Barcelona
He asks for data on Diego Silang’s rebellion – He doubts the veracity of Isabelo de los Reyes’ account
* * *
Barcelona
January 1889
Marcelo H. del Pilar
[Mr. Jose Rizal]
My dear Friend,
Without any letter from you to answer I send you my picture as a remembrance. I request you to please give me some information and data – if you have been able to get them there[1] – on rebellion of Diego Silang in Vigan, during the British invasion, for I am citing this incident in the pamphlet that I am writing as an exception to the boasted influence of the friars in that relation of Anda y Salazar.[2] I have no other reference but the history of Fr. Zuñiga, and now I discover that Isabelo de los Reyes is publishing articles praising the friars on the occasion of that rebellion when I was intending to adduce it as a charge against the friars. According to Zuñiga, the insurrection having triumphed, Silang surrendered the position of governor to “Jesus Nazareno,” an incident that to me reveals the fanatical character of the rebellion; and our Isabelo says that he surrendered it to one Jesus Nazareno, which damages my argument.
It would be advisable for you to read the Diario de Manila of 16 December 1888 and if you find anything worthwhile in it, to refute it. Isabelo is going to mutilate my work with his deplorable fecundity.
Your affectionate friend embraces you.
Marcelo
03-352 [Reformists]
[1] Rizal was then at London engrossed in historical research at the British Museum.
[2] Governor General (1770-1776) who defended Manila during the British invasion, 1762-1764.