Lineage, Life and Labors of José Rizal, Philippine Patriot by Austin Craig
page 36 of 233 (15%)
page 36 of 233 (15%)
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misunderstanding with the United States there existed a character that
commanded the admiration of both sides. Rizal's writings revealed to the Americans aspirations that appealed to them and conditions that called forth their sympathy, while the Filipinos felt confidence, for that reason, in the otherwise incomprehensible new government which honored their hero. Rizal was already, and had been for years, without rival as the idol of his countrymen when there came, after deliberation and delay, his official recognition in the Philippines. Necessarily there had to be careful study of his life and scrutiny of his writings before the head of our nation could indorse as the corner stone of the new government which succeeded Spain's misrule, the very ideas which Spain had considered a sufficient warrant for shooting their author as a traitor. Finally the President of the United States in a public address at Fargo, North Dakota, on April 7, 1903--five years after American scholars had begun to study Philippine affairs as they had never been studied before--declared: "In the Philippine Islands the American government has tried, and is trying, to carry out exactly what the greatest genius and most revered patriot ever known in the Philippines, José Rizal, steadfastly advocated," a formal, emphatic and clear-cut expression of national policy upon a question then of paramount interest. In the light of the facts of Philippine history already set forth there is no cause for wonder at this sweeping indorsement, even though the views so indorsed were those of a man who lived in conditions widely different from those about to be introduced by the new government. Rizal had not allowed bias to influence him in |
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