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. 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 possessions, 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 provi sions 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. ART. 15. Mechanics, who at the time of founding a new town, present themselves to settle in it, shall have the right of receiving one lot apiece, without any other cost than the necessary' stamp paper for issuing the title, and the light tax of one dollar annually, for the construction of the church. ART. 16. The lots spoken of in the preceding article, shall be distributed by lot, with the exception of the empresario, who shall be entitled to any two lots he may select. ART. 17. The other lots shall be valued by appraisers according to their situation, and sold to the other colonists at their appraised value. In case there should be a number of applicants for the same lot, owing to its situation or other circumstances which may excite competition, it shall be decided by lot as prescribed in the preceding article, the product of said lots shall be appropriated to the building of a church in said town. ART. 18. He shall, in union with the empresario, promote the settlement of each town by the inhabitants belonging to its jurisdiction, who take lots in it, and cause them to construct houses on said lots within a limited time, under the penalty of forfeiting them. ART. 19. He shall form a manuscript book of each new town, in which shall be written the titles of the lots which are given as a donation, or sold, specifying the boundaries and other necessary circumstances, a certified copy of each one of which on the corresponding stamp shall be delivered to the interested person as his title. ART. 20. He shall form a topographical plan of each town that may be founded, and transmit it to the government, keeping a copy of it in the said register book of the colony. ART. 21. He shall see that at the crossing of each of the rivers on the public roads where a town is founded, a ferry is established at the cost of the inhabitants of said town, a moderate rate of ferriage shall be established to pay the salary of the ferryman and the cost of the necessary boats, and the balance shall be applied to the public funds of the towns. ART. 22. In places where there are no towns, and where ferries are necessary, the colonists who may be settled there, shall be charged with the establishment of the ferry, collecting a moderate ferriage until such ferries are rented out for the use of the state. Any colonist who wishes to establish a ferry on the terms above indicated, shall form an exact and certified account of the costs which he may be at for the building of boats, and also an account of the produce of the ferry, in order that when said ferry is rented out for the use of the state, he shall have a right to receive the amount of said expenses which had not already been covered by the produce of the ferry, which for the present he will collect. ART. 23. He shall preside at the popular elections mentioned in the 40th article of the colonization law, for the appointment of the Ayuntamiento, and shall put the elected in possession of their offices. ART. 24. He shall take special care that the portions of land granted to the colonists by article 14, 15, and 16, shall be measured by the surveyors with accuracy, and not permit any one to include more land than is designated by law, under the penalty of being personally responsible. ART. 25. Should any colonist solicit, in conformity with the 17th article of the law, an augmentation of land beyond that designated in the preceding articles on account of the size of his family, industry, or capital, he shall pre sent his petition in writing to the commissioner, stating all the reasons on which he founds his petition, who shall transmit it to the Governor of the State, together with his opinion; for which opinion he shall be responsible in the most rigid manner, in order that the Governor may decide on the subject. ART. 26. All the public instruments, titles, or other documents, issued by the commissioner, shall be written in Spanish, the memorials, decrees, and reports of the colonists or empressarios on any subject whatever, shall be written in the same language, whether they are to be transmitted to government, or preserved in the archives of the colony. ART. 27. All public instruments or titles of possession, and the copies signed by the Commissioner, shall be attested by two assistant witnesses. ART. 28. The Commissioner shall be personally responsible for all acts or measures performed by him, contrary to the colonization law or these instructions. A Copy.-Saltillo, September 4th, 1827. TIJERINA, Secretaries of A Copy, JUAN ATONIO PADILLA, Secretary of State. GLOSSARY. GIVING THE SIGNIFICATION OF SOME OBSCURE TERMS, USED IN THE MINING ORDINANCES OF NEW SPAIN. A Abras (clefts or fissures). Are fissures in the hills, demonstrating the force of some subterraneous expansion, which has torn them asunder. They are indications of veins, as is the spar generally found about their en trance. Achicar (to diminish). A mining term, referring to the lowering of the water in any work or level. The workmen employed for this purpose are called Achicadores. Achichinques. Workmen employed to collect the water from the lower springs in the mines, in buckets of ox hide, and to empty it into the cisterns, or into the sump of the pit. Ademes. Coverings or linings of timber, by means of which the pits, pillars of support, and works generally, are secured and strengthened. The workman employed in this business is called an Ademador. Afinacion (refining). Is the separating from the plates or ingots of silver, the dross always combined with them after smelting. Alcribis or Tovera (twer or tuyere). A kind of funnel, into which the nozzle of the bellows of smelting furnaces is fitted, to conduct the blast. Aparejo (tackel). A machine for raising the timber linings of the pits, when they give way or become loose; also for raising certain large beams called llaves, on which the whims rest. Aperos (implements). All the requisites for keeping in working order the pits and draw wells, for erecting sheds, and for other matters relating to the underground works of the mines. The person who has all such articles under his care, and who distributes them when called for, is called the Aperado. A pique (downwards). To work à pique is to work by sinking perpendicularly downwards, in the perpendicular veins. Apuradores (gleaners.) Men or women who seek for particles of metal in the refuse of the amalgamation works. Atacador (rammer.) A smooth cylindrical tool, more slender than a borer (barrena,) for ramming in the cartridge with which the rock is blasted. |