Rizal’s Life From America To London
R.Dullin
Rizal being a first time in a foreign land normally has a different impression. As he visited the US he had positive and negative impressions with this country. The positive impressions he had are: a). the material progress of the country as shown in the great cities, huge farms, flourishing industries and busy factories, b). the drive and energy of the American people, c). the natural beauty of he land d). the high standard of living, e). the opportunities for better life offered to poor immigrants. Despite of this positive impression of Rizal there’s is only one negative impression he had noticed and this is the lack of democracy and freedom of which the American’s talk so much but do not practice. The city do not have Civil Liberty, that Negro cannot marry a white woman. For Rizal US is ”the land for excellence of freedom but only for the whites” .
Rizal chooses to live in London from May 1888 to March 1889 for three reasons. One is to improve his knowledge of the English language. Second is to study and annotate Morga’s Sucesos de Las Islas Filipinas a rare copy of which he heard to be available in British Museum. Third is because London is the safe place for him to carry on his fight against Spanish tyranny. He feel more comfortable and have more freedom to express his feelings.
Rizal while in London became the boarder of Beckett Family who had two sons and four daughters. Among them which is Gertude “Gettie” Beckett is the oldest. She is a buxom girl with brown hair, blue eyes and rosy cheeks. Rizal found exhilating joy in Gertude’s company and their friendship drifted towards romance. Same with Gertude she felt in love with Rizal. She was very happy during family picnics because Rizal is with them and gave all her attention to him and during rainy days, he helped Rizal in mixing colors for painting and assisted him in preparing the clay for sculpturing.
The boarding house were he stayed which is the Beckett family boarding house is very near to the British Museum, he was able to have access to the historical materials and document. He spent much time in the British Museum poring over the pages of Morga’s Sucesos and laboriously reading the old histories of the Philippines.
Rizal annotate and published Morga”s Sucesos because it was the best of the may histories of the Philippines written by the early Spanish writers, being accurate in the narration of events, unbiased in judgement and unmarried by childish fantacies.
The new edition of Morga’s Sucesos contains the Prologue written by Professor Blumentritt, upon the request of Rizal. In his Prologue, Blumentritt commended Rizal for his fine historical scholarship. However, he frankly densured Rizall for two things which revealed Rizal’s error namely: 1). Rizal commits the error of many historians in appraising the events of the past in the lights of present standards and 2). Rizal’s attacks on the church were unfair and unjustified because the abuse of the friars should not be construed to mean that Catholism is bad. It has also a dedication to the Filipino people so that they would know of their glorious past. In this historical work, Rizal proved that the Filipinos were already civilized before the advent of Spain. They had clothes,
government, laws, writing, literature, religion, arts, sciences and commerce with neighboring Asian nation. Rizal this blasted the historical heresies of the Spanish writers who claimed that the early Filipinos were savages and were of low mentality.
Rizal decided to visit London and Paris because he will going to search for more historical materials in Biblioteque Natonale. He also contacted the compatriots and surveyed the political situation with regards to the agitation for Philippine reforms. He also met for the first time Marcelo H. Del Pilar and Mariano Ponce, the two titans of the propaganda movement and promised to cooperate in the fight for reforms.
Rizal leaned that his friends in Barcelona planning to establish a patriot society which is the Asociacion La Solidaridad (Solidaridad Association) that would cooperate in the crusade foe reforms. Almost all the officers of the Association lived in Barcelona so that’s why it was inaugurated and establish their on December 31, 1888. The officers of the Association are the following, Galicano Apacible – President; Graciano Lopez Jaena – Vice President; Manuel Santa Maria - Secretary; Mariano Ponce – Treasurer; Jose Maria Panganiban –Accountant;
Rizal while in London write different literary woks. First of his literary work is the “LA Vision del Fray Rodriguez (The Vision of Fray Rodriguez). This is a pamphlet for Fray Rodriguez who send him a news about unabated attack on his Noli. It was published in Barcelona under the pen name Dimas – Alang. This opus is a satire depecting a spirited dialogue between St. Augustine and Fr. Rodriguez. In writing the La Vision del Fray, he demonstrated two thins first his profound knowledge of religion and second his biting satire. Other Literary works of Rizal is the famous letter to the young women of Malolos written in Tagalog on February 22,1889 upon the request of Marcelo H. Del Pilar to praise the young ladies of Malolos for their courage to estabkish a school where they would learn Spanish, despite the opposition of FR. Felipe Garcia. The main points of this letter were as follows: 1). Filipinos mother should teach her children love of God,fatherland and mankind, 2). The Flipino mother should be glad, like the Spartan mother to offer his sons in the defense of the fatherland, 3). A Filipino woman should know how to preserve her dignity and honor, 4). Filipino woman should eduacate herself, aside retaining her good racial virtues, 5). Faith is not merely reciting long prayers and wearing religious pictures.
