an accountant named by the government and an attorney of the creditors of the mining funds, appointed in such time and manner as the government shall designate, who shall receive and audit the accounts, having first taken in charge the archives, &c. pertaining to the tribunal. 5. The individual members of the tribunal shall receive their salaries during the period mentioned in the third article. 6. The accounts audited as is provided in Article 4, shall be transmitted to the government who with such report as they may think proper, shall send them to the General Congress for their approval. 7. The avails of what is called the real de mineria, and other available credits of the late tribunal shall be applied to the payment of their officers, the maintenance of the College, the payment of taxes and the redemption of loans; and the real de mineria shall cease where the debts chargeable upon the mining funds shall have been extinguished. 8. Such portions of those funds as have been received by the State shall be reimbursed to the establishment within such time as the government shall designate. 9. The nation recognises its obligation for the amounts which have been taken from the funds of the tribunal to meet the urgent wants of the state. 10. The collection of the means belonging to this fund shall be made by respective commissaries, who under their own responsibility shall remit the avails to the mint at Mexico, in the nature of a special deposit, and in the meantime said establishment will, in relation to the same, govern itself accordingly. 11. The distribution of the funds in conformity with this law, shall be made through warrants drawn by the person named by the general meeting of miners, subject to the careful supervision of the Secretary of the Trea sury. 12. Such person shall be regarded as the general attorney of the body of miners, and in that capacity shall make such representations to the government as he may judge proper, as to the most effectual execution of this law. 13. Extracts from the accounts taken at the tribunal, shall be printed and published each month successively of the receipts and expenditures of the establishment. 14. The persons in the permanent employment of the late tribunal shall continue in the class of cesantes, payable out of the funds of the establish ment. 15. The government shall require of the cesantes to engage in the labors of the establishment if they think it necessary. 16. The college of miners shall continue henceforth, in the same manner as heretofore and with the endowment which has been assigned to it which shall be drawn from the mining fund. 17. The College shall be under the direction of the person who, under the provision of this law, is appointed by the general meeting of miners, who shall exercise in relation to it those functions heretofore enjoyed by the tribunal, subject to the President of the United Mexican States. 18. The government shall obtain the opinion of Congress as to the salary which the director should have, and with their approbation will form a new plan for the regulation of the college according to the intention of its endowment, leaving to the general Congress to pass on the subject whatever they may determine to be proper. Lorenzo de Zavala, President of the Senate; Bernardo Gonzales Perez de Angulo, President of the House of Deputies; Demetrio del Castillo, Secretary of the Senate; Antonio Fernandez Monjardin, Deputy Secretary. DECREE. September 15, 1829. Persons who have the Collection of what belongs to the Mineral Fund. The President of the United States of Mexico to the inhabitants of the Republic.-Know Ye: That great inconveniences having appeared in the establishment of the miners which have arisen in the collection of the foundation funds made by the general commissaries of the States, to whom, in the meantime and until the said establishment was organized the same was committed, in conformity with the law and regulation of the 20th May, 1826: and consequently, desiring that in future the collection of the duties shall be made by persons in the employment of and named by the gentlemen who compose said estab lishment, with whom they can have a more ready intercourse and can thus have more conveniently at hand the funds for the purpose of securing their appropriation to the important objects for which they were designed. In the exercise of the extraordinary powers conferred on me, I have thought proper to command: 1st. That the authority of the commissaries general in the collection of the mining fund, be discontinued. 2d. That this duty shall successively be performed by persons respectively, whom said establishment shall appoint, at least at one of the points where the mining duty is to be collected, said persons being responsible to the same, and having previously given suitable security. 3d. That the same establishments assign to the collectors a compensation in proportion to the sum collected, observing always the greatest economy in the disposition of the funds. 4th. That the commissaries general present to the establishment the general accounts of the amount produced by the mining duty during the time in which they have been charged with its collection, with a statement of the amount remitted to the mint and of the balance resulting in favour of the miners. 5th. That the foregoing articles be substituted for the 10th, and 11th articles of the 20th May, 1826. Mexico, 15th September, A. D., 1829. LAW. LORENZO DE ZAVALA. May 12th, 1838. A reward to persons who during the period named shall import in national or neutral vessels quicksilver not French property. 1. During the blockade and six months thereafter, persons who shall import quicksilver in neutral or national vessels, shall receive a premium of five dollars for each quintal introduced by the ports or frontiers of the republic, which shall be credited at the respective custom houses, in account of duties. there collected. 2. If the quicksilver which is introduced into the ports of the republic be French property, it shall not be included in the provisions of the previous article, and the same shall besides be subjected to the penalty of forfeiture. DECREE. "Diario del Gobierno."—(Vol. 22, No. 2426, p. 173.) Mexico, February, 18th, 1842. Department of justice and public instruction. His Excellency the provisional president has been pleased to issue the following decree : Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, general of division benemérito of the country, and provisional president of the republic of Mexico, to the inhabitants thereof. Know ye: That the piety fund of California being a matter of general interest, and all the objects to which it is destined being truly national, and should therefore be under the immediate care and management of the supreme government, as it has formerly been, I have thought proper to decree: Art. 1. The 6th article of the decree of the 19th September 1836, whereby the government is deprived of the management of the piety fund of the Californias, and the same placed at the disposition of the reverend bishop of that new diocese, is hereby repealed. Art. 2. Consequently the management and disposition of the property shall return to and be under the care of the supreme national government, in the manner and on the terms fitted to give effect to the object proposed by the donation-the civilization and conversion of the barbarians. Wherefore I command that the same be printed, published, and carried into effect. Palace of the national government, Mexico, February 8, 1842. ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA, Minister of Justice and Public Instruction. And I communicate it to you for your information and consequent action. God and Liberty.-Mexico, February 8, 1842. Castello. DECREE. "Diario del Gobierno." (Vol. XXIV. No. 2687, p. 361. Mexico, October 31st, 1842. Department of Justice and Public Instruction. His Excellency the provisional president of the Mexican Republic, has been pleased to issue the following decree: "Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, general of division, benemérito of the country and provisional president of the Mexican Republic, to the inhabitants thereof. Know ye: That having had in consideration that the decree of the 8th of February of the present year, which provided that the safe keeping and administration of the (piadoso) piety fund of the Californias should be restored to and continue in charge of the supreme government, as was the case formerly, directed that the benefits and national objects proposed by the founders should be enjoyed with all exactitude, without the slightest loss to the property destined to this purpose; and considering also, that this can only be accomplished by converting the same property into capital and putting it out to rent under due security, so as thus to avoid the expenses of administration and any others that may arise; exercising the powers conceded to me by the seventh of the bases accorded in Tacubaya, and sanctioned by the nation, I have thought proper to decree as follows: 1. The country and town estates, the active credits and other property belonging to the piety fund of the Californias, are incorporated into the national treasury. 2. The Department of the Treasury will proceed to sell the estates and other property belonging to the piety fund of California, as the capital which they represent at six per cent for their annual product, and the public treas ury will borrow at the rate of the same 6 per 100 the total proceeds arising from these transfers. 3. The revenue from tobacco remains hypothecated especially for the payment of the revenue, corresponding to the capital of the aforesaid fund of California, and the administration of this branch will deliver the sums neces sary to carry into effect the objects to which the same fund is destined, without any deduction for expenses of administration or any others. Wherefore, I order the same to be printed, published, circulated and carried into full effect. National Palace of the Government, Mexico, 24th October, 1842. ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA. Minister of Justice and Public Instruction. And I communicate the same to you for your information and consequent action. God and Liberty. Mexico, October 24, 1842. VELEZ. "Diario Del Gobierno.”—(Vol. XXIV. No. 2730, page 537-8.) November 13th, 1842. Government of the Department of Mexico. EDICT. Citizen Luis Gonzaga Vieyra, Brevet Brigadier General and Governor of the Department of Mexico. By the department of war and navy, under date of the 2d. instant, the following decree has been communicated to me. His Excellency the substitute President has been pleased to issue the following decree. "Nicholas Bravo, general of division, benemérito of the country and substitute president of the Mexican Republic, to the inhabitants thereof, Know ye: That having in consideration the necessity, as well as at the same time the inportance of encouraging the interesting branch of mining and remembering that although many regulations are in existence having relation to this public benefit, they have either fallen into disuse or have been entirely forgotten, without dilating upon the very great importance, principally to the Republic, of preserving one of the most necessary elements of its prosperity and greatness, I have thought proper to grant in the exercise of powers conceded by the seventh of the bases adopted in Jacubaya, and attested by the representatives of the Department, the following Regulations: Regulation for the board of encouragement and management of the Mining Of the board of encouragement and improvement of the mining corporation, its formation, renewal and attributes. ART. 1st. There shall be established a Board which shall direct the en |