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ART. 13. The fines mentioned in Art. 6 must be delivered to the respective Treasurers of the Ayuntamientos, in order that the amount of them may go towards paying the expenses of the books which are to be given to the Alcaldes and Justices of Peace.

ART. 14. These Alcaldes ́and Justices will decide by verbal process the civil complaints which do not exceed one hundred dollars, and the criminal ones respecting trifling injuries and other similar faults that do not merit any other punishment than a slight reprehension or correction.

ART. 15. The plaintiff or complainant who enters any suit of this kind, will apply to the competent Alcade or Justice, and make his complaint verbally, and this authority will cause the defendant to appear, ordering each party to bring his respective arbitrator with him, who must have the requisites mentioned in Art. 5.

ART. 16. In verbal processes, also, the Clerk (if there be one) will concur, or in his defect two assisting witnesses; and after the Alcalde or Justice of Peace and the arbitrators have made themselves acquainted with the complaint of the one party and the defence of the other, these parties shall retire and the Alcalde or Justice of Peace will hear the opinion of the arbitrators, and immediately or within eight days at farthest pronounce his definitive sentence or decision, which shall be ordered to be carried into execution by the same Alcalde or Justice of Peace, or by any other authority to which a proper certificate of said sentence be presented.

ART. 17. A concise account of the proceedings of these processes shall be entered in a book called "Book of Verbal Processes," and in continuation, the definitive decision or sentence dictated on the subject, and this instrument must be signed by the Alalde or Justice of Peace, the arbitrators, the parties interested and the Clerk or acting witnesses. This book shall also be placed in the archives when the Alcaldes or Justices of Peace conclude their term of office.

ART. 18. Against the definitive sentences given in verbal processes, no other appeal can be admitted than that of the responsibility of the Alcaldes and Justices of Peace to the superior tribunal; and in said processes no fees are to be recovered, but merely the costs of the certificates that may be given.

ART. 19. The attributions mentioned in Arts. 4 and 5 must necessarily be exercised by the Alcaldes or Justices of Peace in presence of the Clerks, if there be such, and if not, before two assisting witnesses.

ART. 20. When the subject brought before the Alcaldes or Justices of Peace relates to the retention of the goods of a debtor who wishes to make away with or conceal them, the prohibition of a new work, or other matters of like urgency, the Alcaldes or Justices of Peace will themselves take such necessary steps as may be required to avoid the evils consequent on delay, and they will order the parties interested then to try the means of conciliation.

SECTION IV.

General Laws.

ART. 1. In every criminal suit, the sentence of first appeal (segunda instancia) shall cause execution when it is perfectly agreeable to the first sentence, or if the parties agree to it.

ART. 2. In criminal causes there cannot be less than one appeal (dos instancias) even when the accuser and the culprit agree to the first sentence.

ART. 3. All witnesses to be examined in any civil or criminal cause must necessarily be examined by the proper tribunals or magistrates which have cognizance of said causes, and if they should reside at other places, they must be examined by the Magistrate or Alcalde where they live. (1)

ART. 4. Every person, of whatever class, privileges, or condition he may be, when he has to give his declaration as a witness in a criminal cause, is obliged to appear for this purpose before the Magistrate who has cognizance thereof, without the necessity of previous permission from his chiefs or superiors.

ART. 5. The confrontation of witnesses with the culprit shall only be practised when the Magistrate considers it absolutely necessary in order to find out the truth.

ART. 6. Both the confrontation mentioned in the preceding article and the ratifications, are to be made in the process immediately after having examined the witness; the culprit being made to appear in order that he may know him, and the witness summoned in the act of ratification, which must take place immediately after the culprit retires.

ART. 7. If the first steps of the process (information sumaria) take place before the culprit be apprehended, as soon as he is apprehended and his preparatory declaration shall have been taken, the witnesses which have to be examined must be summoned for the purposes mentioned in the preceding article.

ART. 8. No summons shall be sent which has not some relation to the crime, or which is judged to be useless or of no weight in the business as regards the eliciting of truth.

(1) It may be a question whether this and some of the following articles are not modified by Arts. V. and VI. of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

ART. 9. When the pleas alleged by the culprit have no relation to the crime, or cannot in any way diminish its enormity, or are unlikely or improbable, they shall be left out altogether without receiving the cause on proof (a'prueba;) in which case the trial (sumaria) being concluded, the culprit having been previously cited, and the Attorney General in the superior tribunal, it shall be delivered to the attorney or defender of the culprit for him to answer to the charges in the term of three days, which having taken place the definitive sentence shall be given.

ART. 10. When any criminal escapes he shall not be summoned by edicts or by the public crier; but requisitory letters shall be made out for his apprehension and the necessary steps taken for his recovery in the mean time the trial shall be postponed, except as to collecting proof of the crime and its circumstances: but it shall be resumed when the apprehension takes place.

ART. 11. In cases where the plenary judgment has to be renewed, the cause shall be received on proof for a short time, to be postponed, according to its circumstances, as far as forty days and only in the case of having to examine witnesses or to receive some other proof at such considerable distances as to make that term not sufficient, it may be postponed for sixty days, without any restitution or other recourse taking place in these terms.

ART. 12. When the criminals interpose an appeal against any interlocutory proceedings, or any other appeal that has to go to the tribunal of second or third instance, the continuation of the cause shall not be suspended; and, therefore, if the original acts which caused the appeal can not be forwarded, certified copies must be sent.

ART. 13. In all civil and criminal causes the interlocutory sentences must, be pronounced within the precise term of three days; and the definitive ones shall be dictated by the superior tribunals within fifteen days after the first stage of the suit (vista) be concluded; and by the judges of first instance within eight days after finishing the causes.

ART. 14. In trials of property, plenary ones of possession, and any other civil trial wherein the amount disputed shall exceed $4,000, appeal may be made to the tribunal of the third instance if the parties wish it, although the second sentence agree with the first.

ART. 15. In the same trials, if the amount in question be less than $4,000, the sentence of the tribunal of second instance will cause execution, if it correspond exactly with the first, that is if the second sentence neither adds nor takes away anything which alters the substance or intrinsic merit of the first instance; so that neither the condemnation to pay costs, nor any other demonstration of a similar nature, can be called in opposition to said agreement.

OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA,
Monterey, September 11, 1849,

GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of yesterday, respecting the mode of providing for the payment of the expenses of the convention now in session. I consider myself authorized by the Executive of the United States to use the "civil funds" now in my hands for defraying the necessary expenses of the civil officers of the existing government. The necessary expenses of the convention will be paid by me from this fund, as far as I may have the means at my disposal; but, as these means may be limited, and as I am held responsible to the government of the United States for the expenditure of the money, I cannot say beforehand whether I shall feel authorized to pay all, or, if not all, what proportion of the expenses incurred by the convention.

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Brevet Brig. Gen. U. Ș. Army, and Governor of California. Messrs. C. T. Botts, E. O. Crosby, T. O. Larkin, Elam Brown, R. M. Price, Committee.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA,
Monterey, September 13, 1849.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note, (without date,) with a copy of a resolution of the committee, asking if I can place at the disposition of the convention, on or be fore the first day of October next, the sum of $70,000. I have no authority to place any of the public money now under my control at the disposition of any other person; but, as stated in my letter of the 11th instant, I shall consider it my duty to pay, so far as my means will allow, all the necessary expenses of the convention. I cannot, however, now say positively whether I shall have money enough at my disposal for the accomplishment of this object. In order that your committee may judge of this contingency for yourselves, I enclose a copy of my letter of August 30 to Lieu. tenant Colonel Hooker. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

B. RILEY,

Brevet Brig. Gen. U. S. A., and Governor of California.

Hon. C. T. Botts, Chairman, &c.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA,
Monterey, August 30, 1849.

COLONEL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th instant, communicating the views of General Smith respecting my acts and duties as governor of California. I must beg leave to dissent from some of these views, and to offer a few remarks in defence of the course which I have pursued in the administration of civil affairs in this country.

In the instructions issued from Washington to General Kearney in 1846, for his guidance in California, the establishment of port regulations was assigned to the commander of the Pacific squadron, while it was said "the appointment of temporary collectors at the several ports appertains to the civil governor of the province." It was also directed that the duties at the customhouses should be used for the support of the necessary officers of the civil government. This di vision of duties and this disposition of the proceeds of the customs were continued during the whole war, except that for a part of one year the duties of collectors in some of the ports were performed by army and navy officers, while in others the civil collectors appointed by the governor of California were retained. On the reception of the treaty of peace, Governor Mason, for reasons which have been communicated to government, determined to continue the collection of revenues in this country, on the authority which has been given him, until Congress should act in the matter, or orders to the contrary should be received from Washington. He, therefore, as Governor of California, again appointed collectors in the ports where military officers had performed those duties, and collected the customs on all foreign goods as directed in the tariff of 1846-the commodore of the Pacific squadron continuing the direction of all matters relating to port reguations.

A double necessity impelled the governor to this course: the country was in pressing need of these foreign goods, and Congress had established no port of entry on this coast; the want of a more complete organization of the existing civil government was daily increasing; and as Congress had made no provision for supporting a territorial government in this country, it was abso lutely necessary to create a fund for that purpose from duties collected on these foreign goods. It is true there was no law of Congress authorizing the collection of those duties, but at the same time the laws forbade the landing of the goods till the duties were paid. Congress had declined to legislate on the subject, and both the President and Secretary of the Treasury acknowledged the want of power of the Treasury Department to collect revenue in California. The Governor of California, therefore, assumed the responsibility of collecting this revenue for the support of the government of this country-a responsibility which he was fully justified in assuming by the necessity of the case, by the instructions which he had received from Washington, (and which had never been countermanded,) and by the existing laws of the country. It is not pretended that the Governor of California could derive any authority, either from the laws of this country or the instructions of the President, to collect revenue here, after Congress assumed the control of it. But in the interim between the signing of the treaty of peace and the extension of the revenue laws over this country, it is a fair presumption that the temporary regulations established here by executive authority respecting foreign commerce continued in force, so far as they conflicted with no provision of the constitution, treaties, or laws of the United States; at any rate, such was the course which Governor Mason determined to pursue, and, as this determination was immediately communicated to Washington, and the receipt of his despatch acknowledged, without one word of dissent being expressed, it is to be presumed that his action in the case met the approval of the government. The executive departments, though well informed of the course which the governor of California was pursuing in reference to the collection and disposition of this money, refrained from any interference, and, in all their orders, letters, and circulars, they most carefully avoided expressing the slightest disapprobation, or even doubt, as to the propriety of that course. Congress was fully aware that Governor Mason was collecting revenue here for the support of the civil government, and yet that body declined passing any laws for appointing collectors on this coast till the very close of the session, and even then no cognizance was taken of the moneys which had been or might be collected previous to the appointment and due instalment of these officers. The reason of this is obvious: as Congress had failed to organize a territorial government here, all were aware that the existing government must continue in force, and that it must have some means of support; such means were found in the neglected revenues of this coast, and employed for that object, and no one felt disposed to interfere or turn these revenues into the general treasury, until a fund was established sufficient for the more immediate and urgent wants of California. On no other supposition can we account for the action of Congress and of the authorities at Washington. It cannot for a moment be supposed that they would direct the continuance of a government here without the means of defraying its expenses; nor that they would tax, through the custom houses, the people of this infant colony, and at the same time deprive them of all the benefits of a government. Such a course might accord with the policy of the despotic powers of the Old World, but it would never be attempted with impunity in our country.

On assuming command in this country as civil governor, I was directed to receive from Governor Mason all his instructions and communications, and to take them for my guidance in the administration of civil affairs. Upon an examination of these instructions, and a full consultation with Governor Mason, I determined to continue the collection of the revenue till the general go. vernment should assume that power, and to add the proceeds to the "civil fund"-using that fund for the necessary expenses of the civil government. Indeed, I had no other course left for me to pursue. This fund formed my only means of defraying the expenses of the government, which were already great. These expenses are daily increasing, and, as I have no power to impose taxes in this country, I cannot carry on the government without the moneys belonging to this "civil fund." Under existing circumstances, the necessity of employing civil officers, and paying them the full salaries allowed by law, is too obvious to require comment. I have pledged myself to pay these salaries from that fund, unless forbidden to do so by direct orders from Washington; and I shall redeem my pledge.

This "civil fund" was commenced in the early part of 1847, and has been formed and used in the manner pointed out in the early instructions to the governor of this Territory. The money has been collected and disbursed by the "Governor of California," and by those appointed by him in virtue of his office. He is, therefore, the person responsible for this money, both to the go vernment and the parties from whom it was collected; and it can be expended only on his orders. Not a cent of this money has been collected under the authority of any department of the army; nor can any such department, or any officer of the army, simply in virtue of his military commission, have any control, direct or indirect, over it. It is true, some of this money has, from time to time, as the wants of the service required; been transferred to the different military departments; but this transfer was in the form of a loan; and the money so transferred is still due to the "civil fund," and should be returned. The increased expenditures for the support of the civil government as it is now organized, and the pressing necessity of constructing prisons for the secu

ment; and I now ask for instructions as to the disposition to be made of such portions of these funds as may be left when this government shall be superseded by that organized by the constitution now forming by this convention. Many have expressed the opinion that these funds should be turned over to the new government to enable it to go immediately into successful operation. However strongly of the opinion that this money belongs, in justice, to the people of California, I nevertheless shall not deem myself authorized to turn over this money till instructed to do so by direct orders from Washington. I hope that the views of the government touching this matter may be sent to me without delay.

I send herewith a copy of a report of Brevet Captain Wescott respecting the missions of San Jose and Santa Clara. The temporary arrangement made for the care and management of this property, will be seen in the copies of civil papers transmitted with this despatch.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

B. RILEY,

Brevet Brig. Gen. U. S. Army, commanding Department, and Acting Governor of California. Major General R. Jones,

Adjutant General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.

THE MILITARY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT.

PROCLAMATION.

To the People of California.

A new Executive having been elected and installed into office, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the State, the undersigned hereby resigns his powers as Governor of California. In thus dissolving his official connection with the people of this country, he would tender to them his heartfelt thanks for their many kind attentions, and for the uniform support which they have given to the measures of his administration. The principal object of all his wishes is now accomplished-the people have a government of their own choice, and one which, under the favor of divine Providence, will secure their own prosperity and happiness, and the permanent welfare of the new State.

Given at San Jose, California, this 20th day of December, A. D. 1849.

B. RILEY,

Brevet Brig. Gen. U. S. A., and Governor of California.

By the Governor: H. W. HALLECK
Brevet Captain and Secretary of State.

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HEADQUARTERS 10TH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,
SAN JOSE, California, Dec. 20, 1849. S

(Orders No. 41.)

1. The Brigadier General commanding the Department has this day relinquished the administration of civil affairs in California to the execution of the government organized under the provisions of the Constitution ratified by the people of California at the recent general election.

2. Brevet Captain H. W. Halleck, Corps of Engineers, is relieved from duty as Secretary of State.

Ed. U. 8. Canby, Ass't. Ad't. General.

By order of GENERAL RILEY.

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