Note 66 — THE PHILIPPINES, 1860–1898—SOME COMMENT AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Its columns could also be used to further personal interests, as already shown in the case of Weyler. Retana has since 1898 executed a “right-about-face,” as has been best shown in his recent biographical study of Rizal. Herein, in various editorial notes in vol. v of the Archivo (1905), and in various letters to the Filipino press of Manila, he has many times virtually apologized for his political writings up to 1898, has declared that he was always a “Liberal” at heart, and has thus written an impugnation of his own writings in behalf of friar-rule. In a letter to I. de los Reyes (reproduced from El Grito del Pueblo of Manila in El Renacimiento, Manila, July 24, 1906), Retana carries this note to the point of practically abject retraction, saying he never has been really a Catholic, never confessed since his marriage, etc., and referring to Rizal (whom he bitterly reviled from 1892 to 1898) as a “saint,” etc. Regarding Retana and Blumentritt, see also a letter by J. A. LeRoy in the Springfield Republican for July 7, 1906.

In this connection see Retana’s opening paragraphs in his Vida y escritos del Dr. José Rizal, in Nuestro Tiempo for 1904–06.—EDS. ↑