Don Jose Rizal y Alonso respectfully requests the Court Martial to
consider well the following circumstances:
First.--Re the rebellion. From July 6th, 1892, I had absolutely no
connection with politics until July 1st of this year when, advised
by Don Pio Valenzuela that an uprising was proposed, I counselled
against it, trying to convince him with arguments. Don Pio Valenzuela
left me convinced apparently; so much so that instead of later taking
part in rebellion, he presented himself to the authorities for pardon.
Secondly.--A proof that I maintained no political relation with any
one, and of the falsity of the statement that I was in the habit of
sending letters by my family, is the fact that it was necessary to
send Don Pio Valenzuela under an assumed name, at considerable cost,
when in the same steamer were travelling five members of my family
besides two servants. If what has been charged were true, what occasion
was there for Don Pio to attract the attention of any one and incur
large expenses? Besides, the mere fact of Sr. Valenzuela's coming to
inform me of the rebellion proves that I was not in correspondence
with its promoters for if I had been then I should have known of
it, for making an uprising is a sufficiently serious matter not to
hide it from me. When they took the step of sending Sr. Valenzuela,
it proves that they were aware that I knew nothing, that is to say,
that I was not maintaining correspondence with them. Another negative
proof is that not a single letter of mine can be shown.
Thirdly.--They cruelly abused my name and at the last hour wanted
to surprise me. Why did they not communicate with me before? They
might say likewise that I was, if not content, at least resigned to my
fate, for I had refused various propositions which a number of people
made me to rescue me from that place. Only in these last months, in
consequence of certain domestic affairs, having had differences with
a missionary padre, I had sought to go as a volunteer to Cuba. Don
Pio Valenzuela came to warn me that I might put myself in security,
because, according to him, it was possible that they might compromise
me. As I considered myself wholly innocent and was not posted on the
details of the movement (besides that I had convinced Sr. Valenzuela)
I took no precautions, but when His Excellency, the Governor General,
wrote me announcing my departure for Cuba, I embarked at once,
leaving all my affairs unattended to. And yet I could have gone to
another part or simply have staid in Dapitan for His Excellency's
letter was conditional. It said--"If you persist in your idea of
going to Cuba, etc." When the uprising occurred it found me on board
the warship "Castilla", and I offered myself unconditionally to His
Excellency. Twelve or fourteen days later I set out for Europe, and
had I had an uneasy conscience I should have tried to escape in some
port en route, especially Singapore, where I went ashore and when
other passengers who had passports for Spain staid over. I had an
easy conscience and hoped to go to Cuba.
Fourthly.--In Dapitan I had boats and I was permitted to make
excursions along the coast and to the settlements, absences which
lasted as long as I wished, at times a week. If I had still had
intentions of political activity, I might have gotten away even in
the vintas of the Moros whom I knew in the settlements. Neither would
I have built my small hospital nor bought land nor invited my family
to live with me.
Fifthly.--Some one has said that I was the chief. What kind of a
chief is he who is ignored in the plotting and who is notified only
that he may escape? How is he chief who when he says no, they say yes?
--As to the "Liga":
Sixthly.--It is true that I drafted its By-Laws whose aims were to
promote commerce, industry, the arts, etc., by means of united action,
as have testified witnesses not at all prejudiced in my favor, rather
the reverse.
Seventhly.--The "Liga" never came into real existence nor ever got
to working, since after the first meeting no one paid any attention
to it, because I was exiled a few days later.
Eighthly.--If it was reorganized nine months afterwards by other
persons, as now is said, I was ignorant of the fact.
Ninthly.--The "Liga" was not a society with harmful tendencies and
the proof is the fact that the radicals had to leave it, organizing
the Katipunan which was what answered their purposes. Had the "Liga"
lacked only a little of being adapted for rebellion, the radicals
would not have left it but simply would have modified it; besides,
if, as some allege, I am the chief, out of consideration for me and
for the prestige of my name, they would have retained the name of
"Liga". Their having abandoned it, name and all, proves clearly that
they neither counted on me nor did the "Liga" serve their purposes,
otherwise they would not have made another society when they had one
already organized.
Tenthly.--As to my letters, I beg of the court that, if there are
any bitter criticisms in them, it will consider the circumstances
under which they were written. Then we had been deprived of our two
dwellings, warehouses, lands, and besides all my brothers-in-law
and my brother were deported, in consequence of a suit arising from
an inquiry of the Administracion de Hacienda (tax-collecting branch
of the government), a case in which, according to our attorney (in
Madrid), Sr. Linares Rivas, we had the right on our side.
Eleventhly.--That I have endured exile without complaint, not because
of the charge alleged, for that was not true, but for what I had
been able to write. And ask the politico-military commanders of
the district where I resided of my conduct during these four years
of exile, of the town, even of the very missionary parish priests
despite my personal differences with one of them.
Twelfthly.--All these facts and considerations destroy the
little-founded accusation of those who have testified against me,
with whom I have asked the Judge to be confronted. Is it possible
that in a single night I was able to line up all the filibusterism,
at a gathering which discussed commerce, etc., a gathering which went
no further for it died immediately afterwards? If the few who were
present had been influenced by my words they would not have let the
"Liga" die. Is it that those who formed part of the "Liga" that night
founded the Katipunan? I think not. Who went to Dapitan to interview
me? Persons entirely unknown to me. Why was not an acquaintance sent,
in whom I would have had more confidence? Because those acquainted
with me knew very well that I had forsaken politics or that, realizing
my views on rebellion, they must have refused to undertake a mission
useless and unpromising.
I trust that by these considerations I have demonstrated that neither
did I found a society for revolutionary purposes, nor have I taken
part since in others, nor have I been concerned in the rebellion,
but that on the contrary I have been opposed to it, as the making
public of a private conversation has proven.
Fort Santiago, Dec. 26, 1896.