Let moonlight keep the night hours white and mild,
Let Dawn come forth on fleet and shining wing,
Let winds above me whistle harsh and wild;
And if some bird be to my cross beguiled,
Then, bird, a song of peace, I beg thee, sing.

Bright sun, at whose command the rains ascend,
Bear up to heaven the bitter tears I weep.
Kind souls, who mourn for my untimely end,
On quiet nights, when praying for your friend,
Oh! for my country pray; then shall I sleep.

Pray ye for all who hopelessly have died;
For all who bore immeasurable pain;
For our poor mothers who in anguish cried;
For widows, orphans, captives racked and tried;
So shall ye surely your redemption gain.

When midnight darkness wraps the graveyard round,
And only dead men linger there with me,
Break not our rest, our mystery profound;
And should'st thou hear a hymn and zither sound,
'Tis I, dear country, I, who sing to thee!

At last when e'en my tomb is no more sought,
The place by stone or cross no more revealed,
Some man will spade me out with ne'er a thought,
And scatter all my ashes back to naught;—
My dust shall be as carpet on thy field.

Oblivion then I shall no longer fear,

Who in thine air, thy fields, thy vales, will dwell;
Clear vibrant notes shall steal upon thine ear;
With perfumes, colors, lights, and moanings drear,
I shall forever strive my faith to tell.

Land I adore, whose sadness makes me grieve;
Dear Philippines! my last farewell again!
With Thee, my kindred, friends, and all I leave,
To go where none are slaves, where none deceive,
Where faith kills not, and God alone doth reign.

Fond parents, brothers, torn from off my breast;
Friends of my youth in ruined homes who weep;
Give thanks that from this weary day I rest.
Farewell, sweet foreign lover friend, my best;
Farewell to all!-to die is but to sleep!

The "foreign friend," to whom the last stanza refers, is Josefina Bracken, whom Rizal had chosen as his wife while

in exile at Dapitan. Being a Mason he could not have an ecclesiastical marriage, yet no other was legal in Spanish times. Now through the city of Manila spreads the news that Rizal desires an ecclesiastical marriage, on the eve of his death, that his children may be legitimate. Now they say he has retracted, and has become reconciled with the church dignitaries; that the marriage ceremony has been completed.18

The last night drags to its weary end, and as day breaks, the martyr walks out to Bagumbayan field (now the Luneta). His arms are tied behind him; a heavy guard surrounds him. As he walks along he suddenly recalls how, nine years before, he had stood on that field with a friend and said, "I have a sort of foreboding that some sunshiny morning like this I shall be here facing a firing squad.”

He does not face the squad, for the commanding officer refuses him that, as contrary to the rules, but promises that he shall not be shot in the head. The attending physician feels his pulse-it is perfectly normal. Then, as Rizal turns his back, he twists his hand beneath his shoulder to show the soldiers where to aim. One tense moment-the volley comes. With a supreme effort of the will he swings about and falls face forward so that he may receive the "shots of grace" like a soldier, not like a traitor. The circumstances of Rizal's death were so dramatically touching, his ideals were so high, his innocence so manifest, that the Filipinos were at once horrified and inspired, as by a second crucifixion. A new nation was conceived at the death of the three priests in 1872 on Bagumbayan field; the nation was born on that same field with the death of Rizal, December 30, 1896. Happy are these Islands in having as an ideal one of earth's supreme heroes. He lives today-is more truly alive than he was in 1896. He stands in the plaza of almost every village of the Philippines, beckoning, inspiring the nation for whose life he gave his own.

Having placed Rizal among the immortals, Polavieja waged a vigorous warfare against the insurrectionists. Unable to "Historians differ as to whether the retraction and the marriage really took place. Original documentary proofs are lacking. See "Lineage Life and Labors of Jose Rizal," by Austin Craig, p. 243.

destroy their spirit, he vented his spleen upon the noncombatant population by barbarous tortures and wholesale executions. Night after night men and women were summoned from their homes for inspection and subjected to horrible indecencies. Men were escorted to prison and maltreated so badly that many, who were a few days later declared innocent, were maimed for life in the process of proving their innocence! 19

After a few

recalled and The new Gov

Polavieja had performed his ghastly task. months of unprecedented terrorism he was General Primo de Rivera became Governor. ernor wanted peace and offered an amnesty to all who would lay down their arms within a certain time. The Filipino leaders issued a proclamation setting forth their demands. It deserves being read with care:

1. Expulsion of the friars.

2. Parliamentary representation, freedom of the press, religious toleration, administrative and economic autonomy. 3. Equal pay and equal treatment for Spanish and Insular civil officers.

4. Restoration of all friar lands to their original owners. 5. No more banishments.

6. Legal equality of all classes.

Not freedom from Spain was their object at this time, but freedom from the oppression of foreign ecclesiastics. One of the insurgent slogans was "Long live Spain, Death to the Friars!" 20

Pedro Alejandro Paterno, acting as the agent of the new Governor, promised the rebels to fulfil these requests. Governor Rivera's terms sounded good, for he offered to pay

19 Some of the men well known throughout the Islands, who suffered violence at this time, are Don Agustin de la Rosa, Don Felipe Buencamino, Don Cayetano Arellano, Don Luis R. Yangco, Don Pedro Roxas, Don Doroteo Jose, Don Manuel Roxas, Dr. Paulos Zamora, Florentino Torres, T. Pardo de Tavera, Tomas del Rosario, Martin de Ocampo, Ambrosio Flores, Telesforo Chindian, Jose Zalamea, Manuel Xerxes Burgus, Dr. Bonifacio Arevalo, and Antonio Rivera, who died while being tortured. Among the prominent men who were shot were Domingo Franco, Domingo Abella, Manuel Abella, Darienzo Lerina, Jose Osorio, Francisco Roxas, Maximus Tincencio, and N. Adriano. Foreman, "The Philippine Islands," p. 528.