7 August 1888

London

Spaniards judge us unjustly — What would they say if they are judged according to the behavior of the bullfighters and criminals of Madrid? — They like paradoxes and beautiful phrases without considering their veracity — They write: “The Indio is happy so long as he is not remembered.” — But that means: “The Indios formerly lived happily so long as the Spaniards did not mind them.” — Withdraw from the fight! — “…politics, when it blazes between tyrants and oppressed peoples, has no heart or brains, but fangs poison, and vengeance.” — Save yourself the hardship of fighting our battle — If I were a European I would be married by now — “…how I envy the last clerk of London!”

* * *

37 Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill, N.W.

London, 7 August 1888

My dear Friend,

I was getting ready to write you to give you some news when the postman brought me your letter. I am sorry that the news from Manila had excited you so much, but you will soon get accustomed to them. Since childhood I have been accustomed to these stupidities so that they no longer have an effect on me unless they have a great importance to the fate of my countrymen. The majority of the Spaniards, the priests as well as the employees, judge us according to the conduct of their servants, with whom they deal. May God save me! If I were to judge the Spaniards according to what I saw in Madrid among servants, criminals, bullfighters, and job-seekers what opinion would I have of them? Spaniards do not take the trouble of going to the bottom of things. They are satisfied with repeating what they hear, and the more paradoxical it is the better. Here’s an example: “We all know, we who live here, what the Indio is worth and what he is: a luckless, long-suffering and resigned man who lives happily . . . so long as they do not mind him.” You have to agree with me, my esteemed friend, that the Peninsular Spaniard who wrote this nonsense is the king of fools and such a phrase is a stupidity. The Spaniards prove with their own words that they have made the Indios hapless and worsened their condition through colonization, because the Indios formerly lived happily . . . so long as the Spaniards did not mind them. I believe that this gentleman ought to be my friend, not for his sallies, but for his sincerity. Why don’t the Spaniards want to forget us completely so that we can live happily? That is inhuman. The same gentleman also says that the Spaniards do not know how to improve humanity. Does he believe perchance that the Indios are like those works of art that are admirable . . . . so long as stupid men do not touch them and spoil them? But I know that this gentleman says such things thinking he has invented a beautiful phrase without paying attention to their veracity. They prefer to be brilliant to being correct or accurate. But let us leave them [to] embellish their stupidities with pompous phrases and let us talk about you.

I believe that you ought to withdraw from this violent fight which poisons your gentle heart and embitters your beautiful character, because politics, when it blazes between tyrants and oppressed peoples, has no heart or brains, but fangs poison, and vengeance. In the past you lived always quietly and in peace. Continue living thus and do not go down to the burning arena on which we fight. Leave us alone to settle our affairs. We are struggling for our rights, for the rights of humanity, and if there is a God, He will have to help us. We are still few and weak, but we shall be stronger and more numerous. Your life and the peace of your family are sacred to me and I fear that our situation may bring them misfortune. You have to write our history; you ought to remain impartial. Stop all your correspondence if you do not want to wage a pitched battle for us. As for me, the struggle is different. Nature, if I am not mistaken, gave me a tender and delicate heart. I am inclined to be friendly and I should like to be everybody’s friend, and despite this I have to hide my sentiments, I have to scold and even hate, and I make one hundred enemies for every friend! If I were a free European, I would be married by now, I would have a family, and I could live beside my parents, devote myself to science, and with my friends contemplate and love in peace and tranquility this beautiful world. If you know how I envy the last clerk of London! But enough of that!

I wish to send you some cigarettes — they are about 20. You know that I don’t smoke. Can I send them to you by mail? And what about the customs duties? Later on, I will send you another twenty. Write me and tell me how to send them, for I have here more than a hundred of them prettily decorated with flowers and mottoes.[1]

I conclude here wishing for you and your family the best there is on earth. I greet also Dr. Czepelack.

Yours,

Rizal

03-320 [Reformists]