upon each charge, when and by whom, for and against the accused. This is necessary, in order that I may be fully possessed of all the merits of the case before making up my opinion, so as to do justice to the complainants and the accused party. I forward to Mr. Hyde a copy of your communication, to which mine of the 14th and this is a reply. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Messrs. HowARD, JONES, PARKER, and LEIDESDORFF, HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, SIR: On the foregoing page you have the copy of a correspondence between myself and the town council of San Francisco, in which you are interested. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Mr. GEORGE HYDE, HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, SIR: In compliance with the request contained in your note of the 8th instant, I herewith return to you your application to me of the 9th of February last, for the payment of three thousand dollars and interest; money loaned by you to Colonel Fremont, together with a copy of my reply thereto, dated on the 22d of the same month. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, rnia. Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Mr. ANTONIO JOSE COT, HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, SIR: I am desirous to forward all the custom-house accounts and vouchers to the War Department, up to include the fourth quarter of the last year. I request you will forward me your vouchers to include that period, (I have the account current and abstract,) that I may examine and forward them, with those received from the other ports, by the mail which Lieutenant Carson will take to the United States. If you can complete the accounts for the present quarter in time, I should like also to forward them with those of this port, and such others as may come in in season.. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Captain J. L. FOLSOM, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, commanding. Assistant Quartermaster, San Francisco. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, March 18, 1848. SIR: I am in the receipt of your letter of the 9th instant, in which you say you had not received any orders relative to the amount a soldier was to purchase goods free of duty." The tariff regulations are so plain and explicit that none were necessary. The articles purchased by a soldier or officer must be for his own individual use and consumption, and not as merchandise for resale." Will an officer permit a soldier to buy, free of duty, five or six hundred yards of merchandise, because the soldier chooses to assert, or even to swear, that it is "for his own individual use and consumption?" or will he, in like manner, permit him to buy "two barrels of rum" for "his own individual use and consumption," when the army regulations prohibit sutlers from keeping the article at military posts, and when the invariable custom of the service does not allow the soldier to take one bottle of it in his quarters? Deduct from $1,247 46 the one hundred dollars' worth of rum that private Stockton paid duties on, which leaves $1,147 46 worth of articles chargeable with duties. I can allow of no other deductions, as the large quantity purchased forbids the idea that the purchases were for any other pur pose than a resale. I am glad to hear that the statements made in Milford's letter are so stoutly denied, and am willing to believe that they were great falsehoods. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Lieut. H. S. CARNES, R. B. MASON, N. Y. Volunteers, A. A. Quartermaster, Santa Barbara. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, March 21, 1848. SIR: Mr. Branch has called upon me, delivered your message, and reported the many serious depredations recently committed near San Luis Obispo by the Indians. He informs me that the people cannot pursue the Indians for the want of ammunition. You should organize a party, say twenty-five or thirty good men, and hold them in readiness to move at a moment's warning in pursuit of the Indians, where depredations are committed. I will deliver to your order twenty-five or thirty pounds of pow der, and a proportionable quantity of lead, to be used by such organized party, when, in accordance to your instructions, they may be called on to go in pursuit of Indians who have committed depredations upon the ranchos and run off bands of horses. You must be responsible that this ammunition is not applied to improper purposes; that it is taken care of, and only used for the service for which it is intended. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Col. 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Mr. JOHN PRICE, HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th instant. The lands of the Presidio are believed to be claimed by private individuals, and they may possibly be confirmed to them. It would, therefore, be improper for the United States authorities, whilst they are in possession of the premises, to permit them to be used by any other individuals in a way which would tend to militate against the interests of the claimants in the event of their recovering the property, by the use and re moval of materials valuable for brick-making or other building purposes. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Mr. C. L. Ross, R. B. MASON, Col. 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, March 23, 1848. SIR: I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th instant. When I said, in my letter to you of the 5th of January, "I think one-half of the proceeds of said goods would be allowed to yourself and Lieutenant Gilbert, for you are equally entitled to a share, in your accounts with the War Department," I did not, by any means, intend it as a formal official decision in the case, but merely as the expression of my opinion that the department would allow the claim if presented, because if the identical same case had happened in the United States, one-half of the proceeds of the goods would have been equally divided between the collector, naval officer, and surveyor of the port, as you will see by a reference to the authority which I quoted. I wrote that letter, giving you my views, and the reasons and authority upon which I based them, that you might make the claim if you chose, either by making the charges in your account, or in any other way you might deem best; and that the whole ground might be before you pro and con, I called your attention to the latter part of article 19 of the printed regulations from Washington, which would seem to negative the opinion I had formed. When Commodore Shubrick and myself framed the regulations, giving to the informer one-half the proceeds of confiscated goods, we meant by the "informer" some one who would come and give information to the custom-house officers, the possession of which information would enable him to seize smuggled goods, and without such information the goods. would not have been seized. When goods are seized and sold in consequence of such information given, the regulation authorizes you to pay one-half of the proceeds to such informer; and when the officer may be of opinion that he is entitled to a part of the proceeds upon the ground that I think his claim rests as before stated, it is for the War Department to decide his claim, not me. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Captain J. L. FOLSOM, R. B. MASON, Col. 1st Dragoons, commanding. Asst. Quartermaster, San Francisco. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, March 24, 1848. SIR: I have received your letter of the 20th instant, on the subject of the election of the town council of Santa Cruz. The election is approved, and the four gentlemen chosen will act as the advisers and counsellors of the alcalde, and, in conjunction with him, make such regulations as will tend to preserve the quiet and good order of the town, suppress vice and protect the just rights of the persons and property of its inhabitants. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Col. 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. WILLIAM BLACKBURN, HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, March 25, 1848. SIR: I have received your communication, of the 18th instant, concerning Castro's complaint. I am fully aware of the difficulty of reconciling these land disputes, the boundaries being so indefinitely described. I send you a copy of the map embracing Yuigo's land, taken from the one on record in this office; that part embraced within the red lines agreeing as near as may be with Yuigo's title, and is supposed to embrace all the land that can be claimed by him. From the examination of the titles I should not suppose that his claim could by any means extend so far south as to reach the road to San Francisco. Try and settle this matter among the parties, if it be possible. In relation to Narvaez, thoughhe may not have had judicial possession given him of his land, yet that fact does not justify other persons in coming within the boundaries as described in his title, and digging for mineral, or committing any other trespass. The United States authorities are bound by every obligation of honor and duty to protect the Californians in all their just rights. I am aware that the alcaldes have never been allowed fees by any law in California, though, I believe, of late years it has been customary, at least with some of the alcaldes, to charge them. I can see no objection. to their charging a reasonable fee for their services, as their time is much employed in their official duties. When persons have not been put in possession of lands that their deeds from the proper official authorities entitle them to, you can give them such possession, unless there appears some manifest cause why such possession should be withheld. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. CHARLES WHITE, Esq., First Alcalde, Pueblo de San José. P. S.-I send you a translation of the title under which Castro claims. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, March 25, 1848. GENTLEMEN: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 18th instant, in reply to mine of the 14th, addressed to yourself and two other gentlemen of the town council of San Francisco. From the tenor of the communication without date, signed by the four gentlemen of the council, it was natural to infer that all the charges against Mr. Hyde had been investigated, and in their judgment substantiated, as not the slightest intimation was given to the contrary; but it appears from your letter that only two of the charges underwent an examination. This shows how necessary it was that I should have been made acquainted with all the facts upon which the gentlemen formed their judgment, before being called upon to remove Mr. Hyde from office. I was left completely in the dark, and required to perform an official act, involving serious consequences to a public officer, with the merits of whose case I was entirely ignorant. The source from whence I should have derived the necessary information to have enabled me fully to understand the subject, makes no reference to the charges not examined into, nor to what extent the investiagtion was carried, nor how far the charges were proved or disproved. Before I can approve the act of council, it is proper I should know all the circumstances of the case, the sufficiency of the testimony upon which they formed their judgment, and whether that testimony was in any way weakened or counterbalanced by any offered by the accused. In fact, I should know all that influenced the gentlemen in forming their determination-should know all that was urged both for and against the accused party. Without this knowledge, how is it possible for me to act understandingly in the matter? I an informed by one of the members, that there has been no meeting of the council to investigate the charges since some time in December, and that the report was made without his knowledge. |