JOSE RIZAL: LONDON EXPERIENCE On May 24, 1888 Rizal arrived in the well-known port city of Liverpool. He iediately had a !oo !ood d ip ipre re"" ""ion ion on the #ri #riti" ti"h h $" $"le" le".. He wr wrote ote to hi" faily, faily, %L %Live iverpo rpool ol i" a &i! and &ea'tif'l city and it" cele&rated port i" a!ni(cent and the c'"toho'"e i" )'ite !ood*. He "tayed for a ni!ht to re"t and the ne+t day he went "trai!htaway to the ity of London. hen he ar arri rived ved in Lon London don,, Riz Rizal al '"e '"ed d hi" ti tie e le lear arnin nin!. !. He wa" det deter erin ined ed to ip ipro rove ve hi" knowled!e on the n!li"h lan!'a!e while he al"o en!a!ed hi" intere"t in /hilippine "t'die". onc'rrently, onc'rr ently, he annotated the work of 0ntonio de Mor!a the 'ce"o" de la" $"la" 3ilipina" 3ilipina" a rare &ook that i" availa&le in the #riti"h M'"e'5. Lookin! for a ho'"e that wa" 6'"t near the #riti"h M'"e', he &oarded in with a private faily at 7o. 9 halcot re"cent, /riro"e Hill. :he #eckett" welcoed ;o"e like faily. $n fact, Rizal wa" provided with two roo" to occ'py< one wa" '"ed for "leepin! while the other one one
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re"earchin! a&o't the /hilippine" or vi"itin! hi" friend =r. 0ntonio Ma. Re!idor, a 3ilipino lawyer in e+ile. Rizal fo'nd 'nday" in London to &e 'nintere"tin!. He wrote> 'nday 'nday" " here here are are very very &ore"o &ore"oe e<< every every place place i" clo"ed clo"ed,, there there are are neithe neitherr "hop" "hop" nor theater", and if '"ic i" played, it i" only reli!io'" '"ic. Hardly can one "ee a poor coach !oin! thro'!h "treet". ?1@ :hi" ca'"ed Rizal to "pend hi" 'nday" in the ho'"e of =r. =r. Reinhold Reinhold Ro"t, the li&rarian li&rarian of the Mini"try of 3orei!n aAair" and the per"on who !ave hi acce"" to the #riti"h M'"e'. Here he en6oyed the Beran doctorC" collection of &ook" a&o't the /hilippine". /hilippine". He learned to play cricket and &o+in! with the "on" of =r. Ro"t. 0nnotatin! and "t'dyin! the 'ce"o" de la" $"la" 3ilipina" 1DEF5 wa" the ain !oal of Rizal in the n!li"h capital. He copared the work of Mor!a to tho"e of 3r. hirino, 3r. olin, 3r. /la"encia and any ore. He conveyed each hi"torical doc'ent availa&le to "t'dy the hi"tory of the /hilippine". Rizal "t'died the hi"tory of hi" co'ntry and annotated the work not to pro(t oney, &'t for hi" intere"t and love for the /hilippine". He wrote wrote to #l'entritt> $ a now very &'"y with Mor!a. $ a plannin! to copy the entire work and pre"ent a new edition to the p'&lic, e"pecially the 3ilipino p'&lic. =r. 0ntonio Re!idor wi"he" to &e y (nancier. hat do yo' thinkG ith the Mor!a $ wi"h al"o to p'&li"h yo'r :ri&e" of Mindanao a" well "oe new doc'ent" that $ fo'nd in the #riti"h M'"e'. $ hope yo' will help e with thi" 'ndertakin!. $ need yo'r advice and with yo'r knowled!e of thin!" /hilippine yo'
can "how e the ri!ht path "o that $ ay not work in vain. $ do thi" only for y co'ntry, &eca'"e thi" work will not &rin! either honor or oney. ?2@ Rizal e+tended "t'dy on the /hilippine i"land" led hi to p'"h and look for ore "o'rce" aro'nd 'rope. On epte&er 1888, he vi"ited the city of /ari" to ac)'ire po""i&le hi"torical doc'ent" in the #i&liothe)'e 7acional or the 7ational Li&rary of 3rance. ='rin! hi" "tay there, he et ;'an L'na and wife /az /ardo =e :avera. hen he wa" a&le to o&tain the &ook" and doc'ent" he needed for re"earch, he ret'rned to London. #efore "pendin! the holiday" in London, Rizal ade another trip and went to pain to hear the o"t recent new" a&o't political activitie" in the /hilippine". hile he wa" there, he et Marcelo H. =el /ilar and Mariano /once who he &ecae friend" with for their 't'al intere"t to attain refor" for the /hilippine". Rizal went &ack and "pent hri"ta" in London with the #eckett". He told #l'entritt in a letter that thi" wa" hi" favorite "ea"on to cele&rate, that it doe" not only reind hi of happy day" d'rin! hi" childhood &'t al"o of hi"tory Rizal wa" pertainin! to the &irth of ;e"'" hri"t5. :o!ether with the letter were 2 &'"t of Roan eperor" that Rizal &o'!ht in the #riti"h M'"e'. One for #l'entritt and the other one for =r. zepelack. :he"e &'"t" "erved a" hri"ta" pre"ent" fro Rizal. :hi" "howed the 3ilipino characteri"tic of "harin! !ift" d'rin! the hri"ta" "ea"on. ?@ hile ;o"e wa" &'"y doin! hi" re"earchin! in the #riti"h M'"e', he did not for!et to write diAerent article". Rizal ade hi" (r"t entry in the La olidaridad entitled %Lo" 0!ric'lt'ro" 3ilipino"* an article a&o't a 3ilipino farerC" "'Aerin!. He al"o wrote the La i"ion del 3ray Rodri!'ez, a "atire a&o't reli!ion. :he fao'" %Letter to the Io'n! oen of Malolo"* wa" al"o written &y Rizal d'rin! hi" "tay in London. 0l"o, he contri&'ted article" to the 6o'rnal of 0"ian t'die" of =r. Ro"t. $t '"t not &e for!otten that Rizal had a roantic relation"hip with the elde"t da'!hter of Mr. #eckett Bertr'de. he wa" the (r"t one to fall in love with Rizal and they "pent their friend"hip &ondin! with each other. Jnfort'nately, Rizal decided to ove into /ari" to contin'e hi" "t'dy and e+perience the life in the 3rench capital. $t wa" hard for ;o"e to leave the #eckett" for &ea'tif'l eorie" were "hared with the faily. RizalC" "tay in London arked a "i!ni(cant chapter of hi" life. $n London, he had devoted hi" "elf in the "t'dy of hi"tory. He took advanta!e of all the doc'ent" and "o'rce" availa&le in the well known #riti"h M'"e'. $n London he e+perienced the kind of life with the people of
n!land. RizalC" !oal of iprovin! hi" "elf in the n!li"h lan!'a!e, annotatin! the work of Mor!a, and en!a!in! in /hilippine "t'die" were all achieved &efore he left the city. t'dyin! and annotatin! the 'ce"o" de la" $"la" 3ilipina" wa" the !reate"t achieveent of national hero ;o"e Rizal d'rin! hi" "tay in London. He con"idered Mor!aC" work &eca'"e he wa" a layan not a reli!io'" chronicler. He took the opport'nity of the availa&ility of the ori!inal &ook in the #riti"h M'"e'. Rizal here wa" credited in %re-writin!* /hilippine hi"tory &'t in fact ;o"e Rizal "ho'ld &e con"idered the (r"t "cholar to write /hilippine hi"tory fro a point of view of a 3ilipino. London played a &i! part in akin! Rizal who he i".
Rizal in London 2 June 1888 Dr. Reinhold Rost and family tendered in their house a tea party in Rizal’s honor. Rizal saw in the Rost’s house a good Filipiniana library. (Dr. Reinhold Rost, a book lover, librarian of the Minister of Foreign Relations of ngland and famous Malayalogist, had espe!ial predile!tions for Rizal whom he used to !all "ombre perla#. 23 June 1888 "e thought of publishing the se!ond edition of the $oli Me %angere with the illustrations of &uan 'una and with slight !hanges. "e wanted to !orre!t the typographi!al errors and the erroneous !itation of hakespeare whi!h should be that of !hiller. 27 June 1888 )n a l etter, he re*uested Mariano +on!e to send more opies of the $oli Me %angere to the +hilippines. "e told +on!e that the *uestion of writing with more or less literature is -ust se!ondary what is essential is to think and to feel rightly, to work for an ob-e!t and the pen will take !harge of transmitting the ideas. 9 July 1888 Rizal asked +of. /lumentritt for advi!e whether or not to answer enator vida who denoun!ed him (Rizal# in the enate in Madrid as an intimate friendof +rin!e /ismar!h, and his novel as anti0atholi!, prea!hing protestant and so!ialist. 12 July 1888 %he "ispano0Filipino asso!iation was reorganized by the Filipinos in Madrid and by thepaniards sympathizing the !ause of the filipinos, headed by r. Morayta. 26 July 1888 )t was de!ided to write in the press and artile whi!h would tea!h enator 1ida !ourtesy and honesty. arlier, he had written a letter to the enator in Madrid whose answer he was waiting for. 27 July 1888 Rizal wrote a letter to Mariano +on!e ($aning# telling the latter of his e2perien!e in his travel Manila via "ongkong, &apan and $orth 3meri!a, and the people he met in "ongkong, who he said, are enthusiasti! about the $oli and are studious and patriots. 16 August 1888
Rizal was admitted to the reading room of the /ritish Museum of 'ondon. August 1888 "e was busy with the Morga. "e thought of !opying the whole book and annotating it for publi!ation as his gift to the Filipinos. Dr. 3ntonio Regidor, one of the e2iles of the 4567 e vent, promised to be his !apitalist. 3long with the Morga he wanted also to publish /lumentritt’s 8%ribes of Mindanao8 in!luding some new do!uments whi!h he found in the /ritish Museum. 18 August 1888 9ith the intention of writing the !ontinuation of his first novel, Rizal asked Mariano +on!e in a letter to send him two or more !opies of the $oli. Rizal planned t hav a pi!ture taken : one !opy to be sent to +on!e and the other to be in!luded in the publi!ation of the se!ond novel.