Opening of the book
A plant I am, that scarcely grown,
Was torn from out its Eastern bed,
Where all around perfume is shed,
And life but as a dream is known;
The land that I can call my own,
By me forgotten ne’er to be,
Where trilling birds their song taught me,
And cascades with their ceaseless roar,
And all along the spreading shore
The murmurs of the sounding sea.
While yet in childhood’s happy day,
I learned upon its sun to smile,
And in my breast there seemed the while
Seething volcanic fires to play;
A bard I was, and my wish alway
To call upon the fleeting wind,
With all the force of verse and mind:
“Go forth, and spread around its fame,
From zone to zone with glad acclaim,
And earth to heaven together bind!”
From “Mi Piden Versos” (1882),
verses from Madrid for his mother.
The Philippines
A Century Hence
“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.”
—From a public address at Fargo, N.D., on April 7th. 1903, by the President of the United States.
A sketch map, by Dr. Rizal, of spheres of influence in the Pacific at the time of writing “The Philippines A Century Hence,” as they appeared to him.
Most of the French names will be easily recognized, though it may be noted that “Etats Unis” is our own United States, “L’Angleterre”
England, and “L’Espagne” Spain.
Original Title Page.
Noli Me Tangere Quarter-Centennial
Series
Edited by Austin Craig
The Philippines
A Century Hence
By José Rizal
Manila: 1912
Philippine Education Company
34 Escolta
Copyright 1912
By Austin Craig
Registered in the Philippine Islands.
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