self deliver to the respective padre, prefect, or to the person whom he may appoint, the third part destined for the maintenance of the minister and the religious worship; and only in the mission of Santa Barbara, the half of said rent-money shall be paid for the same object, in conformity with the 4th article of the decree of the departmental assembly.

ART. 13. The government reserves to itself the right of taking care that the establishments prosper; in virtue of which it will prevent their destruction, ruin, or decline, should it be necessary during the period of renting.

ART. 14. The renting of the missions of San Diego, San Luis Rey, San Gabriel, San Antonio, Santa Clara, and San José shall take place when the difficulties shall be got over which at present exist with respect to the debts of those establishments, and then the government will inform the public, and all shall be done agreeably to these regulations.

ADVANTAGES AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE RENTEES.

ART. 15. The renters shall have the benefit of the usufruct of everything delivered to them on rent according to the regulations.

ART. 16. The obligations of the rentees are: 1st. To pay promptly and quarterly, when due, the amount of the rent. 2d. To deliver back, with improvements, at the expiration of the nine years, whatever they may receive on rent, with the exception of the stills, moveables, and implements of agriculture, which must be returned in a serviceable state. 3d. They shall return at the same time the number of cattle which they receive, and of the same description, and of such an age as not to embarrass the procreation of the following year. 4th. They shall give bonds to the satisfaction of gov ernment before they receive the establishments of the rentees-one of which is the payment of the damages which the government may be obliged to find against them, agreeable to article 13.

OF THE INDIANS.

ART. 17. The Indians are free from the neophytism, and may establish themselves in their missions or wherever they choose. They are not obliged to serve the rentees, but they may engage themselves to them on being paid for their labor, and they will be subject to the authorities and to the local police.

ART. 18. The Indians radicated in each mission shall appoint from amongst themselves, on the 1st of January in each year, four overseers, who will watch and take care of the preservation of public order, and be subject to the justice of the peace to be named by government in each mission, agreeable to the decree of 4th July last. If the overseers do not perform the duty well, they shall be replaced by others to be appointed by the jus tice of the peace, with previous permission from government, and will remain in office for the remainder of the year in which they were appointed.

ART. 19. The overseers shall appoint every month, from amongst the rest of the Indians, a sacristan, a cook, a tortilla maker, a vaquero, and two washer-women, for the service of the padre minister, and no one shall be hindered from remaining in this service as long as he choose. In the mission of Santa Barbara, the overseers will appoint an Indian, to the satisfaction of the priest, to take care daily of the reservoir and water conduits that lead to the principal edifice, and he shall receive a compensation of four dollars per month out of the part of the rent belonging to the Indians.

ART. 20. The Indians who possess portions of land, in which they have their gardens and homes, will apply to this government for the respective title, in order that the ownership thereof may be adjudicated to them, it being understood that they cannot alienate said lands, but they shall be hereditary amongst their relatives, according to the order established by the laws.

ART. 21. From the said Indian population three boys shall be chosen as pages for the priest, and to assist in the ceremonies of the church.

ART. 22. The musicians and singers who may establish themselves the missions, shall be exempted from the burdens mentioned in article-18, but they shall lend their services in the churches at the masses and the functions which may occur.

OF THE JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

ART. 23. The justices of the peace shall put in execution the orders communicated to them by the nearest superior authority; they will take care that veneration and respect be paid to matters appertaining to our religion and its ministers, and that the 18th and 20th articles, inclusive, of these regulations, be punctually fulfilled; they will see that no one be hindered in the free use of his property; they will quiet the little disturbances that may occur, and, if necessary, enforce and impose light and moderate correction; and if the occurrences should be of such a nature as to belong to the cognizance of other authorities, they will remit to such authorities the criminals and antecedents.

APPENDIX No. 22.

Decree of the Departmental Assembly of the 3d of April, 1846, respecting missions.

ARTICLE 1. The government is authorized to carry into effect the object of the decree of 28th May last, published by this honorable assembly, res pecting missions; to which end, seeing the impracticability of renting, mentioned in article 3 of said decree, the departmental government will act in

the manner which may appear most conducive to obviate the total ruin of the missions of San Gabriel, San Luis Rey, San Diego, and the remainder which are in similar circumstances.

ART. 2. As most of these establishments are owing large amounts, if the property on hand should not be sufficient to satisfy their acknowledged debts, attention shall be had to what the laws determine respecting bankruptcies, and steps shall be taken accordingly.

ART. 3. Should government, by virtue of this authority, find that, in order to prevent the total ruin which threatens said missions, it will be necessary to sell them to private persons, this shall be done at public auction, the customary notice being previously given.

ART. 4. In case of sale, if, after the debts be paid, any surplus should remain, this shall be divided among the Indians of the premises sold, government taking care to make the most just distribution possible.

ART. 5. In any case, care must be taken to secure a sufficient amount for the maintenance of the padres and the expenses of public worship, the government being at liberty to separate a part of the whole establishments, whether in lands for cultivation, landed or other property, at its discretion, which will be sufficient to secure both objects, the respective priests being previously heard and attended to.

ART. 6. The premises set apart according to the foregoing article shall be delivered as a sale at a perpetual interest of four per cent.; and the proceeds shall be applied precisely to the objects mentioned in said article 5.

ART. 7. What has been done agreeably to what was ordained in the decree of the honorable assembly of the 28th May, before cited, remains in full force; and these presents shall in no manner alter the contracts made and measures taken by government, in accordance with said decree of May, 1845; nor shall they in future put any obstacle in the way of what may be done in accordance thereto.

ART. 8. The government will remove any obstacles not foreseen in this decree; and within six months at furthest will notify this honorable assem bly of the result of its fulfilment.

APPENDIX. No. 23.

Decree of the Departmental Assembly of the 31st October, 1846, annulling the sale of missions and other acts of Don Pio Pico.

The citizen Jose Maria Flores, captain of cavalry in the Mexican army, governor and commandant general ad interim of this department, to its inhabitants :

Know ye the honorable departmental assembly, in an extraordinary session of yesterday, has decreed the following:

The most excellent departmental assembly, taking into consideration the urgent necessity of providing resources for carrying on the war against the invading forces of the United States of North America, and finding that the only way of obtaining them in a sure and prompt manner is to solicit a loan, has, in this day's session, found it expedient to decree the following,

viz.:

1. The sales of missions made by Don Pio Pico as governor, as well as all other acts done by him on the same subject beyond his authority, are entirely annulled.

2. His excellency the governor ad interim is authorised to solicit a loan of such amount as he may consider necessary for the object indicated, it being stipulated that, in accomplishing this act in the most equitable and just manner, he may mortgage one or more of the missions for the corresponding security.

3. These establishments shall continue with the character of being rented and in possession of the rentees who shall have fulfilled the conditions stipu lated in the proclamation upon that subject.

4. The missions which exist under the circumstances of the preceding article shall suffer no alteration until the term of their lease shall expire, even should they be of those mortgaged; and with respect to the others the government will take care that the regulations formerly given on the subject be duly complied with.

His excellency the governor ad interim will be made acquainted herewith for his goverment and further ends.

Hall of sessions of the honorable assembly of California, in the city of Los Angeles, October, 20, 1846.

FRANCIS FIGUERON.

President.

AUGUSTINE OBVERA,

Department Secretary.

I Therefore command it to be published, circulated, and posted up in the usual places, for the knowledge of the public.

Given in the city of Los Angeles, October 31, 1846.

NARCISS BOTELLO, Secretary.

JOSE MARIA FLORES.

APPENDIX No. 24.

Know all men by these presents, that I, Brigadier General S. W. Kearney,

governor of California, by virtue of authority in me vested, considering that, inasmuch as there are various claimants to the missions of San Jose, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and San Juan, and the houses, gardens, vineyards, &c., around and near them, do hereby decree that, until the proper judicial tribunals to be established shall decide upon the same, the above named missions and property appertaining thereto shall remain under charge of the Catholic priests, as they were when the United States flag was first raised in this territory, it being understood that this decree is not to affect the rights of any claimant and that the priests are to be responsible for the preservation of said missions and property while under their charge. The alcaldes of the jurisdictions in which the above named missions are situated will, upon the application of the priests, take the proper measures to remove therefrom all persons trespassing or intruding upon them.

Given at Monterey, capital of California, this 22d day of March, 1847. S. W. KEARNEY,

Brigadier General and Governor of California.

APPENDIX No. 25.

HEADQUARTERS 10TH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,
Monterey, California, January 3, 1848.

REVEREND SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 29th December, and its accompanying documents, purporting to give you authority to sell mission lands, bearing date 25th May and 16th June, 1846, signed by Jose Castro, and addressed to yourself.

This document certainly could give you no authority to sell any part of the mission lands after the 7th July, 1816, the day on which the United States flag was hoisted in California; indeed, if it could legally have conferred such authority before, since that date the mission lands can only be disposed of by virtue of authority from the United States government. I am therefore obliged to declare, and do hereby declare, all sales of any part of the mission lands made by your reverence to be illegal, null and void, and that the purchasers of such lands hold no legal title to them whatever by virtue of any sale made by your reverence.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. B. MASON,

Colonel 1st Dragoons, Governor of California.

Rev. Padre JOSE MA. DEL. R. S. DEL. REAL.,

Minister of the mission of Santa Clara.