“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.