Miscellaneous Letters Exchanged Between José Rizal and Others in 1888

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047. Rizal, Hong Kong, 9 February 1888 || To Pedro A. Paterno (?)

Rizal, en route to Europe, sends Pedro A. Paterno a post card in Chabacano.

Victoria-Yriarte Hotel

Hong Kong, 9 February 1888

Sir,

I am here with Mr. Yriarte.  I am going to London by way of Japan and the United States.  Soon I shall visit with you.  Regards to your brothers and to you.

Goodbye, sir maginoo.

(Signed) Rizal

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       This is a post card went by Rizal.  It may have been sent to Pedro A. Paterno who styled himself maginoo, the form of address of the Tagalog aristocracy.  The original post card is in the collection of Mr. Alfonso T. Ongpin of Manila.  It is written in Chabacano, a patois Spanish form spoken in Zamboanga, Cavite, and (at that time) Ermita, Manila.

       After a brief sojourn at Kalamba, Rizal was compelled by political circumstances to leave the Philippines and return to Europe.

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048. “A Friar”, Manila (15 February 1888?)

An anonymous letter, signed “A Friar”.  He calls Rizal ungrateful – The letter expresses the well-known attitude of the friars toward educated Filipinos.  Unfortunately the original manuscript is damaged.

Mr. José Rizal

Pepe:

I begin this letter with the strange salutation that “you are very ungrateful”, a quality unworthy of a man who has at last an atom of honesty, because you have paid with the blackest ingratitude the priceless benefits which you have received.  You attacked cruelly without reason and without basis those to whom you, as well as your countrymen, owe much of your education.  You should know to whom I refer and as I belong to them, body and soul, I regret and I feel duty bound, though late, to address you these lines whether you like them or not.

Our brethren of yesteryears did, and we are doing now, all that is humanly possible, in bringing you out from the chaos of ignorance and misery, in which you were and are submerged.  If you have come out of it or you are becoming more stupid, more vicious, and more miserable than before, it is not our fault.  We are not God that we could make bright minds out of nothing.  Blame Nature which created them with innate incapacity.   On the other hand, the Government, that monster, claiming to be your father at the same time destroying and spoiling you, grabs your bread and little by little annihilates you, that government is the one which is duty bound to give you education and riches and is solely responsible before humanity and God.  You should ask it for an explanation of your backwardness, if the fault is not yours.  You should attack it severely and if you do that you shall have us at your side.  Therefore, on behalf of my brethren or fellow believers I return with interest to you, to all your countrymen, to your whole country, the abuses and insults that you hurl to us from your trashy books.  You cannot change me with being uncivil and impolite because you were the one who began the attack.

If you or all your countrymen consider yourselves offended, change us and we shall accept it, as we are no cowards as are you, without discounting the possibility that a hidden hand may put an end to your life.  Amen.

This is enough for today with the promise to resume it in the next mail.

A Friar

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 049. Rizal, London, 8 June 188 || to Pastor Ullmer

Rizal tells of his return to Europe – Noli me tángere in the Philippines – The friars want his expulsion from the Philippines – But he will go back.

London, June 8, 1888

To Pastor Ullmer

I have received your kind and cherished letter of March 12, which was forwarded to me from the Philippines.  I left my country on the third of February.  I travelled in China, Japan, and the United States, and reached here [England – rly] at the end of last month.  I shall probably remain here a couple of years.  I hope we may see one another next year.  I will travel to Belgium in search of a temporary home.  After disembarking at Rotterdam, I will go up the Rhine, and come to visit you and your family with whom I have passed such sweet and delightful days.

I have left my country on account of my book.  The Filipino public heartily welcomed Noli me tángere so that the first edition is entirely exhausted.  The Governor General (Terrero) summoned me and asked me for a copy of it.  The friars were most excited.  They wanted to persecute me, but they did not know how to get me.  The Archbishop threatened to excommunicate me.

The story of my return [to the Philippines - rly] would be a long story to tell and hard to understand by those who do not know of life in the Philippines.  My family would not allow me to eat in any house; for fear that someone might attempt to poison me.  Friends and enemies did me favors; the latter burned my books, the former paid as much as fifty pesos for one copy.  The book stores have made a big profit, but I got nothing.  The friars urged my exile, but the Governor replied that they would have to bring me before the court, if there was anything illegal that I have done.  I left my county in order to give my relatives peace.  At any rate I am once more in a free land, breathing the free air of Europe.  My fellow countrymen consider me lucky to have escaped unharmed from the Philippines.  I feel like the diver Schiller described, who said: “I have seen horrible things, monsters which menaced me with their talons; but by the help of God I am again on the surface!”

Nevertheless I will go back!

José Rizal

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050.  Rizal requests permission to read in the library of the050. Rizal, London, 13 August 1888 [01] || To the Chief Librarian, British Museum British Museum and to copy sculpture.

37 Chalcot Crescent

Primrose Hill, N.W.

To the Chief Librarian of

       the British Museum

Sir,

As I wish to become a reader and to copy sculpture at the British Museum, I herewith forward the necessary letter of introduction from a house-holder and I shall be glad to hear from you.

I am sincerely your obedient servant,

José Rizal

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       [01] This is the date stamped on the letter at the British Museum.  The letter is in English.