were despatched
to the Islands to reinforce the Volunteer regiments. It was a wise
measure taken not too soon, for it was clear that a certain amount
of discontent had manifested itself among the Volunteers. Moreover,
the whole management of the Philippine problem was much hampered by
an anti-annexation movement in America which did not fail to have its
influence on the Volunteers, many of whom were anxious to return home
if they could. Senator Hoar and his partisans persistently opposed the
retention of the Islands, claiming that it was contrary to the spirit
of the American Constitution to impose a government upon a people
against its will. American sentiment was indeed becoming more and more
opposed to expansion of territorial possession beyond the continent,
in view of the unsatisfactory operations in the Philippines--a feeling
which was, however, greatly counterbalanced by a recognition of the
political necessity of finishing an unpleasant task already begun,
for the sake of national dignity.

About this time the Philippine envoy, Felipe Agoncillo, was in Paris
as president of a _junta_ of his compatriots. Some of the members
were of opinion that they ought to negotiate for peace directly with
the American Secretary of State, but Agoncillo so tenaciously opposed
anything short of sovereign Philippine independence that some of the
members withdrew and returned to the Islands. A year later I found
Agoncillo of exactly the same intransigent persuasion.

At the end of April the Americans suffered a severe reverse at Guingua
(Bulacan), where Major Bell, with 40 cavalrymen, came across a strong
outpost from which the enemy fired, killing one and wounding five
men. With great difficulty the dead and wounded were carried back under
fire, and it was found that the enemy occupied a big trench encircling
three sides of a paddy-field bordering on a wood. As the Americans
retreated, the insurgents crept up, aided by a mist, to within short
range and fired another volley. Major Bell sent for reinforcements,
and a battalion of infantry was soon on the scene, but their advance
was checked by the continuous firing from the trenches. Artillery
was on the way, but the insurgents were not disposed to charge
the Americans, who lay for two hours under cover of a rice-field
embankment in a broiling hot sun. One man died of sunstroke. Finally
a second battalion of infantry arrived under the command of Colonel
Stotsenberg, who was very