the essay los viajes is published in 1888

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Jose Rizal’s Essays and Articles

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Articles in Diariong Tagalog

“El Amor Patrio” (The Love of Country)

This was the first article Rizal wrote in the Spanish soil. Written in the summer of 1882, it was published in Diariong Tagalog in August. He used the pen name “Laong Laan” (ever prepared) as a byline for this article and he sent it to Marcelo H. Del Pilar for Tagalog translation.

Written during the Spanish colonization and reign over the Philippine islands, the article aimed to establish nationalism and patriotism among the natives. Rizal extended his call for the love of country to his fellow compatriots in Spain, for he believed that nationalism should be exercised anywhere a person is. 

“Revista De Madrid” (Review of Madrid)

This article written by Rizal on November 29, 1882 wasunfortunatelyreturned to him because Diariong Tagalog had ceased publications for lack of funds.

Articles in La Solidaridad

“Los Agricultores Filipinos” (The Filipino Farmers)

This essay dated March 25, 1889 was the first article of Rizal published in La Solidaridad. In this writing, he depicted the deplorable conditions of the Filipino farmers in the Philippines, hence the backwardness of the country.

“A La Defensa” (To La Defensa)

This was in response to the anti-Filipino writing by Patricio de la Escosura published by La Defensa on March 30, 1889 issue. Written on April 30, 1889, Rizal’s article refuted the views of Escosura, calling the readers’ attention to the insidious influences of the friars to the country.

“Los Viajes” (Travels)

Published in the La Solidaridad on May 15, 1889, this article tackled the rewards gained by the people who are well-traveled to many places in the world.

“La Verdad Para Todos” (The Truth for All)

This was Rizal’s counter to the Spanish charges that the natives were ignorant and depraved. On May 31, 1889, it was published in the La Solidaridad.  

"Vicente Barrantes’ Teatro Tagalo”

The first installment of Rizal’s “Vicente Barrantes” was published in the La Solidaridad on June 15, 1889. In this article, Rizal exposed Barrantes’ lack of knowledge on the Tagalog theatrical art.  

“Defensa Del Noli”

The manuscripts of the “Defensa del Noli” was written on June 18, 1889. Rizal sent the article to Marcelo H. Del Pilar, wanting it to be published by the end of that month in the La Solidaridad.

“Verdades  Nuevas”(New Facts/New Truths)

In this article dated July 31, 1889, Rizal replied to the letter of Vicente Belloc Sanchez which was published on July 4, 1889 in ‘La Patria’, a newspaper in Madrid. Rizal addressed Sanchez’s allegation that provision of reforms to the Philippines would devastate the diplomatic rule of the Catholic friars.

“Una Profanacion” (A Desecration/A Profanation)

Published on July 31, 1889, this article mockingly attacked the friars for refusing to give Christian burial to Mariano Herbosa, Rizal’s brother in law, who died of cholera in May 23, 1889. Being the husband of Lucia Rizal (Jose’s sister), Herbosa was denied of burial in the Catholic cemetery by the priests.

“Crueldad” (Cruelty),

Dated August 15, 1889, this was Rizal’s witty defense of Blumentritt from the libelous attacks of his enemies.

“Diferencias” (Differences) 

Published on September 15, 1889, this article countered the biased article entitled “Old Truths” which was printed in La Patria on August 14, 1889. “Old Truths” ridiculed those Filipinos who asked for reforms.

“Inconsequencias” (Inconsequences)

The Spanish Pablo Mir Deas attacked Antonio Luna in the Barcelona newspaper “El Pueblo Soberano”. As Rizal’s defense of Luna, he wrote this article which was published on November 30, 1889.

“Llanto Y Risas” (Tears and Laughter)

Dated November 30, 1889, this article was a condemnation of the racial prejudice of the Spanish against the brown race. Rizal remembered that he earned first prize in a literary contest in 1880. He narrated nonetheless how the Spaniard and mestizo spectators stopped their applause upon noticing that the winner had a brown skin complexion.

“Filipinas Dentro De Cien Anos” (The Philippines within One Hundred Years)

This was serialized in La Solidaridad on September 30, October 31, December 15, 1889 and February 15, 1890. In the articles, Rizal estimated the future of the Philippines in the span of a hundred years and foretold the catastrophic end of Spanish rule in Asia. He ‘prophesied’ Filipinos’ revolution against Spain, winning their independence, but later the Americans would come as the new colonizer

The essay also talked about the glorious past of the Philippines, recounted the deterioration of the economy, and exposed the causes of natives’ sufferings under the cruel Spanish rule. In the essay, he cautioned the Spain as regards the imminent downfall of its domination. He awakened the minds and the hearts of the Filipinos concerning the oppression of the Spaniards and encouraged them to fight for their right.

Part of the essays reads, “History does not record in its annals any lasting domination by one people over another, of different races, of diverse usages and customs, of opposite and divergent ideas. One of the two had to yield and succumb.” The Philippines had regained its long-awaited democracy and liberty some years after Rizal’s death. This was the realization of what the hero envisioned in this essay.

Dated January 15, 1890, this article was the hero’s reply to Governor General Weyler who told the people in Calamba that they “should not allow themselves to be deceived by the vain promises of their ungrateful sons.” The statement was made as a reaction to Rizal’s project of relocating the oppressed and landless Calamba tenants to North Borneo.

“Sobre La Nueva Ortografia De La Lengua Tagala” (On The New Orthography of The Tagalog Language)

Rizal expressed here his advocacy of a new spelling in Tagalog. In this article dated April 15, 1890, he laid down the rules of the new Tagalog orthography and, with modesty and sincerity, gave the credit for the adoption of this new orthography to Dr. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera, author of the celebrated work “El Sanscrito en la Lengua Tagala” (Sanskrit in the Tagalog Language) published in Paris, 1884.

“I put this on record,” wrote Rizal, “so that when the history of this orthography is traced, which is already being adopted by the enlightened Tagalists, that what is Caesar’s be given to Caesar. This innovation is due solely to Dr. Pardo de Tavera’s studies on Tagalismo. I was one of its most zealous propagandists.”

“Sobre La Indolencia De Los Filipinas” (The Indolence of the Filipinos) 

This logical essay is a proof of the national hero’s historical scholarship. The essay rationally countered the accusations by Spaniards that Filipinos were indolent (lazy) during the Spanish reign. It was published in La Solidaridad in five consecutive issues on July (15 and 31), August (1 and 31) and September  1, 1890.

Rizal argued that Filipinos are innately hardworking prior to the rule of the Spaniards. What brought the decrease in the productive activities of the natives was actually the Spanish colonization. Rizal explained the alleged Filipino indolence by pointing to these factors: 1) the Galleon Trade destroyed the previous links of the Philippines with other countries in Asia and the Middle East, thereby eradicating small local businesses and handicraft industries; 2) the Spanish forced labor compelled the Filipinos to work in shipyards, roads, and other public works, thus abandoning their agricultural farms and industries; 3) many Filipinos became landless and wanderers because Spain did not defend them against pirates and foreign invaders; 4) the system of education offered by the colonizers was impractical as it was mainly about repetitive prayers and had nothing to do with agricultural and industrial technology; 5) the Spaniards were a bad example as negligent officials would come in late and leave early in their offices and Spanish women were always followed by servants; 6) gambling like cockfights was established, promoted, and explicitly practiced by Spanish government officials and friars themselves especially during feast days; 7) the crooked system of religion discouraged the natives to work hard by teaching that it is easier for a poor man to enter heaven; and 8) the very high taxes were discouraging as big part of natives’ earnings would only go to the officials and friars.

Moreover, Rizal explained that Filipinos were just wise in their level of work under topical climate. He explained, “violent work is not a good thing in tropical countries as it is would be parallel to death, destruction, annihilation. Rizal concluded that natives’ supposed indolence was an end-product of the Spanish colonization.

Other Rizal’s articles which were also printed in La Solidaridad were “A La Patria” (November 15, 1889), “Sin Nobre”   (Without Name) (February 28, 1890), and “Cosas de Filipinas”   (Things about the Philippines)  (April 30, 1890).

Historical Commentaries Written in London

This historical commentary was written by Rizal in London on December 6, 1888.

“Acerca de Tawalisi de Ibn Batuta”

This historical commentaryis believed to form part of ‘Notes’ (written incollaboration with A.B. Meyer and F. Blumentritt) on a Chinese code in the Middle Ages, translated from the German by Dr. Hirth. Written on January 7, 1889, the article was about the “Tawalisi” which refers to the northern part of Luzon or to any of the adjoining islands.

It was also in London where Rizal penned the following historical commentaries: “La Political Colonial On Filipinas” (Colonial Policy In The Philippines), “Manila En El Mes De Diciembre” (December , 1872), “Historia De La Familia Rizal De Calamba” (History Of The Rizal Family Of Calamba), and “Los Pueblos Del Archipelago Indico (The People’s Of The Indian Archipelago )

Other Writings in London

“La Vision Del Fray Rodriguez” (The Vision of Fray Rodriguez)

Jose Rizal, upon receipt of the news concerning Fray Rodriguez’ bitter attack on his novel Noli Me Tangere, wrote this defense under his pseudonym “Dimas Alang.” Published in Barcelona, it is a satire depicting a spirited dialogue between the Catholic saint Augustine and Rodriguez. Augustine, in the fiction, told Rodriguez that he (Augustine) was commissioned by God to tell him (Rodriguez) of his stupidity and his penance on earth that he (Rodriguez) shall continue to write more stupidity so that all men may laugh at him. In this pamphlet, Rizal demonstrated his profound knowledge in religion and his biting satire.

“To The Young Women of Malolos”

Originally written in Tagalog, this famous essay directly addressed to the women of Malolos, Bulacan was written by Rizal  as a response to Marcelo H. Del Pilar’s request.

Rizal was greatly impressed by the bravery of the 20 young women of Malolos who planned to establish a school where they could learn Spanish despite the opposition of Felipe Garcia, Spanish parish priest of Malolos. The letter expressed Rizal’s yearning that women be granted the same chances given to men in terms of education. In the olden days, young women were not educated because of the principle that they will soon be wives and their primary career would be to take care of the home and children. Rizal however advocated women’s right to education.

            Below are some of the points mentioned by Rizal in his letter to the young women of Malolos: 1) The priests in the country that time did not embody the true spirit of Christianity; 2) Private judgment should be used; 3) Mothers should be an epitome of an ideal woman who teaches her children to love God, country, and fellowmen; 4) Mothers should rear children in the service of the state and set standards of behavior for men around her;5) Filipino women must be noble, decent, and dignified and they should be submissive, tender, and loving to their respective husband; and 6) Young women must edify themselves, live the real Christian way with good morals and manners, and should be intelligent in their choice of a lifetime partner.

Writings in Hong Kong

“Ang Mga Karapatan Ng Tao” (The Rights Of Man)

This was Rizal’s Tagalog translation of “The Rights of Man” which was proclaimed by the French Revolution in 1789.

“A La Nacion Espanola”(To The Spanish Nation)

Written in 1891, this was Rizal’s appeal to Spain to rectify the wrongs which the Spanish government and clergy had done to the Calamba tenants.

“Sa Mga Kababayan” (To My Countrymen)

This writing written in December 1891 explained the Calamba agrarian situation .

“Una Visita A La Victoria Gaol” (A Visit To Victoria Gaol), March 2, 1892

On March 2, 1892,Rizal wrote this account of his visit to the colonial prison of Hong Kong. He contrasted in the article the harsh Spanish prison system with the modern and more humane British prison system.

“Colonisation Du British North Borneo, Par De Familles De Iles Philippines” (Colonization Of British North Borneo By Families From The Philippine Islands)

This was Rizal’s elucidation of his pet North Borneo colonization project.

“Proyecto De Colonization Del British North Borneo Por Los Filipinos” (Project Of The Colonization Of British North Borneo By The Filipinos)

In this writing, Rizal further discussed the ideas he presented in “Colonization of British North Borneo by Families from the Philippine Islands.”

“La Mano Roja” (The Red Hand)

This was a writing printed in sheet form. Written in Hong Kong, the article denounced the frequent outbreaks of fires in Manila.

“Constitution of The La Liga Filipina”

This was deemed the most important writing Rizal had made during his Hong Kong stay. Though it was Jose Ma. Basa who conceived the establishment of Liga Filipina (Philippine League), his friend and namesake Jose Rizal was the one who wrote its constitution and founded it.

Articles for Trubner’s Record

Due to the request of Rizal’s friend Dr. Reinhold Rost, the editor of Trubner’s Record (a journal devoted to Asian Studies), Rizal submitted two articles:

Specimens of Tagal Folklore

Published in May 1889, the article contained Filipino proverbs and puzzles.

Two Eastern Fables (June 1889)

It was a comparative study of the Japanese and Philippine folklore. In this essay, Jose Rizal compared the Filipino fable, “The Tortoise and the Monkey” to the Japanese fable “Saru Kani Kassen” (Battle of the Monkey and the Crab).

Citing many similarities in form and content, Rizal surmised that these two fables may have had the same roots in Malay folklore. This scholarly work received serious attention from other ethnologists, and became a topic at an ethnological conference.

Among other things, Rizal noticed that both versions of the fable tackled about morality as both involve the eternal battle between the weak and the powerful. The Filipino version however had more philosophy and plainness of form whereas the Japanese counterpart had more civilization and diplomacy.

Other Writings

“Pensamientos De Un Filipino” (Reflections of A Filipino)

Jose Rizal wrote this in Madrid, Spain from 1883-1885. It spoke of a liberal minded and anti-friar Filipino who bears penalties such as an exile.

“Por Telefono”

This was a witty satire authored by “Dimas Alang” (one of the hero’s pen names) ridiculing the Catholic monk Font, one of the priests who masterminded the banning of the “Noli”. Published in booklet form in Barcelona, Spain, it narrated in a funny way the telephone conversation between Font and the provincial friar of the San Agustin Convent in Manila. 

This pamphlet showed not only Rizal’s cleverness but also his futuristic vision. Amazingly, Rizal had envisaged that overseas telephonic conversations could be carried on—something which was not yet done during that time (Fall of 1889). It was only in 1901, twelve years after Rizal wrote the “Por Telefono,” when the first radio-telegraph signals were received by Marconi across the Atlantic.

“La Instruccion” (The Town Schools In The Philippines)

Using his penname “Laong Laan”, Rizal assessed in this essay the elementary educational system in the Philippines during his time. Having observed the educational systems in Europe, Rizal found the Spanish-administered education in his country poor and futile. The hero thus proposed reforms and suggeted a more significant and engaging system.

Rizal for instance pointed out that there was a problem in the mandated medium of instruction—the colonizers’ language (Spanish) which was not perfectly understood by the natives. Rizal thus favored Philippine languages for workbooks and instructions.

The visionary (if not prophetic) thinking of Rizal might have been working (again) when he wrote the essay. Interestingly, his call for educational reforms, especially his stand on the use of the local languages for instruction, is part of the battle cry and features of today’s K to 12 program in the Philippines ... continue reading  (© 2013 by  Jensen DG. Mañebog )

Jensen DG. Mañebog , the contributor, is a book author and professorial lecturer in the graduate school of a state university in Metro Manila. His unique textbooks and e-books on Rizal (available online)  comprehensively tackle, among others, the respective life of Rizal’s parents, siblings, co-heroes, and girlfriends. (e-mail:   [email protected] )

Tag:  Jose Rizal’s Essays and Articles

For STUDENTS' ASSIGNMENT, use the COMMENT SECTION here: Bonifacio Sends Valenzuela to Rizal in Dapitan

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Travel Quotes by Jose Rizal

Today we commemorate the 118th anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal’s execution. Rizal was many things. He was a writer, a poet, a doctor, and a national hero. But he was also a traveler, chronicling his wanderings in many lands he set foot on, which includes Hong Kong, Singapore, and Europe.

In his essay “Los Viajes”, published in La Solidaridad on 15 May 1889, Rizal shared his thoughts on travel and the many great things that come with it. Here are a few quotes.

That part in full: “He who knows the surface of the earth and the topography of a country only through the examination of maps..is like a man who learns the opera of Meyerbeer or Rossini by reading only reviews in the newspapers. The brush of landscape artists Lorrain, Ruysdael, or Calame can reproduce on canvas the sun’s ray, the coolness of the heavens, the green of the fields, the majesty of the mountains…but what can never be stolen from Nature is that vivid impression that she alone can and knows how to impart–the music of the birds, the movement of the trees, the aroma peculiar to the place–the inexplicable something the traveller feels that cannot be defined and which seems to awaken in him distant memories of happy days, sorrows and joys gone by, never to return.” (Translated from the Spanish by Nick Joaquin)

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15 Nov The Travels of Rizal

Disillusioned with how Filipinos in the Philippines were regarded as second-class citizens in institutions of learning and elsewhere, the National Hero Jose Rizal left the country in May 1882 to pursue further studies abroad. He enrolled in a course in medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain. In June 1883, he traveled to France to observe how medicine was being practiced there.

After his three-month sojourn in France, Rizal returned to Madrid and thought about publishing a book that exposed the colonial relationship of Spain and the Philippines. This idea was realized in March 1887, with the publication of the novel Noli Me Tangere in Germany.

Rizal was actively involved in the Propaganda movement, composed of Filipinos in Spain who sought to direct the attention of Spaniards to the concerns of the Spanish colony in the Philippines. He wrote articles for publications in Manila and abroad; convened with overseas Filipinos to discuss their duty to the country; and called on Spanish authorities to institute reforms in the Philippines, such as granting freedom of the press and Filipino representation in the Spanish Cortes.

Rizal returned to Manila in August 1887, after five years in Europe. However, his homecoming was met by the friars’ furor over Noli Me Tangere . The Archbishop of Manila issued an order banning the possession and reading of the novel, an order that was later reinforced by the governor-general. Six months later, pressured by the Spanish authorities as well as by his family and friends to leave the country and avoid further persecution, Rizal left Manila for Hong Kong.

From Hong Kong, Rizal traveled to Macau and Japan before going to America. Entering San Francisco, California, in April 1888, he visited the states of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Illinois, and New York. He jotted down his observations of the landscape in his diary.

Rizal arrived in England in May 1888. In August, he was admitted to the British Museum, where he copied Antonio de Morga’s massive study of the Philippines, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas , which Rizal later annotated for publication “as a gift to the Filipinos.” In the museum he devoted his time reading all the sources on Philippine history that he could find. He kept up his correspondence with various people, including his family, who were being oppressed by the Spanish religious landowners; the Filipino patriots in Spain; and his Austrian friend, Ferdinand Blumentritt, with whom he planned to form an association of Philippine scholars. From 1888 to 1890 he shuttled between London and Paris, where he wrote ethnographic and history-related studies, as well as political articles. He also frequently visited Spain, where he met with fellow Filipino intellectuals like Marcelo H. del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, and Graciano Lopez-Jaena.

In March 1891, Rizal finished writing his second novel, El Filibusterism o, in France. He planned to publish the book in Belgium, but was financially hard up. His brother’s support from back home was delayed in coming, and he was scrimping on meals and expenses. Finally, in September 1890, El Filibusterismo was published in Ghent using donations from Rizal’s friends.

Meanwhile, a rivalry had ensued between Rizal and del Pilar over the leadership of the Asociación Hispano Filipino in Spain. Rizal decided to leave Europe to avoid the worsening rift between the Rizalistas and Pilaristas, and to help maintain unity among Filipino expatriates. After staying for some time in Hong Kong, where he practiced medicine and planned to build a “New Calamba” by relocating landless Filipinos to Borneo, Rizal came home to the Philippines in June 1892.

10 Comments

Jessa pepito

Hi ,good eve .can I use this information for my brother’s research?thank you ..

Filipinas Heritage Library

Sure. Please just cite accordingly. Thank you!

I think it was September 1891 when Jose Rizal published his second novel, El Filibusterismo. And also, thank you for the information! :)))

Edalyn Jude Egan

Hi, I was confused with the dates when he finished El Filibusterismo. It was stated that he finished it in March 1891, but it was published in September 1890? Is it also 1891? Thank you!

Greggo Dela Cruz

Good day can I use this info for my module?

Roel Camaso

hello! can I use this information for my subject research?

Raquel tacay

Can i get some of the information here for my assignment.?

Beverly Anos

Can i view Rizal’s sojourn abroad?

Can I have a research on rizal’s sojourn abroad?

Jessica ongog

Hi good afternoon ca i ask you a question about the comment of Jose Rizal in europe

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Rizal in other lands (1882-1887)

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Complete Works of Rizal

Jose Rizal was a polymath who excelled in different fields. The following is a list of known works (novels, essays, poems, plays, sculptures, and paintings) by Rizal.

Novels and Essays

• Noli Me Tángere , novel, 1887
• El Filibusterismo, (novel, 1891), sequel to Noli Me Tángere
• Alin Mang Lahi (“Whate’er the Race”), a Kundiman attributed to Dr. Jose Rizal
• The Friars and the Filipinos (Unfinished)
• Toast to Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo (Speech, 1884), given at Restaurante Ingles, Madrid
• The Diaries of José Rizal
• Rizal’s Letters is a compendium of Dr. Jose Rizal’s letters to his family members, Blumentritt, Fr. Pablo Pastells and other reformers “Come se gobiernan las Filipinas” (Governing the Philippine islands)
• Filipinas dentro de cien años essay, 1889–90 (The Philippines a Century Hence)
• La Indolencia de los Filipinos, essay, 1890 (The indolence of Filipinos)[51]
• Makamisa unfinished novel
• Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga Malolos, essay, 1889, To the Young Women of Malolos
• Annotations to Antonio de Moragas, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (essay, 1889, Events in the Philippine Islands)
• A La Juventud Filipina (English translation:  To The Philippine Youth )
• El Canto Del Viajero (English translation:  Song of the Wanderer )
• Briayle Crismarl
• Canto de María Clara (English translation:  Song of Maria Clara )
• Himno Al Trabajo (Dalit sa Paggawa)
• Felicitación  [ Felicitation (English Translation) ]
• Kundiman (Tagalog) [ Kundiman (English Translation) ]
• Me Piden Versos (English translation:  They Ask Me for Verses! )
• Mi Primera Inspiracion
• Mi Retiro  (English translation:  My Retreat )
• Mi Ultimo Adiós  (English translation:  My Last Farewell )
• Por La Educación (Recibe Lustre La Patria)  (English translation:  Education Gives Luster to Motherland
• Sa Sanggol na si Jesus (English translation:  Child Jesus )
• A Mi Musa (English translation: To My Muse)
• Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (English translation:  Memories of My Town )
• A Man in Dapitan
• El Consejo de los Dioses (The Council of Gods)
• Junto Al Pasig (Along the Pasig)
• San Euistaquio, Mártyr (Saint Eustache, the Martyr)
• The Triumph of Science over Death
• Saturnina  Rizal  in oil now being displayed in Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago
• Dapitan church curtains  in oil made in Dapitan in 1984.
• An oil painting on  a pair of mother-of-pearl  shells painted in Dapitan and given as a token to Doña Leonor Valenzuela and later passed on to Doña Margarita Valenzuela
• Water color painting of the  Spanish coat of arms  done during San Rafael fiesta in Calamba in 1867
• Allegory on a pair of porcelain bases of the new year celebration  in oil painted in Berlin in 1886
• Crayon painting of  Christ crucified  done in 1875
• Crayon painting of  Immaculate Conception  made in Manila, 1974
• Crayon painting of  Portrait of Morayta  made in Barcelona, 1885

See also  Rizal’s Paintings .

Lunes, Setyembre 16, 2013

• IN SUNNY SPAIN (1882-1885)

8 (mga) komento:

Salamat sa website na ito. Malaki ang naitulong nito sa akin para mapagaralan ko ang darating naming pagsusulit :)

thank you for posting..it help me a lot..

splendid!!!

Salamat successful ang report dahil dto thanks sa info.

Despite of being a loyal to his country, Rizal was not be able to be faithful to his lovers. Awts gege

THANK YOU❤

• Blog Archives
• RIZAL’S VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES (1888) · April 28, 1888- the steamer Belgic, with Rizal on board, docked at San Francisco on Saturday morning · May 4, 1888- Friday afternoon, th...
• RIZAL’S GRAND TOUR OF EUROPE WITH VIOLA (1887) · May 11, 1887- Rizal and Viola left Berlin by train · Dresden- one of the best cities in Germany · Prometheus Bound-painting wherein Riza...
• IN SUNNY SPAIN (1882-1885) -After finishing the 4th year of the medical course in the University of Santo Tomas, Rizal decided to complete his studies in Spain -Asid...

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Blog archive.

• SECOND HOMECOMING AND THE LIGA FILIPINA
• DECISION TO RETURN TO MANILA
• WRITINGS IN HONG KONG
• BORNEO COLONIZATION PROJECT
• OPHTHALMIC SURGEON IN HONG KONG (1891-1892)
• COMPARISON BETWEEN NOLI ME TANGERE and EL FILIBUST...
• EL FILIBUSTERISMO PUBLISHED IN GHENT (1891)
• BIARRITZ VACATION
• MISFORTUNES IN MADRID (1890-91)
• IN BELGIAN BRUSSELS (1890)
• ANNOTATED EDITION OF MORGA PUBLISHED
• RIZAL’S SECOND SOJOURN IN PARIS AND THE UNIVERSAL ...
• WRITINGS IN LONDON
• RIZAL AND THE LA SOLIDARIDAD NEWSPAPER
• RIZAL’S VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES (1888)
• ROMANTIC INTERLUDE IN JAPAN (1888)
• IN HONGKONG AND MACAO (1888)
• STORM OVER THE NOLI ME TANGERE
• FIRST HOMECOMING (1887-1888)
• RIZAL IN ITALY
• RIZAL’S GRAND TOUR OF EUROPE WITH VIOLA (1887)
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The indolence of the Filipino

Ramon Tulfo’s rant against our supposedly lazy countrymen coupled with unfair comparison with hardworking Chinese has reaped a whirlwind of online bashing from the onion-skinned who felt alluded to, and those who take every opportunity to contradict whatever Tulfo says or writes. Tulfo took refuge under the National Hero’s overcoat, tweeting: “To those who have been bashing me. Read Jose Rizal’s essay about the indolence of the Filipino in his time. Thank you!”

For a moment, bashing stopped, but resumed when those who looked up Rizal’s essay realized Tulfo had not read beyond the essay title!

“Sobre la indolencia de los Filipinos (On the indolence of the Filipinos)” is a very long, and at times angry, essay by Rizal that saw print in La Solidaridad in March 1890. From abroad and across time, Rizal reacted to the charge, from the Spanish colonial masters, that Filipinos were indolent or lazy. Rizal did not condemn it, rather he explained it:

“We must confess that indolence does actually and positively exist there; only that, instead of holding it to be the cause of the backwardness and the trouble, we regard it as the effect of the trouble and the backwardness, by fostering the development of a lamentable predisposition.”

Tropical climate is a major factor, Rizal explained: “Nature knows this and like a just mother has therefore made the earth more fertile, more productive, as a compensation. An hour’s work under that burning sun, in the midst of pernicious influences springing from nature in activity, is equal to a day’s work in a temperate climate.”

It is the Spaniard who is lazy, argued Rizal, as they detest manual labor and live surrounded by Filipino servants who “not only exist to take off their shoes for them but even to fan them!” His analysis as a physician and historian led to primary sources that proved Filipinos in pre-Spanish times were not so: “Indolence in the Philippines is a chronic malady, but not a hereditary one. The Filipinos have not always been what they are.”

Using his notes gathered from the British Library from 1888 to 1889 while at work on his annotated edition of Antonio de Morga’s 1609 “Sucesos de las islas Filipinas (Events of the Philippine Islands),” Rizal presented early accounts like the “Zhu Fan Zhi,” published by Chau Ju-kua in 1225, which described the industry and honesty of the Filipinos before the Spanish conquest; and Antonio Pigafetta’s chronicle of the Magellan expedition, regarding the capture and ransom of the Chief of Paragua. Wielding history as a weapon, Rizal asked sarcastically: “How did the industrious infidel become indolent centuries later when he was Christianized? Why did they forget their proud past and become indolent?”

Rizal also blamed the sorry state of the colony. The galleon trade had cut off existing trade between the Philippines and China and Southeast Asia, the trade monopoly running Filipino traders and artisans out of business. Furthermore, the lure of the galleon trade led to the neglect of commerce and agriculture. People were conscripted to work in the shipyards, forced to build roads and buildings with little or no pay, decimating the population and killing their natural love for work. Their goods and services were taken by force, such that they simply refused to work more only to have their products taken for free, paid cheaply, or so heavily taxed that these ended up not worth the trouble.

People were also insecure about their liberty, with false accusations and the like.

Gambling was another factor, because it bred “dislike for steady and difficult toil by its promise of sudden wealth and its appeal to the emotions, with the lotteries,” said Rizal. Finally, he pointed out the failure of education, which was more focused on religion than on the secular and useful, with the exception of the Jesuits and the Dominican Benavides. “From his birth until he sinks into his grave, the training of the native is brutalizing, depressive and antihuman (the word ‘inhuman’ is not sufficiently explanatory: whether or not the Academy admits it, let it go).”

Rizal did not just rant, he provided a solution: education and the formation of what he called a “national sentiment.” Rizal left us with 25 volumes of writings to instruct and inspire, but alas, he wrote a lot for a nation that does not read him. It took a foreigner, Syed Hussein Alatas, to build on Rizal’s essay and publish “The Myth of the Lazy Native” (1977), disproving as myth the laziness of the Malays, Filipinos and Javanese in colonial times.

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Across the Plains with Other Memories and Essays, 1892

Read the Virtual Book

Across the Plains Contents

“Epilogue to  An Inland Voyage ” (1888) “The Lantern Bearers” (1888) “A Chapter on Dreams” (1888) “Beggars” (1888)

“Contributions to the History of Fife: Random Memories” (1888) “The Education of an Engineer: More Random Memories” (1888) “Across the Plains: Leaves from the Notebook of an Emigrant between New York and San Francisco” (1883) “A Letter to a Young Gentleman who Proposes to Embrace the Career of Art” (1888)

“The Old Pacific Capital” (1880) “Fontainebleau” (1884) “Pulvis et Umbra” (1888) “A Christmas Sermon” (1888)

Note: Across the Plains has been included in the travel writing section of this website, although it could also have been placed in the essays section. Stevenson’s work does not always fit into strict categories, and often cuts across genres. It has been included here because many of the essays in the volume address places RLS has visited.

“Across the Plains: Leaves from the Notebook of an Emigrant Between New York and San Francisco” (1883)

The first part of The Amateur Emigrant was ready to be published, but was withdrawn in 1880. The second part was published as the essay “Across the Plains: Leaves from the Notebook of an Emigrant Between New York and San Francisco” in Longman’s Magazine in 1883 – it was later included in Across the Plains with Other Memories and Essays (1892).

“Across the Plains” describes RLS’s journey by train from New York to California. He had travelled from Glasgow to New York on board the Devonia and was going to California to see Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, who would soon be his wife. The text gives a fascinating insight into what emigrant travel must have been like in the late Victorian period. For example, at first RLS travels on a mixed train. Later, the people are separated intro three cars: one for women and children, one for white men travelling alone, and one for Chinese passengers.

His train journey took from 18-30 August 1879. To read more about where RLS travelled on this journey, and his experiences in New York and California see the “Across the Plains” page in the Footsteps section of the website.

In this text RLS describes the route he took to get to California. He also describes how unwell he was during the journey: he had “never been so dog-tired” (p. 103). The cramped and unhygienic conditions of the train cars made (the weak to begin with) RLS feverish and ill.

During his journey, RLS has many difficult experiences (even aside from being constantly unwell). A child is nearly knocked over in a crush of people and RLS saves him. RLS throws juiceless oranges on the train tracks, and desperate emigrants race to get them.

Stevenson quickly learns how important the newsboy is on the emigrant train: he sells “books, papers, fruits, lollipops and cigars, and on emigrant journeys, soap, towels, tin-washing dishes, tin coffee – pitchers, coffee, tea, sugar and tinned eatables, mostly hash or beans and bacon” (p. 111). One newsboy is particularly kind to Stevenson when he realizes how ill Stevenson is. He brings RLS fruits and papers and keeps him company when Stevenson is particularly poorly.

RLS makes friends with two men on board, who he jokingly refers to as Shakespeare and Dubuque. The three of them share their finances so they can buy necessities. RLS is also briefly in charge of looking after a Dutch widow and her child (the widow is less than impressed with Stevenson). In Pittsburgh, RLS meets a black person for the first time and finds that the man is surprisingly superior and patronizing in manner. Although more open-minded than many of his contemporaries, RLS still held some of the prejudices of his time.

RLS comments on how different the United States and Europe really are. A drunk man who is thrown off the train carries a gun, which makes RLS feel the strangeness of his surroundings: “They were speaking English all about me, but I knew I was in a foreign land” (p. 103). He also notices the prejudices in the US against the Chinese and the “Red Indian”. RLS sympathizes with the Native Americans, who had been driven away from their own land. Certainly Stevenson is travelling through America during a fascinating and unstable time in its history. He seems to realize this, commenting that the US has grown from “gold and lust and death” (p. 120).

“The Old Pacific Capital” (1880)

In this essay, RLS describes the “Old Pacific Capital” of California, Monterey (Monterey was the capital city of California from 1777-1849). RLS himself stayed in the city from 30 August-22 December 1879 and recorded some of his impressions and experiences in the essay. For more information about RLS in Monterey, see the page devoted to California in the Footsteps section of the website.

Stevenson is particularly interested in Monterey’s landscape in “The Old Pacific Capital”, describing the beaches, his solitary walks in the woods and “the haunting presence of the ocean” (p. 80). Unfortunately, he starts a forest fire in a misguided experiment to see if it is the moss on the trees that catch fire first – it is, and RLS flees the scene.

RLS describes some of Monterey’s history and discusses the Mexican, American and Indian populations in the area. He writes that “The town, then, was essentially and wholly Mexican; and yet almost all of the land in the neighbourhood was held by Americans” (p. 94). In other words, while the Mexican culture is the most influential, it is the Americans who are financially successful. RLS also laments the fact that the Indians had been taught to read and follow the Christian faith – only to have their land taken from them.

Stevenson concludes that Monterey will become commercialized and that the Mexicans “must perish, like a lower race, before the millionaire vulgarians of the Big Bonanza” (p. 107).

“Fontainebleau” (1884)

In the mid to late 1870s, RLS was often in the Fontainebleau region of France (you can see the page devoted to Barbizon and Grez in the Footsteps section of the website for more information). Just 35 miles from Paris, Fontainebleau was a popular haunt for artists, like RLS’s cousin Bob Stevenson and his friend Will H. Low. In “Fontainebleau”, RLS remembers his experiences there, and reminisces about “its great and special beauty” (p. 109).

RLS describes the artist’s life in Fontainebleau, where everyone lives on credit and procrastination is a way of life. He describes his visits to Barbizon and Siron’s Inn where he stayed – here, the landlord “managed on easy principles” (p. 127) and the artists could drink as much and do whatever they liked. He also remembers Grez, where the bridge was a popular subject for the artists to paint. He goes on to discuss various other artist communities in the area, such as Acheres-la-Foret, Chailly-en-Biere, Recloses, Bourron-Marlotte, Nemours and Moret-sur-Loing.

Stevenson concludes his essay with a sense of nostalgia, suggesting that Fontainebleau is a place for youth. He writes: “If anywhere about that wood you meet my airy bartling, greet him with tenderness. He was a pleasant lad, though now abandoned” (p. 140).

“Epilogue to An Inland Voyage ” (1888)

This essay documents a walking tour of the valley of the Loing that RLS and Walter Simpson took at the end of August in 1875. “Epilogue” is sometimes included in editions of An Inland Voyage (1878).

During the walk, as in An Inland Voyage (1878), RLS is often mistaken for a pedlar. He carries all of the works of Charles of Orleans in his knapsack, making his walk somewhat uncomfortable. As part of their journey, he and Simpson pass through Nemours and Chateau-Renard – for more details about their itinerary, see the section devoted to “Walking Tour of the Valley of the Loing” in Other France in the Footsteps section of the website.

The travellers end their tour in Chatillon-sur-Loire (RLS refers to it as Chatillon-sur-Loing), where Stevenson is arrested on suspicion of being a Germany spy: he describes this humorous incident in detail.

“Contribution the History of Fife: Random Memories” (1888)

Stevenson recounts how as a boy in 1863 he was sent to school (Burlington Lodge Academy, Spring Grove, Isleworth) but became very homesick. He remembers being overcome with sadness and weeping in the road when a cat came to console him. When his parents heard about the incident, they felt a change was needed – RLS was to go on business with his father to examine the lighthouses in Fife.

RLS describes the visit to Fife, talking about the history, landscape and legends associated with the different towns there. In particular, he remembers his visit to St Andrews (for more information you can see the section devote to St Andrews in the Fife page in the Footsteps section of the website). He also visits Magus Muir, Anstruther West, Anstruther Easter and Cellardyke.

In the essay Stevenson also describes his fascination with Balfour of Burley, the leader of the Covenanters in Walter Scott’s Old Mortality (1816).

“The Education of an Engineer: More Random Memories” (1888)

In this essay RLS recounts his visit to Anstruther and Wick in the summer of 1868 as part of his “education of an engineer”. You can learn more about RLS’s visits to Anstruther and Wick in the Footsteps section of the website.

Of the experience, RLS writes “What I gleaned, I am sure I do not know; but indeed I had already my own private determination to be an author” (p. 189). Indeed, RLS describes his preoccupation at the time with his writing: he would spend all of his energy writing late into the night. At the time, he was feverishly working on a dramatic monologue in verse, Voces Fidelium .

Despite his distaste for engineering work, RLS remembers how enthralled he was when he went diving with Bob Bain (a friend) at Wick: “to go down in the diving-dress, that was my absorbing fancy” (p. 195). He writes that the experience was one of “fine, dizzy, muddle-headed joy [. . . ] It was one of the best things that I got from my education as an engineer” (p. 201).

Although he finds both Anstruther and Wick to be inhospitable and unforgiving places, he does insist that at least engineering work is lively outdoors work, full of dangers. The work is a respite from the “dry, and dull, and dead-alive” (p. 203) work of the office.

At the end of the essay, RLS remembers seeing two Italian children – he remarks that seeing “foreigners” in Scotland was unusual. This causes him to think about the state of immigration in Scotland compared with America. While in the States, “foreigners” are commonplace, in Scotland the “days of immigration are long at an end” (p. 205).

“The Lantern Bearers” (1888)

In “The Lantern Bearers”, RLS remembers his childhood experiences in North Berwick. For more information about his visits to North Berwick, visit the Fife and Lothian pages of the Footsteps section of the website.

According to RLS, “the place was created seemingly for young gentlemen” (p. 207). He remembers the amusements the town had to offer – golf, climbing Berwick Law, and fishing expeditions. He also remembers the darker aspects of the place. For example, he recalls the fisher-wife who cut her throat. Stevenson himself saw her bloodied body being carried to prison.

His favourite past-time in North Berwick, however, was the nighttime meetings by lantern-light with the other children. They would carry their lanterns, and by the dim light, “delight themselves with inappropriate talk” (p. 215).

For Stevenson, these lantern talks came to symbolize the imagination itself and touch on what is poetic. He talks about wider themes, such as “the ground of a man’s joy” (p. 224), and how the lantern evenings for him embodied that joy. He concludes that “Not only love, and the fields, and the bright face of danger, but sacrifice and death and unmerited suffering humbly supported, touch in us the vein of the poetic” (p. 228).

“A Chapter on Dreams” (1888)

Stevenson suggests that all of his published fiction might “be the single-handed product of some Brownie, some unfamiliar, some unseen collaborator, whom I keep locked in a back garret” (pp. 248-49) rather than his own “conscious ego” (p. 248). The essay’s premise, that RLS’s unconscious mind or his dream states are responsible for his writing, links to theories in late Victorian mental science. Mental scientists like F.W.H. Myers (1843-1901), for example, believed that the mind was doubled: there was a waking self and a second sleeping self within. Furthermore, that “secondary” self” could be responsible for actions and thoughts unknown to the conscious self.

Certainly RLS was aware of this when he wrote Jekyll and Hyde (1886 – in the essay, he claims that some of the events in the novel came to him in a dream). Myers even wrote to RLS about the work – he wanted to tell the author how Jekyll and Hyde accurately symbolized his theories on the double mind (and also how RLS could improve the work to make them even more accurate).

RLS begins the essay by remembering the childhood nightmares (brought on by illness) which he dreaded. As a student, he dreamt that he himself was leading a double life, a nightmare which troubled him so deeply that he sought help from a doctor. The notion of doubling runs throughout RLS’s fiction – not only in Jekyll and Hyde , but also in “The Body Snatcher” (1884 – Fettes and Macfarlane are medical students by day and grave robbers by night), and Deacon Brodie (1880 – Deacon Brodie is the respectable cabinet-maker by day who at night robs his wealthy clients).

RLS returns to the theme of doubling – this time of his own waking and sleeping self – in “A Chapter on Dreams”. He suggests that his best fiction is the product of actors in the stage of his dreaming mind. He recounts a particularly powerful story he dreamed in which a wealthy man and his son do not get along. The son goes abroad to avoid his father. While he is away, his father makes an unhappy marriage to a young woman. The son returns and he and his father argue on a cliff. The son strikes and kills the father, but the death is not seen as suspicious. Meanwhile, the young wife, now a widow, knows what the son has done. The son follows her one day to the cliff where she finds damning evidence proving he murdered his father. She nearly falls over the edge, but the son saves her. The widow does not use the evidence against him, and the son wonders what is holding her back. At last, he confronts her and she confesses that she loves him – she is hiding the evidence to protect him.

The tale enchants RLS, and although he ultimately decides that it isn’t marketable, he insists that “It was not his tale; it was the little people’s!” (p. 246). He suggests that much of what he writes is the product of his dreams, and that the “little people” (p. 239) in his mind labour to find stories so that he can make a living from his writing.

“Beggars” (1888)

Stevenson remembers some of the “beggars” he has met in his life. When he was young, he befriended an old soldier beggar, who loved the poetry of Shelley and Keats. He recalls another beggar, a knife-grinder who RLS spoke to daily. Unlike the old soldier, the knife-grinder took no joy in the poetry of letters – he preferred the poetry of life.

RLS goes on to discuss the problem that beggars pose to the conscience – we give money to beggars to appease our conscience and then hurry on. Stevenson then talks about wider themes, like the act of giving itself: “What an art it is to give, even to our nearest friends! And what a test of manners to receive!” (p. 268). Words like gratitude and charity are meaningless. In life, friendship is where real help comes from.

The essay also asks whether or not there is such a thing as “the Deserving Poor” (p. 270). Stevenson suggests, however, that it is as foolish to look for the “Deserving Poor” as it is to search for the Elixir of Life.

There is a way, however, to help the poor – the “unfortunate gentleman [. . .] may subscribe to pay the taxes” (p. 271). This solution is unsatisfactory, though, as RLS points out (his irony now becoming clear in the essay): “But, alas! there is no colour of romance in such a course; and people nowhere demand the picturesque so much as in their virtues” (p. 271).

“A Letter to a Young Gentleman who Propose to Embrace the Career of Art” (1888)

RLS addresses the question of whether or not a young gentleman should follow a career in art. He warns that in the end, the gentleman must decide for himself – Stevenson can only give him the materials to help him make an informed decision.

For Stevenson, “To know what you like is the beginning of wisdom and of old age. Youth is wholly experimental” (p. 272). Furthermore, “if a man love the labour of any trade [. . .] the gods have called him” (p. 275).

RLS also offers practical advice: to succeed in a career of art, you must work hard and be devoted to your trade. You must always strive for a better quality of work and you should remember that the aim of art is to please. It is important to pave your way financially before you take any risks in your art. If you cannot bring yourself to work for money, then you should choose a different path than the career of the artist. You must be able to accept criticism and the fact that your work might not be popular.

The reward of a career in art is being able to live life to the fullest – you cannot expect a financial reward.

“Pulvis et Umbra” (1888)

The title of this essay is taken from Horace, the lyric poet in Latin. In full, Horace writes “Pulvis et umbra sumus” – “We are but dust and shadow”. In the essay, Stevenson questions the nature of mankind and their place in the universe. He writes “The human race is a thing more ancient than the ten commandments; and the bones and the revolutions of the Kosmos, in whose joints we are but moss and fungus, are more ancient still” (p. 290).

RLS also considers evolution and revolutions in science, and what this means for mankind. He exclaims, “what a monstrous spectre is this man” (p. 293), in a discussion of the way man feeds, kills, grows and reproduces in order to survive. For RLS, man’s natural life cycle and actions are “a thing to set children screaming” (p. 293).

Nevertheless, RLS suggests that we should pity man, who cannot control his innate impulses. Although “Man is indeed marked for failure in his efforts to do right” (p. 296), it is remarkable that he still strives on and continues to hope.

In evolutionary terms men do not stand apart from other species. RLS sees the same laws and sins of men amongst the ants. He concludes “Let it be enough for faith, that the whole creation groans in mortal frailty, strives with unconquerable constancy: surely not in vain” (p. 301).

“A Christmas Sermon” (1888)

RLS addresses themes of death – what does a man’s life amount to once he has died? How do we account for our lives? We feel that we have never done enough and that trying to be kind and honest is too simple. We want to have done “something bold, arduous, conclusive” (p. 307) in our lives. Thoughts like these come to the fore at Christmas – Christmas is a time when we assess what we have achieved and how we must improve.

Stevenson advises that in fact that the best thing we can do is to be honest and kind. We should make our families and friends happy, and be a friend to ourselves. Furthermore “a man is not to expect happiness, only to profit by it gladly when it shall arise” (p. 311).

Although we may regret some of the things from our past, we should relish the small joys in life. Stevenson thinks that there is nothing to be ashamed of in an epitaph that would read “ Here lies one who meant well, tried a little, failed much ” (p. 315). He concludes with a poem by W.E. Henley (from A Book of Verses [D. Nutt, 1888]), which suggests that in death we accept that the life that we have lived:

“A late lark twitters from the quiet skies; And from the west, Where the sun, his day’s work ended, Lingers as in content, There falls on the old, gray city An influence luminous and serene, A shining peace.

“So be my passing! My task accomplished and the long day done, My wages taken, and in my heart Some late lark singing, Let me be gathered to the quiet west, The sundown splendid and serene, Death.”

The smoke ascends In a rosy-and-golden haze. The spires Shine, and are changed. In the valley Shadows rise. The lark sings on. The sun, Closing his benediction, Sinks, and the darkening air Thrills with a sense of the triumphing night – Night, with her train of stars And her great gift of sleep.

(Quoted in Across the Plains , pp. 316-17)

All Quotations from RLS, Across the Plains with Other Memories and Essays (London: Chatto and Windus, 1892).

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