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
were to be represented in the Spanish Cortes, and the grandfather of
Rizal was one of the electors to choose the Representative.

During the next twenty-five years the history of the connection of the
Philippines with Spain is mainly a record of the breaking and renewing
of the King's oaths to the constitution, and of the Philippines
electing delegates who would find the Cortes dissolved by the time
they could get to Madrid, until in the final constitution that did
last Philippine representation was left out altogether. Had things
been different the sad story of this book might never have been told,
for though the misgovernment of the Philippines was originally owing
to the disregard for the Laws of the Indies and to giving unrestrained
power to officials, the effects of these mistakes were not apparent
until well into the nineteenth century.

Another influence which educated the Filipino people was at work during
this period. They had heard the American Revolution extolled and its
course approved, because the Spaniards disliked England. Then came
the French Revolution, which appalled the civilized world. A people,
ignorant and oppressed, washed out in blood the wrongs which they had
suffered, but their liberty degenerated into license, their ideals
proved impracticable, and the anarchy of their radical republic was
succeeded by the military despotism of Napoleon.

A book written in Tagalog by a friar pointed out the differences
between true liberty and false. It was the story of an old municipal
captain who had traveled and returned to enlighten his friends at
home. The story was well told, and the catechism form in which, by
his friends' questions and the answers to them, the author's opinions
were presented, was familiar to Filipinos, so that there were many
intelligent readers, but its results we