The landed possessions in California may be arranged into three categories, which sprang very naturally from the system of the colonization of the country. There are Mission lands, Pueblo lands and ranchos, as they are called here, but in better Spanish they would be called haciendas, and in plain English, grazing farmlands of private individuals.
The settlement of California was owing to the will of a pious Countess in Mexico, who left an immense fortune to christianize the heathen inhabitants of this country. About the year of 1670, an expedition, led by a missionary priest, and escorted by a company of soldiers and settlers, landed on the shores of California. The first attempts at colonizing the country were not successful, but by perseverence in repeated efforts the Spaniards at last succeeded in getting a foot-hold in this land. They gathered Indians about them, christianized them after their fashion, and made them manzos; soon, with their labor, Mission buildings were erected, farms put in order, cattle raised, and the Indians were instructed in various handicrafts. Finally, in course of time, through the whole length of the land, Missions were planted, and flourished; the Priests grew fat and rich, and the Indians became tame and industrious, and were well taken care of. The country smiled with abundance and the people were happy. Soon, settlers came into the country and planted themselves, very naturally, near the Missions, on which, at first, they depended for their worldly goods; but by degrees they sprung into Pueblos, viz. towns. These towns had lands alloted to them by leagues, which were to be used in common by all the inhabitants for their cattle; or if any of them wished to till a piece of land, by an application to the alcalde, if there were no objections by the inhabitants, he received a permit from the judge so to do, and as long as he or his heirs occupied it, no body had a right to disturb them. In this way it followed that the inhabitants of towns acquired small portions of land for their houses and tillage, while the rest of the town land was used in common for grazing. Under this arrangement of town property there was always enough land for all new settlers that might come to inhabit these Pueblos. This manner of disposing of town land, sanctioned by Mexican law, served as a precedent to the town authorities of San Francisco, Pueblo de San Jose, Santa Cruz and Monterey, when they, in 1847, disposed of a portion of the land belonging to those respective towns, giving perpetual leases to their possessors. This measure was particularly favorable to foreigners recently arrived in the country, as thus they were enabled to buy the rights of the natives who were not disposed to put much value upon so small parcels of land, and thereby the American interest was much promoted.
The land of the ranchos was always either a royal grant of Spain or of the supreme government of Mexico, or latterly of the Governor of California; all these grants practically had the same effect; the possessor of the tract of land thus granted was always in the full enjoyment of his rights and privileges, and no authority could disturb him in his possessions. As the country was frequently disturbed by revolutions, when it was not uncommon for one of the contending parties to burn up or carry away or destroy the archives of a town or even of the country, the land proprietors were not molested in their possessions, although they could not show their property enregistered in the records. Besides the officers of the Mexican government being proverbially negligent of their duties, may not have paid sufficient attention to proper order in these matters. Under such circumstances it would not be surprising if some proprietors should find their property unregistered in the archives of the country. Whatever land is left that has not been disposed of in one of the ways aforesaid, is public land at the disposal of the government.
Such being the disposition of landed property in California, the American government, if it be just and does not wish to create a general disaffection among the people towards itself, must recognize the actual possessors in their possessions by a summary act of legislation recognizing the rights they claim, and to prevent all future difficulties, giving them the fee-simple title to their possessions. The ranchos must be acknowledged to be the property of private individuals; the towns must have their rights to their town lands, and the Missions, if they yet have any Indians, ought to retain their tracts of land; or if these exist no longer, the church and public education have the next and best right to them. The lands of the Missions were always considered as Indian lands, or lands devoted for the benefit of the Indians living at the Missions; the priest was but a steward of the Mission. When the riches of the Missions excited the envy of some high persons in office, they set themselves to work to secularize them—and they succeeded under the Mexican government. The Missions were secularized and circumscribed, and received laymen for their administrators, who superintended and administered them so well that the riches of the Missions fled, their buildings were ruined, their Indians scattered, and at present scarcely their shadow is left; yet they do exist just to remind the world of their former opulence. With the exception of two or three, on all of them there are yet some Indians and a Priest left shorn of their former glory.
In view of the state of landed property of the country, there are three methods by the means of which California may receive an increase to its population without any violence to justice or law being committed. Supposing that the American government has recognized all titles to lands as it found them, then those who have no means of buying land from private individuals should receive liberal donations from the government, or settle in one of the towns where yet town lands exist, and taking advantage of the Mexican law by petitioning the alcalde, the settler could get land for his house and tillage, and being more industrious than the natives, he could even grow rich soon and enjoy his possessions as if they were his in fee simple. Those who have means could find tracts of land to buy, either enough only for themselves, or larger than they actually need, to be divided into farms of sufficient size and induce new settlers, by offering them liberal terms, to settle around them; by this arrangement both parties would be gainers.
In our view of the subject, we think the interest of the whole country would induce the government to use all means at its disposal to favor a prompt settlement of California, since the sooner it will be densely settled the sooner its vast resources will be developed, and the sooner the whole Union will reap advantages resulting from such a developement.
THE GOLD REGION.
It is now nearly two years since the discovery of the gold mines in the country, and yet it is for the first time, we can say, that we are able to give a correct account of them, an account that can be relied upon. Heretofore we have heard nothing but Arabian Nights stories about the gold region, drawn, if possible, with more vivid colors than even the Asiatic fancy could conjure up. The whole civilized world became electrified with these surprising stories and set in motion, and every day brings strangers to our shore from the most distant regions of the earth. So far so good; but it may not be so, much longer, when crowds from Europe will begin to pour upon these shores. We feel it our duty, in view of bad consequences that all exaggerations do produce, to contribute our share towards rectifying the impressions that went abroad upon the subject of the mines of this country. Even our government at home had not received an official account from its subordinates here, that represent the truth in its simple garb. In a word, there has been no thorough investigations of the subject; but people on all sides, simple citizens as well as government officers, were content to seize upon a few remarkable cases, that were made more so by passing through many lips, and represent them abroad as of common occurrence. Hence much disappointment followed to hundreds who came here to shovel in, as they thought, the precious dust and be off for their respective homes in the twinkling of an eye.
It is not to be understood that we are going to decry the prunes; no, far from it; we mean to divest them of the mantle which heated fancy cast about them; and represent the simple truth without any poetic ornaments.