which is in the archives of Cayenne. In spite of his services, he was dismissed in 1777. and then conceived the idea of collecting the geographical ma- terials relating to the country that were scattered through the archives of the government, or were in the hands of surveyors and engineers, and plac- ing them in a museum of which he was to have the care. Pierre V. Malouet, who had been sent out to regulate the affairs of Guiana, obtained this post for him, with a salary of 2,000 livres. The French government refused him the necessary funds for further explorations, but he continued his labors, and in 1788 his services were rewarded with the cross of St. Louis. Besides his geographical work, he made, during his stay in Guiana, ob- servations on meteorology and on the tides. He edited the " Almanach de Cayenne " for more than thirty years, during which his observations on the tides were of the greatest service to the planters of •Surinam and Demerara, who were guided by them in draining the low lands and navigating the rivers. He was engaged at the time of his death in writ- ing a memoir on the possibility of founding French colonies in Guiana. His valuable collection of maps and manuscripts was partly destroyed by the Portuguese when they seized Cayenne in 1809, but he had sent copies of them to Paris before his death, which were placed in the archives of the ministry of the navy.
MERCAiDO, Jose Maria (mair-cah'-do), Mexi-
can patriot, b. in Teul, Jalisco, about 1770; d. in
San Bias, 31 Jan., 1811. He was sent to Guadala-
jara, where he studied theology in the seminary,
and was ordained priest about 1795. As parish
priest of Ahualulco his life was passed quietly in
retirement, till the proclamation of independence
by Hidalgo (g. v.) roused him, and his short but
brilliant revolutionary career began. When he
heard of the capture of Guanajuato and the battle
of Monte de las Cruces, he rose with the lieutenant
of militia, Zea, against the Spanish authorities of
Ahualulco early in November, 1810, and soon had
•collected a small force. After Guadalajara had
been captured by Jose Antonio Torres and the
judges of the supreme court had taken refuge at
Tepic, Mercado conceived tlie project of capturing
that city and the port of San Bias, and, authorized
by Torres, he marched against Tepic and sur-
rounded it on 20 Nov., and the city was surren-
dered at the first summons, after the judges had
fled. The company of militia there joined him,
and after reorganizing and arming his forces he
-arrived before San Bias on 28 Nov. The port sur-
rendered on 1 Dec, and Mercado, by conciliatory
measures, soon won the good will of the greater
part of the inhabitants. He at once undertook to
forward the captured artillery to Hidalgo, who had
meanwhile arrived in Guadalajara. Notwithstand-
ing tlie immense difficulties of the mountain-road
of 300 miles, he sent gradually forty-five bronze
cannon, nearly every one of which had to be
dragged by hundred's of Indians over the preci-
pices of Mochitiltic, which were impassable for ox-
carts. When the last four heavy pieces arrived at
the precipice, Mercado received the news of Hi-
dalgo's defeat at Calderon, and the capture there
of the guns that had been sent, and, after throwing
the remainder over the cliffs, he returned to San
Bias to prepare for its defence. But meanwhile
the Royalists, encouraged by the victory of Calle-
jas, had tampered with his troops, and in the night
of 31 Jan., 1811, there was a revolt, and Mercado,
finding his residence surrounded by the rebels,
jumped from the window over a precipice. On the
following morning his corpse was found at its foot,
carried to the market square, and there publicly
flogged. Mercado's father, although he had taken
no active part in the revolution, was strangled.
MERCADO, Tomas, Spanish clergyman, b. in
Seville, Spain ; d. at sea in 1575. He was a dis-
tinguished canonist and theologian. He came in
his youth to Mexico, visited Spain in 1569, re-
sided for some time in the University of Salaman-
ca, and died on board ship when returning to
Mexico. His principal works are " Commentarii
in Textum Petri Hispani, hoc est Summulas" (Se-
ville, 1571). and " In Dialecticara Aristotelis cum
opusculo argumentorum." He wrote in Spanish
"Suma de Tratos y Contratos" (Salamanca, 15G9;
Seville, 1571), which was frequently reprinted in
Italy and Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries.
MERCEIN, Thomas Fitz Randolph, clergy-
man, b. in New York city, 27 Nov., 1825; d. in
Sheffield, Mass., 15 Sept., 1856. His father. Col.
Thomas R. Mercein, was for some time a member
of the legislature, and comptroller of the city. The
son was intended for the ministry of the Presby-
terian church. He entered Columbia when he was
fourteen years old, but left in his second year on
account of his health, and subsequently united
with the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he
was licensed as a preacher, and served eleven years
as a pastor, chiefly in the state of New York. Be-
sides numerous contributions to the periodicals of
his denomination, he published " Natural Good-
ness " (New York. 1854) ; " The Wise Master Build-
er"; and "Childhood and the Church," a post-
humous work (1858).
MERCER, Anil Jane, philanthropist, b. in
Philadelphia, Pa., in October, 1817; d. there, 5
April, 1886. She was the daughter of John Ham-
ilton, of Philadelphia, and married John C. Mercer,
a merchant in that city. After the death of her
husband she established in his memory the Mercer
memorial home, at Atlantic City, N. J., for the
relief of invalid women, and by her will she found-
ed the John C. Mercer home for disabled clergy-
men of the Presbyterian faith. For this purpose
she gave her furnished country-seat, " The Mount,"
in Montgomery county, Pa., and $100,000 with
which to support it. Her will provides that no
clergyman that uses tobacco in any form shall be
admitted to the home.
MERCER, Charles Fenton, soldier, b. in
Fredericksburg, Va., 6 June, 1778 ; d. in Howard,
near Alexandria, Va., 4 JMay, 1858. He was gradu-
ated at Princeton in 1797, and commissioned cap-
tain of cavalry the next year by Gen. Washington,
in anticipation of war with France, but subse-
quently studied law, and after a tour abroad in
1802-'3, practised his profession. He was a mem-
ber of the Virginia legislature in 1810-'17. and
during the war of 1812 was aide to the governor
and in command of the defences of Norfolk, with
the rank of brigadier-general. He was chairman
of the committee on finances in the legislature in
1816. and introduced the bill for the construction
of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, of which he be-
came president. He was elected to congress as a
Federalist in this year, and returned till 1840, a
longer period of continued service than that of any
of his contemporaries. He was an active jirotec-
tionist, and an opponent of slavery. He visited
Europe in 1853 and conferred with eminent men
of several countries in the interests of abolition.
MERCER, Hugh, soldier, b. in Aberdeen, Scotland, about 1720 : d. near Princeton, N. J., 12 Jan., 1777. He was educated at the University of Aberdeen, became a physician, and was assistant surgeon in the army of Prince Charles Edward ia
