The hero of the Filipinos The story of José Rizal, poet, patriot and martyr
[55] It was founded in 1603, only thirty-three years after the capture
of Manila and the beginning of the Spanish domination.
[56] Retana.
[57] Craig, p. 109; Retana, pp. 34–35.
[58] His father’s sore difficulties, to be described later, were then
beginning. Mr. Mercado continued to send money regularly to José
through Mr. Rivera, the detour being necessary to protect himself.
[59] Craig, p. 111; Retana, pp. 56 and 57.
[60] Craig, p. 117; Retana, p. 59; Derbyshire, p. xxvii.
[61] While he was in the Philippines on the occasion of his first
return there, 1887, he had with him a considerable collection of books
in many languages but scarcely any in Spanish. A friend once called his
attention to this fact and asked why he omitted Spanish books. “Well,”
said Rizal, in his quiet way but with a twinkle in his eyes, “if they
can’t read them they will not borrow them, will they?”
[62] Fernando Canon, Manila “Citizen,” December 31, 1921.
[63] Craig, p. 99.
[64] Craig, p. 76.
[65] Senator Sandiko’s recollections.
[66] Retana, p. 99.
[67] Craig, p. 126; Retana, pp. 103–105.
[68] For example, “The Flowers of Heidelberg,” printed in “La
Solidaridad,” December 15, 1889.
[69] Mr. Derbyshire, a discriminating critic, calls it “a story
pulsating with life.”
[70] Compare Derbyshire, p. xxxi.
[71] “Noli Me Tangere,” Chaps. LII and LVII.
[72] To western readers this will seem impossible. There are, however,
attested instances of the savage practice.
[73] A vein of strange coincidence that seems almost like some
intuition runs through Rizal’s novels. What happened to the ashes of
the elder Ibarra in the story is exactly what happened a few years
later to the ashes of Rizal’s brother-in-law.
[74] “The letter enters with the blood.” This was the favorite motto of
Dr. Cruz, master of the school at Biñan, the first that Rizal attended.
The protest here against corporal punishment in schools is doubtless
sharpened from Rizal’s own experiences.
[75] “Noli Me Tangere,” Chap. XIX, Derbyshire’s translation.
[76] “Noli Me Tangere,” Chap. L, Derbyshire’s translation.
[77] Retana prints the original of this letter (in French) at pp.
125–126.
[78] For most of the information we have of this interesting young
woman we are indebted to Miss Salud Sevilla of the College of
Education, University of the Philippines, who traced her story and
verified and illuminated the incidents here related.
[79] Retana, pp. 79–90, cites other references to letters received from
and written to Leonora, indicating a prosperous correspondence.
[80] Craig, pp. 217–218.
[81] Miss Sevilla.
[82] Miss Sevilla.
[83] Craig, p. 219, and Miss Sevilla.
[84] A fact communicated by Mr. Fernando Canon.
[85] The title-page bears this imprint: “Berlin, Berliner
buchdruckerei-actien-geselschaft.”
[86] Mr. Canon’s manuscript.
[87] Retana gives the findings and the letter of the archbishop, pp.
128–130.
[88] Derbyshire, p. xxxiii.
[89] Craig, p. 131; Retana, p. 135.
[90] Craig, p. 133.
[91] By this time, no doubt, he surmised that his love-affair had gone
wrong, but he had no final confirmation of this misadventure until he
reached Manila.
[92] Mr. Canon’s manuscript.
[93] Derbyshire, p. xxxiv.
[94] Craig, p. 137; Retana, pp. 144–145.
[95] It is customary to pretend otherwise, but this is the real heart
of modern imperialism.
[96] Derbyshire, p. xxxiv.
[97] Craig, p. 138.
[98] It is the whole philosophy of “Noli Me Tangere.”
[99] Ladrones and Carolines were groups of islands in the South Seas
that Spain owned and misgoverned.
[100] Craig, p. 140.
[101] Retana, p. 150. He sees nothing remarkable in these suddenly
cordial relations.
[102] Rizal’s diary: see Appendix E. Retana (p. 152) prints a letter
from Rizal to his friend Mariano Ponce in which he allows himself a
little sarcasm about some of these experiences.
[103] Published in Mexico in 1609. De Morga had been in the Philippines
from 1595 to 1605. Retana, pp. 172–173.
[104] This is confirmed by the recent investigations of Craig and
Benitez, “Philippine Progress Prior to 1898.” No one denied or denies
the existence of uncivilized or scantly civilized tribes in the
interior. De Morga was speaking about the people near the coast.
Skepticism about early Filipino civilization is a necessary waiter at
the heels of whomsoever wishes to defend imperialism.
De Morga’s work, newly translated, is printed in Blair and Robertson,
Vol. XV.
[105] Craig, p. 146.
[106] Retana, p. 193.
[107] The office of the governor-general at Malacañan, Manila, has one
painting by Luna that, if he had never painted anything else, would be
enough to insure his fame.
Juan Luna was also a sturdy patriot. In 1897 he was arrested in Manila
for conspiring in behalf of his country’s independence and by a narrow
chance missed the firing-squad. After six months close imprisonment he
was released and escaped from the country but returned and was present
when the Spanish domination came to an end. (Foreman, p. 394.) His
career was picturesque. He had been born in as poor a home as any in
the Philippines and had begun life as a sailor. The city of Barcelona
purchased and still has one of his paintings that had been awarded a
prize at the Madrid Salon.
[108] Mr. Derbyshire says it was thrown to the dogs, but this must be a
figure of speech. It seems to have been exposed until buried in
unconsecrated ground.
[109] Craig, p. 154; Retana, p. 195.
[110] Craig, p. 170.
[111] Rizal’s own account, “The Turkey That Caused the Calamba Land
Trouble.”
[112] Craig, p. 164.
[113] Retana, pp. 226–227, assumes to defend Weyler on the ground that
he was “upholding judicial authority.” This must be a recrudescence of
Retana’s press-agent days.
[114] “La Solidaridad” was started by Graciano Lopez Jaena at
Barcelona. Del Pilar took charge of it in October, 1887, and moved it
to Madrid to be nearer the centers of action. Compare Blair and
Robertson, Vol. LII, p. 176.
[115] Retana, p. 199; Blair and Robertson, Vol. LII, p. 178.
[116] “The Reign of Greed” (“El Filibusterismo”), pp. 86–87;
Derbyshire’s translation.
[117] Between “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” is a vast
difference. We speak of novels. In “Noli Me Tangere” all is fresh,
ingenuous, impetuous; it is a novel that impresses one in such a way
that it is never forgotten; it is a work of feeling. “El
Filibusterismo” is a work of deep thought, and in literature it must be
remembered that sentiment is preferred to thought. “Noli Me Tangere” is
a picture of the whole country, rich in color and in fantasy, entwined
with the dreams of a delicate poetry. “El Filibusterismo” came to be a
series of philosophical-political treatises with a novelistic trend;
every speech that appears in the work ends in a patriotic dissertation.
“Noli Me Tangere” is the unbosoming of an enlightened poet,
passionately patriotic, artistically revolutionary. “El Filibusterismo”
is a series of meditations; it lacks the admixture of humor, of
semi-sweet irony that produces such an effect in the first book. It
despises the attacks of the religious fanatics, threatens with
Voltairian sharpness. The ambient air of the tropics is not felt,
charged full of melancholy, which is to be breathed in “Noli Me
Tangere.” Rizal wrote his first novel having constantly before his
dreamy fantasy the vision of his country as it was. In the second he
wrote thinking of the redemption of his race, elevating the philosopher
above the artist. “Noli Me Tangere” is a novel; “El Filibusterismo” is
a tract on the national anarchy. Retana, p. 201.
[118] It was published in Ghent. The title-page bears this imprint:
“Gent: Boekdrukkerij F. Meyer-Van Loo, Vlaanderstraat, 67. 1891.” Rizal
was now able to defray from his own means the cost of publication. The
Madrid newspaper, “El Nuevo Régimen,” published in October, 1891,
“extensive extracts” from the novel; so did “La Publicidad” of
Barcelona. Not a line of it was printed in the Philippines until 1900.
Four years later it was translated into Tagalog.
[119] “Filipinas dentro de Cien Años,” in “La Solidaridad,” 1889–90.
We note that when Rizal discusses the possibility of future
independence for his people he sets it as a century hence. We need not
take him literally, nor on the other hand need we say his title was
merely hypocritical and he was insidiously inciting his people to think
of immediate independence; we shall be fairer to survey his writings as
a whole, probably reaching the conclusion that the independence of his
people was constantly in his mind, but sober reason warned him to
restrain his and their youthful impatience on that subject. Blair and
Robertson, “The Philippine Islands,” Vol. LII, pp. 202–203.
[120] In his pretty little romance, “Mariang Makiling,” he utters this
protest against forced military service in the Philippines and
indicates the effect it had on the people:
“Meanwhile, the time of the Spanish army’s conscription came. God
knows the young men dreaded it, and how their mothers hated it!
Youth, home, family, feelings, and sometimes honor itself,
good-bye! Seven or eight years of such soldier life was
brutalizing. The military despotism relied upon the lash. Such a
prospect seemed to the youth a long night that would sap away the
fairest portion of his life. In it would be horrible nightmares,
and from it he would awake old, useless, corrupted, bloody, and
cruel. So dreaded was the draft that some have been known to cut
off their two fingers in order to exempt themselves from military
service. Others pulled out their front teeth (in the days when the
cartridge had to be bitten off). Still others fled to the mountains
and became bandits. Not a few even committed suicide.”—Dr. Craig’s
translation.
[121] Retana, pp. 181–182.
[122] “French Composition Exercises,” by José Rizal, B.A., Ph.M.,
L.C.M. (Madrid), Postgraduate student in Paris, Leipzig, Heidelberg,
Berlin and London. Our copy is published by the Philippine Education
Company, Manila, 1912.
[123] Craig, “Rizal as a French Student,” printed as an Appendix to the
“French Composition Exercises.”
[124] “La Indolencia de los Filipinos,” translated by Dr. Craig,
Manila, 1913.
[125] Pages 11–12.
[126] Page 13.
[127] Page 15.
[128] Page 17.
[129] Page 18.
[130] Page 22.
[131] Page 23.
[132] Page 26.
[133] Page 26.
[134] Page 27.
[135] Page 30.
[136] Page 37.
[137] Page 38.
[138] “The Outlook for the Philippines,” Chap. X.
[139] Flat-horned buffalo, the beast of burden in the Philippines.
[140] Page 49.
[141] Page 56.
[142] These and the succeeding particulars are communicated or verified
by friends that knew him in Madrid at this time, had been in the
university with him or observed him later.
[143] In a letter to the present authors.
[144] See Appendix A.
[145] Mr. Canon; also Craig.
[146] The letter will be found in a later chapter.
[147] Craig, p. 165. On Retana’s return from the Philippines he became
connected with “La Politica de España en Filipinas,” an organ of
reaction and most furiously opposed by “La Solidaridad.” From 1895 to
1898 he was the chief editor of this virulent sheet, which was
undoubtedly maintained by the friars as their mouthpiece in the
capital. Compare Blair and Robertson, Vol. LII, p. 164.
[148] Retana, p. 195.
[149] For a collection of astounding facts bearing upon the disregard
of this part of the oath reference may be had to Foreman, “The
Philippine Islands,” pp. 202–204.
[150] Chap. IV and X.
[151] As will appear later, this was either prevision or a knowledge of
governor-generals so accurate it is almost phenomenal.