re committed only by barbarous and savage tribes." [403]

That very serious conditions promptly became general is conclusively
shown by the record of Aguinaldo's government for February 24, 1899,
when it decided--

"that the president of the council shall study such measures as will
put an end to the continual discord and friction between the civil
and military authorities of every province, in order that fatal
consequences may be avoided."

With such conditions prevailing among the Filipinos themselves, it was
to be expected that the laws of civilized warfare would be violated and
that American soldiers taken prisoners would sometimes be treated with
barbarity. Flags of truce were deliberately violated. [404] American
soldiers were trapped, poisoned [405] and murdered in other ways. [406]

It was promptly charged in the United States that American soldiers
were committing barbarities, and Blount has revived these old tales.

I know personally that during the early days of the war Insurgent
prisoners and wounded were treated with the greatest humanity and
kindness.

A part of the Insurgent plan of campaign was the circulation of the
most shocking statements concerning the abuses committed by American
soldiers. I have elsewhere described [407] the fate that overtook
Colonel Arguelles, in part because he told the truth as to the humane
treatment by the Americans of prisoners and wounded.

Not only did some of those who did this forfeit their lives, but
newspaper articles, military orders, and proclamations issued by civil
officers informed the people that the American soldiers stole, burned,
robbed, raped and murdered. Especial stress was laid on their alleged
wholesale violations of women, partly to turn the powerful influence of
the women as a whole against them, and partly to show that they were
no better than the Insurgents themselves, who frequently committed
rape. [408]

These horrible tales were at first believed even by some of the
responsible Insurgent officers in remote regions, [409] but all such
men soon learned the truth, which was known to most of them from
the start.

In official correspondence between them, not intended for the public,
orders were given to use women as bearers of despatches for the
reason that Americans did not search them. [410] More significant
yet, when conditions became bad in the provinces, Insurgent officers
sent their women and children to seek American protection in Mani