Romance with Petite Jacoby.

Two things brought some measure of cheer to the despondent Rizal, as he

was preparing for his trip to Madrid. First was the summertime festival of Belgium,which was celebrated
in carnival style with colorful costumes, fantastic floats, and many days of merriment. Second was his
romance with Petite Jacoby, the pretty niece of his landladies

Rizal was so charming and dignified a gentleman that Petite Susanne was attracted to him. He was lonely
in a strange country and Leonor Rivera was so far away. Naturally, being a normal young man, he found
certain bliss in the company of a pretty Belgian girl. He might have flirted with Petite Susanne, but he
could not stoop low to a deceptive amorous relationship.

Like other women- Segunda Katigbak. Orang Valenzuela, Leonor Rivera, O-Sei-San. Gettie Beckett,
Consuelo Ortiga y Perez and the Nellie Boustead -Suzanne fell in love with Rizal She cried when he left
toward the end of July, 1890 for Madrid. Stopping for a few days in Paris.

Although Rizal was in faraway Madrid, Suzanne could not forget him. She wrote to him in French:

Where are you now? Do you think of me once in a while? I am reminded of our tender conversations,
reading your letter, although it is cold and indifferent. Here in your letter I have something which makes
up for your absence. How pleased I would be to follow you, to travel with you who are always in my
thoughts.

You wish me all kinds of luck, but forget that in the absence of a beloved one a tender heart cannot feel
happy.

A thousand things serve to distract your mind, my friend; but in my case, I am sad, lonely, always alone
with my thoughts-nothing, absolutely nothing relieves my sor- row. Are you coming back? That’s what I
want and desire most ardently you cannot refuse me.

I do not despair and I limit myself to murmuring against time which runs so fast when it carries us
toward a separation. But goes so slowly when it’s bringing us together again.

I feel very unhappy thinking that perhaps I might never see you again.

Goodbye! You know with one word you can make me very happy. Aren’t you going to write to me?

Failure to Get Justice for Family. Upon arrival in Madrid, Rizal immediately sought the help of the
Filipino colony, the Asociacion Hispano-Filipina, and the liberal Spanish newspapers (La Justicia, El Globo,
La Republica, El Resumen, etc.) in securing justice for the oppressed Calamba tenants, including his
family. Together with M.H. del Pilar (who acted as his lawyer) and Dr. Dominador Gomez (secretary of
the Asociacion Hispano-Filipina), he called on the Minister of Colonies (Señor Fabie) in order to protest
the injustices committed by Governor General Valeriano Weyler and the Dominicans against the
Calamba folks.
Nothing came out of Rizal’s interview with Minister Fabie. As El Resumen, a Madrid newspaper which
sympathized with the Filipino cause, said: “To cover the ears, open the purse, and fold the arms – this is
the Spanish colonial policy”.