THE SAFE-CONDUCT
Failure was all he reaped at Madrid in his efforts to win some measure
of justice for his family, a fact that hardly could have astonished him
then and seems but normal now. In the seats of authority was no man
that loved justice so much as he feared the huge political machine set
up by the friars and administered (through particularly appropriate
selection) by the ruffian Weyler. Early in 1891, Rizal returned to
Paris, where he revisited his former friends, and so passed to Ghent.
There he settled himself to the finishing of “El Filibusterismo” and
worked without further interruption until the book was done and on its
way to the publisher.
Powerful influences now seemed to draw him again to the East; it is
likely that but for his book he would have gone thither direct from
Madrid when he learned how little help he might expect from the gross
and inert government. The situation of his family caused him a
harrowing anxiety. [159] It was for his sake that they were subjected
to the abominable persecutions of the petty tyrants of the existing
System. His soul revolted at the idea that they should be thus
tormented while he was safely out of the range of his enemies’ venom.
After his consultations with the Filipinos in Madrid the gloomy outlook
in the Philippines was more than before a burden on his thought. He
must have known that this time, as he had forecasted in his writings,
revolt would be more than local. He could hardly hope to be allowed to
land in the Islands, but Hong-Kong was a convenient point from which to
watch developments and to put forth his influence; and as to his family
he began to have a purpose that if carried out would take them beyond
the power of Spanish officers to hector and to wound. In October, 1891,
he sailed for Hong-Kong, where he hoped to establish himself in his
profession, to gather his family, and to be ready to help his
countrymen with the cautionary wisdom of which he held them to be most
in need.
His hopes of professional success were better founded than he knew.
Almost at once he stepped into a large practice. This is not the usual
experience of new physicians in a new field, but his fame as an oculist
had gone before him. For the first time in his life he had unpledged
money in his purse. He sent to the Philippines for his sister Lucia,
who happened then not to be in jail nor exiled nor pinioned to the
miseries of procrastinating law-courts, and in her company he tasted
something of the novelty of ease. The project he had half formed about
the rescue of his harassed relatives took him in the following spring
to Borneo. As it seemed to him virtually certain that his enemies would
continue to pursue any one known to be near or dear to him, and there
was no career for them in Hong-Kong, he purposed to found a new
homestead for them under another flag. They were a numerous family, and
inasmuch as the peculiar ideas of revenge we have found to be current
in the Spanish colony made his second cousin or his great-grandmother a
quite feasible substitute for himself in the way of vicarious
atonement, it was necessary to remove them all. In North Borneo the
British authorities offered him on attractive terms an area of fertile
land adapted to his purposes. He went to look at it, found it in all
respects suitable, and resolved to carry out his plan of a Rizal family
refuge. [160]
From his happy country of those days not a soul could depart without
the sanction of the Government. To secure this for anybody connected
with him would be hard enough; even for an individual and a temporary
absence like Lucia’s it was hard. How much harder it would be to rescue
a whole tribe, and all so hated! Revenge was not so to be cheated, nor
the account of “Noli Me Tangere” left unsettled. If passports were to
be had at all, a personal explanation and appeal offered the best
chance. This he determined to attempt, if he could have some reasonable
promise of safety, being more inclined to go because thereby he might
again see his father and mother.
It was the Philippines in one of the recurrent spasms of reform that he
must now approach—sure sign in itself that a storm was brewing. A new
governor-general, one Eulogio Despujol, expert, as was afterward
proved, in the unctuous shaking of hands and the agile escape from
promises, had arrived with much éclat and promulgated a liberal
program. Rizal wrote to him, asking for permission and a safe-conduct
to visit Manila.
In reply he received through the Spanish consul at Hong-Kong a passport
and an unequivocal assurance of his safety in the Philippine Islands.
So equipped, he sailed with his sister Lucia, June 26, 1892. [161]
For this he has been much criticized on the ground that to return to
Manila was inconsistent with his former experiences there and virtual
deportation thence. If any one had been furnished with convincing
knowledge of the duplicity of the Philippine Government, surely it was
Rizal. By the same token, it was said, he knew well the murderous
attitude of the governing class toward him, and to go deliberately to
the thrusting of his head into those jaws was madness. These, again,
are but the strictures of ignorance. Rizal returned to the Philippines
under a compelling sense of duty. At whatsoever cost to himself he must
try to rescue his family from the tireless pursuit of the Interests he
had offended, and the North Borneo project was clearly the way to
achieve this. But it was a plan about which the Government would be
certain to object. If nothing else were handy, there was always the
argument that it would draw inhabitants of the Islands into an alien
territory, and this reasoning could be met only by face to face
encounter with the governor-general.
But Rizal was never deceived as to the nature of the trap into which he
was walking. Weighing all the chances he knew he was not likely to
emerge alive. Therefore, he prepared and left with a friend two
documents [162] to be made public if his enemies should succeed in
killing him.
The first of these was addressed “To the Filipinos” and constituted his
farewell to the people he had served so loyally, and a last confession
of his faith. Men still study it for other reasons than he imagined. It
is not only an expression of his professed creed but a revelation of
his soul and inmost thinkings on life and death. He shows here that in
his mind he had made no stranger of the great mystery but had looked
upon it and without misgivings. There is no bravado in his attitude
toward it; he is unafraid because he has come to the logical conclusion
that there is nothing about death to be afraid of. When he shall go and
how do not concern a man, but only that his death shall mean something
for the general cause. In this spirit he begins his letter: [163]
The step I am about to take is undoubtedly attended with peril, and
I need not say to you that I take it after long deliberation. I
understand that nearly all my friends are opposed to it; but I know
also that hardly any one else comprehends what is in my heart. I
cannot live on and see so many persons suffer injustice and
persecution on my account; I cannot bear longer the fact that my
sisters and their families are treated like criminals. I prefer
death and cheerfully relinquish my life to free so many innocent
persons from such great wrong.
I am aware that at present the future of our country pivots in some
degree around me, that at my death many of its enemies will feel
triumph, and consequently many of them are now wishing for my fall.
What of it?
I hold duties of conscience above all else. I have obligations to
the families that suffer, to my aged parents whose sighs strike me
to the heart. If with my death I can secure for them happiness and
a peaceful home in their native land, I am ready. So far as the
country is concerned, I am all my parents have, but the country has
many, many more sons that can take my place and do my work better
than I.
Besides, I wish to show those that deny us patriotism that we know
how to die for duty and principle.
What matters death, if one dies for what one loves, for native land
and those dear to one?
If I thought that I were the only resource of the policy of
progress in the Philippines, and were I convinced that my
countrymen were about to make use of my services, perhaps I should
hesitate about this step; but there are others that can take my
place, and take it with advantage. Furthermore, there are probably
those that hold that I am not needed, and this is why I am not
utilized, but find myself reduced to inactivity.
Always I have loved our unhappy land, and I am sure I shall
continue to love it until my last moment, in case men prove unjust
to me. Life, career, happiness, I am ready to sacrifice for it.
Whatever my fate, I shall die blessing it and longing for the dawn
of its redemption.
The other document was a letter addressed to his parents, brothers, and
sisters. In it he said:
The affection I have ever professed for you suggests this step, and
time alone can tell whether it was wise. The wisdom of acts is
decided by their results, but whether these be favorable or
unfavorable, it may always be said that duty urged me; so if I die
in doing my duty it will not matter.
I realize how much suffering I have caused you; still I do not
regret what I have done. Rather, if I had to begin again I should
follow the same course, for it has been only duty. Gladly I go to
expose myself to peril. Not as an expiation for misdeeds (in this
matter I believe myself guiltless of any) but to complete my work I
offer myself an example of the doctrine I have preached.
A man ought to be ready to die for duty and his principles.
I hold fast to every idea I have advanced as to the condition and
future of our country. I shall willingly die for it and even more
willingly die to secure for you justice and peace. [164]
It was his destiny to be betrayed and lied to. He went forth with the
faith of the Government pledged to his safety. No sooner had the ship
that bore him from Hong-Kong hoisted her anchors than the Spanish
consul cabled to Governor-General Despujol that the victim was in the
trap; [165] whereupon in Manila an accusation was filed against him of
treason and sacrilege. It appeared that Rizal’s forebodings about his
fate were not fanciful; he was going into a den of wolves. When he and
his sister landed at Manila, a customs officer searched their baggage
and pretended to find among Lucia’s possessions a package of
treasonable documents. The device is as old as tyranny and must have
suggested to La Fontaine one of his most famous fables. Here is the
officer showing certain papers and saying he found them in this trunk
or that valise. Who is to gainsay him? The victim protests that she
never saw the documents before. What is her statement worth against the
skilled vociferations of the officer? Rizal was right. In a country
operated as Spain operated the Philippines every man’s life was at the
mercy of any power that was able and wished to take it. [166]
In this instance the treasonable stuff was found, official superservice
asserted, in certain pillow-cases that Lucia had in her trunk. When all
was done, it consisted of a brief circular or tract entitled “The Poor
Friars.” Among reasoning men and enlightened systems of society,
treason is held to be a crime directed against Government; other
offenses may be committed by individuals against individuals, but for
these the police and the ordinary criminal code are enough. The
incendiary document Lucia was alleged to have brought in said nothing
against the Government. This is the fact that will strike the modern
reader as strangest of all. How can there be other treason or other
sedition than against Government? Yet in all this document is not a
word against anybody or thing except the friars and even as to the
friars speaks of but one order, and that in terms adults might smile at
but assuredly would never care to reread. Lest it should be thought
that any part of the description of the Insular Government attempted in
these pages is extravagant, here is the whole of this ferocious
document:
POOR FRIARS
A bank has just suspended payment; the New Oriental has just become
bankrupt.
Great losses in India. In the Island of Mauritius, to the South of
Africa [sic], cyclones and tempests have laid waste its riches,
swallowing more than 36,000,000 pesos. These 36,000,000 represented
the hopes, the savings, the well-being, and the future of numerous
individuals and families.
Among those that have suffered most we are able to mention the
Reverend Corporation of the Dominicans, which lost in this
catastrophe many hundreds of thousands. The exact amount is not
known because they handle so much money and have so many accounts
that it would be necessary to employ many accountants to calculate
the immense sums in transit.
But, neither should the friends of these sainted monks that hide
behind the cloak of poverty be downhearted nor should their enemies
feel triumphant.
To one and all we can say that they can be tranquil. The
Corporation still has many millions on deposit in the banks of
Hong-Kong, and even if all of those should fail, and even if all of
their many thousands of rented houses should be destroyed, still
there would be left the curates and the haciendas, there would
still remain the Filipinos always ready to answer their call for
alms. What are four or five hundred thousands? Why take the trouble
to run about the towns and ask alms to replace these losses? A year
ago, through the bad business administration of the cardinals, the
Pope lost 14,000,000 pesos of the money of St. Peter; the Pope, in
order to cover this deficit, called upon us and we took from our
“tampipis” the very last cent, because we knew that the Pope has
many worries; about five years ago he married off his niece
bestowing upon her a palace and 300,000 francs besides. Therefore,
generous Filipinos, make a brave effort and likewise help the
Dominicans.
However, these hundreds of thousands lost are not theirs, they
claim. How can they have this when they take a vow of poverty? They
are to be believed then, when, to protect themselves, they say this
money belongs to widows and orphans. Very likely some of it belongs
to the widows and orphans of Calamba, and who knows if not to their
murdered husbands? And the virtuous priests handle this money
solely as depositories to return it to them afterward righteously
with all interest when the day to render accounts arrives! Who
knows? Who better than they can take charge of collecting the few
household goods while the houses burn, the orphans and widows flee
without meeting hospitality, since others are prohibited from
offering them shelter, while the men are made prisoners and
prosecuted? Who has more bravery, more audacity, and more love for
humanity than the Dominicans?
But now the devil has carried off the money of the widows and the
orphans, and it is to be feared that he will carry away everything,
because when the devil begins the devil has to finish. Does not
that money set up a bad precedent?
If things are thus, we should recommend to the Dominicans that they
should exclaim as Job: “Naked I came from the womb of my mother
(Spain), and naked will I return to her; the devil gave, the devil
took away; blessed be the name of the Lord”!
Fr[aile] Jacinto.
Manila: Press of the Friends of the Country. [167]
Government in the Philippines had sunk so low that this could be deemed
seditious.
Nevertheless, for some days thereafter the trap was not sprung upon the
victims. Rizal with his sister went about the city, visiting old
friends. More than once he called upon Governor-General Despujol and
was rather astonished to find that his footing seemed to be secure upon
the dark and slippery precincts of Malacañan. In his usual frank way he
discussed with the governor-general the brand-new program of reforms,
commending most of their features and hoping for the best, as was
likewise his habit. Despujol, responding to all this, seemed equally
ingenuous. No one would have suspected that while he stressed so much
gracious hospitality he was but waiting for the most convenient season
to strike to death the man before him. Rizal pleaded in behalf of his
persecuted relatives. Despujol promised immunity for the father, but
not for the brother or sisters. Afterward he was willing to concede
even these favors. They discussed Rizal’s project of a settlement in
North Borneo, and the governor-general applied his veto. For this he
gave the expected reasons but never once the real one. He objected to
taking people out of the colony but said nothing about the wrath of the
friars if he should let their victims escape unhurt.
Rizal had long known well enough that the lack of unity among the
Filipinos was chief reason why they were enslaved and to keep up this
condition chief point in Spanish policy. “Divide and rule”—the good old
formula of the exploiter in all ages. To combat this he proposed an
organization that would bring together the most promising elements
among his people; a plan for it he had with him when he landed. It
included the full working constitution of a society to be called La
Liga Filipina, or Philippine League, of which the objects were declared
to be to better economic conditions, to spread education, to advance
the Philippine youth, and to defend by legal means persons oppressed,
wronged, or unjustly accused. He now called together his friends, [168]
explained the purposes of the league, and began to enroll members.
The real nature and front-parlor origin of this association [169] were
of a nature to occasion in these days only a mild surprise that anybody
could object to it, as may be observed from the following precepts
Rizal prepared for his fellow-members:
Don’t gamble.
Don’t be a drunkard.
Don’t break the laws.
Don’t be cruel in any way.
Don’t be a rabid partisan.
Don’t be merely a fault-finding critic.
Don’t put yourself in the way of humiliation.
Don’t treat any one with haughtiness or contempt.
Don’t condemn any man without first hearing his side.
Don’t abandon the poor man that has right on his side.
Don’t forget those that although worthy have come to want.
Don’t fail those without means that show application and ability.
Don’t associate with immoral persons or with persons of bad habits.
Don’t overlook the value to your country of new machinery and
industries.
Don’t cease at any time to work for the prosperity and welfare of
our native land.