There is about as much sense
and justice in such logic as there would be in that of keeping a babe
confined in swaddling-bands and then blaming it for not knowing how to
walk. No creature will remain a healthy child forever, but, as Spain
learned to her bitter cost, will be very prone, as the parent grows
decrepit and it begins to feel its strength, to prove a troublesome
subject to handle, thereby reversing the natural law suggested by the
comparison, and bringing such Sancho-Panza statecraft to flounder at
last through as hopeless confusion to as absurd a conclusion as his
own island government.
Rizal was not one of those rabid, self-seeking revolutionists who
would merely overthrow the government and maintain the old system
with themselves in the privileged places of the former rulers, nor
is he to be classed among the misguided enthusiasts who by their
intemperate demands and immoderate conduct merely strengthen the
hands of those in power. He realized fully that the restrictions
under which the people had become accustomed to order their lives
should be removed gradually as they advanced under suitable guidance
and became capable of adjusting themselves to the new and better
conditions.
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