Accepted Model for the Rizal Monument
From a photograph.

The Rizal Monument in Front of the New Capital
From a sketch.

The Story of the Monkey and the Tortoise
Six facsimiles from Rizal's originals.





CHAPTER I

America's Forerunner

THE lineage of a hero who made the history of his country during its
most critical period, and whose labors constitute its hope for the
future, must be more than a simple list of an ascending line. The blood
which flowed in his veins must be traced generation by generation,
the better to understand the man, but at the same time the causes
leading to the conditions of his times must be noted, step by step,
in order to give a better understanding of the environment in which
he lived and labored.

The study of the growth of free ideas is now in the days of our
democracy the most important feature of Philippine history; hitherto
this history has consisted of little more than lists of governors,
their term of office, and of the recital of such incidents as were
considered to redound to the glory of Spain, or could be so twisted
and misrepresented as to make them appear to do so. It rarely occurred
to former historians that the lamp of experience might prove a light
for the feet of future generations, and the mistakes of the past
were usually ignored or passed over, thus leaving the way open for
repeating the old errors. But profit, not pride, should be the object
of the study of the past, and our historians of today very largely
concern themselves with mistakes in policy and defects of system;
fortunately for them such critical investigation under our changed
conditions does not involve the discomfort and danger that attended
it in the days of Doctor Rizal.

In the opinion of the martyred Doctor, criticism of the right
sort--even the very best things may be abused till they become
intolerable evils--serves much the same useful warning purpose
for governments that the symptoms of sickness do for persons. Thus
government and individual alike, when advised in time of something
wrong with the system, can seek out and correct the cause before
serious consequences ensue. But the nation that represses honest
criticism with severity, like the individual who deadens his symptoms
with dangerous drugs, is likely to be lulled into a false security
that may prove fatal. Patriot toward Spain and the Philippines alike,
Rizal tried to impress this view upon the government of his day,
with fatal results to himself, and the disastrous effects of not
heeding him have since justified his position.

The very defenses of Old Manila illustrate how the Philippines have
suffered from lack of such devoted, honest and courageous critics as
Jose Rizal. The city wall was built some years later than the first
Spanish occupation to keep out Chinese pirates after Li Ma-hong
destroyed the city. The Spaniards sheltered themselves in the old
Tagalog fort till reenforcements could come from the country. No one
had ever dared to quote the proverb about locking the door after the
horse was stolen. The need for the moat, so recently filled in, was
not seen until after the bitter experience of the easy occupation of
Manila by the English, but if public opinion had been allowed free
expression this experience might have been avoided. And the free
space about the walls was cleared of buildings only after these same
buildings had helped to make the same occupation of the city easier,
yet there were many in Manila who foresaw the danger but feared to
foretell it.

Had the people of Spain been free to criticise the Spaniards' way of
waiting to do things until it is too late, that nation, at one time the
largest and richest empire in the world, would probably have been saved
from its loss of territory and its present impoverished condition. And
had the early Filipinos, to whom splendid professions and sweeping
promises were made, dared to complain of the Peninsular policy of
procrastination--the "manana" habit, as it has been called--Spain
might have been spared Doctor Rizal's terrible but true indictment
that she retarded Philippine progress, kept the Islands miserably
ruled for 333 years and in the last days of the nineteenth century was
still permitting mediaeval malpractices. Rizal did not believe that
his country was able to stand alone as a separate government. He
therefore desired to preserve the Spanish sovereignty in the
Philippines, but he desired also to bring about reforms and conditions
conducive to advancement. To this end he carefully pointed out those
colonial shortcomings that caused friction, kept up discontent, and
prevented safe progress, and that would have been perfectly easy to
correct. Directly as well as indirectly, the changes he proposed were
calculated to benefit the homeland quite as much as the Philippines,
but his well-meaning efforts brought him hatred and an undeserved
death, thus proving once more how thankless is the task of telling
unpleasant truths, no matter how necessary it may be to do so. Because
Rizal spoke out boldly, while realizing what would probably be his
fate, history holds him a hero and calls his death a martyrdom. He
was not one of those popularity-seeking, self-styled patriots who are
ever mouthing "My country, right or wrong;" his devotion was deeper
and more disinterested. When he found his country wrong he willingly
sacrificed himself to set her right. Such unselfish spirits are rare;