There had been a little scattering rifle fire on the outskirts of the capital of the third very shortly before our arrival there, but the organization of all these provinces was recommended by the military authorities, and we decided to try an experiment which could do little harm, as we could return any one of them to military control in short order should such a course seem necessary.
An effort has been made to make it appear that in organizing Cebu, Bohol and Batangas, we acted prematurely and upon our own initiative, thus complicating the situation for the military authorities.

I will let Blount voice this complaint.

He says in part:-- "In his report for 1901 Governor Taft says that the four principal provinces, including Batangas, which gave trouble shortly after the civil government was set up in that year, and had to be returned to military control, were organized under civil rule 'on the recommendation' of the then commanding general (MacArthur).

It certainly seems unlikely that the haste to change from military rule to civil rule came on the motion of the military.

If the Commission ever got, _in writing,_ from General MacArthur, a 'recommendation' that any provinces be placed under civil rule while still in insurrection, the text of the writing will show a mere soldierly acquiescence in the will of Mr.McKinley, the commander-in-chief.