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Title: The Philippines A Century Hence
Author: Jose Rizal
Editor: Austin Craig
Translator: Charles Derbyshire
Release Date: April 18, 2011 [EBook #35899]
Language: English
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Noli Me Tangere Quarter-Centennial Series
Edited by Austin Craig
THE PHILIPPINES
A CENTURY HENCE
By JOSÉ RIZAL
Manila: 1912
Philippine Education Company
34 Escolta
"In the Philippine Islands the American government has
tried, and is trying, to carry out exactly what the
greatest genius and most revered patriot ever known in
the Philippines, José Rizal, steadfastly advocated."
--From a public address at Fargo, N.D., on April
7th. 1903, by the President of the United States.
INTRODUCTION
As "Filipinas dentro de Cien Años", this article was originally
published serially in the Filipino fortnightly review "La Solidaridad",
of Madrid, running through the issues from September, 1889, to
January, 1890.
It supplements Rizal's great novel "Noli Me Tangere" and its sequel
"El Filibusterismo", and the translation here given is fortunately by
Mr. Charles Derbyshire who in his "The Social Cancer" and "The Reign
of Greed" has so happily rendered into English those masterpieces
of Rizal.
The reference which Doctor Rizal makes to President Harrison had in
mind the grandson-of-his-grandfather's blundering, wavering policy
that, because of a groundless fear of infringing the natives' natural
rights, put his country in the false light of wanting to share in
Samoa's exploitation, taking the leonine portion, too, along with
Germany and England.
Robert Louis Stevenson has told the story of the unhappy
condition created by that disastrous international agreement
which was achieved by the dissembling diplomats of greedy Europe
flattering unsophisticated America into believing that two monarchies
preponderating in an alliance with a republic would be fairer than
the republic acting unhampered.
In its day the scheme was acclaimed by irrational idealists as a
triumph of American abnegation and an example of modern altruism. It
resulted that "the international agreement" became a constant cause
of international disagreements, as any student of history could have
foretold, until, disgusted and disillusioned, the United States
tardily recalled Washington's warning against entanglements with
foreign powers and became a party to a real partition, but this time
playing the lamb's part. England was compensated with concessions
in other parts of the world, the United States was "given" what it
already held under a cession twenty-seven years old,--and Germany
took the rest as her emperor had planned from the start.
There is this Philippine bearing to the incident that the same stripe
of unpractical philanthropists, not discouraged at having forced
the Samoans under the ungentle German rule--for their victims and not
themselves suffer by their mistakes, are seeking now the neutralization
by international agreement of the Archipelago for which Rizal gave
his life. Their success would mean another "entangling alliance"
for the United States, with six allies, or nine including Holland,
China and Spain, if the "great republic" should be allowed by the
diplomats of the "Great Powers" to invite these nonentities in world
politics, with whom she would still be outvoted.
Rizal's reference to America as a possible factor in the Philippines'
future is based upon the prediction of the German traveller Feodor
Jagor, who about 1860 spent a number of months in the Islands and later
published his observations, supplemented by ten years of further study
in European libraries and museums, as "Travels in the Philippines",
to use the title of the English translation,--a very poor one, by the
way. Rizal read the much better Spanish version while a student in the
Ateneo de Manila, from a copy supplied by Paciano Rizal Mercado who
directed his younger brother's political education and transferred to
José the hopes which had been blighted for himself by the execution of
his beloved teacher, Father Burgos, in the Cavite alleged insurrection.
Jagor's prophecy furnishes the explanation to Rizal's public life. His
policy of preparing his countrymen for industrial and commercial
competition seems to have had its inspiration in this reading done
when he was a youth in years but mature in fact through close contact
with tragic public events as well as with sensational private sorrows.
When in Berlin, Doctor Rizal met Professor Jagor, and the distinguished
geographer and his youthful but brilliant admirer became fast friends,
often discussing how the progress of events was bringing true the
fortune for the Philippines which the knowledge of its history and the
acquaintance with its then condition had enabled the trained observer
to foretell with that same certainty that the meteorologist foretells
the morrow's weather.
A like political acumen Rizal tried to develop in his countrymen. He
republished Morga's History (first published in Mexico in 1609) to
recall their past. Noli Me Tangere painted their present, and in El
Filibusterismo was sketched the future which continuance upon their
then course must bring. "The Philippines A Century Hence" suggests
other possibilities, and seems to have been the initial issue in the
series of ten which Rizal planned to print, one a year, to correct the
misunderstanding of his previous writings which had come from their
being known mainly by the extracts cited in the censors' criticism.
José Rizal in life voiced the aspirations of his countrymen and as
the different elements in his divided native land recognized that
these were the essentials upon which all were agreed and that their
points of difference among themselves were not vital, dissension
disappeared and there came an united Philippines. Now, since his death,
the fact that both continental and insular Americans look to him as
their hero makes possible the hope that misunderstandings based on
differences as to details may cease when Filipinos recognize that
the American Government in the Philippines, properly approached,
is willing to grant all that Rizal considered important, and when
Americans understand that the people of the Philippines, unaccustomed
to the frank discussions of democracy, would be content with so little
even as Rizal asked of Spain if only there were some salve for their
unwittingly wounded amor propio.
A better knowledge of the writings of José Rizal may accomplish this
desirable consummation.
"I do not write for this generation. I am writing for other
ages. If this could read me, they would burn my books, the
work of my whole life. On the other hand, the generation which
interprets these writings will be an educated generation; they
will understand me and say: 'Not all were asleep in the night-time
of our grandparents'."
--The Philosopher Tasio, in Noli Me Tangere.
JAGOR'S PROPHECY
The Prophecy Which Prompted Rizal's Policy of Preparation
For the Philippines
This extract is translated from Pages 287-289 of "Reisen in den
Philippinen von F. Jagor: Berlin 1873".
"The old situation is no longer possible of maintenance, with the
changed conditions of the present time.
"The colony can no longer be kept secluded from the world. Every
facility afforded for commercial intercourse is a blow to the old
system, and a great step made in the direction of broad and liberal
reforms. The more foreign capital and foreign ideas and customs
are introduced, increasing the prosperity, enlightenment, and self
respect of the population, the more impatiently will the existing
evils be endured.
"England can and does open her possessions unconcernedly to the
world. The British colonies are united to the mother country by the
bond of mutual advantage, viz., the production of raw material by
means of English capital, and the exchange of the same for English
manufactures. The wealth of England is so great, the organization of
her commerce with the world so complete, that nearly all the foreigners
even in the British possessions are for the most part agents for
English business houses, which would scarcely be affected, at least
to any marked extent, by a political dismemberment. It is entirely
different with Spain, which possesses the colony as an inherited
property, and without the power of turning it to any useful account.
"Government monopolies rigorously maintained, insolent disregard
and neglect of the half-castes and powerful creoles, and the example
of the United States, were the chief reasons of the downfall of the
American possessions. The same causes threaten ruin to the Philippines;
but of the monopolies I have said enough.
"Half-castes and creoles, it is true, are not, as they formerly were
in America, excluded from all official appointments; but they feel
deeply hurt and injured through the crowds of place-hunters which
the frequent changes of Ministers send to Manila.
"Also the influence of American elements is at least discernible
on the horizon, and will come more to the front as the relations of
the two countries grow closer. At present these are still of little
importance; in the meantime commerce follows its old routes, which
lead to England and the Atlantic ports of the Union. Nevertheless,
he who attempts to form a judgment as to the future destiny of the
Philippines cannot fix his gaze only on their relations to Spain;
he must also consider the mighty changes which within a few decades
are being effected on that side of our planet. For the first time in
the world's history, the gigantic nations on both sides of a gigantic
ocean are beginning to come into direct intercourse: Russia, which
alone is greater than two divisions of the world together; China,
which within her narrow bounds contains a third of the human race;
America, with cultivable soil enough to support almost three times
the entire population of the earth. Russia's future rôle in the
Pacific Ocean at present baffles all calculations. The intercourse
of the two other powers will probably have all the more important
consequences when the adjustment between the immeasurable necessity
for human labor-power on the one hand, and a correspondingly great
surplus of that power on the other, shall fall on it as a problem."
"The world of the ancients was confined to the shores of the
Mediterranean; and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans sufficed at one
time for our traffic. When first the shores of the Pacific re-echoed
with the sounds of active commerce, the trade of the world and the
history of the world may be really said to have begun. A start in that
direction has been made; whereas not so very long ago the immense ocean
was one wide waste of waters, traversed from both points only once a
year. From 1603 to 1769 scarcely a ship had ever visited California,
that wonderful country which, twenty-five years ago, with the exception
of a few places on the coast, was an unknown wilderness, but which is
now covered with flourishing and prosperous towns and cities, divided
from sea to sea by a railway, and its capital already ranking among
the world's greatest seaports.
"But in proportion as the commerce of the western coast of America
extends the influence of the American elements over the South Sea, the
ensnaring spell which the great republic exercises over the Spanish
colonies will not fail to assert itself in the Philippines also. The
Americans appear to be called upon to bring the germ planted by the
Spaniards to its full development. As conquerors of the New World,
representatives of the body of free citizens in contradistinction to
the nobility, they follow with the axe and plow of the pioneer where
the Spaniards had opened the way with cross and sword. A considerable
part of Spanish America already belongs to the United States, and has,
since that occurred, attained an importance which could not have been
anticipated either during Spanish rule or during the anarchy which
ensued after and from it. In the long run, the Spanish system cannot
prevail over the American. While the former exhausts the colonies
through direct appropriation of them to the privileged classes, and
the metropolis through the drain of its best forces (with, besides, a
feeble population), America draws to itself the most energetic element
from all lands; and these on her soil, free from all trammels, and
restlessly pushing forward, are continually extending further her
power and influence. The Philippines will so much the less escape
the influence of the two great neighboring empires, since neither
the islands nor their metropolis are in a condition of stable
equilibrium. It seems desirable for the natives that the opinions
here expressed shall not too soon be realized as facts, for their
training thus far has not sufficiently prepared them for success in
the contest with those restless, active, most inconsiderate peoples;
they have dreamed away their youth."
THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE
I.
Following our usual custom of facing squarely the most difficult and
delicate questions relating to the Philippines, without weighing the
consequences that our frankness may bring upon us, we shall in the
present article treat of their future.
In order to read the destiny of a people, it is necessary to open
the book of its past, and this, for the Philippines, may be reduced
in general terms to what follows.
Scarcely had they been attached to the Spanish crown than they had to
sustain with their blood and the efforts of their sons the wars and
ambitions of conquest of the Spanish people, and in these struggles,
in that terrible crisis when a people changes its form of government,
its laws, usages, customs, religion and beliefs the Philippines were
depopulated, impoverished and retarded--caught in their metamorphosis,
without confidence in their past, without faith in their present and
with no fond hope for the years to come. The former rulers who had
merely endeavored to secure the fear and submission of their subjects,
habituated by them to servitude, fell like leaves from a dead tree, and
the people, who had no love for them nor knew what liberty was, easily
changed masters, perhaps hoping to gain something by the innovation.
Then began a new era for the Filipinos. They gradually lost their
ancient traditions, their recollections--they forgot their writings,
their songs, their poetry, their laws, in order to learn by heart
other doctrines, which they did not understand, other ethics,
other tastes, different from those inspired in their race by their
climate and their way of thinking. Then there was a falling-off,
they were lowered in their own eyes, they became ashamed of what was
distinctively their own, in order to admire and praise what was foreign
and incomprehensible: their spirit was broken and they acquiesced.
Thus years and centuries rolled on. Religious shows, rites that
caught the eye, songs, lights, images arrayed with gold, worship in
a strange language, legends, miracles and sermons, hypnotized the
already naturally superstitious spirit of the country, but did not
succeed in destroying it altogether, in spite of the whole system
afterwards developed and operated with unyielding tenacity.
When the ethical abasement of the inhabitants had reached this stage,
when they had become disheartened and disgusted with themselves,
an effort was made to add the final stroke for reducing so many
dormant wills and intellects to nothingness, in order to make of
the individual a sort of toiler, a brute, a beast of burden, and to
develop a race without mind or heart. Then the end sought was revealed,
it was taken for granted, the race was insulted, an effort was made
to deny it every virtue, every human characteristic, and there were
even writers and priests who pushed the movement still further by
trying to deny to the natives of the country not only capacity for
virtue but also even the tendency to vice.
Then this which they had thought would be death was sure
salvation. Some dying persons are restored to health by a heroic
remedy.
So great endurance reached its climax with the insults, and the
lethargic spirit woke to life. His sensitiveness, the chief trait of
the native, was touched, and while he had had the forbearance to suffer
and die under a foreign flag, he had it not when they whom he served
repaid his sacrifices with insults and jests. Then he began to study
himself and to realize his misfortune. Those who had not expected this
result, like all despotic masters, regarded as a wrong every complaint,
every protest, and punished it with death, endeavoring thus to stifle
every cry of sorrow with blood, and they made mistake after mistake.
The spirit of the people was not thereby cowed, and even though it had
been awakened in only a few hearts, its flame nevertheless was surely
and consumingly propagated, thanks to abuses and the stupid endeavors
of certain classes to stifle noble and generous sentiments. Thus when
a flame catches a garment, fear and confusion propagate it more and
more, and each shake, each blow, is a blast from the bellows to fan
it into life.
Undoubtedly during all this time there were not lacking generous and
noble spirits among the dominant race that tried to struggle for the
rights of humanity and justice, or sordid and cowardly ones among
the dominated that aided the debasement of their own country. But
both were exceptions and we are speaking in general terms.
Such is an outline of their past. We know their present. Now, what
will their future be?
Will the Philippine Islands continue to be a Spanish colony, and if
so, what kind of colony? Will they become a province of Spain, with
or without autonomy? And to reach this stage, what kind of sacrifices
will have to be made?
Will they be separated from the mother country to live independently,
to fall into the hands of other nations, or to ally themselves with
neighboring powers?
It is impossible to reply to these questions, for to all of them
both yes and no may be answered, according to the time desired to be
covered. When there is in nature no fixed condition, how much less
must there be in the life of a people, beings endowed with mobility
and movement! So it is that in order to deal with these questions, it
is necessary to presume an unlimited period of time, and in accordance
therewith try to forecast future events.
II.
What will become of the Philippines within a century? Will they
continue to be a Spanish colony?
Had this question been asked three centuries ago, when at Legazpi's
death the Malayan Filipinos began to be gradually undeceived and,
finding the yoke heavy, tried in vain to shake it off, without
any doubt whatsoever the reply would have been easy. To a spirit
enthusiastic over the liberty of the country, to those unconquerable
Kagayanes who nourished within themselves the spirit of the Magalats,
to the descendants of the heroic Gat Pulintang and Gat Salakab of
the Province of Batangas, independence was assured, it was merely a
question of getting together and making a determined effort. But for
him who, disillusioned by sad experience, saw everywhere discord and
disorder, apathy and brutalization in the lower classes, discouragement
and disunion in the upper, only one answer presented itself, and it
was: extend his hands to the chains, bow his neck beneath the yoke and
accept the future with the resignation of an invalid who watches the
leaves fall and foresees a long winter amid whose snows he discerns the
outlines of his grave. At that time discord justified pessimism--but
three centuries passed, the neck had become accustomed to the yoke,
and each new generation, begotten in chains, was constantly better
adapted to the new order of things.
Now, then, are the Philippines in the same condition they were three
centuries ago?
For the liberal Spaniards the ethical condition of the people
remains the same, that is, the native Filipinos have not advanced;
for the friars and their followers the people have been redeemed from
savagery, that is, they have progressed; for many Filipinos ethics,
spirit and customs have decayed, as decay all the good qualities of
a people that falls into slavery that is, they have retrograded.
Laying aside these considerations, so as not to get away from our
subject, let us draw a brief parallel between the political situation
then and the situation at present, in order to see if what was not
possible at that time can be so now, or vice versa.
Let us pass over the loyalty the Filipinos may feel for Spain;
let us suppose for a moment, along with Spanish writers, that there
exist only motives for hatred and jealousy between the two races;
let us admit the assertions flaunted by many that three centuries
of domination have not awakened in the sensitive heart of the native
a single spark of affection or gratitude; and we may see whether or
not the Spanish cause has gained ground in the Islands.
Formerly the Spanish authority was upheld among the natives by a
handful of soldiers, three to five hundred at most, many of whom were
engaged in trade and were scattered about not only in the Islands but
also among the neighboring nations, occupied in long wars against
the Mohammedans in the south, against the British and Dutch, and
ceaselessly harassed by Japanese, Chinese, or some tribe in the
interior. Then communication with Mexico and Spain was slow, rare
and difficult; frequent and violent the disturbances among the ruling
powers in the Islands, the treasury nearly always empty, and the life
of the colonists dependent upon one frail ship that handled the Chinese
trade. Then the seas in those regions were infested with pirates,
all enemies of the Spanish name, which was defended by an improvised
fleet, generally manned by rude adventurers, when not by foreigners
and enemies, as happened in the expedition of Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas,
which was checked and frustrated by the mutiny of the Chinese rowers,
who killed him and thwarted all his plans and schemes. Yet in spite of
so many adverse circumstances the Spanish authority has been upheld
for more than three centuries and, though it has been curtailed,
still continues to rule the destinies of the Philippine group.
On the other hand, the present situation seems to be gilded and
rosy--as we might say, a beautiful morning compared to the vexed and
stormy night of the past. The material forces at the disposal of
the Spanish sovereign have now been trebled; the fleet relatively
improved; there is more organization in both civil and military
affairs; communication with the sovereign country is swifter and surer;
she has no enemies abroad; her possession is assured; and the country
dominated seems to have less spirit, less aspiration for independence,
a word that is to it almost incomprehensible. Everything then at
first glance presages another three centuries, at least, of peaceful
domination and tranquil suzerainty.
But above the material considerations are arising others, invisible,
of an ethical nature, far more powerful and transcendental.
Orientals, and the Malays in particular, are a sensitive people:
delicacy of sentiment is predominant with them. Even now, in spite
of contact with the occidental nations, who have ideals different
from his, we see the Malayan Filipino sacrifice everything--liberty,
ease, welfare, name, for the sake of an aspiration or a conceit,
sometimes scientific, or of some other nature, but at the least word
which wounds his self-love he forgets all his sacrifices, the labor
expended, to treasure in his memory and never forget the slight he
thinks he has received.
So the Philippine peoples have remained faithful during three
centuries, giving up their liberty and their independence, sometimes
dazzled by the hope of the Paradise promised, sometimes cajoled by
the friendship offered them by a noble and generous people like the
Spanish, sometimes also compelled by superiority of arms of which
they were ignorant and which timid spirits invested with a mysterious
character, or sometimes because the invading foreigner took advantage
of intestine feuds to step in as the peacemaker in discord and thus
later to dominate both parties and subject them to his authority.
Spanish domination once established, it was firmly maintained, thanks
to the attachment of the people, to their mutual dissensions, and
to the fact that the sensitive self-love of the native had not yet
been wounded. Then the people saw their own countrymen in the higher
ranks of the army, their general officers fighting beside the heroes
of Spain and sharing their laurels, begrudged neither character,
reputation nor consideration; then fidelity and attachment to Spain,
love of the fatherland, made of the native, encomendero [1] and even
general, as during the English invasion; then there had not yet been
invented the insulting and ridiculous epithets with which recently
the most laborious and painful achievements of the native leaders
have been stigmatized; not then had it become the fashion to insult
and slander in stereotyped phrase, in newspapers and books published
with governmental and superior ecclesiastical approval, the people
that paid, fought and poured out its blood for the Spanish name,
nor was it considered either noble or witty to offend a whole race,
which was forbidden to reply or defend itself; and if there were
religious hypochondriacs who in the leisure of their cloisters dared
to write against it, as did the Augustinian Gaspar de San Agustin and
the Jesuit Velarde, their loathsome abortions never saw the light,
and still less were they themselves rewarded with miters and raised
to high offices. True it is that neither were the natives of that time
such as we are now: three centuries of brutalization and obscurantism
have necessarily had some influence upon us, the most beautiful work
of divinity in the hands of certain artisans may finally be converted
into a caricature.
The priests of that epoch, wishing to establish their domination over
the people, got in touch with it and made common cause with it against
the oppressive encomenderos. Naturally, the people saw in them greater
learning and some prestige and placed its confidence in them, followed
their advice, and listened to them even in the darkest hours. If
they wrote, they did so in defense of the rights of the native and
made his cry reach even to the distant steps of the Throne. And not a
few priests, both secular and regular, undertook dangerous journeys,
as representatives of the country, and this, along with the strict
and public residencia [2] then required of the governing powers,
from the captain-general to the most insignificant official, rather
consoled and pacified the wounded spirits, satisfying, even though
it were only in form, all the malcontents.
All this has passed away. The derisive laughter penetrates like
mortal poison into the heart of the native who pays and suffers and
it becomes more offensive the more immunity it enjoys. A common sore,
the general affront offered to a whole race, has wiped away the old
feuds among different provinces. The people no longer has confidence
in its former protectors, now its exploiters and executioners. The
masks have fallen. It has seen that the love and piety of the past
have come to resemble the devotion of a nurse who, unable to live
elsewhere, desires eternal infancy, eternal weakness, for the child in
order to go on drawing her wages and existing at its expense; it has
seen not only that she does not nourish it to make it grow but that
she poisons it to stunt its growth, and at the slightest protest she
flies into a rage! The ancient show of justice, the holy residencia,
has disappeared; confusion of ideas begins to prevail; the regard
shown for a governor-general, like La Torre, becomes a crime in
the government of his successor, sufficient to cause the citizen to
lose his liberty and his home; if he obey the order of one official,
as in the recent matter of admitting corpses into the church, it is
enough to have the obedient subject later harassed and persecuted in
every possible way; obligations and taxes increase without thereby
increasing rights, privileges and liberties or assuring the few in
existence; a régime of continual terror and uncertainty disturbs the
minds, a régime worse than a period of disorder, for the fears that
the imagination conjures up are generally greater than the reality;
the country is poor; the financial crisis through which it is passing
is acute, and every one points out with the finger the persons who
are causing the trouble, yet no one dares lay hands upon them!
True it is that the Penal Code has come like a drop of balm to such
bitterness. [3] But of what use are all the codes in the world, if by
means of confidential reports, if for trifling reasons, if through
anonymous traitors any honest citizen may be exiled or banished
without a hearing, without a trial? Of what use is that Penal Code,
of what use is life, if there is no security in the home, no faith in
justice and confidence in tranquility of conscience? Of what use is
all that array of terms, all that collection of articles, when the
cowardly accusation of a traitor has more influence in the timorous
ears of the supreme autocrat than all the cries for justice?
If this state of affairs should continue, what will become of the
Philippines within a century?
The batteries are gradually becoming charged and if the prudence
of the government does not provide an outlet for the currents that
are accumulating, some day the spark will be generated. This is
not the place to speak of what outcome such a deplorable conflict
might have, for it depends upon chance, upon the weapons and upon
a thousand circumstances which man can not foresee. But even though
all the advantage should be on the government's side and therefore
the probability of success, it would be a Pyrrhic victory, and no
government ought to desire such.
If those who guide the destinies of the Philippines remain obstinate,
and instead of introducing reforms try to make the condition of
the country retrograde, to push their severity and repression to
extremes against the classes that suffer and think, they are going
to force the latter to venture and put into play the wretchedness
of an unquiet life, filled with privation and bitterness, against
the hope of securing something indefinite. What would be lost in
the struggle? Almost nothing: the life of the numerous discontented
classes has no such great attraction that it should be preferred
to a glorious death. It may indeed be a suicidal attempt--but then,
what? Would not a bloody chasm yawn between victors and vanquished,
and might not the latter with time and experience become equal in
strength, since they are superior in numbers, to their dominators? Who
disputes this? All the petty insurrections that have occurred in the
Philippines were the work of a few fanatics or discontented soldiers,
who had to deceive and humbug the people or avail themselves of
their power over their subordinates to gain their ends. So they all
failed. No insurrection had a popular character or was based on a
need of the whole race or fought for human rights or justice, so it
left no ineffaceable impressions, but rather when they saw that they
had been duped the people bound up their wounds and applauded the
overthrow of the disturbers of their peace! But what if the movement
springs from the people themselves and bases its cause upon their woes?
So then, if the prudence and wise reforms of our ministers do not find
capable and determined interpreters among the colonial governors and
faithful perpetuators among those whom the frequent political changes
send to fill such a delicate post; if met with the eternal it is out
of order, proffered by the elements who see their livelihood in the
backwardness of their subjects; if just claims are to go unheeded, as
being of a subversive tendency; if the country is denied representation
in the Cortes and an authorized voice to cry out against all kinds
of abuses, which escape through the complexity of the laws; if, in
short, the system, prolific in results of alienating the good will
of the natives, is to continue, pricking his apathetic mind with
insults and charges of ingratitude, we can assert that in a few years
the present state of affairs will have been modified completely--and
inevitably. There now exists a factor which was formerly lacking--the
spirit of the nation has been aroused, and a common misfortune, a
common debasement, has united all the inhabitants of the Islands. A
numerous enlightened class now exists within and without the Islands,
a class created and continually augmented by the stupidity of certain
governing powers, which forces the inhabitants to leave the country,
to secure education abroad, and it is maintained and struggles thanks
to the provocations and the system of espionage in vogue. This class,
whose number is cumulatively increasing, is in constant communication
with the rest of the Islands, and if today it constitutes only the
brain of the country in a few years it will form the whole nervous
system and manifest its existence in all its acts.
Now, statecraft has various means at its disposal for checking a people
on the road to progress: the brutalization of the masses through
a caste addicted to the government, aristocratic, as in the Dutch
colonies, or theocratic, as in the Philippines; the impoverishment
of the country; the gradual extermination of the inhabitants; and
the fostering of feuds among the races.
Brutalization of the Malayan Filipino has been demonstrated to be
impossible. In spite of the dark horde of friars, in whose hands rests
the instruction of youth, which miserably wastes years and years
in the colleges, issuing therefrom tired, weary and disgusted with
books; in spite of the censorship, which tries to close every avenue
to progress; in spite of all the pulpits, confessionals, books and
missals that inculcate hatred toward not only all scientific knowledge
but even toward the Spanish language itself; in spite of this whole
elaborate system perfected and tenaciously operated by those who
wish to keep the Islands in holy ignorance, there exist writers,
freethinkers, historians, philosophers, chemists, physicians, artists
and jurists. Enlightenment is spreading and the persecution it suffers
quickens it. No, the divine flame of thought is inextinguishable
in the Filipino people and somehow or other it will shine forth and
compel recognition. It is impossible to brutalize the inhabitants of
the Philippines!
May poverty arrest their development?
Perhaps, but it is a very dangerous means. Experience has everywhere
shown us and especially in the Philippines, that the classes
which are better off have always been addicted to peace and order,
because they live comparatively better and may be the losers in
civil disturbances. Wealth brings with it refinement, the spirit of
conservation, while poverty inspires adventurous ideas, the desire to
change things, and has little care for life. Machiavelli himself held
this means of subjecting a people to be perilous, observing that loss
of welfare stirs up more obdurate enemies than loss of life. Moreover,
when there are wealth and abundance, there is less discontent, less
complaint, and the government, itself wealthier, has more means for
sustaining itself. On the other hand, there occurs in a poor country
what happens in a house where bread is wanting. And further, of what
use to the mother country would a poor and lean colony be?
Neither is it possible gradually to exterminate the inhabitants. The
Philippine races, like all the Malays, do not succumb before the
foreigner, like the Australians, the Polynesians and the Indians
of the New World. In spite of the numerous wars the Filipinos have
had to carry on, in spite of the epidemics that have periodically
visited them, their number has trebled, as has that of the Malays
of Java and the Moluccas. The Filipino embraces civilization and
lives and thrives in every clime, in contact with every people. Rum,
that poison which exterminated the natives of the Pacific islands,
has no power in the Philippines, but, rather, comparison of their
present condition with that described by the early historians, makes
it appear that the Filipinos have grown soberer. The petty wars
with the inhabitants of the South consume only the soldiers, people
who by their fidelity to the Spanish flag, far from being a menace,
are surely one of its solidest supports.
There remains the fostering of intestine feuds among the provinces.
This was formerly possible, when communication from one island
to another was rare and difficult, when there were no steamers or
telegraph-lines, when the regiments were formed according to the
various provinces, when some provinces were cajoled by awards of
privileges and honors and others were protected from the strongest. But
now that the privileges have disappeared, that through a spirit of
distrust the regiments have been reorganized, that the inhabitants
move from one island to another, communication and exchange of
impressions naturally increase, and as all see themselves threatened
by the same peril and wounded in the same feelings, they clasp hands
and make common cause. It is true that the union is not yet wholly
perfected, but to this end tend the measures of good government,
the vexations to which the townspeople are subjected, the frequent
changes of officials, the scarcity of centers of learning, which
forces the youth of all the Islands to come together and begin to
get acquainted. The journeys to Europe contribute not a little to
tighten the bonds, for abroad the inhabitants of the most widely
separated provinces are impressed by their patriotic feelings,
from sailors even to the wealthiest merchants, and at the sight of
modern liberty and the memory of the misfortunes of their country,
they embrace and call one another brothers.
In short, then, the advancement and ethical progress of the Philippines
are inevitable, are decreed by fate.
The Islands cannot remain in the condition they are without requiring
from the sovereign country more liberty Mutatis mutandis. For new men,
a new social order.
To wish that the alleged child remain in its swaddling-clothes is to
risk that it may turn against its nurse and flee, tearing away the
old rags that bind it.
The Philippines, then, will remain under Spanish domination, but
with more law and greater liberty, or they will declare themselves
independent, after steeping themselves and the mother country in blood.
As no one should desire or hope for such an unfortunate rupture,
which would be an evil for all and only the final argument in the most
desperate predicament, let us see by what forms of peaceful evolution
the Islands may remain subjected to the Spanish authority with the very
least detriment to the rights, interests and dignity of both parties.
III.
If the Philippines must remain under the control of Spain, they
will necessarily have to be transformed in a political sense, for
the course of their history and the needs of their inhabitants so
require. This we demonstrated in the preceding article.
We also said that this transformation will be violent and fatal if
it proceeds from the ranks of the people, but peaceful and fruitful
if it emanate from the upper classes.
Some governors have realized this truth, and, impelled by their
patriotism, have been trying to introduce needed reforms in order
to forestall events. But notwithstanding all that have been ordered
up to the present time, they have produced scanty results, for the
government as well as for the country. Even those that promised only
a happy issue have at times caused injury, for the simple reason that
they have been based upon unstable grounds.
We said, and once more we repeat, and will ever assert, that reforms
which have a palliative character are not only ineffectual but even
prejudicial, when the government is confronted with evils that must
be cured radically. And were we not convinced of the honesty and
rectitude of some governors, we would be tempted to say that all
the partial reforms are only plasters and salves of a physician who,
not knowing how to cure the cancer, and not daring to root it out,
tries in this way to alleviate the patient's sufferings or to temporize
with the cowardice of the timid and ignorant.
All the reforms of our liberal ministers were, have been, are, and
will be good--when carried out.
When we think of them, we are reminded of the dieting of Sancho
Panza in his Barataria Island. He took his seat at a sumptuous and
well-appointed table "covered with fruit and many varieties of food
differently prepared," but between the wretch's mouth and each dish
the physician Pedro Rezio interposed his wand, saying, "Take it
away!" The dish removed, Sancho was as hungry as ever. True it is
that the despotic Pedro Rezio gave reasons, which seem to have been
written by Cervantes especially for the colonial administrations:
"You must not eat, Mr. Governor, except according to the usage and
custom of other islands where there are governors." Something was
found to be wrong with each dish: one was too hot, another too moist,
and so on, just like our Pedro Rezios on both sides of the sea. Great
good did his cook's skill do Sancho! [4]
In the case of our country, the reforms take the place of the dishes,
the Philippines are Sancho, while the part of the quack physician is
played by many persons, interested in not having the dishes touched,
perhaps that they may themselves get the benefit of them.
The result is that the long-suffering Sancho, or the Philippines,
misses his liberty, rejects all government and ends up by rebelling
against his quack physician.
In like manner, so long as the Philippines have no liberty of the
press, have no voice in the Cortes to make known to the government
and to the nation whether or not their decrees have been duly obeyed,
whether or not these benefit the country, all the able efforts of
the colonial ministers will meet the fate of the dishes in Barataria
island.
The minister, then, who wants his reforms to be reforms, must begin
by declaring the press in the Philippines free and by instituting
Filipino delegates.
The press is free in the Philippines, because their complaints rarely
ever reach the Peninsula, very rarely, and if they do they are so
secret, so mysterious, that no newspaper dares to publish them,
or if it does reproduce them, it does so tardily and badly.
A government that rules a country from a great distance is the one that
has the most need for a free press, more so even than the government
of the home country, if it wishes to rule rightly and fitly. The
government that governs in a country may even dispense with the press
(if it can), because it is on the ground, because it has eyes and ears,
and because it directly observes what it rules and administers. But
the government that governs from afar absolutely requires that the
truth and the facts reach its knowledge by every possible channel,
so that it may weigh and estimate them better, and this need increases
when a country like the Philippines is concerned, where the inhabitants
speak and complain in a language unknown to the authorities. To govern
in any other way may also be called governing, but it is to govern
badly. It amounts to pronouncing judgment after hearing only one of
the parties; it is steering a ship without reckoning its conditions,
the state of the sea, the reefs and shoals, the direction of the winds
and currents. It is managing a house by endeavoring merely to give
it polish and a fine appearance without watching the money-chest,
without looking after the servants and the members of the family.
But routine is a declivity down which many governments slide, and
routine says that freedom of the press is dangerous. Let us see
what History says: uprisings and revolutions have always occurred in
countries tyrannized over, in countries where human thought and the
human heart have been forced to remain silent.
If the great Napoleon had not tyrannized over the press, perhaps it
would have warned him of the peril into which he was hurled and have
made him understand that the people were weary and the earth wanted
peace. Perhaps his genius, instead of being dissipated in foreign
aggrandizement, would have become intensive in laboring to strengthen
his position and thus have assured it. Spain herself records in her
history more revolutions when the press was gagged. What colonies
have become independent while they have had a free press and enjoyed
liberty? Is it preferable to govern blindly or to govern with ample
knowledge?
Some one will answer that in colonies with a free press, the prestige
of the rulers, that prop of false governments, will be greatly
imperiled. We answer that the prestige of the nation is preferable to
that of a few individuals. A nation acquires respect, not by abetting
and concealing abuses, but by rebuking and punishing them. Moreover,
to this prestige is applicable what Napoleon said about great men and
their valets. We, who endure and know all the false pretensions and
petty persecutions of those sham gods, do not need a free press in
order to recognize them; they have long ago lost their prestige. The
free press is needed by the government, the government which still
dreams of the prestige which it builds upon mined ground.
We say the same about the Filipino representatives.
What risks does the government see in them? One of three things:
either that they will prove unruly, become political trimmers, or
act properly.
Supposing that we should yield to the most absurd pessimism and admit
the insult, great for the Philippines, but still greater for Spain,
that all the representatives would be separatists and that in all
their contentions they would advocate separatist ideas: does not a
patriotic Spanish majority exist there, is there not present there
the vigilance of the governing powers to combat and oppose such
intentions? And would not this be better than the discontent that
ferments and expands in the secrecy of the home, in the huts and in
the fields? Certainly the Spanish people does not spare its blood
where patriotism is concerned, but would not a struggle of principles
in parliament be preferable to the exchange of shot in swampy lands,
three thousand leagues from home, in impenetrable forests, under a
burning sun or amid torrential rains? These pacific struggles of ideas,
besides being a thermometer for the government, have the advantage of
being cheap and glorious, because the Spanish parliament especially
abounds in oratorical paladins, invincible in debate. Moreover, it is
said that the Filipinos are indolent and peaceful--then what need the
government fear? Hasn't it any influence in the elections? Frankly,
it is a great compliment to the separatists to fear them in the midst
of the Cortes of the nation.
If they become political trimmers, as is to be expected and as they
probably will be, so much the better for the government and so much
the worse for their constituents. They would be a few more favorable
votes, and the government could laugh openly at the separatists,
if any there be.
If they become what they should be, worthy, honest and faithful to
their trust, they will undoubtedly annoy an ignorant or incapable
minister with their questions, but they will help him to govern and
will be some more honorable figures among the representatives of
the nation.
Now then, if the real objection to the Filipino delegates is that they
smell like Igorots, which so disturbed in open Senate the doughty
General Salamanca, then Don Sinibaldo de Mas, who saw the Igorots
in person and wanted to live with them, can affirm that they will
smell at worst like powder, and Señor Salamanca undoubtedly has no
fear of that odor. And if this were all, the Filipinos, who there in
their own country are accustomed to bathe every day, when they become
representatives may give up such a dirty custom, at least during the
legislative session, so as not to offend the delicate nostrils of
the Salamancas with the odor of the bath.
It is useless to answer certain objections of some fine writers
regarding the rather brown skins and faces with somewhat wide
nostrils. Questions of taste are peculiar to each race. China, for
example, which has four hundred million inhabitants and a very ancient
civilization, considers all Europeans ugly and calls them "fan-kwai,"
or red devils. Its taste has a hundred million more adherents than
the European. Moreover, if this is the question, we would have to
admit the inferiority of the Latins, especially the Spaniards, to
the Saxons, who are much whiter.
And so long as it is not asserted that the Spanish parliament
is an assemblage of Adonises, Antinouses, pretty boys, and other
like paragons; so long as the purpose of resorting thither is to
legislate and not to philosophize or to wander through imaginary
spheres, we maintain that the government ought not to pause at these
objections. Law has no skin, nor reason nostrils.
So we see no serious reason why the Philippines may not have
representatives. By their institution many malcontents would be
silenced, and instead of blaming its troubles upon the government,
as now happens, the country would bear them better, for it could at
least complain and with its sons among its legislators would in a
way become responsible for their actions.
We are not sure that we serve the true interests of our country by
asking for representatives. We know that the lack of enlightenment, the
indolence, the egotism of our fellow countrymen, and the boldness,
the cunning and the powerful methods of those who wish their
obscurantism, may convert reform into a harmful instrument. But
we wish to be loyal to the government and we are pointing out to
it the road that appears best to us so that its efforts may not
come to grief, so that discontent may disappear. If after so just,
as well as necessary, a measure has been introduced, the Filipino
people are so stupid and weak that they are treacherous to their
own interests, then let the responsibility fall upon them, let them
suffer all the consequences. Every country gets the fate it deserves,
and the government can say that it has done its duty.
These are the two fundamental reforms, which, properly interpreted
and applied, will dissipate all clouds, assure affection toward Spain,
and make all succeeding reforms fruitful. These are the reforms sine
quibus non.
It is puerile to fear that independence may come through them. The free
press will keep the government in touch with public opinion, and the
representatives, if they are, as they ought to be, the best from among
the sons of the Philippines, will be their hostages. With no cause
for discontent, how then attempt to stir up the masses of the people?
Likewise inadmissible is the objection offered by some regarding the
imperfect culture of the majority of the inhabitants. Aside from the
fact that it is not so imperfect as is averred, there is no plausible
reason why the ignorant and the defective (whether through their own
or another's fault) should be denied representation to look after
them and see that they are not abused. They are the very ones who
most need it. No one ceases to be a man, no one forfeits his rights
to civilization merely by being more or less uncultured, and since
the Filipino is regarded as a fit citizen when he is asked to pay
taxes or shed his blood to defend the fatherland, why must this
fitness be denied him when the question arises of granting him some
right? Moreover, how is he to be held responsible for his ignorance,
when it is acknowledged by all, friends and enemies, that his zeal for
learning is so great that even before the coming of the Spaniards every
one could read and write, and that we now see the humblest families
make enormous sacrifices in order that their children may become a
little enlightened, even to the extent of working as servants in order
to learn Spanish? How can the country be expected to become enlightened
under present conditions when we see all the decrees issued by the
government in favor of education meet with Pedro Rezios who prevent
execution thereof, because they have in their hands what they call
education? If the Filipino, then, is sufficiently intelligent to pay
taxes, he must also be able to choose and retain the one who looks
after him and his interests, with the product whereof he serves the
government of his nation. To reason otherwise is to reason stupidly.
When the laws and the acts of officials are kept under surveillance,
the word justice may cease to be a colonial jest. The thing that makes
the English most respected in their possessions is their strict and
speedy justice, so that the inhabitants repose entire confidence in
the judges. Justice is the foremost virtue of the civilizing races. It
subdues the barbarous nations, while injustice arouses the weakest.
Offices and trusts should be awarded by competition, publishing the
work and the judgment thereon, so that there may be stimulus and
that discontent may not be bred. Then, if the native does not shake
off his indolence he can not complain when he sees all the offices
filled by Castilas.
We presume that it will not be the Spaniard who fears to enter into
this contest, for thus will he be able to prove his superiority by
the superiority of intelligence. Although this is not the custom in
the sovereign country, it should be practiced in the colonies, for
the reason that genuine prestige should be sought by means of moral
qualities, because the colonizers ought to be, or at least to seem,
upright, honest and intelligent, just as a man simulates virtues
when he deals with strangers. The offices and trusts so earned will
do away with arbitrary dismissal and develop employees and officials
capable and cognizant of their duties. The offices held by natives,
instead of endangering the Spanish domination, will merely serve
to assure it, for what interest would they have in converting the
sure and stable into the uncertain and problematical? The native
is, moreover, very fond of peace and prefers an humble present to
a brilliant future. Let the various Filipinos still holding office
speak in this matter; they are the most unshaken conservatives.
We could add other minor reforms touching commerce, agriculture,
security of the individual and of property, education, and so on,
but these are points with which we shall deal in other articles. For
the present we are satisfied with the outlines, and no one can say
that we ask too much.
There will not be lacking critics to accuse us of Utopianism:
but what is Utopia? Utopia was a country imagined by Thomas Moore,
wherein existed universal suffrage, religious toleration, almost
complete abolition of the death penalty, and so on. When the book was
published these things were looked upon as dreams, impossibilities,
that is, Utopianism. Yet civilization has left the country of Utopia
far behind, the human will and conscience have worked greater miracles,
have abolished slavery and the death penalty for adultery--things
impossible for even Utopia itself!
The French colonies have their representatives. The question has also
been raised in the English parliament of giving representation to
the Crown colonies, for the others already enjoy some autonomy. The
press there also is free. Only Spain, which in the sixteenth century
was the model nation in civilization, lags far behind. Cuba and
Porto Rico, whose inhabitants do not number a third of those of
the Philippines, and who have not made such sacrifices for Spain,
have numerous representatives. The Philippines in the early days
had theirs, who conferred with the King and the Pope on the needs
of the country. They had them in Spain's critical moments, when she
groaned under the Napoleonic yoke, and they did not take advantage of
the sovereign country's misfortune like other colonies, but tightened
more firmly the bonds that united them to the nation, giving proofs of
their loyalty; and they continued until many years later. What crime
have the Islands committed that they are deprived of their rights?
To recapitulate: the Philippines will remain Spanish, if they
enter upon the life of law and civilization, if the rights of their
inhabitants are respected, if the other rights due them are granted,
if the liberal policy of the government is carried out without trickery
or meanness, without subterfuges or false interpretations.
Otherwise, if an attempt is made to see in the Islands a lode to
be exploited, a resource to satisfy ambitions, thus to relieve the
sovereign country of taxes, killing the goose that lays the golden
eggs and shutting its ears to all cries of reason, then, however
great may be the loyalty of the Filipinos, it will be impossible to
hinder the operations of the inexorable laws of history. Colonies
established to subserve the policy and the commerce of the sovereign
country, all eventually become independent, said Bachelet, and before
Bachelet all the Phoenecian, Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, English,
Portuguese and Spanish colonies had said it.
Close indeed are the bonds that unite us to Spain. Two peoples
do not live for three centuries in continual contact, sharing the
same lot, shedding their blood on the same fields, holding the same
beliefs, worshipping the same God, interchanging the same ideas,
but that ties are formed between them stronger than those fashioned
by arms or fear. Mutual sacrifices and benefits have engendered
affection. Machiavelli, the great reader of the human heart, said:
la natura degli huomini, é cosi obligarsi per li beneficii che essi
fanno, come per quelli che essi ricevono (it is human nature to be
bound as much by benefits conferred as by those received). All this,
and more, is true, but it is pure sentimentality, and in the arena
of politics stern necessity and interests prevail. Howsoever much
the Filipinos owe Spain, they can not be required to forego their
redemption, to have their liberal and enlightened sons wander about
in exile from their native land, the rudest aspirations stifled in
its atmosphere, the peaceful inhabitant living in constant alarm,
with the fortune of the two peoples dependent upon the whim of one
man. Spain can not claim, not even in the name of God himself, that
six millions of people should be brutalized, exploited and oppressed,
denied light and the rights inherent to a human being, and then heap
upon them slights and insults. There is no claim of gratitude that
can excuse, there is not enough powder in the world to justify, the
offenses against the liberty of the individual, against the sanctity
of the home, against the laws, against peace and honor, offenses that
are committed there daily. There is no divinity that can proclaim
the sacrifice of our dearest affections, the sacrifice of the family,
the sacrileges and wrongs that are committed by persons who have the
name of God on their lips. No one can require an impossibility of the
Filipino people. The noble Spanish people, so jealous of its rights
and liberties, can not bid the Filipinos renounce theirs. A people
that prides itself on the glories of its past can not ask another,
trained by it, to accept abjection and dishonor its own name!
We who today are struggling by the legal and peaceful means of debate
so understand it, and with our gaze fixed upon our ideals, shall not
cease to plead our cause, without going beyond the pale of the law,
but if violence first silences us or we have the misfortune to fall
(which is possible, for we are mortal), then we do not know what
course will be taken by the numerous tendencies that will rush in to
occupy the places that we leave vacant.
If what we desire is not realized....
In contemplating such an unfortunate eventuality, we must not turn
away in horror, and so instead of closing our eyes we will face what
the future may bring. For this purpose, after throwing the handful
of dust due to Cerberus, let us frankly descend into the abyss and
sound its terrible mysteries.
IV.
History does not record in its annals any lasting domination exercised
by one people over another, of different race, of diverse usages and
customs, of opposite and divergent ideals.
One of the two had to yield and succumb. Either the foreigner was
driven out, as happened in the case of the Carthaginians, the Moors
and the French in Spain, or else these autochthons had to give way
and perish, as was the case with the inhabitants of the New World,
Australia and New Zealand.
One of the longest dominations was that of the Moors in Spain, which
lasted seven centuries. But, even though the conquerors lived in the
country conquered, even though the Peninsula was broken up into small
states, which gradually emerged like little islands in the midst
of the great Saracen inundation, and in spite of the chivalrous
spirit, the gallantry and the religious toleration of the califs,
they were finally driven out after bloody and stubborn conflicts,
which formed the Spanish nation and created the Spain of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries.
The existence of a foreign body within another endowed with strength
and activity is contrary to all natural and ethical laws. Science
teaches us that it is either assimilated, destroys the organism,
is eliminated or becomes encysted.
Encystment of a conquering people is impossible, for it signifies
complete isolation, absolute inertia, debility in the conquering
element. Encystment thus means the tomb of the foreign invader.
Now, applying these considerations to the Philippines, we must
conclude, as a deduction from all we have said, that if their
population be not assimilated to the Spanish nation, if the dominators
do not enter into the spirit of their inhabitants, if equable laws and
free and liberal reforms do not make each forget that they belong to
different races, or if both peoples be not amalgamated to constitute
one mass, socially and politically homogeneous, that is, not harassed
by opposing tendencies and antagonistic ideas and interests, some
day the Philippines will fatally and infallibly declare themselves
independent. To this law of destiny can be opposed neither Spanish
patriotism, nor the love of all the Filipinos for Spain, nor the
doubtful future of dismemberment and intestine strife in the Islands
themselves. Necessity is the most powerful divinity the world knows,
and necessity is the resultant of physical forces set in operation
by ethical forces.
We have said and statistics prove that it is impossible to exterminate
the Filipino people. And even were it possible, what interest would
Spain have in the destruction of the inhabitants of a country she
can not populate or cultivate, whose climate is to a certain extent
disastrous to her? What good would the Philippines be without
the Filipinos? Quite otherwise, under her colonial system and
the transitory character of the Spaniards who go to the colonies,
a colony is so much the more useful and productive to her as it
possesses inhabitants and wealth. Moreover, in order to destroy the
six million Malays, even supposing them to be in their infancy and
that they have never learned to fight and defend themselves, Spain
would have to sacrifice at least a fourth of her population. This we
commend to the notice of the partizans of colonial exploitation.
But nothing of this kind can happen. The menace is that when the
education and liberty necessary to human existence are denied by
Spain to the Filipinos, then they will seek enlightenment abroad,
behind the mother country's back, or they will secure by hook or
by crook some advantages in their own country, with the result that
the opposition of purblind and paretic politicians will not only be
futile but even prejudicial, because it will convert motives for love
and gratitude into resentment and hatred.
Hatred and resentment on one side, mistrust and anger on the other,
will finally result in a violent and terrible collision, especially
when there exist elements interested in having disturbances, so that
they may get something in the excitement, demonstrate their mighty
power, foster lamentations and recriminations, or employ violent
measures. It is to be expected that the government will triumph
and be generally (as is the custom) severe in punishment, either
to teach a stern lesson in order to vaunt its strength or even to
revenge upon the vanquished the spells of excitement and terror
that the danger caused it. An unavoidable concomitant of those
catastrophes is the accumulation of acts of injustice committed
against the innocent and peaceful inhabitants. Private reprisals,
denunciations, despicable accusations, resentments, covetousness,
the opportune moment for calumny, the haste and hurried procedure of
the courts martial, the pretext of the integrity of the fatherland
and the safety of the state, which cloaks and justifies everything,
even for scrupulous minds, which unfortunately are still rare, and
above all the panic-stricken timidity, the cowardice that battens upon
the conquered--all these things augment the severe measures and the
number of the victims. The result is that a chasm of blood is then
opened between the two peoples, that the wounded and the afflicted,
instead of becoming fewer, are increased, for to the families and
friends of the guilty, who always think the punishment excessive
and the judge unjust, must be added the families and friends of the
innocent, who see no advantage in living and working submissively
and peacefully. Note, too, that if severe measures are dangerous in
a nation made up of a homogeneous population, the peril is increased
a hundred-fold when the government is formed of a race different from
the governed. In the former an injustice may still be ascribed to one
man alone, to a governor actuated by personal malice, and with the
death of the tyrant the victim is reconciled to the government of
his nation. But in a country dominated by a foreign race, even the
justest act of severity is construed as injustice and oppression,
because it is ordered by a foreigner, who is unsympathetic or is
an enemy of the country, and the offense hurts not only the victim
but his entire race, because it is not usually regarded as personal,
and so the resentment naturally spreads to the whole governing race
and does not die out with the offender.
Hence the great prudence and fine tact that should be exercised
by colonizing countries, and the fact that government regards the
colonies in general, and our colonial office in particular, as training
schools, contributes notably to the fulfillment of the great law that
the colonies sooner or later declare themselves independent.
Such is the descent down which the peoples are precipitated. In
proportion as they are bathed in blood and drenched in tears and gall,
the colony, if it has any vitality, learns how to struggle and perfect
itself in fighting, while the mother country, whose colonial life
depends upon peace and the submission of the subjects, is constantly
weakened, and, even though she make heroic efforts, as her number is
less and she has only a fictitious existence, she finally perishes. She
is like the rich voluptuary accustomed to be waited upon by a crowd of
servants toiling and planting for him, and who, on the day his slaves
refuse him obedience, as he does not live by his own efforts, must die.
Reprisals, wrongs and suspicions on one part and on the other
the sentiment of patriotism and liberty, which is aroused in these
incessant conflicts, insurrections and uprisings, operate to generalize
the movement and one of the two peoples must succumb. The struggle
will be brief, for it will amount to a slavery much more cruel than
death for the people and to a dishonorable loss of prestige for the
dominator. One of the peoples must succumb.
Spain, from the number of her inhabitants, from the condition of her
army and navy, from the distance she is situated from the Islands,
from her scanty knowledge of them, and from struggling against a people
whose love and good will she has alienated, will necessarily have to
give way, if she does not wish to risk not only her other possessions
and her future in Africa, but also her very independence in Europe. All
this at the cost of bloodshed and crime, after mortal conflicts,
murders, conflagrations, military executions, famine and misery.
The Spaniard is gallant and patriotic, and sacrifices everything,
in favorable moments, for his country's good. He has the intrepidity
of his bull. The Filipino loves his country no less, and although he
is quieter, more peaceful, and with difficulty stirred up, when he
is once aroused he does not hesitate and for him the struggle means
death to one or the other combatant. He has all the meekness and all
the tenacity and ferocity of his carabao. Climate affects bipeds in
the same way that it does quadrupeds.
The terrible lessons and the hard teachings that these conflicts will
have afforded the Filipinos will operate to improve and strengthen
their ethical nature. The Spain of the fifteenth century was not the
Spain of the eighth. With their bitter experience, instead of intestine
conflicts of some islands against others, as is generally feared,
they will extend mutual support, like shipwrecked persons when they
reach an island after a fearful night of storm. Nor may it be said
that we shall partake of the fate of the small American republics. They
achieved their independence easily, and their inhabitants are animated
by a different spirit from what the Filipinos are. Besides, the danger
of falling again into other hands, English or German, for example,
will force the Filipinos to be sensible and prudent. Absence of
any great preponderance of one race over the others will free their
imagination from all mad ambitions of domination, and as the tendency
of countries that have been tyrannized over, when they once shake off
the yoke, is to adopt the freest government, like a boy leaving school,
like the beat of the pendulum, by a law of reaction the Islands will
probably declare themselves a federal republic.
If the Philippines secure 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. England has enough colonies in the
Orient and is not going to risk losing her balance. She is not going
to sacrifice her Indian Empire for the poor Philippine Islands--if
she had entertained such an intention she would not have restored
Manila in 1763, but would have kept some point in the Philippines,
whence she might gradually expand. Moreover, what need has John
Bull the trader to exhaust himself for the Philippines, when he is
already lord of the Orient, when he has there Singapore, Hongkong
and Shanghai? It is probable that England will look favorably upon
the independence of the Philippines, for it will open their ports to
her and afford greater freedom to her commerce. Furthermore, there
exist in the United Kingdom tendencies and opinions to the effect
that she already has too many colonies, that they are harmful, that
they greatly weaken the sovereign country.
For the same reasons Germany will not care to run any risk, and because
a scattering of her forces and a war in distant countries will endanger
her existence on the continent. Thus we see her attitude, as much in
the Pacific as in Africa, is confined to conquering easy territory
that belongs to nobody. Germany avoids any foreign complications.
France has enough to do and sees more of a future in Tongking and
China, besides the fact that the French spirit does not shine in zeal
for colonization. France loves glory, but the glory and laurels that
grow on the battlefields of Europe. The echo from battlefields in the
Far East hardly satisfies her craving for renown, for it reaches her
quite faintly. She has also other obligations, both internally and
on the continent.
Holland is sensible and will be content to keep the Moluccas and
Java. Sumatra offers her a greater future than the Philippines, whose
seas and coasts have a sinister omen for Dutch expeditions. Holland
proceeds with great caution in Sumatra and Borneo, from fear of
losing everything.
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.
The same is true of Japan. On the north she has Russia, who envies and
watches her; on the south England, with whom she is in accord even
to her official language. She is, moreover, under such diplomatic
pressure from Europe that she can not 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.
Perhaps the great American Republic, whose interests lie in the
Pacific and who has no hand in the spoliation of Africa, may some day
dream of foreign possession. This is not impossible, for the example
is contagious, covetousness and ambition are among the strongest
vices, and 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. Furthermore, this is contrary to her traditions.
Very likely the Philippines will defend with inexpressible valor the
liberty secured at the price of so much blood and sacrifice. With the
new men that will spring from their soil and with the recollection of
their past, they will perhaps strive to enter freely upon the wide
road of progress, and all will labor together to strengthen their
fatherland, both internally and externally, with the same enthusiasm
with which a youth falls again to tilling the land of his ancestors,
so long wasted and abandoned through the neglect of those who have
withheld it from him. 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.
These and many other things may come to pass within something like a
hundred years. But the most logical prognostication, the prophecy based
on the best probabilities, may err through remote and insignificant
causes. An octopus that seized Mark Antony's ship altered the face of
the world; a cross on Cavalry and a just man nailed thereon changed
the ethics of half the human race, and yet before Christ, how many
just 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. A sunken road at the battle of Waterloo buried
all the glories of two brilliant decades, the whole Napoleonic world,
and freed Europe. Upon what chance accidents will the destiny of the
Philippines depend?
Nevertheless, it is not well to trust to accident, for there is
sometimes an imperceptible and incomprehensible logic in the workings
of history. Fortunately, peoples as well as governments are subject
to it.
Therefore, we repeat, and we will ever repeat, while there is time,
that it is better to keep pace with the desires of a people than
to give way before them: the former begets sympathy and love, the
latter contempt and anger. Since it is necessary to grant six million
Filipinos their rights, so that they may be in fact Spaniards, let
the government grant these rights freely and spontaneously, without
damaging reservations, without irritating mistrust. We shall never
tire of repeating this while a ray of hope is left us, for we prefer
this unpleasant task to the need of some day saying to the mother
country: "Spain, we have spent our youth in serving thy interests in
the interests of our country; we have looked to thee, we have expended
the whole light of our intellects, all the fervor and enthusiasm of our
hearts in working for the good of what was thine, to draw from thee a
glance of love, a liberal policy that would assure us the peace of our
native land and thy sway over loyal but unfortunate islands! 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 result of our efforts? Must we say to it that,
since for it we have lost everything--youth, future, hope, peace,
family; since in its service we have exhausted all the resources of
hope, all the disillusions of desire, it also takes the residue which
we can not use, the blood from our veins and the strength left in our
arms? Spain, must we some day tell Filipinas that thou hast no ear for
her woes and that if she wishes to be saved she must redeem herself?"
RIZAL'S FAREWELL ADDRESS
ADDRESS TO SOME FILIPINOS
"Countrymen: On my return from Spain I learned that my name had been
in use, among some who were in arms, as a war-cry. The news came as a
painful surprise, but, believing it already closed, I kept silent over
an incident which I considered irremediable. Now I notice indications
of the disturbances continuing, and if any still, in good or bad faith,
are availing themselves of my name, to stop this abuse and undeceive
the unwary I hasten to address you these lines that the truth may
be known.
"From the very beginning, when I first had notice of what
was being planned, I opposed it, and demonstrated its absolute
impossibility. This is the fact, and witnesses to my words are now
living. I was convinced that the scheme was utterly absurd, and,
what was worse, would bring great suffering.
"I did even more. When later, against my advice, the movement
materialized, of my own accord I offered not alone my good offices,
but my very life, and even my name, to be used in whatever way might
seem best, toward stifling the rebellion; for, convinced of the ills
which it would bring, I considered myself fortunate, if, at any
sacrifice, I could prevent such useless misfortunes. This equally
is of record. My countrymen, I have given proofs that I am one most
anxious for liberties for our country, and I am still desirous of
them. But I place as a prior condition the education of the people,
that by means of instruction and industry our country may have an
individuality of its own and make itself worthy of these liberties. I
have recommended in my writings the study of civic virtues, without
which there is no redemption. I have written likewise (and repeat
my words) that reforms, to be beneficial, must come from above,
that those which come from below are irregularly gained and uncertain.
"Holding these ideas, I cannot do less than condemn, and I do condemn,
this uprising,--as absurd, savage, and plotted behind my back,--which
dishonors us Filipinos and discredits those who could plead our
cause. I abhor its criminal methods and disclaim all part in it,
pitying from the bottom of my heart the unwary who have been deceived.
"Return, then, to your homes, and may God pardon those who have worked
in bad faith.
José Rizal.
"Fort Santiago, December 15th, 1896.
The Spanish judge-advocate-general commented upon the address:
"The preceding address to his countrymen which Dr. Rizal proposes
to direct to them, is not in substance the patriotic protest
against separatist manifestations and tendencies which ought to
come from those who claim to be loyal sons of Spain. According
to his declarations, Don José Rizal limits himself to condemning
the present insurrectionary movement as premature and because he
considers now its triumph impossible, but leaves it to be inferred
that the wished-for independence can be gained by procedures less
dishonorable than those now being followed by the rebels, when the
culture of the people shall be a most valuable asset for the combat
and guarantee its successful issue.
"For Rizal the question is of opportuneness, not of principles nor of
aims. His manifesto might be summarized in these words: 'Because of
my proofs of the rebellion's certainty to fail, lay down your arms,
my countrymen. Later I shall lead you to the Promised Land.'
"So far from being conducive to peace, it could advance in the
future the spirit of rebellion. For this reason the publication of
the proposed address seems impolitic, and I would recommend to Your
Excellency to forbid its being made public, but to order that all
these papers be forwarded to the Judge Advocate therein and added to
the case against Rizal."
"Manila, December 19th, 1896."
RIZAL'S DEFENCE
These "Additions" were really Doctor Rizal's defence before the
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 José 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),
requested by a young lady of Madrid.
NOTES
[1] An encomendero was a Spanish soldier who as a reward for faithful
service was set over a district with power to collect tribute and
the duty of providing the people with legal protection and religious
instruction. This arrangement is memorable in early Philippine annals
chiefly for the flagrant abuses that appear to have characterized it.
[2] No official was allowed to leave the Islands at the expiration
of his term of office until his successor or a council appointed by
the sovereign inquired into all the acts of his administration and
approved them. (This residencia was a fertile source of recrimination
and retaliation, so the author quite aptly refers to it a little
further on as "the ancient show of justice."
[3] The penal code was promulgated in the Islands by Royal Order of
September 4, 1884.
[4] Cervantes' "Don Quijote," Part II, chapter 47.
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