Lineage, Life, and Labors of Jose Rizal, Philippine Patriot - Austin Craig
LINEAGE LIFE AND LABORS
of
JOSE RIZAL
PHILIPPINE PATRIOT
A Study of the Growth of Free Ideas in the Trans-Pacific American
Territory
BY
AUSTIN CRAIG
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ORIENTAL HISTORY
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
AUTHOR OF "THE STUDY OF JOSE RIZAL,"
"EL LINEAJE DEL DOCTOR RIZAL," ETC.
INTRODUCTION BY
JAMES ALEXANDER ROBERTSON, L.H.D.
MANILA
1913
DEDICATION
To the Philippine Youth
The subject of Doctor Rizal's first prize-winning poem was The
Philippine Youth, and its theme was "Growth." The study of the growth
of free ideas, as illustrated in this book of his lineage, life and
labors, may therefore fittingly be dedicated to the "fair hope of
the fatherland."
Except in the case of some few men of great genius, those who are
accustomed to absolutism cannot comprehend democracy. Therefore our
nation is relying on its young men and young women; on the rising,
instructed generation, for the secure establishment of popular
self-government in the Philippines. This was Rizal's own idea, for
he said, through the old philosopher in "Noli me Tangere," that he
was not writing for his own generation but for a coming, instructed
generation that would understand his hidden meaning.
Your public school education gives you the democratic view-point,
which the genius of Rizal gave him; in the fifty-five volumes of
the Blair-Robertson translation of Philippine historical material
there is available today more about your country's past than the
entire contents of the British Museum afforded him; and you have the
guidance in the new paths that Rizal struck out, of the life of a
hero who, farsightedly or providentially, as you may later decide,
was the forerunner of the present regime.
But you will do as he would have done, neither accept anything because
it is written, nor reject it because it does not fall in with your
prejudices--study out the truth for yourselves.
Introduction
In writing a biography, the author, if he be discriminating, selects,
with great care, the salient features of the life story of the one whom
he deems worthy of being portrayed as a person possessed of preeminent
qualities that make for a character and greatness. Indeed to write
biography at all, one should have that nice sense of proportion that
makes him instinctively seize upon only those points that do advance
his theme. Boswell has given the world an example of biography that
is often wearisome in the extreme, although he wrote about a man
who occupied in his time a commanding position. Because Johnson was
Johnson the world accepts Boswell, and loves to talk of the minuteness
of Boswell's portrayal, yet how many read him, or if they do read him,
have the patience to read him to the end?
In writing the life of the greatest of the Filipinos, Mr. Craig has
displayed judgment. Saturated as he is with endless details of Rizal's
life, he has had the good taste to select those incidents or those
phases of Rizal's life that exhibit his greatness of soul and that
show the factors that were the most potent in shaping his character
and in controlling his purposes and actions.
A biography written with this chastening of wealth cannot fail to
be instructive and worthy of study. If one were to point out but
a single benefit that can accrue from a study of biography written
as Mr. Craig has done that of Rizal, he would mention, I believe,
that to the character of the student, for one cannot study seriously
about men of character without being affected by that study. As
leading to an understanding of the character of Rizal, Mr. Craig has
described his ancestry with considerable fulness and has shown how the
selective principle has worked through successive generations. But
he has also realized the value of the outside influences and shows
how the accidents of birth and nation affected by environment plus
mental vigor and will produced Jose Rizal. With a strikingly meager
setting of detail, Rizal has been portrayed from every side and the
reader must leave the biography with a knowledge of the elements
that entered into and made his life. As a study for the youth of the
Philippines, I believe this life of Rizal will be productive of good
results. Stimulation and purpose are presented (yet not didactically)
throughout its pages. One object of the author, I should say, has been
to show how both Philippine history and world history helped shape
Rizal's character. Accordingly, he has mentioned many historical
matters both of Philippine and world-wide interest. One cannot read
the book without a desire to know more of these matters. Thus the
book is not only a biography, it is a history as well. It must give
a larger outlook to the youth of the Philippines. The only drawback
that one might find in it, and it seems paradoxical to say it, is
the lack of more detail, for one leaves it wishing that he knew more
of the actual intimate happenings, and this, I take it, is the best
effect a biography can have on the reader outside of the instructive
and moral value of the biography.
JAMES A. ROBERTSON.
MANILA, P. I.
CONTENTS
Dedication. To the Philippine Youth
Introduction
I. America's Forerunner
II. Rizal's Chinese Ancestry
III. Liberalizing Hereditary Influences
IV. Rizal's Early Childhood
V. Jagor's Prophecy
VI. The Period of Preparation
VII. The Period of Propaganda
VIII. Despujol's Duplicity
IX. The Deportation to Dapitan
X. Consummatum Est
XI. The After Life In Memory
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Portrait of Rizal Frontispiece
Painted in oils by Felix Resurrection Hidalgo (in color).
Philippine Money and Postage Stamps
Portrait of Rizal
Painted in oils by Juan Luna in Paris. Facsimile (in color).
Columbus at Barcelona
From a print in Rizal's scrapbook.
Portrait Group
Rizal at thirteen. Rizal at eighteen. Rizal in London. The portrait
on the postage stamp.
The Baptismal Record of Domingo Lam-co
Facsimile.
Portrait Group
1. In Luna's home. 2. In 1890. 3. The portrait on the paper
money. 4. In 1891. 5. In 1892.
Pacific Ocean Spheres of Influence
Made by Rizal during President Harrison's administration.
Father of Rizal
Portrait.
Mother of Rizal
Portrait.
Rizal's Family-Tree
Made by Rizal when in Dapitan.
Birthplace of Jose Rizal
From a photograph.
Sketches by Rizal
A group made during his travels.
Bust of Rizal's Father
Carved in wood by Rizal.
The Church and Convento at Kalamba
From a photograph.
Father Leoncio Lopez
From a photograph.
The Lake District of Central Luzon
Sketch made by Rizal.
Rizal's Uncle, Jose Alberto
From a photograph.
Sir John Bowring, K.C.B.
From an old print.
Jose Del Pan of Manila
From a photograph.
Governor De La Torre
From an old print.
Archbishop Martinez
From an old print.
The Very Rev. James Burgos, D.D.
From a photograph.
Gen. F. T. Ward
From a photograph.
Monument to the "Ever-Victorious" Army, Shanghai
From a photograph.
Mrs. Rizal and Her Two Daughters
From a photograph.
Bilibid Prison
From an old print.
Model of a Head of a Dapitan Girl
From a photograph.
Memorial to Jose Alberto in the Church at Binan
From a photograph.
Books from Rizal's Library
From a photograph.
Rizal's Carving of the Sacred Heart
From a photograph.
Bust of Father Guerrico, S. J.
From a photograph.
Two Views of a Composite Statuette by Rizal
From photographs.
Model in Clay of a Dapitan Woman
From a photograph.
Sketch of Himself in the Training Class
Photograph from the original.
Oil Painting of Rizal's Sister, Saturnina
Photograph from the painting.
Rizal's Parting View of Manila
Pencil sketch by himself.
Sketches: 1. Singapore Lighthouse. 2. Along the Suez Canal.
3. Castle of St. Elmo
From Rizal's sketch book.
Studies of Passengers on the French Mail Steamer
From Rizal's sketch book.
Aden, May 28, 1882
From Rizal's sketch book.
Don Pablo Ortigas y Reyes
From a photograph.
First Lines of a Poem by Rizal to Miss Reyes
Facsimile.
Rizal in Juan Luna's Studio in Paris
From a photograph.
The Ruined Castle at Heidelberg
From a photograph.
Dr. Rudolf Virchow
From a photograph.
The House where Rizal Completed "Noli Me Tangere"
From a photograph.
Manuscript of "Noli Me Tangere"
Facsimile.
Portrait of Dr. F. Blumentritt
Pencil sketch by Rizal.
The Victory of Death over Life and of Science over Death
Statuettes by Rizal from photographs.
Jose T. De Andrade, Rizal's Bodyguard
From an old print.
Jose Maria Basa of Hongkong
From a photograph.
Imitations of Japanese Art
From Rizal's sketch book.
Dr. Antonio Maria Regidor
From a photograph.
A "Wheel of Fortune" Answer Book
Facsimile.
Dr. Reinhold Rost
From a photograph.
A Page from Andersen's Fairy Tales Translated by Rizal
Facsimile.
Dedication of Rizal's Translation of Andersen's Fairy Tales
Facsimile.
A Trilingual Letter by Rizal
Facsimile.
Morga's History in the British Museum
From a photograph of the original.
Application, Recommendation and Admission to the British Museum
From photographs of the originals.
"La Solidaridad"
From photograph of the original.
Staff of "La Solidaridad"
From a photograph.
Rizal Fencing with Luna in Paris
From a photograph.
General Weyler Known as "Butcher" Weyler
From a photograph.
Rizal's Parents during the Land Troubles
From photographs.
The Writ of Eviction against Rizal's Father
Facsimile of the original.
Room in which "El Filibusterismo" was Begun
Pencil sketch by Rizal.
First Page of the Manuscript of "El Filibusterismo"
Facsimile from the original.
Cover of the Manuscript of "El Filibusterismo"
Facsimile of the original.
Rizal's Professional Card when in Hongkong
Facsimile of the original.
Statuette Modeled by Rizal
From a photograph.
Don Eulogio Despujol
From an old print.
Proposed Settlement in Borneo
Facsimile of original sketch.
Rizal's Passport or "Safe Conduct"
Photograph of the original.
Part of Despujol's Private Inquiry
Facsimile of the original.
Case Secretly Filed against Rizal
Facsimile of the original.
Luis De La Torre, Secretary to Despujol
From an old print.
Regulations of La Liga Filipina
Facsimile in Rizal's handwriting.
The Calle Ilaya Monument to Rizal and La Liga Filipina
From a photograph.
Three New Species Discovered by Rizal and Named After Him
From an engraving.
Specimens Collected by Rizal and Father Sanchez
From photographs.
Statuette by Rizal, The Mother's Revenge
From a photograph.
Father Sanchez, S. J.
From a photograph.
Drawings of Fishes Caught at Dapitan
Twelve facsimiles of Rizal's originals.
Plan of the Water Works for Dapitan
Facsimile of Rizal's sketch.
Jewelry of Earliest Moro Converts
From a photograph.
Hill and Excavations where the Jewelry was Found
Facsimile of a sketch by Rizal.
List of Ethnographical Material
Facsimile.
The Blind Mr. Taufer
From a photograph.
Rizal's Father-in-Law
From a photograph.
Carved Portrait of Josefina Bracken
From a photograph.
Josefina Bracken's Baptismal Certificate
Facsimile of the original.
Josefina Bracken, Afterwards Mrs. Jose Rizal
From a photograph.
Leonora Rivera
Pencil sketch by Rizal.
Leonora Rivera at the Age of Fifteen
From a photograph.
Letter to His Nephew by Rizal
Facsimile.
Ethnographical Material Collected by Rizal
From a print.
Cell in which Rizal was Imprisoned
From a photograph.
Cuartel De Espana
From a photograph.
Luis T. De Andrade
From an old print.
Interior of Cell
From a photograph.
Rizal's Wedding Gift to His Wife
Facsimile of original.
Rizal's Symbolic Name in Masonry
Facsimile of original.
The Wife of Jose Rizal
From a photograph.
Execution of Rizal
From a photograph.
Burial Record of Rizal
Facsimile from the Paco register.
Grave of Rizal in Paco Cemetery, Manila
From a photograph.
The Alcohol Lamp in which the "Farewell" Poem was Hidden
From a photograph.
The Opening Lines of Rizal's Last Verses
Facsimile of original.
Rizal's Farewell to His Mother
Facsimile.
Monument at the Corner of Rizal Avenue
From a photograph.
Float in a Rizal Day Parade
From a photograph.
W. J. Bryan as a Rizal Day Orator
From a photograph.
Governor-General Forbes and Delegate Mariano Ponce
From a photograph.
The Last Portrait of Jose Rizal's Mother
From a photograph.
Accepted Model for the Rizal Monument
From a photograph.
The Rizal Monument in Front of the New Capital
From a sketch.
The Story of the Monkey and the Tortoise
Six facsimiles from Rizal's originals.
CHAPTER I
America's Forerunner
THE lineage of a hero who made the history of his country during its
most critical period, and whose labors constitute its hope for the
future, must be more than a simple list of an ascending line. The blood
which flowed in his veins must be traced generation by generation,
the better to understand the man, but at the same time the causes
leading to the conditions of his times must be noted, step by step,
in order to give a better understanding of the environment in which
he lived and labored.
The study of the growth of free ideas is now in the days of our
democracy the most important feature of Philippine history; hitherto
this history has consisted of little more than lists of governors,
their term of office, and of the recital of such incidents as were
considered to redound to the glory of Spain, or could be so twisted
and misrepresented as to make them appear to do so. It rarely occurred
to former historians that the lamp of experience might prove a light
for the feet of future generations, and the mistakes of the past
were usually ignored or passed over, thus leaving the way open for
repeating the old errors. But profit, not pride, should be the object
of the study of the past, and our historians of today very largely
concern themselves with mistakes in policy and defects of system;
fortunately for them such critical investigation under our changed
conditions does not involve the discomfort and danger that attended
it in the days of Doctor Rizal.
In the opinion of the martyred Doctor, criticism of the right
sort--even the very best things may be abused till they become
intolerable evils--serves much the same useful warning purpose
for governments that the symptoms of sickness do for persons. Thus
government and individual alike, when advised in time of something
wrong with the system, can seek out and correct the cause before
serious consequences ensue. But the nation that represses honest
criticism with severity, like the individual who deadens his symptoms
with dangerous drugs, is likely to be lulled into a false security
that may prove fatal. Patriot toward Spain and the Philippines alike,
Rizal tried to impress this view upon the government of his day,
with fatal results to himself, and the disastrous effects of not
heeding him have since justified his position.
The very defenses of Old Manila illustrate how the Philippines have
suffered from lack of such devoted, honest and courageous critics as
Jose Rizal. The city wall was built some years later than the first
Spanish occupation to keep out Chinese pirates after Li Ma-hong
destroyed the city. The Spaniards sheltered themselves in the old
Tagalog fort till reenforcements could come from the country. No one
had ever dared to quote the proverb about locking the door after the
horse was stolen. The need for the moat, so recently filled in, was
not seen until after the bitter experience of the easy occupation of
Manila by the English, but if public opinion had been allowed free
expression this experience might have been avoided. And the free
space about the walls was cleared of buildings only after these same
buildings had helped to make the same occupation of the city easier,
yet there were many in Manila who foresaw the danger but feared to
foretell it.
Had the people of Spain been free to criticise the Spaniards' way of
waiting to do things until it is too late, that nation, at one time the
largest and richest empire in the world, would probably have been saved
from its loss of territory and its present impoverished condition. And
had the early Filipinos, to whom splendid professions and sweeping
promises were made, dared to complain of the Peninsular policy of
procrastination--the "manana" habit, as it has been called--Spain
might have been spared Doctor Rizal's terrible but true indictment
that she retarded Philippine progress, kept the Islands miserably
ruled for 333 years and in the last days of the nineteenth century was
still permitting mediaeval malpractices. Rizal did not believe that
his country was able to stand alone as a separate government. He
therefore desired to preserve the Spanish sovereignty in the
Philippines, but he desired also to bring about reforms and conditions
conducive to advancement. To this end he carefully pointed out those
colonial shortcomings that caused friction, kept up discontent, and
prevented safe progress, and that would have been perfectly easy to
correct. Directly as well as indirectly, the changes he proposed were
calculated to benefit the homeland quite as much as the Philippines,
but his well-meaning efforts brought him hatred and an undeserved
death, thus proving once more how thankless is the task of telling
unpleasant truths, no matter how necessary it may be to do so. Because
Rizal spoke out boldly, while realizing what would probably be his
fate, history holds him a hero and calls his death a martyrdom. He
was not one of those popularity-seeking, self-styled patriots who are
ever mouthing "My country, right or wrong;" his devotion was deeper
and more disinterested. When he found his country wrong he willingly
sacrificed himself to set her right. Such unselfish spirits are rare;
in life they are often misunderstood, but when time does them justice,
they come into a fame which endures.
Doctor Rizal knew that the real Spain had generous though sluggish
intentions, and noble though erratic impulses, but it awoke too late;
too late for Doctor Rizal and too late to save the Philippines for
Spain; tardy reforms after his death were useless and the loss of
her overseas possessions was the result. Doctor Rizal lost when he
staked his life on his trust in the innate sense of honor of Spain,
for that sense of honor became temporarily blinded by a sudden but
fatal gust of passion; and it took the shock of the separation to
rouse the dormant Spanish chivalry.
Still in the main Rizal's judgment was correct, and he was the victim
of mistimed, rather than of misplaced, confidence, for as soon as
the knowledge of the real Rizal became known to the Spanish people,
belated justice began to be done his memory, and then, repentant and
remorseful, as is characteristically Castilian, there was little delay
and no half-heartedness. Another name may now be grouped with Columbus
and Cervantes among those to whom Spain has given imprisonment in
life and monuments after death--chains for the man and chaplets for
his memory. In 1896, during the few days before he could be returned
to Manila, Doctor Rizal occupied a dungeon in Montjuich Castle in
Barcelona; while on his way to assist the Spanish soldiers in Cuba
who were stricken with yellow fever, he was shipped and sent back to
a prejudged trial and an unjust execution. Fifteen years later the
Catalan city authorities commemorated the semi-centennial of this
prisoner's birth by changing, in his honor, the name of a street in
the shadow of the infamous prison of Montjuich Castle to "Calle del
Doctor Rizal."
More instances of this nature are not cited since they are not
essential to the proper understanding of Rizal's story, but let it be
made clear once for all that whatever harshness may be found in the
following pages is directed solely to those who betrayed the trust
of the mother country and selfishly abused the ample and unrestrained
powers with which Spain invested them.
And what may seem the exaltation of the Anglo-Saxons at the expense of
the Latins in these pages is intended only to point out the superiority
of their ordered system of government, with its checks and balances,
its individual rights and individual duties, under which men are
"free to live by no man's leave, underneath the Law." No human being
can be safely trusted with unlimited power, and no man, no matter
what his nationality, could have withstood the temptations offered by
the chaotic conditions in the Philippines in past times any better
than did the Spaniards. There is nothing written in this book that
should convey the opinion that in similar circumstances men of any
nationality would not have acted as the Spaniards did. The easiest
recognized characteristic of absolutism, and all the abuses and
corruption it brings in its train, is fear of criticism, and Spain
drew her own indictment in the Philippines when she executed Rizal.
When any nation sets out to enroll all its scholarly critics among
the martyrs in the cause of Liberty, it makes an open confession of
guilt to all the world. For a quarter of a century Spain had been
ruling in the Philippines by terrorizing its subjects there, and
Rizal's execution, with utter disregard of the most elementary rules
of judicial procedure, was the culmination that drove the Filipinos
to desperation and arrested the attention of the whole civilized
world. It was evident that Rizal's fate might have been that of any
of his countrymen, and the thinking world saw that events had taken
such a course in the Philippines that it had become justifiable for
the Filipinos to attempt to dissolve the political bands which had
connected them with Spain for over three centuries.
Such action by the Filipinos would not have been warranted by a
solitary instance of unjust execution under stress of political
excitement that did not indicate the existence of a settled
policy. Such instances are rather to be classed among the mistakes
to which governments as well as individuals are liable. Yet even such
a mistake may be avoided by certain precautions which experience has
suggested, and the nation that disregards these precautions is justly
open to criticism.
Our present Philippine government guarantees to its citizens as
fundamental rights, that no person shall be held to answer for a
capital crime unless on an indictment, nor may he be compelled in any
criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life,
liberty or property without due process of law. The accused must have
a speedy, public and impartial trial, be informed of the nature and
cause of the accusation, be confronted with the witnesses against him,
have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and have
the assistance of counsel for his defense. Not one of these safeguards
protected Doctor Rizal except that he had an "open trial," if that name
may be given to a courtroom filled with his enemies openly clamoring
for his death without rebuke from the court. Even the presumption of
innocence till guilt was established was denied him. These precautions
have been considered necessary for every criminal trial, but the
framers of the American Constitution, fearful lest popular prejudice
some day might cause injustice to those advocating unpopular ideals,
prohibited the irremediable penalty of death upon a charge of treason
except where the testimony of two reliable witnesses established some
overt act, inference not being admissible as evidence.
Such protection was not given the subjects of Spain, but still, with
all the laxity of the Spanish law, and even if all the charges had been
true, which they were far from being, no case was made out against
Doctor Rizal at his trial. According to the laws then in effect, he
was unfairly convicted and he should be considered innocent; for this
reason his life will be studied to see what kind of hero he was, and
no attempt need be made to plead good character and honest intentions
in extenuation of illegal acts. Rizal was ever the advocate of law,
and it will be found, too, that he was always consistently law-abiding.
Though they are in the Orient, the Filipinos are not of it. Rizal once
said, upon hearing of plans for a Philippine exhibit at a European
World's Fair, that the people of Europe would have a chance to see
themselves as they were in the Middle Ages. With allowances for the
changes due to climate and for the character of the country, this
statement can hardly be called exaggerated. The Filipinos in the
last half of the nineteenth century were not Orientals but mediaeval
Europeans--to the credit of the early Castilians but to the discredit
of the later Spaniards.
The Filipinos of the remoter Christian barrios, whom Rizal had in mind
particularly, were in customs, beliefs and advancement substantially
what the descendants of Legaspi's followers might have been had these
been shipwrecked on the sparsely inhabited islands of the Archipelago
and had their settlement remained shut off from the rest of the world.
Except where foreign influence had accidentally crept in at the
ports, it could truthfully be said that scarcely perceptible advance
had been made in three hundred years. Succeeding Spaniards by their
misrule not only added little to the glorious achievement of their
ancestors, but seemed to have prevented the natural progress which
the land would have made.