Lineage, Life, and Labors of Jose Rizal, Philippine Patriot - Austin Craig
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.
Rizal's congenial situation in the British capital was disturbed
by his discovering a growing interest in the youngest of the three
girls whom he daily met. He felt that his career did not permit him
to marry, nor was his youthful affection for his cousin in Manila an
entirely forgotten sentiment. Besides, though he never lapsed into
such disregard for his feminine friends as the low Spanish standard
had made too common among the Filipino students in Madrid, Rizal was
ever on his guard against himself. So he suggested to Doctor Regidor
that he considered it would be better for him to leave London. His
parting gift to the family with whom he had lived so happily was a
clay medallion bearing in relief the profiles of the three sisters.
Other regretful good-bys were said to a number of young Filipinos
whom he had gathered around him and formed into a club for the study
of the history of their country and the discussion of its politics.
Rizal now went to Paris, where he was glad to be again with his friend
Valentin Ventura, a wealthy Pampangan who had been trained for the
law. His tastes and ideals were very much those of Rizal, and he had
sound sense and a freedom from affectation which especially appealed
to Rizal. There Rizal's reprint of Morga's rare history was made, at
a greater cost but also in better form than his first novel. Copious
notes gave references to other authorities and compared present
with past conditions, and Doctor Blumentritt contributed a forceful
introduction.
When Rizal returned to London to correct the proofsheets, the old
original book was in use and the copy could not be checked. This led to
a number of errors, misspelled and changed words, and even omissions
of sentences, which were afterwards discovered and carefully listed
and filed away to be corrected in another edition.
Possibly it has been made clear already that, while Rizal did not
work for separation from Spain, he was no admirer of the Castilian
character, nor of the Latin type, for that matter. He remarked on
Blumentritt's comparison of the Spanish rulers in the Philippines
with the Czars of Russia, that it is flattering to the Castilians
but it is more than they merit, to put them in the same class as
Russia. Apparently he had in mind the somewhat similar comparison in
Burke's speech on the conciliation of America, in which he said that
Russia was more advanced and less cruel than Spain and so not to be
classed with it.
During his stay in Paris, Rizal was a frequent visitor at the home
of the two Doctors Pardo de Tavera, sons of the exile of '72 who
had gone to France, the younger now a physician in South America,
the elder a former Philippine Commissioner. The interest of the
one in art, and of the other in philology, the ideas of progress
through education shared by both, and many other common tastes and
ideals, made the two young men fast friends of Rizal. Mrs. Tavera,
the mother, was an interesting conversationalist, and Rizal profited
by her reminiscences of Philippine official life, to the inner circle
of which her husband's position had given her the entree.
On Sundays Rizal fenced at Juan Luna's house with his distinguished
artist-countryman, or, while the latter was engaged with Ventura,
watched their play. It was on one of these afternoons that the Tagalog
story of "The Monkey and the Tortoise"[2] was hastily sketched as a
joke to fill the remaining pages of Mrs. Luna's autograph album, in
which she had been insisting Rizal must write before all its space
was used up. A comparison of the Tagalog version with a Japanese
counterpart was published by Rizal in English, in Truebner's Magazine,
suggesting that the two people may have had a common origin. This
study received considerable attention from other ethnologists, and
was among the topics at an ethnological conference.
At times his antagonist was Miss Nellie Baustead, who had great
skill with the foils. Her father, himself born in the Philippines,
the son of a wealthy merchant of Singapore, had married a member of
the Genato family of Manila. At their villa in Biarritz, and again
in their home in Belgium, Rizal was a guest later, for Mr. Baustead
had taken a great liking to him.
The teaching instinct that led him to act as mentor to the Filipino
students in Spain and made him the inspiration of a mutual improvement
club of his young countrymen in London, suggested the foundation of
a school in Paris. Later a Pampangan youth offered him $40,000 with
which to found a Filipino college in Hongkong, where many young men
from the Philippines had obtained an education better than their
own land could afford but not entirely adapted to their needs. The
scheme attracted Rizal, and a prospectus for such an institution
which was later found among his papers not only proves how deeply
he was interested, but reveals the fact that his ideas of education
were essentially like those carried out in the present public-school
course of instruction in the Philippines.
Early in August of 1890 Rizal went to Madrid to seek redress for a
wrong done his family by the notorious General Weyler, the "Butcher"
of evil memory in Cuba, then Governor-General of the Philippines. Just
as the mother's loss of liberty, years before, was caused by revengeful
feelings on the part of an official because for one day she was obliged
to omit a customary gift of horse feed, so the father's loss of land
was caused by a revengeful official, and for quite as trivial a cause.
Mr. Mercado was a great poultry fancier and especially prided himself
upon his fine stock of turkeys. He had been accustomed to respond to
the frequent requests of the estate agent for presents of birds. But
at one time disease had so reduced the number of turkeys that all that
remained were needed for breeding purposes and Mercado was obliged
to refuse him. In a rage the agent insisted, and when that proved
unavailing, threats followed.
But Francisco Mercado was not a man to be moved by threats, and
when the next rent day came round he was notified that his rent had
been doubled. This was paid without protest, for the tenants were
entirely at the mercy of the landlords, no fixed rate appearing
either in contracts or receipts. Then the rent-raising was kept on
till Mercado was driven to seek the protection of the courts. Part
of his case led to exactly the same situation as that of the Binan
tenantry in his grandfather's time, when the landlords were compelled
to produce their title-deeds, and these proved that land of others
had been illegally included in the estate. Other tenants, emboldened
by Mercado's example also refused to pay the exorbitant rent increases.
The justice of the peace of Kalamba, before whom the case first came,
was threatened by the provincial governor for taking time to hear the
testimony, and the case was turned over to the auxiliary justice, who
promptly decided in the manner desired by the authorities. Mercado at
once took an appeal, but the venal Weyler moved a force of artillery
to Kalamba and quartered it upon the town as if rebellion openly
existed there. Then the court representatives evicted the people
from their homes and directed them to remove all their buildings
from the estate lands within twenty-four hours. In answer to the
plea that they had appealed to the Supreme Court the tenants were
told their houses could be brought back again if they won their
appeal. Of course this was impossible and some 150,000 pesos' worth
of property was consequently destroyed by the court agents, who were
worthy estate employees. Twenty or more families were made homeless
and the other tenants were forbidden to shelter them under pain of
their own eviction. This is the proceeding in which Retana suggests
that the governor-general and the landlords were legally within their
rights. If so, Spanish law was a disgrace to the nation. Fortunately
the Rizal-Mercado family had another piece of property at Los Banos,
and there they made their home.
Weyler's motives in this matter do not have to be surmised, for
among the (formerly) secret records of the government there exists
a letter which he wrote when he first denied the petition of the
Kalamba residents. It is marked "confidential" and is addressed to the
landlords, expressing the pleasure which this action gave him. Then
the official adds that it cannot have escaped their notice that the
times demand diplomacy in handling the situation but that, should
occasion arise, he will act with energy. Just as Weyler had favored
the landlords at first so he kept on and when he had a chance to do
something for them he did it.
Finally, when Weyler left the Islands an investigation was ordered into
his administration, owing to rumors of extensive and systematic frauds
on the government, but nothing more came of the case than that Retana,
later Rizal's biographer, wrote a book in the General's defense,
"extensively documented," and also abusively anti-Filipino. It has been
urged (not by Retana, however) that the Weyler regime was unusually
efficient, because he would allow no one but himself to make profits
out of the public, and therefore, while his gains were greater than
those of his predecessors, the Islands really received more attention
from him.
During the Kalamba discussion in Spain, Retana, until 1899 always
scurrilously anti-Filipino, made the mistake of his life, for he
charged Rizal's family with not paying their rent, which was not
true. While Rizal believed that duelling was murder, to judge from a
pair of pictures preserved in his album, he evidently considered that
homicide of one like Retana was justifiable. After the Spanish custom,
his seconds immediately called upon the author of the libel. Retana
notes in his "Vida del Dr. Rizal" that the incident closed in a way
honorable to both Rizal and himself--he, Retana, published an explicit
retraction and abject apology in the Madrid papers. Another time,
in Madrid, Rizal risked a duel when he challenged Antonio Luna,
later the General, because of a slighting allusion to a lady at a
public banquet. He had a nicer sense of honor in such matters than
prevailed in Madrid, and Luna promptly saw the matter from Rizal's
point of view and withdrew the offensive remark. This second incident
complements the first, for it shows that Rizal was as willing to risk a
duel with his superior in arms as with one not so skilled as he. Rizal
was an exceptional pistol shot and a fair swordsman, while Retana was
inferior with either sword or pistol, but Luna, who would have had the
choice of weapons, was immeasurably Rizal's superior with the sword.
Owing to a schism a rival arose against the old Masonry and finally
the original organization succumbed to the offshoot. Doctor Miguel
Morayta, Professor of History in the Central University at Madrid, was
the head of the new institution and it had grown to be very popular
among students. Doctor Morayta was friendly to the Filipinos and a
lodge of the same name as their paper was organized among them. For
their outside work they had a society named the Hispano-Filipino
Association, of which Morayta was president, with convenient clubrooms
and a membership practically the same as the Lodge La Solidaridad.
Just before Christmas of 1890, this Hispano-Filipino Association
gave a largely attended banquet at which there were many prominent
speakers. Rizal stayed away, not because of growing pessimism,
as Retana suggests, but because one of the speakers was the same
Becerra who had feared to act when the outrage against the body of
Rizal's brother-in-law had been reported to him. Now out of office,
the ex-minister was again bold in words, but Rizal for one was not
again to be deceived by them.
The propaganda carried on by his countrymen in the Peninsula did not
seem to Rizal effective, and he found his suggestions were not well
received by those at its head. The story of Rizal's separation from
La Solidaridad, however, is really not material, but the following
quotation from a letter written to Carlos Oliver, speaking of the
opposition of the Madrid committee of Filipinos to himself, is
interesting as showing Rizal's attitude of mind:
"I regret exceedingly that they war against me, attempting to discredit
me in the Philippines, but I shall be content provided only that my
successor keeps on with the work. I ask only of those who say that
I created discord among the Filipinos: Was there any effective union
before I entered political life? Was there any chief whose authority
I wanted to oppose? It is a pity that in our slavery we should have
rivalries over leadership."
And in Rizal's letter from Hongkong, May 24, 1892, to Zulueta,
commenting on an article by Leyte in La Solidaridad, he says:
"Again I repeat, I do not understand the reason of the attack, since
now I have dedicated myself to preparing for our countrymen a safe
refuge in case of persecution and to writing some books, championing
our cause, which shortly will appear. Besides, the article is impolitic
in the extreme and prejudicial to the Philippines. Why say that the
first thing we need is to have money? A wiser man would be silent
and not wash soiled linen in public."
Early in '91 Rizal went to Paris, visiting Mr. Baustead's villa in
Biarritz en route, and he was again a guest of his hospitable friend
when, after the winter season was over, the family returned to their
home in Brussels.
During most of the year Rizal's residence was in Ghent, where he had
gathered around him a number of Filipinos. Doctor Blumentritt suggested
that he should devote himself to the study of Malay-Polynesian
languages, and as it appeared that thus he could earn a living in
Holland he thought to make his permanent home there. But his parents
were old and reluctant to leave their native land to pass their last
years in a strange country, and that plan failed.
He now occupied himself in finishing the sequel to "Noli Me Tangere,"
the novel "El Filibusterismo," which he had begun in October of 1887
while on his visit to the Philippines. The bolder painting of the
evil effects of the Spanish culture upon the Filipinos may well have
been inspired by his unfortunate experiences with his countrymen in
Madrid who had not seen anything of Europe outside of Spain. On the
other hand, the confidence of the author in those of his countrymen
who had not been contaminated by the so-called Spanish civilization,
is even more noticeable than in "Noli Me Tangere."
Rizal had now done all that he could for his country; he had shown
them by Morga what they were when Spain found them; through "Noli Me
Tangere" he had painted their condition after three hundred years of
Spanish influence; and in "El Filibusterismo" he had pictured what
their future must be if better counsels did not prevail in the colony.
These works were for the instruction of his countrymen, the fulfilment
of the task he set for himself when he first read Doctor Jagor's
criticism fifteen years before; time only was now needed for them to
accomplish their work and for education to bring forth its fruits.
CHAPTER VIII
Despujol's Duplicity
As soon as he had set in motion what influence he possessed in Europe
for the relief of his relatives, Rizal hurried to Hongkong and from
there wrote to his parents asking their permission to join them. Some
time before, his brother-in-law, Manuel Hidalgo, had been deported
upon the recommendation of the governor of La Laguna, "to prove to
the Filipinos that they were mistaken in thinking that the new Civil
Code gave them any rights" in cases where the governor-general agreed
with his subordinate's reason for asking for the deportation as well
as in its desirability. The offense was having buried a child, who
had died of cholera, without church ceremonies. The law prescribed
and public health demanded it. But the law was a dead letter and the
public health was never considered when these cut into church revenues,
as Hidalgo ought to have known.
Upon Rizal's arrival in Hongkong, in the fall of 1891, he received
notice that his brother Paciano had been returned from exile in
Mindoro, but that three of his sisters had been summoned, with the
probability of deportation.
A trap to get Rizal into the hands of the government by playing
upon his affection for his mother was planned at this time, but it
failed. Mrs. Rizal and one of her daughters were arrested in Manila
for "falsification of cedula" because they no longer used the name
Realonda, which the mother had dropped fifteen years before. Then,
though there were frequently boats running to Kalamba, the two women
were ordered to be taken there for trial on foot. As when Mrs. Rizal
had been a prisoner before, the humane guards disobeyed their orders
and the elderly lady was carried in a hammock. The family understood
the plans of their persecutors, and Rizal was told by his parents
not to come to Manila. Then the persecution of the mother and the
sister dropped.
In Hongkong, Rizal was already acquainted with most of the Filipino
colony, including Jose M. Basa, a '72 exile of great energy, for whom
he had the greatest respect. The old man was an unceasing enemy of all
the religious orders and was constantly getting out "proclamations,"
as the handbills common in the old-time controversies were called. One
of these, against the Jesuits, figures in the case against Rizal
and bears some minor corrections in his handwriting. Nevertheless,
his participation in it was probably no more than this proofreading
for his friend, whose motives he could appreciate, but whose plan of
action was not in harmony with his own ideas.
Letters of introduction from London friends secured for Rizal the
acquaintance of Mr. H. L. Dalrymple, a justice of the peace--which is
a position more coveted and honored in English lands than here--and
a member of the public library committee, as well as of the board
of medical examiners. He was a merchant, too, and agent for the
British North Borneo Company, which had recently secured a charter
as a semi-independent colony for the extensive cession which had
originally been made to the American Trading Company and later
transferred to them.
Rizal spent much of his time in the library, reading especially the
files of the older newspapers, which contained frequent mention of
the Philippines. As an oldtime missionary had left his books to the
library, the collection was rich in writings of the fathers of the
early Church, as well as in philology and travel. He spent much time
also in long conversations with Editor Frazier-Smith of the Hongkong
Telegraph, the most enterprising of the daily newspapers. He was
the master of St. John's Masonic lodge (Scotch constitution), which
Rizal had visited upon his first arrival, intensely democratic and
a close student of world politics. The two became fast friends and
Rizal contributed to the Telegraph several articles on Philippine
matters. These were printed in Spanish, ostensibly for the benefit of
the Filipino colony in Hongkong, but large numbers of the paper were
mailed to the Philippines and thus at first escaped the vigilance
of the censors. Finally the scheme was discovered and the Telegraph
placed on the prohibited list, but, like most Spanish actions, this
was just too late to prevent the circulation of what Rizal had wished
to say to his countrymen.
With the first of the year 1892 the free portion of Rizal's family came
to Hongkong. He had been licensed to practice medicine in the colony,
and opened an office, specializing as an oculist with notable success.
Another congenial companion was a man of his own profession, Doctor
L. P. Marquez, a Portuguese who had received his medical education in
Dublin and was a naturalized British subject. He was a leading member
of the Portuguese club, Lusitania, which was of radically republican
proclivities and possessed an excellent library of books on modern
political conditions. An inspection of the colonial prison with him
inspired Rizal's article, "A Visit to Victoria Gaol," through which
runs a pathetic contrast of the English system of imprisonment for
reformation with the Spanish vindictive methods of punishment. A
souvenir of one of their many conferences was a dainty modeling in
clay made by Rizal with that astonishing quickness that resulted from
his Uncle Gabriel's training during his early childhood.
In the spring, Rizal took a voyage to British North Borneo and with
Mr. Pryor, the agent, looked over vacant lands which had been offered
him by the Company for a Filipino colony. The officials were anxious
to grow abaca, cacao, sugar cane and coconuts, all products of the
Philippines, the soil of which resembled theirs. So they welcomed the
prospect of the immigration of laborers skilled in such cultivation,
the Kalambans and other persecuted people of the Luzon lake region,
whom Doctor Rizal hoped to transplant there to a freer home.
A different kind of governor-general had succeeded Weyler in the
Philippines; the new man was Despujol, a friend of the Jesuits
and a man who at once gave the Filipinos hope of better days,
for his promises were quickly backed up by the beginnings of their
performance. Rizal witnessed this novel experience for his country
with gratification, though he had seen too many disappointments to
confide in the continuance of reform, and he remembered that the like
liberal term of De la Torre had ended in the Cavite reaction.
He wrote early to the new chief executive, applauding Despujol's policy
and offering such cooeperation as he might be able to give toward
making it a complete success. No reply had been received, but after
Rizal's return from his Borneo trip the Spanish consul in Hongkong
assured him that he would not be molested should he go to Manila.
Rizal therefore made up his mind to visit his home once more. He
still cherished the plan of transferring those of his relatives
and friends who were homeless through the land troubles, or
discontented with their future in the Philippines, to the district
offered to him by the British North Borneo Company. There, under the
protection of the British flag, but in their accustomed climate, with
familiar surroundings amid their own people, a New Kalamba would be
established. Filipinos would there have a chance to prove to the world
what they were capable of, and their free condition would inevitably
react on the neighboring Philippines and help to bring about better
government there.
Rizal had no intention of renouncing his Philippine allegiance, for
he always regretted the naturalization of his countrymen abroad,
considering it a loss to the country which needed numbers to play
the influential part he hoped it would play in awakening Asia. All
his arguments were for British justice and "Equality before the Law,"
for he considered that political power was only a means of securing
and assuring fair treatment for all, and in itself of no interest.
With such ideas he sailed for home, bearing the Spanish consul's
passport. He left two letters in Hongkong with his friend Doctor
Marquez marked, "To be opened after my death," and their contents
indicate that he was not unmindful of how little regard Spain had
had in his country for her plighted honor.
One was to his beloved parents, brother and sisters, and friends:
"The affection that I have ever professed for you suggests this
step, and time alone can tell whether or not it is sensible. Their
outcome decides things by results, but whether that be favorable or
unfavorable, it may always be said that duty urged me, so if I die
in doing it, it will not matter.
"I realize how much suffering I have caused you, still I do not
regret what I have done. Rather, if I had to begin over again, still
I should do just the same, for it has been only duty. Gladly do I go
to expose myself to peril, not as any expiation of misdeeds (for in
this matter I believe myself guiltless of any), but to complete my
work and myself offer the example of which I have always preached.
"A man ought to die for duty and his principles. I hold fast to
every idea which I have advanced as to the condition and future of
our country, and shall willingly die for it, and even more willingly
to procure for you justice and peace.
"With pleasure, then, I risk life to save so many innocent persons--so
many nieces and nephews, so many children of friends, and children,
too, of others who are not even friends--who are suffering on my
account. What am I? A single man, practically without family, and
sufficiently undeceived as to life. I have had many disappointments
and the future before me is gloomy, and will be gloomy if light does
not illuminate it, the dawn of a better day for my native land. On the
other hand, there are many individuals, filled with hope and ambition,
who perhaps all might be happy were I dead, and then I hope my enemies
would be satisfied and stop persecuting so many entirely innocent
people. To a certain extent their hatred is justifiable as to myself,
and my parents and relatives.