diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

conditions in the Philippines, and of the emergence of a new class (the"middle class," as mentioned above) which served as the brains of the peopleand would demand and achieve the advancement and moral progress of thepeople ("it is fated'):The Philippines, then, either will remain under Spain, but with more rights andfreedom, or will declare herself independent after staining herself and the mothercountry with her own blood. As no one should wish or hope for such anunfortunate rupture of relations, which would be bad for all and should be the lastargument in a most desperate case, let us examine the forms of peaceful evolution. . . .The eventual "use of forte" is pushed even further into the background.To shed blood is to "stain" oneself. But the threat is there, also at the end ofthe article:So we repeat and we shall always repeat while there is still time, that it is betterto anticipate the wishes of the people than to yield to force; the first winssympathy and love; the second contempt and indignation."All these appeals, however, faded away, without being heard and withoutreceiving a reply. In the Philippines, meanwhile, the situation was worsening.The authorities and the friars were growing nervous and sharply reacted tothe widening impact of the activities not only of Rizal, but also of the othermembers of the "Propaganda Movement" in Spain, hie Marcelo H. del Pilar,Mariano Ponce, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Eduardo Lete, and the Luna brothers.Some Falipinos avere no longer appealing for reforms, but openly attackingthe "rile of the friars" and propagating "filibusterism" and masonry.For Rizal, the last, almost desperate hopes for help from Spain finallywithered away. This help was obviously not forthcoming. As a serious man,he therefore had to reconsider his former strategy, as also his "last resort."Without allies in Spanish society and in the Cortes, the refusal of violence inthe colonial setting was of no avail. This he remembered from the incidents ofhis youth, this he was now seeing in the treatment of the Calamba tenants, inthe punishment of his own parents, brother, and brothers-in-law. If appeals tothe government, as in the Calamba case, did not effect anything, if appeals tothe Spanish liberals and to the Spanish audience in general did not result inany concrete steps in the direction of reforms, what alternative was left? Rizalanswers the question in El Filibustering.The theme of the book is the rejection of the use of violence, of criminalplotting, as attempted so effectively by Simouno alias Ibarra, who uses all212