perity, a 24-pounder shot from one of our launches is
nevertheless sufficient to put them to flight; what therefore may not
be expected when their forces shall be so greatly diminished and their
apprehensions increased, of being defeated and captured? Nevertheless,
as it is not easy for our gunboats to come up with them, when giving
chase, it would be advisable to add to our cruisers a temporary
establishment of prows and light vessels, manned by Bisayan Indians,
which, by advancing on with the gallies, might attack the enemy and
give time for the gunboats to come up and decide the action. Besides as
the Bisayan Indians are perfectly acquainted with the mode of making
war on the Moros, the meaning of their signals and manoeuvers and
the kind of places on shore in which they take shelter when pursued
at sea, the employment of such auxiliaries would be extremely useful.

[Need of undivided leadership.] The whole of these defensive and
offensive arrangements would, however, be ineffectual or incomplete
in their results, if the most perfect union and concert is not
established in every part, so that all should conspire to the same
object, although by distinct means. In order therefore that the
necessary harmony may be secured, it would be expedient to remove the
chief authority nearer to the theater of war, by confiding all the
necessary instructions and powers to the person who might be selected
for the direction and command of the enterprise, after the general
plan of operations had been regularly approved. Under this impression,
and with a view to the better execution of all the details, it would
be advisable for the commanding officer, named by the government,
to take up his headquarters in the Island of Panay, which, owing to
its geographical situation, the great number of towns and inhabitants
contained in the three provinces into which it is divided, as well
as other political reasons, is generally esteemed preferable for the
object in question, to the Island of Zebu, where, in former times,
the commanders of the province of the painted natives resided,
as mentioned in the laws of the Indies. The center of action being
placed in Iloilo, a communication with the other points would thus
more easily be kept open, aid and relief might be sent more rapidly
to the quarter where required, and, in a word, all the movements,
of whatsoever kind they might be, would be executed with greater
precision and certainty of success. I