[291] On December 4, 1898, Leyba, concerning whose ideas as to public order we are already informed, wrote a most illuminating letter setting forth the conditions which had existed there.

He does not claim that there had been Octavian peace! It should be borne in mind that this letter covers the very time during which Messrs.

Wilcox and Sargent passed through the Cagayan valley.

It paints a vivid picture of conditions, and as the painter was the ranking Insurgent officer in the valley during this entire period, he cannot be accused of hostile prejudice.

I therefore give the letter in full'-- "_Aparri_, December 4, 1898.
"_Don Baldomero Aguinaldo_, "_The Secretary of War_: "_Dear Sir and of My Greatest Esteem_: I take the liberty of addressing this to you in order to state that owing to the lack of discipline in the soldiers whom we have brought, since they are all volunteers and whom I am not able to reduce to rigorous subordination, for the revolution would find itself without soldiers with whom to win triumph, they committed many abuses and misdeed which, for the lack of evidence, I was not able to punish, although I knew of these abuses but had no proof, and as a lover of my country and of the prestige of the Revolutionary Army, I took care not to disclose the secret to any one, in this way avoiding the formation of an atmosphere against the cause of our Independence to the grave injury of us all.