isitors is shown by the
following telegram:--

"_San Pedro, Macati_,

"July 30, 1898.

"To the Local Presidente of Pasig:

"You are hereby informed that the Americans are going to your town
and they will ask your opinion [of what the people desire.--Tr.] You
should answer them that we want a republican government. The same
answer must be given throughout your jurisdiction.

(Signed) "Pio Del Pilar,

"General of the Second Zone." [241]

Now General Pilar had an uncomfortable way of killing people who did
not obey his orders, and under the rules of the Insurgent government
he was abundantly justified in so doing. His suggestions as to what
visiting Americans should be told or shown would be likely to be
acceded to. Certainly this seems to have been the case in the present
instance, for on the same day General Noriel reported as follows: [242]

"President R. G., Bacoor, from Gen. Noriel, Pineda, July 30, 12.10
P.M.: I inform your excellency that some commissioners of the American
admiral are making investigations in the region around Pasay as to
the wishes and opinion of the people as to the government. To-day I
received a statement from some, giving the answer: 'Free government
under American protectorate [copy mutilated, two or three words
missing here] the President.'"

Blount quotes with approval Admiral Dewey's statement made shortly
after the return of Wilcox and Sargent that in his opinion their report
"contains the most complete and reliable information obtainable
in regard to the present state of the northern part of Luzon
Island." [243] This was true.

The admiral might have gone further and said that it contained
practically the only information then obtainable in regard to
conditions in the territory in question, but as I shall conclusively
show it was neither complete nor reliable.

Judge Blount in describing the experiences of Messrs. Wilcox and
Sargent naively makes the statement that:

"The tourists were provided at Rosales by order of Aguinaldo with
a military escort, 'which was continued by relays all the way to
Aparri.'" [244]

It certainly was!

Very little Spanish was then spoken in Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela or
Cagayan. What opportunity had these two men, ignorant as they were
of the native dialects, to learn the sinister facts as to what had
been and was occurring in the territory which they visited?

No one can fail to be delighted with Filipino hospitality, which
was lavishly best