However necessary this military action may be, it is, undoubtedly liable to abuse, and the power of life and death is a great one to put in the hands of a junior officer or non-commissioned officer of police. The Guardia Civil, an armed force with Spanish officers and native soldiers, was organised in 1867, and I must say that I looked upon it as an excellent institution, the terror of evil-doers and a protection to all law-abiding people. My native friends, however, are of a different opinion. They accuse the Guardia Civil, both Spaniards and natives, of behaving in an arbitrary and cruel manner, and with practising extortion upon defenceless natives. They are accused of torturing witnesses to extort evidence, and this charge was no doubt true in many cases. On the other hand, the bandits or tulisanes were exterminated by this corps of picked men, and security to life and property was assured. At the formation of this corps the officers and men were very carefully selected. The Governor-General himself examined the records of every officer, and only Spanish gentlemen of the highest character were appointed. Similarly the soldiers were natives who had served their time in the army without having a crime noted against them. But in later years this precaution was relaxed, and colonels of regiments were allowed to dump their rubbish into this corps. I knew of a case where a Filipino with Irish blood in him was posted as a lieutenant to this corps and behaved most abominably. I am glad to say, however, that he was sent out of the islands. This was only another instance of the fact that whatever the natives have to complain of the Spaniards, the mestizos, and their own rich people, treat them and have always treated them far worse. Both officers and men were well paid and were dressed in a very smart and neat uniform, well suited to the climate, which they kept spick and span whatever service they were on. They were armed with Remington rifles and bayonets, and in addition carried a heavy chopping knife. They were posted at all the chief towns of Luzon and in some of the Visayas Islands. The greatest crime a native could commit was to kill a Guardia Civil, and such a matter never came before a Civil Court. If the slayer by any chance was not killed on the spot, he would probably be shot at sight. If apprehended, he would be tried by a court-martial composed of officers of the Guardia Civil, and, needless to say, there would be no monkeying with the verdict nor with the sentence, which would be promptly carried out. Even to resist the Guardia Civil was so great a crime that the sentence of a court-martial in such a case was penal servitude for life (Cadéna Perpétua). How surprised a London rough would be at this severity after being accustomed to expiate the most brutal assaults upon the police by a fine of a few shillings.