9 July 1888

London

Rizal refutes the falsehoods of Senator Vida uttered in the Senate — The friars spread false reports — Senator Vida has lied like a phonograph — The Noli is not anti-Catholic or socialistic or Proudhonian — “We are filibusteros when we raise our voice” — “He who sows winds gathers tempests.”

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37 Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill

London, 9 July 1888

My dear Friend,

Your welcome letter of 8 July surprised me greatly; it gave me joy and [made] me laugh a great deal. I did not know that so many stupidities and falsehoods about me could be said in a few words. Truly, I confess to you — for I conceal nothing from you — that I did not know that they have talked about me at the Senate. A friend wrote me some weeks ago that my book was very much sought in Madrid because it was much talked about. He said nothing more than that, neither did I ask him for more details. I learned about the matter only from you and I wish to make some remarks. At first, I wished to write Senator Vida[1] to comment a little on his clairvoyance — this gentleman speaks like a phonograph — but later, on second thought and now, I believe that all that is not worth two pennies and a half.

“Very recently a native, whose name I know, doctor of medicine from the University of Madrid, who says he is an intimate friend of Prince Bismarck . . . .” That is false and deserves a good reply. I have never said such a thing; on the contrary, I have always said that I had never seen Prince von Bismarck and that I am not a German subject. I believe the friars spread those news, believing that the people or the government would hate me for that, but they flattered themselves with the success of their move without thinking of its inconveniences.

I believe we have here a case of Quod vult perdere Júpiter . . . .[2] As the friars deal only with our women, their subordinates, and their flatterers and believe that these tell them, they do not get to know the true option of the Filipinos. For that reason the people esteemed me greatly and the government feared me. I showed my Spanish passport and they believed that it was false and therefore I was considered even more dangerous. The demi-gods believed that the Filipinos hated the Germans. I assure them that the Filipinos fear them but do not hate them and many would like to have them because they can no longer bear the weak government which is pro-friar. And that is what occurred. Many took me for a secret emissary of Bismarck and they loved me for that. I am sorry to say that but it is true. On the last occasion, something similar occurred with the friars — they did not have any idea that the majority of the people were against them.

“And having won a chair of medicine in a German university.” False again. I was not the one but the Jesuits who spread that stupid news, but they said that I was professor of philosophy. So they assured me in Manila. If this is true, those gentlemen do not know that in Germany there are thousands of professors and many of them emigrate. Mr. Vida then has lied, like a phonograph; the word is not exaggerated.

“A book called ‘novel’, entitled Noli me tángere, has been presented and introduced there.” False! I sent my book to Manila in March, two days before the emperor’s jubilee. I myself went to Manila on 3 July carrying only one copy of the book.

“That novel is anti-Catholic, Protestant, socialistic, and Proudhonian in which it is said . . . .”

All that follows is false. Mr. Vida has not read the book and if he has read it, he must go back to school because he has not learned yet how to read. You who have read my book many times, tell me if you have found in it any portion or paragraph in which I had said to the Indios “that the estates owned by the religious orders are usurpation of their property (I will say this and will prove it in my next book.) and they ought to rise against them, before one year these properties would be seized from the religious orders.” I do not wish to discuss with Mr. Vida if my book is anti-Catholic, Protestant, socialistic, and Proudhonian.

“That book, perhaps Your Lordship does not know it, has been censured by the University of Manila, and on the margin of one of its copies is noted the censure. Nevertheless that book circulates among the Indios and it is sold and is given free to anyone who presents a countersign of a certain person whom I do not wish either to name!”

Very well! For having been censured by the University and for having the censure written on the margin of one of its copies, therefore no one can read the book. And that censure is so secret that perhaps the very minister himself may know nothing about it. Oh, Mr. Vida! How many books have been censured by the most famous universities, perhaps all books, except your own that you never wrote! What a most constructive logic is that of Mr. Senator!

The “countersign of a certain person” is news to me. In truth, I don’t know from where that countersign could come or who is that “certain person.” If it is not the archbishop himself or the provincial of the Augustinians or the Dominicans, then, I don’t know who he could be. I am not the one. In Manila the book is not given free; it costs much to get a copy. I am assured that it is very much sought by the friars. Will they not present a countersign to show that they are friends?

I am sending you a letter of my brother so that you can find out what the Filipinos think of it and when did the book reach Manila.

Yesterday I sent you some books. They are the best proof that the Filipinos do not like the friars and they no longer fear anything when they fight against their tyrants. After the first petitions (20 February – 1 March 1888) and the imprisonment and investigations, and after having seen that the judges are on the side of the friars, the proprietors, merchants, industrialists, lawyers, and the citizens of the Archipelago will now be united. After prosecuting the first gobernadorcillos, others will follow. I beg you to read the book carefully and attentively. But I don’t consider it to be advisable to incite the queen and the nation against the friars, because of the archbishop and others. It would have been better if my compatriots had expounded only the true causes, because they are enough to prove the accusation. But they could not act otherwise because the scandal was also too great and the friars had taught them how to utilize the judge’s passion against enemies. They call us filibusteros, anti-Spaniards, and the like when we raise our voice; and “he who sows wind gathers tempests” and “like teacher, like pupil”; or “as the elders sang, so do the young trill”, as a German proverb says.

Do you believe that I ought to reply to Mr. Vida? If you advise me to do so, I will give him some explanations.

Greetings to my friends, Dr. Czepelack, Mr. Theumer, and the whole family.

Faithfully yours,

Rizal

03-313 [Reformists]