PREFATORY NOTE
The great storehouses of knowledge about this extraordinary being are W. E. Retana’s “Vida y Escritos del Dr. José Rizal” and the “[Lineage, Life, and Labors of José Rizal],” by Professor Austin Craig of the Philippines University. Neither is accessible to the general American public. Retana’s ponderous volume has never been translated. Professor Craig’s work was published in Manila but not in the United States and is to be found in only a few of the public libraries. Prefixed to Charles Derbyshire’s excellent translation of Rizal’s “[Noli Me Tangere]” is a biographical sketch, all too brief, of the author of the novel, but even this is denied to most American readers, for it, too, is published only in Manila.
The notes that Rizal left about himself, few, fragmentary, and sternly reticent, throwing a faint light upon his psychology and character but next to nothing upon the stirring events of his life, are known only in the Philippines. In an English magazine article published in 1902, Sir Hugh Clifford, formerly governor of Ceylon, reviewed and estimated this strange career, but no more than in outline. Three American magazines in the space of twenty-five years have devoted each a page or so to the same subject. Buried in that monumental work, Blair and Robertson’s “Philippine Islands,” is liberal store of information about the [[viii]]historic background of the events hereinafter to be set forth, though few readers seem to avail themselves of even this assistance. John Foreman’s well known book with the same title has an interesting chapter about Rizal and his fate. An abbreviated translation of “Noli Me Tangere,” published in New York in 1900, contained a short account of his life and a version of his last poem. These, with fugitive references, are virtually the sum of the Rizal material the most resolute searcher has hitherto been able to find on American shelves.
Retana’s work is interesting and abounding in pertinent facts, but so overloaded with documents and so prone to febrile exhilaration that it could never be adapted to general circulation. Unluckily, too, it is not always free from prejudice and not always accurate. Professor Craig was the ideal investigator. With indefatigable patience he went over the entire drama, beginning with the arrival of Lam-co in the Philippines more than two hundred years before, and tracing the family to Rizal’s own day. He visited most of the places where Rizal had lived; he interviewed relatives, friends, acquaintances; he searched records, he compared documents, he weighed testimonies; he wrote with sympathy, he overstepped not the due bounds of reserve; and he produced a book that so far as it goes is a model of honest inquiry.
The present work is founded chiefly upon his discoveries and Retana’s, carefully compared, checked by reference to the writings of Derbyshire and to Rizal’s own diary, notes, and scant narrative; checked also by the corrections of Dr. De Tavera and others, [[ix]]and augmented by later revelations. Where a discrepancy has appeared in these records the authors have sought the best obtainable advice and tried to follow the best of the accepted authorities. In a few instances (since there are gaps in the story now unlikely to be filled) it has been necessary to adopt the version of an incident or the explanation of an act that seemed the most natural to a man in Rizal’s situation and the best adjustable to his character and convictions. Every recurrent “Rizal day” in the Philippines brings out thoughtful studies of the national hero, additional reminiscences, or the results of original research work, all by native writers. Of this abundant material the authors have availed themselves, and thus have been able to enlarge or to correct many episodes.
The authors are under obligations to the direction of the Philippine Library at Manila, which most generously put at their disposal all of its great collection of literature and objects relating to Rizal; to Mr. Fernando Canon for his interesting personal reminiscences; to the Hon. Jaime C. de Veyra, late resident commissioner from the Philippines to the United States, long a collector of Rizaliana, for rich material as well as for unstinted and invaluable assistance; to the Hon. Isauro Gabaldon, present resident commissioner, for sympathetic encouragement; to Senator Sandiko for useful data; to Miss Sevilla for her investigations concerning Leonora Rivera; and to many good friends in Manila and elsewhere that have contributed suggestions and corrected errors. Mr. Benito Soliven’s masterly summary of Rizal’s work in [[x]]science and Dr. Eliseo Hervas’s estimate of Rizal’s place as a poet have been most helpful. Of Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera’s admirable treatise “El Carácter de Rizal” (Manila, 1918) free use has been made. Mr. Pañina’s “Murió el Doctor Rizal Cristianamente?” has been carefully studied. For the historical part of the narrative the authors have consulted chiefly Fernández, Foreman, Barrows, and the great work of Blair and Robertson.
The citations from “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” in the ensuing pages are from the translations by Charles Derbyshire, both published by the Philippine Education Company, Manila, 1912.
To understand Rizal and his strange story it is necessary to understand the environment into which he was born and against which he protested. As any description written now of Spanish rule as it really was in the Philippines would seem to American readers of these days improbable or even fantastical, the needed background is supplied, so far as possible, in Rizal’s own words.
Aside from the human interest that would at any time attend a life so tragic, certain chief reasons have seemed to the authors sufficient to justify the appearance now of such a book:
1. The hope to make available to American readers the story of the great man and national hero of the people the United States has undertaken to lead to national independence.
2. At a time when race antagonisms seem to have been revived and emphasized, the fundamental truths about the universal household are naturally obscured. [[xi]]Lest we forget how foolish, in the end, are the pretended racial superiorities, it may be well to take note of this brown man that revealed a genius so great, a mind so strangely resourceful, so wide a range in achievement, so unusual a character, while performing a service so momentous. Of a race too lightly esteemed by Caucasians, he left a record of which the foremost Caucasian people might justly be proud.
3. When the tide is running backward through the world and some men scoff at democracy and some men doubt it, there may be profit in turning to the story of this long-drawn-out struggle against autocracy to observe once more how inevitable, against all oppositions or frantic arguings, is the democratic advance.
4. A temporary fashion of detraction having left not even Lancelot brave nor Galahad clean, it may be worth while to revive the fact that, after all, men have lived on this earth that had other than merely selfish aims and felt other than merely sensual impulses, and find an example in this Malay.
5. When the world is resounding with the echoes of a terrible war, and hatreds seem to possess the souls of men, it may be well to consider the career and influence of one that sought reforms by peaceful means, repudiated force, and chose for his motto a sentiment broad enough to cover all human failings and cure most human hurts:
To understand all is to forgive all.
C. E. R.
New York, June 25, 1923. [[xiii]]