Noli me tángere. English

  III

  He who of old would rend the oak, Dream'd not of the rebound; Chain'd by the trunk he vainly broke Alone--how look'd he round?

  BYRON.

  Reason and moderation in the person of Rizal scorned and banished,the spirit of Jean Paul Marat and John Brown of Ossawatomie rises tothe fore in the shape of one Andres Bonifacio, warehouse porter, whosits up o' nights copying all the letters and documents that he can layhands on; composing grandiloquent manifestoes in Tagalog; drawing upmagnificent appointments in the names of prominent persons who wouldlater suffer even to the shedding of their life's blood through hismania for writing history in advance; spelling out Spanish tales ofthe French Revolution; babbling of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity;hinting darkly to his confidants that the President of France had begunlife as a blacksmith. Only a few days after Rizal was so summarilyhustled away, Bonifacio gathered together a crowd of malcontents andignorant dupes, some of them composing as choice a gang of cutthroatsas ever slit the gullet of a Chinese or tied mutilated prisoners inant hills, and solemnly organized the _Kataastaasang Kagalang-galangKatipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan_, "Supreme Select Association of theSons of the People," for the extermination of the ruling race andthe restoration of the Golden Age. It was to bring the people intoconcerted action for a general revolt on a fixed date, when theywould rise simultaneously, take possession of the city of Manila,and--the rest were better left to the imagination, for they had beenreared under the Spanish colonial system and imitativeness has everbeen pointed out as a cardinal trait in the Filipino character. Noquarter was to be asked or given, and the most sacred ties, even ofconsanguinity, were to be disregarded in the general slaughter. Tothe inquiry of a curious neophyte as to how the Spaniards wereto be distinguished from the other Europeans, in order to avoidinternational complications, dark Andres replied that in case ofdoubt they should proceed with due caution but should take good carethat they made no mistakes about letting any of the _Castilas_ escapetheir vengeance. The higher officials of the government were to betaken alive as hostages, while the friars were to be reserved for aspecial holocaust on Bagumbayan Field, where over their incineratedremains a heaven-kissing monument would be erected.

  This Katipunan seems to have been an outgrowth from Spanishfreemasonry, introduced into the Philippines by a Spaniard namedMorayta and Marcelo H. del Pilar, a native of Bulacan Province who wasthe practical leader of the Filipinos in Spain, but who died there in1896 just as he was setting out for Hongkong to mature his plans for ageneral uprising to expel the friar orders. There had been some masonicsocieties in the islands for some time, but the membership had beenlimited to Peninsulars, and they played no part in the politics of thetime. But about 1888 Filipinos began to be admitted into some of them,and later, chiefly through the exertions of Pilar, lodges exclusivelyfor them were instituted. These soon began to display great activity,especially in the transcendental matter of collections, so that theirexistence became a source of care to the government and a nightmare tothe religious orders. From them, and with a perversion of the idea inRizal's still-born _Liga_, it was an easy transition to the Katipunan,which was to put aside all pretense of reconciliation with Spain,and at the appointed time rise to exterminate not only the friarsbut also all the Spaniards and Spanish sympathizers, thus to bringabout the reign of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, under the benignguidance of Patriot Bonifacio, with his bolo for a scepter.

  With its secrecy and mystic forms, its methods of threats andintimidation, the Katipunan spread rapidly, especially among theTagalogs, the most intransigent of the native peoples, and, it shouldbe noted, the ones in Whose territory the friars were the principallandlords. It was organized on the triangle plan, so that no membermight know or communicate with more than three others--the one abovehim from whom he received his information and instructions and twobelow to whom he transmitted them. The initiations were conducted withgreat secrecy and solemnity, calculated to inspire the new memberswith awe and fear. The initiate, after a series of blood-curdlingordeals to try out his courage and resolution, swore on a human skulla terrific oath to devote his life and energies to the exterminationof the white race, regardless of age or sex, and later affixed toit his signature or mark, usually the latter, with his own bloodtaken from an incision in the left arm or left breast. This was oneform of the famous "blood compact," which, if history reads aright,played so important a part in the assumption of sovereignty over thePhilippines by Legazpi in the name of Philip II.

  Rizal was made the honorary president of the association, hisportrait hung in all the meeting-halls, and the magic of his nameused to attract the easily deluded masses, who were in a state ofagitated ignorance and growing unrest, ripe for any movement thatlooked anti-governmental, and especially anti-Spanish. Soon afterthe organization had been perfected, collections began to be takenup--those collections were never overlooked--for the purpose ofchartering a steamer to rescue him from Dapitan and transport him toSingapore, whence he might direct the general uprising, the day andthe hour for which were fixed by Bonifacio for August twenty-sixth,1896, at six o'clock sharp in the evening, since lack of precisionin his magnificent programs was never a fault of that bold patriot,his logic being as severe as that of the Filipino policeman who putthe flag at half-mast on Good Friday.

  Of all this Rizal himself was, of course, entirely ignorant, untilin May, 1896, a Filipino doctor named Pio Valenzuela, a creature ofBonifacio's, was despatched to Dapitan, taking along a blind man as apretext for the visit to the famous oculist, to lay the plans beforehim for his consent and approval. Rizal expostulated with Valenzuelafor a time over such a mad and hopeless venture, which would only bringruin and misery upon the masses, and then is said to have very humanlylost his patience, ending the interview "in so bad a humor and withwords so offensive that the deponent, who had gone with the intentionof remaining there a month, took the steamer on the following day, forreturn to Manila." [12] He reported secretly to Bonifacio, who bestowedseveral choice Tagalog epithets on Rizal, and charged his envoy tosay nothing about the failure of his mission, but rather to give theimpression that he had been successful. Rizal's name continued to beused as the shibboleth of the insurrection, and the masses were madeto believe that he would appear as their leader at the appointed hour.

  Vague reports from police officers, to the effect that somethingunusual in the nature of secret societies was going on among thepeople, began to reach the government, but no great attention waspaid to them, until the evening of August nineteenth, when the parishpriest of Tondo was informed by the mother-superior of one of theconvent-schools that she had just learned of a plot to massacre allthe Spaniards. She had the information from a devoted pupil, whosebrother was a compositor in the office of the _Diario de Manila_. Asis so frequently the case in Filipino families, this elder sister wasthe purse-holder, and the brother's insistent requests for money,which was needed by him to meet the repeated assessments made onthe members as the critical hour approached, awakened her curiosityand suspicion to such an extent that she forced him to confide thewhole plan to her. Without delay she divulged it to her patroness,who in turn notified the curate of Tondo, where the printing-officewas located. The priest called in two officers of the Civil Guard, whoarrested the young printer, frightened a confession out of him, andthat night, in company with the friar, searched the printing-office,finding secreted there several lithographic plates for printingreceipts and certificates of membership in the Katipunan, with anumber of documents giving some account of the plot.

  Then the Spanish population went wild. General Ramon Blanco wasgovernor and seems to have been about the only person who kept hishead at all. He tried to prevent giving so irresponsible a movement afictitious importance, but was utterly powerless to stay the clamorfor blood which at once arose, loudest on the part of those allegedministers of the gentle Christ. The gates of the old Walled City,long fallen into disuse, were cleaned and put in order, martial lawwa
s declared, and wholesale arrests made. Many of the prisoners wereconfined in Fort Santiago, one batch being crowded into a dungeonfor which the only ventilation was a grated opening at the top, andone night a sergeant of the guard carelessly spread his sleeping-matover this, so the next morning some fifty-five asphyxiated corpseswere hauled away. On the twenty-sixth armed insurrection broke out atCaloocan, just north of Manila, from time immemorial the resort of badcharacters from all the country round and the center of brigandage,while at San Juan del Monte, on the outskirts of the city, severalbloody skirmishes were fought a few days later with the _GuardiaCivil Veterana_, the picked police force.

  Bonifacio had been warned of the discovery of his schemes in time tomake his escape and flee to the barrio, or village, of Balintawak,a few miles north of Manila, thence to lead the attack on Caloocanand inaugurate the reign of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity in themanner in which Philippine insurrections have generally had a habitof starting--with the murder of Chinese merchants and the pillage oftheir shops. He had from the first reserved for himself the importantoffice of treasurer in the Katipunan, in addition to being on occasionspresident and at all times its ruling spirit, so he now establishedhimself as dictator and proceeded to appoint a magnificent staff, mostof whom contrived to escape as soon as they were out of reach of hisbolo. Yet he drew considerable numbers about him, for this man, thoughalmost entirely unlettered, seems to have been quite a personalityamong his own people, especially possessed of that gift of oratoryin his native tongue to which the Malay is so preeminently susceptible.

  In Manila a special tribunal was constituted and worked steadily,sometimes through the siesta-hour, for there were times, of whichthis was one, when even Spanish justice could be swift. Bagumbayanbegan to be a veritable field of blood, as the old methods ofrepression were resorted to for the purpose of striking terror intothe native population by wholesale executions, nor did the rulingpowers realize that the time for such methods had passed. It was acase of sixteenth-century colonial methods fallen into fretful andfrantic senility, so in all this wretched business it is doubtful whimto pity the more: the blind stupidity of the fossilized conservativesincontinently throwing an empire away, forfeiting their influence overa people whom they, by temperament and experience, should have beenfitted to control and govern; or the potential cruelty of pervertedhuman nature in the dark Frankenstein who would wreak upon the rulersin their decadent days the most hideous of the methods in the systemthat produced him, as he planned his festive holocaust and carmagnoleon the spot where every spark of initiative and leadership amonghis people, both good and bad, had been summarily and ruthlesslyextinguished. There is at least a world of reflection in it for therulers of men.

  In the meantime Rizal, wearying of the quiet life in Dapitan anddoubtless foreseeing the impending catastrophe, had requested leaveto volunteer his services as a physician in the military hospitalsof Cuba, of the horrors and sufferings in which he had heard. GeneralBlanco at once gladly acceded to this request and had him brought toManila, but unfortunately the boat carrying him arrived there a daytoo late for him to catch the regular August mail-steamer to Spain,so he was kept in the cruiser a prisoner of war, awaiting the nexttransportation. While he was thus detained, the Katipunan plot wasdiscovered and the rebellion broke out. He was accused of beingthe head of it, but Blanco gave him a personal letter completelyexonerating him from any complicity in the outbreak, as well as aletter of recommendation to the Spanish minister of war. He was placedon the _Isla de Panay_ when it left for Spain on September third andtraveled at first as a passenger. At Singapore he was advised to landand claim British protection, as did some of his fellow travelers,but he refused to do so, saying that his conscience was clear.

  As the name of Rizal had constantly recurred during the trialsof the Katipunan suspects, the military tribunal finally issued aformal demand for him. The order of arrest was cabled to Port Saidand Rizal there placed in solitary confinement for the remainderof the voyage. Arrived at Barcelona, he was confined in the grimfortress of Montjuich, where; by a curious coincidence, the governorwas the same Despujols who had issued the decree of banishment in1892. Shortly afterwards, he was placed on the transport _Colon_,which was bound for the Philippines with troops, Blanco having at lastbeen stirred to action. Strenuous efforts were now made by Rizal'sfriends in London to have him removed from the ship at Singapore,but the British authorities declined to take any action, on the groundthat he was on a Spanish warship and therefore beyond the jurisdictionof their courts. The _Colon_ arrived at Manila on November third andRizal was imprisoned in Fort Santiago, while a special tribunal wasconstituted to try him on the charges of carrying on anti-patrioticand anti-religious propaganda, rebellion, sedition, and the formationof illegal associations. Some other charges may have been overlookedin the hurry and excitement.

  It would be almost a travesty to call a trial the proceedings whichbegan early in December and dragged along until the twenty-sixth. Rizalwas defended by a young Spanish officer selected by him from amonga number designated by the tribunal, who chivalrously performed sounpopular a duty as well as he could. But the whole affair was amockery of justice, for the Spanish government in the Philippines hadfinally and hopelessly reached the condition graphically pictured byMr. Kipling:

  Panic that shells the drifting spar-- Loud waste with none to check-- Mad fear that rakes a scornful star Or sweeps a consort's deck!

  The clamor against Blanco had resulted in his summary removal by royaldecree and the appointment of a real "pacificator," Camilo Polavieja.

  While in prison Rizal prepared an address to those of his countrymenwho were in armed rebellion, repudiating the use of his name anddeprecating the resort to violence. The closing words are a compendiumof his life and beliefs: "Countrymen: I have given proofs, as well asthe best of you, of desiring liberty for our country, and I continueto desire it. But I place as a premise the education of the people,so that by means of instruction and work they may have a personalityof their own and that they may make themselves worthy of that sameliberty. In my writings I have recommended the study of the civicvirtues, without which there can be no redemption. I have also written(and my words have been repeated) that reforms, to be fruitful, mustcome from _above_, that those which spring from _below_ are uncertainand insecure movements. Imbued with these ideas, I cannot do less thancondemn, and I do condemn, this absurd, savage rebellion, plannedbehind my back, which dishonors the Filipinos and discredits thosewho can speak for us. I abominate all criminal actions and refuse anykind of participation in them, pitying with all my heart the dupes whohave allowed themselves to be deceived. Go back, then, to your homes,and may God forgive those who have acted in bad faith." This address,however, was not published by the Spanish authorities, since they didnot consider it "patriotic" enough; instead, they killed the writer!

  Rizal appeared before the tribunal bound, closely guarded by twoPeninsular soldiers, but maintained his serenity throughout andanswered the charges in a straightforward way. He pointed out thefact that he had never taken any great part in politics, havingeven quarreled with Marcelo del Pilar, the active leader of theanti-clericals, by reason of those perennial "subscriptions," and thatduring the time he was accused of being the instigator and organizer ofarmed rebellion he had been a close prisoner in Dapitan under strictsurveillance by both the military and ecclesiastical authorities. Theprosecutor presented a lengthy document, which ran mostly to words,about the only definite conclusion laid down in it being that thePhilippines "are, and always must remain, Spanish territory." Whatthere may have been in Rizal's career to hang such a conclusionupon is not quite dear, but at any rate this learned legal light wasevidently still thinking in colors on the map serenely unconscious inhis European pseudo-prescience of the new and wonderful developmentin the Western Hemisphere--humanity militant, Lincolnism.

  The death sentence was asked, but the longer the case dragged on themore favorable it began
to look for the accused, so the presidentof the tribunal, after deciding, Jeffreys-like, that the charges hadbeen proved, ordered that no further evidence be taken. Rizal betrayedsome sunrise when his doom was thus foreshadowed, for, dreamer thathe was, he seems not to have anticipated such a fatal eventuality forhimself. He did not lose his serenity, however, even when the tribunalpromptly brought in a verdict of guilty and imposed the death sentence,upon which Polavieja the next day placed his _Cumplase_, fixing themorning of December thirtieth for the execution.

  So Rizal's fate was sealed. The witnesses against him, in so faras there was any substantial testimony at all, had been his owncountrymen, coerced or cajoled into making statements which they havesince repudiated as false, and which in some cases were extorted fromthem by threats and even torture. But he betrayed very little emotion,even maintaining what must have been an assumed cheerfulness. Onlyone reproach is recorded: that he had been made a dupe of, that he hadbeen deceived by every one, even the _bankeros_ and _cocheros_. His oldJesuit instructors remained with him in the _capilla_, or death-cell,[13] and largely through the influence of an image of the Sacred Heart,which he had carved as a schoolboy, it is claimed that a reconciliationwith the Church was effected. There has been considerable pragmaticaldiscussion as to what form of retraction from him was necessary,since he had been, after studying in Europe, a frank freethinker, butsuch futile polemics may safely be left to the learned doctors. Thathe was reconciled with the Church would seem to be evidenced bythe fact that just before the execution he gave legal status ashis wife to the woman, a rather remarkable Eurasian adventuress,who had lived with him in Dapitan, and the religious ceremony wasthe only one then recognized in the islands. [14] The greater partof his last night on earth was spent in composing a chain of verse;no very majestic flight of poesy, but a pathetic monody throbbing withpatient resignation and inextinguishable hope, one of the sweetest,saddest swan-songs ever sung.

  Thus he was left at the last, entirely alone. As soon as his doombecame certain the Patriots had all scurried to cover, one gentlepoetaster even rushing into doggerel verse to condemn him as areversion to barbarism; the wealthier suspects betook themselvesto other lands or made judicious use of their money-bags among theSpanish officials; the better classes of the population flounderedhopelessly, leaderless, in the confused whirl of opinions and passions;while the voiceless millions for whom he had spoken moved on in dumb,uncomprehending silence. He had lived in that higher dreamland ofthe future, ahead of his countrymen, ahead even of those who assumedto be the mentors of his people, and he must learn, as does everynoble soul that labors "to make the bounds of freedom wider yet,"the bitter lesson that nine-tenths, if not all, the woes that afflicthumanity spring from man's own stupid selfishness, that the wrestingof the scepter from the tyrant is often the least of the task, thatthe bondman comes to love his bonds--like Chillon's prisoner, his verychains and he grow friends,--but that the struggle for human freedommust go on, at whatever cost, in ever-widening circles, "wave afterwave, each mightier than the last," for as long as one body toils infetters or one mind welters in blind ignorance, either of the slave'sbase delusion or the despot's specious illusion, there can be no finalsecurity for any free man, or his children, or his children's children.