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districts, and have comfortable quarters; and the common soldiers shall be disposed in cantonments, open and extensive enough for air and exercise, and lodged in barracks as roomy and good as are provided by the party in whose power they are, for its own troops. But if any officer shall break his parole by leaving the district so assigned him, or any other prisoner shall escape from the limits of his cantonment, after they shall have been designated to him, such individual, officer, or other prisoner shall forfeit so much of the benefit of this article as provides for his liberty on parole or in cantonment. And if any officer so breaking his parole, or any common soldier so escaping from the limits assigned him, shall afterwards be found in arms, previously to his being regularly exchanged, the person so offending shall be dealt with according to the established laws of war. The officers shall be daily furnished by the party in whose power they are, with as many rations, and of the same articles, as are allowed, either in kind or by commutation, to officers of equal rank in its own army; and all others shall be daily furnished with such rations as is allowed to a common soldier in its own service; the value of all which supplies shall, at the close of the war, or at periods to be agreed upon between the respective commanders, be paid by the other party on a mutual adjustment of accounts for the subsistence of prisoners; and such accounts shall not be mingled with or set off against any others, nor the balance due on them be withheld, as a compensation or reprisal for any cause whatever, real or pretended. Each party shall be allowed to keep a commissary of prisoners, appointed by itself, with every cantonment of prisoners, in possession of the other; which commissary shall see the prisoners as often as he pleases; shall be allowed to receive, exempt from all duties or taxes, and to distribute whatever comforts may be sent to them by their friends; and shall be free to transmit his reports in open letters to the party by whom he is employed.

And it is declared that neither the pretense that war dissolves all treaties, nor any other whatever, shall be considered as annuling or suspending the solemn covenant contained in this article. On the contrary, the state of war is precisely that for which it is provided; and during which its stipulations are to be as sacredly observed as the most acknowledged obligations under the law of nature or nations.

ARTICLE XXIII.

This treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and by the President of the Mexican Republic, with the previous approbation of its General Congress; and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the City of Washington, or at the seat of government of Mexico, in four months from the date of the signature hereof, or sooner if practicable.

IN FAITH WHEREOF, we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed this treaty of peace, friendship, limits and settlement; and have hereunto affixed our seals respectively. Done in quintuplicate, at the City of Guadalupe Hidalgo, on the second day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

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AND WHEREAS, The said treaty, as amended, has been duly ratified on both parts, and the respective ratifications of the same were exchanged at Queretaro on the thirtieth day of May last, by Ambrose H. Sevier and Nathan Clifford, Commissioners on the part of the Government of the United States, and by Señor Don Luis de la Rosa, Minister of Relations of the Mexican Republic, on the part of that government:

Now, THEREFORE, BE IT KNOWN, That I, JAMES K. POLK, President of the United States of America, have caused the said treaty to be made public, to the end that the same and every clause and article thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

L. S.

Done at the City of Washington, this fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, and of the independence of the United States the seventy-third. JAMES K. POLK.

By the President:

JAMES BUCHANAN, Secretary of State.

ARTICLES REFERRED TO IN THE FIFTEENTH ARTICLE OF THE PRECEDING TREATY.

First and Fifth Articles of the Unratified Convention Between the United States and the Mexican Republic of the 20th of November, 1843.

ARTICLE I.

All claims of citizens of the Mexican Republic against the government of the United States, which shall be presented in the manner and time hereinafter expressed, and all claims of citizens of the United States against the government of the Mexican Republic, which for whatever cause were not submitted to, nor considered nor finally decided by, the commission, nor by the arbiter appointed by the convention of 1839, and which shall be presented in the manner and time hereinafter specified, shall be referred to four commissioners, who shall form a board, and shall be appointed in the following manner, that is to say: Two commissioners shall be appointed by the President of the Mexican Republic, and the other two by the President of the United States, with the approbation and consent of the Senate. The said commissioners, thus appointed, shall, in presence of each other, take an oath to examine and decide impartially the claims submitted to them, and which may lawfully be considered, according to the proofs which shall be presented, the principles of right and justice, the law of nations, and the treaties between the two republics.

ARTICLE V.

All claims of citizens of the United States against the government of the Mexican Republic, which were considered by the commissioners, and referred to the umpire appointed under the convention of the eleventh April, 1839, and which were not decided by him, shall be referred to, and decided by, the umpire to be appointed, as provided by this convention, on the points submitted to the umpire under the late convention, and his decision shall be final and conclusive. It is also agreed, that, if the respective commissioners shall deem it expedient, they may submit to the said arbiter new arguments upon the said claims.

PROCLAMATIONS.

BY GEN. BENNET RILEY, MILITARY GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA, 1849.

To the People of California:

Congress having failed at its recent session to provide a new government for this country to replace that which existed on the annexation of California to the United States, the undersigned would call attention to the means which he deems best calculated to avoid the embarrassments of our present position.

The undersigned, in accordance with instructions from the Secretary of War, has assumed the administration of civil affairs in California, not as a military Governor, but as the executive of the existing civil government. In the absence of a properly appointed civil Governor, the commanding officer of the Department is, by the laws of California, ex officio civil Governor of the country, and the instructions from Washington were based on the provisions of these laws. This subject has been misrepresented or at least misconceived, and currency given to the impression that the government of the country is still military. Such is not the fact. The military government ended with the war, and what remains is the civil government recognized in the existing laws of California. Although the command of the troops in this Department and the administration of civil affairs in California, are, by the existing laws of the country and the instructions of the President of the United States, temporarily lodged in the hands of the same individual, they are separate and distinct. No military officer other than the commanding general of the Department exercises any civil authority by virtue of his military commission, and the powers of the commanding general as ex officio Governor are only such as are defined and recognized in the existing laws. The instructions of the Secretary of War make it the duty of all military officers to recognize the existing civil government and to aid its officers with the military force under their control. Beyond this any interference is not only uncalled for but strictly forbidden. The laws of California, not inconsistent with the laws, constitution and treaties of the United States, are still in force and must continue in force till changed by competent authority. Whatever may be thought of the right of the people to temporarily replace

the officers of the existing government by others appointed by a provisional Territorial Legislature, there can be no question that the existing laws of the country must continue in force till replaced by others made and enacted by competent power. That power by the treaty of peace, as well as from the nature of the case, is vested in Congress. The situation of California in this respect is very different from that of Oregon. The latter was without laws, while the former has a system of laws, which, though somewhat defective and requiring many changes and amendments, must continue in force till repealed by competent legislative power. The situation of California is almost identical with that of Louisiana, and the decisions of the Supreme Court in recognizing the validity of the laws which existed in that country previous to its annexation to the United States, where not inconsistent, with the constitution and laws of the United States, or repealed by legitimate legislative enactments, furnish us a clear and safe guide in our present situation. It is important that citizens should understand this fact, so as not to endanger their property and involve themselves in useless and expensive litigation by giving countenance to persons claiming authority which is not given them by law and by putting faith in laws which can never be recognized by legitimate courts.

As Congress has failed to organize a new Territorial Government it becomes our imperative duty to take some active measures to provide for the existing wants of the country. This, it is thought, may be best accomplished by putting in full vigor the administration of the laws as they now exist, and completing the organization of the civil government by the election and appointment of all officers recognized by law: While at the same time a convention, in which all parts of the Territory are represented, shall meet and frame a State constitution or a Territorial organization, to be submitted to the people for their ratification and then proposed to Congress for its approval. Considerable time will necessarily elapse before any new government can be legitimately organized and put in operation; in the interim the existing government, if its organization be completed, will be found sufficient for all our temporary wants.

A brief summary of the organization of the present government may not be uninteresting. It consists, 1st, of a Governor, appointed by the Supreme Government; in default of such appointment the office is temporarily vested in the commanding military officer of the Department. The powers and duties of the Governor are of a limited character, but fully defined and pointed out by the laws.

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