rovincial
government, impressing upon them the fact that if they continue to
grant ranks and titles to persons of this character, as they have done,
it would end in the utter ruin of this wealthy province."

He adds that these men did not remedy the evils complained of. It
would be possible to cover in detail all of this and the remaining
Insurgent territory, and to show that Judge Blount was quite right in
stating that conditions similar to those encountered in Luzon arose
there, but the limitations of time and space forbid, and I must ask
my readers to accept on faith the statements of Blount and myself
that such was the case!

Taylor thus summarizes the conditions which ultimately arose:--

"The Insurgent soldiers lived in their own land as they would have
lived in a conquered country. They were quartered on the towns and
the towns had to feed them whether they would or not.

"Peace there was where Aguinaldo's soldiers had not penetrated,
but there does not seem to have been progress. Life went very well
in a long siesta in the shady villages under the palm trees, but not
only the structure of the State, its very foundations were falling
apart. When Aguinaldo's soldiers came they brought cruelty and license
with them. Proud of their victories and confident in themselves they
felt that the labourers in the fields, the merchants in the towns,
were for the purpose of administering to their necessities and
their desires. Aguinaldo, having seen this force gather about him,
was forced to entreat it, to appeal to it; he was never strong enough
to enforce discipline, even if he cared to do it."

Aguinaldo himself finally became disheartened over his inability to
maintain a decent state of public order in the territory which he
claimed to govern, and in December, 1898, tendered his resignation,
giving among other reasons odious favouritism on the part of some of
the military chiefs, together with a desire to enrich themselves by
improper means, such as accepting bribes, making prisoners a source
of gain, and decreasing the allowance of the soldiers. He said that
many soldiers had received sums of money as their share of booty,
and intimated that officers must have done the same. He made charges
against civil as well as military officers and ended by saying that
he retained the evidence for presentation when called on. [345]

Aguinaldo was later persuaded to withdraw his resignation. No wonder
that he wished to tender i