CHAPTER 8 THE PROPAGANDIST’S JOURNEY Rizal’s Search for Reforms Jose Rizal equipped himself with good education within and beyond the university walls to advance his aim to bring reforms to his beloved motherland. Rizal in Hong Kong To further his cultural orientation and political study via actual experience, and upon the “advice” of the government, on February _28, 1888, a year after the publication of Noli Me Tangere, and “Six months after his arrival in the Philippines, Jose Rizal sailed “from Manila again. In all the countries he visited, he noted all his observations clearly and fairly not only as a tourist but as a traveling scholar. This time he went to Hong Kong. “When I set forth, I was already ill and soon became seasick. We reached Hong Kong, which delighted me, There I was introduced to some leading Spaniards, one of them\ Varanda, who was, they said, Secretary to Governor General Emilio Terrero, T traveled about with him for several days, especially on a trip which Varanda, Basa, and I took to Macao, to see that Portuguese colony and to visit Mr. “Lecaroz, in whose house we were guests, Lecaroz, Jose Basa,’ and the other Filipinos in Hong Kong are partisans and promoters of the book Noli Me Tangere. In Hong Kong I investigated many important matters, for example concerning the riches of the Dominicans,* concerning their missions, concerning the Augustinians, etc. 1 Jose Maria Basa was exiled in 1872, a victim of Spanish vengeance for the uprising in Cavite, though he had not a shadow of guilt. A noble gentleman with a beautiful influence on Filipino youth, he became one of Rizal's most trusted friends from the time of this Hong Kong visit and played a vital part in Rizal's career thereafter. 2'The study of the Dominicans, which Rizal mentioned, is to be remembered because four years later a terrific arraignment of the wealth and greed of that society was found in his sister Lucia’s baggage and led to Rizal's arrest and ultimately to his execution.Jose Rizal: The Man and the Hero There I came to know D. Balbino Mauricio,’ an unfortunate man worthy of a better fate, and his acquaintanceship was useful for me, for it prepared me for a fate which may be much worse!” Rizal in Japan “Tn about fifteen days I departed for Japan. I was quite seasick again. A few minutes after I reached a hotel, before I had time to brush up, I received a notice that the Spanish chargé d'affaires was calling! They introduced themselves to me with much graciousness, extending me many offers and proposing that I make my home at the Legation. After making a few excuses, I accepted frankly, for if at bottom they had a desire to watch me, I was not afraid to let them know what I did. lived in the Legation for a little over a month. I was examining some of Japan, at times alone, on other occasions accompanied by a member of the Legation, and sometimes by the interpreter. There I studied the Japanese and also made a study of their theater. After several offers of employment, which I refused, I departed at length for America.” : Rizal in America Rizal and his Japanese friend reached San Francisco on April _28, 1888, and started across the continent by rail, both of them sitting in a coach all night to save money. “] visited the large cities of America, with their magnificent buildings, their electric lights, and their splendid ideas. America is indubitably a great country, but it also has many defects.” Americans would smart as they read what this genius with a penetrating eye and a painfully accurate pen saw in eighteen days. California labor was at the time in the throes of violent hatred toward Chinese laborers. Besides this there was a cholera epidemic in Asia. For these reasons the treatment of foreigners, always irritatingly rigid, was worse even than usual. “They do not have true civil liberty. In some states the Negro cannot marry a white woman, or the white man a Negress. The dislike of the Chinese cascaded to other Asiatics like the Japanese being mistaken as the Chinese and being disliked. The customs examiners are excessively severe. Nevertheless, as they say truly, * A Filipino exile. 4 Rizal’s Correspondence with Family Members, March 1, 1888. ° Jose Rizal, Memoirs and Diaries.The Propagandist’s Journey: Rizal’s Search for Reforms America offers a motherland for the poor who wish to work. There is, too, much arbitrariness.”® Rizal’s journey across America is delightfully told in his diary, written in short sentences and looking as though the track was rough—as it was in those days! It illustrates the precision with which he saw and recorded everything. “May 4, at 3 PM, the quarantine was lifted. I stayed in the Palace Hotel, $4 a day with bath and all. Stockton Street 312. I saw the Golden Gate. On Sunday the stores are not open. The best street in San Francisco is Market Street. Took a walk. Stanford's the richest man. We left San Francisco on Sunday the 6th at 4:30 PM. Ferry to Oakland. Railroad train. Another ferry from Port Costa to Benicia. Fields, and cattle, but neither huts nor herdsmen. A country store. Ate in Sacramento 75¢. We slept in the coach. We got out for an hour at Reno where we had breakfast at 7:35.7 “Monday, May 7. I saw an Indian who was dressed half- European, half-Indian, leaning against a wall. Wide arid deserts with few plants, and without trees or shrubs. Desolate. Solitary. Mountains bare. Sandy. A wide stretch of white ground which looks like gypsum. In the distance, beyond this sandy desert, blue mountains are visible. It is hot, yet there is snow on the tops of some mountains.* “Tuesday May 8. We are near Ogden. I think with irrigation and a good system of canals it would be possible to make these fields fertile. The prairie is strewn with horses, cows, and trees. There are cabins in the distance. From Ogden to Denver. We put our watch ahead one hour. Yellow flowers begin to appear by the roadside. The shores of Salt Lake are lovely compared to what we have just seen. The asses are very large.® Three little Mormon girls in Farmington. They are few people here except Mormons. Dainty houses among the trees, poplars, straight streets, flowers, houses very low. The children speak to us in Salt Lake City. Women are the ones who wait on the tables. We traveled between the mountains through a narrow canyon. Rocks on one side, on other, the river rushing excitedly, giving life to the dead landscape. We got off in Colorado, the fourth state through which we passed. At ten thirty we will climb to the heights where we can get snow along the roadside. * Ibid. 7 Austin Craig, Rizal's Life and Minor Writings. 8 Thid. * He meant mules.WEBB 0s¢ Rizal: The Man and the Hero Many pine trees. The snow on the mountain is a dazzling, resplendent white. We pass through some wooden tunnels built to protect the road from the snow. The drops of ice in the tunnel spread brilliant reflections from the sun’s rays and are like waterfalls of diamonds, magical in their effect. The porter of the Pullman Car, an American, looks like a highwayman. “Thursday, May 10. Nebraska is a level territory. At four in the afternoon we reached Omaha, the biggest city I have seen since we left San Francisco. The Missouri river is twice as wide as the Pasig is at the widest point. It is muddy; its banks are not pretty. Two and one-half minutes to pass over the bridge that spans the Missouri; the train goes slowly. We are in Illinois.’” “Friday, May 11. What I observe about Chicago is that every tobacco store has an Indian, and every one is different. 2775 Washington Street, Boston, Miss C. G. Smith (Rizal made her acquaintance on the train.)"! “Saturday, twelfth: In a good Wagner car we ate our breakfast. The country is beautiful and thickly populated. In the afternoon we reached English territory (Canada), and soon we saw the Niagara Falls. We stood several hours to examine the most beautiful points. We went under the waterfall itself. I stood among the rocks, and certainly it was the grandest cascade I have ever seen. Not as pretty nor mysteriously lovely as the Falls at Los Bafios (Pagsanjan Falls), but its grandeur is more gigantic and imposing, and baffl all comparison. There is a mysterious sound, an echo pervading everywhere.!? “Sunday, May 13: We got out near Albany, which is a big city. The Hudson River, which flows past it, carries a variety of ships. The landscape is beautiful and might make the best in Europe: envious. The banks of the Hudson are very beautiful although solitary compared to the Pasig (River). Masses of granite rock have been cut to give passage to the railway. In some places the rocks are immense. There are lovely homes among the trees. Our great transcontinental journey will end at ten minutes past eleven tomorrow.”"* > Craig. 1 Thid. 1 Thid. 18 Thid. Bindd_98 1The Propagandist’s Journey: Rizal's Search for Reforms 199° He stayed in New York for three days. In 1883 it was by no means the awe-inspiring city it is today. All it elicited from Rizal was this comment: “Was in New York; big town, but there everything is new. I visited some memorials to Washington, the great man who, I think, has no equal in this century.” On May 16, 1888, Rizal departed from America. Rizal in London When he reached London, Rizal wrote to-his old friend Dr. Karl Ullmer of Heidelberg this interesting letter about his departure from the Philippines: “T have received your kind cherished letter of March 12, which was forwarded to me from the Philippines. I left my country on the third of February. I traveled in China, Japan, and the United States, and reached here at the end of last month. Here I shall probably remain a couple of years. I hope we may see one another next year. I will go to Belgium in search of a country, (temporarily). After disembarking at Rotterdam, I will go up the Rhine, and come to visit you and your family with whom I have passed such sweet ~ and delightful days. “T have left my country on account of my book. The Filipino public welcomed Noli Me Tangere very heartedly; the edition is entirely exhausted. The Governor General Terrero summoned me and asked me for a copy of it. The friars were most excited. They wanted to persecute me, but they did not know how to get me. The Archbishop threatened to excommunicate me. “The story of my return would be long to tell and hard to understand for those who do not know life in the Philippines. My family would not allow me to eat in any house, for fear they might poison me. Friends and enemies did me favors; the latter burned my books, the former paid as much as fifty pesos for one copy. The bookstores have made big profit, but I got nothing. The friars urged my exile, but the Governor replied that they would have to bring me before the court if there was anything illegal that I had done. I left my country in order to give my relatives peace. I am at any “rate once more in a free land, breathing the free air of Europe. My fellow countrymen consider me lucky to have escaped unharmed \ Jose Rizal, Memoirs and Diaries.Jose Rizal: The Man and the Hero from the Philippines. I feel like the diver Schiller described, who said: ‘I have seen horrible things, monsters which menaced me with their talons; but by the help of God I am again on the surface!’ “Nevertheless I will go back!”!* Rizal’s Prophecies Rizal forecast the future of the Philippines within a hundred years in his essay “The Philippines, A Century Hence.” It consisted. of four parts: 1, In order to read the destiny of a people, it is necessary to open the book of its past. 2. What will become of the Philippines within a century? (Either remain under Spain or declare independence.) 8. Ifthe Philippines must remain under the control of Spain, they will have to be transformed in a political sense (Violent transformation?) 4, History does not record any lasting domination exercised by one people over another. The following prophecies which are interesting in the light of the twentieth century, especially to Americans and Filipinos, need to be revisited to find out whether they happened to be true or not: 1. Ifthe Philippines secures their independence after heroic and stubborn conflicts, they can rest assured that neither England, nor Germany, nor France, and still less Holland, will dare to take up what Spain has been unable to hold. Within a few years Africa will completely absorb the attention of the Europeans, and there is no sensible nation which, in order to secure a group of poor and hostile islands, will neglect the immense territory offered by the Dark Continent, untouched, undeveloped, and almost undefended.” 2. China will consider herself fortunate if she succeeds in keeping herself intact and is not dismembered or partitioned among the European powers that are colonizing the continent of Asia.'” 8 'This was printed in the Cologne Gazette. The letter was dated London, June 8, 1883, and quoted in Dia Filipino, December 1919. 1 Excerpts from “The Philippines, A Century Hence,” an essay written by Jose Rizal, “Tbid.The Propagandist's Journey: Rizal's Search for Reforms. 3. The same is true of Japan. On the north she has Russia, who envies and watches her, on the south she sees England. She is, moreover, under such diplomatic pressure from Europe that she cannot think of outside affairs until she is freed from it, which will not be an easy matter. True it is that she has an excess of population, but Korea attracts her more than the Philippines and is also easier to seize. 4, Perhaps the great American Republic, whose interests lie in the Pacific, and who has no hand in the spoliation of Africa, may someday dream of foreign possession. This is not impossible, for the example is contagious, covetousness and ambition are among the strongest vices, and [President Benjamin] Harrison manifested something of this sort in the Samoan question. But the Panama Canal is not opened nor the territory of the States congested with inhabitants; and in case she should openly attempt it, the European powers would not allow her to proceed, for they know very well that the appetite is sharpened by the first bites. North America would be quite a troublesome rival, if she should once get into the business. However this is contrary to her traditions."* 5. Very likely the Philippines will defend with inexpressible valor the liberty secured at the price of so much blood and sacrifice...\% 6, Then the mines will be made to give up their gold for relieving distress, iron for weapons, copper, lead, and coal. Perhaps the country will revive the maritime and mercantile life for which the islanders are fitted by their nature, ability and instincts, and once more free, like the bird that leaves its cage, like the flower that unfolds to the air, will recover the pristine virtues that are gradually dying out and will again become addicted to peace—cheerful, happy, joyous, hospitable, and daring. z These and many other things may come to pass within something like a hundred years, This remarkable essay closes with these words which reveal the heart of Rizal: “A cross on Calvary and a just man nailed thereon changed the ethics of half the human race; and before Christ, how many just ee ere age Seen) ee ate) eee: Sey JUS: 8 Thid, © Thid, » Thid.Amara Jose Rizal: The Man and the Hero men wrongfully perished and how many crosses were raised on that hill! The death of the just sanctified his work and made his teaching unanswerable... “Spain, we have spent our youth in serving thy interests and the interests of our country; we have expended the light of our intellects, all the fervor and enthusiasm of our hearts in working for the good of what is thine, to draw from thee a glance of love, a liberal policy that would assure us the peace of our native land. Spain, thou hast remained deaf, and wrapped up in thy pride, hast pursued thy fatal course and accused us of being traitors merely because we love our country, because we tell thee the truth and hate all kinds of injustice.... What dost thou wish us to tell our wretched country, when it asks about the results of our efforts? Spain, must we someday tell Filipinas that thou hast no ear for her woes, and that if she wishes to be saved, she must redeem herself?” Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas Upon reaching London on May 24, 1888, Rizal at once secured a card permitting him to work in the British Museum Library. He plunged into study and writing, which occupied his time for the next ten months. He found here one of the few remaining volumes of Antonio de Morga’s book Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (literally translated as Events in the Philippine Islands), which had been published in 1609. This work perhaps was the best account of Spanish colonialism in the Philippines during that time. It was based partly on documentary research, keen observation, and Morga’s personal knowledge and involvement. Rizal was impressed about the book, so he decided to annotate it and publish a new edition. Ferdinand Blumentritt wrote the foreword of the annotation. - Rizal said: “If the book succeeds to awaken your consciousness of our past, already effaced in your memory, and to rectify what has been falsified and slandered, then I have not worked in vain, and with this as a basis, however small as it may be, we shall be able to study the future.” He copied every word of Morga’s book and had it published at his own expense. It was of utmost importance to Rizal, the patriot, as well as to Rizal, the anthropologist, for it completely refuted a =! Craig. 22 Blumentritt had told Rizal that another copy existed in the Royal Library of Berlin. These were the only copies he could find.The Propagandist's Journey: Rizal's Search for Reforms [I falsehood which all Spaniards and nearly all Filipinos had come to believe. Morga showed that when Spain reached the Philippines, she did not find the people “in caves eating raw meat”; for there was a creditable civilization centuries old and flourishing commerce with foreign countries on the mainland of Asia. The book revealed that in certain respects Spain had actually done the Filipinos harm. Morga’s book with Rizal's annotations finally came out in 1889, and Ponce, after reading it, pronounced it a “tremendous blow to our enemies.... Your book will change the ideas which now prevail concerning our country.””* Ponce said he was so much inspired by the book that he too would write a book on “the lives of Filipinos who have stood out from the crowd in.the past and during the present time.... It would be possible to demonstrate to all the world that our race has produced men who may be ranked with the wisest.” Immediately Rizal set about to furnish Ponce with material. “Our whole aspiration,” he declared, “is to educate our nation; education and more education!”** He discovered that history and anthropology were the best friends of the Philippines, for these sciences were exposing the lies which the Spaniards had told for generations. He had nothing to fear and everything to gain by exploring every corner of the past, so he enlisted his friends in scouring all the libraries of Europe for ancient documents and abstruse knowledge concerning his country. Dr. Reinhold Rost Rizal’s amazing linguistic accomplishments drew him to other linguists. He became a lifelong friend” of the eminent Sanskrit scholar Dr. Reinhold Rost, who was librarian of the India Office and considered the greatest linguist of that century. It was in the Rost home that Rizal spent most of his Sundays.”* He discussed with Rost the booklet of his friend Dr. Pardo de Tavera) Sanskrit in the Tagalog Tongue.”' Sanskrit is an Aryan language, and its ‘presence in Tagalog might, together with other evidence, indicate *8 Epistolario Rizalino, vol. 2, p. 265. Professor Craig had published an English translation of Rizal’s introduction to the book Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas por Antonio de Morga, annotations by Jose Rizal, Paris, Libereria de Garbier Hermanos, 1890. 24 Tid, vol. 2, p. 242. 25 Craig, vol. 4, p. 171. *6 Thid, p. 101. ” Epistolario Rizalino, vol. 3, p. 12.By 1 Lo) Jose Rizal: The Man and the Hero Aryan blood in the Filipinos. Their friend Blumentritt was quite convinced that the Tagalogs and Germans were related!”* La Solidaridad La Solidaridad (The Solidarity) was an organization composed * of exiled Filipino liberals and students attending Europe’s universities. The organization aimed to increase Spanish awareness of the needs of the Filipinos and to propagate a closer Yelationship between the Philippines and Spain. It also launched a newspaper of the same name, which served as the organ of the reform movement. Mariano Ponce, a new friend who ardently loved Rizal and was hunting books which Rizal needed in Spain, urged him to accept its directorship, and an overwhelming majority of the Filipinos pressed this position upon him. He declined to accept the management because others were ambitious for the position. The insincere attacks, which are common among candidates for an elective office, hurt him. He was eager for true criticism but wounded when he knew it was false. The man finally chosen to head La Solidaridad was Graciano Lopez Jaena, while Rizal was unanimously elected as honorary president. Marcelo H. del Pilar and Mariano Ponce were associate editors. In February 1889 Del Pilar wrote exultantly that “at last our little periodical is born, democratic in its criticisms but much more democratic in its personnel.” The newspaper published not only articles and essays about the economic, cultural, political, and social conditions of the country, but also current news, both local and foreign, and speeches of prominent Spanish leaders about the Philippines. Articles from the pen of Rizal appeared in nearly every issue, very much the most important material the paper ever published, And every article drove a nail into its author's coffin if ever he should dare to place himself in the power of his enemies! 1 The Women of Malolos While Jose Rizal's heart was bleeding over reports of persecutions in the Philippines, he received a request from Del Pilar, who had replaced Jaena as editor of La Solidaridad, to write a letter to the courageous young women of Malolos, who had dared to hoot at some disreputable friars. Instead of a letter, Rizal wrote almost a book. %§ Ibid, vol. 3, p. 6.The Propagandist’s Journey: Rizal’s Search for Reforms “We ought to be reasonable and open our eyes. Especially ought you women, because you are first in influencing the consciences of men. Bear in mind that a good woman must bring up her son in a way becoming the image of the true God — a God who is not an extortioner, nor covetous for money; a God who is Father of all, and perfectly just; a God who is not a vampire of the poor, who does not make sport of the agonies of those in tribulation, nor twist the straight course of justice”® “J do not expect the country to have honor and prosperity so long as woman is a slave and ignorant and does not know how to protect the steps of her child.,.. The friars have blinded her, bound her, and left her feeble-hearted; and they live without risk, because while the Filipino woman is enslaved, they can enslave all her children. This is the cause of Asia’s prostration — the womanhood of Asia is ignorant and in slavery. Woman is powerful in Europe and in America, because she is free and educated, with clear intelligence and a strong will of her own...*° Preparing the Sequel to the Noli Reluctantly Rizal gave up the wonderful library of the British Museum and departed for Paris in the middle of March 1889 _ to continue working on El Filibusterismo, his sequel to Noli Me Tangere. Rizal wrote Mariano Ponce: Dear friend,” I sent you those proofs a long while ago. Since you have not received them, they must be lost. Send me others at once; I have the manuscript. We have many enemies, and they are furious; we face the fight and must not be divided. Your friend, Laong Laan® 2° Excerpt from the Letter to the Women of Malolos. *® Thid. 81 Rizal’s Correspondences, vol. 2, p. 216. ® One of the aliases of Jose Rizal which literally means “always ready.”Jose Rizal: The Man and the Hero Rift with Compatriots Rizal was constantly railing against what he perceived to be the debauchery — drinking, gambling, and whoring — of his fellow Filipinos in Madrid. Rizal himself drank in moderation, bought lottery tickets, and according to Maximo Viola, once drank from “the cup of mundane pleasure”: “In one of our tours, he encountered i the figure of a temptress in the form of a Viennese woman, of the family of the Camellias or Margarite, of extraordinary beauty and irresistible attraction... With the exception of this case, I knew of no other slip of Rizal during more than six months of our living together. His ‘fall’ in Dapitan, under that regime and atmosphere which were very different from a free life, where the vegetative life predominated over a very active intellectual life to which our hero was accustomed, deserved separate consideration by the doctors of the Holy Mother Church, who ought to know how to judge within the pretended conversion of Rizal whether his love for Josephine, which was not sealed by the vow of chastity, was in accordance or \not with the well-known moral dictum that ‘idleness is the mother of all vices.” § Rizal wrote to Del Pilar: a “Luna in Paris complains about the gambling of the Filipinos in Madrid, and so does Ventura. They tell me that reports come from the Philippines that the older people are very unhappy about it; it seems that Don Felipe Roxas is the one who learned that these gamblers are known in Manila. I fear we are playing into the hand of the friars. Is there nothing there to remind them that the Filipino did not come to Europe to gamble and enjoy himself, but to work for our liberty and for the honor of his race? To gamble, it is not necessary to leave the Philippines, for there is too much gambling there. If we are the ones called upon to do anything, if we, in whom the poor country reposes its little hope, pass our time in these ways, just when the years of youth ought to be utilized in some nobler and grander manner for the very reason that youth is noble and generous, I very much fear that we will be fighting for a futile illusion, and that in place of being worthy of liberty we will be worthy only of slavery.”** 88 Reminiscences and Travels of Jose Rizal, Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission, 1961, p. 330. 4 Epistolario Rizalino, vol. 3, p. 27.