true there are no civil courts in California above those of the alcalde, but one can be created for these special cases; and I have therefore appointed Stephen C. Foster and special judges, to hold a court at Los Angeles for the trial of those men charged with passing the counterfeit coin. The name of the judge is left blank in the appointment, that you may fill it with the name of some suitable person in the lower country. Please appoint some one to conduct the prosecution on the part of the Territory, and give to him such information as may be in your power relative to trials by jury. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Colonel J. D. STEVENSON, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, commanding. New York Volunteers, commanding Southern HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, , Monterey, California, April, 1848. SIR: Colonel Stevenson has reported the arrest of Canfield, Barnes, and others, charged with passing counterfeit gold coin purporting to be the coin of the United States. I herewith endorse an appointment of judge for yourself and to hold a special court for the trial of said persons. The court will be held at Los Angeles, on such day as you may appoint, after consulting with Colonel Stevenson. You will cause the prisoners to be tried by a jury of twelve impartial men. It would be well to summon eighteen or twenty jurors, so that, if any are objected to, there may be others on the spot to supply their places. A list of the jurors summoned should be given to each of the prisoners at least two days before they are put upon their trial. Be careful to have each juror, witness, and interpreter properly sworn, and that fact entered on the record; and see that the prisoners have a fair and impartial trial. If found guilty, the court will pronounce sentence, which, together with the whole record, will be forwarded to me. The record should present each day's proceedings; the testimony given in should be entered, as near as can be, in the words of the witness, who should accurately state, as near as he can, the day, month, year, and place where the counterfeit coin was passed, together with all the circumstances attending the same. Colonel Stevenson will appoint some one to prosecute the cases on the part of the Territory; you will appoint a sheriff and a clerk for the occa sion. Be pleased to examine well the Mexican law on the subject of passing counterfeit coin. I am told it is very severe. The quartermaster at Los Angeles has instructions relative to paying the costs of the prosecutions. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. STEPHEN C. FOSTER, HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, SIR: The costs of the prosecution that will be incurred in the coming trial of Canfield, Barnes, and others, for passing counterfeit gold coin, will be paid, if acquitted by you, out of the military contribution fund, according to the rates mentioned below. If they are convicted, the costs must be paid by themselves, and the amount stopped in the paymaster's hands, as they are not yet paid off. The court must certify to the correctness of the bill of costs before you pay. THE JUDGE Will be allowed, for each day the court is actually in session.......$5 00 PROSECUTING ATTORNEY. For each case. SHERIFF. ....30 00 For summoning each juror and witness. For each mile travelling in summoning jurors and witnesses.... JURORS AND WITNESSES. For each day's attendance on court..... For each day occupied in travelling to and from the court by the route.... I, Richard B. Mason, colonel of the 1st regiment of dragoons United States army, and governor of California, by virtue of authority in me vested, do hereby appoint Stephen C. Foster and judges, to hold a special court at Cuidad de los Angeles, on such a day as may be appointed by said judges, for the trial of Ruel Barnes, C. C. Canfield, Samuel Myers, and others, of the company of Mormon volunteers, late in the service of the United States, charged with passing counterfeit gold coin purporting to be the coin of the United States. Given at Monterey, the capital of California, this 18th day of April, A. D. 1848, and the 72d year of the independence of the United States. R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, SIR: In obedience to your order of the 29th of October, which was received on the 11th instant, I have the honor herewith to forward to you a general account of all moneys derived from the collection of revenue that have passed through my hands, to include the month of March of the present year. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington city, D. C. R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, commanding. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, April 21, 1848. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 14th instant, together with the petition of the same date enclosed. I have no authority to make grants of land. My instructions confer no such power; nor could the President delegate any such to me, because the United States only holds the Californias as a military conquest, and no such authority can be rightfully exercised until the country becomes a part of the territory of the United States, and under her laws, and then only by an act of Congress. The precedent to which you refer me, I thought at the time, and have always thought, was one improperly exercised. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. SEMPLE, Esq., R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Benecia city, California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, April 24, 1848. SIR: I have received your letter of the 11th, and have given Yingo's and Castro's land case a complete consideration and have fully examined the records in this office concerning the same. Yingo petitioned for the land lying between the lines designating the limits of Castro's land and the land of the mission of Santa Clara, as shown upon the accompanying map, which is a copy of the official map here. The whole of the land asked for by Yingo was not granted; that only was granted lying within the said lines, marked in the accompanying map, which lines are copied from the said official map on record here, and these said lines correspond exactly with the reading of Yingo's title, "the boundaries being from his house to the first spring of water, inclusive, called Los Animas." Thus it is clear that Yingo has no claim to land from his house in the direction of the Santa Clara land, nor beyond the spring Los Animas in the other direction: he is tied fast down to the land lying between his house and the spring; or, in other words, supposing the arrow on the map to correctly point to north, Yingo's land does not extend to the westward of the spring, nor to the eastward of his house. The book of land records estimates Yingo's to be "half of a league, little more or a little less." The land designated as that asked for by Yingo, as you will see by the note in the corner of the map, is three-fourths of a league in breadth, and one and a quarter in length; but only half a league was granted, a little more or less, that to be between the house and spring, and is marked on the official map by lines, from which the said red lines on the accompanying map are copied. You speak of Castro's title being younger than that of Yingo's, which is the 14th of February, 1844. Castro claims under Estrada's title, which is the 1st of January, 1842-two years older than that of Yingo. But Yingo had only granted to him one half league, and that is marked by lines on the official map or record, which, in the copy, is shown by the red lines, and the land outside cannot be held by any one claiming under Yingo. With the accompanying map I send the copy of the letters of Estrada, Yingo, and Castro. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. P. S.-An alcalde cannot hold a court for the final adjudication and settlement of land titles. In this case the official records clearly determine the matter, and confine Yingo, or rather those who claim under him, within the "red lines," beyond which they cannot go without being liable to be removed by the alcalde. R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, SIR: I have, with great care, examined the question which you presented to me in the case of land claimed by Narvaez and Fisher. It appears, from the official record and map in this office, that, on the 30th of March, 1844, there were granted to Narvaez two leagues within the land called San Juan Bautista; this grant is clearly defined and marked on the northwest, south west, and southeast, as is shown on the official map corresponding with the title papers, but it is undefined to the northeast. Thus it appears clear that the grant cannot extend into the hills of San Juan Bautista, if the two leagues of land called for are contained between the said hills and the boundaries, as designated on the map. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California. Don MANUEL DIEZ, Monterey, California. HEADQUARTERS TENTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Monterey, California, April 28, 1848. SIR: I herewith enclose to you some modifications of the tariff, ordered by the President, as proposed by the Secretary of the Treasury, of the 5th of November, 1847, together with his orders for the collection of an export duty on gold and silver, as also recommended by the Secretary of the Treasury, on the 16th of November, 1847. These documents were sent to me by Commodore Jones, from Callao, as you will see by the extracts from his letter accompanying the copies now sent you. The ad valorem duties now to be collected, according to the recommendations of the Secretary of the Treasury of the 5th of November, will render it necessary to closely examine vessels' invoices, and see that they are authenticated, as required by the 7th article of the regulations, and that all entries of merchandise are strictly made in conformity to "form" 3. From Commodore Shubrick's letter to me of the 8th of February, and one of the same date from Hugh W. Green, collector at Mazatlan, to the commodore, sent to me by the commodore, with a copy of the printed tariff regulations from the Treasury Department of the 30th of March, 1847, including amendments made by the Secretary of the Treasury and those by the commodore's authority, it appears that the latter has thrown open the coasting trade to all vessels. This I did not discover until your letter of the 21st relative to the Chilian barque Natalia brought me to look closer into the subject. This accounts for the Natalia being cleared by the collector at Mazatlan for San Francisco. I send you herewith one of the printed regulations from Washington of the 30th of March, 1847, corrected in red ink, copied from one Commodore Shubrick sent me, embracing the modifications of the 5th of November, 1847, and those made by the commodore. I have been obliged to make this correction upon an old corrected copy; but the red ink will distinguish the present changes from the old blank marks. All articles of merchandise now stand tariffed as in the print, except where the red marks indicate a change. The regulation of the import trade, you recollect, was assigned to the senior naval officer by the Secretary of the Navy's letter to Commodore Stockton, dated November, 1846. Lumber and the growth and produce of California, carried from port to port in California, will still continue free from duty, except it come from Lower California, where the people are in arms against us. Have some copies of Mr. Walker's recommendations to the President of the 5th and 16th of November printed, and send them to me for distribution as soon as possible. Send some to the islands, &c., when an opportunity offers. Have also some blank forms of No. 3 printed, so as to meet this change to the ad valorem duties. Goods imported into California from the United States and other countries-via the Sandwich islands, for instance-and then reshipped and brought here, must pay duties according to the invoices from the latter port, and not according to the invoices from the original port. Having once been introduced into the foreign port, they must pay duties according to the valuation, &c., as shown by the properly authenticated invoices from that port. I mention this because a vessel arrived here some time since from the Sandwich islands with goods, some or all of which had been brought from the United States, and, expecting to pay ad valorem duties, came prepared with two sets of invoices-one set from the United States, and one set from the island-the intention being to |