The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home

CHAPTER LXIII 303
of record relating to the man--the sole gleam of shame evidenced in the impolitic, idiotic, and pusillanimous
treatment of him--and the whole question becomes such a puzzle that it may just as well be left in darkness,
with a throb of pity for the unfortunate victim caught in such a maelstrom of panic-stricken passion and selfish
intrigue.
[15] A similar picture is found in the convento at Antipolo.--Author's note.
[16] A school of secondary instruction conducted by the Dominican Fathers, by whom it was taken over in
1640. "It had its first beginning in the house of a pious Spaniard, called Juan Geronimo Guerrero, who had
dedicated himself, with Christian piety, to gathering orphan boys in his house, where he raised, clothed, and
sustained them, and taught them to read and to write, and much more, to live in the fear of God."--Blair and
Robertson, The Philippine Islands, Vol. XLV, p. 208.--TR.
[17] The Dominican friars, whose order was founded by Dominic de Guzman.--TR.
[18] In the story mentioned, the three monks were the old Roman god Bacchus and two of his satellites, in the
disguise of Franciscan friars,--TR.
[19] According to a note to the Barcelona edition of this novel, Mendieta was a character well known in
Manila, doorkeeper at the Alcaldía, impresario of children's theaters, director of a merry-go-round, etc.--TR.
[20] See Glossary.
[21] The "tobacco monopoly" was established during the administration of Basco de Vargas (1778-1787), one
of the ablest governors Spain sent to the Philippines, in order to provide revenue for the local government and
to encourage agricultural development. The operation of the monopoly, however, soon degenerated into a
system of "graft" and petty abuse which bore heartily upon the natives (see Zuñiga's Estadismo), and the
abolition of it in 1881 was one of the heroic efforts made by the Spanish civil administrators to adjust the
archaic colonial system to the changing conditions in the Archipelago.--TR.
[22] As a result of his severity in enforcing the payment of sums due the royal treasury on account of the
galleon trade, in which the religious orders were heavily interested, Governor Fernando de Bustillos
Bustamente y Rueda met a violent death at the hands of a mob headed by friars, October 11, 1719. See Blair
and Robertson, The Philippine Islands, Vol. XLIV; Montero y Vidal, Historia General de Filipinas, Vol. I,
Chap. XXXV.--TR.
[23] A reference to the fact that the clerical party in Spain refused to accept the decree of Ferdinand VII
setting aside the Salic law and naming his daughter Isabella as his successor, and, upon the death of
Ferdinand, supported the claim of the nearest male heir, Don Carlos de Bourbon, thus giving rise to the Carlist
movement. Some writers state that severe measures had to be adopted to compel many of the friars in the
Philippines to use the feminine pronoun in their prayers for the sovereign, just whom the reverend gentlemen
expected to deceive not being explained.--TR.
[24] An apothegm equivalent to the English, "He'll never set any rivers on fire."--TR.
[25] The name of a Carlist leader in Spain.--TR.
[26] A German Franciscan monk who is said to have invented gunpowder about 1330.
[27] "He says that he doesn't want it when it is exactly what he does want." An expression used in the mongrel
Spanish-Tagalog 'market language' of Manila and Cavite, especially among the children,--somewhat akin to
the English 'sour grapes.'--TR.