"Diario del Gobierno."—(Vol. XXVI. No. 2899, page 117.)

Mexico, 31st May, 1843.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Government.

"Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, General of division, benemérito of the country, and president of the Mexican Republic to the inhabitants thereof: Know ye That it being consistent with my purposes to encourage whatsoever may contribute to the national advancement and wealth, and considering as one of the means most tending thereto, that of granting premiums and incentives to the important branch of the mines of quicksilver, so necessary for the working of the precious metals, the first branch of the industry of the Republic, without which the others can make no progress, having heard the report of the Committee on advancement of mining, in the exercise of 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.

ART. 1. The royal orders of the 13th January 1783, 12th November 1791, 6th December 1796 and 8th August 1814, as to exemption from excise duties granted to the articles for the use of mines, are to be punctually observed in regard to the mines of quicksilver of the Republic.

ART. 2. No general or municipal impost shall be laid upon the quicksilver which may be derived from the possessions of the Republic.

ART. 3. Quicksilver shall be sold throughout the nation without permits, passes, or other custom house papers.

ART. 4. A premium of $25,000 is granted to each of the four first proprietors who shall extract in one year from the mines of the Republic, 2000 quintals of liquid quicksilver.

ART. 5. There shall be paid during three years for each quintal of quicksilver which shall have the above origin, the sum of $5.

ART. 6. The laborers in the mines of quicksilver, shall be exempted from all military duty, and from personal taxes.

ART. 7. The committee on advancement and administration of mining, will draw up the proper regulation for the distribution of the aforesaid premiums, paying them at maturity out of the fund designated by the 2nd article of the decree of 2nd December, 1842, and the 4th article of the decree of 17th February of this year: Therefore, I order the same to be printed, published, circulated and carried into full effect.-Palace of the National Government, Tacubaya, 24th May, 1843.

ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA.

JOSE MARIA DE BOCANEGRA,

Minister of Foreign affairs and Government.

FOREIGNERS.

DECREE.

October 7th, 1823,

Office of the Principal Secretary of State, Mexico. The Supreme Executive Power has directed to me the following de

cree:

The Sovereign Mexican Congress has resolved and decreed,

1st. That for the present, there shall be a suspension of the Law 12, Titie 10, Book 5; and of the Law 5, Title 18, Book 6, of the Collection of Castile; and also of the Law 1, Title 10, Book 8; and of the Laws comprehended in Title 27, Book 9, of the Collection of the Indies, together with the Article 1, Title 7, of the Ordinances of the Mines; which Laws enact that foreigners, in order to acquire and work Mines, on their own account, should be naturalizel, or tolerated with the express permission of the Government. 2dly. This suspension only enables foreigners to contract with the owners of such mines, as are in want of capital, for supplying them with capital, in all the modes which are usual in such contracts, upon the terms that shall be most convenient to both parties, so that they may even acquire in property, shares in the concerns to which they supply capital; (hasta poder adquirir en propriedad acciones en las negociaciones que habiliten ;) such for eigners remaining liable, in all respects, to our Ordinances, concerning the working of the Mines, and the reduction of the ores, and to all the taxes and duties, subject to which the nation grants to its citizens the right of enjoying such property.

3dly. By consequence they are prohibited from registering new Mines, from denouncing those which have been deserted, and from acquiring a share in any Mine, except those to which they supply capital, under any colour or pretence whatsoever.

4thly. No alteration whatever shall take place for the present, in respect of the excise duties, and the law relating to quicksilver, which article is excepted from all duty; all others used in the Mines, remaining subject to the usual excise duties.

The Supreme Executive power are desirous that the above article should be generally understood and carried into effect, and order that it be printed, published, and circulated.

"Diario del Gobierno."-(Vol. XXII. No. 2457, page 297.8.)

Mexico, March 16th, 1842.

Government of the Department of Mexico.

EDICT.

Citizen Luis Gonzaga Vieyra, brevet brigadier general, and governor of this department.

By the department of foreign affairs and government the following has with this date been communicated to me.

MOST EXCELLENT SIR:-His Excellency the Provisional President of the republic has been pleased to transmit to me the following decree :

Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna, general of division, benemérito of the country, and provisional president of the Mexican Republic, to all the inhabitants thereof. Know Ye-That after a mature and the most cautious examination into the benefits which will result to the republic from permitting foreigners to acquire property; having heard the opinion of the council of representatives, which with the greatest exactitude examined this subject; the reports of several juntas of the departments, many well informed persons, and the pro and contra supported in print: having seen the various projects for a law which to this effect have been offered; being also convinced that a frank policy and a well understood interest demand that there should no longer be delayed a concession which may tend to the advancement of the republic, by the increase of population, the extension and division of property, which consequently makes the national wealth the greater; having also in consideration that by these means the safety of the nation may be more and more secured, since foreign proprietors will be so many more defenders of the national rights, at the same time that they are interested in the common property considering also the impulse which will be given to agriculture, indus try and commerce, which are the sources of public wealth; and finally, that the opinion generally expressed is in favor of the said concession, I have thought proper, exercising the powers conceded to me by the seventh of the bases accorded in Tacubaya, and attested by the representatives of the departments, to decree as follows:

ART. 1. Foreigners not citizens, residing in the republic may acquire and hold town and country property, by purchase, adjudication, denouncement or any other title established by the laws.

ART. 2. They may also acquire ownership in mines of gold, silver, copper, quicksilver, iron and coal, of which they may be the discoverers, in conformity with the ordinance of the branch.

ART. 3. Each individual foreigner cannot acquire more than two country estates in the same department, without a license from the Supreme Govern

ment, and only under the boundaries which they now have, each independent of the other.

ART. 4. In the acquisition of town property in the cities, towns and villages, as also in the lands contiguous thereto, in which they may wish to construct new estates, they shall enjoy the right to so much under similar circumstances and conditions.

ART. 5. Foreigners who in virtue of this law may acquire property, remain absolutely liable in regard to it, to the existing laws, or those which may prevail in the republic, as to transfer, use, preservation and payment of imposts, without the power of alleging any right appertaining to being foreigners, in regard to those points.

ART. 6. Consequently, all the questions of this nature, which may arise, shall be decided in the ordinary and usual manner of the national laws, with the exclusion of all other intervention whatsoever.

ART. 7. Foreigners who may acquire country property, city property, or property in mines, and foreigners who may labor in them as servants, laborers or journeymen, are not obliged to take part in the service of arms, unless in the way of police; but they are to pay the imposts which have for their object to keep up the militia.

ART. 8. If the foreign proprietor absent himself for more than two years with his family from the republic, without obtaining permission from the government, or if the property pass by inheritance or by any other title into the possession of persons non-resident in the republic, he shall be obliged to sell it within two years, counted from the day when his absence took place, or the change of ownership. If this be not done, the sale shall be officially proceeded with, with all the legal formalities, and of the proceeds the tenth part shall go to the informer; the nine tenths remaining shall be safely deposited at the disposal of the owner. This shall always be done when it is proven that the owner of the estate resides out of the republic, and he who is the nominal proprietor is only so in place of the absentee.

ART. 9. These arrangements do not include the departments on the frontier and bordering upon other nations, in regard to which special laws of colonization will be enacted, without the power to foreigners to ever acquire property in them, without the express license of the Supreme Government of the Republic.

ART. 10. In the departments which are not on the frontier, and which may have coasts, only at five leagues distance from the coasts can foreigners acquire country property.

ART. 11. In order that foreigners who may have acquired property in the republic may be citizens thereof, it is sufficient that they prove before the political authority of the place of their residence that they are proprietors, that they have resided two years in the republic, and that they have conducted themselves well. The expediente drawn up in this manner will be

sent to the proper department, by which the certificate of citizenship will be issued.

ART. 12. Foreigners cannot acquire royal or public lands in all the de partments of the republic, without contracting for them with the government which possesses this right as representing the domain of the Mexican

nation.

Wherefore I order that it be printed, published, circulated and carried into full effect.

Palace of the national government, Mexico, 11th March, 1842.

ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA.

JOSE MARIA DE BOCANEGRA,

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Government.

And I communicate it to your excellency for your information and consequent action.

God and Liberty.-Mexico 14th March, 1842.

BOCANEGRA.

And in order that it may come to the knowledge of every one, I order that it be published by edict in this capital and the other cities, towns and places within the limits of this department, exposed in the usual places, and circulated among those who are concerned in taking care to see it observed. Given in Mexico on the 14th March, 1842.

MIGUEL ZEREZ, Secretary.

LUIS G. VIEYRA.

"Diario del Gobierno.”—(T. XXIII. No. 2579. page 285.)

Mexico, July 15th, 1842.

Department of Foreign Relations and Government.

MOST EXCELLENT SIR:

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 Mexican Republic, to all the inhabitants thereof,

Know ye: That the decree of the 11th March of this year, which so empowers foreigners to acquire landed property in the republic, in the manner set forth in the same decree, having been made public, some doubts have arisen as to the true meaning of the 2nd Article, and appeals have been brought to the supreme government arising from the different meaning which has been. given to said article. In view of all which, and, bearing in mind the respective provisions and ordinances, I have thought proper, in the exercise of the