We have just had to take it again.'" [454] If Major Starr ever made such a statement he was sadly misinformed.

General Lawton was the best friend I ever had in the United States Army.

I saw him almost daily when he was in Manila, and he showed me the whole telegraphic correspondence which passed between him and General Otis on the subject of the withdrawal from San Isidro and Nueva Ecija, which was certainly one of the most ill advised moves that any military commander was ever compelled to make.

General Lawton's unremitting attacks had absolutely demoralized the Insurgent force, and my information is that when he finally turned back, Aguinaldo and several members of his cabinet were waiting, ten miles away, to surrender to him when he next advanced, believing that they could never escape from him.

I have not the telegraphic correspondence before me, but I remember its salient features.