changes which would avoid them; the residents of less worldly wise
communities would wait and suffer till too late, and then in blind
wrath would wreak bloody vengeance upon guilty and innocent alike.

Kalamba, a near neighbor of Binan, had other reasons for being known
besides its confiscation by the government. It was the scene of an
early and especially cruel massacre of Chinese, and about Francisco's
time considerable talk had been occasioned because an archbishop had
established an uniform scale of charges for the various rites of the
Church. While these charges were often complained of, it was the poorer
people (some of whom were in receipt of charity) who suffered. The
rich were seeking more expensive ceremonies in order to outshine the
other well-to-do people of their neighborhood. The real grievance was,
however, not the cost, but the fact that political discriminations
were made so that those who were out of favor with the government
were likewise deprived of church privileges. The reform of Archbishop
Santo y Rufino has importance only because it gave the people of the
provinces what Manila had long possessed--a knowledge of the rivalry
between the secular and the regular clergy.

The people had learned in Governor Bustamente's time that Church and
State did not always agree, and now they saw dissensions within the
Church. The Spanish Conquest and the possession of the Philippines
had been made easy by the doctrine of the indivisibility of Church
and State, by the teaching that the two were one and inseparable,
but events were continually demonstrating the falsity of this early
teaching. Hence the foundation of the sovereignty of Spain was
slowly weakening, and nowhere more surely than in the region near
Manila which numbered Jose Rizal's keen-witted and observing great
grandfather among its leading men.

Francisco Mercado was a bachelor during the times of these exciting
events and therefore more free to visit Manila and Cavite, and he was
possibly the more likely to be interested in political matters. He
married on May 26, 1771, rather later in life than was customary in
Binan, though he was by no means as old as his father, Domingo, was
when he married. His bride, Bernarda Monicha, was a Chinese mestiza
of the neighboring hacienda of San Pedro Tunasan, who had been early
orphaned and from childhood had lived in Binan. As the coadjutor priest
of the parish bore the same name, one uncommon in the Binan records
of that period, it is possible that he was a relative. The frequent
occurrence of the name of Monicha among the last names of girls of
that vicinity later on must be ascribed to Bernarda's popularity
as godmother.

Mr. and Mrs. Francisco Mercado had two children, both boys, Juan and
Clemente. During their youth the people of the Philippines were greatly
interested in the struggles going on between England, the old enemy
of Spain, and the rebellious English-American colonies. So bitter was
the Spanish hatred of the nation which had humiliated her repeatedly
on both land and sea, that the authorities forgot their customary
caution and encouraged the circulation of any story that told in favor
of the American colonies. Little did they realize the impression that
the statement of grievances--so trivial compared with the injustices
that were being inflicted upon the Spanish colonials--was making upon
their subjects overseas, who until then had been carefully guarded from
all modern ideas of government. American successes were hailed with
enthusiasm in the most remote towns, and from this time may be dated
a perceptible increase in Philippine discontent. Till then outbreaks
and uprisings had been more for revenge than with any well-considered
aim, but henceforth complaints became definite, demands were made
that to an increasing number of people appeared to be reasonable,
and those demands were denied or ignored, or promises were made in
answer to them which were never fulfilled.

Francisco Mercado was well to do, if we may judge from the number of
carabaos he presented for registration, for his was among the largest
herds in the book of brands that has chanced to be preserved with the
Binan church records. In 1783 he was alcalde, or chief officer of the
town, and he lived till 1801. His name appears so often as godfather
in the registers of baptisms and weddings that he must have been a
good-natured, liberal and popular man.

Mrs. Francisco Mercado survived her husband by a number of years,
and helped to nurse through his baby ailments a grandson also named
Francisco, the father of Doctor Rizal.

Francisco Mercado's eldest son, Juan, built a fine house in the center
of Binan, where its pretentious stone foundations yet stand to attest
how the home deserved the pride which the family took in it.

At twenty-two Juan married a girl of Tubigan, who was two years his
elder, Cirila Alejandra, daughter of Domingo Lam-co's Chinese godson,
Siong-co. Cirila's father's silken garments were preserved by the
family until within the memory of persons now living, and it is likely
that Jose Rizal, Siong-co's great-grandson, while in school at Binan,
saw these tangible proofs of the social standing in China of this
one of his ancestors.

Juan Mercado was three times the chief officer of Binan--in 1808, 1813
and 1823. His sympathies are evident from the fact that he gave the
second name, Fernando, to the son born when the French were trying
to get the Filipinos to declare for King Joseph, whom his brother
Napoleon had named sovereign of Spain. During the little while that the
Philippines profited by the first constitution of Spain, Mercado was
one of the two alcaldes. King Ferdinand VII then was relying on English
aid, and to please his allies as well as to secure the loyalty of his
subjects, Ferdinand pretended to be a very liberal monarch, swearing
to uphold the constitution which the representatives of the people
had framed at Cadiz in 1812. Under this constitution the Filipinos