lowed a mileage of five cents; in Texas, I cannot find that any mileage is allowed. In the former State, a sheriff is allowed for summoning a grand jury $4, a petit jury 50 cents, &c., and no mileage unless for taking a convict to the penitentiary, or removing a prisoner out of his county. I know that these fees are not in accordance with California prices, and only mention them to show the very great disparity. There was a jury of twelve empannelled in this place not long since; they were allowed a per diem for each day's attendance of $2. The fees and charges in these trials will be looked to in future as precedents; and if paid as now presented, similar fees would be expected in all future causes. Such charges would be ruinous to litigating parties, and when regular courts are established, and the country divided into counties, their treasuries could not meet such demands-one or two trials would exhaust them. I must, therefore, be careful that I do not establish a ruinous precedent. After consulting several persons here who have been long in the country, I have, in relation to the trials at Sonoma, established the fees, &c., as you will find on the next page, which will be paid by Captain Folsom, assistant quartermaster, at San Francisco. The distance charged for mileage must be substantiated by the oath of the claimant taken before either of the special judges or an alcalde-the per diem by the certificate of either of the judges or the clerk of the court. No allowance can be made in the way of fees to Captain Brackett, because the United States are entitled to the services of all their officers in California, in a civil as well as a military capacity, without any other pay than that arising from their military commissions. I cannot order Mr. Green's charge of $200 as "attorney for the government" to be paid. I did not appoint Mr. Green a prosecuting attorney to attend the court at Sutter's; and if I had, his charge is exorbitant, and the record shows that he did not appear in court. I quote from the record of the 31st of August-the first and only day's proceedings at Sutter's-which says, "there being no prosecutor present, and it being thought necessary to allow time for summoning the witnesses and jury, it was therefore ordered that the sheriff," &c. The court then adjourned to the 18th of October. Fecs allowed in the trials at Sutter's and Sonoma. Mileage... CLERK. .$0 08 Per diem for each day attending court and making up record...... 2 50 JUDGES. Per diem for each day's attendance and travel to and from court- -a day's travel 30 miles... I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, ... 8 00 R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. L. W. BOGGS, M. G. VALLEJO, Sonoma, California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, November 11, 1847. SIR: I enclose you the bill of fees, charges, &c., accruing upon the late trials by a special court at Sonoma, in the murder cases recently tried there. I cannot think of ordering the payment of these exorbitant demands. After consulting with several persons here, who have been long in the country, I have determined to authorize the following fees, &c. to be paid by you out of the civil fund arising from the customs, viz: Per diem for each day's attendance in court. . . . 2.00 Per diem for each day's attendance in court and making up record 2 50 Mileage... JUDGES. Per diem for each day's attendance, and travel to and from court-a day's travel 30 miles..... .... 8 8.00 The distance charged for mileage must be substantiated by the oath of the claimant, taken before either of the special judges or an alcalde-the per diem by the certificate of either of the judges or clerk of the court. No allowance can be made to Captain Brackett for fees. The United States are entitled to the services of all their officers in California, in a civil as well as a military capacity, without any other pay than that arising from their military commission. The charge Captain Brackett makes of $16 for expenses of express to this place is reasonable and proper-the express came on public business. I cannot order Mr. Green's charge of $200 as "attorney for the government." I did not appoint Mr. Green a prosecuting attorney to attend the court at Sutter's; and if I had, his charge is exorbitant, and the record shows that he did not appear in court. I quote from the record of the 31st of August-the first and only day's proceedings at Sutter'swhich says, "there being no prosecutor present, and it being thought necessary to allow time for summoning the witnesses and jury, it was therefore ordered that the sheriff," &c. The court then adjourned to the 18th of October. I have written to Governor Boggs and General Vallejo, the special judges that sat on the trial, that you would pay the fees, &c., according to rates above mentioned, and informed them as to the manner the claims for mileage and per diem must be substantiated. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Captain J. L. FOLSOM, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Assistant Quartermaster U. S. A., San Francisco. [No. 22.] HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, November 11, 1847. SIR: A small schooner will sail on the 13th instant for the Guayaquil river, South America, where several passengers will land and take the next steamer for Panama. To one of these passengers, a Mr. King, former commissary to Lieutenant Colonel Frémont's battalion, I will intrust a small mail to be carried to the city of Washington. I have the honor again to report that peace and tranquillity prevail in California, and that no change whatever has taken place in the disposition of the garrisons since my last letter. By the storeship Lexington that arrived here on the 28th of October, reports were received from Lieutenant Colonel Burton, at La Paz, Lower California. He has quietly occupied that town since the 21st of July, but not in sufficient force to enable him to extend his authority far into the country. He reports that there is constant communication between Guaymas and Mulege, a small town in California, north of La Paz, and that the sloop-of-war Dale had sailed to the latter place to prevent the landing or collection of any arms or military stores. I do not anticipate any difficulty in holding La Paz by a small force, so as to afford the government, in the event of negotiations for peace, the influence a military occupation of Lower California would give us. If a garrison is to be kept for any length of time in that section of California, I must modify the recommendation contained in my letter of October 7, as to the kind of clothing required by the troops in this department, so as to furnish the garrisons in Lower California, in great part, with summer clothing. Lieutenant Colonel Burton likewise reports much insubordination in his command, and that the company officers have little or no control over their men. A similar state of things exists among some of the companies in Upper California, and for that reason, in my late orders to them, I have laid stress upon the fact that without an honorable discharge, no volunteer or regular soldier will be entitled to the bounty provided for them by the act of Congress approved February 11, 1847; and I shall cause such records to be kept as will enable the officer who is called upon to discharge the volunteers to grant honorable discharges only to such soldiers as are fairly entitled to them. I think this will have a good effect upon the volunteer regiment. There are three or four vessels under foreign flags-mostly Sandwich Island flags (one Peruvian)-that are owned by citizens of the United States, or by citizens of California who are well disposed towards us; all actual residents of the country that have heretofore been engaged in the coasting trade from port to port. The owners of these vessels have large debts upon the coast, and if now they are to be shut out from the coast. ing trade, it will be ruinous to them. I have promised to give these vessels a special license to continue in the trade, as heretofore, until the matter is referred to the department for orders. This I shall do, subject in the mean time to the concurrence of Commodore Shubrick, who is at present absent from the coast. Some of the ports or points on this coast, where it is customary to land goods, have no military posts near them. San Pedro, for instance, is twenty-five miles from the nearest garrison, and it is not, therefore, possible to comply fully with the instructions from the department of April last. In relation to this point see my instructions to Colonel Stevenson of the 20th of October. A great deal of smuggling has been done in California, and will doubtless continue, as the numerous coves, bays, &c., afford every opportunity for landing goods and merchandise. One or two good revenue cutters would, however, stop this effectually. The commodore and myself have made known that any one who would give information of goods, &c. being smuggled, should have one-half of the goods seized upon such in formation. Since the departure of the commodore on the 16th ultimo for Mazatlan, I have taken the responsibility to instruct the different officers intrusted with the collection of the military contribution not to exact duties on lumber brought into a port of California, nor on the growth, produce, or manufacture of California, brought from one port of California direct to another. I have been induced to do this for the following reasons: The great scarcity and high prices of lumber, ($50 per M. without du ties.) Our own emigrants purchase nine-tenths of the lumber now consumed in the country. Hides, the principal article of trade, are collected at various points on the coast and taken to certain establishments at San Francisco and San Diego, where they are landed, cured, and prepared for exportation. Surely, upon these a duty should not be collected under the circumstances. And, again: wheat taken from San Francisco to the southern ports of Santa Barbara, San Pedro, and San Diego, should pay no duty as a military contribution, because the great wheat growing country lies on the Sacramento and waters of San Francisco bay, settled almost entirely by our own people. In any point of view the duty on the produce of California, taken from port to port along the coast, will be more oppressive to our own people than to the Californians themselves. I know that it is not the desire of the President to check the prosperity of the country in its infancy whilst not in arms against us; to destroy by a single blow its commerce; and to shut out to our poor emigrants, who have toiled their way here, the simple articles of manufacture they stand in need of to make their presence here useful to themselves and to their government. California, has very few resources in itself at present developed. Not a yard of cloth is made here, nor a tool of any kind; all are brought from Europe and the United States. The high duties imposed upon these articles by Mexico were seldom collected, and yet, from its geographical position, prices were and are still so high that the owner of leagues of land, thousands of cattle, and hundreds of horses, could command about him fewer of the comforts of civilized life than are enjoyed by the poorest class of citizens in the United States. Under such a state of things no country could flourish; and a more liberal policy was clearly laid down in the Secretary of War's letter of the 3d of June, 1846, to Colonel (now Brigadier General) S. W. Kearny, in which he says duties should be reduced "to such a rate as may be barely sufficient to maintain the necessary civil officers without yielding any revenue to the government. You may assure the people of these provinces that it is the wish and design of the United States to provide for them a free government, with the least possible delay, similar to what exists in our Territories. They will be then called on to exercise rights of freemen," &c. Promises and assurances, based upon these instructions, have gone forth to the people of California as a solemn pledge on the part of our government. It was believed, and received by the people generally as a pledge; but some of our enemies among them have asserted that these promises were made by us to delude them into subordination, after which the same high duties and restrictions on commerce would be restored. Now these persons pass for prophets, because, after nearly a year of quiet and tranquillity, high duties are again ordered to be laid, with restrictions upon the coast trade, that will in a great measure prevent the expected competition and reduction of prices; this, too, with the avowed declaration on the part of our government to treat the Californians as open enemies, subject to military contribution. After the peaceable policy indicated in the Secretary's letter, and the pledge made to the people of California in compliance with it, it will be a breach of good faith to re-establish high duties, with the addition of excluding from the coast trade vessels owned by citizens of California, and causing duties to be paid on articles from port to port, carried coastwisesome of the ports being not more than twenty-five or thirty miles apart. I would most urgently recommend that these duties and restrictions be withdrawn, and the more liberal policy first begun be adhered to of collecting no military contributions from the small commerce of this country, but only such duties as will maintain the necessary civil officers. I am not insensible of the high responsibility I have taken in relation to the tariff and the trade between the ports of California. I am satisfied, even to conviction, that if the President could see with his own eyes the condition of things in California, I should be fully justified in all that I have done. In conclusion, I beg leave to mention the names of Don Pedro Carrillo, of Santa Barbara, and Don Miguel Pedrorena, of San Diego, who have recently lost their offices by reason of the revenue being now collected by the military, as warm friends of the interests of the |