'A court martial was held at Manila at half-past eight o'clock on the morning of the 26th December for the trial of "the well-known agitator Jose Rizal Mereado y Alonso, a native of Calamba, in the province of Laguna, and by profession a doctor."
The Comercio gives the following brief report of the proceedings Tenionte Auditor Senor Alcocer formulated the accusation in brilliant terms. Having referred to the bad antecedents of Rizal, one of the principal, if not the principal, figures in the insurrectionary movements, he examined the relation in which the accused stood towards the movement, and said that the causes of the rebellion being well known, it was just that he should pay the penalty of the law, He (the prosecutor) therefore, in view of all the facts, accused the prisoner of rebellious acts and illicit associations, the latter being the medium for the former, and having regard to the aggravated circumstances of the crimes, he asked for the infliction of the penalty provided by the Penal Code for illicit associations with civil responsibility and for sentence of death for the crime of rebellion, On the termination of his brilliant oration the orator was justly felicitated by the whole concourse.
The Lieutenant of Artillery Senor Taviel de Andrade then proceeded: with the defence of the accused, placing it in the most favourable light possible.
Before the Court closed Rizal made a Jong speech exonerating himself, shawm; that his name had been falsely used an that letters and poetry which he had not written had been attributed to him. He stigmatised the Philippine population that had risen in arms against Spain as savage, the victim of the deceit and abuse of fools, and asserted that there wore no respectable or representative persons (as he considered) who sympathised with their ideas.
The Council then considered its finding in private, The large hall in which the Council was held was completely filled.
On the 29th December there was published in the general orders an order directing that the execution of Rizal should take place at 7 a.m. on the 30th and making occasion, provision for the arrangements on the
The Comercio of the 30th December gives the following account of the execution 'At seven o'clock this morning, the hour appointed in the order we' published yes~ terday, the sentence of death passed by the court-martial on Jose Rizal for rebelious acts and illicit associations was duly executed on the Campo de Bagumbayan. 'A piquet of the 10th infantry Regiment constituted the firing party. The square was formed by the 7th and 8th. battalions of the Cazadores and the volunteers. The criminal arrived accompanied by. the Rev. Fathers Estanislao March and. Jose Vila-clara, of the Jesuit order, who at his request had. attended him in the chapel since yesterday. Exhorted by the priests. Rizal declared his repentance of his errors 4nd wrote and signed the following abjuration "T declare myself a Catholic and in this roligion.in which I was born and educated I wish. to live and die. I retract with all my heart whatever in. my words, writings, printed works, or conduct has been contrary to. my. duty. as a son of the Catholic Church. I believe and profess what she commands. I abominate Masonry as an enemy of the Church and as a society prohibited by the Church. The Diocesan Prelate, as the superior ecclesiastical authority, may publish this my spontaneous manifestation, to repair the scandal which, my acts may have caused, and for which may God and man pardon me. Manila, 29th December, 1896. Jose Rizal. EL {Jefe del piquet, Juan del Fresno. El Ayudante de plaza, Eloy Maure."
After having confessed Rizal received the holy communion at the first mass celebrated in the chapel of the royal fortress of San-tiao at three o'clock this morning. At five o'clock, in the presence of the Chaplain of the Forces and of the officers of the Guard, in the chapel, he contracted matrix kill many with Miss Josefina Bracken. At half-past six he left the chapel, guarded by a piquet of the Artillery Regiment and accompanied by the priests, and was con ducted to the place of execution, where a large crowd had assembled to witness the just punishment which the law imposes on those who, in return for the benefits which the country confers upon them, betray her, organising infamous associations whose ain is crime, and bringing perturbation, strife, and desolation to this possession of the Spanish Crown.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.