Sr. Luzuriaga assured us that so long as this
condition continued, there would be no trouble, and he was quite right.
Aguinaldo's agents eventually gained a foothold there for a short time,
and did some mischief, but it did not result very seriously.
We felt an especial interest in this island, as General Otis had
asked us carefully to study and to criticise a scheme for its
government which had been drafted by General James F. Smith, who
afterward became justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines,
secretary of public instruction and governor-general of the islands,
and was then in command of the troops in Negros.
General Lawton arrived in the Philippines during our stay. His
coming had been eagerly looked forward to by the army. He had sailed
with the understanding that he was to be put in charge of field
operations. While he was at sea, influences were brought to bear
which changed this plan.
It is my firm conviction that if Lawton had been put in command, the
war would have ended promptly. He was a wonderful man in the field. He
possessed the faculty of instilling his own tremendous energy into
his officers and men, whose privations and dangers he shared, thereby
arousing an unfaltering loyalty which stood him in good stead in time
of need.
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