José Rizal: Life, Works, and Writings of a Genius, Writer, Scientist, and National Hero [Second Edition] 9712733238, 9789712733239

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PROLOGUE

Rimi and His Times To a.pprmatc and undentand the life of Dr. Jose Rizal, it is necessary to know the historical background of the wortd and of the Philippines during hi, times. The 19th century when ~c lived wu I century or rennent caused by the blowin1 winds r1f history. In Asia, Europe, and the Amencas, events surged 10,,•r· ably like sea tides, ugnificantly affcctlng the lives and fortunes of ,mnltind

TIN World o1 Rial's Tlaa On February 19, 1861 , four months before Rizal's birth In CaJamba, ll1c.libcral Cur Alcundcr ll (IIISS-1881}, 10 IPf>, tember 22, 183 frCW1g the Neg,o $lava

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On Jur,e I , 1861, just e1gbtccn daya before Rizal'• btrtll, Benito Juarez, a full-blooded Zapotec lodian. was rleclcd Preaide111 ,of Mexico.' A yeu after his elecuon (in April 1862) &1pcror Napol:on Ill of the Seoond Fn:nd1 Empire, in his impr riawtic desuc ro secure a colonial ,we in Latin America, teGl Freach troof'6 whicb i,ovaded and QODqUetcd Melico. Prc:a,idcnt Juarez.. owing to the ragmg Amencan Civil Wu, could not obtain military aid fl'OOI his friend , l'ruid, Napoleon Ill, installcd Ardldukc Muimilian of Austria • puppet emperor of Mexico at Mexico aty on Juoc 12, 1864. Finllly, lfie:r the cod of the American Civil War, JuaRZ, witll U.S. wppon, defeated Me:rimllien'• French fon:ca in the 81tll,e

of Oueretaro (May 1S, 1867) and executed Emperor Maximilian on June 19, 1867 (Rlzal's sixth bin~y anniversary). Thus fizzled out Emperor Napoleon Ill'& ambition to colonize Lalin America. In Ri:r;al's limes two European nations (Italians and Germans) succeeded in unifying their own countries. The Italians under the leadership of Count Cavour and of Garibaldi and his Army of "Red Shins" drove out the Austnans and French armies from ltaly and proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel, wi1h Rome as c:ap1tal city The Prussians led by Otto von Bwnarck, the "Iron Chancellor", defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War and e,ublished 1he German Empire on January 18, 1871, with King Wilhelm of Prussia as fir:s1 Kaiser of the Gennan Empire. With his defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Emperor Napoleon nt's Second French Empire collapsed, and over its ruins the Third French Republic arose, with Adolph Thlers u first President. The times of Rizal saw the flowcnng of Western imperiahsm Fngland emerged as the world's leading 1mperialis1 power. On account of her invmcibl'e navy and magnificent army, she wa~ able 10 conquer many countries throughout the world and to c,tabh In the Second Op1uln War (18S6-1860),1 she ••01 , 6 am and forced the hel;•lcss Maochu dynasty to cede the Ko,.,loon Peninsula oppo,11e l!ong Kong. In 11!5!1, after , uppre,~ing the lndrnn R ·bclho~ .tnd dhmalllhng the Mogul Empire. she impo !vaded}he anti-Chi~ law. The FilipinQS scornfully called bun tyrant . because of bis brutal persecution of the Calamblo tenants, particularly the family of Or. Rizal. The Cubans contcmptuolllly _curMd him a "'lbe Butcher~ becallle of his ruthless reconcen~llon policy during his brief governorship in Cuba in 1896, ca~g the death of thoUWlds of Cubans. General Camilo tie PolavteJa (189-97), an able militarist but heaniess governor ull

general, was widely deteated by the Filipino people for cxecullng Dr. Rizal. Other Spanish colonial officials were of the same evil breed of men as the corrupt and degenerate governors-general men11oncd above. After the loss of Mexioo , G ua1cmala, Chile , Argcnlirs, and other colonies in Latin America, numeroUJ> job-seelcens and penniless Spanish sycophants came to the Philippines, where they became judges, provincial executives, anny officers, and empleados (govcmmcn1 employees). They we re either rcla1ive~ nr proteges of civil o fficials and frians. Mostly ignora nt and profligate, they conducted themselves with arrogance a nd superciliousnc,s because of their alien wtute skin and 1all noses. They bccMmith Chruua.nchanty andiushcc, were rarely enfo~ccd by the officials m the ,fotanl colIIIC$, partkularly the Phlhpptna , Cnn • sequcntly, the Filipmos were abuscJ, brutalized, pcr5CCUkd , and •landcrcd by their Span1>h m~c~. 'lllcy could not appeal to the law for 111,11cc because the law, being d1~pcnscd by Spaniards, Wal only for the white Spani"nb. The Spanish Penal C.ode, which was enforced in lhc Phihppi~. panicularly imposed heavier penalties on n.,uvc fihp1~ or n~tu.o,, and hgllter penaltie. on whit1:-o->mplcx10ncd Sran11rds. To .. legal inequality wa, naturally roQ the Sparu.h from bclc ' lla'; was :.:, was a ~~o{e~ of lhe Otri,11an iaint San Jost (St Jo~crh)

Durin1 the chnsteruna ceremony Father Coll1n1e, '"'b impresaed by the baby's bi1 head, and told rhe nl(mbers or rhe fanuly •bo ,..ere present : "Take sood care or lhtS child, for someday he wUI become a IJeat man.• His words pro,ed 10 be propbetic. as confinocd by sut.quent evcnu The bapfi,mal cert1f1C:111e or Rizal reads u follow, ·1, the undc:ni,ned pa11111 pncac or Calamt,a , a:n,ty that fTom the 1n•atipdon made ••th propc,r 1u1honl)'. (or ttrl«M1& the: parl&h booh ,.hod, •ere burned September 28, 1862, IO be round ,n Docket No .I o( B•rc•smi, p 4Y ,

appcan by the SWOt'II lalunony Of COlllpCtCDI •1t...,_. that JOSE RIZAi.. MERCADO d the fe&JUmatc ton , and of la'Wful wedloclt, of Don f'ranc:isro Raul Mercado ~ml Dolla Teodota Realoftda , U\IUI& bttn bap11ud ,n 1h,s P,,n\h on the 22nd day ul June 1n the )car 11161, by the IM"'h pone Rn- Rurino ~ntcs, Rev Pedro C.a\l= Mina h11 aodlalher W,1nesa my ..a.,,a,ure II

(S.aned): I.IONCIO LOPCZ

It should be nored that at the hrnc R,,al w.~ hc>rn, the ao•cmor general of the Philippon~ v,as l.Jcutenant Gen~ral Jose Lemery. forffl(r senator of Spain (member of the upper ,hambcr of the Spanish C'ortes) , He 1ovcmcd thhshrng the pulot1\'er~ni, ,n lhc VN1ya, and tn Mmdanao IUw·, ~nts. J,>,c Ru~ 11,~S the SC\Cnlh nf th< de I ch,ldru of Fran,r:,co Mercado RILII ant.I Tcot.lora \lon,n f •..ionda Oic hero•, fllhcr. Fronm,c o (111111-18911) ... , l>om ,n IJ111an. Laauna on May JI. 11118 Ile ,1udict.l I mu, ~nil Phtlo-..~ drcn _

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I ~turnena (IR~l91)) ~ of tl>c R,ul ,hll drcn , meknamed Nencng; •he marr,c,d M,nucl T H1ari1no ( 18'1 ' IY:IO) ol1lcrl>r111hcr ,utd" nhJ nl 0 r J • Rizal afttt hn younger brot~r•• e1rcu11on he , . ; :the Re•olu110n and became • coml>at : ....... •fl< from Manila 3

S. Lucia (18S7-1919) - She married Mariano Herboa or ~lamba, who wu a nephew of Father Hcrnosa died of cholera in 1889 and wu denied Christian bunaJ because he wu a brother-in-law of Dr. Rizal.

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6.

Maria (l859-194S) - B.iang wu her nlclr.namc· Faustino Cruz of Billan, Laguna. •

she married Ditniel

!be grca1ea1 Filipino hero Pepe; during his exile 1n D1p11an he hved .with Josephine Bracken, Irish girl from Hong Kong; he ha~ • so~ by her, but Ibis baby•boy died • .few hours after birth; Rlzal named him ~Francisco• after h,s father and buried him in Dapltan. 7.

JOSE _(1861:18?6) -

~d pe~rlcss ge~1us; Im nickname was

8. Con< 1nflucncr, ,.rrc the following. (I) hercd11arv 1nflucncc, (2) eJw1ronmcn1al mflucncc, and (J) 111d l>Mne Providence. I Hc,cJ>••" lnOIKllOd awakened bb interest an foll.tore and

1ov!':.:

le,endl. His three uncles, bfotbcn .,f hi\ mothtr, exerted • r·•.rnnt . of ,,___ ,:., and the va!lant bean to .:icnf1cc I ,r a 1p111t a naUV1....... ,

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Chapter 3 Early Education in Calamba and Biiian Ra&I had h,a tarly edua11t0n 10 C'.awnba and Billan, It 1ypicnl ~hoahna lhat a 11>n of an dustrado faauly received durin, his lune, , han.:1enuJ by lhe four R·, - readina, wn11n1, anthmehc, and rd,g,on. lnc1 a nd lhc pr ■ycn " \fy mother;· wrote RiuJ in h11 s1uckn1 mcmoir1, -11u1h1 nic ho• 10 reAc:try and 1mpro\Cd the latters poetical an by o pcru111 bu mind 10 the ennchm11 ,nnuence o f the "'o rld's b teratu re.

The fi r hon.:)ed du,tcr. While the cenerous and 10-,ne ,,rmcnt Fcctb 11t roots, IO the Crc..,·n1111 ,. ..te,. Of c:clc.11&1 vinu,c 11•e ne• 1trc To EducattOII INC, shedd1na On ,1 .. amuh and bp, bccalliC of t~cm • The vine smells ,wcct and pv.,. dchc,ous rru,1 Without Rcbgiun , Human Education 1, hl..c unt,> a ,cucl struck by w,ntb Wh-.:h , sore bc,ct, IS of IIS helm depnved By 1hr ro3 nng blo"'s and buffet> of the d1ad 1 cm~•- Boru, •ho focrcrly wield\ Hi~ power un11I he proudly sends her down Into the d,:cp ~b)>k• of the ""gtrcJ lel •s the hca•en·s de,. the meadow teed> and. ~trcngthens no,.c,s all the eanh f.mbruid.:t 1n the dayt of m1t1ed h• Father Sanchez the finished manU>Cnpt of the drama grJndmothn , holl5C, he saw other guests. One of whom -N~ an Jttrav :, c .:.11 l who mystenowly caused his heart to palpuatc w11h •tr.,n~,ccstasy. She was the sister of his mend Mariann. and her n.,m, was Scgunda. His grandmother's guests. who were mostly Cllcgc ,1udcnt,. knew of his slull ,n painttng. so that they urged hun , JrJ"' Scgunda's portrait He complied reluctantly and m.idc - p.:n,·1 sketch o f her. ttfrom time to time." he rem1m,ccd later ",he looked at me. and I blushed . ttlS Rual came to know Scgunda more mumatd~ ,lur ni: h1, weekly visits to La Concordia College. "'here h" "''"' Ohmp,a was a boarding student Olimpia v.as a close fricnJ ,,t ~,i:undJ It .was appuent that Rizal and Segunda loved ca..:h ,,1h,·r Their,

wu mdeed •a love al fint agbt". But it was bopdcts since the

very bcpnina bccaUIC Scl'fflda WU a1rady c11pp to be married to her townmate, Manuel Luz Rizal, for all his artislJC and intellc::ro&al prowes1. was a shy and timid lover. Scpnda bad manilQled, by lflltnuatJon and deeds, her affcctlOll for blm, but be timidly failed to propo1e

1be last tune they talked to each other was one Thursday io Oooembcr. 1877 when the au.cm. vacanon wu about to bqin. He visited Seguod.a at La Concordla College to say eoodbyc because be wu IOUII home to Calamm the followin& day. She, on her pan, told him she wu abo aoin& home one day later. She kept qui.et after lier brief rq,ly, wa.tina for him to ay -thir,a which her heart was clamonna to bear. &II Rizal failed 10 come up to her expcctatioo. He c:ould ooly mumble: •well, good-bye . AIJyway - l'U ace you wbeo you S- Calamm OD your way to Upa "

Tile nut day Rizal a~ed by 11cama m lus bomctaw11 Hill IIOClwr did not rccogni:u him at lint, due to her failin& CJCliabt- He was saddened to find Olll about bis mother's a,owina H d . H» listen gaily welcomed bun, tcuina him about Scpada, for they knew or bis romance throup Obmpa. 'lbat aipt be dcmoutrated hia atill in fenang to his family. tn Calambe andbacedbam.

Kc bad a frieAdly feocina bout with the bell fencer Tile

ioUowina day (Saturday)

be learned lhat the llcamcr

QIITyiDg Scgunda and her family would not anchor at Calamba

bccauac ol lhc strona winds; 11 would stop In Bil\an. He saddled his white hone and waited at the road A cavalcade of carromatu from Binan passed by. In ooe of -..hom ScJUDC!a amilinr and waVU1g her bandkcrcbtef at ham. He doffed his hat and wa, COGpe-tied to say anythlna Her carnage rolled aa and varusbed in the distance Ii.kc •• swm lhadow• He returned home, dazed and dcsolalc, with his fint romance "'ruiDcd by bis own sbyocu and reserve• TIie first pit, 'llrhom he loved with ardent fervor, waa lose to him forever Sbe returned to Upe and later married Mallud Luz. He remsincd tn Calamba, a frustrated lover, cbcrillbiog DO&talp: memories of a Joa lo¥e.

Three ycan later, Juul , rcco-rdulg lus fint and ~ romance, 181d: •Ended, at an early bour, my 6nt love My · h n will alwa"" mourn the rcdd- step 11 took on lbe vu-gin ca ,. bu '-·"ff ft• f)owcr-dcckcd abyss. My illusions will rclUOI , yes, t...,. ~ . uncertatn , ready roe the fint betrayal on the path of love.

•• • • •

Madie.ii S1uc:JIN At Tht UnMf"liltV Of Sento l'o,n• ,

Chapter 5 Medical Studies at the University of Santo Tomas (1877-1882) ill _Fortun.atel!, 'Rnal's tragic: fim romance, with 11s b111er dtsf~omem, dtd not adversely affec:t hu studie~ in the University ~h-l to Tomas. After finishmg the fim year of a course in 1 osophy and Letters (18"7-71!), he lntn$(erred to the medic:al : : : Dunng tb_e yea" of his med1c:iJ _~tud1cs m this university was adrmn1stercd by the Dom1nac:ans, rival educ:ators o ( the Jesuu~. be remauted loyal 10 Ateoeo. where he continued IO patllopate 1n extra-curncular ac11vit1es and where he completed the voc:at1on C:OID'SC in surveying. As a Thomasian he ""on more btera:ry laurels, had other romances with pretty '·rts an~ _fought agams1 Spanish students who insulted the b!wi; Filipmo students.

~ • - to R icber Ech•aitioa. Aller graduattng . MllCiler's ..,....._.,... With the highest honors from the At-o n ,__ , had thU · ~--.~ ~~IO e nivers,1y of Santo Tomas for lugher studies The Bachclo or Arts cou= d r s · h · high u mg pan,s limes was equivalent only to ther . school and Juruor college c:ourses today It merely qu1tlified llS !!13dua1e to enter a university. Both Don Francisco a.n d Pac:1ano wanted Jose 10 pursue lugher tcammg tn the Bui o0 - ..- d ho un1vers11y. . na • co ora, w knew what happened 10 Gom-Bur-Z.. :gorously 0 ~ the idea and told her husband. wDon't send m to t.fan1la agwn; be knows enough. If he gets 10 know ~re, the Spaniard~ wiU c:ut off his head. " 1 Don Franc:isco kept ~wetlaanded told Pac,ano to accompany his younger brother to an, , spite their mother's tears.

,an~ 18821

Jose R.iza£ himself was surprised why htS mother, who was a woman of education and c:uhure, should objcc:t to his desire for a univcnity education. Ycars later he wrote in his Journal: -oic1 my mother pecbaps have a foreboding of wha1 would happen IO me? Does a mother's heart really have• second s1gh1?M

llbal F.atns die Unl•mdty. In April 1877 Riz.al v,;ho was then nearly 16 yean old, matnculated in the University of Santo Tomas, talnng the c:ourse on Philosophy and Leners. He enrolled m this c:ourse for two reasons: (1) his father liked 11 :ind (2) he was "still unoeru.in as lo what career to pur,;ue" He had wnnen to Father Pablo Ramon, Rector of the Ateneo. who haJ been good to him during his s1uden1 days ,n that college. il!>lung for advice o n the choice of a c:areer But 1he Father Rec:tor wa\ then in Mindanao so that he was unable 10 advise Rizal, Consequently, dunng lus first-year term (1877-78) 10 1he Un1ven.il) of San10 Tomas, Rizal studied Cosmology, Metaphy... c, Theod icy, and History of Plulosophy. It was d uring the following term (1878-79) 1ha1 Rizal, having received the Atenco Rector's advic:e to study medicine. took up the medical course, enrolhng simultaneously in the prc:para1ory medical course and the regular lint year med1c:al course Another reason why he chose medicine for a career was 10 he able to cure blS mother's growmg bbndness. FiDisha Saneytnc Coune In Ateneo (1878). Ounng h1,. first sc:hoo! term in the University of Santo Toma, (18TI-7K), R11al also studied in the Aleneo. He took the vocational course lcadinJ! to the title of peri10 a~mor (expert surveyor). In 1hosc day, it should be remembered, the c:oUcgc, fur be•)' in Ma1111.t offc:r~o vocational c:ourses in agricullure, ccmmercc, n1cchamc~. ~nd surveying. Rizal. as usual, exc:elled in all subje.:ts m the ,ul'\c~,n~ cou.ne m 1he Ateneo. obtaining gold medals ,n agncultur~ .,n,1 topography At the age of 17. he P·"scd the finul cxam,11,,1101 in the surveying course. but he could not he granted ·he 1111.: as surveyor bec:ause he was belo"' age. The 11t1c v.Js ,.-.,.ued to him on November 25. 1881. Although Rii:al W-.lS Lhen J Th..imai.ian. he £re4ucntly v1,1tcd the Atenco. It was due not onl) to hi~ surv.:)ing cour,c hut 47

more because of bis loyalty to the Ateneo, where be had ao many beautiful memories and whose Jesuit professors, unlike th~ Dominicans, loved him and inspired him to asa:nd to grcaaer heights of knowledge. He continued to participate actively in the Ateoco's extra-cunicubr activities. He was president of the Academy of ~pani5h Literature and secretary of the Academy of Natural Sctence$ He also continued his membership in the Marian Congregation, of •1lic:b he was the secretary.

Romances wttb ~ Glrll. Notwithstanding his academic studies in the Univeri.ity of Santo Tomas and extra-curncvlar acttvtties in the Ateneo, Rizal had ample tune for love. He was a romantJc dreamer who tik.ed to sip the "nectar of love". His Rd experience with htS first love had made him wiser in the ways of romance. Shortly after IOSlng Segunda Kali&bal:, he paid coun 10 a young woman m Ca1amba. In his student memoirs, be called her simply "Miu L ,• dc~ribing her as •fau with seductive and 2 attractive eyes" After visiting her m her house several times he suddenly stopped hts wooing, and the romance died a naturai death. Nobody today knows who this woman was. Rizal himself did not give her name Hence, her 1den1tty is lost to history. Ho,,.-ever, he gave two reasons for his chanie of bear1. namely: (I) the sweet memory of Segunda was still fresh in his heart and 2) h,s father did not like the famtly of "Miss L • Several monthli later, dunng his sophomore year at the Univer~ny of Santo Tomas he board~d in the house of Dooa Concha Leyva in lntramur Oolorrs A they danc,cd, the dancer Turvmba. Tun.. MalJlWa tavo't m4irawa

Modlc1115Mlloe AIT.. Unh9rol1V Ol$on11> T-•

S11m11yow 11g IW'llmlHI l'l,rl 111 BirlK11 Morl4 . In Pall:il Rizal was infatuated by a pn:cty girl colegiala. Vicenta Ybardolaza, who ~lulllully played the barp at the Regalado home From Palul. Riz:11 and hi~ party made a side ttjp to the neighboring town of Pagi.anjan for two reawns it was the native town of Leonor Valenzuela, one of Rizal's girl friends 1n Manila, and to see the world famed Pagsan,an Falls. Years later Ri.zal mentioned the Turumbo in Chapter VI of

Noli M~ Tangtre and Pagsanjan Falls in his travel diary (United States - Saturday, May 12, 1888), where he said that Niagara Falls was the ·gi-catest cascade,, I ever saw" but ·not so beauuful nor fine as the falls at Lo$ Banos. (sic) Pagsanjan" Champion or F1Up1Jlo Stvc14!ots, Rizal was the champion of the Filipino s_tudeni., m their frequent fights against the arrogant Spanish studenu, who wen: often surpassed by the Filipinos In dBS$ work and who insultingly called their brown classmates • JndJo, chongolk In retaliation. the Filipino students called them •K,utilo, bangu,1" Hostility between these two grouP5 of students often exploded in angry street rumbles.

R.iza1 participated in these ,tudent brawls Owing to his skill in fe~~ng, ~is. prowess in ,nestling, and his indomitable courage, be dutinguuhed himself in these student skinnlshes. In 1880 he founded a secrcc IOCiety of Filipino 1ludents in the University

of Santo Tomas called Compaiiuismo (Comradeship). whose memberi were called "Companions of Jehu.·· after the valiant Hebrew general who fought the Armaeans and ruled the Km&• dom of Israel for 28 years (843-816 B.C.). He was the chief or this_ secret student society, with his oousin from Batangas. Galicano _Apaable, as se~rctary. As chief, he led the Filipino lilUdent.s into combat against the Spanish students in vanous street fights. In one of the fierce encounters between the Filipino students and their pale-skinned detractors near the Escolta m Manila Rizal.was wounded on the head His friend, brought him bleeding and covered with dust to his boarding hou,c, acasa Tomasina•· Leonor Rivera teodedy washed and dressed his wound. 54

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18821

Ullhappy Days at the UST. Rizal, Aleneu·s hc.,y wonder. found the atmosphere at the University of Santo Tomas \uff~nt ing to his sensitive spirit. He was unhappy at 1h1s Dominican institution of higher learning because (1) the Domirucan professors were hostile to him, (2) the Filipino students were meld Hy discriminated against by the Spaniards, ,rnd (3) the method 1>f instruction was obsolete and repressive.

In his novel.£/ Filibuster,smo, he de,;cribed ho"' the Fihpinpc ,111d o ther laboratory apparatuses were kept on~1dc the ,hown"~' 111 be seen by visitors, but the students could not even tom:h them Because of the unfriendly attitude or his profo"or' RM.ii, the most brilliant graduate of the Atcneo. fa1kd Ill wm high scholastic honors Ahhough his grades in 1hc first v,·.or of the philo50phy course were all ''excellent ," lhey were nnt 11nprc,,iv~ in lhe four years of his medical course His sc:hulas110 record, In the University of Santo Toma!> (187'.1•82) w"r~ a, fnl111w, . •u 1877-78 (Philosophy & l.cllers)

Cosmology & Metaphysics Thcod,cy . H15tory ol Ph,lolllc IIL thuJght that it wa:, ut•) w1111 e Barcelona. Rizal -.rote a ~honaltst1c essay entJtled "Amor Patrio. (Love of Count!\), hJ_s firs~ article \O.nllen on Spain's soil. He sent this amcie to ius mend 1n Manila, Basiho _Teodoro Moran . pubhshcr of O,ariong Tagalog, the first Manila bilingu.il ne10.,papcr (Spanish and Tagalog). Rizal'~ "Amor Patrio, ~ under his pen-name Laong /.aan, appeare~ m pnnt m Du,riong Tagalog on August 20. 1882. It was published ID two texts - Spnmsh and Tagalog. The Spanish text was the one onginally written by Rizal in Barcelona The Tagalog text was a Tagalog translauon made by M .H del Pilar The ar!1clc caused qu11e a $Cn\811on among the readers rn the Phihpp1ncs because of its nauonatisuc flavor As ID his prize-win. rung linentud F1ltp111a. ·• Rizal m lus "Amor Patna•· urged h·s 1 compat~o~ 10 love their fatherland, the Philippines. Among other thmg.~. he wrote :8

'"°"' disinteresled

Read hJStory

Publisher Basilio Teodoro Moran. deeply impre"cd I>> ·'Amor Pamo," congratulated Rizal, and requested for more aroclcs. l n response to his request. Rizal wrote the second aruck for Du,riong Tagalog entitled "Los Vio)l!S" (Travel,) H,s third artic.le. entitled "Rtvista de Madrid" (Review of Madrid), which he wrote in Madrid on November 29, 1882, was rclurocd to him because the Diartong Tagalog had ceased pub1tca11on £or lack of funds Manila Moves to Madrid . While so1oum1ng in Barcelona. Rizal received sad news about the cholera that was ravaging Manila and the provmces. Many people bad died anJ more wen: dying daily. According 10 Pacinno's letter, dared Scptcmhcr 1~. 1882, the Calamba folks were having afternoon no, cnas tn San Roque and nocturnal processions and prayers so 1ha1 (10d ma~ stop the dreadful eptderruc, which the Spanish heahh Juthm1ues were impotent to check.

And how strancc! The poorer and more mucrablc she the more we suffer for her, and the more she is tdoltted and adored; )CS, there i, real JOY ,n ,uUenng for her.

Lift In Madrid. On November 3 1882. R11al cnrol~d HI the Universidad Central de Madnd (Central Un1vcr-ity of "1ad rid) in 1wo courses - Medicine and Ph1lowphy ,,nd Ll'tters Aside from his heavy studies in the un1vcr~itI. he ,tuJ1ed p~m111,~ and sculp1ure in the Academy of Fme Aru or San Fernanned, we weep and go ,0 que\l 1

II has always been wd that love is the most potent force bclund the most ..,bhmc de"ds; ,ery "'-eU, of all lo,cs . the love-of country is what produced the greatc:$1. the most

After _the fash10n of the ancient Hebrews who offered '" the temple the fi,-.;1 fruit\ of tMir lovr, we ,n a foreign land. dedicate our fim aa:ounts to our country. enshrouded •monc the clouds and mi.o. of morn, alway, beautiful and poeuc, bu1 c,-er more idolized in propon10n as .,.e are llb1n1,, held tn 1h,· cverung or December 1 1 t.sl\.! 1-i ,h,.,ad p,111 I rl ..", ,a..... dedteated 10 her. In 'n1s poem 11tled A [,a .\eti,mt, C. O v P \l\"3'-.'11)

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> : tt,ed

0

(To M,ss C O y P.). 'he expressed hi, adnura11on (or her. H e round wlace and JOY in her comp.1ny . H owever. before his romance with Consuelo could blo,,som mto a serious affair, be suddenly backed out for two reasons (I) he was still engaged to Lconoc- Rivera and (2) his friend and

\SI,; Mt: FOR \

f.R.,n,

Ye LS tmJ me now 10 ,1nlc tht· l)rC

Th ll mute o1nd torn ,o r. ,nit ha, l"i•n And i·e1 I "ake y a cenam '>rJr)' H" collection of books included The Bible,

66

Htbrtw Grammar, Livts of dtt Pres1dt'fllS of the Unittd Stau:J from Was/ungton to Johnsc>r,, Complrtt' Works of Voltairt' (Q volumes), Comp/tit Works of Horou (3 ,·olumes) , C.omplete Worlcs of C. Bernard (16 volumes). Hi.s1ory of tnt' Frtnch Rtvoluli.on, T11t Wanduing lt'w, Anc~nl Poetry, Works of Thucv1Jut,•,. 71it' Byzanhnt Empirt, The Charoctrr.f hy La Bruyere, Thr Rpwissanu, Unch Tom's Cob111 by Harriet Bcec:her Stowe, Works of Aluandtr Dumas, Louis XIV and Jiu Courr, and nlllllcrou, '-ooks on medicine, phtlosophy, language,, h,~10,y gcogaph) 1rts, and $Cs), the Opera HoUM:. the l'luu: de I• CollQOrde, the Arch of Triumph. the Bois de Boulogne (magnificent park). the Madelaine ChuR:h, the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Column of Vendome, the lnvalidcs (containmg the tomb of Napoleon the Great), and the fabulou~ Vcrsa1ll1\~ Unlike ordinary t6uri,ts, who-.e main mtcrest in •isiting foreign countries is to see the beautiful sights, to enjoy I hem,elve,, in night clubs and lheatres, and to shop for wurvcnir item,, Ri.t.al improved his mind hy observing clo,;cJy th,· Frc-nch of life and spending many hours at the museums, notabl} the world-famous Louvre; the botanical gardens, especially 1hc Luxembourg the libraries and art gallerit'!,, and the hosp11uls, ,ncludont the Lacnnec Ho6pital, where he obi.erved Or. Ni.:atsc treating hi, patients and the Lariboisiere Hospital, wh •re he observed the examination of different diseases of wumen

"""Y

On the lighler side of his v1Stt m l'ari~. RWII was mistaken by the Parisinns a• a Japanese The pncei. of food. dnnks, thcalrc tickets, laundry, hotel accommodations, and tran~portation were

"

too high ror his slender purse so that he commented in a letter to his family: •Pari~ 1\ the co,liest capital in Europc." 11 R11.al u • Muon. In Spam Rizal CJUne m close contaet with prominent Spanish ht>cral and republican Spaniards. who were mostly Mason,, 111 of prayer, with such viir:or illnJlt..1 rcg,ons follo,o lbc• wilh .,,.,,,. 1 .:.me .Ja, . 1hc 2bl, ,.hen., pol1ician, qualified to prac11se medicine. He did not bother 10 secure the post-,graduatc degre~ of ~oct':>r of Medicine because it was, together with the hcenuatc 1n philosophy and leucrs, good only fo_r 1cachmg purposes. _Bein_g a man o f high intelligence and foresight , he knew that with ~1s brown color and Asian racial ancestry no tJ:iar:°~ned university or college in the Plulippines would _aocept him 1? Its faculty_ st~ff. Thus he said, in his leller 10 his family wnllen m Madnd, November 26 . 1884: "My doctorate is not of very much value 1o me ... because although it is useful to a university pro~essor, yet I believe they (D ominican friars - Z) will never appo1~1 me as such in the College of Santo Tomas. I say the same 1hing_of Philosophy and letters which may serve also for a professorship. • to me.·" 19 but I doubt if the Dominican fathers w1·11 grant 11

•••••

76

77

p.,,, to 8erli" ( 1885 1881)

Chapter 7 Paris to Berlin (1885-87) After completing his studie,, in Madrid, Rizal went to Pans and Germany in order to spec,alt:ie in ophthalmology I le particularly chose this branch of medicine because he wanted 10 cure his mother's eye ailment. He served as assistant 10 the famous oculists of Europe. lie also conunui.:d his travcb and observations of European life and customs, government and laws in Paris, Heidelberg, Leipzig, and Berlm. In Berhn, capital of then unified Germany. he met and bc-fnended several top German ubficidad and made a crayon sketch of Don Miguel Morayta, owner of La Pub/1cidad and a statesman. He gave Editor Corominas an anicle on the Carolines Question, then a controversial issue, for publicatfon. 1

. In November 1885, Rizal was living in Paris, where he soioumed for about four months. He worked as an assistant to Dr Louis de Weckert (1852-1906), leading French ophthal• ?1ologist, fr_om Novembe{ 1885 10 February 1886 He rapidly .improved his knowledge of ophthalmology, as revealed hy his

78

lane, to his parents on January I, 1886. "Wuh respe~t to the 11udy of the ailments of the eyes," he wrote , " I am do,ng well. I know now how to perform all the operation,; I only nccc.J to knnw what is going on inside the eye, which require~ much • prnct,cc". 2 Outside of hts working hours at Or. Wcckcrt \ chm,. R11,ll ,~loxed by visiting his friends, such as the family of the Pardo dt- I averas (Tnnidad, Feluc, and Paz), Juan Luna, and Felix Rc,urrcccion Hidalgo. Pa:t Pardo de Tavera wa, a_ preuy !!lrl. whn wa., engaged 10 Juan Luna On the album of th•~ g,rt Ru.ii drew a series of ~ketches on the story of "The Mon~cy anti the I unlc" At the studio of Luna. RtL;tl ,pent many happy hour,. I k di,cus.~ed w11h Luna, the great ma,tcr of the hru,h. ,a11m" problem~ on an and improved his own pamtm)( technique. I k helped Luna by posing as model ,n several pa1n11ng, In lus1.1, canva.~ "The Death of Cleopatra," Rttal puscJ '" an Li:vin,.,11 priest In another or Luna\ great painti~~,. " The Bto,1el Cm11 pact." he posed as Sikatuna, with fnntdad Pardu ,k T;l\vr.i taking the role or Legazp,

Rlz.al as Muslcwn. Mu,ic pla}cd o111 1111por1.1111 p,11 t 111 ,,II Filip,no reunion, in Barcelona Madn~. P,111, und nthcr i'l1tc, or Europe. The Filip,nn contcmporancs of R11al ,·ould c11hcr play an rnstrument or smg. Especially, in the home ol the Pnrdn de Taveras and ,n the Luna studio. every i:c:un,on w," cnh,,:n,·d with the playmg or , he how, h,s head 10 the guests, introduces himself and ~hakes the hand~or everyone in the room . ACCQrding 10 the German code or e1,quette. 1t l,l; bad manners tor a guest 10 remain aloo~, and wait for hi, host or hostess to make the proper introduction

Rlzal's Dark.est Winter. Rizal ~pcnl winters in many temperate countries. The winter of 1886 in Rer(in wa~ h,~ dar.kest wmter Ounng this bleak winter, he hved m poverty b«ause no money arrived from Calamba and he wu, tl;u broke. n1c diamond ring which his sister, Saturnina, g,.-e him was in lhc awnshop. He could not pay his landlord He had lo _scnmp, p ti only one meal a day. And that datly meal cons1s1ed or and water or some cheap vegetable soup I !is clu1hcs were old and threadbare. He washed them' himself because he could not afford to pay the laundry.

:c:cf

Out in far-away Calamba, Paciano 1ried desperately _10 raise knew his younger brother was in a dire fmanc,al d h ~es money. He . situation in Berlin. But the croP5 had fa, 1cd u~ 10 I c rav_., or the locusts. The sugar market collapsed. :•me wa~ of lhc essence, but poor Paciano was delayed ID ratstng the necessary funds. Meanwhile, Ri:t.al starved in Berlin and sluvcred with wm1ry Id. His health broke down due to lack of proper nounshment. ~e began 10 cough. and he feared that he w~ goi~g to be ~•ck with tuberculosis. Never had he suffered such physical blows of penury, so that his soul cried out in despair. 117

wom.cn. Rizal was disgusted at such fiippancy. He wru. more , ,iqustcd to see that his companions, instead of working seriously on the novel, wasted their time gambling or flirting with Spanish tcllnntas.

•

Chapter 8 Noli Me Tangere Published in Berlin (1887) The bleak winier of 1886 was memorable in 1he lire of Riz.al for 1wo reasons: first. II was a pamful eplSOde for he was hungry s,_ck, and despondent in a ~lrange city and, seoond. it brou h,m great JO)', nftcr enduring $0 much ~uflcrings. because t,s fi~t novel Nol, Me Tangrre came off the pre1,.~ in March, 1887 Like the_ lcgendar) S~ta Claus, Dr Maximo Viola, his fnend from Bulacan_. nmvcd m Berlin at the height ot his despondenc and loaned him lho needed fuod, to pubhsh the novel )'

h;

!dea of Writing a Novel on the Ptiillpploa. His reading of Harr1~1 Beecher Stowe's Unck Tom's Cabin, which portrays the brutabucs of American slave-owners and the pathetic conditions of the unfortunate Negro slaves, inspired Dr. Rizal to pre ar,c a novel that _w ould depict the miseri~ of his people undefthe lash of Spanish tyrants. He was then a student m the Central Umvc~11y of Madrid In a reunion nf Fi!•pinos in the Pa1crno residence in Madrid on Jan~ary_2, 181\4, Rizal proposed the writing of a novel about the Ph,hppmes by a group of Filipinos. His proposal was unanimously approved _by_ those present. among whom were the Paternos (Pedro. Mwom,no, and Antonio), Grne,uno Lopez Jaena Evansto Aguirre, Eduardo de Letc, Julio Llorentc, Melcc,~ Figueroa, and Valentin Ventura. Unfortunately, Rizal's project did not materialize Th compa~nots who were expected 10 collaborale on the novel :::: 1e ~nythmg. The novel was designed to cover all phase~ 0 1 •ppme hie However. almost everybody wanted to write

'lf'p;7

88

Undaunteo by his fnends' inCnl the first copies of the printcJ novel to his intimate friends, including 8lumcntritt. Dr. Aniomo Ma . Regidor, G : LopeiJaena, Mariano Ponoe. and Felix R. Haddlgo. In his letter to Blumenlntt, dated March 21, 11187. he s:11d "I 1m sending you a book It ,s my fir~, book, though I h11vc already written much before it and received some prizes in literary competitions. lt 1s the first impartilll and bold hool.. on the life of the Tagalog.~. The Filipinos will find 11 the h1Mory of the last ten years. I hope you will noti~c how d,rterent are my descriptions from those of other writer&. The govcrnmcna and the man1 will probably attack the work , refuting my nrgumcnl\, but I trust in the God of Truth unJ in the pcr;ons who have actually seen the sufferings at close range. I hope I can aru.wer all the concepts which have bc~n fabricated to malign u~ ' ' On March 29, 1887, Rizal, in token or hi~ apprecmuon nnd gratitude, gave Viola the galley proof) of the Noli carefully rolled around the pen that he used in writing ii and a comphmentary copy, with the following insenption: ~To my dear rnend. Maxtmo Viola, the first to read and appreciate my work Jusc Raza I " The Tide or the Novd. The utlc Noll Me Tangue a, a Latin phrase which means "Touch Me Not." It is not originally con• ceivcd by Rizal, for he admitted taking it from the Bible

Rizal, writing lo Felix R Hidatdo in French on March S,

1887, said: "Noli Me Tangere, words taken from the Gospel or Sr'nt Luke, signif> "do not touch me ... In ming 1hc Dablic.il source, 'Rizal made a mi~take. II should be the Gospel of St John (Chapter 20, Verses 13 10 17) According to St. John. on the Fust Easter Sunday. St. Mary Magdalene v1s11cd the Huly 91

Sepulcher, and to her Our Lord Jesus, Just ~ n from the dead,

said:

accndrd 10 •> F11hc-r, bu1 10 10 my brethren, and ny unto 1htm, I ~nd untn mt F•1hcr, and )OUr f'11hc-r; and 10m1God Ind your God • "Touch me llOI, I am

110t ~•

TM Aulhor'1 Dtcllcall1,n, Rizal dedicated h~ Nol, Mt Tan~,~ 10 1he Philippines - "To My hlhc:rland. • •fadedlc11ion

runs

15

follnws.

Rc,orded ,n the hlSlr) o( hum-, •11ffcrmcs b I anctt 10 m 1l1gn.in1 • ch•rntc1 11111 lhc lcMI toud\ tml.lllet II and •"•lrm 1n ,1 lhc Wrpcsl pains Thus, bow many llmc■, "he" ID lhe midst of modcra ~IJOCb I ..... Wished IO call lh« bcfote me, now 10 -pt.II)' a,c 1n MCmona, t con,p,arc lh« w,1h othu coun1,,..,, 111111 lh)' dou ,magc prc~n1,:d nwlf showinc • ,ociat canur li•e to 1hac -

other•

-•'IIC

Ocsinng lhy well~re ,.~ich u ou, own , ud ix 1>«1 1rca1men1, I "'ill do w,1h ~ •ha I tlw: ■'lndarooe f&1tbfully, d1>tnmm11kms. I will n11t 1 .,.n ol 1hc w~ lh•• Cntains 63 ch~p(e~ and •n cprl•')lue It becjn, w11h a rettpbOn Jiven hy Capitan T1ago (Sanua•o ck 106 San10&) 11 hr~ ti.owe 1n Calk Anloague (now Juan Luna S1rcct) on the last day of liecn Cl)1ng. Oon't deny ii with yoursm1le. You ve been crymg. n ,he would leave thi< houw where . Sh. explained "It as not right for me to hvc alone. , h c grew up c · . s Ill be able go 10 hv,: "',th my relatives in Mmdoro • oon . to ray the ,kh1 111) mother left me when ~he died. to g1v.~ up thi< house an "'hich one was born and had l(rohwn up 1s · · "''11 ,omethong more 1hJn g,vong up one's beang· /\ typ oon .. ,0111c, a r.~shct, and evcr)thing wall go to the lake

ru

•>11· as remained ;ilent for a moment; then ht: held her honds, dnd '·"ked her· "llavc you heard anyone spea k 1·11 0 f you'' Have _ d I ,;o~ctimes worried you'/ Not that either'/ Then. you are t11e of my friendship and want to drive me away .. • 101

She answered •No, don't taJk like that. I am not llred 0 f )'Qur friendship. Ood knows that I am satisfied with my lot. 1 only destre hcallh that I may work. I don't envy the rich the wealthy. but. . • ' •But what?"

"Well then," Salome said , looking at him tenderly· -At

lent when I'm gone, live here. stay ID this house. It will make you remember me; and I will not thmk

•Nothing. I don·, envy them as long as I have your friendsl\ip. • '"Salome," replied the youth 11,ith bitter sorrow. "You know my cru.el past and that my misfortune rs not of my own mak· If not for _the fataJity that at limes keeps me thinlong. ~~~ bitterness,_ 1f 11 11,ere not that I don't want my children 10 suffer what my SISier and I suffered, you would have been my wife in the eyes of God But for the sake of thss very love, for the sake o~ llus future family, I have sworn to end with myself the !11•sfortune that ~ have been inhemin& from father to son, and 11 _ts better that JI ~ be so, for neither you nor I would W1Sh 10 hear our children lament our love, which would only bequ~th them misery. You do well 10 go 10 the house of your rela~•es. Forget me, forget a Jove so mad and futile. Perha you ll meet there one "'ilo is not like me.• ps ¥Eliast exclaimed the girl reproachfully. "Y_ou ha~ m,sunderstood me. ln my words, there is no ~plaint apmst }~U. T•ke my advice, go home to your relative~. . Herc you have no one but me, artd the day when I fall mto the bands of my pursuers, you wilt be leh alone for the rest or your W-e. Improve your youth and beauty 10 gel a ~ood hu~band, such as you de&erve, for you don't know what JI IS to hve among men .•

''( was thinking that you might go with me ·• S·•lo d softly • me ""1 ¥

•·Alas." reiomed Elias sb~king bis head. "lmpa . Finl , he and Viola Yisitcd Poudam. a city near Bertin, which Fredenck the great made famous. TM T_. Bep. Al dawn of May 11, 1687, RJZ.al and Viola two brown-skinned docton on a roanung spree, left Berln1 hy It was an ,deal season for travel Sprina was in the au· and all over Eu.rope the flowers were blooonng, the meadows ""uc tunung green, and the v,llage• ..ere hwrumng with aCbvity. Accord.mg to Viol.1 , the luggage of Rizal included all the letten he had rcce,ved from his (Riul's) family and fnends. Thcudestm.a.tion was D resden, ..one of the best cities i.D Germany"

tntln

,

104

o, dt~L IYzal and Viola tamed for some nme tn Dresden.. Their vu.it comaded with the rcgie>nal floral expo51t1on. Rizal , ,..ho was interested in botany, studied the "numerous plant varieties of extraordinary beauty and size". They vblted Dr. A,hlpb B Meyer, •ho was o•cl)Oycd to see them !n the Museum of An . •h.tch they Abo vuncd , Rizal was deeply unpre• ucd by a painting or .. Prometheus Bound" and recalled seeing d reprcscntauon of the same idea tn an art gallery in Pans. UH

JCIN IIIZAL: UFI. WOIIQ MDWIIITINCII

Atcet•• Grn Tour of fvrope WI"" Vida t 1•1>

While stroUing a1 the scene of the Aoral Exposi11on they

~:~ D{:t Jago~. U~/earing of their plan to vistt Lctt~critz

for the ifiomer:ice, D hoslovaki~) in order to see Blurnen1ri11 . l'!t t_une, r. Jagor advised them to wire Blurnenui11 of their con11 ng because the old professor was r d" ·· o a nervo~ ispos1non and he might suffer a shoc:k at their sudden vistt Tescheo (now Decin, Czechoslovakia) was their next stopover after leaving Dresden. Rizal and Viola sent . • a wire 10 Blu-c 1 11 "' n r, , as per suggestion of Dr Jagor First Mee-ting with Blwnentriu. At 1:30 p.m. of M·iy 13 I~. !he train, with Rizal and Viola on board aroived 'at ra~~o;dd st11ti~n Leitm~ntz, Bohemia. Profes~~r Blume;1111 w a receive their wire, was a1 the station. He was car ·, n penetl sketc.h of Rizal which the la lier had prr\lou,I him,_ so tb?t he could identify his Filipino friend, He j,trml . ' Y received R12al and Viola.

g'

a.

,h.

,t

' ..en~

For the first time, the two great scholars - Rizal and Blumentrill - who came lo knw each othe r b Y corresponuence ., • • 1 P.erson Th~y greeted each other ,n nucn1 German' umentroll was a kind-hearted, old Austrian pmfcw:>r U s~em_g the talented Rizal for the first time. he immediately h,m mto heart. loving him 1,s 8 son.

:t '"

1::~

. Profc~sor Blumentrill, the genial host, helped Rizal and V1oi:: g:t a room _at Hotel K,et,s, after wbich he hrnugh1 them to s.. o_me and_ introduced lhem to his wife and famil The tw~ Fthp1no tounsis spent many pleasant hours at the hi~c of their kind host. They stayed in Leitmeritz from May 13 IO M 16, 1887. ay

~utlM _M~ries or ~itmeria. Rizal had beautiful ~e~ncs of h,.s v1s11 to Leitmeritz. He enjoyed the warm bospttaltty of the Blumcntritt family. The professor's wife R~ was a ~ood cook, and she prepared special Austrian dishes which RizaJ h~ed velJ'. much. His children were Dolor«:$ (called Dora or 0 orota by Rizal), Conrad, and Fritz. h ~lumentriu proved 10 be a great tourist guide as well a, a ~!p1ta~le host: H~ _showed the :.ccnic and historical spo1~ of be ltmentz to hl5 visitors. One afternoon he invited them 10 ,1 er garden where the bes1 beer of Bohemia was served. At ; 106

••r table there was a lively discussion among the drinkers about die advisability of having the railroad paSlo through a neighboring town One of the men in the group was the burgomaster (town mayor) of that town, Blumentntt knew the burgomastc1. w that he •pproachcd the party and delightfully introduced his two Hhpino friends. Rizal talked in fluent Gennan, for which reason the burgomaster and his friends were amazed. The burgomaster •~ked R.iial how long II took him hl learn German. And R,wl rrphed "Eleven months, 5ir~ The burgomaster was further 1mazed. and in great admiration, he lauded lhc .. privileged t11lent" of Rizal. Blumentritt embraced Rizal, telling lum that lrw Germans could~peak well their own language e~ R,wl could, On another afternoon Rmil ancl Viola were invited 10 a meeting of lhe Tourists' Club of L.e1tmeritz. of which Blumen1ritt was the secretary. Rizal spoke e,rtcmporancously m llucnl German to the officers and members, praising A\c>lria', 1dylhc scenes and its ho,'J)itable, nature-loving, and noble people. The audience wildly applauded him, for they were enchanted bv hi, eloquence and nuency in German. Rizal, desiring to commemorate ht> happy hour, nt 1hc Blumentritt home, painted a ponrait of th,• kind pmfc"or and gave it to him. Blumentritt was pleased with the gift. It was during his vi.;ourn iD Europe, he returned 10 the Philippines in AugUSl 11181 and pracuaed medicine tO Calamba. He Jived the quiet life of a country doc:l«. But bis enemies, who resented his Noli, penec:utcd him, even tlueateomg 10 kill him Oedsion to Rdurn Hmne. Because of the publication of die Noli Me Tangue and the uproar it· caused amoog the friars, Rizal was warned by Paciano (his brother), Silvesare Ubaldo (bis brother-in-law), Chengoy (Jose M. Cealio), and odacr frimdc 001 10 return home. But he did not heed their warning. He was determined to return to the PhilippmC$ for the followiQg RUDGS: (I) to operate on hts mother's eyes; (2) IO ecrve his people who had long been oppressed by Spanish tynnts; (3) to fiad out foT himself how the Nol, and his other writings were affec:2ing FilipUlOS and Spaniards in the Philippines; and (4) to inquire why Leonor Rivera remained silent. In a letter 10 Blumentritl, written in Geneva ()"I June 19, 1887, Rini satd: "Your advice that I live in Madrid and oootinue to write from there is very benevolent but I cannot accept it. I cannot endure the life in Madrid where everytbillg is a voice in a wilderness. My parents want to me, and I WaJJt to tee

112

113

~ ""'~' Lin, - - - AIIIIO W1111-

..... ....,_.,."O (1118'"111181

~~ITI ~~-iJAUUm~ life I desire to live In my country by the side my""" Y• nbl now I am not Eu · d 1· of Madrid I alw l'k ropunize 1ke the Filipinos • ays t e to return to the country ohny binh". 1 lo Rome, on June 29 1887 R'zal iannouncing his h . ' • 1 wrote to his father he wrote "I sh ,7mefnung. "On the !Sth of July, at the latest": to the of Aa cm ark for our country, so that from the IS th ugusr. we shall fmt pa11en1 was his mother, who wa, nlmo.r bhnJ He treated her eyes, but could nc,l perform any surgical operation hecau~e her eye cataracts were not yet npe. News of the arrival of a great doctor from Germany spread far and wide. Pa1ienh from Manila and !he province~ flocked lo Calamba. Rizal, who came to be called MOoctor Uliman·• bec.iuse he came from Germany. treated their ailments and soon he acquired a lucrative medical practice H,~ professional foul the ronuovcrsinl book. 1hc governor general ~ked the author fix a ropy of the Noli w 1hat he could read 1 Rizal had no copy then because the only copy he brough1 home wa given 10 11 mend. However, be prorrused 10 secure one for the governor general R.i 7al •"Kiled lhe Jesu,t fathers to ask for the copy be sent ~em. but they would not pan with II The Jesuits. especially his former professors - Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez, Fr. Jose Be~"!'·. and Fr. Fc(S.,wareofThcm Wh)•J

3.

Y-qw - d1u usll!d th lo pnte? (And Whal Can Yuu Tell Mc of Plague?)

rorqu, triunfon los 1mpu,s' (Wln Do the fmpmu, Triumph') S. Cru =d qu" de '"IJS 110 hoy purtatono.' tDo You Think There h Reau, !'.u Purg,uor) !I. 6 Hayo nolta1 u,fitm"' (I, Th~, or I, There N< lfcll• I 1 Qut It partU o 1m,d d, ,sr l1h,fo.1' (Wh•t l)o You Thmk o f ~ Libel,>) 8. Confa10,r o cvndma, •n' (Co,,Jc"5ton or Damnat1on'!) Copies of thes~ anu-Rual pamphlets v.riuen by Fra~ Rod ngucz were '!Old daily in the church~ after \fa!>l>. Many Filipino, were fon:e~ to buy chem 1,. order not ,., di~plc ....., tho frior, but they did not bcbeve what their author ,ait.l v.nh hy he afraid 10 die. He was compelled 10 leave Calamba for two reasons: (I) his pre,;ence in Calamba w :b jcoparJizmg the sa£et) Jnd happiness of his !Jn11ly anJ tncnJ, and (!) he could fighl bc t1er Ju, enemu:s and -..:r-c hi\ c,,u111ry·, cau-..: with j!rcater efficacy by writtng in foreign countrie A Poem for Lipa. Shortly before Ri1al left Calamba in 1888 hi> friend from Lipa requ~ted h,m 10 wntc a poem in commem-

121

ol"&Uon o f the town's ckutton to a '1111 (01y) by ~,nue of the Bec:crra Law of 1888 GI..Jly, he wro1e a puem ded1et11cd 10 the industnous folks of l.1pa This wa~ 1he "Htmno Al Traf>o1a' (Hymn 10 Labor). He fin, hed u and sent 11 to Lipa before h,s depanure from Calamba h runs lb foflo..,, 11 HYMN TO l .-\BOR

ClfORUS: For •"'1 country 1n ..u .

F,>r our count') on puce The F,hp1110 wtll he read) , Whole he h•e• and ,.hen he doe, ME"I As

SOOD

as the b>t

IS

IUlled

1"1lh loi.hl

Forth lo lhc fickh to pl°"' the him'

Snxz ,t

ft: WOfk

"h!lt

'1.U(Um~

the man.

The mochcrland lam~y and the hmc For motherland, our """c:s a!ld bahts, ,,...,. be UJy '°ltb •'llr ~ ,e

WnES. Courageously set ou1 to work Your home \S Mfe v,,11h ■ fa11hful v,,1fc lmplantin& in her ch,ldrcn, io.c f'or wudom, land 111d V1r'IIXJa> bfc . Whca mpnfaU brinp ui to our re.i . May '""1ing fommc suard our door, 8ut i.t cruel fate should harm her man. The wife would toil on as before

GIRLS: Hall• Had' Q,.c pn,ae to WOfk' The co.ntry's vtpr and her "'ulth , For work lift up )Our brow serene It II your blood, your life, your hc•llh If any )'Olllh pr01cs11 his love His won shall prove ,f be be good Ill

nu., man u..c .,ho Simes and lth Can !ind the .,.)' to feed h" bn,oJ

BOYS: Teada m thee the budcsl , ..b For down thy trails we 1am our ~ct That when our country calls 1omorr°"' Tby purposct "'< may complete And may our ciders say who sec u, Seel How "'1>flhy of thctr s,rc~I No mcensc can clllt our dod one, ulr.r a brave ..,,, who a.pores•

.. .. .

Chapter 11

In Hong Kong and Macao, 1888 H ounded by powerful enemies, R izal was forced to leave his country for a second time in February 1888. He was then a full-grown man of 27 yea.rs of age, a practising physi(ian, and a recognized man-of-letters. The fim time he went abroad in June 1882, be was a mere lad of 21, a youthful student in search of wisdom m the Old Wodd, a romantic idealist with bcauliful dreams of emancipating his people from bondage by the magic power of his pen. Tm1es had changed. Rizal at 27 was an embittered victim of human iniquities, a disillusioned dreamer, a frustrated reformer.

TIie Trip to Hong Kooa, On February 3, 1888, after a short stay of six months in his bclo,ed Calamba, Rizal left Manila for Hong Kong on board the Zafiro. He was sick and sad during the crossing of the choppy China Sea. He did not get off his ship when it made brief stopover at Amoy on February 7. For three reasons: (l) he was not feeling weU, (2) it was raining bard, and (3) he heard that the city was dirty. He arrived in Hong Kong on February 8. During his stay in Hong Kong, -a British colony, Rizal wrote a letter to Blumcntritt, dated Febru~ 16, 1888, expressing h is bitterness. This letter runs as follows: At last l can write freely. At last I can express my thougbis without fear of censorship from the chief! 'Ibey forced me 10 leave my country. Half sk:lt l left the house. Ob, dear Blumentritt, you haft oo idea of my minor odystey. Without the aid al my fricad Lieuleoam Taviel de

Andrade, what would beoome of mel Without the sympatbi.es of the Governor General, the directors of the civil administration and ciY11 government, I would now be In somc dungeon All the provincials and tile archbishop went daily to the Governor General to complain against me. The Syndic nf the Dominicans wrote • denunciation to the alcalde chat at night they saw me bold secret meetings with men and women on top of a hlU. It is true I went wallang al dawn to a hill accompanied by many men, women, a.nd child,cn, for the purpose of enjoying the coolness of the morning. but always esconed by the lieutenant of the Guardia Civil who knows Tagaloa. Who ,s the coMpiratorof secret sessions that will hold them in the open air among women .a nd children? I allowed the accusation to reach t.he Governor Gener-al so he could sec what kind of enemies I have My countrymen offered me money to leave the islands. They asked me to do so not only for my own interest but also theirs, bccau.e I have many friends l\Jld auiuamtamees whom they would have deported with me to Balabag or the Marianas Islands. Thus. half skk, J bade a hasty farewell 10 my fomily. I am rt1um1ng to Europe by way of Japan and the United StatCu I dedicate the final chapter of these rncmom of my )•'Uth No woman. like you. has ever loved me No ,.orn.,n hkt ,nu l>in ever ,amficed for me L<_e the Dower of the ch...tl11 that fall, from the stem fre,h and •hole without falhng leaves nr -..uhout w11hcnn!!-W1lb p0(:try sull despite 11, f 111 lhu, you l per:.onal happiness, Rizal had to carry on ht~ libertarian OUMton in Europe, a«ordingly. he resumed his voyage. leaving behind the lovely 0-Sei-San. whom he passionately loved.

Bmlceo-hcartcd by tbe depanurc of Rizal . the firs1 man to capture her bean, 0-Sei-San mourned for a long ttme the loss or her lover Eventually, she became resigned to bcr fate, ehcrishing uni, death the nostalgic memori"s .,( her romance witb Rizal.'0

About 1897, a year after Rizal's exea;itioo, she married Mr. Alfred Charlton, British teacher of chemistry of the Peers' School in Tok.yo. Their wedlock was blessed by only one child - a daughter named Yuriko After many years of teaching, O,arlton was awarded by the Japanese govcmment With an imperial decoraltoo - Order or Merit , 5th Class. He died on November 2, 1915, surv1Vcd by O-Sci-San, whose real name wa, Seiko Uwi. and their daughter Yuriko. This daughter later manied Yoshiharu Takiguchi, son of a Japanese senator. Mrs. Cbarltoo {O-Se1-San), as a widow, lived in a comfort• able home 1n Shm1uko district, Tokyo. She survived World War II. but her home was destroyed in 1944 by the U.S bombing of Tolcyo. She died on May l, 1947 at the age of 80. She was buned in her husband's tomb at Zo.higawa Cemetery. A Japanese inscription on their tomb reads as folio-· Alfred CbartlGo, Stll Order _, Mnit, 81111 .... Sdko 133

-

IIIZAL: UR. WOIIQ MID WIIITINCIS

Voyace A - die hdflc. Despite his sorrowing heart, Rlu1 enjoyed the pleasant trans-Pacific voyage to the United

influenced him to fortify his own crusade for human nghts in hli own country.

States. On board the shlp, he met I sem i•F1lipino fanuly - Mr. Reinaldo Tumer, his wife Emma Jackson (daughter of an Englishman, their children, and their maid servant from Pangasinan. •0

On December I, 1888, afteF a last warm hanJ,ha~t and bidding each other "goodbye," Rizal dnd Tcttho parh.:tl w,1~, - never 10 meet again Rizal remained in I .ondon 1n comluct historical researches on Mora at the Bnli~h Mu,eum . "11,k Tetcho relumed to Japan.

One day one of the children, a bright young boy, asked Rizal: woo you know. sir, a famous man in Marula named Richa17 He wrote a novel, Nofi Mc Tangen, wYcs, h1jo, I

am Rlchal," replied Rizal.

In 1889, shorll> af1cr h1;, rc1urn

Japan , he puhlishn l h 1~ travel diary which contained his 1mprcsN1uns of R11al ,,, lulhw,, 1 •Mr R11al -..a~ a c111zen ol Maml,1 ,n the Ph1flpr111,•, 10

A~ aboul 27 to 29 Young as he was. he wa, p1-law Manuel T Hidalgo, husband oC Saturmna. was exjled by Governor General Weyler to

Bohol without due process of law. S. A Cricnd of Raal, Laureano Viado, 1 medic:al student 11 the Un,venaty of Santo Tocnu, was arrested and jailed m Bilibid Pnson because 00pic$ of the Noli were found in Ills boUiC.

One good news cheered Rizal, and !hat was Rev Vicente Garcia ·s defense of the Noli llPfilSl the attaclcs of the frian He heard this good news from Mariano Ponce. He was deeply gratified by the rouragcous action of Father Garcia. a venerable Fihpino canon of the Manila Cathedral. Later, On January 7, 1891. he wr01e to Father Garcia. expressing his pcnonal thanks. In this famous letter, be said:M We young Fili~ •e trying to make OYer a nation and must not halt in our onward march, bu1 from woe 10 time tum our gaze upon our dders We shall wish to read in their countenances approval of our actioos. We are a,u. ious to learn of the Phtlopp,nes' put wluch we need to understand in order to plan intelligently for the future. We want to kno• all that our a.nccston knew. and then add our own ~1ud1CS to 1he11-s Thus we shall progress the faster because ..-c can go on from where they left off Annotating Morp's Book. The greatest achievement of Rizal in London was the annotating of Morga's booll:. Succsoa de las Islas Fibpinas (Historical Events or the Plulippme Islands) which was published in Mexico, 1609. He spent many days io 144

··--·--

the reading room of the British Museum pon.ng over the pqcs of this booll: and laboriously reading the old histories of the Philippines. such as those written by Fr Chirino, Fr. Colin, Fr. Argensola. Fr. Plasencia, etc. Of all wnnen histoncs published dunng the early years or the Spanish regime, that of Dr Morga was, in his considered opinion, the best

In a letter to Blumentritt, dated September 17. 1888, Rizal said. MMorga's work ,s an excellent book; it can be said that Morga is ., modem schobrly explorer He dOQ not have the superficiabty and exaggeration which an: found among Spaniards today he writes very simply. but one has to read bei-..-cen the line~ ...

For about ten months (May 1888-March 18119), Raal was deeply immersed in his historical stu nom-dcplume D,mas Along. This opus i~ a ... ore dep1Cbn,: • spirited dialogue between St. Augustine and Fr Rodriguez. St. Augustine told Fr Rodriguez that be (St. Augustine) was commiss,oned by God to tell him (Fr. Rodriguez) of his stupidity and mfonn him or lus penance on earth that he (Fr. Rodrigue:i:) ,hall contmue t:> write more stupidity so that aU men may laugh at him .

In La Vision de/ Fray Rodriguez. Rizal demonstJ atc:d

!WO

thin&-': (I) his profound knowledge of religion and (2) lili biung satire. In London, Ru.al wrote the famous •Lener to the YOUllg Women or Malolos· (February 22, 1889) io Tagalog .16 He penned it, upon the request of M .H. del Pilar to praise lhc young ladies or Maiolo$ for their courage 10 c:.stablish a school where they could learn Spanish. despite the opposition o r Fr Felipe Garcia, Spanish pansh priest or Malolos The main points of thts letter were: (I) a Filtpmo mother should teach her children Love of God. fatherland, and munltmd: (2) the Filipino mOlher should be glad. like the Spartan mother, 10 offer her sons in the defense of the fatherland; (3) a Filipmo woman should ltnow how to preserve her digruty and honor; (4) a Filipmo woman should educate herself, aside from retaining her go()d racial virtlJCs. and (5) Faith is not merely reciting long prayers and weanng religious pictures, but rather 11 1s liVJng the real Christian way, with good morals and good manners Dr Rost, editor of Trubntr's Rtr:ord, a journal devoted to Asian sn,dies, requested Rizal 10 contribute some articles. In response to his request, the la.Iler prepared two articles - (1) 14'

In L ~

~Specimens ofTagal Folklore" which was published in the JOumal m May, 1889; and (2) '1wo w1em Fables", publ~hed in June

1889."

'

The lint anicle consisted of Filipino proverb$ and puzzles, as follows: 11 I Pronrt.ial Saylnp Malakas ang bulong sa stga11,. Low "orck arc ,trongo, so that 11 rn hlb up all the house. -The hght. The nee-com ,.,,h the busk IS ycllowuh. Mlllapang ako sa dalawa, duwagakosa i.sa. I •m bra,e apm\l two, coward ag,wul one The bamboo brid[!C When the bridge is IMdc of ooe bamboo ""'Y II" 1fficul1 to pass a-er; but -..hen it's made or ,,.,o or n1orc 11 ,s >Cr) CM)

Dala ako ni>•• Jala ko ,iyu, He earn,< m-,, 1 CjIT) h,m Tbe shoes lsang halong malahm puno ng patal,m , A deep well llllcd wnh steel blades. - Tbe mou1h

RollUlDC10 with Gtttrude 11«.kttt. RtLal had a romantK mtc:r• iude with the oldest of the three Beckett sister, - Cicrtrutl,· Ciet • tie, as she was affectionately called. was a hu~om Engli,h gnl., ,th t)ro..n hair, blue eyes, and rosy ~ks. She fell in lo~e .,_,,h R=l On cold winter mom,ng, she had a ,unny sm,k !or him d1.1ttc11ni gaily like a humming bird Dunng the family ,lk- '"" v•r• ticularly very happy because Rizal was wuh them and ,he g.avc: him all her attenuon. And m rainy days when Rizal 11 Saturdays in the house of Luna. on Sundays m the ht)u,c ot Ooi\a Juliana " 4

RJzal and Paris Expos.itlon of 1889. Like any ordinal) Fihp,no tourist in a foreign land , Rizal was fa,cinatcLI hy the Un,-cr,:il Eltposition of Pans which opened on Mny 6. 1AA9 The g1c.1lc,1 attraction of this el(position was the Eiffel To,.,,cr. 9114 feet high which was built by Alexander Eiffel, cclehrntcd I rcnch cngmcor Rizal and his friends attended the opcnmg ccrcmunic, and saw the cutting of the ribbon by President Sad, c.,rn,,1 ,,r 1hc Third French Republic. Paris was jammed w11h tho11,.ind, ol tourists coming Crom all part~ of the world. Dail) 1hc I ,on drew a vast crowd of 200.000 persons or more

'I''""

One of the features of the r.xpositinn "'"' the 1111crn:i1111nal art competition, in which Felix R.. Hidalgo, Juan Luna, Felix Pardo de Tavera, and Rtzal participated. Hidalgo\ p;,11111111,? was awarded second prize, the paintings of Juan Luna nncl F. P,11 do de Tavera each obtained the third prize, ";bile Riz.11', cnlly (,1 bust which he modelled got no prize. 5 This bust wa, 4u1tL gnod to qualify for the exhibition, but not good enough to ,qn an intcrnetionul prize.

Kldlat Club. On March 19. 11189. the s:imc cl;i1 when h,· arrived in Paris from London, Rizal org,tn i1cd hi~ 1,,11,11110, (compatriots) inlo a society called Kidlat Club. Amoni; rite members were Antonio uml Juctn luna. Grcgnno '\iivikr,1 Fernando Canon. Laum Dimn)uga. Juh\, Llor,nk rit.>,

TO l1fE FILIPINOS

lo the N"'1 Mt Tong,rr I otartcd to ske1ch the presc:nl state of our Fatherland, lbc effect wlucb my ancmp( produced made me reab.zc, before proceeding to dc,clop before yoor eyes other pictun,s 10 follow. the; necc,"ry of lirsl givmg an understanding of the past m order the better 10 Judge the prestnl 111d measure the path trucn,:d dunng the three centuries Born and reared ID ignorance of oor past hke ..imos1

au of you: without ~ nor autbonty 10 ,peak ol ,-har we ha,·c not sc:cn nor studied I deemed II n«~•) 10 invoke the testimony of an illustnous Spaniard who ron1ml led the dC$1tn1es of the Plubppmes at the begmnmi of 11>

new era and pcDOnaily witnessed the la\! day, of our •RO

books of M. Jacquet, J. Mallat, and A. Marche in French; and the works of T.H. Pardo de Tavera, Pedro A. Paterno, Miguel Morayla, and Pi y Margall in Spamsh By his extensive reading of archival sources and books in foreign countries, he acquired wide knowledge not only of Philippine history, but also the history of European colonization in Asia Aside from his excellent onnotallons on Morga's book, Rizal wrote other works which qualify him to be a real historian Among th, m were the two historical commentaries written in London, Mu-yr (December 6, 1888) and Tawaljs, of lhn Batuta (Janu(uy 7 18119); Filipinas denrro de C,en Anos (The Ph,hppmes Within a Centmy), published in La Solidandad in four is.-rues on September 30, Ocmber 31. December 15, 1889 and February 15, 1890; Sob,,. la lndolL•nt,iJJ dt lol Filipinos (The Indolence of the Filipinos), published in La Solidaridad in five successive issues on July 15, July 3J, August 1, August 31, and September 1, 1890; La Poli1,ca Colonial on Fil,pinas (Colonial Policy in the Philippines), no date; Manila r11 ti mt$ de O,rirm/,r(', 18n (Manila in the Month of December. 1872). no dare; Hisroria de la Fam1l1a Rizal dt Calamba (HLStory of the Rizal family of Calamba), no d.1te and l,os PutbloJ drl Arrh,pitlalJO lnd1co (The Peoples of the Indian Archtpelago). no date.

The Philippines Within a Cnitary. In this article Rizal expressed his views on the Spanish colonization in the Philippines and predicted with amazing accuracy the tragic end of Spain's soscrcignty m Asia I le portrayed at the hcginning of h,~ an1cle the glorious pnst of the Filipin.., people, then described their economic stagnation and unhappiness under the harsh and bungling Spanish rule. Toward the last paragr.iphs of the article, he peered into the future and warned Spain of what would happen to her colonial empire in Asia if i.he would not adopt a more liberal and enlightened policy toward the Philippines. Significant passages in this historical essay are as foUows: '" To recapitulate: the Philil)l'ines will remain Spanish if they enter upon the life or law and civUimlton, u thc righl• of thcu- inhabitants are respected, if the Olher rights due them arc gianted, If the liberal pohcy of the government is carried our without tncltcry or meanness, without subtcr· futC$ or false interprctitions. 161

JOII IIIZ"1. Ll,-E, WOIIIIS AAD WIIITINCIS

Otbe""-.se, ,r an ancmpc is made 10 sec In lhc: Islands a lode to be cxploued, a resource to sallSfy amb,11ont, shutting 11.S cors 10 all cries of =son, lhc:n, hD"-cver ercar may be the loyalty of the Flhp,M$, 11 will be impossible to hinder the opcnuons of tbe =xorable laws or hostOI') , Colonies cstabbsbcd to subscrve the policy and commerce of 1he .overeign country, all c,entually become 1ndependcn1 Ir tbc Ph1hpp111C$ secure their independence after herooc and stubborn confuct, they can rest assured that nci !her England nor Germany, nor France, and sllll less Holland will dare 10 take up what Spain hus been unable 10 hold

Perhal>' the great Amencan Repubfic, wh°"' in1erc,1s lie in the Pacific and who had no hand in the spol,ation of Afnca may some day dream of foreign pt>'->C~oon This d not imro«ible, for the ~ample ,~ contagious, cO\elousncss and a mbirion arc among 1hc mongcsl ,,ccs . . VCI') likel>, the Phohppuaes will defend wilh mexpress.blc ,alor th< libcrt, -.cured at the price or w much blooJ and sacnfice With the new men that "ill spring from !heir so,I and w11h 1hc reoollcctin or their past. they ...u p,,rhaJ" •in,e I en1er rrccly upon thc wide road of progress. and all will lab< together 10 strcng1hen their btherland Then 1he mtne$ .,.,11 be nude to give up their gold for rellevong diMrc« iron for v.eapons, copper, lead and ptsing manual lul> labor ma 1cmpcr,11c d,m.,1-,. ti 1s, then, JUSI that the earth y1ellb a hundredfold' tntunatlonal As.sodallon uf Filipinulugisls. l'al.mg Jdv,,ntJgc of world auention which wu then focui.ed a1 the Unovc:r.,11 Fxpn,. 163

ition of 1889 in Paris, Riul proposed to e5tabbsh an -1n1ernational Associa11on o( Fihpmologis~• and have 11s inaugural convention in the French capital He first submitted this idea 10 Blumentnll in a letter dated January 14, 1889. and the latter gladly supponed tum. He wrote the prospectus of this 1n1cma11onal association. According to his prospcctu,, the aim of the a~SOCtation is "lo study the Ph;tippinc,; from the ,;cientific and historical point of view ~ The officers were as follC'ws: •• Prc:•idcnt ...•.

. Dr Ferdinand Blumcntrill (Austrian)

\ ice-President

...... Mr. Edmund Plauchut {Fttncb) Dr Reinhold Rosi (Aoglo-Ocrman) . Dr. Antonio Ma. RegidO< (hhp1no-Spani5h)

C'oun.scllor

.. . Dr. Jose Rizal (Filipino) R11al scheduled the holdtng of the inaugural convention of the lntemauonal Aosa , huand of 1.u:,a, died or chnlcra on Ma) Z.l IHI,~. A h111

Rozal menuoned 1n tlus orucle ho" the audience. com~ d "'°'"Y of Span,arJ, and mc&UtO>, Slopped applaudmg wh bro.,,n color 10 • lngra111udc," (lngratttudc). J•n\W}' IS, 1890 A reply t Governor Qencr•l Valeriano We)ler "'ho. while -.siting Calamba, told the people that they "should not allow them,dsc, Ill be de,.:ncc How pleased I would be 10 follow you. 10 tra\'el wnh 1ou who arc always in my thought, You wisn me oll ~inch of luck, but forger 1hJ1 m th,• absence of a beloved one u tender heart c,mnot feel happ)' A thou~and thing) -;crvc 10 distract your mmd , my friend; but in my ca,e, I am sad. lonely. alwa)'S olone ..,,th my thoughts nothing, absolutely nothing 1clkvc, rny ,or row. Are you coming back? That's whal I want and de,,irc most ardently - you cannot ;-efusc me I d.o not despair and I hm11 myself 10 rnurmunng agmn,t time which run) ~o fost when 11 carries u\ toward" ,cr~•r:lt1on. but goes so slowly when it's bnngmi us to11e1her I feel very unhappy thinking that perhaps I mitthl never sec you again.

''It"'"

Goodbye! You know wlth one word you can m•kc me very happy. Aren't you going lo write 10 mc 1

••••• I

17S

• t .......,,,_Malrld(1W,.-U

Chapter 17 Misfortunes in Madrid (1890-91) Early in August. 1890, Rizal amved in Madnd. He tned all legal means to seek juMicc for his family and the Calamba tenants, but to no avail. Disappointment after disappointment piled on h,m, unlll the cross he boTe seemed msuperable to carry. He almost fought two duels - one wnh Antomo Luna and the other with Wenccslao E Retana On top of his misfortunes, Leonor Rivera married a British engineer The infidelity of tbc girl, witb whom he was engaged for eleven years, broke bis heart. With resilient strength of character. he surv,-cd I.be bitter pangs of love's disillusionment and continued his mission to redeem his oppressed people. Fallun to Gtt Jastke for Family. Upon ,1mvaJ in Madrid, Rini immediately sought the help or the Filipino colony, the Asociacion Hispano-Filipina, and the liberal Spnmsh newspapers (LA Jusrie1a, El Globo, La Republica, El Resumm, etc .) in securing justice for the oppressed Calamba tenants, including his family I Together with M II . del Pilar (who acted as his lawyer) and Dr. Oominador Gomez (secretary or the Asociacion Hispano-Fllipma), he called on the Minister of Colonies (Senor Fab,e) in order to protest the injustices commiucd by Governor General Valeriano Weyler and che Dominicans against the Calamba folks.

Nothing came ouc of Rizal's interview with Minister Fabie. As El Resumm, a Madrid newspaper which sympathized with the Filipino cause, saJd: WTo rover the cars, open the rurse, a.n d fold the arms - this is the Spanish oolonial policy~

11,

More terrible news reached Rizal in Madrid as be was waging a futile fight for justice. From his brother-in-law, S i l ~ Ubaldo, he received a oopy of the e,ectment order by the Dominicans again!ll Francisco Rizal and other Calamba tenants. 3 From his StStcr, Saturnina, be learned of the deportation of Paciano (Rizal), Antoomo (Lopez), Silvestre (Ubaldo), Teong (Mateo EleJorde}, and Dandoy (Dr. Rizal's relative) to Mindoro, these unfortunate deportees were arrested LO Calamba and were shipped out ot Manila on SeptembeT 6, 1890. He further learned from Saturmna's letter that their pa.rents had been rorobly ejected from their home and were then bvmg in the house o f NaTasa (Antonino's wife)•

ln his despcra11on. Rizal sought the aid of the liberal Spanish statesmen, who were former members of the Mimstry. indwhng Becerra and Maura Again, he was dwippointcd, for these statesmen merely gave him honeyed words of $)'fflpathy, and notbmg else. Blumentnll in Lc1tmcritz hearing of his friend's plight, urged him to !>Cc Queen Regent M.t.na Cristina' (then ruler or Spain dunng the minority of Alfonr.o XIII}. But how oould he see Her ma1es1y? He had neither powerful friends to bring bi1D' to the quct:n ·• pr~nce nor gold 10 grease the palms of influential courtic~.

Rital'&Eu.logy to Panganiban. Barely bad Rizal settled down in Madrid. when he experienced another disappointment. This was the doleful news that his friend Jose Ma. Panganiban. his talented co-worker in the Propaganda Movement , died in Barcelona on Augusc 19, 189(), after a hngenng illness. He deeply mourned the passing or th,~ 81col hero Wuh a sorrowing heart, Rizal took up his pen and wrote a great eulogy 10 Panganiban as follows·" Panganiban . l~t ua:llcnt comp..,.ion of labor and d,fGculty. that amiable friend and countryman beloved, bas 1u,1 descnbell 10 the tomb a.i the early age of 27 years. We JU\! caught his last ,.hispcr. uw him expire m OW' arm.,, as 11 were. and it v.cms as if we are listening 10 his phrases satura1cd ,.,th energetic patnOIISm, 1nspued by the purest love or his native land , 177

J0R llllAL . LIFE, WOIIICJ AHO WIIITINCI

His was a despcralion to di< far. very far from the native soil. separated from hts family. rn>in h" decpc,t affections. and in the flower of his you1h. in hi, rosiesl lllu.tons and hopes, wiw,n a rosy future was in stghl . . . Thal is why "" IMI words were or loving re.mcmtm,nce or his idolized Fntherland, were II heanfch farewell to 1hc Pluhppmes. And ,r we still take into account cenain event~ or hi\ hfc con,ccratcd to a most vehement love or hi;, nauve land. ,. c un,lc Naad lhc sorrow hi, hcan mu,1 have fell to ;.cc buried with him legitimate hopes. ardent desires, and ju;c a,1,ira1tons Augu\l 19 ( lll'!CJJ, wa, d day of mourning 10 numcrou, Fihpin< in Furopc. And wh11t a lat.ti m 1nr1dencc Cd we had 10 dcplo1c 1hc death ,,r :innthcr l.1c11J und c'tlunlr)m.,n, Feliciano (Jonnie, Til'nbang A sad fate! Pan1'an,ban. endowed wilh uncommon talent. wilh pr.-llegcd 1n1elhgcnec, anJ with 1ndcfo11gable indu:ilry, \\.1:-. onr of 1ht ~crcd, lcgjumat~ hore, of h,~ 11nlonuna1c countr. lna1 head has been buncd m the llu,1. thJt v1goroc, mtelhgencc ha, been prematurely ended. Fihprn ..,, how unfortun:ur thou .o.rt'

Aborttd Duel With Antonio Luna. Towartl, 1he entl of Augu~t. 1890, R1zol attended a wc1ul rcunmn ol the hli111no, ,n Madrid As was customary in 1hcsc w,cekly reunion, of 1hc paLSano;, "-lRC was served. After drinking so many gl;1'>.scs. the guests became more loquacious and lhc conv~rsauon~ Ouwcd freely One of 1hem. Antonio Luna hecamc drunk

the choice of weapons. Logically , he would have to choose th~ sword; in which case, Rizal'~ life would be in jeopard)

The Filipinos wer~ shocked by the u1c1den1 They 1r1cJ 10 pacify Ri:wl and Luna, pointing out to both thut ~uch :i duel would damage their ca11se in Spain. Fortunately, Luna, .. hen he became sober. reahzed that he had made a fool of himself dunng his drunkeD state. I k apologized for hi, bad remarks about the girl. Rizal 1mmcd1jld) accepted hi< apology , and the two became good friends again • Rhal Challenges Retaru, lo Duel. Rizal wa,. by natur~ . neither hot-tempered nor pugnaciom. But when the honor of his people, family. women, or friends was besnmched, he never hesitated 10 fight even if be were risking bis own hfe. On another occaMon. he challenged another man 10 a duel - Wcnceslao E . Re1ana, his bitter enemy of the pen Retana, a talen1ed Spani1 nnly 10 )OU bul 10 any Olher man "'ho " worth) of her I congratulate you .as one congratulate, a l11cnd Congrau11la-

uon,1 W11h 1hc encouragement of h1, clo,c friend~. R1,al courted Nelly ...,hlta.ble and friendly Bow,teads (parents and daughters) on March :JO, L891 and proceeded to Paris by train. He stayed at the home of hrs friend, Valentin Ventura, on 4 Rue de Chateaudum. From Paris, he wrote to Ins friend, Jose Ma. Basa. ,n Hong Kong, on April 4, expressing his desire to go 10 that British colony and practise ophthalmology in order 10 earn his living. •0 Moreover, in this letter. he requested Basa to advance him the amount for a first dass steamer ticket from Europe to Hong Kong. By the middle of April, 1891, Rizal was back in Brussels. where he was happily received by Marie and Suzanne Jacoby (his landladies) and, above all, by Petite Su.:anne (1he Belgian girl wbo loved him) . ~ 6-wn Ille l',-opa1and• MotttnenL Since abdica1• ing his leadership in Madrid in January, 1891, owing to the intrigues of his jealous compatriots, Rizal reured from the Propapnda Movement. or reform crusade. He desired to publish his SCOd novel, to practise his i:nedical profCKion, and later, when

186

,,r

.Rizal Stopped Writin& for I.A Solidaridad . Simultaneous wnh his retirement from the Propaganda Movement. Rita! ceased

writing articles for La Solidaridad. Many of his fr,ends in Spa,n urged him to continue writing for the patriotic pet"iodical. becau~ his nticles always anracted considerable anenuon m European countries. M .H . dd Pilar himself realized the need for Raal's collaboration in both the Propaganda Movement and in the l .A Solid4ridad newspaper because the enthusiasm for the reform 187

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IIIZAL:'t.lfl. WOIIICI ,,_ Mirr.a

crusade in Spain was declining. On Auguat 7, 1891, be wrote to Rizal begging forgiveness for any resentment and rcquesling him (Rizal) to resume writing for the La Solidaridad. Min short,n he ~aid in his letter, "if you have any resentment, I beg you to put it aside; if you consider me at fault, and this fault is pardon• able, forgive me ... We would much like lhal you resume writing for it; not only would we stn:ngthen IA Solidaridad but we would defeat the friar iotrigJJc in the Philippines. nil In his reply to Del Pilar's letter, Ru:a1 wrote denying any resentment and explaining why he stopped writing for La Solidaridad as follows:•> I am extremely surprised at your letter, telling me abou1 resentments, disagrccmcnis, and recoodliauons, etc. I believe it is us,:lc,s to talk about what does not exist, and it bas existed, it ought 10 have evapo~ted in the past. I think like you do, that there being oothing, one ought not to waste time 1allting about it

,r

tr I stopped writing for 1,,, So/idari,.lwl, ii was because

although it is not so cheerful, at least it is more profound and more perfect ... ln case I do not receive money, wiU you ask them to send me money for the printing of my book? If not, I wiU be leaving this place and be with you. " 1' Two weeks later, on June 13, Rizal informed Basa: "I am now negotiaung with a printing firm and as I do not know if it will be printed here (Belgium) or in Spain, I cannot send it to you a.~ yet. In case it is not published here, I will $Cnd it to you by the nex1 mail. Only three chapters are left to be corrected. II is longer than 1he Noli, first part. 11 will be finished before the 16th of this month . If by chance anything happens to me, I leave its publica1ion 10 Antonio Luna , including its correc1,on ... If my Noli (sic. Fil, - 2.) is not published , I shall board a urain on lhe following day when I receive your letter with the passage-money; but if my book is publi~hed I shall have to wait until ii comes o(f the. press." 15 •

♦

•

•

•

or several reasons: 1st, J need time to work on my book; 2nd, I wanted other Filipinos 10 wort also; 3rd, 1 considered it very important to the party 1ba1 there be unity in the work; and you arc already at lhe top and I also have my own ideas, it is better 10 leave you alone to dir'ecl the policy such a.~ you understaod it and I do not meddle in ii. This has two advantages: II leaves both of us free, and it increases your prc,11gc. which 1s very ncccssaJ'y, in111much as men or prcsuge are needed in our counlry. This does not mean 10 sav that I n4'ed nol work and follow the course of your "'ork I am like an army corps who, 11 a needed momcnl, you v.111 sec &rrivc to descend upon lhe nanks or the enemy hcforc you . Only l ~k God 10 give me the means 10 do 11 . I f1~l11 for 1he nation, lhc Phihppin0$.

Revising the Fili for Publication. In Brussels Rizal worked day after day revising 1hc finished manuscript of El Filibustuismo and readied it for printing. Apparently, the revision was mostly completed on May 30, 1891. On this date, be wrote Jose Ma. Basa: "My book. is now ready to go to press; the fim twenty cbaplers are already corrected and can be printed and I am recopying the rest. If I receive any money you will surely have it in July. I am writlllg II with more ardor than the Noli and 188

,.,

El Filibu1HHl1mo Publllhed In Gh•f'lt ( 189 U

Chapter 19 El Filibusterismo Published in Ghent (1891) Days flew swiftly for RiLal in Bru~ls hke flying arrow~. Day in and day out. he was husy revising and poli\hing the 11lJlnuscript of El Fllibusterismo so that II could be ready for the press. He had begun writing 11 in October, 1887, while practising medicine in Calamba I The following year (1888). in London , he made some changes in the plot and corrected some chapters already wrillcn. 2He wrote more chapters in Paris and Madrid, and finished the manubcript in Biurnt, on March 29. H!oen p.atriois, •ml a, you may 01 may not ha,c cherished sentiment< for 1us11cc and for hhcrty, I have the right 10 deuic.He my work to )'OU as victJms of the evil which I undc, rnkc ro combat. And "'hilt we wait cxpccrantly upon Spain some day to m.11>rc your good name and cea~ 10 be nnM•·erable for yuur death, let thc,;c pages serve as a lardy "'rc•th nf d11cd lcu"c' over your unknown tomo:., and let 11 he understood Iha! every nne who without clear proofs artacks 1our memory stains his hands m your bl0d' Never in the annal~ of mankind has a hero wriucn such a sublime ,ind touching 1nbu1c to other heroes a) Rizal. To straighten h1)IOncal record,, however. we must rectify Rizal'\ hi,1oncal maccuracie) in hi~ dcd1ca1ory note . First of all, the martyrdom of Gomez, Burgos. and Zamora occurred on l9J

-IIIZA&.,

Ll,._ _ _ W _

February 17, 1872- not on tbc 28th. Secondly, Father Gomez was 73 years old - not 85, Father Burgos was 35 years old - not 30, and Father Zamora was 37 ynrs old - not 35.

The WARNING is found on the other sick of the dedication. It is as follows:

The author's corrections are seen throughout the manuscript Only a few pages have not been revised by Rizal.

'Ibey arc going to wute their hmc "'ho .,ould atuck this book by holding oo to triOes, or who from other moll\"fi, would try to disc(>ver in 11 more or less known phy>1ogn()mics. True 10 his purpose or exposing the disease. of the patient, and, ill order not to divert himself nor dt>en the reader. wbllst he narrates only real facts •h1ch happened recently and arc absolmcly authcnuc 1n subnanee, he ha.s d1Sfiiured his characters so that they may 001 tum to he the typ,cal p,ctures some readers found in his first book. Man passe,; htS vices remain, and to 1CCCntuate or ,how their effecu, •.he pea or the writer aspires

Two features m the manu.script do not appear in the prin:cd book, namely; the FOREWORD and the WARNING These were not put into print, evidently, 10 save printing cost.

'-'rip(ion oa Tide Pqe. The title page of Fl Fi/1bt grandfather of Juli and Cabesang Tales· tac her , Mr Am~nc.111 impressario who owned the side,how at chc fcrt:t (f,ur ) 111 (J111.q,11 exhibiting an Egyptian mummy: Sandoval. .i Span"h ,1ud,·nt who supports the cause of the Filipino studcnc, 1,, propaµ.,tn against one "who had the protection of a strong nation•. 26 Meanwhile , Rizal and bis sister were pc-fully crossi:n& the Ouna Sea. They were fully unaware of the Spanish d u plicity.

~

Chapter 21 Second Homecoming And The Liga Filipina Rizal's bold return to Manila in JW\e, 1892 was his second homecoming his first holl)CCOmmg from abroad being in August, 1887. It marked his re-entry into the bazardoias campaign for reforms. He firmly beheved that the fight for Filipino liberties• bad assumed a new phase; it must be fought in the Philippines not tn Spam. '"The battlefield is in the Philippines,• be told countrymen in Europe, "There is where we should meet , There we will help one another, there 1oaether we will suffer or triumph perhaps•. 1 Two month& later , on December 31, 1891, he reiterated this belief in a letter to , Blumentrltt, Ml believe that /.A Solularidod is no longer our battlefield; now it 2 is a new stNgale... the fi&ht is no longer in Madrid•. ln going home to lead anew the reform movement, be was like the biblical Daniel bearding the Spanish lion In its own den Arrival In Manila with Sllttt, At noon of June 26, 1892, Rizal and his widowed ,ister Lucia (wife of the late Mariano Herbosa) arrived in Manila. A meticulous diarist, he descnbed his second homecoaung u follows:> I arrh,ed at Manila on 26 June (1891), Sunday, at 12:00 noon. I was met by many canbinecrs headed by a major. There were in addition one captain and one sergeant of the Veteran Ovil Ouard. I came down onlh my luuaae and they 1n1pected me al the cuatomhowe. Flom there I went to Hotel de Oriente where I occupied room No. 22, facing the churcb of Binondo·. In the afternoon, at 4:00 o'dock, be went to Malacallan Palace to seek audience with UM Spanilb peroor aeoeral, 213

, - . lll~AL, UPI, WOIIU AND "~ITUIDa

Gener.I EuJogio Despujol, Conde de Caspc.' He was told to

;:mereturned back at that rug~t at 7 00 o'clock Promplly at 7:00 p.m. to ~alacanan and was able to confer w11h Go,erno; :n~~. '::!;;rJol, who •~reed to pardon his father but not the IS Yand told him 10 return 00 WednC$day (June 29)., . Aft~ ~ brief mtcrv1ew with the governor genera he: ~ted h15 a,steu in the city- fi~st Narasa (Sua, wife of Antonio Lopez) and later Nenc:ng (Saturnina, wife of Manuel T. Hidalgo). Vllltlq Frlfflds In Ceatral L foUowm da ( . IQOII, At 6:00 P.M of the • .8 y .June 27), R.iz.al boarded a train in Tutuban Sta1ion and VISlted h11 fnends ,n Malol~ (Bulacan). San Fern~ndo (Pampanga), Tarlac (Tarlac), a.nd Bacolor (Pampangu) ~ He wa, welcome~ and lavtSbly entenamed at the homes of his friend\ ~ /nend,, were good patnou, who were his supporters '" re orm crusa~, and he. took the pportunu> to ~1cc1 them pe:rso~ally • nd discussed the problem~ affcctin1 their people.

S ~•1 returned b} tram 10 Manila on the next day June 28 o c1oclt ,n the afternoon . Whether he k • • was shadowed b . ne.., 11 or not. he

at

y go,ernment spies who watched carefull> his every movement . The ~Omei he had v1SJu:d were raided by the Guar~a C1v1I which sc12ed some copies of the Nolt and F:t d some • sub•e"1ve pamphlets , , an

. ,s v1;i1 . 10 his . ter Rizal friendOther · Clntuvlew, "'Ith OnP'1Joi • Af 5 entt:al Luzon. he had other interviews with Go,enor G _enera cspu1ol. These interviews were vividly recorded h diary, as follows: 7 ' " ,~

!'b

On Wednesday (June Z9 - Z) at 7.30 I -..w th, ExcellellC)'. I dtd not sucaed lo have the penalty of ex,le hlled, bul he me h""" lo my $ISie~. As . ·r· Wllh ••gard •~ atoded was lhc fcaS1 of St Peacr and S1 Paul o ur in1cr.1cw ,._ e at ,,.,15.1 was to come agam the following as highly c:onfidential Rimi, who was surpri!,ed at th~ turn of e\rnts, requested for a copy of the proceedmgs of the im·cstigatioo P•P"'I upheld by rocks vr bnck piers 10 the distribution reservoir Community Projects for Oapitan. When Ri.z.al arrived m Dap11an , h~ ,!.:tided to improve 11, 10 the bcl.1 of hil> Cod-given talenl, and to uwaken the civic con-.ciou\11c" of i1s people lie wrote to Fr Pastclb- · I want to do all that I can for this town " 19 Aside tron, constructing the town's fim water sy~tem, he sp.:nt many months drarnmg the marshes in order to itet nd of maf;ir,a th.11 mfe,1cd Oap11un A, a Eurnpc11n-trn1ncd phy)1cian. he knew 1ha1 malaria i~ sprc~d hy 1hc mo'(fuitos which lhrivc in swamp, place; ·1he P.'i(KI "h1ch an l:'.ng!i,h pauent pa.id him was used hy lum tu Cnsbt,•d of .-o,·onut otl l,,mf" pl.iced in th,· dark ,1n:ets 01 D;1p11an Lk,·tnc lrghlln!!, wa, unknown then in the Ph,hppmcs. 11 "'" m>t unul IK'14 when Mdntla -..,w the ftN clcctnc hght,. Anoll1c1 ""nmuntt} p1u1c,1 ol R,ul wa, the beauu(ication t>f D,1p1lan \\ ,th lhc hl'I p ,>I hi, t.11 mer Jc,u,t tcaJI on u long bamboo bench. On one day the lessons were Cnductcd in Spani that lov'd being upon them has cast Messages 1wce1 from lhc love I firSI bore. To sec the same ntoon, all s,lver'd as of yore I feel the aad though1s within me anse; The fond reoollectoon• or lhc troth we swore. Of the field and the bt,wcr and 1he "'idc seashore, The blushes of joy. wtth the salenre and sighs. A buuerfly seeking the Oowers and 1he light, Of other lands dreaming of vaster extent; Scarce a youth, from home and love I look Oighl, To wander unheeding. free from doubt of affright So in foreign lands were my brightest days Sj)Cnt. And when hk • lapguishlng bird I was ram To the home of my fathers and my love 10 relum , Of a sudden the 6eccc lempcst roar'd amain; So l aaw my win~ shattered and no home remain, My trust IQld to 01hcrs and wrcckJ round me burn. 237

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IIIZAL:

u,•. WOIIQ AMO WIIITINCI&

Hurl'd OUI inlO exile from lhe land I adore, My future all dark and no refuge to seek; My roseate drums hover, round me once more, Sole treasures of all 1ha1 lite ro me b"er. Destined 10 roam from the East 10 the West.

2AO

R\.-.am~ 'Aiathout lm·c without country or soul

Fulh1" '"ft nn"iom,I) trcachcrnu'.'i. fo-rtune:

rouunc: "htch e'en ti h~ gra~p~ at Jt flees. \ .nn though 1hc hope, l~I hos )Cain1ng " ~eek,ng , et dOn, Loud laughs the world at the sormws or man.

Adl6s, Dapltaa. On July 31, 1896, Rizal's four-year exile in Dapitan came to an end. At midnight of that date, he embarked on board the steamer Espana. He was nccompanied by Josephine, Narcisa, Anf;lica (Narcisa's daughter), his three nephews, and six pupils. Almost all O apitan folks, young and old, were at the !>bore to bid him goodbye. Many wept as the steamer sailed away - especially the other pupils who were too poor to accompany their beloved teacher to Manila. As farewell m usic, the town brass band strangely played the dolorous Funeral March of Chopin. A~ its melancholy melody floated in the nir, Rizal must have felt it deeply, for with his prC$Cntimcnt of death , it seemed an obsequy or a requiem.

ruzaJ

A5 the steamer pushed out into the sea, gazed for the Inst time on ,Oapilan with his hands waving in farewell salute to its kind and hospitable folks and with a crying heart filled with tears or nost.algic memories. W hen he could no longer see the dim shoreline, he sadly went to bis cabin and wrote in his diary: "f have been in that district four years. thirteen days, and a few hours". 30 141

From Dapltan to Manila. Leaving Oapitan at m1dnigh1. July 31, 1896, the E.spa,ia, w11h Rizal and party on hol>ard. -..1iled north ward. At dawn the next day (Saturday. Augu,1 1). 11 anchored at Oumaguctc, capital of • Negro, 011cn1al "O umaguete," wrote Rizal in his travel diary. "spread, out on the beach. There are big house~, some with galvanized iron roofing, Oumnnding arc the house or a l.td} , wltt1N: 11,1mc I have forgotten, which is occupied by the government und anolhcr one just begun with many ipil posts". 1 In Durnaguete. Rizal visited a friend and former classmate. Herrero Regidor, who was the judge or the province . He also v1s11cd other friend,, ,ncluding the Pcriquc1 und Rufinn fa1111hc, In the afternoon he operated on a Spanish captain of the Ciuard1a Civil. The Espana left O umaguete abou1 I :00 p .m . and reached Cebu the following morning. Rizal wa$ ra,cinatcd by the cnrn,ncc to Cebu which he considered "beautiful" Al the home of Atti,r• ney Mateos he met an old couple whom he had known in Madrid . 24 )

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111:EAL: Llfl WOIIICS M n • m -

•rn Cebu•, he wrote in his· diary, •1 did two operations of stn1bo1omy, one opera11on on tbecars, and another of tu-nor" 2

take him to Spam, portentOU$ evenb occurred, pre.aging the downfall or Spanish power in As,a.

ln the morning of Monday August 3, Rizal left Cebu going to lloilo. "The voyage was fine," he wrote, •At the right we saw Mactan, an island famous for what happened to Magellan. rhc whtllt afternoon was magnificent... We saw many islands alons our way The next day, in the morning, we entered 3 lloilo'

On the fateful evening of August 19. 1896, the IC01tpu,1an plot to overthrow Spanish rule by means of revolution was discovered by Fray Mariano Gil, Augus11man cura of rondo. Thi\ startling ,nc• , ·• 1 struck terror into the hearts of lhc Spanish officiab and re• 1 .nts . producing a h~steria of vindicltvc re1~11 a1ion against lh< Fil,pmo patnols

Rizal landed at lloilo. went ~hopping in the city. and visited Molu. Of the Molo church, he commented: ..The church is pretty oul'°dc and lhc interior is not bad, considering that it had been painted h> a lad. The pa1ntin&5 arc mostly copies of biblical >Ccnc, by Gustave Dore" •

The tumul, pmduced hy lhe disco, ery of the Kat,punan plol was aggravated hy the Cr) ol Hail>lt.iwat..' "luch was raised by Rdn1fac1n and his ,·,1lrnnt Ka111 1ncro, C1n Augu()() there ,wre agam » man) At night there "'11S a concert 111 the dining room "'b1ch can be hurd from my cabin •

A~,,.,

At 3:00 a.m. on October 6, Raal was nwakeneJ hy the guard, and c~concd to the gnm and infamou~ pn,on fortress named Moniuich He ~nt the whole morning 1n a cell .\l>out :?:00 in the afternoon, be was , .. i..en ou1 or pnson h) th< iuMd\ and brought to the hc..Jquaner< of General DcspuJol In the onlcn,icw. "hich la,tcd " quaner of un hour , 1he brusque i;cncr.,l told Rizal that he would be shipped back to Manila on hoard the 1rampon srup Colon which -.a~ leavinr. that evcmni , After tbc interview, Ril.al ..,a, taken ;ihoard the ld1ers and office~ anJ their fam11Jc, - •• At 8:00 p.m ., October 6, the ship left Barcelona, with R11;1l on board.

• • • ••

250

Chapter 24 Last Homecoming and Trial Rizal's homecoming in 1896, the la~t ,n hi~ hfc. "'·" h" saddc5t return 10 his beloved native land lie !..new he '"·" facing the supreme test, which rruj!.hl tnean the !>J,nfic:e of hh loft:. hul be WD unafmd As a maucr of fact. hry·, mockeries of j~tice His enemies ho'A led h~e m.,.: Jog., for h" blood. and they got 11, without benefit of genuine 1u,11caltOnS. Scuu .... eolh,

1S1

Lat ttoc .ow.n~'IAnd Tril l . . , ~ Mt1•11r¥ Coui,

before the eye> of soctc:1y, I atone for my 111ppooed cnmc. Society will forgive me and later, withou1 any d001ht , ju~tice will be done me aad I will be one more man)'T. At any r3tc, 1m1ead of dying ebrlM? 6. It 11,a, true he wrote the by-laws or the Liga Fihpma, hut chl\ i~ onl\ a civic as\OC:iatum - not a re,•oluhc:mary ~oetcty

7 I he L1,ga F,lipma dtd not h,e long, for alter the fit,t mr:t-t1n1P he w;:11,, hnn1\hcd to Oap1tan Hnd II died our. ~ If thk to ,muggle the hero•~ last nnJ !?rca1c,1 poem a pncartun: ol Donal codora and Trinu.bd, f'a1ha~ V,l.,d.11.1 and r ,tani,I.,, M.nch entered the cell. followed by rathe,t chair in the cell After a pleasant l'UII\U\Jll'10 1hc fN'..tl left .. uh a good tmprcss,on of Ru.. ml\· h~l."Ol't. .,nJ nohk 1..:har;t1.:1cr

r,

\1 111 tal ,., th,· n tht of December ~91h. the draft of the r,·11 11,,n ,,:n• h th• an tl•Filipino Archhi~hop Bernardino 'l,>1.1kll.1 ( 1:-,••1 ll/tlt) ...,a, ,ut>m111cd h) Father Balaguer 10 Raal 1,,1

,1\!ttah11t..·

1,,11 th-: ht:ro rcjcc1cr of 1hc Jc,u,1 Society an the Phihpp,n~. v.h1d1 "'·" ...·,qHitM, 10 Ri111I Aller mat.mg some c hange\ in 11. R11al th..:n ,.,111c hi, rctr:wtion m which ht abJurcd Masonry arHI h,, rclt.:1nu, ,Jca, v.h,ch were ant1-Catholic.• This rerracuon 26S

of Rizal is now a controversial document, for the Rizalist scholan, who ue c11her Masons or anti-Catholic. chum u to be a forgery, while the Catholic Rizalists believe it to be genuine. Thi\ debate between two hostile groups of Rizalists is futile and irrelevant. Futile in the sense that no amount of evidence can convince the Masonic Rizalists that Rizal retracted and the Catholic Rizalibls that R,izal did not retract. As a famous saying goes; ~For those who believe - no justification is necessary; for the skeptics. whose criterion for belie£ 1s not m their mind~ but in theuwills - no justification is posStblc". It is likewise irrelevant because it does not mauer at all to the greatness of Rizal Whether he retr.acted or not, the fact remains that he was the greatest Filipino hero. This al'IO applies to the other controversy as to whether Riul married Josephine Bracken before his ~xecution or not. Why argue on this issue. Whether or not Rizal married Joscphi,ne in Fort Santiago, Rizal remains just the same - a hero-martyr. At 3:00 o'clock in the morning of December 30, 1896, Rizal heard Mass, confessed lus sms, and took Holy Communion. At 5:30 A.M . • he took his laSt breakfast on earth. After this, he wrote two letters, the first addressed to his family and the second to his. older brother Paciano. The lcuer 10 his sisters follows: 5 To My Family, I ask you for forgiveness for the pain I cause you, bu1 some day I shall have 10 die and ii is bcner lhal I die now in the plenitude of my conscience. Dear Parents, bro1her. and Sisters, Give thank, to God that I may pct$erve my 11anqulll1y before my death. I die rcsiJned, hoping 1ba1 with my death you will be left ,n peace, Ah! It is bcuer to die than 10 live suffering. Console yourselves. I enjoin you to forgive one another the blllc meannC$SCS of life and try to live united in peace and good harmony. Treat your old parenl$ as you would like 10 be treated by )'-OUr children la1er. Love them very much in my memory. Bury me in the gro11nd. Place•• atone and I crou over it. My name, the date of my birth, and of my death. Notbmg

more. Ir later you wish to surround my grave with a fen"· you can do so No 1nn1versar1,- I prefer PO/Jn~ /!1mJ.,1< •· Have pity on poor Josephine. Rizal's last lenc, 10 Paciano

1\

us follows. 1

My clear Brother

It has been lour year$ and • half that' we ha,c not ,ccn each other nor have we communica1ed with each n1her I do not think it i,, due to lad.. ol affection on m) pan nor on yours. bu1 bccuw.:, kno..ing each 01hcr so \\CII, we du not need 10 11111, to understand each other. Now I am ahout 10 die. and it is to you lhat I dcd,catc my last lines, to tell you how sad I am to leave you alone ,n life, burdened with the weight of the family nr.d mu ••Id parents.

I am ~hmktng now bow hard you have worked Ill f.1\C me a career; I believe I have tned not to wa,tc my um~ Brother of mine: if the fru,1 ha.\ been b1t1 c11cm} ol 1he rcact1ooanc\ and 1hc 1yran1>; therefore he .tlou ,J < I-it, :"u"1,dv 1n ordc:r ID )Crve as an cumplc and a wamu,' to lh, ,· of "" ~ind llu, "·" 1hc rc:a50n why Rual, alter a hnel m, .ck In ,I ,.a, •

r,ur.

1:,cn hre ..l uf 1hc R.e--o!utKln a!,1•~• Spam m l!Nt,. 11 ,any 111 ,ianu,- ra1cd •ulhorny on Malay affairs Or. J Montmo. a dmongu1\loed French linguist an1hropolgt,,I and author of a Mnnona on lbc Phibpp!Ms; Dr F Muellc:r. Profes.or of the Un1ves11y of Vienna and a great plulologis1; a DOied Du1ch literary woman ..,ho signed H D Tccnl W111ink. author of a touching and oonscic:ntious hiofraphy of Raal: Hen Manfred W1111ch, writer of uipi,g Dr Bctancn. Cuban pol11ical leader; Dr Boettger. a noted German ""turah,1 •nd author of works on 1he fauna of lbc PlnhPfllne>. Or A B Meyer, Dircc1or of the Museum of Elhnograph) of O~o and emment Filrptnologist M Odc,k~rcben of_ Uigc,, Oirccll)r of L Eipresh "'nlcr; Mr Joh~ Foreman au;:;; of work, lhc Ph_ilrppnc,. llen- C M lielier. a Oemun naturalrst: Or. H. Stolpe. a Swedish savant "ho spoke and puhb\hed C?" the Ph,hpp,ncs and Ri2.i1. Mr. Armand Lehu,. ant. A...anu cngnccr aad v.ntcr: Dr J M Podh k nou.blc C2Cdl writ«. author of -.orl,;s on lbc .,.._?,"' a and Or RQ:al n ml 1ppmc:s

and

°"

r•

A'™?ng 1hc scientrfic nccrological services held especially 10 ~ : : Rita!. •he ooc spon~red by the Anthropological Society

~

rtin on Ncr,ember 20, 1897 at lhe initiative of Or. Rudolph rdlow, iu President, was the most imponant and significant. Dr F..d Seier recited the German translation of Rizal's ''M las Farev.-eu- on that occasion 2f> Y t

out 1be newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals lhrough1.M ovd.iud world - in Germany Austna France H II d I ondon th cd o an , ·. e nrt rates, Japan, Hongkong Macao Sm • pore. ,tzcrl:"'d· and in Latin Amencan countries_ p~b!Js~.. accounts of RiuJ' · , ,.;u s martyrdom tn order to render homage to his greatness. 17

u·

s

•

•

,

s...

Did !be ~ . especially Governor William H . Taft really~ Ri2aJ out o(severaJ Filipino patriou u the Numbe;

:zs.o...._.._,._7 :!6."-'a,,._.._P439 77

180

--PP.«--C:19

One Hero of his people? N.o tlung could be fanber (rom 1M tnllh. In the preceding pages, we have shown beyond the shado"' of a doubt that the Grca·t Malayan , by his own effom anti sacrifices for his oppressed countrymen, had proJccted himself as the foremost leader or the Philippines until 1hc moment or his immol;uion, and this fad was spontaneously acknowledged not only by his own people but also by the elite or 01her lands who intimately knew bis patriotic labors We ha,e hkc-.= shown that immediately after hi, execution, his own people had JUSII} acclaimed him a• their foTemost hero and man yr The mlcllcctual and scientific world. as we have also demonstrated. was nor slow in according him Mgoal honors as a hero of humaruty and as an Apostole or Freedom Mr Tafl. as Chairman of the Sccondl'h1lippinc Comm1s.,ion arriYed in the Philippines in June, 1900. This Comm1'\Slon began 1L~ legisla11ve funcuons on September Isl of the same year. On June 11 of 1hc cn~umg year the Pbihppme Commiwon .ipproved Aci No 137. which organi1ed kt he politico-military district of Moroni:" into the "Province of Rizal". This was the FJR!)'I Ot-FICIAL STEP taken by 1hc Taft Commi:»1on to honor nur grc,nc,,1 hero and ~nyr. It should be borne m mind that SI'\ DAYS before the pas.sage of Act No. 137. the Taft Comm1ss1on held a meeting at the town of Pasig ror the purpo;e of organ1211.g 1he pro~tncc. In that meeting aucndcd by the leading c11izcn, of both Manila and Morong. a plan was presented to combiO(' he two districts onto one, but this proposal met wtth determined and vigorous ob1ec1JOn from the leaders of M orong. - At this po,nt,• reads the 'Minutes or Proceed mi:-· of 1hc Taft Cornm1SS>f the land of bis binh. Nay, we can go even farther and concur with Prof. Blumentl'itt, who said in 1897:

31, Crolg, op. ctt .. p 66. 32. 8ta1r 1nd Aob9f1.won. The ,t"41plne lel• nch. Vol 1. p. 55.

181

1n fighting for the liberty and indcpendeooe of our country m the baulefield. They further IISSCrt that while the foremost national heroes of other countrie:s are soldier-generals, like George Washington of the United States of America, Napoleon I and Joan of Arc of France, Simon Bolivar of Venezuela, Jose de Snn Martin of Argentina, Bernardo O'Higgins of Chile, Jimmu 'fenno of J apan, etc., ou r greatest hero was a pacifist and a ci\ltlian whose Wellpon was his quill. Howe\ler, our people in cxcrctSing their good sense, mdcpendent judgment, and urru,ual discernment , have not followed the examples of other nations 1n selecting and acknowledging a military leader for their greatest hero. Rafael Palma has very well stated U>c case of R1wl versus Bonifnc10 in these words: h should be o source of pride and 5atisfaetion 10 the Filipinos to have among their national heroes one of su.-h excellent qualiues and merits which may be eqwled but nol \\lrpa~scd by any other man Whereas gcocrolly the heroes of occidental nations arc warriors and generals who serve their cause with lhc sword, disulling blood and tears. lhc hero nf the Fihpmos served his cause with the pen. demonstrating that the pen ,s as mighty as the sword lo redeem • people from 1beir pohucat slavery. It is true that ,n our case 1hc sword of Bonifoc:,o was after all needed to shake off 1hc yoke of a foreign power; but the revolution prepared by BoruJacio was only 1he clfea, the, consequence of 1hc spiritual rcdemp1ion wrought by the pen or Rizal Hence, nol only in chronological order but also in point of 1mpor1•ncc 1hc prcv,ous work of Rizal seems to us superior tn 1h11 of 13onifacio, bccau.:;e although that of Bomfacio wa, or 1mmediak results. that of Ri:ul will have more dwable and permanent eftcctS." And lei us note further what other great men said about the pen being mightier and more powerful than the sword. Napoleon I himself, who was a great conqueror and ruler, said; "There are only two powers in the world, lhe sword and lhe pen; and in the end the former is always conquered by the 34 laucr". The following Slatemcnt o f Sir Thomas Browne is more applicable to the role played by Rizal in our libertarian struggle: 3J

Polm1 . ..,, "'-• p 367

3' Tvron Ed4Janb, n....N.w Dlcdaw7 flf ~ p, 451.

"Scholars are men of peace; they bear no arms; but their tongues are nu11Jy0lug.o "'' Kern. m 1.·nmn fih\,ofo un Ot,Ci:trtc~. ni comn no"·ch,t.,

1111 /.ola. m como bteratn un Menendez y Pelayo. m cumo l'....:ulhtr lm Ouc,ol . '" corno gc6~n1to un Rcclu), nI como 11r.1dor 11n 1'101 Oi~1,ngu16~ en mm:hu~ di~iplinaso pero en nin2un..1 Jc cll:.L" •.dc3n.l6 (.St grado supremo quc a!\Cgura lu 11un~1tt11l1Jad I ut 1>atriotn, tut ,wir11r d,I umur d \ti pair.

r,•ro ,·n d ,.,,., ,le Rl7.AL hav otro< filipinos; y ;.en 4ue quc RIZAL cst:i

l'OJl'l'-h.'

t.,

f111u1;,.t cxqu1,11u de :,u C1'pirttu

..:n la

qmjtlh.•.,.fa de.· ,o coraz6n, en ~u ~lffilngia

lon .

' P Jacinto

pen -~

wn

1he first pen-name. used by RtUl 1n t,,s wnt.mgs. HtS OIi.he,

we,,• Laong laan end D,mu A.ling

1Tha V1rg•n of Ant-Polo h es t>ct1:n ~ ral-1 bv F, pln nial days. Th• "110flth o f M oy ,s the tJnie o f p ll9m n a9e 10 he, thone She •• .tlto calltd OUt l .OV of POK• Ind GOC'>d V"Y~ , lhe o~oor sain1 of uavetM&.. One legend savs: her image s~ved •rorn "Sh epwreQ ihe crew o• • stt,p thM bore Nlf' from A.t.to,uJco to Ma" 11 tnll"lV Vfl't rt 190

the saddest poem lhat made impression on my nund, the stronger the more tempcstuous my prC$Cnt ~1tuation is . I had a nurse (ayo - Z.) who loved me very much and who, m order to make me take supper (which I bad on the terrace on moonlit nights), frightened me with the sudden appari11on of some formidable =ng, of a frightful nuno, or parc~-nobis, as me used to call an imagnary being similar 10 the Bu of the Europeans. They used to take me for a ,troll to the most gloomy places and at night near the 0owing ri,cr in the shade of some tree. in the brightness of the chaste Diana • Thus was my heart nourished with somber and melanchol,e thoughts. whtch even when I was a child already wandered on the 1,1,,ngs of fantasy 1n the lofty regions of the unk.nov,-n I had nine sisters and one brother My father. a model of fathers, had given us an education commensurate with our small fortune. and through 1hnf1 he was able to build a stone house. hu)' another, and to erect a liule nipa house in the middle of our orchard under the shade of banana trees and others. There the tasty a~ (all,) displays 11~ delicate fruits and bends tts branches to save me the cf£on of reaching for them, the sweet santol, the fragrant and honeyed tampoy. the reddish macupa, here contend for supremacy; farther way are the plum tree, the casuy. harsh and piquant. the beautiful wmarind, cqyally gratifying 10 the eyes and delightful to the palate, here the papaya tree spread, its broad leaves and attracts the birds 1,1,ith its enormous fruits. yonder arc the nangca. the coffee tree, the orange tree. 11,h1ch perfumes the air with the aroma of its Oower~. on thi> ,ide are the iba, the balunbing. the pomegranate ,.;,h its thick foliage and bcauuful 001,1,ers that enchant tbc senses; here and there arc found elegant Jnd ma1esuc palm trees loaded with enormou, nul\, rocl,.ing II\ proud crown and beautiful frond.., the mi,tr=s of the forests. Ah! It would be endless 1f I were 10 enumerate all our trees and en1cnarn myself Wl naming them! At the close of the da} numcrou\ birds came from all pans. and I, Mill a ch,ld of three years at the most, entcrtarned myself b) looking at them 11,11h unbelievable joy. The yellow cultauan, the maya of different vanct,c,. the culae, the marta capra. the mamn, all the tudy of the rudiments of Latin that I had begun. One Sunday. m:,, hiother took me to that town after I had bade my fomily. 1ha1 i,. tny parents and brothen. [sisters - Z.] goodbye, 1>ith tcH~ in my eyes. I was nine years old and already I tried 10 hide my tears. Oh, education. oh, shame, that obliges u, to hide our sc111111u:nts and to appear diflerentl How much beauty, how rtl.lll) tender and pathetic scenes the world would witnes, without you' We arrived at Biiian at nightfall and we wr.m to the hnus.of an aunt where I was to stay. 1 he moo~ w.is bcgnning 10 peep, and m the compony of Leandro. her grandson, l w;ill..cd through the town that seemed to me lurgc und rich hu1 u11I) and gloomy . My brother left me afterwards. n,11 wi1huu1 havonp first iniroduced me lo the 1eacher "ho ""' going tu lcm:lt nw It seemed to me that he had aho hccn hi, lie w," 1.,11, 1ldn. long-gecked, with sharp nose and body ,Jighll) bent for... ,11t1 and he used to wear a si11omay Shirt, woven by the ,l1lh.:u hand, of the wom-en of Batangas. He knew by heart 1hc gr.,mma1, b~ Nebrija and Gainia . Add 10 this h,, scvertl) 1ha1 m my ;udj,\ntc111 was exaggerated and you have a picture, perhap, vague. 1ha1 I have made of him, bu! 1 remember only tin;,, When I entered his class for the firsl time. tha1 L,. on hi; Imm house which was of nipa and low . abou1 1hirty mc1,,r, my aunt's (for one had only 10 pass through a portion nf 1he

""'">

291

strc~l and a tittle comer cooled by an apple tree,') be spoke to me m these words:

" Do you know ' Spanish?" "A little sir," J replied. ··oo you know Latin?" "A little, sir," I anSWCRd again. _For these replies the teacher's son Pedro, the naughtiest boy m the class. began to sneer at me. He was a few years older th~ I and was taller than I . We fought, but J don ·1 know by ~hat acc1dcn1 I defeated him, throwing him down some benches m the classroom I released him quite mortified. He wanted 3 retu:'1 match. hut as the teacher had already awakened I was afr:ud to e! cl~o;smatc~ 1n Mamla. and we round ourselves in very changed SltUllllOll~.

oor)

Uc~ide the house uf my teacher, who was Justiniano Aquino Cru7. ,tood that of his father•in-law, one Juancho, an old painter

who amused me with Ills paintings. I already had such an incli• notion for this art that a classmate of mine, called Jose Guevara, and I were the "Ca~hionahle paimers" of the cla.~.

I low my aunt treated me can he easily deduced from the following facts: We were many in the house: My aunt, two cousins, two meces, Arcadia and t-1orentina , and a nephew, Leandro. son of a c,,u~in My aunt was an old woman who must be se:venly or year< old. She used 10 read the Bible 1n Tagalog, lying down on the floor. Marg:1ri1a (ltay), my cous111, was single, very much JdJ1c:1cd to confe~,ing nntl doing penance. I !er hrother Gabriel wa," widower. Arc.idia wa~ a mmooy, of an inflexible character and 1rntablc, though she had a simple and Crank nature. The Nher. Flori:nuna, was o little girl of vulgar quahues. As to l.citndro. hr wos a capricious. pampered little hoy, a flaucrer when 11 ~u,tcd him. of an ingenious talent, a rascal in the full m"aning of the term. One day when we went 10 the river, which w,1, only ,1 fc" step, (mm our house, inasmuch us we pas\Cd h,•,idc the orchard. while w,: were bathing on the stone landing. tor I did not ,.l:irc go down as 11 was too deep for my height. the little boy pushed me so hard that had not one of my feet hcsn ~.iu.ght, wnhout doub1 I would have hcen drowned for the (urrent was already pulling me. This cost t.1m some lashes with ., slipper• and a good reprimand by my aunt.

'°

Somcumes we played m the ,trcet at night for we were not ull lesson at that hour and I went to Mass afterwards. I returned home and I went to the orchard to look

'nu. ao-ca,-, apple tree tl locally named m1,nani1H for it bears WltV tJny

,1)1>1 ..

--rt.as is• n.CiYe tmncutine) of C.lamb&.

291

•1n Spenr11t,, (h1MC•1M. 111.,.ny, IHMI tdmln,,leted Yw"tlh • 1l1pper With • leathtsr sole, a common way ot pvn11hlng chi.ldren 11'\ Filipino home-s.

193

10

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fot a' mabo/0 to eat. Then I took breakfast, which consi5ted . generally of a dish of rice and two dried small fish, and I went to class from which I came out at ten o'dock. I went home at once. If there was some special dish, Leandro and l look some of it 10 the house of her children (which I never did at home nor would r ever do it), and I returned without saying a word. I ate with them and afterwards I studied. I went to school at two ahd came out at five. I played a short while with some nice cousins and I returned home. I studied my lesson, I drew a little, and afterwards I took my supper consisting of one or two dishes of nee with an ayungm. 11 We prayed and when there was a moon, my nieces invited me 10 play in the s1ree1 together wi1h others. Thank G(?r 1h, 1.u t 1or a s1r,,11. I he rc,1 ul the 11mc we ,pent in th~ ,1mt) hall . :tt recess, in the cl.is-..:,. m the dining room. and in 1hc chape l In spi1e of my 1hineen yetida:,, She ~111I that the white rose that she gave· me was from my sister. And though. I knew it was not, I pretended to bchevc it. I went home and kept the rose , symbol or her artificial love My aunt\ and I wenl there again on Thursday following thal Sunday They came out ns usual, each one carrying a wh11e ro-;e; my sister ga\e me hers and she gave hen. tu her brother We formed a c1rde 11nd my seat was next to her, My ~hlCr had to commun1c-Jlc I don': know what feminine ,;ecret to my aunts and therefore ,h.: lcf1 us alone. I took advantage of the OCUISion 10 a~k her who lllJtk those r05CS and to tell her thJI I cunsuler my "Mer 1n.:.ipahlc of havin& made them for she didn't k.oow }Cl hew, 10 make 1hcm so well and moreover I wanted tu kno,i, the name of my creditor She confessed 10 me the I ruth blu~hing. I thanked her, promising her that I would keep it while I hvc and I added· wDo you know 1ha1 11 is very painful for me to lo.c you after having known y0111~ 310

w8ut I'm aomg to get marned! she replied and two tears appeared in her eyes. having d,vmcd the very murkcu 111tcniion of my remark After thu, my aunu. relurncd and we continued our,, ,~a sauon The ~uhiect turned to 1nne, It " uuc 1hat Junnr 1hc: convemition our eyes met, ,md the mo,t intcn ,., 1. ,1c.,d I waited for her lmlc "~1er m "'hom I dchwrc,I thew 10 h,: "llcn to her My M~tcr came out 1elhng me 1hM i... ..,,1, "'" ~- d on account of what I had done. I said nothmp,', Aher ;1 ,111111 while, her bro1her arrived and llc!!an 10 ,p.:.,k ""~ her hrother. Af1cr a while ,he came h.ttk 1,1 "'here "'c .... ,,.,., gay, loquac1ou.,. and willy. ,he: enlertainctl u, ,lch~h1full, wilh her pleasant con-ersation When ni1?hl c.unc. 1he mon11 re,._._. up maJCSUCally and we had to take our lca,c Iler hrn1her ,ind I were going 10 lca,e together uni.I "hen "'c were .1lrr.11h .......,tnJ in 1he carriage, my ~1stcr called me and 1uld me: ··K rcquc.·,I\ you not to come except ,n the company of her bn11her ,o 1ha1 YOII can vmt her " I received 3 plc,1,mg J") hut a 111.111110,can exterior hid 1t from all, 1,a,d y~ and leh Since then cHr)•hmg changed for me. 311

In the meanrimc chaucrina and lyjng rumor was already apreadiJic our imaginlrj love, IIUI In embryo, u ocnain. Everywhere I beard only talk about our relations and truth to tell we loved cac:b other without having declared it clearly except that we 'understood each other through our glancc5. fn the meanwhile, lime was passing away, I In going there every Thursday and Sunday and she in receiving us always enchanting and attrac:tive, always a conqueror of my heart that still, refused to surrender. It happened onoc that my . aunts, another young WOtUan and a sister of mine had to malce flowers for I didn't k:now wlu,t saints and for this purpose went to the college in the morning and I had to fetch them in the afternoon; I went there already twice. Once I gave in 10 my friend, and another till)e 'I didn't go, aaying I was ill. The following day I found them on the i.oding of the staircase - she, my two sisters, an aum of mine, and an,otber young woman. She was simply but very elepolly dressed, with her hair loose, and with a smile on her lips. Ob always J saw her thus even in my dreams! She received me cheerfully, accompanying us with my sisters until the carriage. My sister coUegian talked with my aunts and she with me. "Have you been sick?• she asked me in h~r sweet voice. "Ycs," I answered her, "but now I'm very well thanks to you . . . . " "Ohl" she replied, "last night I was praying for you, fearful that something bad migl'lt happen to you." "Thanks," I replied. " But being so, I would like to get $ick always inasmuch as in this way I have the happiness of being remembered by you; moreover death might do me much good." "Why?" she replied. "Do you wish 10 die? Well, I'm sony. ~ And we kept quiet. C don't remember now what came out of our lips then, but we must have talked a great deal, inasmuch as night overtook us. Alas! Our conversation, was so s weet, though we bad not yet declared ourselves, that more and more fastened the yoke already being laid on me. Ah! Once happy memories, now heart-rending! Oh, vanish from my memory, for inatead of bringing me happiness, yuu inflame my despair and my skepticism. 312

I was then reOecting on my situation. New anxieties, new cares, new ideas, new Kn ti ments seized me. When least ~xpcctcd J spent the nighl alm05t sleepless, steeped in my reflections. My rebellious bean·, which perchance forebode what was going to happen later, refused 10 express 11self yet at!d consequently to bend its nccli:, perhaps fearful of e ntrusting its happir_iess to such fragile hands. Alas, why have I not followed th~ impulses of my presentiments and followed another route,_ fascinated by the melodious-voice of this siren , much more temble and powerful than those of antiquity? The eighth of December came. feast o f the college in which she was a boall'der. It was a Saturday, with an enviable s~n. Some students and I went 10 tho college. It was decorated with pennants, lanterns, flowers etc, We we nt up and L~ere l fou~d my ( unintelligible word) ... beautiful as ever but wtth a ccnam severe and rcsc,rvcd air that I could not explain, I asked for my sister and ,he came and ~he tried 10 call her, hut she only approached our group carrying some pictures which she left with my sister. I took one of them without telling her, for she did not converse with us that morning, Twelve o'clock struck and we were going co depart and I approached her and said: :• ~iss, pardon me for having taken your picture without your perm1ss1on. Will you not be offended 1f I keep it?" "No " she said with a smile and made me forget her scriousne~• Ari'e rwnrds ~he called u friend of her1, thus cutting off o ur conversation. We took our leave. When we reached home. I kept the picwrc a nd pretended not to be in bad humor. One day nny grandmother took me to the college m the morning ~nd sent for her and my sister. I still seem to sec her coming ou1 pak and pantin.g a~d lumi~g a glance t~ me that filled me with joy, though 1t did not dispel my secret sorrow. Then l learned that her mother., having given binh to a boy lo whom they ga\/e the name Jose, had ordered her to go home that same month . A painful presentiment oppressed my heart bu: I concealed it under a cloak of indifference. My grandmother and the mo ther [nun - Z .] went away leaving us four there. thnt is, her . my two sister,;, and me. My grandmoth~r ?nd the mother came b:ack a while and we went down for I d1dn t lcoow 313

whaL While we were going down the stairs, she remained behind. I asked her then if it would not displease her to be of my hometown and she replied blushina that it would not.

of the same age as K.,,of my town, who was also going home to Calamba for a few days with her father after h:uving ~pent almost five years in the college.

She stopped beside the carnage and I, 100. ond we remained thus looking at each other for our companions had gone away to see I knew not what.

We ltnew cadl other very well, but the cducacion th,11 1hc sisters ol her college gave her made her excessively umid ,inc.I bashful, so much so that I refrained from using 1he Jea,1 .1111b1gu• ous word. l had to resign myself to .peak with her hack lier father was with us. To entertain her during the trip I a,kl'd about her college, her fnends. and her hopes or illusions She answered me m monosyllables and I nvtcd tha1 she hJJ ful K. and they leased me. Of all of ttiem my father was the most contented and the one who talked least. Consider my situation and my iUusions! My family wu, very much a.stonished when they learned that I knew how tllld I lenet' tn Tigo:(Xf tn uw brilvf' women

ol Malolos Accordlngly, A1zat, although busy ,n London anr a ta:1 rtg Morgas boo",

penned 1h11 famou1 tet1er•n~1en1 11 10 o., P1&,ronFul.m.1,11vn, UUN1m 11 ,, ,n • ,1 to M1lolos F'oi- full text of lhts letter 1n o,igln11 Tag.alog and ,n E~ltsti and Span1ih u1ot111loM ... A ,..,,,,, to tho Yo~ma Wom•n ot M•Jole>s by JO~- R,.u1. Umptu,iu, for a p and sprinkled oceans of holy water over it this would not pu11fy a rogue or condone sm where there ,s no repenten,c. r hw.. also, through cup1d1ty and love of mon~y. they will. f.>r •• price. revoke the numerous prohibitions such as those agam,1 catm~ meat, marrying dose relatives, etc. You can do almo,t an)thmg if you 1>111 grease· thell' palms. Why that" Can God be hri~d and bought off, and blinded by money. nothing more nor lcs, than a friar? the brigand who has obtained a bull nf compromise can live calmly on the proceeds of his robbery, becau.~e he W'II be forgiven. God, then, will Sil at a table where theft prov1Jcs the viands? Has the Omnipotent become a pauper that He must assume the role of the exase man or gendarme" If that is the God whom the friar adores, then I turn my back upon thJt Gou

As.·~ the mites and gifts to God, is there anything in ihe world that does not belong to God? What would you say of a servant malung his master a present of a cloth borro-..ed Crom that very master' Who IS so vain. so insane that he will give alms 10 God and believe that the miserable thing he has given will serve 10 clothe the Creator of all things? Blessed be they who ~uecor_ 1he1r fdlow men, aid the poor and feed the hungry; b1it cursed be they who tum a dead ear 10 supplications of the poor, who only give 10 him who has plenty and spend their money lnv,shly on silver altar hangJngs for the thanksgJviDJ!, or in serenades and fireworks. The money ground out of the poor is bequeathed to the master so that he can provide for diaim to subjugate, and hire thugs and exccul.looers. Oh. what blindness, what lack of understanding!

Let us be reasonable and open our eres, especially )OU women , because you are the ftrsl 10 innuence the con-.c1ou,ne~, of man Remember that a good mother does not rc~mblc the mother chat the friar has created; she must bring up her child to be the image of the true God, not of a bla$=kma1bng_ •• gra,ping God but of a God who is the father or us all, whn " 1u,1; who doe$• not suck the life-blood of 1he poor like a vampire. nor scoffs at the agony of the sorely beset. nor male~ a_ crf go-;sip. can hardly find lime enough 10 brag and ba"'I. amidst guffaws and insulting remarks. that a certain woman was thus; that she behaved thus at the c:onvent and conducted her.cit thus wtth the Spaniard~ who on the occasion wa, her gue,t. and other things that set your teeth on edge when you think of them wluch. in the majority of cases, were faulLs due 10 cand,H. cxce~s"c kmdnc~. mcckne~,. or pcrha~ ignorance and were all the "ork of the defamer himself There is a Spaniard now m htgh office who has sat at our table and enjoyed our ho,.p1W.hly tn lus wandenngs through the Philippines and who, upon hi, return lo Spain, ru,hcd forthw11h ,nw print dnd related that on one occa,;ion in Pampanga he demanded h0rl.J Chri,11.in a k,od of moti,c powi:r somewhat more inldl• -•enl and ks, ~-or~•, 1hem , would he the dut, of socicry and gmcrnment. if ks,, noble lhoughb did 001 occup) the1r a11cnt1l rt'a •akcn pmoncr by the corsairs and rcqwred to pny t"cnty-fivc talents ransom, he replied ~1•11 g.avc yuu fifty. hut la•cr I'll have you crucified!" The chief of Paragua was more generous he forgot, His conduct. while ii may reseal weaknc~~. also demon~tratcs •hat the islands were abundantly pro-.s1oncd This chief was named Tuan Mahamud· h,s hmthcr, Gu.intd, and his son, Tuan Mahamud : (Manfu Mend,•,. Pur\cr of the hir \',, toria: A•chivo de lndins.) 4{)0

. I\ vel) c~tr,turdinary •h1ng. and one that ~hov.-s the facility wuh whiu, ~ah(>undmg m provi~•ons. with mine, '" I washing~ of gold. and peopled with na11ve,," as Morga s:•\' · very populous, and at a port frequented by many ships that c,1111< from the island" und kingdom, near lndtd ... 115 1nlin ,,.~, .,,d even though the)' were peaceful I> rcct'ivcJ di •·ord ,onn Jn,,.__ I he cily w~ tak.:n by lorce and hurned. l h.: first d•·•••••~•"• ''" lo,>J In urd.:r HI mJkc hc.iJ\\ay ag111n,1 ,o n·am cat.,m,t,e,. to ,ccurc th,,r ""•·n·1snr> ,,nJ t,1ke the offen,l\c in thcStt d1sallfic, in the last pages of lus v.ork, unlil lhc) finally ceased to wmc lo 1hc country. In fact 11 . with the lottene~. with the prndtgaht) and bospt· 1ahty of the Filipinos. went also, to swell 1h1, train of 011,fnrtunc,,, the rehgiou, functions. the great number of fiestas. the long masses for the women 10 .spend 1he1r n)orn1ng, ;ind the novcnancs to ,p,;ncrty " curt,ulcd 1h.11 contmual ala"ln of aH from the knowledge that they are hahle to a n onh lrom 1h,osc d,,ths of Chma or lndo-China "'hk'• at on~ 1u11.: ·cn,hcd Sp.un by way of Manila, heavy ~•I~ ,bawls. fan1.i,1ic~II\ hu1 ,1,ar,dy embroidertd. which no one has thought of 1m1ta1tnt? m !\.lamla S1nce they are so easil> made. but the gmernmcm ha, ,,thcr cares, and the Filipinos do not !,,now th31 ,uch obJcct .,re mnr,• highl) e,;teemed in the Peninsula than their deli..-ak pdia embroideries and their very fine 1usI fabric,: Til!15 disappeared our trade in indigo, thanks 10 the trickery of the Chin,...,c "h,ch the government could not guard agai.,,1. •,ccupied n, ,1 w , "' th other cboughts; thus die now the other industrie,, the fine manufacturers of the Visaya. arc: graduall} disappc.iring from trade and even from u;.e: the people. continu,111} ~c11m11 cannot afford the costly cloths and have to be con1ented with calico or the imi1a110ns of the Germans. who produce 1m11a1ion, even of the work of our silvcrYruths.

I'""""

The fact that the best plantauons, the bo1 tract> ol land m some provinces. those that from their ens} access are more profitable than others, are m the hands or the religious corpora• uons, whose desideratum is ignorance and cond1uon of semi-star• vation 0£ the native, so that chey may, continue to govern him and make themselves necessary to his wretched existence. is one JS~

Of

the reasons ,.,hy many !owns do n

I

•

.

e fforts of rhcir mhab,iants W will beo progress m sp,re of the · e met with th b. · a~umcnt on the o!hcr ,ide, that the w~1~hi:~:i bclon an are companuvely richer than those which do no1 in ro g ~o !he~ They surely a re! just as their brethren in Europe un ,ng I cir convent~. knew how 10 sc,lect the ~ valle,: ~~e~t upland, for the cul!1va11on (l{ !he or the product,~~ so al,;o the Ph1hpp10e monl..~ have known ho"' to select the make ~f l~e beau11ful plain,. !he "'Cll-water,:d fi..:ld~ to d . . .,d I 1cm n~, plantallom, l°" h;,stcned 156 u..1

t

,,;h6·

10 extol the losers! Not one word from u,, to11ernmen1, ocx from anybody. to encourage the native who with so much affection has cultivated the language and letters of the mothe r country! Finally passing over m,m) other more or les\ in,,gnifieant rea ,,n .o !,:,cl v.11h the bca,1 - a ,abor aulcd

1r

b} '-'HllC pt.·1,nn,. \\ll'h r•r \\ll~lllUt th~ at:,,1ht) 10 ~fltt:: . \\h1t.:h 11 J1,1,.''\ 1101 picHht1 ~ , ,, ..,,u11" 1nchvuh1;1I, th.: dt.:'1J\:,t ~£led IO

-

other, it h." 1h,· ,lr(' rctrogre"u\n Jue" h II the delectable ci, ihuion, the religiun of !>;1Jvauon of the friars, called of Jc,u\ Chmt by euphemism. that has produced this mirade that has atrophied hil, brain, paralyzed his bean and made of the man llus son of vicious :1nimal that the writ 1"nherent 1n hro; l'>cm,- in 'l'IIC o 1< wm 111011 the native protests; he still has asp1rauon~. he thinks .mJ ' 111" ' ' 10 nse, and there's the trouble'

In the preu:ding chapter ,,.e ;,ct forth the t:'Ju~, 1ha1 puxccd from the government m fo,1enng and mamt.11111011 tht· ,·,·1 W< thn...: 1h.11 cm.male · are d .,scussmg. ,No·" " ,t falls to us 10 anal•Le , from the people. Peoples and gmemmcnh ar.: u11rd,1tc I 11d complementary 3 \lup,d gmcrnment -..ould he on .,11.,11.,h among righteous people, ju~• as a corrupt people cann•>t "'"' under )USI rulers and wise la\l.S. L1l.e people. hke gu,.:1111ncn1 we will say 1n par.-phra,;c of a popula1 adage We c;in reduce all these cau,c, to two d~""' to ,tc:fcct, of trninmg and lacl, of national ~ntimcnt or the influence of climate we ,poke a1 _1he hc~1nmnc. so we will now treat of the effects arising fro,m 11 The very limrted traming m the home. the 1vranmcal Jnd stcnle educa11on or the rare cen1er, of lcarn,n~ th.11 l>hntl ,ul>1 dination of 1he youth to one of greater a11c. ,nn,,.,n, c tht· 01111 •1 so that a man ma) not aspire to e xcel tho-.c ,,. ho rrcu:,kJ lu, but mw.t merely be content 10 go along with a m. «h h ·h,n them . Stagnatron torcibl) rc,ull\ from th,, .•mJ • he 1,,. ,1, 11 < himself merely to copying di,est~ h1imclf ,>f other qu.1l111c,, 1, . own narure . he naturall) becomes -.tenh.:; hence tlccadu ,, , to h1s Indolence ,s a corollary denved from the 1..d. ,,f st1111ul11, ,,,, of viiahty. That modest) infu,;ed into 1he con,11:t10n, .,f c,cr\""' "' to speak more clearly. that msinu~ted infenont~. ,1 ' " " , '.' l,u~, and constant depreciation of the mind ,o that II ma> n,11 lx · .11-..:J 10 the rcg,ons of light, deadens 1he enel'g,cs. paraly1n .,11 lcnden JS9

aes toward adv~ncement. and of the least struggle a man vci, 11 up without ~ghtmg. lf by one of those rare incidents, some wild spinl, that ,s, wmc aclJvc one. excels, tnStead of lus example ~•mula~mg, 11 only cause, others 10 pcnist in their moetion. Th~rc s one who v.,11 work for us; 1e1·s sleep on'" say his rc:latHes and fnends. frue 11 ,, lhat the spirit of nvalry 1s sometime, .,wakened, only that lhcn it awakens wilh bad humor m the guise of cnv>. and imacad of being a lever for helping 11 1s an obstacle that produce,; discouragement • Nurtured by the example of anchorit~ of a contemplative and laL) .hfe, thi: natl\e~ ,pend theirs ,n giving their gold to the Oiurch .•n .the hope of miracl~ and other "'nderful thin~. lnc,r 1s hypnouud from childhood the\ learned to act mcch~mcally, wnhout kno,.,lcdgc of tbe obJcct. th,m~, lo tbe excrc1"1C 1mpo-.:d upon them from the tenderest )Cars cf pra)mg for whole hours m an unknown tongue. of ,cneratinF th,nll) that ~hey do not understand. of accepting belief, that arc 001 explained to them, to having absurd1t1~-.. impo.cd upon them. while the prot,:,;t, of rea-;o11 are rcprc,St."d J, it any wonder that w,th the, ~,c,ous dr. uage of intelligence and wtJJ the native. of old lo~Kal and consNcnt JS the analy,,s of his past and of his langua1tc < the peace of hib con-ciencc all his life. ha,, the result of paralv7mg all his energies. and aided by the M:verit> of the chmate. make, of that eternal vacillation. of the doubts in his brain, the ong,n or tu, mdolcn_l 1hsposi1Jon

,.,,II

. "You cao·1 know more than this or 1ha1 old man• "Don't ac gr.-atcr than the curate'" "You belong to an inferior race'" ·you ha,-en·1 any energy'" This is ,.hat the> tell the child and the). repeat 11 so often. it ha, perforce to become engraved m _the mind and thence mould and pervade all tu.~ acuon. The child or youth who tnes to he anything c:lsc 1~ olamcd with "anfty and_ presumptlOD; the curate ridicules him with cruel ~rca~m h" rela11ves look upon lum with fear. ,1rangers regard hlm with great compa'ht> live in great bard.hip from the instant thel be8,n to hrc,,thc create pl'Olpcrity, agricullW'e and industry, found enterprise, and companies, things that still hardly prosper in Cree and wellorganized oommunlties? Yes, all attempt, is useless tha1 does not spnng from a profound study of the evil that afflicts us. To combat thh indolence, some have proposed increasing the native's needs and raising the taxes. What has happened? Criminals have multiplied. penury has been aggravated. Why? Because the native 1lready ha enough needs with bis funct1om of 1he Church, v.11h his fiestas, with the public offices forced on him. the dona11ons and bribes that be bad 10 make so that he may drag out his wretched existence The cord is already too taut . We have heard many complaints. and every day we read 1< makmp; to rescue the country from tlS condition of indolence. Weiglung it> plans, its illusions and its difficulties, we are reminded of the gardener who spent his days tending and 14.itering the handful of canb, be trimmed the plant frequently. he pulled al 11 to lengthen i1 and hasten its growth, he grafted on its ccd.m, anJ oaks, until one day the little tree died, leaving lhc man cunv,nccd that it belonged to a degenerate species attnbutmg the failure of his expenment to everything except the lack or so,I and his own ineffable fqlly.

in the papers about the efforts the government

Without cducahon and liberty, which are the !oOil and 1hc sun of man, no reform is possible, no measure can give the result desired. This does not mean that we should ask first for •be native the inSlruCllOD of a sage and all imaginable liberties, in order then to put a hoe in his hand or place him in a workshop, such a pretension would be an absurdity and vain folly. What we wish is that obstacle be not put in his way, not to increase many bis climate and the situation of the islands already

the

363

~ t e tor him that instruction be not begrudged him for fear that wheo he becomes intelligent he may separate from the colonizing nation or ask for lbc rights of wlucb he makes himself worthy. Smee some day or other he will become enlightened, whether the government wishes it or not, let his enlightenment be as a gift received and not as conquered plunder. We desire that lbc policy be at once frank and consistent, that IS Jugbly civ1hzang, without sordid reservations, without distrust without fear or jealousy, "'ishing the good for the sal.c of the good, civtlizanon w11bou1 ulterior thoughts of gramudc, or else boldly cxplo1bng tyranrucal and 5Clfi$h, without hypocn.sy or deception. with a whole system well-planned and studied out for dominating by compelling obedience. for commanding 10 get rich. to be happy If the former, the government may act with the security that some day or other 11 will reap the harvest and will find people its own in hean and interest; there is nothing like a favor for securing the friendship or enmity of man, according to whether II be conferred with good ,.,;11 or hurled 11110 his face and bestowed upon him in spite or himself If the log.cal ~nd regulated system of exploitation be chosen, stifling with the 1mgle of gold and the sheen ol opulence the sentiments of independence in the eolonics, paying w11h 11S .,.ealth for its lack of hbcny, M the English do in India, who moreover leave the government to nahve rulee>. then bwid roads, lay out highways. foster the freedom of trade , let the govemmcn1 heed material interests more than 1he intc=ts of four orde~ of fnars; let it -.end out intelligent employees to foster industrv; JUSt judges. all well paid so that they be not venal pilferers. and lay aside all religious pretext. TlllS policy has the advantage in that while it may not lull the instincts of libertV wholl> to Je what Napoleon said about great men and their valets Who endure and know all the false pretensions and rcuy persecutions of tboee sham gods, do not need a free press in ·order 10 recognize them; they have long ago lost !heir prestige. The free pres~ 1s needed by the government, the government which bllll dreams of the prestige which ii build$ upon mined ground .

We say t~e same about the Filipino rcpre!lentauvcb.

What risks docs the government sec in them? One of three things, either that they will prove unruly, become poh11cal trimmen, or act properly. Supposing that we should yield 10 lhe most absurd pe~simibm and adm.it the inault, great for the Philippines but sli 11 greater for Spain, that all the representatives would be scpara1is1s and that in all their contentions they would advocate scparM1s1 idea•; doea not a patriotic Spanish majority exist there. is there not present there the vigilance of the aovcrning poweM 10 combat and oppose such intentions? And would not th1~ be better than the clltcontent that fermenll and expands 1n 1hc )CCrecy or the home, in the huts and in the field? Certainly the Spam~h people doea not,'!)ale Its blood where patriotism is concerned hut would not a struggle of principles in parliament be preferable 10 the exchange ofshot in swampy lands, three thou&and league, from · h"IUc in Impenetrable forests, under a burning •un or amid 379

bell.des

torrential nina? Tbete pacific ~ of ideal, beiDi a thermometer for the government, have the advantage of being cheap and glorious, because tile SpaniJh parliament especially, abounds in oratorical paladins invincible in debate. Moreover, it is said that the Filipinos are indolent and peaceful - then what need the government fear? Hasn't it any infi11C11ce in the elections? Frankly speaking, 11 is a great compliment to the separatists 10 fear them in the midst of the Cor1es of the nation.

If they become ·what they should be, worthy, honest and faithful to their tru.n, they will undoubtedly annoy an ignorant or tncapable mani11er with their. questions but they need him to govern and will need IOtne morr honorable figures among the representatives of the nation

Now tben, if the real objection to the Filipino delegates, is that they smeU like lgorots, which so distur.bcd in open Senate the doughty General Salamanca, then Don Sinibaldo de Mas, who saw the Igorots in pc1$0n and wanted to live with them, can affirm that they will smell at worst like powder, and Sei\or Salamanca undoubtedly has no fear of that odor. And if this were ·all, the Filipinos, who there in their own courttry are accustomed to bathe every day, when they become representatives may give up such a dirty custom, at least ~uring the legislative session so as not to offend the delicate nostrilJ of Salamanca with the odor of the bath. It is usele55 to answer certain objections of some fine writen regarding the rather brown skins and faces with somewhat wide nostrils. Questlons or taste ,re _peculiar to each race. China, for example, which has four hundred million inhabitants and a very ancient civilization, considers all Europeans ugly and calls them "fankwai", or red devils. Its taste has a hundred million more adherents than the Europeans. Moreover, if this is the question, we would have to admit 1he inferiority of the Latins, especially the Spaniards, to the Saxons, who ~re much whiter. And so long as it is not asser1ed that the Spanish parliament as an assemblage of Adonises. Antoniuscs, preuy boys, and other like paragons, so long as the purpose of resorting thither is to legislate and not to philosophize or to wonder through imaginary spheres, we malntain that the government ought not to pause at 1hese obligations. Law has no skin nor reason nostrib.

380

So we see no serious reuon why the Philippines may not have representatives. By their institution many malcontents would be silenced, and instead of blaming its troubles upon the government , as now happens, the country would bear them belier, for it oould at least complain and with its sons among its legislators, would in a way become' responsible for their actions.

We are no1 sure that we serve the true interests of our country by asking for representatives. We know that the lack of enlightenment, the indolence, the egotism, or our fellow countrymen, and the boldness. the tunning and the powerful methods of those who wish their obscurantism, may convert reform into a harmful instrument Bui we wash to be loyal to the government and we are pointing out to it the road that appears best to us so that its effort may not come to grief, so that discontent may di,appcar. If after so just, as well as necessary, a measure has been introduced, the Filipino people are so stupid and weak that they arc treacherous 10 their own interests, then let the responsibility faU upon them, let them suffer all consequcn«:S Every country gets the fate It deserves and the govenncnt ~n say that it has done its duty.

These are the two fundamental reforms which properly iotcYprcted and .applied, will dissipate all clouds, assure affection toward Spain, and make all succcccling reforms fruitful These are the reforms sint quibus nora.

It is puerile to fear that independence may come through them. The free press will keep the government m touch w11h public opinion, and the representatives, if they are, a, they ought 10 he. the hest rrom among the sons of the Philippines, will be their hosiages. With no cause for discontent, how then auempt 10 ,11r up 1he masses or the people? Lil.cw~ 1nadmiss1ble is the obligauon uffered by some regarding Lhc imperfect culture of the majority of the mhnb11ants. Aside from the fact that 11 is not so imperfect as as averred. there as no plausible reason wby lhe ignorant and 1he defecnve (whc1he1 lhrouih their Ol!.n or ,mother's fault) should be dented representation m lt>ok after them and i.ce that 1hey arc not abused f hey are the very ones who mos1 need it. No one ceases to be a man. no one [orfcu, Im nglm 10 civilu:auon merely by 381

bei.ag more or lea UJICllltun!d, md Ii.nee the F'"tllpiao ii reprcled .. a fit citizen when be It uted to pay t.ues o r shed hb. blood to defend the fatherland why must lhill filness be denied him when the question arisea of granting him some right? M.oreover , how is he to be held reapomible for his ignorance, when It is acknowledged by all, friend, and enemies that his zeal for lcamlng is so 11ea~ that even before the coming of the Spaniards every one could read and write, and that we now see the humblest families make enormous aacrifices to the einenl of working as aervants in order to learn Spanish? How can the country be expected to become enlightened under present conditions when we aee all 11\e decrees luued by the governmcn1 in favor of education meet with, Pedro Rezio, who prcven1 execution '1¥hereof because they have in their hands what they call educe• lion? Uthe Filipino, then, is sufficiently intell1gent to pay taxes, he must also be able to choose and retain 1he one who looks after him and his in1ereat:s, with the product whereof he serves the government of bis nalion. To re85Qn otherwise is to rc85Qn stupidly When the laws and the acts of officials are kept under surveillance, the word iu11tice may cease 10 be a colonial jest. The thing that makes the English most respected in lheir posses• lions is their strict and speedy justice so that the inhal:>itants repose entire confidence in the judges, Justice is the fore!1'°5t virtue of the civilized ·races. It subdues \he: barbarous nations, while injustice arouses the weakest. Offices and trusts should be awarded by competi1ion, publishing the work and the judgment thereon , so tha1 there may be stimulus and that 'disoontent may not be bred. Then, if the native does not shake off his indolenu he can not complain when he secs all the offices filled by Castilas. We presume that it will not be the Spaniard who fears to enter in this contest, for thu$ will he be able to prove his superiority by the superiority of intelli&ence Although this is not the custom in the sove~ign country, it should be practised in the col.onie&, for the reason that genuine prestige should be sought by me~ns or moral qualities, because the colonizers ought to· be, or at least to seem, uprigbt, honest and intelligent, just as a man stimulates virtues when he deals with stranger. The 382

offices and trusu so earned will do away with arbitrary dismmal and develop employees and officials capable and cogniiant of their duties. The offices held by natives, instead of endangering the Spanish domination , will merely i.erve 10 assure 11, for what interest would Chey have in convening the sure and stable mto the uncertain and problematical? The na1ive 1s, moreover. very fond of peace and prefers a humble present to a brilliant fu1ure. Let the various Filipinos still holding office speak in this matter, they are. the most unJhaken conservatives We could add other minor reforms touching commerce, agriculture, security of the individual and of property. education, and so on, but these are potnts with which we shall deal in other uticles, For the present we 'are satisfied with the outlines and no one can say that we ask too much. There will not be lacking critics to accuse us of Utopianism. but what is Utopia? Utopia was a country imagined by Thomas Moore, wherein e~iated umversal suffrage, religious tolcra11on. almost oomplete abolition of the death penalty and 50 o n When the book was pu'blished these things were looked upon as dreams, impoesibilitics, that is Utopianism Yet c1vihzation ha,\ left the country of Utopia far behind . the human will and conscience have worked greater miTacles, have abolished slavery and lhe death penalty for adullcry - thmgs impossible for even Utopia ilfelfl The French colonies have their reprcscn1a11ves The 4uc,1u111

has also been raised in the English parliament of 111ving rcprc,cnlation to the Crown colonies, lor the others already enioy ,om~ autonomy , The press there i~ also fn:c . Only Spain. which 111 the sixteenth century was the model nation m civili1,11ion, lag, far behind. Cuba and Puerto Ru:o , whose inhah1i..nts do no1 number a thtrd of those of the Philippines. and v.ho ha,·c not made such sacrifices for Spain, have numerou, rqirc...:1u,,tl\n The Philippines in the early days had their,;. Y.ho rnnfom:d with the King and Pope on the needs of 1he country Thci had th~m ,n Spain's crillc:al moments, when she groaned under the Napoleonic yoke, and they did not take advantage ,if the sovereign country's misfortunes like other colonies hut tightened 1nore firmly the bonds that united them 10 the nation. giving proof; of their loyalty and they continued until many yea" later. l~.l

Whal crime law tbe Wends commilt'ed that they ere deprived ol their npts? To rec:epitulete: the PhiUppines will remain Spanish if they enter upon the life of law and civilization, if the ri&hts of their Inhabitants ere respected, if the other ripts due them ere granted, if the bberal policy of the government is carried out without trickerv or meanness, without 1ubterfugc1 or flltc interprctadoas. Otherwise, if an attempt is mede to ace in the Islands e lode to be exploited, a resource to satisfy ambitions, thus to relieve 1~ aovereip country of tuee, ltillina the IOOIC that lays the golden egs, end shuttina its eers 10 ell cries of reaeon5 then, however, great maY, be the loyalty of the Filipino.I, it will be Impossible to hloder the operations of the inexorable laws of lu•tory Colonies cstal>lilbed to 1ubserve the policy end the commerce of the sovcrcip country, ell eventually become independent eeid Bachelet, and before Dachelet, ell the Phoenician, Carthaainien, Greek, Roman, En&llih, Portu,uese, end Spanish colomes hed Aid 11.

00K indeed ere the bondl that unite us to Spain. l'No peoples do not bve fo.- three centuries in oontinual contact, 1harin& 1he same lot, &hecldlng their blood on the 11me fielcll, holdina the same bclicb, worshippina the same God, intcrdwla• ina the ,oame idul, but that ties ere formed between them stronger then tbote enpdered by affection. Machiavelli, the great reader of the human heart 1ald: /a ntUUrO •111 """'"1nl, t CMi obligarsr p< II batqiciJ w 1 - co- pn qwlU cM mi ricn,()llo (it is human nature 10 be bound as much by benefits conferred as by those received). All this, and more, Is true but 11 is puirc ..-ntimentelity, end in the arena of politica Item nc0CU1ty and interests prevail. Howsoever much the Filipinos o - Spain, they can not be required to forego their redemption, to have their liberal and enlightened sons wander about in e:lile from their native land, the rudcat asptrations stifled in its atm05phcre, the peaceful inhab.taots living in constaol alarm, with the fortune of the two peoples dependent upon the whim of one man. Spain can not claim, oot even in the name of God himself, that a. millioos of people should be brutalized, exploited and opp, e ned, denied light Md the ngbts inherent to a human being end then

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heap upon them allgbta and imults. There ii no claim of gntitude ,hat can exC\IIC, then: ii not eooup power in the world to j~itify the offenses a11inst the liberty of the individual, agam51 the sancthy of tbe home , agetnst the laws, a1ains1 peace and honor, offcnlCI that are ooaurutted then: daily There Ii no dlVlnity ,hat can proclaim the perificc of our dearest arfectiont, the ,)l.:nficc of the family, the sacrileges and WTOnp that are com• ,mued by perscns who have tbe name of God oo their lips No >nc: can require an lfflpoGibdity of the F,bptoo people. The ~oble Spanish people, 10 jealous of IIS rights and liberties, cannot hid the Filipinos to renounce theirs. A people that pri~ itself un the &1orie1 of its past cannot ult another, trained by 11 , to accept abjectiOfl end d111honor 11s own name! We, who today arc stnia&Jing by the legal and peacdul means of debate so understand it, and with our 117e fixed upon our ideals, ,hall not cease to plead our cause, without going beyond the pale of the law, but if violence first silences us or we have the mufortune to fall (which II poGJblc for we arc mortal) then we do not ltoow what course will be 1aken by the numc{OYS tendencies that will 1'\1111 in to occupy the places I.hat we leave vacant.

If what we desire

II no, real12ed

In contemplating ,uch an unfortunate eventuality, we n1us1

'°

not tum away an horror, and instead of dosing our eyes ,..c will face what the future may bring. For this purpose. after throwing the handful of dust due 10 Cerberus, let u~ franlth descend into the abys.~ and ~nd its terrible mysteries

-IVHistory d~ not record 10 its annals any lasting don11nat1011 exercised by one ~ople over anotMr, of differtnl race., ol diverse asage$ and cll$lorns. or opp0111e and diver,ent t1 when I see the dawn brealt, Through the 1lnom of night. to herald chc day: And if color is l.ckmg my blood chou shah take. Pour'd ouc at Med for thy dear ,ake To dyc wtth Its crimson the wakmg ray

Atld when the darl rught wraps the grave,ard around. With only lhe dead in their "'"' to see, Break not my repocse or the mysterv profound And perchance thou mayst hear a sad hymn resound. 'Th I, 0 my country, raising a wng unto thee.

My dream,, when lifc fi,-.1 opened to me, My dreams, when che hopes of youth beat high Were 10 see th) lov'd face, 0 gem of the Oncn, sea From gloom and grid, from care nnd sorro" free, No blu,h on th} brow, no cear in thine eye

When even my grave is remembered no more, Unmark'd by never a cross or a stone; Let the plow sweep through it, the spade turn u o'er That my ashc5 may carpet thy earthy 0oor Before intq nodtingoess at last they are blown

Dream of my life, my bvmg and bummg des1rc. All hail' enc, 1hc soul that is now "' 1&ic·n11h1, AU hail' And s•ect 11 •s for Chee 10 cxp,re To die for chy sake. 1h~1 chou mayst aspire. And sleep ,n lh) bosom c1ern1t) ·, IMtt n1gh1

1bcn will obbY10n bring to me no care; As over thy vales and plains I sweep, Throbbing and cleansed in thy space end 1ir. With 001or and Ught, with song and lament I fare. Ever repeallng th~ faith that I keep

If o,·cr my ,1rn,c some d:ay thou ~ct:,, grov.·

My Fatherland ador'd that gdness 10 my som,v. lcnil>. Beloved rilipioas. hear now my laSI good-bye' I give thee all; parents and kindred and fnends; For I So where no slave before the opprcs.sor hend,, Where faith can never kill. and God reigns e'er on high'

In the grassy sod. a bumble 0ower. Draw ii 10 thy hps and l,s., my ..,,ul