But the day of reckoning came. It was in consequence of the atrocities committed by the Tagálog soldiers in the Cagayan valley that Captain Batchelder was able a little later to march practically unopposed through the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and Cagayan with one battalion of American negro troops, for whom he had neither food nor extra ammunition, and that Tirona surrendered the Insurgent forces in the valley without attempting resistance! CHAPTER VII Insurgent Rule in the Visayas and Elsewhere Referring to the conditions alleged to have been found by Sargent and Wilcox in the Cagayan valley, Blount says:-- "Had another Sargent and another Wilcox made a similar trip through the provinces of southern Luzón about this same time, under similar friendly auspices, before we turned friendship to hate and fear and misery, in the name of Benevolent Assimilation, they would, we now know, have found similar conditions." [299] So far as concerns the provinces of Mindoro and Palawan, and the great island of Mindanao, he dodges the issue, alleging the unimportance of Mindoro and Palawan, and claiming that "Mohammedan Mindanao" presents a problem by itself. Under such generalities he hides the truth as to what happened in these regions. I agree with him that there was essential identity between actual conditions in the Cagayan valley and those which prevailed under Insurgent rule elsewhere in Luzón and in the Visayas. I will go further and say that conditions in the Cagayan valley did not differ essentially from those which prevailed throughout all portions of the archipelago which fell under Insurgent control, except that in several provinces captured friars and other Spaniards were quickly murdered whereas in the Cagayan valley no friar was quite killed outright by torture. Those who ultimately died of their injuries lived for some time. Let us now consider some of the actual occurrences in these other provinces, continuing to follow the route of our tourists until it brings us back to Manila. _South Ilocos_ The first province visited by Messrs. Wilcox and Sargent after leaving Aparri was South Ilocos. The conditions which had prevailed at Vigan, the capital of the province, shortly before their arrival, are described in a letter signed "Mariano" and addressed under date of September 25, 1898, to Señor Don Mena Crisólogo, from which I quote extracts:-- "_Dear Mena_: I read with a happy heart your letter of the 3rd instant, and in answer I have to say:-- "On the 22nd of August a mass meeting was held for the election of the local presidente of this town, and I was elected to the office; and on the 1st instant the Colonel appointed me Provisional Provincial President of this province, so that you can imagine the position I am in and the responsibilities which weigh on me. "Your house is occupied by the Colonel, in view of the fact that it is not rented.