Rizal in America and London

RIZAL IN
AMERICA, 1888
“I visited the cities of America, with their grandiose
edifices, their electric lights, and their great conceptions.
America is, undoubtedly a great country, but she has many
defects.”
-Jose Rizal

• Rizal first saw America on
April 28, 1888.
• His arrival in this great country
was marred by racial prejudice.
• He saw the discriminatory
treatment of the Chinese and the
Negros by the white Americans.

• Saturday, April 28, 1888- The
steamer Belgic docked at San
Francisco.
• American health authorities did
not let the passengers land for one
week because of the rumored
cholera epidemic.
• Rizal was surprised because he
knew there was no cholera epidemic
in the Far East.

• He soon discovered that it was
motivated by politics and the ship
was carrying 643 Chinese coolies.
• They displaced white laborers in
railroad construction ramps.
Administration had to impede then
their entry to favor their
people(white-voters).

•May 4, 1888 – The day he was
permitted to go ashore and
registered at the Palace Hotel
which was then considered a
first- class hotel in the city.

Rizal in San Francisco
•May 4 to 6, 1888 – Rizal stayed in
San Francisco.
• He mentioned in his diary about
Leland Stanford, Stanford University
founder.

• Grover Cleveland was the U.S. president
when Rizal visited.

Across the
American Continent
• May 6, 1888 – it was Sunday, 4:30 pm,
Rizal left San Francisco for Oakland,
nine miles across San Francisco Bay,
by ferry boat.
•May 7, 1888 – it was morning,
Rizal awoke and had a good
breakfast at Reno, Nevada, now
glamorized by American high-
pressure propaganda as “The
Biggest Little City in the World”.

Oakland
Reno
Ogden
Chicago
Boston
Albany
Sacramento

• Rizal had observed that in Chicago, every
cigar store has an Indian figure 

Niagara Falls
He compared it with the falls at Los Baños,
saying the latter, though smaller in size, is more
beautiful and finer.

Rizal in New York
• May 13, 1888 – it was Sunday morning
when Rizal reached New York.
•He stayed three days
in this city, which he
called the “big town”.

• Rizal visited the scenic and
historical places in New York.
• He was awed and inspired by the
memorials of the former US
president, George Washington:
“He is a great man who, I think
has no equal in this country.”
-Rizal (in his letter to Ponce)

•May 16, 1888 – Rizal left
New York for Liverpool on
board the City of Rome (the 2nd
largest ship at that time).
• He saw the Statue of Liberty
on Bedloe Island.

Rizal’s Impressions of America
A. Good 
1) Material progress of the country
as shown in its cities, farms, and
industries
2) The drive and energy of the
Americans
3) The natural beauty of the land
4) The high standard of living
5) The opportunities for better life
offered to poor immigrants.
B. Bad 
* the lack of racial equality

Rizal’s roommate in
Brussels, Jose Alejandrino
(Engineering student that time
in Belgium) have never been to
America so he asked him of his
impressions of the place. And
Rizal replied:
“America is the land par excellence of freedom
but only for the whites.”

Life and Works
in London,
1888-1889

“I am dedicating myself night
and day to certain studies…
about our country, its history, its
administration… the very rich
collection of the British
Museum, a collection which
cannot be found anywhere else is
serving my purpose. For this
reason, I will stay here for a
long time.”
-Jose Rizal

Rizal’s reasons for staying
in London:
1) To improve his knowledge
on the English language;
2) To study and annotate
Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinas;
3) London was a safe place to
for him to carry on his fight
againstSpanish tyranny.

Trip Across the Atlantic
• On board the ship, City of Rome
• Rizal befriended with the other
passengers of different
nationalities(European, American),
as a naturally friendly man and
because of his linguistic ability.

• The American and European
passengers were amused of his
marvelous skill in using yo yo
(a small wooden disc attached to a string from a finger)
as a weapon.
 He told the
unknowing
westerners that a
yo yo is an offensive
weapon, instead of being a
simple Filipino toy for kids.

• While on board, Rizal met
several American newspapermen
with whom he discussed current
social and political issues but
could not enjoy the conversation
for their (the Americans’)
knowledge on geo-politics were
not as rich as Rizal’s.   
•He arrived at Liverpool, England
on May 24, 1888 where he stayed
for one day.

Life in London
• Rizal went to London on May 25,
1888.
• He stayed for a short time at the
home of Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor,
an exile of 1872 and a practising
lawyer in London.

• He found a permanent boarding
place at No. 37 Chalcot Crescent,
Primrose Hill, owned by the Beckett
family.
• The Becketts were Mr.
Becket(organist of St. Paul’s church),
his wife, and their three charming
daughters.
• The Becketts’ home was
conveniently near the public places
and the British Museum where he
would do his extensive research.

• He met Dr. Reinhold Rost, the
librarian of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and an authority
on Malayan languages and
customs.
• He called Rizal “a pearl of a
man” (una perla de hombre) as he
was impressed by his learning and
character.
• connections with the British
Museum auhtorities.

• He religiously studied several
materials on Philippine History
especially on Antonio de
Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinas which he annotated.
• discussed problems on
Philippine affairs with Dr.
Regidor
• learned even more and had
recreations in Dr. Rost’s
company.

Good and Bad News
from Home
*** Bad news:
1) Persecution of the Filipino patriots
in Manila and the surrounding towns
being involved in the Anti-friar
Manifesto of 1888.
2) The Calamba agrarian trouble of
1888 in which the tenants, including
the Rizals, were being persecuted by
the hacienda management.

3)Manuel T. Hidalgo (husband of
Saturnina), Rizal’s brother-in-
law, was exiled to Bohol.
4) Another brother-in-law, Mariano
Herbosa (husband of Lucia), was
denied of Christian burial because of
the malicious rumor that he had not
confessed since marriage.
5) A friend of Rizal, Laurencio
Viado, a medical student at the
UST, was imprisoned because of
owning a copy of Noli Me Tangere.

   The only good news
was Rev. Father Vicente
Garcia’s defense of the Noli.

Annotating Morga’s Work
• his greatest achievement in London
•spent many days in the British
Museum poring over materials about
Philippines (Fr. Chirino’s, Fr. Colin’s,
Argensola, Plasencia, eyc.)
• For Rizal Dr. Antonio de Morga’s
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas was the
best.

• He was so dedicated in his
annotation and other
studies that he even refused
to help edit a newspaper as
requested by Mariano
Ponce.

Short Visit to Paris and Spain
• his experience in the place accompanied
by Juan Luna and his (Luna) family.
• he stayed here for a week to study more
historical materials in the Bibliotheque
Nationale
• On December 11, 1888- he visited
Madrid and Barcelona
• surveyed political situations regarding
the agitation for Philippine Reforms

• he first met Mariano Ponce
andMarcelo H. del Pilar
• started to be involved officially
in the Propaganda Movement.

Christmas in London
• Christmas and New Year’s Day
with the Becketts.
• his first Christmas on English
soil.
• Rizal reflected on the true
meaning of Christmas, not as a
mere holiday but a remarkable day
to remember Christ’s birth.

Romance With Gertrude Beckett
• Rizal had a romantic interlude with
the oldest of the three Beckett
sisters, Gertrude Beckett.

• “Gettie,” was a
buxom English girl
with brown hair, blue
eyes and pink cheeks.
• She was attracted to Rizal and
had always loved to be with him.
• and our hero, being away from
home, in turn, found a little
inspiration with the English girl.

Although he did not pursue his
love for Gertrude because he was
still in a relationship with Leonor
Rivera at the time and would not
want to be unfaithful.
 It was this romantic affair that
drove Rizal to Paris in 1889,
leaving London for he could
marry Gertrude.

Writings in London
• Other than annotating Morga’s work,
Rizal wrote a lot in London including
articles in La Solidaridad.
• La Vision del Fray Rodriguez- a
counter-attack on the irrational
criticisms of Fray Rodriguez on Noli.

• Under the pseudonym
“Dimas Alang,” Rizal
satirically attacked Fray
Rodriquez through presenting a
spirited conversation between
the friar and St. Augustine.
• It exposed how senseless was
Fray Rodriguez’s writing and
that it deserves punishment.
People will find him ridiculous.

• Letter to the Women of Malolos-
written in Tagalog.
• The Malolos women pursued the
establishment of their school despite
the opposition of Fr. Felipe Garcia.
• The letter’s main points:
1) Filipino mother should teach
her children love of God, fatherland
and mankind;
2) …should be glad, like Spartan
mother to offer her sons in the defense
of the fatherland;

3) Filipino woman should
know how to preserve her dignity
and honor;
4) …should know how she
should educate herself, aside from
retaining her good racial values;
5) Faith is not merely reciting
long prayers and wearing religious
pictures, but rather, it is living the
real Christian way, with good
morals and good manners.

• His articles: 1)Specimens of
Tagalog Folklore and 2)Two
Eastern Fables as requested
contributions from Rizal in Dr.
Rost’s Trubner’s Record.
• Specimens of Tagalog Folklore
consists of Filipino proverbs and
puzzles.
•Two Eastern Fables was
acomparative study of
Philippine and Japanese folklore.

Rizal and La Solidaridad
• the foundation of Asociation Hispano-
Filipina on January12, 1889.
• It was the society founded by the
Filipino patriots and their friend in
Madrid for the purpose of working for
the needed reforms of the Propaganda
Movement.
(Hispano-Philippine Association)
• Purpose: secure reforms for the
Philippines
• President: Don Miguel Morayta
• V-president: Gen. Felipe dela Corte
• Secretary: Dominador Gomez
• Members: all Filipinos in Europe,
prominent scholars, statesmen of other
nationalities.

3 Sections:
1.) Political Section (M.H. del Pilar)
2.) Literary Section (M. Ponce)
3.) Recreation Section (Tomas Arejola)

☻ The members met once a month to
discuss Philippine-Spanish questions.
☻ They drew up petitions and passed
resolutions.

• Rizal became an active contributor to the
newspaper (as “Laong Laan” and “Dimas
Alang.”

Adios to London
• Rizal was forced to leave London
because Gertrude’s love for him has
turned serious.
• He could not take advantage of her
affection and she would not be happy
because Rizal was in love with Leonor
Rivera.
•He decided to move to Paris so she
may forget him.

Before leaving London, he carved
several fine sculptural works:
1) Prometheus Bound
2)The Triumph of Death over Life;
3) The Triumph of Science over
Death
4) a composite carving of the
heads of the three Beckett
sisters.
* Later he gave the 2nd and the 3rd

The Triumph of Science over
Death (left)
Sacred Heart of Jesus
(center)
The Triumph of Death over
Life (right)

In the middle of March,
1889, Rizal departed for
Paris. He was sad as he
crossed the English Channel
for he had many beautiful
memories of London.
  

Mr. Armando Delfino
-Instructor
(SSC108-Rizal and Other
Heroes)
Prepared by:
Rebecca B. Borromeo
BSE-3 Eng

Rizal in America and London

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