sion, your Excellency will be pleased to issue the orders corresponding.

I repeat to your Excellency the assurances of my consideration and esteem.

God and Liberty.

Mexico, May 20, 1846.

To His Excellency the Minister of
Exterior Relations.

}

BECERRA.

Fourteenth, and last. In obedience to the orders of the President contained in the foregoing communication, Castillo y Lanzas, Minister of Relations, on the 23d May, 1846, addressed the following communication to the Governor of the Department of Californias:

MINISTRY OF EXTERIOR RELATIONS,

GOVERNMENT AND POLICE.

Most Excellent Sir:-His Excellency, the Illustrious Minister of Justice, in an official communication of the 20th inst., says to me that which I copy:

"Excellent Sir:-I to-day say to His Excellency, Don Vicente Segura, President of the Junta for the Encouragement of Mining, that which follows:

Most Excellent Sir:-Having reported to His Excellency, the President ad interim, the note of your Excellency of the 14th instant, with which you were pleased to transmit, with a recommendation, the petition of Señor Don Andres Castillero, for the encouragement of the quicksilver mine which he has discovered in the Mission of Santa Clara, in Upper California; His Excellency has been pleased to approve, in all its parts, the agreement made with that person to commence the exploration of that mine, and on this date the corresponding communication is made to the Ministry of Exterior Relations and Government, that it may issue the proper orders relative to what is contained in the eighth proposition, with respect to the granting of lands in that Department.'

"And I have the honor to inclose it to your Excellency, to the end that, with respect to the petition of Señor Castillero, to which His Excellency, the President ad interim, has thought proper to accede, that as a colonist there be granted to him two square leagues upon the land of his mining possession, your Excellency will be pleased to issue the orders corresponding. "I repeat to your Excellency, &c."

Wherefore I transcribe it to your Excellency, in order that, in conformity with what is prescribed by the laws and dispo

sitions upon colonization, you may put Señor Castillero in possession of the two square leagues which are mentioned.

God and Liberty. Mexico, May 23, 1846.

To His Excellency the Governor of the
Department of Californias.

}

CASTILLO Lanzas.

The foregoing decree was delivered to Castillero, and by him presented with his other proofs to the Board of Land Commissioners, in support of his claim to two square leagues, and to the mine.

Nature of the Claims and Division of the Subject.

On the foregoing documents the claimant bases his title to three pieces of property:

First. To the mine, consisting of seven pertenencias.

Second. To an additional mining possession, six thousand varas square, whose sides lie north and south, and east and west, in the middle of the area whereof is the original mouth of the mine.

Third. To two square leagues of land-by title in colonization-located in a square form over the mining possession; its sides lying north and south and east and west, respectively, and in the middle of the area whereof is the original mouth of the mine.

The mine and mining possession are claimed by virtue of the discovery and registry, by Castillero, in November and December, 1845; and by the juridical possession of the mine, and the grant of three thousand varas in all directions from its mouth, given and made to Castillero by the Alcalde Pico, on the 30th December, 1845; and by the confirmation of all the said acts of the Alcalde, by the Supreme Government of Mexico, on the 20th May, 1846.

The two square leagues in colonization are claimed by grant from the Supreme Government, evidence whereof is found in the marginal acuerdo, or decree, written and signed by the Minister of Justice on the letter of the Junta de Fomento of the 14th May, 1846; in the record of that acuerdo in the proper book; in the communication from the Minister of Justice to the Junta de Fomento of the 20th May, 1846; in the communication from the same Minister on the same day to the Minister of Relations; and in the dispatch or decree of the Minister of Relations of the 23d May, 1846, addressed to the Governor of the Department of Californias, setting forth that the President had granted said two square leagues to Castillero, and directing the Governor to put him in possession of them.

The United States dispute the genuineness of all these documents, and contend that they are forged, fabricated, fraudulent, simulated, antedated, null, void and of no effect. I use the Government's vocabulary.

This charge affects equally the mining claims, and the colonization grant.

To refute it, will involve a discussion of all the facts in thə case, as well those which concern the mining claims, as those which relate to the colonization grant.

My argument on the facts will therefore embrace all the claims.

The discussion of the law applicable to the facts of the case, requires a division of the subject in two parts: the first, relating to the Mining Claims; and the second, to the twoleague grant.

PART I.-THE MINING CLAIMS.

I shall treat this subject in the following order:

In the first place, it will be necessary to consider whether this Court has jurisdiction, under the Act of 3d March, 1851, over a right or title to a mine derived from the Mexican Government in California.

That point determined, I shall proceed to discuss the mining claims under two heads:-The first embracing the discovery and the registry by Castillero; and the juridical possession and mining grant by the Alcalde Pico; and generally all that was done in the premises by the local authorities in California: the second, the acts of the Supreme Government, in confirming Castillero's mining claims.

FIRST HEAD. The legal effect of the discovery and registry by Castillero, and of the juridical possession and mining grant by Alcalde Pico.

Under this head I shall discuss:

Sec. 1. The nature and legal effect of discovery and registry in conferring title.

Sec. 2. The regularity of Castillero's and the Alcalde's proceedings in registry.

Sec. 3. The jurisdiction of Alcalde Pico, in matters of registry.

SECOND HEAD.—The effect of the acts of the Supreme Government in confirming those of the Alcalde.

Under this head I shall show, that by the Ordinances of 1783, and by the laws, decrees, usage, and custom of the Mexican Government, two kinds of mining grants were authorized; ordinary, and extraordinary or special.

Sec. 1. Ordinary grants, of the dimensions fixed by law. These were made by courts of general jurisdiction, or by special tribunals invested with that power.

Sec. 2. Extraordinary or special grants. These were made according to the special circumstances of each case, by the administrative branch of the Government, represented in New Spain by the Viceroy, and in Mexico by the Supreme Executive power.

PART II.-THE TWO-LEAGUE COLONIZATION GRANT.

In discussing the validity of this grant, I shall consider it in these two points of view:

Sec. 1. Whether the words of the grant are apt to convey title.

Sec. 2. Whether the President of Mexico had authority to make such a grant, either by virtue of the Colonization Law of 1824, or by virtue of the extraordinary powers possessed by Paredes at the date of the grant.

The extraordinary powers of President Paredes have an equal bearing on the validity of his confirmation of the mining possession, as well as on that of the two-league grant.

The whole of the discussion to which this forecast of my argument refers, will be directed to the mining and colonization grants, as perfect legal titles. I shall conclude by showing that they are entitled to confirmation even under the supposition that they are inchoate or equitable titles.