23 April 1889

Paris

Postponement of the congress of the International Association of Philippinists in Paris — Rizal invites Blumentritt to the Exposition — A congress of friendship — Blumentritt may use Manuel Hidalgo’s letter — Data published by Dr. Joest in Kolner Zeitung – Enclosed: a letter from brother-in-law Hidalgo detailing the abuses of the friars and the poverty of the provinces.

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Hotel du Printemps

89 Rue de la Victoire, Paris

23 April 1889

Dear Friend,

I have received your esteemed photographs some time ago, but until this date I have not begun yet to model your bust. I thank you for the photograph you are giving me.

Dr. A. B. Meyer is coming here at the end of May. I believe I can tell you that because you are his friend — his sincere friend. But Dr. Rost[1] will come here in August, so that I fear that we may not be able to hold here our first conference. As the French government has limited the number of international conferences, I believe we shall have to postpone holding our own.[2] But notwithstanding, you have to come here to see the Exposition. Write me when you are coming so that I can fulfill my promise. We can stay in the same hotel, which belongs to a Stuttgart family. It is clean and pretty, located in the center of Paris near the grand boulevards. We two can hold our conference — a friendship conference. We shall have to await a better occasion when the Association[3] acquires more importance. Write me four or five days ahead of your arrival. I am sure that something good will come out of our meeting. Do not forget then to write me when you are coming.

T[rinidad H.] Pardo de Tavera will be here early in May. He is coming with his family.

I received your pleasing letter of the 14 April through the kindness of Friend F[elix] P[ardo] de Tavera.[4]

You can certainly use my brother-in-law’s (Manuel Hidalgo’s) letter. I sent it to Dr. Joest[5] so that we can write something on the matter for the K.Z.[6] Everything in it ought to be the real truth for I have forbidden my family from writing me news which are not verified.

I sent the manuscript[7] to Barcelona for printing. The library here is very deficient; I miss the British Museum. I shall return to London as there one can work. But I am staying here until the end of the Exposition, so that you have plenty of time to make up your mind. I shall wait for you until the last day. Courage then! I remain faithful to my word!

Greetings to the young and old.

Your faithful

Rizal

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[Here is the letter of Rizal’s brother-in-law mentioned in the above letter:]

Tagbilaran, Bohol

1 February 1889

Mr. José Rizal

My dear Brother,

Enclosed herewith are five letters that I have sent you: two in October of last year, one in November or December following, and another on 1st January of this year. No ruling has been received on my situation. If something has arrived for me, as usual they have withheld it and they will end up by refusing to comply with it, as they often do.

It is to be desired that if you can secure a royal decree or order for my return home, it should have the additional provision that it be carried out immediately, without prejudice of clarifying the truth of the facts on which they have based the measure, and entrusting to the governor of Laguna or any other impartial person its implementation, and the result of the findings be endorsed to the proper court of justice for the punishment of the slanderer or slanderers and of those who have given false information. Because that accusation was absolutely false; there is no truth to it. It was fabricated only by the Syndic Francisco Gobeas, the lieutenant of the civil guard of Calamba Mr. Juan N. López, and Panong (Cipriano Rubio) who is very much attached to the Hacienda (Calamba Estate) and who is resentful of me as I investigated his son Isidro, who with Nicolás, son of Pinquit, and another person were involved in a hold-up with homicide in Barrio San Cristóbal, Calamba.

According to what the people of this town write me, the said Lieutenant López is committing various abuses, among which is ordering every morning to pick up some men to clean the barracks and his house and to do other chores, letting them go afterwards. Last December, with the pretext of looking for prohibited weapons, he searched the house of Capitán Matías Belarmino, who looked into his book of accounts and correspondence, and not finding any weapons, took him to the barracks. After detaining him a few hours, he ordered him to be led to the Belarmino farm in the heat of the sun, by foot, not permitting him to go on horseback or in a vehicle. Not finding either weapons there, he was returned to the town and released. Panong and that Syndic who worked for my banishment, continued saying that they, especially the first, would try to send also Neneng to Jolo and to confiscate our property. How stupid they are! He is against gambling but he allows it if he is given a certain amount.

I am expecting Neneng here on the 25th or 27th instant because she wrote me she would come with Alfredo and Adela. In Calamba twice cholera appeared, but thank God none of the family suffered from it. Many died in Canluran among them the wife of Cabesang Salio. If that official remains for a long time in Calamba, how much damage he can do!

As additional news I tell you that in the whole province of Batangas and in some towns in the south of Laguna, the parish priests on a certain date of the year, take out in a procession the image of the patron saint, the Virgin, or some other celebrated saint through the barrios accompanied by the police judge or the first lieutenant and no one can do his work because they are holidays and monte[8] is played and other excesses prevail. They collect all the money they can get as alms, in some barrios amounting to as much as one or two hundred pesos and more. The parish priest himself goes around telling people to give alms for if they do not, the saint or saints will soon withdraw while if they stay, a good harvest can be secured and there will be no plagues of any kind. If the people say that the money they have is intended for the payment of taxes to the State, the curate replies that having fulfilled their duty to God, they have nothing more to worry about. Needless to say all the money collected goes directly to the curate’s pocket.

When the time for the payment of taxes comes, the head of the barangay goes to the house of the tax-payer and finds that he does not even have money to buy his food. Hence the deferments. And it must be taken into account that the head of the barangay and the principales are asked to give larger alms to the saints. In times of locusts, like last year and the year before that, the curates fulminated ex-communions and exorcisms against them and blessed sugar-cane fields and other plantations. For an ex-communion, exorcism, or blessing four or five pesos; but as the people saw later that instead of being exterminated the locusts multiplied, many refused to call on the curates, who got mad at them. The people resorted to the natural method of killing them [the locusts] and they were killed.

In the province of Batangas, the liking for the feast of the Flores de Mayo was already waning because it was a burden on the poor economy of the generality of the people. In the celebration of this feast, the young ladies in groups of 12 to 16 have to give the curates a fee of Php 5 or Php 6 daily when they had to offer flowers to the Virgin. In addition, their organization formed by the curate under the leadership of a capitana must pay for solemn Masses, bell-ringing, blessings, sermons, etc. All in all, during the month of May the curate collects from Php 1000 to 2000. The curate then, as school inspector, orders the men and women teachers of primary schools to go from house to house to advise the heads of families to continue actively such a holy custom so favored by the Mother of God. Hence the practice was resumed and see how well the teachers worked. Mr. Simplicio Avelino and Mrs. Benita Laurel, teachers of Tanawan, and other teachers of various towns availed themselves of their influence with the heads of families so that their daughters would contribute to the feast and induce others to do so. These teachers are coerced to act thus in order that their inspectors would render a good report about them, even against the truth, and so that they would not be separated from the service or the services from which they earn something to the prejudice of their own and principal work. For the teachers serve as fiscals, announcing the names of those who are going to get married on holidays and preparing the ceremony for weddings, and as clerks of the curate. I do not know how they can fulfill their mission of teaching. The pupils in their schools are completely ignorant of what they ought to know; but that does not matter. The curate will give a good report on them and for this the government will confer to them titles of knights as it did on Teacher Avelino, who, in spite of the fact that his pupils are very much behind in Spanish, won the decoration of a knight. It is necessary to tell the civil administration of the archipelago to prohibit teachers from performing such services or remove them from their posts and to take away from the curates the right of inspection, transferring it to the gobernadorcillo.

Parochial dues are becoming more and more excessive. Formerly for a simple wedding, the fee was Php 4.00. Now in those provinces and, perhaps in many of the Archipelago, they charge Php 7.00. Formerly a simple funeral costs Php 1 and 4 reales; now it is Php 4.00. Thus are the towns impoverished and they cannot afford to pay the taxes of the State. For baptism the fee per head is 3 reales and 10/4. This must also be said about our gobernadorcillos: They convert the labor tax of 15 days per individual into money. In some cases it is Php 2.00 and in others Php 2 and 4 reales for the fifteen days and if the individual prefers to pay by the day it is 2 reales each day, or 1 real and 18/4. Thus some streets are impassable and others are worse, the sun and rain take charge of fixing them in their time and in their way. Thus can be understood the struggle they put up to win the post in the elections, spending their savings. It is necessary to voice this as it demoralizes a part of society that ought to watch after the morality, justness, and uprightness of the citizens. It is better to suppress this personal labor tax and make each tax-payer pay Php 1 and 4 reales more for this imposition that we shall call municipal tax and let the public works be done by bidding. Try to propose this to the civil administration.

Concerning the abuses that are committed by the curates in these Bisayan Islands, I shall tell you in another letter. If you wish to write me, it is better to put the sealed envelope in another letter addressed to Victor Biunas, employee of the drugstore of Mr. Anacleto del Rosario, Binondo, San Fernando, who lives in the same drugstore. He will send it to me. I believe that letters from there for us are intercepted. Write me about matters dealing with the Philippines that are being treated there, about the separation of powers, representation, unification of laws which will be extended to ecclesiastical powers, etc.

A thousand regards of this your brother who esteems you heartily. I am well and I wish you to be the same.

M. de Hidalgo

03-388 [Reformists]