No. 16. INDIAN AGENCY, SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, SIR: At the last moment before the closing of the mail for the United States, I ask for permission to say that I have to day sent out three additional parties in search of Mrs. White and her daughter; and I have offered to each party rewards that they hesitated not to say were entirely satisfactory. They did not intimate a desire that the reward for their services should be increased, and I know of nothing more that I can do, as the representative of your department, for the recovery of Mrs. White and her daughter; but I will not sleep, and if I see what more I may accomplish, or rather attempt, no matter at what cost, it shall be done. What Colonel Monroe has done, if anything, or what he may design to do, I know not-nor is it my privilege to know. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Colonel W. MEDILL, J. S. CALHOUN, Indian Agent. Commissioner Indian Affairs, Washington city, D. C. SANTA FE, New Mexico, November 1, 1849. SIR: Not until last evening was I aware of the existence of execu tive document No. 60, ordered to be published on the 28th of April, 1848; otherwise the labor of preparing my communication of the 25th of September last would have been saved, and you the trouble of its receipt. At the time the document was ordered to be printed I was in Cuernavaca, Mexico, to which fact I attribute my ignorance of the publication. In addition to which, the secretary of state for this Territory could give me no information as to the transmission of copies of the papers to Washington city-such as I forwarded to you. With great respect, your obedient servant, Hon. T. EWING, Secretary of Interior, Washington city. J. S. CALHOUN. No. 17. INDIAN AGENCY, Santa Fe, New Mexico, November 1, 1849. SIR: I am this moment in receipt of your communications of the 13th and 16th of July last-the first instructing in reference to a census of Indian tribes, and the latter enclosing a blank bond-both of which shall receive my earliest possible attention. This is sent to Las Vegas, with the hope of there overtaking the mail that left here on yesterday morning. In great haste, your obedient servant, ORLANDO BROWN, Esq., J. S. CALHOUN, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington city, D. C. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Office Indian Affairs, April 11, 1849. SIR: I have the honor to enclose herewith a commission constituting you sub-Indian agent on the Rio Gila, in New Mexico, to include the Indians at or in the vicinity of that place, 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 whatever. You will execute a bond, in the penal sum of $2,000, with two or more sureties, whose sufficiency must be certified by a United States district judge or district attorney. So little is known here of the condition and situation of the Indians in that region, that no specific instructions relative to them can be given at present; and the department relies on you to furnish it with such statistical and other information as will give a just understanding of any particular relating to them, embracing the names of the tribes; their locations; the probable extent of territory owned or claimed by each respectively; the tenure by which they claim it; the manners and habits; disposition and feelings towards the United States and whites generally, and towards each other; whether hostile or otherwise; whether the tribes speak different languages, and, when 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 the 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-not exceeding more than one at the same time, unless otherwise absolutely necessary to aid you in the discharge of your duties-whose compensation, if employed by the year, will be at the rate of $300 per annum. It is very desirable that the greatest economy shall be observed; and it is therefore hoped that the employment of one permanent interpreter will be sufficient, and that the services of any others will be but temporary, and for as short periods as possible, consistent with a proper discharge of your duties. You will report direct to this office, and will lose no opportunity of doing so, as it is extremely desirable that the department shall be kept well advised of the state of affairs in that region. In consequence of the remote position of your sub-agency, the Secretary of the Interior has directed that one year's salary be advanced to you, and the same to your interpreter, together with funds for other objects, which you will find explained as follows. These funds will be remitted, to be paid over to you, as soon as the necessary arrangements can be made: One year's salary for self..... One year's salary for interpreter. Pay of interpreters temporarily employed.... Contingent expenses, including presents to Indians, purchase of two horses for yourself and your interpreter, collection of statistical information, forage for horses, house rent, $750 300 100 fuel, stationery, &c., &c., together with your travelling expenses. $1,200 2,350 You are authorized to purchase two horses-one for yourself and one for your interpreter-which you will be held accountable for as public property. In making presents to Indians, you will be as economical as possible, and confine yourself to such cases only as will effect some important object. It is supposed that there are captives, or prisoners, either Mexican or American, among some of the Indians of California or New Mexico. If you should find such to be the case among the Indians of your subagency, you will demand, and endeavor to procure, their release and surrender, whether Americans or Mexicans; but it must, if possible, be done without any compensation whatever, as to make compensation would but encourage a continuance of the practice of making captives. And any demand must be made under circumstances not calculated to produce mischief or hostile feelings on the part of the Indians. I enclose blank forms to guide you in rendering your accounts, which must be done quarter-yearly, or as nearly so as possible. In rendering your accounts, you will account for the money placed in your hands under the following heads of appropriation, viz: ́ Care of Harvey T. Hays, Esq., New Orleans. P. S. I enclose copy of the late treaty with Mexico, and also copies of the reports of Messrs. Fremont, Emory, Abert, and Cook. I also enclose a copy of a report from his Excellency Governor Bent, which you will find to contain much useful information in relation to the Indians in New Mexico. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Office Indian Affairs, April 17, 1849. SIR: You were apprized, in your instructions of the 11th instant, that arrangements would be made for the transmission of the funds for your sub-agency; but, finding it impracticable to adopt any better course, the Secretary of the Interior has directed that you be authorized to draw for the amount allowed for the year's expenses, in conformity with your in:structions. To preserve uniformity, I annex the form of the draft to be used by you: (Place and date.) SIR: At sight, please pay to the order of two thousand three hundred and fifty dollars, value received, and charge the same to account of the expenses of my sub-agency on the Rio Gila, New Mexico. Very respectfully, J. C. H., Sub-agent. WM. MEDILL, Esq., Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington city, D. C. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN C. HAYS, Esq., WM. MEDILL, Commissioner. Care of Harvey T. Hays, Esq., New Orleans, La. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Office Indian Affairs, July 26, 1849. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 8th June last, and to inform you that your official bond as Indian sub-agent, received therewith, has been submitted to the Secretary of the Interior, and by him approved. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Col. JOHN C. HAYS, ORLANDO BROWN, Commissioner. Indian Sub-agent, River Gila, New Mexico, Care of Harvey T. Hay, Esq., New Orleans, La DEPARTMENT OF WAR. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 18, 1850. SIR: I have the honor of laying before you copies of documents embracing the information called for from this department by the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 31st ultimo. I beg leave to remark that the exercise of civil authority by any military officer in California, since the termination of the war with Mexico, was first assumed by Brevet Brigadier General Mason, under his proclamation, which was issued on the 7th of August, 1848, the next day after the intelligence reached him that peace had been restored between the United States and Mexico. This proclamation was communicated to the department on the 22d of November, 1848, and its receipt acknowledged by the proper bureau on the 27th of January, 1849, without any comment. On the 13th of April, 1849, this officer was relieved of his command in California, and was succeeded by Brevet Brigadier General Riley. At this period, it appears to have been the purpose of this latter officer, with the advice of his predecessor, to have secured to the people of that Territory a fuller enjoyment of the laws, customs, and usages applicable to their condition and wants; and, at the same time, to have provided for the organization of a government, such as is contemplated by the ninth article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the constitution of the United States. The cause of delay in executing the purpose of this officer is fully explained by the following extract from a communication from the commanding general of the Pacific division, dated June 20, 1849, to this department: "Under the hope that some act of the last Congress had provided, or at least defined, the government of California, it was thought prudent to await intelligence of the close of the session; and then, if nothing had been done at Washington, to put in action the machinery of the laws already existing here, and at the same time propose to the people of California to form a State constitution and present it at the next session of Congress, when their admission into the Union as a State would at once. solve so many difficulties, and, while it removed a cause of disagreement at home, would give them an opportunity of legislating for themselves. The steamer Edith had been sent to Mazatlan for the necessary intelligence; and, on her arrival with information that no other than a revenue law had been passed, General Riley issued a proclamation for the election of the necessary executive and judicial officers under the existing laws, and recommending, at the same time, the election of delegates to a convention to form a State constitution. Mr. King arrived at the time these proclamations were about being issued; and it was matter of great congratulation that the government, by anticipation, approved of the latter measure. Every means will be used to give the people of California an opportunity of expressing their wishes on this point, and of bringing the matter to a happy conclusion." The necessity of a civil government in California, adequate to protect and control its increased population, composed of persons who had flocked from all quarters of the globe, was daily rendered more apparent. The common employment in which every interest was directly or indirectly |