Lineage, Life and Labors of José Rizal, Philippine Patriot
changes in his life. Doctor Rizal did not have these Spanish ways,
and the narrators are merely speaking of what other Spaniards would
have done, for self-restraint and freedom from exhibitions of emotion
were among his most prominent characteristics.
Some time during Rizal's early years of school came his first success
in painting. It was the occasion of a festival in Kalamba; just at
the last moment an important banner was accidentally damaged and there
was not time to send to Manila for another. A hasty consultation was
held among the village authorities, and one councilman suggested that
Jose Rizal had shown considerable skill with the brush and possibly he
could paint something that would pass. The gobernadorcillo proceeded to
the lad's home and explained the need. Rizal promptly went to work,
under the official's direction, and speedily produced a painting
which the delighted municipal executive declared was better than the
expensive banner bought in Manila. The achievement was explained to
all the participants in the festival and young Jose was the hero of
the occasion.
During intervals of school work Rizal found time to continue his
modeling in clay which he procured from the brickyard of a cousin at
San Pedro Macati.
Rizal's uncle, Jose Alberto, had played a considerable part in his
political education. He was influential with the Regency in Spain,
which succeeded Queen Isabel when that sovereign became too malodorous
to be longer tolerated, and he was the personal friend of the Regent,
General Prim, whose motto, "More liberal today than yesterday, more
liberal tomorrow than today," he was fond of quoting. He was present in
Madrid at the time of General Prim's assassination and often told of
how this wise patriot, recognizing the unpreparedness of the Spanish
people for a republic, opposed the efforts for what would, he knew,
result in as disastrous a failure as had been France's first effort,
and how he lost his life through his desire to follow the safer
course of proceeding gradually through the preparatory stage of a
constitutional monarchy. Alberto was made by him a Knight of the Order
of Carlos III, and, after Prim's death, was created by King Amadeo a
Knight Commander, the step higher in the Order of Isabel the Catholic.
Events proved Prim's wisdom, as Alberto was careful to observe, for
King Amadeo was soon convinced of the unfitness of his people for even
a constitutional monarchy, told them so, resigned his throne, and bade
them farewell. Then came a republic marked by excesses such as even
the worst monarch had not committed; among them the dreadful massacre
of the members of the filibustering party on the steamer Virginius
in Cuba, which would have caused war with the United States had not
the Americans been deluded into the idea that they were dealing with
a sister republic. America and Switzerland had been the only nations
which had recognized Spain's new form of government. Prim sought an
alliance with America, for he claimed that Spain should be linked
with a country which would buy Spanish goods and to which Spain could
send her products. France, with whom the Bourbons wished to be allied,
was a competitor along Spain's own lines.
During the earlier disturbances in Spain a party of Carlists were
sent to the Philippine Islands; they were welcomed by the reactionary
Spaniards, for devotion to King Carlos had been their characteristic
ever since the days when Queen Isabel had taken the throne that in
their opinion belonged to the heir in the male line. Rizal frequently
makes mention of this disloyalty to the ruler of Spain on the part
of those who claimed to be most devoted Spaniards.
Along with the stories of these troubles which Rizal heard during his
school days in Manila were reports of how these exiles had established
themselves in foreign cities, Basa in Hongkong, Regidor in London,
and Tavera in Paris. At their homes in these cities they gave a warm
welcome to such Filipinos as traveled abroad and they were always ready
to act as guardians for Filipino students who wished to study in their
cities, Many availed themselves of these opportunities and it came to
be an ambition among those in the Islands to get an education which
they believed was better than that which Spain afforded. There was some
ground for such a belief, because many of the most prominent successful
men of Spanish and Philippine birth were men whose education had been
foreign. A well-known instance in Manila was the architect Roxas,
father of the present Alcalde of Manila, who learned his profession
in England and was almost the only notable builder in Manila during
his lifetime.
Paciano Rizal, Jose's elder brother, had retired from Manila on the
death of Doctor Burgos and devoted himself to farming; in some ways,
perhaps, his career suggested the character of Tasio, the philosopher
of "Noli Me Tangere." He was careful to see that his younger brother
was familiar with the liberal literature with which he had become
acquainted through Doctor Burgos.
The first foreign book read by Rizal, in a Spanish translation,
was Dumas's great novel, "The Count of Monte Cristo," and the story
of the wrongs suffered by the prisoner of the Chateau d'If recalled
the injustice done his mother. Then came the book which had greatest
influence upon the young man's career; this was a Spanish translation
of Jagor's "Travels in the Philippines," the observations of a German
naturalist who had visited the Islands some fifteen years before. This
latter book, among other comments, suggested that it was the fate of
the North American republic to develop and bring to their highest
prosperity the lands which Spain had conquered and Christianized
with sword and cross. Sooner or later, this German writer believed,
the Philippine Islands could no more escape this American influence
than had the countries on the mainland, and expressed the hope that
one day the Philippines would succumb to the same influence; he felt,
however, that it was desirable first for the Islanders to become better
able to meet the strong competition of the vigorous young people of the
New World, for under Spain the Philippines had dreamed away its past.
The exact title of the book is "Travels | in the | Philippines. |
By F. Jagor. | With numerous illustrations and a Map | London: |
Chapman and Hall, 193, Piccadilly. | 1875." The title of the Spanish
translation reads, "Viajes | por | Filipinas | de F. Jagor | Traducidos
del Aleman | por S. Vidal y Soler | Ingeniero de Montes | Edicion
illustrada con numerosos grabados | Madrid: Imprenta, Estereopidea
y Galvanoplastia de Ariban y Ca. | (Sucesores de Rivadencyra) |
Impresores de Camara de S. M. | Calle del Duque de Osuna, num 3. 1875,"
The following extract from the book will show how marvelously the
author anticipated events that have now become history:
"With the altered condition of things, however, all this has
disappeared. The colony can no longer be kept secluded from the
world. Every facility afforded for commercial intercourse is a blow
to the old system, and a great step made in the direction of broad
and liberal reforms. The more foreign capital and foreign ideas and
customs are introduced, increasing the prosperity, enlightenment,
and self-esteem of the population, the more impatiently will the
existing evils be endured.
England can and does open her possessions unconcernedly to the
world. The British colonies are united to the mother country by
the bond of mutual advantage, viz., the produce of raw material by
means of English capital, and the exchange of the same for English
manufactures. The wealth of England is so great, the organization of
her commerce with the world so complete, that nearly all the foreigners
even in the British possessions are for the most part agents for
English business houses, which would scarcely be affected, at least
to any marked extent, by a political dismemberment. It is entirely
different with Spain, which possesses the colony as an inherited
property, and without the power of turning it to any useful account.
Government monopolies rigorously maintained, insolent disregard and
neglect of the half-castes and powerful creoles, and the example
of the United States, were the chief reasons of the downfall of the
American possessions. The same causes threaten ruin to the Philippines;
but of the monopolies I have said enough.
Half-castes and creoles, it is true are not, as they formerly were
in America, excluded from all orificial appointments; but they feel
deeply hurt and injured through the crowds of place-hunters which
the frequent changes of Ministers send to Manilla. The influence,
also, of the American element is at least visible on the horizon,
and will be more noticeable when the relations increase between the
two countries. At present they are very slender. The trade in the
meantime follows in its old channels to England and to the Atlantic
ports of the United States. Nevertheless, whoever desires to form an
opinion upon the future history of the Philippines, must not consider
simply their relations to Spain, but must have regard to the prodigious
changes which a few decades produce on either side of our planet.
For the first time in the history of the world the mighty powers
on both sides of the ocean have commenced to enter upon a direct
intercourse with one another--Russia, which alone is larger than
any two other parts of the earth; China, which contains within its
own boundaries a third of the population of the world; and America,
with ground under cultivation nearly sufficient to feed treble the
total population of the earth. Russia's further role in the Pacific
Ocean is not to be estimated at present.
The trade between the two other great powers will therefore be
presumably all the heavier, as the rectification of the pressing need
of human labour on the one side, and of the corresponding overplus
on the other, will fall to them.
"The world of the ancients was confined to the shores of the
Mediterranean; and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans sufficed at one
time for our traffic. When first the shores of the Pacific re-echoed
with the sounds of active commerce, the trade of the world and
the history of the world may be really said to have begun. A start
in that direction has been made; whereas not so very long ago the
immense ocean was one wide waste of waters, traversed from both points
only once a year. From 1603 to 1769 scarcely a ship had ever visited
California, that wonderful country which, twenty-five years ago, with
the exception of a few places on the coast, was an unknown wilderness,
but which is now covered with flourishing and prosperous towns and
cities, divided from sea to sea by a railway, and its capital already
ranking the third of the seaports of the Union; even at this early
stage of its existence a central point of the world's commerce, and
apparently destined, by the proposed junction of the great oceans,
to play a most important part in the future.
In proportion as the navigation of the west coast of America
extends the influence of the American element over the South Sea,
the captivating, magic power which the great republic exercises over
the Spanish colonies[1] will not fail to make itself felt also in the
Philippines. The Americans are evidently destined to bring to a full
development the germs originated by the Spaniards. As conquerors of
modern times, they pursue their road to victory with the assistance
of the pioneer's axe and plough, representing an age of peace and
commercial prosperity in contrast to that bygone and chivalrous age
whose champions were upheld by the cross and protected by the sword.
A considerable portion of Spanish America already belongs to the