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cost of the stamped paper upon which the title is written out, which shall in all cases be of the third seal, and two dollars to the office in which the auction may take place.

33. When on the day specified for the auction of a portion of land no bidders appear, the sale shall be suspended until a purchaser shall present himself, to whom the sale shall be made.

34. The direction of colonization shall announce every month in the newspapers of this capital, the sale of the lands which have remained over unsold, from there not having been any bidder on the day specified for the

auction.

35. The same direction shall have power to make contracts with individuals or companies for the formation of new colonies upon the following bases.

1. That none of the colonists who may be introduced therein, shall be a subject or native of, or come from a nation whose territory lies contiguous to the lands which are to be granted, nor of a power with which the Republic may be at war, save in the cases in which the government may make exceptions for special reasons and motives.

2. That in the colonies at no time shall slavery be permitted.

3. That the plats of the surveys of the lands made by a competent person in its confidence, shall be produced to the direction, which person in case of default herein, shall be liable to the penalties laid down in Art. 23, within a period specified thereby, which shall not exceed two years, and that if the survey should have been already made, the cost thereof shall be paid.

4. That the price of the public lands shall be realized in annuities, or secured by credits in course of payment which may cause revenue, on paying twenty per cent. in money. The said price shall be fixed by the gov ernment on the proposition of the direction, according to the localities, and shall not be less than the half of that fixed in Art. 23.

5. That the number of families agreed upon with the direction, shall be introduced within a determined period.

6. That the grants of lands and the payments made, shall be forfeited in default of any of the foregoing conditions.

36. These contracts for new settlements, shall be made at public auction, the right being granted for the same price to those who may have made the first proposals, unless from the nature of these, and the circumstances of the case, this requisite in the opinion of the direction cannot be proceeded with.

37. The direction shall also have power with the approbation of the government, to contract for the establishment of banks for the colonization of large territories, and for the opening and constructing of highways for the colonies, with the pledge of the value of the public lands. In this case the government shall fix the price of the lands, and this shall be paid with the bills which the bank may issue. Its creation shall be fixed upon the bases contained in the decree of 25th October, 1842, the government signifying,

in each case the effective capital with which it is to be provided, the amount of bills it may issue, the time of their duration, and that of the redemption of the bills.

38. The lands which may be granted for new settlements, shall be, first: the public lands belonging to the confederation; second: those which the owners may cede for the purpose by agreements with the direction of the branch; third those of ownership acquired by grants from the government, or by any other title, which remain uncultivated and depopulated, and which the direction may qualify as being open to colonization. With regard to these lands, the same direction shall require from their owners to cultivate and settle them, specifying to them a limited period, which shall not exceed five years and if within that time they be not cultivated or settled at the rate of ten persons per square mile, it shall propose to them to put them up for sale to be colonized. If they do not consent thereto, the direction shall apply to the government, laying before it the case and the reasons for which it is of opinion that the sale should take place, and if the government consider them well founded, it shall decree the occupation of the lands in the manner prescribed in the third paragraph of the 112th Art. of the federal constitution.

39. The [empresarios] contractors for colonization, shall distribute the lands among the colonists conformably with the contracts they may have made with them, saving the obligation of the recognition of the annuity upon the part upon which the price is not paid in ready money, which annuity the colonists will pay in proportion to the lands they may occupy.

40. The Judges and authorities of the Republic shall enforce the fulfilment of said contracts on petition from the party interested.

41. The new foreign settlers shall be considered as citizens of the Republic, from their arrival in the colony, conformably with the decree of the 10th of September last.

42. The [empresarios] contractors for new settlements shall have, according to the decree of 3d of October, 1843, a direct intervention in everything relating to the management of the colony and its primary organization, in regard to the administrative and judicial branches, the laws of the Republic will be observed, with the exceptions and privileges in favor of new settlements.

43. All the public acts and documents of the colonies, shall be written in the Spanish language.

44. In conformity with the decrees of 25th October, 1842, and 5th November of the present year, the new settlements shall enjoy the following exemptions.

1. Exemption from active military service for twenty years, except in case of foreign aggression.

2. Exemption from all tax except municipal, for the same term of twenty years.

3. Exemption from all duty for ten years after the colonies may be established, upon all articles of subsistence, clothing, furniture and other articles useful in the construction and furnishing of houses, which may be imported into the colonies. These effects shall be conveyed to the colonies with proper precautions, in order to prevent their being carried to other places, and they cannot be shipped from the colonies in the way of commerce, without falling under the penalty of confiscation.

4. That if free importation, without payment of duties, of implements of art and agriculture, of books and printed matter, for twenty years, and for the same period no exaction will be imposed upon the country or town

estates.

5. That of tonnage duty upon the vessels which may convey at least ten families of new settlers, or which may come fully laden with articles destined for the colonies.

45. Military colonies shall also be established, composed of Mexicans and of foreigners, or of both, on the coasts and frontiers where the government may indicate, especially for preventing the inroads of the savages: and in them shall be granted to the colonists, gratis, the lands which the direction of colonization may, with the approval of the government, designate for that purpose.

46. The following classes shall appertain to the military colonies:

1. Retired and invalid soldiers of the Republic, who may apply therefor. 2. Those who may be permitted by legal grant, and those who may desire to invest their savings in lands and settlements in order to cultivate them.

3. Mexican and foreign peasantry to whom the direction of colonization may grant the same.

4. Those who in future may be forcibly transported thither through the provisions of the laws. For the individuals of the military colonies, the expense of their conveyance thither will be borne, and they will be furnished with a place of residence, implements and tools for labor, or for the trades they may follow, and the means upon which to subsist during the first year.

47. The Military colonies shall have the same privileges as the other colonies, and shall be governed like those which are not military; but all the individuals who can bear arms, shall be organized into companies and corps, it being the duty of the government to provide them with arms, ammunition, and every thing requisite for the service.

The government, upon a report from the direction of colonization, shall draw up the regulations for the instruction of, and service which these militia are to perform, the pay they are to receive when in active service, and whatever else may concern these settlements in carrying out this object without withdrawing them from their domestic occupations.

48. A military colony, composed wholly of foreigners, cannot be estab

lished unless contiguous to another composed of Mexicans or of other foreigners of various countries.

49. The direction of colonization will make application for parishes to be erected in the military colonies, and shall establish in each of them a pri mary school and a medical practitioner.

50. The same direction shall take the necessary steps for the founding of missions in the colonies nearest to the savage tribes, and shall propose to the government the means of sustaining and increasing them, and of encouraging those already existing.

51. The direction of colonization shall appoint agents, commissioners, or auxillary boards in the states and territories, whose labors in the business of colonization shall be executed under the instruction of the same direction.

52. It shall also have power to appoint agents in foreign countries who may promote colonization, and enter into communication with the ministers consuls of the Republic, for the trust it may think proper to confide to them.

53. With the data which it shall collect together, the direction of colonization shall submit to the government the means of marking the boundaries of the lands on the frontiers of the Republic, and whatever may concern the internal navigation of the rivers. Colonization of the frontiers shall not take place without the express approbation of the government, at less than twenty leagues from the boundaries of the Republic, nor less than ten from the coasts, conformably with Article 4 of the law of 13th August, 1844.

54. The office of the direction shall keep clear and methodical registers of all the public lands, of the titles of transfers which it may issue in consequence of sales at auction or by contracts, and of the documents of grants of lands where the issues of the title remains pending upon the surveys. It shall also keep the judicial record of the revenue which may arise from the amount of the price of the lands, and shall draw up a table showing the report of the measures which, up to this time, have been used by the survey. ors, with the measures of the acre and of the mile.

55. The direction shall submit to the government every thing which may have relation to the better administration and government of the new settlements; it shall report against the abuses which may be committed therein; and in order that they may be effective, shall report the guarantees and exemptions conceded to the colonists.

56. The direction, as far as concerns the branches of the agricultural and manufacturing industry of the colonies, the district and the territory of the confederation, and as far as may be within the province of the general government in the states, shall exercise the following powers:

1st. It shall be the organ of communication between the assemblages of manufacturing or agricultural industry of the colonies, and of the district and territories of the confederation and the supreme government, and through its

channel all petitions or memorials which may be made to the government relative to matters appertaining to agriculture and the arts, shall be conveyed to it, the direction expressing its opinion upon the same.

2d. It shall enter into correspondence with the juntas (societies) of agriculture or industry of the states, in relation to its designs.

3d. It shall make to the government such reports as may be desired, in relation to matters of the same industry.

4th. It shall have in its charge the formation of industrial statistics.

5th. It shall promote the advancement of agriculture and the arts, by all proper means, and especially by premiums for industrial inventions, and improvements in cultivation, in vegetables, and breeding of animals, and by the establishment of schools of arts and agriculture, and the publication of instructive works.

6th. It shall take cognizance of all the records of applications for patents for the invention, perfection, or introduction of new processes in industry, and in its archives shall be deposited the models and specifications presented by those who obtain patents, and it shall publish both, when the inventions become public property.

7th. It shall take care that public exhibitions at stated periods shall be made in the capital of the republic, of the national agricultural and manufacturing products.

8th. It shall put into operation, as early as possible, the establishment of the schools of arts and of agriculture, which are placed under the inspection and care of the direction of industry, taking charge immediately of the funds destined for said establishments.

57. In the treasury of the direction shall be kept a set of books, with the formalities which shall be decreed, on the recommendation of the board, and the following rules shall henceforth be observed:—

1st. No payment shall be made which shall not be decreed by law, without an order from the president, and without the assent of the board, and the further approval of the government, in the cases where the law expressly demands the same.

2d. Every month there shall be a settlement of accounts, and a general settlement at the close of the fiscal year.

3d. The treasury account shall be settled on the 30th of June of each year, and shall be presented before the month of November, together with a statement which shall comprehend the condition of the branch in charge of the direction, in which shall be exhibited the present state of colonization, and that of industry, their progress, or the causes of their backwardness, if such be the case, with an indication of what ought to be done to remedy the same, in order that the government, taking the whole into consideration, may on its part dictate such measures as may be within its functions, and

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