinaldo, and it will be hard to make them discard him. The better class are shrewd enough to see that sooner or later the Americans will take possession of the archipelago, and have quietly changed their political belief without exciting unfavorable comment. The Filipino Governor is in the same building with myself, and we have the anomaly here of American Governor and Filipino Governor in the same building, and getting along on a very friendly basis. The native police are not reliable, and we cannot ferret out the crimes of the Bolo men. They are suspicious of us, especially the lower classes, which are the most numerous. I have a theory of the government of these islands. I do not believe the native government should be general at first. I think it would be better to begin at the bottom and organize upward; for example, organize the town first, and not the Provincial government. Preferably, let the Americans appoint a president of the town, let the natives elect and make a selection, subject to the American approval; leave the qualifications of voters for future consideration, elect a president and justice and clerk from the natives; but let their records and official acts pass under American inspection. Make the towns "kindergartens" to give the people a chance to learn the art of self-government; divide them into wards, some to be American wards absolutely. Permit the people to elect aldermen aud councilmen, and make the city council a "kindergarten" in which to give these people a chance to learn the American system of self-legislation. I would give the president, or mayor, of the towns the absolute veto right, supervised by the Unite 1 States authorities. My impression is that these officials should be required to report all their acts in writing to some Central American Supervisor or Governor of the islands.

There are several classes of people here to be considered. The rich and intelligent, and a few Spanish, would favor the American control. Majie was our best friend and was the best man in the island. There are certain ambitious fellows, without property interests, looters and highwaymen and pirates by nature; they get a crowd around them and by intimidation and bribes, make trouble, in order that they may be able to levy tribute in the dress of the Filipino army, and make people take off their hats to them. There is a third class of citizens in Cebu, the hill-folk, they are a still lower class, both in intelligence and property. They want the opportunity to make a living, but are easily led, and very susceptible to military influence. They seldom visit large towns and then only on market days. They seldom go even to the local villages, and then only to procure necessities. The hill-folk are deceived by monstrous stories circulated by the military party. Some of them actually believe that the Americans are black, and eat children and live on babies, and many join the insurgent army because they are afraid to do otherwise. There are few schools here, and the well-to-do send their children to Hongkong or Manila, especially to Hongkong, because they have there the advantage of learning the English language. The poor class have no education to speak of, and not twenty-five per cent of the inhabitants can speak Spanish, they speak Visayan and nothing else. The young men and women of Cebu are very anxious to learn English. For the present, religion should be let alone, absolutely as it is. The priests here are mostly Mestizos.

Governor Llorente received me with the politeness which characterizes the Spanish Mestizo. He was very frank, and spoke in an interesting way of the change which the coming of the Americans had made in Cebu. He thought, as Col. Hamer did, that the best people of the island favored American control. "What elements are against the Americans?" I asked. He replied that there were only a few, and generally the most ignorant. Their leader was Arcadio Maxillon.

They were not strong in rifles, having less than 200. "What about religion?" I inquired. "The Filipino government," he answered, "wishes its church and state separate. It would be a pity, however, to introduce the discussion of a Protestant Mission at this time, because the public mind is pretty well unsettled just now. I would favor absolute freedom of religion, when things are in a settled condition. The Spanish rule here was very rigorous. They treated us like slaves. There are about 100 Spaniards here in Cebu."

The discontent of the natives of late, has created some apprehension that an uprising was imminent, and to prevent this, the Supreme Justices from both Negros and Cebu visited their respective islands and good results followed for a time, but in Cebu the insurgents have become active again, and at the date of the publication of this volume, there is fighting going on with what results cannot yet be ascertained.

OCCUPATION OF NEGROS.

The American occupation of the island of Negros was similar, in character, to that of Cebu, with the exception that the local authorities at that time, were more amicable and more in hearty accord with American domination than those

of Panay and Cebu. The inhabitants of this island had been in revolt against the Spanish government, and had practically overturned all Spanish authority, so that, on November 12, 1898, a Provisional government had been established by the inhabitants with Anissitto Lacon, President, and José Luis Luzuriaga, President of the native Congress. A Cabinet was also created with functions similar to that in all republican governments, and the Congress was made up of thirty-six deputies. Preceding the American occupation, a deputation composed of many of the representatives of this government, including its President, waited upon Gen. Otis in Manila, and expressed their desire to co-operate in the amicable establishment of American rule on the island. Indeed, so hearty was this concurrence, that previous to the advent of the Americans on the island, the American flag had been raised there by the natives, and the subsequent coming of the Americans was distinguished by an ovation rather than the reluctant submission of a defeated people. It was apparent that with such manifestation of fealty and submission it behooved the command to maintain its prestige by giving to the people the largest liberty compatible with the military occupation of the country by the United States.

In the island of Negros, then, it was determined to test in the largest measure this capacity of the inhabitants for self-government, and with this object in view, it was desirable to place one who was well versed in law and civic affairs at the head of the military government of the island. Col. James H. Smith, of the 1st California Volunteers, afterwards General, was found to be admirably qualified for this position to which he was appointed by Gen. Otis.

Col. Smith, with the 1st Battalion of the California Volunteers, Maj. Sime, commanding, acting upon the request of the deputation, proceeded by the transport St. Paul from Manila, and, on the 4th of March, 1899, landed at Bacolod on Negros. The deputation accompanied the command but landed the previous night to arrange the welcome. Half an hour after landing, Capt. Tilly had re-opened communication with Iloilo by cable, and the first message over the line was the following:

The Governor and inhabitants of Negros to Gen. Miller, Iloilo.--We affectionately salute and congratulate ourselves upon the happy arrival of Col. Smith and troops, under your orders, and beg you to send this salutation and congratulation to Gen. Otis, Manila, as the representative of the United States in the Philippines. ANICETO LACSON.

Col. Smith proceeded at once to recognize and continue in force the existing civil government. In adjusting this authority to the needs of the military government a little friction was created, but patience and good judgment prevented any outbreak. The same class of law-breakers, however, are found in Negros as elsewhere in the Visayan Islands. These largely came from an unsubdued class of brigands for whose subjection time will be required.

In March, Lieutenant-Colonel Duboce arrived in Negros with a battalion of the Californias, and immediately the command was called upon to subdue an outbreak of this brigand class. These hill-tribesmen were under the leadership of one Papaissor, and were looting and destroying-their depredations being largely

companies by water, on April 2, 1899.

upon the inhabitants of the lowlands. Their effort, also, was to incite insurrection against the Americans. These brigands had killed many, taken more into captivity, and pillaged the lowland districts. The Californias were despatched against them, two companies under command of Col. Duboce, proceeding overland, and Maj. Sime, with two other The command of Col. Duboce made a

Photo by K. I. F.

forced march of twelve miles and captured Labzid, where the insurgents were well fortified, and destroyed the town, taking thirty-five prisoners, the remainder of the force scattering into the mountains.

Gov. Smith retained exclusive control of the customs, postoffice, telegraph and police force, while all other civil affairs were left in the hands of the natives. The police force was constituted of natives, officered by Americans. Some time after the occupation, Capt. Tilley, of the Signal Corps, was murdered while he was preparing a telegraph

line, under a flag of truce. As a punishment, Gen. Smith captured Escalante, where the murder occurred, and killed the natives who were implicated in the defense. During the spring and early summer, several expeditions were made into the interior, and across the island. Among the most important of these was one which resulted in an action at Bobong. This was an entrenched insurgent position, and was carried by the American forces in a hand-to-hand fight, the insurgents leaving one hundred and fifteen killed on the ground. The American loss was one killed and one wounded. There was another sharp engagement at Tibunan, of which Gen. Otis cables as follows: "LieutenantColonel, 6th Inf., with eighty men, encountered one hundred insurgents entrenched in the mountains of the island of Negros and routed them after an hour and a half of severe fighting. The Americans had three men slightly wounded. Nineteen insurgents were found dead in the trenches. It is supposed the insurgents were armed Tagals, who, a few days since, had crossed from Panay in boats."

LOOKING FOR

THE SULU ARCHIPELAGO.

DINERO."

Photo by Coombs,

On May 20, 1899, Capt. Pratt and his command, consisting of two battalions of the 23d Inf., according to previous arrangement, peaceably received the surrender of the Spanish garrison at Sulu, and thereupon the United States succeeded to this, almost the only actual possession of Spain in the Sulu Archipelago, but at this time there was a ruler of Sulu whose power was far greater than that of Spain, whose title the United States acquired.

Through the fanaticism of the Mohammedans, the Sultan of Sulu is far more powerful than the United States can hope to soon become. Capt. Pratt, soon after his arrival, was waited upon by the Sultan, and in turn Capt. Pratt sought out this Majesty, whose mind may be gathered by these questions then put to Capt. Pratt by him:

"Why did you come here? you are rich and I am poor.

For land, you have plenty at home.
Why are you here?"

For money,