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an earlier date. I will take up the subject and write to the renters of Santa Ynez by the same mail which will convey to you and will inform your reverence of the result of the matter.

I am, with high respect, your obedient servant,

R. B. MASON,.

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

Very Rev. Friar JOSE MARIA DE JESUS GONZALES,
Governor of the Bishopric of California, Santa Barbara.

PROCLAMATION.

From and after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and fortyeight, if any person shall sell, exchange, give, barter, or dispose of, or in any way connive at selling, exchanging, giving, bartering, or disposing of any spirituous liquor or wine to an Indian, such person shall, upon conviction before an alcalde, forfeit and pay the sum of not less than fifty nor more than one hundred dollars, and be imprisoned for not less than three nor more than six months. One half of all fines recovered under this proclamation shall go to the benefit of the informer, and the other' half to the benefit of the town or jurisdiction where the prisoner may be confined; and in all prosecutions arising under this proclamation, indians shall be competent witnesses.

Done at Monterey, the capital of California, this twenty-ninth day of November, eighteen hundred and forty-seven, and of the seventy-second of the independence of the United States.

R. B. MASON,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,
Monterey, California, December 1, 1847.

SIR: The record, papers, &c., of the case of Garner V. S. Farnham, I request you will to-day put under a seal, and hand them to Mr. Colton, the alcalde of this town, that he may send them to the alcalde at San Luis Obispo, by the mail which closes to-night, and which will leave here early to-morrow morning.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. B. MASON,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

Mr. J. RICORD, Monterey.

HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,
Monterey, California, November 30, 1847.

SIR: Your letter of the 22d instant is before me. The Indians you. speak of as belonging to the mission of San Miguel, if belonging in

fact to that mission, can be put in possession of the land that was granted to them by Micheltorena in 1844.

am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. B. MASON,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

JOSE MARIANO BONILLA,
Alcalde, San Luis Obispo.

HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,

Monterey, California, December 1, 1847. SIR: I am in the receipt of a letter, dated 14th November, from Mr. J. J: Warner, complaining of the Indians committing depredations on his stock, &c.; also, a letter from Colonel Stevenson, of the 16th November, enclosing a communication from Mr. Warner, and papers, concerning his claim to the land on which the Indians reside, &c., &c.

Things must remain as at present until the time arrives when the proper tribunals, to be established in the country, shall set at rest all these disputed land questions. In the interim, however, you will, after consulting with Mr. Warner, establish regulations among the Indians of whom Mr. Warner speaks, for their better government, and for the protection of Mr. W.'s property-letting the chiefs know that, if they desire the friendship and protection of the American government, they must not only abstain from committing depredations upon the property of Mr. Warner and all other citizens of California, but they must endeavor, as far as practicable, to prevent other Indians from committing the same. It will be well to establish some kind of police among the Indians, by making them appoint alcaldes, from among themselves, for their own better government, and for preventing offences against the peace and good order of the neighborhood, &c., &c.

I deem it important, as a military measure, to sustain Mr. Warner in that position, and to keep up a good understanding with these Indians; and I therefore desire that you use every effort to conciliate them, and get them, as far as practicable, to gain a comfortable subsistence by cultivating the soil, and to abandon their depredatory habits. In your intercourse with them assure them that it is the wish of the United States to take all the red people by the hand, and treat them as friends, &c., &c.; but if they continue to destroy the stock of the people of the country, we shall treat them as enemies.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. B. MASON,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

Captain J. D. HUNTER,

Sub-Indian Agent, San Luis Rey.

HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,

Monterey, California, December 3, 1847.

SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 2d instant, and, in reply thereto, to state that there are no courts as yet established in California, other than the alcalde's court.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. B. MASON,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

Dr. Wм. H. MCKEE, Monterey.

HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,

Monterey, California, December 3, 1847. Sir: From the conversations had with you since my first note of this morning, it appears that I did not fully comprehend the scope of the object of your letter of the 2d instant.

I do not think that I can with propriety appoint a special court in the case you ask for. From the application of such courts from other parts of the Territory, I am of the opinion that the precedent I have set of . making such appointments is not a good one, and will not be resorted to in future, except in some extraordinary cases.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. B. MASON,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

Dr. W. H. MCKEE, Monterey.

HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,

Monterey, California, December 3, 1847. SIR: Your communication of the 28th instant is before me. The distance of Major Hardie's station from the town of San Francisco renders it impracticable for him to attend in person to the collection of the customs; the whole duty, therefore, necessarily devolves upon you, and therefore I do not deem it necessary for him to countersign the monthly statement of collections.

This should be explained to the authorities at Washington when you forward your accounts. I do not deem it necessary, for the reason which you assign, to make the weekly statements of revenue received. I do not do it here.

The change you suggest in the form of the quarterly return of vessels, &c., is approved.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. B. MASON,

Captain J. L. FOLSOM,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

Assistant Quartermaster U. S. Army,

San Francisco.

P. S. The monthly statements of revenue collected intended for the Secretary of War you will send through these headquarters.

R. B. M.

HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,

Monterey, California, December 14, 1847.

SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22d November, enclosing a petition signed by yourself, two citizens, and a soldier, asking for a special court to quiet land titles in the town of San Francisco, and referring to a commission appointed last summer that sat in Sonoma, as a precedent. The circumstances that caused that commission to be appointed are not at all parallel with those presented in your petition, and I find even that precedent not a good one. Any court or commission that might be appointed to quiet a land title, their verdict or opinion could only be of temporary character-it could not forever set at rest the title, and, when the proper law courts are established in the country after it becomes finally surrendered to and forms a part of the United States territory, would open anew all such decisions; and so far from special courts quieting titles and stopping litigation, they would only engender more. It is better, upon the whole, not. to stir land titles by the appointment of special courts, until they can be finally quieted by the competent courts having the proper power and jurisdiction.

It would not be proper to appoint another body to continue the investigation of the charges against Mr. Hyde. The gentlemen who have that business in hand are fresh from the people, and were elected by them with a special view to town affairs; and were I to take the matter out of their hands and place it in others, it would be establishing a very unsafe precedent, and would be an assumption of power that I could not sustain myself in exercising, for it would effectually defeat the election of the people, and I might as well be justified in appointing a special commission to repeal or pass some town ordinance which the people's representatives had declined doing.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

C. E. PICKETT,

San Francisco.

R. B. MASON,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,
Monterey, California, December 6, 1847.

SIR: Your communication of the 12th instant has been received.. I have no authority to rent or sell land in California.

Respectfully, &c.,

JOSEPH A. RANSCH,

R. B. MASON,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

San Francisco.

HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,

Monterey, California, December 6, 1847.

SIR: Julian Urgua does not wish to accept the appointment of alcalde. I will, as I informed you at the time you were in Monterey, appoint any

one an alcalde for whom the people will sign a petition, provided the person will accept the office, which you should ascertain before sending in the petition. I request that you will attend to this affair.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. B. MASON,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

JOSE MARIA SANCHEZ,
San Juan Bautista.

HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,

Monterey, California, December 6, 1847. CAPTAIN: The merchant-shippers and masters of vessels at your port do not correctly make out their invoices and manifests. The invoices do not, in many cases, describe the number and marks of the different boxes, packages, &c. The bores and packages, and each article not: boxed or in packages, must be plainly marked and numbered. These marks and numbers must be expressed upon the invoice, and the invoice must show the actual contents of each box or package, according to its respective number and mark, otherwise it is impossible to ascertain whether the goods are properly or fraudulently invoiced. The marks and numbers on the invoice must correspond with the marks and numbers on the manifests.

The column under the head of "quantity" on the manifest should express, when it is practicable to do so, the quantity or contents of the boxes or packages, in yards, pounds, arrobas, gallons, &c., and not simply the number of the packages, as has generally been the case. The shippers must be more particular in their invoices, otherwise I shall be obliged to seize the goods as being improperly invoiced, or send them back to the port from whence they come. For fear that I have not clearly expressed myself, I send you herewith a manifest and invoice correctly made out, and corresponding in every particular; by which you will see how easy it is for the shippers and masters to comply with the regulation. I think it would be well if you were to give to each of the masters of vessels and merchants in your port, as there are not so very many of them, a copy of the manifest and invoice I send you, and require them in their future shipments to conform strictly to the manner of marking them. You will observe on the manifest that the boxes, &c., are described with their general contents, whilst on the invoice the contents of each box are particularized the numbers and marks exactly corresponding with those on the manifest, as also the exact money value... I find the better plan is not to give vessels a separate manifest for such cargo as they take in at port, unless they take in an entire cargo; but to enter on the manifest deposited in the custom-house such boxes, packages, &c., as they receive on board, according to their invoices, setting, forth the name of the port, date, &c.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

Captain J. L. FOLSOM,

R. B. MASON,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

Assistant Quartermaster, San Francisco.

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