the alcalde to try it; and if the man is found guilty, he should receive a sentence proportionate to his guilt. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, commanding. Major HARDIE, commanding, San Francisco, California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, October 14, 1847. CAPTAIN: Lieutenant Halleck has laid before me your letter of the 8th instant, asking to be relieved from the duties of collector, &c. The President has assigned these duties to the officers of the army and navy, and you will see by the instructions that go up by this mail that I am in for it here, as well as yourself at San Francisco. Major Hardie must give you all the assistance that his command can afford, to aid you in the discharge of these duties. The instructions make you and himself the joint collectors. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Captain J. L. FOLSOM, Assistant Quartermaster, San Francisco. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, October 14, 1847. SIR: I have received your communication of the 8th instant, relating to the seizure of the goods and boats of W. H. Leidsdorff. I have referred the subject to Commodore Shubrick, who thinks that the boats and goods were very properly seized, and are clearly a good prize; but that the matter should not be pushed, if Captain Leidsdorff can make it appear-as no doubt he can, by the evidence of Mr. Smith, to whom he refers that he bought the goods just as the ship was getting under way, and that he took them with the understanding and expressed intention of paying the duties on shore. Neither the commodore nor myself supposes for a moment that Mr. Leidsdorff intended to avoid the payment of the duties; but, from the loose manner in which Mr. Richardson performed the duties, we presume that Mr. Leidsdorff was not at the moment aware, or did not at the time think, of the necessity of having the collector's permit to land the goods, and that they and the boats would be liable to seizure and confiscation without it. You have acted very properly in seizing the goods, and in referring the matter here. If Mr. Leidsdorff shows, by Mr. Smith, that he took the goods from the ship under the circumstances above stated, and with the understanding with the captain that he, Leidsdorff, was to pay the duties on shore, you are authorized to restore the goods and boats upon the duties being paid. This evidence is required, not because either the commodore or myself doubts the word of Mr. Leidsdorff, but because it is thought best not to let this matter pass by in a manner so as to suffer it hereafter to be brought up as a precedent. So much of the instructions relating to the customs, revenue, &c., (fresh ones go up by the mail which takes this,) as it is necessary for ship-masters and merchants to know, had better be published; and that will take from all the plea of not knowing what is made obligatory on them, as well as the officers of the customs. I I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Captain J. L. FOLSOM, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Assistant Quartermaster, San Francisco. CIRCULAR. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, October 14, 1847. SIR: After a full and free consultation with Commodore Shubrick, and with his full concurrence touching the subject, I transmit herewith to you, for your guidance and government, printed instructions recently received from the War and Navy Departments, relative to the customs and collection of duties in the ports of Mexico and California, by which you will find that these duties are to be performed by army and naval officers. It has been deemed most to the interest of the United States, by their present authorities in California, that the rates of duties directed to be collected in the ports of Mexico should not go into effect in this Territory; therefore there will be no change made in the rate or scale of duties as established by Commodore Shubrick in his instructions to the different collectors, dated September 15, 1847. They will be collected and reported to the department in the manner prescribed by the said printed instructions, but are to be disbursed, as heretofore, by order of the governor, on account of the civil government here. As no fees are to be charged for boarding vessels, for clearances, &c., it has been deemed proper to increase the tonnage duties from ten to fifteen cents per ton, in lieu thereof. The quartermaster at your post, or any other officer you may choose to direct, will perform the duties of custom-house officer, under your authority and direction, as directed by the printed instructions transmitted herewith, you receiving the amount of duties due, as ascertained by the quartermaster or other officer to whom you may have assigned the custom-house duties, and yourself paying it over to the disbursing officer, as the aforesaid printed instructions require. Some erasures and interlineations are made in the printed instructions, beginning at page 9, so as to make them the better conform to the policy to be pursued in the California ports. Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, and 15, in the instructions of the 15th of September last, are either annulled or provided for by the printed instructions. You will take all proper measures to guard the revenue against frauds: for instance, you may prohibit the landing of any article before sunrise or after sunset; you may put a lock or seal upon the hatches and bulkheads at night, so as to prevent any access to the cargo, &c., &c. Should the lock or seal be broken, you may impose a penalty of one dollar per ton, registry measurement, upon the vessel, &c., &c. When persons are called in to appraise the cargo, or any part thereof, that may be landed, the expense of the appraisement shall be paid, onehalf out of the revenue, and the other by the captain of the vessel, the supercargo, consignee, or owner, as the case may be. No freight, box, package, goods, wares, or merchandise, will be permitted to go on board of any ship or vessel after her clearance has been endorsed and signed on the manifest of her outward cargo. (See article 18, printed instructions.) Any box, package, goods, wares, or merchandise so put on board, or attempted to be put on board, after the clearance is signed on the manifest of the outward cargo, shall be confiscated. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Major J. H. HARDIE, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. 7th Regiment New York Volunteers, com'g, San Francisco. Captain J. L FOLSOM, Assistant Quartermaster U. S. Army, San Francisco. Colonel J. D. STEVENSON, 7th Regiment New York Volunteers, com'g, Los Angeles. Captain DAVIS, Commanding, San Diego. Captain LIPPETT, 7th Regiment New York Volunteers, com'g, Santa Barbara. P. S.-Whale ships pay no tonnage or revenue duty, unless they land or sell portions of their cargo for the purposes of trade. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, October 15, 1847. SIR: The President of the United States having directed that the customs in the ports captured from the enemy shall be collected by the army and navy officers, your duties, therefore, as the collector of this port, cease this day. You will be pleased to turn over to Lieutenant Commandant Lanman, United States navy, all the books and papers appertaining to the customhouse. Close your accounts up to this date, and turn over all funds derived from the customs to Captain Marcy, acting quartermaster. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Mr. T. H. GREEN, STATE DEPARTMENT OF THE TERRITORY OF CALIFORNIA, Monterey, October 15, 1847. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 4th instant, in relation to taking a census of California. The object of the governor, as stated in the "circular" to which you refer, is not to take a census of California, but merely to obtain an approximate estimate of the population, &c., of the country. This, it is thought, may be obtained with sufficient accuracy by dividing the country into a number of districts, and consulting the opinions of one or more intelligent men in each district. By making inquiries of this kind, it is supposed that you may be able by the close of the year to forward to this office a tolerably accurate estimate of the population, &c., of the country south of the Santa Clara river. Nothing further than this is intended. There are no funds that can at present be appropriated to the taking of a census. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. HALLECK, Lieut. of Engineers, and Secretary of State for the Territory of California. Colonel J. D. STEVENSON, HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, October 15, 1847. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of this date, together with its enclosures. I herewith enclose to you the printed instructions concerning the collection of customs in the ports captured from the enemy, recently received from the War and Navy Departments. Those issued by Commodore Shubrick, as well as those issued jointly by the commodore and myself on the 15th of September, ultimo, will be handed to you by Mr. Green, the late collector of this port. It has been deemed most to the interest of the United States, by their present authorities in California, that the rates of duties directed to be collected in the ports of Mexico should not go into effect in this Territory; therefore there will be no change made in the rate or scale of duties as established by Commodore Shubrick in his instructions to the different collectors, dated September 15, 1847. They will be collected and reported to the department in the manner prescribed by the said printed instructions, but are to be disbursed, as heretofore, by order of the governor, on account of the civil government here. As no fees are to be charged for boarding vessels, for clearances, &c., it has been deemed proper to increase the tonnage duties from ten to fifteen cents per ton in lieu thereof. Some erasures and interlineations are made in the printed instructions, beginning at page 9, so as to make them the better conform to the policy to be pursued in the California ports. Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, and 15, in the instructions of the 15th September last, are either annulled or provided for by the printed instructions. When persons are called in to appraise the cargo, or any part thereof, that may be landed, the expense of the appraisement shall be paid, onehalf out of the revenue, and the other by the captain of the vessel, the supercargo, consignee, or owner, as the case may be. No freight, box, package, goods, wares, or merchandise, will be permitted to go on board of any ship or vessel after her clearance has been endorsed and signed on the manifest of her outward cargo. (See article 18, printed instructions.) Any box, package, goods, wares, or merchandise so put on board, or attempted to be put on board, after the clearance is signed on the manifest of the outward cargo, shall be confiscated. It would afford me, my dear sir, great pleasure to release you from the keeping the accounts and records, if in my power; but really they are so few and so simple, that I know you will find not the least trouble or difficulty in getting along with them. Your kind offer of co-operation, so characteristic of your profession, I accept and most heartily reciprocate. However foreign these new duties that we have to perform may be to our respective branches of the public service, and however many the difficulties that may at this time suggest themselves to us, yet with that hearty co-operation which you propose and I so cordially reciprocate, and with a "long pull, a strong pull, and a pull both together," every obstacle and difficulty will be readily overcome. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Lieut. Com. LANMAN, U. S. Ship Warren, Monterey. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, October 20, 1847. COLONEL: I enclose some new instructions, touching the collection of customs, by which you will see that it is made the duty of the officers of the army and navy to collect and account for the revenue. I am at a loss to know how it is to be done at San Pedro, that port being twentyodd miles from your post. You must, however, make the best arrangement you can; and, if you find that it cannot be properly done by your self and officers, or so well done as at present, I see no other way than to keep in the present collector, he turning over the revenue, as soon as collected, to the quartermaster, who must account for it monthly, as the new regulations prescribe; copies of his monthly statement to the Secretary of War to be sent to this office. The strictest watch must be kept up to guard the revenue and protect it from fraud. I leave it to you to give such additional instructions to the collectors in your district as circumstances may call for, having that object in view. Captain Lippett and Captain Davis are the collectors at their respective posts. The same mail that brings you this will take the instructions to San Diego. I am having printed some blank forms and extracts from the regulations, such as are necessary for the information of ship-masters and merchants, and will send them to you as soon as they are received. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, commanding. Colonel J. D. STEVENSON, Commanding, &c., Los Angeles. SIR HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Recent instructions from the President of the United States make the officers of the army and navy the collectors of the customs in Califor |