Madrid
Lopez Jaena en route to the Philippines – Decided to face grace perils in the Philippines – “Willing to fight if need be, to die if necessary” – Because of his popularity they may respect him – If not, “the blood of the victims will penetrate the tomb of the tyrants” – Rizal’s return would displease the whole colony – It would be “an imprudence, a temerity.”
* * *
Madrid, 22 April 1891
MR. JOSE RIZAL
Brussels
MY VERY DEAR PEPE,
I have received your letter and I am surprised that it did not mention my previous letters which together with Father Font’s pamphlet I sent you in Biarritz. Have you received them?
Compelled by necessity Graciano has decided to leave for the Philippines and is now on the way to that dear land. From Port Said he has written me, regretting his fate that is dragging him to face such perils as the ones awaiting him in the Philippines. However, he is resigned, cherishing some hope of seeing us again. Here are his words: “If I escape jail, banishment, before seven months, I shall be back and I will always hail you as friends and countrymen. If I am sacrificed I will be proud of being the first martyr of the Filipino people. I am not afraid, I am resigned to everything, ready for everything, to fight if need be, to die if necessary.
As you see, Pepe, Graciano is going to the Philippines to hand over his skin to the enemy, so to speak; on the other hand, as the situation in the Islands, our common motherland, is so different now, and Lopez Jaena’s name being popular there, I am inclined to believe he will receive some consideration, for they would like a scandal, and any arbitrariness with him might worsen the cause they defend. In the Philippines will occur the same thing as in other countries: The blood of the victims will penetrate the tomb of the tyrants and precipitate their downfall.
In the fate of the horrors of poverty and the sad contingencies of a precarious life, I am surprised by the departure of Graciano in search of another modus vivendi, perhaps better and more secure. In your case Friend Pepe, I don’t believe, a decision of that nature is prudent or viable even, for you are not in the same circumstances as Jaena, who, in order to avoid a greater evil that held him fast in obscurity preferred the lesser one in the open that may at least give him name and earn him the public gratitude of his fellow citizens. I think for that reason, that, just as I approve though with regret, of Graciano’s departure, yours would give me, and specially this Colony, the greatest displeasure, for we and some Manila friends believe that your return now to the Philippines is an imprudence and more than an imprudence a temerity. Only by ignoring the advice of friends can you leave freely and in such a case our compatriots over there would tell you what General Prim said to General O’Donnell in Africa when the latter repaired to the most dangerous place: “My General, here I give the orders; your life does not belong to you; it belongs to the nation that has entrusted to you its fate. Save it!”
At any rate, are you not well off abroad? Don’t you find that much desired tranquility that permits you to devote yourself to your . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[1]
02-620 [Blumentritt V.2]
[1] The original letter as it was found in the Ponce Collection lacks the last page. For this reason it does not give the signature, but judging by its style and calligraphy it can be said that it was written by Tomas Arejola . (Note of the Editor of the Epistolario Rizalino .)