The hero of the Filipinos The story of José Rizal, poet, patriot and martyr
[152] Chap. XI.
[153] Chap. XVIII.
[154] Convento: priest’s house.
[155] Chap. XXX.
[156] Chap. XXVII.
[157] Chap. XXXIII–XXXV.
[158] Chap. XXXIX.
[159] Retana, pp. 194–195. He dwells with sympathy upon Rizal’s
unselfish devotion to his family.
[160] Craig, pp. 172–174; Retana, pp. 231–233.
[161] Craig, p. 182; Retana, p. 235.
[162] They bear the same date, June 20, 1892. Retana, p. 243.
[163] Retana prints the Spanish original at p. 243.
[164] Dr. Craig’s translation, pp. 176–179.
[165] Craig, p. 179.
[166] Craig, p. 182.
[167] The Economic Society of Friends of the Country was established by
Governor-General Basco in 1780. It was about as radical, revolutionary,
and dangerous as Despujol himself.
[168] It appears that the first members he enrolled were friends of his
in the masonic lodge, which probably gave rise to the story that La
Liga Filipina was a masonic organization. Rizal had been warmly
welcomed by his brother masons at Manila and was pleasantly astonished
to find the lodge so large and flourishing.
The Constitution of the Liga declared these to be its Ends:
1. To unite the whole archipelago into one compact, vigorous, and
homogeneous body.
2. Mutual protection in every want and necessity.
3. Defense against all violence and injustice.
4. Encouragement of industry, agriculture, and commerce.
5. The study and application of reforms.
The motto was “Unus instar omnium.” (One like all.)
[169] The idea of such a society originated with José Maria Basa, one
of the remarkable Filipinos then refugees in Hong-Kong. He mentioned it
to Rizal and suggested a constitution, which Rizal, with his trained
intellect, quickly formulated.
[170] Retana, pp. 252–253, says it had spread into the provinces before
the Spanish Government was well aware of what was going on.
[171] “Rizal’s Own Story,” p. 53.
[172] Craig, p. 190; Derbyshire, p. xxxvii. Mr. Derbyshire calls the
decree of banishment “a marvel of sophistry.” Retana’s version, pp.
254–255, justifies this verdict.
[173] Petates: bed-mats. Mattresses were little used in the
Philippines.
[174] Once more, justice à la espagnole in the Philippines. Dr. Craig
has the full story.
[175] Practicante: practitioner in surgery and medicine.
[176] Craig, p. 196.
[177] Craig, p. 198.
[178] Dr. Craig, p. 223, has photographic reproductions of some of
these.
[179] “Another famous and well-known water supply is that of Dapitan,
Mindanao, designed and constructed by Dr. José Rizal during his
banishment in that municipality by the Spanish authorities.... This
supply comes from a little mountain stream across the river from
Dapitan and follows the contour of the country for the whole distance.
When one considers that Dr. Rizal had no explosives with which to blast
the hard rocks, and no resources save his own ingenuity, one cannot
help but honor a man that against adverse conditions had the courage
and tenacity to construct this aqueduct, which had for its bottom the
fluted tiles from the houseroofs and was covered with concrete made
from lime burned from sea coral. The length of this aqueduct is several
kilometers, and it winds in and out among the rocks and is carried
across gullies in bamboo pipes upheld by rock or brick piers to the
distributing reservoir.”—Quarterly Bulletin, Department of Public
Works, October, 1912.
[180] Mr. Soliven, “Rizal as a Scientist.”
In about three years he sent to the museum at Dresden nine mammals,
thirteen birds, forty-five reptiles, nine fishes, 240 insects,
sixty-eight crustaceans, and other invertebrates.
[181] Craig, pp. 148–149.
[182] Printed by Retana, pp. 328–329.
[183] See Appendix A.
[184] He refers to the long contest between the orders and the part of
the clergy (largely native) that was outside of the orders, called “the
secular clergy.” What he means is to end the power of the orders to
fill the parish appointments. In this conversation, Carnicero seems to
be leading him to speak of the friars—the most perilous of topics.
[185] Retana, p. 327.
[186] Dr. Craig’s translation, first printed with his “Rizal’s Own
Story.”
[187] Rizal to his mother.
[188] Retana, p. 338.
[189] Craig, p. 103.
[190] Retana, p. 338.
[191] Craig, p. 272.
[192] Craig, p. 214; Retana, pp. 339–340.
[193] Craig, p. 215; Derbyshire, p. xlvii.
[194] Retana, p. 248, hails him as “Grand figure!”
[195] Fernández, p. 241.
[196] Fernández, p. 240.
[197] Retana, p. 342.
[198] Craig, p. 224; also, Retana, p. 342.
[199] Dr. Blumentritt had been so resentful of the injustice of which
Rizal was a victim that he had endeavored to have the German Government
protest against Rizal’s deportation. Retana, p. 316.
[200] Retana prints this at p. 349.
[201] Retana, pp. 347–348.
[202] Derbyshire, p. xii.
[203] Fernández, p. 244.
“The ordinary prisons were more than full, and about 600 suspects were
confined in the dungeons of Fort Santiago at the mouth of the Pasig
river, where a frightful tragedy occurred. The dungeons were
overcrowded ... the Spanish sergeant on duty threw his rug over the
only light and ventilating shaft and in a couple of days carts were
seen by many citizens carrying away the dead, calculated to number
seventy. Provincial governors and parish priests seemed to regard it as
a duty to supply the capital with batches of ‘suspects’ from their
localities. In Vigan, where nothing had occurred, many of the heads of
the best families and moneyed men were arrested and brought to Manila.
They were bound hand and foot and carried like packages of merchandise
in the hold. I happened to be on the quay when the steamer discharged
her living freight with chains and hooks to haul up and swing out the
bodies like bales of hemp.... I was informed by my friend the Secretary
of the Military Court that 4,377 individuals were awaiting trial by
court martial.”—John Foreman, “The Philippine Islands,” pp. 375, 377.
In September alone thirty-seven men were shot after summary trials.
Compare Blair and Robertson, Vol. LII, p. 191.
[204] Foreman, p. 376.
[205] Craig, pp. 229–230; Blair and Robertson, Vol. LII, p. 190.
[206] Foreman, p. 376.
[207] Retana, p. 351. “No! Prófugo? No! Me declararían cómplice del
levantamiento!”
[208] Craig, p. 231; Derbyshire, p. xliii.
[209] His old friend, Dr. Antonio Maria Regidor of London, was the
author of this plan. It went so far that all the papers were drawn up
and signed. Retana prints them at pp. 352–353.
[210] Craig, p. 234.
[211] Dr. Craig’s translation.
[212] Craig, p. 237.
[213] The other, in rime, excellently done by Mr. Derbyshire, will be
found in the Appendix. The blank verse translation printed above was
once heard in the American House of Representatives and gave rise to a
memorable scene. A debate was on concerning Philippine independence. In
a speech of great power and eloquence, Representative Cooper, of
Wisconsin, supported the plea of the Filipinos. In the course of his
argument he told how he had indifferently picked up at a book-stall a
book containing the farewell poem of José Rizal, of whom he knew next
to nothing; how he had read it and been so seized with its beauty that
he had bought the book and committed the poem to memory. Then he
recited it. After the first few lines a profound silence fell upon the
chamber, unbroken to the end. As Mr. Cooper uttered the last great line
in this wonderful composition, there was an exhibition of emotion
unwonted in that place. One of the oldest and most famous
representatives, little given to sentiment, afterward admitted that the
poem and Mr. Cooper’s speech had converted him to the Philippine cause.
He said that a race capable of producing a man of such character and
attainments was a race entitled to and capable of its freedom.
[214] Retana, p. 417. The newspaper represented was the “Herald” of
Madrid.
[215] His letters show this.
[216] Craig, p. 244.
Mr. Derbyshire (p. xlvi) does not indorse this opinion, and Retana (p.
287) recounts a discussion between Rizal and a Jesuit priest in which
Rizal seemed to repudiate the doctrine of the eucharist. But Dr. Craig
came to the conclusion that in faith Rizal never wavered from the
foundation principles of the church. Whosoever reads now attentively
the passages in his writings that seem to express his convictions on
this subject can hardly fail to be impressed with the noble and exalted
piety that breathes through them and is not likely to believe that this
could be otherwise than sincere.
[217] Craig, p. 244.
[218] This would be insisted upon first of all.
[219] The obvious lies that have been piled high over all these matters
must fill every investigator with disgust. The friars promptly issued
(from Barcelona) what purported to be a circumstantial account of
Rizal’s last hours. Almost every statement in it susceptible of any
examination has been shown to be false, or impossible. The liars have
even managed to make doubtful the ecclesiastical marriage with
Josephine. They said that the record of it was in Manila Cathedral, but
it is not and never has been discovered. They said that Rizal signed in
a book of devotions his full acceptance of the articles of faith and
gave it to his sister. His sister afterward could not recall having
seen it and it was never found. They said that he was fully reconciled
to the church, but his burial was not in accordance with the church’s
rites.
One fact about the matter and only one seems reasonably certain. If
Rizal had signed any document that could have been of the slightest use
to the governing Interests it would have been exhibited and used at
that time so perilous to Spain. A great rebellion was on; the immediate
impulse to it was resentment against the ill treatment of Rizal and the
inspiration of freedom. Anything in the nature of a retraction from him
would have been worth to the Spanish cause more than the strength of
many brigades. The mysterious document he was alleged to have signed
has mysteriously disappeared. The friars said they took it to the
Ateneo, and thence sent it by messenger to the archbishop, to be
deposited in the archiepiscopal records. There all trace of it was
lost—if there ever was such a paper. It was for Spain, if these
accounts have any truth, the most valuable thing in all the
Philippines, and the cunning persons that had (again by these accounts)
produced a jewel of such price immediately allowed it to slip into the
gutter. Not unless they had all gone mad.
The whole subject, which might well be considered as extraneous to the
real significance of Rizal’s life and death, was revived in 1920 by the
appearance in Barcelona of a brochure by Gonzalo M. Piñana entitled
“Murió el Doctor Rizal Cristianamente?” (Did Doctor Rizal Die a
Christian?), with the subtitle of “Reconstruction of the Last Hours of
his Life: a Historical Study.” Unfortunately, the book renewed a futile
discussion without adding a line to the available information about it.
Mr. Piñana gathered the newspaper reports current at the time of
Rizal’s death, used the statements of the friars already discredited,
and reprinted the assertions that for twenty-four years had been made
on one side and repudiated on the other. He satisfied himself that
Rizal died a Christian, but everybody else had long before been
satisfied of that fact. But while he added nothing to the store of
human wisdom on these subjects, Mr. Piñana reminds us of an incident
that is well worth preserving. Among the persons moved by the tragedy
to sympathy with the condemned man was the attorney-general of the
Philippines, Señor Castaño, who said to him:
“Rizal, you love passionately your mother and your country. Both are