Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

POLITICAL SECTION

Second Session
The second session of the Political Section was called
to order by the Chairman, the Honorable Alberto
Barretto, at 9:40 A. M., February 25, 1930.
The first speaker of the day was Director Teodoro
M. Kalaw, who read the following paper:
THE SPIRIT OF THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION AS
AN INSPIRATION TO THE PRESENT CAMPAIGN
FOR INDEPENDENCE
By DIRECTOR TEODORO M. KALAW,
National Library.
Rizal left the Philippines secretly as a student of medicine,
to finish his career in Spain, to breathe the air of liberty, and
to work for the good of his country. He did not reveal his
true purposes to anybody except to his brother Paciano. As
soon as he reached Spain, the first article he wrote was an ode
to his country, so touching, so affecting, so exquisite a revelation of a soul longing for an ideal, that when his fellow-.
countrymen in the Philippines read it, they wept with joy and
sorrow at the same time. Joy, because it made them aware
of the existence of a country of their own, a country they can
serve and love; and sorrow, because they saw this same country
still submerged and unredeemed, Rizal completed his education in Europe and devoted himself to his favorite studies and
campaign-studied the history or past of his country to revive
it and called the attention of the world to the injustice and
oppression under which his fellow-countrymen were living. He
implanted in the hearts of his countrymen a love for liberty
and education, in order that through their own efforts they
might obtain their political and social redemption. While
135