I also herewith enclose a copy of the late treaty with Mexico; and also copies of the reports of Messrs. Frémont, Emory, Abert, and Cook, which will be useful to you. Very respectfully, ADAM JOHNSTON, Esq., Present. W.MEDILL. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, April 14, 1849.. SIR: This will be handed to you by the Hon. T. Butler King, if there should be, in his opinion, occasion for so doing. The object of this letter is to impress upon you the desire of the President that you should in all matters connected with Mr. King's mission aid and assist him in carrying out the views of the government, as expressed in his instructions from the Department of State, and that you should be guided by his advice. and counsel in the conduct of all proper measures within the scope of those instructions. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, T. EWING, Secretary. ADAM JOHNSTON, Esq., Indian Sub-agent for the the DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Office Indian Affairs, May 2, 1849. SIR: Your bond as sub Indian agent, transmitted with your letter of ultimo, has received the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. Very respectfully, &c., ADAM JOHNSTON, Esq., Sub-Indian Agent, St. Louis, Mo. W. MEDILL. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Office Indian Affairs, November 24, 1849. SIR: I enclose you a number of circulars requiring to be filled up for the tribes of Indians under your care, and will thank you for the replies. I also transmit you a copy of a bibliographical catalogue, by which you will perceive that this office is desirous of obtaining copies of any publication in the Indian tongues, or upon their principle. Very respectfully, &c., ORLANDO BROWN. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Office Indian Affairs, November 21, 1849. SIR: The Secretary of the Interior has directed that two sub-agencies be formed out of the one now held by you, and has appointed John A. Sutter, Esq., of California, sub-agent for all the Indians on the Sacramento river your own to be confined to those in the valley of San Joachim. Mr. Sutter's commission has been forwarded to him, and he has been requested to communicate with you as to the dividing line between your agencies, so that the relative boundaries may be perfectly understood between you. Very respectfully, &c., ADAM JOHNSTON, Esq., San Francisco, California. ORLANDO BROWN. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Office Indian Affairs, November 24, 1849. SIR: I have the honor to enclose herewith a commission constituting you sub-Indian agent on the Sacramento river in California, to include the Indians there or in the vicinity thereof, and any others that may hereafter be designated by this department. Your compensation will be at the rate of $750 per annum; to be in full for pay and all emoluments whatsoever. You will execute a bond in the penal sum of $2,000, with two or more sureties, whose sufficiency must be certified by a district judge or United States attorney, or by the commandant of a military post. This sub-agency lately included the valley of the San Joachim, but is now separated, and two distinct sub-agencies formed out of it; the one on the Sacramento to be held by you, and that on the San Joachim by the present incumbent, Adam Johnston, esq. It would be well for you to communicate with Mr. Johnston, and have an understanding as to the relative boundaries of separation between the two. Very little is known here of the condition, situation, and locality of these Indians, and the department looks to you to furnish it with such statistical and other information as will give any particulars relating to them, embracing the names of the tribes; their location; the probable extent of country owned by each respectively; the tenure by which they claim it; their manners, habits, and disposition towards the United States and whites generally, and towards each other-whether hostile or otherwise; whether the tribes speak different languages, and, where different, the apparent analogies between them; and also what laws and regulations for their government are necessary, and how far the law regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes (a copy of which I enclose) will, if extended to that country, properly apply to the Indians there, and to trade and intercourse with them; and what modification, if any, will be required to produce the greatest degree of efficiency. You are authorized to employ one or more interpreters, but it is supposed more than one will not be required at any one time, and no more should be employed unless it is absolutely necessary to aid you in the discharge of your duties. The compensation of the interpreters, if em ployed by the year, will be at the rate of $300 per annum; but where employed temporarily, you will procure their services on the best terms you can, and for the shortest possible periods. You are authorized to purchase two horses, one for your own use and one for the use of your interpreter, for which you will be held account. able as public property. Two hundred dollars will be allowed for this object. The sum of three hundred dollars per annum will be allowed you for contingent expenses and such small presents as you may from time to time find it proper to make; but in these you will confine yourself to cases where some object is to be effected of importance to the government or to the Indians. As the country of California is under military law, it will be proper for you to confer with the military governor or the commandants of the military posts in your vicinity, and obtain their co-operation in all cases where you find assistance necessary either in obtaining the restitution of captives among the Indians, whether Americans or Mexicans, or in any other manner. There being no appropriation out of which payment can be made for the restoration of captives, of course you will incur no expense on that account. I enclose blank forms to guide you in rendering your accounts, which must be done quarter yearly, or as nearly so as possible." You are authorized to draw for the following sums, after your bond shall have been approved, and will account for them under the following heads of appropriation, viz: Pay of sub-agent one year Pay of interpreters one year Contingencies, to include purchase of two horses and presents $750 00 400 00 500 00 1,650 00 ORLANDO BROWN. P. S. Copies of this letter have been forwarded to Sacramento and to Sutter's Mills. Your commission and accompanying papers are forwarded with this to San Francisco. O. B. GENERAL LAND OFFICE, July 5, 1849. SIR: By a communication of the 29th ultimo, the Secretary of the Interior advised this office of your appointment as confidential agent of the government to visit Mexico and California, in order to obtain information, "as early as practicable, of the character and extent of the titles and claims to lands within the limits of the tract of country acquired by the United States by the late treaty with Mexico, purporting to have emanated from the former authorities of that country. At the same time, the Secretary has requested that such instructions and information may be given to you as the objects in view may render necessary. It is a principle of public law, now acknowledged and recognised by the usage of modern nations, that, though the sovereignty changes, private rights remain unaffected by that change; and consequently that the relation of the people to each other under such circumstances, and "their rights of property, remain undisturbed." This principle is explicitly recognised and sanctioned in the treaty between the United States and Mexico, as ratified on the 4th July, 1848, which in the most solemn form, and as the supreme law of the land, makes it obligatory upon our government to respect the valid and bona fide titles, of individuals, and, in reference to the future management of the public domain within the limits of our newly acquired territories, makes it incumbent upon us to take such measures as will enable our government to separate from the mass of the public lands all private property resting upon such titles derived from the former governments. To this end, therefore, and in view of the directions from the Secretary, you are hereby instructed: 1. To proceed without delay to Upper California, and to visit such places as Monterey on the Pacific, San Francisco, San Diego, or any other points you may deem necessary, in order to obtain full and authentic information to enable you to have access to all the provincial, departmental, or other records and archives connected with titles and claims to land in California, seeking facilities and aid from the United States military officers in conmand there, or from such persons as may be officiating judicially or in other civil capacities, for the time being, under the existing customs of the community. 2. Having gained access to those archives, you will then, after a careful and thorough examination of them, prepare a complete and perfect abstract, in such a form, as to arrangement and classification, as will exhibit the particulars First. As to all grants or claims in the territories derived from the government of Spain when her authorities held dominion over the country, showing the dates of such; the names of the original grantees; the area of each claim, with its front and depth; the name of the watercourse, or other natural object indicating locality; whether or not surveyed; the date of survey, with the name of the officer making the grant, stating whether such grants have been sanctioned; and if so, when and by what officer or authority under the Mexican government, designating such as are in regular and legal form and appear prima facie to be bona fide valid titles, and such as are fraudulent or suspicious, reporting the reasons and grounds of the discrimination you may make. Second. A similar abstract of such titles as were derived from the authorities of Mexico since the separation of that country as an independent republic from Old Spain, indicating the names of the granting officers in each case; dates, &c., of each element of title from the inceptive to the survey, and to the concession or title in form, showing whether the same emanated direct from the supreme government of Mexico, or from the departmental authorities, with information as to the titles and powers of the granting officers; dates of their commissions and periods of incumbency, with such data as you may be able to procure touching their powers, and how derived, for alienating the national property; specifying such grants as appear to be regular and valid, and such as are of an opposite character. You will be pleased to discriminate between such as are perfect titles, clothed with all legal formalities, and such as are inceptive or inchoate, and in all cases designating the names of the parties appearing in the archives, land or judicial records, as "present claimants," or whom, from authentic and reliable sources, you may find to be so, with a reference to the evidence you may have before you of present proprietorship. Third. You will also make a separate classification and abstract of all grants or titles made about the time of the revolutionary movements in California-say in the months of June and July, 1846-and up to the period when actual hostilities between the United States and Mexico were known in California, and also of any which may have been subsequently made; showing the dates of sales; area of tracts; names of original grantees; when and by whom made; whether surveyed or not; whether to residents, non-residents, or foreigners; whether or not allotted with the usual legal formalities; and specifying such as may have been made without legal authority, with an abstract of the evidence of transfer by the grantors, and of such evidence to others from the grantees. Fourth. You will obtain a copy of all the different authentic forms of title, from the first element up to the consummation of the grant—such as the petition, decree, order of survey, return of actual survey, concession grant, with the denomination of the various allotments, from a square league "un sitio de gañado mayor," or square league of 4,428 acres, down to the smallest farm, or village, or town lot, with the ratios usual between the fronts and depths, and will prepare a comparative statement of the land measures formerly used in California under Spain and Mexico, and those now employed in the United States. 3. You will direct particular attention to the extensive tracts or bodies of land covered by what are known as "missions." You will ascertain as fully as possible the extent, locality, and value of each of them, and of the buildings or improvements thereon; will trace out their early history, origin, and date of the establishment of them, respectively, and their transition, and under what authority from the ecclesiastical to the civil power, or national authorities; their condition as to title and possession at the commencement of hostilities between the two republics; the dates of any sales made about that time, previously or subsequently; the circumstances under which, to whom and by whom made, and under color of what authority, with the dates of subsequent sales by parties claiming under grants from the California authorities; with the particulars in each case as to date, consideration, &c., accompanied by plats or sketches exhibiting their actual location and relative position to places now laid down on maps of the country. 4. You will carefully examine and report all the information you can obtain as to whether any titles were granted to "mines," either of the precious metals, quicksilver, or other minerals; when and to whom made; the considerations; conditions; whether or not surveyed; localities; and all matters in regard to the same, particularly in respect to the validity or invalidity of any individual titles or claims which may be alleged to the same. 5. You will also extend your researches so as to ascertain whether any claim has been set up or alleged to the islands or keys, or any other point on the coast, or in the bays or harbors; and if so, the natare of such claims; whether or not in legal form and from competent |