opinion of the sufficiency of said certificates-their genuineness, &c.

Distribution of Lands.

Art. 2. The Executive will distribute lands to settlers under the terms and conditions herein expressed. Laws of Mexico, 4th of January, 1823, see also, Law of the 18th of August, 1824, same.

Art. 4 of the laws of Coahuila and Texas, passed 24th of March, 1825, provides, that after a foreigner has made a declaration of his wish to become a settler in due form, as directed in section 3, and taken an oath to support the Constitution of the General and State Governments, &c., he is at liberty to designate any vacant land, and the Political Authority will grant it to him, in the same manner as to a native of the country, to be approved by the Go

vernment.

Quantity, &c.

Art. 16. Families or unmarried men, who, entirely of their own accord, have emigrated, and may wish to unite themselves to any new towns, can at all times do so, and shall receive, provided that his sole occupation is cultivation of land, one labor; should he also be a stock raiser, grazing land shall be added to complete a sitio; and should his only occupation be raising of stock, he shall receive a superficies of land, equal to twenty-four million square varas. By Art. 15 of the same Act, unmarried men shall receive a like quantity, when they enter the matrimonial state; and foreigners who marry native Mexicans shall receive one-fourth more. Those who are entirely single can receive only one-fourth as much, until they marry. The government can augment the quantity of land, in proportion to family, industry, and activity of the colonists. And, by Art. 18, families who emigrate in conformity to the 16th Art. shall immediately present themselves to the Political Authorities of the places which they have chosen for their residence, who, finding the legal requisites, shall admit them and put them in possession of the corresponding lands, and, by means of themselves or a commissioner, will issue them a title.

Art. 3, 16, and 18, of the Law of Coahuila and Texas, of the Act of the 24th of March, 1825, the same. Also,

Art. 4 of the Law of Mexico of the 4th of January, 1823,

same.

Mechanics are entitled to town lots gratis, by Art. 15 of the Law of 27th September, 1827.

By Law of Coahuila and Texas, of session 1833-4, it was enacted, that no further grants should be made to Empresarios. That a sitio, or league of land, be considered wholly cultivated when the colonist placed on it 125 large stock, such as cattle and horses (gañado major), or 250 small, as sheep and swine (gañado menor). A Commissioner-general appointed to have all the public vacant lands surveyed in labors (lots of 177 acres) and offered for sale at the minimum price of ten dollars per labor, being previously offered at public sale on the same plan and conditions that the United States adopt in the disposal of their public lands.

By Law of Coahuila and Texas, May 2nd, 1835, persons and families who had entered Texas previous to that date, if they had not obtained land before, were entitled to it under the general laws.

Sale by Government.

By Art. 24 of the Law of Coahuila and Texas, passed 24th of March, 1825, Government will sell to Mexicans, and to them only, such lands as they may wish to purchase, not more than eleven sitios, and under the condition that the purchaser cultivate what he acquires by this title within six years from its acquisition, under the penalty of losing them; the price of each sitio, subject to the foregoing condition, shall be one hundred dollars, if it be pasture land; one hundred and fifty dollars, if it be farming land, without the facility of irrigation; and two hundred and fifty dollars, if it can be irrigated.

Art. 36. Building lots in 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 other settlers they shall be sold at Public Auction, to be paid for in six, twelve, and eighteen months; but all owners of lots shall annually pay one dollar for each lot, which, together with the produce of the sales, to be applied to building churches in said town. And by the instruction to the commissioners of the 4th of September, 1827,

Section 15. A mechanic is to receive in a new town one lot, subject to draft, and the Empresario two, without draft.

Should there be a number of applicants for the same lot, it shall be decided by draft.

General Colonization Laws.

Art. 3 of the Act of the Mexican Congress of the 18th of August, 1824, declares that the Legislatures of all the States will, as soon as possible, form Colonization Laws or regulations for their respective States, conforming themselves, in all things, to the constitutional act, general constitution and regulations established by law.

Section 18. The Mexican Congress decree, that the Government shall form a system for the regulation of the new Colonies, and shall, within one year, lay before Congress an account of the colonists established under this law. The Congress of Coahuila and Texas formed their Colonization Laws 24th of March, 1825.

Not to colonise within Twenty Leagues of the Limits of a Foreign Nation.

By Art. 4 of the Law of the Mexican Congress of the 18th of August, 1824, there cannot be colonised any lands within twenty leagues of the limits of any foreign nation, nor within ten leagues of the coast, without the previous approbation of the General Supreme Executive Power.

Art. 7. The Act of the Legislature of Coahuila and Texas of the 24th of March, 1825, and the 5th Art. of instruction to the Commissioner of the State, dated 4th of September, 1827, the same.

Empresarios or Contractors.

Art. 3 of the Act of the Mexican Congress, of the 4th of January, 1823, provides, that Empresarios who shall introduce at least two hundred families, shall previously contract with the Executive, inform him of their resources, and business to be pursued, to enable the Executive to designate the province, &c.

Art. 19. To each Empresario, who introduces and establishes two hundred families, shall be granted at the rate of three haciendas and two labors (equal to about 66,775 acres), but he will lose the right of property over said land unless populated and cultivated in twelve years from the date of concession. The premium cannot exceed nine ha

ciendas and six labors, whatever may be the number of families he introduces (equal to 200,324 acres). By

Art. 20. The proprietors of said lands at the end of twenty years must alienate two-thirds of the same by sale, or in any other manner they please. And by

Art. 21. The provision contained in articles nineteen and twenty are understood as governing contracts made in six months from the 4th of January, 1823: after that time the Executive can diminish the premium as he may deem

proper.

Art. 8 of the Law of Coahuila and Texas, passed 24th of March, 1825, provides, that in projects for new settlements, in which one or more persons offer to bring at their own expense one hundred or more families, shall be presented to the Government, and if found conformable to this law, they will be admitted, and the Government will immediately designate to the contractors the land where they are to establish themselves, and the term of six years, within which they must present the number of families they contracted for, under the penalty of losing the rights and privileges offered in their favour, in proportion to the number of families which they fail to introduce, and the contract totally annulled, if they do not bring at least one hundred families.

By Art. 12 of the same Law, the contractor or contractors for the establishment of a new settlement are entitled to five sitios of grazing land, and five labors (equal to 23,025 acres), at least for each hundred families which he or they may introduce, the one half of which shall be without the facility of irrigation, and they can only receive this premium for eight hundred families (equal to 184,200 acres).

Mexican Measure of Land.

Art. 5 of the Law of the Mexican Congress of the 4th of January, 1823, establishes the measure of land as follows: The vara, of three geometrical feet (equal to 334 inches); straight line of five thousand varas shall be a league (square varas, equal to 4629 yards, 1 foot, 10 inches, or 2,632, or 2 miles, 201 rods, 12 feet, 4 inches). A square, each of whose sides shall be one league, shall be called a sitio; twenty-five million square varas is a sitio (equal to 442848 acres), five sitios shall compose one hacienda (equal to 22,140,2% acres).

Art. 7. A labor is one million square varas, or one thousand varas on each side. See, also,

Art. 11 of the Act of the Congress of Coahuila and Texas, passed 24th of March, 1825, same.

Establishments under former Government.

By Art. 10 of the Law of the Mexican Congress of the 4th of January, 1823, establishments made under the former government, which are now pending, shall be regulated by this law in all matters that may occur, but those that are finished shall remain in that state. And by

Art. 31 of the same Law, all foreigners, who may have established themselves in any of the provinces of the Empire, under the permission of the former government, will remain on the lands which they may have occupied, being governed by the tenor of this law in the distribution of said lands.

Government will cause Lands to be alienated.

By Art. 11 of the Law of the 4th of January, 1823, of the Mexican Republic, government will adopt measures for dividing out the lands, which have accumulated in large portions in the hands of individuals or corporations, and which are not cultivated, indemnifying the proprietors for the just price of such lands, to be affixed by appraisers. And by

Art. 20 of the same Law, proprietors who have acquired their lands as a premium for the introduction of settlers, must alienate two-thirds of their land by sale or otherwise, as they please, at the end of twenty years from the concession. Vide title Empresarios and Contractors.

Villages, Towns, and Cities.

Art. 12 of the Law of the 4th January, 1823, the union of many families at one place, shall be called a village, town, or city, agreeably to the number of its inhabitants, its extension, locality, &c.; and the same regulations for its government and Police shall be observed, as in others of the same class in the Empire. By

Art. 34 of the Laws of Coahuila and Texas, of the 24th March, 1825, towns shall be founded on the sites deemed most suitable by the government, or the person commissioned for that purpose, and for each one there shall be desig