ART. 27. The contractors and military, heretofore spoken of, and those who by purchase have acquired lands, can alienate them at any time, but the successor is obliged to cultivate them in the same time, that the original proprietor was bound to do; the other settlers can alienate theirs when they have totally cultivated them, and not before.

ART. 28. By testamentary will made in conformity with the existing laws, or those which may govern in future, any new colonist, from the day of his settlement, may dispose of his land, although he may not have cultivated it, and if he dies intestate, his property shall be inherited by the person or persons entitled by the laws to it; the heirs being subject to the same obligation and condition imposed on the original grantee.

ART. 29. Lands acquired by virtue of this law, shall not by any title whatever, pass into mortmain.

ART. 30. The new settler, who, wishing to establish himself in a foreign country, resolves to leave the territory of the state, can do so freely, with all his property; but after leaving the state, he shall not any longer hold the land, and if he had not previously sold it, or the sale should not be in conformity with the 27th article, it shall become entirely vacant.

ART. 31. Foreigners who in conformity with this law, have obtained land, and established themselves in any new settlement, shall be considered from that moment, naturalized in the country; and by marrying a Mexican, they acquire a particular merit to obtain letters of citizenship of the state, subject however to the provisions which may be made relative to both particulars, in the constitution of the state.

ART. 32. During the first ten years, counting from the day on which the new settlements may have been established, they shall be free from all contributions, of whatever denomination, with the exception of those which, in case of invasion by an enemy, or to prevent it, are generally imposed, and all the produce of agriculture or industry of the new settlers, shall be free from excise duty Alcabala, or other duties, throughout every part of the state, with the exception of the duties referred to in the next article; after the termination of that time, the new settlements shall be on the same footing as to taxes, with the old ones, and the colonists shall also in this partic ular, be on the same footing with the other inhabitants of the state.

ART. 33. From the day of their settlement, the new colonists shall be at liberty to follow any branch of industry, and can also work mines of every description, communicating with the supreme government of the confederation, relative to the general revenue appertaining to it, and subjecting themselves in all other particulars, to the ordinances or taxes, established or which may be established on this branch.

ART. 34. Towns shall be founded on the sites deemed most suitable, by the government, or the person commissioned for this effect, and for each one,

there shall be designated four square leagues, whose area may be in a regular or irregular form, agreeably to the situation.

ART. 35. If any of the said sites should be the property of an individual, and the establishment of new towns on them should notoriously be of general utility, they can notwithstanding, be appropriated to this object, previously indemnifying the owner for its just value, to be determined by appraisers.

ART. 36. Building lots in the new towns shall be given gratis, to the contractors of them, and also to artists of every class, as many as are necessary for the establishment of their trade; and to the other settlers they shall be sold at public auction, after having been previously valued-under the obligation to pay the purchase money by instalments of one third each; the first in six months, the second in twelve months, and the third in eighteen months; but all owners of lots, including contractors and artists, shall annually pay one dollar for each lot, which, together with the pro luce of the sales, shall be collected by the Ayuntamientos, and applied to the building of churches in said towns.

ART. 37. So far as is practicable, the towns shall be composed of natives and foreigners, and in their delineations, great care shall be taken to lay off the streets straight, giving them a direction from north to south, and from east to west, when the site will permit it.

ART. 38. For the better location of the said new towns, their regular formation and exact partition of their lands and lots, the government on account of having admitted any project, and agreeing with the contractor or contractors, who may have presented it, shall commission a person of intelligence and confidence, giving him such particular instructions as may be deemed necessary and expedient; and authorising him under his own responsibility, to appoint one or more surveyors, to lay off he town scientifically, and do whatever else may be required.

ART. 39. The Governor in conformity with the last fee bill Arancel, of notary public's of the ancient audience of Mexico, shall designate the fees of the commissioner, who in conjunction with the colonists, shall fix the surveyor's fees; but both shall be paid by the colonists, and in the manner which all parties among themselves may agree upon.

ART. 40. As soon as at least forty families are united in one place, they shall proceed to the formal establishment of the new towns, and all of them shall take an oath, to support the general and state constitution: which oath will be administered by the commissioner, they shall then, in his presence proceed for the first time, to the election of their municipal authority.

ART. 41. A new town, whose inhabitants shall not be less than two hundred, shall elect an Ayuntamiento, provided there is not another one established within eight leagues, in which case, it shall be added to it. The number of individuals which are to compose the Ayuntamiento, shall be regulated by the existing laws.

ART. 12. Foreigners are eligible, subject to the provisions which the constitution of the state may prescribe, to elect the members of their municipal authorities, and to be elected to the same.

ART. 43. The municipal expenses, and all others which may be necessary, or of common utility to the new towns, shall be proposed to the Governor, by the Ayuntamientos through the political chief, accompanied with a plan of the taxes arbitrios, which in their opinion may be just and best calculated to raise them, and should the proposed plan be approved of by the Governor, he shall order it to be executed, subject however to the resolution of the legisla ture, to whom it shall be immediately passed with his report and that of the political chief, who will say whatever occurs to him on the subject.

ART. 44. For the opening and improving of roads, and other public works in Texas, the government will transmit to the chief of that depart ment, the individuals, who in other parts of the state, may have been sen tenced to public works as vagrants, or for other crimes, these same persons may be employed by individuals for competent wages, and as soon as the time of their condemnation is expired, they can unite themselves as colonists, to any new settlement, and obtain the corresponding lands, if their reformation shall have made them worthy of such favor in the opinion of the chief of the department, without whose certificate, they shall not be admitted.

ART. 45. The government in accord with the respective ordinary ecclesiastics, will take care to provide the new settlements with the competent number of pastors, and in accord with the same authority, shall propose to the legislature for its approbation, the salary which the said pastors are to receive, which shall be paid by the new settlers.

ART. 46. The new settlers as regards the introduction of slaves, shall subject themselves to the existing laws, and those which may hereafter be established on the subject.

ART. 47. The petitions now pending relative to the subject of this law, shall be despatched in conformity with it, and for this purpose, they shall be passed to the Governor, and the families who may be established within the limits, of the state, without having any land assigned them, shall subject themselves to this law, and to the orders of the supreme government of the Union, with respect to those who are within twenty leagues of the limits of the United States of America, and ten leagues in a straight line of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

ART. 48. This law shall be published in all the villages of the state, and that it may arrive at the notice of all others, throughout the Mexican confederation, it shall be communicated to their respective legislatures, by the secretary of this state; and the Governor will take particular care, to send a certified copy of it, in compliance with the 161st article of the federal constitution, to have the two houses of congress, and the supreme executive

power of the nation, with a request to the latter, to give it a general circulation through foreign states, by means of our ambassadors.

The Governor pro tem. of the state will cause it to be published and circulated.-Saltillo, 24th March, 1825.-Signed.

RAFAEL RAMOS Y. VADEZ, President,

JUAN VICENTE CAMPOS, Member & Sec'y.

JOSE JOAQIN ARCE ROSALES, Mem. & Sec'y.

Therefore I command all authorities, as well civil as military and ecclesiastical, to obey, and cause to be obeyed, the present decree in all its parts. RAFAEL GONZALES, Governor.

INSTRUCTIONS

To the Commissioners appointed by the Legislature of the State.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

of the State of Coahuila and Texas.

Instructions by which the Commissioner shall be governed, in the partition

of lands to the new colonists, who may establish themselves in the State, in conformity with the colonization law of the 24th of March,

1825.

ART. 1. It shall be the duty of the commissioner, keeping in view the contract which an empresario may have entered into with the government, and also the certificates or recommendations which foreign emigrants must produce from the local authorities of the place where they removed from, accrediting their christianity, morality, and steady habits, in conformity with the 5th article of said law; without which requisite they shall not be admitted to the colony.

ART. 2. In order to prevent being imposed on by false recommendations, the commissioner shall not consider any as sufficient, without a previous opinion in writing as to their legitimacy, from the empresario, for which purpose they shall be passed to him by the commissioner.

ART. 3. The commissioner shall administer to each of the new colonists, the oath in form, to observe the federal constitution of the United Mexican States, the constitution of the State, the general laws of the nation, and those of the State which they have adopted for their country.

ART. 4. He shall issue, in the name of the state, the titles for land, in conformity with the law, and put the new colonists in possession of their lands, with all legal formalities, and the previous citation of adjoining proprietors, should there be any.

ART. 5. He shall not give possession to colonists who may have establish ed, or who may wish to establish themselves within twenty leagues of the

United States of the north, or within ten leagues of the coast, unless it should appear that the supreme government of the nation had approved thereof.

ART. 6. He shall take care that no vacant lands be left between posses sions, and in order that the lines of each one may be clearly designated, he shall compel the colonists, within the term of one year, to mark their lines, and to establish fixed and permanent corners.

ART. 7. He shall appoint under his own responsibility the surveyor, who must survey the land scientifically, requiring him previously to take an oath truly and faithfully to discharge the duties of his office.

ART. 8. He shall form a manuscript book of paper of the 3d stamp, in which shall be written the titles of the lands distributed to the colonists, specifying the names, the boundaries, and other requisites, and legal circumstances; and a certified copy of each title shall be taken from said book on paper of the 2d stamp, which shall be delivered to the interested person as his title.

ART. 9. Each settler shall pay the value of the stamp paper used in issuing his title both for the original and copy.

ART. 10. This book shall be preserved in the archives of the new colony, and an exact form of it shall be transmitted to the government, specifying the number of colonists with their names, and the quantity of land granted to each one, distinguishing that which is farming land with or without the facilities of irrigation, and that which is granted as grazing land.

ART. 11. He shall select the site which may be the most suitable for the establishment of the town or towns, which are to be founded agreeably to the number of families composing the colony, and keeping in view the provisions of the law of colonizations on this subject.

ART. 12. After selecting the site destined for the new town, he shall take care that the base lines run north and south, east and west, and he will designate a public square, one hundred and twenty varas on each side, exclusive of the streets, which shall be called the principal or constitutional square, and this shall be the central point from which the streets shall run, for the formation of squares and blocks in conformity with the model hereto annexed.

ART. 13. The block situated on the east side of the principal square, shall be destined for the church, curate's house, and other ecclesiastical buildings. The block on the west side of said square shall be designated for public buildings of the municipality. In some other suitable situation a block shall be designated for a market square, another for a Jail, and house of correction, another for a school, and other edifices for public instruction, and another beyond the limits of the town for a burial ground.

ART. 14. He shall, on his responsibility, cause the streets to be laid off straight, and that they are twenty varas wide, to promote the health of the

town.