The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Reign of Greed, by Jose Rizal

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Title: The Reign of Greed
Complete English Version of 'El Filibusterismo'

Author: Jose Rizal

Translator: Charles Derbyshire

Release Date: October 10, 2005 [EBook #10676]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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The Reign of Greed

A Complete English Version of _El Filibusterismo_ from the Spanish of
Jose Rizal

By

Charles Derbyshire

Manila
Philippine Education Company
1912

Copyright, 1912, by Philippine Education Company.
Entered at Stationers' Hall.
Registrado en las Islas Filipinas.
_All rights reserved_.

TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION

El Filibusterismo, the second of Jose Rizal's novels of Philippine
life, is a story of the last days of the Spanish regime in the
Philippines. Under the name of _The Reign of Greed_ it is for the
first time translated into English. Written some four or five years
after _Noli Me Tangere_, the book represents Rizal's more mature
judgment on political and social conditions in the islands, and in
its graver and less hopeful tone reflects the disappointments and
discouragements which he had encountered in his efforts to lead the
way to reform. Rizal's dedication to the first edition is of special
interest, as the writing of it was one of the grounds of accusation
against him when he was condemned to death in 1896. It reads:

"To the memory of the priests, Don Mariano Gomez (85 years
old), Don Jose Burgos (30 years old), and Don Jacinto Zamora
(35 years old). Executed in Bagumbayan Field on the 28th of
February, 1872.

"The Church, by refusing to degrade you, has placed in doubt
the crime that has been imputed to you; the Government, by
surrounding your trials with mystery and shadows, causes the
belief that there was