Unofficial letters of an official's wife [by] Edith Moses.

AN OFFICIAL'S WIFE

and institutions made by men who are groping almost in the dark, but who are working earnestly for
the best interests of the Filipinos."
As to the Samar affair, from which so much derogatory to civil rule is being deduced, it should be
said the island never was under civil government.
It has always been under military rule, and was
never pacified under the Spaniards. No province
where the Commission was itself satisfied that the
natives were ready for civil government has revolted. Batangas was never pacified, and it was
only on the express recommendation of the military
governor, and against the judgment of the Commission, that the province was organized by them.
The insurrectos were shooting into the town when
the Commission visited it. The native constabulary
has not yet proved itself treacherous, as was predicted, nor have the native scouts betrayed their
officers. In many places the withdrawing of troops
has been the quickest way to insure peace, and their
presence is often a menace to friendly relations. I
told you of the feeling in Malolos, and only a short
time since a wholesale revolt was reported in a
southern district, and the story was magnified as it
was sent to America. On investigation it was
shown that the insurrection consisted in the entire
population of a small town taking to the mountains;
the captain in command of the troops stationed there
had brought in two friars, and given the church
201