3 April 1887

Europe

Regidor[1] comments on the Noli – Who does not know “Fr. Damaso”? – Comments on “Capitan Tiago, Old Tasio, Fr. Salvi, the ‘good chap’ Don Primitivo, the ‘learned’ Fr. Sibyla and Maria Clara” – Critic of the first order – What the Filipinos lack are union, energy, decision, and constancy.

* * *

Europe, 3 May 1887

Mr. Jose Rizal

26 Jagerstrasse

Berlin

My very distinguished Friend and Countryman:

In my recent trip Paris I heard about a book which you have just published. Remembering the story of the Pagong [turtle], the decoration of that pair of little jars made by you, and the bust of The Friar on his Return which Paterno has, I immediately got a copy. Afterwards I found at home a copy which you have so kindly inscribed to me for which I’m grateful. I began reading it with the eagerness and interest that the works of our countrymen inspire me. After reading your first lines, I was convinced that it is a superior book. Today I have finished reading your most interesting book, and I must tell you candidly that I have not read a more truthful or more graphic description of our much slandered and chastised society. Who does not know “Fr. Damaso”? Ah, I have met him; and though in your brilliant characterization in your novel he wears the habit of the dirty Franciscan, always rude, always tyrannical, and invariably corrupt, I have met him and studied him in real life in the Philippines. Sometimes he wears the white habit of the Augustinian, other times that of the Franciscan, as you describe him, and other times the tunic of the Recollect and with bare feet, pretending to be wise. When I think of one of these characters in your precious novel, I’m reminded on one hand of happenings, rather of those sacrilegious orgies that began with a sumptuous banquet and ended with the imprisonment and exile of a Civil Governor of Manila who tried to put a stop to those excesses; and on the other, of a speech, a sermon, more exactly a philippic delivered by a humble servant of the Lord in a certain church in Manila on the occasion of the conferring of the doctor’s degree, which is held there with pompous solemnity.

Your “Capitan Tiago” is inimitable. Combining the traits of two or three of our countrymen, who cannot recognize the men impersonated by this hapless fellow, worthy cousin of “Ate Isabel”? I have met them; I tried in vain to bring them to reason; and if I was not lucky in this, at least I have succeeded in making them employ their wealth in aiding the bright young men who now prove that the mind of the natives of the Philippines is not as dull as Barrantes[2] has alleged.

“Old Tasio” reminds me of two or three illustrious countrymen of ours, who had fallen during the night.[3] Among them was the well-known apostate and Quaker Francisco Rodriguez, not to mention the others whom you and I know and whom we should not name yet even if our charitable and pious Filipinos call them chiflado[4] or luco-luco.[5]

“Father Salvi” is the most genuine personification of the much extolled Philippine missionary,[6] the anti-canonical parish priest, the redeeming plant (sic) brought there and supported with so much care by Peninsular patriotism, and who in the end, as in Mexico and other places in America, will bear his legitimate fruits – a tempest. I have known someone resembling your character who, not long ago received the Holy Miter as a reward for his virtues!!!

How many of those who pretend to know our country will affirm that the noble and unlucky “Elias” is only an imaginary creature? Stupid! If they only had some contact with the natives and if these had only been allowed to unbosom themselves to their detractors and assassins, I’m sure that they would not say such nonsense. You and I know the typical Filipinos – by which I mean the native, creole, and half-breed – because together we have thought, endured, and suffered with them.

The good lad “Don Primitivo” and the wise “Fr. Sibyla” truly portray the old students of Santo Tomas, San Jose, and San Juan de Letran who are loaded with “I distinguish”[7] and Latin Jargon which are useless to the mind as well as in life. I enjoyed those fellows. They took me back to those times which passed away not so long ago and at which I used to laugh. How many childhood friends of mine who are infatuated with that swallow erudition are still living!

If all these characters portray perfectly social life in the Archipelago, what can I say about “Ibarra” whose life and misfortunes are similar to mine and my humble history. I don’t know if someone will dare question the absolute reality of this victim of despotism and colonial corruption; but if such a thing should happen, I can point out to him historical facts which will be published in a modest pamphlet entitled A Page of Spanish Colonial History which can annihilate the detractors. If he is pure idealization, the greater is the merit of the author; for he must be a great artist indeed who can reproduce on one canvas the typical and salient lines of three or four different faces and succeeds to make the beholder recognize with every change of light the exact likeness of a dear friend who died on the scaffold, in prison, in exile, or in disgrace. You expose in a marvelous manner the defects and virtues of our idolized countrywomen, of those “rare roses” about whom an island poet, who is not a Filipino, said reality:

……ninguna pude hallar

Mas bella que las rosas filipinas,

Mujeres que en su labio suspirante

Lo que es palabra en otras, es cantar.”[8]

“Maria Clara,” the sublime personification of pure love, parental respect, gratitude, and sacrifice, is neither new nor improbable. Unhappy victims of religious-colonial lust, they are expiatory martyrs who, with slight variations, are named like your character, sometimes Lucia of Imus, Anita of Binondo, Isabel of Pagsanghan, etc. One can write a drama about the life of any of them.

The fanaticism of the Hermanas Terceras[9] makes your admirable picture complete.

If we go from the characters to your political, philosophical, and social observations, your book depicts some, not all, of the great evils that afflict the country. You expose the bare and obvious ills that demand the most urgent remedy. In doing this in moderate language, skillfully narrating common-place stories and anecdotes, now employing irony, then sarcasm, you succeed in holding up the deed to ridicule, drawing from your reader a cry of indignation against and contempt for that nefarious system.

I felicitate you on your triumph. You are still a child and you already produce a red bullet against that social organism. Good. Forward! If the Quijote immortalizes its author because it exposes to the world the ailments of Spain, your Noli me tangere will bring you an equal glory. With your modesty and your veracious and able appraisal you have dealt a mortal blow to that old tree full of blemishes and decay. Every Filipino patriot will read your book with avidity and upon discovering in every line a veracious idea and in every word a fitting advice, he will be inspired and he will regard your book as the masterpiece of a Filipino and the proof that those who though us incapable of producing great intellects are mistaken or are lying. And I add: We have a critic of the first order, as we have painters of the first stature, vigorous intellects in the judiciary, and very distinguished generals in the army. What else do we lack? What you indicate between the lines in your well-thought out book: Unity, energy, determination and constancy.

As I note the trend of our youth and the gigantic step which you have just made, I’ll not repeat any more with the Cuban poet:

Sin patria y sin amores,

Solo veo ante mi llanto y dolores.[10]

Nor will I say with the hero of your precious novel:

“I die without seeing the dawn shine over my Native Land.”

No. I, who am going down the ladder, worn out by the sufferings of nostalgia, congratulate you very cordially on your magnificent work and I urge you to continue your noble and patriotic labor, encouraging with your example others whom we should always remind of the last will of the luckless Elias. “!!! Study !!!”

Your devoted friend and admirer,

[The Exile Antonio Regidor]

02-220 [Blumentritt V.1]

1887. 05. 04 and 05 Berlin

From: Jose Rizal

To: Ferdinand Blumentritt

Will visit Blumentritt at Leitmeritz— Will stop at the Hotel Krebs Postscript— Swoboda and the young Casal.

* * *

Berlin, 4 May (Day of Atonement) 1887

Esteemed Friend,

On Friday, 13 May, I shall have the pleasure of embracing you in person. We don’t know at what time we shall arrive at that town and for that reason we beg you to stay at home quietly and not to go to the station to await us.[11] Assuredly we shall lodge at the Hotel Krebs and will visit you half an hour afterwards, as soon as we are in a condition to call on you and your esteemed family.

Until then I wish you good health, good humor, and ¡Hasta la vista![12]

Yours most affectionately,

Rizal

5 May

Just now I receive your welcome letter and I’m very much amused by what happened to Mr. Swoboda. He did not understand it. He alone should have invited the zealous Guardia Veterana to take part, who ought to have closed his eyes.

I know Mr. Eduardo P. Casal well. He is a young man of from 17 to 20 years, who studied in Switzerland. He is a Filipino; his father is a Spaniard; his mother a Tagalog. He looks like a Tagalog; he is darker than I am, and has a sharper nose than mine.

Greetings,

Rizal

04-221 [Misc.]