The Philippines a Century Hence
court martial which condemned him and pretended to have tried him,
on the charge of having organized revolutionary societies and so
being responsible for the rebellion.
The only counsel permitted him, a young lieutenant selected from the
junior Spanish army officers, risked the displeasure of his superiors
in the few words he did say, but his argument was pitiably weak. The
court scene, where Rizal sat for hours with his elbows corded back of
him while the crowd, unrebuked by the court, clamored for his death,
recalls the stories of the bloody assizes of Judge Jeffreys and of
the bloodthirsty tribunals of the Reign of Terror. He was compelled
to testify himself, was not permitted to hear the testimony given for
the prosecution, no witness dared favor him, much less appear in his
behalf, and his own brother had been tortured, with the thumbscrews
as well as in other mediaeval and modern ways, in a vain endeavor to
extort a confession implicating the Doctor.
ADDITIONS TO MY DEFENCE
Don Jose Rizal y Alonso respectfully requests the Court Martial to
consider well the following circumstances:
First.--Re the rebellion. From July 6th, 1892, I had absolutely no
connection with politics until July 1st of this year when, advised
by Don Pio Valenzuela that an uprising was proposed, I counselled
against it, trying to convince him with arguments. Don Pio Valenzuela
left me convinced apparently; so much so that instead of later taking
part in rebellion, he presented himself to the authorities for pardon.
Secondly.--A proof that I maintained no political relation with any
one, and of the falsity of the statement that I was in the habit of
sending letters by my family, is the fact that it was necessary to
send Don Pio Valenzuela under an assumed name, at considerable cost,
when in the same steamer were travelling five members of my family
besides two servants. If what has been charged were true, what occasion
was there for Don Pio to attract the attention of any one and incur
large expenses? Besides, the mere fact of Sr. Valenzuela's coming to
inform me of the rebellion proves that I was not in correspondence
with its promoters for if I had been then I should have known of
it, for making an uprising is a sufficiently serious matter not to
hide it from me. When they took the step of sending Sr. Valenzuela,
it proves that they were aware that I knew nothing, that is to say,
that I was not maintaining correspondence with them. Another negative
proof is that not a single letter of mine can be shown.
Thirdly.--They cruelly abused my name and at the last hour wanted
to surprise me. Why did they not communicate with me before? They
might say likewise that I was, if not content, at least resigned to my
fate, for I had refused various propositions which a number of people
made me to rescue me from that place. Only in these last months, in
consequence of certain domestic affairs, having had differences with
a missionary padre, I had sought to go as a volunteer to Cuba. Don
Pio Valenzuela came to warn me that I might put myself in security,
because, according to him, it was possible that they might compromise
me. As I considered myself wholly innocent and was not posted on the
details of the movement (besides that I had convinced Sr. Valenzuela)
I took no precautions, but when His Excellency, the Governor General,
wrote me announcing my departure for Cuba, I embarked at once,
leaving all my affairs unattended to. And yet I could have gone to
another part or simply have staid in Dapitan for His Excellency's
letter was conditional. It said--"If you persist in your idea of
going to Cuba, etc." When the uprising occurred it found me on board
the warship "Castilla", and I offered myself unconditionally to His
Excellency. Twelve or fourteen days later I set out for Europe, and
had I had an uneasy conscience I should have tried to escape in some
port en route, especially Singapore, where I went ashore and when
other passengers who had passports for Spain staid over. I had an
easy conscience and hoped to go to Cuba.
Fourthly.--In Dapitan I had boats and I was permitted to make
excursions along the coast and to the settlements, absences which
lasted as long as I wished, at times a week. If I had still had
intentions of political activity, I might have gotten away even in
the vintas of the Moros whom I knew in the settlements. Neither would
I have built my small hospital nor bought land nor invited my family
to live with me.
Fifthly.--Some one has said that I was the chief. What kind of a
chief is he who is ignored in the plotting and who is notified only
that he may escape? How is he chief who when he says no, they say yes?
--As to the "Liga":
Sixthly.--It is true that I drafted its By-Laws whose aims were to
promote commerce, industry, the arts, etc., by means of united action,
as have testified witnesses not at all prejudiced in my favor, rather
the reverse.
Seventhly.--The "Liga" never came into real existence nor ever got
to working, since after the first meeting no one paid any attention
to it, because I was exiled a few days later.
Eighthly.--If it was reorganized nine months afterwards by other
persons, as now is said, I was ignorant of the fact.
Ninthly.--The "Liga" was not a society with harmful tendencies and
the proof is the fact that the radicals had to leave it, organizing
the Katipunan which was what answered their purposes. Had the "Liga"
lacked only a little of being adapted for rebellion, the radicals
would not have left it but simply would have modified it; besides,
if, as some allege, I am the chief, out of consideration for me and
for the prestige of my name, they would have retained the name of
"Liga". Their having abandoned it, name and all, proves clearly that
they neither counted on me nor did the "Liga" serve their purposes,
otherwise they would not have made another society when they had one
already organized.
Tenthly.--As to my letters, I beg of the court that, if there are
any bitter criticisms in them, it will consider the circumstances
under which they were written. Then we had been deprived of our two
dwellings, warehouses, lands, and besides all my brothers-in-law
and my brother were deported, in consequence of a suit arising from
an inquiry of the Administracion de Hacienda (tax-collecting branch
of the government), a case in which, according to our attorney (in
Madrid), Sr. Linares Rivas, we had the right on our side.
Eleventhly.--That I have endured exile without complaint, not because
of the charge alleged, for that was not true, but for what I had
been able to write. And ask the politico-military commanders of
the district where I resided of my conduct during these four years
of exile, of the town, even of the very missionary parish priests
despite my personal differences with one of them.
Twelfthly.--All these facts and considerations destroy the
little-founded accusation of those who have testified against me,
with whom I have asked the Judge to be confronted. Is it possible
that in a single night I was able to line up all the filibusterism,
at a gathering which discussed commerce, etc., a gathering which went
no further for it died immediately afterwards? If the few who were
present had been influenced by my words they would not have let the
"Liga" die. Is it that those who formed part of the "Liga" that night
founded the Katipunan? I think not. Who went to Dapitan to interview
me? Persons entirely unknown to me. Why was not an acquaintance sent,
in whom I would have had more confidence? Because those acquainted
with me knew very well that I had forsaken politics or that, realizing
my views on rebellion, they must have refused to undertake a mission
useless and unpromising.
I trust that by these considerations I have demonstrated that neither
did I found a society for revolutionary purposes, nor have I taken
part since in others, nor have I been concerned in the rebellion,
but that on the contrary I have been opposed to it, as the making
public of a private conversation has proven.
Fort Santiago, Dec. 26, 1896.
JOSE RIZAL.
RESPECTING THE REBELLION.
The remarks about the rebellion are from a photographic copy
of the pencil notes used by Rizal for his brief speech. The
manuscript is now in the possession of Sr. Eduardo Lete, of
Saragossa, Spain.
I had no notice at all of what was being planned until the first or
second of July, in 1896, when Pio Valenzuela came to see me, saying
that an uprising was being arranged. I told him that it was absurd,
etc., etc. and he answered me that they could bear no more. I advised
him that they should have patience, etc., etc. He added then that
he had been sent because they had compassion of my life and that
probably it would compromise me. I replied that they should have
patience and that if anything happened to me I would then prove my
innocence. "Besides, said I, don't consider me but our country which
is the one that will suffer." I went on to show how absurd was the
movement.--This later Pio Valenzuela testified.--He did not tell me
that my name was being used, neither did he suggest that I was its
chief, nor anything of that sort.
Those who testify that I am the chief (which I do not know nor do I
know of having ever treated with them), what proofs do they present of
my having accepted this chiefship or that I was in relations with them
or with their society? Either they have made use of my name for their
own purposes or they have been deceived by others who have. Where is
the chief who dictates no order nor makes any arrangement, who is not
consulted in any way about so important an enterprise until the last
moment, and then, when he decides against it, is disobeyed? Since the
seventh of July of 1892 I have entirely ceased political activity. It
seems some have wished to avail themselves of my name for their
own ends.
A plant I am, that scarcely grown,
Was torn from out its Eastern bed,
Where all around perfume is shed,
And life but as a dream is known;
The land that I can call my own,
By me forgotten ne'er to be,
Where trilling birds their song taught me,
And cascades with their ceaseless roar,
And all along the spreading shore
The murmurs of the sounding sea.
While yet in childhood's happy day,
I learned upon its sun to smile,
And in my breast there seemed the while
Seething volcanic fires to play;
A bard I was, and my wish alway
To call upon the fleeting wind,
With all the force of verse and mind:
"Go forth, and spread around its fame,
From zone to zone with glad acclaim,
And earth to heaven together bind!"
From "Mi Piden Versos" (1882),
verses from Madrid for his mother.
One by one they have passed on,
All I loved and moved among;
Dead or married--from me gone,
For all I place my heart upon
By fate adverse are stung.
Go thou too, O Muse, depart;
Other regions fairer find;
For my land but offers art
For the laurel, chains that bind,
For a temple, prisons blind.
But before thou leavest me, speak;
Tell me with thy voice sublime,
Thou couldst ever from me seek
A song of sorrow for the weak,
Defiance to the tyrant's crime.
From "A Mi Musa" (1884),