e 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 the
city of Manila under the government of the Americans, in many cases
employed by the Americans, were to suddenly fall upon the barracks
of the American soldiers and massacre the inmates; all Americans in
the streets were to be killed, the city was to be fired and its loot
was to be the reward of loyalty to Aguinaldo. If this plan had been
carried out no white man and no white woman would have escaped. The
reinforcements from the United States would have arrived to find
only the smoking ruins of Manila. Buencamino had warned General
Augustin what the fate of Manila would be if taken by a horde of
Indians drunk with victory. That fate was now deliberately planned
for the city. Aguinaldo planned to occupy the capital not as it had
been occupied by the Americans. He planned to take it as Count Tilly
took Magdeburg.

"The authors of this plan were not savages. Mabini, Sandico, and Luna,
Asiatics educated in European schools, were men of trained and subtle
minds. With them cruelty and assassination was not a matter of savage
impulse but of deliberate calculation; with them assassination was
employed as an effective addition to political propaganda, and murder
as an ultimate resource in political manoeuvres." [213]

Some portions of Aguinaldo's instructions to the _sandatahan_ are
particularly worthy of perpetuation, as they illustrate his ideas
as to the conduct which should be observed by cultured, patriotic,
honourable and very humane men, who were not cruel:--

"_Art_. 3. The chief of those who go to attack the barracks
should send in first four men with a good present for the American
commander. Immediately after will follow four others who will make a
pretence of looking for the same officer for some reason and a larger
group shall be concealed in the corners or houses in order to aid
the other