Leitmeritz, Austria
Rizal’s letter, a cause for joy – He would send him books – Loleng getting older –Greetings of the Klutschacks – Dr. Czepelack dies – Mrs. A. B. Meyer admires Rizal’s The Triumph of Death over Life – The European linguists take interest in the illustrious deportee – He should prepare a Tagalog grammar – Blumentritt gave the names of missionaries to some Mindanao rivers.
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Leitmeritz, Austria
3 May 1893
Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt
Mr. Jose Rizal
My very dear Friend Rizal,
Through the kindness of Mr. Carnicero, commander of that district of Dapitan, your affectionate letter of 15 February last reached my hands and you cannot imagine our joy upon receiving those lines written by our esteemed Rizal. All my family surrounded me and we discussed everything you have written us and we drank to your health and to that of Mr. Carnicero who, by treating you well, proves that Spanish generosity does not always flee away through the influence of tropical climate. By the same mail of today I send you some pamphlets written in German and I hope they will pass any kind of censorship for there is nothing in them that will offend, irritate, or disturb the governing class of the country. The covers of the pamphlets of Reclam’s Universal Bibliothek contain the catalogue of that popular library and I ask you to read them and tell me which books announced in them you would like to read and I shall have the greatest pleasure to send them to you.
My whole family enjoy perfect health. Loleng is not yet a young lady, though she will be next year; she is now 13 years old. Numerous times we talk about you. The brothers Klutschack greet you affectionately. Robert Klutschack, the professor, is always feeling bad, neuralgia making him suffer greatly. Nevertheless, this good old man – he is in his 70’s – takes long excursions to the mountains around.
The death of Mr. Czepelack was for me a disaster. He was the only one of my friends residing in this city who was always in accord with my political, national, and social ideas. Our conversations were like a spiritual bath to both of us alike; and his death has left a gap in my circle of friends which is very difficult to fill.
Yesterday Dr. and Mrs. A. B. Meyer of Dresden called on us. Mrs. Meyer was surprised by the magnificence and geniality of the statues you presented to me when you were in Belgium. Mrs. Meyer, who is a painter, admired particularly the statue The Triumph of Death over Life, saying that the idea personified by that group reveals an artist of the first order.
The French, English, Dutch, and German linguists are very much interested in you. They are asking me how you are there, how they treat you, and if they accord you the distinction that a man of so much talent and reputation in the learned world of Europe deserves. You would contribute greatly to their solace if you would publish a grammar of the Tagalog language. At least they will know that the Spanish government permits you to engage in scientific work.
You know very well that I devote all my free hours from official duties to the study of my second motherland, the Philippines. These days I have read several pamphlets by Spanish authors, friars, and non-friars, which do not satisfy me, for they show that their authors do not know the most interesting things of the country in which they live. I shall have the same impression if a German residing in Madrid should write an article about Madrid without knowing that the museums of that capital city contain precious gems of paintings.
I request you to transmit to Father Sanchez my respectful greetings. I must admit that when I learned that they have banished you to a town administered by the Jesuit fathers, my anxiety was calmed and I was no longer so distressed, knowing that where there are Jesuits, there will also be science, and thus you would not drag out an isolated life, without contact with learned and educated men. Please tell Father Sanchez that when I published my ethnographic map of central Mindanao, I found some rivers without names that flow into Butuan Lake which do not appear on the maps, sketches, and guides that I used as reference in that cartographic work.
The directors of the Cartographic Institute of Gotha, where that map was printed, proposed to me that it would be a good thing for me to baptize those rivers which had no names on the original maps, sketches, and guides. As I had no inconvenience whatever; I acceded to their proposal, giving those rivers the names of General San Feliu and of some Jesuit fathers among which is the name of the revered missionary Father Sanchez, whose letters published in Cartas de Misioneros I have always read with singular attention and interest.
My family sends you a thousand affectionate regards. A close embrace of your friend.
Fernando Blumentritt
I do not write you in German because I suppose that this would make difficult the censorship of our correspondence.
01-788 [Family]