The Reign of Greed - 18

_your_ heart can say that you are fulfilling it, but with your hand
on the heart of your order, on the heart of all the orders, you cannot
say that without deceiving yourself. Ah, Padre Fernandez, when I find
myself in the presence of a person whom I esteem and respect, I prefer
to be the accused rather than the accuser, I prefer to defend myself
rather than take the offensive. But now that we have entered upon
the discussion, let us carry it to the end! How do they fulfill their
obligation, those who look after education in the towns? By hindering
it! And those who here monopolize education, those who try to mold the
mind of youth, to the exclusion of all others whomsoever, how do they
carry out their mission? By curtailing knowledge as much as possible,
by extinguishing all ardor and enthusiasm, by trampling on all dignity,
the soul's only refuge, by inculcating in us worn-out ideas, rancid
beliefs, false principles incompatible with a life of progress! Ah,
yes, when it is a question of feeding convicts, of providing for the
maintenance of criminals, the government calls for bids in order
to find the purveyor who offers the best means of subsistence,
he who at least will not let them perish from hunger, but when it
is a question of morally feeding a whole people, of nourishing the
intellect of youth, the healthiest part, that which is later to be the
country and the all, the government not only does not ask for any bid,
but restricts the power to that very body which makes a boast of not
desiring education, of wishing no advancement. What should we say if
the purveyor for the prisons, after securing the contract by intrigue,
should then leave the prisoners to languish in want, giving them only
what is stale and rancid, excusing himself afterwards by saying that
it is not convenient for the prisoners to enjoy good health, because
good health brings merry thoughts, because merriment improves the man,
and the man ought not to be improved, because it is to the purveyor's
interest that there be many criminals? What should we say if afterwards
the government and the purveyor should agree between themselves that
of the ten or twelve cuartos which one received for each criminal,
the other should receive five?"
Padre Fernandek bit his lip. "Those are grave charges," he said,
"and you are overstepping the limits of our agreement."
"No, Padre, not if I continue to deal with the student question. The
friars--and I do not say, you friars, since I do not confuse you
with the common herd--the friars of all the orders have constituted
themselves our mental purveyors, yet they say and shamelessly proclaim
that it is not expedient for us to become enlightened, because some
day we shall declare ourselves free! That is just the same as not
wishing the prisoner to be well-fed so that he may improve and get out
of prison. Liberty is to man what education is to the intelligence,
and the friars' unwillingness that we have it is the origin of our
discontent."
"Instruction is given only to those who deserve it," rejoined Padre
Fernandez dryly. "To give it to men without character and without
morality is to prostitute it."
"Why are there men without character and without morality?"
The Dominican shrugged his shoulders. "Defects that they imbibe with
their mothers' milk, that they breathe in the bosom of the family--how
do I know?"
"Ah, no, Padre Fernandez!" exclaimed the young man impetuously. "You
have not dared to go into the subject deeply, you have not wished
to gaze into the depths from fear of finding yourself there in the
darkness of your brethren. What we are, you have made us. A people
tyrannized over is forced to be hypocritical; a people denied the
truth must resort to lies; and he who makes himself a tyrant breeds
slaves. There is no morality, you say, so let it be--even though
statistics can refute you in that here are not committed crimes
like those among other peoples, blinded by the fumes of their
moralizers. But, without attempting now to analyze what it is that
forms the character and how far the education received determines
morality, I will agree with you that we are defective. Who is to
blame for that? You who for three centuries and a half have had in
your hands our education, or we who submit to everything? If after
three centuries and a half the artist has been able to produce only
a caricature, stupid indeed he must be!"
"Or bad enough the material he works upon."
"Stupider still then, when, knowing it to be bad, he does not give
it up, but goes on wasting time. Not only is he stupid, but he is
a cheat and a robber, because he knows that his work is useless,
yet continues to draw his salary. Not only is he stupid and a thief,
he is a villain in that he prevents any other workman from trying
his skill to see if he might not produce something worth while! The
deadly jealousy of the incompetent!"
The reply was sharp and Padre Fernandez felt himself caught. To his
gaze Isagani appeared gigantic, invincible, convincing, and for the
first time in his life he felt beaten by a Filipino student. He
repented of having provoked the argument, but it was too late to
turn back. In this quandary, finding himself confronted with such
a formidable adversary, he sought a strong shield and laid hold of
the government.
"You impute all the faults to us, because you see only us, who are
near," he said in a less haughty tone. "It's natural and doesn't
surprise me. A person hates the soldier or policeman who arrests him
and not the judge who sends him to prison. You and we are both dancing
to the same measure of music--if at the same note you lift your foot in
unison with us, don't blame us for it, it's the music that is directing
our movements. Do you think that we friars have no consciences and
that we do not desire what is right? Do you believe that we do not
think about you, that we do not heed our duty, that we only eat to
live, and live to rule? Would that it were so! But we, like you,
follow the cadence, finding ourselves between Scylla and Charybdis:
either you reject us or the government rejects us. The government
commands, and he who commands, commands,--and must be obeyed!"
"From which it may be inferred," remarked Isagani with a bitter smile,
"that the government wishes our demoralization."
"Oh, no, I didn't mean that! What I meant to say is that there are
beliefs, there are theories, there are laws, which, dictated with
the best intention, produce the most deplorable consequences. I'll
explain myself better by citing an example. To stamp out a small
evil, there are dictated many laws that cause greater evils still:
'_corruptissima in republica plurimae leges,_' said Tacitus. To
prevent one case of fraud, there are provided a million and a half
preventive or humiliating regulations, which produce the immediate
effect of awakening in the public the desire to elude and mock
such regulations. To make a people criminal, there's nothing more
needed than to doubt its virtue. Enact a law, not only here, but
even in Spain, and you will see how the means of evading it will be
sought, and this is for the very reason that the legislators have
overlooked the fact that the more an object is hidden, the more a
sight of it is desired. Why are rascality and astuteness regarded
as great qualities in the Spanish people, when there is no other so
noble, so proud, so chivalrous as it? Because our legislators, with
the best intentions, have doubted its nobility, wounded its pride,
challenged its chivalry! Do you wish to open in Spain a road among the
rocks? Then place there an imperative notice forbidding the passage,
and the people, in order to protest against the order, will leave the
highway to clamber over the rocks. The day on which some legislator in
Spain forbids virtue and commands vice, then all will become virtuous!"
The Dominican paused for a brief space, then resumed: "But you may
say that we are getting away from the subject, so I'll return to
it. What I can say to you, to convince you, is that the vices from
which you suffer ought to be ascribed by you neither to us nor to the
government. They are due to the imperfect organization of our social
system: _qui multum probat, nihil probat_, one loses himself through
excessive caution, lacking what is necessary and having too much of
what is superfluous."
"If you admit those defects in your social system," replied Isagani,
"why then do you undertake to regulate alien societies, instead of
first devoting your attention to yourselves?"
"We're getting away from the subject, young man. The theory in
accomplished facts must be accepted."
"So let it be! I accept it because it is an accomplished fact, but
I will further ask: why, if your social organization is defective,
do you not change it or at least give heed to the cry of those who
are injured by it?"
"We're still far away. Let's talk about what the students want from
the friars."
"From the moment when the friars hide themselves behind the government,
the students have to turn to it."
This statement was true and there appeared no means of ignoring it.
"I'm not the government and I can't answer for its acts. What do
the students wish us to do for them within the limits by which we
are confined?"
"Not to oppose the emancipation of education but to favor it."
The Dominican shook his head. "Without stating my own opinion, that
is asking us to commit suicide," he said.
"On the contrary, it is asking you for room to pass in order not to
trample upon and crush you."
"Ahem!" coughed Padre Fernandez, stopping and remaining
thoughtful. "Begin by asking something that does not cost so much,
something that any one of us can grant without abatement of dignity
or privilege, for if we can reach an understanding and dwell in peace,
why this hatred, why this distrust?"
"Then let's get down to details."
"Yes, because if we disturb the foundation, we'll bring down the
whole edifice."
"Then let's get down to details, let's leave the region of abstract
principles," rejoined Isagani with a smile, "and _also without stating
my own opinion,_"--the youth accented these words--"the students
would desist from their attitude and soften certain asperities if
the professors would try to treat them better than they have up to
the present. That is in their hands."
"What?" demanded the Dominican. "Have the students any complaint to
make about my conduct?"
"Padre, we agreed from the start not to talk of yourself or of myself,
we're speaking generally. The students, besides getting no great
benefit out of the years spent in the classes, often leave there
remnants of their dignity, if not the whole of it."
Padre Fernandez again bit his lip. "No one forces them to study--the
fields are uncultivated," he observed dryly.
"Yes, there is something that impels them to study," replied Isagani
in the same tone, looking the Dominican full in the face. "Besides
the duty of every one to seek his own perfection, there is the desire
innate in man to cultivate his intellect, a desire the more powerful
here in that it is repressed. He who gives his gold and his life to the
State has the right to require of it opporttmity better to get that
gold and better to care for his life. Yes, Padre, there is something
that impels them, and that something is the government itself. It is
you yourselves who pitilessly ridicule the uncultured Indian and deny
him his rights, on the ground that he is ignorant. You strip him and
then scoff at his nakedness."
Padre Fernandez did not reply, but continued to pace about feverishly,
as though very much agitated.
"You say that the fields are not cultivated," resumed Isagani in a
changed tone, after a brief pause. "Let's not enter upon an analysis
of the reason for this, because we should get far away. But you,
Padre Fernandez, you, a teacher, you, a learned man, do you wish a
people of peons and laborers? In your opinion, is the laborer the
perfect state at which man may arrive in his development? Or is it
that you wish knowledge for yourself and labor for the rest?"
"No, I want knowledge for him who deserves it, for him who knows how
to use it," was the reply. "When the students demonstrate that they
love it, when young men of conviction appear, young men who know how
to maintain their dignity and make it respected, then there will be
knowledge, then there will be considerate professors! If there are
now professors who resort to abuse, it is because there are pupils
who submit to it."
"When there are professors, there will be students!"
"Begin by reforming yourselves, you who have need of change, and we
will follow."
"Yes," said Isagani with a bitter laugh, "let us begin it, because
the difficulty is on our side. Well you know what is expected of
a pupil who stands before a professor--you yourself, with all your
love of justice, with all your kind sentiments, have been restraining
yourself by a great effort while I have been telling you bitter truths,
you yourself, Padre Fernandez! What good has been secured by him among
us who has tried to inculcate other ideas? What evils have not fallen
upon you because you have tried to be just and perform your duty?"
"Señor Isagani," said the Dominican, extending his hand, "although it
may seem that nothing practical has resulted from this conversation,
yet something has been gained. I'll talk to my brethren about what
you have told me and I hope that something can be done. Only I fear
that they won't believe in your existence."
"I fear the same," returned Isagani, shaking the Dominican's hand. "I
fear that my friends will not believe in your existence, as you have
revealed yourself to me today." [57]
Considering the interview at an end, the young man took his leave.
Padre Fernandez opened the door and followed him with his gaze until
he disappeared around a corner in the corridor. For some time he
listened to the retreating footsteps, then went back into his cell
and waited for the youth to appear in the street.
He saw him and actually heard him say to a friend who asked where he
was going: "To the Civil Government! I'm going to see the pasquinades
and join the others!"
His startled friend stared at him as one would look at a person who
is about to commit suicide, then moved away from him hurriedly.
"Poor boy!" murmured Padre Fernandez, feeling his eyes moisten. "I
grudge you to the Jesuits who educated you."
But Padre Fernandez was completely mistaken; the Jesuits repudiated
Isagani [58] when that afternoon they learned that he had been
arrested, saying that he would compromise them. "That young man has
thrown himself away, he's going to do us harm! Let it be understood
that he didn't get those ideas here."
Nor were the Jesuits wrong. No! Those ideas come only from God through
the medium of Nature.


CHAPTER XXVIII
TATAKUT

With prophetic inspiration Ben-Zayb had been for some days past
maintaining in his newspaper that education was disastrous, very
disastrous for the Philippine Islands, and now in view of the events of
that Friday of pasquinades, the writer crowed and chanted his triumph,
leaving belittled and overwhelmed his adversary _Horatius_, who in
the _Pirotecnia_ had dared to ridicule him in the following manner:

From our contemporary, _El Grito_:
"Education is disastrous, very disastrous, for the Philippine
Islands."
Admitted.
For some time _El Grito_ has pretended to represent the
Filipino people--_ergo_, as Fray Ibañez would say, if he
knew Latin.
But Fray Ibañez turns Mussulman when he writes, and we know
how the Mussulmans dealt with education. _In witness whereof_,
as a royal preacher said, the Alexandrian library!

Now he was right, he, Ben-Zayb! He was the only one in the islands
who thought, the only one who foresaw events!
Truly, the news that seditious pasquinades had been found on the
doors of the University not only took away the appetite from many
and disturbed the digestion of others, but it even rendered the
phlegmatic Chinese uneasy, so that they no longer dared to sit in
their shops with one leg drawn up as usual, from fear of losing time
in extending it in order to put themselves into flight. At eight
o'clock in the morning, although the sun continued on its course and
his Excellency, the Captain-General, did not appear at the head of
his victorious cohorts, still the excitement had increased. The friars
who were accustomed to frequent Quiroga's bazaar did not put in their
appearance, and this symptom presaged terrific cataclysms. If the
sun had risen a square and the saints appeared only in pantaloons,
Quiroga would not have been so greatly alarmed, for he would have
taken the sun for a gaming-table and the sacred images for gamblers
who had lost their camisas, but for the friars not to come, precisely
when some novelties had just arrived for them!
By means of a provincial friend of his, Quiroga forbade entrance into
his gaming-houses to every Indian who was not an old acquaintance,
as the future Chinese consul feared that they might get possession of
the sums that the wretches lost there. After arranging his bazaar in
such a way that he could close it quickly in case of need, he had a
policeman accompany him for the short distance that separated his house
from Simoun's. Quiroga thought this occasion the most propitious for
making use of the rifles and cartridges that he had in his warehouse,
in the way the jeweler had pointed out; so that on the following
days there would be searches made, and then--how many prisoners, how
many terrified people would give up their savings! It was the game of
the old carbineers, in slipping contraband cigars and tobacco-leaves
under a house, in order to pretend a search and force the unfortunate
owner to bribery or fines, only now the art had been perfected and,
the tobacco monopoly abolished, resort was had to the prohibited arms.
But Simoun refused to see any one and sent word to the Chinese that
he should leave things as they were, whereupon he went to see Don
Custodio to inquire whether he should fortify his bazaar, but neither
would Don Custodio receive him, being at the time engaged in the study
of a project for defense in case of a siege. He thought of Ben-Zayb
as a source of information, but finding the writer armed to the teeth
and using two loaded revolvers for paper-weights, took his leave in
the shortest possible time, to shut himself up in his house and take
to his bed under pretense of illness.
At four in the afternoon the talk was no longer of simple
pasquinades. There were whispered rumors of an understanding between
the students and the outlaws of San Mateo, it was certain that in the
_pansitería_ they had conspired to surprise the city, there was talk
of German ships outside the bay to support the movement, of a band
of young men who under the pretext of protesting and demonstrating
their Hispanism had gone to the Palace to place themselves at the
General's orders but had been arrested because it was discovered that
they were armed. Providence had saved his Excellency, preventing him
from receiving those precocious criminals, as he was at the time in
conference with the Provincials, the Vice-Rector, and with Padre Irene,
Padre Salvi's representative. There was considerable truth in these
rumors, if we have to believe Padre Irene, who in the afternoon went
to visit Capitan Tiago. According to him, certain persons had advised
his Excellency to improve the opportunity in order to inspire terror
and administer a lasting lesson to the filibusters.
"A number shot," one had advised, "some two dozen reformers deported
at once, in the silence of the night, would extinguish forever the
flames of discontent."
"No," rejoined another, who had a kind heart, "sufficient that the
soldiers parade through the streets, a troop of cavalry, for example,
with drawn sabers--sufficient to drag along some cannon, that's
enough! The people are timid and will all retire into their houses."
"No, no," insinuated another. "This is the opportunity to get rid of
the enemy. It's not sufficient that they retire into their houses, they
should be made to come out, like evil humors by means of plasters. If
they are inclined to start riots, they should be stirred up by secret
agitators. I am of the opinion that the troops should be resting on
their arms and appearing careless and indifferent, so the people may be
emboldened, and then in case of any disturbance--out on them, action!"
"The end justifies the means," remarked another. "Our end is our
holy religion and the integrity of the fatherland. Proclaim a state
of siege, and in case of the least disturbance, arrest all the rich
and educated, and--clean up the country!"
"If I hadn't got there in time to counsel moderation," added Padre
Irene, speaking to Capitan Tiago, "it's certain that blood would
now be flowing through the streets. I thought of you, Capitan--The
partizans of force couldn't do much with the General, and they missed
Simoun. Ah, if Simoun had not been taken ill--"
With the arrest of Basilio and the search made later among his books
and papers, Capitan Tiago had become much worse. Now Padre Irene had
come to augment his terror with hair-raising tales. Ineffable fear
seized upon the wretch, manifesting itself first by a light shiver,
which was rapidly accentuated, until he was unable to speak. With his
eyes bulging and his brow covered with sweat, he caught Padre Irene's
arm and tried to rise, but could not, and then, uttering two groans,
fell heavily back upon the pillow. His eyes were wide open and he
was slavering--but he was dead. The terrified Padre Irene fled, and,
as the dying man had caught hold of him, in his flight he dragged the
corpse from the bed, leaving it sprawling in the middle of the room.
By night the terror had reached a climax. Several incidents had
occurred to make the timorous believe in the presence of secret
agitators.
During a baptism some cuartos were thrown to the boys and naturally
there was a scramble at the door of the church. It happened that at
the time there was passing a bold soldier, who, somewhat preoccupied,
mistook the uproar for a gathering of filibusters and hurled himself,
sword in hand, upon the boys. He went into the church, and had he not
become entangled in the curtains suspended from the choir he would
not have left a single head on shoulders. It was but the matter of a
moment for the timorous to witness this and take to flight, spreading
the news that the revolution had begun. The few shops that had been
kept open were now hastily closed, there being Chinese who even left
bolts of cloth outside, and not a few women lost their slippers in
their flight through the streets. Fortunately, there was only one
person wounded and a few bruised, among them the soldier himself,
who suffered a fall fighting with the curtain, which smelt to him of
filibusterism. Such prowess gained him great renown, and a renown
so pure that it is to be wished all fame could be acquired in like
manner--mothers would then weep less and earth would be more populous!
In a suburb the inhabitants caught two unknown individuals burying
arms under a house, whereupon a tumult arose and the people pursued
the strangers in order to kill them and turn their bodies over to the
authorities, but some one pacified the excited crowd by telling them
that it would be sufficient to hand over the _corpora delictorum_,
which proved to be some old shotguns that would surely have killed
the first person who tried to fire them.
"All right," exclaimed one braggart, "if they want us to rebel,
let's go ahead!" But he was cuffed and kicked into silence, the women
pinching him as though he had been the owner of the shotguns.
In Ermita the affair was more serious, even though there was less
excitement, and that when there were shots fired. A certain cautious
government employee, armed to the teeth, saw at nightfall an object
near his house, and taking it for nothing less than a student, fired
at it twice with a revolver. The object proved to be a policeman,
and they buried him--_pax Christi! Mutis!_
In Dulumbayan various shots also resounded, from which there resulted
the death of a poor old deaf man, who had not heard the sentinel's
_quién vive_, and of a hog that had heard it and had not answered
_España_! The old man was buried with difficulty, since there was no
money to pay for the obsequies, but the hog was eaten.
In Manila, [59] in a confectionery near the University much frequented
by the students, the arrests were thus commented upon.
"And have they arrested Tadeo?" [60] asked the proprietess.
"_Abá_!" answered a student who lived in Parian, "he's already shot!"
"Shot! _Nakú_! He hasn't paid what he owes me."
"Ay, don't mention that or you'll be taken for an accomplice. I've
already burnt the book [61] you lent me. There might be a search and
it would be found. Be careful!"
"Did you say that Isagani is a prisoner?"
"Crazy fool, too, that Isagani," replied the indignant student. "They
didn't try to catch him, but he went and surrendered. Let him bust
himself--he'll surely be shot."
The señora shrugged her shoulders. "He doesn't owe me anything. And
what about Paulita?"
"She won't lack a husband. Sure, she'll cry a little, and then marry
a Spaniard."
The night was one of the gloomiest. In the houses the rosary was
recited and pious women dedicated paternosters and requiems to each
of the souls of their relatives and friends. By eight o'clock hardly
a pedestrian could be seen--only from time to time was heard the
galloping of a horse against whose sides a saber clanked noisily,
then the whistles of the watchmen, and carriages that whirled along
at full speed, as though pursued by mobs of filibusters.
Yet terror did not reign everywhere. In the house of the silversmith,
where Placido Penitente boarded, the events were commented upon and
discussed with some freedom.
"I don't believe in the pasquinades," declared a workman, lank and
withered from operating the blowpipe. "To me it looks like Padre
Salvi's doings."
"Ahem, ahem!" coughed the silversmith, a very prudent man, who did not
dare to stop the conversation from fear that he would be considered
a coward. The good man had to content himself with coughing, winking
to his helper, and gazing toward the street, as if to say, "They may
be watching us!"
"On account of the operetta," added another workman.
"Aha!" exclaimed one who had a foolish face, "I told you so!"
"Ahem!" rejoined a clerk, in a tone of compassion, "the affair of
the pasquinades is true, Chichoy, and I can give you the explanation."
Then he added mysteriously, "It's a trick of the Chinaman Quiroga's!"
"Ahem, ahem!" again coughed the silversmith, shifting his quid of
buyo from one cheek to the other.
"Believe me, Chichoy, of Quiroga the Chinaman! I heard it in the
office."
"_Nakú_, it's certain then," exclaimed the simpleton, believing it
at once.
"Quiroga," explained the clerk, "has a hundred thousand pesos in
Mexican silver out in the bay. How is he to get it in? Very easily. Fix
up the pasquinades, availing himself of the question of the students,
and, while every-body is excited, grease the officials' palms, and
in the cases come!"
"Just it! Just it!" cried the credulous fool, striking the table
with his fist. "Just it! That's why Quiroga did it! That's why--"
But he had to relapse into silence as he really did not know what to
say about Quiroga.
"And we must pay the damages?" asked the indignant Chichoy.
"Ahem, ahem, a-h-hem!" coughed the silversmith, hearing steps in
the street.
The footsteps approached and all in the shop fell silent.
"St. Pascual Bailon is a great saint," declared the silversmith